Lori Falce Columns category, Page 3

When I was a kid, I loved seeing the Publishers Clearing House envelope show up in the mailbox. I would open it and spread out the contents on the dining room table — stickers in this pile, cards in another, forms in a third. I would read the rules like...

Who do we have to thank for the constant drumbeat of the presidential campaigns in Pennsylvania right now? You might say the Democrats. You might blame the Republicans. They are a symptom, not the disease. What about the Electoral College? You’re not wrong. The unusual institution that acts as a...

The American Psychological Association has an entire section of its website dedicated to the dangers of misinformation and disinformation and how the not-so-slow creep into our daily lives is hurting us all. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also concerned. So is the Department of Health and Human...

I’m a little tired of being this important. That’s an understatement. I’m downright exhausted. I’m wrung out. I’m at my wit’s end. And I know that I am not alone. You’re tired, too, right? In Pennsylvania, we are accustomed to our perennial place in the landscape of presidential elections. We...

Rhetoric is all over the news right now. No, not the rhetoric itself, but the word “rhetoric” as people use rhetoric to discuss the concept of rhetoric. And if that seems confusing, that’s kind of the point. If you listen to politicians and pundits, the term rhetoric might be interpreted...

There is no cat in your fried rice. Despite decades of distrust and jokes, the chicken in your chicken lo mein is just chicken. When Bill Murray’s character in “Scrooged” warned his girlfriend about stray animals going into the chop suey, it was just another example of the fictional Frank...

The back-to-school season always puts me in my feelings about what my son is old enough to do. I am well aware my baby is not my baby anymore. He looms over me by several inches, and I need him to get things off high shelves, which really drives that...

People are concerned about the creeping scourge of social media ruining society. They fear the walls of Facebook news. They fear the ugliness of X. They fear the unattainably curated beauty of Instagram. And then there’s the “is it spyware?” suspicion of a Chinese-owned TikTok. There are valid reasons to...

I was moved to tears Wednesday night as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz addressed the Democratic National Convention, accepting his place as the party’s vice-presidential nominee. It wasn’t by Walz’s words — though the Midwestern cadence and rhythm were as familiar as a lullaby to my own native Minnesotan ears. It...

On Wednesday, The New Yorker published a story about Ilya Yashin. “The Russian Prisoner Who Didn’t Want to be Freed,” it was titled. Yashin was part of the complex, multinational prisoner exchange that moved 26 people on Aug. 1, including Americans Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva. He is...

Every year — at least twice a year — I do something that newspapers, editors, pundits, nonprofit organizations and government officials have been doing for generations. I encourage people to vote. I do it before the Pennsylvania primary, generally in April or May, depending on whether it’s a presidential year...

Since President Joe Biden stepped out of the presidential race, first opening the door and then endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, there has been a segment of the population debating one critical question. Not the way the convention will work. Not who the running mate will be. What do we...

The conspiracy theories come faster these days. There was a time that it took months or years for a good skeptical narrative to develop around major events. The apocrypha surrounding the Freemasons, for example, have been 400 years in the making. Flat Earth theories in the modern era can date...

America is a relatively young country. At just 248 years since announcing our debut as an independent nation with the Declaration of Independence, we are relative children on the world stage. Let’s look at the other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — a good starting point for...

The U.S. Supreme Court has proved itself in this term to be something different than was intended. “The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” That is Article...

We have often been told about the perils of leading horses to water. You might be able to push, pull, ride or haul your steed where you want it to go. You cannot ensure it will do what you want when you get there. Life has no guarantees, no matter...

I went to a Catholic school. We prayed in class at the start of the day, before each class, before lunch, after lunch and at the end of the day. And that was just your random Monday. On a holy day of obligation or the first Friday of each month,...

Once upon a time, in a country that seems all but forgotten, people identified important issues and did what needed to be done to accomplish change. It is amazing how much political history resembles fairy tales. This week, I spent quite a bit of time doing research on refugees, immigrants,...

Americans held in a foreign country during a presidential election year. It’s a scenario that sounds familiar for a reason. In 1979, after the revolution overthrowing Iran’s Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, hundreds of armed college students took the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. It was a shocking event, with 66 Americans...

Talent is not necessarily hereditary. It’s also not something you can buy. Nothing proves that more than the tale of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s daughter North West and her major theatrical debut. Over the weekend, the 30th anniversary of Disney’s “The Lion King” was celebrated with a star-studded event...

The City of Uvalde, Texas settled a lawsuit with the families of 17 children killed and two who were wounded in the 2022 massacre of Robb Elementary School. The city is paying out $2 million. That may sound like a large number. In some cases, it might be. In this,...

Harrison Butker, the Kansas City Chiefs player who kicked the longest field goal in Super Bowl history, has become a pariah for many after a graduation speech at Benedictine College. A devout and very conservative Catholic, Butker gave a speech not about taking the lessons from the Atchison, Kan., school...

The words we use can make a difference in the way we think. For instance, I have received more than one email talking about “demonrats” instead of Democrats. “Republicans” can be mutated into “Rethuglicans.” The message in the mangling of the words is clear. It’s one of distaste and distrust,...

There is a question that is dividing the internet, and it has nothing to do with anyone running for office. It’s a gut feeling kind of question. The idea is this: Ask a woman if she would rather be in the woods confronted by a bear or a man. At...

On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case that needed to be heard. The issue was presidential immunity. Donald Trump wanted the court to weigh in on whether a president can be held criminally responsible for his actions. The former president obviously has a vested interest as he faces...