Featured Commentary category, Page 32
Adam Forgie: We must build on, not kill, clean energy momentum
We are in the midst of an energy boom. Since 2019, America’s energy production has exceeded our consumption. Under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, America is producing more energy than any time in history, and Pennsylvania is at the heart of it. While we are producing more...
Dyan Mazurana and Sima Samar: Taliban’s ‘vice and virtue’ law erases women by justifying violence against them
Since returning to power three years ago, the Taliban have been enforcing oppressive laws that violate people’s freedoms and human rights, especially those of women and girls. But a newly passed “vice and virtue” law goes further. It is among the most repressive and discriminatory measures ever enacted by the...
Taylor Watterson: Once I related to Vance; now I feel betrayed
When Georgia Rep. Mike Collins posted a Photoshopped image of JD Vance the morning after the vice presidential debate, it felt like the latest attempt to project onto Vance what we want to see, rather than looking at who he really is. I can relate. The first time I heard...
Jim Lee: Is closing the sale with ‘inflation’ voters enough for Trump?
In Pennsylvania, our most recent poll (conducted between Sept. 22 and 28, with a sample size of 700 likely voters) shows Kamala Harris and Donald Trump tied at 46% to 46% — a statistical tie. The remaining 6% are undecided; 1% would choose another candidate. This poll shows a slight...
Jennifer Watling Neal and Zachary P. Neal: Voters without kids are in the political spotlight — but they’re not all the same
In the 2024 election cycle, voters without children are under the microscope. Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance has said that “childless cat ladies” and older adults without kids are “sociopaths” who “don’t have a direct stake in this country.” So it was notable that when pop star Taylor Swift...
John Hinshaw: Why Harris sometimes sounds like Reagan
The Republican Party has been transformed under Donald Trump, and not all Republicans are happy about it. In 2020, about 6% of Republican voters pulled the lever for Joe Biden; about 5% of Democrats did the same for Donald Trump. To put this in context, according to data at Cornell...
Kathryn Spitz Cohan: Modern cinema can continue to thrive
Is modern cinema in trouble? According to Isabelle Huppert, the president of this year’s Venice International Film Festival jury, it is. On the opening day of the festival, Huppert said, “I’m worried about the things everyone is worried about. Making sure that cinema continues to live because it is very...
William M. Cotter: Why local journalism matters
I kick off every morning by checking the local and regional sports scores in a newsletter emailed to my smartphone by my hometown newspaper. I then scroll through a feed of breaking news. This information matters to my family and me. It is a compilation of Pittsburgh- area news I cannot...
Sloane Davidson: Using immigrants for political points hurts us all
At the apex of an election year, some politicians would have you believe our country is deeply polarized on the issue of immigration, using refugees and immigrants as pawns for political gain. Haitian asylum seekers and the Haitian diaspora have been especially thrust into the spotlight, becoming the focus of...
Zach Chow: Building the manufacturing workforce of tomorrow
In honor of Manufacturing Day, Oct. 4, thousands of manufacturers across the country are hosting events in early October to teach students and educators about the realities of working in modern manufacturing, from how plants operate to high-tech career paths. Organized by the Manufacturing Institute, the initiative aims to attract...
Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager: Russia’s new ideological battlefield — the militarization of young minds
Over the summer of 2024, some 250 Russian children traveled to North Korea for a 10-day-long kids camp. Framed as cultural diplomacy, the event was the result of a new youth exchange launched in 2022 that sees Russian youth compete for the free trip abroad. To win a place, children...
Deyanira Nevárez Martínez : A better way forward on homelessness
Homelessness is a rare issue in American politics that does not cut neatly along party or ideological lines. It can be hard to predict who will support or oppose measures to expand affordable housing and services for people without homes. San Francisco, for example — one of the most progressive...
Corinne Mammarella: Victims of campus assault deserve better
Each school year, universities reintroduce themselves to their students, flooding them with exciting opportunities, programs and events. The fall semester, however, yields a community of students who have been forced into disillusion. The Red Zone marks the period of time between the first day of classes and Thanksgiving break, when...
