Featured Commentary category, Page 62
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,...
Brad Bushman and Sophie Kjaervik: A 1-minute video helped preteens be more careful around real guns
Children who watched a 1-minute-long gun safety video were more cautious when they found a real handgun hidden in a drawer in our lab compared to children who watched a car safety video, according to our randomized clinical trial published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. We observed this difference even...
Elwood Watson: Teaching about racism without discussing race?
Ryan Walters, a far right-wing education official who currently serves as Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction, recently caused a political firestorm when he insisted the Tulsa race massacre can be taught in public schools without amounting to “critical race theory” — so long as it’s taught without discussing race. Walters,...
Nathan Benefield: Shapiro, lawmakers must choose — students or special interests?
In education policy, there are two main groups of stakeholders: parents and special interests. Parents want the best opportunities for their children, while special interests benefit from maintaining the status quo. The first group is much more numerous. The latter, unfortunately, has far greater political power — with dozens of...
Zach Kennedy: In Allegheny County, progressives are now the establishment
A political powerhouse now rivaling Philadelphia as the bedrock of Democratic electoral strength in Pennsylvania, Allegheny County has been consistently trending more progressive. This past May’s primaries in Pennsylvania’s second-largest county added another layer of icing on a cake that’s been baking for nearly a decade: In Allegheny County, progressives...
F.D. Flam: How much heat can the human body stand?
The June that just ended was the Earth’s hottest — ever. And the first week of July saw the trend continue. The surging summer temperatures made me wonder: Just how much heat can the human body stand? Deaths from heat are pretty common and, as the world heats up, may...
Nicole Woitowich: Clinical trials are better at including women. But data analysis is still a real problem.
The summer of 1993 was an eventful time: Prince changed his name to a symbol, “Jurassic Park” was released and Congress passed the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act requiring the inclusion of women in clinical research. Most people aren’t aware of this law, which requires that women be included...
LZ Granderson: Jailing unhoused people for sleeping in public is no solution to homelessness
Earlier this month, a group of conservative judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit spoke out against allowing homeless people to sleep in public spaces, after the court’s liberal majority decided that those with nowhere else to rest cannot be subject to criminal penalties. It’s the...
Anthony Pahnke: Farmers deserve to be able to control what they grow
My grandma calls him the “seed man.” He used to come by our farm outside of Fond du Lac, Wis., every year, trying to persuade us to buy the latest variety of corn and wheat seeds. If the “seed man” didn’t have something we liked, then there were the options...
Mark Nicastre: The letter that sank school choice in Pa.
One of the most overused expressions in sports, politics or any competitive endeavor is “they pulled defeat from the jaws of victory.” But sometimes the expression fits. School-choice advocates and lobbyists this month made one of the biggest errors I’ve seen in almost 20 years of working in politics and...
Carl P. Leubsdorf: Pence has difficult path ahead
Mike Pence has wanted to be president for a long time. That was one factor that impelled him to seek — and win — Indiana’s governorship in 2012 at a time when he was a rising power and potential speaker in the GOP-controlled House. It was certainly a factor in...
Jonah Goldberg: Yes, cluster munitions are awful. No, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give them to Ukraine.
The controversy over the Biden administration’s decision to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions reminded me of my old boss William F. Buckley’s famous rejoinder to claims the United States and the Soviet Union were morally equivalent because they both possessed nuclear weapons and spent a lot on defense. His phrasing...
Leland Lazarus: China’s ties to Cuba and growing presence in Latin America raise security concerns in Washington
There is a push by leaders in Washington and Beijing to get U.S.-China relations back on track. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with President Xi Jinping in China in June to reopen the lines of communication between the countries. And Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen this month spent four...
Christopher Devine: Why do U.S. voters have to pick a Republican or a Democrat?
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Why does it have to be Democrat vs. Republican in elections? Why can’t it be Republican vs. Republican or Democrat vs. Democrat? – Gianna, age...
Sen. Ryan Aument: Young people need opportunity, not student loan forgiveness
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Biden’s student loan forgiveness proposal on June 30. While this ruling is a win for taxpayers, there are still millions of Americans with trillions of dollars in outstanding student loans who now need to pay back that debt. I applaud the high court’s...
Thomas Zeitzoff: ‘Idiots,’ ‘criminals’ and ‘scum’ — nasty politics highest in U.S. since the Civil War
Joe Biden, “together with a band of his closest thugs, misfits and Marxists, tried to destroy American democracy.” This is what Donald Trump said to his supporters hours after pleading not guilty in federal court in June 2023 to his mishandling of classified documents. The indictment of a former president...
Brenton Smith: We don’t have 10 years to think about our Social Security insolvency problem
It has been nearly 40 years since Congress was able to find common ground on the future of Social Security. While millions of people depend on the system as a lifeline, politicians have done little to slow the erosion of the program’s finances. If the projections in the latest trustees...
Stephen Mihm: How the Titanic wreck became a money-making scheme
The ill-fated passengers who died trying to visit the wreck of the Titanic paid an extraordinary price for the privilege: $250,000 each. This is hardly surprising, given how many people view the story of the doomed ship with intense, if morbid, fascination. A profitable industry now caters to this obsession,...
Sheldon H. Jacobson: Should the TSA end the 3-ounce liquid restriction?
The plot to bring liquid explosives onto flights from London to the U.S. and Canada in 2006 prompted the Transportation Security Administration to institute a limitation of 3 ounces on all liquid and gel containers placed in carry-on bags. This led to the well-known and much maligned 3-1-1 rule for...
Dennis Roddy: Voucher backtrack another calibrated move by Shapiro
Cynicism abounds in government. It’s where cynics go to win big. So the indignant surprise that Gov. Josh Shapiro went back on his word to Senate Republicans over scholarship vouchers for kids in failing schools is both understandable and meaningless. The passion of public policy is wasted on the mathematics...
Randy Highlands: Decision to close Jeannette EMS a difficult one
The decision to close Jeannette EMS was one that did not come lightly (“Jeannette EMS shuts down after 63 years,” July 3, TribLIVE). I have devoted over 44 years of my life to this service and community in various capacities within the service. The EMS industry as a whole is...
Dr. Andrew Smolar: Republican leadership, power and courage
So much has been said about Donald Trump that fans and foes are tired of him. What hasn’t been described are the motivations of Republican leadership — the congresspeople who fawn over him despite private reservations, and state Republicans who continue their support. Representatives of the Republican Party have remained...
François Dubet: French riots follow decades-old pattern of rage, with no resolution in sight
Although they never fail to take us aback, French riots have followed the same distinct pattern ever since protests broke out in the Eastern suburbs of Lyon in 1981, an episode known as the “summer of Minguettes”: a young person is killed or seriously injured by the police, triggering an...
Cal Thomas: The catastrophe du jour
King Charles III has launched a catastrophe countdown clock. It will tick until 2030, a year in which he predicts “serious consequences” if the world doesn’t effectively address “climate change.” Honestly, if you can’t trust the king, whom can you trust? It’s always good to be reminded of predictions like...
