Featured Commentary category, Page 15
Christopher Nicholas: Are Pa. partisans flipping sides on Fetterman?
Are the party positions on always-newsy senior U.S. Sen. John Fetterman flipping here in Pennsylvania? Fetterman continues to dominate the state’s “political attention” economy, as he has for a long time. Earlier this month in Boston, he and Republican Sen. Dave McCormick participated in a debate sponsored by the Edward...
Kate Harper and Conor Lamb: Four-letter word missing from the One Big Beautiful Bill: JOBS
In the hazy fog of hyperpartisan Washington, it’s easy to miss what is directly in front of you. That has never been truer than in the current debate over the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which passed the U.S. House and now awaits action in the Senate. The “OBBB” is a...
Cal Thomas: Hit ’em hard and again
After Israel took out at least two of Iran’s top scientists behind the development of nuclear weapons (and promised to kill more), my high school fight song came to mind. At football games after a touchdown we sang, “Hit ’em hard and hit ’em again. Show ’em now that we’re...
Tom Gilbert: Pa. communities win when we invest in outdoor recreation
Anyone who doubts the economic importance of outdoor recreation in Pennsylvania should visit rural Huntingdon County, home of Raystown Lake. Thousands visit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-operated recreation area each year to boat, fish and camp, leaving behind tens of millions of dollars spent at local businesses. Or rather,...
Bishop Timothy C. Senior: All Pennsylvanians must confront human trafficking
During my time as Bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg, I have quickly come to realize that the problem of human trafficking is far more serious in Pennsylvania than many of us (may) want to recognize. Victims and survivors include every demographic. They are men and women, adults and children,...
Point: America’s law-and-order problem is Donald Trump
Yes, America does have a law-and-order problem. It’s the president of the United States. Throughout U.S. history, the best presidents have sparingly sought to use federal forces not to exacerbate tensions but as a last resort to deescalate violence, protect constitutional rights and restore order. Whether Democratic or Republican, when...
Counterpoint: Crime is down, but chaos is up
Protests are erupting in Los Angeles and other cities, with streets filled with demonstrators clashing with police, National Guard troops and Marines deployed under a presidential order. Scenes of civil unrest, from property damage and looting to tense standoffs clouded in tear gas, have dominated headlines, fueling a sense of...
Jerel Ezell: The scars from unrest can run deep, for protesters, residents and even authorities
The heavy-handed responses by the Trump administration to ongoing protests in Los Angeles reveal how little imagination our politicians continue to have when it comes to grasping the causes and consequences of social unrest. Last Friday, in response to increasingly bold and reckless raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Angelenos...
Sheldon H. Jacobson: People like surprises, not uncertainty
No one likes uncertainty. For some, it carries with it a sense of doom and helplessness. Yet despite many people’s apparent aversion to uncertainty, some actively seek it out in many areas of their life. Uncertainty is all around us. It has been making headlines in the news this year,...
Sloane Davidson: Immigrants powering Pittsburgh
When we talk about Pittsburgh’s future, we often focus on attracting new talent. But one of the smartest investments we can make is in the neighbors who are already here, especially immigrants. Across Pennsylvania, nearly 1 million immigrants, which equates to around 7% of the population, are powering our economy...
SpearIt: 2025 — time to abandon ‘people of color’
In his column “Watch your language — a chronicle of today’s improper English” (June 2, TribLive), Cal Thomas describes maladies that plague English speech and writing. This opinion adds to that effort and tries to show why the term “of color” should be retired as a relic of racial subordination....
Frederic J. Fransen: George Washington, America’s reluctant leader, contrasts with today’s
From the beginning of the American experiment, one of its animating principles has been limited government overseen by citizen legislators. Contrast that with the “big, beautiful” spending bill being steered through Congress by today’s career politicians, who euphemistically refer to themselves as “public servants.” America’s founders would be appalled. One...
