Opinion category, Page 255
Letter to the editor: Freedom of speech; religion and morality
I think the writer of the letter “Our rights are being eroded” (July 9, TribLIVE) needs to reread the First Amendment. It states Congress shall make no laws abridging the freedom of speech. Nowhere does it say there will not be consequences for speech in the private sector. So people...
Editorial cartoons for the week of July 17
Editorial cartoons for the week of July 17....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of July 17
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of July 17....
Letter to the editor: We need pride celebrations because of our bigotry
Bigotry toward the LGBTQ community shows exactly why pride celebrations are so very necessary. The increased visibility and mainstream inclusion of this part of our population have caused great discomfort among those who spew hate-filled rhetoric toward those whom they don’t understand. This rhetoric has often led to violence against...
Letter to the editor: The government will always get you
Regarding the article “Poll: Taxes, cost of living driving away young residents from Pennsylvania” (July 5, TribLIVE): I’ve developed a theory over the years that the government is going to get you somehow regardless of where you live. There will be exceptions, and one individual’s situation will be different from...
Editorial: Coroners’ obstruction is obituary for open records
In a perfect world, no one would ever need to see a coroner’s report. They would be the paper relics of a life ended. They would be filed away in the bureaucratic mausoleum that is a governmental file cabinet. They would rest in the peace of the millions of other...
Letter to the editor: The American political system
Politics is one of the few jobs in America where unqualified people can ask the public for money to be elected to positions they are not qualified to fill. The American political system further complicates itself with the fact that the blind are leading the blind. The newly elected politicians...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Wray hits back at FBI weaponization accusations
Only in an upside-down world would the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee accuse conservative Republican FBI Director Christopher Wray of weaponizing the Justice Department against conservative Republicans. But that is what happened last week. Wray testified for five hours before the committee, spending most of his time discrediting and fending off...
F.D. Flam: How much heat can the human body stand?
The June that just ended was the Earth’s hottest — ever. And the first week of July saw the trend continue. The surging summer temperatures made me wonder: Just how much heat can the human body stand? Deaths from heat are pretty common and, as the world heats up, may...
Nicole Woitowich: Clinical trials are better at including women. But data analysis is still a real problem.
The summer of 1993 was an eventful time: Prince changed his name to a symbol, “Jurassic Park” was released and Congress passed the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act requiring the inclusion of women in clinical research. Most people aren’t aware of this law, which requires that women be included...
LZ Granderson: Jailing unhoused people for sleeping in public is no solution to homelessness
Earlier this month, a group of conservative judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit spoke out against allowing homeless people to sleep in public spaces, after the court’s liberal majority decided that those with nowhere else to rest cannot be subject to criminal penalties. It’s the...
Sounding off: U.S. vulnerability, raises for school retirees, 4th Amendment, student loans among week’s topics
America vulnerable to enemies America has never been more vulnerable to being destroyed by a foreign enemy than it is now. Since Joe Biden has been in office, there have been over 4.5 million migrant encounters at the southwest border and 1.2 million known gotaways who evaded U.S. Border Patrol...
Editorial: The debate over where drug treatment should be located
Not in my backyard. It’s a statement that draws lines around not only what is acceptable but also where. It’s the kind of thing you usually see surrounding something everyone acknowledges is necessary but that they would rather forget or ignore — and that’s hard to do when it is...
Letter to the editor: Taxpayers would finance COLA increase for school retirees
The writer of the letter “School retirees deserve COLA increase” (July 3, TribLIVE) raised public awareness on the cost of living adjustment (COLA) issue, which led me to dig deeper and gain a broader perspective. The issue that teachers haven’t had an increase in two decades belongs to the PSERS...
Gary Franks: Labor participation rate better tells the story about our economy
Is the media trying to make President Joe Biden look good instead of reporting the news as news, along with analysis? For example, are we being misled about the condition of our economy? Does anyone not understand that if you are not working, you are unemployed? Biden’s claim that the...
Anthony Pahnke: Farmers deserve to be able to control what they grow
My grandma calls him the “seed man.” He used to come by our farm outside of Fond du Lac, Wis., every year, trying to persuade us to buy the latest variety of corn and wheat seeds. If the “seed man” didn’t have something we liked, then there were the options...
Mark Nicastre: The letter that sank school choice in Pa.
One of the most overused expressions in sports, politics or any competitive endeavor is “they pulled defeat from the jaws of victory.” But sometimes the expression fits. School-choice advocates and lobbyists this month made one of the biggest errors I’ve seen in almost 20 years of working in politics and...
Letter to the editor: Forgetting patriotic songs and our country’s history
This July 4, as I sat on my porch listening to the bells of St. Paul Church playing “America the Beautiful” and “God Bless America,” I wondered: Does the youth of today know these patriotic songs or is it, like U.S. history is, all but forgotten? Mary Jennings Greensburg...
Letter to the editor: The Fourth Amendment controversy
During the War for Independence, British soldiers ransacked the home of patriots with general warrants. Our founders created the Fourth Amendment to keep our government from doing the same. Legal warrants have to be very specific. It is the basis of our privacy rights. The armed FBI raid on President...
Lori Falce: Hardest part of jury’s job starts now
Whether or not Robert Bowers was guilty of the murders of 11 members of three Jewish congregations at a synagogue in Pittsburgh was never really in doubt. When the jury returned a guilty verdict in June, it was what everyone knew it was: the first milestone in a trial that...
Laurels & lances: Star power and shots fired
Laurel: To a special delivery. Madonna and Beyonce may have let Pittsburgh down with canceled concerts this summer, but then a redhead from the United Kingdom came to town to show a little love to his fans. Ed Sheeran has a kind of everyman Brit image — like he’s the...
Letter to the editor: Fiscal responsibility in Norwin
Regarding the letter “ ‘Good stewards’ in Norwin?” (June 23, TribLIVE): Is it expecting too much for your school district to follow the law? Pennsylvania Act 14, Section 440 of the Pennsylvania School Code of 1949, requires each school district to present a treasurer’s report to the school board at each...
Carl P. Leubsdorf: Pence has difficult path ahead
Mike Pence has wanted to be president for a long time. That was one factor that impelled him to seek — and win — Indiana’s governorship in 2012 at a time when he was a rising power and potential speaker in the GOP-controlled House. It was certainly a factor in...
Letter to the editor: Thankful for Community Day in Allegheny Township
We’d like to give a public thanks to Supervisor Jamie Morabito for bringing back Community Day to Allegheny Township. It’s exactly what this township needs to boost morale, extend camaraderie, spend time with your family and meet up with old friends. Charles and Tanya Schachte Allegheny Township, Westmoreland County...
Letter to the editor: Greensburg residents have good ideas
Greensburg faces many challenges. Hopefully many Greensburgers will fill out the survey (“Greensburg survey will provide input as real estate consultants weigh in on downtown sites,” July 8, TribLIVE); I have. I believe we are a citizenship with good ideas. Maybe a beginning could be traffic calming (two-way streets), parking...
