Opinion category, Page 203
Tom Purcell: Reading more books is good for America
When I read about the “silent book club” trend, it filled me with instant calm and hope. As it goes, in 2012, two friends in San Francisco came up with the idea for a non-formal social event in which book lovers can gather at a coffee house or pub, then...
Ruth A. Johnston: Disability, not danger, is the right standard
Eleven years ago today, my mother died. You may have seen our story on the news: my son Levi stabbed her while she was eating breakfast because he believed the Archangel Michael told him that, “it’s time to kill the witch.” You may have wondered why we hadn’t gotten his...
Colin McNickle: Data lacking on benefit of PIT’s international flight subsidies
An outre, as in curious, thing has happened in conjunction with all the happy talk that Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) is rebounding just fine, thank you, from the covid-19 pandemic: No data have been released to support the contention that taxpayer-subsidized international flights have boosted the local economy, says Jake...
Letter to the editor: Sweep them out with your vote
Old military quip: New broom sweeps clean. When an organization turns inept and dangerous, it’s time to sweep it out. This November, get hold of the broom handle and start sweeping with your vote. Regis Farrell Greensburg...
Letter to the editor: Rightful owners of Gaza
It is time that our government takes a very close look into the true rightful landowners of Gaza. The answer is in the Bible and has been there for thousands of years. Abraham was given all this land by God for the people of Israel. The Jew was placed all...
Letter to the editor: Quit drinking the Trump Kool-Aid
What a pathetic state this country is in! The Republicans got what they wanted in the bipartisan border deal, and then they shut it down because Donald Trump told them to? From what I read, the Democrats gave in on multiple fronts to get this passed so we could give...
Letter to the editor: Not your parents’ pot
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s eyes were beaming at the thought of additional tax revenue from recreational marijuana sales to prop up our overpriced education system (we rank No. 8 in education spending). These facts come from Smart Approach to Marijuana: • Marijuana has psychological effects. • Marijuana is addictive. • Marijuana...
Editorial: How reliable are corporate sale promises?
The importance of knowing what you are getting into was illustrated Thursday in West Virginia. That was when Cleveland-Cliffs announced the shuttering of a tin production facility in Weirton. Cleveland-Cliffs is one of the largest producers of steel in the United States. It has plants across multiple states, including a...
Letter to the editor: We should help our country first
There are 446 million people living in the European Union. Almost 24 million are non-citizens. Many of these non-citizens arrived in waves coming from the EU’s south. The countries of the EU, in general, were highly in debt when the massive influx of immigrants flooded the border. It was well...
Letter to the editor: Backward steps on abortion
In her letter “No time to go backward on abortion safety” (Jan. 29, TribLive), Maria Gallagher, legislative director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, complains that a law supposedly ensuring the safety of women is being considered for repeal. This law had nothing to do with abortion safety but was intended...
Editorial cartoons for the week of Feb. 19
Editorial cartoons for the week of Feb. 19....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Feb. 19
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Feb. 19....
Letter to the editor: Monroeville Convention Center woes
While I sympathize with the municipality of Monroeville, I don’t believe that the mayor or anyone else involved in local government should be sending letters and “expressing extreme concern” regarding the closure of the convention center (“Monroeville officials: Hobby Lobby welcome, just not at convention center,” Feb. 15, TribLive). If...
Letter to the editor: No way to conduct a humanitarian war
All that seems to be published today about the Israeli/Hamas war is that there should be a more humane method of carrying on war. What? The true leaders of post-World War II knew it was hell. They knew that the goal was to avoid war at any cost (Henry Kissinger,...
Letter to the editor: Stutterers have a hero in Bryan Rust
How uplifting it was to read the article “Penguins forward Bryan Rust stands up for those who stutter” (Feb. 3, TribLive). I agree with speech-language pathologist Allison Ladavat of the speech clinic at Duquesne University in that I never had any heroes to look up to in my stuttering youth....
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...
