Opinion category, Page 73
James Thrasher: NCAA’s NIL policy — No Integrity Left
$4.8 million is the NIL (name, image and likeness) valuation of Cooper Flagg, a freshman Duke basketball player. How is that even possible? In essence, Duke was able to buy the hired gun, Flagg, one of the most highly decorated high school players in the country. Do you think Duke...
Seth T. Kannarr, Derek H. Alderman and Jordan Brasher: America is caught in a name game where place names become political tools
Place names are more than just labels on a map. They influence how people learn about the world around them and perceive their place in it. Names can send messages and suggest what is and isn’t valued in society. And the way that they are changed over time can signal...
Letter to the editor: Demonizing Musk
The radical left (new Democratic Party) has put their insanity on full display for all to see with their attacks on Tesla dealerships, charging stations and Tesla vehicles. Their outrage at Elon Musk for supporting President Trump and lending his technical expertise to the administration in an effort to eliminate...
Lori Falce: Confession is good for the soul — unless you are a politician
As a kid, I was always cautioned that admitting my faults was the easier path. When you go to Catholic school, that is reinforced when you go to confession. The exit ramp from the road to hell was an earnest admission, a genuine apology and a few Hail Marys. Have...
Laurels & lances: Nostalgia, rules & Pirates
Laurel: To a taste of the past. If picking up a pound of chipped chopped ham at the grocery store deli doesn’t quite scratch the itch of those childhood trips to your favorite deli combined with an ice cream parlor, something is promising to fill that need. Jim Conroy, co-owner...
Letter to the editor: Fauci deserves thanks, not demonization
The writer of the letter “No one elected Fauci, either” (March 12, TribLive) seems to contradict herself. She acknowledges (correctly) that Dr. Anthony Fauci “knew better than anyone else.” She also acknowledges correctly that over a million Americans died. But then she complains about the restrictions Fauci recommended, many of...
Paul Kengor: The ACLU’s religious ignorance
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) gets defensive when accused of being hostile to the concerns and freedoms of Christians, but there’s no denying the troubling track record. Everyone knows it. A conservative Jewish friend of mine calls the ACLU the “Anti-Christian Liberties Union.” I’ve written about its history in...
Betsy Sinclair: Avoiding your neighbor because of how they voted? Democracy needs you to talk to them instead.
Are you angry about politics right now? Seething? You’re not alone. According to the Mood of the Nation Poll by researchers at Penn State, 9 in 10 Americans can name a recent news event or something about American politics that made them angry. Political scientists Steven Webster, Elizabeth Connors and...
Peter Morici: A recession could leave Americans humming ‘Oh, Canada’
President Trump’s convincing victory and mandate ignited optimism for more stock market gains, continued economic growth, and higher inflation. A leaner government, less regulation and lower taxes, combined with U.S. leadership in semiconductors and software for artificial intelligence, were expected to spark more innovation and investment. From Nov. 5 to...
Letter to the editor: Steelers have Rudolph, don’t need Rodgers
Very few teams reach the Super Bowl by hoping an older “has been” player might have one more spark left. Most teams rely on putting in the work and developing some continuity. If the Steelers sign a clearly washed-up, well-past-his-prime Aaron Rodgers, I’ll be through, finished, finito, done with a...
Letter to the editor: Trump’s treatment of veterans
For all you veterans who proudly wore T-shirts stating “Veterans for Trump,” the Trump regime now has plans to cut 80,000 jobs from the Department of Veterans Affairs, 25% of whom are veterans. As part of his pause on intelligence sharing with Ukraine, President Trump suspended access to satellite imagery...
Editorial: Is swing state Pennsylvania swinging even more in some areas?
Just when you think Pennsylvania has decided to zig, it zags. The November election proved the state’s reputation as swingy as a circus trapeze. Keystone State voters have blown with the political winds, siding with Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Trump again and Barack Obama in the last five presidential elections....
