Opinion category, Page 663
Letter to the editor: Disgusted by litter on our roads
The article “Study: Pa. roads average 1,030 litter items per mile” (Feb. 5, TribLIVE) is right on. On my walks, the litter is constant. I walk on a wooded township road, but the same is true on the roads as we drive out of our area. Over the years, I’ve...
Letter to the editor: ‘We the people’ is the answer
I woke up this morning after another troubling night. My first thoughts were about the nation, democracy, fairness, justice, fault, blame … enough. People, policies, truth, lies, honor, future, past …enough. Trump, Romney, Biden, Pelosi, McConnell, Schumer … enough. Socialism, capitalism, democracy, autocracy, oligarchy, investigation, witnesses, fake news, above the...
Letter to the editor: Managing wildlife
Silvie Pomicter of Voice of the Animals wrote a letter to inform everyone about how inhumane the trapping of animals is “Fur belongs to the animals” (Feb. 3, TribLIVE). Her organization is basically against all forms of animal use, whether you are wearing a fur or eating a steak. If...
John Stossel: Revolutionary Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders leads the race for the Democratic nomination. He may become America’s first self-described “democratic socialist” president. What does that mean? Today, when Sanders talks about socialism, he says: “I’m not looking at Cuba. I’m looking at countries like Denmark and Sweden.” But Denmark and Sweden are not socialist....
Walter Williams: Political bias & anti-Americanism on college campuses
A recent Pew Research Center survey finds that only half of American adults think colleges and universities are having a positive effect on our nation. The leftward political bias, held by faculty members affiliated with the Democratic Party, at most institutions of higher education explains a lot of that disappointment....
Editorial: Boy Scouts bend their own laws
A Scout is trustworthy. That is the first point of the Scout Law, the 12 principles outlined by Boy Scouts of America as rules to live by. The organization defines the idea. “Tell the truth and keep promises. People can depend on you.” It will be surprising if at least...
Letter to the editor: Paying for police
Regarding the article “Local officials say paying for state police would be tough pill to swallow”: When is it ever enough? We in Penn Township are known as a bedroom community while having little business. With our own million-plus 2019-20 township budget, our police have been allotted over $4 million...
Letter to the editor: Williams misleads on democracy
In his column “Founders viewed democracy as tyranny” (Jan. 31, TribLIVE), Walter Williams asserted that our Founding Fathers saw democracy as a form of tyranny. We use the word democracy routinely to describe our form of government. It’s understood that we live in a representative democracy; our elected representatives vote...
Letter to the editor: Democratic Party’s platform
It is a sad sight indeed to watch the spectacle of the Democratic Party choosing the delegates to their national convention this time around. It is an argument among candidates who espouse radical programs, all of which are ridiculously expensive and few of which comprise what the average American wants...
Donald Boudreaux: Conservatives can be just as mistaken as ‘progressives’
Oren Cass has launched a new conservative think tank, American Compass. It’s meant to “restore an economic consensus that emphasizes the importance of family, community, and industry to the nation’s liberty and prosperity.” Family, community and industry — and liberty and prosperity — are indeed important. But as he inadvertently...
Lori Falce: Washington, the reluctant president
George Washington did not want to be president. He was a good general, as his victories in the Revolutionary War proved. He was a keen businessman. He thought of himself primarily as a farmer. “While I realize the arduous nature of the task which is conferred on me and feel...
Laurels & lances: Locks, fights and hope
Laurel: To a place in the plan. Infrastructure development is always a popular touchstone with politicians, so it isn’t surprising when it gets brought up. It’s definitely nice to be remembered at budget time, however. And that’s what happened with President Trump’s recent budget proposal. The plan includes $6 billion...
Letter to the editor: Founders warned us about Donald Trump
Alexander Hamilton, George Washington and others founders warned us about a man like Donald Trump in power. Hamilton wrote to Washington in 1792: “When a man unprincipled in private life desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents, having the advantage of military habits — despotic...
Letter to the editor: Trump & Constitution
Like many who opine in the Trib, letter- writer Al Duerig (“Trump tramples Constitution,” Feb. 12, TribLIVE) seems to allow his personal feelings toward President Trump to overrule his brain. 1) To the charge that Sen. Mitch McConnell refused President Obama’s 2016 nominee for the Supreme Court: That’s what elections are...
Zach Shamberg: Pa.’s seniors should be a priority
Earlier this month, in the lead-up to his annual budget address, Gov. Tom Wolf announced several new initiatives geared toward protecting Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable populations. In all, these initiatives represent more than $40 million in new spending to help those in need. That includes $1.4 million to enhance the state’s...
Editorial: Time for Nalani Johnson Rule
Time in a child’s life ticks by fast. A baby grows and changes every day. A week can be the difference between pants that fit and pants that don’t. And an hour can be the difference between life and death. On Tuesday, cellphones across the area blared as an Amber...
Letter to the editor: Trump, supporters combat conspiracy
I am what the media calls a “conspiracy theorist” — a derogatory term used to smear a critical thinker who questions the statements of known liars. Teddy Roosevelt stated in a 1913 autobiography that, “Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government …” And in the 1986 Iran/Contra hearings,...
Letter to the editor: Truth in headlines
I was saddened to see your Feb. 7 print headline “Trump takes aim at ‘scum’.” Quoting people in headlines is what the tabloids do to convey misinformation. Why not put the truth in the headline and then quote President Trump’s words in the body of the article? The article was...
Letter to the editor: Officials keep sticking it to electorate
Well, another local election has come to an end, and our elected officials who ran on the promise of not raising our taxes once again are ready to stick it to us (“Tax hike stands after Westmoreland commissioners stick with budget,” Jan. 22, TribLIVE). Actually, it seems they are going...
Pat Buchanan: A Democratic establishment in panic
From the day he entered the race, Joe Biden was the great hope of the Democratic establishment to spare them from the horrifying prospect of a 2020 race between The Donald and Bernie Sanders. Today, that same establishment wants Joe out of the race. Why has Biden suddenly become an...
Gary English: Tax-shifting schemes won’t provide property tax relief
On Feb. 3, Pennsylvania legislators and their followers held a rally on the Capitol rotunda steps that fits the current state of affairs of ignorance: “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it” and shall expound. For the past eight years, the Legislature and the Pennsylvania Taxpayers...
Editorial: What is the future of hemp industry?
Growing a new industry isn’t as simple as having an idea. It’s not even as simple as having a product. An industry is bigger than a business. It’s about suppliers and manufacturers and distributors. Even with enough supply and healthy demand, if any of the cogs in the middle break...
Letter to the editor: Trump’s con succeeds
Vladimir Putin must be rubbing his hands in glee. With the aid of GOP senators, his man in D.C. has succeeded in a masterful con. Better yet, Alan Dershowitz has argued that anyone running for office can do almost anything. No sense of ethics needed; laws are apparently mere suggestions....
Letter to the editor: Kids are brainwashed on climate change
Watching a news report about children protesting about so-called climate change gave me something to ponder. The young can lead us old nonbelievers by first scrapping their video games, computers, cellphones and other electronics that use energy in order to be manufactured, mostly from oil that injects carbon into the...
Letter to the editor: We should unite behind the president
I never thought of myself as a political person, and I certainly never thought that a TV reality show host would become our president. But I am pleased with how things turned out. The economy is good, people are working, wages are favorable, unemployment is low and terrorists are being...
