Opinion category, Page 340
POINT: Racial shifts in voting — what’s in the future?
Through a phenomenon called “linked fate,” small or marginalized groups tend to vote more as a unit rather than as individuals, assuming that without doing so they may not have a loud enough voice in the political system. However, exhaustion from a series of broken promises is breaking up these...
COUNTERPOINT: Education, crime drive Black voters to GOP
As another Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday approaches, our nation has much to celebrate as we strive toward MLK’s dream of a colorblind society. Since King’s assassination in 1968, our nation has elected and reelected its first African American president. We’ve also recently sworn in our first African American...
Gary Bayne and Josh Fleitman: Brackenridge chief’s killing demands stronger Pa. gun laws
Amid an avalanche of horrific acts of violence across Allegheny County over the past year, the Jan. 2 killing of Brackenridge police Chief Justin McIntire is yet another traumatic and high-profile reminder of the toll of gun violence on our communities. The chief’s family, the broader Brackenridge and law enforcement...
Sounding off: McIntire’s death, Steelers, Biden/Trump, speaker battle, Ziccarelli’s crash on readers’ minds
Rest in peace, Chief McIntire The horrific death of our beloved Brackenridge Police Chief Justin McIntire has devastated our community. It brought to mind a song by James Taylor, “Fire and Rain.” The words “Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone” echo the stunned feelings of everyone...
Letter to the editor: Why Trump won’t get votes
When the time comes to vote for the next U.S. president, it certainly won’t be for the last one. His name has been in about every newspaper since he left office, he took classified documents to his home in Florida, where he does not have to declare state income tax,...
Letter to the editor: Red-light cameras should be banned
Regarding the article “Venkat announces traffic safety grants for Hampton, McCandless” (Jan. 5, TribLIVE): While ARLE grant projects can be worthwhile, no municipality should accept the money, since it comes from red-light cameras (which should be banned in Pennsylvania). If we had best-practice engineering and enforcement, then practically nobody would...
Editorial: What is the cost of UPMC’s minimum wage hike?
UPMC is raising its minimum wage to $18 per hour. That speaks to a lot happening in the Pennsylvania economy. The need to fill jobs that keep businesses functioning has been a major theme for three years. It is bad enough when restaurants and retailers struggle to keep the doors...
Letter to the editor: Biden administration gets an F
The Biden/Harris administration has been in power for two years now with total Democratic control of Congress. How should they be graded? Foreign policy — F. The world is far more dangerous now than two years ago. Russia has invaded Ukraine. China is preparing to invade Taiwan, Iran is posturing...
Gary Franks: Republicans, be careful what you ask for
It’s newly elected Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. It ended like it should have begun. All the action witnessed, I believed, could have and should have been played out before Jan. 3. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe America needed to see this play out. For a while, I...
S.E. Cupp: The crazed anti-vaxxers keep going ever lower
Céline Gounder was reeling. Her husband of 21 years, Grant Wahl, had died suddenly while covering the World Cup in Qatar. Despite a disorienting and painful flurry of initial speculation and conspiracies, Gounder waited to learn from doctors and experts what had killed Grant. But as she did, in the...
Peter Morici: Technology doesn’t displace humans — it creates new higher-paying jobs to replace those it destroys
Through the ages, pessimists have warned that new technologies spell doom. Naysayers warn robots will wipe out jobs and want to impose taxes to slow their progress. In a more service-based economy, artificial intelligence has a lot in common with robotics and with AI, the focus is increasingly spreading to...
Letter to the editor: Biden, Trump are too grown up to be president
It looks like President Biden and ex-President Trump are both considering running again. Haven’t we taken the phrase “anyone can grow up to be president” a bit too far? Our country has a population of over 330 million. Is this the best we can do? C’mon, man. Alan Critchlow Lower...
Letter to the editor: Blessing for police officers
I would like to send a blessing out to all the police officers in service. “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). May each police officer be protected from all evil that runs on this earth....
Letter to the editor: Goose/duck hunt at Mammoth park inhumane
The beautiful lake in Mammoth Park is now sterile. After a Westmoreland County Bureau of Parks and Recreation sanctioned goose and duck hunt that started Dec. 12 and ends Jan. 14 (the park is closed to all other use from sunrise to 9 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays during this period),...
Lori Falce: Why are college girls victims of violence?
College girls and homicide shouldn’t go together the way that they do. Maybe we should blame serial killer Ted Bundy for the way murderers and coeds have become so linked in the American consciousness. Maybe we should blame slasher flicks that make sorority houses and dorm rooms the location of...
Letter to the editor: How have Dems improved our lives?
After reading the letter “Republicans don’t improve lives” (Dec. 19, TribLIVE), in which the writer states that “Democrats are committed to actually helping Americans in every way,” I was thrown into a state of profound bewilderment. How have the Democrats improved upon anything? By leaving American citizens and in-country allies...
Letter to the editor: Ziccarelli should pay for repairs to county vehicle
There are no accidents, only collisions. Collisions are preventable (i.e., reduce speed after dark and in bad weather). Why are Westmoreland County taxpayers expected to pay for the transportation needs of elected officials (“Westmoreland DA: Crash involving county vehicle was ‘minor’,” Jan. 7, TribLIVE)? While commendable that District Attorney Nicole...
Laurels & lances: A last goodbye and a final cost
Laurel: To a sad goodbye. Brackenridge police Chief Justin McIntire was killed Jan. 2 in an incident that was a tragedy for his family and the community he served. On Wednesday, the massive turnout for his funeral spoke to his relationships with his neighbors as well as his respect within...
Jase Graves: Escape from NY and Southwest Airlines
In the 1980s, I repeatedly watched a recorded copy of the film “Escape from New York” on my family’s Panasonic VCR — complete with tuning knobs the size of hubcaps. Little did I know that I would star in my own version of the movie (as a domesticated, tattoo-less and...
Colin McNickle: How to effect real change in Pa.’s failing high schools
Remedying the gross disparities in academic performance among Pennsylvania’s 634 public high schools is not a matter of throwing more money at the problem but one of returning foundational precepts to the educational process, concludes a new analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “What is needed is commitment...
Letter to the editor: Pa. voted the right way
Thank you, Sandy Kremer (“Thanks for the right votes, Pa.,” Jan. 5 ,TribLIVE). Well said! Jim Gluch Belle Vernon...
Letter to the editor: Let’s take care of our own first
I don’t understand why the United States government will not take care of its own first, rather than helping others who need our help. We have millions of American citizens who are homeless and obviously have no health care. We have homeless veterans who have put their lives on the...
Letter to the editor: McCarthy and history of the speakership
So I was discussing the congressional chaos with a wily old friend and referred to it as a clown show. He said it wasn’t a clown show — it worked as it was supposed to, but Kevin McCarthy wasn’t the guy to elect. Thinking about it, I could see his...
Editorial: A legislature that does nothing can do damage
What is worse than 15 votes to get a speaker of the House in Washington? Not one vote in Harrisburg. On Monday, the speaker of Pennsylvania’s state House — Democrat or possibly independent Rep. Mark Rozzi of Berks County — sent the other 199 representatives home without taking up a...
Letter to the editor: Rest in peace, Chief McIntire
The horrific death of our beloved Brackenridge Police Chief Justin McIntire has devastated our community. It brought to mind a song by James Taylor, “Fire and Rain.” The words “Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone” echo the stunned feelings of everyone throughout our humble community. This...
