Opinion category, Page 382
Letter to the editor: Cyber-charter drain
Regarding the editorial “State- related schools should be more answerable to Right-to-Know Law” (May 25, TribLIVE): Your subject matter and headline/subheadline are right on. However, you missed the biggest malfeasance of taxpayer dollars in Pennsylvania by omitting the ongoing drain by cyber-charter schools. There is no transparency, Right-to-Know Law notwithstanding. Perhaps...
Letter to the editor: Associated Press is not neutral
The Associated Press claims to be a neutral news agency, but it clearly isn’t. I understand that the news business has changed and that newspapers are forced to use outside agencies for content, but why the AP? In the article, “Christian nationalism on the rise in some GOP campaigns” (May...
Letter to the editor: Senate needs to address the big problems
Matthew A. King’s letter calling out Sen. Bob Casey for his vote in favor of allowing continued mink farming in the U.S. (”Casey’s mink vote appalling”) raises interesting issues. We have serious problems in our country with rampant inflation; out-of-control fuel prices; unchecked illegals, many smuggling Fentanyl; increased crime; and...
Letter to the editor: Sen. Kim Ward’s inaction on drug pricing costing Pennsylvanians
Pennsylvanians face unaffordable prices for their drugs. Pharma’s record profits in 2021, estimated at $120 billion, have grown twice as fast as other business sectors. It is long past time for our state legislators to act now on Senate Bill 579, which establishes a pharmaceutical transparency review board. This year...
Letter to the editor: Priorities for American Rescue Plan funds
For over a year Westmoreland County Commissioners have had $105 million from the American Rescue Plan to help alleviate the suffering caused by covid-19. The Voice of Westmoreland is dismayed that some of these funds are still being held. Here are uses within VOW priorities. 1. Mental health needs are...
Editorial: Violence curbs business success
If you care about money, you need to care about curbing violence. Fudge Farm is closing its East Carson Street location on Pittsburgh’s South Side. A small business closing is not surprising in a high-inflation economic climate. That’s especially true for food service businesses that have been fighting for workers...
Letter to the editor: Republicans just want their guns
I am a registered Republican who votes Democrat because I’m a person who likes democracy and rejects fascist theocracy, so I get the Republican mailers for elections. Every single Republican mailer for the primary election bragged about how the candidates unapologetically defended their right to own as many bullets and...
Tom Purcell: Learning to enjoy life’s real agitations
Americans are so angry about so many things — with partisan politics topping the list. Politics is important, to be sure, because as we know from experience the ideas and policies implemented by our highly fallible government leaders can have beneficial and/or grave outcomes. But in the social media era...
Letter to the editor: Flawed wisdom of parish closings
Regarding the article “Diocese of Pittsburgh announces 10 parishes will be merged into 3 in July” (May 28, TribLIVE): Bishop David Zubik wrote, “This has not been a simple task. Jesus never promised that it would be easy to carry his message of love and mercy to others … our...
Letter to the editor: Americans want gun reform
Guns are now the No. 1 killer of our children. Forget thoughts and prayers, we need answers and action. The overwhelming majority of Americans have been screaming for gun reform for years. We know what needs to happen: get weapons of war off the streets. We have 4% of the...
Editorial: Excela-Butler merger should preserve community focus
Excela Health plans to merge with Butler Health System. “I think it’s going to make Excela stronger,” said Latrobe city manager Terry Carcella. “The bigger you are, the better you are.” That’s a little simple, but let’s hope it’s true. The merger lowers the number of hospital organizations in the...
Letter to the editor: Casey’s abortion flip-flop may cost him
Like father, like son? Maybe not any longer. Bob Casey Sr., a Democrat and governor of Pennsylvania from 1987-95, was an avid Catholic and strong voice for issues involving children’s health and well-being. He was an anti-abortion advocate and was successful in getting abortion-control legislation enacted in Pennsylvania. He was...
Letter to the editor: Bible really ought to be banned, too
This letter comes in response to Megan Tomasic’s article “Hempfield school board to continue discussion of books available to high school students” on the board’s discussions of requests to ban certain books as inappropriate, too sensitive, too sexual for high school students. I posit that the board would have to...
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 6
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 6....
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 6
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 6....
Mona Charen: Retire these gun myths
The aftermath of a horrific mass shooting is not the time one would usually turn to a humor site, and yet, The Onion had an insightful take on Uvalde. The headline: “‘No Way to Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.” And here’s the kicker: The Onion has...
Letter to the editor: Abortion is disobeying commandment
Letter-writer David Ninehouser (“Jesus never preached about abortion,” May 20, TribLIVE) tells us “Jesus speaks not one single, solitary word about abortion.” I refer Mr Ninehouser to the Ten Commandments, which were in place prior to Christ’s coming. The Fifth Commandment tells us, “Thou shall not kill.” Abortion is the...
Letter to the editor: Prayer is not enough to save the innocent from assault weapons
After a shooting of many innocent people, innocent children, we pray; then another and another massacre, and we pray, as we should. But prayer is not enough. I believe that we are given choices to make, making the wrong ones; we then punish ourselves. We need to take responsibility with...
Letter to the editor: Require military service for weapons
In the early 1980s, I purchased a 12-gauge shotgun at Sears in the Westmoreland Mall, and I walked through the mall to carry it out to my car. Unthinkable today, as society’s views on weapons have changed in the last decades. In reflecting on those changing societal views, I think...
Editorial: Nelson’s college voucher bill leaves many questions
Pennsylvania needs to find a solution to funding its state and state-related universities and addressing the crippling student loan debt Keystone State students receive with their diplomas. It has been a growing problem for years as tuition costs climb. Many people blame the universities themselves and a top-heavy increase in...
Letter to the editor: Lies endanger our society
Years ago, when Walter Cronkite presented the CBS news, you had a high degree of confidence that what you were watching was accurate. The reason for this was a little-known FCC policy called the Fairness Doctrine, which stated that since the airwaves belong to the public, a certain percentage of...
Letter to the editor: Pittsburgh’s accessibility, affordability set it apart
It’s the inaugural Saturday night of my new residency in the Roosevelt apartments here in the City of Bridges. The streets, four floors below, bellow with discordant beats and samples that waft through my window. The accessible pedestrian crosswalk signal beeps off tempo to the live jazz at Con Alma...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: A second chance to save our children
After Sandy Hook, many people thought that surely Congress would act. The slaughter of 20 6- and 7-year-olds at their school by a 20-year-old mentally disturbed male was impossible to comprehend. The killer used a military-style weapon and high-capacity magazines to kill innocent babies. In an address to the nation...
Dr. Andrew Smolar: Guns shouldn’t be in teachers’ arsenal
Mrs. Bird didn’t speak a word of English in our first day of seventh-grade French. It’s one thing to sign up for a language that celebrates pastries and bicycle races, but it’s another thing to feel totally lost. Such was my plight for the first week of French. But I...
Sounding off: Where is our decency and common sense?
I am a gun-owning wife of a military veteran, daughter of a lifelong member of the NRA and mom to a son who was on his school’s rifle team. I would never relinquish our weapons. However, as a responsible gun owner, I am appalled that those on the right have...
