Opinion category, Page 152
Letter to the editor: Biden planning his revenge?
I think Joe Biden is planning on revenge now that he is not running again: The Supreme Court reigned him in on his abuse of President Trump, and he did not like it. I think he wants to revise the Constitution to abuse the check and balance right of the...
Letter to the editor: Lock down the border — it’s common sense
I don’t understand where common sense has gone. Our country is a total wreck. We must lock down our border. We lock our doors at night to be safe. Crime is off the charts. Our freedoms are eroding. Come on. Let’s get back to common sense! Bob Kennedy North Irwin...
Editorial: Naloxone vending machines are worth a try to curb overdose deaths
In 1999, the opioid addiction epidemic began. That was around the time when school districts and police departments began to have meetings with parents and residents about the dangers. In the ensuing 25 years, the addiction problem has continued. Much like the trajectory of addicts’ journeys, the main players on...
Letter to the editor: Harris is the only choice
In a few months, the United States will experience a defining moment, the 2024 presidential election. What is at risk for the so-called “shining city on a hill” is democracy, truth, justice and humanity. The choice could not be clearer. On the one hand, there is a young (59) female,...
Letter to the editor: Pa. needs to do better on education
In my learned opinion, maybe Pennsylvania doesn’t deserve to be called the “Keystone State” anymore. Maybe Pennsylvania should be called the “Tree State” and our motto can be “We can’t see the forest for our trees.” Pennsylvania was called the Keystone State because back in the original 13 colonies, it...
Jonah Goldberg: This is why Kamala Harris is avoiding the press — and getting away with it
To the surprise of just about everyone, Kamala Harris has had a remarkably good two weeks (whether her selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz marks the end of that honeymoon or an extension of it remains to be seen). Democrats, of course, have been pleasantly surprised. Prior to President Joe...
Tyler Cowen: Want more moderate candidates? Demand ranked choice voting
Ranked choice voting is on many state and local ballots this year, so it’s worth considering how it works in practice. Or, as we economists like to say: It’s time for some game theory. There are many ways to run a ranked choice system, but they all basically allow voters...
Chris Hunter: Amid growing mental health crisis, why are a third of Western Psych beds closed?
There’s an ongoing national conversation about the spiraling mental health crisis — which was aggravated by the pandemic — and the urgent need to put more resources toward our faltering behavioral health system. Here in Pennsylvania, this health care emergency is in many ways more dire than the U.S. overall....
James P. Pinkerton: Hanwha and Nippon deals are good for Pa.
There’s so much bad news that it’s sometimes hard to spot the good news. But here’s some: An economic and strategic win-win between the United States and South Korea, injecting capital, jobs, and tech knowhow into eastern Pennsylvania. Yes, that’s good news. And we can have more win-wins, if we...
Letter to the editor: Trump a threat to democracy?
First they tried to keep him off the ballot. Then they tried to bankrupt him. When that didn’t work, they tried to throw him in jail. After all that, an underfunded, underprotective Secret Service almost got him killed. And they say that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. Go...
Letter to the editor: Comparing Trump, Biden-Harris
Let’s compare the Trump term in office to the Biden-Harris team’s term in office. Donald Trump failed to solve the migrant crisis at the border, his top campaign issue, even when Republicans controlled Congress. President Biden and Vice President Harris supported a bipartisan solution led by Republican Sen. James Lankford...
Editorial: Shapiro won’t be VP. What now for Pennsylvania?
Gov. Josh Shapiro will not be the vice president of the United States. At least, he won’t be on the ticket this year. The Democratic nominee and current VP Kamala Harris unveiled her running mate pick after two weeks of speculation. The honor went to Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota...
Letter to the editor: Olympics’ mocking of Christianity blatant
I’m a nonreligious Joe Schmo. What I saw at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony was the blatant disrespect of Christianity on a world stage. Even with my backwoods education, I clearly saw 13 central figures in colors and poses reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper (which inspired the...
