Featured Commentary category, Page 99

It can be useful and instructive to observe the turning of a decade by looking back on what life was like in America a mere 100 years ago. On Jan. 2, 1920, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 108.76. Today it is over 28,000 points. In 1920, the U.S. had...

Here’s a fun New Year’s prediction for you: The 2020 presidential campaign will be even uglier than the 2016 contest. In part, that’s due to President Trump’s incumbency. In 2016, Trump almost surely did not think he’d win. Throughout his campaign, he would drop hints about an “exit strategy.” Exiles...

In the days between Christmas and New Year’s, our country suffered a double tragedy: a shooting at a Texas church and, on the seventh night of Hanukkah, a stabbing at a rabbi’s house. Whether fueled by mental illness, irrational anger, pure unadulterated hate or a combination of those things, these...

The U.S. equities are wrapping up a banner year. The S&P 500 index is up well more than 25% but sadly many small investors bailed out too early. In 2019, the financial press was full of warnings about Trump’s tariffs, estimates of job losses instigated by Chinese retaliation, and criticism...

There are some stories that haunt you for a long time. I’ll never forget one from Laura, a registered nurse, who shared about a time one of her patients strangled her. Or, one from Elizabeth, also a registered nurse, who recalled times when she was hit, had objects thrown at...

Among the many radical economic plans offered by various Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have proposed an annual wealth tax on billionaires (and other “ultra-rich” Americans). Sanders has bluntly stated, “There should be no billionaires.” These proposals are hugely problematical. They probably are unconstitutional and certainly...

I learned three new things this year that made my life better! I share them with you here, hoping they make your 2020 easier. My “life hacks” are about popcorn, iPhones and butter. Weird? Maybe. Now I report on how politicians wreck just about everything, but at ABC’s show “20/20,”...

Colleges and college students have also been around for centuries. Yet, college administrators assume that today’s students have needs that were unknown to their predecessors. Those needs include diversity and equity personnel, with massive budgets to accommodate. According to Minding the Campus, Penn State’s Office of Vice Provost for Educational...

Jan. 3 marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Apollo Patrolman Leonard C. Miller, who sacrificed his life for the community. This date is celebrated not because Leonard Miller died, but because he lived. Miller was a friend and colleague, and the life of this young man — who...

As of Dec. 26, Kim Jong Un’s “Christmas gift” to President Donald Trump had not arrived. Most foreign policy analysts predict it will be a missile test more impressive than any Pyongyang has yet carried off. Kim cannot want war with the United States, as this could result in the...

My blood has been boiling for the past few weeks toward the NFL with its choice to honor Michael Vick as a captain at the Pro Bowl. While some say that time can heal all wounds and that people can learn from their mistakes, I do not believe that Vick...

There is a strong case to be made that things are getting better. In 2010, Matt Ridley made the case in “The Rational Optimist” that things were better than they appeared. Writing in The Spectator, on the cusp of 2020, Ridley offers an update: We’re finishing the best decade in...

House and Senate Republicans are vociferously denouncing Sen. Chuck Schumer’s sensible request that four likely eyewitnesses to President Trump’s Ukraine actions testify in the Senate impeachment trial. They say the request for witnesses shows the House did not do a thorough job in its impeachment inquiry. It should have obtained...

My grandfather, a buttonhole maker, believed his first responsibility was to be a provider. His union supported that role and the Democratic Party was the workingman’s champion. Some New Deal policies benefited him, but with a grade-school education, I doubt he ever gave great thought to how fair trade laws...

During an episode of Lebron James’ online show “The Shop,” California Gov. Gavin Newsome signed into law a bill allowing California student athletes to sign endorsements while in college. The NCAA Board of Governors, having studied this issue for years, responded by announcing that college athletes can “benefit from the...

The first email I opened this morning notified me I’d just put a little more STEAM into the world. An ecology play I’d written some years back had been licensed by a science teacher at Our Lady Help of Christians School in Victoria, Australia. Using class students as performers, “Home...

“Pursue your happiness,” read the “Welcome to Pennsylvania” interstate border signs. But “Pursue some transparency” would be a better slogan considering the commonwealth’s spotty record of holding accountable how some recipients of gambling taxes spend that money, finds an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. Keystone State gambling...

This week, children may have learned about that greedy man, Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge is selfish until ghosts scare him into thinking about others’ well-being, not just his own. Good for the ghosts. But the way Scrooge addresses others’ needs matters. Today’s advocates of equality, compassion, increased spending on education, health...

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam apologized for his medical school blackface stunt, but he will have much more to apologize for if he signs into law a bill that attacks Virginia citizens’ Second Amendment rights. The measure is Senate Bill 16, which would ban “assault” firearms and certain firearm magazines. Since...

Here’s a theory for why our politics are so confusing these days: Neither party wants to be a majority party. From an ideological perspective, majority parties are, by nature, weird. For instance, the long-dominant FDR coalition included a strange mix of blacks and segregationists, corrupt city machines and the reformers...

“We’re gonna impeach the (expletive deleted).” Thus did the member from Michigan, Rashida Tlaib, declare last January to be the goal of the 2019 House Democratic Caucus. Last Wednesday night, Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered the goods. The House impeached President Trump on a straight party-line vote. Not one Republican signed...

Last Monday night, I went to a special screening of the new film “Bombshell,” which tells the true story of the downfall of late Fox News honcho — and verifiable sleaze ball — Roger Ailes. Having worked inside the corridors of Fox myself years ago, Jay Roach’s stylized, nuanced and...

Three times since August, the Federal Reserve has cut the federal funds rate — the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans and that strongly influences the short-term rates they charge businesses. However, Chairman Jerome Powell has made clear the Fed won’t lower rates further as long as the...

Several Democratic presidential contenders have discussed cutting aid to Israel if their demands are not met. The latest confrontation in Gaza provides an opportunity to understand what that means. Approximately 450 rockets were fired at Israel between Nov. 12 and 14. More than half landed in open areas between towns....

It’s a lovely family reunion. Dad and Mom — now Grandpa and Grandma — sit facing their kids, and their kids’ kids, reminiscing about old times and laughing about the trials of parenting. Then, in mid-sentence, Grandpa stutters and freezes — his face replaced by an hourglass on a black...