Featured Commentary category, Page 94
Matthew Jordan and Sydney Ford: Canadian trucker protests show how the loudest voices in the room distort democracy
After Canadian truckers upset with vaccination mandates made their way to Ottawa, they parked their vehicles near Parliament and started making noise — lots of it — blasting their air horns day and night, disturbing the repose of citizens at home, work and in school. The local reaction was swift....
Beverly Moran: The IRS already has all your income tax data — so why do Americans still have to file their taxes?
Doing taxes in the U.S. is notoriously complicated and costly. And it gets even worse when there are delays and backlogs, making it especially hard to reach the Internal Revenue Service for assistance. But to me this raises an important question: Why should taxpayers have to navigate the tedious, costly...
Paul Petrick: The Russia-China alliance
What a difference a half century makes. In February 1972, the People’s Republic of China hosted a history-making American delegation headed by President Richard M. Nixon, the Middle Kingdom’s most important Western visitor since Marco Polo. In February 2022, no Western heads of state were in Beijing as the city...
David Shmoys: Utilizing the power of algorithm modeling for fairer elections
In every representative democracy, free and fair elections in which voters choose their representatives is the foundation of democratic health. This ensures every citizen has equal representation and access to the political process, while each individual’s vote is weighed the same. Unfortunately, there are mechanisms like gerrymandering that hijack this...
Keith Tidman and Richard Sherins: Uprooting racism in America
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin,” declared the legendary civil-rights leader Nelson Mandela in his tireless battle against racism. “People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can learn to love,” he averred. Yet racism in America...
Letter to the editor: Thank a female veteran today
Feb. 19 is National Vet Girls RISE Day, when we recognize women veterans for their service and sacrifice. At Veterans Place of Washington Boulevard, an important part of our mission is to empower veterans’ transition from homeless to home and end the cycle of homelessness. Our Female Veteran Program offers...
Greg Fulton: Truck drivers are frustrated, and for good reason
There have been rumblings about a trucker convoy similar to that in Canada traveling across the U.S. in the next few weeks. In Canada the convoy began out of anger over a mandate that all truck drivers be vaccinated. No similar mandate for truck drivers exists in the U.S. as...
Tom Tyler: Liquor privatization — a glass half full, or half empty?
The debate on House Bill 2272 has started: Should Pennsylvania get out of the business of selling liquor, essentially going with private wholesalers and retailers? This has raised a question within the membership of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association (PLBTA), the statewide political voice for family-owned taverns, bars...
Peter Morici: GOP needs practical solutions before midterms
Republicans are a bit too confident about the midterm elections and more vulnerable than they think. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has told key party donors that the Republicans will not offer a legislative platform but rather run against President Joe Biden’s record. Plenty of ammo At first glance, they...
Jennifer Rafanan Kennedy and Taifa Smith Butler: The story of Pittsburgh’s water
During his recent visit to Pittsburgh, President Joe Biden had a lot to say about roads and bridges and America’s crumbling infrastructure — mere hours after the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed. But notably, he failed to mention another critical public resource to which the people of Pittsburgh have called attention...
Johanna Murphy: Employee shortage, Pittsburgh? Autistic, neurodiverse people ready to work.
For the past several months, op-eds and think pieces have meditated on the current national hiring crisis: Jobs all over the country are going unfilled. It’s a phenomenon we’re familiar with in Western Pennsylvania. For years, as our population has shifted, regional workforce development discussions have lamented the shortage of...
Molly Parzen: Biden’s EV plan driving strong economic future in Pittsburgh and beyond
Pittsburgh is world-famous for its manufacturing heritage and its beautiful natural scenery. As our region and all of Pennsylvania moves into the future, we must make sure we protect both. We can strengthen the middle class through the 717,000 union members in Pennsylvania, create more jobs by making use of...
