Opinion category, Page 475
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Managing a mentally unbalanced president
What do you do when a president is crazy? That’s essentially the question Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, faced in the twilight days of the Trump administration. His answer, as reported by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa in their forthcoming book, “Peril,” has some people...
Tom Purcell: Let them eat Kix
I never parted with a $20 bill faster. It happened at one of my favorite diners. The western omelet and Diet Coke I often get wasn’t the 11 bucks it had been for as long as I remember. It was 16 bucks. That expense, with my tip for the excellent...
Christie Lagemann: Love your library, this month and every month
There wasn’t a public library in every neighborhood in my hometown of Santa Rita, a community tucked into the province of Pampanga, Philippines. Public libraries were few and far between, scattered and not easily accessible. There was, however, a room being renovated in the private school I attended; a room...
Letter to the editor: Biden supplying the enemy
As the Afghanistan debacle winds down, dozens of questions are being asked from every quarter as to what went wrong. One pertinent inquiry is, “Who funds these terrorists?” I’m sure there are unanswered questions on past terrorist operations, but as for future attacks, no one has to look any further...
Letter to the editor: In praise of Bethel Park’s Tim Moury
Congratulations on a great article about Tim Moury (“Bethel Park council and historical society president Moury lives to serve hometown,” Sept. 2, TribLIVE). I know Tim, as does everyone here, to be a very modest and highly motivated leader. He is too modest to tell you how he saved our...
Editorial: Allegheny County Jail dispute shows peril of no-bid contracts
Bidding — the act of releasing information about a product or service that is needed and soliciting providers to make an offer — is a time-honored practice in both private businesses and the public sector. Government loves bidding projects because in a perfect world, it keeps costs down and quality...
Letter to the editor: Carbon pricing enables infrastructure, climate investment
Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey and his colleagues on the Finance Committee are wrestling with the enormous challenges of strengthening our nation’s infrastructure and taking meaningful climate action. And they must do both in a fiscally responsible manner. These challenges give Casey a golden opportunity to champion a single, simple measure...
Kathy Hochul: Revitalizing Southern Tier with help of ARC
New York’s Southern Tier region is part of the rich, geographically diverse fabric that makes up the state of New York . It is home to highly sought-after educational institutions, a mix of innovative industries, more than 5,300 farms and nearly 5 million acres of forestland that contribute to climate...
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Sept. 20
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Sept. 20....
Editorial cartoons for the week of Sept. 20
Editorial cartoons for the week of Sept. 20....
Mona Charen: The future is female — is that entirely a good thing?
“Men are abandoning higher education in such numbers that they now trail female college students by record levels.” So declares the opening sentence of a Wall Street Journal piece that is creating quite the buzz. Here are some of the eye-popping statistics: Women now account for 59.5% of college students...
Brooke Barry: We must solve child care challenges to rebuild, recover
With communities still navigating the pandemic, families and child care providers are encouraged by the much-deserved attention being given to the essential role that early care and education play for families, educators and our economy. The child care industry is still recovering from near-collapse, and so, the question is, will...
Letter to the editor: Biden needs to stand up for America
President Biden, I hear you’re upset over the awful signs about you that Americans displayed over the 9/11 weekend. You want them to go away. Easy to fix. Make America great again. Stand up for this wonderful country. Don’t let the world walk all over us. Wendy Miller Harrison...
Letter to the editor: Impeach Biden
In the immortal words of Myron Cope, “Double Yoi”! This administration left Americans and allies behind enemy lines in Afghanistan on purpose. Please send a reporter to ask Reps. Mike Doyle and Conor Lamb if they will push for a vote to impeach President Biden with the same vigor that...
Letter to the editor: RINOs have ruined conservative movement
Regarding the article “Sen. Toomey says it’s ‘completely unacceptable’ for GOP to pick Trump in 2024” (Sept. 3, TribLIVE): What is completely unacceptable to conservatives are Republicans in name only (RINOs) like you who have ruined the conservative movement. Your ilk of Republicanism is a ruse. You do not want...
Letter to the editor: Coming together is only way to end pandemic
By now, most of us know someone who has died from covid-19, among them beloved family and respected community members. So why are so many people so angry about being asked to wear a mask, or to get vaccinated? I believe it’s because so many of our political leaders and...
Letter to the editor: Finishing the job of nation building
I am not a fan of nation building. But after we spent 20 years in Afghanistan doing just that, I wonder what kind of moral obligation, if any, we and NATO had to finish the job. It’s a hard question, but here are some facts to consider. Some reports have...
Editorial: Senate committee’s intrusive subpoenas betray bedrock values
The push in some corners to review the outcome of the 2020 general election in Pennsylvania took a strange turn in Harrisburg last week. There was a request for an avalanche of information on state voters. First, the state Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee voted 7 to 4 to request emails,...
Letter to the editor: Medical issues solved by medical experts, not posturing
Medical problems are best solved by medical guidance and practices; they are seldom solved by political posturing. Political posturing does not heal; it creates deeper hurts and social damages. Watching and reading news stories and letters to the editors, or driving by local schools, allows us to witness the growing...
Counterpoint: Scrap gerrymandering, adopt ranked choice
Partisan gerrymandering of legislative districts has been a uniquely American problem since our founding: As long as we’ve had politicians, they’ve exploited the power to pick their own voters before the voters get to pick them. It’s wrong, and it’s getting worse. Politicians have fancier tools and greater incentives to...
Point: Gerrymandering is inevitable in a democracy
With the Census Bureau finally releasing its population data to the states, they will now begin the process of redrawing political boundaries for local, state and congressional seats. Anyone who believes that there is some magic way of keeping politics out of the redistricting process must still believe in the...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: History, including Jan. 6, cannot be erased
In the old Soviet Union, the guys in charge often wanted their citizens to forget something that did not fit into their plans or desired image. When Josef Stalin wanted to erase history, his opponents would be erased from photographs, primitively with a sharp blade, and sometimes would disappear from...
Trudy Rubin: After Afghanistan failure, what is America prepared to fight for now?
As the news shifts, many Americans may think the war in Afghanistan is over. Not so. The searing scenes of Kabul’s fall are having a powerful impact on America’s global image, including the abandonment of Afghan allies. Chinese and Russian propaganda outlets are gleefully trumpeting scenes of America’s “defeat.” NATO...
Sounding off: There’s no ‘choice’ when others are threatened
“Covid is not fatal to children.” Let the shamefulness of that statement, which appeared in the letter “Penn Hills mask ruling decried” sink in for a moment. To back this claim up, the writer noted that deaths among children aged 0-18 were 423 as of late August (it’s now 470,...
Colin McNickle: Pay your own way, USGA
Neither a financial nor moral (and certainly not a “good-government”) case can be made for using taxpayer dollars to subsidize the uber-rich sport of professional golf at the Oakmont Country Club, says a senior scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “In sum … there is no reasonable case...
