Featured Commentary category, Page 13

After watching President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, it would be easy to conclude that members of Congress have little interest in, and do not value, civility, bipartisanship and collaboration as a means to address the challenges our nation faces. But a recent survey of some other folks...

Are we back to fighting the Global War on Terror? The attack in a Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people last month should be a wake-up call to the whole world, especially with the Olympics coming this summer in Paris. It is thought that four members of ISIS-K, an...

In his recent State of the Union speech, President Biden highlighted how his climate policies are helping Americans by bringing record investment and jobs to the U.S. The positive economic impacts of investments in clean energy — a reported $240 billion in clean energy funding and 170,000 jobs from the...

We as Americans should be asking hard questions about Benjamin Netanyahu. Does the prime minister have a vision to end Israel’s war in Gaza that doesn’t include us subsidizing indefinite occupation? Is he capable of the kind of diplomacy that’s necessary for peace? His history with four U.S. presidents is...

I’ve just received by mail-in ballot for the April 23 primary election, and I’m excited to take a look at the choices and cast my votes. Having the opportunity to send my votes on a mail-in ballot is convenient, safe and legitimate. With my actual live ballot in hand, I...

Several national pollsters have concluded that Donald Trump is leading in Pennsylvania over President Biden. The RealClearPolitics polling average as of April 3 shows Trump with a 0.6% edge in the Keystone State. Some pollsters even show Trump at 52% support. Susquehanna Polling and Research takes issue with some of...

Though elected in 2022, Gov. Josh Shapiro remains stuck in campaign mode, offering one empty platitude after another while avoiding the hard work Pennsylvanians elected him to do. Despite his incessant mantra of “getting stuff done,” Shapiro has done the opposite. His first year ranks him as the least productive...

In November, the Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill 4 to empower state law enforcement to arrest suspected undocumented immigrants. First-time offenders face six months of imprisonment, while second-timers can be incarcerated for up to 20 years. Texas prisons are already overcrowded, inhumane spaces. During last year’s heat wave, more than...

Money, the legendary California Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh said, “is the mother’s milk of politics.” Judging from the way cash is flowing into the Biden and Trump campaign coffers, each of the major 2024 presidential campaigns has no shortage of mothers. On March 28, President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign raised...

When I turned 60, my primary care physician said something profound: “There is no reason for someone to wake up in this day and age and find that they have advanced colon cancer.” It was a nudge in the right direction. Early detection and early intervention have been medicine’s mantra...

When I became secretary of the commonwealth, I vowed to visit all 67 county election offices to hear firsthand about the challenges they face when running elections. Although I ran elections in Philadelphia for 10 years as a city commissioner, I knew that other counties face far different challenges, and...

The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26 has put a spotlight on the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest harbors in the U.S., which paused shipping and immediately halted all vessel traffic in and out. The port remained open to trucks following the incident, but...

Congress has once again been making headlines for all the wrong reasons, with multiple news outlets in recent months touting the current 118th Congress as possibly the least productive in the institution’s history. In 2023, Congress only passed 34 bills into law, the lowest number in decades. Congress was only...

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be.” — Polonius to his son Laertes in “Hamlet” It may be too late given the number of Americans who have willingly allowed themselves to become dependent on government more than themselves, but it’s worth trying. Our $34 trillion debt is unsustainable, according to...

Pennsylvania’s energy industry has long created good-paying jobs and ensured consumers have reliable, affordable power. The coal mines and oil fields of Northeastern and Western Pennsylvania fueled the Industrial Revolution, which powered the middle class and led to the creation of the American labor movement. When fascism threatened freedom overseas,...

If you’re a basketball fan, you might be excited about March Madness, the NCAA basketball tournament. Or if you’re from certain parts of the world, you might be pumped for Eurovision, a song contest between countries that’s a feast of absurdity and camp (and terrible music). If you care about...

Vladimir Putin and his intelligence agencies are blaming the hideous ISIS terror attack on a concert venue near Moscow March 22 on — you guessed it — Ukraine, the United States and Great Britain. Putin needs to distract attention from either the incredible failure of his security agencies to prevent...

“Abstention” is a deceptively diplomatic word, implying some sort of bureaucratic omission. And yet the March 25 decision by the U.S. to abstain from casting its veto in the United Nations Security Council turned a page in history. For the first time since the terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel on...

The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore came as quite a shock. After a massive container ship struck one of the bridge’s pillars, the entire span quickly fell apart, costing several lives. It’s hard to overstate the bridge’s importance, particularly for the automobile industry. In addition to...

ROSEVILLE, Calif. By now Victoria Thompson has heard it many times. She’s crazy. She’s throwing her vote away. Worse, those who loathe Donald Trump say she’s helping the unscrupulous ex-president reclaim the White House — even though she’s never voted for him and never will — by refusing to back...

Will Black women continue to blindly offer their loyalty to Democrats or any Democrat for political office? They are the definition of a monolithic group when it comes to politics. If you are a Democrat, then they are voting for you. History is proof (according to Roper for Public Opinion...

An Illinois federal judge recently ruled that the Constitution protects the gun rights of noncitizens who enter the U.S. illegally. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Coleman dropped firearm possession charges against Heriberto Carbajal-Flores, who was in possession of a handgun in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago on June 1,...

As we begin to thaw out from the cold winter months, Pennsylvania homeowners and renters who are having trouble paying their energy bills can still seek financial assistance and help with weatherizing their homes and apartments. There are programs available year-round for all income levels with additional assistance targeted at...

A mass shooting at a concert hall in Moscow killed more than 130 people. With many others seriously or gravely wounded the number of dead is likely to rise. The Islamic state released a statement claiming “credit” for the incident. Eleven suspects have been arrested. Early reports suggested the U.S....

A dramatic success story began in the 1970s when President Richard Nixon established the groundwork for many of the alphabet soup of major environmental laws: National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Clean Water Act (CWA), Clean Air Act (CAA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), etc. In addition, he established the...