Opinion category, Page 165
Editorial: Is paying former city employee with credit card an ethics problem?
Do we really need to keep explaining ethics to government officials? Looks like it. OK, one more time. Ethics are the moral principles governing what we do. They apply in a variety of arenas. There are business ethics, medical ethics, educational ethics, legal ethics. What we’re talking about here is...
Letter to the editor: We’re a republic, not a democracy
Recent articles and cartoons have opined that our national government is a democracy and not a republic. Unfortunately they are wrong. Article IV, Section 4: The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and...
Gary Franks: Having student loan debt is almost like being a sharecropper — really!
History would show that debt and interest payments have impeded the progress of the common man. This would be true for post-slavery American Blacks and to a lesser degree, for those today with student loan debt. “Following the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, most freed people lacked land...
S.E. Cupp: Biden attacking polls and press isn’t how to win
Denial is a river in Egypt, as the saying goes. Well, it’s also making itself quite at home at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. President Biden is trailing former President Donald Trump in five swing states, all of which Biden won in 2020, according to a new set of polls. While these...
Cal Thomas: Warren Buffet is wrong on taxes
Many people have made money by following the advice of Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett. His recommendations about which stocks to buy, which to sell and where to invest (or not) have earned him the “Oracle of Omaha” title. I prefer a modern cultural version: “the Taylor Swift of Capitalism.”...
Elizabeth Massa Hoiem: Talk to children — addiction info provides emergency first aid
Recent government support to aid families impacted by substance use is heartening. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced $28 million in grants to assist pregnant people and families, while Oregon lawmakers approved $27 million to fund education and drug prevention programs. But government funds are slow to...
Letter to the editor: Trump’s small gesture shows his character
As a speech teacher, I told my students about a boss who was hiring new employees. He deliberately left a book on the floor and waited to see who would stop to pick it up. Then he planned to hire that candidate. Recently, Donald Trump was about to board Marine...
Letter to the editor: State retirees need a COLA
Our Pennsylvania state House passed a bill in June 2023 to grant the pre-Act 9 (2001) retirees a cost of living adjustment (COLA). These retirees, most of them in their 80s and older, have not received a COLA for nearly two decades. They have been existing on the same income...
Lori Falce: Graduation speech ignites debate on gender roles
Harrison Butker, the Kansas City Chiefs player who kicked the longest field goal in Super Bowl history, has become a pariah for many after a graduation speech at Benedictine College. A devout and very conservative Catholic, Butker gave a speech not about taking the lessons from the Atchison, Kan., school...
Laurels & lances: Superintendents and cyclones
Laurel: To the next step. First Hempfield Area School District got an architect for the high school renovation. Then it got a project manager. Then it got an owner’s representative. Then it asked for bids, which went way over budget. Then it threw the bids out and went back to...
Letter to the editor: Criticizing Trump doesn’t equate to support of Biden
I am compelled to respond to those letter-writers who think criticism of Donald Trump automatically means the person criticizing must love and support President Biden. How nice to be able to see the world is such black and white terms! No need for any critical thinking. This lack of critical...
Raymond Offenheiser: Here’s what’s going wrong with Gaza relief
Amid persistent calls from the United States and other countries that Israel needs to make it easier for life-saving aid to reach Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military closed two of the region’s few operating border crossings in Rafah, a southern Gazan city, on May 7. Responding to...
Trudy Rubin: The biggest story last week was not Stormy Daniels or campus protests
While TV news was glued last week to Stormy Daniels’ tell-all testimony and pro-Palestinian demonstrations, scant attention was paid to Vladimir Putin’s tsar-like coronation for a fifth term. Nor to his bellicose parade of Russia’s nuclear-capable missiles through Red Square last Thursday, the annual Victory Day commemoration of World War...
Letter to the editor: Dangerous times
Regarding the letter “Conservative talking points don’t ring true” (May 9, TribLive): Famous scientist Carl Sagan once said, and I quote, “You can’t convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it’s based on a deep seated need to believe.” Facts don’t seem to matter...
Letter to the editor: Lawmakers should be keeping us safe
It is difficult to understand how women and mothers can be against safeguarding our families. Two of our legislators, who happen to be women, Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward and Senate Judiciary Chair Lisa Baker, are obstructing sensible gun-safety legislation. Protecting its citizens is the first responsibility of government....
Editorial: Does quadriplegic inmate deserve compassionate release after 49 years?
Ezra Bozeman was convicted of second-degree murder in 1975. The jury came to that decision 10 months after the crime occurred, when Morris Weitz was shot and killed during a robbery at a dry cleaner’s shop in Pittsburgh’s Highland Park neighborhood. Bozeman was sentenced to life in prison. He has...
Letter to the editor: Veteran won’t vote for Biden
The writer of the letter “Veteran stands for democracy, not Trump” (May 7, TribLive) stated that as a veteran, he pledged to defend our freedoms. I say, amen. Also as a veteran, I find it very difficult to stay silent when I see freedoms, values and individual responsibilities being regularly...
Jonah Goldberg: Biden’s problem goes beyond inflation, Gaza and age
A batch of new polls from The New York Times, Siena College and the Philadelphia Inquirer has very bad news for President Biden: He’s losing. Among registered voters, he’s significantly behind in five of the six battleground states that are most likely to decide the election. He does slightly better...
Doyle McManus: A lesson from Presidents Biden and Trump — the new normal is nonstop crises
A poll published by the Economist this month included a finding that was striking yet unsurprising: Almost 7 in 10 Americans believe things in the country have spun out of control. That’s a problem for President Joe Biden, who campaigned in 2020 offering a return to normalcy after four years...
Juana Saunders: Transparency would help restore confidence in our judiciary
The last time I saw my 26-year-old son, Gerald Thomas, was in Allegheny Court of Common Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani’s courtroom. The judge profiled and belittled him in open court, and needlessly extended his pretrial incarceration. My son died in jail shortly after. When I learned about the Judicial Conduct...
Joe Guzzardi: VP sweepstakes coming into final stretch
Former President Donald J. Trump may be tied up in a Manhattan courtroom, but he’s active online. One of his fundraising efforts asks supporters to help him choose his vice president. In a mass email, Trump asked, “Which person would you select as your next vice president? Type in the...
Letter to the editor: Grateful for kind gesture at Macy’s
A few days ago I went to Macy’s to return some things. I didn’t have my Macy’s card with me. A lady said, “Here, use mine,” and inserted her card. Between the things I was returning and the things I was purchasing, there was 66 cents difference, and she paid...
Letter to the editor: Trump will get fair trials
In the letter “Trump charges sign of election tampering” (May 7, TribLive), we find the question, “How can we possibly perceive the roughly 90 felony charges leveled against the Republican candidate by multiple Democratic prosecutors in multiple Democratic-led cities as anything other than blatant election tampering?” The defendant in these...
Editorial: What can Pennsylvania do about truancy?
Schools can be caught in a no-win situation when it comes to getting kids in the doors. Students are required to attend school until they turn 18 or graduate. It might be a public or private or charter school, but they have to be learning to read and write and...
Letter to the editor: Trump haters, wake up
Are Democratic voters just incredibly naive? Or maybe they just don’t care when the lies are about the “other guys.” So, if Donald Trump is targeted, anything goes. By now it should be obvious to the least savvy of voters that leftist prosecutors have targeted Trump and constructed the crimes....
