Opinion category, Page 339
Letter to the editor: PSO trip is more evidence we need a gift ban
I was extremely disappointed to read about Sen. Rob Mercuri, R-Pine, and Rep. Jake Corman, R-Centre, taking a European vacation trip subsidized by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. I voted for Mercuri when he ran for public office two years ago. He was a fresh face with good ideas and seemed...
Gary Franks: We need an age limit for federally elected officials, Supreme Court justices
We need an age limit for federally elected officials and justices on the Supreme Court, restricting anyone from serving beyond 80. We should rid ourselves from an octogenarian-run government. The powers that be — many of whom are older folks — would not agree to this (that is obvious). Thus,...
S.E. Cupp: Has Donald Trump finally become boring?
In case you missed it — and it’s likely you did — former President Trump announced Tuesday night he is running for president a third time. Maybe you were watching “Shark Tank,” “Bachelor in Paradise” or the premiere of “The Curse of Oak Island.” But even if you were watching...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: A few words on the silence
A few words on the silence. As you doubtless recall, many of us regarded last week’s midterm election with existential dread. The path from there to the end of American democracy seemed all too easy to chart, what with election deniers campaigning for offices that would have put them in...
Cal Thomas: Mike Pence, a man of integrity
If former Vice President Mike Pence is ever in need of a character witness, he could not do much better than one statement former President Donald Trump made to him. In his new book “So Help Me God,” Pence quotes Trump as pressuring him to overturn the results of the...
Letter to the editor: Fetterman will overcome his health issues
Many famous and successful individuals have had health issues and other problems that they were able to overcome. Franklin Roosevelt survived polio and could not walk and was elected president of the United States four times. Bob Dole survived war wounds and served in the U.S. House and Senate. Vietnam...
Letter to the editor: Legislation key to saving birds, wildlife
An extinction crisis threatens birds around the country, including in Pennsylvania. Fortunately, Congress has legislation in the works that would save birds and wildlife. Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA) would address bird and other wildlife declines by providing $1.3 billion annually for state and territorial wildlife action plans, and $97.5...
Lori Falce: Is crypto the MLM of dudes?
My friends and I were talking about the collapse of FTX — the cryptocurrency trading firm that suddenly declared bankruptcy last week. It was a scandal that might have been of epic proportions if not overshadowed by things like the U.S. election vote counting and developments in the war in...
Laurels & lances: Renew, revisit, rethink
Laurel: To everything old being new again. When the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation gave a $160,000 rehabilitation loan to Dave Rankin to breathe new life into the old G.C. Murphy building in Tarentum, the hope was that it would preserve old architecture and benefit the area. The response to...
Letter to the editor: Thoughts from the Trump rally
I got to President Trump’s rally in Latrobe at 2 p.m., and there was a long line waiting to get in. A reporter and her cameraman passed by and I asked what channel they worked for. She said, “CNN.” Well, everyone around me backed up at the same time and...
Colin McNickle: The union elephant in PASSHE’s room
The 14-school Pennsylvania State System of High Education, or PASSHE, has been beset with many woes over the past dozen years. There’s the tanking enrollment. Then there’s a darn-near open acceptance policy for those who do enroll, which does a disservice to those wholly unprepared for college-level studies. PASSHE also...
Letter to the editor: Maybe Oprah will have something for us all for Christmas
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman made Oprah Winfrey’s Christmas list this season. He’ll be under the tree we can’t afford without all the presents that won’t be there. And forget about going to Grandma’s, because gas is too expensive. Maybe Oprah will have us all over to Braddock for her 12...
Editorial: Politics should include a little more parental guidance
This month, Westmoreland County Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher will take on a new role with a constituency of one — her about-to-be-born first child. Thrasher is one of a growing number of women in politics — especially women actively building their careers and their families at the same time. In...
Letter to the editor: Thank those who educate our students
American Education Week is Nov. 14-18. Every year, right before Thanksgiving, we take time as a nation to celebrate our public schools and to say thank you to all the Pennsylvanians who come together to make our schools strong. That includes educators and support professionals as well as students, parents,...
Jonah Goldberg: Will the GOP finally do something about its Trump problem?
On election night, Donald Trump took to his post-truth social media platform, Truth Social, to spin the results. His first utterance was to celebrate Republican Joe O’Dea’s loss in the U.S. Senate race in Colorado. “Joe O’Dea lost BIG!” Trump crowed. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” O’Dea had distanced himself from...
Dr. Asif Ilyas: Opioid settlements, prosecutions are heartening, but education still necessary
A $26 billion settlement with opioid manufacturers in March. A $13.8 billion settlement with pharmacies in November. And jail time for prescribers across Pennsylvania and the nation over the past few years. These settlements with the manufacturers and purveyors of narcotics and the prosecution of “pill mill” doctors are heartening....
Charles McElwee: Midterms reveal trouble for GOP in Pa.’s suburbs
This past week, Pennsylvania voters once again defied prognostications, rejected the status quo, and exhibited how demography has realigned the state’s politics. An unpopular Democratic president (born and initially raised in the region that delivered Donald Trump’s 2016 statewide victory), surging voter registration numbers for Republicans and economic disaffection failed...
Letter to the editor: Veterans appreciate Applebee’s efforts
I wanted to give a shout-out to Applebee’s restaurants for their generous Veterans Day event again this year. Very much appreciated. They were one of the first to recognize us vets, and they treat all with respect and dignity and do it with a smile that makes everyone feel special....
Letter to the editor: Our healing must start with God
During his presidency John Adams said the following to the Massachusetts militia: “We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition, Revenge or Galantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net....
Letter to the editor: What will Oz’s next moves be?
A few weeks ago, I asked if Dr. Mehmet Oz loses the election for U.S. senator of Pennsylvania, would he move to another state. Now, I would like to ask if he moves, will he move to a highly gerrymandered Republican state giving him a better chance of winning? Or...
Editorial: A real way for Kim Ward to make history
On Tuesday, state Sen. Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, notched another first. After serving as the first female Senate Majority Leader for the past two years, she was elected by her fellow Republicans to become the chamber’s Senate President Pro Tempore. She is also the first woman to serve in that role....
Letter to the editor: Is Biden delusional or scheming?
“The plausible impossible” is a phrase coined by Walt Disney to describe the animation technique of overstressing small actions to make them appear to produce major effects or actions. A touch of truth leads us into fantasy. Disney used it to amuse and entertain. I believe President Biden and his...
Letter to the editor: Baffled by Trump support
I grew up in the mill-town suburbs of Pittsburgh. The “mill hunks” of my neighborhood were tough and didn’t take any “guff.” I had thought that no blue-collar worker would vote for Donald Trump because of his well-known penchant for cheating contractors. In my old neighborhood, that just wouldn’t have...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Still fighting for an America I’ve never seen
I have never seen America. Yes, like Bruce Springsteen, I was born in the U.S.A. But, as I’ve argued before, America is less a place than a set of democratic ideals: equality, self-governance, the rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of protest, liberty and justice for all. America is...
Albert Eisenberg: Mastriano a case study in not building a coalition
It was shortly after viewing the clip of the wife of Doug Mastriano — Pennsylvania’s ill-fated Republican nominee for governor — jumping in front of a press conference microphone to tell reporters that they “probably love Israel more than a lot of Jews do” that I thought to myself: Are...
