Opinion category, Page 478
Letter to the editor: Trump not to blame for covid deaths
I may be crazy, some say so, but you may be stupid! Every time I hear someone blaming President Trump for covid-19 deaths, my blood begins to boil. Do you people blaming Trump realize that you are referring to a pandemic? Are you saying that the leaders of every country...
Letter to the editor: Pa. petroleum saved the whales
It was not serendipity that the United States whaling fleet fell from a high of 735 ships in 1846 to 39 ships by 1876. It was because of the newfound oil resources in Pennsylvania that followed the discovery of the Drake well in 1859. Kerosene produced from that oil replaced...
Letter to the editor: West Penn nurses should be supported
Regarding the article “Nurses at West Penn Hospital authorize strike notice” (July 28, TribLIVE): I delivered my baby at West Penn Hospital just a few months before the pandemic started, and it’s hard to overstate how important the nurses there were to me, my husband, and my baby. It wasn’t...
Letter to the editor: Critical race theory misconception
I commend Jim Harger on his excellent and accurate letter “No debate — fascism spawned by the right” (July 30, TribLIVE) on historical issues. I wish I could say the same of James Kelm’s letter “NEA’s critical race theory push” (July 30, TribLIVE). Critical race theory is a legal theory...
Letter to the editor: For covid decisions, rely on science, not self-appointed ‘experts’
I am not a medical professional, so I rely on experts in the field for advice about masks and vaccinations. I wonder if letter-writer Matt Pergar (“Latrobe’s mask decision the right one,” Aug. 1, TribLIVE) is a doctor. He writes, “Parents know what is best for their children.” This seems...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Vaccines give us choice to prevent more sickness, death
“On the Beach,” the 1959 movie based on Nevil Shute’s novel, is hard to forget if you were a kid when it was released. It’s about a group of people waiting for a deadly radiation cloud to reach them in Australia, the last surviving part of the world, after the...
Sounding off: Now’s the time to fix Pittsburgh’s road system
I have lived in the Pittsburgh area for over 20 years. I cringe every time I need to go into the city. I am sure I am not the only one. This opinion is to piggyback on Tom Kerek’s letter “Eliminating Pittsburgh’s traffic nightmares.” As most people who live on...
Lori Jakiela: Duct tape is sane option when airline passengers go nuts
While some people are shocked by the current attacks on flight attendants — the biting, the spitting, the punching, the threats — this behavior doesn’t surprise me. When I became a flight attendant back in the 1990s, I didn’t realize I’d end up in one of the most-hated professions in...
Letter to the editor: Harris as president a frightening thought
I couldn’t agree more with letter-writer Albert Depew (“Kamala Harris’ character,” July 16, TribLIVE). Harris couldn’t even beat the likes of Pete Buttigieg and Andrew Yang for the Democratic nomination for president. Tulsi Gabbard took her apart at one of the debates. She withdrew from the race before the first...
Letter to the editor: Critical space theory
Every day I hear more about the controversy over critical race theory. The shouting back and forth on this subject is deafening. I believe that CRT has its foundation based in revisionist history, but I’m not comfortable voicing that opinion because this country is now caught in what I call...
Editorial: When laws collide, human damage can be real
The United States of America sometimes can be a little less united than it should be — and sometimes a little too in lockstep. That is because while the federal government makes laws, so do the 50 individual states. So do municipal governments and counties. While they all have to...
Letter to the editor: Ask leaders to support RGGI, EICDA
I am grateful to Gov. Tom Wolf for taking action on climate change by working to get Pennsylvania to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Joining RGGI would benefit Pennsylvanians’ health by reducing air pollution. The Department of Environmental Protection estimates that through 2030 up to 639 premature deaths from...
John Stossel: Transgender competition unfair
“Why do I have to compete against a male body?” complains mountain bike racer Leia Schneeberger. She and others are upset because today, some transgender women, people born male but who identify as female, are winning sports competitions. Schneeberger regularly won bicycle races, until a former men’s cyclist transitioned, competed...
S.E. Cupp: Partisan, cultural divides estranging us from those we love the most
The year was 2004, and a month after Barack Obama would make his national debut at the Democratic National Convention, another Democrat made news — at the Republican National Convention in New York City. Georgia Democrat Zell Miller — a former governor who won with the help of longtime Democratic...
Quentin Langley: Time’s up for Andrew Cuomo
Twelve months ago, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was admired and seen as a future president. Some Democrats were wishing that Cuomo was the one limbering up for the fight with then-President Donald Trump. Had the Democrats made an error by not skipping a generation to choose Cuomo? Today, New...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Is human compassion so hard for them?
Gunther Hashida killed himself last week. We don’t know why. At this writing, we don’t even know how. What we do know is that Hashida, an 18-year veteran of the D.C. police force, is the fourth cop to die by his own hand after responding to the Jan. 6 insurrection...
Letter to the editor: Democrats allowing covid to spread
Obviously, the Democrats and Dr. Anthony Fauci don’t mind spreading diseases during a pandemic by allowing illegal immigration. They are shipping migrants by bus, trains and airplanes all over our country and then have the nerve to consider mandating that vaccinated people wear masks again. What is wrong with this...
Letter to the editor: No reason to fear mail-in ballots
Letter-writer Dave Majernik (“Beware of mail-in ballots”) fails to point out that the large mail-in ballot response was most likely because of the global pandemic. People of all political parties, or no party, may have been reluctant, as I was, to vote in person because of that. People aren’t “too...
Lori Falce: Self-care is a key part of mental health
Some wounds are easy to diagnose. Break a bone and an X-ray will tell you just how to line the pieces up to put them back together. Cut your skin and it’s clear where the bandage has to go. Even hidden internal problems give us clues with pain or fever,...
Letter to the editor: Biden’s decline is evident
I think it is time all Americans, especially President Biden’s Cabinet and Congress, realize that our president has some aging health problems. It almost appears to me he is a shell of a man, and he is being used. Certainly we have many intelligent people around the president. The world...
Paul Kengor: BLM’s unsurprising stance on Cuba
In response to my last column on Major League Baseball’s silence in the face of repression in Cuba, I got an email from a Trib reader with an altogether different angle. He was less outraged by MLB’s silence than BLM’s “vocal support” of the Cuban regime. His point is more...
Laurels & lances: Delivery, delay and health
Laurel: To a sweet birthday. While the cake is usually the centerpiece of most kids’ birthday parties, we feel confident saying that ice cream will always play a role in Emmett Hendrickson’s special day The newborn Butler Township boy came into the world on July 30 after a stop at...
Rep. Greg Vitali: Pa. should enact methane regulations
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, and Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry is a major methane emitter. More than 5½ years ago, Gov. Tom Wolf promised regulations to reduce methane emissions from existing oil and gas industry operations. It’s time to finalize these regulations. Methane reduction is critical in addressing...
Letter to the editor: Don’t let one Olympian taint them all
While I agree with letter-writer Dwayne Buffer regarding purple-haired Gwen Berry turning her back while the national anthem was being played (”Olympian’s action shameful,” July 31, TribLIVE), I disagree with not watching the Olympics. The U.S. athletes have worked hard for years and years to qualify, and for that I...
Addison Del Mastro: Pa. is a microcosm of America’s housing crisis
In recent years, an acute housing crisis has engulfed both America’s coastal metros and Rust Belt regions. California’s Bay Area, for example, confronts a crisis of affordability and limited supply that hastens a population exodus. Midwest cities like Detroit face low real-estate prices and low demand, intensifying urban decline. Pennsylvania...
