Opinion category, Page 404
Letter to the editor: Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative provides hope
As a solar supporter concerned about coal-dependent communities, the prospect of Pennsylvania joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) fills me with hope. RGGI will cut carbon pollution from power plants in the state by 25% while raising hundreds of millions of dollars each year to invest in clean energy,...
Editorial: Less recidivism requires more preparation for inmates
For some people, being arrested can be a wake-up call. It can be enough of a scare to cause a jump back to the straight-and-narrow. Maybe it was precipitated by a one-time mistake unlikely to happen again, or maybe it was a stupid move that could have resulted in a...
Letter to the editor: Allegheny County’s unfair tax deadline
The deadline for filing an assessment appeal in Allegheny County is March 31, 2022, for the 2022 tax year. We are the only county that favors the taxing bodies over homeowners in the state. Here’s the tax scheme (or scam): • Certify assessments • Mail tax bills • Appeal hearing...
Letter to editor: It’s not about race, it’s about logic
Bad arguments often are the result of using the same term in two different senses. These arguments typically use a weak (trivial) definition to prove the argument, and then they substitute the strong (substantive) definition to give the argument import. Welcome to critical race theory and systemic racism. Their strong...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Thank you, Sen. Booker
Dear New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker: Some days, you are really irritating. That’s because you insist on being a happy warrior in grumpy times. With that eternal, internal and, yes, infernal sunshine of yours, you are to the body politic as that 1-877-Kars4Kids ad would be to a man with...
Harold Johnson: After 50 years, Vietnam vets still fight for recognition, treatment
Here I sit, a decorated, combat-related disabled American Vietnam veteran, on the annual National Vietnam War Veterans Day — an annual day of recognition of combat service associated with those who bravely and honorably service in the Vietnam War — and wondering why, after nearly 50 years of waiting for...
Ryan Liu: Vaccine hesitancy complicating physicians’ obligation to respect patient autonomy
Sitting barely 6 feet away from me, my patient yelled angrily, his face mask slipping to his upper lip: “No, I will not get vaccinated. And nothing you do or say will change that fact.” He provided no reason for why he was so opposed to the covid-19 vaccine. As...
Letter to the editor: Time for a horse and buggy
Hey, Joe, have you filled your tank up lately, or are you busy riding the train? How about a gas stimulus check or some infrastructure at the pump? Is this your play to get us to convert to electric cars, then break our banks replacing batteries at a cost of...
Letter to the editor: Thanks to those who served in Vietnam
On behalf of Pittsburgh-based Veterans Place board members and staff, I want to express our gratitude to Vietnam veterans today, National Vietnam War Veterans Day. From 1961 to 1975, approximately 2,700,000 American men and women served in Vietnam. More than 800,000 of those vets are alive today, many who need...
Letter to the editor: Honoring Vietnam veterans
March 29 is the official date of National Vietnam War Veterans Day as proclaimed by President Trump in 2017. This is not a day to debate the war. This is a day to honor the men and women who served proudly out of loyalty and love of country. They gave...
Editorial: Natural decline in population demands shift in priorities
Pennsylvania has a population problem. The problem isn’t that the overall population is shrinking. It’s not. According to the 2020 census, the number of people who call the state home grew by 2.4% — just over 300,000 — in 10 years. That’s not bad. Compared to neighboring West Virginia, which...
Letter to the editor: Green values vs. destroyed lives
The unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is shown every day on TV. War is ugly as peaceful, hardworking people are being maimed and killed. Rather than concern for the Ukrainian people, we hear comments from elites like climate tsar John Kerry of his concern that Russia may lose its focus on...
Letter to the editor: Rational curation of books vital in our schools
The Hempfield Area School Board is to be commended for attempting to model a framework for parents and educators to determine which materials are appropriate in public school libraries (“Hempfield school board shelves any changes to its library book policy and selections for now,” March 11, TribLIVE). The internet provides...
Tom Purcell: What is a woman?
I’m glad there’s widespread confusion about what a woman is. I’ve been confused my entire life. In the most basic sense, the difference between a male and a female is that a female has two X chromosomes and a male has an X and a Y chromosome — or, in...
Letter to the editor: Price on carbon will enable transition to clean energy
Patricia DeMarco’s outstanding op-ed (“Energy independence means good union jobs in clean energy,” March 16, TribLIVE) describes the disadvantages and risks of using fossil fuels and the benefits of switching to renewable energy to achieve energy independence. Unfortunately, the U.S. does not have the policies in place to accomplish this...
Editorial: Opioid prevention critical in cutting overdose deaths
In 2021, 168 people lost their lives because of accidental drug overdoses in Westmoreland County. Break that down over the course of the year, and that means just over every two days, someone’s high turned into a family’s worst low. It also means that drug overdose deaths are increasing at...
Editorial cartoons for the week of March 28
Editorial cartoons for the week of March 28...
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of March 28
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of March 28....
Mona Charen: Trans politics needs to slow down and wait for trans science
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas recently used his executive authority to declare that puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries for those under 18 meet the legal standard for child abuse in Texas, a ruling that authorized the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents who had sought such...
Letter to the editor: $19M verdict in pool injury is embarrassing
A 21-year-old man dives onto a raft in his best friend’s swimming pool, injures himself and sues his best friend’s parents, and the jury awards him $19 million (“Westmoreland jury awards $19M to swimming pool injury victim,” March 11, TribLIVE)? I’m embarrassed by you jurors. I thought Westmoreland County was...
Letter to the editor: Government a virtue, not a burden
“Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives.” — John Adams Could these words possibly hold any more weight than they do today? It seems some have forgotten that government is meant to be a virtue, a symbol of the free, democratic process. Instead, it has been...
Letter to the editor: Disheartened by book banning in Franklin Regional
I was sad to see that our revitalized national obsession with banning books had reached Franklin Regional (“Franklin Regional ‘pauses’ teaching of novel about Iranian Revolution after complaints,” March 7, TribLIVE). I look back fondly at my years at FR and can say, unequivocally, that the teachers and administrators provided...
Letter to the editor: Oil company greed
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2021, the U.S. imported 8.47 million barrels of oil a day to meet our energy needs. But U.S. oil companies also exported 8.63 million barrels of oil a day, indicating that our country would easily be energy independent if U.S. needs came...
Editorial: Tipped minimum shows wiggle room on issue
Gov. Tom Wolf has spent years pushing to increase the Pennsylvania minimum wage. The state’s minimum has sat at the federal bottom line of $7.25 per hour since 2009. But anyone who has done a gratuity-motivated job such as waiting tables knows that isn’t the least amount of money someone...
Letter to the editor: Why Putin didn’t invade during Trump presidency
Regarding Paul Kengor’s column “Why didn’t Putin do this under Trump?” (March 17, TribLIVE): Maybe the answer is as simple as Putin didn’t feel it was necessary and that Trump was doing all that was requisite to compromise and weaken the EU and NATO. In July 2016, and throughout his...
