Featured Commentary category, Page 25
Rev. Martin R. Bartel: The buck (of incivility) stops here
Having inaugurated the 47th president this week, it is worth reflecting on the example set by Harry S. Truman, our 33rd president. Truman was known for a sign that sat on his desk in the Oval Office: The buck stops here. This sign, crafted at an Oklahoma Federal Reformatory, symbolized...
Sam Ahwesh: We must restore Pittsburgh’s protections for rodeo animals
If you live in Pittsburgh, you may be surprised to learn that a rodeo bull riding event will be coming to town this weekend. This is an alarming development, as Pittsburgh has had protections since 1992 to shield animals from some of the most egregious practices used in rodeos. These...
FD Flam: What longhorn crazy ants can teach us about groupthink
When scientists constructed a puzzle-solving task and pitted teams of people against teams of ants, the insects sometimes proved to be the smarter species. That’s not to denigrate human intelligence — ants are smart, and their feats of coordinated activity are rare in nature. Still, it is fair to say...
Dan DeBone: Literacy is essential; Pa.’s workforce depends on it
There’s a looming crisis threatening our future workforce and economic stability: Pennsylvania’s literacy crisis. Today, only 1 in 3 of Pennsylvania’s fourth-graders are reading proficiently. It is a flashing warning sign of a system that’s not adequately preparing our children for the future. By fourth grade, students transition from learning...
Madison Jackson: Pittsburgh’s public transit needs a winter wake-up call
Public transportation was a top factor in my decision to move to Pittsburgh four years ago. While I knew it wasn’t New York City or Washington, D.C., I was told by many people that Pittsburgh’s bus network was robust enough to live car-free in neighborhoods like Squirrel Hill and Shadyside....
David Mastio: 2 Trumps, contradictory as always, were on full display at his inauguration
If Donald Trump has a natural environment, it is cognitive dissonance. Nowhere was that on display more than the moment in his inauguration speech when he said, “I want to be a peacemaker and a unifier.” No American politician for 50 years has thrived more on strife and division than...
Derrick Tillman: Collaborations, investments key throughout Pittsburgh communities
Growing up in Section 8 housing, I witnessed firsthand the struggles of living day-to-day when it came to underserved and underrepresented populations. Not only did I see neighbors being displaced, but I saw family members wrestling with bills, trying to meet the needs of daily life. In each of those...
William Beaver: Does nuclear power have a future?
America will need more electricity to keep the lights on and our electronic devices running. The demand for electricity is predicted to increase by 18% by 2033 due largely to data centers needed for artificial intelligence and more electric vehicles. One of the ways to meet that demand would be...
Cal Thomas: The second time around for Trump
According to the Frank Sinatra song, “Love is lovelier, the second time around.” We’ll see how that works out in the second coming of Donald. J. Trump, now president of the United States for a second time, following a four-year “intermission.” The two terms will be a contrast in policy,...
Alison L. Steele: Linking Pa.’s shale gas industry to Calif. wildfires
Thousands of Californians have been displaced by wildfires that continue to rage across the landscape. Their homes and businesses have burned to the ground, and a growing number of lives have been lost. Many more families await evacuation orders, their bags packed, their children prepped, their pets leashed or caged,...
Colin P. Clarke: Why Israel can’t just ‘cut the head off’ of Hamas or Hezbollah
Since the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has been at war in the Middle East. The conflict has stretched across borders, spanning Gaza to Lebanon to Iran. Over the course of 15 months, the Israel Defense Forces and Israel’s intelligence services have taken the fight directly...
David L. Nevins: MAGA and immigration — the unstoppable force meets the immovable object
There’s an old saying about what happens when the unstoppable force meets an immovable object, a situation where two equally powerful and contradictory forces are in opposition to each other. Such a situation is rapidly unfolding between two powerful forces within the Republican Party on the all-important issue of immigration....
