Opinion category, Page 363
Claudine Schneider: America’s oil and gas industry unpatriotic
Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, fossil fuels were a familiar sight during my childhood and since they employed some of my family, I believed these facilities represented America’s “can do” attitude. When I became a Republican member of Congress in 1981, well-paid oil and gas lobbyists were a familiar sight...
Letter to the editor: Costs of climate change efforts
According to an article I read recently in the Wall Street Journal, climate lobbyists in media present weather emergencies (heat, cold, hurricanes, etc.) all as the result of climate change, yet the world has warmed by only 1.1 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century, according to the UN Intergovernmental...
Letter to the editor: Spotlight Mastriano’s positives
I try to catch up with the Trib every day. So far, since Doug Mastriano won the Republican primary (even before that), I haven’t noticed a positive word in your paper about him. Has everything he has ever done in his entire life been negative? I understand he may be...
Letter to the editor: Congress must act on climate change now
Climate change is one of my generation’s biggest problems to fix in the coming years. As wildfires ravage the West, heat waves decimate Europe and flooding becomes commonplace in Pennsylvania, we need to act urgently to limit greenhouse emissions. The recent West Virginia v. EPA Supreme Court decision severely limited...
Editorial: Can we move on from Act 77 challenges now?
Pennsylvania’s expanded mail-in voting has been upheld by the state Supreme Court. The ballots that were broadly used beginning in 2020’s presidential campaigns have been on a roller coaster ride of protest, overturn and appeal. Fourteen Republican state lawmakers filed a lawsuit in September 2021 arguing that the no-excuse mail...
Letter to the editor: Fix the mess in America with your vote
The congressional commission investigating the events of Jan. 6 has wrapped up its hearings for now. What else was happening on Jan. 6, 2021, and the weeks that followed leading up to the inauguration of President Biden? Well, the average price of gas was $2.38 a gallon, according the U.S....
Letter to the editor: Cracking open the door on gun control
After two recent tragic mass shootings, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. It is common sense to keep lethal weapons away from criminals and those with mental illness, but this act did little but to open the door to future stricter gun controls. History tells us that once the...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: The year (bleep) got real
“There’s a choice we’re making. We’re saving our own lives.” — from “We Are The World” Yes, this is early. That ritual where the columnist assigns the year a theme doesn’t usually begin until December. But the view from this pew is that, where 2022 is concerned, said theme already...
Kevin Sunday: Bipartisanship on energy, jobs a better path than reconciliation gamesmanship
In a surprising turnabout, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced last week he has struck a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on a package of tax hikes and energy subsidies. Unfortunately, this proposal, which appears to be designed to game the Senate’s reconciliation process to pass spending...
Letter to the editor: GI Bill available for those who earn assistance
A recent edition of the Trib had a piece that said the president is considering some form of debt forgiveness. All this will do is add to inflation and increases in college tuition. The government already has a program that pays for college and trade school tuition. I and millions...
Letter to the editor: Vote out everyone
Do we Americans have any lawmaker who can come up with a law that will keep the gun out of the hands of the criminal? All lawmakers are trying to keep our minds on guns and anything else so that we the people don’t keep an eye on them. I...
Letter to the editor: Problems with FOP
Regarding the article “Panel says more accountability would make policing safer for communities, officers” (July 12, TribLIVE): It is easy to see the problem. The Fraternal Order of Police, although not mentioned in the article, is most likely responsible for the loopholes and hindering any effort of sincerely “good” police...
Editorial: Good government needs to engage public
The relationship between government and the governed should be collaborative and cooperative. After all, we don’t live in a monarchy. Our leaders aren’t — or shouldn’t be — aristocrats born to the privilege of rule. No, the more local our government, the more familiar the origin story. Borough council members...
Letter to the editor: Where have all the flowers gone?
“Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” Reading that the late Pete Seeger, writer of that song, is being memorialized and honored with the issuance of a U.S. postage stamp was heartwarming to me. Having met Seeger and exchanged letters, one legendary songwriter (Pete) to an aspirant (me), the news made...
Letter to the editor: Ward’s ideas dangerous to our democracy
Sen. Kim Ward’s op-ed “A step toward election integrity in Pa.” (July 24, TribLIVE) was riddled with dangerous ideas that will restrict voting access, all seemingly based on the “voter fraud” lie propagated by Donald Trump. According to all 50 states’ secretaries of state, there was no widespread voter fraud...
Tom Purcell: The keys to living well
Comedian Carl Reiner was good at living well — and he lived well until the age of 98. I recently watched his 2017 HBO documentary, “If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast.” It introduces viewers to several people who are flourishing in their 90s — running races at 100,...
Sharon Pillar: Time for Pa.’s energy freedom
The Public Utility Commission (PUC) warned customers in May that all of the state’s electric utilities intended to significantly raise their prices on June 1, ranging from 6% to 45%. The PUC said this is because “higher wholesale market prices for electricity, fueled in large part by shifts in supply...
Letter to the editor: Dems pleased that Trump wall stopped
President Biden’s hissy fit in stopping the completion of the Trump wall must be pleasing to the Democrats. So now we have an avalanche of illegal immigrants and drugs coming in from Mexican cartels. If one is complicit with evil, one may lose the ability to repent. R. Buck Gray...
Letter to the editor: Inflation, borders, gas prices, crime, drugs, not climate change, the emergency
President Biden recently made the statement, “Let me be clear: Climate change is an emergency.” Let me be clear: While climate change is important, it will take many years to fix. What is an emergency is inflation, control of our borders (200,000 undocumented people crossed our southern border in June),...
Letter to the editor: Taxpayers funding schools their children don’t attend
There is a lot of talk these days about tax dollars being used to fund private and/or parochial schools. This debate has gone on for decades. I have this to say on the subject: People who send their children to these schools are taxpayers! Yes, taxpayers would be funding these...
Letter to the editor: Both Jan. 6, and investigation, reprehensible
The events of Jan. 6, 2021, were reprehensible and troubling. So is the sham investigation (show) put on by the House of Representatives. An investigation starts with no predetermined conclusion, examines all the evidence and presents conclusions in a professional manner. The focus would be to prevent future occurrences. In...
Editorial: Universities need to commit to stopping tuition increases
Pennsylvania’s state-related universities need to address what their response is to their gift from the governor. The state has four universities that fall into this category of public but not really public, private but not really private. They also are some of the largest in Pennsylvania. Penn State — the...
Letter to the editor: Questions on North Huntingdon’s waiver procedure
I recently became aware of a practice by the North Huntingdon commissioners to entertain requests for waivers of building permit fees from nonprofit organizations (“North Huntingdon rejects Norwin request to waive permit fee,” June 13, TribLIVE). Intrigued by this practice, I submitted a Right-to-Know request for waivers requested since 2018....
Letter to the editor: Selective fighting for rights
In her letter “Protesters are protected” (July 18, TribLIVE), Mary Beth Walling defends protesting outside the homes of Supreme Court justices as a justifiable right under the First Amendment. Despite the fact that the examples she gives are of protests that occurred in public places, my supposition is that, by...
Editorial cartoons for the week of Aug. 1
Editorial cartoons for the week of Aug. 1....
