Opinion category, Page 257
Brenton Smith: We don’t have 10 years to think about our Social Security insolvency problem
It has been nearly 40 years since Congress was able to find common ground on the future of Social Security. While millions of people depend on the system as a lifeline, politicians have done little to slow the erosion of the program’s finances. If the projections in the latest trustees...
Stephen Mihm: How the Titanic wreck became a money-making scheme
The ill-fated passengers who died trying to visit the wreck of the Titanic paid an extraordinary price for the privilege: $250,000 each. This is hardly surprising, given how many people view the story of the doomed ship with intense, if morbid, fascination. A profitable industry now caters to this obsession,...
Letter to the editor: Shapiro just another figurehead
Dear Mr. Shapiro, For about five minutes there, I was so astonished, and proud, that it looked like we had a leader who was a leader for “all” the people. Sadly, you reveal who you really are after all by vetoing school choice. Just another special interest figurehead. You should...
Letter to the editor: Higher education, health care not ‘rights’
Regarding government-paid higher education and health care: First, we need to understand that neither of these programs are rights. Our rights were created to ensure our freedoms solely. These things are the individual’s responsibility to ensure their future, based on their ambition and ability only. Second, as we have seen...
Letter to the editor: Congress must keep up fight against HIV/AIDS
Congress has an opportunity right now to move us closer to the day we end HIV/AIDS by supporting one of the most effective disease-fighting tools in our global health arsenal. I went to Washington, D.C., to make sure it happens. As a volunteer with the ONE Campaign, I went to...
Editorial: Releasing pythons slithers around responsibility
It should go without saying that, if you have a pet, you keep your pet. Keep it fed. Keep it healthy. Keep it under control, whether in the yard, in the house or in its cage. Too bad a Ross man didn’t do that. Police say the unidentified individual is...
Letter to the editor: ‘Every Bottle Back’ aids Pittsburgh recycling
Pittsburgh has long been a hub for innovation and technology. What started as the advancement of Pittsburgh’s manufacturing industry in the 1970s and ’80s has evolved today into a world-class research and development sector. At the Pennsylvania Beverage Association, it is our goal to catch Pittsburgh’s recycling program up with...
Letter to the editor: Our rights are being eroded
The first 10 amendments to the Constitution are defined as our “Bill of Rights.” They are defined as “inalienable rights.” All citizens need to read these. I am concerned with an erosion of these rights at the hands of our ruling elite. I don’t view this as a political party-specific...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Ethics hypocrisy of the Supreme Court
If you don’t have the stomach for more hypocrisy in government and politics these days, stay away from the plight of New Jersey Superior Court Judge Gary N. Wilcox versus the impunity with which United States Supreme Court justices operate. Wilcox is facing judicial ethics charges for posting 40 TikTok...
Sheldon H. Jacobson: Should the TSA end the 3-ounce liquid restriction?
The plot to bring liquid explosives onto flights from London to the U.S. and Canada in 2006 prompted the Transportation Security Administration to institute a limitation of 3 ounces on all liquid and gel containers placed in carry-on bags. This led to the well-known and much maligned 3-1-1 rule for...
Dennis Roddy: Voucher backtrack another calibrated move by Shapiro
Cynicism abounds in government. It’s where cynics go to win big. So the indignant surprise that Gov. Josh Shapiro went back on his word to Senate Republicans over scholarship vouchers for kids in failing schools is both understandable and meaningless. The passion of public policy is wasted on the mathematics...
Letter to the editor: Game commission should be investigated
After this big hunting license blunder (“Pa. hunters experience long lines virtually, in person on 1st day of Game Commission license sales,” June 26, TribLIVE), I think the time has come for the Pennsylvania attorney general to start looking into the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s good ol’ boys club. We hunters...
Sounding off: Affirmative action, Tree of Life, women’s sports among week’s topics
Why stop at affirmative action ruling? Yes, the Supreme Court and its painfully and reliably conservative ruling bloc were, perhaps, correct to rule that America’s institutes of higher learning had no right to give any sort of break to those whose lives and schoolings beforehand may have offered few or...
Letter to the editor: An argument against raising minimum wage
Minimum wage increases cause unemployment (decreases in total hours or total employment) or decrease workplace quality (which is difficult to measure), therefore harming workers. Consequently, Pennsylvania should not increase the minimum wage. Here’s a lesson in Econ 101: From the starting point of human action (applying means according to ideas...
Editorial: EMS services need reimbursement lifeline
There are few things we depend on more than the idea that when we call for help in an emergency, help will come. We call for police. We call for the fire department. We call for medical assistance. For 63 years, Jeannette EMS ambulances showed up for heart attacks and...
Letter to the editor: Why stop at affirmative action ruling?
Yes, the Supreme Court and its painfully and reliably conservative ruling bloc were, perhaps, correct to rule that America’s institutes of higher learning had no right to give any sort of break to those whose lives and schoolings beforehand may have offered few or no breaks. Overcoming long odds and...
Gary Franks: Supreme Court complicates goal of color-blind society
The biggest losers in the Supreme Court’s recent affirmative action decision are not Black people. When you are already in last place economically, you cannot go any lower. Ironically, good white people in America are the big losers. I am not attempting to mirror the court’s twisted logic — they...
Randy Highlands: Decision to close Jeannette EMS a difficult one
The decision to close Jeannette EMS was one that did not come lightly (“Jeannette EMS shuts down after 63 years,” July 3, TribLIVE). I have devoted over 44 years of my life to this service and community in various capacities within the service. The EMS industry as a whole is...
Dr. Andrew Smolar: Republican leadership, power and courage
So much has been said about Donald Trump that fans and foes are tired of him. What hasn’t been described are the motivations of Republican leadership — the congresspeople who fawn over him despite private reservations, and state Republicans who continue their support. Representatives of the Republican Party have remained...
François Dubet: French riots follow decades-old pattern of rage, with no resolution in sight
Although they never fail to take us aback, French riots have followed the same distinct pattern ever since protests broke out in the Eastern suburbs of Lyon in 1981, an episode known as the “summer of Minguettes”: a young person is killed or seriously injured by the police, triggering an...
Letter to the editor: No mercy for Bowers
Abraham Jacob Bonowitz is sadly misguided in his calls for clemency to be extended toward convicted mass murderer Robert Bowers (“Pittsburgh synagogue shooter should not be executed,” June 25, TribLIVE). Bowers, who took the lives of 18 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, has forfeited any claim...
Letter to the editor: Love all, harm none
Why is there something rather than nothing? Could numerous universes exist like grains of sand in an endless desert, or exist within every single atom? Our universe is 15.1 billion years old, and the earth is 4.65 billion years old. On a 24-hour time scale, we have been here less...
Lori Falce: Focus on beating opponents sets up bitter grudges, bigger battles
The crowing came quickly after a routine political back-and-forth turned into an unexpected upset with long implications. On Wednesday, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers took a pen to the state’s budget, meant to govern spending over a two-year period. He signed the plan into law — but not without a little...
Laurels & lances: Summer plans
Laurel: To a happy birthday. America celebrated its 247th year Tuesday, but there is a real milestone being marked closer to home: 2023 is Westmoreland County’s 250th birthday. It’s a celebration with a special name: Semiquincentennial. There’s a tongue-twister for you. The event is prompting celebrations all over the county,...
Letter to the editor: Let’s protect women’s sports
Fifty years ago, Title IX defined sports as education. That opened the door for a broad menu of choices for girls and women from elementary school to college to experience the joy of winning and the emptiness of defeat. Many learned how to compete and they learned they could win!...
