Featured Commentary category, Page 79
Candidate statement: Attorney General Josh Shapiro
I grew up in Pennsylvania, watching my parents serve their community — my father as a pediatrician, and my mother as an educator. I witnessed firsthand how they cared for our neighbors and friends, and I recognized at a young age the importance of standing up for others and knew...
Elizabeth Stelle: Inflation is killing small business
Deeanna Hilliard closed her bakery in August. Gluten Free by D&D in Volant had survived pandemic restrictions and persistent worker shortages, but it couldn’t survive record inflation levels. “The economy did us in,” Hilliard said. “After our third price increase, customer visits dropped, sales dropped (and) regular faces stopped coming...
Ace Dufresne: Ableism distracting Pa. voters
“As a lifelong liberal, I still can’t justify voting for the handicapped. He is mentally unable to perform the job.” “This man, much like the president, can’t even finish a sentence!“ “Dr. Oz has a functional brain … unlike John “Fetterwoman.”” These are responses I’ve received while text-banking with the...
Marjorie Hershey: Republicans and Democrats see news bias only in stories that clearly favor the other party
Charges of media bias — that “the media” are trying to brainwash Americans by feeding the public only one side of every issue — have become as common as campaign ads in the run-up to the midterm elections. As a political scientist who has examined media coverage of the Trump...
Rep. Martell Covington: The value of strong tech investments
It’s an exciting time to be in Pittsburgh. The city has experienced unprecedented growth and embraced a future where opportunities and options are more limitless than ever before. Exponential growth doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s taken long-term commitments, dedication and the strategic outlook of local leaders like Mayor Ed Gainey...
Thomas Koenig: Post-Janus, battles with public-sector unions continue
Jane Ladley was a Pennsylvania public school teacher her entire life. She wasn’t a member of the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), the state’s public school teachers union. But in 2013, the PSEA forced her to pay a “fair share fee,” a sum that non-union members must pay to a...
Greg Fulton: We can’t vote ‘none of the above’
In multiple choice tests, “none of the above” is often an answer option. In Pennsylania’s U.S. Senate race, many voters would probably choose that option if it was on the ballot. Neither Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. John Fetterman nor Republican nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz is reflective of the majority of...
Dr. Tracy Todd: Addressing impact of illness on families of older Americans
If you or a family member has ever been diagnosed with a serious health condition, you’ll know that the impact doesn’t stay with the individual. The stress, anxiety, worry and depression that come from these illnesses reach beyond the patient and touch families, too. Some of the most life-threatening health...
Cal Thomas: Last man no longer standing
He called himself “the last man standing,” a reference to the rock ‘n’ roll icons of which he was among the most notable. Jerry Lee Lewis died last week at age 87. He was the last in a line of rock greats whose records I played as a 16-year-old disc...
Leon Ford and Evan Feinberg: Healing communities in Pittsburgh
In major cities across the country, violent crime remains stubbornly higher than it was pre-pandemic. Pittsburgh is no exception, with the homicide rate up 25%. If we want more peaceful communities, we must develop better relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Bridging the divides between law enforcement...
Richard W. Jones: Our kinder, gentler Halloween is welcome
Halloween is much better than it used to be. Trust me on this. I’ve seen a lot of Halloweens, and, 60 years ago, there was a heftier dose of “trick” in trick-or-treat than there is now. The night was divided into two parts in the Western Pennsylvania steel mill town...
Hannibal Travis: Future of creative freedom on the line
The internet has opened access to culture. Billions of webpages build on the art, images, music, film, television and writing of the past. This explosion of content leads to tough questions over ownership of creative work and exclusivity of use. The highest court in the land may soon try to...
Karen Adams: Campaigns’ love-hate relationship with their signs
Every election cycle, I’m accustomed to seeing campaign signs. But this past summer, I was struck by the sheer number of them in Scottsdale, Ariz., near where I live. I counted 18 on just one corner of a major intersection. As a linguist who studies political advertising, I’ve read the...
Erika Strassburger: Repair the world, one vote at a time
On the morning of Oct. 27, 2018, I was standing with 30-some constituents, friends and fellow elected officials, drinking coffee and chatting quietly. We were gearing up for a morning of engaging in one of the most fundamental rituals of democracy — going door to door to talk to neighbors...
John C. Besley: Most Americans do trust scientists
Most Americans — 81% — think government investments in scientific research are “worthwhile investments for society over time,” according to the Pew Research Center’s latest survey on public perceptions of science. A similar proportion said they have at least “a fair amount” of confidence that scientists act in the public’s...
Athan Koutsiouroumbas: Pa.’s suburbs are not OK
For families living in Pennsylvania’s suburbs, things are not OK. The prosperity enjoyed by suburbanites is in peril, and they know it. Soccer field small talk has moved beyond gas prices. Polite conversation has moved into something more urgent: survival. Two recent studies help explain why suburbanites feel they are...
Rachel Marsden: Is it time for anti-woke populist non-interventionists to start their own U.S. party?
VANCOUVER — One of the most puzzling aspects of American politics to foreigners living in western democracies is the two-party straitjacket that hinders renewal. Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last Sunday, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., spoke of her interest in preventing former President Donald Trump from ever again running...
Cal Thomas: Trump, you’re not a dictator
Former President Donald Trump says any member of his administration who runs for president against him — should he decide to run again in 2024 — would be engaging in an act of disloyalty. Appearing on Fox Radio’s “Brian Kilmeade Show,” Trump was asked about possible other GOP candidates, specifically...
Joe Randig: Vaccination the key to preventing more polio outbreaks
As long as polio exists anywhere, it is a threat everywhere, as evidenced by the recent paralysis of a young man and the detection of the poliovirus in the sewage in five counties in New York. Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative have made great strides...
Point: Inflation is not the main issue in the election
The media have been obsessed with inflation for the last year and a half, reporting that this is the only economic issue that matters to people. In the real world, people have other things to worry about, like jobs. Jobs are a huge deal for most people since it is...
Counterpoint: Focus on policy, not politics, this election
Sometimes the quieter political issues have more to say. High-decibel culture warriors have been getting people riled up over everything from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” remake to a woman playing a flute. But more important things are going on right now, such as the highest inflation in 40 years. And...
Nathan Benefield: Pa. is epicenter of Democrats’ political spending
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro’s overflowing campaign coffers underscore the importance of Pennsylvania to national politics — and the influence of government unions in elections. With four weeks remaining until the midterm elections, Shapiro reported raising a whopping $25.4 million in his latest campaign-finance report, bringing his total to a...
Brittany Crampsie: On the economy, Democrats deliver
A plurality of Pennsylvanians and Americans rate the economy as the most important issue right now. As we approach the midterm elections, economic arguments are the focal points of most campaigns. In most years, this works to the detriment of the Democratic Party, but this year could be different. Year...
Peter Morici: Abortion and the Republicans’ disappointing midterms
A few months ago, Republicans were confident about big gains in the midterm elections. Voter dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden on inflation, border security and the general direction of the country, crime in major cities and the culpability of the progressive prosecutors movement, and school children set back in math...
Cal Thomas: Justice denied in Parkland killings
If anyone ever was a good candidate for the death penalty,it is Nikolas Cruz. Four years ago, the then-20-year-old shot and killed 17 people, most of them students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Cruz pleaded guilty to all counts and last week came the sentencing phase....
