Author: Peter Roff

Washington, D.C. – The nation’s plunge into inflation-fueled economic doldrums may be linked to the lack of practical, real-world business experience of many of President Joe Biden’s top officials, a report released Thursday suggests. “The United States has the highest inflation rate in four decades. The stock market sell-off has liquidated $10 trillion of wealth. Retirement savings are dwindling. Consumer, small business, and investor confidence are shrinking. There’s widespread concern that America is at best teetering on the edge of a recession and may already be in one. And, in terms of growth, the economy has flatlined,” said The Committee to…

Washington, D.C. – With the U.S. economy teetering on the edge of a recession, Senate democrats attempted this week to revive President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill on a much-reduced scale. The effort, sparked by renewed negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, is being described by some as a last-ditch effort to get something through Congress before it adjourns for the summer. Manchin, it should be recalled, almost single-handedly torpedoed the effort to get the administration’s original proposal passed. By opposing it, he denied Democrats the opportunity to create a situation in…

Monmouth Beach, N.J. – On July 3, 1776 – the Second Continental Congress having the day before enacted a resolution declaring the political ties between United Colonies and Great Britain “totally dissolved” – an excited John Adams, a delegate from the Massachusetts Bay colony wrote a letter to his wife Abigail, then living with their children outside Boston. Adams was a dour man, given to bouts of depression and known for his generally bleak outlook. He was also one of the finest legal minds in North America, having won an acquittal for the British soldiers accused of perpetrating the Boston Massacre…

Washington, D.C. – Thanks to Joe Biden’s mishandling of the economy – and just about everything else – the Democrats seem to be falling apart. Less than 40 percent of all Americans believe he is doing a good job as president. That seemingly should create an opening into which the GOP can slide easily, leaving them in a good position to stop Biden from raising taxes, pursuing the Green New Deal, and putting Build Back Better into place piece by piece. The GOP unfortunately, never seems to let an opportunity to ruin a good thing go to waste. Divisions within the…

Washington, D.C. – A new media analysis of U.S. voter registration data shows that more than one million voters have reregistered as Republicans over the last year. That number, while dramatic on its own, might just be a glimpse into the changes that are ongoing in the national electorate. No one will know until the next election whether this high number of voters re-registering as Republicans – and it’s important to note that not every state requires or even allows a voter to select a party affiliation when registering – reflects a changing attitude among the American electorate or an underhanded…

Whether or not Marie Antoinette said rioting French peasants upset about the shortage of bread to feed their families should “eat cake” instead is not important. The idea that she did has been passed down, generation to generation, as the perfect illustration of how the isolated elites in a society can become hopelessly out of touch. This is not just a problem for the rich but also for the powerful, who use their positions to grant themselves perks that alleviate the need for them to worry about the kinds of things that keep the rest of us at night. Like…

Washington, D.C. – What do we think about America in these troubling times? One of my political mentors taught me to look at her as “a great country, filled with good people who sometimes do amazing things.” It’s an apt description, even now. It’s one of the first things I thought of when I heard how an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent grabbed a borrowed shotgun and rushed to Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas to help rescue people in need as soon as he heard there was trouble. “With (the) assistance of two officers, who provided cover, and another two…

Washington, D.C. – The draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion in a Mississippi abortion case is not mentioned in biblical prophecy. Given the way people have reacted to it, you’d think it not only was but that it was a sign the end of the world was at hand. It isn’t, so you can all breathe easier. What it does foretell is the end of a status quo in place since the Burger Court issued the Roe decision in 1973, effectively making abortion legal through the ninth month of pregnancy throughout the United States. Supporters and opponents of what Alito had to say…

Washington, D.C. – Despite pushing Congress to approve an additional $33 billion in lethal aid to Ukraine amidst its ongoing effort to repel Russian invaders and drive them from their homeland, U.S. voters still regard President Joe Biden as a weaker leader than any of his predecessors. The polling firm Rasmussen Reports queried 1,000 U.S. voters likely to cast ballots in the next election about their feelings regarding Biden’s leadership. Only 24 percent of those who responded said they found him to be a “stronger commander-in-chief” than those who preceded him in office. The public’s view of Biden’s ability to handle pressing issues…

Washington, D.C. – The Biden administration is over. Sure, he has another two years plus in the White House and might even win a second term (if he runs and if the GOP nominates an unelectable candidate), but he’s lost the ability to set the agenda for the country, and he’s not getting it back. Some people argue he’s been derailed by events which, as former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan famously said presented the biggest challenge to any administration, but that’s not true. Biden and his people have exhibited a degree of organizational incompetence and a tin ear for the…