Featured Commentary category, Page 51
Point: Social Security can’t grow its way out of trouble
In just 10 years, Social Security will be insolvent. Some politicians think we can ignore the problem or grow our way out of it — but that’s a recipe for disaster. Without action, the law calls for an immediate 23% across-the-board benefit cut upon insolvency. That’s a $17,400 cut for...
Renee Y. Hsia: Same hospital, same injury, same child, same day — why did one ER visit cost thousands more?
The Kaiser Family Foundation recently reported that the annual cost of family health insurance jumped to nearly $24,000 this year, the greatest increase in a decade. While insurance executives and employers may cite a plethora of reasons, one of the chief culprits is lack of oversight over the Wild West...
Harry Litman: Hunter Biden isn’t being accused of any new wrongdoing. So why was he just indicted again?
It’s not necessarily sinister for a prosecutor to go from offering an attractive plea deal to a defendant to throwing the book at him. Plenty of defendants have seen that happen after they turn down a plea bargain or authorities turn up new evidence. But the reasons for the dramatic...
Mike Dunleavy and Jackson Morris: Legislators should come to table for Pa.’s energy future
Pennsylvania has long been an energy leader and is poised to lead in the transition to a booming clean energy economy. Our natural resources, strong economic base and skilled workforce have powered our growth and supported generations of Pennsylvanians. We now find ourselves at a critical moment where forward thinking...
Rob Perkins: Our indigent defense system is (still) broken. Here’s why that matters.
Our criminal justice system is adversarial by design. Prosecuting attorneys work on one side of the aisle, and defense attorneys on the other. Defense lawyers play a critical role, as they serve as a check and balance on the near-limitless power of the prosecutor. About a year ago, I wrote...
Dyan Mazurana and Anastasia Marshak: Hamas’ use of sexual violence is an all-too-common part of modern war — but not in all conflicts
The United Nations, women’s groups and human rights groups are facing criticism for not quickly condemning Hamas fighters for raping and sexually violating Israelis during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Most critics cite rising antisemitism as the reason some experts and advocates did not quickly rally behind Israel’s repeated claims...
Elwood Watson: The continued hypocrisy of so-called family values conservatives
Do as I say, not as I do. This sort of Victorian philosophy seems to be par for the course among many of the so-called family values conservatives. Recent reports that Christian Ziegler, the husband of Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, is under police investigation in Sarasota, Fla., following...
Jonathan Sharp: Protecting our firefighters from dangerous chemicals
Firefighters , the brave people who risk their lives to protect their communities, are regularly exposed to countless toxic substances while extinguishing blazes, including formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, benzene, asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls, smoke, carbon monoxide and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Commonly known as PFAS or “forever chemicals” because of their persistence...
Lawrence McCullough: Pittsburgh can use the arts to fight intolerance
Pittsburgh has the opportunity to take the lead in a federal initiative that enlists the arts to inspire empathy and combat intolerance. United We Stand: Connecting Through Culture is a set of strategies and funding resources introduced by the Biden-Harris administration to counter the corrosive effects of hate-fueled violence on...
Rachel Hadas: McCarthy’s departure from Congress reads like Greek tragedy — but he’s no hero
Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s departure from Congress brings to mind ambition and the other side of ambition’s coin: humiliation — the thirst for fame and power on one side, ignominious failure on the other. Classical literature abounds with ambitious characters; heroes are by definition ambitious. McCarthy says he will “serve America...
Michael Reagan: Has the party of Reagan become the party of quitters?
Monica Crowley summed up the sad state of the Republican Party perfectly last week in a single tweet. Following the House’s 311-114 vote last week to expel the lying GOP weirdo and future criminal defendant George Santos, she wrote: “Republicans bounced George Santos. “Kevin McCarthy is leaving this month. “Bill...
Wilson Beaver: Why are we doing so little to counter China’s military buildup?
Our National Defense Strategy identifies China as the primary challenge to the United States. To confront this threat successfully, our military needs more warships, aircraft and munitions. Now. But the Biden administration’s spending does not match its defense strategy. The president’s Emergency Supplemental Request made this clear by asking for...
