Editorials from around Pennsylvania

Editorials from around Pennsylvania

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ANOTHER TRY: NEW TALKS BRING HOPE OF ENDING SYRIAN WAR, Jan. 24

The war in Syria, which began in 2011 and has now claimed some 300,000 lives and displaced an estimated 11 million people, is arguably the most pressing of the violent international conflicts underway in the world at this time.

It is rivaled in that category by many others, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen and the long-term problem of Israel and Palestine. But Syria stands out not only for the carnage involved but also for the level of international involvement in it. Countries engaged in combat in Syria include Iran, Russia, Turkey and the United States and fighters from Chechnya, Iraq, Lebanon, and other countries providing so-called Islamic State forces across the Middle East and South Asia.

The refugee flow from Syria also has been a major element in the troublesome migration problem in Europe, and in the burden it has placed on neighboring countries, Jordan and Lebanon, to which Syrians have fled as the war has persisted and become more severe, particularly in the recent battle for Aleppo.

Now, once again, potentially fruitful talks have begun that could result in a negotiated end to the conflict. They started in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on Monday. They have had a rocky start, on both the internal Syrian and international fronts. Syrian government and rebel elements are currently meeting in separate rooms, with United Nations mediators, led by Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura, shuttling between them. The government refers to the rebels as “armed terrorist groups.” The rebels describe the government of President Bashar Assad as practicing “politics of oppression and killing and destruction,” indicating the distance that needs to be bridged between them to achieve any kind of peace.

On the international side, Russia and Turkey, supported by Iran, are the international parties calling the shots. The United States, represented by U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan George A. Krol, Pittsburgh-born, is playing an unobtrusive role. The United States was only invited to attend the Astana conference at the last minute, given its touchy relations with the sponsors of the meeting.

If there is anything that the new administration in Washington, led by President Donald J. Trump, can do to bring the conference to success- which would mean an end to the combat and some sort of government of national reconciliation in Syria -it should. The war in Syria must be brought to a close. Syria’s problems won’t end and the acknowledgement of more-or-less victory by Assad’s regime and its supporters, Russia, Turkey and Iran, will be painful for any government in Washington, but the humanitarian aspect of the result definitely makes it worth enduring.

- The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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A THICKER SKIN WOULD AID TRUMP, Jan. 24

When incumbent President Harry S. Truman held up a Nov. 3, 1948, edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune, he had grounds for his bemusement over the large headline stretching across the top of the front page: “Dewey Defeats Truman.”

The fact was that Truman actually had defeated his opponent, New York Gov. Thomas Dewey, despite polls that had “made clear” that there was no way the president would be elected to a term of his own.

Truman had become the nation’s chief executive after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945.

An incorrect headline like that one of November 1948 is every editor’s and every publisher’s nightmare. But headlines and news accounts addressing public attendance at Friday’s inauguration of President Donald Trump didn’t warrant the kind of embarrassment and ridicule that the Chicago newspaper subsequently endured.

The reason: Friday’s inauguration attendance was much lower than what greeted the inauguration of Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, even though Trump and some of his aides branded the news accounts about the attendance incorrect or, worse, outright lies.

About the inauguration attendance the news media didn’t err.

“Finally, it’s showtime” was the title of an Aug. 7, 2000, article in the magazine U.S. News & World Report about the then-upcoming Republican National Convention that would nominate George W. Bush for president.

“Finally, it’s showtime” is a message appropriate now for the Trump administration as it embarks on the next four years.

Rather than wasting time denigrating facts- verified facts -that are inconsequential when stacked up against the monumental tasks and responsibilities that are ahead for the administration, Trump and his advisers should ignore them and simply move on to the important, critical tasks at hand.

Facts are facts, and journalists shouldn’t be criticized for reporting facts, whether they’re complimentary or otherwise.

The Trump administration makes a mockery of itself and erodes its credibility when it offers what it calls “alternative facts” that aren’t really factual.

Trump would do himself a favor if he’d abandon his Twitter account and devote himself fully to his presidential duties. There always will be opposition to whatever he does; that’s a fact of life in all levels of government.

