Opinion category, Page 193
Editorial: Spotting the problems with ShotSpotter responses
Chicago is discontinuing its use of ShotSpotter, a sound technology used to identify and locate gunfire in a community. Mayor Brandon Johnson didn’t like the program or the money that went toward it. Since signing a contract in 2019, Chicago has given software company SoundThinking about $9 million a year...
Letter to the editor: Lincoln has final word on cause of Civil War
Let’s finally kill that myth that several letter-writers are attempting to perpetuate regarding the cause of the Civil War. And we can let Abraham Lincoln settle it with his own words from his Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865 (emphasis mine): ”One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not...
Letter to the editor: Support Pa. gun violence prevention
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed investing $100 million in statewide gun violence prevention programing and education. For over 20 years the Foundation of HOPE has been serving the Greater Pittsburgh region by empowering people impacted by the criminal justice system to renew their faith, rebuild their lives and restore...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Mike Johnson won’t be remembered as one of the greats
We have had some great speakers of the House of Representatives throughout history, but it gets clearer every day that Mike Johnson is very unlikely to become one of them. Not long ago, Johnson turned against and killed the bipartisan immigration and border security bill negotiated by conservative Republican Sen....
Point: Record production means energy and economic security
America’s oil and natural gas producers are innovating to produce more oil and gas than ever while generating less emissions and bringing reliable, affordable energy to Americans and our global allies. In its latest short-term energy outlook, the Energy Information Administration estimated that U.S. crude oil production reached “an all-time...
Counterpoint: A fossil fuel export economy is wrong for America
America is producing more oil and gas than any nation at any point in history, and it’s an accomplishment that fails to give U.S. families energy security or lower prices. At the same time, U.S. exports of oil and gas have surpassed every other country on earth, enriching oil and...
Letter to the editor: Who wants to be a police officer today?
I read with dismay the article lamenting the decline in municipal police officers and the lack of new recruits (“Interest in local police work drops in Western Pa. despite jump in state police academy applicants,” Feb. 7, TribLive). Gee, I wonder why that is. It couldn’t be the result of...
Sounding off: Congress is failing us, Taylor’s election influence, straight talk about MAGA, fix immigration
Congress is failing us An open letter to the United States Congress: To the radicals on the right: You are not conservatives, you are obstructionists. To the radicals on the left: You may be “woke,” but you are not awake. Stop acting like a bunch of amateur circus clowns and...
Letter to the editor: Our National Guard should be protecting us at home
One detail was probably missed by most people when they heard about the Jan. 28 attack on U.S. forces in Jordan. This was that most of the soldiers injured were members of National Guard units. Over the past 20 years of endless military operations in the Middle East, National Guardsmen...
Editorial: Navalny’s death in Russian prison underscores danger for Fogel
Alexei Navalny died in a Russian prison Friday. He was 47, several years in to a 19-year prison sentence. On paper, his crime was “extremism.” In reality, his offense was opposition to Russian president and former KGB intelligence officer Vladimir Putin. The information about exactly how the death occurred is...
Letter to the editor: Taylor’s election influence
As I try to recover from the trauma of the Punxsutawney Phil debacle, now the holy war is all about Taylor Swift and her possible election endorsement. I have heard ludicrous propaganda schemes before, but this one ranks No. 1 and is infuriating. Whether you’re a Swiftie, MAGA or Biden...
Carl Golden: Should Biden follow Lyndon Johnson’s example?
Nearly 56 years ago, President Lyndon Johnson, in a nationally televised address, shocked the country with a straightforward 20-word declaration: “I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president.” Elected in a landslide — 61% to 38%, 486 electoral...
S.E. Cupp: What does Suozzi’s win mean? Not what you think.
In cable news, we practice the persuasive arts — and I’ll be the first to admit that we commentators have a penchant for hyperbole and a tendency to overstate. We especially like to do that with local and midterm elections like New York’s congressional special election. “What does it mean?”...
David McCall: Proposed sale of U.S. Steel puts America’s security at risk
Several hundred members of the United Steelworkers (USW) operate U.S. Steel’s Irvin Plant, producing flat-rolled sheet for the GE refrigerators, ovens and other appliances that keep American households running. USW members at other U.S. Steel locations across the country make tin for food cans, pipe for natural gas distribution systems...
Sarah Olexsak: EVs to charge ahead in 2024
The 2023 numbers are in: Plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) contributed to 9.1% of light-duty vehicle sales in the U.S., up from 6.8% in 2022. This means more than 3 million EVs were on roadways across the nation last year — with over a third of those bought in 2023 alone...
Letter to the editor: Mayorkas, is border secure or not?
For the past several years, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas repeatedly has said the border is secure. Now he says it is not, yoy! It only took him several years to finally make up his mind. Lou Gregovits North Huntingdon...
Letter to the editor: Questions for liberals
After a three-year absence, I have three questions libs have a problem answering, so I will answer for them. 1) How do you make electricity? Answer: gas, oil and coal. Oh, those are fossil fuels! No problem, wind and solar will charge those 300 million cars, trucks, buses and machines....
Lori Falce: None of us are marked safe from shootings like Kansas City
My friend Caroline lives in Kansas City. She was excited leading up to the Super Bowl. She has three boys and a husband, and she’s an enthusiastic supporter of her community, so a giant football event with her crowd on the national stage was right up her alley. Throw in...
Laurels & lances: Volunteers and tuition
Laurel: To finding a fix. One problem with having a volunteer fire department is that fires often happen while your volunteers aren’t available. If everyone is at work at 10 a.m., who is there to respond to a house fire? Greensburg council has taken steps to address that. On Monday,...
Letter to the editor: MAGA cult proud of their bullying
Please quit saying the Republican Party when you mean the Republican MAGA cult. They are different. If you are not a MAGA extremist, the cult has no use for you. They are bullies and proud of it. This was so evident when the former president said, if you contribute to...
Letter to the editor: The despicable Joseph R. Biden
We are living inside the Theater of the Absurd. This is not an overstatement. If anything, it fails to fully convey the impossibly dishonest, diabolical, disastrous administration of Joseph R. Biden. No dystopian novel ever written could have portrayed a more terrifying vision of a world and nation gone mad...
Paul Kengor: Putin’s twisted history
Vladimir Putin’s two-hour-plus conversation with Tucker Carlson was fascinating and terribly troubling. It was quite a lesson in history, or at least Putin’s twisted, dangerous history. Putin began with an eye-opening historical discourse. He politely replied to Carlson’s opening question on Ukraine by asking, “If you don’t mind, I will...
David Dzombak: Going to the moon and renewing inspiration
I have always felt highly fortunate to grow up in the 1960s with the inspiration of the intense and ultimately successful effort of my country to land a person on the moon by the end of the decade. The Gemini and Apollo programs inspired me and many others of the...
Scott Hadland and Joseph Friedman: ‘Just say no’ can kill kids. Teach them how to stay safe in the fentanyl era
Melanie Ramos was only 15 years old when she died of a suspected overdose in a high school bathroom in Hollywood. Police reported that she and a friend had purchased pills they thought were prescription painkillers but which were likely fakes containing fentanyl, a potent opioid incorporated into counterfeit pills...
Letter to the editor: Vote out the politicians who don’t do their jobs
The letter “Congress is failing us” (Feb. 11, TribLive) is spot on. The only thing I can add is vote them out. For some strange reason, voters are content to put up with this nonsense. Use your vote to put people in office who do their job, and, if after...
