Featured Commentary category, Page 44
Gov. Josh Shapiro: My commonsense plan for a new era of energy leadership in Pa.
Pennsylvania’s energy industry has long created good-paying jobs and ensured consumers have reliable, affordable power. The coal mines and oil fields of Northeastern and Western Pennsylvania fueled the Industrial Revolution, which powered the middle class and led to the creation of the American labor movement. When fascism threatened freedom overseas,...
Ismar Volic : Want a better voting system? Try watching TV
If you’re a basketball fan, you might be excited about March Madness, the NCAA basketball tournament. Or if you’re from certain parts of the world, you might be pumped for Eurovision, a song contest between countries that’s a feast of absurdity and camp (and terrible music). If you care about...
Trudy Rubin: ISIS terror attack in Moscow and GOP obstructionists play into Putin’s hands
Vladimir Putin and his intelligence agencies are blaming the hideous ISIS terror attack on a concert venue near Moscow March 22 on — you guessed it — Ukraine, the United States and Great Britain. Putin needs to distract attention from either the incredible failure of his security agencies to prevent...
Andreas Kluth: U.S. just fired a first diplomatic shot at Israel
“Abstention” is a deceptively diplomatic word, implying some sort of bureaucratic omission. And yet the March 25 decision by the U.S. to abstain from casting its veto in the United Nations Security Council turned a page in history. For the first time since the terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel on...
David Ditch: Repair the Key Bridge without breaking the bank
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore came as quite a shock. After a massive container ship struck one of the bridge’s pillars, the entire span quickly fell apart, costing several lives. It’s hard to overstate the bridge’s importance, particularly for the automobile industry. In addition to...
Mark Z. Barabak: She can’t stand Trump or Biden. Don’t tell this ‘double-hater’ she’s crazy voting for someone else.
ROSEVILLE, Calif. By now Victoria Thompson has heard it many times. She’s crazy. She’s throwing her vote away. Worse, those who loathe Donald Trump say she’s helping the unscrupulous ex-president reclaim the White House — even though she’s never voted for him and never will — by refusing to back...
Gary Franks: For Black women, Democrats can do no wrong
Will Black women continue to blindly offer their loyalty to Democrats or any Democrat for political office? They are the definition of a monolithic group when it comes to politics. If you are a Democrat, then they are voting for you. History is proof (according to Roper for Public Opinion...
Jason W. Park: Gun rights, gun control, gun violence
An Illinois federal judge recently ruled that the Constitution protects the gun rights of noncitizens who enter the U.S. illegally. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Coleman dropped firearm possession charges against Heriberto Carbajal-Flores, who was in possession of a handgun in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago on June 1,...
Nicole W. Luciano: Energy assistance available year-round
As we begin to thaw out from the cold winter months, Pennsylvania homeowners and renters who are having trouble paying their energy bills can still seek financial assistance and help with weatherizing their homes and apartments. There are programs available year-round for all income levels with additional assistance targeted at...
Cal Thomas: Moscow massacre — could it happen here?
A mass shooting at a concert hall in Moscow killed more than 130 people. With many others seriously or gravely wounded the number of dead is likely to rise. The Islamic state released a statement claiming “credit” for the incident. Eleven suspects have been arrested. Early reports suggested the U.S....
Robert Smith: Overregulation not helping economy or environment
A dramatic success story began in the 1970s when President Richard Nixon established the groundwork for many of the alphabet soup of major environmental laws: National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Clean Water Act (CWA), Clean Air Act (CAA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), etc. In addition, he established the...
Eric Weitz: Preventable medical errors a silent epidemic
One of the leading causes of death in the United States is preventable medical error. Despite the remarkable advancements in medical technology and the tireless efforts of health care professionals, preventable medical errors persist at an alarming rate. According to a study published in the BMJ (formerly known as the...
