Featured Commentary category, Page 41
Doyle McManus: A lesson from Presidents Biden and Trump — the new normal is nonstop crises
A poll published by the Economist this month included a finding that was striking yet unsurprising: Almost 7 in 10 Americans believe things in the country have spun out of control. That’s a problem for President Joe Biden, who campaigned in 2020 offering a return to normalcy after four years...
Juana Saunders: Transparency would help restore confidence in our judiciary
The last time I saw my 26-year-old son, Gerald Thomas, was in Allegheny Court of Common Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani’s courtroom. The judge profiled and belittled him in open court, and needlessly extended his pretrial incarceration. My son died in jail shortly after. When I learned about the Judicial Conduct...
Joe Guzzardi: VP sweepstakes coming into final stretch
Former President Donald J. Trump may be tied up in a Manhattan courtroom, but he’s active online. One of his fundraising efforts asks supporters to help him choose his vice president. In a mass email, Trump asked, “Which person would you select as your next vice president? Type in the...
Jared Bahir Browsh: Sports gambling creates a windfall, but raises questions of integrity
Sports betting is having a big moment across the United States. While gambling on sports has been legal for decades in countries such as the U.K., it wasn’t until 2018 that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could legalize sports betting. Before then, sports betting had been permitted only...
Danny Tyree: Is ‘value’ a dirty word?
As I sit here admiring my 88-cent container of mustard, I can’t help feeling self-conscious. I know that restaurants advertise their “value menus” and retailers offer no-frills knockoffs of their glitziest products, but I keep picturing the corporate CEOs loathing such concessions as a necessary evil to appease the (ugh!)...
Dave Anderson: Discard the principle vs. compromise distinction
One of the most basic conflicts in politics, and in life in general, is whether to stand by your principles or be open to compromise. Woodrow Wilson is known as a president who stood by his principles regarding America’s need to join the League of Nations, an organization he proposed...
Seth Greenland: Have we learned nothing? The protester’s taunt, ‘Go back to Poland,’ is grotesque
When it was reported that a demonstrator near Columbia University had loudly suggested Jews should go back to Poland, I was already there. My wife, son and daughter and I were visiting Holocaust sites in Eastern Europe. My father’s family is from Poland and Ukraine, and many of our relatives...
Parmy Olson: If AI wrecks democracy, we may never know
This year promises to be a whopper for elective government, with billions of people — or more than 40% of the world’s population — able to vote in an election. But nearly five months into 2024, some government officials are quietly wondering why the looming risk of AI hasn’t, apparently,...
Claudine Sipili: The rising tide — bear witness to families swept into homelessness
Newly released federal data reveals an intensifying homelessness crisis impacting families across America. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report found a staggering 15.5% increase in the number of families with children experiencing homelessness compared with 2022, reversing the downward trend in family homelessness that...
Meredith Elizalde: Legislators must save our children from gun violence
The Democratic Party has traditionally been supportive of gun safety legislation. Therefore, it should be a safe assumption when you cast a vote for a state representative on the Democratic ticket, that you are also casting a vote for gun safety. However, Rep. Frank Burns, D-Cambria, consistently defies this, as...
Gillian Kratzer: Pa. surplus should help all residents
I guess it’s not important to keep $14 billion sitting in a bank account in Harrisburg after all. In February, Gov. Josh Shapiro introduced a budget with strong investments in education, community development and public transit. It included proposals to address housing, gun violence, teacher recruitment, higher education costs, medical...
Jason W. Park: Keeping guns from falling in the wrong hands — lessons from Charlotte
On April 30, four police officers were killed in a shooting while attempting to serve a warrant at a home in Charlotte, N.C. Four other law enforcement officers were wounded during the incident. Officers returned fire and the suspect was killed in the ensuing melee. How can we prevent another...
