Opinion category, Page 599
Letter to the editor: Reducing probability of vote tampering
The confidence your vote will be accurately counted is one of the issues surrounding the all-mail vote proposed by some, and can easily be explained using simple probability and statistics — in other words, common sense. When voting in person, only one outside actor (election judge) is in a position...
Letter to the editor: Are Biden’s plans God’s way?
I’ve never enjoyed a political convention so much as I did President Trump’s. It was inspiring compared to the Democratic Party’s convention speakers. The Democratic speakers reminded me of a kindergarten-aged child I babysat many years ago. We played a board game, and she screamed at me when I was...
Paul Kengor: The new activists — no criticism, no dissent
I’m experiencing from some leftist supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement something I’ve gone through with LGBTQ advocates, namely a refusal to permit disagreement, even when offering support for other elements (arguably the most important elements) of their agenda. Sure, that doesn’t include everyone in the movements, but it...
Lori Falce: Helmets show team support isn’t uniform
Being part of a team means doing a lot together. It means you work toward a common goal. It means supporting and encouraging each other. It also means challenging each other to do better. It doesn’t mean everyone has to think the same thing. Putting on a uniform isn’t surrendering...
Nicholas Ciotola: A compromise on Pittsburgh Columbus statue
Should he stay or should he go? That’s the question that is fueling a bitter division in Pittsburgh. The divide is not over the coming presidential election. It is about the fate of the statue of Christopher Columbus in Oakland. Pittsburgh’s Italian immigrants first proposed the idea for the statue...
Colin McNickle: Public debt for private entities in pandemic times
What happens when, after tax dollars are dubiously conscripted for the benefit of private entities — and at the expense of the public weal — a pandemic hits? Allegheny County taxpayers might be about to find out, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. The Pittsburgh-Allegheny County...
Letter to the editor: ‘Real Americans’ don’t steal signs
To the individuals who stole the Biden for President signs from numerous yards in my neighborhood Sunday morning: What you have demonstrated to me is your ignorance and hypocrisy. You and your ilk lay claim to being “real Americans,” defenders of the Constitution and supporters of law and order. The...
Letter to the editor: Let’s confine rule-makers to 25%
Quite a bit of information regarding covid-19 is available with dissenting views from medical experts who don’t agree with the government’s stance of masking, social distancing, quarantines and closing the economy. I think the most ridiculous rule is forcing restaurants to operate at 25% capacity (until Sept. 21, when they...
Letter to the editor: Absentee ballot fears
Voting is a right guaranteed by our Constitution. This right is paramount to the “right to bear arms” in that voting appears at least five times, while the aforementioned appears only once in that very document. Both are equally important, but you get my drift. I am voting for the...
Letter to the editor: Delinquent property sale shameless, amoral
Your article relating to the shameless conduct of politicians and tax collectors deserves the utmost reproach (“Westmoreland tax delinquent property sale expected to be very different this year,” Sept. 11, TribLIVE). I’ve attempted to equate this amoral conduct of these politicians and tax offices with the command in the Bible...
Letter to the editor: History lesson on Republicans vs. Democrats
I have a suggestion to all the anarchists rioting and tearing down statues — angry at the history of mistreatment of African Americans. Instead of toppling remnants of history, I suggest toppling the Democratic Party because of the following history: • The Republican Party was founded originally to end slavery....
Editorial: Unemployment money shows need for better planning
File for your special unemployment check before the money is all gone! This is the recommendation Pennsylvania’s jobless are getting. The state has just $2.8 billion from the Lost Wages Assistance program to give to those individuals who qualify for the $1,800 lump sum — calculated off $300 a week...
Sen. Lindsey Williams and Rep. Sara Innamorato: Now is not the time to raise PWSA rates
At public input hearings for the ongoing rate case in front of the Pennsylvania Utility Commission (PUC) early in July, members of the community raised concerns about the proposed rate increase at Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA). If approved by the PUC, this would mean higher bills for PWSA...
Letter to the editor: Can’t take more of Trump’s behavior
How much more of this president’s ridiculous behavior must we put up with? I find his words and lies truly tiring. In my opinion, President Trump degrades himself and demonstrates each day that he is unfit for anything. As Election Day nears, here are some thoughts of what a Trump...
Letter to the editor: Reasoning for Wolf’s restaurant rules
I’d really like to know what Gov. Tom Wolf has against the retail food industry. Restaurants have been hit hard by the coronavirus and have operated at 25% capacity since July. They follow all the rules and regulations as established by the governor and state health secretary. In Allegheny County,...
Tina Batra Hershey, Jim Conway and Olivia Bennett: It’s time for Allegheny County to provide paid sick days for all
Covid-19 has shown us that our health and well-being are connected. Our own health depends on the health of the person next to us, and the person next to that person. No matter what we look like, where we live or what’s in our wallets, getting sick reminds us that...
Letter to the editor: Democrats’ TV programming scary
Noah’s Ark, the scariest ride at the carnival. I was following and slowly making my way up the rocking platform. Inside were bug-eyed circus faces and old lips moving but saying nothing, and they were all behind virtual screens. If this set of mean-masked characters wasn’t scary enough, the ship...
Letter to the editor: Feds must help protect flood-prone areas
There’s no doubt that a federal infrastructure bill has the potential to greatly impact Pittsburgh’s airport corridor. While a bipartisan divide exists as to how Congress should proceed with infrastructure spending, there is common ground that can be found to better protect federally funded assets, including water utilities, roads and...
Editorial: Order in the virtual court – it can be done
Courts are the third leg in the stool of our government, responsible not only for judging the guilty and the culpable, but also for serving as a check on the legality of what the executive and legislative branches do. Those decisions can’t just be placed on hold because of an...
Letter to the editor: Covid-19 warfare
I may be totally out of line with my theory of this covid-19 pandemic, but I truly believe that the CCP (Communist Chinese Party) has done what the combined forces of the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) could not do, and that is defeat the United States in conventional...
Pat Buchanan: Are the forever wars really ending?
“There is no … sound reason for the United States to continue sacrificing precious lives and treasure in a conflict not directly connected to our safety or other vital national interests.” So said William Ruger about Afghanistan, our longest war. What makes this statement significant is that President Trump has...
Dane Rianhard: Pandemic hasn’t broken employer health insurance system
Over 51 million Americans have filed for unemployment since covid-19 struck. But for the most part, they haven’t lost their health insurance. An astounding 98% of workers who had employer-sponsored health benefits before the pandemic are still enrolled in workplace plans, according to a July report. That encouraging statistic ought...
Jennifer Christman: Companies can support veteran suicide prevention plan
Amid the covid-19 pandemic, a potential solution to an existing epidemic has slipped under the radar — but it cannot be ignored. The White House recently formed a new task force and announced The President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS). The PREVENTS task...
Letter to the editor: Will Trump debate an empty chair?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she doesn’t want Joe Biden to debate. Hey, what is President Trump supposed to do, have an empty chair on the debate stage, like Clint Eastwood did at the 2012 Republican National Convention? Sylvia Kistler Hempfield...
Letter to the editor: Democrats’ radical policies
In her letter “What it means to be a Democrat” (Aug. 30, TribLIVE), Diana Steck listed the core values of Democrats. They are noble statements, but I don’t think they represent the policies of Democrats today, which I see as: 1. Blocking voter ID laws that would protect your vote...
