Opinion category, Page 45
Letter to the editor: My choice — Trump
In 2020, electing President Biden was a mistake of choice. In 2024, electing President Trump was a mandate of choice. In May 2024, 64,000 illegal migrants crossed Biden’s southern border. This May, zero illegals crossed that same southern border. The people chose Trump’s border. In 2025, “America first” policy invests...
Letter to the editor: Is Trump confused on war powers?
President Trump ordered seven B-2 stealth bombers against Iran, dropping 14 30,000-pound “bunker busting bombs.” He claimed sole authority under the “executive power” of Article II of the Constitution. I think he is confused. Article II names the president “commander in chief” and states that “The executive Power shall be...
Lori Falce: The lessons of Abraham Lincoln and a house divided
In 1858, after winning the Republican nomination for the Senate against incumbent Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech that has stood the test of time because of the truth it laid plain before a country ripping itself in two. “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” the future president...
Laurels & lances: Awareness & animals
Laurel: To intervention. There is no tragedy greater than a loss of life — except a loss that could have been prevented. In Westmoreland County, an effort is being made to find ways to reduce the number of suicides. The county’s Suicide Fatality Review Team convened for the first time...
Letter to the editor: Natural gas benefits Pa.
Mary Jo Simmen-Gray’s op-ed “The real story behind the Marcellus impact fee windfall” (July 1, TribLive) highlights the significance of nearly $3 billion in impact fees paid by Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry, but her suggested narrative deviates from the facts. For example, stating fees were imposed “specifically to offset the...
Carl P. Leubsdorf: Trump etches his place in history
Over the past three elections, President Donald Trump has redefined the United States politically, strengthening Republican support among blue collar workers and reducing traditional Democratic majorities among racial minorities. Now, with the enactment of his misleadingly titled “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Trump has — for better or worse — redefined...
Oliver Bateman: What Pa. Dems can learn from Zohran Mamdani
Thirty-three-year-old state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s triumph over aging dynast Andrew Cuomo in New York’s Democratic mayoral primary should have Pennsylvania Democrats taking notes. Not because the state’s voters will eagerly cast their ballots for a democratic socialist preaching about subsidized gender-affirming care — that dog won’t hunt in a purple...
Letter to the editor: Leaders should put more emphasis on bridge safety
Why are we getting another surprise major bridge risk now (“Corroded steel prompts closure of Jacks Run Road Bridge in Ross,” July 3, TribLive)? I thought “someone” was inspecting the major bridges after the failure of the Fern Hollow Bridge a couple of years ago. Maybe our leaders and mayors...
Letter to the editor: Does Trump enjoy causing pain, chaos?
How horrifying to read the article “UPMC to stop gender-affirming care for patients 18 and under by month’s end” (June 24, TribLive). This treatment can mean life or death (suicide). President Trump also ended the national LGBTQ+ youth suicide hotline. Since ending USAID, some estimates say more than 300,000 people...
Editorial: Questioning how funds are spent is how oversight works
Oversight is important. One function of government is to decide how money is spent. Whether it’s the state, a municipality or a school board, government agencies take in tax money, grants or pass-through funds from a higher level of government and plan how best to distribute it. Another function is...
Letter to the editor: Medicaid cuts threaten lives
As CEO of Mental Health America of Southwestern PA, I see firsthand how mental illness, addiction and trauma affect lives in our community. Every day, we connect community residents with the lifesaving care they need to survive and heal. Now, that care is under threat. Mental health is not a...
Jonah Goldberg: Elon Musk’s America Party is a long shot
“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom,” Elon Musk declared on his social media platform, X (formerly Twitter). Another billionaire quickly replied on his social media platform, “I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over...
Noah Feldman: The Supreme Court’s majority is playing the long game
Many legal commentators apparently believe that, in the term that just ended, the Supreme Court further enabled President Donald Trump. The court did, in fact, issue a series of conservative decisions that Trump likes. However, under the leadership of Chief Justice John Roberts, the court also simultaneously pursued a careful...