Bob Donnan: Pa. must build EV infrastructure
As Pennsylvania continues to make significant strides toward a cleaner and more sustainable future, it is crucial that we seize the opportunity to leverage federal investments in building out our electric vehicle infrastructure. The recent allocation of $36 million in federal funding for EV charging stations, thanks to the Bipartisan...
Gary Franks: Press failed us on George Santos
OK already. What took so long? Good riddance to former House Rep. George Santos . The Santos saga begs the question: How did he get elected in the first place? Now we know it was due to massive fraud. But I would also add major failures on the part of...
Robin Abcarian: I thought Sandra Day O’Connor was too conservative. Now her moderation would be a godsend.
Years ago, I had the good fortune to be in Washington, when the National Portrait Gallery had a show starring portraits of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who died Dec. 1 in Phoenix at 93. In October 2006, nine or so months after she’d stepped down from the high...
Beth Pausic: Kooth’s mission is solely to provide care for kids
I would like to offer several corrections to former representative Lou Barletta’s op-ed “Say no to Kooth in Pa. schools” (Dec. 4, TribLive). First and foremost, I’d like to reintroduce readers to Kooth. We are a mental health support and pre-clinical care provider with a web-based application available to public...
Robert F. Powelson: Scrutiny will benefit PWSA customers
The realities of America’s growing water and wastewater infrastructure challenges are front and center in Pittsburgh. The Steel City’s vital infrastructure has long exceeded its life span. Across the country, water utilities, in close collaboration with a diverse range of stakeholders, are proactively addressing some of their failing infrastructure challenges....
George P. Hartwick, III and Chadwick Libby: Save our most vulnerable kids by investing in juvenile justice system
It’s often said that our children are our most precious resource. To protect and preserve this vital resource, we must invest in their care now, in order to enrich their future. In recent years, we have seen a focused investment in our juvenile justice system, which has helped lead to...
Teresa Ghilarducci and Christopher D. Cook: Why the senior poverty rate keeps rising
When it comes to seniors’ economic security, America is in poor shape. This October, an annual assessment of pension systems worldwide gave the United States a barely passable C+, ranking the country’s retirement security apparatus below Kazakhstan and just a slight notch above Colombia, two far poorer nations. How can...
Jonathan Bernstein: What Congress can learn from George Santos
The George Santos fiasco is finally at an end, at least in Congress, with the U.S. House of Representatives — including 105 of his Republican colleagues — voting Friday to expel him. The 311-114 vote comfortably cleared the two-thirds majority needed to make him only the third House member to...
Zakiya Stewart: Helping our children learn to read
During my time as a first grade teacher, my greatest joy was watching my students begin to fall in love with reading. I watched them transition from sounding out words letter by letter to reading and composing sentences. They were beginning to discover the world around them and, on the...
Aaron Chapin: Pa. must adopt clear, sustainable plan to address unconstitutional school funding
Every morning, 1.7 million students wake up and head off to public schools across Pennsylvania, eager to learn and grow in classrooms that are supposed to provide them with a “thorough and efficient system of public education.” That’s what our state constitution guarantees to every student. But in February Pennsylvania’s...
Lou Barletta: Say no to Kooth in Pa. schools
Strangers talking to schoolchildren on the internet — what could possibly go wrong? If that’s not bad enough, how about parents having no idea that it’s even happening? The newest threat to parental rights is entering our school districts behind closed doors. Kooth is a for-profit business from the U.K....
Rosalie Metro: Palestinian and Israeli children are endangered by ‘us vs. them’ narratives
“What do you want to do when you grow up?” I asked Muhammad, an 8-year-old boy. “I want to kill Israeli soldiers!” he replied proudly. This was in 1998, when I was teaching English in Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut. I’d come to Beirut to study abroad and...
Bruce Ledewitz: Is Christianity making a comeback?
We read stories all the time about the decline of organized religion in America. Around one-third of Americans answer “none” when asked on surveys about their religious affiliation. Self-identified Christians still make up a majority of the population — 63% — but that is down from 90% in the 1990s....
