Lori Falce Columns category, Page 7
Lori Falce: This holiday season, let us all be heroes against hate
This column runs on Fridays, which means that on the day after Thanksgiving, it generally runs toward traditions and holidays. I have used it to talk about Black Friday shopping with my husband, my love of turning leftovers into soup and the Christmas cards I want to mail but never...
Lori Falce: Veterans need support more than sales and free lunch
On Veterans Day, the attention on former service members is obvious. There are offers for free coffee, free sandwiches, free meals and more. I know someone who preps in advance, making sure his identification is ready and loosens his belt, prepared to dine for free all day — and take...
Lori Falce: Should you pay for verification?
On Tuesday, I became a little bit cooler in my son’s eyes. Not much, and I’m not under any delusion it will last. But, for a brief, shining moment, my teenager was moderately impressed by me. “Elon Musk wants to charge people for blue check marks on Twitter?” he mused...
Lori Falce: Facts, opinions and political ads
The one thing I struggle with most in my job is not the task of making deadlines — although the editor who waits with well-concealed resignation for my weekend editorials every Friday might disagree. It is helping people — whether readers or writers — navigate the tightrope between what is...
Lori Falce: Is it fair to criticize a candidate for a health problem?
Ableism refers to attitudes or actions that make assumptions about or throw roadblocks in front of people dealing with a handicap or medical issue. Sometimes it is intentional. Sometimes it is uncaring. Sometimes it is simply unaware. But ableism also is frequently correctable — just like the medical issues in...
Lori Falce: Alex Jones damages the First Amendment
Without a doubt, the best and simultaneously hardest thing about the U.S. Constitution is the First Amendment. Specifically, that tug-of-war is represented in the words, “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.” It is a masterpiece of protection. It enshrines the absolute right to raise your...
Lori Falce: Will Herschel Walker face same backlash as Tim Murphy?
Oh, the scandal. A man with a documented stance on abortion is outed. He had an affair. There was a pregnancy. He asks her to get an abortion. This could be the story of Herschel Walker, the football star turned would-be Republican politician running for U.S. Senate in Georgia. A...
Lori Falce: Iranian woman’s death latest in list of human rights abuses
I get lists and rankings in my inbox every day. They tell me what states or cities or schools or businesses are the best and worst according to a myriad of factors. Most money. Least education. Highest unemployment. Lowest cost of living. Best quality of life. Worst opportunity for advancement....
Lori Falce: Should parents lead curriculum?
If there is one thing the pandemic taught me, it is that I am not a teacher. Having my son home for the tail end of sixth grade and all of seventh made me appreciate teachers. I thought I appreciated them before. I was wrong. I mean, yes, I was...
Lori Falce: The unreachable cure for cancer
There might be no better way to get people on your side than to say you want to cure cancer. Cancer is an ugly, predatory beast that stalks its victims without regard for age or class or worthiness. It attacks the good and the evil dispassionately. In 2019, the most...
Lori Falce: Queen Elizabeth’s legacy is a measurement of history
On Tuesday, Queen Elizabeth formally accepted Liz Truss as the new prime minister of the United Kingdom and gave her the authority to form a government in her name. Two days later, Truss returned the favor, acknowledging the queen’s death and formally naming Charles III as king. There may never...
Lori Falce: Quiet quitting needs a different name
I am annoyed by all the attention being given to the trendy workplace phenomenon of quiet quitting. It’s the latest in the post-pandemic upside-down world where workers are recognizing their power in a workplace where many industries are struggling to fill jobs. What annoys me is the wording itself. Quiet...
Lori Falce: The broken pact of veterans’ health care
I’m thinking a lot about my uncle right now. His funeral is this weekend. I am collecting memories from family members and friends. I am compiling them into the story of a man who wasn’t rich or famous but had the kind of life built on hard work and commitment...
Lori Falce: Veggie trays or crudite? The battle for Pa. votes
Who could have predicted that carrots and broccoli would have such an impact on politics? Every day at parties, barbecues and receptions of all kinds, platters of produce are being ignored in favor of chips, cookies, pizza and tiny little sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania is taking...
Lori Falce: The crippling cost of insulin
Insulin is not just a drug. It’s a hormone that is produced in the pancreas. It is part of how the body controls blood sugar. When you talk about it like that, it doesn’t seem like that big a deal. But it is — because the sugar in your blood...
Lori Falce: Drowning in recession rhetoric
Are we in a recession or not? It’s hard to get anyone to agree. First of all, you have to know what a recession is. The short definition is an economic condition where industry and business are down for a time. A recession isn’t as bad as a depression but...
Lori Falce: Where does Thompson really stand on gay marriage?
Politicians are notorious for the slippery ways in which they can avoid taking a firm position on some issues, freeing up just enough wiggle room to allow them to court votes on both sides. Sure, there are the sometimes rigid positions that are taken on polarizing issues such as guns...
Lori Falce: Blinded by political party colors
There was a time in my life when I couldn’t tell you the political parties of almost anyone I knew. Parties didn’t define any of those people as much as other things about them. They weren’t Democrats or Republicans. They were teachers, bankers, farmers, electricians, nurses, housewives, mechanics, retirees, students....
Lori Falce: Corporate sponsorship is more honest than politics
If you live in Pennsylvania or follow football or eat ketchup, you are no doubt aware the Pittsburgh Steelers venue went to bed Sunday as Heinz Field and woke up Monday as Acrisure Stadium. For many of the faithful, this has been a shock to the system. For the more...
Lori Falce: Rage is driving Americans crazy
When tragedies like the Highland Park parade shooting or the Uvalde school shooting or the Tree of Life synagogue shooting or (insert whichever shooting hit you hardest here) occur, there is always the division between people who want to do something about guns and people who say regulating guns won’t...
Lori Falce: The cautionary tale of Supreme Court precedent
We like to think of the law as something resolute as stone, strong as a diamond, immutable as iron. The law is the law. If it is flexible, what is the point? The law has to provide us the framework for society to function, and it cannot do that if...
Lori Falce: Staking a claim for the word “the”
For years, former president Bill Clinton has been the butt of jokes about his cagey answer in grand jury testimony in which he showed his lawyer stripes and true politician colors by parsing the definition of the verb “to be.” “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’...
Lori Falce: Formula shortage hits babies’ health and parents’ sanity
The baby formula shortage might seem like yet another in an ongoing series of random supply chain problems since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and the global economic complications that followed. Unless one is the parent of an infant. Then it could seem more like a siege. Oh, come...
Lori Falce: The tarnished crown of being a princess
Like most little girls, I went through a phase where I wanted to be a princess. It lasted until my early 40s. You have to admit the position has a lot to recommend it. Castles. Plural — as if one castle wasn’t enough. A very real possibility of promotion to...
Lori Falce: What’s the real outcome of Depp-Heard trial?
Our long national nightmare is over. The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial has come to an end. OK, I’m going to confess. I have been caught up in the weeks of testimony. The drama. The endless analysis of movie stars emoting in a courtroom and just as endless criticism of lawyers’...
