Opinion category, Page 507
Editorial: Honor a candidate’s legacy of seeking public service
Shawn Marcellino was running for mayor of Plum. He had just gotten through the Democratic primary and was looking forward to facing Republican Harry Schlegel in November. On Tuesday, he was playing in a church league softball game when he began having chest pains. He died of a heart attack...
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 7
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 7....
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 7
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 7....
Jonah Goldberg: The people we owe in Afghanistan
I think Joe Biden’s decision to fully withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan is a mistake. It’s mistaken on strategic and moral grounds. I hope I’m wrong. But when even administration officials, and experts who favor the decision, concede that our pullout — of a very small contingent of troops —...
Mona Charen: Communist China’s family values
The Chinese communist government is going to permit three children per family. How nice. Here’s how The New York Times put it: “The announcement by the ruling Communist Party represents an acknowledgment that its limits on reproduction, the world’s toughest, have jeopardized the country’s future.” To describe China’s “one child...
Letter to the editor: Government leaders should at least try to balance budget
This is a comment about the Associated Press article “Biden’s $6T budget: Social spending, taxes on business”. I don’t care if you are a Democrat, Republican, independent, conservative, liberal or whatever — the government needs to at least try to balance the budget. I understand we have been through a...
Editorial: Why gun laws are a matter of state law
Say the word “gun” and you can instantly divide people. Some want to enact laws and restrictions in hopes of curtailing violent crimes. Some are just as passionate about protecting constitutional rights and protections surrounding gun ownership. It can be hard to find a middle ground anywhere. Pennsylvania is practically...
Letter to the editor: ‘Real world’ of conservatives
It seems letter-writer Tony Pittore (“Real world vs. fantasy world,” May 29, TribLIVE) has decided to elucidate the rest of us on the difference between the conservatives’ “real” world and the liberals’ “fantasy” world. I’m rather curious as to whether Mr. Pittore’s “real world” is the one where: • The...
Letter to the editor: Raising awareness of Alzheimer’s
In Pennsylvania alone, there are more than 280,000 people living with Alzheimer’s disease and more than 500,000 family members and friends providing 622,000,000 hours of unpaid care. June is Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month, and during the month all communities have a chance to lift up conversations about Alzheimer’s disease...
Letter to the editor: Honor of jury duty
Recently I served on my first jury ever in the Common Pleas Court in Westmoreland County. After this trial, I feel compelled to commend all involved with the proceedings. Judge Chris Scherer set the tone for the trial with his respectful, efficient manner and explained what was expected of all...
Dana Montalto: VA must stop denying health care to thousands of veterans
A veteran with a fever and hacking cough that suggest a possible coronavirus infection tries to make a doctor’s appointment, only to be turned away by a receptionist who personally decides the would-be patient can’t see a physician. A former service member and sexual assault survivor at risk of suicide...
Baltimore Sun: Pentagon’s UFO report is coming soon; here’s what it’s likely to say
Did we ever tell you about the unidentified flying object discovered outside Baltimore? In 1949, a farm in Glen Burnie was briefly swarming with state troopers and military investigators checking out reports of a flying saucer. And, indeed, they found what were described later as “prototypes” of aircraft in a...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Keeping up with Michael Flynn and the rest of the news
Some of us have not been glued to cable news for a few months now, and it has been a welcome break. No matter where you are on the political spectrum, the years leading up to and through the last presidential election were spirited but exhausting, as CNN, Fox and...
Carl Leubsdorf: Republicans quashed a Jan. 6 commission. It won’t make Trump go away.
Senate Republicans acknowledged that politics was the reason they voted to kill a bipartisan commission to probe the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. The question is whether it was smart politics. Displaying unusual candor, several top Republicans said a commission could hurt them in the 2022 election. Republican senators...
Sounding off: Killing baseball in Pittsburgh
I am 66 years old and grew up in Pittsburgh watching the Pirates at Forbes Field and Three Rivers Stadium and then PNC Park. Some of the best sporting events in Pittsburgh happened at those venues. The best one I experienced was the 2013 National League wild card game. Since...
Letter to the editor: Many want government checks instead of jobs
The Republicans saying they are going to put people back to work will hurt their chances. We now have seen people want a check from the government instead of a job, as many people will not come back to work even when there is a job waiting for them. Clem...
Letter to the editor: Media’s positive portrayal of Biden
Based on all of the newspaper articles as well as the local and national news, I congratulate President Biden for a job well done. He must be doing a great job since all we read and see is either congratulatory or at least neutral. Unlike his predecessor, by this time,...
Editorial: The battle of agendas in Zappala vs. Raiford
A courtroom is an adversarial forum. The process is set up that way, to help find truth and justice by performing a legal dance to a set of rules. The adversaries in this system are not enemies, but opposing forces like magnets that pull and push in different directions. It...
Letter to the editor: Questions about Penn fracking
I read Patrick Varine’s article “Protect PT appeals fracking well-pad approvals to Pa. Supreme Court” (May 21, TribLIVE). I was at the Penn Township zoning hearings as a witness for Protect PT for the Metis and Gaia pads. I have a few comments about the case. First, much has been...
Letter to the editor: Are you a political fool?
Are your sources of news making you a political fool? I hate liars, and news sites are the biggest liars of today. I read 10 or so different websites of news per week, some that I know are opposite of my politics. If I read “anonymous sources say,” I disregard...
Letter to the editor: Invenergy plant a threat to Great Allegheny Passage
I am a resident of West Newton, home of the Great Allegheny Passage and the Lower Youghiogheny River, which was placed on the American Rivers advocacy group’s most endangered rivers list in 2020. The permitting of the Invenergy power plant in Elizabeth Township is a three-layered threat to the Great...
S.E. Cupp: Naomi Osaka’s mental health breakthrough a game-changer
“Mental health break.” It’s a term that’s grown increasingly common in recent years, used to describe the need for some emotional and psychological self-care. But rest assured, it’s not a term our parents or grandparents’ generations grew up with, and not something they fully understand even now. So when one...
John Stossel: Roundabouts are better
I hate waiting at traffic lights. There’s a solution: traffic circles, or roundabouts. Traffic circles terrified me when I first confronted them in Europe. A movie, “National Lampoon’s European Vacation,” captured my experience when it portrayed Chevy Chase driving in London, unable to exit a rotary all day. Besides being...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Where Black history is concerned, America specializes in not knowing
It’s not just Tulsa. From the 2019 premiere of HBO’s “Watchmen,” which introduced many Americans to a racial atrocity they’d never heard of, to all the recent media attention — CNN, the New York Times, NPR — marking this week’s centennial, the Tulsa Race Massacre of May 31 to June...
Laurels & lances: Flying again, hired again
Laurel: To flying high again. The Westmoreland County Airshow didn’t happen in 2020. Unlike many of the events that were canceled over the last year, it wasn’t due to the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement was made in November 2019. It happened because the marquee draws — military precision groups like...
