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Against the absolute

There seems to be something of a “my way or the highway” malaise in our culture at the moment, spurred on by the actions of President Trump and Elon Musk as they attempt to reshape the federal government. We have talked about our stance on this somewhat before in our previous editorial, titled “Simplicity,” but we wanted to expand the premise slightly in what could be considered a sequel. In yesterday’s edition of The Express, the op-ed page contained a column by Cal Thomas. Much of his column lambasted Democrats for their ineffectuality and inability to learn from their ...

Completing the picture

There is a story in today’s paper that we wanted to call attention to, on page B4: “Trump wants to undo diversity programs. Some agencies react by scrubbing US history and culture.” The story covers, in part, the short-lived removal of information about the Tuskegee Airmen after President Trump’s DEI executive order. Go ahead, read it. We’ll wait. You’re back? Alright. The key thing about this story that we want to highlight is that the original story broke a week ago, right after Trump took office. As the story notes, the move was “swiftly rescinded after a ...

Simplicity

There is a fundamental drive to keep things simple. To some degree, President Trump campaigned — and won — on it: his “revolution of common sense.” And, yeah. People like when you talk at their level, when you make them feel seen. Columnist Salena Zito has written about it numerous times over the last few years. While Democratic candidates typically stay in metro areas, Republicans have been far better over the last several decades at actually going into the wilderness and meeting people where they are, which, as a rural area, we obviously think is great. People here, and ...

Of chestnuts, festivals and the place we call home

There’s a new festival in town. This past weekend saw the first-ever PA Chestnut Festival, held in Castanea to a stupendous turnout well in the hundreds, despite the freezing temperatures. The addition of the Chestnut Festival to the region’s thriving pool of events, fairs and fests brings some activity to one of the coldest — and typically quietest — times of the year. And, its success shows that the cold won’t stop people from turning out for a good time, which opens the door to more winter events being added to the region’s roster. This is a big win for the whole ...

Mill Hall pool is a community asset, and it needs your help

People can be short-sighted creatures, for sure. It can be very difficult to process that in just a few brief months, we will once again be outdoors in shorts — can you imagine it, looking outside? — with birdsong in the air and pollen in our noses. It is a high winter tradition for many gardeners to select and order their seeds in the coldest time of the year, to help feel connected to those warmer, happier months when things grow. Likewise, even though the ground is snow-covered and swimming is the furthest thing from most of our minds, now is the time to prepare. We write, ...

MLK Day reminds us all must be equal

On Friday, Biden made some noise about the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), and how he said it should be considered adopted. However, he proceeded to not pressure the archivist to publish the amendment, which makes it unlikely that anything will come of it. The amendment was first introduced in 1923, where it languished until the 1960s. In 1972, it was finally submitted for consideration by the states, but it was given a seven-year deadline, which was eventually extended further, until 1982. Under deadline, it maxed out at 35 of the required 38 states for ratification, although it ...