Erika Strassburger: Keep Pa.’s clean energy momentum going
Pennsylvania has the potential to become a leader in 21st-century clean energy like wind and solar. To realize that potential, we need to make concerted efforts to invest in these industries across the commonwealth, continuing to grow the number of good-paying, clean energy jobs created through President Biden’s clean energy...
Peter Morici: Americans are down on the economy — but there are good reasons to be optimistic
Americans are down on the economy, and many believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. Yet the aggregate metrics of U.S. economic health are good. Consumer spending and business investment, especially in industrial equipment, information processing and software, continue to power growth, while U.S. unemployment has been below...
Katie M. Shipp: Addressing sexual violence with young people
As the academic year draws to a close, it’s important to spend some time reflecting on the lessons our children have absorbed over the past school year and the values we hope they will carry with them as they journey forward. Amidst the current landscape punctuated by headlines such as...
Dr. Debra Bogen: Applesauce recall shows importance of testing all children for lead poisoning
For more than 50 years, we have known that lead poisoning can have devastating effects on children’s developing brains. Lead is a neurotoxin, and there is no safe blood lead level for children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), lead exposure in children can result in...
Danny Tyree: Yearning for random thoughts about Mother’s Day?
Believe it or not, Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” makes me think of Mother’s Day. Remember the scene where Allen’s character Alvy was stuck in line at the movies, subjected to the pompous blathering of a pseudo-intellectual? When the topic turned to media philosopher Marshall McLuhan, Alvy handily produced McLuhan himself...
Kislaya Prasad : AI is moving fast; AI regulation needs to catch up
Artificial intelligence is already affecting our lives in many positive ways, automating tasks, helping to diagnose medical issues and acting as a voice-controlled virtual assistant for many. Still, there is a very real danger of misuse and unintended consequences of the technology, as we saw recently in Maryland, with the...
Joyce M. Davis: Student’s death alarms Black parents who fear for children’s safety
“For sure in this township … if it was Blacks that did this there would be no hesitation … they would already at DCP (Dauphin County Prison).” That’s only one of a slew of angry comments on social media following the death of 16-year-old Justin Johnson. It’s reminding many of...
Alejandra Marquez Guajardo: Mexico emerges as a destination for Americans seeking reproductive health services — not for the first time
When its six-week abortion ban went into effect on May 1, Florida joined nearly two dozen other U.S. states that ban abortion or greatly restrict it. These laws came into effect after the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade ended nearly 50 years of the constitutional right...
Commentary: Americans might finally get a real privacy law to fight Big Tech intrusions
Last month, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., unveiled a rare government feat: a bipartisan bill that has lawmakers feeling “optimistic” and “fired up.” It’s the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA), and it’s long overdue. The U.S. lags far behind the rest of the world on...
Counterpoint: Students’ struggle for justice in Gaza must be protected at all costs
University campuses nationwide have long been the focus of political debates and battles in the form of protests and demonstrations. In recent weeks, students galvanized by their consciences have been leading an anti-war movement that our nation hasn’t seen the likes of in decades, and it is spreading like wildfire....
Point: Protesters are adamant — eliminate Israel
The protesters taking over college campuses are not antisemitic, so we’re told, but they want to destroy the only Jewish state. They just want all of the Jews to go … somewhere else. They chant for the creation of Palestine “from the river to the sea,” an explicit call for...
Patrice Tomcik: New protections will save lives and slash climate pollution from coal plants
In Southwestern Pennsylvania where I live with my family, the Keystone and Conemaugh power plants have been burning coal for more than 50 years, filling the air with potentially life-altering pollution and fouling the region’s water and soil with mercury-laced waste. Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency took action that...
Sheldon H. Jacobson: If inflation is down, why are so many people unhappy?
The Federal Reserve reports inflation is down, though it continues to remain above its 2% target level. The most recent report showed inflation was hovering around 3.5% (year-to-year), from a high of 9.1% in June 2022. Yet many people do not feel good about their financial situation, with inflation one...
