Featured Commentary category, Page 142
John Stossel: Government bullies try to mow down homeowner
The city of Dunedin, Fla., wants Jim Ficken’s home. Ficken’s mom died, so he went to South Carolina to take care of her estate. He asked a friend to look after his house. But then the friend died, and no one cut Ficken’s grass. When it grew to 10 inches,...
Cal Thomas: Justin Amash not a ‘total loser’
Rep. Justin Amash has left the Republican Party and will now represent Michigan’s third congressional district as an independent. In a Washington Post op-ed, he wrote: “I’ve become disenchanted with party politics and frightened by what I see from it. The two-party system has evolved into an existential threat to...
Peter Morici: Trump must have health-care solutions to win again
President Trump’s continued focus on immigration may play well to his base, but to win the swing voters and cobble together a majority of electoral votes, he must address our broken health care system — it ranks first among issues with voters. Affordability is key — Americans pay 75% more...
Pat Buchanan: Is Putin right? Has liberalism lost the world?
“The liberal idea has become obsolete. … (Liberals) cannot simply dictate anything to anyone as they have been attempting to do over the recent decades.” Such was the confident claim of Vladimir Putin to the Financial Times on the eve of a G-20 gathering that appeared to validate his thesis....
Cal Thomas: Censoring the census
The notion of history repeating itself is usually viewed as a negative statement, but some history is worth repeating because we might learn and be guided by it. In last month’s 5-4 ruling by the Supreme Court rejecting the Trump administration’s claim that adding a question about whether a person...
Jonah Goldberg: Nike fans flames of culture war
Nike is doing it wrong. I don’t mean the shoemaking, though that thing with Zion Williamson was pretty bad, I have to say. No, Nike is doing it wrong because it managed to do something that all the neo-Nazis, Klansmen, alt-righters and other denizens of the lowest coprophagic phylum of...
Gordon Denlinger: Pa. must stop letting surpluses disappear
It was great to learn in early June that Pennsylvania took in much more revenue than expected a month before the end of the June 30 fiscal year, gathering a surplus of over $900 million. There were concerns during budget negotiations that the state surplus would burn a hole in the pockets...
Nathan Benefield: Infrastructure fix requires break from past
Pennsylvania’s infrastructure woes are impossible to ignore. From structurally deficient bridges to mounting debt to rising turnpike tolls that chase away motorists, residents would be forgiven for wondering what they are getting in return for paying the highest gas tax in the nation. Auditor General Eugene DePasquale has been one...
Mark Davis: Direct support professionals Pa.’s largest workforce crisis
Two out of five workers who care for people with an intellectual disability or autism (called direct support professionals, or DSPs) leave their jobs every year, largely due to the cripplingly low wages they are paid through government funding. Recently, the 2019 version of the Fix the DSP Crisis video...
Greg Hartnett: One year after Janus, Pa. laws behind times
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that public sector employees like me, who are not union members, don’t have to pay union fees as a condition of employment. For decades, teacher contracts have included union fee provisions that force even nonmember employees to fund a union or lose our jobs...
Walter Williams: Assault on Western civilization
Western civilization was founded on a set of philosophies that focus strongly on the sanctity of individuals and their power of logic and reason. This belief led to a desire to trust things that could be proven to be true or legitimate, from government to science. Judeo-Christian morality has formed...
Donald Boudreaux: Protection for national defense?
Pleas for tariffs and other trade restrictions are made overwhelmingly for economic reasons. The claim is that such restrictions will create jobs, raise wages and otherwise improve our economy. But it is quite common for those who seek protection from foreign competition also to insist that the requested trade restrictions...
Editorial: Let us resolve …
Happy 243rd birthday, America! As has become a Trib custom on the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we once again commend for your thoughtful review this nation’s founding pronouncement, reprinted in its entirety in the adjacent columns. And, as also has become an Independence Day tradition at the Trib,...
John Stossel: Freedom, not force, makes our nation great
Happy Fourth of July! We have reason to celebrate. The Fourth honors the founding of America. It’s the anniversary of the day in 1776 that the Declaration of Independence was approved. The Declaration was important. It didn’t say that America would be the best country because it would have the...
Plan would slash higher-education costs
Students are awash in higher-education debt. Parents are frustrated that they can’t do more to help. Colleges and universities throw up their collective hands because they think there is little they can do. Banks point fingers at the students, blaming high default rates as the root cause of high interest...
Pat Buchanan: Trade John Bolton for Tulsi Gabbard
“For too long our leaders have failed us, taking us into one regime change war after the next, leading us into a new Cold War and arms race, costing us trillions of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars and countless lives. This insanity must end.” Donald Trump, circa 2016? Nope. That denunciation...
Cal Thomas: Questions I would have asked the Democrats
The likelihood I would ever be invited to serve on a network panel questioning the Democratic presidential candidates is equivalent to an invitation to take the next trip to the moon. Still, as I tortured myself watching the two “debates,” which were not really debates, but mostly a show of...
Michelle Malkin: Unraveling of crafting & politics
Fun fact: I’ve been crocheting since I was 10., when my Tita Lisa taught me the magic of granny squares Fellow yarn nerds will understand the heavenly bliss of spending hours at Hobby Lobby or Walmart immersed in a sea of alpaca, mohair, angora, super bulky and super saver skeins...
G. Terry Madonna & Michael Young: The Democrats’ debate marathon
A Debate Marathon Who will win the 2020 presidential election seems endlessly debatable—and the Democrats are preparing to demonstrate just how endless that debate will be. Overall there will be 12 sanctioned Democratic presidential debates during the party’s nomination battle, six of them in 2019 with six more in 2020....
Donna Pierantoni: Home care crisis’ impact on disabled adults, seniors
Home health aides provide valuable and compassionate home care services to seniors and adults with disabilities that enable them to remain safe at home and out of nursing homes. As a clinical manager who oversees a team of home health aides, I know our state is in a home care...
Javier Palomarez: Taking on America’s waste crisis
America has a big waste problem. In fact, the problem weighs approximately 280 million tons. That is the quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) Americans create every year. As waste creation skyrockets, landfills across the country are nearing capacity, generating a waste crisis that crosses state lines. The U.S. produces...
Walter Williams: Reparations & responsibility for slavery
Several Democratic presidential hopefuls are calling for Americans to make reparations for slavery. On June 19, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties held a hearing. Its stated purpose was “to examine, through open and constructive discourse, the legacy of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, its...
John Stossel: Candidates have lots of bad ideas
So many people want to be president. Unfortunately, many have terrible ideas. Sen. Kamala Harris wants companies to prove they pay men and women equally. “Penalties if they don’t!” she shouts. But there are lots of reasons, other than sexism, why companies pay some men more than women. Harris also...
Cal Thomas: New York Times’ Sulzberger is right (and wrong)
I never thought I would write this, but the publisher of The New York Times, A.G. Sulzberger, is right. Sulzberger wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal in response to President Trump’s claim that his newspaper committed “treason” by publishing a story about U.S. efforts to compromise Russia’s power...
Vince Mercuri: Boyhood home’s foundations live on
With the victory of World War II fresh in their minds, the “Greatest Generation” marched into life with confidence, purpose and a mindset that with determination, hard work and selfless dedication, anything could be accomplished. The typical struggles, failures and hardships of life were no doubt present, yet they had...
