Opinion category, Page 725
Sounding off: Don’t like abortion? Try funding birth control
Letter-writer John Ventre (“Liberals & abortion”) says politicians “don’t see the bigger picture” because they allow fetuses to be aborted while we are losing population. George Wandell (“Logical, truthful sex-ed lesson”) seems to feel similarly. But the really big picture is that this earth simply cannot sustain so many people....
Letter to the editor: Look to Depression for real struggles
Joe Mistick’s column “Life’s struggles hit single moms hard” lists among those struggles finding clothes at Goodwill, looking for family hand-me-downs and taking the kids to public parks. Really? I don’t doubt that single moms face all kinds of struggles, but what kind of society believes shopping at Goodwill or...
Letter to the editor: Gerrymandering & democracy
Thank you for the editorial ”Gerrymandering doesn’t represent us.”Gerrymandering can be a complicated subject, but you focused on the essence of the problem with the sentence, “Representative democracy doesn’t work if it’s not representative.” This assessment sums up the reason our state and federal governments are dysfunctional. If we can’t...
Letter to the editor: Democrats’ math & tax fairness
According to the latest Mercatus Center Senior Research, the top 50% of taxpayers pay 97.3% of the total. The top 1% pay over 38%. Leaving under 3% for the bottom 50%! Either the Democratic candidates who are calling for tax fairness flunked math or they just like beating up the...
Greg Hartnett: One year after Janus, Pa. laws behind times
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that public sector employees like me, who are not union members, don’t have to pay union fees as a condition of employment. For decades, teacher contracts have included union fee provisions that force even nonmember employees to fund a union or lose our jobs...
Walter Williams: Assault on Western civilization
Western civilization was founded on a set of philosophies that focus strongly on the sanctity of individuals and their power of logic and reason. This belief led to a desire to trust things that could be proven to be true or legitimate, from government to science. Judeo-Christian morality has formed...
Editorial: Wideman pardon part of painful justice reform
Forty-four years would have seemed like a lifetime to a 24-year-old man in 1975. Robert Wideman, now 68, was just 24 when charged with second-degree murder. He was convicted the next year and sent to prison for life. Nicola Morena was 24 back in 1975, too. Morena was the man...
Letter to the editor: Don’t like abortion? Try funding birth control
Letter-writer John Ventre (“Liberals & abortion”) says politicians “don’t see the bigger picture” because they allow fetuses to be aborted while we are losing population. George Wandell (“Logical, truthful sex-ed lesson”) seems to feel similarly. But the really big picture is that this earth simply cannot sustain so many people....
Letter to the editor: Trump administration casual about war
Regarding the article “Sen. Toomey lauds Trump for calling off Iran strikes, supports stricter economic sanctions” (June 21, TribLIVE): More sanctions are absurd to Iran. How would we like it if someone took our medicines away? That’s what happened in 2013 before the Iran nuclear deal. Iran rightfully fears that...
Donald Boudreaux: Protection for national defense?
Pleas for tariffs and other trade restrictions are made overwhelmingly for economic reasons. The claim is that such restrictions will create jobs, raise wages and otherwise improve our economy. But it is quite common for those who seek protection from foreign competition also to insist that the requested trade restrictions...
Lori Falce: Is your kid just a piece of wood?
The saddest commentary on our education system that I have ever heard didn’t come from a politician or a pundit. It came from the woman who taught my sister in kindergarten. “Everyone brings us their children like lumps of wood for us to carve into something. They all want us...
Laurels & lances: Russians, crime, radar and story time
Laurel: To colluding with Russians — musically. It was the sounds of Chicago. Except it wasn’t Chicago. It was cover band Leonid & Friends. And they aren’t even from Chicago. They’re from Moscow. Yes, Russia. The 11-member band was a big hit in Greensburg last week, packing St. Clair Park...
Letter to the editor: Fetal tissue research crucial
The recent decision of the Trump administration to curtail fetal tissue research is detrimental to the further development of life-saving therapies (“Trump administration imposes new restrictions on fetal tissue research,” June 5, TribLIVE). Fetal tissue research not only helps scientists develop therapies to prevent disease, but also treat existing diseases....
Letter to the editor: Disrespect at Penn Hills council meeting
My neighbors and I attended the June 17 Penn Hills council meeting at which the subject of a memorial for fallen firefighters was brought up. It was noted that a committee has raised $12,500 for the memorial, which must have certain dimensions according to municipal codes. Deputy Mayor Catherine Sapp...
Letter to the editor: What will Jesus do with us?
Are we a country that wants to become like President Trump? To lie, cheat, break laws and become an immoral nation, where winning is everything and the ends justify any means? Where mercy, compassion and understanding are replaced by hate? Are we a nation under God? We pit the rich...
Editorial: Let us resolve …
Happy 243rd birthday, America! As has become a Trib custom on the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we once again commend for your thoughtful review this nation’s founding pronouncement, reprinted in its entirety in the adjacent columns. And, as also has become an Independence Day tradition at the Trib,...
George Will: To construe the Constitution, look to the Declaration
WASHINGTON — On this 243rd anniversary of the beginning of the best thing that ever happened — “The Great Republic” was Winston Churchill’s tribute — many of today’s most interesting arguments about America’s nature and meaning are among conservatives. One concerns the relevance of the Declaration of Independence to the...
John Stossel: Freedom, not force, makes our nation great
Happy Fourth of July! We have reason to celebrate. The Fourth honors the founding of America. It’s the anniversary of the day in 1776 that the Declaration of Independence was approved. The Declaration was important. It didn’t say that America would be the best country because it would have the...
Plan would slash higher-education costs
Students are awash in higher-education debt. Parents are frustrated that they can’t do more to help. Colleges and universities throw up their collective hands because they think there is little they can do. Banks point fingers at the students, blaming high default rates as the root cause of high interest...
Pat Buchanan: Trade John Bolton for Tulsi Gabbard
“For too long our leaders have failed us, taking us into one regime change war after the next, leading us into a new Cold War and arms race, costing us trillions of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars and countless lives. This insanity must end.” Donald Trump, circa 2016? Nope. That denunciation...
Colin McNickle: Budget challenges for Port Authority
A number of issues, nagging and expensive, face the Port Authority of Allegheny County in its proposed fiscal 2019-20 budget, says the research director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “An expiring labor contract and new hires are key drivers of operating expense increases for the mass transit authority,”...
Editorial: Regional police show real small government
While other municipalities in Pennsylvania are trying to find ways to work together on a DUI task force, two municipalities are joining forces. That’s not a metaphor. Springdale Township and Cheswick created the Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department. The eight-member force started patrolling Monday. There is a lot about this...
Letter to the editor: It will be Trump in a landslide
According to the fake news media, President Trump would lose the election if it were held today. Not only would Trump be beaten by Joe Biden, but also by fellow Democrats Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg. Does the fake news media really expect us to believe...
Letter to the editor: Representatives favor drillers
I don’t know of any restrictive laws being considered by our Pennsylvania legislative reps that would control use of polluting plastics that threaten our very existence. You bet they wouldn’t take action with the Beaver Shell facility nearing completion. Our representatives continue to change laws to favor the drilling industry....
Letter to the editor: Escape from freedom
Honor is dead. Truth is alive, but on life support. Willful ignorance (aka denial) is thriving and growing stronger. Why? Because truth can create anxiety. Once you buy into denial, you tend to defend it as you plunge deeper into it. Like quicksand, it gets more difficult to escape. Freedom,...
