commentary

COMMENTARY
STUDENT DEBT ART

Biden forgives student debt, brings joy, provokes outrage | Fletcher McClellan

BY: - August 30, 2022

The average public university student borrows $32,880 to obtain a bachelor’s degree. Students at private, non-profit institutions borrow $35,983, and private, for-profit students borrow $42,551.

COMMENTARY

Taiwan dominates the world’s supply of computer chips – no wonder the U.S. is worried | Opinion

BY: - August 8, 2022

One aspect of Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan that has been largely overlooked is her meeting with Mark Lui, chairman of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC). Pelosi’s trip coincided with U.S. efforts to convince TSMC – the world’s largest chip manufacturer, on which the U.S. is heavily dependent – to establish a manufacturing base in the U.S. and to stop making advanced chips for Chinese companies.

COMMENTARY

Red-state Kansas sends a message to right-wing theocrats | Dick Polman

BY: - August 8, 2022

When high court theocrat Samuel Alito wrote his screed abolishing the constitutional right to an abortion, he insisted – quoting the late rightwing justice Antonin Scalia – that the issue of abortion should be “resolved like most questions in our democracy, by citizens trying to persuade one another and then voting.”

COMMENTARY

Your plane landed safely — thank the bureaucrats at the FAA | J. Patrick Coolican

BY: - August 7, 2022

By J. Patrick Coolican A faddish phrase on the right is something called “the administrative state,” which refers to the federal workforce deputized by Congress to craft and enforce rules over the environment, banking, health care, product safety, mass communications, the power grid, etc. A recent profile of the Claremont Institute — which has the unenviable task […]

COMMENTARY

Here’s what Mastriano won’t be doing on ‘day one’ | Patrick Beaty

BY: - August 5, 2022

There are basically three kinds of actions a governor can take immediately upon assuming that high office. New governors can appoint their senior staff and nominate department heads to carry out administration policy. They can issue executive orders instructing government agencies to act in certain ways. And they can propose new laws for the General Assembly to consider. 

COMMENTARY

5 of the biggest threats today’s K-12 students and educators face don’t involve guns | Opinion

BY: - August 5, 2022

While many American students and their parents worry that the next mass shooting could happen at their school, schools are also facing a number of other threats that do not involve guns. Many of these threats are related to the mental health of educators and students.

COMMENTARY

The Wolf administration’s jaw-dropping Supreme Court filing | Opinion

BY: - August 4, 2022

On Thursday, to much fanfare, the administration announced that it had asked the state supreme court to invoke its universal jurisdiction to declare the Legislature’s effort to put abortion’s place in the Pennsylvania Constitution on the ballot inherently unconstitutional.

COMMENTARY

Ending direct file: A step toward providing unwavering care to all our young people | Opinion

BY: - August 4, 2022

I spent so much time in isolation once I first arrived in the jail that I had trouble adjusting to being in the population. When I was finally let out, it was difficult for me to socialize because I had constantly been in survival mode. It was extremely challenging for me to connect with others in a meaningful way. Before I went to prison as a child, I had never experienced anxiety, depression, or thoughts of self-harm. More than a year after my release, I still struggle with the psychological side effects of my confinement.

COMMENTARY

Bill Russell and Nichelle Nichols and their greatest roles you may not know | John A. Tures

BY: - August 3, 2022

What Bill Russell and Nichelle Nichols showed us is that they were truly great in their roles (the kids all say you’re The GOAT nowadays). But both did more than simply excel in their respective talents. Each went well out of their comfort zones to be a role model in other ways, whether it was in acting, coaching, or recruiting for the real deal. And the USA is better for their trailblazing efforts.

COMMENTARY
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee John Fetterman (L) and Republican U.S. Senate nominee Mehmet Oz (R) Campaign file photos

This week is a good time to be a Pennsylvania Democrat | Fletcher McClellan

BY: - August 3, 2022

As a result, Democrats are now leading the 538 midterm estimates of which party will win the U.S. Senate. Republicans are still favored to take over the U.S. House of Representatives.

COMMENTARY

Inflation is spiking around the world – not just in the United States | Opinion

BY: - August 2, 2022

Meanwhile, annual inflation in Germany and the U.K. – countries with comparable economies – ran nearly as high: 7.5% and 8.2%, respectively, for the 12 months ending in June 2022. In Spain, inflation has hit 10%.