Opinion category, Page 166
Jared Bahir Browsh: Sports gambling creates a windfall, but raises questions of integrity
Sports betting is having a big moment across the United States. While gambling on sports has been legal for decades in countries such as the U.K., it wasn’t until 2018 that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could legalize sports betting. Before then, sports betting had been permitted only...
Danny Tyree: Is ‘value’ a dirty word?
As I sit here admiring my 88-cent container of mustard, I can’t help feeling self-conscious. I know that restaurants advertise their “value menus” and retailers offer no-frills knockoffs of their glitziest products, but I keep picturing the corporate CEOs loathing such concessions as a necessary evil to appease the (ugh!)...
Letter to the editor: What Trump gave us
Regarding the letter “Trump will let us shine again” (April 28, TribLive): When President Trump took office, the economy was in the 91st month of expansion since the great recession, caused by policies of the Obama administration in which Trump had no hand. If the letter-writer thinks that Trump’s policies,...
Letter to the editor: Supporting Israel is supporting terror
WARNING: The following letter will be disturbing to the sayanim (look it up) and all the media-brainwashed people who consider any criticism of Israel to be antisemitism: I contacted Sen. Bob Casey at his website and asked his position on the Israel/Gaza situation. I received a lengthy one-sided screed condemning...
Letter to the editor: Pharmacy benefit restrictions will hamper Pittsburgh’s economic development
Four years since the onset of covid-19, the aftershocks of the pandemic continue to ripple across Pittsburgh. Commercial office vacancies and falling city tax revenues present fresh challenges that we must work collaboratively to overcome. Despite these hurdles, downtown Pittsburgh is making strides to recover. Over the last couple years,...
Editorial: Cyril Wecht changed forensics and true crime
There is no denying that Cyril Wecht was a leading figure in his field. The forensic pathologist’s career was about death and the puzzles that surround it. He reviewed evidence in the assassination of John F. Kennedy and consulted on the investigation of Robert F. Kennedy’s shooting death. He weighed...
Dave Anderson: Discard the principle vs. compromise distinction
One of the most basic conflicts in politics, and in life in general, is whether to stand by your principles or be open to compromise. Woodrow Wilson is known as a president who stood by his principles regarding America’s need to join the League of Nations, an organization he proposed...
Seth Greenland: Have we learned nothing? The protester’s taunt, ‘Go back to Poland,’ is grotesque
When it was reported that a demonstrator near Columbia University had loudly suggested Jews should go back to Poland, I was already there. My wife, son and daughter and I were visiting Holocaust sites in Eastern Europe. My father’s family is from Poland and Ukraine, and many of our relatives...
Letter to the editor: Biden supports women
In March 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the bipartisan Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2022 (VAWA 2022), which was the fifth iteration of VAWA since he championed its original passage in 1994 as a senator. He had been pressing for its passage since 1990 but had been...
Editorial: Applying to college shouldn’t be so complicated
Although college isn’t for everyone, earning a degree still offers a pathway to success for many Americans. Yet, each year, hundreds of thousands of low-income, college-ready students never actually enroll, partly because the application process prioritizes administrative busywork over academics. Policymakers should work to make it simpler. Applying to college...
Letter to the editor: Men, women and grizzly bears
Lori Falce takes the clickbait explaining a social media meme that wastes large amounts of internet bandwith and human intellectual capital (“Men growling over bear question are missing the point,” May 3, TribLive). There’s no lesson to learn from the “man vs. bear” question. She’s not the only woman caught...
Editorial cartoons for the week of May 6
Editorial cartoons for the week of May 6....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of May 13
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of May 13....
Letter to the editor: Killer nurse tragedy could have been avoided
After pleading guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and 19 counts of attempted murder, Harrison nurse Heather Pressdee, who admitted to administering insulin to nursing home patients who did not require it, was justifiably sentenced to spend the rest of her life in prison (“ ‘She is evil personified’: Victims’...
Letter to the editor: Marc Fogel a victim of politics
The editorial “Difference between Brittney Griner and Marc Fogel? One came home” (May 4, TribLive) sent a powerful message regarding Fogel’s struggles in Russian custody. He lives in pain from all the surgeries he had, and possibly medical marijuana was the only option to relieve some of his pain. When...
Editorial: Jacob Jaillet’s story reveals the overlooked consequences of gun violence
When it comes to tragic outcomes, death can often be seen as the most terrible end. It is important to remember that sometimes that might not be true. Jacob Jaillet was not murdered by a bullet on July 27, 2021. It severed the 21-year-old’s spinal cord and left him imprisoned...
Letter to the editor: Lawmakers should work on fixing Social Security
Congressional lawmakers, wake up and do something about the Social Security system. People are tired of politicians repeating that the system will run out of money and not be able to pay recipients their full payments. They claim Social Security may cut payments in the future because of funding issues....
Joseph Sabino Mistick: A not so beautiful day in the neighborhood
WQED television was established in 1954 — right here in Pittsburgh — as the first community-sponsored educational television station in the nation. The station was truly Pittsburgh, originally funded in part by 200,000 $2 donations from local families. WQED is in our community’s genes, and our genes are in WQED....
Parmy Olson: If AI wrecks democracy, we may never know
This year promises to be a whopper for elective government, with billions of people — or more than 40% of the world’s population — able to vote in an election. But nearly five months into 2024, some government officials are quietly wondering why the looming risk of AI hasn’t, apparently,...
Claudine Sipili: The rising tide — bear witness to families swept into homelessness
Newly released federal data reveals an intensifying homelessness crisis impacting families across America. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report found a staggering 15.5% increase in the number of families with children experiencing homelessness compared with 2022, reversing the downward trend in family homelessness that...
Meredith Elizalde: Legislators must save our children from gun violence
The Democratic Party has traditionally been supportive of gun safety legislation. Therefore, it should be a safe assumption when you cast a vote for a state representative on the Democratic ticket, that you are also casting a vote for gun safety. However, Rep. Frank Burns, D-Cambria, consistently defies this, as...
Letter to the editor: School funding and more taxes
I applaud the well thought out, viable suggestion in the letter “An equitable school funding alternative to property tax” (May 3, TribLive). However, it would just mean an additional tax. The politicos wouldn’t dream of giving tax money back! They will just spend the money on something else or line...
Sounding off: Policing Hempfield, Bob Casey, protesters on readers’ minds
Time for Hempfield to get its own police force I’m curious about Hempfield Township’s decision to secure a state grant to demolish an unused state penetentary for $3.5 million (“Demolition plans advancing for former state prison,” May 6, TribLive). Wouldn’t that money go a lot further in securing their own...
Letter to the editor: Why people don’t like Trump
I believe people don’t like Donald Trump because he lacks certain qualities: He has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honor and no grace. While Trump may be laughable, I doubt...
Editorial: Some government jobs require more professionalism than popularity
Elections or appointments can fill a job vacancy in one of two ways. It may by popular acclamation — meaning of all the people up for a job, one person emerges as the favorite. Or it may be by default if only one person is in the running. In jobs...
