Featured Commentary category, Page 23

On Newsmax last week, I commented on the passage of the Ohio initiatives that created constitutional rights to recreational marijuana and abortion. I stated that “pure democracies are not the way to run a country.” Columnist Lori Falce posited that I am “not a fan of letting people make decisions...

Joe Biden has done a very good job as president. I want to see his record vigorously and effectively defended in the 2024 presidential election. Because of his age, I don’t think Biden is the right candidate to do that. That is why I sent a campaign contribution to U.S....

The four-day workweek has gained increasing traction over the past decade because of tech­nological advancements, improved productivity and pandemic shifts in the labor market. The covid-19 pandemic gave us a chance to reimagine the work-life balance, and we should continue on that path by truly considering the benefits of the...

Technology is making the 40-hour workweek an outmoded tradition. Historically, the workweek concept was based on the cycle of working from sunup to sundown, stopping either because the necessary work got done or it got too dark to see. The invention of gaslights in the late 19th century, followed by...

The New York Times recently released polling from a half-dozen political battleground states, and you might have thought Moses himself had descended Mt. Sinai with a commandment: Thus shall be decided the 2024 presidential race. The findings weren’t good for the Democratic incumbent. President Joe Biden trails the serially indicted...

When people think of Mister Rogers, they often remember his famous quote about helpers: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” That uplifting anecdote served...

In 2022, our state Legislature achieved a significant milestone by successfully passing legislation to reduce Pennsylvania’s corporate net income (CNI) tax rate. This reduction is a remarkable achievement, as it lowered our state’s CNI rate from the highest flat rate in the country, 9.99%, to 8.99% as of Jan. 1,...

For more than 95 years, Veteran Administration (VA) Research and Development programs have improved the lives of veterans, and all Americans, through groundbreaking health care discovery and innovation. This work has transformed the medical landscape through critical discoveries including tuberculosis treatment, cardiac pacemakers, nicotine patches, hearing aids, covid-19 vaccinations and...

“Pro-Israel.” That’s a standard term in American discourse about the Middle East, and now more than ever. We hear of confrontations between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters. Praise and blame are handed out to those seen as adequately or inadequately pro-Israel; the political lobbying organization AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee),...

The economy is improving, but President Biden doesn’t get much credit. Now it appears that could be enough to cost him his job. In contrast to last summer, most economists put the likelihood of a recession at less than half. Although the National Bureau of Economic Research considers several variables,...

Over 81% of Pennsylvanians receive the earned income tax credit, the federal government’s refundable tax credit to low and moderate-income families. This tax credit saves our state $2 billion annually — an average of $1,874 per household. Unfortunately, the IRS is now taking action that can jeopardize this windfall tax...

“‘The rise is real’: Haley’s breakout is jolting 2024′s undercard race,” an Oct. 29 Politico report was headlined. That is Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina legislator and governor, United Nations ambassador and now the Republican presidential candidate to watch. Haley is surging in the 2024 GOP primary sweepstakes; in...

For veterans transitioning from military to civilian life, the lack of support for the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) has been a point of contention for years, with delays in care and unwarranted denials for service members. This November we celebrate Veterans Day and those who served in uniform —...

The camel stuck its nose into Pennsylvania’s tent in 2016 when the Medical Marijuana Act was signed into law. It didn’t take long for the beast to try to crawl all the way in. Senate Bill 846 now seeks to “legalize” so-called recreational marijuana. It will make a bad situation...

Thanks to the Tribune-Review and reporters Brian C. Rittmeyer and Julia Maruca for their series “Nursing Home Crisis,” (Oct. 29, TribLIVE). They shined a light on a problem that’s been years in the making. Many of the heartbreaking situations described in the series can be traced back to a staffing...

I never saw an episode of “Friends,” but that is probably because I am from the television era that began with black- and-white pictures and television screens so small you had to draw a chair up to the box to see a flickering image. Back then, celebrity was a byproduct...

I wish newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson great success in what has turned out to be a difficult journey for the Republicans. For now, the speaker’s chair is no longer vacant. Did everyone get what they wanted? Or did everyone lose? Let’s review. The MAGA Republicans bullied their way...

The other day, I did something most of my fellow liberals have never done — I had a serious conversation with an essential worker. He could have been a grocery clerk, a construction worker, a health care aide or innumerable other job classifications. He could have been female or male,...

The Federal Reserve is hunting for a unicorn by holding U.S. interest rates steady and hoping that’s enough to bring inflation down to 2% without a recession. Historically, soft landings are terribly scarce and perhaps only exist in the eye of the beholder. The challenges policymakers face in the coming...

There is but one race, the human race. Divisions of this one race have occurred due to geographic ancestry, behaviors, activities and interests, and through all manner of other shared groupings. We humans seem prone to segregation that has been encoded into the human race’s psyche. We can see this...

Rep. Mike Johnson, the newly elected speaker of the House, is the most unabashedly Christian nationalist speaker in history. That Rep. Matt Gaetz is so deliriously happy should tell you quite a bit about the latest speaker. During an appearance on Steve Bannon’s far-right “War Room” podcast last week, just...

Among the top priorities for newly selected House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was his announced intention to form a bipartisan panel to cut massive spending that has led to an unsustainable $33 trillion national debt. The pragmatist in me cheers, but the cynic in me says asking Congress to cut...

There has been a lot of conversation recently in Harrisburg about moving the date of next year’s primary election because the election date coincided with the Jewish holiday of Passover. Competing proposals in both legislative chambers have sought to temporarily move the date earlier, between three and five weeks. Yet,...

“The more we learn about the 2020 election the more ILLEGITIMATE it becomes. America deserves to know whether we have a FAKE president in the oval office.” How could Republicans in the House struggle for three weeks and then unanimously elect a man who said this kind of irresponsible stuff...

The fog of the Israeli-­Hamas war is made more intimidating by the thick mist of misinformation. What are smart news consumers, and impressionable students in classrooms nationwide, supposed to do as rampant falsehoods spread? NewsGuard, the anti-­misinformation company I work for, is toiling 24/7 with a tsunami of wrongheaded claims...