Cal Thomas: Trump’s second inaugural address
Who remembers Donald Trump’s first inaugural address? Probably not very many, unless they have Googled it, as I did. That’s likely because after the speech Trump became fixated on the size of the crowd, which he repeatedly claimed was larger than official estimates. As I reread it, I was surprised...
Shih-Yu Simon Wang: Fiery and icy weather of West, East coasts is no coincidence
The Hollywood sign stands sentinel above Los Angeles, watching as embers dance through the January night like wayward stars. Glowing debris floats on warm winds past million-dollar mansions, while emergency crews battle a blaze that shouldn’t exist — not in winter, not here, not now. Two thousand miles east, in...
Anjana Susarla: Meta’s fact-checking shift spotlights competing approaches in fighting misinformation, hate speech
Meta’s decision to change its content moderation policies by replacing centralized fact-checking teams with user-generated community labeling has stirred up a storm of reactions. But taken at face value, the changes raise the question of the effectiveness of Meta’s old policy, fact-checking, and its new one, community comments. With billions...
Jay Feinman: Insurance for natural disasters is failing homeowners
The wildfires that have devastated large parts of Los Angeles County have drawn fresh attention to the struggles many Americans face insuring their homes. Since 2022, seven of the 12 largest insurance companies have stopped issuing new policies to homeowners in California, citing increased risks due to climate change. California...
Elizabeth Stelle: New year, new taxes in Pa.
The new year is always a great opportunity to shed vices like smoking and binge eating. For state and local lawmakers, their guilty pleasure tends to involve overspending and sticking taxpayers with the bill. If Pennsylvania lawmakers thought to quit this dirty habit in 2025, they are off to a...
Salewa Ogunmefun: Pa. residents want true early voting option
November’s general election showed definitively that Pennsylvanians have a massive appetite for more convenient voting options, specifically the ability to cast a ballot early in person so that they aren’t limited to Election Day as their only option. Act 77, the law that allowed for no-excuse mail ballots, does not...
Lisa Jarvis: Whooping cough vaccine has an awareness problem
If you’ve heard the telltale cough and seen an infant gasp for breath, it’s easy to understand why a pertussis outbreak strikes fear in a parent’s heart. Babies can wind up hospitalized or even die from the bacterial infection. That’s why the recent surge in cases of pertussis, or whooping...
Dr. Cory Franklin: Should alcoholic beverages feature a warning about cancer risk?
This month, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a new report on alcohol and cancer that emphasizes the risk of cancer in connection with drinking alcohol. “Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States...
Noah Feldman: Musk and his critics are both wrong about free speech on X
Elon Musk is in a free-speech fight over his decision to demonetize the content of some far-right MAGA critics who disagreed with his immigration views on his social media platform X. What is most remarkable about the argument is that both sides fail to acknowledge the simple truth of how...
Nolan Finley: Trump letting silly ideas detract from his mission
Time to focus, Mr. President-elect. The stream-of-consciousness flow of ideas and promises that marked Donald Trump’s presidential campaign must now give way to deliberate, well-thought-out policymaking. But Trump’s press conference Tuesday, his second since the election, suggests he hasn’t made the pivot from candidate to chief executive. He continued to...
Oliver Bateman: The last battle for Pittsburgh steel
Pittsburgh’s relationship with decline is complicated. The city lost half its population after the steel industry collapsed in the 1970s and 1980s, yet has clung to relevance as a mini-hub for medicine, robotics and artificial intelligence. Now, 70 years after scores of regional steelworkers quite literally fought the Japanese in...
Point: National security concerns outweigh free speech
President-elect Donald Trump is correct in wanting to stall the decision to ban TikTok from appearing before the Supreme Court. Such a delay reinforces the position of diplomacy or peace through strategy. The American public can perceive this as a strategic maneuver — not a change of position on the...
Counterpoint: Defending TikTok defends the First Amendment
President-elect Donald Trump is no stranger to making bold statements. Many see his asking the Supreme Court to pause the looming TikTok ban to allow his administration to pursue a political resolution as another example of his fearlessness. As someone who has long championed free speech and individual liberties, I...
