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City on map for cyber intelligence

National Columnists

Western Pennsylvania's leadership in AI, robotics and cyber intelligence companies that work with the Department of War was reinforced recently. Qintel was selected for an $84 million contract with the United States Cyber Command to deliver a threat intelligence solution in support of full-spectrum cyber operations. Qintel also just announced it will be part of the inaugural Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit in the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, which Sen. David McCormick (R-Pa.) is hosting in July. The two-day conference convenes CEOs, investors and senior ...

Economist unveils blueprint for managed poverty

National Columnists

Writer and philosopher Ayn Rand was often accused of inventing cartoonish villains. Rogues like Ellsworth Toohey in "The Fountainhead" would scheme to seize the global economy's commanding heights in pursuit of a distorted sense of justice. But the people who hold such ideas don't just appear in cartoons or in Rand's novels. Enter Thomas Piketty and company. In early June, Piketty – the French economist whose work on inequality has made him something of a rock star even while being serially challenged for methodological errors, data imputations and cherry-picked baselines ...

Let love resonate instead

National Columnists

Most times when I'm invited to speak at a conference, someone introduces me by reading the short bio provided. But this past week at the Southeastern Writers' Association Conference, my friend, the Georgia judge and novelist Lori Duff, introduced me. She started off by warning she might embarrass me, then proceeded with the most generous and warm introduction I've ever received. What a gift to hear how your friend sees you. Not that long ago, I would have struggled to listen. I would have made self-deprecating jokes to not appear arrogant or uppity. Self-worth is something I'm ...

Historians who told real story of founders

National Columnists

The sudden death of the historian Gordon Wood, just weeks before the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, is one more mark of the closure of a golden age of the historiography of the Revolutionary era. It's an occasion to reflect on the uniqueness, indeed the idiosyncrasy, of the emergence of the primacy of this United States among the nations of the world. As the historian Walter McDougall has pointed out, a catalog of world civilizations in the year 1600 looks, with one exception, much like the world today. There is a prosperous and ...

Humanities strike back

National Columnists

Last year Microsoft Research reported on the 10 jobs most threatened by artificial intelligence. Should I, dear reader, be running scared? Historians are No. 2 on the list. The report says 91% of what historians do is pretty much covered by AI queries. Uh-oh. I majored in history in college and went on to get a master's. In the movie "Animal House," Bluto laments throwing "seven years of college down the drain." I guess the good news is maybe I only wasted six. Eventually, I pivoted to writing, with five novels published and another coming next year. And of course, there's ...

Political parties succeed when understand people

National Columnists

One of the more revealing political developments of recent years has been the Democratic Party's growing concern about its declining support among male voters. After years of watching men drift toward the political right, many Democrats have begun asking a simple question: Why are men leaving? The answer may be simpler than party strategists would like to admit. For many men, politics is not merely about policy preferences. It is also about whether they feel understood, respected and represented. Increasingly, many men feel that modern progressive politics views them less as ...