Opinion category, Page 324
Editorial: Legacy of CHIP is more than medical
Pennsylvania’s Child Health Insurance Program is now 30 years old. Since 1992, it has been a pathway to healthy lives for children in the Keystone State and a guardrail protecting families. It was a model for the national CHIP program that did the same for kids and parents in other...
Letter to the editor: Biden’s accomplishments
Even with the Senate split 50-50, President Biden’s accomplishments in just two years are very impressive. His handling of covid-19 saved countless lives. Medicare coverage improved. Childhood poverty levels were cut in half. The bipartisan PACT Act and Safer Communities Act were passed. The CHIPS Act, which will strengthen American...
Gary Franks: A boxing strategy for Ukraine
I want to believe that Ukrainians in time will push the Russians out of their country. Afghanistan did just that back in the 1980s. I see Ukraine being able to do the same. But fighting in this manner, going “toe to toe” with Russia, may not be the best approach....
S.E. Cupp: Getting the vapors over the Trump-Ye-Fuentes dinner
While it’s nearly impossible to think of a headline that Donald J. Trump didn’t relish, no matter the scandalous implications, he might just be getting sick of the never-ending loop of stories on his now-infamous dinner with rabid antisemite Kanye West and noted white supremacist Nick Fuentes. It was a...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: We owe them much better than this
Joe Engel died last week. It’s unlikely you will know the name, especially if you don’t live in Charleston, S.C., his hometown since 1949. Joe never wrote a great novel or made a scientific breakthrough. His accomplishment was less gaudy, yet no less significant. Joe lived to tell. I met...
Cal Thomas: On turning 80
“Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures.” (Psalm 90:10) A TV ad for a dietary supplement features a woman who says, “Age is just a number and mine is unlisted.” Mine is not unlisted and a simple internet search can reveal it, so I...
Letter to the editor: Missing when we were Christian, English-speaking
I’m beginning to think that you know when you’re old when nothing at all makes sense any more. If we can’t stop it, control it or deal with it, let’s legalize it. First it’s murder (abortion) then it’s marijuana what is next? Maybe theft, heroin, shootouts in the streets? We...
Lori Falce: I want to vote for Jimmy Stewart
When you ask people what they think we need in government, you can get a wide variety of answers. We need more conservatives. We need more liberals. More progressives. More hardliners. More Christians. More business people. More people with experience. Fewer millionaires. More “real” people. There is no shortage of...
Laurels & lances: Bridges and brick walls
Laurel: To an end in sight. The year started with a bang — literally. It was Jan. 28, and the president was on his way to talk about infrastructure when a very public example of why it was important occurred in Pittsburgh. The Fern Hollow Bridge in Frick Park collapsed,...
Letter to the editor: Election may be over, but political bribery is not
The election may be over. But political bribery is not. I voted on Nov. 8, but I woke up the next morning to a state that still permits lawmakers to accept gifts, in the form of cars, vacations and fancy meals, from lobbyists. It’s ludicrous but painfully true. Bribery is...
Jessica Poitras and Daryl James: Ugly deal for Pa. beauty workers
Pennsylvania code enforcers caught a criminal on May 21, 2021, but not the dangerous kind. The outlaw’s offense was braiding hair with a lapsed occupational license. Her penalty: $250. Many other Pennsylvania beauty professionals remain on the lam. Since 2009, anyone guilty of twisting, wrapping, weaving, extending, locking or braiding...
Letter to the editor: Let’s help our homeless like we help immigrants
The current estimate on immigrants illegally crossing the southern border since President Biden took office is approximately 5 million people. Where are these people now? How are they living? Where are they living? How do they eat? Does the U.S. government provide them with free housing and health care and...
Letter to the editor: World AIDS Day
Everyone around the world deserves to lead a life of dignity and opportunity. That’s why we mark World AIDS Day today. I urge Sen. Pat Toomey to ensure the U.S. can maintain its historic leadership in the global fight against AIDS by reauthorizing one of the most effective tools in...
Editorial: Corrections officers are key to a successful jail
The most important part of a corrections operation is not the bars. A jail is not a cage. It isn’t a place where people are chucked in and the door is locked behind them like some medieval dungeon. At least, it’s not supposed to be. No, the word “corrections” implies...
Letter to the editor: What will Republicans do?
Accepting that Republicans have gained control of the U.S. House, I was anxious to hear their plans for dealing with inflation and crime, these being the primary issues raised during their campaigns. I was especially eager to learn of their ideas for ways of battling worldwide inflation. How capturing just...
Jonah Goldberg: McCarthy may win House speakership, but he can’t control the clown caucus
Kevin McCarthy’s quest for the House speaker’s gavel is a near perfect inside-the-Beltway story because it’s about pure politics and personal ambition without many narrative-muddling concerns about principles, governing philosophy or policy considerations. McCarthy was never a policy wonk or doctrinaire conservative; he’s a dealmaker and glad-hander, which is why...
Letter to the editor: Our rights are absolute
Where is the outrage? In grade school social studies, we learned that our Founding Fathers defined our rights as God-given and cannot be taken away by any government. In other words, no self-serving dictator can supersede our constitutional rights. They come from our creator. It is for this reason communism must...
Editorial: Challenges and certification part of election process
The votes are in — officially. The day we cast our votes is the start of a process that isn’t completed for weeks. Starting in October, Pennsylvanians started voting by mail. Ballots were cast in person Nov. 9. While we knew who the projected winners for some races were within...
Letter to the editor: Good job, US Steel, USW
I am happy to see that, after extensive negotiations, U.S. Steel and the United Steelworkers Union finalized another four-year labor contract. This agreement showcases how labor unions and companies can work together and meet goals. We need to change the paradigm that this region is a tough place to locate...
John L. Micek: Mass shootings prompt new calls for assault weapons ban. Will it happen?
There was no mistaking the anger in President Joe Biden’s voice on Thanksgiving Day as he once again decried America’s fatal love affair with guns. “The idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick. Just sick,” Biden said, according to the Associated Press. In the wake of...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Club Q — it was exactly what it looked like
It might not have been what it looked like. That, at least, was the message you’d have heard had you turned to Tucker Carlson of Fox “News” for perspective the Monday after the recent massacre at Club Q in Colorado Springs. Club Q is a nightspot that had been known...
Cal Thomas: Biden’s misplaced emphasis on one gun
We now know at least one of the priorities of the Biden administration during the remaining weeks Democrats control the House of Representatives. The president says he would try to “get rid of assault weapons.” Speaking to reporters at his Nantucketholiday house, Biden said: “The idea (that) we still allow...
Letter to the editor: Intelligent thoughts on book banning
Bravo, Hempfield Area School Director Jeanne Smith (“Hempfield Area to resume book battles next week,” Nov. 20, TribLIVE): Such intelligent thoughts: “Those objecting (to the book) can opt out of using that source … . Library books can widen a student’s perspective, expose them to different life cultures and lifestyles.”...
Letter to the editor: Support small, local businesses this holiday season
I was so excited to see the article “Greensburg Art Center opens ‘Art of GIFTing’ holiday sale” (Nov. 5, TribLIVE). I’m a small business owner and jewelry artist, and shows like this are so important to me and my fellow artisans. Across Pennsylvania and the country, businesses large and small...
Letter to the editor: Narduzzi’s response to assault charges inappropriate
Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi would have been better served by simply demurring on the assault charges against Dayon Hayes for attacking a woman by whom he had a child. Instead, Narduzzi vaguely let on about the Pitt football team oddly presuming its teammate to be guilty from the jump...
