Letters to the Editor category, Page 175

The Hempfield Area School Board is to be commended for attempting to model a framework for parents and educators to determine which materials are appropriate in public school libraries (“Hempfield school board shelves any changes to its library book policy and selections for now,” March 11, TribLIVE). The internet provides...

Patricia DeMarco’s outstanding op-ed (“Energy independence means good union jobs in clean energy,” March 16, TribLIVE) describes the disadvantages and risks of using fossil fuels and the benefits of switching to renewable energy to achieve energy independence. Unfortunately, the U.S. does not have the policies in place to accomplish this...

A 21-year-old man dives onto a raft in his best friend’s swimming pool, injures himself and sues his best friend’s parents, and the jury awards him $19 million (“West­moreland jury awards $19M to swimming pool injury victim,” March 11, TribLIVE)? I’m embarrassed by you jurors. I thought Westmoreland County was...

“Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives.” — John Adams Could these words possibly hold any more weight than they do today? It seems some have forgotten that government is meant to be a virtue, a symbol of the free, democratic process. Instead, it has been...

I was sad to see that our revitalized national obsession with banning books had reached Franklin Regional (“Franklin Regional ‘pauses’ teaching of novel about Iranian Revolution after complaints,” March 7, TribLIVE). I look back fondly at my years at FR and can say, unequivocally, that the teachers and administrators provided...

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2021, the U.S. imported 8.47 million barrels of oil a day to meet our energy needs. But U.S. oil companies also exported 8.63 million barrels of oil a day, indicating that our country would easily be energy independent if U.S. needs came...

Regarding Paul Kengor’s column “Why didn’t Putin do this under Trump?” (March 17, TribLIVE): Maybe the answer is as simple as Putin didn’t feel it was necessary and that Trump was doing all that was requisite to compromise and weaken the EU and NATO. In July 2016, and throughout his...

The article “Hempfield is latest district to face book ban challenge” leads the reader to a conclusion that book challenges are wrong. The article states that 330 challenges were made in the last three months of 2021 compared with 156 in 2020, according to the American Library Association. What does...

George Will’s column “A stray orange hair to be flicked off the nation’s sleeve” (March 6) used the surname Trump 15 times, but no mention of the floundering current administration. Will is already working on 2024. I would rather be called a Trump poodle than a Biden basset hound. Donald...

Letter-writer John Meyer (“The border is not ‘open,’ ” March 20, TribLIVE) states “this administration has maintained the border policies of the previous administration.” This is false. President Biden, in his first hours in office, signed numerous immigration-­related executive orders and administration policy changes, one of which was to end the...

It has been almost a year since the American Rescue Plan Act became law, providing federal funding to boost state economies and help people recover from the financial toll of covid lockdowns. Now, the General Assembly is considering legislation that would prioritize using a portion of that funding to invest...

It is curious that those who are most vocal about “parents’ rights” and keeping government out of parental decisions are the ones who want to ban books. They are asking government to do their job, abdicating their own responsibilities. If they don’t want their children to read something, why do...

In the article “Norwin director claims assignment on racism was critical race theory teaching,” Shawna Illagan accused a district teacher of “political indoctrination” because she questioned students about whether or not systemic racism exists in America. She claimed the teacher’s interpretation of critical race theory was “one sided.” Systemic racism...

The current media drumbeat is that nothing new in the Russian collusion scandal can be learned from Special Counsel John Durham’s filings. That’s not true. In a recent filing, Durham says that a private contractor, Rodney Joffe of Neustar, collected internet data from surveillance of Trump Tower and the White...

Thank you, President Biden, for having the honor and integrity to nix making military aid to beleaguered Ukraine contingent on the heroic President Volodymyr Zelensky providing dirt on a political opponent. Oren Spiegler Peters...

The writer of the letter “Bradshaw, not Roethlisberger, the greatest quarterback” (Feb. 22, TribLIVE) said people forget that Terry Bradshaw won four Super Bowls. The writer needs to be informed that Bradshaw was only one of nine Hall of Fame players who played in their prime the same time the...

On the recent St. Patrick’s Day, the sun warmed the winter ground as the brown grass started to turn green. It reminded me of the centuries-old love of literature and poetry and books. In Armagh, Ireland, above the door of the 1771 library, an inscription reads “The healing place of...

President Biden’s first State of the Union address was a meandering tale full of irony and misinformation complete with the typical theatrics common to all such addresses, and a few classy moments such as recognizing retiring Justice Stephen Breyer and the Ukrainian U.N. ambassador. The irony started when Biden boasted...

My husband and I are both of Eastern European heritage. My grandparents and great-grandparents emigrated from Poland. My husband’s grandparents emigrated from Poland and Slovakia. Regarding the war in Ukraine, never have we been more proud of our Polish and Slovak roots and embarrassed by the actions of our president...

I have been hearing about “shrinkflation” like it is news. Shrinkflation is nothing new to consumers who have been paying attention over the past three decades. Back in the day, fun-sized Snickers candy bars were sold in a 12-pack for 99 cents. Now at Walmart, a 6-pack of smaller-sized Snickers...

It’s a shame that reporter Joe Napsha decided to highlight a very brief display regarding critical race theory at the end of the March 14 Norwin School Board meeting (“Norwin debate continues in regards to systemic racism, critical race theory,” March 16, TribLIVE). Much more impactful were the presentations by...

In order to appease the Squad and the rest of the Democratic Party and counteract President Trump’s policies, President Biden’s first actions were to cancel plans for the Keystone XL gas pipeline to cross into the United States and stop our drilling on government lands. He also waived sanctions on...

Seeing an autocracy in real time, I wonder if insurrectionist supporters have given pause to their goals. Democracy nearly died, and America was headed toward an autocracy. How fortunate we are to live in a democracy. In Ukraine, we see Putin showing no compassion for life. Americans cry and are...

With the recent addition of Ohio, 10 states require high school students to take a course in personal finance. Maybe Pennsylvania should do likewise. Many of our elected politicians are clearly defective in their understanding of basic finance. President Biden proudly cites his Scranton roots. Sen. Bob Casey and Rep....

2024: Kamala Harris, president. Nancy Pelosi, vice president. Francois Vukosic Bridgeville...