Featured Commentary category, Page 157
Analysis: Why Pennsylvania needs to ditch fracking and get a Green New Deal of its own
If a foreign adversary announced to the world that it had a new arsenal of destructive nuclear weapons and threatened the imminent doom of the United States, what would we do? Push for a peace deal that would limit and hopefully end the atomic threat? Invest heavily in missile defense?...
Nia Arrington: Young people advocate for safe, supportive schools
On Feb. 14, 2018, 17 people tragically lost their lives in a brutal massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. I was in school when it happened and saw tweets from students in the school. It was terrifying. In the days following, I was inspired by the...
Eric Zorn: A call for supermarkets to stop selling National Enquirer
It’s immoral for stores to sell the National Enquirer. This has been true since long before the Florida-based supermarket tabloid began churning out poisonously and deliberately false propaganda during the 2016 presidential campaign season — “Hillary (Clinton): 6 months to live!”; “Bill (Clinton) caught in teen sex ring!”; “Hillary hitman...
Vince Mercuri: Care for physical, emotional heart
I recall sitting in a health/science class in the early ’70s where the subject was caring for the heart. Topics included the typical instructions about height and weight , exercise, diet, heart-rate monitoring, blood pressure ranges, and overall health and wellness do’s and don’ts. The homework assignments involved tracking daily...
Michael Galant: It’s time to shut down tax havens
For many Americans, February is tax time — or at least the time they are reminded of their need to pay taxes, now that the forms are all in. That means millions of people are starting to sift through piles of paper hoping they won’t owe more than they can...
John Gibson: Setting record straight on Veolia’s PWSA work
In response to Jennifer Rafanan Kennedy’s op-ed “Real culprit in Pittsburgh’s lead crisis” (Feb. 6, TribLIVE), we would like to state that we wholeheartedly agree with the author’s desire to put the interests and safety of the people of Pittsburgh first. We wish to set the record straight, however, regarding...
Pat Buchanan: Has Trump found formula for 2020?
If the pollsters at CNN and CBS are correct, Donald Trump may have found the formula for winning a second term in 2020. His State of the Union address, say the two networks, met with the approval of 76 percent of all viewers — 97 percent of Republicans, 82 percent...
Francis Wilkinson: Elizabeth Warren and the high price of progress
President Bill Clinton claimed at a forum in 1998 that his grandmother was “one-quarter Cherokee.” The assertion, from a politician with a not-always-sterling reputation for truthfulness, went unheralded. Clinton’s mother had earlier been described, in a 1992 article, as a “descendant of Irish farmers and Cherokee Indians.” The genealogical receipts...
Doyle McManus: Congress already is laying the groundwork for impeachment
WASHINGTON — Last week, no fewer than six committees of the House of Representatives were investigating potential grounds for impeaching President Donald Trump. They don’t use the word “impeachment.” Their instructions from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are to describe their work in narrower, less inflammatory terms. But the question is...
Michelle Malkin: It’s time for illegal ingrates to go
Crying “hate” is a lazy way to debate. But in the Beltway, where honest discussion and vigorous deliberation are desperately needed, the rhetorical sloth is so thick you need a Big Foot circular saw to cut it. Take Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who thrust a Liberian immigrant, Linda Clark,...
Cindy Adams Dunn & David Masur: Protecting American treasures
When it comes to awe-inspiring public lands, Pennsylvania’s is home to some of the nation’s best hidden gems. Millions of acres of federal, state and local public lands provide Pennsylvanians with a superior quality of life and enhance our economy. In fact, Pennsylvania’s outdoor recreation economy is the fifth largest...
Jennifer Rubin: Democrats should embrace the double standard of Republicans
President Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women; was accused by numerous women of sexual harassment or assault; endorsed a candidate for Senate who was credibly accused of child molestation; praised an aide despite photographic evidence supporting accusations of spousal abuse; directed that hush money be paid to women in advance...
Sara Innamorato: It’s time for automatic voter registration in Pa.
