Featured Commentary category, Page 43
Leonard Greene: O.J. Simpson ex-teammate says trial showed ‘Black man can buy justice like a white man’
If there is anybody with a unique perspective on the O.J. Simpson saga, it’s Boston lawyer Eddie Jenkins. Not only is Jenkins, a former president of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association, well versed on the subject of jury nullification, he had a front row seat to the vanity show as...
Cheryl Allen: Retail marijuana would hurt Pa., especially our young people
Government officials should refrain from promoting a predatory industry whose very existence relies upon drug dependency. This was my message to state representatives in Harrisburg as I was invited to share testimony during a recent committee hearing on marijuana legalization. I have extensive experience with young people and their parents...
Cal Thomas: It’s a taxing time
Was it as bad for you as it was for me? Sending Washington money we earn, but Washington doesn’t, I mean? It’s not just being part of half the nation that pays taxes while the other half doesn’t that bothers me. It’s the waste and unnecessary programs and agencies that...
Ashleigh Strange: Shapiro administration will remain stalwart for LGBTQ+ Pennsylvanians
“Be Who You Are” by Todd Parr, a picture book for children that encourages them to embrace who they are inside, was selected for a drag queen story hour at the Lancaster Area Public Library. Lancaster Pride had made plans to host on March 23 — just a week before...
Aviva Lubowsky: A progressive Jew’s take on the PA-12 race
Back in the 1990s, I was in Poland visiting a concentration camp. As I exited the gas chamber, I looked across the camp to the barbed wire fence. Immediately beyond it were the backyards of the residents of the town in which the camp was situated. “Were those houses there...
Cindy Black: Remove foreign-influenced corporate money from our elections now
Federal law is clear: Foreign money is prohibited in U.S. elections. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC created a loophole allowing corporations with significant foreign ownership to use their corporate coffers to spend unlimited amounts of money in U.S. elections. With the next presidential election...
Point: IRS Direct simplifies tax filing, saves money
If there’s one thing we should be able to agree upon, it’s that everyone should pay the taxes they owe without having to pay for the privilege of doing so. This year, for the first time, residents of 12 states who file simple tax returns can file online for free...
Counterpoint: IRS shouldn’t be trusted with Direct File
Tax Day looms, and the taxman cometh. It is a certainty, as Ben Franklin said. This year, the Internal Revenue Service has launched a pilot program dubbed “Direct File” through which Americans can opt to have the IRS prepare their taxes for free (well, except for the billions of taxpayer...
Zach Kennedy: The pathway to preserving Pittsburgh’s steel industry
Throughout America and internationally, Pittsburgh is recognized as the Steel City. From the namesake of our storied pro football franchise to the production of the tanks that defeated the Nazis in World War II, steel is in our DNA and remains a cornerstone of our culture. It should come as...
Carl Kurlander: Development of Salk polio vaccine still one of our greatest stories
On April 12, 2005, I found myself at the Cathedral of Learning with students of mine from the University of Pittsburgh interviewing those who had worked with Dr. Jonas Salk to develop a vaccine that would conquer the most feared disease of the 20th century — polio. During that anniversary...
Steve Hvozdovich: Investing in clean water
Pennsylvania is an old state with old infrastructure. As the commonwealth boomed in the early to mid-20th century, we built roads, bridges, highways and water systems. But as the commonwealth has aged, so too has our infrastructure, and we have struggled to maintain it. Some of those signs of aging...
Bradford Fitch: Congress needs fixing, but it got some advice from an unexpected source
After watching President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, it would be easy to conclude that members of Congress have little interest in, and do not value, civility, bipartisanship and collaboration as a means to address the challenges our nation faces. But a recent survey of some other folks...
James Stavridis: ISIS attacks show the war on terror is heating up
Are we back to fighting the Global War on Terror? The attack in a Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people last month should be a wake-up call to the whole world, especially with the Olympics coming this summer in Paris. It is thought that four members of ISIS-K, an...
