Featured Commentary category, Page 139
John Stossel: Recovering from labor
On Labor Day, did you celebrate workers? More likely, you made it a day of rest. Fine. It’s good to have a choice. I didn’t have a choice about joining a union when I was hired by CBS and then ABC. They told me that if I wanted to work,...
Donald Boudreaux: Three critical economic realities
Although research on its frontiers is often expressed in dense mathematics and murky jargon, economics’ core is quite straightforward. And it’s as important as ever for public policy. Here are three keys for doing practical economics well. First: recognize that many economic “problems” or “failures” are not real; they are...
Jennifer Elliott: Pennsylvania school screenings missing vital asthma test
With students back in class, schools across the state are providing annual vision and hearing screenings to help ensure student well-being. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania does not mandate a screening for the most common chronic childhood disease: asthma. Such screenings should be required in Pennsylvania, which has the second highest percentage of...
Timothy L. O’Brien: Mike Pence’s Doonbeg visit proves he’s a giver
Go ahead and forgive yourself if you find some details of Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to Ireland confusing. Although Pence has official meetings in Dublin (on Ireland’s east coast) he and his federal entourage have found lodging in Doonbeg (on Ireland’s west coast). Why Doonbeg? Well, Pence has ancestral...
Keith Williams: How 3 workers fought union coercion — and won
It’s not every day that ordinary Pennsylvanians willingly disrupt their lives to stand up for their constitutional rights. Even rarer is achieving an impact that affects thousands of people in just a few short months. But that’s exactly what three Greensburg state employees accomplished this year. Megan James, William Lester...
Pat Buchanan: Will Bibi’s war become America’s war?
President Trump, who canceled a missile strike on Iran after the shoot-down of a U.S. Predator drone, to avoid killing Iranians, may not want a U.S. war with Iran. But the same cannot be said of Bibi Netanyahu. On Aug. 21, Israel launched a night attack on a village south...
Jeff Piccola: Governor’s charter school ‘reforms’ unnecessary
Gov. Tom Wolf recently proposed a series of so-called reforms to Pennsylvania’s Charter School Law. He asserts that it is one of the worst in the nation. If you look at the law from the perspective of high cost and failing school districts, he may be right. Charter schools, which...
Bob Bozzuto: A Labor Day to celebrate
During our busy lives, there are few chances to step back and take in the big picture of the momentum built by America’s workforce. On this 125th Labor Day, we can point out historic achievements and positive impacts that continue across the labor market. The Department of Labor’s Bureau of...
William Isler, Audrey Russo & Jake Witherell: Gap in nontraditional child care undermines economic growth
Kids love playing musical chairs. Around they go, and when the music stops, someone has a seat, and someone is standing. But Pennsylvania parents and employers are playing a real-life game of musical chairs, with devastating consequences. Nearly half of Pennsylvania families work in fields demanding evening, night-time and weekend...
James Disantis: No ‘fix’ for delusional killers
I have worked as a licensed clinical social worker in the health/mental health field in a variety of settings for 40 years. Hopefully, with age has come some wisdom I would like to share. The “dirty little secret” no one will talk about is this: There is no successful mental...
Colin McNickle: Keeping an eye on police regionalization
Cheswick Borough and Springdale Township have joined forces to form Allegheny County’s second regional police force. And if the conclusions of a state study that led to the creation of the Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department come to fruition, it could be an operational and financial win-win for local taxpayers,...
Deena Flinchum: USMCA good deal for union workers
When members of Congress return from their August recess, they’ll face one of the most important decisions of their political careers — whether to ratify President Trump’s new trade deal with Canada and Mexico. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) isn’t perfect, but it’s far better than NAFTA, the pact which...
Walter Williams: Slavery & our ‘democracy’
The New York Times has begun a major initiative, the “1619 Project,” to observe the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe American history so that slavery and the contributions of black Americans explain who we are as a nation. Nikole Hannah-Jones, staff writer for...
John Stossel: In Africa, bad law keeps people poor
Why does most of Africa stay poor while other parts of the world prosper? People blame things like climate, the history of colonialism, racism, etc. But I say Senegalese businesswoman Magatte Wade gives the right explanation: too many rules. “Once you hire someone, good luck getting rid of them for...
Judy Butler & Adriane Fugh-Berman: Opioids are still overprescribed
A new government report found that although naloxone prescriptions have increased substantially in recent years, prescription rates are still too low. Naloxone, a drug that temporarily reverses the effects of opioids, can help prevent overdose deaths and should be prescribed with all high-dose opioid prescriptions. According to the Centers for...
Vince Mercuri: Learning, growing by sharing worldviews
More than 12 years ago, my future son-in-law confidently posed this question to me: “What is your worldview?” What followed was a discussion/debate about a wide-ranging set of principles — religion, politics, finances, values and the importance of family. While there was agreement on most of these topics, on others...
Lawrence McCullough: Making consumers’ green choices pay off for everyone
Is it possible the U.S. economy can successfully transition to a clean energy foundation without top-down legislative reform effort from Congress? Three market-based approaches would seed and speed the process at the local, micro-economic level and lay groundwork for far-reaching effects in U.S. energy policy: 1. Suspend for three years...
Cal Thomas: They’ve lost their minds in San Francisco
San Francisco, a city described in song for its natural beauty, is descending into an abyss of homelessness, the use of sidewalks as toilets and a place you might not want to visit, much less live. The latest, but surely not the last demonstration of insanity, is San Francisco’s Board...
Pat Buchanan: When, if ever, can we lay this burden down?
Earlier this month, President Trump met in New Jersey with his national security advisers and envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who is negotiating with the Taliban to bring about peace, and a U.S. withdrawal from America’s longest war. U.S. troops have been fighting in Afghanistan since 2001, in a war that has...
Jonah Goldberg: Maybe liberty isn’t a lost cause in China
Here’s a crazy idea: Maybe the forces of liberty will win. Sadly, few people are rooting for liberty these days, and even among those who are, there’s a dismaying amount of pessimism about its prospects. Consider China. There’s a new bipartisan consensus these days: The “elites” made a “bad bet”...
Cal Thomas: Pick me or else, Trump tells voters
During a December 2015 debate among Republican presidential candidates in Las Vegas, former Florida governor Jeb Bush said to Donald Trump: “You can’t insult your way to the presidency.” Never mind. The question for next year’s election is whether the insulter-in-chief can use the same tactic to win a second...
Ray Regan: Words do count, and they can save lives
We use anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 of the 171,476 basic words that make up the English language. Language entertains us. We use it to share joy, to express anger, to influence, to appreciate, or just to enjoy an idle chat. Words are like food; we need them to live....
S.E. Cupp: Bashing press becomes a bipartisan affair
Among the many consequences of Donald Trump’s ascendancy in modern American politics is a renewed and deepened hostility for the press, not only among his far-right base, but within the general electorate. In recent decades, trust in media has plummeted from a high of 72% who had a great deal...
Peter Morici: Economy will drag on Trump’s re-election hopes
The U.S. economy is delivering bad news to the White House. Second-quarter growth was only 2.1% and is not likely to return to 3% on a sustained basis. Significant wage increases, booming corporate profits, and double-digit stock grains SPX, -1.22% are not likely in the months leading up to the...
Walter Williams: College is not the only road to success
For many parents, August is a month of both pride and tears. Pride because their teenager is taking that big educational step and tears because for many it’s the beginning of an empty nest. Yet, there’s a going-away-to-college question that far too few parents ask or even contemplate: What will...
