Author Archives: Ed Kowalski

By Ed Kowalski New York collected $1.3 billion in tax revenue from online sports betting this year. That is not pocket change. It is enough money to make even the most seasoned Albany politician briefly pause—before figuring out how to spend every last dime of it. Since online sports betting was legalized in 2022, theContinue reading “Albany Never Met a Dollar It Couldn’t Spend”

A Valley Viewpoint Narrative Let me begin with something that should not be controversial: I support law enforcement. Police officers deserve the technology, staffing, training, and community cooperation necessary to catch criminals and protect innocent people. If a camera helps locate a kidnapped child, recover a stolen vehicle, or identify someone fleeing a violent crime,Continue reading “Flock Cameras: Public Safety Cannot Become a Blank Check for Mass Surveillance”

The Valley Viewpoint is launching a Courtwatch Program across the Hudson Valley — in both federal and state courts. Why? Because justice must be seen to be real.Too often, bail and pretrial hearings happen out of sight—impacting jobs, families, and futures. We’re changing that. 👀 What we’ll do: Use virtual court access to observe hearingsContinue reading “New Initiative Alert 🚨”

First off, we’ve got more rules than a Catholic school cafeteria. Taxes? Confiscatory. Regulations? Smothering. And behind it all is the old boys’ network, greased by special interests from Buffalo to Montauk. Doesn’t matter if it’s a Democrat or Republican running the show—everyone’s making sure their slice of the pie is safely wrapped in tinfoil.Continue reading “What’s wrong with New York State? Pull up a chair, this won’t take long.”

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has publicly reprimanded Judge Shelley Joseph for her conduct during a 2018 courthouse incident in which an undocumented immigrant avoided an ICE agent waiting to arrest him. The court did not find that Joseph knew about—or authorized—the defendant’s departure through a rear courthouse door. That distinction matters. Judges, like everyoneContinue reading “When a Judge Creates the Appearance of Two Systems of Justice”

There is nothing wrong with an elected official using social media to communicate with the public. In today’s world, it would be political malpractice not to. But there is a vast difference between communicating directly with citizens and quietly assembling an online army to distribute government-approved talking points while pretending to offer independent commentary. ThatContinue reading “City Hall’s Influencer Army: When Public Information Becomes Political Propaganda”

There are few institutions in American life that demand more trust than the judiciary. Federal judges possess enormous power. They can take away liberty, determine the fate of property, compel compliance with court orders and hold ordinary citizens in contempt. Their rulings can alter lives permanently. With that power must come a standard of conductContinue reading “The Robes Cannot Become a Shield”

U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom of the Southern District of Florida recently warned that judges and members of the legal profession must do a better job educating the public about the judiciary’s essential role in American democracy. Her comments followed the release of two reports raising separate but closely related concerns: increasing threats against judgesContinue reading “Judicial Independence Must Be Earned—and Defended”

There was a time when Americans worried about an imperial presidency. Perhaps we should also be asking whether we are witnessing the rise of an imperial judiciary. That question has once again moved to the center of American politics because of U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, the Massachusetts federal judge who has repeatedly intervened in PresidentContinue reading “Judge Talwani and the Rise of the Imperial Judiciary”

So, what am I writing about now? Guitars and pens. At first glance, they may not appear to have much in common. But both are tools—tools for expressing thoughts and feelings that might otherwise remain buried somewhere inside us. I’m fortunate enough to own both, and I use them as best I can to giveContinue reading “Guitars and Pens”

“Ed’s a great guy. I’m just not sure about his politics.” That sentence says more about where we are today than it probably intended. Apparently, being a “great guy” is no longer enough. Character, kindness, loyalty and how someone treats other people all come with a political asterisk. Before deciding whether a person is trulyContinue reading “When Politics Becomes a Personality Test”

A neighbor who recently welcomed twins was walking through my neighborhood over the weekend. Naturally, I stopped to ask how they were doing with their new babies, including their son. As we talked about the exhaustion, excitement and enormous responsibility that come with bringing children into the world, I found myself thinking about what childrenContinue reading “The Greatest Gift a Parent Can Give”