Opinion category, Page 453
S.E. Cupp: Conservatives delighting in Baldwin’s pain show how far we’ve fallen
He’s, admittedly, a fairly unsympathetic figure. Alec Baldwin, the actor, short-time talk show host, Donald Trump impersonator and longtime blowhard and villain of the right, has said and done some pretty lamentable things over the past few decades. He’s been sued for assault in several attacks on paparazzi. He was...
John Stossel: Lessons from Venezuela
Democrats say President Biden won “a strong mandate.” His government can do all sorts of good things! I don’t believe he has a mandate, but thanks to the selfishness of former President Trump, Democrats control Congress, and that may give them power to shove their worst ideas down our throats....
Emily Howe and Laura Chu Wiens: 4 ways Pittsburgh’s mayor must improve public transit
Pittsburgh depends on public transit. Recent Census numbers tell us that more than 50,000 Pittsburghers — more than 17% of our city’s population — use public transit to commute to work every day. Add students, the unemployed and other noncommuters, and the number of transit riders is much higher. In...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Power unrestrained serves only itself
As police misbehavior goes, it was a small thing. No one was killed, or shot, or even arrested. But in a sense, that gives it all the more impact. Shorn of the distracting emotionalism of bloodshed or false arrest, last week’s video recording of an incident between a subway rider...
Letter to the editor: Democrats destroying country
The Democrats’ lust for power has pushed America to the brink. They pushed a candidate (Joe Biden) who I believe is totally unqualified due to cognitive decline, and a vice president candidate who I believe was selected solely because of race and gender with no regard for qualification to potentially...
Letter to the editor: Trump’s not afraid
Trump’s not afraid of a werewolf Howling with sharp claw and tooth. He’s not afraid of a vampire either. Trump only fears the truth. Trump’s not afraid of goblins and ghosts Or bumps in the night that he hears. He’s braver than most game show hosts. But truth is the...
Letter to the editor: Stop judging unvaccinated without knowing facts
I am responding to all the sophisticated, morally superior people who believe that the unvaccinated citizens of this country are murderers, self-absorbed, stupid Trumpsters. I am not vaccinated because of health concerns. I fear the covid vaccine just as I fear the vaccines for flu, shingles, pneumonia, etc. We are...
Letter to the editor: Believing something doesn’t make it true
Letter-writer David Cassidy “No one has privacy anymore” Oct. 12, TribLIVE) says that if enough people believe something, it should be investigated. Let’s pretend a con man has convinced “enough people” that the moon is made of green cheese. Should NASA spend taxpayer money to investigate this claim, even though...
Paul Kengor: My year without baseball
Sitting in the lobby of a Washington hotel having drinks with friends, I glanced at the television and was pulled in by images of October baseball — the playoff season. It was the San Francisco Giants vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers. Classic. “It’s hard not to watch this,” I said...
Laurels & lances: Applause, plead, respite
Laurel: To unintentional stardom. It is rare that the people behind the scenes in a production get a moment in the spotlight, but senior Noah Kessler did just that when it became his job to clean the microphone between acts at the Highlands High School “Fall Follies” talent show. Little...
Lori Falce: A very meta chat with Mark Zuckerberg
Oh, Mark Zuckerberg. We haven’t met, but as you own all the pictures of my son since his birth and are responsible for a healthy percentage of the threatening communications I receive winding their way to me through tags and Messenger and comments on pieces I write, I feel like...
Jane Liebschutz, Jean FitzGibbons and Mary Sligh: Much work needs to be done to prevent overdose deaths
The overdose crisis has not gone away, and overdose deaths are, once again, on the rise. Sadly, 2020 marked a grim milestone in the United States: More than 93,000 people died from accidental drug overdoses, the highest annual death toll yet. Fatal overdoses are the leading cause of injury deaths...
