Opinion category, Page 757
George Will: Supreme Court mulls citizenship question for census
WASHINGTON — The oral arguments the Supreme Court will hear on Tuesday will be more decorous than the gusts of judicial testiness that blew the case up to the nation’s highest tribunal. The case, which raises arcane questions of administrative law but could have widely radiating political and policy consequences,...
G. Terry Madonna & Michael Young: Political polarization threatens our stability
Love and marriage, as the old ditty has it, may not always go together, but incivility and polarization sure go hand in hand in contemporary American politics. It’s virtually impossible to separate them. More importantly, it has led to chronic dysfunctionality in government. Recently, in a rare moment, the Pennsylvania...
Antony Davies & James Harrigan: Pittsburgh gun ban just political advertising
Most people know that politicians of all stripes are rarely sincere. Case in point: the Pittsburgh City Council’s recent industrial-strength gun-control nonsense. This law was so tempting to those who posture for a living that even Mayor Bill Peduto and Gov. Tom Wolf had to get in on the act....
Phyllis Zagano: No women, no Catholic Church
In August 2016, Pope Francis named a commission of 12 scholars to study the history of women deacons. The commission — the first in the history of the Church to have an equal number of men and women — provided a report some months ago. Will the pope restore the...
Editorial: Pennsylvania Senate’s turn on child abuse protections
Okay, Senate. Your turn. The Pennsylvania House did its job. They took a proposal to rewrite the rules on child sex abuse reporting and ran with it. One bill would chuck the statute of limitations if the reason child abuse wasn’t reported was that the mandated reporters didn’t report the...
Sounding off: Who will get reparations?
Many politicians on the left, including Beto O’Rourke, have stated that they support reparations for African-Americans. I would like to know how they would determine who is a descendent of slavery. Is a person’s color going to be the determinant, or does a person have to have documentation in order...
Letter to the editor: Pencils, capitalism & socialism
I read with great interest Tom Purcell’s column “Erasing capitalism? Consider the pencil first” (March 19, TribLIVE) and his references to Leonard Read’s essay “I, Pencil.” Contemplating how such an item as seemingly mundane as a pencil could be produced — the basic idea, the type of wood, discovering that...
Letter to the editor: Let’s see Nancy Pelosi’s tax returns
Nancy Pelosi is two heartbeats away from slinking into the presidency. The Democrats have been banging away since the primaries to see Trump’s tax returns. He is a businessman, and his returns are complicated. They are also audited by the IRS yearly. The Democrats indirectly imply that the IRS is...
Letter to the editor: College isn’t for all students
I would like to thank Tom Davidson for his article “Pittsburgh region has thousands of job opportunities, Builders Guild says”. Although I am a retired educator, I have always felt that college is not the answer for everyone. I believe the problem is that parents do not agree with this...
Walter Williams: Pondering Democrats’ views on voting, guns & reparations
There’s a push to change laws to grant both criminals serving time and ex-criminals the right to vote. Guess which party is pushing the most for these legal changes? If you guessed that it was the Democrats, go to the head of the class. Bernie Sanders says states should allow...
John Stossel: Don’t fear 3D-printed guns
Are you very afraid? 3D-printed guns are coming. “Virtually undetectable!” shrieked CNN. “This changes the safety of Americans forever!” shrieked MSNBC. Does it? Six years ago, a company called Defense Distributed posted blueprints for 3D-printed guns on the web. The Obama State Department said that violated the Arms Control Act...
Editorial: DeLuca plan too late for Penn Hills, not for other districts
If nothing else, Penn Hills can be a cautionary tale. The school district’s $172 million money pit of debt might not be getting any shallower but it has prompted attention in Harrisburg. Auditor General Eugene DePasquale had already issued a 2016 report that called Penn Hills out for “mismanagement and...
Letter to the editor: Protecting our parks
The U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year passed a public lands package that permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a conservation program that has funded parks in every county across America since my parents were kids. I’m thrilled to see lasting protections for the parks and...
