Featured Commentary category, Page 131
Frank Dermody: Let’s not turn back the clock on affordable health care
When people don’t have health insurance — especially people with preexisting conditions like diabetes, breast cancer, high blood pressure or even pregnancy (yes, that counts) — they skip vital care and often go into debt or even bankruptcy to pay bills, or simply die. This was much more common in...
Walter Williams: Diversity & inclusion insanity
It’s nearly impossible to have even a short conversation with a college administrator, politician or chief executive without the words diversity and inclusion dropping from their lips. Diversity and inclusion appear to be the end-all and be-all of their existence. So, I thought I’d begin this discussion by first looking...
John Stossel: We complain, but businesses make our lives better
Reporters complain about business. We overlook the constant improvements in our lives made possible by greedy businesses competing for your money. Think about how our access to entertainment has improved. “When I was a kid,” says Sean Malone in a new video for the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), “my...
Leroy Renninger: Mitch McConnell and a fair trial
Was the rule of law meant to apply equally to everyone in our republic? Or is it permissible that it apply to only the “little people” while the wealthy and well-connected may cast it aside? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he has made up his mind that President Trump...
Pat Buchanan: Trump’s in-kind contribution to Bernie Sanders
The directed killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s blood-soaked field marshal in the “forever war” of the Middle East, has begun to roil the politics of both the region and the USA. A stunned and shaken Iran retaliated by firing a dozen missiles at two U.S. bases in Iraq. Yet,...
Colin McNickle: Past time to fix property assessment/appeals mess
Much of the angst and legal wrangling over property assessments in Allegheny County and statewide could be eliminated by instituting mandatory regular reassessments that incorporate standardized norms, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The state should just end, or curtail appeals, by bringing Pennsylvania’s assessment practices...
Jonah Goldberg: Inconvenient evidence puts GOP senators on spot
President Donald J. Trump was impeached on Thursday. I know that he was technically impeached when the House voted to do so in December. But the truth is, as a political and historical matter, Thursday was the day. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s strategy — brilliant to fans, incomprehensible to foes...
Mark Compton: Safety drives every decision at turnpike commission
Despite the best efforts of the transportation industry nationally working together to reduce fatal and serious-injury crashes, nearly 40,000 people die each year in highway-related incidents; on average, 15 of those occur on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Every year, dozens of roadway workers, first responders and tow-truck operators are killed; we...
Earl Tilford: How Martin Luther King Jr. changed hearts
My father was a Presbyterian minister in rural northwest Alabama from 1961 to 1965. I came of age there, then left the University of Alabama with an M.A. in history in 1969. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Gov. George C. Wallace framed the historical context of a changing...
Joseph Horton: The Methodist Church is coming apart
The initial reports read to me a bit like the losers won, but the church of my upbringing is on the verge of coming apart after decades of internal turmoil. The details of the deal will be important, but leaders of the United Methodist Church have agreed in principle to...
John Stossel: State’s byzantine laws licensed good people to fail
People who want to work should be allowed to work. That includes people who once went to jail. With President Trump’s support, Congress spends your money giving ex-cons “employment assistance.” Why bother? State laws often make such employment impossible. Courtney Haveman had an alcohol problem. When she was 19, she...
Walter Williams: High costs of crime on blacks in low-income areas
Criminal activity imposes huge costs on black residents in low-income neighborhoods of cities such as Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, St. Louis, Philadelphia and many others. Thousands of black Americans were murdered in 2019. Over 90% of the time, the perpetrator was also black. Leftists and social justice warriors charge that what...
Colin McNickle: Pittsburgh, by the financial numbers
While Pittsburgh’s financial situation has made significant and positive strides, there remain substantial concerns about the city’s economic and financial structure, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “Debt outstanding is down but retirement benefit problems remain,” says Jake Haulk, president-emeritus of the Pittsburgh think tank. “Revenue...
Pat Buchanan: Culture war comes to Virginia
Since 1969, “Virginia Is for Lovers” has been the tourism and travel slogan of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Advertising Age called it “one of the most iconic ad campaigns in the past 50 years.” But the Virginia of 2020 seems to be another country than the friendly commonwealth to which...
Randall Rutta: Discrimination against people with rare diseases
FDA officials approved a record number of rare disease treatments in 2018. One groundbreaking medicine treats an inherited bone condition that causes intense pain and immobility. Another treats Fabry disease, a genetic condition that can lead to kidney failure or stroke. Breakthroughs like these offer hope to 30 million Americans...
Jonah Goldberg: As with everything else, Trump is following his gut on Iran
President Trump often talks about leaving the Middle East, getting out of “endless wars” and spending our resources here at home under a policy of “America First.” So it was quite a moment when he threatened to impose “very big sanctions” on Iraq if the Iraqi parliament follows through on...
S.E. Cupp: Posturing to protect our culture, destroying theirs
One morning, back in August 2017, the gang on “Fox & Friends,” President Trump’s favorite news program, was in the midst of a feverish MAGA panic over nothing less than “the eradication of history,” as Laura Ingraham called it. It was just days after the Charlottesville, Va., protests, a violent...
James Thrasher: Can the self-destructing Antonio Brown be saved?
When you think life revolves around you, then destruction is waiting at your doorstep. In a recent YouTube video, NFL star Antonio Brown passionately reached out to share his self-absorbed life. The video captured how he views himself. “I get mad at it, but I love it — the game...
Zachary Barber: Pollution is U.S. Steel’s gift to Pittsburgh
There’s always something special in the air over the holiday season. This year, unfortunately, that something was a foul-smelling haze of dangerous industrial pollution. Even in an area known for dirty air, things have been especially bad lately. On Dec. 20, while most of us were doing our last-minute holiday...
William McCloskey: Specter of Westinghouse haunts the ‘Castle’
There’s a grand ghost story unfolding with the spirit of old George Westinghouse arising in the little town of Wilmerding as its principal landmark stirs back to life after decades in limbo. “The Castle,” as it’s been known locally for generations, soon will be reanimated as a specialty hotel of...
Walter Williams: The new racism
A voter may dislike a black, homosexual or female candidate, but it’s not likely that he would openly admit it. However, diversity-crazed leftist/progressive Democrats have openly condemned the physical characteristics of some of their 2020 presidential candidates. Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders are leading the polls despite...
Cal Thomas: It’s war — are we in it to win it?
Prior to Iran’s missile attacks on U.S. bases inside Iraq, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said, “We are not seeking war with Iran, but we are prepared to finish one.” Esper said the U.S. prefers a “diplomatic” solution to the escalation of tensions in the region. Yes, that would be...
Jonah Goldberg: Will EU’s genetic flaw lead to its demise?
Since I am in Europe — Spain, to be precise — I shall do as the Europeans do and fret over the future of the European Union. As my tepid opening sentence suggests, I don’t really care much about the future of the EU. In this, I’m a lot like...
Pat Buchanan: If Baghdad wants us out, let’s go!
Almost 17 years after the U.S. invaded Iraq to turn Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship into a beacon of democracy, Iraq’s Parliamentmid shouts of “Death to America!” voted to expel all U.S. troops from the country. Though nonbinding, the expulsion vote came after mobs trashed the U.S. embassy in an assault that...
Cal Thomas: As we move into new decade, a look at life 100 years ago
It can be useful and instructive to observe the turning of a decade by looking back on what life was like in America a mere 100 years ago. On Jan. 2, 1920, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 108.76. Today it is over 28,000 points. In 1920, the U.S. had...
