Columns

Life during pandemic puts a strain on all of us

My brother Jon was an exceptional human being. He had a sense of the world and life that alternated between skepticism, passionate embrace, disappointment, and hope that things would always move toward improvement, toward the light.

There’s room for compromise, if we look for it

Over breakfast the other day, my wife, who happens to be a physician, asked, “Whatever happened to compromise?

Where’s #MeToo on Joe Biden allegations?

To say that I am notoriously skeptical of the #MeToo movement is an understatement. I have railed against a movement that has always struck me as extreme, partisan, and motivated more by vindictiveness than by a search for clarity and justice. From Bill Cosby, to former Sen.

Little Sisters of the Poor meet pandemic with grace humility

In the outside world, the COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting our divisions. Inside the Little Sisters of the Poor retirement residence in Pittsburgh, it’s revealing the power of grace and humility.

Elective procedures banned, abortion protected

Gov. Tom Wolf closed the schools in Pennsylvania for the rest of the academic year. That’s his prerogative, I suppose, and I know there are legions who support his decision.

COVID-19 aid poses fiscal danger to Louisiana

New details have recently emerged in a new Foundation for Government Accountability Report (FGA), “Extra COVID-19 Medicaid Funds Come at a High Cost to States”, which indicate that Democrats in Washington are once again not letting a good crisis go to waste.

Is it our health or financial ruin? Or both?

So, now it’s meat. Just as I was celebrating my latest acquisition — the last four-pack of generic bathroom tissue — I rolled my way over to the meat aisle, only to find a few sad, lonely leftovers. There was a butt roast, a package of sausage and a pair of pork chops. That was about it.

Charlotte’s Web: An awful price of this pandemic

The pandemic has turned our world upside down. We work from home. School is cancelled indefinitely. Weddings, graduations, baptisms and all of the other indicia of the normal trajectory of a human life are suspended.

Will Trump end up running against himself?

Donald Trump is running against himself. Coronavirus has shut down just about everything, including the presidential campaign. With Bernie Sanders out of the way, former Vice President Joe Biden is holed up in his basement with little to do or say.

Can we please have a few TV Westerns, pardner?

The recent death of actor James Drury (star of the 1962-1971 TV Western “The Virginian”) adds insult to injury when one considers what will occur next month.