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The Page One coverage of the Wolf Road protest on June 14 was clearly merited by the protest's size, estimated to be between 6,000 and 8,000. The sidewalks along both sides of Wolf Road had never been so full, and the crowd was remarkably peaceful and good-spirited.

Credit is due to the organizers of this well-planned event as evidenced by volunteers who wore safety vests or carried pool noodles.

More credit is due to the Colonie Police Department whose professionalism was on display throughout the two-hour event. Beginning at noon, well ahead of the scheduled 1 p.m. start, officers appeared at points all along the two-mile stretch, soon to be joined by three officers on bikes who were in near-constant motion. For thoughtful planning and well-coordinated execution, Chief James Gerace and his team should stand tall.

Today, when some voices denigrate individuals committed to public service, it is more important than ever to acknowledge how much we rely on them to keep us safe. The citizens of Colonie are fortunate to have such a caring chief and well-prepared police department.

Published July 21, 2025

"No Kings" headlined recent nationwide protests. The U.S. Supreme Court wasn't listening.

Those demonstrators opposed President Donald Trump's assaults on the rule of law. With congressional Republicans terrorized, courts have provided the only check. Our Supreme Court should be the ultimate defender of that constraint upon the president. Instead, it has now emasculated the very branch of government it leads. It just marks another step in the march to authoritarianism.

Hannah Arendt wrote of how a society can be sucked into a black hole of ideas and beliefs defying rationality. It all becomes normalized. That's America today.

The court ruled that federal judges can no longer block, with nationwide effect, presidential actions found unlawful. It can take years before a matter finally wends its way to the Supreme Court. This turns a check on presidential power into virtually a blank check.

That some lone local judge could stop a president's order might seem problematic in ordinary times. But these are not ordinary times, not with a president so blatantly contemptuous of law, exemplified by his order voiding the Constitution's birthright citizenship provision.

Yet on that birthright citizenship question itself, the court kicked the can down the road, apparently leaving Trump's order, which no other authority thinks lawful, still in effect wherever no local judge has yet ruled. That throws into legal limbo the citizenship status of millions.

Those "No Kings" marchers could not have foreseen how close we actually are to having one.........

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