It’s overdue for him to accept that.

His responsibility is to do what he feels is best for the nation and not become aggrieved and combative every time others criticize or try to second-guess his decisions.

That’s good advice for his advisers and aides as well, one notable one being Kellyanne Conway, who on Sunday described the attendance coverage as “symbolic of the way we’re treated by the press.”

Truman accepted no small amount of criticism and ridicule during his presidency, and Obama consistently was the object of criticism during his eight years in the Oval Office.

Trump needs to accept the fact that news coverage and criticism come with being president- and that the ability to “live” with them displays strength and stability, not weakness.

- The Altoona Mirror

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CONFLICTS OF INTEREST HAMPER STATE DRUG TREATMENT EFFORTS, Jan. 24

The opioid crisis in our region and throughout Pennsylvania has been in the spotlight for years now, with plenty of outcry from the public, officials and the media urging that something be done to turn the tide. Yet the situation is getting worse. A lot worse. According to the Berks County coroner’s office, heroin-related deaths soared in the past year, from 27 in 2015 to 56 in 2016. Overall drug deaths in Berks skyrocketed from 68 to at least 113.

Statewide figures for 2016 aren’t available yet, but indications are that they will be just as dismaying if not worse than the 2015 figure of more than 3,500 drug-related deaths.

Efforts are being made to address the issue, but Pennsylvania’s treatment system remains woefully inadequate. Many of those who died were in that system but did not receive the help they needed.

“The current system clearly isn’t meeting the crisis we have,” state Department of Human Services Secretary Ted Dallas said.

He pointed to the need to embrace medication-assisted treatment, a scientifically proven way to help many abusers.

Yet treatment providers that favor an abstinence-based approach appear to have great influence over the state agency that deals with the issue, according to reporting by the Reading Eagle.

The state Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs funds treatment and prevention efforts statewide and licenses treatment contractors and providers.

A former employee of DDAP told the Reading Eagle that before she was hired by the agency, she was asked to meet with a lobbyist for some of the very treatment contractors she was to oversee.

Angela Episale said that prior to her hiring in 2015, DDAP Secretary Gary Tennis asked her to meet with Deb Beck of the Drug & Alcohol Service Providers Organization of Pennsylvania. Tennis later emailed Episale to indicate that Beck approved of her hiring. Episale subsequently was hired as a DDAP bureau director.

We cannot even begin to express how outrageous this situation is. Something is terribly wrong when a lobbying group has such influence over the body that’s supposed to oversee it that it appears to have a say in whom the agency hires.

This isn’t the first time the relationship between DDAP and DASPOP has been called into question. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati wrote to Gov. Tom Wolf last year to complain that the group has “unbridled control” over the agency, which he said “appears interested in advancing a narrow, antiquated agenda of long-term, abstinence-based treatment.”

The point here is not to dismiss the value of abstinence-based treatment. There’s no doubt that it works for many people. But for many others it does not, the state should be allocating money for treatment based on what works and to ensure that people have access to the option that works best for them. The agency in charge of this effort should avoid even the appearance of giving undue influence to any group of providers, regardless of their approach.

The Wolf administration and lawmakers need to get this situation fixed as soon as possible. It’s no exaggeration to say that lives are at stake.

- The Reading Eagle

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WOLF EXPECTED TO TAKE SOME BURDEN AWAY FROM STATE LOTTERY, Jan. 22

Pennsylvania legislators made a good bet for themselves when they authorized the state lottery in 1972.

Most other states dedicate their lottery proceeds to education. But by dedicating lottery profits to services for older residents, making Pennsylvania the only state to do so, lawmakers removed a burden from the general fund and endeared themselves the constituency that is most likely to vote.

Since its creation, the state lottery has funded more than $27 billion in benefits for older residents, from rent and tax rebates to free or steeply discounted public transportation.

