Opinion category, Page 723
Letter to the editor: Baltimore brawl typical Democrat behavior
The “Baltimore brawl” going on between Congressman Elijah Cummings, who represents that district, and President Trump is a perfect example of the cancer that is destroying American culture. Cummings started the brawl by personally attacking Trump’s head of Homeland Security in a public hearing. Trump defended his administrator, calling Cummings...
Letter to the editor: Walter Williams’ op-ed misleading
On a recent Saturday morning I opened the paper to an op-ed by Walter Williams (“Being a racist is easy today,” Aug. 2, TribLIVE), who has built a career as a black conservative, and who appears to have extreme right-wing views which are biased, if not racist. I am a...
Letter to the editor: On clergy abuse, action needed
Regarding the Aug. 7 front-page article “Nearly 1,900 calls fielded by hotline”: I can only follow the page 2 continuation headline — “Shapiro blames Senate GOP for lack of reform” with one question: What are they waiting for? Tom Duffey Reynoldsville...
Doyle McManus: Trump’s silence on Hong Kong is making America weaker
WASHINGTON — As China and its unruly possession Hong Kong teeter on the edge of catastrophe, President Trump has issued a series of messages with a common theme: If his friend Xi Jinping decides to crack down on the city’s pro-democracy movement, the United States will understand. It’s the wrong...
Tom Purcell: Unleashing entrepreneurs good for all
Here’s some great news: The American entrepreneur is flourishing again. From 1980 until 2017, “the number of new startups formed each year … plummeted by half — from almost 15% of all business 35 years ago to barely 8%,” according to Forbes contributor David Pridham. Just a few years ago,...
Editorial: Arsonist burns firefighter reputations
It doesn’t take much for a reputation to go up in smoke. It happens all the time. A respected person — a community leader or a valued professional — couldn’t possibly be responsible for a crime. Until it happens. Generally, it’s the kind of thing that hits only that person’s...
Letter to the editor: Mental health laws must change
How sanctimoniously disingenuous are those politically correct gun-control dogmatists who believe this one issue is the end-all and be-all to mass casualty shootings, failing to recognize the primordial cause. Most sensible individuals can see through their puerile thought. Foremost, the mental heath laws demand change. Several years ago the New...
Letter to the editor: Wild claims about climate change, Trump, reparations
Rudy Gagliardi makes some pretty preposterous statements in his letter “Trump will get my vote.” He says “I think global warming is something Al Gore came up with to become a millionaire.” Seems pretty arrogant to think that nature gives a damn what you think. Are you a climatologist? Obviously...
Editorial cartoons for the week of Aug. 19
Editorial cartoons for the week of Aug. 19....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Aug. 19
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Aug. 19....
Michelle Malkin: Who’s funding the wicked war on ICE?
All the gun control zealots out in full force this month have apparently gone to the beach. An alarming shooting took place at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in San Antonio on Tuesday. Local media reported that “multiple shots were fired on two floors targeting ICE officials.” The...
Colin McNickle: Attendance matters to students, schools
The nexus between school attendance and academic performance is well established. In general, the better a student’s attendance is, the better that student’s academic results. And, of course, the better the respective school’s attendance rate and academic results. But an updated analysis of Pittsburgh Public Schools by a scholar at...
Editorial: Cheaper solutions work better sometimes
Sometimes you’ve got to decide between what’s better for the job and what you can afford. Maybe you could really use a brand-new custom-built house with four bathrooms and a kitchen that is all granite and stainless steel. But what you can afford is a fixer-upper where your kids will...
Letter to the editor: What is ‘supremacy’?
I offer this opinion at the risk of being labeled, but I believe that it’s important that the term “supremacy” deserves greater scrutiny. I first heard the term years ago. It gradually and ultimately disappeared as a result of the civil rights movement begun in the ’60s. The left has...
Letter to the editor: Hempfield reassessments a cash grab
The Hempfield Area School Board voted last month to reinstate residential tax reassessments (“Hempfield school officials move forward with tax assessment appeals,” July 23, TribLIVE). This is not the “Welcome to Hempfield” message current residents and possible future investors in our communities would think the sign in front of Hempfield...
Sounding off: How about a new amendment to protect all life?
I begin by pointing out what common sense tells us — that even after the tragedies of this month, a constitutional repeal of the Second Amendment would never pass. Too many conservatives would oppose it. It would have the same chance of passing as a constitutional amendment to reverse Roe...
George Will: Amash’s independence shows voters they don’t have to settle for binary choice
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. It is difficult to discourage and impossible to manage Justin Amash because he, unusual among politicians, does not want much and wants nothing inordinately. He would like to win a sixth term as congressman from this culturally distinctive slice of the Midwest. He does not, however, want...
David Urban: Trump has kept his promise to revive manufacturing
My late father was a lifelong steelworker at J&L Steel’s famed Aliquippa works. Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, I was witness to politicians of every stripe too easily accepting the death of the American steel industry, and manufacturing in general. We were told that it was simply the way of...
Antony Davies & James Harrigan: Balancing gun rights, preventing harm
Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang broke down in tears last week while discussing gun violence at a town hall in Iowa. Elizabeth Warren announced that she intends to reduce gun violence in this country by 80%. Her plan includes background checks (these are already required), revoking gun licenses for gun dealers...
G. Terry Madonna & Michael Young: Will Trump become ‘new normal’ in American politics?
Paradigms, sometimes called “world views,” are the ways we experience, think about and often measure particular ideas, subjects and institutions. Paradigms are notorious for “shifting” as described by a generations of scholars dating back to Thomas Kuhn in 1962. Paradigm shifts are fundamental changes in the way we look at,...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Trump missed bipartisanship lesson during Monaca visit
Last week, when Donald Trump blew into town and toured the Royal Dutch Shell multibillion-dollar cracker plant under construction in Beaver County, he made one of his trademark laughable claims. The plant has created 5,000 construction jobs and will require 600 permanent industrial jobs when completed, plus thousands of jobs...
Editorial: Kudlow needs to see recession danger
Recession isn’t a blood-soaked word like murder or rape or stabbing. There will probably never be a slasher movie that starts with a dropping stock price or a devalued dollar. But that doesn’t mean recession isn’t a terrifying idea if you understand what it means. (And maybe more if you...
Letter to the editor: School’s almost in session — drive safely
Shortly, school will be starting throughout Western Pennsylvania. The motoring public is reminded of the increased traffic we will experience on the highways in the morning and in the afternoon. School buses, teachers, school employees and students in personal cars will take to the roads, creating more traffic, and we...
Letter to the editor: Serving one nation under God
My family has been here before it was a country. We never owned slaves. Family members were killed and captured by native Americans. My family served in the Mexican War, Civil War, and World Wars I and II, and I served during Vietnam. I support a president who doesn’t cut...
Letter to the editor: Talk to college freshmen about alcohol
First thoughts of back-to-college season typically involve endless trips to IKEA and Target, where dorm room accoutrements are agonized over and purchased. The days and weeks before classes start should also include conversations about alcohol and the risks associated with underage drinking. Underage drinking carries significant risks far beyond its...
