Featured Commentary category, Page 111

Western civilization was founded on a set of philosophies that focus strongly on the sanctity of individuals and their power of logic and reason. This belief led to a desire to trust things that could be proven to be true or legitimate, from government to science. Judeo-Christian morality has formed...

Pleas for tariffs and other trade restrictions are made overwhelmingly for economic reasons. The claim is that such restrictions will create jobs, raise wages and otherwise improve our economy. But it is quite common for those who seek protection from foreign competition also to insist that the requested trade restrictions...

Happy 243rd birthday, America! As has become a Trib custom on the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we once again commend for your thoughtful review this nation’s founding pronouncement, reprinted in its entirety in the adjacent columns. And, as also has become an Independence Day tradition at the Trib,...

Happy Fourth of July! We have reason to celebrate. The Fourth honors the founding of America. It’s the anniversary of the day in 1776 that the Declaration of Independence was approved. The Declaration was important. It didn’t say that America would be the best country because it would have the...

Students are awash in higher-education debt. Parents are frustrated that they can’t do more to help. Colleges and universities throw up their collective hands because they think there is little they can do. Banks point fingers at the students, blaming high default rates as the root cause of high interest...

“For too long our leaders have failed us, taking us into one regime change war after the next, leading us into a new Cold War and arms race, costing us trillions of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars and countless lives. This insanity must end.” Donald Trump, circa 2016? Nope. That denunciation...

The likelihood I would ever be invited to serve on a network panel questioning the Democratic presidential candidates is equivalent to an invitation to take the next trip to the moon. Still, as I tortured myself watching the two “debates,” which were not really debates, but mostly a show of...

Fun fact: I’ve been crocheting since I was 10., when my Tita Lisa taught me the magic of granny squares Fellow yarn nerds will understand the heavenly bliss of spending hours at Hobby Lobby or Walmart immersed in a sea of alpaca, mohair, angora, super bulky and super saver skeins...

A Debate Marathon Who will win the 2020 presidential election seems endlessly debatable—and the Democrats are preparing to demonstrate just how endless that debate will be. Overall there will be 12 sanctioned Democratic presidential debates during the party’s nomination battle, six of them in 2019 with six more in 2020....

Home health aides provide valuable and compassionate home care services to seniors and adults with disabilities that enable them to remain safe at home and out of nursing homes. As a clinical manager who oversees a team of home health aides, I know our state is in a home care...

America has a big waste problem. In fact, the problem weighs approximately 280 million tons. That is the quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) Americans create every year. As waste creation skyrockets, landfills across the country are nearing capacity, generating a waste crisis that crosses state lines. The U.S. produces...

Several Democratic presidential hopefuls are calling for Americans to make reparations for slavery. On June 19, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties held a hearing. Its stated purpose was “to examine, through open and constructive discourse, the legacy of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, its...

So many people want to be president. Unfortunately, many have terrible ideas. Sen. Kamala Harris wants companies to prove they pay men and women equally. “Penalties if they don’t!” she shouts. But there are lots of reasons, other than sexism, why companies pay some men more than women. Harris also...

I never thought I would write this, but the publisher of The New York Times, A.G. Sulzberger, is right. Sulzberger wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal in response to President Trump’s claim that his newspaper committed “treason” by publishing a story about U.S. efforts to compromise Russia’s power...

With the victory of World War II fresh in their minds, the “Greatest Generation” marched into life with confidence, purpose and a mindset that with determination, hard work and selfless dedication, anything could be accomplished. The typical struggles, failures and hardships of life were no doubt present, yet they had...

President Trump cannot want war with Iran. Such a war, no matter how long, would be fought in and around the Persian Gulf, through which a third of the world’s seaborne oil travels. It could trigger a worldwide recession and imperil Trump’s reelection. It would widen the “forever war,” which...

Twenty veterans die by suicide each day. Additionally, up to 20% of veterans who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depression. As our nation recognizes PTSD Awareness Month in June, it is important that we draw attention to these...

Who will win the 2020 presidential election seems endlessly debatable — and the Democrats are preparing to demonstrate just how endless that debate will be. Overall there will be 12 sanctioned Democratic presidential debates during the party’s nomination battle, six of them in 2019 with six more in 2020. The...

In the ongoing debate about protecting the integrity of female athletics, I firmly believe female track athletes should only have to compete against their peers — not biological males, regardless of how those male athletes identify in terms of gender, which is a man-made construct. As a former Division I...

Chances are, most of us will become or know someone as a patient during our lifetime. The need to have a friend or loved one access or communicate with a medical professional about your care may necessitate having a patient advocate. A patient’s privacy is protected by the Health Insurance...

Many have argued that the foster care system is broken. Dr. Phil has said it. The Boston Globe has said it. The Washington Post has said it. But as executive director of Bethany Christian Services of Western Pennsylvania and Ohio, I’m not sure I agree with this statement. While our...

A lot has changed since 1998, the year that Pennsylvania and 45 states stood up to big tobacco and helped create the Tobacco Settlement Fund (TSF). We may have moved on from CD-ROM, dial-up internet and the Y2K bug frenzy; but a few things have stood the test of time:...

Automation and artificial intelligence could make 54 million Americans’ jobs obsolete within the next decade, according to McKinsey & Company. Lesser-skilled jobs in manufacturing, construction and service industries will be the first to go. Increasingly, robots can perform these jobs more efficiently than humans. Robots also don’t need costly benefits...

Presidential candidates and the media keep telling people “it’s immoral” that a few rich people have so much more money than everyone else. They talk as if it doesn’t matter what the rich did to get the money. Instead, the fact that they are rich is itself immoral. Yaron Brook...

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio says that the city’s specialized high schools have a diversity problem. He’s joined by New York City Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza, educators, students and community leaders who want to fix the diversity problem. I bet you can easily guess what they will do...