Opinion category, Page 728
John Stossel: Calculating costs of Dems’ free stuff
Never before have presidential candidates offered voters so much “free” stuff. Kamala Harris wants you to “collect up to $500 a month.” No one has tracked the cost of all of the promises. So my video team did! Who will spend the most? Here are the new spending proposals from...
Editorial: HQ2 bids gave Amazon lots of options
The Amazon announcement Tuesday of a new nonsortable fulfillment center near Pittsburgh International Airport was well- received. It was like Allegheny County got an unexpected rose from a TV “Bachelor.” It’s a $30 million investment. It means 800 full- time jobs will be created with $15 per hour paychecks. It...
Letter to the editor: Petroleum industry greed
I firmly believe that the government has to step in and take some kind of control over the petroleum industry, because the price of fuel is out of control. Oh yes, many years ago I pumped fuel when it was 25.9 cents a gallon, but at that price I cleaned...
Letter to the editor: We’ll never see gambling, carbon tax proceeds
The risibility of reality distortion was on display in the July 24 edition of the Trib. At the top of the Opinion page was a cartoon depicting how the promised revenues from gambling were to be returned to citizens in the form of property tax relief — but weren’t. Below...
Letter to the editor: Degradation of Schenley Park
Schenley Park is a gift to our area from another age. The recent collapse of part of Serpentine Drive under the weight of a 36-ton tri-axle paving truck points up the neglect of our heritage. Hiking trails from Bartlett Street playground to the silt-choked lake under Panther Hollow Bridge are...
Donald Boudreaux: In 2020, let’s vote for the adult
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., won applause during Tuesday’s presidential debate with this proclamation: “I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for.” Were I on that stage, here’s...
Lori Falce: The dangers of sautéing garlic
“We are safe and sound.” A friend posted the alert to Facebook late Sunday. She wanted to let us know that she was not one of those killed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California. She wanted to let us know that her family wasn’t being treated for bullet wounds....
Laurels & lances: Funds, fire and field
Laurel: To working hard to make beautiful music. Some people start saving early for Christmas but the Hempfield Area High School marching band is more focused on stockpiling money for New Year’s Day. The Spartans will ring in 2020 five hours earlier than the rest of Westmoreland County because they...
Letter to the editor: Democratic-dominated Pittsburgh is doing fine
As a lifelong Republican, I look with dismay and a great deal of disgust at many of our largest cities — Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and San Francisco, to name a few — all dominated by a single party, the Democratic Party, for years, some for decades. They all...
Letter to the editor: Workplace bullying deserves more attention
I hope your readers will take an interest in a social problem that does not receive enough attention: workplace bullying. Workplace bullying is repeated mistreatment of one or more workers (the targets and victims) by one or more perpetrators. It is abusive conduct that is threatening, humiliating and intimidating and...
Letter to the editor: Disagreeing with Trump supporters
Inept is my new favorite word. I admit I had to look it up in the dictionary after the UK ambassador said President Trump was “inept.” I can understand why Trump would be upset with that comment. That is Trump in a nutshell. But there is still room in that...
George Will: Are the Democrats trying to lose?
WASHINGTON Watching Democratic presidential aspirants is like watching, a century ago, the 1919 World Series, when discerning spectators thought: Some of the White Sox are trying to lose. Michael Boskin, chairman of President George H.W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers and currently at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, pays the Democrats the...
Peter Morici: Here’s why the Fed is no longer relevant
As the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates, it risks falling victim to its own dominance. For too long, the Fed has been a monastery where 2% inflation, 2% trend growth and the primacy of conventional banking are accepted without sound foundation. The Fed targets 2% inflation as a compromise between...
Editorial: Disgusting videos show pervasive disrespect
Have people always been this disgusting? In our cameras-everywhere internet age, we seem to be assailed with a lot of things no one wants to know. Not just the “how-is-the-sausage-made” kind of thing. No, this isn’t about incidental disgust — the unpleasantness that happens and we turn away because, hey,...
Brother Norman Hipps: CRNAs deserve official designation in Pa.
Pennsylvania is home to hundreds of student nurse anesthetists, yet Pennsylvania is one of just two states that fail to officially recognize CRNAs in some form. Because there is no “certified registered nurse anesthetist” title under the state’s Professional Nursing Law, CRNAs are recognized only as registered nurses, not as...
Letter to the editor: The elemental helium crisis
So now we have an “elemental crisis” (not to be confused with a constitutional crisis) of a necessary noble gas: helium. How is this possible? Is it from filling birthday balloons (nope, since the downfall of the Mylar balloon due to environmental issues)? Too many MRI scans being prescribed? Nope,...
Letter to the editor: Natural gas a win for everyone
There were a lot of numbers in the article “Report: Pennsylvania had record year for natural gas production” (July 10, TribLIVE). They all were pretty good, including the fact that the state conducted 36,873 compliance inspections last year. Oversight already is substantial. Regulators are doing their job to keep us...
Letter to the editor: We shouldn’t tolerate ‘the Squad’
I am a man of color; white is still a color, isn’t it? That’s why it appalls me that the four congresspeople who call themselves “the Squad” I believe use their color to promote racism, socialism and hatred toward our country. These four radical liberals should be thrown out of...
Pat Buchanan: After Mueller debacle, where do Democrats go?
The Democrats who were looking to cast Robert Mueller as the star in a TV special, “The Impeachment of Donald Trump,” can probably tear up the script. They’re gonna be needing a new one. For six hours last Wednesday, as three cable news networks and ABC, CBS and NBC all...
Vince Mercuri: The art of resilience
The renowned artist of the 1600s, Rembrandt, remains famous for capturing emotions and dramatic personal reactions of his subjects. In many of his paintings he displays light emerging from darkness, a sort of victory over the struggles and difficulties of life. Rembrandt serves as a model of determination, courage and...
Editorial: Regatta board needed to trust but verify
Festivals that over-promise, over-commit and under-deliver to the point of investigations and public outcry are becoming all too common. The Fyre Festival has become synonymous with fraud. The “luxury music festival” planned for 2017 in the Bahamas was canceled at the last minute amid broken promises. Sounds something like Tuesday’s...
Letter to the editor: Democrats’ racist rhetoric appalling
As a woman of color I am appalled at the Democrats’ outrageous racist rhetoric. Any thinking person knows that President Trump’s statement was not about race, but patriotism. If Reps. Omar, Pressley, Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez were of Irish, German, English, etc. descent, and all other things being equal, the comment...
Letter to the editor: Overcoming the Trump mistake
It’s difficult to avoid responding in kind to Donald Trump’s name-calling and vituperation. And while it is a continuous challenge to describe 45’s persona as accurately and concisely as possible, one hits a wall after a while. The endless shameful tweets emanating from the White House almost leave one exhausted...
Letter to the editor: Mueller vs. Trump
We can’t understand how anyone who claims to be a Christian can support a person like Donald Trump. Who would you believe: A person of integrity like Robert Mueller who was a Marine with a distinguished service record, or a liar, racist, draft dodger and adulterer like Trump? William Hite...
Letter to the editor: Some criminals live better than our poor
Regarding Jeanne Shields’ letter “Put Americans first” (July 17, TribLIVE): The other end of your true facts is that some convicted criminals in jail live better than our American, working, tax-paying poor. Yes to “wake up” — think, people, think. R. Ebitz Hempfield...