The free political ride for lawmakers is coming to an end, however. Despite the relentless, aggressive expansion of the lottery, the Wolf administration expects it to fall about $70 million short of meeting its current obligation in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

That shortfall will occur because of a demographic storm- the older population is increasing faster than the lottery can sell tickets. In the fiscal year that ended June 30, the lottery generated $4.1 billion in ticket sales. After payouts and expenses, that generated more than $1.1 billion for seniors’ programs.

The state budget office expects lottery revenue to rise to $4.2 billion in the next fiscal year and to $4.4 billion by 2020.

But program expenses are rising even faster. About 2.2 million of Pennsylvania’s 12.8 million residents are older than 65, according to the census bureau. By 2030, the census estimates, the over-65 share of the population will increase from 17 percent to 25 percent. Compounding the deficit growth is that more older people also are living longer. That’s a great thing but also an expensive one for lottery-funded programs.

Lawmakers’ first instinct always is to expand gambling, and some proposals are afoot to further expand the lottery. For example, studies show that about 70 percent of drivers never enter convenience stores when they refuel their cars, so one idea is to enable them to buy Powerball and MegaMillions tickets at the pumps. Can slot machines be far behind?

To his credit, Gov. Tom Wolf recognizes that the demographic tide is intractable. Noting that lawmakers have heaped more and more costs on the lottery, he is expected to propose shifting some of that burden back to the state general fund. For example, the Legislature a decade ago added about $300 million worth of nursing home services to the lottery’s burden.

Any review of the lottery must include a review of the vast benefit structure that it funds so that the deficit may be attacked from the revenue and expense sides of the ledger. That will require hard decisions by legislators, rather than further reliance on games of chance.

- The (Wilkes-Barre) Citizens Voice

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’ALTERNATIVE FACTS’ ARE BETTER KNOWN AS LIES, Jan. 23

It wasn’t the start most of America was hoping for, with the Trump administration spending its first weekend peddling misinformation and “alternative facts.”

Speaking Saturday at the Central Intelligence Agency, President Trump blamed the media for creating a feud between him and the intelligence community. In reality, Trump repeatedly criticized America’s spy agencies after they concluded Russia intervened in the U.S. election with the intent of helping him win the presidency.

Trump’s pick to head the CIA, Rep. Mike Pompeo, has backed the intelligence community’s assessment. But Trump called it “ridiculous.” Trump’s criticism of the intelligence community created the rift he says he is trying to repair. The media merely reported what he said.

Trump then went off script and claimed 1.5 million people had attended his inauguration, again blaming the media for understating the crowd. It boggles the mind that Trump felt the need to focus on something as trivial as attendance. Aerial photographs clearly showed fewer people attended his inauguration than former President Barack Obama’s 2009 swearing-in. An expert hired by the New York Times estimated the National Mall crowd for Trump’s inauguration to be about a third of the size of Obama’s.

But the pettiness didn’t end there. Later in the day, new White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters: “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration- period.” Spicer gave no evidence to support his claim and stormed off without taking questions from reporters.

Once again the facts told a different story: Not only was the live audience for Trump’s inauguration much smaller than Obama’s in 2009, but Nielsen said there were fewer U.S. television viewers for Trump’s inauguration (30.6 million) than for Obama’s in 2009 (38 million) or Ronald Reagan’s in 1981 (42 million).

Spicer made three other false claims, including the number of riders on the Washington Metro system; that floor covering had not been used previously to protect the mall’s grass; and that fencing and new security measures prevented Trump supporters from accessing the mall. That Spicer, who read from a prepared script, could not get such basic facts straight raises troubling questions about the veracity of more important information expected to come from the White House.

Kellyanne Conway, the president’s counselor, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Spicer’s statement that Trump had the largest audience ever to watch an inauguration was based on “alternative facts.” To which the show’s host, Chuck Todd, rightly responded that “alternative facts are not facts. They are falsehoods.”

It’s not unusual for a new administration to get off to a rocky start. But the claims of Trump and his surrogates is disturbing if you prefer life in a reality-based world. Leave disinformation to totalitarian governments. The public’s trust requires America’s president to be truthful.

- The Philadelphia Inquirer

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