Opinion category, Page 497
Letter to the editor: Many want government checks instead of jobs
The Republicans saying they are going to put people back to work will hurt their chances. We now have seen people want a check from the government instead of a job, as many people will not come back to work even when there is a job waiting for them. Clem...
Letter to the editor: Media’s positive portrayal of Biden
Based on all of the newspaper articles as well as the local and national news, I congratulate President Biden for a job well done. He must be doing a great job since all we read and see is either congratulatory or at least neutral. Unlike his predecessor, by this time,...
Editorial: The battle of agendas in Zappala vs. Raiford
A courtroom is an adversarial forum. The process is set up that way, to help find truth and justice by performing a legal dance to a set of rules. The adversaries in this system are not enemies, but opposing forces like magnets that pull and push in different directions. It...
Letter to the editor: Questions about Penn fracking
I read Patrick Varine’s article “Protect PT appeals fracking well-pad approvals to Pa. Supreme Court” (May 21, TribLIVE). I was at the Penn Township zoning hearings as a witness for Protect PT for the Metis and Gaia pads. I have a few comments about the case. First, much has been...
Letter to the editor: Are you a political fool?
Are your sources of news making you a political fool? I hate liars, and news sites are the biggest liars of today. I read 10 or so different websites of news per week, some that I know are opposite of my politics. If I read “anonymous sources say,” I disregard...
Letter to the editor: Invenergy plant a threat to Great Allegheny Passage
I am a resident of West Newton, home of the Great Allegheny Passage and the Lower Youghiogheny River, which was placed on the American Rivers advocacy group’s most endangered rivers list in 2020. The permitting of the Invenergy power plant in Elizabeth Township is a three-layered threat to the Great...
S.E. Cupp: Naomi Osaka’s mental health breakthrough a game-changer
“Mental health break.” It’s a term that’s grown increasingly common in recent years, used to describe the need for some emotional and psychological self-care. But rest assured, it’s not a term our parents or grandparents’ generations grew up with, and not something they fully understand even now. So when one...
John Stossel: Roundabouts are better
I hate waiting at traffic lights. There’s a solution: traffic circles, or roundabouts. Traffic circles terrified me when I first confronted them in Europe. A movie, “National Lampoon’s European Vacation,” captured my experience when it portrayed Chevy Chase driving in London, unable to exit a rotary all day. Besides being...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Where Black history is concerned, America specializes in not knowing
It’s not just Tulsa. From the 2019 premiere of HBO’s “Watchmen,” which introduced many Americans to a racial atrocity they’d never heard of, to all the recent media attention — CNN, the New York Times, NPR — marking this week’s centennial, the Tulsa Race Massacre of May 31 to June...
Laurels & lances: Flying again, hired again
Laurel: To flying high again. The Westmoreland County Airshow didn’t happen in 2020. Unlike many of the events that were canceled over the last year, it wasn’t due to the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement was made in November 2019. It happened because the marquee draws — military precision groups like...
Letter to the editor: Officer Brian Shaw is not forgotten
Regarding Sharon McKnight’s letter “Why no tributes to Officer Brian Shaw?” (May 27, TribLIVE): I suppose you have missed, or passed on going to, the motorcycle memorial rides for Shaw? Hundreds of bikers attend, and they are covered by this newspaper. He is not forgotten. Ken Murdy Buffalo Township...
Letter to the editor: Biden’s reading, writing and arithmetic
While he is “reading” the teleprompter, does President Biden have any idea that numerous crimes, such as the gang rape of a little girl that was so violent that her screams destroyed her vocal cords, occur regularly at “his” border? Also, while his apparent irresponsibility somehow gets impunity, does he...
Letter to the editor: Franklin Regional hearing not so public
On May 24, the Franklin Regional School District held a public hearing on the future of the empty Heritage and Newlonsburg elementary schools. It was a public hearing, but the public wasn’t allowed to attend. Residents could submit a 500-word comment to the board secretary, which was placed in the...
Lori Falce: Pirates owe taxpayers better baseball
When it comes to sports, I am a product of my environment. My soul has fed on the Steelers’ Super Bowl wins and the Penguins’ names etched on the Stanley Cup. Even when they missed the playoffs or if it was charitably described as a “rebuilding year,” the faith is...
Letter to the editor: Thoughts on UPMC CEO’s high pay
Three separate but related thoughts came to mind as I read the article “IRS records: UPMC CEO Jeffrey Romoff made $9.5M in 2019; pay tops $1M for 32 employees” (May 14, TribLIVE). The first was our growing income inequality and the damage it does to our society. Executive compensation of...
Letter to the editor: Pa. must fund long-term care
As a community, we are all trying to recover from the covid-19 pandemic. We’ve seen the profound effect of this virus, especially among those in the long-term care continuum. Covid-19 is still present. Its impact has not subsided. And no matter the preventive measures prescribed by our state and federal...
Letter to the editor: Country needs more centrists
As a senior citizen who has become “invisible” to most political people who are under the age of 50, I believe our country needs to have more political “moderates” and “centrists” than we do now. I think we were better off in the 1960s when about 20% to 30% of...
Letter to the editor: Investing abroad makes for more stable world
With the U.S. economy struck hard by covid-19, you may think an easy budget cut would be the international affairs budget, but I urge you to reconsider. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge said, “By building new markets overseas for American products, the international affairs budget creates jobs and...
Editorial: Vaccine incentives aren’t the Pennsylvania way (right?)
Hey, where is our big money jackpot? Promising giant paydays as a possibility for coronavirus vaccination is the kind of thing that is attracting attention in some states. Ohio recently made Abbigail Bugenske, 22, of Silverton the first vaccination recipient turned millionaire in the state’s Vax-a-Million lottery. Teen winner Joseph...
Letter to the editor: Stopping an ungodly agenda
The lies, deception and corruption occurring in America today are of biblical proportions. The assault on our psychological, intellectual, physical and spiritual existence is vicious and relentless. We are in the fight of our lives against the powers of darkness. History proves that in this fiercely competitive and corrupt world,...
Jonah Goldberg: Populism at root of right wing’s conspiracy-mongering paranoia
Over Memorial Day weekend, Michael Flynn, who briefly served as Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, appeared at a QAnon-affiliated conference in Dallas. During a Q&A session, an audience member asked, “I want to know why what happened in Myanmar can’t happen here.” What happened in Myanmar was an old-fashioned...
Letter to the editor: Paying our fair share
Every time I open the newspaper, I see two comments: First, I am not paying my “fair share” of my money to the government, and the government is going to make greedy corporations pay more taxes, not the average citizen. To the first point, what gives the government the right...
Letter to the editor: Equal time to treat Biden as Trump was treated
Equal time — that’s all I want. For the past four years, I listened to President Trump being called vicious names by Democrats, i.e., racist, Russian spy, many swear words, neanderthal, one who will lead us to war. Democrats made fun of him because he nearly slipped while walking down...
Editorial: A bipartisan effort to secure Purple Heart valor
Courage is the kind of thing anyone can have. Grab the moment. Seize the day. But valor is different. Valor is a special kind of bravery. Valor speaks to courage under fire. It is about acts of duty and grit in combat, and it often comes with consequences. Valor is...
Letter to the editor: Another route of political decay
For the Allegheny Valley prodigal son, whose visit was marred by exposure to Trump signs (“Loyalty to Trump has gotten Allegheny Valley nowhere,” April 8, TribLIVE), might I suggest a different route? How about traversing the Democratic Grand Canyon of money pits along the East Coast, where nary a Trump...
