Opinion category, Page 320
Ken Ho: Mpox, AIDS, covid-19 show challenges of targeting public health messaging without causing stigma
During infectious disease outbreaks, clinicians and public health officials are tasked with providing accurate guidance for the public on how to stay safe and protect themselves and their loved ones. However, sensationalized media coverage can distort how the public perceives new emerging infections, including where they come from and how...
S.E. Cupp: Candace Owens is infected with viral MAGA fever
Despite all her tough talk on social media and podcasts, her hackneyed attacks on liberal snowflakes and cancel culture, and her daddy-issues affection for dictatorial strong men like Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Owens is seemingly afraid of lots of odd things no one should really...
Letter to the editor: Climate change and wealth redistribution
A preacher I saw on TV said human-caused climate change is a hoax used as a ploy by globalists to redistribute wealth. Globalists want no rich countries, no poor countries, no borders. They want everyone to be the same. They think that will prevent future wars. David Rockefeller was an...
Letter to the editor: Nation deserves better than Biden
M. Lou Harrison, your letter “Remember these things about Trump” (Oct. 31, TribLIVE) was a perfect fit for the current political environment, where, given the choice between a brain surgeon and a lame brain, the latter is chosen. While you cited my letter “Before voting, ask yourself if you’re happy...
Lori Falce: Are we ready for killer robots?
I am OK with robots. Hey, I’m a product of my time. I grew up with R2-D2 and C3PO. My siblings and I were just sharing pictures of Johnny 5 from “Short Circuit” in our chat group this week. I married a sci-fi nerd who adored the various metal monsters...
Laurels & lances: Blight, gas and RSV
Laurel: To a little housekeeping. Westmoreland County has made tackling blight a priority. County commissioners put their stamp of approval on that idea when they carved off $10.4 million of the county’s American Rescue Plan money to dedicate toward mitigation efforts. That got started this week with the demolition of...
Letter to the editor: Big cats belong in the wild
As an animal advocate concerned about public safety, I am thrilled that the Big Cat Public Safety Act finally passed through both chambers and is headed to President Joe Biden’s desk. This no-brainer legislation restricts private ownership of big cats like lions and tigers. It also makes it illegal for...
D. Brian Blank: Fed hiked interest rates for the 7th time — so why are mortgage rates coming down?
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point Dec. 14 to a range of 4.25 to 4.5%, the seventh increase this year. So far in 2022, the Fed has lifted its benchmark short-term rate, which influences most other borrowing costs in the economy, by 4.25 percentage points...
Letter to the editor: The debt-ridden wouldn’t make good soldiers
Regarding the letter “How about a GI Bill to help with student debt?” (Dec. 11, TribLIVE): First of all, I’m not too sure these people owing student debt would actually be a welcomed addition to the military. They already exhibited a lack of responsibility and more than likely wouldn’t make...
Letter to the editor: Are we still land of the free?
The far right often talks about the supremacy of freedom and liberty. America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. However, their actions have consequences that diminish the freedom of some. In Georgia, vigilante supporters have targeted election workers with death threats and physical intimidation....
Editorial: Voters control the Pa. House, not the parties
Want to know who is in charge of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives? Join the club. The general election in November gave the Keystone State a razor-thin division in the House. After 12 years of undisputed Republican control, it flipped on the strength of a few districts in the greater...
Letter to the editor: Biden’s dangerous Christmas gift
So President Biden plans on giving America a nice Christmas present by canceling Title 42 and allowing thousands more immigrants to march right on over our useless borders. This after making deals with the devil of Venezuela to allow Chevron to pump their dirty oil and ship it here in...
Peter Morici: Extremists from the left are a threat to democracy, too
The midterm elections, as expected, delivered the House to the Republicans, but our democracy still stands. Congressional candidates who won the most votes will come to Washington to confront and compromise and do some good and some bad, owing earnest intentions and poor judgment. Either we accept human frailties or...
Letter to the editor: Biden must do duty to secure border
Well, President Biden, I really don’t care whether you go to the border or not. But I do care that you finally do your sworn duty to stop the chaos of illegals swarming through our borders, slow the record fentanyl coming into our country and stop the human trafficking by...
Letter to the editor: So what are Republicans’ plans to help?
Regarding Bob Jacobs’ letter “One-side sources leave people ignorant” (Dec. 9, TribLIVE), accusing other letter-writers of “misinformation and ignorance”: 1. Perhaps Republicans “campaigned” on energy independence to bring down gas prices, but they have no concrete proposals on how to do that. And at their first press conference outlining their...
Editorial: Community makes difference when Grinches strike Toys for Tots
It is probably pointless to expect decency or shame from a thief. With that in mind, it is unlikely that whoever is behind the theft of 20 bikes from the Allegheny Valley Marine Corps Toys for Tots chapter feels bad about it. No, they don’t care about the kid whose...
Letter to the editor: Fossil fuels are not the enemy
An electric car appears cleaner and greener today, but it will not help the environment for years to come. All renewable energy produced is used. Your electric utility must, by law, buy all renewable energy. Any increase in demand (your car or new electric stove) will be met by conventional...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: How to be a Black man
Today’s topic: “How to be a Black man.” It’s a subject on which white conservatives are often quick to offer instruction to actual Black men, their utter lack of relevant experience notwithstanding. In split screens on Fox “News,” online and in emails to Black male columnists, they give unsought counsel....
Bruce Yandle: How tariffs are raising the cost of Christmas presents and more
This time of year, most inflation-weary Christmas shoppers — and perhaps even the inflation-fighting Fed — would welcome an end to our government’s effort to raise the prices of the goods we buy in high volume. In this year’s third quarter, the federal government collected tariffs on imported goods, putting...
Zach Kennedy: The Trump effect in Pa.
A blue wave drowned the Keystone State on Nov. 8, flipping contested state House and Senate districts, delivering every tossup congressional seat, and elevating Attorney General Josh Shapiro to the governor’s office in one of the largest statewide landslides in the country, complimented by a decisive win for Lt. Gov....
Letter to the editor: If Trump won’t abide by Constitution, how can he be president?
How could people who call themselves “Americans” vote for an ex-president who refuses to admit that he lost the last election and calls for the termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the Constitution? You can’t vote for him. How can he run for president if...
Letter to the editor: Abortion cost GOP the election
The Supreme Court decision on abortion is what caused the Republicans not to get the votes they should have gotten. More chances that someone will have an unwanted pregnancy than get attacked on a subway train. The liberals pushed abortion while the conservatives pushed about crime. Abortion won. Clem Zahrobsky...
Editorial: Arrest promises justice may finally arrive for Pan Am bombing
Justice can appear in many forms. It can come swiftly. It can be sporadic. It might be measured or thorough or haphazard. It might come hand in hand with rage or sorrow, or it might be businesslike and perfunctory. But what is important is that justice shows up, however it...
Letter to the editor: Secession? What if that doesn’t work?
John T. Watson had an interesting take on elections in his letter “Disenfranchised Pa. counties should secede” (Dec. 6, TribLIVE). He feels that the high-population counties in Pennsylvania such as Allegheny and Philadelphia vote for predominantly Democratic candidates and therefore have an untoward influence on elections. To rectify this problem,...
Letter to the editor: Voting, inflation and Democrats
Leo Nagorski’s letter “Republicans have nothing to offer” (Nov. 26, TribLIVE) in response to my letter “Biden will take blame for destruction” (Nov. 10, TribLIVE) is rife with left-wing talking points and short on facts. Nagorski claims Republicans brought discriminatory voting laws, anti-LGBTQ laws and laws preventing many people of...
