Featured Commentary category, Page 138
Sen. Wayne Fontana: Student loans are increasingly the only way forward for many students
Most college students look forward to summer break and a reprieve from the classroom, but few have the resources to take the “summer off” from one of their most difficult challenges: paying for their education. A postsecondary education can be expensive, but it is an investment worth making. Whether a...
Carl Hiaasen: Jeffrey Epstein’s wealth, power gave him protection that his victims never got
The more we learn about the late Jeffrey Epstein’s 13 months in so-called custody at the Palm Beach County Stockade, the clearer is the lesson: It definitely helped to be rich, even if you were a monstrous sexual predator. It didn’t help Epstein that much at the Metropolitan Correction Center...
Harry Hochheiser & Ray Roberts: Let’s talk about carbon fee & dividend
The doldrums of late summer may usually be sleepy times for our congressional representatives, with the August recess bringing a lull in legislative activity and fundraising trips back home. This year in Pittsburgh might be different, as U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, has scheduled a town hall session Aug....
Cal Thomas: Mass murders are a symptom
Politicians and pundits are promoting familiar explanations, excuses and demands following the tragic mass murders in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. From more gun laws to blaming President Trump, conservative talk radio and Fox News, we’ve heard it all before. A manifesto thought to be linked to the El...
Jonah Goldberg: Neither left nor right has proper remedy for America’s illness
America is sick. Just about everybody recognizes it, and we didn’t need two more mass shootings to convince anybody of anything. Most Americans think the country is on the wrong track, despite a roaring economy. You can blame Donald Trump, but Americans have been unsatisfied with the country’s direction for...
Peter Morici: Our cultural wars offer no value to newcomers
Mass immigration, low birth rates and China’s rise pose challenges our political and economic institutions appear ill-equipped to address. Rising to these challenges, however, will prove critical to sustaining our economy in the near term and ultimately the viability of our democracy. Some 750 million people would like to migrate...
Dan Warner: Extreme risk protection orders can save lives
Larry (not his real name) and his father hunted together his entire life, and he knew how much his father’s firearms meant to him. A firm “Second Amendment voter,” his father strongly believed in gun rights and would never easily part with these symbols of his individuality and freedom. This...
John Stossel: Stupid news, not fake news
“Fake news!” shouts the president. His supporters cheer. That drives my colleagues into a frenzy of self-absorbed handwringing: “Threats to press freedom … press persecution!” It’s silly. American reporters are hardly less safe because of President Trump’s hyperbole. (Trump is reckless when he uses the term in other countries. Authoritarians...
Walter Williams: Was Trump right about Baltimore?
Here’s what President Trump tweeted about Baltimore’s congressman and his city: “Rep. Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is far worse and more dangerous. His district...
Guy Reschenthaler: Mueller show’s over; it’s time to move on
For nearly three years, the American people were told that President Trump colluded with the Russians in the 2016 election. They were also told that former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation would prove this, with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., going so far as to say there was...
Cal Thomas: A plan to fix Baltimore
Former South Carolina governor and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has urged President Trump and Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings to stop exchanging insults over conditions in Baltimore. Haley scolded Trump for his recent tweet that appeared to mock Cummings for an attempted break-in at the congressman’s Baltimore home, tweeting “This is...
Pat Buchanan: A multicultural mugging of Joe Biden
In his opening statement at last Wednesday’s Democratic debate in Detroit, Joe Biden addressed Donald Trump while pointing proudly to the racial and ethnic diversity of the nine Democrats standing beside him. “Mr. President, this is America and we are strong and great because of this diversity, not in spite...
Steve Lopez: Had enough? Here’s how to fight the madness of mass shootings
Gilroy. El Paso. Dayton. It’s one senseless and horrific mass shooting after another, and you’re hit with waves of sadness, anger and frustration. If 20 children were massacred at a Connecticut elementary school in 2012 and the sensible gun control proposals that followed were handily defeated, is there any way...
Michelle Malkin: Freedom of assembly under fire
Do law-abiding American citizens still have the right to gather peacefully to discuss their ideas without fear of government censorship and retribution? In my adopted hometown of Colorado Springs, the answer is “no” if you believe in strict border control or question whether the U.S. can survive as a nation-state....
Colin McNickle: Can Pa.’s record impact fee receipts be sustained?
Pennsylvania collected the highest total impact fees ever in 2018, fueled in part by a court ruling but paced largely by increased demand for shale gas, concludes a review of state data by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. Act 13 of 2012 (with collections retroactive to 2011) instituted the...
Edward Timmons: New law makes it easier to work in Pennsylvania
Gov. Tom Wolf recently signed House Bill 1172 — which allows workers who hold occupational licenses from other states to use them in Pennsylvania — into law. Individuals will still need to pay licensing fees and have at least two years of relevant experience, but it will soon become much...
Chris Rosselot: Getting North Side redevelopment right
Bob Bauder’s article “Strip District development will push into the North Side, officials say” (July 5, TribLIVE) brings attention to redevelopment opportunities on the North Side, specifically along the banks of the Allegheny River and the area surrounding the old Heinz plant. The article serves as a reminder that North...
L.E. McCullough: Making a nation where no one is a stranger
No matter what happens in the headlines or the halls of Congress, the first steps in resolving America’s burning social questions have historically occurred after years of debate and disputation in our houses of worship. The last 200 years have seen landmark deliberations ensue on slavery, temperance, evolution, LGBTQ inclusion,...
Walter Williams: Being a racist is easy today
Years ago, it was hard to be a racist. You had to be fitted for and spend money on a white gown and don a pointy hat. You celebrated racism by getting some burlap, wrapping it around a cross, setting it ablaze and dancing around it carrying torches. Sometimes, as...
John Stossel: Calculating costs of Dems’ free stuff
Never before have presidential candidates offered voters so much “free” stuff. Kamala Harris wants you to “collect up to $500 a month.” No one has tracked the cost of all of the promises. So my video team did! Who will spend the most? Here are the new spending proposals from...
Donald Boudreaux: In 2020, let’s vote for the adult
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., won applause during Tuesday’s presidential debate with this proclamation: “I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for.” Were I on that stage, here’s...
Peter Morici: Here’s why the Fed is no longer relevant
As the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates, it risks falling victim to its own dominance. For too long, the Fed has been a monastery where 2% inflation, 2% trend growth and the primacy of conventional banking are accepted without sound foundation. The Fed targets 2% inflation as a compromise between...
Brother Norman Hipps: CRNAs deserve official designation in Pa.
Pennsylvania is home to hundreds of student nurse anesthetists, yet Pennsylvania is one of just two states that fail to officially recognize CRNAs in some form. Because there is no “certified registered nurse anesthetist” title under the state’s Professional Nursing Law, CRNAs are recognized only as registered nurses, not as...
Pat Buchanan: After Mueller debacle, where do Democrats go?
The Democrats who were looking to cast Robert Mueller as the star in a TV special, “The Impeachment of Donald Trump,” can probably tear up the script. They’re gonna be needing a new one. For six hours last Wednesday, as three cable news networks and ABC, CBS and NBC all...
Vince Mercuri: The art of resilience
The renowned artist of the 1600s, Rembrandt, remains famous for capturing emotions and dramatic personal reactions of his subjects. In many of his paintings he displays light emerging from darkness, a sort of victory over the struggles and difficulties of life. Rembrandt serves as a model of determination, courage and...
