Featured Commentary category, Page 24
Richard Davies: Trump uses power of outrage and keeps everyone guessing
President Donald Trump loves to keep us guessing. This is exactly what we’re all doing as his second term in the White House begins. It’s one way he controls the narrative. Trump’s off the cuff, unfiltered, controversial statements infuriate opponents and delight his supporters. The rest of us are left...
Claire B. Wofford: Federal threats against local officials on immigration orders could be unconstitutional
President Donald Trump has begun to radically change how the U.S. government handles immigration, from challenging long-held legal concepts about who gets citizenship to using the military to transport migrants back to their countries of origin. Trump’s administration is doing more than reshaping the approach of the federal government toward...
Mihir Sharma: India has good reason to help shore up Trump’s wall
India is proud of its diaspora. People of Indian extraction tend to earn well over the average wage in most countries and often fit seamlessly and unobtrusively into local power structures. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a point of cultivating Indians abroad and sometimes gifts foreign leaders a bit...
Bradford Fitch: 1 faction in Congress DOES look like America
Congress is often criticized for being “out of touch” with the American public. One biting critique is that Congress just doesn’t “look like” the constituents they represent. Its members are overwhelmingly more male, white, educated and older than the general U.S. population. And while this holds true for most of...
Andrea Boykowycz, Jala Rucker and Jon Hanrahan: Expanding Pittsburgh’s successful inclusionary zoning policy citywide
All of us, regardless of where we live or what we look like, deserve homes that are safe, affordable and accessible. Yet across Pittsburgh, housing has become increasingly unaffordable. Against this trend, a grassroots movement for housing justice has been gathering momentum. Among its successes is inclusionary zoning (IZ), which...
Lara Williams: Trump isn’t the biggest threat facing Greenland
Greenland is one of the few places on Earth where climate change is sometimes referred to as an opportunity by making it less inhabitable for those who live there and more accessible to those who don’t, a point not missed by leaders elsewhere. With the landmass no longer safely insulated...
George Skelton: Natural disasters can destroy a politician’s carefully crafted career — or burnish it
Former Vice President Kamala Harris took a wise step toward potentially running for governor in her first action after returning to California. She visited wildfire victims, volunteers and firefighters and helped distribute free meals to people burned out of their homes. That doesn’t mean she’s running for anything. It’s highly...
Sheldon H. Jacobson: Do stowaways on airplanes expose a security risk?
This month, two bodies were found in the wheel well of a JetBlue airplane that departed from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport en route to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The bodies had already begun to decompose, suggesting that the people had died some time before they were discovered....
Counterpoint: Trump’s empty words ignore the heavy price Americans could pay for his presidency
As Donald J. Trump returns to the role of U.S. president, many Americans ask themselves a simple question: Will his administration protect their pocketbooks, their way of life and their health? While we want our government to do just that, Trump focused his first speech as the 47th president of...
Point: In second inaugural, Trump skips ‘carnage,’ embraces optimism
The New York Times called it “A Grim Picture of America.” Politico labeled it “American Carnage, Part 2.” However, for most Americans, President Donald Trump’s second inaugural address was a positive, hopeful vision of his America First politics. And the days when negative media coverage could convince them otherwise are...
Michael Hiltzik: A stem cell clinic tees up a Supreme Court challenge to rules protecting patients’ health and safety
For years, the Food and Drug Administration has taken up arms against clinics hawking unproven and ineffective stem cell treatments to desperate patients looking for cures of intractable diseases and conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and even erectile dysfunction. As the FDA has repeatedly cautioned, there is no...
Rev. Martin R. Bartel: The buck (of incivility) stops here
Having inaugurated the 47th president this week, it is worth reflecting on the example set by Harry S. Truman, our 33rd president. Truman was known for a sign that sat on his desk in the Oval Office: The buck stops here. This sign, crafted at an Oklahoma Federal Reformatory, symbolized...
