Lori Falce: Is mental illness a crime?
The news was impossible to ignore. Two people were found dead in their home after a relative contacted police. The loss was profound, the victims beloved in their community. The crime was brutal — and felt all the more so when investigators focused their attention on the couple’s son, who...
Lori Falce: If you can predict the votes, you’re doing it wrong
There are things you can set your watch by, things that are as predictable as sunrise. Your child will look at you like you are speaking Aramaic when you ask if his room is clean. The government might not pass a budget on time, but your tax bill will appear...
Lori Falce: America needs a bar of soap — and not just for Ralphie
One of the best moments in one of the best holiday movies of all time is when Ralphie is helping his dad change a tire in “A Christmas Story.” When the hubcap he is holding is jostled, sending the nuts flying, the 9-year-old’s world slows down as he says a...
Lori Falce: What is a war crime?
The history of war is the history of humankind, and it is a lengthy timeline of the most brutal savagery people can visit upon each other. It is a terrible storybook of blood and fire and pain. Armies took land by killing everyone who lived on it, ensuring no retaliation....
Lori Falce: Yinz know the Christmas Star, right?Video
I am one of those people who doesn’t look at the holidays as a series of individual dates. From Thanksgiving to St. Nicholas Day to Christmas to New Year to Epiphany, each day is a bright light strung on a wire, illuminating the darkest days of the year. In between...
Lori Falce: From Nelly Bly to Mary Bruce, women journalists don’t tiptoe around
Sit still. Be quiet. Don’t ask questions. These are the mantras of a little girl’s childhood. I learned a lot from my grandmother, like how to make chocolate cake and when a tomato is ripe enough to pick. My mother taught me to flatter a man into thinking my ideas...
Lori Falce: Politics, elections and not listening
Over the last week, cable news and political columns have been thick with criticism of the Republican Party for not paying attention to what voters want. “Last night was a disaster,” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said on Fox’s “Hannity.” It was definitely rough. There were gubernatorial losses in Virginia and...
Lori Falce: Charity begins at home. It cannot end there
Charity begins at home. It’s a familiar saying many people erroneously believe comes from the Bible instead of from 17th-century British writer Sir Thomas Browne. But what does Browne’s famous proverb mean? Like beauty, the phrase may be in the eye of the beholder. For some, it’s an encouragement to...
Lori Falce: I was on SNAP. The real problem is how we judge those who need it
This summer, my son ran a leadership project for his school’s National Honor Society chapter. He targeted food that would help feed children — things kids would like and that they could access without a grown-up. He posted his list on Amazon and shared the information on social media. Friends,...
Lori Falce: Politics isn’t a kids game
Boys will be boys. Kids will be kids. These are the kinds of statements you often hear from parents. Sometimes they are faintly amused at the actions of their children, squabbling over who is next on the slide at the playground. Sometimes they are blushing in embarrassment, aware of their...
Lori Falce: Why do new Pentagon press rules matter?
I do not cover the Pentagon. I have never stepped through the doors. I have not attended a briefing. You might think that means the new policy on press access has no impact on me. You would be wrong. It absolutely does impact every reporter, every journalist, every news outlet....
Lori Falce: Holding our friends responsible is maybe more important than calling out enemies
It is not just easy to criticize those with whom we disagree. It can also be deeply enjoyable. It’s part of what makes social media so addictive. It feeds that spot in our brain where we all have the capacity to be, bluntly, awful. We turn it toward our opponents...
Lori Falce: What’s left for pregnant women?
“Take two aspirin, and call me in the morning” is a cliché for a reason. It is the standard, trite advice you expected from your doctor about 100 years ago. It meant to just relax, take these two innocuous tablets for your headache, and get some sleep, the idea being...
Lori Falce: How a movie star made people want to be journalists
When the news of Robert Redford’s passing came on Tuesday, it struck me hard. I believe it struck a lot of journalists the same way. For those of us of a certain age, Redford was not Waldo Pepper or Jay Gatsby or Jeremiah Johnson. He may have been the shadow...
Lori Falce: Finding a solution to political violence is science fiction
One of the best things that my husband gave me was an introduction to “Doctor Who.” Yes, I know, you are here for the politics on a week where the news is kind of noteworthy. But trust me, we’ll get there. We just have a slight sci-fi detour. I resisted...
Lori Falce: Who wants to be a Powerball billionaire?
The tickets to my future are tucked in my wallet next to my driver’s license and an overburdened credit card. They are the 10 different lines of numbers to play for the Powerball lottery. They should have cost $20. They were only $16 because I won $4 in Wednesday’s drawing...
Lori Falce: 26 years of thoughts and prayers
My head is full of thoughts. My soul is full of prayers. And my heart is filled with rage, a red-hot glowing anger that, once again, children have been shot and killed. In Minneapolis, Robin Westman, 23, armed with a handgun, rifle and shotgun, fired into the church where children...
Lori Falce: Museums must be honest repositories of history
When I was a kid, we didn’t go on vacation to beaches or amusement parks. We didn’t take cruises or spend a week at the lake. My vacations were spent hiking across history and crawling through the cracks of time. I walked in Sacajawea’s footsteps. I climbed up the side...
Lori Falce: Why do ICE officers need masks?
There is a time and a place for masks. Halloween. Raccoons. A fancy fairy tale ballroom. Completely appropriate. You should definitely wear one if you’re performing surgery. Do you have a respiratory infection that could infect others? Absolutely. But in the course of arresting people, is it appropriate for law...
Lori Falce: Texas redistricting rips up the rules
To play a game, you have to have rules. Even children know you can’t change where base is in the middle of a game of tag. You don’t change the number of spaces a pawn can move in chess. You don’t push back the chains for a first down after...
Lori Falce: Trump’s interest in interest rates
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell did what needed to be done rather than what President Donald Trump wanted him to do. Powell announced that the Fed was leaving short-term interest rates unchanged, declining to cut them from the 4.3% rate where they have stood for months. The Fed...
Lori Falce: The difference between debate and argument
Put your hands up! You’re “Surrounded.” No, you aren’t a bank robber being confronted on all sides by police. In this case, you would be on a YouTube video by Jubilee Media, a content producer with
10.2 million subscribers. “Surrounded” is a series that debuted in the lead-up to the...
Lori Falce: Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump and the unexpected consequences of encouraging supporters
When my sister was in second grade, we went to church on a Friday morning for her first confession. The church was huge, with an echoing quality amplified by its tomblike silence. One by one, the little kids shuffled into the confessional while parents and other Catholic school students sat...
Lori Falce: The lessons of Abraham Lincoln and a house divided
In 1858, after winning the Republican nomination for the Senate against incumbent Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech that has stood the test of time because of the truth it laid plain before a country ripping itself in two. “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” the future president...
Lori Falce: UPMC decision slams door on trans youths
UPMC will not be providing gender-affirming care to those 18 and under after this month. The move comes after President Donald Trump’s executive order in January titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.” The wording of the order is no doubt purposeful. Politically, it’s an old favorite of both...
