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Paul Kengor Columns category, Page 3

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Paul Kengor: Remembering the contributions and lessons of Andrew Mellon
The Mellon name certainly doesn’t go unrecognized in the Pittsburgh area. But a Mellon who might not get the recognition he fully deserves is Andrew Mellon. Sure, he’s hardly unknown in these parts, but I think Andrew Mellon isn’t appreciated quite the way he should be. One native who doesn’t...
Paul Kengor: Fossil fuels are a blessing
I marvel at fossil fuels. I really do. Fossil fuels are found in the earth’s crust, the natural byproduct of decomposed plants and animals. The best examples are coal, oil and natural gas. Leftist environmentalists have a curious hate relationship with fossil fuels, even as these fuels are produced naturally,...
Paul Kengor: RFK Jr.’s intriguing presidential bid
“I’m considering voting for RFK Jr.,” writes Henry, a reader of my columns. “He’s a very interesting alternative to both parties.” What’s intriguing about Henry is that the presidential candidacy of Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeals to him not as a Joe Biden voter but as a Donald Trump...
Paul Kengor: When cancelers cancel themselves
I wrote here recently about attempts to cancel three Pitt speakers sponsored by conservative organizations, including swimmer Riley Gaines and Daily Wire commentator Michael Knowles. The effort was led by LGBTQ forces and Pennsylvania Democratic state Rep. La’Tasha Mayes, who threatened to cancel the university’s funding. Pitt Chancellor Patrick Gallagher...
Paul Kengor: Pa.’s outrageous gas prices and gas taxes
My family just took a long road trip to Florida. We have a 2010 Ford E-350, a 12-passenger van. It’s an ugly thing, with a 30-gallon tank. I call it our “Baptist Church van,” though we’re Catholic. I’d buy a new model, but they’re obscenely expensive. So, I cling to...
Paul Kengor: Cancel culture descends on Pitt
Readers of my column know how I detest cancel culture, especially its ugly spread to speakers on college campuses. Universities ought to be bastions of genuine diversity and the free exchange of ideas. In my days at Pitt, liberals and conservatives were united in supporting one another’s right to bring...
Paul Kengor: Remembering the Sparrow Lady
“Ross woman missing for 3 decades found in Puerto Rico, police confirm.” That was a Tribune-Review headline March 3. It was the kind of newsflash too common in this world, so much so that I normally might not have bothered with it. But for some reason, I was prompted to...
Paul Kengor: Tightening the noose around Putin
It has been an unhappy birthday celebration for Vladimir Putin’s one-year anniversary of his invasion of Ukraine. Rather than handing the Russian authoritarian a birthday cake at the United Nations last week, the international community slapped him with a condemnation calling for Moscow’s immediate withdrawal from Ukraine. The General Assembly...
Paul Kengor: Remembering one of Pittsburgh’s and America’s most influential Black columnists, George Schuyler
“Why does Black History Month ignore the author of ‘the most talked about column in Negro America?’” asks a column by Mary Grabar in The American Spectator. Grabar is certainly qualified to ask. For years she has worked on a major biography of George Schuyler. Who was Schuyler, and why...
Paul Kengor: The sad, slow death of cinema
“Watching cinema inexorably die … brings me little pleasure,” writes cultural observer and film critic Lou Aguilar. “I dedicated most of my life to the art, first as an admirer then a critic.” Aguilar is a colleague of mine at The American Spectator. What inspired his lament, a piece that...
Paul Kengor: Surviving Egg Armageddon
A reader and friend from Wexford ribs me about raising chickens. She finds it cute, funny, but also appreciates my philosophy behind it. She especially appreciates it right now, given the soaring price of eggs. The Avian flu outbreak in the poultry industry has sent the cost of a carton...
Paul Kengor: A new year and one pope, indisputably
For the world’s largest group of Christians, Roman Catholics, 2023 brings a big change. For the first time since the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in February 2013 and the subsequent election of Pope Francis, there will be, at last, and indisputably, one pope. The key word is “indisputably.” Unfortunately,...
Paul Kengor: ‘Home Alone’ — a truly Christmas movie and message
If you’re looking for a family Christmas movie this year, I’d like to suggest an obvious favorite, but for reasons perhaps less obvious. The movie is “Home Alone,” and the unexpected reasons? Well, read on. And as I share these explicitly Christian elements, please understand that it is, well, a...
Paul Kengor: Deer days in Western Pa.
“Do you actually eat the deer after you shoot it?” So asks an incredulous friend who lives in a large city. It’s a rhetorical question, with a sharp degree of derision. The expected reply: “Oh, no, no. We’d never do that. Instead of eating the deer we, well, well …...
Paul Kengor: A Non-American’s take on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is quintessentially American, as is the Black Friday that follows. The former is about the virtue of giving thanks, whereas the latter is about, well, something else entirely. Let’s ponder the first, with some insights from our presidents and a non-American. In 1789, George Washington proclaimed a “day of...
Paul Kengor: Trump on the attack, again
“Lying Ted!” he barked. “Choking Marco!” he snapped. Those were just two of Donald Trump’s shots at fellow Republicans on the debate stage while pursuing the party’s 2016 presidential nomination. Of course, those shots at Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were mild compared to others. Just ask Cruz about...
Paul Kengor: Threat of nuclear war, October 1962 and 2022
“It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States,” said President John F. Kennedy in a dramatic nationally televised speech on Oct. 22, 1962, “requiring...
Paul Kengor: Another year without baseball
An astute reader with a keen memory recently emailed to ask if I had carried on my boycott of Major League Baseball from 2021 into 2022. Readers will recall that what set me off was the egregious politicization of baseball by an ideological MLB commissioner, Rob Manfred. Manfred had shamelessly...
Paul Kengor: Tearing down Columbus — and Western civilization
I have fond memories of my first days at Pitt. I began attending in the summer semester of 1987 as a transfer student. I remember sunny afternoons sitting under the giant statue of Christopher Columbus at Schenley Park reading my various books for my first-semester course on Western civilization. That...
Paul Kengor: Truly a cancel culture
“My favorite radio station recently picked up some right-wing drivel weekly radio show which I listen to in order to punish myself. Anyhoo, I listened to your whiny crying … I wish cancel culture was a real thing which actually existed so I could cancel you for all time.” So...
Paul Kengor: Student loan stories enlightening
The Biden plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan payments has upset people on both sides of the political aisle, for reasons both political and personal. Politically, the plan is an outrageous irony coming from President Joe Biden and “progressive” supporters like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and...
Paul Kengor: Telling stories, David McCullough’s enduring recipe for success
I just turned in a book manuscript. My editor gave me the publisher’s standard questionnaire for authors. Among the questions was if I preferred my acknowledgments section at the start or end of the book. I was aghast. I told my editor that the very notion of opening a book...
Paul Kengor: Remembering a historic Pa. mayor — and the importance of preserving memories
Pennsylvania has lost a remarkable public servant. His name was Bruno Carnovale, and he died June 3 at age 95. In 2017, he was honored as Pennsylvania’s Mayor of the Year. To say it was well-earned is an understatement. Bruno had been mayor of the town of Emporium, located in...
Paul Kengor: Signs of the economic times
Last week I rented a car, a standard SUV. I do that often, but this time was very different. The price was shocking. It was $650 to rent from 4:30 p.m. on Friday until 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, before insurance and other costs. I actually didn’t need the car until...
Paul Kengor: Casey doesn’t support Casey
For a while now, I’ve been planning to write a column on whether Pennsylvania Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. would support his father’s position in the 1992 landmark abortion case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey. That case enshrined Roe v. Wade. Of course, Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey Sr. was the...


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