The U.S. Postal Service has been sick for a long time. The coronavirus has put it on the critical list at the same time we're more dependent on it, especially for packages with essential supplies, medicine and even food because of the self-quarantine imposed on most all of us. What to do?
Thanks to unwise policies crafted by public officials, thousands of seniors have lost their lives when forced into close proximity with infected cohabitants.
During this era of sudden economic collapse and privation, it's tempting to conclude that we're all believers in entitlement now.
As Democrats and Republicans prepare for a fight over whether the federal government should print even more money to bail out states running short of cash because of the coronavirus shutdown, some governors see an opportunity to blame the pandemic for long-standing financial problems.
Last week, President Donald Trump made an announcement via Twitter just about no one saw coming: "In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!" By Wednesday the proclamation had been signed, and just like that, immigration into the United States, with some exceptions, was put on pause.
If the asterisk didn't already exist, someone would need to invent it. The little starburst is destined to appear everywhere the details of pandemic-dominated 2020 are documented. Wherever it pops up, the asterisk will serve to remind future readers something happened that year which requires additional explanation to grasp. The billions living through the coronavirus contagion, though, will have their own disturbing flashbacks that recall a year like none in living memory.
Earth Day has reached the ripe old age of 50. In all those years, the day of action on behalf of the planet has never produced the real-world impact of the current coronavirus contagion. Now that climate activists have witnessed what a genuine global emergency looks like, their passion for a repeat may prove irresistible. The segment of society that feeds, clothes, shelters and heals humanity -- that is, almost everyone -- should beware of efforts to hitch an environmental crisis to the ravages of a pestilence the world is already battling.
For the first time since it was conceived, Earth Day will be, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, observed virtually. That's a big change for a 50-year-old cultural event celebrating the wonders of creation and the beauty of the big blue marble on which we all reside.
There is a glimmer of reason to suspect the dreaded coronavirus has summited its American mountain of death and is poised to start a downward slide toward normalcy. The hope-filled development has prompted President Trump to ponder what he calls "the biggest decision I've ever had to make": When to reopen the economy. Whatever course of action the president chooses, one thing is certain: His critics will consider him a coronavirus quack.
The coronavirus curve is finally flattening, but so is the U.S. economy. When a full month of dutiful adherence to stay-at-home advisories has passed, Americans rightly expect to see a loosening of restrictions. With thoughtful attention to proper balance between health and financial well-being, authorities will hinge their legacies on whether they choose wisely before hitting hit the "start" button.
During these uncertain times it can feel like just about the most we can do is keep placing one foot in front of the other. Jobs are dwindling, money is tight, people are sick. With the ever-mounting problems of the present, small wonder few of us are in the mood to consider the future.
Americans want to get back to work. What's stopping them is unclear. President Donald J. Trump says he has the ultimate authority to restart the economy but the self-quarantine orders, travel restrictions and other limitations on mobility have all come from the governors and local elected officials.
The president, too many governors and more than a few local officials have apparently decided that they have the power to order the rest of us to do pretty much anything that strikes their fancy in the name of fighting the coronavirus. Some of their contradictory orders make sense and some don't. Few would argue about the need for what we now call "social distancing," but why can that be used to justify arresting a man for playing catch with his daughter in an empty park in Colorado or two men who dared to play a round of golf in Rhode Island to keep them or the rest of us safe?
The coronavirus is a once-in-a-lifetime catastrophe. As the pandemic continues to savage the nation, government is sparing no effort to minimize the tragic toll in lost lives. When the fog of the war on disease finally lifts, Americans should ask for a clear-eyed review of the battle. One common-sense reform is worth consideration: Making federal disaster designation a more precise response to differing conditions on the ground rather than a bureaucratic rubber stamp.
Linda Tripp died last week at the age of 70. Perhaps second only to President Clinton, she remains the most polarizing figure of the 1998 impeachment investigation -- proceedings that would not have unfolded with such explosivity save for her surreptitious recording of White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
The fights this week at the Wisconsin state Supreme Court and at the U.S. Supreme Court ahead of the April 7 Wisconsin primary are prime examples of what can best be described as the "outcome-based adjudication" favored by liberal judicial activists. (It's not to be confused with outcome-based education.)
Epochal events don't come around often, thank goodness. One has turned up, uninvited, in 2020, and it is stretching the social fabric to the limit. As if the coronavirus weren't challenging enough, some deep thinkers read the sudden tumult that deadly contagion has wrought as proof that the world needs an overhaul. Rather than a wholesale overhaul, the world needs a simpler fix: A life-saving vaccine.
In Wisconsin at least, the show went on Tuesday, coronavirus or no coronavirus.
Health care workers are the heroes of the coronavirus crisis. They're the ones "running into the burning buildings instead of out," as just about everyone said regarding firefighters in the aftermath of 9/11. The doctors and nurses and orderlies who show up every day, work double- and triple-shifts treating the sick and searching for a cure deserve our thoughts and prayers and gratitude.
A drop in the price of life's necessities is a surprise boon for consumers, but it can mean a bust for producers. The global oil market has gone over a precipice -- partly owing to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and partly due to a price war -- and the U.S. oil industry is caught in the crossfire. Unless the disruptions subside, and quickly, President Trump should not hesitate to take steps to ensure the health of an enterprise that isn't simply vital to the American economy, but its national security.
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