Betsy Cauble: Pa. needs more behavioral health professionals
Pennsylvania is facing a severe shortage of mental and behavioral health professionals. Over 50 of its 67 counties are designated as mental Health Professional Shortage Areas. Throughout the state, 1.8 million Pennsylvanian adults have a mental health condition, yet 1.7 million live in communities that don’t have enough mental health...
Beatrice Spadacini: Public health — ban first, study later? The growing assault on fluoridated water.
On May 15, Florida became the second state in the nation to ban fluoride from public drinking water. The bill, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, is set to go into effect on July 1. Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox enacted a similar ban that went into effect this May. Five other...
Mark Gongloff: Heat is bad for workers’ health. RFK Jr. doesn’t care
We’re on the verge of what will probably be one of the hottest Northern Hemisphere summers in human history. In early May, the water in the English Channel was already so hot that octopuses invaded it, inspiring Bloomberg News’ Joe Wertz to dub this “hot octopus summer,” and not in...
Noah Feldman: ‘Reverse discrimination’ ruling is a win for the rule of law
White individuals and straight people do not need to meet a higher burden of proof than members of minority groups to prevail in employment discrimination suits, the Supreme Court held Thursday. The immediate effect is to make so-called “reverse discrimination” claims easier to bring. However, the decision also solidifies the...
Cal Thomas: The predators vs. the sloths
Six months after the Democrats’ disastrous performance in November’s election, The New York Times reports the party is “still searching for the path forward.” Democrats have hired consultants, one of whom asked voters what animal would they assign each party (elephants and donkeys, the traditional symbols for the respective parties,...
Ashley Nunes: Outrage over Trump’s electric vehicle policies is misplaced
Electric car subsidies are heading for the chopping block. A tax bill recently passed by House Republicans is set to stop billions in taxpayer cash from being spent on electric vehicle purchases. If embraced by the Senate and signed into law by President Donald Trump, the bill would gut long-standing...
Counterpoint: Trump is upholding the Constitution by calling out its weaknesses
When asked in May whether he needed to uphold the Constitution of the United States, President Donald Trump responded, “I don’t know.” That answer seemed to shock many, but perhaps it shouldn’t have. Rather than signaling disregard, Trump’s response reflected a rare, if blunt, honesty about the serious constitutional flaws...
Point: Trump’s unconstitutional actions threaten democracy
President Donald Trump is pursuing a path that is actively destabilizing the guardrails of our Constitution. Unless he changes course, our nation — the world’s oldest continuing democracy — risks a crisis where the president is no longer beholden to the rule of law. Americans will suffer the consequences. America’s...
Michael Stelzig: Almost there for Nippon Steel-US Steel deal
As a Pittsburgh native, I was relieved to hear that President Trump decided to reconsider the Nippon-U.S. Steel deal he once opposed. No longer subject to election-year politics, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States recently submitted its national security review to the president. On May 30, during...
Daniel J. Stone: Biden’s cancer diagnosis should be a teaching moment
Former President Joe Biden’s metastatic cancer diagnosis brings together two controversial issues: PSA testing for prostate cancer and presidential politics. To understand what is at stake Americans need basic information about PSA testing, and a frank discussion of the reasoning behind the prostate cancer screening decisions in the former president’s...
Guy Ciarrocchi: More questions than answers in recent Pa. primary
Even in an off-year primary, Pennsylvania continues to garner the attention of politicians and analysts hoping to understand the state’s political puzzle. Indeed, the recent primary offered insights into trends while also highlighting battles between woke and old-guard factions of the Democratic Party in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Is Pennsylvania now...
F.D. Flam: ‘Organs-on-a-chip’ is one of many alternatives to animal testing
There’s one area of surprising agreement in the often adversarial relationship between conservatives and the scientific community: the need to phase out animal testing in biomedical research. The new leaders of both the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration have said they plan to reduce their...
Karishma Vaswani: America’s cold shoulder to foreign students is worrying Asia
An Ivy League degree has long been central to the Asian dream — a ticket to success and status. But President Donald Trump’s message to international students is clear: Far fewer of you are welcome. The blunt statement and growing chaos across the university sector has left families wondering if...
