Opinion category, Page 317
Letter to the editor: Gloom and doom
We are at the mercy of our politicians. All of our problems started with giving the rich and companies tax breaks. They gave tax incentives for our companies to go overseas. We had the fear of Donald J. Trump. Now we have the fear of the new Congress. They want...
Editorial: Is asking front line workers to train for crisis a good idea?
It would be great if everyone was trained to be a helping hand. But wishing doesn’t make it so. Neither does the vote of a city’s leaders. Last week, Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Deb Gross, D-Highland Park, put forward legislation that would create a training program to help people with crises...
Letter to the editor: Help close pollution loopholes
I feel overwhelmed when I get an alert from my weather app warning me about dangerous air quality conditions within my community. Are local residents expected to stay in the house and drop all responsibilities during this time to protect our health? Action is needed now to ensure that residents...
Elwood Watson: Tyre Nichols’ death shows how racism even impacts Black officers
The death of Black people at the hands of law enforcement has become so commonplace that it’s easy to feel both outraged and psychologically numb. Over the past few decades from Rodney King to George Floyd, we have become front-row spectators to grainy and, in some cases, graphic footage of...
Athan Koutsiouroumbas: Can Chat GPT3 make Pa. a red state?
In the past three weeks, policymakers had their worlds rocked by generative artificial intelligence. The problem is that they don’t know it — yet. First, a team of researchers demonstrated that Open AI’s Chat GPT3 can pass the stringent United States Medical Licensing Exam. Days later, Chat GPT 3 passed...
Colleen Hronich: Pa. celebrates Catholic Schools Week
I still remember celebrating Catholic Schools Week in my elementary school. We had a grandparents’ breakfast, special dress-up days, an open house where we showed off special projects for our families and a school night at the roller-skating rink. It was a special time and helped us appreciate how lucky...
Letter to the editor: Is government for us or against us?
Considering two local stories over the weekend, the state-mandated end of historical reenactments at Bushy Run, which seems to have started with one out-of-state person’s complaint (“Bushy Run Battlefield reenactment canceled amid new state guidelines,” Jan. 28, TribLIVE)) and the plan to spend $3.6 million for a homeless shelter in...
Letter to the editor: High earners get tax breaks
The letter “What’s ‘fair share’ when it comes to taxes?” (Jan. 24, TribLIVE) repeated the tired old saw that “Roughly 50% of wage earners pay no federal income tax at all.” This is simply not true. 6.2% of each employee’s wages is deducted as a dedicated tax, matched by an...
Editorial: Museum commission needs to bring ideas for Bushy Run Battlefield
Teachers will tell you that finding a way to make a lesson come to life is the best way to make the material stick. It’s the difference between telling someone how to drive and putting them behind the wheel. There’s a reason that you take a book test to get...
Letter to the editor: We must end our government excesses
In January, many of us look at our bills after Christmas and ask, “How am I going to pay for everything I bought?” I have not heard this asked of our elected officials. Everyone seems to want to ignore this elephant in the room and push it onto the next...
Tom Purcell: Celebrating National Freedom Day
It’s one of the best days of the year, and we owe our gratitude to the remarkable man who made it possible. Feb. 1 is National Freedom Day, and its origin is as wonderful as is freedom itself. The creation of this day dates back to 1863, during the thick...
Jordan Clark: Graham Spanier’s so-called ‘rush to judgment’
“A scheduled on-campus appearance by former Penn State President Graham Spanier was canceled Wednesday after the university canceled classes and some school activities because of wintry weather. Spanier had planned to promote his book, ‘In the Lion’s Den: The Penn State Scandal and a Rush to Judgment,’ in an appearance...
Cal Thomas: Inhumanity in Memphis
No adjective is sufficient to describe the reaction one gets from watching five Memphis police officers beat 29-year-old Tyre Nichols to within an inch of his life. He later died of his injuries in a local hospital. “Inhumane” and “senseless” are as close as it comes. While Nichols was accused...
Carl P. Leubsdorf: Debt ceiling showdown is probably not what Congress imagined in 1917
It began as a way to make it easier for the federal government to sell bonds to finance the U.S. role in World War I. Now, more than a century later, the requirement for a legal ceiling on the federal debt has become something totally different: a political time bomb...
Letter to the editor: ‘Context’ and book challenges
Regarding the editorial “Does Norwin director’s book challenge require more context?” (Jan. 18, TribLIVE): Talk about the liberal Trib calling the kettle black! They are attacking the messenger, not the message. Only conservatives require “context.” It’s quite OK for liberals to rewrite the meaning of words or history, even though...
Letter to the editor: America is broke
In the letter “Republicans holding us hostage” (Jan. 26, TribLIVE), the writer accused the Republicans of blackmail in which all of us are held hostage by playing a high stakes game of chicken over whether or not to increase the debt ceiling. It would be highly appreciated if the writer...
Editorial: Colleges should stop hiding how much they cost
Whether President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive some $400 billion in federal student-loan debt goes forward will ultimately be up to the Supreme Court. For now, there’s more the federal government should be doing to rein in the costs of higher education — and thus reduce how much students borrow...
Letter to the editor: Israel not apartheid government
I find it necessary to correct false statements in the letter “Trump and antisemitism” (Jan. 19, TribLIVE) responding to my letter “The real antisemitism” (Dec. 17, TribLIVE) regarding the antisemitic statement of Rep. Rashida Tlaib accusing Israel of being an apartheid government. The writer incorrectly defined Israel as an apartheid government...
Editorial cartoons for the week of Jan. 30
Editorial cartoons for the week of Jan. 30....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Jan. 30
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Jan. 30....
Michael Reagan: Biden’s lost docs and losing war
It’s a stretch, but I think I know the real reason the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago. We’ve been told for months that the DOJ ordered a search of Donald Trump’s home in Florida because he was not turning over a bunch of classified documents to the National Archives fast enough. Supposedly,...
Letter to the editor: Fern Hollow reporting exceptional
I am writing to compliment Jonathan Silver on his excellent reporting and prose in the article “Forever Changed” (Jan. 22, TribLIVE) marking the anniversary of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse. He not only filled in many of the gaps in the story that had piqued my curiosity, but he also...
Letter to the editor: No Pride Night hypocrisy
Tim Benz trying to make sense of the comments regarding Ivan Provorov’s protest on Pride Night in Philadelphia was confusing if not amusing (“I’m not a fan of Ivan Provorov’s Pride Night jersey boycott, but also dislike hypocritical media fallout,” Jan. 20, TribLIVE). The CBC (government owned) is not the...
Editorial: Greensburg chief’s resignation after charges was a service
On Tuesday, Shawn Denning embarrassed the people of Greensburg when he was arrested at City Hall on federal drug charges. He immediately did what may have been the best service he offered to those same people. He resigned as the chief of police. Denning, 41, is free on $250,000 unsecured...
Letter to the editor: Restoring Churchill’s Westinghouse site
In 2021 and 2022, Churchill faced a proposal to build a 2.9-million-square-foot Amazon distribution center at the former George Westinghouse R&D site. During planning commission meetings and public hearings, we learned of the historic significance of the site, which is potentially eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic...
