Opinion category, Page 449
Letter to the editor: Buy from veteran-farmers
Since 1918, Veterans Day has been a day to honor those among us who have worn the uniform of the U.S. Marine Corps, Army, Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard. Whether serving in combat or in support of those who fight to preserve freedom, the roughly 7% of the American...
Johnny Wilson: Veterans are strong assets for employers
Semper Fidelis is Latin for “always faithful.” It is a fitting credo by which every United States Marine lives — “an eternal and collective commitment to the success of our battles, the progress of our Nation, and the steadfast loyalty to the fellow Marines we fight alongside.” As someone who...
Jonah Goldberg: What do midterms — and 2024 — hold for GOP?
Republicans are in a triumphalist mood. Last week’s red wave election has many in the GOP counting on a crimson tsunami come next year’s midterms and fueled even more confidence that Joe Biden will be a one-term president. Some skepticism is in order, though a little triumphalism is warranted as...
Kim Stolfer: Time to restore gun freedoms
Last month Gov. Tom Wolf railed against two commonsense pieces of legislation, Senate Bill 565 (improves citizen safety) and Senate Bill 448 (stops illegal actions by local municipalities). He then went on to show his connection to the well-financed anti-gun community by advocating for their unsafe and unrealistic agenda which...
Letter to the editor: ‘No’ vote on SB 448 is ‘yes’ vote to keep local control of governance
Contrary to a basic conservative principle — local control — Republicans in the Pennsylvania Senate are forcing their way into local governance via their proposed Senate Bill 448. I urge Sen. Wayne Fontana and his peers to vote “no” on SB 448 and, in so doing, vote “yes” for local...
Letter to the editor: Incompetence meets evil under Biden
President Biden’s election and subsequent cabinet appointments were supposed to usher in experienced, competent adults to lead our country. Instead, we have: • A president who I believe is in cognitive decline who pulled our troops out of Afghanistan, leaving behind American citizens and America-friendly Afghans at the mercy of...
Editorial: Would Pittsburgh’s traffic stop proposal change anything?
Flashing lights in the rearview mirror and the whine of a siren are almost never welcome. They are, at best, the beginning of an irritating delay and frequently the herald of a pricey citation. But they can also lead to more tense situations. Viral videos of traffic stops that turned...
Pat Buchanan: Virginia secedes from Biden’s party
“I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” With this remark — arrogant, dismissive, contemptuous — in his debate with Glenn Youngkin, Terry McAuliffe committed a historic gaffe. From that debate forward, his poll numbers steadily sank until McAuliffe lost his lead, and with it, the...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: 34 New York cops out themselves as unfit
It was reported last week that 34 New York City police officers took unpaid leave rather than comply with that city’s vaccine mandate. For this, New Yorkers should thank them. And then find a way to fire them. Supposedly, according to the city’s police unions, as many as 10,000 uniformed...
Tim Mak: Disbanding the NRA won’t be a magic bullet for gun control
On Aug. 6, 2020, following numerous scandals at the National Rifle Association, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit seeking to shut down the group. In the suit, James accused Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s chief executive, and a number of senior officials, as well as the organization itself,...
Ed Gainey: Fight to lower prescription drug prices continues
Over the past year and a half, not only have Pennsylvanians had to struggle with the everyday stress of living and working during a global pandemic, they’ve also had to worry about the ever-increasing price of their prescription drugs. As the covid-19 pandemic ravaged Pennsylvania, predatory drug companies took the...
Letter to the editor: Reactions to parklet sale manipulative
In response to the letter “Parklet sale slap in face to those who worked to create it” (Oct. 20, TribLIVE): I’m appalled at the audacity of local leaders threatening to make an example of nonprofits that do not have a hand in the City of Greensburg’s former control over the...
