Opinion category, Page 180
Laurels & lances: Education and resistance
Laurel: To recognizing worth. The cost of a college education has skyrocketed in the past decades. Pennsylvania’s college costs, in particular, are higher than in many other states. Auditor General Timothy DeFoor visited Westmoreland County Community College on Tuesday to talk about opportunities in his office. The department is expanding...
Letter to the editor: What can Israel do when faced with Hamas threats?
What would you have Israel do? Hamas brutally attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing over 1,200 Israelis, concertgoers, old men, women (raping many before killing them), children and babies. A proportional number of Americans would be over 30,000 Americans killed. Hamas has promised more attacks into Israel. Hamas’ stated goal...
Oliver Schilke: Trust in the shadows — how loyalty fuels illicit economic transactions
When you think about economic activities that society tends to frown on — like offering bribes, paying for the services of a sex worker or even selling human organs — “trust” and “loyalty” might not be the first things that come to mind. But these seemingly positive characteristics play a...
Lauren Lassabe Shepherd: College administrators falling into tried and true trap laid by the right
Interrogations of university leaders spearheaded by conservative congressional representatives. Calls from right-wing senators for troops to intervene in campus demonstrations. Hundreds of student and faculty arrests, with nonviolent dissenters thrown to the ground, tear-gassed and tased. We’ve been here before. In my book “Resistance from the Right: Conservatives and the...
Letter to the editor: National Day of Prayer
Today is the National Day of Prayer. We should be going to our war rooms in prayer daily, but let us make this day special. Visit a local church celebration and fellowship in prayer. Visit www.nationaldayofprayer.org to learn about the National Day of Prayer Task Force and a beautiful prayer...
Letter to the editor: Saddened by Trump revelations
The trial of former President Donald Trump saddens me. It is unlike any other in our nation’s history. Outcomes will be the subject of books, classroom studies and debate. A person being above the law will be argued. While I am saddened, I’m not sympathetic to Trump. I have been...
Editorial: For a change, state lawmakers put ethics at the fore. Now they should look in the mirror
Bryan Burhans has stepped down from his position as executive director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The move came suddenly after lawmakers and other commission members questioned a limited liability company he operated. “That’s not to suggest there were any ethical violations on his part, but there were questions about...
Letter to the editor: Realities on which both sides should agree
Your anti-Trump letter-writers most likely get their “facts” from CNN, MSNBC and the New York Times, while your anti-Biden letter writers, from Fox News, NEWSMAX and The Wall Street Journal. If you are confused as to which side to believe, it might make more sense to simply decide if our...
Jonah Goldberg: What we keep getting wrong about campus protests
The current campus demonstrations are a reminder that, of all the mossy clichés and puffed-up pieties of polite (and impolite) American discourse, the sanctity of protest is the hardest to question. Doubting the loftiness of protest invites elite scorn more than any other skepticism about a constitutional right. Proposing limits...
Mary M. McCarthy: Japan’s diplomatic charm offensive in U.S. aims to keep Washington in committed relationship
April 2024 proved to be a busy month in Japanese-U.S. diplomacy. The month saw a state visit to the U.S. by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida that included a White House sit-down with President Joe Biden on April 10. The next day, both men were joined by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos...
Letter to the editor: Presidential immunity
Any president who can overturn an election can overturn the entire Constitution. I believe this was President Trump’s aim; he has practically said so. I listened to the Supreme Court arguments over whether he could do this legally with immunity. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said, if presidents weren’t protected...
Letter to the editor: Vote out Bob Casey
If you do not enjoy high prices at the gas pump and grocery store and you are sick of the endless parade of illegal immigrants invading our country each day, there is something you can do to help stop the madness. Be honest with yourself as to the cause of...
Editorial: Internet accessibility shouldn’t be a bait-and-switch
How is a new government program like a special rate from your cable company or cellphone provider? It can expire, leaving you with a bill you didn’t anticipate. For low-income households who were given access to broadband internet through federal investment, the special offer could be about to end. The...
Letter to the editor: Gun makers’ liability
The editorial “Will Mt. Pleasant boy’s death change federal law?” (April 16, TribLive) on the misuse of a firearm by teenagers resulting in a tragic death correctly states that federal law provides protection to the firearms industry from lawsuits for criminal use/misuse of their legal products and uses an analogy...
Ariel Kalil: Multigenerational households key to better support for kids of single mothers
Decades of research show, on average, children who grow up with parents who are not married and living together have worse achievement and behavioral and well-being outcomes than children of two-parent homes. Despite this evidence, rates of nonmarital childbearing have risen dramatically in the U.S., especially among the noncollege-educated. What...
Alexandra Paskhaver: Pick of the litter in the suburbs
Just because I think littering should be punishable by death doesn’t mean I’m an unreasonable person. I leave tips at restaurants. I smile when dogs get on public transport. Sometimes, I cry during sitcoms. I also have a freshly oiled chainsaw in my garage. But most suburbanites do. The suburbs...
Letter to the editor: Transparency in county government
Some letters have appeared in this paper regarding Westmoreland County’s budget and tax increase. Some residents have come to commissioner meetings to voice their concern or called our offices. After reading and hearing these concerns, I think voters are due transparency. Every month in 2024, I will attempt to host...
Letter to the editor: Opposition to drop boxes valid
State Rep. Josh Siegel recently said, “We need to vigorously defend access to drop boxes. Opposition to drop boxes is one of the most unfortunate, pernicious aspects of the increasing efforts to undermine the integrity of our elections.” How so? How in the world can this statement not be seen...
Editorial: Kent State shooting should teach lessons for dealing with protesters
The students were upset. They wanted to be heard. They were emphatic that the university listen to their demands. They were opposed to a war half a world away and wanted to do something. And then people died. In May 1970, U.S. college campuses were rife with protests regarding the...
Letter to the editor: More important issues than Trump airport
Recently, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler proposed renaming Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C., the Donald J. Trump Airport. Usually things are named for someone after a consensus has been reached concerning whether his legacy to a community or the nation has been generally good. Trump, being in court and facing 88 felony...
Danny Tyree: Does your town need renaming?
The venerable comic strip “Gasoline Alley” is wrapping up a storyline in which the dastardly assistant mayor schemed to change the town’s name from Gasoline Alley to the ostensibly more modern Electric Acres (without even offering a compromise such as Hybrid Hollow). Sentimentality saved the day in the funnies, just...
Jeb Bush: What the U.S. can learn from Indiana’s high school redesign
Across the country, most high school classrooms still resemble their 20th-century counterparts despite massive changes in the workforce over the past 50 years. Today’s jobs require advanced skills and education or training, yet many graduates feel unprepared for their next steps. A 2022 YouScience survey found three-fourths of high school...
Robin Abcarian: Criminalizing homelessness is unconscionable, but is it unconstitutional?
Last Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments about whether a small Oregon city can cite and prosecute homeless people for sleeping in public places when they have nowhere else to lay their heads. If the case reveals nothing else about the state of our country, it reveals this: We...
Carl P. Leubsdorf: Proof that bipartisanship is possible
For months, supporters of the embattled Ukrainians have contended there was a bipartisan House majority that would back continued U.S. military support if only its Republican leaders would allow a vote. Their contention was proven correct last weekend when the House passed a $95 billion package of support for Ukraine...
Letter to the editor: Dark side of green energy
The average lifespan of a solar panel is only 25 years. Afterwards, does the user have to reinvest in all new panels when all the government grants are gone and the “green energy bubble” has burst? What happens when these solar companies go under? When millions of burned-out, Chinese-made, solar...
