Paul Kengor Columns category, Page 5
Paul Kengor: How much does Putin want?
“The collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” So declared Russian President Vladimir Putin in April 2005 in his annual state of the nation address to the Russian parliament, broadcast live on Russian television. That bombshell was dropped without any elaboration. “Putin deplores collapse...
Paul Kengor: The Great Dumpster Fire 2 — the rematch?
It sure looks like Hillary Clinton is running for president again. Clinton is expected to speak at the New York State Democratic Party Convention in Times Square later this month, prompting further speculation that she’s running. Indicators continue to mount. It also sure looks like Donald Trump is running again....
Paul Kengor: NCAA recognizes natural immunity — when will colleges follow?
The NCAA is finally on the ball. Its Covid-19 Medical Advisory Group has adjusted its definition of “fully vaccinated” to account not only for vaccination but other immunity factors, such as natural immunity — i.e., real immunity. Individual athletes with documented covid-19 infection within 90 days now carry the equivalent...
Paul Kengor: The big picture on Big Ben
As Steelers fans size up the end of the Ben Roethlisberger era, I suggest not words but an image. The image sticking with me came at the end of “Monday Night Football’s” extended coverage of Ben’s final home game in Pittsburgh Jan. 3. This may sound sentimental, but I think...
Paul Kengor: Covid and conscience
Covid vax mandates continue to head to the Supreme Court. Currently, the court is reviewing the Biden OSHA mandate seeking to forcibly vaccinate Americans who work for organizations with more than 100 employees. Recently, the court declined to stop a state vax mandate for health care workers invoking religious objections....
Paul Kengor: Fear not! Christmas is just beginning
Post-Christmas depression is a real thing. For many, it hits on Dec. 26. In fact, sadly, for much of our culture, Christmas is over on that day. The ending can feel painfully abrupt. After weeks and months of buildup, starting around Thanksgiving, or even right after Halloween in our stores,...
Paul Kengor: Where we’re headed — abortion and the states
Roe v. Wade is facing unprecedented challenges, as seen during Supreme Court oral arguments last week in Dobbs v. Jackson. The chances of abortion being sent back to the states are higher than ever. As that prospect looms, pro-choice politicians are stepping forward to protect legal abortion in their states....
Paul Kengor: Raising turkeys
“Oh my gosh, Daddy, they’re killing each other!” So said my son John in a plea of desperation. He was referring not to his siblings, mercifully, but to our turkeys. I was at the office when John telephoned. His voice was so loud that the student in my office could...
Paul Kengor: Creating Free Speech U
“I’m caught in an insane asylum, everybody’s gone crazy, I will work for half.” So said a desperate professor to Peter Boghossian, who this week announced the creation of a new college, the University of Austin, committed to “freedom of inquiry, freedom of conscience and civil discourse.” The announcement was...
Paul Kengor: My year without baseball
Sitting in the lobby of a Washington hotel having drinks with friends, I glanced at the television and was pulled in by images of October baseball — the playoff season. It was the San Francisco Giants vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers. Classic. “It’s hard not to watch this,” I said...
Paul Kengor: Replacing ‘father’ and ‘mother’
“We need fathers,” said President Obama on Father’s Day 2008. “We know the statistics — that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to...
Paul Kengor: Conor Lamb and Pa.’s political ‘moderates’
I watched last Friday to see how Rep. Conor Lamb would vote on a bill that the bishops of his church called “the most radical abortion bill of all time.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bishop described the Women’s Health Protection Act as “nothing short of child sacrifice.” But given how...
Paul Kengor: Us vs. them — why we remember 9/11 differently
On Sept. 8, 2021, Grove City College President Paul McNulty spoke in downtown Pittsburgh regarding his uniquely fascinating yet somber 9/11 experiences. He played an intimate role in the prosecution of the hijackers and their associates as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and deputy attorney general in...
Paul Kengor: Back to 9/11?
“I wouldn’t have withdrawn,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “I would have kept the counterterrorism forces on the ground … working with indigenous forces. That’s the best insurance policy against another 9/11.” Says Graham: “The chance of another 9/11 just went through the roof.” It has...
Paul Kengor: Pa.’s forgotten and canceled governor
Gov. George Earle. Have you heard of him? Born in Devon, Pa., Earle was governor of Pennsylvania from 1935 to 1939, one of only two Democrats to be elected to that spot between the Civil War and World War II, and a respected and popular politician, featured on the cover...
Paul Kengor: BLM’s unsurprising stance on Cuba
In response to my last column on Major League Baseball’s silence in the face of repression in Cuba, I got an email from a Trib reader with an altogether different angle. He was less outraged by MLB’s silence than BLM’s “vocal support” of the Cuban regime. His point is more...
Paul Kengor: MLB strikes out in Cuba
“MLB remained absent-mindedly and cowardly mute on the Cuban people’s freedom struggles, despite the game’s close ties with Cuban players.” So writes David, a Pittsburgh native and reader of my columns. David continues: “The league has no excuse now for dodging the political issues of the day as they arise....
Paul Kengor: Highway robbery on the Pa. Turnpike
In a column around this time last year, I wrote about the toll that covid was taking on tollbooth workers on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I had been prompted by an eerie ride to Latrobe from my home in Grove City. Like many Pennsylvanians under lockdown, I hadn’t been on a...
Paul Kengor: NFL and MLB, move your offices
I continue to get emails from Trib readers regarding my columns on Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred engaging in an economic boycott of Atlanta because of his disapproval of Georgia’s election-integrity laws. It was shameless. Everyone is sick and tired of the politicization (and cancellation) of everything, and here...
Paul Kengor: Punking the cancel culture
Watching the mohawked crowd slam-dancing in the mosh pit at the Electric Banana on Bigelow Boulevard in the 1990s, one wouldn’t have pictured punkers standing up to the bullies of the 2020s; that is, to the cancel culture. But then again, punk rockers always have rebelled against the status quo...
Paul Kengor: Boycotting baseball
“I couldn’t agree more. At least there’s golf and the NHL has mostly been neutral.” So said Bill, a Trib reader reacting to my previous column on Major League Baseball yanking the All-Star Game out of Atlanta for political reasons — effectively a partisan-ideological decision by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred....
Paul Kengor: Will MLB boycott the Pirates — and the Phillies?
“Georgia has 17 days of in-person early voting, including two optional Sundays. Colorado has 15. … They also have a photo ID requirement. So, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.” So puzzled Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp over the decision by Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred...
Paul Kengor: The conservative movement going forward
In my previous column, I wrote about moving the conservative movement beyond Donald Trump. I asked which conservative voices would best serve the conservative movement going forward post-Trump (assuming there is a post-Trump period). I particularly related this question to young people, who are the future of the movement and...
Paul Kengor: Moving the movement beyond Trump
A Never Trump colleague asks why I didn’t support a second impeachment of Donald Trump, given that I say that I want the conservative movement to move beyond Trump. The answer isn’t difficult. For starters, the impeachment trial from the outset was a political spectacle, a rash judgment by Democrats....
Paul Kengor: Give Trump due credit for Operation Warp Speed
We’re full-throttle into mass distribution of covid-19 vaccines. And let there be no doubt, their rapid development is an extraordinary achievement. I want to underscore that by revisiting what I wrote here last spring, when I placed President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed into historical context — looking particularly at the...
