Opinion category, Page 731
Laurels & lances: Music, gators, basketball and Kennywood
Laurel: To sweet, sweet music for the community. SummerSounds kicked off its 20th anniversary season on June 7 with a packed St. Clair park for its 7 Bridges — an Eagles tribute band — concert. According to series chairman Gene James, more than 8,000 people filled the Maple Street park...
Letter to the editor: Socialism vs. capitalism
The reasons why socialism is superior to capitalism are obvious: • Because the government’s control of production and wages to eliminate income inequality results in a higher standard of living for everyone. • Because a system where people are rewarded by convincing bureaucrats of their need is better than one...
Letter to the editor: Liberals & abortion
As the one-year anniversary approaches of Ireland overturning its restrictive 1983 ban on abortion with a 66% vote, Catholic Irish women jumped for joy at the right to terminate their unwanted children. The Catholic women of Ireland have spoken, but they know not what they have done. That is what...
Letter to the editor: Keep prison corrections officers safe
Numbers can be made to look any way you want. That’s what the Department of Corrections did recently in testimony before the state House Judiciary Committee. DOC testified to lawmakers that the prison officer-to-inmate ratio is 5-to-1. This simply isn’t true, because it assumes that all officers work every day,...
Jonah Goldberg: The conservative divide
The idea holding together the conservative movement since the 1960s was called “fusionism.” The concept, which always worked better as an organizing principle than a philosophical one, was that freedom and virtue were inextricably linked. Virtue not freely chosen wasn’t virtuous. Or as Frank Meyer, the foremost architect of fusionism,...
George Will: Scarcities are recyclable excuses for expanding government
WASHINGTON Randolph Bourne (1886-1918) said, “War is the health of the state.” James Madison said, “War is in fact the true nurse of executive aggrandizement,” and the executive almost is the American state, Congress now being more theatrical than actual. Advocates of an ever-larger state, remembering Franklin Roosevelt’s first inaugural...
Colin McNickle: The Penn Hills predicament
The Penn Hills School District finds itself in dire financial straits. And it now must execute a state-overseen financial recovery plan. A significant tax increase and layoffs are possible. But had taxpayers been given the direct oversight they deserve, the situation might be different, say two researchers at the Allegheny...
Editorial: DUI task forces done in public interest
About 30 people die in an impaired driving crash every day, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That is one every 48 minutes. It’s a horrifying figure but considerably less grim than 30 years ago when it was one death every 15 minutes. We know that people pay...
Letter to the editor: Trump trumps Obama
I know where to begin, letter-writer Al Duerig, (“Misinformed on Obama vs. Trump,”) on Ron Raymond’s letter (“Obama vs. Trump.”) Raymond’s letter speaks the truth. I support every word he wrote. Raymond compared Presidents Obama and Trump — one was likable, loved by the media, and the other was despised....
Letter to the editor: Addressing Highlands administration issues
The Highlands School District administration continues stonewalling residents with recent comment policy change, and only relented to newspaper inquiries when faced with legal sanctions for violation of the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act (“Highlands comment policy causes confusion, raises concerns,” May 23, TribLIVE). Homeowners may exercise civil disobedience by withholding school tax...
Letter to the editor: Our sad but true political comedy
Moe, Larry and Curly (Al Gore, John Kerry and Barack Obama), Hillary Clinton as the femme fatale. What’s next, Shemp (Joe Biden)? It would be a great comedy if it wasn’t true. Howard L. McHenry East Vandergrift...
Jonah Goldberg: Does reality change ideas, or vice versa?
The intellectual right is in the middle of a huge brouhaha, as some prominent right-wing commentators celebrate what they believe is the end of the “conservative consensus” around classical liberalism — free markets, limited government, the sovereignty of the individual and even in some cases free expression. Fox News’ Tucker...
Editorial: The power of zoning and local government
If you want to know why you should vote, think about what you want to see happen next door. Zoning decisions can be hot topics. There is always someone who doesn’t want the new business or activity on the horizon. Landfills. Strip clubs. Methadone clinics. Halfway houses. Prisons. Factories. There...
Letter to the editor: PIAA wrestling changes
I see that the PIAA is going to allow two wrestlers per weight class to weigh in for certain tournaments. Great! Now all they have to do is recind their petition to the National Federation of State High School Associations to reduce from 14 to 12 weight classes (“PIAA approves...
Letter to the editor: Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer may be job hunting soon
The Democratic Party still cannot accept the fact that they lost the 2016 election, and they continue to harass and attack President Trump. They had pinned their hopes on the Mueller report exposing “collusion,” but after 2½ years and more than $30 million, they have nothing. They also attack Attorney...
Letter to the editor: Abortion & death penalty
I am concerned that our legislators and most notably our Gov. Tom Wolf have lost sight of the need for proper insight into the sanctity of life. How in God’s name can they say that the death penalty is inhumane but the butchering of the unborn is OK (“Death penalty...
Letter to the editor: More on fairness in taxation
I want to thank James Kvitkovich for his response (“Capitalism & taxes,” May 23, TribLIVE) to my letter on fairness in taxation (“Fairness in taxation,” May 2, TribLIVE). He calculated an average tax payment of $10,299 per taxpayer for 2015, claiming how draconian a capitalistic approach is to taxation, in...
Letter to the editor: Pittsburgh ready for 100% renewable energy
Two years ago, I was standing at the Highland Park Reservoir at a press conference next to Mayor Bill Peduto, City Councilwoman Deb Gross and community leaders announcing that privatization was off the table for our dysfunctional water system. This was big news. Little did I know that just minutes...
Tom Purcell: My remarkably “unremarkable” father
My dad turns 86 next month. He never thought he’d live so long — or see as many Father’s Days as he has — because his parents both died far too young. A stroke claimed his mother when she was 69 — the same night Pittsburgh Pirates great Roberto Clemente’s...
Editorial: Facing facts about facial recognition
You may have gotten accustomed to using your face as your password with your iPhone. Then maybe you got used to using it via your phone to buy your lunch, pay for an online purchase or just pick up a soda at the vending machine in your office breakroom. But...
Letter to the editor: Justice for Democrats
Now that the Mueller investigation is over, the Democrats are acting like cornered snakes. They are striking out, but their desperate screams are nothing more than proof that they are scared to death that the truth about this scandal is about to explode in their faces. It has been proven...
Letter to the editor: Honor, integrity & Trump
In response to Terry E. Swindell’s letter — “America’s self- destruction”: This is one of the best summations I have read concerning our current leadership. His supporters say his bankruptcies don’t matter, cheating on his wives isn’t significant, comments about grabbing genitals (sexual assault) has no relevance, sex with prostitutes...
Letter to the editor: Trump will win in 2020
You’ve probably seen it before, that miserable sad sack sitting at a casino slot machine after work shelling out every last penny he’s got— only to get the same results over and over again. We’ve seen similar behavior in Washington recently, and not from the big orange bogeyman who has...
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 10
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 10....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 10
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 10....
