Opinion category, Page 11
Letter to the editor: Let Ligonier Beach drown already
Nostalgia is powerful — but living in the past can be costly. Trying to relive the “good old days” of Ligonier Beach risks becoming a financial burden for both current and future taxpayers. A proposal to redevelop the former Ligonier Beach site should be reconsidered, especially in light of the...
S.E. Cupp: Moonshot hope amid despair of Trump’s Iran war
On Wednesday evening, two historic things happened, almost simultaneously. First, four courageous astronauts successfully lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center aboard Artemis II, which will attempt the first lunar flyby in more than 50 years. It was a stunning sight, and one that turned out more...
Alex Hinton: Trump supporters split on his actions
There is a pall over the Make America Great Again, or MAGA, movement. Donald Trump overpromised. His public support has fallen. Some “America First” die-hards now openly criticize him. Amid war, economic challenges, democratic backsliding, the Epstein files and Americans shot dead in the street by government agents, Trump’s support...
Danny Tyree: Have we forgotten the lessons of Passover?
Even people who don’t celebrate Passover have been exposed to lessons from Exodus (if only through Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments”), but some of us retain water better than we retain the significance of the parting of the Red Sea. For example, the very ground on which Moses stood...
Letter to the editor: We continue to crucify Jesus
Today, Christians from around the world will commemorate the death of Jesus Christ who was innocently executed for preaching a message of unconditional love and peace; 2000-plus years later the political anti-Christs of our world continue to crucify millions of innocents in Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, Venezuela and Ukraine. Rather than...
Letter to the editor: Trump not Making America Great Again
During his 2024 campaign, President Trump claimed he was going to decrease inflation dramatically on Day One if he was elected. He was also going to solve immigration, save manufacturing and coal jobs, and not start any wars, as if he had a bag of fairy dust to sprinkle around...
Lori Falce: Born in the U.S.A.
When a baby is born, we do not know who this precious life will become. We cannot nuzzle that soft hair and divine a doctor or a ditch digger. Those impossibly tiny fingers curled into the tightest clench might belong to an artist or an assassin. The hospital can test...
Laurels & lances: Rules & repercussions
Laurel: To writing rules. Westmoreland County Housing Authority is taking a closer look at visitor policies across its communities. When problems arise — especially those tied to safety — it makes sense to put expectations in writing instead of relying on what officials call “common sense” — especially when the...
Rev. Dr. F. Willis Johnson: America at 250 — patriotic lament from her darker sons
As the United States approaches its 250th birthday, the nation confronts a moment that should stir both celebration and sober reflection. A quarter millennium is no small achievement in the long arc of human governance. Republics have faltered far sooner. Yet anniversaries, especially ones of this magnitude, are not merely...
Robert Cropf: The economic squeeze on young Americans — why it matters for democracy
As a parent of millennials, I can see firsthand the reality described in a recent Barron’s commentary by Randall W. Forsyth: The financial anxiety many younger Americans feel is not misplaced pessimism. It is a rational response to an economy that increasingly feels stacked against them. The traditional markers of...
Jonah Goldberg: Trump never actually had a plan
When President Trump spoke at the Saudi Future Investment Initiative on Friday, he offered a pristine example of what he calls “the weave.” What detractors take for incontinent verbal rambling is, in his own telling, genius-level embroidery of a rhetorical mosaic. While spinning his tapestry of soundbites, the wartime president...
Letter to the editor: Trump, Destroyer in Chief
President George W. Bush took the title of “Decider in Chief.” In my opinion, President Trump has earned the title of “Destroyer in Chief” for the following reasons: • Destroying the First, Fourth and 14th amendments as he attempts to limit free speech, shut down legal protests and permit illegal...
Editorial: Pittsburgh’s place in the new space race
We don’t know who invented the first wheel. We do know everything that came after it — SUVs and bicycles, gas stations and turnpike exits clustered with fast-food drive-thrus. We know a lot about space travel. We know how it evolved from flight and rockets and an insatiable curiosity about...
