Featured Commentary category, Page 21
Stephen Mihm: The atomic bomb set the stage for the college funding fight
In recent weeks, the nation’s most selective universities have been waking up to a new reality: the billions of dollars in federal funding that have long sustained them now come with strings attached. The Trump administration has put Columbia, Harvard and Princeton on notice, threatening to withhold research funds unless...
Lynn Schmidt: Missing Mike Pence
I miss Vice President Mike Pence, and you should too. That is, if you appreciate the second in command standing up for his oath to the Constitution instead of a man, and if you long for the days when America respected our European allies and was a proud member of...
Jason W. Park: American Dream or American Nightmare? Choose wisely!
For many people living and working in this country, the American Dream defines their aspirations. By hard work and meaningful sacrifices, Americans can reach their lifelong goals, whether a short-order cook or a NASA astronaut. The “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” that our Founding Fathers penned seems to...
Commentary: For conspiracy theorists, no defeat is final
The recent release of the last reported bunch of classified files about the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy yielded information on various mysterious CIA plans worldwide — but no agency involvement in Kennedy’s murder. There was never any actual contact between the CIA and the assassin, Lee Harvey...
Counterpoint: The rich need to pay more taxes
The share of before-tax income going to the richest 1% of taxpayers has more than doubled in the last half-century. This massive upward redistribution of income was primarily a result of the ability of the rich to structure the economy in ways that benefited them: trade agreements, longer and stronger...
Point: For the left, is there anything ‘taxing the rich’ can’t do?
Heading into Tax Day, if you listen to progressive policymakers for a few minutes, you’ll likely hear that few problems on Earth can’t be solved by “taxing the rich.” Want to nationalize health care? Tax the rich. Want to close the deficit? Tax the rich. Need a ball gown for...
Pilar Ingle: Housing instability complicates end-of-life care for aging unhoused populations
Research estimates that one-third or more of the unhoused population in the U.S. is age 50 or older. Unhoused people of all ages face high rates of chronic and serious illness. They also die at younger ages compared with people who are not unhoused. Yet, there are few options for...
Sara J. Brenneis: American liberators of Nazi camps got ‘a lifelong vaccine against extremism,’ a warning for today
When American soldiers liberated the Mauthausen Nazi concentration camp in Austria 80 years ago this May, Spanish prisoners welcomed them with a message of antifascist solidarity. The Spaniards hung a banner made from stolen bed sheets over one of Mauthausen’s gates. In English, Spanish and Russian, it read: “The Spanish...
Jonah Goldberg: Markets to GOP — we won’t save you from Trump’s folly
John Maynard Keynes famously said, “Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.” The point being that, even if you’re right about where the stock market is bound to go eventually, the market doesn’t have to follow your route or timetable in getting there. Since “Liberation Day” last...
Lisa R. Fox: If you pay close attention, you just might save a child’s life
Do you know 10 children? Then you likely know a child who needs your help. According to CDC estimates, at least 1 out of every 7 children in the U.S. experienced a form of abuse in the past year. That means around 600,000 children suffer from physical, mental, emotional or...
Lisa Jarvis: This isn’t how you make America healthy again
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s grand plan for Making America Healthy Again is taking shape. It centers on dismantling the public health systems that have kept Americans safe for decades. The damage from sweeping cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services, which Kennedy oversees, will be felt within public...
John Detwiler: No stopping the ‘data center’ bandwagon?
It’s still early in 2025, and the “data center” bandwagon is picking up speed, with ambitious plans announced for sites in Westmoreland County and Homer City (“Homer City site: Large gas-fired power plant to support data center,” April 2, TribLive). But before that bandwagon rolls over us, we should be...
Cal Thomas: Injustice in Nashville
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There is a man who has spent nearly 30 years on death row in a Nashville prison for murders that substantial evidence shows he did not commit. His name is Kevin Burns (KB, as he is...
F.D. Flam: We used to disagree. Now we don’t talk to each other.
Since the covid pandemic began five years ago, the U.S. has gone from being merely polarized to split into two separate and incompatible realities. Worse, according to a recently released survey, we lack a “common understanding of facts.” So much for the new normal. Your reality depends on whether you...
Sheldon H. Jacobson: How to win the lottery without buying a ticket
Lotteries have become ubiquitous, available in nearly every state. The most recognized national lotteries, Mega Millions and Powerball, have jackpots that reach $1 billion a few times every year. Of course, that payout is spread over 29 years, with the first year around $15 million and the final year around...
Counterpoint: Crackdown on international students is a self-inflicted wound?
Recent detentions and deportations of international students have sparked controversy, raising concerns about the long-term damage to the United States’ reputation as the global leader in higher education. Meanwhile, the increasing number of U.S. students studying abroad underscores the importance of international academic exchanges. Several high-profile cases have highlighted the...
Point: Deport immigrants who are advocating evil
In then-President Joe Biden’s words, Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Israeli civilians was an act of “pure, unadulterated evil,” resulting in “the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust,” with “more than 1,000 civilians slaughtered,” “stomach-turning reports of … babies being killed.” Yet, over the last year and a...
Dr. Susan Kressly: The dangerous war on vaccines
Against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding measles outbreak, what we need right now is urgent assistance from the federal government to support immunization and strengthen vaccine delivery, not more challenges. Unfortunately, vaccine expertise is instead being sidelined while anti- vaccine perspectives are being elevated. Last Friday, Dr. Peter Marks, a...
Christine Flowers: That prison video in El Salvador was a bit much
This might appear to be a frivolous observation, given other issues that have hit the headlines over the past few days, but I have a big problem with the secretary of Homeland Security’s wardrobe. Normally, I don’t pay all that much attention to the sartorial style of women in the...
Meghan Amayo: Multilingual learners deserve a place in schools within their communities
I met Miguel* one summer when his mom, who was enrolled in an English as a second language (ESL) class with my sister-in-law, attended our family’s Memorial Day picnic. He easily blended in with the rest of the preteens kicking around a soccer ball and talking about all things pop...
Orli Trumbull: The Pittsburgh Promise is ending. What’s next?
In ninth grade, I started high school at the Pittsburgh Barack Obama Academy of International Studies. I wanted to experience the diverse community that the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) magnet program offers. At Obama, I have been exposed to new experiences: participating in sports with limited funding, opportunities to lead...
Cal Thomas: Let us prey — a heretic in the White House
For the evangelical Christians who have given — and still give — overwhelming support to President Trump while refusing to criticize him for language and behavior they would presumably denounce in a fellow church member, here’s an easy one for you. There’s a heretic inside the White House. For those...
David L. Nevins: Luke Combs, Taylor Swift and all American artists — where are you?
On March 12, French artists, DJs and musicians united to fight the threat of the far-right government in France that they felt was a threat to democracy in their country. More than 1,200 artists, DJs and promoters from the French music industry came together to galvanize “the world of the...
Bruce Yandle: Trump’s first months: More poetry than prose
While seeking another stay in the White House, Donald J. Trump did what most politicians do: promised the moon to those who might help him get elected. Trump also assured us that promises made would be promises kept. But as former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo is famously quoted: “You...
Patricia Lopez: This billionaire Democrat is ready to brawl
President Donald Trump has not yet completed 100 days in office, but for Democratic governors, the shadow primary for 2028 is underway as they test messages and search for ways to flip the script from the defeatism of their party in Congress. Into this fray has stepped Illinois Gov. JB...
