Opinion category, Page 80
Letter to the editor: Pittsburgh should be responsible for sidewalks
Regarding the article “Fixes not fines: Pittsburgh wants to aid, not punish, poor homeowners with crumbling sidewalks” (Feb. 25, TribLive): I commend the city for supporting low-income residents in maintaining safe sidewalks. Expanding the 2023 pilot program is a step in the right direction. However, Pittsburgh should take full responsibility...
Editorial: Trump administration decisions have real impacts on real people
When incidents occur, it is human nature to do two things. We might empathize, recognizing the hardship others are enduring. We say “I understand,” or, “That could have been me.” The other reaction is to distance. We watch from behind a mental pane of glass. We don’t have to understand....
Letter to the editor: Hate doesn’t make us great
“Hate does not make America great.” I spotted this bumper sticker among dozens of others during the presidential campaign last year, and, as a Christian, it stuck with me. Hate seems to be overwhelming me in the first month of Donald Trump’s second term. If many of the right majority...
Jonah Goldberg: Here’s the key to understanding Donald Trump’s approach to the Ukraine war
I don’t say this often, but let’s give Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt. During Trump’s instantly infamous Oval Office meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, the Ukrainian president was determined to make one point above all: that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not to be trusted. Again and...
Cal Thomas: Ukraine ministers speaking truth
While President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were duking it out in the Oval Office in a rhetorical version of the Ultimate Fighting Club that Trump loves, six Ukrainian Christian ministers from different denominations were coincidentally (or prophetically?) down the street telling guests at...
Letter to the editor: Ashamed of Trump
I am a veteran, proud to have served. I’ve taken an oath to protect this country. This is America, a beacon of freedom, truth and justice, revered throughout the world. Many have sacrificed to achieve this. With my own eyes, I saw our leader belittle and embarrass one of our...
Letter to the editor: What is RFK doing about oil and gas?
In response to the Associated Press story “Trump officials want to ban junk food from SNAP. Past efforts show it’s not easy” (Feb. 19, TribLive) about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: What is he doing about oil and gas? His efforts aimed at Big Ag and Big Pharma seem like ways...
Letter to the editor: Banks have sordid role in credit card debt
I found myself doing mental gymnastics to follow the logic of the writer of the Las Vegas Review- Journal editorial “Credit card bill will hurt those it’s supposed to help” (Feb. 24, TribLive). After several readings, it appears to me that the writer’s logic is this: Banks’ earnings on their credit...
Editorial: Politics interferes with Pittsburgh police chief picks
The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police is, once again, without a leader. This time, it is losing even an acting leader. “Serving as your acting chief for the last four months has been one of the greatest honors of my career,” acting Chief Christopher Ragland told Mayor Ed Gainey at a...
Letter to the editor: History in our backyards
When most of us want to learn history, we visit historical attractions like Gettysburg or Philadelphia. However, we either take for granted or are unaware of the historical events that took place in our own backyard. I live just a few blocks away from the burial sight of Arthur St....
Letter to the editor: Why turnpike tolls must sometimes be raised
Regarding the letter “Why does the turnpike keep raising tolls?” (Feb. 22, TribLive): Raising tolls is one of the most challenging votes our commissioners make annually, as the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission recognizes the demands higher costs place on the 550,000 drivers who rely on our roadway daily. Context provides insight...
Colin McNickle: Tracking Pittsburgh’s stubborn office vacancy rate
There might be a glimmer of hope in Pittsburgh’s still-rising central business district (CBD) office vacancy rates. But an economist at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy cautions that there remain numerous caveats. Of course, the pandemic ushered in a new age of office work, more from home than in...
Tyler Cowen: A $5 million gold card for immigrants makes economic sense
President Donald Trump would like to offer migrants who want to work in the U.S. a “gold card,” akin to a green card, with one significant difference: the price tag. A gold card would cost $5 million, compared to government fees of $235 for a green card. It’s a good...
Letter to the editor: Ashamed of our president
I am an older man, listened to the results of the Truman/Dewey election. I know that everyone makes mistakes. I know that our national debt is too big, and that our government is too big and too expensive. I know that many dictators have come to power through the process...
Letter to the editor: All DEI programs are not the same
The article “Ending diversity push or fueling student anxiety? Trump administration’s anti-DEI stance sparks debate” (Feb. 25, TribLive) quotes Adam Kissel, currently at the Heritage Foundation: “The DEI party in education is over. As commonly practiced, DEI initiatives and offices treat people differently by identity group, stereotype by identity group,...
Letter to the editor: Free tax help is available
Death and taxes, the saying goes. But what if tax season wasn’t just a pain or a punchline and instead was the most stressful time of the year? For people in our region working multiple jobs but still not earning enough to meet their basic needs, filing taxes can be...
Editorial: How can hospitals be made safe from violence?
UPMC Memorial in York County is a hospital. A hospital is a place where life or death struggles take place every day. It is usually a cardiac arrest or a stroke or an anaphylactic allergic reaction. It can be a traumatic injury. It might be a gunshot wound. It is...
Letter to the editor: Audit of our government long overdue
The Democrats’ reaction to the Trump administration’s efforts to rein in waste, fraud and abuse across all federal agencies through DOGE is very strange. They are marching in the streets, singing and chanting like anti-war protesters in the late ’60s. Elon Musk and his cadre of young whiz kid engineers...
Letter to the editor: Elections have consequences
With alarm, we bear witness to President Donald Trump’s sledgehammering cuts to the federal government with agency closings, layoffs and indiscriminate and unlawful firings of civil servants, all occurring while Congress ineptly stands by. Unelected but Trump-appointed Elon Musk enters and closes numerous agencies with dangerous, uncertain firings of nuclear...
Matthew Espenshade: IRA’s unfair drug pricing must be stopped
How many of us know what goes into the development of the medications we take? We take a medicine and hope it will work, that we’ll feel better shortly or we’ll be able to keep certain diseases in check. Very few of us have any concept of the years of...
Cal Thomas: A warning about pride for Trump
“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” — Henry Kissinger President Trump is on a roll, claiming victory after victory against the “swamp.” Some of his decisions are being challenged in court, but others, like closing the border and deporting migrants with criminal records, are likely to be sustained. Polls show they...
Letter to the editor: Christians did indeed vote for Trump
I disagree with the letter “Christians and Trump” (Feb. 27, TribLive), in which the writer claims that no real Christian voted for President Trump. Many of us who are Bible believers and follow Christ voted for Trump. It was our understanding that our nation was becoming weak and being filled...
Letter to the editor: International aid boosts economic prosperity, security
Not only is global poverty a humanitarian problem, but it also has an impact on national security and economic stability. Foreign aid, which accounts for less than 1% of the federal budget yet has a significant influence, is one way that the United States helps combat extreme poverty around the...
Letter to the editor: Let’s look at who’s paying their ‘fair share’
Democrats and their minions in the legacy media and various cable new outlets have “waged war” against the wealthy, saying that they have not paid “their fair share of taxes.” Most have never stated what “their fair share” should be. President Trump’s proposed $5,000 DOGE rebate essentially defines what a...
Editorial: Never forget the WTC sick — Congress must finally fully fund their health care
We were relieved when House Republicans successfully pushed President Donald Trump to reverse the Elon Musk-imposed 20% cut to the World Trade Center Health Program, which provides medical monitoring and treatment to 137,000 responders and survivors sickened from the toxic plume from 9/11. Never forget, indeed. But having protected the...