Colin Fleming: Charlie Chaplin’s 100-year-old film ‘The Gold Rush’ has timeless lessons on how to keep going
The wisest among us realize that what we normally think of as opposites are also associates. There’s life and death, joy and pain, fulfillment and absence. And, as Charlie Chaplin understood and helped millions to understand, comedy and tragedy. Cinema was about a quarter of a century old when Chaplin’s...
Letter to the editor: Whatever happened to fiscal responsibility?
Once upon a time the Republican Party promoted itself as the party of fiscal responsibility. With the current “Big Beautiful Bill,” they have destroyed whatever was left of that imaginary idea. Under the administrations of George W. Bush and Donald Trump, tax cuts favoring corporations and the very wealthy caused...
Letter to the editor: Churches need to stand up
With the exception of a few prophetic voices like Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde of Washington, D.C., and Catholic Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, most Christian leaders have remained cowardly silent in confronting the national environment of hatred, fear, discrimination and scapegoating promulgated by the current administration in Washington....
Editorial: What does the future of diversity look like?
Is diversity disappearing? In 2015, the Westmoreland Diversity Coalition was created. Carlotta Paige founded the organization by expanding her work on the annual Unity Rally. “The issue of diversity, nobody wanted to deal with (it),” she said. “It’s been a challenge every day.” After 10 years, Paige is retiring and...
Letter to the editor: Social Security, Medicaid save lives
I have a very good friend whose daughter was born with a rare disease that caused her body to grow at a rapid rate when she was very young, and her organs, including her heart, were not given a chance to catch up. The mother was told that her daughter...
Mihir Sharma: RFK Jr. is playing with babies’ lives
When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was appointed secretary of Health and Human Services, everyone knew he was capable of doing great damage. He had a long history of indulging conspiracy theories, particularly when it came to vaccines. Already, his attempt to reassess immunization schedules in the U.S. has outraged pediatricians....
Martin Schram: Peace through power – it’s electric!
For several hold-your-breath weeks, as spring sizzled into summer, the nuclear dealmakers of President Donald Trump’s USA and the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Iran seemed astonishingly close to a deal. So close that it seemed they’d soon reach out and seize the deal. But no one was willing to...
Letter to the editor: Route 30 traffic danger
The article “As traffic grows, Route 30 crash hot spots a concern for motorists, property owners, police and PennDOT” (June 20, TribLive) points out many dangerous places and reasons why they’re dangerous. The one thing that wasn’t blamed was the speeding of cars traveling 10 to 20 mph or more...
Letter to the editor: DNC needs to do better
Did you ever lay back with a bottle of strawberry Boone’s Farm and wonder what the rich people are doing? Not having contact with a social class of local, national and world leaders, yours truly doesn’t have too many leads to go on. Supine, whirling, dizzy, I’m wondering what people...
Editorial: Less-than-lethal weapons are good move but still require restraint
A serious interaction with law enforcement can have deadly consequences. In 2024, there were 32 fatal incidents of police shootings in Pennsylvania. The first was Jan. 7, when Christopher Lee Shepherd, 48, of Upper St. Clair was shot as SWAT officers responded to his home during a mental health event....
Letter to the editor: American Gestapo
Narciso Barranco was tending the lawn at an IHOP in California when he was set upon by six ICE agents with their guns drawn. Fleeing with his weed wacker, Barranco was thrown down, repeatedly punched and pepper-sprayed. (Film can be seen on the internet.) The ICE agents said he attacked...
Allison Schrager: America’s broken politics is breaking economics, too
The political realignment has come for economics. At least since the days of Friedrich Hayek and John Maynard Keynes in the last century, the divide in economic thinking roughly corresponded to the political split. In the mainstream, everyone was a capitalist and saw some role for government. The right/left divide...
