Opinion category, Page 30
Point: AI won’t take our jobs away
Read enough headlines about artificial intelligence and you can be excused for thinking that we’re headed for a dystopian future ruled by AI-powered robot overlords. Mass unemployment, including people being forced to train their robot replacements to get that last paycheck, seems to be a common theme in the latest...
Counterpoint: Trump’s extreme anti-labor policies could determine the effect of AI on jobs
What will be the effect of artificial intelligence on labor in the United States? The current government’s agenda for labor will undoubtedly have an influence here. Last year, President Donald Trump praised Elon Musk lavishly for telling his workers he would fire them if they went on strike. “You’re the...
Commentary: Liberals have also censored history
In 1874, during the brief era of Reconstruction, white people staged a racist uprising in New Orleans. Angered by the presence of African Americans in law enforcement and other government posts, members of the Crescent City White League stormed the local customs house and killed 11 police officers. Two years...
Letter to the editor: Elimination of safety board jeopardizes communities
The recent explosion at Clairton Coke Works killed two workers and injured 10 others. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is now investigating this tragedy. The CSB is the only independent federal agency devoted solely to investigating chemical accidents and recommending steps to prevent future disasters. Yet the administration’s proposed...
Letter to the editor: How Trump is hurting American workers
How President Trump’s policies hurt the American workers: 1. Tax cuts overwhelmingly favor the wealthy, 83% of the benefits going to the top 1%. 2. He reduced the minimum wage for federal contractors, which could lead to pay cuts of 25% to 60% for these lower-wage workers. 3. He took...
Editorial: Will Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’ lead to a bad ‘Reputation’ for Democrats?
Yes, Taylor Swift is getting married. We know. The whole world came to a grinding halt Tuesday when the world’s biggest pop star announced her engagement to Kansas City Chiefs standout Travis Kelce. It drew a line in the zeitgeist, dividing it into B.E. (Before Engagement) and A.E. (After Engagement)....
Letter to the editor: Trump stands up for victims
Today, it seems one can’t turn on the TV without a sympathetic press, commiserating with convicted murderers, migrant criminals or “misunderstood“ protesters threatening our police, property and fellow citizens. Why is the media obsessed with the criminals? What happened to victims rights? Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was accused by his...
S.E. Cupp: Cracker Barrel’s total surrender to the attack
On the surface, it looked like a marketing disaster: Beloved American restaurant chain serving up simple Southern favorites in unpretentious general store environment “loses $143 million in market value after woke brand fiasco.” Indeed, it has not been a great news cycle for Cracker Barrel. But after announcing a major...
Cal Thomas: Flagging flag burners (again)
President Trump wants to penalize anyone who burns the American flag. After initially announcing his intent — apparently before being told the Supreme Court already has said burning the flag is protected under the free expression clause of the First Amendment — Trump said he wishes to criminalize such behavior...
Letter to the editor: Putin wants ‘piece’
Someone should tell President Trump that Vladimir Putin does want peace … a big piece of Ukraine! Joe Marmo Cheswick...
Letter to the editor: Speaking out while we still can
I’m going to use my First Amendment right, my freedom of speech, to speak out about what is happening in our country while I still can. If you can’t see that we are well on our way to living under an authoritarian regime, you are sadly mistaken. The deployment of...
Lori Falce: 26 years of thoughts and prayers
My head is full of thoughts. My soul is full of prayers. And my heart is filled with rage, a red-hot glowing anger that, once again, children have been shot and killed. In Minneapolis, Robin Westman, 23, armed with a handgun, rifle and shotgun, fired into the church where children...
Laurels & lances: Red lights & restitution
Laurel: To slowing down. Pittsburgh City Council is taking steps toward using cameras at red lights. Council authorized the use of automated red light enforcement last year. The technology would snap pictures of drivers who run lights and then send them tickets by mail. Now they are working toward a...
Letter to the editor: Protect democracy, protect our votes
As a lifelong Pennsylvania resident and executive director of Mothers of Incarcerated Sons, an organization dedicated in part to voting rights, I want to thank Salewa Ogunmefun for the powerful and timely piece, “60 years after the Voting Rights Act, voting rights under attack” (Aug. 14, TribLive). This op-ed rightly...
Paul Kengor: Pittsburgh scores a big win — Dr. John Byrd
When we think of a person’s impact on a city or region, we tend to think of some titan in industry or even a major sports figure. Perhaps some 19th century industrialist or current tech giant, or big-time quarterback or pitcher or NHL player. When we think of a city...
Joel Burstein: Local business retention most underrated economic development strategy
When it comes to economic development, we all love the ribbon cuttings. Shovels in the ground, billion-dollar factories, gleaming new AI research hubs — they dominate the headlines and photo ops. But the most transformative growth doesn’t always come from what’s new. It comes from what we choose to keep....
Leslie Gromis Baker: Investing in adult literacy helps people help themselves
As the saying goes, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” That’s exactly what adult literacy programs do — they provide people with the tools and confidence to take control of their futures, giving...
Letter to the editor: Are pollution controls working in Clairton?
While watching the local TV coverage of the horrible Clairton Coke Works explosion, I noticed that the hillside across the river from the Clairton plant is covered with vegetation. I was surprised. While I was growing up in the Mon Valley that hillside was bare. Nothing would grow on it...
Letter to the editor: Does Trump really support law enforcement?
It is lovely that the president visited law enforcement officers and National Guard troops stationed in the District of Columbia. I wonder whether he would ever go to see or recognize the Capitol Police and, if so, what type of reception he would receive if he did, given his betrayal...
Letter to the editor: Caregivers need state support
The state budget is several months late, and for Pennsylvanians like us, the consequences are personal. We are sisters living with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. We live together and rely on full-time, participant-directed home care for every part of daily life — bathing, eating, getting dressed. This model empowers us to...
Editorial: Back to school means back to violence
Across Western Pennsylvania, kids are going back to school. College dorms are overflowing. High school football games are lighting up Friday nights. School buses are back on the roads taking little ones with backpacks and new shoes to class. The lazy days of summer are over, and the jam-packed schedules...
Sean Trende: Restoring trust in the heart of Pa.’s political realignment
One of the defining features of late 20th and early 21st century American politics is the loss of faith in our institutions. A recent poll in U.S. News shows that 85% of Americans say “government officials and other community leaders care more about their own power and influence than what’s...
Jonah Goldberg: Republicans won’t let hypocrisy get in the way of a little tyranny
Even before America became a country, Americans already had a habit of freaking out about even minor violations of abstract principles. “In other countries, the people … judge of an ill principle in government only by an actual grievance,” observed Edmund Burke, the great British statesman and philosopher, in 1775....
Jason “J.J.” Park: Three cheers for the (unappreciated) American worker
When doing entry-level, frontline jobs, I often felt (1) overworked and (2) underpaid. But if those few special customers appreciated me, life was still good. I connected to these empathic individuals who understood that doing a good job, all day long, day in and day out, was tough. But there...
Elisabeth Rosenthal: Health insurance price hikes should cause Americans alarm
Wary of inflation, Americans have been watching the prices of everyday items such as eggs and gasoline. A less-noticed expense should cause greater alarm: rising premiums for health insurance. They have been trending upward for years and are now rising faster than ever. Consider that, from 2000 to 2020, egg...
