Opinion category, Page 746
Letter to the editor: Expose fracking dangers
Recent reporting reveals Attorney General Josh Shapiro investigating the shale industry for “environmental crimes” committed by the oil and gas industry in Washington County and other areas. Residents have long complained of fracking causing water and air pollution, illness and dead animals. And such complaints have long gone unanswered by...
Editorial cartoons for the week of April 22
Editorial cartoons for the week of April 22....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of April 22
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of April 22....
Patricia Murphy: Trump’s warning you: The socialists are coming!
Meet “socialist,” the hardest-working word in politics in 2019. The single word has helped upstart Democrats attract young and social-curious potential voters, given the paddles of life to desperate-for-a-cause conservatives, and led President Trump to an early and effective way to frame the re-election battle he wants to have with...
Letter to the editor: Bill Peduto, Pittsburgh officials should be charged
I must heartily disagree with your editorial “Prosecuting Peduto for gun ban is wrong move” that said Pittsburgh politicians should not be charged criminally in their ploy to win votes by passing an illegal ordinance. I saw several of the egotists state they were aware it would be against both...
Letter to the editor: Donald Trump as prince
As the Christian world celebrates the resurrection of the Prince of Peace, our country is in the grip of a different kind of prince. This prince has waged war against anything Obama, United Nations, NATO, Muslims, immigrants, environment and the rule of law. He has slashed vehicle fuel efficiency regulations;...
Letter to the editor: McCain military hero, political nothing
As a proud veteran of the Korean War and former Republican for many years, I find remarks by letter-writer Joe Palumbo (“Where’s outrage over Trump’s McCain comments?”) typical of Democrats who still can’t accept that Trump won. Can you imagine what our country would be like had John McCain or...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Trump’s bullying threatens international relationships
A “war of all against all” is how English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes described the natural state that society would be reduced to without the modulating force of government. Hobbes believed that a lack of authority would lead every man to believe that he “has a right to every thing,”...
Cal Thomas: Congress & consequences of sanctuary cities
In the category of Mad magazine’s “scenes we’d like to see” comes President Trump’s threat to transport migrants to cities and states that have declared themselves sanctuaries. Apparently he thinks such a move would force Democrats in Congress who represent these places to vote to fund the wall along our...
Mark Reynolds & Hilary Schenker: Earth Day call to action on climate
As Americans observe Earth Day today, let’s take a moment to reflect on the power of the grassroots movement behind that first celebration in 1970, which led to dramatic changes that improved the quality of our lives through cleaner air and water. Shocked by the massive oil spill that fouled...
George Will: Supreme Court mulls citizenship question for census
WASHINGTON — The oral arguments the Supreme Court will hear on Tuesday will be more decorous than the gusts of judicial testiness that blew the case up to the nation’s highest tribunal. The case, which raises arcane questions of administrative law but could have widely radiating political and policy consequences,...
G. Terry Madonna & Michael Young: Political polarization threatens our stability
Love and marriage, as the old ditty has it, may not always go together, but incivility and polarization sure go hand in hand in contemporary American politics. It’s virtually impossible to separate them. More importantly, it has led to chronic dysfunctionality in government. Recently, in a rare moment, the Pennsylvania...
Antony Davies & James Harrigan: Pittsburgh gun ban just political advertising
Most people know that politicians of all stripes are rarely sincere. Case in point: the Pittsburgh City Council’s recent industrial-strength gun-control nonsense. This law was so tempting to those who posture for a living that even Mayor Bill Peduto and Gov. Tom Wolf had to get in on the act....
Phyllis Zagano: No women, no Catholic Church
In August 2016, Pope Francis named a commission of 12 scholars to study the history of women deacons. The commission — the first in the history of the Church to have an equal number of men and women — provided a report some months ago. Will the pope restore the...
Editorial: Pennsylvania Senate’s turn on child abuse protections
Okay, Senate. Your turn. The Pennsylvania House did its job. They took a proposal to rewrite the rules on child sex abuse reporting and ran with it. One bill would chuck the statute of limitations if the reason child abuse wasn’t reported was that the mandated reporters didn’t report the...
Sounding off: Who will get reparations?
Many politicians on the left, including Beto O’Rourke, have stated that they support reparations for African-Americans. I would like to know how they would determine who is a descendent of slavery. Is a person’s color going to be the determinant, or does a person have to have documentation in order...
Letter to the editor: Pencils, capitalism & socialism
I read with great interest Tom Purcell’s column “Erasing capitalism? Consider the pencil first” (March 19, TribLIVE) and his references to Leonard Read’s essay “I, Pencil.” Contemplating how such an item as seemingly mundane as a pencil could be produced — the basic idea, the type of wood, discovering that...
Letter to the editor: Let’s see Nancy Pelosi’s tax returns
Nancy Pelosi is two heartbeats away from slinking into the presidency. The Democrats have been banging away since the primaries to see Trump’s tax returns. He is a businessman, and his returns are complicated. They are also audited by the IRS yearly. The Democrats indirectly imply that the IRS is...
Letter to the editor: College isn’t for all students
I would like to thank Tom Davidson for his article “Pittsburgh region has thousands of job opportunities, Builders Guild says”. Although I am a retired educator, I have always felt that college is not the answer for everyone. I believe the problem is that parents do not agree with this...
Walter Williams: Pondering Democrats’ views on voting, guns & reparations
There’s a push to change laws to grant both criminals serving time and ex-criminals the right to vote. Guess which party is pushing the most for these legal changes? If you guessed that it was the Democrats, go to the head of the class. Bernie Sanders says states should allow...
John Stossel: Don’t fear 3D-printed guns
Are you very afraid? 3D-printed guns are coming. “Virtually undetectable!” shrieked CNN. “This changes the safety of Americans forever!” shrieked MSNBC. Does it? Six years ago, a company called Defense Distributed posted blueprints for 3D-printed guns on the web. The Obama State Department said that violated the Arms Control Act...
Editorial: DeLuca plan too late for Penn Hills, not for other districts
If nothing else, Penn Hills can be a cautionary tale. The school district’s $172 million money pit of debt might not be getting any shallower but it has prompted attention in Harrisburg. Auditor General Eugene DePasquale had already issued a 2016 report that called Penn Hills out for “mismanagement and...
Letter to the editor: Protecting our parks
The U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year passed a public lands package that permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a conservation program that has funded parks in every county across America since my parents were kids. I’m thrilled to see lasting protections for the parks and...
Letter to the editor: Medical marijuana effective, cheaper alternative
I read with interest Barbara Cisek’s op-ed “Congress must take action on drug prices” (April 6, TribLIVE) regarding a very important issue for so many of us. Cisek did not mention medical marijuana, which can be an alternative to expensive and not always effective prescription medications, and without the potential...
Letter to the editor: Who will get reparations?
Many politicians on the left, including Beto O’Rourke, have stated that they support reparations for African-Americans. I would like to know how they would determine who is a descendent of slavery. Is a person’s color going to be the determinant, or does a person have to have documentation in order...
