Opinion category, Page 371
Letter to the editor: Plenty of evidence for Jan. 6
Letter-writer Kathleen Bollinger (“Jan. 6 witch hunt,” Aug. 4, TribLIVE) compares the investigation into the attempted coup against our government to the terrible events of the Salem witch trials, wherein hundreds of people were imprisoned and 20 were executed for their alleged crimes of “witchcraft,” all without a shred of...
Editorial: Too much Super PAC money in Pa.’s U.S. Senate race
Money makes elections go around. That’s nothing new. Political fundraisers are the only things more common in a campaign than stump speeches and kissing babies. Like it or not, they make the rest of a campaign possible. They provide the capital to pay for ads on television and online, the...
Letter to the editor: Gun ownership and freedom
Rights can be considered to be individualistic or society-wide. The Founding Fathers, understanding that individual rights don’t actually lead to freedoms, wrote the Bill of Rights to provide the American society with certain freedoms. Take the Second Amendment. When people cite it as justification for our lax gun laws, they...
Jonah Goldberg: DOJ needs to clarify intentions in Trump search
On Monday, evening news broke that the FBI searched the Florida home of Donald Trump, the former president. Trump himself informed the world, calling it a “raid” and an “assault.” While both words are colloquially defensible, it wasn’t some Eliot Ness style breach with a battering ram or sledgehammer. The...
Cal Thomas: McCullough’s history never boring
I hated college history. The textbooks were mostly about dead white men, Abigail Adams excepted. The lectures were boring. I didn’t see how any of it related to my young life and future plans. Historian David McCullough, who died this week at age 89, helped change my attitude toward history...
Ray Nell Jones: How much would you give to save a life?
How much would you give to save a life? If only we could ask that question three years ago, June 13, 2019 — the day before Stanlee Allyn Holbrook took her own life. She was one of Pittsburgh’s many young and single mothers, all of 26 years old with three...
Letter to the editor: Democracy in action in Kansas
Finally, true democracy in action. Hooray for the all the voters of Kansas. The issue of abortion was put on the ballot for the voters to decide. I think there was a bigger issue decided here. It wasn’t just the right to keep abortions legal, but the rights of the...
Letter to the editor: ‘Election integrity’ is the Big Lie, rebranded
Pennsylvania Sen. Kim Ward is creating fear about a problem that doesn’t exist. That is clearly the point of her op-ed, “A step toward election integrity in Pa.” (July 24, TribLIVE). Voters are losing confidence in elections solely because of the Big Lie told by Republicans. The 2020 election was...
Letter to the editor: Big cat legislation will protect animals, community
The House made the right decision in overwhelmingly passing the Big Cat Public Safety Act, House Resolution 263. Law enforcement and animal welfare groups agree that it’s reckless to allow private citizens without the resources and know-how to keep endangered tigers and lions in their backyards and basements. It is...
Editorial: Nursing home fraud crimes aren’t just about money
When looking for a nursing home, there are a number of things to consider. You can look to online reviews. You can consider recommendations from hospitals or doctors. You can visit websites that specifically help you find the right facility to treat medical, mental or emotional needs. But the one...
Letter to the editor: Ideas to solve housing crisis inspired by Gerald Ford
People who are quite old (me, for example) may remember the 38th POTUS (1974-77), Gerald R. Ford. He took some actions to stanch inflation, which was serious at the time and a walk in the park compared to what is happening now. He instituted a wage/price freeze and distributed lapel...
Letter to the editor: Denying rights, supporting lies
While growing up in North Irwin, I knew people with many different political and religious views. We still got along for the most part, and I miss that. During my lifetime, I’ve seen civil rights afforded to Black people. I’ve seen women get the right to own property without a...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Dare we hope?
“Dare we hope?” That was the rather plaintive response of a man on Twitter when news broke that Kansas voters had rejected an attempt to remove the right to abortion from their state constitution. We are talking about a fire-engine-red state. It went for Donald Trump in 2016 and repeated...
Aerion Abney: Despite the attacks, let’s vote — mail-in voting’s still an option in Pa.
Part of our role as legislators is to help increase access to opportunities for those we are elected to represent. Act 77 of 2019 did just that. It was a bipartisan bill that expanded access to the ballot by moving the commonwealth on a path toward normalizing no-excuse mail-in voting....
Dr. Andrew Smolar: On guns, abortion and more, why can’t 2 sides come together?
I took a glance at the two sides last week, and it didn’t look pretty. On Wednesday, I attended a township board meeting, where an owner’s right to open a gun shop in our town just west of Philadelphia was challenged. In one corner: an Orthodox Jewish owner, operating a...
Letter to the editor: Abortion right is a license to kill
“My body, my choice,” Planned Parenthood: Sounds to me that you want what James Bond has, “a license to kill.” Lots of aid is available to you if you want to keep your baby. Larry Howard Plum...
Letter to the editor: Facts on constitutional amendments
I’d like to offer letter-writer Sandy Kremer some factual corrections (“Stop legislators’ power grab,” July 29, TribLIVE). She claims constitutional amendments are done to “circumvent the bill-writing and vetting processes.” In truth, these measures must be approved in two consecutive sessions of the General Assembly. She claims that for a...
Letter to the editor: Problems with climate modeling
Letter-writer Robert Mitchell (“What the real science world says about climate models,” July 1, TribLIVE) states that climate models have predicted for decades that the global temperature would now be about 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, in good agreement with current measurements. Mitchell’s information is derived from a publication...
Editorial: The importance of history as taught by David McCullough
It is often said that those who do not study history will be doomed to repeat it. Whatever afterlife David McCullough finds himself in, it will not involve repeating history. The Pittsburgh native and world-renowned author died Sunday. He was 89. But what does the death of a historian matter...
Letter to the editor: Elites, not populism, the threat to democracy
Many elites in the media and politics think populism is a threat to democracy. But are they correct? A dictionary definition of populism is “a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.” What’s so wrong about that?...
Letter to the editor: Jefferson wouldn’t have approved of Jan. 6
Ed Collins is wrong in his letter ”Jefferson may have OK’d Jan. 6 insurrection” (July 31, TribLIVE). Thomas Jefferson would not have approved. That insurrection was neither good, nor brief. It is ongoing, and I predict it will end in a Trump dictatorship if not stopped. Sure, Jefferson is famous for his...
Tom Purcell: Don’t bet on the lottery — the house always wins
I bought my first lottery ticket recently. It was a $20 scratch-off that paid me a $40 prize. Winning produced a nice little thrill, so I bought another $20 ticket right away. And lost. I put out $40 to win $40 that day. I’ve bought three $20 scratch-offs since then...
Editorial: Response to Penn Township boy’s need shows hope for us all
Sometimes it can seem as though the worst is happening all around us all the time. Inflation, high gas prices, rising turnpike tolls are bad enough. Then there are the really ugly political divisions, especially in a midterm election year. War in Ukraine. Gun deaths. Violent crime. Whether you are...
Sophie Bjork-James: White nationalism is on rise, attracting violent young white men
White nationalists showed up in the hearings of the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Evidence is mounting that white nationalist groups who want to establish an all-white state played a significant role in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol that left five dead and dozens...
Letter to the editor: Deluzio will fight for ‘made in America’
According to the article “Chip shortage leaves 95K GM vehicles incomplete in storage” (July 1, TribLIVE), “The global shortage of computer chips forced General Motors to build 95,000 vehicles without certain components during the second quarter (of 2022).” The article notes that the shortage of chips has forced many automakers...
