Opinion category, Page 470
Paul Petrick: Dick Tracy’s 90-year legacy
The New York Times recently greeted readers with the news that the FBI’s annual Crime in the United States survey shows that murder and nonnegligent manslaughter increased by nearly 30% in 2020, by far the largest increase on record. Times readers needing an escape from the grim reality of the...
Laurels & lances: Filming, pleading, bargaining
Laurel: To lights, camera and action. While Pittsburgh has become a popular filming site and spent plenty of time on the big and small screens over the years, sometimes it can feel like the wealth of other communities can be left on the bench. But Greensburg hit a home run...
Richard Kocur: Corporate America’s ‘social justice scam’
Coca-Cola, Google, Delta Airlines, Blackrock, Unilever and Facebook. On its face, this list may sound like a great investment portfolio. Instead, as shown in a new book by former biotech CEO Vivek Ramaswamy, these companies serve as the poster children of woke capitalism. Ramaswamy, author of “Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate...
Letter to the editor: Don’t like green libs and Spam
Regarding David Ninehouser’s letter “ ‘Horton Hears a Hoax (‘Cause He Only Watches Fox)’ ” (Sept. 22, TribLIVE): Dr. Seuss Enterprises stopped publishing six Dr. Seuss books because of their racist imagery. How can watching Fox News be worse than emulating and promoting a racist? I do not like green...
Letter to the editor: Unborn child’s right to life
In her column, Lori Falce asked, “Do you have a right to privacy?” (Sept. 17, TribLIVE), and stated that Roe v. Wade’s decision turned upon a woman’s right to privacy over her own body. I’ve always thought that the decision actually turned upon the Supreme Court’s sidestepping the issue whether...
Letter to the editor: Freedoms don’t allow us to endanger others
Letter-writer Greg Weidner (“Mandates vs. freedoms”) makes an incredibly ridiculous statement: “Couldn’t a student also be sent home if they are vaccinated?” Please, tell me why that makes sense. Your freedom doesn’t exist when endangering others. If a student is vaccinated, that means he/she has done his/her part to make...
Editorial: Covid-19 data should be public and protected
There are times for the government to protect information. There are big secrets such as weapons codes or battle plans. There are small, personal ones such as an individual’s Social Security numbers or bank account. But by and large, the default with public information is that it is supposed to...
Letter to the editor: Plenty of blame for Afghanistan
In reference to the article “Milley: Afghan war a failure” (Sept. 29): Of course, the war in Afghanistan was a failure; the military and the American people would not know what Afghanistan would look like if the war was a success. Regardless, Republicans refuse to recognize this and instead are...
Dana Siler and Mark Reynolds: Price on carbon must be part of this year’s climate legislation
In early September, news broke that the Senate may include a transformative climate policy in the budget reconciliation package. Specifically, the Senate is considering “a potential tax on the carbon content of fossil fuels starting at $15 per ton,” paired with “rebates for low-income taxpayers and a border-adjustment tax aimed...
Zach Mottl: Biden administration must preserve crucial aluminum tariffs
U.S. manufacturers have faced a tough time during the covid pandemic. Supply chain disruptions and heavily subsidized import competition have combined to put America’s factories at a disadvantage. It’s critical for Congress and the president to ensure that domestic manufacturing regains its footing. In particular, that means continuing the steel...
Jonah Goldberg: The problem isn’t raising taxes, it’s spending, spending, spending
Confession time: I’m open to raising taxes. As a lifelong conservative, making this case comes as easily as arguing for a weak national defense, or more United Nations funding. So please bear with me as I walk through why I’m open to the idea. One of the most important lessons...
Letter to the editor: Embarrassed to have Harris as VP
With the border crisis in full swing thanks to President Biden and Vice President Harris, I see Harris came out to degrade the border agents who were trying to defend our border. If she would have done her job to begin with, we would not have this problem. Having Harris...
Letter to the editor: Where’s outrage over Biden administration’s actions?
Where is the outrage of what this administration is doing to our country? They’re telling lie after lie without having to answer for it. They’re letting (illegal) immigrants trample our borders — yes, trample — an example being the 12,000 people who were staying under a bridge in Texas until...
Editorial: PSERS board shouldn’t gag members
The Pennsylvania School Employees Retirement System is one of those things that can just make people bristle. It’s bad enough when things are going right since taxpayers can grumble about paying into someone else’s pension. It’s even worse when things go wrong, as more than a decade of state pension...
Letter to the editor: Remembering Oct. 6, 1976
On Oct. 6, 1976, unarmed student protesters at Thammasat University in Bangkok were surrounded by police and far-right paramilitary groups. They were protesting the return of former military dictator Thanom Kittikachorn to Thailand. Police and these groups attacked the protesters. In the aftermath, students’ dead bodies were hung, beaten and...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Republicans ‘Make Bigotry Great Again’
You might think it was a crime, but last week, a grand jury did not. The reference is to the case of one Jared Lafer. He is a white man in his 20s who, in September of last year, was driving in Johnson City, Tenn., when he came upon a...
Pat Buchanan: Biden casts his lot with liberal left
“We’ve got the president of the United States on our side,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “Got 96% of the members of the Democratic caucus in the House on our side. We got all but two senators at this point in the Democratic caucus on our...
Stephanie Catarino Wissman: Punitive natural gas tax risks U.S. energy leadership, economic recovery
As Congress continues to craft a sweeping budget reconciliation bill, provisions within the package threaten to undermine American energy leadership and could potentially lead to higher costs. And few places will feel the pinch like Pennsylvania, the second-largest producer of natural gas in the country, with nearly 500,000 jobs supported...
Letter to the editor: Don’t be fooled by ‘front groups’
I’ve recently read letters and op-eds from people or groups from Philadelphia or out of state, wanting to subvert Pennsylvania laws in the name of changing the statute of limitations. To those folks, I say worry about your own backyard. A Phildadelphia group even purchased billboards in Westmoreland County (“Child...
Editorial: News you can use
Notable events, weather and sports. On social media, people are acting astounded to learn that “news” is an acronym for these four words. They might be even more shocked to realize that, like so much on Facebook or TikTok, it’s not true at all. The news, to put it bluntly,...
Letter to the editor: Speak up for courageous Marine
What are we seeing in this great country? Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, a decorated Marine officer with a sterling record of service, is being held in military jail, facing a hearing on potential charges related to disobeying orders. Why? Scheller had the audacity, the courage, to publicly call out senior...
Tom Purcell: The rise and fall of the shopping mall
My buddies Ayres and Klingler and I walked its crowded corridors for hours on Friday nights, hoping to meet girls. That’s what we did at South Hills Village Mall in the late 1970s, when we were teens and the American mall was in its heyday. Built in the mid-1960s, and...
Joseph Wingert: Newspapers make Pennsylvania communities great places to live
National Newspaper Week presents an opportunity to reflect on the value of journalism: an American treasure essential to our way of life. Around the globe and nationwide, across the commonwealth, and in our own backyards, newspaper journalists provide the accurate, fair, timely and thorough reporting individuals and communities need to...
Letter to the editor: Presidents who act like mad men
All this media fuss about whether the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should have been telling China that President Trump was not going to attack them presumes Trump’s ordering naval maneuvers in the South China Sea was the act of a mad man. Hardly. Such “saber rattling” was...
Letter to the editor: Booster shots are not so common
I’m writing to address incorrect assumptions in the editorial “Booster shots are as common as vaccines themselves.” Children do not, as was claimed, get periodic boosters for measles and mumps. They get one combined shot of measles/mumps/rubella at 12 to 15 months, and a second shot entering kindergarten — but...