Letter to the editor: Trump, Musk the good guys trying to end waste, fraud, abuse
Waste, fraud and abuse in government are pretty much an accepted fact. People often use humor to soften their disgust and resentment of the obscene and absurd spending. Presidents Obama and Biden and others have promised but failed to address it. President Trump is actually trying. The one person possibly...
Jonah Goldberg: Congress wants to impeach judges instead of doing its job
Some Republicans want U.S. District Judge James Boasberg removed from the bench for allegedly interfering with the president’s authority — under the Constitution and the 1798 Alien Enemies Act — to deport members of a Venezuelan gang. Texas Rep. Brandon Gill and several colleagues introduced articles of impeachment charging that...
John M. Crisp: Are Americans really all that lazy, corrupt and inefficient?
The conventional wisdom — really, it’s an Article of Faith for the Republican Party — is that the federal bureaucracy is a hopeless swamp of waste, fraud and inefficiency staffed by lazy, incompetent idlers. But is it? It’s a question worth considering, since it’s the rationale that drives the chainsaw...
Rep. Abby Major: Adult-use cannabis should be a Republican issue
I’m a Republican, always have been. I believe in small government, low taxes, a free market and personal liberty. For these reasons, I support the legalization of adult use of cannabis. Every state surrounding the commonwealth with the exception of West Virginia has already legalized, and it seems almost a...
Letter to the editor: Republican double standards
I have to wonder where the writer of the letter “Time to find common ground with Trump” (March 15, TribLive) has been these past 20 years or so. The writer paints the Democrats as mean-spirited by pointing out Rep. Al Green’s vocal and disruptive opposition to President Trump’s recent speech....
Editorial: Pennsylvania should guard against the power of lobbying money
The legend of lobbying is that it began in a Washington, D.C., hotel when people would wait for Ulysses S. Grant, pressing the president for political favors. The reality is Grant wasn’t even born yet when the first paid lobbyist was hired in America. It was 1792, three years after...
Letter to the editor: Conservatives have thrown in the towel
I’m sure many conservatives have come to the conclusion their representatives capitulated to the conservative political agenda decades ago. Conservatives failed after the Wilson, Roosevelt, LBJ ’60s and Obama-Biden eras. Conservative pushback was limited at best. However, Republicans put forth the old college try every November, appealing to the electorate...
Mike Tedesco: In defense of the Esplanade project
Colin McNickle’s column casting doubt on the merits of Pittsburgh’s Esplanade project is a tour de force that illustrates all the erroneous misconceptions surrounding it (“The problem with Pittsburgh’s ‘Esplanade’ project,” March 17, TribLive). McNickle’s perspective is based on a policy brief published by his co-workers, our local thinkers at...
Ted Kyle: Medicare should cover anti-obesity medications
In countless reports and studies, obesity is often reduced to just a number: 42% of adults in the U.S. have obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s in charts, statistics and graphs that dominate the conversation. But what these numbers fail to capture is the reality...
Letter to the editor: Why not make Mexico our 52nd state?
President Trump has been proposing to make Canada our 51st state. The reason Trump has stated for this proposal is to control our borders and stop fentanyl coming across our border. In reality our issues with border crossings and fentanyl have been far more problematic with our border neighbor to...
Letter to the editor: Transit cuts should extend to management, wages
Regarding the article “Struggling Pittsburgh Regional Transit proposes fare hike, ‘brutal’ service cuts” (March 20, TribLive): I have not used this service, as I haven’t needed public transportation into the city. I know there are extenuating circumstances requiring cuts in public transit. I think that with an almost 40% cut...
Editorial: How can housing be a priority if HUD makes cuts?
Pennsylvania has housing issues. There is a crying need for homes — whether houses or apartments — for certain sectors of the population. Specifically, there are needs for affordable housing in low-income and workforce price points where jobs that pay those wages exist. The National Low Income Housing Coalition notes...
Letter to the editor: Silent coup d’etat
When I was in graduate school, I had a professor who was a former Jesuit priest who became a professor emeritus of public administration at Virginia Tech. John A. Rohr wrote a textbook that I studied under his guidance. In “To Run a Constitution: The Legitimacy of the Administrative State”...
