Opinion category, Page 760
Tom Purcell: Hey, America! We need another baby boom!
America’s declining birthrate has given me pause. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of babies born in the United States in 2018 was the lowest in 32 years, continuing what NBC News calls “a decades-long trend toward fewer and fewer babies being born each year.”...
Editorial: Virginia Beach joins tragic list
Hello, Virginia Beach. Welcome to the club no one wants to join. Like widows and parents who have lost children, cities that have experienced mass shootings are survivors that must learn to navigate in a new world while muscle memory tries to walk them through the layout of the old....
Editorial: Leechburg library closing is sad commentary
There may be no sadder commentary on the changing way we consume information than the demise of a local library. A library is one of those touchstone places that speaks to how a community comes together. Move to a new town and you have a list of things you need...
Letter to the editor: Turned away at polls
I went to vote after work on Election Day. I could have gone straight home or to Sheetz (“Not voting squanders basic birthright of America,” May 22, TribLIVE), but I had a chance to make a change in our government and our school board. As I gave my name to...
Letter to the editor: Pipelines mean jobs
There seemed to be both good and bad news in your recent story “Report: Number of drilled but uncompleted oil and gas wells in U.S. continues to rise” (May 3, TribLIVE) about the number of unfinished wells in the United States. The good news is that the number of unfinished...
Letter to the editor: Misinformed on Obama vs. Trump
It’s hard to know where to begin with Ron Raymond’s letter “Obama vs. Trump.” Like so many other right-wing parrots, he directs us to see the effects of socialism in Venezuela. Funny, I never hear these people speak of Norway, Canada or Finland, to name a few. The only reason...
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 3
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 3....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 3
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 3....
John Manzella: Critical issues that could kill U.S.-China trade progress
President Trump has called out China for unfairly subsidizing its state-owned enterprises, not enforcing intellectual property protections, placing trade restrictions on U.S. firms, and pressuring them to hand over technology in exchange for market access. If these problems are eliminated, more U.S. companies will invest there. But is this what...
Letter to the editor: We need more like Bill Burns, who stuck to the facts
A tip of the hat to Joseph Sabino Mistick for his column “Bill Burns knew the value of freedom” (May 26, TribLIVE). I grew up watching the noon news on KDKA TV with Burns as the anchor. He always presented the facts, no bias — Mistick failed to mention this...
Letter to the editor: U.S. Steel & Mon Valley’s air quality
U.S. Steel’s recent announcement of a $1 billion investment in the company’s Mon Valley Works was met with a positive response from politicians and steelworkers alike (“U.S. Steel announces $1B investment in Edgar Thomson, Clairton plants,” May 2, TribLIVE). But the giddiness surrounding the announcement obfuscates the chronic pollution and...
Letter to the editor: People want school choice, not discussion
In response to recently passed legislation increasing caps for tax credit scholarships, the Tribune-Review hopes we can bog the scholarships down in endless discussion (“School choice should be discussed, not automatic.” More discussion sounds great — unless you’re one of the tens of thousands of families denied scholarships every year....
Jonah Goldberg: Trump’s poor approval ratings have little to do with Mueller investigation
“Without the ILLEGAL Witch Hunt, my poll numbers, especially because of our historically ‘great’ economy, would be at 65%,” President Trump tweeted last month. In all likelihood, the president believes what he wrote. It’s a strongly held sentiment among many of Trump’s ardent supporters that if he hadn’t been stabbed...
S.E. Cupp: Want activism with your coffee?
How would you like your coffee — milk, sugar and a side of politics? In an era when it seems impossible to divorce politics from everything else, Dunkin’ Brands, the parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts, is betting you might just appreciate a break whilst in their stores. At an International...
George Will: The idea of an aesthetic impeachment
WASHINGTON If congressional Democrats will temper their enthusiasm for impeachment with lucidity about the nation’s needs and their political self-interest, they will understand the self-defeating nature of a foredoomed attempt to remove a president for aesthetic reasons. Such reasons are not trivial, but they are insufficient, particularly when almost all...
Patrick Dowd: Two paths for a bold commitment to Pennsylvania schools
Pennsylvania’s school districts are under strain. Inequity, underfunding and lack of urgency to invest the funding necessary to enact any real progress toward educational excellence is taking its toll on students, teachers, taxpayers and communities. Good schools are the centerpiece of every vibrant neighborhood, the selling point for homebuyers and...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Memorial Day, D-Day, Flag Day our real triple crown
Most of us know about the Triple Crown, three big horse races that begin with the Kentucky Derby in early May, followed by the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. Since the Roman emperors, there has been a formula of “Bread and Circuses” to create welcome diversions for the governed. Even...
Peter Morici: Building taller cities to cope with climate change
Homo sapiens are unique in our ability to unlock the secrets of nature, build great civilizations and create technological wonders and radically alter the environment — not always for the better. Harnessing fossil fuels accelerated our ascent, but according to scientists, diplomats and the architects of the 2016 Paris agreement,...
Cal Thomas: John Walker Lindh, still a terrorist
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the release of self-admitted “American Taliban” member John Walker Lindh “unexplainable and unconscionable.” Lindh, who was paroled May 23 from a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., served 17 years of a 20-year sentence for illegally aiding Taliban forces. Lindh had joined the terrorist...
Editorial: Trump tariffs are Mexican standoff
A week ago, it was infrastructure versus a trade deal. “Before we get to infrastructure, it is my strong view that Congress should first pass the important and popular (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) trade deal,” President Trump wrote to Democratic leaders ahead of a planned meeting. The USMCA was negotiated between...
Sounding off: Pittsburgh sisters welcome immigrants
Pittsburgh’s templed hills have long provided refuge to persons of diverse heritages and faiths whose virtues tempered our city of steel. The Catholic Sisters Leadership Council of Western Pennsylvania wishes to join Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto in welcoming vulnerable migrants and refugees seeking asylum from violence, injustice and other life-threatening...
Letter to the editor: Risk of not vaccinating
Regarding Susan Gero’s letter “Vaccine curiosity”: Common sense is that you can Google the reasons vaccinated people are at risk and how dangerous this disease is. It’s not big pharma! In 2017 worldwide, 110,000 people died of measles. It is deadly. People with compromised immune systems — people with HIV,...
Letter to the editor: Thankful for support for Cait Tracy’s recovery
On May 5, we were reminded how life can change in an instant when a tragic accident took the life of two young people and critically injured our daughter, Cait Tracy (“Employees of Greensburg’s Rialto restaurant mourned after fatal crash in Hempfield,” May 6, TribLIVE). It was an unimaginable loss...
Letter to the editor: CEO salaries ridiculous
Reading the paper today showed once again the injustice of CEOs’ salaries (“UPMC CEO Jeffrey Romoff made $8.54M in 2018, a 40% jump,” May 17, TribLIVE). With all the problems that cause havoc in our medical system, we need to find solutions. Yet they pay one man almost $9 million...
John Stossel: Today, ‘victims’ use their ‘trauma’ to dictate
“I don’t feel safe,” says a Harvard student in a video. What threatens her? The dean of her Harvard dormitory, law professor Ronald Sullivan, agreed to be part of accused sexual harasser Harvey Weinstein’s legal defense team. Sullivan and his wife were deans of the dormitory for years, but no...
