Opinion category, Page 538
Letter to the editor: Pay your taxes with your stimulus check
As of the writing of this opinion, Gov. Tom Wolf is proposing to raise taxes on a family of four earning more than $84,000 per year. Conversely, President Biden wants to give a huge stimulus check to families of four earning more than $84,000 per year. Wonderful! Now a family...
Editorial: If legislators get power over ’emergency powers,’ no time for petty politics
It is an understatement to say Gov. Tom Wolf’s coronavirus pandemic response has not been universally popular. While some point to the administration’s restrictions on gatherings, early shutdowns of businesses and schools, mask mandates and other measures as important steps to limit the spread of covid-19, there are plenty of...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Henry Darby’s effort not a feel-good story
This is not a feel-good story. Of course, it’s easy to see why it has been positioned as one. Certainly, it contains all the elements: vulnerable people, heart-rending need, someone going above and beyond. But this is not a feel-good story. Not to mock or cast aspersions on the noble...
Letter to the editor: Gov. Wolf’s grand spending plan
It is disappointing that Gov. Tom Wolf would propose a massive tax increase which, despite a proposed increase in the exemption for lower-income families, would hit countless middle-class families through a boost of almost 50% in the state’s levy on income, taking it from 3.07 to 4.49%. The governor knows...
Tom Purcell: Simpler taxes long promised, never delivered
I love winter. I love snow. I love making a roaring fire in my fireplace on a chilly day. But I hate one thing about this time of year: taxes. February is rough for the self-employed. It’s rough because my 1099 forms — official records of how much my clients...
Gov. Tom Wolf: Meeting the needs of Pa. citizens
I want to lower taxes for working families in Pennsylvania. I know in the days since my budget address you’ve probably heard a whole lot from other people about my plan — what they like, what they hate, what they wish I had said instead. This year, because of the...
Baruch Stein: GameStop affair shows need for better regulation
Despite discussions about “common people outmaneuvering Wall Street,” the GameStop affair harmed many of those who think they beat Wall Street and illustrates the need for better regulation. Keith Gill, the man behind the affair, is himself a professional financial adviser who used the GameStop rally to turn an investment...
Letter to the editor: Billboard restrictions protect communities
Regarding the article “Unity to update comprehensive plan, considers easing billboard restriction” (Jan. 28, TribLIVE): I would like to advise the Unity Township supervisors that easing billboard restrictions would actually be detrimental to business interests. Billboards are ugly and a major source of blight along our highways. Billboards lower nearby...
Letter to the editor: Citizens paying for filthy politics in Harrisburg
So, Frank Dermody loses the election, retires on a taxpayer-funded retirement of $110,000 a year and is handed a cushy job on the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (“Frank Dermody lost state House election but lands $145,000/year gambling board job,” Jan. 29, TribLIVE). According to the article, Dermody was responsible for...
Letter to the editor: Dermody an outstanding, ethical public servant
Regarding the article “Frank Dermody lost state House election but lands $145,000/year gambling board job” (Jan. 28, TribLIVE): I’m glad Dermody was appointed to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Dermody brings an incomparable level of expertise on the subject matter of the commission. This being a two-year appointment means his...
Letter to the editor: Damage done by media, career politicians
I think the headline on the article “Son of Tree of Life victims sues NRA, alleging gun lobby spread ‘white supremacist’ conspiracies” (Jan. 22, TribLIVE) is erroneous: Those three letters should read MSM — mainstream media, whose biased and slanderous reporting has done tremendous harm the last four years and...
Letter to the editor: Take down your Trump signs
Please take down your Trump signs. It’s embarrassing. President Joe Biden will build back better. Treasure that! Rose Guerra West Newton...
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Feb. 8
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Feb. 8....
Editorial cartoons for the week of Feb. 8
Editorial cartoons for the week of Feb. 8....
S.E. Cupp: Bitter, partisan reactions to AOC are proof American politics has lost its way
Last Monday night, nearly a month after Trump-supporting insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol looking to overturn a democratic election and, in some cases, kill U.S. lawmakers, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to Instagram Live to share her harrowing account of that day. Traumatized not only by the close encounter...
Editorial: Angel Arms fulfills its mission to mend, pandemic or not
The coronavirus pandemic has been the biggest story in the world for a year. But it isn’t the only story. Covid-19 is not the only thing that kills people. The problems associated with it are not the only problems affecting people’s lives. It may be the big bad wolf, but...
Letter to the editor: It’s time to correct minimum wage disparity
Letter-writer Jim Fontana Sr. (“Minimum wage questions” ) asked readers to try to explain why raising the minimum wage could be proper. I am an 88-year-old retired accountant who spent over 40 years working with payrolls and employee benefits, and I would like to try. First, I believe the American...
Letter to the editor: Biden’s plan to restore economy
President Biden has launched a number of executive orders undoing our former president’s onerous orders. Our new president has crafted a bill to create jobs by pump-priming manufacturing, providing loans to small businesses, promoting climate projects, energizing vaccine distribution, and sending $1,400 checks to most taxpayers. Now it is up...
Letter to the editor: Thankful for Dermody
I would like to thank Frank Dermody for everything he did for Harrison Township and the communities he represented in the Allegheny Valley. I don’t think residents of the area realize what a loss it is to lose a representative who was the minority leader in the Pennsylvania House of...
Editorial: The inevitable state budget showdown, once again
On Wednesday, Gov. Tom Wolf formally released his latest budget proposal. It was hardly a surprise. This is not the governor’s first budget, after all. In his seventh trip around this particular block, he treads on familiar territory. It pushes heavily on a central theme of increased funding for education....
Letter to the editor: Where is the leadership on covid?
Throughout this country’s history, leaders have stepped up to lead the nation during critical times. Since early last year, we have been faced with a covid-19 pandemic which in one year has taken more lives than the United States lost in World War II. Yet where is the leadership? The...
Letter to the editor: Judging who should get vaccine priority
Regarding the letter “Smokers shouldn’t get vaccine priority” : I have also heard some say the obese, drug addicted and incarcerated should not get vaccine priority. As long as people are judging who is deserving and who isn’t deserving vaccine priority, I ask, where in the vaccine priority should the...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Nation needs real Republicans
These two things happened on the same day last week. Congressional leaders paid their respects to Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, who was killed by the insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, and whose remains were lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda. And Republican Leader Kevin...
Sounding off: Teachers should be vaccine priority
I hear from so many politicians and parents that the kids should be in school. I agree. So, with all the complaining from politicians and parents, why were employees of public schools not first on the list to get vaccinated? Every employee at public schools should have been on the...
Letter to the editor: Big pharma should pay for drug deaths
Could you imagine funeral homes billing big pharma for all the deaths caused by our deadly drug epidemic? They created pills that are addicting and are prescribed by doctors. People, even those with non-addictive personalities, have a hard time breaking that addiction, so pharmaceutical companies made more drugs to help,...
