Featured Commentary category, Page 131
Jonah Goldberg: Opponents of ‘unfettered capitalism’ are fighting a phantom
Enemies of unfettered capitalism, unite! For as long as I can remember, people on the left have complained about “unfettered capitalism.” Moderate liberals do it, and of course flat-out Marxists do it. In his new book, “A Bit of Everything: Power, People, Profits and Progressive Capitalism for an Age of...
Earl Tilford: Professors teach, students learn
While all the rage in education, my hackles rise when an educator declares, “We learn from our students” or “Students should construct their own knowledge.” Granted, the 55 years since I was a freshman may explain my antediluvian notion that professors should teach because students need to learn. At 8...
Pat Buchanan: Is Macron right? Is NATO, 70, brain dead?
A week from now, the 29 member states of “the most successful alliance in history” will meet to celebrate its 70th anniversary. Yet all is not well within NATO. The gathering, on the outskirts of London, has been cut to two days. Why the shortened agenda? Among the reasons, apprehension...
Tom Charley: Philly-style tax could impact Western Pa.
I have been working in the grocery industry my entire life. I was born into it. I am fourth generation, and just had my first baby girl who could take it to the fifth generation. These days, I am concerned about the “soda tax” (“pop tax” for those of us...
Doyle McManus: Mick Mulvaney, please call your office
WASHINGTON — A long list of aides to President Donald Trump could have appeared in the House impeachment hearings to defend his efforts in Ukraine, especially since the president insists everything he did was “perfect.” Gordon Sondland, Trump’s ambassador to the European Union, rattled off their names when he testified:...
Jonah Goldberg: The stupidity, and genius, of Republicans’ impeachment strategy
Maybe you’re a fan of Jackson Pollock’s paint-splatter stuff. That’s cool. My only point is that when you flick paint at a canvas, nobody expects the result to look like a tree, a person or a bowl of fruit. Similarly, in politics, when you throw everything against the wall to...
Thomas Botzman: Free college proposals benefit students who don’t need assist
Washington Post education reporter Danielle Douglas-Gabriel recently wrote an interesting article about the “no lose proposition” of free college among politicians stumping across the country. In doing so, she highlights several aspects of this concept that may have escaped notice. I will add to her list with a few others....
Lawrence McCullough: Community colleges can accelerate immigrant assimilation
The fundamental immigration problem America needs to solve is not how to keep people out but how to more successfully and rapidly integrate them when they arrive. America’s community colleges are uniquely well-suited to play a vital role in helping immigrants become better equipped to achieve prosperity and contribute to...
Mark Hendrickson: Prevent Government Shutdowns Act a surrender
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is promoting the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act of 2019. The goal of the act is to prevent disruptive government shutdowns. Since Johnson arrived in Washington in 2011, partisan congressional standoffs have led to “three government shutdowns” and “34 continuing resolutions to avoid shutdowns,” and Congress...
Olivia Bennett: Black women should be respected, paid fairly
Thanks to the “Pittsburgh’s Inequality Across Gender and Race” report, Pittsburghers are once again reminded that we live in the worst city in the country for black women. We are dead last in the categories of health outcomes, poverty and income, employment, and education. The September report, a collaboration with...
John Stossel: Debunking climate myths
“How dare you? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood!” insisted teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg at the United Nations. “We are in the beginning of a mass extinction!” Many people say that we’re destroying the Earth. It all sounds so scary. But I’ve been a consumer reporter for...
Walter Williams: On climate, are scientists dishonest or afraid?
The absolute worst case of professional incompetence and dishonesty is in the area of climate science. Tony Heller has exposed some of the egregious dishonesty of mainstream environmentalists in his video “My Gift To Climate Alarmists.” Environmentalists and their political allies attribute the recent increase in deadly forest fires to...
Cal Thomas: Whatever happened to teaching history?
According to a report by the National Assessment of Education Progress , the teaching of U.S. history to American students lags behind all other subject matters. The latest NAEP survey finds that proficiency levels for fourth-, eighth- and 12th-grade students are in the 20th, 18th and 12th percentile, respectively. Part...
