Featured Commentary category, Page 126
Douglas Morris: All American workers deserve military benefits
Right now every American worker is on the front lines of the war against a lethal viral pathogen, especially U.S. nurses, doctors and other medical personnel. So are our retail, food service, delivery and transportation workers, as well as many others who earn a low minimum wage without any benefits....
Lawrence McCullough: Restarting Pittsburgh’s arts economy
In late summer of 1606, one of the liveliest theater seasons London, England, had known was abruptly shut down by the sudden onset of bubonic plague. When public entertainments were allowed to resume almost two years later in April 1608, several drama companies that had flourished pre-plague were nowhere to...
John Stossel: Unsung heroes are innovating during covid-19 crisis
Congress passed and the president signed a $2 trillion “stimulus” bill. “Not enough!” shrieked politicians. They said the government must do more. They demanded President Donald Trump reactivate the Defense Production Act, a 1950 law that lets government force companies to make things. Trump hesitated. That upset lovers of big...
Walter Williams: Managing a disaster
I’m not sure whether covid-19, first identified in Wuhan, China, in the U.S. qualifies as a true disaster. Putting the disease in perspective, we might look at current influenza illnesses. According to Centers for Disease Control estimates, between Oct. 1, 2019, and March 14, 2020, there have been 390,000 to...
Keith Williams: System-focused bureaucracy is tying teachers’ hands
Anyone who has stood in front of a classroom knows: You must adapt to succeed. The coronavirus crisis has proven that flexibility is king when it comes to essential skills for teachers. Like the rest of us, teachers are being forced to adapt to statewide school closures and local quarantines....
Kim Stolfer & Klint Macro: Law-abiding citizens’ gun rights
In his op-ed “Congratulations on your new gun. Now lock it up.” (March 25, TribLIVE), Rep. Dan Frankel shows his contempt for the individuals who have decided to exercise their right to defend themselves and those they love. As professional firearm instructors, we teach that a firearm that is out...
Nuket Curran: Telemedicine a powerful tool in coronavirus pandemic
Nuket Curran, a doctor of physical therapy, lives in Shaler. She is director of compliance at Phoenix Rehabilitation and Health Services (phoenixrehab.com). Coronavirus has changed our lives completely. Each day we are making the choice to not to see anyone in person and rely on digital technology to connect with...
Joseph Otis Minott: Public policy matters, especially when it comes to our air
As we all stay home and learn to navigate this unprecedented health crisis affecting people not just in Pennsylvania but around the world, coronavirus understandably dominates our public consciousness. The pandemic starkly reminds us all that there is nothing more important than our health and the well-being of the people...
Alicia Santi: Charter schools under attack
My son, like many children in Pennsylvania, is a student with special needs — specifically, developmental disorders requiring him to receive individual tutoring. Like the experiences of many others who have found that the public cyber school option works best for their child, my son would easily get distracted by...
Eli Lake: When tracking virus means tracking your citizens
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, some democracies around the world have used technology to avoid having to impose draconian mass quarantines that were common earlier this year in China. That’s reassuring — and it’s also worrying, because the very strategies that can help fight a plague can also...
Jonah Goldberg: Trump’s daily briefings shine light on his inadequacy
On Sunday, President Trump, absent any hard evidence, suggested that large numbers of masks were being stolen from New York hospitals, citing an unnamed facility he said had seen a huge surge in mask usage. “How do you go from 10 to 20 (thousand masks being used), to 300,000?” Trump...
Pat Buchanan: Is coronavirus killing Joe Biden’s bid?
“This is the question that is going to dominate the election: How did you perform in the great crisis?” So says GOP Congressman Tom Cole of Oklahoma in the New York Times. GOP National Committeeman Henry Barbour of Mississippi calls the crisis “a defining moment … . The more (Trump)...