Morgan Marietta: Supreme Court’s decision on birthright citizenship will depend on its interpretation of 1 key phrase
The Supreme Court on April 1 began hearing oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara, the case that challenges the Trump administration’s efforts to bar the children of immigrants without legal status from birthright citizenship by reinterpreting the terms of the 14th Amendment. In January 2025, President Donald Trump issued an...
Letter to the editor: Should he stay or should he go?
The news regarding the mayor of Aspinwall’s crime and “brain fart” fascinates me. My thoughts surrounding this predicament were that the act of secretly recording a private meeting, which included borough officials, was a failed attempt at gotcha politics. Mayor Scott Zimmermann failed to find negative information about some participants’...
Letter to the editor: Jesus, Trump and mob mentality
Jesus declared “I came to bear witness to the truth.” Pilate asked “What is truth?” and chose to wash his hands to let the mob determine Jesus’ fate. But what motivated the people to crucify the truth? The chief priests and Sanhedrin knew of Jesus’ innocence, but nevertheless chose to...
Lisa Jarvis: Health-care costs are forcing terrible trade-offs
Earlier this month, as I waited to pick up a prescription at my local CVS, I watched a man leave without his elderly father’s medication. The pharmacist had tried several tricks to lower the cost. It wasn’t enough. When the man heard the bottom line, he stuffed his hands in...
Cal Thomas: Lessons from the Vietnam War for Iran
We Americans are an impatient lot. If we must engage in warfare, we would prefer it be wrapped up in weeks, not months, and certainly not years like World War II, Korea and Vietnam. In those wars we had the draft, so more Americans were engaged in fighting and watching...
Letter to the editor: No ICE protection during draft?
Regarding the article “Pittsburgh seeks pacts with 18 law enforcement agencies to help with 2026 NFL Draft” (March 24, TribLive): In the same breath a city spokeswoman says ICE is not included in the agreement, which means there is no protection for anyone from illegal immigrants who have a proven...
Letter to the editor: Murrysville stop ludicrous
In response to the article “Murrysville OKs 4-way stop at School Road, North Hills Road” (March 7, TribLive): I urge our magistrate to suspend the driving privileges of Councilman Darren Miller until it can be proven that he does not pose a public safety risk while driving. It was reported...
Editorial: What does the $119 million bid mean for Hempfield Area High School project?
Is the long saga of the Hempfield Area High School renovation finally coming to an end? No. At best, it has reached the start of the middle. A journey that began in 2020 sputtered to get moving. Despite years of meetings and the hiring of architects, a site manager and...
Letter to the editor: Remembering Al Gore’s climate doomsaying
In his opinion piece “Paul Ehrlich was wrong about everything” (March 19, TribLive), Jonah Goldberg refers to Ehrlich as “the most influential Chicken Little of the past century.” I’d give Ehrlich second place. I nominate Al Gore for first place. Like Ehrlich, Gore inspired global efforts to respond to what...
Stefani Pashman and Rich Fitzgerald: Southwestern Pa. is scouting the digital frontier
Pick up your smartphone and look at your apps — banking, health care, social media, even your morning coffee order. The server holding that data and performing those actions isn’t in your hand; it’s in a data center. From personal lives to global commerce, data centers are the backbone of...
Minky Worden: World Cup needs an ICE truce
With the world’s largest sporting event, the World Cup, slated to begin in June, the United States should call a truce in the campaign of terror being waged by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies against immigrants and others. Major sporting events have long relied on the so-called...
Letter to the editor: Trump’s comments on Robert Mueller a new low
Donald Trump hit a new low with his comment about Robert Mueller stating that he was glad he’s dead. Wow! Such class. And then his Cabinet can’t defend him quickly enough. The problem with all of them is they just can’t understand normal thinking. Enough said. Dan O’Toole Trafford...