Brian Clancy: Taylor Swift encouraged us to do election research. But how?
I’m an independent who has voted for Democrats and Republicans over the years, and what I appreciated most about Taylor Swift’s presidential endorsement was that she didn’t tell people what to think or who to vote for. What she did do was outline a thoughtful process and share where she...
Dan DeBone: Time for legislative action on Pa.’s transportation and infrastructure crisis
As the State House and Senate return for their remaining voting days this year, one major piece of overdue legislation demands immediate attention — Act 89. Passed a decade ago, Act 89 was one of the most comprehensive transportation packages in Pennsylvania’s history. It provided funding for public transportation, highways,...
Point: When violent crime was at its worst, congressional action helped get the country back on track
By the early 1990s, the United States had experienced dramatic and unprecedented surges in crime, with the violent crime rate up 470% from 1961 and the murder rate up 92% from that year. Life in American cities was more dangerous than ever, and punishment was not fitting the crimes. While...
Counterpoint: The 1994 crime bill’s legacy — 30 years of failure
The 1994 crime bill, a misguided policy choice rooted in fear and misinformation, has inflicted irreparable harm on communities nationwide. By prioritizing punitive measures over proven prevention strategies, this legislation has fueled mass incarceration, eroded civil liberties and exacerbated systemic inequalities, all without demonstrably improving public safety. The architects and...
Josh Fleitman: I’m afraid of sending my daughter to school, angry that solutions are being ignored
I’m the proud new dad of a 9-month-old baby girl. Fatherhood has fundamentally changed the way my wife and I think and how we perceive the world. There’s the new levels of joy that we didn’t think possible: our hearts melting at her first giggle, celebrating her first word and...
Carl P. Leubsdorf: A personal reminiscence of Jimmy Carter
On a December afternoon nearly 50 years ago, I got a phone call from Jody Powell, the press secretary to a little-known former governor of Georgia who had this bizarre notion he would be the country’s next president. After filling me in on his boss’s plans for formally announcing his...
Carlos Sánchez: High-stakes politics have us seeking normalcy. But what if uncertainty and crisis are the norm?
Whether the attempted insurrection, the pandemic, the two assassination attempts on Donald Trump or something else, there has been enough craziness since 2020 to warrant social panic. We frequently utter phrases such as “We live in uncertain times,” “We are going through a moment of crisis” or “This is not...
Steven Hvozdovich: Don’t spread cancer-causing chemicals here. Or anywhere.
To say “our government should not poison us” is not exactly a bold statement. Yet, somehow, it is one we have to make. Let me explain: PFAS, better known as forever chemicals, are incredibly dangerous. They cause cancer, developmental delays in children, and can harm women’s fertility. Yet, despite these...
Bedassa Tadesse and Roger White: Immigrants are unsung heroes of global trade and value creation
In nearly every country that hosts foreign-born citizens, immigration emerges as a lightning rod for controversy. The economic realities of immigration, however, are far more complex than the negative sound bites suggest. Far from being a burden, as critics claim, immigrants play pivotal roles in driving innovation, enhancing productivity and...
Kathryn Anne Edwards: Make Social Security the model to fix the minimum wage
One of the few things Democrats and Republicans agree on these days is it’s past time to raise the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour for 15 years. Vice President Kamala Harris supported President Joe Biden’s effort at the beginning of his administration to increase...
Richard Forno: Why Hezbollah went low-tech for communications
Electronic pagers across Lebanon exploded simultaneously on Sept. 17, killing 12 and wounding more than 2,700. The following day, another wave of explosions in the country came from detonating walkie-talkies. The attacks appeared to target members of the militant group Hezbollah. The pagers attack involved explosives planted in the communications...
Jonathan Zimmerman: How the University of Pennsylvania lost its way on free speech
I teach at the University of Pennsylvania, which is an equal-opportunity censor. It suppresses voices on the right and the left, even as it proclaims its commitment to free and open dialogue. That’s the sad takeaway of this month’s report by the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which...
