Featured Commentary category, Page 123
Jonah Goldberg: Trump’s daily briefings shine light on his inadequacy
On Sunday, President Trump, absent any hard evidence, suggested that large numbers of masks were being stolen from New York hospitals, citing an unnamed facility he said had seen a huge surge in mask usage. “How do you go from 10 to 20 (thousand masks being used), to 300,000?” Trump...
Pat Buchanan: Is coronavirus killing Joe Biden’s bid?
“This is the question that is going to dominate the election: How did you perform in the great crisis?” So says GOP Congressman Tom Cole of Oklahoma in the New York Times. GOP National Committeeman Henry Barbour of Mississippi calls the crisis “a defining moment … . The more (Trump)...
Jonah Goldberg: Coronavirus crisis sure to spawn new political realities
The social and political response to major catastrophes often proceeds in stages. Stage 1 is denial. Thankfully, this stage is largely over for the coronavirus crisis. Not counting a few poltroons and conspiracy theorists, nobody is saying it’s all hype or no big deal. Now we’re transitioning, in fits and...
S.E. Cupp: Trump can’t guide us through coronavirus, but conservatism can help
While many state governors are stepping up to meet the continuing challenges of coronavirus in unprecedented ways, our federal government continues to let us down. At the White House, we know the president took too long to act, dismissed the seriousness of the pandemic in the earliest days, spread misleading...
Christopher Regan: Every American deserves a chance to live
Christopher Regan is an attorney with Bordas & Bordas in Pittsburgh, and the former vice chairman of the West Virginia Democratic Party. It has been hard for a long time to say anything about politics that helps anyone with anything. If you say something to one side or the other,...
Dom Costa: Crime victims deserve more rights
Nobody plans to be a victim of crime. As a 27-year veteran of the Pittsburgh Police department and former chief of police, I’ve seen this firsthand. I’ve sat with women who have been abused and mothers who have lost children, and I’ve seen the terror in their eyes. I know...
Nathan Benefield: State lawmakers must act now to mitigate crisis
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Pennsylvania workers, health care providers, and students and families are faced with unprecedented obstacles that demand action from Harrisburg. Gov. Tom Wolf has taken a strong approach by closing schools and shuttering so-called “non-life-sustaining” businesses. But could the cost of these drastic measures...
John Stossel: Red tape pandemic
Coronavirus is frightening. I’m working from home, practicing “social distancing.” Experts say it’ll help “flatten the curve” so fewer people will be infected simultaneously. Then hospitals won’t be overwhelmed. But the infection rate grows. Doctors and hospitals may yet be overwhelmed. It didn’t have to get to this point. Coronavirus...
Lawrence McCullough: Anniversary of 15th Amendment & vigilance for voting rights
March 30 marks the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment’s addition to the U.S. Constitution. It’s the amendment that guaranteed the right of African American men to vote, declaring, “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be abridged by the United States or by any...
Mary Schmich: Covid-19 as ‘Boomer Remover’? Let’s talk about that.
Mary Schmich is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune and winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Until the past week or so, I’ve rarely thought of myself as old, at least not in the diminishing way the word is often used. I work a full-time job, walk 5...
Michael Krol: Amid covid-19 outbreak, don’t worry about your wealth
Cities began shutting down. Schools were closed. The government began limiting public activities to curtail the spread of the virus. That describes the atmosphere over the past few weeks as covid-19 spread rapidly across the globe, creating a multitude of fears that were seemingly unfathomable. But people had the same...
Philip Gasiewicz: 1918, when another pandemic struck close to home
In 1998, the 80th anniversary of the Spanish flu pandemic, I was fortunate to hear two survivors from Western Pennsylvania relate their indelible experiences. Marian McConkey and Lois Monahan were schoolgirls then, old enough to grasp the reach of the Reaper as the Spanish flu swept across the nation. It...
