Opinion category, Page 371
Letter to the editor: Parks should be protected, not fracked
I lived in Allegheny County from 1992 to 2013, when I moved to Chapel Hill, N.C. I moved back here in 2019. Our county is blessed with many beautiful parks where I enjoy walking, kayaking and biking. It saddens me greatly to think of our beautiful parks being fracked (“Allegheny...
Editorial: Budget passing is bare minimum
The best you can say about the Pennsylvania Legislature’s move on the budget is that it was quick. That is, if you can call something quick when it’s more than a week late. On Thursday, seven days after the budget was due, the House finally passed a spending plan with...
Letter to the editor: Overturning Roe is a disaster for national unity
One of the stranger assertions in the Dobbs opinion is that Roe v. Wade is “controversial.” In the first place it’s not true — nearly all polls show a staunch majority against overturning it. But Roe was also a compromise, between the two strong positions that abortion should be fully...
Letter to the editor: We need new rules for our legislators
I’m sick of newsletters from my state legislators saying they’re “honored” to represent me. They don’t represent me or you! They can’t because of procedural rules voted on at the start of each new session. Rules pushed through by a handful of majority leaders determine who can schedule bills and...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Guns blocking our pursuit of happiness
Is this the end of happiness? It feels like it more and more after every new mass shooting and the slaughter of innocents. Each shooting steals another safe place from all of us, and, last week, when a domestic terrorist with a military-style weapon randomly killed seven and wounded dozens...
Sounding off: What about essential workers?
The recent revelation that the Allegheny County executive’s inner circle was giving themselves large wage increases is disturbing to say the least (”Large raises for Allegheny County’s top staffers raise timing questions”). Currently, 80% of all county workers, represented by AFSCME Local 2622, make less than the county median wage....
Sen. Jay Costa: Addressing violence on Pittsburgh’s South Side
Gun violence continues to be an issue on which Democrats are ready to act. Recent horrific mass shootings have pushed the subject to the forefront for state legislators in Harrisburg. Back home in Pittsburgh, the issue has been on my constituents’ minds for some time. I recently held a telephone...
Donovan Schaefer: Buying into conspiracy theories can be exciting — that’s what makes them dangerous
Conspiracy theories have been around for centuries, from witch trials and antisemitic campaigns to beliefs that Freemasons were trying to topple European monarchies. In the mid-20th century, historian Richard Hofstadter described a “paranoid style” that he observed in right-wing U.S. politics and culture: a blend of “heated exaggeration, suspiciousness and...
Letter to the editor: Keep Klein in Harrison
Harrison police Chief Mike Klein is a professional police officer who has made us proud (“Harrison pauses on plan for police chief to retire, be rehired,” June 28, TribLIVE). At a time when there has been much to criticize about police behavior, we can only be proud of our police...
Letter to the editor: Fracking in parks devastating to kids’ future
It is stunning to me that the Allegheny County Council and chief executive are spending time considering whether it is acceptable to frack in our county parks (“Allegheny County council passes park fracking ban, Fitzgerald vows to veto,” July 6, TribLIVE). In a sane world, where politicians and leaders from...
Letter to the editor: Fully automatic weapons not legal
The letter “We need lifesaving gun laws” (June 28, TribLIVE) is full of untruths. It has been illegal since 1934 to own a fully automatic weapon unless you are either a licensed gun dealer or are issued a Special Tax Stamp, pay $200 per weapon and have an FBI background...
Editorial: The importance of calling for help — and listening
When it comes to an emergency, it might seem that the most important thing is speed or equipment or expertise. It isn’t. When there is danger or when there is risk of death, one thing is more important than anything else: communication. At the most basic, when you are hurt...
Letter to the editor: Legislation to keep girls in school vital for quality of life
The Keeping Girls in School Act is an incredibly vital piece of legislation co-sponsored by none of my representatives, Sens. Pat Toomey and Bob Casey and Rep. Guy Reschenthaler. According to The Borgen Project, “Globally, girls aged 10-19 are three times more likely than boys of the same age to...
Gary Franks: Biden needs a Republican Congress — it worked for Clinton
America, we are truly in uncharted waters. In a recent Monmouth poll, only 10% of Americans feel we are headed in the right direction. President Joe Biden’s approval numbers — which were already low — are continuing to decline, also in record numbers. The question is, how does Biden turn...
Bill Lueders: When transparency is treated with contempt
Most of the time, public officials in Wisconsin obey the state’s openness laws. Sometimes, they need a little prodding from the courts. But the recent conduct of Robin Vos and Michael Gableman is something altogether new, and deeply disturbing. Both Vos, the speaker of the state Assembly, and Gableman, whom...
William Haupt III: Auditing the Federal Reserve would keep them honest
“Real patriotism is a willingness to challenge the government when it is doing wrong.” — Ron Paul Many people have a delusion the Federal Reserve is a federal agency that controls our money. Yet the Federal Reserve is a private corporation run by bankers. And it operates in the best...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Just a different kind of rape
So what does all this tell us about justice? “All this” meaning the fact that Ghislaine Maxwell got 20 years June 28 and the next day, R. Kelly got 30. It was, make no mistake, an indisputably good thing to see those punishments handed down. And it’s hard to blame...
Letter to the editor: Do Giant Eagle, Dick’s think babies are worthless?
I find it appalling that Giant Eagle and Dick’s Sporting Goods are proud of the fact that they will pay transportation costs for a woman to go somewhere to kill her baby. It is beyond belief that these two corporations, among many others, seem to think babies are worthless. Larry...
Letter to the editor: We need a Marshall Plan for our planet
Since the 1970s, Big Oil has known of the dangers of burning fossil fuels. They, like the tobacco industry before them, lied to the American public. Oil companies, with the Cato Institute, the American Petroleum Institute and the Koch family, spent money and influence to convince Congress and the public...
Lori Falce: Rage is driving Americans crazy
When tragedies like the Highland Park parade shooting or the Uvalde school shooting or the Tree of Life synagogue shooting or (insert whichever shooting hit you hardest here) occur, there is always the division between people who want to do something about guns and people who say regulating guns won’t...
Letter to the editor: Vote Democrat if you value freedom
Calling all moderate Republican, libertarian and independent women: Vote Democrat this fall if you value your freedoms, if you value political moderation. Our only choice, even if you’ve always voted mainly Republican (like me for the last 35 years), to purge the party of candidates who are extremist, literally bordering...
Paul Kengor: Casey doesn’t support Casey
For a while now, I’ve been planning to write a column on whether Pennsylvania Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. would support his father’s position in the 1992 landmark abortion case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey. That case enshrined Roe v. Wade. Of course, Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey Sr. was the...
Laurels & lances: Scholarships and monkeypox
Laurel: To a different kind of support. When a kid wants to go to college, financial aid is one of the first considerations. There are athletic scholarships for sports stars. There are academic scholarships for those who excel in the classroom. Even for those who want to go to postsecondary...
Sen. Ryan Aument: CNI tax reform will bring economic stability, mobility to Pa.
The American dream promises that hard work equals success and a more prosperous future. But with historic inflation rates, intrusive government regulation, high taxes, bureaucratic red tape and other government-inflicted barriers, the American dream feels increasingly out of reach for millions of people. That’s certainly the case in Pennsylvania, which...
Salewa Ogunmefun: New legislative maps offer 10 years of opportunities for Pa. BIPOC communities
Last year’s legislative reapportionment process resulted in maps, particularly in the state House, that will offer BIPOC communities across the commonwealth with an unprecedented opportunity to choose elected officials who will truly represent them and help build a brighter future for these communities who have been overlooked for far too...
