Featured Commentary category, Page 126
Gary Smith: Character & convictions of Washington & Lincoln
In the aftermath of President Trump’s impeachment trial and in light of the scathing attacks on both Trump and potential Democratic candidates as the 2020 election approaches, the celebration of Presidents Day is a good time to rise above the current political recriminations and rancor by reviewing the character and...
S.E. Cupp: Never-Trumper’s message to Never-Sanders crowd
Tuesday night’s victory in New Hampshire gives Sen. Bernie Sanders unequivocal frontrunner status, and anyone trying to couch his win as less than significant is trying to sell you something likely named Buttigieg, Klobuchar or Bloomberg. This will terrify the members of the anti-Sanders wing of the Democratic Party —...
Rich Askey: Let’s talk about fixing Pa.’s educator shortage
Do you like living in a world with doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs and artists? We wouldn’t have any of these professionals — or countless others — without educators. Education is the career that makes every other career possible. So it should trouble all of us that Pennsylvania, like much of the...
Nathan Benefield: A responsible state budget? Only in your dreams
In his sixth budget address, Gov. Tom Wolf asked us to “imagine” what Pennsylvania would look like if he could purchase everything on his wish list. To cover the costs, he wants to raise overall spending a massive 6.1%. He also wants to borrow $5.5 billion — a loan that...
Walter Williams: A more or less perfect union
“A More or Less Perfect Union” is a three-part series, produced by Free to Choose Network, that is airing on PBS stations across the nation. The documentary is a personal exploration of the U.S. Constitution by Justice Douglas Ginsburg, who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals D.C. Circuit and...
John Stossel: Trump’s good, bad & ugly
President Trump “saved the United States,” says former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. He’s one of the “smartest, most clever and successful” presidents, says Fox’s Jeanine Pirro. No, he’s “dumb and racist,” says comedian Seth Meyers, and guilty of “rampant corruption,” say commentators on MSNBC. The man divides opinion like no...
Thomas Kubica: A letter to Sen. Rand Paul
The following is a letter to Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul: Dear Sen. Paul, I read a recent Washington Examiner editorial which included comments you made regarding the impeachment trial, former ambassador and national security advisor John Bolton, and the political future of other Republican senators. You disparaged Bolton, who I...
Scott Brady: Sanctuary cities undermine law
On Jan, 6, 2020, 92-year-old Maria Fuentes was raped and murdered by Reeaz Khan, a 21-year-old illegal immigrant in New York City. But this tragedy was entirely preventable. In fact, Khan should have been in custody at the time because six weeks earlier Khan was jailed and arrested for domestic...
Michael McGough: Is the Justice Department scooping up dirt about Joe Biden from Rudy Giuliani?
Is the Department of Justice under Attorney General William Barr facilitating Rudolph W. Giuliani’s attempt to blacken the name of former Vice President Joe Biden? That’s an understandable concern after Barr acknowledged this week that the department indeed was willing to evaluate information Giuliani had gathered from Ukrainian sources about...
Pat Buchanan: Failed coup of a failing establishment
It has been a bad few days for the establishment, really bad. In a 51-49 vote, the Senate refused to call witnesses in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump and voted to acquit the president of all charges. As recent polls show socialist Bernie Sanders surging in the lead, the...
Ronald Fraser: Pa.’s parole & probation merry-go-round
State-run parole and probation programs are designed to keep people convicted of crimes — including a large number of nonviolent crimes — out of prison. But in Pennsylvania, according to a recent Council of State Governments study, “Confined and Costly: How Supervision Violations are Filling Prisons,” “On any given day...
Jonah Goldberg: Iowa’s big bungle & dismantling of political parties
One of my favorite running jokes on the internet is, “You had one job.” It’s a staple of Twitter and YouTube, with images of signs reading, “Turn Left” with an arrow pointing right, or supermarket shelves demarcating where you can buy “Poop Tarts.” Well, the Iowa Democratic Party rolled out...
Rob Shearer: Pot push lives in labor la-la-land
While Lt. Gov. John Fetterman crusades on legalizing recreational marijuana, one poll released last fall suggests Pennsylvanians may not be eager to jump on the bandwagon. They’re right to be cautious. Lost amid the legalization hullabaloo is the chaos unfettered pot will wreak on labor practices, workplace litigation, employer liability,...
S.E. Cupp: The America of Trump’s State of the Union
Allow me to take you back. The year is 1957 and “Leave it to Beaver” debuts in black and white on CBS. The earnest and playful family comedy offers up solvable moral dilemmas and a heaping spoonful of unvarnished optimism in the American dream for six years and remains for...
Susan Stuart: CORE sets record year for saving, healing lives
The Center for Organ Recovery & Education’s mission is to save and heal lives through organ, tissue and cornea donation. This mission guides CORE’s every step, every initiative and every interaction. And it was the driving force behind a record-breaking year in 2019 for donation in Western Pennsylvania and West...
Jonah Goldberg: Age of impeachment & death of shame
As the impeachment trial fizzled out, I’m left wondering if the GOP has lost its mind, because the only other choice is that I have. I’m not referring to the Republican senators’ collective decision not to remove the president from office. I’ve always argued that this was a question reasonable...
Lou Weiss: Put me in, Queen, I’m ready to play
Dear Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, My mother has long threatened to disinherit me if I continue to vote Republican. You also have recent experience with noncompliant family members. I think that for a lad in my difficult circumstances, I see a way to satisfy both my mother and you. Now...
Walter Williams: Myths, lies & tricks of economics
I have been teaching economics since 1967. During that interval, economic reality has not changed. Just as Galileo’s law about the independent influence of gravity on falling objects has not changed, neither have the fundamental principles of economics. Economics is fun and simple. It’s made complicated by some economics professors...
John Stossel: Crazy ‘laws’ should be outlawed
A law in South Carolina bans playing pinball if you’re younger than 18. That’s just one of America’s many ridiculous laws restricting freedom. “There is a role for the government in keeping people safe from actual criminals, people who commit murder, robbery,” says Rafael Mangual, a “tough-on-crime” guy at the...
Kathryn Spitz Cohan: With Oscars so male, the Academy needs to be more intentional
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is once again recognizing merit in filmmaking — and once again there are no women among the nominees for best director. In fact, only five women have ever been nominated for best director in the 92-year history of the Oscars and only...
Gary Smith: The faith of Troy Polamalu
Troy Polamalu, who played safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2003 to 2014, has been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He will enter the hall with Bill Cowher, who coached the team for his first four seasons, and defensive back Donnie...
Pat Buchanan: Impeachment the left’s ultimate weapon
In 1868, President Andrew Johnson was impeached for violating the Tenure of Office Act that had been enacted by Congress over his veto in 1867. Defying the law, Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, without getting Senate approval, as the act required him to do. In his 1956 Pulitzer...
Colin McNickle: The state of Pa.’s business climate
Pennsylvania businesses remained bullish in late 2019, according to the Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research. But a generally healthy state business climate comes with a host of other challenges mirrored in national findings, says a researcher at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. Thirty-eight percent of respondents to the...
Jonah Goldberg: Dershowitz’s central argument for Trump must be rejected
Dear Republican senators, I will not try to convince you how to vote in the impeachment trial of President Trump. I won’t even lecture you about the need for witnesses, in part because by the time you see this it will probably be too late. My request is far more...
Walter Block: Critiquing Yang’s universal basic income
Andrew Yang is a viable candidate for the Democratic nomination for president. He is not a member of the first grouping (Biden, Sanders, Warren, Buttigeig) but if they falter, Yang might well be in the running for the top spot on this ticket. His signature policy is universal basic income....
