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Blame higher home costs on intrusive governments

Home prices keep rising. One reason is that today’s houses are bigger. Buyers now want more rooms, washers and dryers and air-conditioning. But even if you adjust for the improvements, houses cost more today. Why? Politicians blame big companies like Blackstone, Invitation Homes and JPMorgan because they’ve been buying thousands of homes. “It’s troubling,” says Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., that homes are bought “not by families who want to live in them, but by speculators who want to use them to generate financial returns.” “It’s shameful,” agrees ...

Orchids & onions

ORCHID: To the Kimberly-Clark Corp., the Mahoning Valley’s newest premium employer, for recently announcing its donation of a whopping 15 million Huggies diapers to the National Diaper Bank Network. Member diaper banks serve children and families in 33 U.S. states, including at its Mahoning Valley location at Project MKC in Boardman (projectmkc.org), formerly known as Making Kids Count. According to NDBN, it distributes essential products to more than 280,000 children monthly, so Kimberly-Clark’s most generous gift definitely will not go unwanted or unneeded. ORCHID: To the top ...

Celebrate, observe one full century of Black History Month

2026 has dawned as a momentous red-letter year for American history. As most know by now, the United States already has launched America250, its supersized patriotic bash to commemorate its 250th anniversary as a proud independent nation. What far fewer of us recognize, however, is that another proud cultural phenomenon literally seeped in history will mark its milestone 100th anniversary this weekend on Feb. 1. That observance, of course, is Black History Month. The roots of Black History Month date to 1926, when revered Dr. Carter G. Woodson and his Association for the Study of ...

The wrong narrative

If you follow what presents itself as “reporting” these days ,you have likely heard about a 5-year-old boy in Minneapolis who was used as “bait” to get his father, who had abandoned him, to return so he could be arrested. Some claimed the child had been “kidnapped” by ICE. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) rushed to the cameras to promote the “bait” and “kidnapped” narrative. Hillary Clinton said ICE was using children as “pawns,” and Kamala Harris also repeated the “bait” label. The women on “The View” echoed the same theme. Their talking points were ...

Every aspect of Epstein scandal must be probed

Of course, Bill Clinton should cooperate with any investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s trafficking of underage girls. The suggestion that Democrats would shield a former president from questions that might tarnish his legacy speaks ill of Democrats. This concerns a criminal enterprise, not bad-boy behavior. Democrats siding with the pursuit of justice should be commended. Nine of them joined Republicans on the House Oversight Committee in voting to hold Clinton in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify. Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) then gave Clinton two weeks to ...

The American police state has arrived

In recent days, the government in America has not only failed to protect the freedom of speech, it has attacked it. Like authoritarians throughout history, it has sought to silence the speech it hates and fears. But most authoritarians did not have a Constitution that was written as an intentional obstacle to them. In Miami last week, Raquel Pacheco posted a Tweet/X calling Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) a hypocrite for supporting the free speech of those who want Israel to take over Gaza, but opposing the free speech of those who want a Palestinian state. When she received a visit from two ...