Opinion category, Page 359
Letter to the editor: Covid created some strange scenarios
Today marks 883 days since the fateful day of March 15, 2020. There is one unanswered question that can never have an answer: What is the point of wearing a mask into a restaurant, sitting at a table and taking it off to eat when the same people are still...
Letter to the editor: Pa. residents in favor of RGGI
The last time I looked, Pennsylvania was supposedly a democracy. Seventy-two percent of Pennsylvanians support the state’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and Pennsylvania was all set to join. That’s until the fossil fuel industry and its henchmen in the Republican Legislature once again blocked the initiative...
Letter to the editor: Bushy Run’s reenactments well done
In my opinion, this extract from the article “Concerns voiced as reenactors replay Penn Township battle of British, Native Americans” (Aug. 6, TribLIVE), falls in the category of Bill Barr’s quote to the Jan. 6 committee (“BS!”): “… a complaint from an out-of-state resident of Native American heritage who reportedly...
Letter to the editor: Time to charge Trump
I couldn’t agree more with Cheryl Koloshinsky’s letter “Let’s stop blaming Trump” (Aug. 5, TribLIVE): She’s absolutely right. It’s time to stop blaming him and start charging him. The ex-president must be held accountable: For the first time in the history of our country, the president of the United States...
Letter to the editor: Why is voter ID a bad thing?
Could someone please explain to me why people are against showing an ID to vote? Why is that such a bad thing? You show it to banks, you show it to cash a check in stores, you show it buy cars, you show it to enter federal buildings, you show...
Greg Fulton: Remembering rare baseball perfection
Today marks 10 years since the last perfect game was pitched in Major League Baseball. A perfect game is when a pitcher allows no runners on base from the opposing team for any reason. Thus with nine innings and three outs per inning, a pitcher would face and retire exactly...
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Aug. 15
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Aug. 15....
Editorial cartoons for the week of Aug. 15
Editorial cartoons for the week of Aug. 15....
Letter to the editor: Hey, Acrisure, how about Joe Greene Field?
It is not too late for Acrisure to insure its investment in the 15-year naming rights to the Steelers’ stadium. And even improve upon the previous sponsor which just promoted itself. The fans will love it when Acrisure advises the Steelers that the Steelers’ home venue, for the next 15...
Letter to the editor: Monessen’s Heath deserves Hall of Fame honors
Since 1950, exceptional athletes, sports writers and coaches have been bestowed with the honor of being inducted into the Mid Mon Valley Sports Hall of Fame. On June 17, they welcomed six new impressive, admirable sports figures into the Hall of Fame. Congratulations to the new inductees! But many, myself...
Letter to the editor: Why no gift ban for legislators?
As a former Pennsylvania state employee, my position as a law and regulation enforcer put me in contact with business and industry. I was not permitted to accept any gifts, meals or even a glass of water without documenting it with a receipt of payment for that item. This dispels...
Editorial: The dangerous side of social media
Words have weight. Ideas have gravity. And when the two join with action, there can be consequences. On Thursday, an angry man who appears to have reached his boiling point in the soup of social media made inflammatory statements online. He took a weapon and headed out to turn the...
Letter to the editor: Dems will help seniors with drug costs
Like the overwhelming majority of seniors, my 93-year-old mother and 85-year-old mother-in-law take daily prescription drugs. Happily, both are healthy, with annual out-of-pocket prescription drug costs under $1,000 a year. But for 1.2 million seniors, out-of-pocket drug costs exceed $2,000 a year, averaging $3,216 in 2019. And for the many...
Letter to the editor: Free school meals an investment in children
School meals are as important to learning as textbooks and teachers, but federal funding that provided free school meals to all students for the past two years has ended. This school year, only students from families who apply for and qualify will receive free school meals. The end of federal...
Tony Hunter: President Biden, where is the action for Austin Tice?
Ten years. An American, a veteran Marine, a man who became a foreign correspondent so that his fellow Americans would know what was happening in Syria, has been missing for 10 years. President Joe Biden knows about Austin Tice. So did President Donald Trump and President Barack Obama. Some of...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: The rule of law or a banana republic
After the legal search of Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago last week, his supporters howled that the actions of the FBI were just what would take place in a banana republic. Author O. Henry first used the term banana republic to describe Central American countries that were exploited by American...
Kamakshi Balasubramanian: Oakmont resident caught in Russia’s penal system
Marc Fogel taught high school history for nine years in Moscow, Russia, an experience he found fulfilling. Now, he is a prisoner in the dark, impenetrable side of that Russia, under the iron hand of its absolute authority. All of Russia has lived for centuries in the shadow of that...
Sen. Joe Pittman: You can’t have family-sustaining jobs without employers
After so many years of Gov. Tom Wolf’s efforts to tie real, growth-producing tax reform to anti-competitive tax tricks, legislative Republicans were able to convince him, at the end of his term, to have a straight-up conversation about making some pro-growth adjustments to our state’s tax code. Thanks to the...
Letter to the editor: Not buying into global warming fear
Good fear, bad fear, birthed by truth, or, alternatively, lies. Good fear brings action and remedy. Bad brings chaos, fear and destruction. Global warming, truth or lie? Democrats say carbon dioxide levels are the greatest threat to life as we know it. To quantify the threat, think Heinz Field with...
Sounding off: Lessons from Kansas, Biden’s competence, guns, turnpike tolls, housing crisis
Lessons for Pa. from Kansas Kansas voters’ crushing rejection of the amendment that would have removed the right to abortion from the state’s Constitution sends a loud message to Pennsylvania’s GOP legislators. Underhanded tactics likely won’t play well here either, even with many conservatives. The Kansas amendment was deliberately worded...
Letter to the editor: Addressing housing crisis in Westmoreland
American Rescue Plan Funds are finally being used in Westmoreland County. Commissioners Gina Cerilli Thrasher, Doug Chew and Sean Kertes, thank you for your preliminary work. You now have a moral obligation to spend the remaining $70 million to help those most devastated by the pandemic. Allocating funds toward blight...
Editorial: Brackenridge proposal: Take your ball and go home
The lament about kids these days is often about laziness. They don’t get up. They don’t go outside. They’re always on their phones or video game systems or online. Remember when kids would actually run around and do things? There’s some truth in there, but there are also some problems....
Letter to the editor: Jefferson would not have supported violence against government
Regarding the letter “Jefferson may have OK’d Jan. 6 insurrection” (July 31, TribLIVE): Thomas Jefferson was a revolutionary. He wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He wrote the Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty in the 1780s. His friend James Madison codified citizens’ liberties in the 1791 Bill of Rights....
Gary Franks: Socialists/Democrats — is there a difference?
We are Americans. We are hardworking people. We fight in defense of our values. We love our freedoms. We do not have to be told what to think — what cars to buy, what jobs to seek, what leaders to choose. We want our leaders to be the best and...
S.E. Cupp: The FBI raid is terrible news for Trump. Why is Trump World unable to contain its excitement?
“When you’re attacking FBI agents because you’re under criminal investigation, you’re losing.” That 2016 tweet from Trump campaign adviser, and future White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, then referring to Hillary Clinton and Democrats, took on a special irony Monday, as former President Donald Trump and his allies spent...
