Lori Falce Columns category, Page 4
Lori Falce: Is it fair to critique a nepo baby?
Talent is not necessarily hereditary. It’s also not something you can buy. Nothing proves that more than the tale of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s daughter North West and her major theatrical debut. Over the weekend, the 30th anniversary of Disney’s “The Lion King” was celebrated with a star-studded event...
Lori Falce: Uvalde settlement is offensively inadequate
The City of Uvalde, Texas settled a lawsuit with the families of 17 children killed and two who were wounded in the 2022 massacre of Robb Elementary School. The city is paying out $2 million. That may sound like a large number. In some cases, it might be. In this,...
Lori Falce: Graduation speech ignites debate on gender roles
Harrison Butker, the Kansas City Chiefs player who kicked the longest field goal in Super Bowl history, has become a pariah for many after a graduation speech at Benedictine College. A devout and very conservative Catholic, Butker gave a speech not about taking the lessons from the Atchison, Kan., school...
Lori Falce: Are we a democracy or a republic?
The words we use can make a difference in the way we think. For instance, I have received more than one email talking about “demonrats” instead of Democrats. “Republicans” can be mutated into “Rethuglicans.” The message in the mangling of the words is clear. It’s one of distaste and distrust,...
Lori Falce: Men growling over bear question are missing the point
There is a question that is dividing the internet, and it has nothing to do with anyone running for office. It’s a gut feeling kind of question. The idea is this: Ask a woman if she would rather be in the woods confronted by a bear or a man. At...
Lori Falce: Supreme Court decision is 50 years overdue
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case that needed to be heard. The issue was presidential immunity. Donald Trump wanted the court to weigh in on whether a president can be held criminally responsible for his actions. The former president obviously has a vested interest as he faces...
Lori Falce: Jury in Trump case upholds Jefferson’s ideals
A criminal trial is built out of more than just evidence, testimony and justice. Predominantly, it is constructed of people: the prosecution, the defense, the accused, the judge, the witnesses. All are moving parts in the machine of court. But the most critical group of people in the process are...
Lori Falce: Despite what happened in Arizona, medicine and law can’t roll backward
Medicine advances at a remarkable rate, with each new advance building on the discoveries that came before it. Today’s immunology and microsurgery and miracle drugs wouldn’t be possible without the anatomical, imaging and pharmaceutical innovations of the last century. There are entire branches of medicine that didn’t exist just a...
Lori Falce: Humanitarians fighting famine cannot be targeted in war
Famine is supposed to be like earthquakes and tidal waves — an unstoppable force that happens through no one’s fault. No one conjures a drought from thin air. No one causes a blight on crops. Other than that one time in the Bible, a plague of locusts was not a...
Lori Falce: Stop being quiet on set when it comes to child actors
The easiest way to rally people to your cause can be to focus on the way it affects children. Hunger in a foreign country? Show starving children. War in a foreign country? Show the youngest victims. Everyone does it. Health care? How does it impact children? Education? Easy one. Show...
Lori Falce: Fire sales and forum shopping
I love shopping. Not just picking out the perfect shoes or a great dress. I like grocery shopping. I like vacation shopping. With PowerBall and Mega Millions both in spitting distance of a billion dollars, I’m doing quite a bit of fantasy real estate shopping right now. I don’t care...
Lori Falce: TikTok, hypocrisy and easy answers
If you go on TikTok today, you are going to see a lot of the same things that pop up every day. The “For You” page is a tab on the app where the things that interest you are funneled. The app’s algorithm notices that you engage with cooking demos...
Lori Falce: Put students behind the wheel of democracy with civics
There’s a lot of debate about what kids should learn in school. What needs to be prioritized? Should reading, writing and math still be the tent poles, or is science and technology where the focus should be? Do we need the arts? What about life skills like balancing a checkbook...
Lori Falce: McConnell’s long goodbye
Mitch McConnell is in his last term as GOP leader in the U.S. Senate. The Kentucky legislator made the announcement Wednesday. “One of life’s most under-appreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” McConnell said. The implication, obviously, is that he does recognize...
Lori Falce: Jon Stewart, bothsidesism and asking not-so-tough questions
Last week, comedian Jon Stewart returned to his chair at “The Daily Show.” He will occupy it again one night a week leading up to the November elections. It’s a move that was championed by fans and by many on the left. Stewart has long enjoyed skewering conservatives, and Trevor...
Lori Falce: None of us are marked safe from shootings like Kansas City
My friend Caroline lives in Kansas City. She was excited leading up to the Super Bowl. She has three boys and a husband, and she’s an enthusiastic supporter of her community, so a giant football event with her crowd on the national stage was right up her alley. Throw in...
Lori Falce: Crumbley verdict and respect for guns
On Wednesday, a Michigan jury found Jennifer Crumbley guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of four students at Oxford High School in 2021. She was found guilty despite never firing a shot. She didn’t load a weapon. She didn’t aim. She wasn’t even at the school when it happened....
Lori Falce: What is opinion journalism?
Opinion journalism is sometimes dismissed as not actually being journalism. Sometimes it’s reviled as the problem with today’s news consumption. There is fair criticism there. There certainly is a lot of opinion out there, and a lot of it fills the most prominent spots on cable news channels or the...
Lori Falce: What is the best way to spend $65 million? Let us count the ways
Pittsburghers — like most Pennsylvanians and, well, people in general — are not really fond of change. Ask for directions, and you are likely to be given turns based on businesses that aren’t there anymore. A fair number of people still talk about Three Rivers Stadium, let alone Heinz Field,...
Lori Falce: Why do we care about Iowa caucuses?
I am not a fan of Iowa. I’d like to say it’s nothing against the state of Iowa, but that would be a lie. As someone born in Minnesota and raised in Pennsylvania, I hold both Iowa and New Jersey in the same kind of thinly veiled contempt. Very thinly...
Lori Falce: What’s in your stocking?
The question of Christmas stockings has been quite the topic on social media lately. They have become more than just big, fake socks that hang over the fireplace, or from the railing by the stairs, or are placed artfully by the tree. For some, they have become a symbol of...
Lori Falce: The cost of Christmas presents and respect
I am thinking a lot about my holiday budget right now. My son’s gift pile will look smaller than it has in Christmases past. That’s not necessarily because the amount I have set aside for presents has gotten smaller but because the individual cost of his gifts has gone up...
Lori Falce: Feeding into fatphobia
My inbox is jammed with emails about Ozempic. The drug, generic name semaglutide, is an injectable used to treat Type 2 diabetes. Combined with diet modifications and exercise, it has seen effectiveness in lowering or stabilizing blood sugar for those patients. That’s important to me. I’m not diabetic, but my...
Lori Falce: Language behind latest Santos expulsion vote is troubling, Mr. Speaker
On Wednesday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson spoke about his misgivings over efforts to expel U.S. Rep. George Santos, R-New York. It’s been a complicated line for the Republican Party, Johnson and former speaker Kevin McCarthy to walk since the Santos saga of untruths and criminal charges has unspooled...
Lori Falce: Black Friday and the importance of a capitalist Christmas
Black Friday is the start of the holiday shopping season. It is an all-out assault on gift-giving that begins before the turkey is even cold. Actually, it often starts when the turkey is downright frozen as Black Friday deals start to be shared online weeks early and some stores give...
