Opinion category, Page 540
Letter to the editor: Smokers shouldn’t get vaccine priority
So smokers who choose to harm themselves and their loved ones, via secondhand smoke, take priority over first responders when it comes to receiving the covid vaccine. The first group chooses to smoke while the latter chose a career dedicated to helping others, including those who may be already infected...
Pat Buchanan: Who are the true ‘domestic terrorists’?
“Never allow a good crisis (to) go to waste. It’s an opportunity to do the things you once thought were impossible.” Thus did chief of staff Rahm Emanuel advise Barack Obama on the financial crisis he inherited in 2009. Following the Capitol riot by a mob of pro-Donald Trump protesters,...
Letter to the editor: Early detection key for addiction
Having read the article “2020 brings increase in Westmoreland overdose deaths” (Jan. 10, TribLIVE), I would like to provide the following information. The worst threat to the United States is not its political divisions or its economic crises or its health care policy. It is the brilliant minds and talent...
Jonah Goldberg: GOP is all too happy to accommodate QAnon
Warning: Disturbing stuff ahead. There’s a conspiracy theory called Frazzledrip. Even for QAnon types, it’s pretty fringe, which is saying something. Recall that the central belief in Q-world is that there’s a secret cabal of Satan-worshiping, sex-trafficking pedophiles running the government. Frazzledrip is worse. It’s the name of an imagined...
Rep. Greg Vitali: A realistic climate agenda
There are many things Pennsylvania state government should do this year to address climate change — but won’t, given the political composition of the state Legislature. But a few significant things are possible. Pennsylvania emitted about 215 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2017 (the most recent data available),...
Letter to the editor: Voters will remember Reschenthaler’s actions
Congressman Reschenthaler: Your military oath: I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the...
Letter to the editor: Missing Trump already
Hope you Biden voters are feeling good about your choice. So far, I see him making an aggressive run at sliding our country back to the dismal Obama days — miserable economy, growing unemployment, ban on drilling and fracking, inviting in illegal aliens, no deportation of criminal aliens, crushing free...
Editorial: Punxsutawney Phil, Western Pa.’s gift to perpetual news
It happens every year. All eyes turn toward a Western Pennsylvania hamlet to wait for a sleepy rodent to pop out of his burrow, look around for his shadow and make a prediction about when spring will start. Let’s be honest. No one really thinks Punxsutawney Phil — or any...
Letter to the editor: Election ushered in socialism
Exasperated and mournful, I am offering a few belated comments since America now suffers the throes of an election that has ushered socialism into a republic not being saved. Damn the liberal, subversive, progressive Democrat and RINO turncoat torpedoes, full speed ahead against tyranny and treason. The Washington swamp saved...
Chris Rosselot: Pittsburgh City Council should get more involved with city schools
The covid-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of our social and educational systems, and nowhere is this truer than with Pittsburgh Public Schools. From laptop distribution to district communication, it is an understatement to say intervention is needed. Last week, Pittsburgh Councilman Ricky Burgess introduced (and council passed unanimously) an...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Josh Hawley blind to irony
So last week, Sen. Josh Hawley complained that he was being “silenced.” He lodged this complaint on Fox “News” and in The New York Post. As social media observers promptly pointed out, that’s a level of media exposure that effectively refutes the senator’s claim. But Hawley is in a snit...
Tom Purcell: Sledding, snowmen, snowballs needed on Capitol grounds
Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat and D.C.’s delegate in the U.S. House, is on to something big! A longtime champion of, and leader on, civil rights and free speech issues, she has a clear mastery of common sense. You see, the west side of the U.S. Capitol grounds has long...
Caleb Verbois: Trump, originalism and the purpose of impeachment
Donald Trump’s presidency had a powerful warping effect on American politics. The biggest example of this is the way that politically minded evangelicals moved, almost in lockstep, from a longstanding view that “character mattered,” to the belief that only “policy mattered,” to the conclusion that only “loyalty mattered.” Trump similarly...
Sheldon Jacobson: TSA firearm catch rate doubles, but are flyers safer?
The TSA announced that the rate of firearm detection at airport security checkpoints doubled from 2019 to 2020. At the same time, the number of passengers screened dropped by 500 million. Does this mean that air travelers were safer in 2020, or were there more firearms being carried onto airplanes?...
Letter to the editor: Elderly should have vaccine priority
It saddened me to read the article “Greater Latrobe School District starts vaccinating staff, sees ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ ” (Jan. 23, TribLIVE). My husband, a senior citizen, and I have been trying to schedule his vaccination. Most pharmacies aren’t even taking names to put on a...
Letter to the editor: A Reschenthaler apology would go far
I am the son of a Purple Heart recipient, and I honor Rep. Guy Reschenthaler’s military service. But Reschenthaler, R-Peters, my former state senator, has dishonored his office. At 12:16 p.m. on Jan. 6, Reschenthaler’s tweeted: “@realDonaldTrump is the BEST president since Lincoln.” He posted this 16 minutes into President...
Letter to the editor: Hissy fits costing our nation
Is the movie “Legally Blonde” worth quoting? Yes, in fact, when truth is subdued, children devoid of understanding rule. Millennia ago, Aristotle spoke what Elle Woods cited in her graduation address: “The law is reason, free from passion.” Today, reason is bad, and emotion is everything. Childish rants negate truth...
Editorial: Dermody’s upward fall is all-too-familiar in political world
Leaving an elected office is not the end of the world. Plenty of people go on to live rich, full lives after they depart the world of public service. They might retire to concentrate on things they never got to do before, like President George W. Bush, who has embraced...
Letter to the editor: When everything is free, we’re not free
Would you like your bills paid? Would you like someone else to provide your housing and food? That can happen — and soon! A new group wants to provide for your every need. They will decide what your children are required to learn in school. They will decide where you...
Letter to the editor: Say goodbye to fracking
In the campaigning for the presidential election, it was difficult to determine whether Joe Biden planned to move to stop fracking. He gave conflicting statements concerning his intent. With the canceling of the Keystone Pipeline construction permit, it is reasonably clear what direction his administration is taking on fossil fuels....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Feb. 1
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Feb. 1....
Editorial cartoons for the week of Feb. 1
Editorial cartoons for the week of Feb. 1....
S.E. Cupp: After Trump, a chance to refocus
Five years ago, after teasing a potential run for the White House for years, Donald Trump descended down a golden escalator, and from that moment on, the news cycle was predominantly his. Trump hijacked our collective attention span and held it hostage for the duration of his presidency, subjecting Americans...
Letter to the editor: Government spending out of control
Another ongoing threat against America is taking place — and it has taken a back seat during these troubling times. This threat is government overspending, printing money and handing it out for free. While the Treasury Department prints the money, they sell bonds, usually to China, to back it up....
Letter to the editor: Biden should call off impeachment
As the vindictive congressional Democrats press on with the second impeachment of President Donald Trump, one must wonder why they insist on putting Trump and the country through the agony of another trial in the Senate, a trial that serves no useful purpose and which is apparently legally questionable. The...
