I came to Manhattan in 1990 because I was young and ambitious. To my good fortune, a humming economy and effective policing techniques based on the broken-windows theory made it relatively easy for me to start a family and a business here. Today, however, it feels as if the conditions that made New York a destination for businesses and families in the 1990s are no more.

There may be no greater symbol of decay than the ubiquitous stench of marijuana. I smell it when I leave my apartment building at 6:45 a.m. and when I come home at night. As the health of public finance declines in societies, so does private virtue. This is often because enterprising politicians find it easier to use vice as a source of public funding instead of making sober fiscal choices.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

There may be no greater symbol of decay in New York City than the ubiquitous stench of marijuana, writes Jason De Sena Trennerthttps://t.co/eJT4sJfZ7g

— Wall Street Journal Opinion (@WSJopinion) March 8, 2023

Remember, O Lord, according to the multitude of thy mercies, thy whole Church, all who join with us in prayer, and all our brethren, wherever they may be in thy vast kingdom, who stand in need of thy grace and succour. Pour down upon us all the riches of thy mercy, so that, preserved in soul and body, and steadfast in our faith, we may ever praise thy wonderful and holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Good morning from Bluffton #Southcarolina #photos #everydayissgift #weekend #scwx ⁦@EdPiotrowski⁩ pic.twitter.com/uMytDcmObi

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) March 11, 2023

Declare this in the house of Jacob,
proclaim it in Judah:
“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes, but see not,
who have ears, but hear not.
Do you not fear me? says the Lord;
Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand as the bound for the sea,
a perpetual barrier which it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail,
though they roar, they cannot pass over it.
But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away.
They do not say in their hearts,
”˜Let us fear the Lord our God,
who gives the rain in its season,
the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
the weeks appointed for the harvest.’
Your iniquities have turned these away,
and your sins have kept good from you.
For wicked men are found among my people;
they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.
They set a trap;
they catch men.
Like a basket full of birds,
their houses are full of treachery;
therefore they have become great and rich,
they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness;
they judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
Shall I not punish them for these things?
says the Lord,
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?”

An appalling and horrible thing
has happened in the land:
the prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule at their direction;
my people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes?

–Jeremiah 5:20-31

6:35 a.m. — The final sunrise before the clocks change in Charleston, S.C. #CHSwx #SCwx @Live5News pic.twitter.com/t1ZOxfhvNN

— Andrew Rowan (@andrewrowan128) March 11, 2023