Alex Wallach-Hanson and Dr. Stephen Herzenberg: Elephant in the room — Pittsburgh’s ‘big 5’ nonprofits pay $0 in property taxes
Like cities across the country, Pittsburgh faces lost revenue with American Rescue Plan (ARP) dollars running out this year and a plunge in office building occupancy rates and commercial property values resulting from the post-covid spike in teleworking. As the city considers its response to this one-two punch, leaders must...
Kevin Frazier: U.S. at its best when it learns from its mistakes
Learning from your mistakes isn’t just something that applies to your personal life — it’s a core lesson of political science. Ten years before the Framers of our Constitution gathered in Philadelphia to draft a new governing document, they adopted the Articles of Confederation. Our Founding Fathers were so assured...
Point: Congress is right to call for the strategic divestment of TikTok
The Chinese Communist Party in Beijing is nervous — and it ought to be. The U.S. Congress has targeted a significant tool that the CCP uses to spread disinformation among Americans, and the rulers in Beijing are not happy about it. The House has voted to require TikTok to be...
Counterpoint: Banning TikTok is a blow to free speech
The recent move by the House of Representatives to advance legislation forcing ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok represents a potentially alarming infringement on our fundamental rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. Despite national security concerns, coercing the divestment of TikTok sets a dangerous precedent that undermines the principles...
Elwood Watson: Meghan Markle doesn’t have to help Princess Kate
I knew it was only a matter of time before segments of the right-wing media, both here in America and in Britain, would reignite their propaganda/outrage machine toward Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex. Meghan has been urged to defend her sister-in-law, Princess Kate, after she found herself at the...
Marian Schneider: Westmoreland should be making it easier to vote, not more difficult
In early March, two of the three Westmoreland County commissioners announced that they would not consider installing a ballot drop box anywhere in the county in 2024, despite doing so in each election year since 2020. The commissioners claim that drop boxes in recent elections weren’t getting enough use. But...
Maya Haber: Opponents as enemies a dangerous tactic
I was born and raised in Tel-Aviv, Israel. On the evening of Nov. 4, 1995, I attended a rally there to support Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s peace initiative. At the end of the rally, an ultranationalist assassinated Rabin. The next morning, an IDF soldier I was speaking with insisted that...
Robin Abcarian: Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and iPhones are ruining my kid and yours
With apologies to Allen Ginsberg: I am seeing the best minds of our middle- school generation destroyed by Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and iPhones, Teenagers on the cusp of young adulthood dragging themselves out of bed each day to mainline TikTok and Snapchat. Measuring themselves by the yardstick of uber-filtered Kardashian perfection...
Christine Ledbetter: Aging comes with stigma. Let’s admire the defiant.
Who do you want to be when you grow old? Increasingly, senior citizens decide to keep working, including the two front-runners for the 2024 presidential election. Because many Americans consider the candidates too old for the job, age has become part of the national conversation. Both Joe Biden, 81, and...
Marc Champion: Biden is right. Netanyahu is damaging Israel’s future.
Tensions between the leaders of Israel and the U.S. have boiled over, with President Joe Biden accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of doing more to harm than help his own country. These are harsh words to hear from your most important ally, and Biden went further still. He described the...
Dr. Asif Ilyas: Leveraging resources for opioid recovery
As the United States continues to confront the opioid crisis, a comprehensive strategy that includes robust support for addiction treatment and recovery services is critical. The opioid epidemic has devastated communities across the nation, leaving a trail of destruction that demands an effective, multifaceted response. Central to this approach is...
Jason Altmire: Crippling LNG would be a political blunder Biden can’t afford in Pa.
As a Donald Trump/Joe Biden rematch comes into focus, we find ourselves at an important crossroads. The decisions Biden makes between now and the election will impact not only his electoral viability, but also America’s energy independence. Biden has focused on our commonwealth early and often, already visiting Pennsylvania three...
Laila El-Haddad: My family in Gaza faces starvation. How do I find solace this Ramadan?
Ordinarily, the days leading up to Ramadan, the holy month when Muslims give up food and drink from dawn to dusk, are exuberant. My younger children and I would prepare “iftar jars” and food baskets with Ramadan staples, such as dates, nuts and apricot paste, to hand out to neighbors....
