Opinion category, Page 104
Gary Franks: Sports superstars should help make America better
For me, the top story of the past week had nothing to do with politics, the federal government or wars abroad. For me, it was “the contract.” As an avid lifelong New York Yankees fan, at first I was crushed by the Yankees’ failure to land and keep the young...
William Farrier, Jim Johnston and Dave Morgan: We’ll keep fighting U.S. Steel and Nippon to save our jobs
Members of the United Steelworkers (USW) went to the bargaining table with U.S. Steel in 2018 seeking a fair contract that recognized our hard work in steering the company back to profitability. The company, true to form, just demanded additional sacrifices. As negotiations wore on, U.S. Steel tried to divide...
Colin McNickle: Questioning Downtown Pittsburgh’s redevelopment plan
What should be done when an expansive and expensive public policy full of economic nonsense and moral hazard is proposed? It should be questioned. “There are many questions that need to be answered before any taxpayer money is doled out,” says Frank Gamrat, executive director of the Allegheny Institute for...
S.E. Cupp: With Assad out, what we must do help save Syria
This was a long day coming, and frankly one I never thought I’d see. Thirteen years ago, Syria’s Bashar Assad unleashed a reign of unmitigated terror on his own people, in response to protests of his inhumane Ba’athist government. Over the course of the civil war, he unabashedly committed the...
Jane Hillstrom: Why aren’t more people talking about America’s alcoholism?
I come from a family of alcoholics. Sarah, my cousin, was the most recent to die of complications from alcoholism, at 41. Before her, seven people in our extended family, including her father, my father and our grandfather, died from alcohol-related problems. At one Thanksgiving, my grandfather passed out drunk...
Letter to the editor: Nothing frivolous about Trump
In answer to the letter “Trump’s win will make us safer, more secure” (Nov. 25, TribLive): With due respect to the writer, I ask, what is frivolous about inciting a riot and trying to overturn a legitimate election, falsifying records and mishandling government documents? Not to mention tax evasion, fraud,...
Letter to the editor: Is Allegheny County Council listening?
I attended the Dec. 3 Allegheny County Council meeting in the courthouse’s fourth-floor Gold Room. All the seats were filled when the meeting was called to order. The council was scheduled to vote on the proposed 2025 county budget. First, John Palmiere made a motion to reduce the three minutes...
Lori Falce: Pardon me, do you have any clemency?
I beg your pardon. It is a phrase you might hear as someone slips by you in an aisle at the store — unless you are in Minnesota, where it would be “Ope! Just gonna scoot past ya!” An “uff da” or “you betcha” might be thrown in for good...
Laurels & lances: Rescue & ratings
Laurel: To those who helped. Elizabeth Pollard, 64, was last seen Dec. 2, looking for her missing cat near Monday’s Union Restaurant near the village of Marguerite in Unity. About 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, a search began for Pollard, centered around a sinkhole into an abandoned mine nearby. The search went...
Letter to the editor: Ranked choice voting gives all voters a say
In the Bob Casey-Dave McCormick Senate race, no candidate received the majority of votes. McCormick won with 48.8% of the vote, narrowly edging out Casey’s 48.6%. Meanwhile, 200,000 voters — 2.6% of the total — backed third-party candidates and didn’t have a say between the two front-runners. Some states hold...
Peter Morici: Trump’s tariffs are the opening rounds of Trade War II
China, along with the rest of Asia and Europe are bracing for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s threatened steep trade tariffs. But Trump should consider how much the world has changed since he first campaigned on a protectionist platform, as well as make the connection between trade and U.S. national security....
Vanessa Stine: Close the Moshannon Valley immigration prison, Mr. President
Just over a year ago, Frankline Okpu, a Cameroonian national who was being detained at Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County, was found dead in a solitary confinement cell. Okpu was a father and a husband, and his immigration case had just been resolved favorably. He won what’s known...
Letter to the editor: Move on from election results
I just looked at some of the Trib’s letters to the editor. It’s been a long while. It was as if I turned on the TV. Look, there’s nothing any of us can do when our candidate wins or loses. Just accept it. Move on. Whether you like what’s going...
Letter to the editor: Trump unfit for presidency
While you Donald Trump supporters sip your Kool-Aid, you need to be reminded of several facts. As you recall, former Vice President Mike Pence and Gen. John Kelly, among hundreds of others, declared Trump unfit for the presidency. Now we see already that he is planning to put people who...
Editorial: Recommendations in wake of Trump Butler rally shooting fall short
The U.S. House of Representatives’ bipartisan Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump has released recommendations in a 180-page report. The task force, chaired by U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, was authorized in the aftermath of the July 13 shooting at Trump’s political rally at the Butler...
Letter to the editor: School choice promotes excellence
As superintendent of River Valley School District, I believe in educational excellence tailored to meet the diverse needs of students and families. That’s why I support expanding school choice and increasing parental involvement in education. Our system must move beyond one-size-fits-all solutions. Parents should be free to choose the best...
Jonah Goldberg: The headlines said Amnesty International accused Israel of genocide. Here’s what they missed.
In a shocking development last week, Amnesty International effectively exonerated Israel of genocide. This was easy to miss, and not just because of the recent crush of news. Amnesty’s report, titled “ ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza,” buried the lede, as journalists say....
Dave Anderson: Independents, tripartisanship and America’s future
The key for independents to gain a voice in American politics over and above influencing a race between a Democrat and a Republican is to find a way to be a player in Washington without creating a war with either of the two major parties, which are basically at war...
Cal Thomas: Pardoning the unpardonable
Media reports say President Biden is about to issue a slew of blanket preemptive pardons for people associated with his administration to thwart any “revenge” the incoming Trump administration might take against them. While the Founders intended presidential power to be nearly unlimited (there is an exception for a president...
Letter to the editor: Trump can finish draining the swamp
President Trump’s selections for his Cabinet and government agencies have been criticized. The left says those people don’t have enough government experience. That is exactly why he chose some of them. The federal government has become too dictatorial, corrupt and woke. It has forgotten that these people are public servants...
Letter to the editor: Let’s be a respectful people this Jan. 6
On Jan. 6, 2025, patriotic Americans will gather to demand that Vice President Kamala Harris “do the right thing” by upholding the Constitution. Former President Trump once called on his “base” to “peacefully and patriotically” make their voices heard, and I urge every American to do the same, standing firm...
Editorial: Social media needs regulation, not one company ban
A federal appeals court Friday upheld a controversial law banning the U.S. operations of TikTok — the popular video-based social networking app owned by Chinese company ByteDance — unless it finds a U.S. buyer. That gives the company six weeks to keep fighting before the ax falls. This impacts a...
Letter to the editor: Life has worth, and it’s worth protecting
Leading up to the election, the pro-choice candidates never wasted an opportunity to remind us that their opponents are against legal abortion. While most of the political ads on television focused on the terrible case of rape, which accounts for less than 2% of abortions, none of the ads mentioned...
Trudy Rubin: Assad’s fall deals a blow to Russia and Iran, but leaves Syria’s future uncertain
Syrians are dancing in the streets of Damascus and other cities to celebrate the collapse of the hideous regime of Bashar al-Assad, the man responsible for an estimated 600,000 dead in a 13-year-long civil war — including tens of thousands viciously tortured to death in his dungeons. Those still alive...
Tyler Cowen: The sad decline of the public hangout
You can learn something about a city by just walking through it. Most of New York City’s Manhattan core feels bustling, whereas a San Francisco block can seem dormant. In Rome, it is common to see groups of men standing around, chatting or arguing. We are all familiar with such...
