Opinion category, Page 87
Letter to the editor: Journalists as propagandists
The editorial “No excuse justifies silencing student journalism” (Jan. 29, TribLive) focused on the need to support student publishing, which I fully support. However, it made no mention of what seems to me, or a preponderance of recent voters, as a wholesale change needed for the good of the country....
Letter to the editor: Trump, a weapon of mass distraction
Businessman Donald Trump has always been the king of WMD, weapon of mass distraction. The saying goes something like this: No matter how important your conversation is, if someone throws a dead fish on the table, you are going to talk about the fish! Previously he sued just about everyone...
Lori Falce: Marc Fogel, Saquon Barkley, Donald Trump and rooting for all the right reasons
The Super Bowl is one of the highlights of my year. Even when the Steelers aren’t participating, I revel in the rush. Sometimes not having your team in play can make you appreciate the game more than the score. I have been up front about my absolute loathing of the...
Laurels & lances: Credit & quiet
Laurel: To a job completed. For three and a half years, Marc Fogel survived his stint in a Russian prison. But let’s give a laurel to the people who brought him home. There is President Donald Trump, who made a promise shortly before being shot in Fogel’s hometown in Butler...
Letter to the editor: Decline of Steelers and Pirates
Why don’t Art Rooney and Bob Nutting trade teams? They can’t be any worse than they are now. Both men are making tons of money from ticketholders, concessions, TV revenue, parking and whatever. It seems that both could care less about the heritage of their teams, the talent they had...
Paul Kengor: Hey, Travis and Taylor — get married
The sports world is abuzz over Travis Kelce’s next career move in light of his not-so-super performance during the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl defeat. Well, I, your humble columnist, offer a not-so-subtle suggestion to Kelce: get married. He and Taylor Swift need to get hitched. When asked about that...
Patrick J. Schena: U.S. sovereign wealth fund — idea to invest strategically, or giant opportunity for waste?
Could the United States soon be joining the likes of Norway, Kuwait and Mongolia in having a national reserve to invest on projects of strategic interest? If President Donald Trump gets his way, then perhaps so. On Feb. 3, Trump issued an executive order calling for the creation of a...
Letter to the editor: Trump’s Musk madness has to stop
While Elon Musk, who I think zero people voted for, is taking our largest humanitarian program “to the woodchopper,” thousands and thousands of people around the world are being deprived of much-needed food, medicine, information and guidance. Goods are sitting on docks because Musk has said “stop!” And King Donald...
Letter to the editor: Democrats, find the loopholes
I love Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show.” He is not only outrageously funny, he is brilliant. President Trump and the Republican Party are saying a big “whatever” to what used to be taking pride in their jobs and believing the Constitution was more than a piece of paper. Currently,...
Editorial: Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences
Norwin School Board voted Monday to censure one of its members. Alex Detschelt has been a regular point of controversy on the board for years. There was his use of a slur regarding people with intellectual disabilities that he shared on social media. There was his subsequent opposition to a...
Letter to the editor: Allegheny County Jail needs a restraint chair
The Allegheny County Jail is the only jail in Pennsylvania where a restraint chair is not being used because of a 2021 referendum. The restraint chair allows officers to transport residents without injury to the resident or to the officers. Currently, for residents needing to be transported, officers have to...
Jonah Goldberg: Trump’s pace can’t go on forever
Whether you’re feeling queasy or euphoric, or even a bit of both, about the opening weeks of the second Trump presidency, my advice is to remember Stein’s Law. Richard Nixon’s former chief economic adviser, Herb Stein, declared: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” I’ve found this to...
Marj Halperin: A mass exodus from civil service would be disastrous for our communities
Civil service is another term for “professional workforce” and we want this in government, right? And yet, as I write this, our government is being taken over by the opposite kind of worker. The uncredentialed Elon Musk is running a massive government operation. His team of similarly unaccredited private-sector tech...
Letter to the editor: Good job, NFL, on the happy festivities
Congratulations, NFL, on happy pregame festivities. Everyone seemed to be celebrating America being HAPPY AGAIN! God bless America! Tom Pyo Hempfield...
Letter to the editor: Kids taking over the Treasury
I gotta quit reading news on my phone and in newspapers. I get enraged. I read that Elon Musk recruited six kids to help him in his Department of Government Efficiency, effectively taking over the Treasury Department and thereby Social Security. Those kids are under 25 years old. One is...
Letter to the editor: Democrats’ rebellion against Trump is selfish
Now that the Democrats have lost their selfish hold on the American people, they are rebelling against a duly elected president and his appointees. In my opinion, it’s not because of their concern for the American people who had to endure four long years of a liberal, woke, incompetent Biden...
Letter to the editor: Fetterman’s objectivity refreshing
It’s been a breath of fresh air to see Sen. John Fetterman being objective in putting Pennsylvanians’ interests above political alliances. As Cabinet choices move through the confirmation process, Fetterman and Sen. Dave McCormick have a singular opportunity to play a critical role in restoring the health of all Americans....
Letter to the editor: Trump bringing Project 2025 to life
Anyone have voter remorse yet? I think anyone with half a brain can see what is happening. It’s Project 2025. The project President Trump said “I have nothing to do with.” Since it’s been proven that he lies often, we can assume he was lying when he said that. A...
Letter to the editor: Preventing discrimination in Pittsburgh
This letter is to address concerns raised about my “no” vote on City Council Bill 1426 (“Pittsburgh government must focus on issues, not battling ideologies,” Feb. 6, TribLive). I voted yes on Bill 1425, introducing a ballot referendum to amend the Home Rule Charter to prohibit discrimination in who may...
Editorial: Finally. Marc Fogel is free
It took 1,278 days, but it finally happened. Marc Fogel, 63, of Oakmont, was released Tuesday from the Russian penal colony where he had been imprisoned since August 2021. He was sentenced to 14 years for possession of 17 grams of medical marijuana legally dispensed in Pennsylvania. It’s about damn...
Ming Xie: If FEMA didn’t exist, could states handle the disaster response alone?
Imagine a world in which a hurricane devastates the Gulf Coast, and the U.S. has no federal agency prepared to quickly send supplies, financial aid and temporary housing assistance. Could the states manage this catastrophic event on their own? Normally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, known as FEMA, is prepared...
Parmy Olson: AI resurrecting the dead threatens our grasp on reality
A cruel twist of fate led Jason Gowin to make a novel parenting decision. Days after his wife gave birth to their twin boys in 2019, she had a stroke. The doctors gave her two or three years to live. Gowin and his oldest son were devastated, but worse was...
Letter to the editor: Ruled by a tyrant again
Two hundred and fifty years ago Americans started a war to end the rule of George III, a tyrant. Why, then, is a tyrant being allowed to rule over us again? Kenneth Powell New Kensington...
Letter to the editor: We didn’t vote for stealing of our personal information
Our checking and savings account numbers have been stolen. The Republican-led legislative branch has chosen to allow this to happen. Is it dereliction of duty? Is it abdicating their role? Is it abetting a crime? President Trump may have neutered them in fear of being primaried by deeper pockets. A...
Letter to the editor: Assumptions about Hegseth
Regarding the op-ed “Hey Hegseth — for Pete’s sake, get a Eureka! moment” and the letter ”McCormick’s Hegseth vote is telling” (Jan. 31, TribLive): The first writer compares his own issues with unproven accusations against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. This op-ed is pure speculation and is more a history...
