Opinion category, Page 680
Editorial: Hazing can’t be dismissed
Hazing can be easy to dismiss as a common team-building activity, or even a comic exercise. It isn’t. Hazing is that time-honored practice of taking new members of an organization and putting them through a series of ritualized tests or torments. It might be beatings or degrading psychological abuse. It...
Letter to the editor: Taxpayers & cost of climate action
Pennsylvania Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, is correct to oppose Gov. Tom Wolf’s October executive order to direct the Department of Environmental Protection to take steps to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. First, the initiative is a carbon cap-and-trade program that does not solve the greenhouse gas problem; it merely...
Letter to the editor: America’s great without Hillary
I hate to bring Hillary Clinton into the conversation again, but I have this thing about her. The Republicans had two years when they controlled the House and Senate and could have indicted her, but didn’t. Why not? Was she too big to challenge? No, the Republicans simply have no...
Letter to the editor: ‘Prisoners’ have rights
Regarding the article “Tempers flare briefly on 8th day of jury selection in Wilkinsburg mass shooting case” (Jan. 15, TribLIVE): I am disgusted by the murderous acts that Cheron Shelton and Robert Thomas are charged with committing. Nobody should be exposed to the experience that the victims suffered and that...
Tom Purcell: Clarity’s cost — the $5 million comma
Clarity is in short supply across America, but no longer at dairy farms in Maine. In 2014, you see, drivers for a dairy company in Portland, Maine, sued their employer for overtime pay because a state law pertaining to overtime-pay exemptions failed to include the Oxford comma. What is the...
Jonah Goldberg: Our nation is paying for Trump’s refusal to be presidential
I’ve long argued that Donald Trump’s presidency will end poorly because he’s a person of bad character. I still think that’s true, though I very much doubt the impeachment trial now underway will result in his removal. Regardless of its outcome, his impeachment illustrates the damage bad character can do...
Editorial: DUI is deadly serious
How serious does a crime have to be in order to be considered a “serious crime”? In a precedent-setting opinion delivered this month, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals called a Montgomery County man’s DUI a grave enough offense to preclude him from buying a gun. Raymond Holloway Jr....
Letter to the editor: Guns & gun owners
Many changes have been made to gun regulations over the years, but when will people finally think it is enough? After working with a bipartisan nonprofit, I know positive change can be made. Now I see, though, that there are many things wrong. But it isn’t the guns; it is...
Letter to the editor: On Trump, who’s gullible?
As I read Bob McBride’s letter “Trump haters should be mindful of facts” (Jan. 18, TribLIVE), I had to laugh when he brought up the word “gullible” to broadly paint anyone who believes that the House has indeed presented enough facts to impeach President Trump. Talk about gullible. A crowd...
Letter to the editor: Three cheers to Trump
Three cheers to President Trump, our responsive commander-in-chief, and our military for the successful planning and execution of the drone strike in Iraq that took out Iran’s top general, terrorist Qassem Soleimani. Naturally, the subversive liberals in Congress could only find fault to add to their anti-Trump rhetoric. They seem...
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Jan. 27
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Jan. 27....
Editorial cartoons for the week of Jan. 27
Editorial cartoons for the week of Jan. 27....
S.E. Cupp: On Hunter Biden, Democrats must tread carefully
When Republicans threatened to call Hunter Biden, the embattled son of former Vice President Joe Biden and walking political cautionary tale, as a witness for the impeachment trial of President Trump, at least some Democrats seemed open to the idea. So long as it meant Democrats got to hear from...
Peter Morici: Michael Bloomberg’s wrong answer to inequality
Inequality and economic growth have been central themes in national elections since John Kennedy’s campaign. The Clintons, Barack Obama and the latest crop headed by Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg want to give us freer access to health care, higher education (and debt forgiveness), child care...
Editorial: Marketing message money well spent
There is a lot that goes into altering the way a community is seen. There can be problems to fix. There can be changes to make. There can be new paths to follow. But there is also the message that needs to be spread. Hey, we’re still here! Things are...
Letter to the editor: If voters want Hillary, run her again
Regarding the letter “Voters wanted Hillary Clinton as president” (Jan. 17, TribLIVE): If this is the case, why doesn’t the Democratic Party run her again? Clem Zahrobsky Delmont...
Letter to the editor: The wealthy & the poor
Progressives believe it is unjust for some people to amass huge fortunes because concentrated wealth causes more poverty in others. But such an idea is absolutely false, and here’s why. The potential to become wealthy motivates people to work harder, take risks, invent things and innovate — and that benefits...
Letter to the editor: We must pledge allegiance to world
As a Boy Scout leader, I publicly pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. It is a pledge I take very seriously, solemnly and reverently. I am proud to wear the flag on my uniform and genuinely, albeit imperfectly, try to live up to the national...
Colleen Hroncich: First Amendment on docket at Supreme Court
Single mother Kendra Espinoza never dreamed that sending her daughters to a Christian school in Kalispell, Mont., would lead her to the national stage. But last week, her lawsuit, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, and its far-reaching implications could impact Pennsylvanians’ education...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Alexander Hamilton’s thoughts on impeachment
If you are one of those people who believes that everything happens for a reason, the popular resurgence of Alexander Hamilton over the past two decades must make perfect sense these days. “Alexander Hamilton,” Ron Chernow’s 2004 biography of one of our nation’s founders and the first secretary of the...
Jonah Goldberg: Democratic battle reminiscent of 2004 Kerry-Dean race
As of this writing, the Democratic presidential contest looks very fluid, with four candidates bunched up in Iowa and New Hampshire. But the sudden relevance of foreign policy, thanks to the confrontation with Iran, has made it look more and more like a two-person race between former Vice President Joe...
Frank Dermody: Let’s not turn back the clock on affordable health care
When people don’t have health insurance — especially people with preexisting conditions like diabetes, breast cancer, high blood pressure or even pregnancy (yes, that counts) — they skip vital care and often go into debt or even bankruptcy to pay bills, or simply die. This was much more common in...
Editorial: Literacy can be more than reading
When people think about literacy, they tend to think about the obvious. Can you read? Can you write? Can you navigate the written word enough to make it through your daily life, weaving around street signs and menus and bills and notes from your kid’s teacher? All of that is...
Sounding off: Affordable Care Act saves lives
I am the mother of two children with special needs, one much more significant than the other. My daughter has multiple disabilities that will be lifelong and are life-threatening. Her care is costly. Her needs are great. She will need care all of her life, and her medical expenses will...
Letter to the editor: Why Democrats want to win 2020 election
Even Rush is missing the “donkey in the room.” Most people believe that the Democrats want to regain power in Washington. Wrong! If President Trump wins again, the Republicans hold the Senate and take the House, and Bill Barr is attorney general. Guess what follows? Orange jumpsuits for lots of...
