Opinion

Under pressure from health-care providers, myself, and many other elected officials, the New York State Department of Health announced [Feb. 18] that it would not be enforcing a booster-shot mandate for health-care workers that was scheduled to start on [Feb. 21.] This reversal is a win for our health-care heroes. It averted what would have […]

The 2022 Winter Olympics, [having recently wrapped up] in Beijing, again focused the world’s attention on China. The games provided China with an opportunity to impress a worldwide audience and to distract attention from criticism over human-rights violations and other issues. But there is rarely a time when China is not in the spotlight. With the

Masks, mandates, and more control New York’s mask mandate for businesses finally ended [on Feb. 10]. On [Feb. 9], Gov. Kathy Hochul lifted an executive order requiring masks to be worn indoors for some places, but she has kept the requirement in place for children in schools. There does not appear to be any scientific explanation

A few weeks ago, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman made a startling suggestion. He proposed a cross-party 2024 presidential ticket: Joe Biden and Liz Cheney, perhaps, or Kamala Harris and Mitt Romney, or another combination of a leading Democrat and an anti-Trump Republican.  Friedman’s reasoning is that the U.S. is at a crossroads, and he contends

Over the past two months, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) establishment survey has shown gains of 1 million new jobs, but it is coming at the same time as red-hot 7 percent inflation, a collapsing 10-year [yield] and 2-year yield, and 5.7 percent economic growth in 2021. And yet [we see] projected GDP growth [forecast]

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is the largest peacetime alliance in the world and has been arguably the most successful such alliance in history. It has had remarkable success in achieving its basic goals: containing Soviet expansion, checking the rise of nationalism, and helping integrate Europe.  NATO provides a model for multinational cooperation — something

[The Jan. 28] decision by the Farm Laborers Wage Board [to lower the overtime threshold for farm workers to 40-hours per week] demonstrates how completely tone-deaf Albany bureaucrats are to the needs of the state’s agriculture industry.  Despite hours of testimony, multiple financial reports, and real-world accounts of the devastating impacts a lower overtime threshold will

It’s been [just over] a year since Joe Biden took office as president, and though it’s still too early to draw firm conclusions about his performance, it’s not too early to discern some trends. Especially in light of how Biden positioned himself in the 2020 campaign and, I believe, how he still sees himself: as a centrist

The recently unveiled executive budget proposal should be no surprise to anyone who has lived in New York state in the last decade. Spending is looking again to be record-setting, and the $216 billion proposal on the table would represent the largest in the history of the state if passed as it stands. As history has

We Americans share a common faith in democracy as the best and most-just system of governance. We treasure government “of the people, by the people and for the people.” With the founders, we believe that governments derive their authority from the consent of the governed. For generations, we have seen the United States as the world’s champion