Opinion category, Page 494
Tierra Bradford: Zappala’s plea deal folly reinforces need for audit of DA’s office
On June 2, news broke that Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala sent an email to his office prohibiting staff from offering plea deals to the clients of defense attorney Milton Raiford. This email was sent several days after Raiford made remarks, on the record, about how the district attorney’s...
Letter to the editor: Burrell band missed during Memorial Day parade
I want to thank all the spectators who showed up to support our fallen soldiers on Memorial Day at the Lower Burrell parade. This was the largest crowd the VFW Auxiliary has seen in many years. It brought great joy to our veterans and their family members to see the...
Letter to the editor: In defense of D’Souza
Dr. Frank Zalakar’s letter “Dinesh D’Souza’s ‘truth’ ” (May 19, TribLIVE) responding to my letter about fascism being on the left, not right, of the political spectrum merits another rebuttal. His letter attacks Dinesh D’Souza, author of the “The Big Lie,” who I referenced in my earlier letter to back my...
Editorial: Vaccine success depends on keeping track of second-dosers
In boxing, a simple balled-up fist, delivered quick and hard, is the basic blow. But the sport depends on a strategic combination of attacks. The most basic is the one-two punch. It starts with a jab — a quick, straight punch delivered hard and fast like a bullet. That is...
Letter to the editor: EITC critical to parents seeking best schools
We would like to thank lawmakers in the state House and Senate for their continued support of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC). Education issues are always complex, and state lawmakers are working hard to improve how we teach children in Pennsylvania. Issues remain, but it’s our hope legislators and...
Tom Purcell: My dad taught me how
Need to learn how to unclog a shower drain, jump-start a car, shave your face without bleeding to death or successfully address dozens of other practical adult daily activities? Rob Kenney offers this kind of basic “dad advice,” and millions are tuning into his YouTube channel “Dad, How Do I?”...
Jason Killmeyer: In preparation for Putin
As a second major ransomware attack in the past month threatened a sensitive node of our supply chain — our food supply — America remains stuck in an old way of thinking. In the late 1990s, we saw the rise of express kidnappings across Latin America, where immediate ransoms were...
Letter to the editor: Ignoring science of abortion
It is commonplace today to demand that we accept the science of covid exposure and vaccination. Yet for the most part, many ignore the science of abortion and fetal development. Scientific progress is changing that debate. At six weeks, the fetal heart pumps blood to its own body and brain....
Editorial: All told, the school year was something amazing
Now that school is over for most kids, it’s finally time to take a good look at the way things went over the past nine months and give out some grades. Not to the students. Their final scores for math and reading and science and history are in. Their tests...
Letter to the editor: Assisting medical marijuana farmers
Pennsylvania has embraced the opportunity to establish an industrial hemp program. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has seen a significant increase in the request for new permits; Pennsylvania has been home to 885 hemp-growing permits over a four-year period. Ninety percent of Pennsylvania’s hemp farmers grow hemp for nonpsychoactive cannabinoids,...
Letter to the editor: What if Trump had kept his mouth shut?
A thought: Would Donald Trump still be president today if he’d slept soundly through the night and just shut the hell up? Just sayin.’ … Joe Marmo Cheswick...
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 14
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 14....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 14
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 14....
Ramesh Ponnuru: The phrase ‘systemic racism’ clouds productive debate
“It’s past time for America to discard the left-wing myth of systemic racism,” former Vice President Mike Pence said on a recent visit to New Hampshire. We should go a little further than that. Let’s discard the phrase “systemic racism” altogether. The chief function of that phrase is to make...
Mona Charen: Don’t cry for HR 1
When Sen. Joe Manchin announced he would oppose the For the People Act, Steve Benen of MSNBC spoke for many Democrats when he declared that “Joe Manchin is prepared to be remembered by history as the senator who did little more than hope as his country’s democracy unraveled.” One can...
Letter to the editor: Obscenities have no place in political discourse
Regarding the article “Leechburg man defends obscene anti-Biden flag visible from preschool, daycare, church” (May 21, TribLIVE): Yes, sir, you have the right to fly that flag as high as you choose. However, why must you express your political views in such a crass, graphic way? I had a political...
Letter to the editor: How about some more money for seniors?
I listen to the news and read in the papers about all the extra money being handed out to families, larger unemployment checks and even funds for businesses, and while I do not doubt that they are needed, once again the people on Social Security are being forgotten. We got...
Letter to the editor: Say thanks to a volunteer
We can define a volunteer as someone who offers to undertake a task without being paid. While many sign up, join a board or offer to help, the true volunteer is the person you probably have never seen in print, a photo or on stage. They are the Johnsons who...
Editorial: For women in Pa. politics, a steady rise
Women are not the minority. In the United States, they edge out men by 0.5%, but, if you look at the population of adult women, the numbers creep up to 58%, the U.S. Census Bureau tells us. In Pennsylvania, ladies make up 51% of the state’s residents. That means that...
Letter to the editor: Plant-based dairy a viable option
June is National Dairy Month. Time to review the financial, ethical and nutritional burden created by the dairy industry. Last month, NPR reported that New York dairy farmers, who are blaming slumping sales on the pandemic, are expecting more subsidies. Dairy is an outdated industry that relies on a cycle...
Letter to the editor: You’ll need a loan for that cone
In his column “Klavon’s wage hike great for business and workers,” reliably liberal Joseph Mistick lauds the owner of Klavon’s Ice Cream Parlor in the Strip for increasing his starting wage to $15 an hour, in line with the current push for a similar nationwide minimum. The owner claimed he...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Reasons to celebrate Flag Day
William T. Kerr was just a Pittsburgh school kid when he founded the American Flag Day Association of Western Pennsylvania in 1888. Later, he became the national chairman of the association, a position he held for 50 years, and he was at President Truman’s side in 1949 when the law...
Sounding off: Government leaders should at least try to balance budget
This is a comment about the Associated Press article “Biden’s $6T budget: Social spending, taxes on business”. I don’t care if you are a Democrat, Republican, independent, conservative, liberal or whatever — the government needs to at least try to balance the budget. I understand we have been through a...
Alexa L. Gervasi and Daryl James: Allegheny County calls off the cookie police
Baking enthusiasts in Pittsburgh and surrounding communities will have new freedom this summer, just in time for Independence Day. Thanks to a recent policy reversal at the Allegheny County Health Department, people can turn on their ovens and start making money from home. Code enforcers previously showed zero tolerance for...
Amanda Little: World’s food supply has never been more vulnerable
After a cyberattack crippled the world’s largest meat producer last month, JBS SA meat plants have begun to reopen across the globe. But the meat industry shouldn’t be returning to business as usual — and for the security of our food supply, the Biden administration needs to make sure that...
