Featured Commentary category, Page 61
Greg Fulton: America the Generous
In watching cable news, reading articles on the internet or listening to certain pundits, you might get the impression that Americans are greedy and selfish people. In fact it’s become good sport for the media periodically to highlight a particular “ugly American” who has shown exceptional greed and been uncaring...
Jon Pushinsky and M. Jean Clickner: Personal reflections on the impact of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
We joined Congregation Dor Hadash as young parents over 30 years ago. We appreciated that the congregation was formed by a group of independent thinkers who were largely raised in the orthodox and conservative Jewish traditions. The congregational founders embraced their Judaism while striving to find new ways of applying...
Elwood Watson: Conservatives latest in long line of Barbie critics
Like many material icons, Barbie has had a complex history. When Mattel introduced Barbie to the public in 1959, America was beginning to enter deep into the throes of the Cold War. The modern civil rights movement was beginning to gain steam, and the nation was largely embracing the status...
Sens. Ryan Aument and Anthony Williams: Pa. students are struggling to read; we must help them
It’s time to sound the alarm on early literacy in Pennsylvania. Almost half of fourth-graders across our state are reading below grade level, a challenge that exists in every corner of Pennsylvania — from urban cities to our rural communities. Research consistently has shown early literacy is critical to academic...
Nathan Benefield: Pennsylvanians are leaving — but Shapiro, lawmakers can inspire them to stay
Do you know someone who left Pennsylvania — or is considering doing so — to find greener pastures? You’re not alone. Nearly half of Pennsylvanians flirt with moving out of state, according to a recent survey commissioned by the Commonwealth Foundation. Younger respondents show a higher propensity to look elsewhere....
Michael Reagan: GOP presidential debate will not be great again
Here we go again. The first Republican presidential primary debate is less than a month away and the GOP is hell-bent on making the same mistake it made in 2015. For its first primary debate back then Republicans had a herd of medium-caliber presidential wannabes that was so large the...
James Stavridis: NATO convoys can protect Ukraine’s grain harvest from Putin
In the latest escalation of his war crimes against Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has pulled out of the painfully negotiated grain deal that for months has permitted exports of Ukrainian and Russian agricultural products from Black Sea ports. There are several reasons for Putin’s withdrawal: frustration at Western sanctions;...
Point: Bidenomics is working for Pa. — and America
President Joe Biden’s visit to Philadelphia on July 20 offered a timely reminder of how much progress Pennsylvania has made under his leadership. Two years ago, Biden inherited a broken economy — one that didn’t reflect the American dream but instead a fundamental lie: the idea that an economy rigged...
Chris Impey: Whistleblower calls for government transparency as Congress digs for the truth about UFOs
A congressional subcommittee met July 26 to hear testimony from several military officers who allege the government is concealing evidence of UFOs. By holding a hearing on UFOs — now called “unidentified anomalous phenomena” by government agencies — the subcommittee sought to understand whether these UAPs pose a threat to...
Counterpoint: Bidenomics doesn’t add up for Pa. or America
President Joe Biden recently returned to his birth state to pitch his newly branded economic vision: Bidenomics. Though Biden seems eager to paint a rosy economic picture, the numbers show that Bidenomics is, at best, a mixed bag. Yes, the national unemployment rate is below 4%, where it has remained...
Dwan Walker: Credit card bill bad for Pennsylvanians
Here in Aliquippa and other communities like ours across Western Pennsylvania, we’re seeing how the hard work and determination of our ordinary citizens directly contributes to the strength and resolve of our commonwealth. Bouncing back in the aftermath of a global pandemic has not been easy, but our neighbors are...
Rachel Marsden: Controversial top appointment unearths divisions among Washington and its allies
Shortly after Yale professor and former Obama-era Justice Department official, Fiona Scott Morton, landed the role of the European Commission’s chief competition economist, the knives came out here in France. French President Emmanuel Macron led the charge himself. “If we have no (European) researcher of this level to be recruited...
