Category Archives: Uncategorized

Sometimes the legal system reaches a result so disconnected from common sense that it forces ordinary people to ask a very simple question: What exactly is the system trying to protect? This week’s court decision involving the takeover of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University provides a case study. You may remember the event. During theContinue reading “When the Legal System Forgets the Crime”

I read recently that St. Elizabeth’s Church in Yorkville may soon be demolished. It caught my attention immediately. Not because I’ve attended Mass there in years, but because St. Elizabeth’s is the church where I was baptized. And when a place like that is disappearing, you realize it was never just a building. It wasContinue reading “When the Church Where You Were Baptized Is Disappearing — St. Elizabeth’s”

The U.S. Supreme Court this week confronted a question that strikes at the core of the American justice system: what happens when the judge is the problem? That question surfaced during arguments in United States v. Carter, a case forcing the justices to consider whether a defendant who signs away the right to appeal inContinue reading “When the Judge Is the Problem: Can a Plea Bargain Block the Appeal?”

There are resolutions that fix roads. There are resolutions that allocate funding. There are resolutions that directly affect the daily lives of the people who pay the taxes. And then there is Resolution No. 2026030. The Dutchess County Legislature has introduced Resolution 2026030 to formally oppose a proposed federal immigration detention or processing facility. TheContinue reading “Resolution 2026030: Governance or Grandstanding?”

Every now and then, the U.S. Supreme Court hands down a ruling that doesn’t just tweak policy — it redraws the boundary between government and family. This week was one of those moments. In a 6–3 decision, the Court granted an emergency application brought by the Thomas More Society in Mirabelli v. Bonta, effectively shuttingContinue reading “Valley Viewpoint: The Supreme Court Just Drew a Line — And It’s About Parents”

You know, I probably do need to get out more often. Most people unwind with Netflix. I apparently unwind with 16th-century Jesuits. I just finished reading the Examen of St. Ignatius Loyola, and something in it stopped me cold. Ignatius makes a point that feels almost uncomfortable in its clarity: prayer must be followed byContinue reading “Before You Say “I’m Praying for You””

There are lessons I didn’t learn in school. I learned them in courtrooms.In boardrooms.On subway platforms waiting for a downtown train.Behind a radio microphone before sunrise.In the quiet after arguments.In the stillness of walking the dog when the world finally shuts up. And somewhere along the way, I learned how to find my voice. NotContinue reading “What I Learned the Hard Way”

“It’s gonna be a tough next 18 years.” Those were the words my friend’s daughter was forced to hear in a recent divorce proceeding. Not spoken in sorrow. Not said with regret. Said almost as a promise. He was referring to their little girl — still young enough to need bedtime stories and reassurance —Continue reading “Grace Is Cheaper Than Litigation”

There are moments in New York politics when something big is happening — but it’s happening quietly. No rallies. No floor debates dominating the evening news. No headline screaming “Your Taxes Are About to Go Up.” Instead, it’s tucked into budget language. An opinion piece this weekend in the New York Post laid out whatContinue reading “VALLEY VIEWPOINT: The $100 Billion Question No One’s Talking About”

When a Marist College poll drops numbers like this, it isn’t background noise.It’s an alarm bell.Let’s stop dancing around it.Chuck Schumer — Senate Majority Leader, permanent fixture on cable news — is sitting at just 27% “excellent” or “good” among New York voters.Sixty-five percent rate him fair or poor.Forty-one percent say poor.That’s not mild dissatisfaction.That’sContinue reading “The Empire Is Cracking — And Voters Just Said So”

Over the course of my career, I have reviewed thousands of spreadsheets. Revenue projections. Compensation models. Benefits renewals. Payroll registers. Insurance exposure. Bonus accruals. Workforce plans. Every organization obsesses over the visible balance sheet — assets, liabilities, margins, cost controls. We debate capital expenditures and operating expenses. We scrutinize EBITDA. We forecast risk. But thereContinue reading “The Balance Sheet You Can’t See: Human Capital”

Up here in the Hudson Valley, we understand something instinctively: if you belong to something, it means something. You belong to a fire district — you pay into it. You belong to a school district — you vote in it. You belong to a country — you shape its future. That’s why the debate overContinue reading “Valley Viewpoint: Citizenship Is Not a Suggestion”