Tami Seretti: My copay assistance no longer counts — yours may be next
In 1996 I was diagnosed with psoriasis, a chronic, immune-mediated disease that impacts more than 3% of the U.S. adult population. Early on in my journey, raised plaques and scales covered 85% of my body, and treatment options were limited. I later learned that I am also one of the...
Falco Muscante II: What do Fern Hollow Bridge and U.S. Steel Tower have in common?
On Feb. 7, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a preliminary report on the Jan. 28 collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge. The report on the failure of the not-even-50-year-old bridge spanning Frick Park was unsurprising — but for one particular footnote. The NTSB described the bridge as “an...
Stephen Bloom: Reforms would reduce corruption and restore workers’ rights
In Harrisburg, lawmakers are building momentum for a series of reforms that will empower public sector workers and defend taxpayers. The House Labor and Industry Committee approved four bills last month that public school teacher Cheri Gensel says will provide “greater accountability” for government union executives, ensuring they “focus on...
Dan Rodricks: A ‘special place in Hell’ for the perpetrators of elder fraud
I seldom use the expression “a special place in Hell” because it has been suggested as the ultimate destination for too many people by now, from serial killers to women who voted for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. Invoked too often, it loses its punch. Still, it’s a tempting phrase...
Emily Jane O’Dell: Bearing witness in Tibet
My isolated summer cabin in the Himalayas of Tibet was raided this summer, when occupying Chinese Communist Party police stormed every hotel on the Tibetan plateau to force foreigners against their will into ambulances and clear them from the region. I knew instantly they were doing this to tighten their...
Rabbi Sara Perman: Learn, speak out against antisemitism
On Jan. 15, we were shocked to learn that once again a house of worship, the synagogue Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, was attacked during the Sabbath service. A man held the rabbi and three members hostage for over 10 hours. This was unquestionably an act of antisemitism. As...
Paul Loeb: Moderate Republicans could save voting rights by following Bob Dole’s lead
Sen. Joe Manchin’s Freedom to Vote Act, a compromise bill addressing voting rights, has been deemed dead in the wake of Manchin and fellow Democrat Kyrsten Sinema’s refusal to support a filibuster exception. But it still could be saved if one or two self-described moderate Republicans stepped up. They’d follow...
Sheldon Jacobson: Nilan firing at TSN places vaccine misinformation on full display
A radio personality refuses to be vaccinated and ends up losing his job. This is something that may occur in some parts of the U.S. But in Canada, where getting fired for anything is exceedingly more difficult? This occurred last week with TSN radio commentator Chris Nilan, a former NHL...
Cal Thomas: The real cause behind the rise in crime
While President Biden and local officials keep talking about causes for the rise in crime in our major cities, proposing “solutions” that have failed in the past, like former President Bill Clinton’s Midnight Basketball idea, the real reason for its escalation is deeper than what we see on the surface....
Reps. Bryan Cutler, Kerry Benninghoff and Stan Saylor: Helping Pennsylvanians means putting taxpayers first
Next week, Gov. Tom Wolf will deliver his eighth and final budget address, and already it is clear that Pennsylvanians will again have offered to them higher taxes, higher energy costs and more irresponsible spending ideas that will set the commonwealth up for a disastrous financial future. As a result,...
Cal Thomas: Trump-Pence deal with the devil
Former President Donald Trump has further — if that’s possible — undistinguished himself by again attacking his vice president, Mike Pence. In another of his ongoing email messages to supporters (which are usually accompanied by a donate button), Trump says he wanted Pence to overturn the results of the last...
Howard Manuel: Support newly settled Afghans
There is no easy way to relive it; the American spirit was tested throughout our time in Afghanistan. We can have many a long discussion about what and when, or about our withdrawal strategy in 2021. But in this new year, our efforts are best exerted looking at the lingering...
Kevin Vallier: Why we can’t split the difference on culture
The United States is an outlier among established democracies in two respects: We face both falling social trust and rising polarization. I have argued that the two dynamics connect in a doom loop. Trust in others and institutions falls, leading to greater polarization, which drives trust down even more. That...
