Opinion category, Page 271
Cal Thomas: On Hunter Biden, whom to believe?
It is an unfortunate truism of politics that partisans tend to believe the worst about members of the opposite party and no amount of facts — if, indeed, facts can be agreed upon — move people from their entrenched positions. Largely, I think, it’s all about gaining or keeping power...
Peter Rutland: Wagner’s mutiny punctured Putin’s ‘strongman’ image and exposed cracks in his rule
Less than 24 hours after the mutiny began, it was over. As the rebelling Wagner column bore down on Moscow, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal under which Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to drop criminal charges against the mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and allow him to seek asylum...
Letter to the editor: We need a nationalist, not a globalist, as president
For years I thought that rich people ran our country. They would pick the Republican candidate and the Democratic candidate, so they didn’t care which one won. They were all for the rich. The Clintons were no different than the Bushes and Mitt Romney no different than President Obama. Then...
Letter to the editor: Old and ‘whys’
It’s me again, old and “whys.” Why do the taxpayers have to provide more for prisoners than warm, dry and fed? Prison is supposed to be punishment, not vacation. Why do taxpayers have to support illegal immigrants who obviously are lawbreakers? That’s the illegal part, for those who can’t figure...
Editorial: Juvenile detention needs staffing solutions to keep doors open
Pennsylvania needs to find a fix for juvenile detention. So do counties. Westmoreland County’s Regional Youth Services Center has had its juvenile detention facility shut down temporarily because of staffing issues and state investigations. The investigations come after two incidents occurred in a short time frame. One was a suicide...
Letter to the editor: Museum displays offensive?
I recently visited the Carnegie Museum of Natural History with a friend who was visiting from Michigan. She was fascinated with the extensive, preserved displays. However, when we reached the Egyptian area, we were confronted with a sign letting us know the bones, mummies and sarcophagus displays were going to...
Tom Purcell: A collaborative way to celebrate July Fourth
The Fourth of July has always held a special power over me. I love the hot dogs and burgers and my mother’s delicious potato salad. Mostly, though, I’ve always cherished the great gatherings of family and friends that culminate with spectacular fireworks displays that light the dark summer sky. I...
Sen. Katie Muth and Alison L. Steele: Train derailments bode poorly for public health amid planned petro and hydrogen hubs
The recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, spewed toxic chemicals into surrounding neighborhoods. Since pollution knows no borders, this polluted air was carried to communities in Pennsylvania as well. Similar train derailments have occurred in other states since that time. Tightening lax standards on the transportation of hazardous chemicals...
Colin McNickle: Benefits, challenges in accelerated CNIT cuts
Legislation introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate that would increase the rate of reduction for the onerous corporate net income tax (CNIT) has the potential to provide a triple benefit for the commonwealth, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. It could boost the economy with new...
Letter to the editor: Sports streaming difficulties
I’m very disappointed to hear that the WPIAL has given high school streaming rights to the NFHS Network. I have tried to use this streaming service the past two years for my sister, so she could stream her grandson’s basketball games from Ohio. She was lucky if she got one...
Letter to the editor: Using God’s word correctly
It’s blasphemy to have a modern retelling of the Good Samaritan parable (Matthew 7:22-23) replacing the Samaritan with a transgender person (“Parable of the Good Samaritan for 2023,” June 11, TribLIVE). Jesus Christ taught us to love all people, even our enemies. So what are you really trying to say?...
Editorial: Competing for college students amid declining enrollment
Pennsylvania does not have the most colleges of any state. That spot goes to California, which has 400. The Keystone State comes in fourth, behind New York and Texas. There are 218 post-secondary schools in Pennsylvania, based on federal Department of Education statistics. But look at the population, and things...
Letter to the editor: Learning from jail deaths?
According to the National Commission on Correctional Health Care’s Mortality Report regarding the many deaths at the Allegheny County Jail, “Allegheny County does not do mortality reviews,” which is a violation of National Commission on Correctional Health Care standard, “Procedure in the Event of an Inmate Death.” How is the...
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 26
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 26....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 26
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 26....
Abraham Jacob Bonowitz: Pittsburgh synagogue shooter should not be executed
Recently, the shooter in the 2018 hate-fueled antisemitic Pittsburgh synagogue attack was convicted. Now there will be a trial to decide if we eventually make him world famous again by executing him many years from now, or instead simply forget his name and throw away the key. Six days earlier,...
Letter to the editor: We must judge carefully, honestly
If we were to believe the media, et al., we would think that inclusiveness is a fundamental moral imperative. On the contrary, every just society depends for its existence on the willingness of its members to judge and exclude those who seek to erode and destroy that society. This is...
Letter to the editor: Let’s wish Kerry, other leaders success on environment
Regarding the letter “John Kerry’s climate hypocrisy” (June 17, TribLIVE): I, too, want our leaders, such as Kerry, President Biden and Donald Trump, to be responsible and create a green economy; words are not enough. No one is above the law, even the laws of common sense. But, to be...
Editorial: Is paying teachers $10K a cure for shortage?
Money is not the only answer. With government, it often seems that way. No matter what the problem may be, there are any number of solutions that can be proposed. Most of them have big-ticket spending attached, which can end up on the chopping block later when the problem being...
Letter to the editor: On DEP, what’s in a name (change)?
Thanks to the writer of the letter “Ramifications of DEP name change” (June 16, TribLIVE) for pointing out that, on June 10, the Pennsylvania Senate passed a bill changing the name of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to the Department of Environmental Services. One question: What sort of environmental...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Tired of the taunting used to dodge truth
As his legal problems mount, Donald Trump and his loyalists are falling back on some decades-old smears and insults to attack those who they want us to believe are behind Trump’s troubles. As reported in the Tribune-Review last week, they are calling President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats “communists”...
William Haupt III: Millennials moving to the center and right
One of the most puzzling and questionable enigmas of modern American political parties is the Democrats have had majorities that controlled Congress much longer than Republicans have. At one time, Democrats controlled the House for 36 consecutive years and 56 of the past 60 years. It’s also hard to believe...
Rep. Mike Schlossberg: Investments in mental health care would be big step for Pa.
One in 5 Americans actively suffers from some sort of mental illness. Is that person you, or someone you love? I’ve been a state representative for over a decade and suffered from depression and anxiety my whole life. As someone who lives with mental illness, I wish I had known...
Samuel L. Boyd: Tree of life powerful image in Jewish tradition
After weeks of wrenching testimony, jurors delivered a guilty verdict June 16 for the gunman who killed 11 worshippers in a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 — the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. The next phase of the trial will focus on sentencing, and whether Robert Bowers should face the...
Bruce Schneier and Nathan Sanders: AI could shore up democracy — here’s one way
It’s become fashionable to think of artificial intelligence as an inherently dehumanizing technology, a ruthless force of automation that has unleashed legions of virtual skilled laborers in faceless form. But what if AI turns out to be the one tool able to identify what makes your ideas special, recognizing your...
