Opinion category, Page 732
Editorial: Is restoring Pennsylvania enough?
“Restore Pennsylvania” is a good concept. Pennsylvania could use a little restoration. That’s not a revelation. Pennsylvania needs more jobs. It needs more business. It needs more industry. It needs more development. But Gov. Tom Wolf’s push to take $4.5 billion in severance tax that could be generated from Marcellus...
Michelle Malkin: Exoneree, now a law grad, fights for justice
What would you do if you were falsely accused and convicted of a brutal rape and murder you didn’t commit? How would you handle a violent maximum-security prison, sentenced to 16 years to life, at age 17? And where would you go, what would you choose to do, if you...
Letter to the editor: Liberals could lose on abortion
New state bills are aimed at overturning Roe v. Wade. This is a response to liberals wanting to allow late-term and partial-birth abortions. No doubt if these bills make it into law they will be heard in the courts. Perhaps it will settle the question on whether a state has...
Letter to the editor: Litter plays part in flooding
With the recent heavy rains, we have been deluged (no pun intended) with many reports of road closures due to flooding even if no nearby waterway. A PennDOT spokesperson stated that one of these floods was due to the Jersey barrier acting as a dam. He also said storm drains...
Letter to the editor: Don’t glorify perpetrators
Why, when our country desperately needs heroes, does the media venerate perpetrators? On May 16 the Tribune-Review published an Associated Press article, “‘Time for us to live for him’: Slain Colorado student remembered.” It reported on a memorial service for Kendrick Castillo, a teenager who was killed while he and...
Christopher Duncan: Community support will inspire future Army leaders
“Thank you for your service.” As an Army soldier living in Pennsylvania, I am grateful for these words, which I hear often when wearing my uniform in public. What many people do not understand is that I am the one who is thankful. I am thankful for the camaraderie, the...
George Will: College Board tries to solve social problem it’s unsuited to solve
WASHINGTON — The earnest improvers at the College Board, which administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test, should ponder Abraham Maslow’s law of the instrument. In 1966, Maslow, a psychologist, said essentially this: If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. The College Board wants...
Cosmo Servidio: EPA delivers on fuels promise
Last fall, President Trump promised the American people that the Environmental Protection Agency would bring consumers more choices at gas pumps across the country. In a federal rule finalized last week, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler delivered on that promise by clearing regulatory barriers to make it easier to sell fuel...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Leon Redbone & an elixir for our time
Leon Redbone died last month. The 69-year-old singer and guitar player stopped performing a few years ago for health reasons, but he had a long run and kept his loyal followers happy with 17 albums and a raft of club appearances for nearly five decades. In his family’s announcement of...
Peter Morici: Trump must run against Bernie Care & GOP in 2020
President Trump is the victim of his own success. Voters now rank health care above the economy as the top issue for Washington to address, and the president must run against his own party to win in 2020. American discontent stems from affordability. We pay 75% more for health care...
G. Terry Madonna & Michael Young: Hamlet on the Potomac
The angst in Washington over impeaching President Trump is producing a “Hamlet on the Potomac” moment that even Shakespeare might appreciate. Democrats want to do it, but most Republicans don’t, and voters overall, while divided along party lines, are mostly opposed. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while fully occupied by her daily...
Editorial: Pennsylvania health exchange mousetrap
Everyone wants to build a better health care mousetrap. It’s a hot topic on the campaign trail. It’s a top concern for voters. In Pittsburgh, all eyes are on the UPMC-Highmark battle royale. People want to know how to stay healthy, how to get healthy and who is going to...
Sounding off: Risk of not vaccinating
Regarding Susan Gero’s letter “Vaccine curiosity”: Common sense is that you can Google the reasons vaccinated people are at risk and how dangerous this disease is. It’s not big pharma! In 2017 worldwide, 110,000 people died of measles. It is deadly. People with compromised immune systems — people with HIV,...
Letter to the editor: Count all people in census
Was not the Founding Fathers’ intent evidenced, concerning census counts to determine state populations and therefore legislative representation, by, of all things, the three-fifths rule? That rule stated that “all other persons”/slaves, other than free inhabitants, were to be counted in population counts as three-fifths of a person to determine...
Letter to the Editor: Supreme Court overstepped on abortion
We are seeing some turmoil in regard to the abortion ban in a couple of southern states in which a federal judge has granted an injunction to stop the law from taking effect. I am not offering an opinion on abortion. As a man, I know that many females believe...
Letter to the editor: Safety on Route 30
Regarding the editorial “Route 30 study needs to be realistic” (May 12, TribLIVE): I can give a recommendation that will help with a major safety problem on Route 30. And the only cost will be some signs and motorist education. Do not allow any left turns going on to or...
Walter Williams: Colleges committed to ideological diversity
When you send your youngster off to college, you might not mind that they will have to walk on eggshells, respect taboos, snitch on fellow students for politically incorrect jokes and learn to use ad hominem arguments as a means to attack ideas they find “disagreeable.” If that’s your preference,...
John Stossel: Paid time off for families not government’s business
Both Republican and Democratic politicians want government to “do more” to give parents paid time off. “This is not a women’s issue. It’s a family issue,” says Ivanka Trump. “(E)very worker in America should be guaranteed at least 12 weeks,” says Sen. Bernie Sanders. “That’s a very arbitrary number! Why...
Editorial: What pushed UPMC on prepay?
For months, the deadline has loomed. June 30. The day Highmark patients would have to start paying for medical care at UPMC hospitals up front instead of presenting an insurance card and letting the process play out the way it does with other companies. But for UPMC, a different deadline...
Letter to the editor: Buttigieg & Jefferson
Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg recently declared that removing Thomas Jefferson’s name from events such as the Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinners was “the right thing to do.” Before Buttigieg carries his cleansing campaign into public buildings or anywhere else named in Jefferson’s honor, I have a few questions. If...
Letter to the editor: Taxpayers can’t afford government’s raises
Once again the taxpayers of Pennsylvania have been played for suckers by our government. Why is there no rebellion when our governor feels it’s OK to give his cronies thousands of dollars in raises paid for by the taxpayers, and where does the line start to collect some of this...
Letter to the editor: $1 million for slide, not safety?
$1.1 million for giant slides, naught for public fire safety (“With $1 million park overhaul looming, Mammoth Fest set to begin,” May 30, TribLIVE). Want to bet on how many of the Westmoreland County commissioners or the department heads who report to them are volunteer firemen? Don Miller Mt. Pleasant...
Letter to the editor: Candidates’ shady tactics
Just before the May primary, what appeared to be a Republican ballot was sent to Murrysville, Export and Delmont residents. It was not the official Republican ballot. It had candidates’ names with red X’s through them, and the creators of this actually took it upon themselves to rate and evaluate...
Donald Boudreaux: Capitalism. Is. Working.
A Wayne State University student recently upbraided me by email for various offenses — each of which at bottom amounts to me using my blog, Café Hayek, to defend free markets. This livid young scholar ended his email by declaring that “Capitalism. Is. Not. Working.” His signature revealed that his...
Lori Falce: Trump, Dems can’t just preach to choir
I learned the best lesson about politics from a missionary. I was covering a church event. The missionary had come to town to promote a book. It didn’t go well, and she pegged me early on as someone who wasn’t there because I identified with her message. Maybe the notebook...
