Featured Commentary category, Page 36

AOC and her Green New Deal buddies in the Biden government are not just winning their crusade against fossil fuels. They’re also wrecking the country — appliance by appliance. Our washing machines, refrigerators and microwaves have been made less efficient and more expensive because of new federal standards pushed by...

May 14 represents the 75th anniversary of Israel’s birth as a nation. It is a momentous time for a nation that many people gave little chance for success or survival. Israel’s declaration of independence was controversial and received with little enthusiasm from many around the world, unwelcome by surrounding nations....

In 1971, when Daniel Ellsberg arrived at a federal court in Boston, a journalist asked if he was concerned about the prospect of going to prison for leaking a 7,000-page top-secret history of the Vietnam War. Ellsberg responded with a question of his own: “Wouldn’t you go to prison to...

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. has quietly built one of the most successful political legacies in Pennsylvania history. Prior to Casey’s 2018 reelection victory, never before had a Pennsylvania Democrat won three terms to the United States Senate. As the Scranton native eyes his 2024 reelection campaign, he not...

“The reason I talk to myself is because I’m the only one whose answers I accept.” — George Carlin Former president Donald Trump’s appearance at a CNN Republican Town Hall in New Hampshire stretched the truth beyond any standard by which that virtue can be measured. Trump told more lies...

For more than 50 years, Pennsylvania has held the unique distinction of being the only state in the nation where proceeds from its state lottery are directed solely to programs that benefit older adults. This partnership between the Pennsylvania Lottery and our commonwealth’s seniors has generated nearly $34 billion in...

When he ran for president a second time in 1968 on the American Independent Party ticket, Alabama Gov. George Wallace said, “There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the Democrat and Republican parties.” Granted that Wallace, who had been a Democrat, was attempting to attract votes for that nascent...

The drama surrounding Silicon Valley Bank, Republic Bank, PacWest Bancorp and other regional banks is provoking tough talk about implementing tighter banking regulations. Those could do more harm than good and won’t avert another crisis. Apparently both the White House and Federal Reserve want to reimpose on mid-sized banks stricter...

In many ways, we live in a political world that operates more on denial than possibility, and to be honest, it’s killing democracy. Candidate quality has been replaced by ideological purity on both sides, while virtual cottage industries have sprung up around the idea of replacing the “loyal opposition” with...

The current Hollywood writers strike has drawn international attention to the plight of TV and film writers in the streaming era. Much has been made of television’s golden age, during which streaming platforms have offered audiences an abundance of well-written, highly produced television shows, often called “prestige TV.” Whereas older...

The crowning of Charles III as king of England and the shrinking realm of the United Kingdom was not the only coronation taking place in the world. Increasingly, evangelical Christians in the U.S. are treating Donald Trump as their king. While the scenarios are different, it reminds me of when...

There is another side to the question of school choice. How does this fit in with our system of self-governance? How does this work with taxation and representation? Our system of self-governance, conceived by our Founding Fathers, is a constitutional republic in which, at each level — local, state and...

We are less than five months into 2023, and Pittsburghers have already suffered numerous pedestrian fatalities, from the West End to Uptown to Squirrel Hill. At this rate, 2023 is on track to be the deadliest year for people walking in recent memory. These deaths and injuries are preventable, and...

On May 16, Pittsburghers will go to the polls to elect a new Allegheny County executive. What’s at stake in this election is literally a matter of life and death. The American Lung Association’s (ALA) State of the Air report issued April 18 documents that the Pittsburgh region is the...

As you step outside this spring, think of the people of East Palestine. A simple pleasure of life in the Northeast — breathing in clean, crisp air after a long winter indoors — now carries significant health risks for East Palestine’s residents. Instead of enjoying this exciting time of year,...

America and China have slid into a cold war, and we should be thankful if tensions don’t spill into a full-blown conflict. China boasts the largest navy in the world and hypersonic and carrier-killing missiles that could quickly disable U.S. military assets in the South China Sea and Pacific. Those...

The very term “debt limit” makes a mockery of any kind of responsible budgeting. Each time the government reaches the “limit” it gets raised with the familiar scenarios that include threats of a government shutdown (an idea that increasingly appeals to some conservatives) and the claim that the “full faith...

Growing up in Appalachia, I know firsthand how America’s energy story is woven through our region. Over time, our communities have experienced the ups and downs of an industry that has powered our country’s economy forward. Now, as mayor of Sharpsburg, a Rust Belt river town, I’m excited to play...

Calls for a “formal” or “enforceable” code of ethics for the Supreme Court imply that no ethics rules or guidelines exist, that Congress has the authority to impose such a code, and that a genuine concern about ethics is the real motivation. None of these is true. Every discussion of...

Our nation’s highest court — the Supreme Court — should live by the highest ethical standards. Right now, no transparent code of conduct governs its nine members like there is for all other federal judges — one that requires judges to “avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all...

The U.S. Supreme Court issued an emergency ruling on April 21 that allows continued access to the abortion pill mifepristone in states where abortion is legal. The court’s decision, which included few details and only indicated that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito did not concur, follows a whirlwind legal...

A spate of recent shootings serve as a depressing reminder that accidentally ringing the wrong doorbell, driving to an incorrect residence, or mistakenly getting into the incorrect vehicle can be deadly. In Kansas City, 16-year-old honors student Ralph Yarl mistakenly arrived at the wrong home while looking for his younger...

What can you reasonably expect to achieve in 3% of the time you have a job? For reporters and other observers, the 3% milestone is an important inflection point for assessing the performance of elected officials, especially executives like governors. One hundred days into his tenure as Pennsylvania governor, Josh...

In 2021, Ed Gainey was elected mayor of Pittsburgh. His campaign was funded in part by SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, which made a generous $350,000 donation — more than all other contributors combined. SEIU Healthcare PA knew what it was paying for when it made this investment — a strong bargaining...

A year ago I was sitting at a desk staring at a blackboard when I heard my fellow classmates discussing how they had slept only three hours a night for two weeks straight. Just weeks ago I heard second-graders discussing how they were going to wait until the summer to...