Opinion category, Page 349
Letter to the editor: Allegheny Valley church closings disheartening
Kudos to Bishop Larry J. Kulick and the Diocese of Greensburg for their leadership and commitment in reopening St. Mary of Czestochowa Church in New Kensington. The Diocese of Pittsburgh could learn a lot by following their example instead of closing five beautiful churches of the seven in the Guardian...
Paul Kengor: Truly a cancel culture
“My favorite radio station recently picked up some right-wing drivel weekly radio show which I listen to in order to punish myself. Anyhoo, I listened to your whiny crying … I wish cancel culture was a real thing which actually existed so I could cancel you for all time.” So...
Laurels & lances: Cleaning up and cracking down
Laurel: To preserving natural beauty. Southwestern Pennsylvania is defined as much by its water as it traditionally has been by its industry. However, the area’s rivers have both accommodated the businesses that built up around them and been negatively impacted by that development over the years. Reversing the pollution of...
Cal Thomas: Another Irish exodus
DUBLIN — Americans are not the only ones suffering from high fuel and food prices, along with rapidly increasing costs for housing and rising mortgage rates. The Irish, too, are experiencing a similar economic squeeze, but unlike Americans who can reduce financial pressures and move to states with no state...
Michael Butler: Shell ethylene cracker complex shows value of never giving up
The French writer Victor Hugo once called perseverance “the secret of all triumphs.” Those words came to mind as I read that Shell this year expects to open its estimated $10 billion ethylene cracker complex in Beaver County outside Pittsburgh. It’s been a decade since the company announced the site...
Letter to the editor: If Trump loses, China wins
Considering past and recent events of the current administration, I can no longer hold my tongue, and feel compelled to comment on the upcoming 2022 and 2024 elections: It is my opinion, within a reasonable degree of engineering certainty, that if President Trump and his supporters lose, China wins. It’s...
Letter to the editor: Mason Rudolph should sue Steelers
Don’t be surprised if Mason Rudolph sues our classless Steelers. We have labor laws, and I believe the Steelers are in violation. Talk about a hostile work environment; their conduct has been atrocious. They sat back and did nothing while their insecure QB alienated the teammates against Rudolph from the...
Editorial: Suicide is military’s last battlefield
There is one thing that soldiers and sailors, Marines and airmen understand from the moment they undertake their task. It is that their lives are counted. They are the real weapons of war — more than bullets or bombs. They are the single greatest commodity in the logistics of defense...
Letter to the editor: Former inmates deserve second chances
Flagger Force employs over 1,000 workers across Pennsylvania, including more than 320 people in Western Pennsylvania. Team members bring diverse backgrounds, ethnicities and experiences, including a significant number who are justice-involved. As a believer in fair-chance employment and giving people who want to work the opportunity to do so, I...
Jonah Goldberg: Surprised by Ukraine’s recent victories? You shouldn’t be.
“Nobody knows anything,” William Goldman, the legendary screenwriter said. “Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out, it’s a guess and, if you’re lucky, an educated one.” I’m starting to think the same thing is true of foreign...
Patrick Beaty: Pa. voters deserve all the facts on proposed constitutional amendments
Earlier this summer, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Elections posted a notice on its website about six proposed constitutional amendments approved by the General Assembly in its 2021-22 session. As our Constitution requires, the Elections Bureau then sent this official notice to newspapers across the commonwealth so it could be published...
Dennis Roddy: Dead monarch a hit in London
LONDON — Life might be for the living, but death is enjoying a renaissance here. People are lining up for miles to stare at the queen’s coffin and be inspired. The late queen’s utterances, calculatedly unremarkable in life, are imbued by commentators with a Lincolnesque aura. This is dangerous. The...
John Eckenrode: Pa.’s state prison staffing crisis shows no sign of ending
Pennsylvanians are getting back to work. The economy is on the rebound. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is now lower than its pre-pandemic level. That’s great news, but not for everyone, including those who work some of the most dangerous jobs in the commonwealth. Right now, the commonwealth’s prison system continues to...
Letter to the editor: Fetterman not fit for office
Stroke or no stroke, I don’t believe John Fetterman has ever been fit for any political office. He has been a sponge off his parents and is now a sponge off the taxpayer. While he was mayor of Braddock, the borough’s population declined precipitously. He is right about one thing:...
Letter to the editor: Signs of a thriving economy
Letter-writer Ray Schratz (”Biden’s uncivilized discourse,” Sept. 13, TribLIVE) states that President Biden has destroyed our economy. Schratz might want to consider a few facts: We have an unemployment rate of only 3.7%, which is very close to the lowest in 50 years. Combined U.S. corporate profits reached $2.62 trillion...
Letter to the editor: Upcoming Supreme Court case could harm millions
There is an upcoming Supreme Court case that, to my shock, no one is talking about: Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County, Ind. (HHC) v. Talevski. This case has the potential to harm tens of millions of people beyond the state’s borders. With Talevski, the Supreme Court could strip...
Letter to the editor: Biden doesn’t address his failures
Have you ever heard worse lies from any administration than President Biden’s? This administration tells us the surrender in Afghanistan was successful, the border is secure, inflation is transitory, the 87,000 new IRS agent to be hired under the so-called Inflation Reduction Act will not add to the deficit, nor...
Editorial: Westmoreland County should focus on doling out opioid settlement dollars it has before eyeing next lawsuit
Westmoreland County is planning to file another opioid lawsuit. The county — like communities across the nation — has been pursuing those who made money off the opioid epidemic for years. It’s the kind of opportunity not seen since the tobacco settlement of 1998, when states were able to take...
Letter to the editor: Carbon neutrality a pipe dream
In this letter “Carbon neutrality unavailable” (Aug. 31, TribLIVE), Karl Pfirrmann provided information about requirements and availability of electricity to meet the demand of total electric autos in light of the Democratic Congress and President Joe Biden’s commitment to be carbon neutral by year 2050. Pfirrmann is a renowned and...
Letter to the editor: Some things to ponder
To borrow a phrase coined by a respected deceased newspaper columnist, some things I think I think: I think we should defund the IRS and instead simplify the tax code. Everyone gets a $48,000 deduction, pays 15% on balance and no other deductions exist. Fair is fair. I think there...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: How yesteryear’s moral panic becomes today’s soft sell
I’ve been meaning to write this one for years. It was the potato chips that finally made me do it. Not just any old Lay’s or Ruffles, mind you. No, I’m talking about a new-to-me brand of chips (on its website, the Miami-based company says it has actually been around...
Veronika Dolar: Does raising the minimum wage kill jobs?
California’s new fast-food law is expected to lead to a higher minimum wage for the industry in the state — as high as $22 in 2023, up from $15 as of September 2022. While backers say the law is necessary to ensure fair wages and treatment in California’s fast-food industry,...
Letter to the editor: What about those displaced by East Liberty’s transformation?
The article “East Liberty has transformed: A Pittsburgh guide” (Sept. 9, TribLIVE) was missing one important impact: all of the people who were displaced. Joseph Mulvaney Moon...
Letter to the editor: Biden’s uncivilized discourse
President Biden smeared 50% of the voters by his rhetoric and declared us racists. He set out a clear path to uncivilized discourse. We’re not going to stand by and allow the radicals to remain in power in every part of government. We will vote them out, then prosecute all...
Letter to the editor: Why can’t simple fixes be made to our poor roads?
And so the story continues with those in position to note and fix poorly maintained main streets not doing much about them. Now we have PennDOT. They have left the exit ramp from Pittsburgh Street in Greensburg just past Aldi heading east in terrible condition all summer. This exit ramp...