I watch my neighbors create positive change year-round. They volunteer to shovel sidewalks for seniors on their block and swap tomato-growing tips at the community garden. These are the actions that create and sustain a community, but the largest and most impactful changes we can make begin at the ballot...
Walter Williams: Opportunities endless when sex becomes optional
Suppose I declare that I am a king. Should you be required to address me as “Your Majesty”? You say, “Williams, that’s lunacy! You can’t prove such nonsense.” You’re wrong. It’s proved by my declaration. It’s no different from a person born with XY chromosomes declaring that he is a...
John Stossel: The slum by the Bay
San Francisco is one of the richest cities it the world. It’s given us music, technology and elegant architecture. Now it gives us filthy homeless encampments. One urban planner told me, “I just returned from the Tenderloin (a section of San Francisco). It’s worse than slums of India, Haiti, Africa!”...
Michael Tomasky: Political polarization is America’s normal — and there’s nothing new about it
When Americans think about political polarization, I’d imagine most of them think back to the ’90s—Newt Gingrich, the Clintons, the ascendance of conservative media figures like Rush Limbaugh, all that. Well, polarization started in the ’90s all right. But not the 1990s. The 1790s. In other words, we have this...
Jennifer Rafanan Kennedy: Real culprit in Pittsburgh’s lead crisis
On Friday, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced that his office has filed 161 charges against the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) over elevated lead levels. For years, Pittsburgh community members and environmental coalitions like the Our Water Campaign — a local coalition of environmental, labor and community organizations...
Pat Buchanan: Who’s right, Trump or spy chiefs?
To manifest his opposition to President Trump’s decision to pull all 2,000 U.S. troops out of Syria, and half of the 14,000 in Afghanistan, Gen. James Mattis went public and resigned as secretary of Defense. Now Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, in public testimony to Congress, has contradicted Trump...
Joe Scarborough: Trump’s State of the Union will come against grim political backdrop
President Donald Trump will be entering the chambers of the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday night to deliver a State of the Union address that he hopes will lift his sagging political fortunes. The 45th president has stumbled his way into an approval rating in the mid-30s, according to...
Faye Flam: Stop hating on the weather forecast
People love to hate weather forecasts, though it’s getting a lot harder to find fault. Forecasts gave plenty of advance warning that Chicago would see a bitter high of around minus 12 on Wednesday, and lows Wednesday night comparable to a bad day in Antarctica. Public officials closed schools and...
Cal Thomas: Costs of Trump’s ‘cave’ on wall
The first thing that needs to be said about President Trump’s decision to sign a measure reopening part of the federal government without getting money for the wall he demanded is that his experience as a New York businessman was no help. Perhaps he failed to recognize that Democrats are...
Michael Farren & Anne Philpot: Pittsburgh dodged the Amazon iceberg
If recent history is a good predictor, this year Pennsylvania politicians could dole out over $300 million in taxpayer money for corporate handouts. And cities like Pittsburgh that lost out in the sweepstakes for Amazon’s second headquarters (or “HQ2”) may be motivated to double down on the next big prize....
G. Terry Madonna & Michael Young: Can GOP dump Trump?
Old conventional wisdom: It can’t happen — Donald Trump cannot be denied the Republican renomination in 2020. New conventional wisdom: maybe it can. Even a month ago, it seemed implausible Trump might be challenged for the 2020 GOP nomination. Troubles he certainly had. But presidents seeking a second term are...
Walter Williams: Why are we demonizing white men?
Rush Limbaugh’s December 2018 Limbaugh Letter has an article titled “Demonizing White Men.” It highlights — with actual quotations from people in the media, academia and the political and entertainment arenas — the attack on white men as a class. You can decide whether these statements are decent, moral or...
John Stossel: We should choose how our money is spent
Sunday is the Super Bowl. I look forward to playing poker and watching. It’s easy to do both because in a three-hour-plus NFL game there are just 11 minutes of actual football action. So we’ll have plenty of time to watch Atlanta politicians take credit for the stadium that will...
