Opinion category, Page 346
Letter to the editor: Questionable debate timing for Fetterman/Oz
If ever there was a uniquely ill-timed federal Senate position scheduled debate, we can point this out with the Oct. 25 Fetterman/Oz debate. By that date, is it safe to assume that most Pennsylvania mail-in ballots will have already been sent out and returned? Because the Senate federal position open...
Letter to the editor: Memory of Queen Elizabeth
My memory of Queen Elizabeth: In August 1960, my friend and I were driving in Windsor, England, when several officers told us to drive to Windsor Great Park, where we would see the queen and Prince Philip at a polo match. We did, and the officers seated us in bleachers...
Editorial: How much is Penn State’s public-private hybrid status worth?
When is a public meeting public, and when can it be private? It’s a question we have pondered a lot — mostly because every level of government and variety of public agency seems to try the boundaries like kids testing a substitute teacher’s resolve. The Pennsylvania Sunshine Act is the...
Letter to the editor: St. Ladislaus Church should be a shrine
I speak on behalf of thousands of active and deceased members on the heartbreaking closure of St. Ladislaus Church. People will say, “It’s only a building.” Tell that to the Polish immigrants who with pride and love in their hearts dug by hand with picks, shovels and wheelbarrows, sacrificing to...
Letter to the editor: Warrior Call can help reduce veteran suicides
The Trib’s editorial board elevated the critical challenge of suicide among active-duty service members and veterans (”Suicide is military’s last battlefield,” Sept. 15, TribLIVE). More must be done by all Americans to help and aid the mission of groups like Operation Mariposa and the American Legion. New data from the...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Oz. vs. Fetterman and the future of the nation
In the peculiar race between Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz for a Pennsylvania seat in the U.S. Senate, those voters who proudly say that they vote the candidate and not the party might well be tempted to sit this one out. That would be a mistake. Both...
POINT: Canceling student debt one of many steps needed to restore promise of higher education
The president’s debt cancellation plan will help millions of borrowers who have fallen through the cracks of a broken higher education system. Each year, the federal government makes billions of dollars available in loans to students pursuing a college degree or postsecondary credential. These loans are made under the guise...
COUNTERPOINT: 2 plus 2 make 5 in Biden’s student loan handout
Someone once said that if you torture the data long enough, it will confess. Even still, it is difficult to manipulate the data to the point where you can justify the White House’s student loan handout. Simply put, the numbers do not add up. The claim is that nearly all...
Beth L. Fossen: Name-calling in politics grabs headlines, but voters don’t like it
Spending on political advertising is setting records in the midterm elections. But evidence shows that negative messages might discourage voters from casting ballots altogether. As the 2022 midterms get closer, political attacks in campaign advertisements are on the rise. In November, Rep. Paul Gosar shared an anime cartoon video showing...
Letter to the editor: TJ Watt should earn his pay, no matter what
For the amount of money T.J. Watt is being paid, he should play even if one of his appendages is hanging on by a piece of skin. What a baby! Monica Yuhas Smock...
Sounding off: Fetterman, Trump, abortion, amendments, Pirates and more
Oz’s residency status pales next to Fetterman issues It seems that letter-writer Richard Patton is questioning candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz’s residency status (“Where will Oz live if he loses?” Aug. 24, TribLIVE). I wonder if Patton was as worried regarding Hillary Clinton’s residency status when she ran for senate in...
Letter to the editor: DelRosso for lieutenant governor
When I moved to Western Pennsylvania 30 years ago, one common theme I heard constantly was that our young people received an excellent education but, upon graduation, must leave the state for career opportunities. Nothing has changed. In fact, recently we hear that the state’s population has declined. Why? Why...
Editorial: Without gift ban, Harrisburg is the Wild West
When an elected official receives something, there are different ways to look at it. It might be a completely legal donation. These follow election laws and are documented accordingly. If you want to know if Person X donated to Politician Y, there is a database to search to find an...
Letter to the editor: Charter schools not ‘stealing money’ from public schools
Individuals have been penning letters to newspapers across the state painting a false narrative that charter schools are somehow “stealing money from school districts” and are the root cause of their financial troubles. Quite frankly, this narrative is false. Public charter schools receive the same or less per-pupil funding as...
S.E. Cupp: Right-wing nationalism comes to … Sweden?
As we look ahead to midterm elections, where election deniers are on the ballot in 27 states, it’s still mind-blowing to consider how we got here in just a few years. And the answer, most bluntly, is a rise in right-wing nationalism. After lying dormant for some time, the contours...
Gary Franks: Does the border crisis help Democrats win elections?
Threat to our democracy? The major problem for Democrats is that they have not won the white vote in presidential elections since 1964. Today, most Americans were not alive to see it. Former President Lyndon Johnson’s landslide victory included winning the white vote (see voting percentages at end of the...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: This is not about immigration
Immigration is the last thing this is about. If conservatives really wanted to fix immigration, they could have done so years ago. Certainly, the broad outlines of a workable overhaul have long been obvious: a combination of hardened border security, a guest-worker program, streamlining the process for immigration and creating...
Dr. Norbert Goldfield, Dr. Mitch Kaminski and Jeffrey C. Lerner: Voting for the common health of Pa.
The first patient one of us treated as a young internist 45 years ago had been refused care by another physician because his insurance had expired. The man cried. He hasn’t been forgotten. Scenes like this were more common at one time. Today, millions of patients are spared humiliation and...
Letter to the editor: Absurdity of immigration problems
Let me get this straight. We will not allow Novak Djokovic, a world-class tennis player, into our country because he is not vaccinated against covid. Meanwhile, we allow tens of thousands of immigrants to enter our country every year, untested and unvaccinated. Am I missing something here? The White House...
Letter to the editor: Oz’s residency status pales next to Fetterman issues
It seems that letter-writer Richard Patton is questioning candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz’s residency status (“Where will Oz live if he loses?” Aug. 24, TribLIVE). I wonder if Patton was as worried regarding Hillary Clinton’s residency status when she ran for senate in New York? As for what homes they reside...
Lori Falce: Should parents lead curriculum?
If there is one thing the pandemic taught me, it is that I am not a teacher. Having my son home for the tail end of sixth grade and all of seventh made me appreciate teachers. I thought I appreciated them before. I was wrong. I mean, yes, I was...
Letter to the editor: Dangerous energy technology
Recently, I thanked my state senator for his recognition of emergency medical services and the importance of our water resources. These resources may be severely hurt by development of hydrogen hubs with carbon capture. I also listened to the Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee interview three state government...
Laurels and lances: Trials and errors
Laurel: To moving ahead. The Tree of Life shooting happened in October 2018. The world hardly seems like the same place today, separated by so many things that have happened between then and now. Pittsburgh has a different mayor. The country has a different president. We saw huge losses and...
Carlos A. Suárez Carrasquillo and Fernando Tormos-Aponte : Puerto Rico’s vulnerability to hurricanes magnified by weak government, bureaucratic roadblocks
EDITOR’S NOTE: Five years after Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico, Hurricane Fiona has killed at least four people, caused widespread flooding and left hundreds of thousands of residents without water or power. Maria caused extensive damage to Puerto Rico’s power grid in 2017 that left many residents without...
Sascha Meinrath: National broadband rollout has blind spot: Lack of accurate, transparent data about internet access speeds
Imagine purchasing “up to” a gallon of milk for $4.50, or paying for “up to” a full tank of gas. Most people would view such transactions as absurd. And yet, in the realm of broadband service, the use of “up to” speeds has become standard business practice. Unlike other advertisements...
