Featured Commentary category, Page 24

There is an open space for a significant new, centrist political party, created by the pull of the progressive and Donald Trump bases to their respective, opposite poles on the political spectrum. This is a daunting challenge, of course, yet there is precedent. Only once in American history has a...

On Sept. 21, then Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stopped by President Joe Biden’s home in Delaware. Official reports indicate the two leaders warmly greeted each other. Biden lauded the “special friendship” he has with the prime minister. The conference concluded with a joint statement indicating: “Japan and the U.S....

America’s military veterans make up about 6% of the adult population but account for about 20% of all suicides. That means that each day, about 18 veterans will die by suicide. In the U.S., the overall rate of suicide has largely increased since the start of the millennium, but veterans...

Only 1% of Americans serve in our nation’s military. It should be unsurprising that many don’t understand military service, the types of jobs it offers, the way of life and the long-term opportunities it provides. One common misconception is that there is no future in the military for individuals with...

As Veterans Day approaches, the military is concerned about a growing recruitment crisis. Survey after survey reveals young people aren’t inspired by military service. Ironically, decades of sky-high military spending — and the endless war it enabled — may have much to do with that. And reversing that trend is...

As the dust settles from the 2024 election, Pennsylvania’s leaders must now prepare for the 2025 legislative session and the forthcoming fiscal year budget debate, as families, caregivers and individuals in the intellectual disabilities and autism (ID/A) community look to Gov. Josh Shapiro to champion crucial funding needs. Last year’s...

Senate Republican leaders decided to end our two-year legislative session without passing HB 2433 and banning foreign influenced corporations from political spending in Pennsylvania elections, and our Pennsylvania state Senate has now gone home until the new year. The editorial “Why would Pennsylvania elections need foreign money?” (Sept. 19, TribLive)...

In the end, Kamala Harris was the wrong candidate with the wrong message at the wrong time. President-elect Donald Trump won the greatest comeback in American political history — bigger than Richard Nixon’s 1968 victory — by surviving two assassination attempts, a media that was shamelessly in the tank for...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is suffering grievous manpower losses as a result of his illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine. He has lost about 200,000 killed, double that number wounded and at least 500,000 young men fleeing the Russian Federation to avoid the draft: a butcher’s bill of over a...

Most of the major metro regions in the U.S., including Pittsburgh, would not meet the new Clean Air Act standard for tiny soot pollution, according to the latest data from the Environmental Protection Agency. Of the 50 largest metro areas, 26 would violate the new standard established by the EPA...

Seventy-two percent of Americans agree that in our complex society we have a shared responsibility to engage with people different from us, according to a 2023 study conducted by More in Common US. So why are politics so partisan and divisive? And how might we meet these challenges in our...

In 2016 and 2020, Donald Trump lost the popular election by several million votes. But in 2016 he won in the Electoral College with slim majorities in several toss-up states. That is the only way he can win the looming election, a contest all the polls show is too close...

Our country is stuck, and we’ve got to make a change. If voters want more of the same, they should vote for 18-year incumbent Sen. Bob Casey. But if you’re looking for change after once-in-a-generation price increases, a wave of violent crime in our cities, a wide-open southern border and...

Every day I’ve had the honor of representing our commonwealth, I’ve fought for the people of Pennsylvania — our workers, children, seniors and people with disabilities. I’ve worked with both parties to protect American workers, to make our border more secure and to lower costs. I have fought corporate greed...

With the most important election of our lifetimes just days away, I have a simple question: Are you better off now than you were four years ago? Are groceries, gas and rent more affordable? Do you feel safer in our cities? Is our border secure? For most Americans, the answer...

On Tuesday, Pennsylvanians have the chance to choose between a president who will fight for you or one focused only on himself. I remember my mother sitting at our kitchen table, with a pile of bills in front of her, cup of tea in hand, trying to figure out how...

The case for federally funded, universally accessible child care is simple: The private market can’t deliver it adequately or affordably to meet the needs of families. The pushback from policymakers is that it’s too expensive an investment for the government to make, especially in an era of trillion-dollar budget deficits....

Typical to many islands, Puerto Rico has a waste management problem. Typical to the social-political discourse in our country, the U.S. has a media problem. In an effort to salvage some credibility for his newspaper, even Jeff Bezos was bold enough to recognize that the “mainstream” media has become simply...

Pennsylvania voters who commit paperwork errors with their mail ballots could risk their votes being rejected in the days ahead — depending on which county they reside. Thanks to failed leadership from commonwealth Secretary Al Schmidt and the General Assembly, a voting rights “Wild West” has flourished where counties are...

If Clark Kent had a twin brother, he might resemble Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. That includes Johnson’s mild-mannered nature. Underneath that bland exterior of Johnson’s may not be a Superman, but Johnson on the first anniversary of his speakership is confident that while Republicans may not be able...

As we near the finish line for the 2024 election, Pennsylvania seems to be the primary focus of both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Whomever wins this state seems very likely to also win the election and thus become the next president of the United States....

I spent more than 20 years in the casino gaming industry, working for some of the world’s premier casino companies, including Las Vegas Sands in five states, including Pennsylvania. When casinos complain about slot machine revenue losses, I can tell you they are misleading the public. Recently, this has been...

As we approach the 2024 elections, the significance of the 50-and-older voter in Pennsylvania cannot be overstated. According to AARP Pennsylvania’s recent poll conducted by the bipartisan polling team of Fabrizio-Ward and Impact research, 90% of voters ages 50 and older say they are “extremely motivated” to vote in this...

Political courage has never been harder to find in Washington. A prime example of this is opposition from President Joe Biden’s administration and presidential nominees Donald Trump and Kamala Harris to the Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel deal — despite the fact that the alternatives are U.S. Steel going bust or forming...

There are a lot of reasons to complain about current political, economic and social realities in the U.S. But there are also reasons to protect the systems in place that work, which are many. One of the first things I noticed a couple years ago when I traveled to India,...