Sam Ahwesh: We must restore Pittsburgh’s protections for rodeo animals
If you live in Pittsburgh, you may be surprised to learn that a rodeo bull riding event will be coming to town this weekend. This is an alarming development, as Pittsburgh has had protections since 1992 to shield animals from some of the most egregious practices used in rodeos. These...
FD Flam: What longhorn crazy ants can teach us about groupthink
When scientists constructed a puzzle-solving task and pitted teams of people against teams of ants, the insects sometimes proved to be the smarter species. That’s not to denigrate human intelligence — ants are smart, and their feats of coordinated activity are rare in nature. Still, it is fair to say...
Dan DeBone: Literacy is essential; Pa.’s workforce depends on it
There’s a looming crisis threatening our future workforce and economic stability: Pennsylvania’s literacy crisis. Today, only 1 in 3 of Pennsylvania’s fourth-graders are reading proficiently. It is a flashing warning sign of a system that’s not adequately preparing our children for the future. By fourth grade, students transition from learning...
Madison Jackson: Pittsburgh’s public transit needs a winter wake-up call
Public transportation was a top factor in my decision to move to Pittsburgh four years ago. While I knew it wasn’t New York City or Washington, D.C., I was told by many people that Pittsburgh’s bus network was robust enough to live car-free in neighborhoods like Squirrel Hill and Shadyside....
David Mastio: 2 Trumps, contradictory as always, were on full display at his inauguration
If Donald Trump has a natural environment, it is cognitive dissonance. Nowhere was that on display more than the moment in his inauguration speech when he said, “I want to be a peacemaker and a unifier.” No American politician for 50 years has thrived more on strife and division than...
Derrick Tillman: Collaborations, investments key throughout Pittsburgh communities
Growing up in Section 8 housing, I witnessed firsthand the struggles of living day-to-day when it came to underserved and underrepresented populations. Not only did I see neighbors being displaced, but I saw family members wrestling with bills, trying to meet the needs of daily life. In each of those...
William Beaver: Does nuclear power have a future?
America will need more electricity to keep the lights on and our electronic devices running. The demand for electricity is predicted to increase by 18% by 2033 due largely to data centers needed for artificial intelligence and more electric vehicles. One of the ways to meet that demand would be...
Cal Thomas: The second time around for Trump
According to the Frank Sinatra song, “Love is lovelier, the second time around.” We’ll see how that works out in the second coming of Donald. J. Trump, now president of the United States for a second time, following a four-year “intermission.” The two terms will be a contrast in policy,...
Alison L. Steele: Linking Pa.’s shale gas industry to Calif. wildfires
Thousands of Californians have been displaced by wildfires that continue to rage across the landscape. Their homes and businesses have burned to the ground, and a growing number of lives have been lost. Many more families await evacuation orders, their bags packed, their children prepped, their pets leashed or caged,...
Colin P. Clarke: Why Israel can’t just ‘cut the head off’ of Hamas or Hezbollah
Since the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has been at war in the Middle East. The conflict has stretched across borders, spanning Gaza to Lebanon to Iran. Over the course of 15 months, the Israel Defense Forces and Israel’s intelligence services have taken the fight directly...
David L. Nevins: MAGA and immigration — the unstoppable force meets the immovable object
There’s an old saying about what happens when the unstoppable force meets an immovable object, a situation where two equally powerful and contradictory forces are in opposition to each other. Such a situation is rapidly unfolding between two powerful forces within the Republican Party on the all-important issue of immigration....
Cal Thomas: Trump’s second inaugural address
Who remembers Donald Trump’s first inaugural address? Probably not very many, unless they have Googled it, as I did. That’s likely because after the speech Trump became fixated on the size of the crowd, which he repeatedly claimed was larger than official estimates. As I reread it, I was surprised...
Shih-Yu Simon Wang: Fiery and icy weather of West, East coasts is no coincidence
The Hollywood sign stands sentinel above Los Angeles, watching as embers dance through the January night like wayward stars. Glowing debris floats on warm winds past million-dollar mansions, while emergency crews battle a blaze that shouldn’t exist — not in winter, not here, not now. Two thousand miles east, in...