Abby Foster: Chemical manufacturers key in covid-19 fight
As many of us adjust to working from the couch, with daytime television in the background and a confused dog at our side, it’s business as usual or double-time for the majority of Pennsylvania’s manufacturers and their supply chains. Critical to our ability to contain covid-19, flatten the curve and...
Rep. Dan Frankel: Congratulations on your new gun. Now lock it up.
So many Pennsylvanians bought guns last week that our state background check system crashed. Twice. In fact, 4,342 of you bought or transferred a gun or applied for a license to carry a gun on March 17 alone, according to a press release from the Pennsylvania State Police. Of course,...
Scott Brady & Josh Shapiro: Task force targets covid-19 fraud
During these difficult times, the last thing the people of Pennsylvania need are individuals, retailers or wholesalers taking advantage of them. Gouging prices of household essentials or scamming people out of money for “at home” coronavirus kits that don’t exist isn’t just a disgusting practice — it is illegal. In...
Pat Buchanan: Are Americans all-in for a long coronavirus war?
“It’s a war,” says President Trump of his efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic, and likening his role to that of “wartime president.” Some measures already taken do call to mind actions in wartime. Commercial airline flights have been reduced or canceled. Schools have been closed. Universities have shut their...
Dr. David Dausey: America, brace for impact
David Dausey, Ph.D., an epidemiologist, is provost and vice president of academic affairs at Duquesne University and a professor in Duquesne’s John G. Rangos School of Health Science. He is also a distinguished service professor of health policy at Carnegie Mellon University. If Italy is any guide, in the upcoming...
Jonah Goldberg: Coronavirus more fodder for Chinese propaganda campaign
If there’s one thing worth knowing about China — in terms of geopolitics and American national security at least — it’s that its rulers are almost as afraid of the people as the people are afraid of them. Think about it. Why would a government place secret cameras everywhere? Censor...
Dr. Paul Carson: Why coronavirus pandemic is worse than the film ‘Contagion’
Paul Carson, M.D., is a Pittsburgh physician. I rewatched Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 film “Contagion” last night starring Gwyneth Paltrow. The film goes like this: When Paltrow returns to Minnesota from a Hong Kong business trip, she attributes the malaise she feels to jet lag. However, two days later, she is...
Jeremy Fryberger: Can knowledge & unity save us … again? Yes.
For humankind, courageous understanding is always the path forward. Every day, despite our world’s countless political and societal rifts, fresh new waves of people recognize that such disunity is not only unhelpful, but enormously destructive — and that humanity’s real, enduring progress stems almost entirely from inclusive good will; if...
S.E. Cupp: It’s time for Bernie Sanders to do what’s right for America
The headlines Wednesday were blunt and scathing. In The New York Times: “Biden Gets Out the Broom.” New York Magazine: “Why Is Bernie Sanders Still Running for President?” New York Post: “Biden Just Made Bernie Nothing More Than a Two-Time Loser.” And after the third Super Tuesday trouncing by Joe...
Lowman Henry: Remembering Don Bailey
With attention riveted on the unfolding efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus, little note was made of the passing of former congressman and Pennsylvania Auditor General Don Bailey. Bailey had been out of the spotlight for many years, but he was a major political player for much of...
Dr. David Dausey: Covid-19 thoughts from an epidemiologist
I am a Yale-trained epidemiologist who spent years working around the world to help countries prepare for pandemics. Coworkers, friends and family have asked me for my thoughts and advice on what is happening in the world right now. Here is what I tell them. The threat from covid-19 is...
Mary Schmich: It’s OK not to feel OK right now. But here’s how to feel better
Mary Schmich is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune and winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. It’s OK to be scared. It’s OK to be confused, anxious, angry, lonely. Whatever emotion you’re feeling in this coronavirus craziness, it’s OK. Try not to dwell in the worst of it,...
John Stossel: Price ‘gouging’ saves lives
“We don’t have any …!” Fill in the blank. People are stocking up on things, fearing that we will be stuck in our homes, under quarantine, without essential supplies. Some hoard toilet paper. A popular internet video features someone driving up to what appears to be a drug dealer but...