Letter to the editor: Rich get richer through gambling
Regarding the article “Report: Pennsylvania casino revenues top $415M in September” (Oct. 19, TribLIVE): The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, chasing a dream. Our government is evil. Legalized gambling was supposed to drastically reduce property taxes in Pennsylvania. What happened? Gambling is a terrible, addictive disease. The...
Letter to the editor: Government overreach causing societal turmoil
Those attending the Oct. 19 Greater Latrobe School Board meeting were advised that members of the board have been threatened with criminal prosecution if they had failed to enforce Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam’s current mask order. The threatening of licensing that otherwise has nothing to do with the matter...
Letter to the editor: Disinformation putting us at risk
Following the science, the research, the math — according to Johns Hopkins’ Oct. 11 Covid Mortality Analyses, not one of over 240 countries had a covid mortality rate as low 0.05%, as claimed by letter-writer George Silowash (“I don’t trust this covid vaccine,” Oct. 9, TribLIVE). Laos and Singapore were...
Editorial: Stripped down issue of independent contractors
What does a freelance worker have in common with an exotic dancer? Maybe more than than you think. This isn’t about the work itself. It’s more about how the work is viewed in a strictly business sense. The law, after all, doesn’t care about what we do per se. The...
Editorial: The high price of even higher gas taxes
High gas prices are not exactly new to Pennsylvanians, but this is ridiculous. Maybe back in September, $3.33 a gallon seemed like the highest they could get, but here we are in October with prices up to $3.50 a gallon. For those wondering, it hasn’t cost that much to fill...
Editorial: Legislature legal bills should be open
There is a time-honored, court-supported concept of privacy when it comes to dealings between a person and lawyer. It’s an idea that extends to lots of areas of the law. You are guaranteed that your conversations with counsel will be as sacred as a Catholic confessional booth whether you are...
Jonah Goldberg: To fight climate change seriously, nuclear power must be on the table
World leaders are heading to Glasgow to come up with yet another plan to tackle climate change. Joe Biden had hoped to have a stack of climate-related legislative accomplishments to brag about. But they’re being held up and threatened in the fight over the price tag of the Build Back...
Letter to the editor: What if Trump had won?
As Pennsylvania faces the potential disgrace inflicted on Arizona with Republican elected officials pushing yet additional expensive audits of the Nov. 3, 2020, vote and seeking possession of personal information about millions of the state’s voters, does anyone have any uncertainty about why this is happening? If you do, ask...
Letter to the editor: Biden’s role in high fuel prices
Paul Guggenheimer’s story ”Don’t expect to see a price break at the pump anytime soon in Western Pa.” (Oct. 22, TribLIVE) gives a lot of weak reasons for the high, and climbing, cost of fuel. Why is there no mention of the damage to our country’s economy and security caused...
Letter to the editor: Has Pelosi read Constitution?
“Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.” Lavrentiy Beria, the most ruthless secret police chief in Josef Stalin’s reign of terror, bragged that he could prove criminal conduct on anyone, even those not guilty of criminal conduct. America’s present-day Beria is Nancy Pelosi, and her proof is...
Editorial: More access means more vaccines?
Some things are just so obvious that it seems ridiculous they weren’t recognized sooner. The wheel. Fire. French fries and slaw on a corned beef sandwich. How did it take human beings so long to figure out what was right in front of them? Now there’s one in Westmoreland County....
Letter to the editor: Transparency lacking on Greensburg parklet sale
There may be very valid reasons for the City of Greensburg to have sold the parklet on Pennsylvania Avenue to City Cribs (“Greensburg officials questioned over sale of parklet,” Oct. 2, TribLIVE). However, I take issue with Suzanne Ward’s assertion that the letter-writers who had concerns about the sale were...
Pat Buchanan: Can Poland be Poland — and stay in the EU?
“Let Poland be Poland!” That was the call of American conservatives, four decades ago, when the Solidarity movement of labor leader Lech Walesa arose in the port city of Gdansk to demand their freedom of the communist system imposed upon Poland by the Soviet Union after World War II. A...
