Opinion category, Page 671
Editorial: Hempfield still has issues to address
Hempfield Area School District’s residential tax assessment appeals program will be ending. Eventually. On Monday, the board voted 7-2 to discontinue the broadly criticized program that served as a back-door reassessment for properties with a $250,000 difference between fair market value and selling price, as calculated by district-hired law firm...
Letter to the editor: We must replace Donald Trump
If you are an adult of voting age, the 2020 election could be the most important one of your life. If we don’t replace Donald Trump as president, I believe this country is headed toward becoming an authoritarian dictatorship. This is not the time for moderation. Without a really big...
Leroy Renninger: Mitch McConnell and a fair trial
Was the rule of law meant to apply equally to everyone in our republic? Or is it permissible that it apply to only the “little people” while the wealthy and well-connected may cast it aside? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he has made up his mind that President Trump...
Letter to the editor: Scheme behind impeachment’s pace
The Senate trial on the two articles of impeachment against President Trump has begun, some 34 days after the House vote. There is a lot of clamor from the left for witnesses and documents, the stated purpose of which is to present even more evidence than what is already characterized...
Pat Buchanan: Trump’s in-kind contribution to Bernie Sanders
The directed killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s blood-soaked field marshal in the “forever war” of the Middle East, has begun to roil the politics of both the region and the USA. A stunned and shaken Iran retaliated by firing a dozen missiles at two U.S. bases in Iraq. Yet,...
Colin McNickle: Past time to fix property assessment/appeals mess
Much of the angst and legal wrangling over property assessments in Allegheny County and statewide could be eliminated by instituting mandatory regular reassessments that incorporate standardized norms, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The state should just end, or curtail appeals, by bringing Pennsylvania’s assessment practices...
Editorial: The black and white of guns
It is easy to paint any issue in pure, unyielding black and white. Abortion. Environment. Poverty. Health care. Energy. Immigration. Taxes. Everything can boil down to pro or con. But is that accurate? Almost never. Let’s look at guns. Pennsylvania is often tagged as a gun-friendly state. It’s hard to...
Letter to the editor: Think about Warren, Sanders, Buttigieg, Biden
Think about it: Elizabeth Warren, commander in chief Bernie Sanders, commander in chief Pete Buttigieg, commander in chief Joe Biden, commander in chief Think about it — please! Catherine F. Fike Ruffs Dale...
Letter to the editor: March to end property tax
At 8 a.m. Feb. 3, the Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition (PTCC), consisting of Pennsylvania residents, will hold a march at the steps of the capitol in Harrisburg to urge legislators to begin the process of reforming the archaic unfair method of funding schools. A number of legislators supporting school tax...
Letter to the editor: Our incivility & disunity
Some may believe the causes of the anger, distrust and infighting experienced in America today are solely the result of social media or some other singular cause. I propose that what we are experiencing (regardless of political persuasion) involves a multifaceted, long-term and complex set of circumstances. The question may...
Tom Purcell: Family landlines better than smartphones for teens
When my childhood home got a phone call, it was an event. That was partly because my father, a longtime phone company employee, installed four brass-belled phones throughout our home. The phones rang so loudly it sounded like crooks were breaking into Fort Knox. It was also because we were...
Jonah Goldberg: Inconvenient evidence puts GOP senators on spot
President Donald J. Trump was impeached on Thursday. I know that he was technically impeached when the House voted to do so in December. But the truth is, as a political and historical matter, Thursday was the day. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s strategy — brilliant to fans, incomprehensible to foes...
Editorial: FDA should scrub in on recall
There are things that are done with an abundance of trust — things done with the belief that they are safe. Like surgery. When going into an operating room, people are vulnerable. They know things can go wrong, but they also trust everything that can be done to ensure it...
Letter to the editor: Where does Buttigieg stand?
Pete Buttigieg recently slammed Joe Biden, his current competition for the Democratic presidential nomination, over his vote to authorize use of military force in Iraq. Given the subsequent state of affairs with Iran, the judgment behind this support is certainly worthy of consideration. However, Buttigieg should then be supporting Bernie...
Letter to the editor: Obama had hand in our economic recovery
Rather than using monetary amounts, a letter-writer recently tried comparing increases in our national debt by using percentages (“National debt under Trump, Obama”). He stated that during the Obama years, the compounded rate of increase of the national debt was 8.72% compared to 5.09% under President Trump. Not mentioned was...
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Jan. 20
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Jan. 20....
Editorial cartoons for the week of Jan. 20
Editorial cartoons for the week of Jan. 20....
S.E. Cupp: Sanders & Warren splitting up a good thing
In the hours before Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders were set to take the final debate stage before the February Iowa caucuses, what began as a mutual protection pact between the two progressive candidates for president devolved into a he-said, she-said war of the far-left worlds. To which I...
Mark Compton: Safety drives every decision at turnpike commission
Despite the best efforts of the transportation industry nationally working together to reduce fatal and serious-injury crashes, nearly 40,000 people die each year in highway-related incidents; on average, 15 of those occur on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Every year, dozens of roadway workers, first responders and tow-truck operators are killed; we...
Earl Tilford: How Martin Luther King Jr. changed hearts
My father was a Presbyterian minister in rural northwest Alabama from 1961 to 1965. I came of age there, then left the University of Alabama with an M.A. in history in 1969. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Gov. George C. Wallace framed the historical context of a changing...
Editorial: Reaching for the dream
There once was a man who had a dream. He stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He looked back 100 years to a great day in American history and spoke about how far we have come, but he also...
Letter to the editor: Disappointed in Arnold’s council pick
I was discouraged by the decision by Arnold’s mayor and council in filling the empty seat left open by the election of Joe Bia as mayor (“Arnold fills vacant city council seat, creates redevelopment vacancy,” Jan. 14, TribLIVE). The two candidates both had extensive resumes. However, one has been a...
Letter to the editor: Organ donation needs more awareness
Thank you for your recent editorial concerning the need for registration of organ donors (“Donation is a gift of Life.” ) This is such an important topic, one that is rarely covered by most of the local media. The news outlets are obsessed with politics, sports and celebrities and not...
Letter to the editor: Affordable Care Act saves lives
I am the mother of two children with special needs, one much more significant than the other. My daughter has multiple disabilities that will be lifelong and are life-threatening. Her care is costly. Her needs are great. She will need care all of her life, and her medical expenses will...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Pittsburgh’s pollution-industry balance
When Dennis Towne, a Google engineer from Pittsburgh’s East End, publicly proclaimed this month that he was leaving Pittsburgh because the air sometimes smelled bad in his neighborhood, he quickly caught the attention of politicians, bureaucrats and average Pittsburghers. A Pittsburgh resident since 2017, Towne acknowledged that Pittsburgh “has made...
