Opinion category, Page 44
Noah Feldman: The Supreme Court’s majority is playing the long game
Many legal commentators apparently believe that, in the term that just ended, the Supreme Court further enabled President Donald Trump. The court did, in fact, issue a series of conservative decisions that Trump likes. However, under the leadership of Chief Justice John Roberts, the court also simultaneously pursued a careful...
Colin Fleming: Charlie Chaplin’s 100-year-old film ‘The Gold Rush’ has timeless lessons on how to keep going
The wisest among us realize that what we normally think of as opposites are also associates. There’s life and death, joy and pain, fulfillment and absence. And, as Charlie Chaplin understood and helped millions to understand, comedy and tragedy. Cinema was about a quarter of a century old when Chaplin’s...
Letter to the editor: Whatever happened to fiscal responsibility?
Once upon a time the Republican Party promoted itself as the party of fiscal responsibility. With the current “Big Beautiful Bill,” they have destroyed whatever was left of that imaginary idea. Under the administrations of George W. Bush and Donald Trump, tax cuts favoring corporations and the very wealthy caused...
Letter to the editor: Churches need to stand up
With the exception of a few prophetic voices like Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde of Washington, D.C., and Catholic Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, most Christian leaders have remained cowardly silent in confronting the national environment of hatred, fear, discrimination and scapegoating promulgated by the current administration in Washington....
Editorial: What does the future of diversity look like?
Is diversity disappearing? In 2015, the Westmoreland Diversity Coalition was created. Carlotta Paige founded the organization by expanding her work on the annual Unity Rally. “The issue of diversity, nobody wanted to deal with (it),” she said. “It’s been a challenge every day.” After 10 years, Paige is retiring and...
Letter to the editor: Social Security, Medicaid save lives
I have a very good friend whose daughter was born with a rare disease that caused her body to grow at a rapid rate when she was very young, and her organs, including her heart, were not given a chance to catch up. The mother was told that her daughter...
Mihir Sharma: RFK Jr. is playing with babies’ lives
When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was appointed secretary of Health and Human Services, everyone knew he was capable of doing great damage. He had a long history of indulging conspiracy theories, particularly when it came to vaccines. Already, his attempt to reassess immunization schedules in the U.S. has outraged pediatricians....
Martin Schram: Peace through power – it’s electric!
For several hold-your-breath weeks, as spring sizzled into summer, the nuclear dealmakers of President Donald Trump’s USA and the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Iran seemed astonishingly close to a deal. So close that it seemed they’d soon reach out and seize the deal. But no one was willing to...
Letter to the editor: Route 30 traffic danger
The article “As traffic grows, Route 30 crash hot spots a concern for motorists, property owners, police and PennDOT” (June 20, TribLive) points out many dangerous places and reasons why they’re dangerous. The one thing that wasn’t blamed was the speeding of cars traveling 10 to 20 mph or more...
Letter to the editor: DNC needs to do better
Did you ever lay back with a bottle of strawberry Boone’s Farm and wonder what the rich people are doing? Not having contact with a social class of local, national and world leaders, yours truly doesn’t have too many leads to go on. Supine, whirling, dizzy, I’m wondering what people...
Editorial: Less-than-lethal weapons are good move but still require restraint
A serious interaction with law enforcement can have deadly consequences. In 2024, there were 32 fatal incidents of police shootings in Pennsylvania. The first was Jan. 7, when Christopher Lee Shepherd, 48, of Upper St. Clair was shot as SWAT officers responded to his home during a mental health event....
Letter to the editor: American Gestapo
Narciso Barranco was tending the lawn at an IHOP in California when he was set upon by six ICE agents with their guns drawn. Fleeing with his weed wacker, Barranco was thrown down, repeatedly punched and pepper-sprayed. (Film can be seen on the internet.) The ICE agents said he attacked...
Allison Schrager: America’s broken politics is breaking economics, too
The political realignment has come for economics. At least since the days of Friedrich Hayek and John Maynard Keynes in the last century, the divide in economic thinking roughly corresponded to the political split. In the mainstream, everyone was a capitalist and saw some role for government. The right/left divide...
Jim Lee: Fetterman stuck between rock and a ‘hard’ GOP place
SP&R’s latest Pennsylvania poll conducted June 16-21 (with 713 likely voters) shows U.S. Sen. John Fetterman with a 41% job approval after 2½ years in office. On the surface, this isn’t so bad. For comparison, former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey had a 37% job approval rating in our polling in...
Letter to the editor: Roberts and the Constitution
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ view of judicial criticism astounds me. Has he forgotten the very amendment (1) he is sworn to uphold? It’s one thing to encourage protection from obvious or disguised security threats or commentary intended to incite. However, his President Donald Trump and Sen. Chuck Schumer...
Letter to the editor: Did we really need a parade?
I love a parade. I enjoy the marching bands, floats and celebratory atmosphere. I have stood elbow to elbow, layer deep, on a New York City sidewalk hoping to get a glimpse of the St. Patrick’s Day marchers and other activity. Uncounted are the hours I’ve spent enjoying the Macy’s...
Editorial: A reminder in Africa that the religious freedoms we take for granted are fragile
As Christianity declines in the West, the faith is flourishing in sub-Saharan Africa, which is seeing the fastest growth in Christianity the world over. By 2060, more than 4 in 10 Christians worldwide are expected to live in sub-Saharan Africa, compared with just 1 in 10 in 1970, according to...
Letter to the editor: Musk’s problems just disappear
To date, 10 Starship rockets have failed to meet all their stated objectives (“SpaceX rocket explodes on test stand,” June 20), resulting in a zero success rate and a cost of over $5 billion. Colonizing Mars is Elon Musk’s fantasy dream, a project that scientists say has little chance of...
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of July 7
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of July 7....
Editorial cartoons for the week of July 7
Editorial cartoons for the week of July 7....
David M. Drucker: Mamdani’s rise is a gift Republicans are already using
Zohran Mamdani isn’t the most famous Democrat in America. But the front-runner to serve as New York’s next mayor is well on his way — and he’ll get there, if Republicans have anything to say about it. Immediately after the previously little-known state assemblyman from Queens won the Democratic nomination...
Letter to the editor: It shouldn’t take a law to bring back teaching cursive writing
I recently saw an article that stated Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering passing a law to teach cursive in schools again. Since when does it take a law by government to teach “cursive,” or what we called “writing,” in our schools? And by what law did it stop being taught? I...
Letter to the editor: Well sites must have evacuation plans
Thank you for your article “State environmental board maintains permit renewals for two Penn Township gas wells” (June 22, TribLive). My wife and I live within a half-mile of these proposed Drakulic site unconventional wells. The article states that “The site is tucked in among housing developments, and about 3,000...
Editorial: Giant Eagle might be just what the doctor ordered for pharmacy problems
Are grocery stores the key to fighting back against the high cost of prescription drugs? In recent years, drugstores have been caught between a rock and a hard place. The rock is Medicare and Medicaid co-pays. The hard place? Pharmacy benefit managers that act as a middleman between pharmaceutical companies...
Letter to the editor: Chicken restrictions too harsh in West Leechburg
I am writing as a concerned and engaged resident to urge West Leechburg leaders to reconsider the overly restrictive regulations on keeping backyard chickens in the borough. Backyard chickens are a source of fresh, healthy eggs, and they also offer families an opportunity to become more self-sufficient, teach children responsibility...