Letter to the editor: Westmoreland commissioners’ spending
Regarding the article “Tablets for all at Westmoreland County Prison” (Oct. 25, TribLIVE): Combined with the need for the newly created position of director of elections (“Quality assurance manager hired for Westmoreland elections, pay is $80K,” Oct. 21, TribLIVE), it surely seems like the commissioners are spending taxpayer dollars as...
Letter to the editor: Confiscating guns
On Oct. 26, Gov. Tom Wolf called on the state Legislature to pass more gun control laws. One of the proposals is so-called extreme risk protection orders. These are nothing more than gun confiscation orders. Using a red flag law, the police or an “angry ex” can petition a judge,...
Editorial: Parental support for kids vaccine can make difference
Covid-19 has been a disease fraught with hot-button aspects: The masks. The mandates. The shutdowns. The treatments. And the vaccines. Eleven months after the first Pfizer-BioNTech injections were administered to front-line health care workers, about 61% of Pennsylvanians have been vaccinated, but there is still pushback from certain quarters —...
Letter to the editor: A Sputnik moment?
Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently called China’s apparent test of a hypersonic weapon (China denies the allegation) “very close” to a “Sputnik moment.” Milley was referring to the Soviet Union’s launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957, which created hysteria over Russia’s apparent...
Letter to the editor: Ranking the contents of ‘Build Back Better’
Regarding Jonah Goldberg’s column “The trouble with ‘Build Back Better’ is no one really wants to pay for it” (Oct. 19, TribLIVE): First, the headline is disingenuous. Of course no one wants to pay for “Build Back Better.” The rich want no part of legislation that will raise taxes, and...
Tom Purcell: Never forget our veterans
My dad’s hearing was damaged more than half a century ago when, as a young man, he trained to be an Army military policeman during the war in Korea. MPs were required to qualify for every weapon, including the exceptionally loud .50-caliber machine gun. One day, while he was congested...
Kyle Sammin: Pa. illustrates America’s nursing shortage
These days, it seems like there are shortages of everything. While the media has largely focused on shortages of goods, the increasingly tight labor market is also having widespread effects. Nowhere is this truer than in the shortage of qualified nurses. It’s a serious problem with many causes, most of...
Ernie Hogan: Mayor-elect Gainey, invest in neighborhood development
Last May, Pittsburgh voters decided it was a time for change, giving state Rep. Ed Gainey a Democratic primary win over the incumbent mayor. With Tuesday’s general election, Gainey became the first Black mayor of Pittsburgh. As the Gainey transition begins to unfold, Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG), a coalition...
Letter to the editor: Consequences of tax on corporations
So, the leaders of the world’s biggest economies have endorsed a 15% minimum tax on corporations. Well, what’s to stop the leaders of some third-world countries like Burundi or Mongolia or Tuvalu from turning into fiscal paradises for multinationals? Just sayin’. Maria A. Maliszewski Brackenridge...
Letter to the editor: Drug testing very different from vaccination
Does the political cartoonist who drew the Oct. 28 cartoon really believe that being asked to give a urine sample is the same as being required to get the covid vaccine in order to continue working? Drug testing in any form does not require you to put something in your...
Letter to the editor: Let’s look at the Bill of Rights
Regarding David A. Scandrol’s letter “Has Pelosi read Constitution?” (Oct. 27, TribLIVE): Mr. Scandrol, have you read the Bill of Rights? You cite four amendments in particular. In the First Amendment, did you see the phrase “peaceably assemble”? The Fourth Amendment guarantees the right of the people to be “secure...
Letter to the editor: Don’t trust Biden
I was watching the television set this morning when I saw President Joe Biden arrive at the Capitol to caucus with House Democrats to “close” on his $1.75 trillion infrastructure bill. (For comprehension purposes that is a 1 with 12 zeros after it). Whether you are a Democrat or Republican,...
Editorial: Municipal budgets are public documents
When it comes to money, a municipality is supposed to be an open book. That’s not just a metaphor. The book in question isn’t a euphemism. It’s literal. The way a city or a borough or a township spend its money — whether from its own residents or passed through...
