Columns

The guillotine of public opinion comes for Joe Biden

About the time that the #MeToo movement really started to get traction in 2017, I compared it to the Salem witch trials.

Hope ‘springs’ eternal for civil discourse

Spring has finally arrived in all its glory. In Pittsburgh, the weather has warmed, the trees are blossoming and the birds are singing cheerfully. Sure, we Pittsburghers get plenty of rain this time of year, but as English poet Thomas Tusser reminds us, “Sweet April showers do spring May flowers.

Do Democrats hate Trump more than they love America?

The most troubling thing about the end of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation was the reaction of so many on the left when they learned that Donald Trump was not a Russian asset. They were, to put it mildly, disappointed.

Tax time: Better to laugh than cry

Tax season is upon us, which gives us a choice: Laugh or cry. I choose to laugh.

Lowering auto insurance rates in Louisiana!

Statewide elections are six months away, so after ignoring Louisiana’s outrageously high insurance rates for the past three years, legislators are running for cover.

Are men’s suits on the endangered list?

My octogenarian aunt has spoken wistfully of one of her older relatives who had operated a boarding house and required college students to show up for breakfast wearing suit and necktie.

New Zealand and our social media conundrum

It isn’t Facebook’s fault that a gunman went on a murderous rampage and killed 50 people at two New Zealand mosques. Social media abets evil. It doesn’t create it. And now we wonder why the beast we’ve unleashed and fed has turned on us.

God chose her to be a beggar

Sister Margaret Mary didn’t think she was up to the job. Nine years ago, during her 40th year of religious service, she had been assigned the most difficult role of her life: full-time beggar at the Little Sisters of the Poor retirement residence in Pittsburgh.

Baseball’s haves and have nots

As a social experiment I once asked random people on the street what they would do if they won $10 million. One earnest woman said she would buy a new computer. A young man indicated he would pay off his student loan.

Thoughts that should keep you awake at night

Author Harlan Ellison once dropped me a postcard remarking that my mind “works like a demented cuckoo clock.” In tribute to Ellison (who passed away last June) and in response to a relentless deadline, I have cannibalized some random thoughts I was saving for a book project.