Bruce Cooper and Mark Reynolds: Polluters should pay for damage to climate
In his recent State of the Union speech, President Biden highlighted how his climate policies are helping Americans by bringing record investment and jobs to the U.S. The positive economic impacts of investments in clean energy — a reported $240 billion in clean energy funding and 170,000 jobs from the...
LZ Granderson: Netanyahu owes U.S. better answers about Gaza
We as Americans should be asking hard questions about Benjamin Netanyahu. Does the prime minister have a vision to end Israel’s war in Gaza that doesn’t include us subsidizing indefinite occupation? Is he capable of the kind of diplomacy that’s necessary for peace? His history with four U.S. presidents is...
Sean Carroll: Mail-in voting makes sense, and it works
I’ve just received by mail-in ballot for the April 23 primary election, and I’m excited to take a look at the choices and cast my votes. Having the opportunity to send my votes on a mail-in ballot is convenient, safe and legitimate. With my actual live ballot in hand, I...
Jim Lee: Is Trump really leading in battleground Pa.?
Several national pollsters have concluded that Donald Trump is leading in Pennsylvania over President Biden. The RealClearPolitics polling average as of April 3 shows Trump with a 0.6% edge in the Keystone State. Some pollsters even show Trump at 52% support. Susquehanna Polling and Research takes issue with some of...
Nathan Benefield: Governor’s campaign slogans won’t fix Pa.
Though elected in 2022, Gov. Josh Shapiro remains stuck in campaign mode, offering one empty platitude after another while avoiding the hard work Pennsylvanians elected him to do. Despite his incessant mantra of “getting stuff done,” Shapiro has done the opposite. His first year ranks him as the least productive...
Sean Kim Butorac: How struggles over immigration echo conflict over slavery
In November, the Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill 4 to empower state law enforcement to arrest suspected undocumented immigrants. First-time offenders face six months of imprisonment, while second-timers can be incarcerated for up to 20 years. Texas prisons are already overcrowded, inhumane spaces. During last year’s heat wave, more than...
Carl P. Leubsdorf: Why both campaigns need all that cash
Money, the legendary California Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh said, “is the mother’s milk of politics.” Judging from the way cash is flowing into the Biden and Trump campaign coffers, each of the major 2024 presidential campaigns has no shortage of mothers. On March 28, President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign raised...
Commentary: Premature Alzheimer’s diagnosis using pseudoscience is dangerous
When I turned 60, my primary care physician said something profound: “There is no reason for someone to wake up in this day and age and find that they have advanced colon cancer.” It was a nudge in the right direction. Early detection and early intervention have been medicine’s mantra...
Al Schmidt: Be an astute consumer of election information
When I became secretary of the commonwealth, I vowed to visit all 67 county election offices to hear firsthand about the challenges they face when running elections. Although I ran elections in Philadelphia for 10 years as a city commissioner, I knew that other counties face far different challenges, and...
Simona Stan: Port of Baltimore bridge collapse rattles supply chains already rocked by troubles in Panama, Red Sea
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26 has put a spotlight on the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest harbors in the U.S., which paused shipping and immediately halted all vessel traffic in and out. The port remained open to trucks following the incident, but...
Charlie Hunt: Is this the least productive congress ever? Yes, but it’s not just because they’re lazy.
Congress has once again been making headlines for all the wrong reasons, with multiple news outlets in recent months touting the current 118th Congress as possibly the least productive in the institution’s history. In 2023, Congress only passed 34 bills into law, the lowest number in decades. Congress was only...
Cal Thomas: One more try at reducing the debt
“Neither a borrower nor a lender be.” — Polonius to his son Laertes in “Hamlet” It may be too late given the number of Americans who have willingly allowed themselves to become dependent on government more than themselves, but it’s worth trying. Our $34 trillion debt is unsustainable, according to...
