Opinion category, Page 151
Letter to the editor: Biased reporting on debate
Why wasn’t the Associated Press story “Trump, Biden clash over economy, immigration, Jan. 6” (June 28) placed on the editorial page instead of the front page? Editorial opinion ran rampant through this article, leading off with “Joe Biden repeatedly sought to confront Donald Trump … as his Republican rival countered...
Editorial: With or without Chevron, clearer laws are essential
Among the many rulings the Supreme Court handed down this term, a decision on so-called Chevron deference could prove especially consequential. The question at issue was whether the courts or government agencies should determine the meaning of ambiguous laws. The new ruling unsettles a 40-year-old understanding by shifting some of...
Letter to the editor: Protecting our workers
In 2022, the number of preventable work deaths increased 5.7% over 2021. The preventable injury death rate also rose from 3.6 to 3.7 per 100,000 workers from 2021 to 2022. And workplace medically consulted injuries totaled more than 4.5 million in 2022. No elected leader or employer can look at...
Editorial cartoons for the week of July 8
Editorial cartoons for the week of July 8....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of July 8
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of July 8....
Letter to the editor: Praise for school voucher article
The article on school vouchers was well written and balanced (“School vouchers may make it into Pa.’s budget, but what would they really do?” June 28, TribLive). Kudos to the author! Ron Rodman Murrysville...
Letter to the editor: Biden should step aside
Joe Biden claims this year’s presidential election is about preserving democracy and that Donald Trump is running solely to feed his oversized ego. If Biden truly believes this, then he should step aside. The Democrats would then be able to nominate a practical centrist around whom the vast majority of...
Editorial: Hispanic population growth can build Pennsylvania political power
Western Pennsylvania is not a melting pot of cultures. The people who have come to or passed through Pittsburgh and surrounding communities have not blended into a homogeneous puree of creamy uniformity. And, really, who would want that anyway? Instead, it’s more like a marketplace of skills, ideas, beliefs and...
Letter to the editor: Westmoreland County does elections right
What a difference transparency makes. There is a crisis of confidence in Pennsylvania’s elections. There are many reports and social media posts about election observers being denied meaningful observation. This erodes confidence and raises suspicion. I had the opportunity to observe the processing of mail-in and provisional ballots at the...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Cicero offers guidance on growing old without giving up
Since I first encountered Cicero in school, my admiration for him has grown and grown. I was drawn even closer to him when I found out the Roman lawyer and philosopher summered in Treglia — ancient Trebula Balliensis — my family’s village in southern Italy. When I suggest to my...
M.K. Swartsfager: A table set for four
We can’t blame our government or the political parties, at least not entirely, for the mess we are in. Most view the government as composed of three branches, but the constitutional system requires not only the legislative, executive and judicial powers, but the constant participation of the people from whom...
Counterpoint: Extreme inequality is the real threat to free speech
I was a student in the late 2000s when I had my first brush with “cancel culture.” A campus group had invited Nick Griffin — a racist Holocaust denier and leader of a fascist British political party, among other charming things — to speak. Many shocked students, including me, called...
Point: Robust speech is necessary for a healthy democracy
Debate is healthy for a democratic society. Vigorous exchanges cause people to confront unorthodox ideas, examine their beliefs and develop informed opinions. Robust speech is akin to exercise machines in the gym: a tool to build democratic muscles and endurance. Unfortunately, in the wake of protests over the Israel-Hamas war,...
Letter to the editor: We should love, not damage, the Earth
People profess without reservation that they love the Earth; that they love Mother Nature. Seems to be true especially when you try to find a parking spot at Ohiopyle State Park. My question is, do you think Earth loves you back? Taking coal buried deep in the Earth, for which...
Letter to the editor: Potemkin presidency
The debate exposed it for all to see. Just like the fake Russian village, we have a fake Potemkin presidency. No press conferences, hiding in the basement or maybe sitting in his beloved Corvette in the garage. And likewise, because they were complicit in the scheme, a Potemkin Washington press...
Letter to the editor: Biden’s lies are worse
I wanted to read about the debate right afterward, so I began the article “Trump and Biden mix it up over policy and each other in a debate that turns deeply personal” (June 28, TribLive), not expecting anything really helpful. Boy, was I right. I only got about three or...
Editorial: Pennsylvania School Boards Association should be subject to the Right-to-Know Law
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association might seem like a trade organization. The name gives the same feeling as other state groups for those with related business, such as the Pennsylvania Corn Growers Association, Pennsylvania Retailers Association or the Malt Beverage Distributors Association of Pennsylvania. There are similarities. Each group looks...
Letter to the editor: Voting for Trump is insanity
A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for Vladimir Putin. I believe this man is Putin’s puppet and, if elected, would sell us to Russia, along with Ukraine, within six months of the election. He is a convicted felon, with several more cases pending. These cases are not “witch...
Rachel Marsden: Here’s who should replace Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket
PARIS A whopping 51 million viewers tuned into CNN for the debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, probably in many cases for the same reason that folks enjoy watching NASCAR races. There’s always a risk of a spectacular crash. But what happened here was that the...
Jonah Goldberg: Democrats’ defense of Biden reminiscent of Republicans’ rallying around Trump
The fallout from President Biden’s miserable debate last week is giving me deja vu. In the political right’s intramural arguments over Donald Trump, I got some things correct and some incorrect. But I believe I was indisputably right in one respect: From the outset, I argued that Trump’s presidency would...
Letter to the editor: Be afraid, America
The CNN presidential debate revealed Joe Biden to be similar to Captain Pike in the 1966 pilot episode of “Star Trek.” In the episode, the Starship Enterprise investigated a far-off planet only to encounter telepathic aliens who sought a human male specimen for their menagerie. Captain Pike became incapacitated and...
Letter to the editor: Ranked choice voting gives us more choices
After last week’s debate, I tuned in to Jon Stewart’s post-debate show on Comedy Central. Before it began, “South Park” played an episode about voting for a new school mascot. Their options? “Giant Douche” versus “Turd Sandwich.” Why couldn’t he vote for something cool, like a tiger? The character didn’t...
Laurels & lances: Legend, lanternflies and law
Laurel: To a sweet life. Gus Kalaris did what he could to brighten Pittsburgh’s North Side. From 1951, he manned his “Gus and YiaYia’s” street cart from spring until fall, popping corn and shaving 50-pound blocks of ice to make the icon ice treats he was known for. Kalaris died...
Letter to the editor: Why Biden doesn’t care about Marc Fogel
Whenever I read another outpouring of support for Marc Fogel, it warms my heart. Then I get angry with the realization that Fogel will not be coming home anytime soon. The inconvenient truth of the case is Joe Biden doesn’t give a flying fig about Fogel, for the simple reason...
Lori Falce: Politics is infection in Supreme Court rulings
The U.S. Supreme Court has proved itself in this term to be something different than was intended. “The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” That is Article...
