Opinion category, Page 146
Susan McWilliams Barndt: Do you remember what politics were like without Donald Trump? My students don’t.
Every year, I ask my political science students, “What is your earliest political memory?” I pose the question to figure out what political and cultural moments have shaped them. Over the years, their answers have served mainly to help me think about the mix of perspectives in my classroom. But...
Letter to the editor: Political talk has become dangerous
I recently ordered a Harris-Walz bumper sticker for my car and decided to buy a magnetic one to easily remove and then reapply it. Since we live in a majority Republican area, my husband is worried about damage to my car and also my safety! What’s happening? My parents emigrated...
Letter to the editor: Republican tactics should stop
The Republican Party includes many decent people, no doubt, who believe passionately in a set of beliefs. I fully respect their right to hold such beliefs and to promote them through honest means. However, these are minority views and aren’t gaining ground. Republicans should be content with all the advantages...
Letter to the editor: Father Monieau, parishioners have been punished enough
I feel compelled to speak out. As a parishioner of Immaculate Conception Parish for 71 years, I attended Catholic grade school and high school. I have known many priests, and none have shepherded me as Father John Monieau has. When I was troubled, I asked for help coping with forgiving;...
Editorial: Not a value ad: Google’s ad services monopoly needs to end
This week began the federal antitrust trial against Google for alleged monopolistic practices when it comes to the online advertising space, with the Justice Department contending the company has outsize dominion over what is a lifeline for industries including online publishing. Google, of course, doesn’t see it that way. Google...
Letter to the editor: Not better off now
Am I better off than I was four years ago? In January 2020, my electric bill was $102 a month; in July 2024 it was $168 (I have a heat pump for heating and cooling). That’s an over 60% increase in less than four years. I attribute it to the...
Letter to the editor: US Steel acquisition a sensible move
Concerning the Nippon Steel attempt to acquire U.S. Steel: I recently retired after six years as senior buyer with a quality international company (unionized) that bought a lot of steel. When the Trump administration tossed U.S. Steel a lifeline with increased duties on imported steel, USS responded by raising their...
Editorial cartoons for the week of Sept. 16
Editorial cartoons for the week of Sept. 16....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Sept. 16
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Sept. 16....
Letter to the editor: Guns as gifts? Times sure have changed.
The AP article “Teen charged in Georgia school shooting and his father to stay in custody after hearings” (Sept. 6, TribLive) caused me great sadness and consternation. Apparently Colin Gray had given his son a gift of an AR-15 assault-style rifle, which he used in the shooting. When I was...
Letter to the editor: Don’t worry, mail-in voting secure
The writer of the letter “Who’s cross-checking the mail-in ballots?” (Sept. 4, TribLive) suggests there is something nefarious going on with Westmoreland County’s mail-in ballot system. I suggest he educate himself to the truth and to the process. For example, 50 ballot requests will still only result in the receipt...
Letter to the editor: Why isn’t Harris doing something now?
Kamala Harris has many great campaign ideas that, if elected president this November, she says she will implement on day one to strengthen and protect our nation and the citizens she will represent. But I must ask — where have President Joe Biden and Harris been for the last 3½...
Letter to the editor: Covid cause of high prices
The average person is not happy about prices, but this is not something you can blame on government policies. It goes back to our free market system that I learned about at Butler High School in the 1980s. Supply and demand control prices in our system. During covid, supplies became...
Editorial: Gainey misses chance with Fern Hollow announcement
Pittsburgh may be making a payment to the victims of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse. What a victory for justice. What a ringing endorsement for government accountability. What an absolute bare minimum. The Gainey administration made the announcement Friday in a news release from Pittsburgh Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak. The...
Letter to the editor: Make foreign influence in our elections illegal
The Supreme Court, with Citizens United, allowed U.S. corporations to spend unlimited money on elections. In doing so, the Supreme Court opened the door to two inevitabilities: Misleading ads everywhere and foreign influence in our elections. Normally, foreigners can play no role at all in our elections, but big corporations...
Letter to the editor: Tough choice for independents
After doing the Democrat/Republican thing for a decade apiece, I’m now well into my third decade of being an independent. Sometimes it’s not easy being an independent, especially around primary time in Pennsylvania. Yes, I know it’s my choice. Living in a closed primary state that suppresses independent voters is...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Haitian immigrants here legally for better lives
Just about all that can be said has been said about Donald Trump’s debate performance last week. But people can’t stop talking about his bogus claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating their neighbors’ dogs. The next day, The Washington Post ran a story with the headline, “Anatomy...
Point: Tim Walz wants policies to empower rural Americans
After rural voters turned out big for Donald Trump, a narrative emerged that rural America was made up of majority White communities who used to vote reliably Democratic but had shifted right. The emergence of Tim Walz and JD Vance in this election cycle offers a chance for a deeper...
Counterpoint: JD Vance speaks for rural America
Far too often, rural Americans feel ignored by presidential campaigns. While elites in Washington, New York and Los Angeles generate the headlines, focusing primarily on the two coasts, Americans outside major cities continue to fly under the radar. This needs to change, and the 2024 election could be the turning...
Letter to the editor: Losers and suckers
The boys who never made it off of the beaches of Iwo Jima and Omaha were losers and suckers. The 58,000-plus names etched on the Vietnam War Memorial wall were all losers and suckers. The five Army Rangers whose bodies were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu after their Blackhawk...
Sounding off: Presidential race top letter-writers’ concerns
Think of the future when voting For the past 7½ years, the extreme left Democratic Party, the D.C. swamp bureaucracy and its cohort mainstream media have continually attacked and weaponized government agencies to try to politically destroy President Donald Trump so they could stay in power and retain their jobs...
Letter to the editor: Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump significant
One of the most significant political announcements following the Democratic National Convention was the endorsement by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of Donald Trump. Interesting that this front-page news story was buried on page B6 of the Aug. 24 print edition of the Tribune Review; I haven’t seen it mentioned since....
Letter to the editor: Father Monieau should be reinstated
It’s after Labor Day. Bishop Larry Kulick of the Greensburg diocese took hasty action days after Memorial Day. I believe Kulick chose to follow the faithless path instead of leading by Christian example. Kulick quickly condemned a humble servant of God, a hard-working, two-parish pastor and knowledgeable school administrator, our...
Editorial: Lifting residency requirement could benefit Westmoreland County
Where you live can often be used as the ticket to an opportunity. Live in the state of Pennsylvania, and you get a better deal on your tuition at a school like the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State or PennWest University. Live in some counties, and you might be able...
Letter to the editor: Right to free speech doesn’t mean ‘no consequences’
In “All have right to free speech” (Aug. 21, TribLive), the author makes some leaps and assumptions that wholly prove the exact point made originally. Let’s discuss: 1. Putting on a uniform and a sidearm absolutely does not mean that an officer sets aside his or her political leanings and...