Letter to the editor: Medical marijuana effective, cheaper alternative
I read with interest Barbara Cisek’s op-ed “Congress must take action on drug prices” (April 6, TribLIVE) regarding a very important issue for so many of us. Cisek did not mention medical marijuana, which can be an alternative to expensive and not always effective prescription medications, and without the potential...
Letter to the editor: Who will get reparations?
Many politicians on the left, including Beto O’Rourke, have stated that they support reparations for African-Americans. I would like to know how they would determine who is a descendent of slavery. Is a person’s color going to be the determinant, or does a person have to have documentation in order...
Laurels & lances: Food fest, fight, overcoming and outstanding
Laurel: To a really big dill. Who doesn’t love a big old pickle? Now who doesn’t love an even bigger pickle? Exactly. And that’s what makes a bigger, better Picklesburgh festival something you can really sink your teeth into. The July 26-28 festival is going to be expanded and we...
Lori Falce: Mueller report proves we lost Russian info war
Information warfare. That is the term Special Council Robert Mueller used in his report detailing the two year investigation into Russian hacking and possible collusion or obstruction by the Trump campaign or administration. Information warfare. The weaponization of people’s thoughts and ideas. The strategic deployment of a mixture of facts,...
Letter to the editor: Bernie Sanders & socialism
Bernie Sanders recently cried that three people owned more of the nation’s wealth than the lower 50% of the public. Perhaps he is right. Maybe we should all adopt his socialist philosophy. Then we would all have income equality. We would all be poor. Look at Venezuela. In only two...
Letter to the editor: Support bold climate action
Thank you for publishing the op-ed by Penn State climate scientist Michael Mann and PennEnvironment’s Flora Cardoni (“Moving Pa. to clean-energy powerhouse,” March 29, TribLIVE). Thank you for raising awareness of the urgent need for action on climate change and bringing to light solutions. Renewable energy portfolio standards at the...
Letter to the editor: Reasons to legalize marijuana
It’s hard to resist commenting on C.A. Ray’s letter “Why legalize pot”. Ray remarks that marijuana is “much worse” than tobacco, but offers nothing to support that. I believe no one has ever died from smoking pot. Cigarettes? He asks the governor for a reason he is considering legalizing pot....
Donald Boudreaux: Reasons to be happy on Earth Day
April 22 of each year is now Earth Day. (I note that April 22 is also the birthday of Vladimir Lenin. Readers may draw their own conclusions.) The internet and airwaves will teem with gloom ’n’ doom, as warnings are heard of a coming calamity. Guilt-tripping will also peak, with...
George Will: Take electric-vehicle tax credit off the road
WASHINGTON Some government foolishness has an educational value that compensates for its considerable cost. Consider the multibillion-dollar federal electric-vehicle tax credit, which efficiently illustrates how government can, with one act, diminish its already-negligible prestige while subtracting from America’s fairness. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., hope to...
Eric Nelson: Pennsylvania should be cautious about nuclear bailout
Normally, businesses use hard work to generate profit and, at times, big business uses lobbyists. This appears to be the strategy as the nuclear industry levels its crosshairs on Pennsylvania. In New York, its $500 million marketing assault secured a return on investment of $5.7 billion in higher energy prices...
Editorial: Highlands residents have right to know
We aren’t going to give up and go away. Highlands School District can keep making decisions and taking votes without the full light of day, but the Tribune-Review isn’t going to stop going to meetings. We aren’t going to stop paying attention to what is on the agenda and what...
Letter to the editor: Praise for jury foreman in Michael Rosfeld case
Jesse Rawls Sr., the jury foreman in the Michael Rosfeld trial, deserves praise for his sound judgment based on the facts of this case. He was able to concentrate on the evidence presented and filter out the calls for retribution against the officer. Rawls’ actions showed great courage and sets...