‘Harmful therapy ban’ bill would allow minors to pursue their own therapy goals
In March, Allegheny County Councilman Paul Klein proposed a so-called “conversion therapy” ordinance that would ban “any attempt” by a mental health care provider to assist an individual who seeks help managing their same-sex attractions or gender identity/expression. This blanket counseling ban would include efforts to “change behaviors” or to...
Pat Buchanan: What’s behind our world on fire?
When the wildfires of California broke out across the Golden State, many were the causes given. Negligence by campers. Falling power lines. Arson. A dried-out land. Climate change. Failure to manage forests, prune trees and clear debris, leaving fuel for blazes ignited. Abnormally high winds spreading the flames. Too many...
Vince Mercuri: Establishing boundaries
Quite often, even before we awake each morning, it begins to happen: The guideposts that define our behaviors and interactions start to present themselves. Alarms, schedules, tasks, timelines, speed limits, job descriptions, appointments, etc. — many typical expectations and dos and don’ts provide the external boundaries for our internal conduct...
Jonah Goldberg: Shaking down the rich is bad for democracy
Forget whether the math works. (It doesn’t.) Expecting billionaires to pay for all the nice things is bad for democracy. One of the more exhausting rituals of presidential campaign season is the effort to make every new proposal “add up.” Sure, it’s better that politicians try to come up with...
S.E. Cupp: Senate vote could offer up some surprises
At a time when politics has become less and less about governing and increasingly, well, about politics, last week is perhaps the penultimate illustration. Last week the testimony began in President Trump’s impeachment inquiry, and the nation is watching as members of Congress from both sides of the aisle perform...
Dan Hensley: Community-based programs help passionate learners
According to experts — and a famous ratio — 90% of how we learn is considered informal learning. That’s because 70% of how we learn is from experience and 20% is from peers. The other 10% is through self-directed learning. Add it all up and you have the 70:20:10 ratio,...
Cal Thomas: The importance of ‘no men’
Shortly after Jim Bakker’s release from prison in July 1994, I invited the disgraced TV evangelist to my home. There was an important question I wanted to ask him. Some background: Bakker and his “Praise the Lord” (PTL) associates sold $1,000 “lifetime memberships” to people who were promised annual three-night...
John Stossel: Government creates mandatory shortages
Governments create problems. Then they complain about them. “A public health crisis exists,” says Kentucky’s government, citing a report that found “a shortage of ambulance providers.” Local TV stations report on “people waiting hours for medical transportation.” “Six-year-old Kyler Truesdell fell off his motorcycle,” reported Channel 12 news. “The local...
Walter Williams: Young people are ignorant of history
A recent survey conducted by the Victims of Communism and polled by YouGov, a research and data firm, found that 70% of millennials are likely to vote socialist and that one in three millennials saw communism as “favorable.” Let examine this tragic vision in light of the Fraser Institute’s recently...
Dr. Lawrence John: Patients want physicians involved in their health care
Nurse practitioners have been pushing state lawmakers to remove their collaborative agreements with physicians in Pennsylvania for a number of years. But a new public opinion poll should give state lawmakers in Allegheny County pause, as the vast majority of participants indicated they would not support such a move. Susquehanna...
Kathryn Kugler: To attract more physician assistants, Pa. needs modernized laws
Pennsylvania educates more PA (physician assistant) students than almost any other state. With one of the highest numbers of accredited PA programs in the country — 23, to be exact — our state has access to an enormous group of bright, ambitious, well-trained medical providers who can help to improve...
Pat Buchanan: Will ‘sexist’ white males derail Elizabeth Warren?
After celebrating last week’s takeover of Virginia’s legislature and the Kentucky governorship, the liberal establishment appears poised to crush its biggest threat: the surging candidacy of Elizabeth Warren. From the tempo and tenor of the attacks, establishment fears of Warren’s success are real — and understandably so. The danger for...