Jonah Goldberg: Coronavirus crisis sure to spawn new political realities
The social and political response to major catastrophes often proceeds in stages. Stage 1 is denial. Thankfully, this stage is largely over for the coronavirus crisis. Not counting a few poltroons and conspiracy theorists, nobody is saying it’s all hype or no big deal. Now we’re transitioning, in fits and...
S.E. Cupp: Trump can’t guide us through coronavirus, but conservatism can help
While many state governors are stepping up to meet the continuing challenges of coronavirus in unprecedented ways, our federal government continues to let us down. At the White House, we know the president took too long to act, dismissed the seriousness of the pandemic in the earliest days, spread misleading...
Christopher Regan: Every American deserves a chance to live
Christopher Regan is an attorney with Bordas & Bordas in Pittsburgh, and the former vice chairman of the West Virginia Democratic Party. It has been hard for a long time to say anything about politics that helps anyone with anything. If you say something to one side or the other,...
Dom Costa: Crime victims deserve more rights
Nobody plans to be a victim of crime. As a 27-year veteran of the Pittsburgh Police department and former chief of police, I’ve seen this firsthand. I’ve sat with women who have been abused and mothers who have lost children, and I’ve seen the terror in their eyes. I know...
Nathan Benefield: State lawmakers must act now to mitigate crisis
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Pennsylvania workers, health care providers, and students and families are faced with unprecedented obstacles that demand action from Harrisburg. Gov. Tom Wolf has taken a strong approach by closing schools and shuttering so-called “non-life-sustaining” businesses. But could the cost of these drastic measures...
John Stossel: Red tape pandemic
Coronavirus is frightening. I’m working from home, practicing “social distancing.” Experts say it’ll help “flatten the curve” so fewer people will be infected simultaneously. Then hospitals won’t be overwhelmed. But the infection rate grows. Doctors and hospitals may yet be overwhelmed. It didn’t have to get to this point. Coronavirus...
Lawrence McCullough: Anniversary of 15th Amendment & vigilance for voting rights
March 30 marks the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment’s addition to the U.S. Constitution. It’s the amendment that guaranteed the right of African American men to vote, declaring, “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be abridged by the United States or by any...
Mary Schmich: Covid-19 as ‘Boomer Remover’? Let’s talk about that.
Mary Schmich is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune and winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Until the past week or so, I’ve rarely thought of myself as old, at least not in the diminishing way the word is often used. I work a full-time job, walk 5...
Michael Krol: Amid covid-19 outbreak, don’t worry about your wealth
Cities began shutting down. Schools were closed. The government began limiting public activities to curtail the spread of the virus. That describes the atmosphere over the past few weeks as covid-19 spread rapidly across the globe, creating a multitude of fears that were seemingly unfathomable. But people had the same...
Philip Gasiewicz: 1918, when another pandemic struck close to home
In 1998, the 80th anniversary of the Spanish flu pandemic, I was fortunate to hear two survivors from Western Pennsylvania relate their indelible experiences. Marian McConkey and Lois Monahan were schoolgirls then, old enough to grasp the reach of the Reaper as the Spanish flu swept across the nation. It...
Abby Foster: Chemical manufacturers key in covid-19 fight
As many of us adjust to working from the couch, with daytime television in the background and a confused dog at our side, it’s business as usual or double-time for the majority of Pennsylvania’s manufacturers and their supply chains. Critical to our ability to contain covid-19, flatten the curve and...
Rep. Dan Frankel: Congratulations on your new gun. Now lock it up.
So many Pennsylvanians bought guns last week that our state background check system crashed. Twice. In fact, 4,342 of you bought or transferred a gun or applied for a license to carry a gun on March 17 alone, according to a press release from the Pennsylvania State Police. Of course,...
Scott Brady & Josh Shapiro: Task force targets covid-19 fraud
During these difficult times, the last thing the people of Pennsylvania need are individuals, retailers or wholesalers taking advantage of them. Gouging prices of household essentials or scamming people out of money for “at home” coronavirus kits that don’t exist isn’t just a disgusting practice — it is illegal. In...
