Featured Commentary category, Page 6

Violence against women, like all violence, is never acceptable. While both political parties have “said” we have to bring down the temperature in political discourse, evidently such empty pledges fall short when it comes to the GOP and women. The GOP is not only refusing to rebuke violence, but elevating...

Western Pennsylvania has abundant natural resources and now it has the opportunity to be at the leading edge of a technological innovation that can change our communities, our economy and the world — all for the better. That’s what we have with the advent of hydrogen as a viable low-carbon...

There has been no shortage of political and cultural commentary related to the attempted assassination that occurred in Western Pennsylvania on Saturday night, so I will avoid that sort of commentary here. What I would like to focus on instead is related to security, and what I see as a...

The recent announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy regarding $850 million in federal funding for methane reduction projects marks a significant opportunity for Pennsylvania’s economy and environment. This investment, part of President Biden’s ambitious climate agenda, not only aims to cut methane emissions from oil and...

Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump was a crime against the entire country and against democracy itself. Every American should be grateful that it failed, and that Trump has survived it. Let’s say it plainly. It is an abomination that he was wounded as he campaigned for a...

I was boarding a plane from Los Angeles back home to Philadelphia when the news hit that former President Donald Trump had been injured during a rally in Butler County. The details were sketchy, but the responses online and on the plane were already wild — and entirely predictable. This...

The history of medical diagnosis is a march through painstaking observation. Ancient Egyptian physicians first diagnosed urinary tract infections by observing patterns in patients’ urine. To diagnose diseases of the heart and lungs, medieval doctors added core elements of the physical examination: pulse, palpation and percussion. The 20th century saw...

What do The New York Times Editorial Board, George Clooney and (as of last count) 10 congressional Democrats, two out of three Democrats, and famed political strategist James Carville have in common with a professor of political science (namely, me)? We all have such grave concerns about President Joe Biden’s...

Recent polls show that the economy is still chosen by more voters than any other issue as the most important issue in this election. A Washington Post/Schar School survey shows this to be true also for the swing voters in the swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and...

As the 2024 presidential election approaches, a critical issue remains largely unaddressed: the alarming deficiencies in the U.S. military. Political debates about the extent of our engagement in foreign conflicts — whether in support of Ukraine, Israel or the defense of Taiwan — assume the United States has the necessary...

Pennsylvania is heading toward the worst nursing shortfall in the entire nation and will soon have over 20,000 empty positions. Here in Pittsburgh, our enormous health systems have the financial resources to lead the way in solving this crisis. Instead, the health care industry has done the exact opposite and...

As if Democrats don’t have enough to keep them up nights, here’s something beyond frightful visions of a Trump victory: a Republican trifecta in Washington. Joe Biden’s calamitous debate performance and the burgeoning concerns about his age and acuity aren’t just undercutting his chances at a second term. They’re also...

Anticipating the Federal Reserve’s moves is tough because the U.S. central bank has not effectively articulated the challenges it faces. Monetary policy features famously long lags that change from one business cycle to another. Much depends on structural changes in government finances and the private economy, external shocks that instigate...

Her loving students might call her Dr. B., but one cynical columnist has gone so far as to deride her as “America’s most famous community college teacher.” Jill Biden can’t win. If she talks her husband into staying the course after his widely panned debate performance, she’s a power-hungry puppet...

As the daughter of a sixth grade teacher, I’ve grown up surrounded by educators. Ever since I was little, I’ve wanted to follow in my mom’s footsteps and become a teacher myself. I’m very clear on my purpose in life: it’s to serve my students. But as a college student...

The latest legislative misstep in Pennsylvania, HB 2394, aims to prohibit financial institutions from charging interchange fees on the sales tax portion of credit card and debit card transactions. While the intent to lower business costs is laudable, the execution is as ineffective as a Hershey’s chocolate teapot. Lawmakers are...

When it comes to rural Pennsylvania, reporters have focused on three issues: the pace of rural population loss, what happens when these communities hit rock bottom and if anything can be done. The last point — what can be done — is the key challenge faced by rural communities. But...

Hey, cheer up: The news is not all bad. The federal government acknowledged for the first time last month that gun violence is an urgent public health crisis. You already knew that, of course. We all knew it. But, thanks to the gun lobby’s stranglehold on our political class, it’s...

We can’t blame our government or the political parties, at least not entirely, for the mess we are in. Most view the government as composed of three branches, but the constitutional system requires not only the legislative, executive and judicial powers, but the constant participation of the people from whom...

I was a student in the late 2000s when I had my first brush with “cancel culture.” A campus group had invited Nick Griffin — a racist Holocaust denier and leader of a fascist British political party, among other charming things — to speak. Many shocked students, including me, called...

Debate is healthy for a democratic society. Vigorous exchanges cause people to confront unorthodox ideas, examine their beliefs and develop informed opinions. Robust speech is akin to exercise machines in the gym: a tool to build democratic muscles and endurance. Unfortunately, in the wake of protests over the Israel-Hamas war,...

PARIS A whopping 51 million viewers tuned into CNN for the debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, probably in many cases for the same reason that folks enjoy watching NASCAR races. There’s always a risk of a spectacular crash. But what happened here was that the...

Americans, it seems, can both value the idea of democracy and not support it in practice. Since 2016, academics and journalists have expressed concerns that formerly secure democracies are becoming less democratic. Different measures of democracy, such as scores produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Freedom House and the Varieties...

It’s been a rough several years for the Pirates. Since 2015, the last time the Bucs were in the playoffs, they have had only one winning season. In two of those years, they lost more than 100 games. The Pirates are below .500, and it’s fairly likely that they won’t...

Last week’s presidential debate left a very hollow feeling in my gut. I am a lifelong Democrat and have been an ardent supporter of President Biden. I believe he’s done a great job. But as much as I’d like to tout his past accomplishments, the focus must be on the...