Opinion category, Page 703
Walter Williams: Gun grabbers misleading us
Gun control did not become politically acceptable until the Gun Control Act of 1968 signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The law’s primary focus was to regulate commerce in firearms by prohibiting interstate firearms transfers except among licensed manufacturers, dealers and importers. Today’s gun-control advocates have gone much...
Editorial: Congress not unbiased jury in impeachment
A jury has been seated for the trial of Rahmael Holt in the November 2017 shooting death of New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw, slated to start Monday. The jury selection took days. In any such process, there are questions about whether jurors knew the defendant or the deceased. There...
Letter to the editor: We’re not doing enough for our planet
The Trib recently published opinion pieces denying or mitigating man-made effects on our environment — Walter Williams’ op-ed “So many environmental predictions grossly wrong” and the letter “America has done well by our planet.” We cannot reference worst-case scenarios or use comparisons with other countries to gauge our progress. We...
Letter to the editor: No corruption in Cerilli’s office
I’m so sick and tired of Westmoreland County’s “boys club” beating up on Commissioner Gina Cerilli. The accusations lodged against her are ludicrous. Corruption? If there was anything going on in the commissioners’ office, wouldn’t you think the Westmoreland County district attorney and the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office would be...
Letter to the editor: Legal marijuana for all over 21
I’m all for commonwealth-regulated, legal, “recreational” marijuana use by all Pennsylvanians over the age of 21 (including law enforcement officers). Such change will provide significantly increased tax revenue for our commonwealth, significantly reduce burdens to our legal system (and its taxpayers) and expand personal “life, liberty and the pursuit of...
Donald Boudreaux: Difficult-to-see consequences of minimum wage
Minimum-wage legislation artificially raises firms’ costs of employing low-skilled workers. In consequence, some workers who would have jobs in the absence of the minimum wage are cast by the minimum wage into the ranks of the unemployed. This understanding was long the consensus among economists. Starting in the mid-1990s, however,...
Lori Falce: Picking sides and changing minds
We live in a time where you can change absolutely anything about yourself. If you would like to make your brown hair blond or your blond hair black or your black hair neon pink, you can do it. If you want to be thinner, you can have fat sucked out....
Laurels & lances: Bills, budgets and buses
Laurel: To honoring the memory of those lost with real action. State Reps. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, and Ed Gainey, D-Lincoln-Lemington, and state Sens. Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, and Larry Farnese, D-Philadelphia, marked their remembrance of the Tree of Life shooting with a package of four bills. The legislators are...
Letter to the editor: Hempfield board’s tax moves
You may not know David Iwig, Jeanne Smith and Paul Adams of the Hempfield Area School Board used their reverse appeals program as an excuse to file nine pending lawsuits against the county, arguing “there is a lack of uniformity in the assessment of real estate within Westmoreland County.” They...
Letter to the editor: Looking forward to day when Trump gets cooperation
Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up and see news reports that our great president finally gets Congress to approve funding for our broken bridges, unsafe roads and buildings, securing our borders, a better health-care system and more for our country instead of daily stalls and brawls? Tricia Cunningham Washington...
Letter to the editor: Legalized pot, DUI & cellphone use
On marijuana legalization, I’m undecided. I believe that several things need to happen in Pennsylvania before it would be a “yes” for me. A lot of revenue would be generated by legalizing marijuana. I would like that revenue to remove property/school tax for any individual over the age of 59....
Letter to the editor: Buchman will clean up Allegheny Valley School Board
Numerous people from Springdale, Cheswick and Harmar have complained to me about the outrageous Allegheny Valley School District taxes. Harmar Township supervisors have lowered taxes three of the past four years and will lower them again next year for our homeowners. We accomplished this by electing honest, intelligent supervisors. If...
George Will: China’s precarious future
Demography does not dictate any nation’s destiny, but it shapes every nation’s trajectory, so attention must be paid to Nicholas Eberstadt. He knows things that should occasion some American worries, but also knows more important things that should assuage some worries regarding Russia and China. Writing in the July/August issue...
Editorial: How do we save manufacturing?
According to the state Department of Community and Economic Development, Pennsylvania has more than 18,900 businesses and 570,400 people engaged in making everything from steel to potato chips to lighters. That is a significant number of companies and employees. It just isn’t what it used to be. The Georgetown Center...
Cal Thomas: Charlie Chaplin’s philosophy — no more billionaires
He was the Bernie Sanders of his day. Charlie Chaplin, the iconic actor and at the time a well-known political leftist (some said communist), delivered a speech in San Francisco in 1941 prior to America’s entry into World War II. As recounted in the biography of her parents, actress Fay...
Letter to the editor: Norwin school board’s spending
Again, the Norwin School Board is planning on spending money it does not have. Every year, school directors raise taxes to the maximum allowed without voter approval. Now they want to borrow money to pay for improvements, necessitating tax increases in the future. Let’s say you are a homeowner and...
Letter to the editor: Biden, not Trump, should be investigated
It appears that Hillary voters are crawling out of the woodwork now that they think President Trump might be impeached. Reasons for impeachment are still not clear to me. The investigation should be into how Hunter Biden got his positions with Ukrainian and Chinese companies. Instead, it is centered around...
Letter to the editor: Gina Cerilli’s jobs
Apparently our youthful, pageant contest winner, first-term Westmoreland County Commissioner Gina Cerilli, has proven that beauty and brains can get you far. Since she also functions as an attorney in Pittsburgh, is commissioner, at a salary of $82,000 per year, only a part-time job? Is there a conflict of interest...
Pat Buchanan: When will we leave the Middle East?
“Let someone else fight over this long blood-stained sand,” said President Trump in an impassioned defense of his decision to cut ties to the Syrian Kurds, withdraw and end these “endless wars.” Are our troops in Syria, then, on their way home? Well, not exactly. Those leaving northern Syria went...
Adele Caruso: Nurse practitioners provide access to quality care
Pennsylvania has an opportunity to expand access to health care for thousands of its residents through legislation now before the House of Representatives’ Professional Licensure Committee. Senate Bill 25, which gives nurse practitioners full practice authority by removing a mandate that requires a collaborative agreement with two physicians, passed the...
Editorial: The high cost of voting security
Cost shouldn’t always be the most important factor in a government decision. There are plenty of times that you want your leaders to make the right call, not the cheap one. Build a bridge that won’t buckle. Buy a fire truck that works. Short-term savings aren’t always a long-run solution....
Letter to the editor: Democrats’ hate & despair
Four years ago, I opined in this paper that the then-Democratic presidential candidates — Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Jill Stein — were a collection of washed-out, used-up, worn-out hippies who hadn’t had a new idea since the ’60s and who would ultimately be rejected by America. I...
Letter to the editor: Dangers of vaping clear
Dr. David MacPherson’s op-ed “Illness from vaping highly predictable” (Oct. 9, TribLIVE) ) is a must read for parents and teens who believe that vaping is not dangerous. The fact that the most vulnerable entry of toxins through the lungs does the most damage to the body tells us everything...
Letter to the editor: Trump should step down
I think the time has come when our president should step down even before an impeachment hearing is completed. This man calls people names, points fingers and claims he is always right. I believe he has proven he sleeps with the enemy with the Kurds, and has violated national security...
Letter to the editor: Funding in Franklin Regional
Here is the situation created by current Franklin Regional School Board: In the last three years, school taxes increased the maximum amount allowed by the state. Already approved increases in future salaries, pensions and health care will keep taxes increasing at the maximum. To fund the Sloan project, the school...
