Opinion category, Page 163
Colin McNickle: Throwing good money after bad at PRT
Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) could receive millions of dollars more in state funding for its fiscal 2024-25 budget. But scholars at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy say that would be imprudent. “PRT has been remarkably inefficient in the use of public dollars in comparison to transit agencies in other...
Claudine Schneider: Happy Birthday, America. Will it be happy in 2025?
When it comes to secular holidays in the United States, it’s hard to beat the Fourth of July. The country turns out for picnics, parades and mosquito bites at dusk as families await the fireworks. There is much to celebrate this week. We are 248 years old and the longest...
Letter to the editor: McCormick is from Pa., and is the leader we need
Here we go again. Sen. Bob Casey is accusing Dave McCormick of not being from Pennsylvania. Check your facts, Bob! McCormick was born in Washington, Pa., and attended Bloomsburg High School. This is the same thing the left said about Dr. Oz; look what we got from that. Hillary Clinton...
Letter to the editor: RCV is the solution to RFK
So — what does it really mean that RFK Jr. is on the Pennsylvania ballot? RFK Jr. is polling at 5.5% in Pennsylvania, and Democrats and Republicans alike are prepared that he’ll play the role of the “spoiler” candidate. We’ve been down this road many times before, whether it’s Ross...
Letter to the editor: The Democrats’ dilemma
The so-called “presidential debate” completely and totally exposed Joe Biden for what he is, which is a geezer ready for the home. I’m sure a lot of viewers actually felt sorry for the poor guy because after a full week of debate prep with 16 of his most trusted advisers,...
Editorial cartoons for the week of July 1
Editorial cartoons for the week of July 1....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of July 1
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of July 1....
Letter to the editor: Drivers should have freedom to choose vehicles
In the article “Thefts of charging cables pose yet another obstacle to appeal of electric vehicles” (June 12, TribLive), the author emphasizes the issues that consumers must weigh when purchasing electric vehicles (EVs), particularly concerning reliability and charging issues. But soon there will not be room for individual preferences. The...
Letter to the editor: Strip District should cater to pedestrians
I moved to Pittsburgh for work six years ago, and it was the Strip District that convinced me to stay. It’s a pleasant experience walking to work, walking to get groceries, walking to grab dinner. It’s definitely a massive improvement compared to getting stuck in traffic all day, every day...
Editorial: Six months is too long to wait for Hamilton’s resignation
The end of the year is too far away. Westmoreland County Register of Wills Sherry Magretti Hamilton has had a bad year. She’s been held in contempt of court by two judges. Multiple orders have attempted to force her to do her job. There have been hearings. A conservator was...
Letter to the editor: Help with Pa. voter identification requirements
Pennsylvania requests ID the first time you vote in your precinct. This rule affects first-time voters and anyone who has moved and is voting at a new precinct. Pennsylvania voters also must provide ID information when requesting a mail-in or absentee ballot. The lists of what types of identification are...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Dry spell may be Gainey’s defining moment
There are moments in every big-city mayor’s administration that define the mayor’s performance and values better than anything else. For the administration of Pittsburgh’s Mayor Ed Gainey, the failure to turn on the city’s over 200 drinking fountains in this hot summer may be such a moment. As first reported...
Commentary: The great powers are itching for another nuclear arms race. Who will stop them?
In early June, the Biden administration announced a more “competitive” nuclear weapons strategy, after Moscow and Beijing reportedly spurned U.S. efforts to discuss arms control. The new approach includes the possibility of increasing America’s deployment of strategic nuclear weapons. The administration’s more muscular stance may be only a small down...
Carl P. Leubsdorf: Expect another closely divided Congress
After two years of bitter congressional conflict, both parties are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in hopes of gaining working majorities in next year’s session. But it’s a long shot — for both. More probably, 2025 will again see divisions in both houses so slender that the party winning...
Nicole Molinaro and Josh Fleitman: Supreme Court gives Pa. way to stop domestic violence killings
Amid a deluge of decisions handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court, one recent ruling stands out as good news for those seeking to protect domestic violence survivors and others from fatal shootings. And it also shines as a beacon of hope for even stronger safety protections in the future....
Letter to the editor: God is life, and abortion is death
The writer of the letter “Abortion and the Bible” (June 16, TribLive) has used the Bible to make a fallacious argument concerning the morality of abortion. If he had been careful not to take the sacred text out of context, he would have seen the folly of his argument. The...
Sounding off: Bump stock ban, cyber charters, Trump, Biden among week’s topics
Pa. needs a bump stock ban I am writing regarding the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a federal ban on bump stocks, the lethal device that turns semi-automatic rifles into military-style killing machines. At the Las Vegas music festival in 2017, the shooter used this device to kill more than...
Letter to the editor: Biden must be stopped
So it wasn’t enough that on day one President Biden opened up the floodgates to allow illegal immigrants to trample our borders. Under his watch, students and others were allowed to shut down colleges, and people were allowed to deface the American flag and statues while praising terrorists. He has...
Editorial: Was presidential debate the worst ever?
During the 2024 primary season, neither presidential candidate participated in a debate. That changed Thursday when President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and former president Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, took the podiums in an audience-free Atlanta event on CNN. For many, it was deemed a disaster. A...
Letter to the editor: Reflecting on insidiousness of slavery
The op-ed “Juneteenth is about more than the end of slavery” (June 19, TribLive) is one of the most important columns to be printed in any newspaper, and I am most appreciative for it. Historically it is recognized that slavery was the most insidious aspect of the new nation, morally,...
S.E. Cupp: Biden’s poor debate was so infuriating
This last week of June 2024 will go down in history as one of the most consequential in American politics. June 27, in particular will go down as one of the most consequential debates in American elections — perhaps even more so than Nixon/Kennedy, or Lincoln/Douglas. That’s because the CNN...
Steve Lopez: How’d the grandpa debaters do? 3 experts on aging size up Biden, Trump
Not a good night for Biden. Not a proud night for Trump. A sad night for the United States. That’s my take after watching the presidential debate, but I didn’t watch alone. I enlisted three experts on aging to share their observations. I was focused on a single question while...
Chris Antypas: Only PBM reform can save Pa. pharmacies from closure crisis
We haven’t even crossed the midway point of 2024, and more than 140 pharmacies have closed in Pennsylvania since we began the year, and countless local jobs have been lost. Sadly, there aren’t any signs this trend will slow down anytime soon until Pennsylvania enacts comprehensive pharmacy benefit manager (PBM)...
Elwood Watson: The Ten Commandments and the creep of Christian nationalism
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry was brimming with pride and arrogance last week when he signed into law a requirement that every classroom in his state — from kindergarten to college chemistry labs — will be required to display a copy of the Ten Commandments. “I can’t wait to be sued,”...
Letter to the editor: Casey should focus on our problems
Sen. Bob Casey has a political ad talking to steelworkers about how he supported the new infrastructure law which will benefit them. I went to the website and read this law, which has an addendum which states that products made in the USA must be purchased by companies unless they...
