Opinion category, Page 84

In Pennsylvania, we find ourselves in quite the conundrum: a low unemployment rate coupled with a sizable number of unemployment claims — 127,000 at the end of December 2023. This contradiction should serve as a wake-up call for policymakers. After all, if we can’t figure this out, what’s next —...

To the writer of the letter “Harris will protect our freedoms” (July 28, TribLive): I thank you for your service. You are certainly entitled to your opinion. However, I would recommend that you read the article “Counterpoint: Bad policies, not gender, will cost Kamala Harris the presidency” (July 28, TribLive)....

I don’t believe the shooting of Donald Trump had anything to do with policies. Had it been President Biden there, the kid probably would have shot him instead. I think he wanted bragging rights. According to one of his classmates, he was dropped from his high school rifle team because...

Every year — at least twice a year — I do something that newspapers, editors, pundits, nonprofit organizations and government officials have been doing for generations. I encourage people to vote. I do it before the Pennsylvania primary, generally in April or May, depending on whether it’s a presidential year...

To those readers who are media bias deniers, I have two questions: When President Trump recently referred to “Black jobs,” it was widely covered by media and demonized. When President Biden recently could not remember Lloyd Austin’s name, he simply said that he appointed “a Black man” as Defense secretary....

Regarding Conor Lamb and Kate Harper’s op-ed “Western Pa. ready to lead hydrogen energy revolution” (July 17, TribLive): Western Pennsylvania has the opportunity to lead an innovative and sustainable economy of the future. However, it must resist the push for unproven methane-derived hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies...

On Thursday, Evan Gershkovich did what he has been waiting to do for 491 days. He left his prison cell in Russia. He got on a plane. He started his journey home. For former Marine Paul Whelan, the wait was longer — 2,043 days. For Radio Free Europe journalist Alsu...

Are you sick of politics? Tired of the bickering and division, including from politicians preaching “unity?” If so, then join me as I harken back to a better time, at least for those of us alive in the summer of 1979 who lived in this region. It was a time...

Think like a coach. That was one of my fundamental tenets when I chaired the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. This approach was and remains important to evaluate candidates based upon who is the best person to put on the field to be successful. That is not often easy as many times...

Smart Republicans could see a day like this coming — and tried mightily to prevent it — back in 2010. That was the year Kamala Harris, a bright, young, charismatic prosecutor from San Francisco, ran her first statewide campaign, for California attorney general, and ultimately won. The race presaged the...

For years, the Democrats, the media and Hollywood have declared President Joe Biden is fit, mentally and physically, to be the leader of the free world. These same people have declared President Donald Trump is evil, a monster and a threat to our democracy. The Democrats, the media and Hollywood...

The writer of the letter “Where does Dave McCormick live?” (July 10, TribLive) should know that you can’t be on the ballot unless you live in Pennsylvania. Sen. Bob Casey has been in office for 18 years. We only hear from him six months before the November election. Now he...

The Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act was signed into law in 2023 after passing through Congress with surprising bipartisan support. It amended a 1934 law governing how inmates in an institution can have access to people outside the walls of their jail or prison. It requires the Federal...

Well, it looks like the only old guy left in this race is Donald Trump. What is he, 78? That’s old! OK, no more Sleepy Joe, or Dementia Joe, or whatever childish names the GOP tagged President Biden with. Now all attention is on Trump. New scrutiny will now befall...

After the abomination depicting the Last Supper with a drag queen performance, rest assured that no member of our family will watch one second of the Olympics. Let’s see how the advertisers like that. You should be ashamed of yourselves. We notice you did not cover that in the morning...

One of my great peeves of the Trump era is the Greenland effect. I belong to a small group of people who think America should peacefully acquire Greenland. It’s an old idea. The State Department pitched buying the vast arctic island in 1946, but the Danes didn’t want to sell...

Once again Sen. John Fetterman uniquely spoke the plain truth, criticizing those elected phonies who knifed President Biden in the back one day from reelection and then lauded his legacy the next. Deceitful politicians are nothing new. However, they were aided and abetted by what is falsely labeled as “cable...

It’s an election year, which means we’ll be hearing a lot from Democrats and Republicans claiming their party is the one true champion of working-class Americans. Sure, but what does it mean to be part of the working class in America these days? It means being female. If there’s one...

If Donald Trump hasn’t scared you yet, have you heard one of his latest? He wants you (white Christians) to vote just this one time, because, if he’s elected, you won’t have to vote again. I don’t think his intent could be more clear. Perhaps all of us childless cat...

It’s an old story: A foolish person sets a genie free from a bottle in exchange for a wish. But the wish is rash, reckless and ill-conceived, and so it becomes a curse that boomerangs back to destroy the fool. The violent Jan. 6 insurrection that I believe Donald Trump...

As a patient who deeply values the personal touch my local pharmacy provides, I’m concerned by the growing influence pharmacy middlemen have on my health care decisions. Called pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), these corporate entities were initially designed to provide electronic claims processing and negotiate drug costs. Only now, three...

We cannot accept antisemitism. It shouldn’t happen in America. It shouldn’t happen in Pennsylvania. It cannot happen in Pittsburgh. In every other place in the country and the state, antisemitism is an ugly word that speaks of an ugly history. It reflects disgusting, individual attacks. It is about policies and...

Threat to democracy? A riot redefined as an insurrection does not qualify. The real threat is a government that dictates your life. You’re told what car to buy, what appliances are acceptable and how to heat your home. A real threat is frivolous and unconstitutional legal action against political opponents....

Today is National Mutt Day! Possibly the best way to observe National Mutt Day is to support your local animal shelter. Animal shelters provide housing and adoption services to mutts of all shapes and sizes, not just purebred and designer breed dogs. If you are considering adding a dog to...

An unlikely — and mostly unfamiliar — name has catapulted onto the short list of potential Democratic running mates: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Walz seems to be everywhere lately, with a rapid-fire, folksy style that brings the heat to Republicans, articulates what matters to Democrats and corks off on GOP...