Robet Weiner and Olivia Ardito: What the U.S. can learn from Canada about ending gerrymandering
Over the past few years, the legitimacy of American elections has been called into question by Democrats and Republicans. Both sides can point fingers and claim the opposing party might try to cheat, scheme or tamper with the election results in some way. At all levels, American elections have been...
Jackie Calmes: Reports of the death of Trump’s Project 2025 are greatly exaggerated
This summer, more and more voters have gotten to know the gist of Project 2025, the policy opus intended to guide a second Trump administration, and they thoroughly dislike it. Which explains the project’s purported demise in recent days at the Trump campaign’s hands, just as Democrats have jump-started the...
Letter to the editor: God doesn’t make mistakes that can be fixed by abortion
The chosen people and the followers of Jesus Christ both worship the one true God. Our God is all powerful; without God, we cannot take a breath or move our pinky. Abortionists believe that God makes a mistake when a new human being is conceived, and that mistake can be...
Letter to the editor: Why do evangelicals support un-Christian Trump?
I have never understood the wide-ranging and deep support given to Donald Trump by evangelical Christians and their ilk. Trump is most decidedly UN-Christian. He is not religious; he doesn’t go to church. Furthermore, in an April 2016 interview, Trump could not quote one Bible verse — not one! Mainly,...
Editorial: GPS tracking doesn’t have to be a danger for sheriff’s office
Westmoreland County commissioners want to track where county-owned vehicles are going. It makes sense. The county owns or leases 180 vehicles. Cars, trucks, SUVs, vans — all of them are intended to help county employees or elected officials provide the services residents need. The government is one of the largest...
Letter to the editor: Not going to take it anymore
It’s no longer 1963. It’s no longer just a single spectator with a primitive 8 mm Bell & Howell home movie camera. They can’t pull off another JFK-type assassination in 2024. The grassy knoll now has every angle covered by someone’s smartphone camera. There is nowhere to run and nowhere...
Ralph J. Cecere Jr.: Solar for Schools can power — and empower — school districts
This year’s state budget may have arrived 11 days late, but it wasn’t without some important wins for Pennsylvania schools. Headlines have highlighted $526 million to improve education funding inequity and $100 million for school facilities repairs. But another exciting opportunity lies inside the fiscal code bill: the Solar for...
James Coltella: What America might learn from elections in Europe
As America ponders its political future, the dynamics of politics in Europe offer U.S. lawmakers interesting food for thought — the change there isn’t necessarily about a movement to political extremes but a different kind of shift. While America has a very real fascination with the Old World, observing but...
Letter to the editor: A sartorial solution to our current crisis
Polyester is a much maligned fabric. In ages past, it was texturized to look like gabardine, in the case of a business suit, and, later, during the disco era, the 1970s, it was made to look like plaid mashed potatoes shaped with a fork. There were worse things happening to...
Letter to the editor: Olympics’ ridicule of Christianity disgraceful
Concerning “Opening ceremony tableau sparks Olympic flame of controversy” (July 29, TribLive): Who do the Olympic organizers think they’re fooling? Of course they meant to ridicule Catholics and Christians, Jesus’ supper with his disciples, by depicting them using the “rights victims du jour.” I don’t dismiss intolerance and outright abuse...
Letter to the editor: Is lawfare becoming the weapon of choice?
Lawfare is when government officials use their powers as a weapon against their adversaries with the intent of politically neutralizing them. The most famous lawfare cases were perpetrated by Democrats disguised as Klu Klux Klan members in the post-Civil War South who used it on former Black slaves. The legal...
Editorial: The end for terror masters: Death comes for Hezbollah’s Fuad Shukr and Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh
A small bit of justice came to two very evil men when they met their ends in Beirut and Tehran last week. Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was blasted to oblivion by Israel in Beirut after Hezbollah fired an Iranian-made Falaq-1 rocket into the Golan Heights, killing a dozen Druze children...
