Lori Falce stories, Page 3
Lori Falce: Are you a DEI hire?
I am not a DEI hire. But I could be. I am a woman, which is probably the easiest way into the club. Women, after all, make up 47% of the workforce, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. I am over 50, which means I’m not quite in...
Think outside the carton with no-egg breakfasts
Breakfast and eggs go together like bacon and, well, eggs. Why? Because historically when we got our eggs from the birds in the backyard instead of the carton in the grocery store, eggs were collected first thing in the morning. That made them a handy food to fix to start...
Lori Falce: When is it too soon for criticism?
On Wednesday night, a tragedy happened. In the skies over Washington, D.C., an American Airlines commercial plane out of Kansas was approaching Reagan Washington National Airport. A Black Hawk military helicopter was on a training exercise. The two aircraft collided and crashed into the Potomac River. Rescue efforts quickly turned...
Lori Falce: A message from the pulpit transcends politics
When I was a kid, my favorite part about going to church was the homily. While the rest of Mass was a patchwork of Bible stories, songs and the kneeling, standing and sitting calisthenics of a Catholic Sunday morning, the homily was always new. It was different. It had a...
Lori Falce: Rubio did what few have done for Marc Fogel
On Wednesday, during the confirmation hearing for Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to become secretary of state, something remarkable happened. Yes, it was political. Everything in Washington is political, whether it should be or not. Yes, it was partisan. In a narrowly divided chamber like the U.S. Senate, everything is partisan....
Lori Falce: Meta is wrong about abandoning fact-checking
What is the value in checking a fact? According to Meta, there isn’t one. The parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads announced Tuesday the company will discontinue its third-party fact-checking program and replace it with “community notes.” ”We’ve seen this approach work on X — where they empower...
Lori Falce: The time I met Jimmy Carter
After almost two years in hospice care, former President Jimmy Carter died Sunday at the age of 100. I was born when Richard Nixon was in the White House. My first vote was a choice between George H.W. Bush or Bill Clinton. The first time I really paid attention to...
Lori Falce: It’s time to talk about aging and politics
It is hard to have conversations about aging. We can talk about how to deal with illness because most people are stubbornly optimistic. We can talk about disabilities because we think those are things that happen to other people. We can place limits on children because we have been 16...
Lori Falce: Is Trump captain of his ship or is Musk?
The prow of a ship is often decorated with a carved object. It may represent the name of the vessel. It may be something important to the owner or the nation whose flag flies on the mast. Over the years, these have been depictions of deities. They have been mythological...
Hanukkah sweets are treats for any holiday table
Hanukkah, like Christmas, is just around the corner. This year, the Jewish and Christian holidays both fall on Dec. 25. Hanukkah’s eight days of celebration will cover Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. That’s a lot of festivity. And, as with most holidays, it also means a...
Lori Falce: Pardon me, do you have any clemency?
I beg your pardon. It is a phrase you might hear as someone slips by you in an aisle at the store — unless you are in Minnesota, where it would be “Ope! Just gonna scoot past ya!” An “uff da” or “you betcha” might be thrown in for good...
Lori Falce: The bitter pill of an insurance CEO’s murder
On Wednesday, a man died — and a lot of people just didn’t care. UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, was gunned down on a sidewalk as he approached the Hilton Midtown Manhattan hotel for an investors meeting, right between Rockefeller Center and Carnegie Hall. It was an early-morning ambush, and...
Lori Falce: Black Friday in the time of tariffs
The Meta Quest 3S virtual headset is prominently featured on the front of the Target Black Friday flyer. At Walmart, kids may be clamoring for the Hot Wheels hot deal. Kohl’s is cutting the price on Beats by Dr. Dre headphones in half and kicking in some Kohl’s Cash to...
Lori Falce: NomineeMania Smackdown 2025!
“Holy s—-! I didn’t see that coming!” That was the reaction of U.S. Sen. John Fetterman to Matt Gaetz withdrawing his name from consideration to become U.S Attorney General. It was also the reaction of many people when President-elect Donald Trump nominated Gaetz — who resigned from the House of...
Bite-size potato bars are perfect for party season
It’s party time. From November to January, we jump through a lot of entertaining hoops. There’s Thanksgiving, of course. But maybe you also indulge in a Friendsgiving where you gather around a less traditional table. Do you have people over for tree trimming or St. Nicholas Day? Have your ladies’...
Turkey Day? Why not Side Dish Day?
Thanksgiving is a holiday defined by its signature food in a way that is different from really any other American celebration. We might eat cookies at Christmas but we don’t call it Cookie Day. We might indulge in an Easter ham and dye eggs, but we don’t celebrate Ham and...
Lori Falce: The sweet justice of The Onion buying Infowars
Sometimes justice isn’t something that can be delivered by the courts. A guilty verdict, for example, does not bring back a loved one. It doesn’t restore a reputation or rebuild a home. What it does is get as close to justice as the law can do after the fact. In...
Lori Falce: What makes America work is difference and unity
America has always relied heavily on the concept of union. It is literally what holds us together. The colonies would not have defeated the British if it was just Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and Virginia facing off individually. We would have been swarmed under the red-coated army of the 18th century...
Lori Falce: What did Jeff Bezos do wrong with lack of endorsement?
Buckle up. I’m about to castigate the third richest man in the world — for doing something I did, too. A week ago, the Washington Post released its endorsement for the U.S. presidential race. It picked neither Democrat Kamala Harris nor Republican Donald Trump. “We recognize that this will be...
Lori Falce: Lessons for Elon Musk from the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes
When I was a kid, I loved seeing the Publishers Clearing House envelope show up in the mailbox. I would open it and spread out the contents on the dining room table — stickers in this pile, cards in another, forms in a third. I would read the rules like...
Lori Falce: Make up your minds, undecided voters
Who do we have to thank for the constant drumbeat of the presidential campaigns in Pennsylvania right now? You might say the Democrats. You might blame the Republicans. They are a symptom, not the disease. What about the Electoral College? You’re not wrong. The unusual institution that acts as a...
Lori Falce: The dangerous spread of misinformation
The American Psychological Association has an entire section of its website dedicated to the dangers of misinformation and disinformation and how the not-so-slow creep into our daily lives is hurting us all. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also concerned. So is the Department of Health and Human...
Lori Falce: It’s exhausting being a swing state voter
I’m a little tired of being this important. That’s an understatement. I’m downright exhausted. I’m wrung out. I’m at my wit’s end. And I know that I am not alone. You’re tired, too, right? In Pennsylvania, we are accustomed to our perennial place in the landscape of presidential elections. We...
Spice up the season with pumpkin treats from your kitchen
Can you smell it? That spicy- sweetness is hovering in the air right now. Pumpkin spice season is here. Even before it’s cool enough to feel like fall, the warmth of pie spices starts to appear in coffee shops and on store shelves. Pumpkin spice lattes have given way to pumpkin...
Lori Falce: Words hurt people every day
Rhetoric is all over the news right now. No, not the rhetoric itself, but the word “rhetoric” as people use rhetoric to discuss the concept of rhetoric. And if that seems confusing, that’s kind of the point. If you listen to politicians and pundits, the term rhetoric might be interpreted...
