Featured Commentary category, Page 5

Crowdstrike did not have a good day on July 19. During a routine software update, the file that the cybersecurity firm issued triggered a logic error that prohibited Windows machines from rebooting. Microsoft estimates that about 8.5 million computers may have been affected by the event. This created a tsunami of...

One owns a for-profit insurer, a venture capital company and for-profit hospitals in Italy and Kazakhstan; it has just acquired its fourth for-­profit hospital in Ireland. Another owns one of the largest for-profit hospitals in London, is partnering to build a massive training facility for a professional basketball team and...

Many people, like I, viewed Sen. John Fetterman as merely a lesser version of Bernie Sanders when he was running for Senate. Progressives in the Democratic Party felt he was one of them and thought he would unwaveringly support their agenda, a “back bencher” who would sit quietly and follow...

In Pennsylvania, we find ourselves in quite the conundrum: a low unemployment rate coupled with a sizable number of unemployment claims — 127,000 at the end of December 2023. This contradiction should serve as a wake-up call for policymakers. After all, if we can’t figure this out, what’s next —...

Think like a coach. That was one of my fundamental tenets when I chaired the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. This approach was and remains important to evaluate candidates based upon who is the best person to put on the field to be successful. That is not often easy as many times...

Smart Republicans could see a day like this coming — and tried mightily to prevent it — back in 2010. That was the year Kamala Harris, a bright, young, charismatic prosecutor from San Francisco, ran her first statewide campaign, for California attorney general, and ultimately won. The race presaged the...

Once again Sen. John Fetterman uniquely spoke the plain truth, criticizing those elected phonies who knifed President Biden in the back one day from reelection and then lauded his legacy the next. Deceitful politicians are nothing new. However, they were aided and abetted by what is falsely labeled as “cable...

It’s an election year, which means we’ll be hearing a lot from Democrats and Republicans claiming their party is the one true champion of working-class Americans. Sure, but what does it mean to be part of the working class in America these days? It means being female. If there’s one...

An unlikely — and mostly unfamiliar — name has catapulted onto the short list of potential Democratic running mates: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Walz seems to be everywhere lately, with a rapid-fire, folksy style that brings the heat to Republicans, articulates what matters to Democrats and corks off on GOP...

Olympic host cities make promises that are all but impossible to keep, and in recent years, the organizers’ wishful thinking about housing and neighborhood redevelopment has been one of the cruelest Olympic disappointments. As the 2024 Paris Games commence, we are seeing it all over again — displacement, gentrification and...

Now that Vice President Kamala Harris is heir-apparent for the Democratic presidential nomination (chosen by party elites without a democratic process from her party’s voters), the next step we’ll see from the left is whipping out the women’s card. We’ve seen this in numerous other races, including with former presidential...

The state budget is finally done, but Pennsylvania families should be angry. That’s the most important takeaway from the budget that Gov. Josh Shapiro and state lawmakers passed this month. Last year, Shapiro failed our most vulnerable kids by vetoing his promise to enact Lifeline Scholarships, which would have saved...

Climate change is one of many significant moral challenges we face today as a nation, requiring a committed response. The social principles of my own faith tradition, the United Methodist Church, express moral imperatives to address climate change, protect the most vulnerable in society and promote human health. Humans have...

The assassination attempt on Donald Trump was terrible and a stain on our republic. In our government, “we the people” are responsible for choosing our leaders. No individual has the right to take that away. But, as wrong as the assassination attempt was (and it was wrong), it is essential...

It was 1986 when a presidential election first captured my imagination — the contest between incumbent Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos and challenger Corazon Aquino. As an 11-year-old American living in the Philippines, for me it was the ultimate master class in democracy. Marcos risked his dictatorship by declaring a snap...

Now that Joe Biden has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the nominee, it will ultimately be up to Democratic National Convention delegates to formally select a new nominee for their party. This will mark the first time in over 50...

Two cases, both involving former President Trump, have captured headlines recently and, like everything else connected with the upcoming presidential election, stirred virulent emotions on all sides. In one case, the Supreme Court afforded the Office of the President immunity from prosecution in certain circumstances and, in the second case,...

Since the pandemic, going to the grocery store has become a jarring experience. On a recent visit, I packed my purchased items into my tote bag and then gawked at the receipt in disbelief. I’m not alone. Griping about the high cost of groceries has become a national pastime. It’s...

Fifty years ago, Congress tried to rein in deficits and fix the budget process — or, perhaps, lawmakers were mostly just trying to wrest back some spending power from the White House. If the goal was fiscal responsibility, the results have been mixed at best. But if the goal was...

No-fault divorce is an option available in all 50 states. But it might not be for long if Donald Trump wins a second term, further emboldening a surging Christian nationalist movement that has divorce reform in its sights. Already, several GOP-led states, including Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana, are moving...

Details are still emerging about the attempt to kill Donald Trump — about the shooter and how it was possible, and also what it says about America. The first is obvious: Political violence has no place in America. No matter our politics, Americans should never resort to violence to settle...

Sadly, political violence is as old as politics itself, around the globe and, yes, in the United States. However, the last decade has seen a marked increase, especially in the United States. Rhetorically, one might argue — and those on the political right will — that heated words and actions...

With much of Westmoreland County having suddenly entered a “flash drought,” vegetable gardens are drying up in the withering heat. Although this flash drought is unlikely to deepen into a long-term crisis, let’s take it as a reminder that we are only ever a bad month or two away from...

When a parent says that a public school isn’t what it used to be, the implication is usually bad. But for Brenda Jesky, a Latrobe mother of three, that’s not the case. Her daughter Maddy — who has high-functioning autism — struggled with learning in both public and private traditional...

Winston Churchill once noted that, “There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them.” It is among the many immediate misfortunes that the old Prime Minister is not around to give former president Trump a badly needed lesson in foreign policy. Fortunately, President...