Marci A. Hamilton: Time to open window for sex abuse survivors
Who takes their car to a mechanic, learns what repairs are needed and walks out without getting the actual work done? Who goes to a doctor, gets a diagnosis and leaves without pain relievers, a prescription or a referral to physical therapy? No one, right? But isn’t this really what’s...
Cal Thomas: Tony Bennett, more than a ‘crooner’
It was in the early ’60s. I was a copy boy at NBC News, and the overnight disc jockey for the local radio station called and asked if I’d like to go on a boat ride down the Potomac River with his guest, Tony Bennett. For several hours we cruised...
Elwood Watson: In Florida, learn about the benefits of slavery
Florida has justly earned its recent reputation as the most dysfunctional, surreal and outlandish state in the nation. The so-called Sunshine State continues to promote high-profile lunacy. Last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the new, updated framework for how Black history will be taught in K-12 schools, including guidelines that...
Christopher Briem: The painful truth of population decline
Few Americans have studied the plight of formerly industrialized cities more closely than Alan Mallach. Throughout his career, the noted community development expert has delved into the challenges facing many small and medium-sized communities that have had to deal with concentrated deindustrialization, disinvestment, and population contraction. He has distilled much...
Kevin Sabet: Pa. politicians’ pot push won’t be boon they claim
Over the last decade, the drive to legalize marijuana has been the subject of a significant public relations campaign. Throughout the country, the push to erase any stigma associated with marijuana has essentially become part of contemporary pop culture. In a vast effort to influence perceptions, musicians, actors, media personalities...
Dr. Asif Ilyas: Education needed for opioid prescribing in Appalachia
The escalating opioid crisis, especially in the Appalachian region, is a stark reminder of the harsh realities of addiction. A recently published study by the Rothman Orthopaedic Institute Foundation for Opioid Research and Education illuminates the alarming rise of opioid- related deaths in the Appalachian region, disproportionately higher than the rest...
Matt Bradford: A self-inflicted Pa. budget crisis
In a very complicated place like the state Capitol, for once, things are simple. There is no budget impasse. And there was no “Great Betrayal.” The hyperbolic rhetoric from the Senate over the past few weeks would make you think otherwise and requires that the record be set straight. As...
Point: Colleges should solely consider merit in selecting students
On June 29, the Supreme Court delivered a 6-3 ruling that essentially prevents colleges from using affirmative action and race-based quotas in the college admissions acceptance process. As Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “The race-based admissions systems … fail to comply with the twin commands of the Equal Protection Clause...
Counterpoint: Affirmative action has ended; the need for diversity hasn’t
When a conservative Supreme Court majority effectively ended the use of affirmative action in college admissions, it disregarded more than 40 years of precedent — and the realities of systemic racial discrimination. Meanwhile, the court left affirmative action for the wealthy in place. While colleges no longer can consider race...
Sheldon H. Jacobson: An AI Bill of Rights would be unenforceable and may do more harm than good
President Joe Biden put forward a “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights” that provides five guiding principles for the development and implementation of artificial intelligence. They outline aspirational goals that also align with principles in the Democratic Party platform. Technology leaders also have expressed concern about the untethered growth...
Elwood Watson: Aldean learns critics have freedom of speech, too
This week, Country Music Television pulled Jason Aldean’s highly controversial music video for “Try That in a Small Town” after its release last week sparked controversy. Aldean, one of the biggest country music stars, has been criticized widely for the song and video, which features intense hostility and threats of...
Barry Markovsky: Why people tend to believe UFOs are extraterrestrial
Most of us still call them UFOs — unidentified flying objects. NASA recently adopted the term “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or UAP. Either way, every few years popular claims resurface that these things are not of our world, or that the U.S. government has some stored away. I’m a sociologist who...
Peter Morici: How Ukraine joining NATO would keep critical technology out of China’s hands
The future of Ukraine in the NATO alliance will prove critical to the balance of power in the Pacific and U.S. economic leadership around the world. Tensions within NATO on the embattled nation’s status were on full display at the Vilnius Summit last week. On the agenda was Ukrainian membership,...
