Opinion category, Page 604
Suzanna Masartis: Don’t give chronic condition sufferers another thing to worry about
In Pennsylvania, covid-19 continues to ravage communities, with the number of cases now exceeding 142,000 and climbing. For people struggling with chronic liver disease, this is devastating news. According to the Centers for Disease Control, Americans with liver disease, including hepatitis B and hepatitis C, could be at an increased...
Letter to the editor: How did giant hornets get here?
The article “Washington officials trap male Asian giant hornet” (Aug. 18, TribLIVE) stated: “The invasive insect was first documented in the state late last year and officials have said it’s not known how it arrived in North America. It normally lives in eastern and southeast Asia.” How do you think...
Letter to the editor: Destroying signs is destroying freedom of speech
Traveling from Latrobe to my house in Norvelt, I counted 26 Trump yard signs and three Biden signs, including mine. I had proudly pounded my Biden sign in my yard so all could see who I was supporting for president this year. The next morning I woke up to find...
Letter to the editor: Joe Biden is not pro-life
To letter-writer William Werts (“Pro-lifer plans to vote for Joe Biden,” Aug. 20, TribLIVE): I agree with your values, as they are also the values of our President Trump. I think you have been misled in thinking, or you did not do your homework: Biden is not pro-life. He joins...
Letter to the editor: Concerned for future of US Postal Service
I am greatly concerned about what is happening to the U.S. Postal Service, as I am a prior postmaster relief and I worked in one of the main distribution centers. At that time, the post office received and distributed your basic mail, and we were also responsible for large volumes...
Laurels & lances: Changing, giving, building, caring
Laurel: To adaptability. Lots of small businesses are trying to find ways to keep the doors open while the coronavirus pandemic is changing the way people shop, dine and drink. The creativity of some entrepreneurs in Pittsburgh’s East End is an urban take on a more rural model. Farms —...
Carla Hall: Can we leave Nancy Pelosi’s hair alone?
So, let’s talk about Nancy Pelosi’s hair. Or, more specifically, the wash and blowout that the Democratic House Speaker from San Francisco got at a salon there that was shuttered by pandemic rules but somehow managed to open for her — and just her. Of all the rules surrounding the...
Paul Kengor: Covid-19’s devastation of small-town theaters
We’ve all witnessed covid-19’s terrible impact on the economy, especially restaurants, bars, and, well, you name it. One thing uniquely hit, literally silenced, are small-town movie theaters that have long struggled to stay in business. People in my community are feeling this. The Guthrie Theatre, which has operated in downtown...
Lori Falce: Chadwick Boseman was the hero 2020 needed
If there is one thing we have learned in 2020, it is what a hero looks like. A hero doesn’t have to jump in front of a bullet. He might drive a bus. A hero doesn’t have to run faster than a train. She might admit patients in the ER....
Claudine Schneider: Freedom of the press under threat
While Americans focus on the coronavirus pandemic, the ongoing economic crisis and now the presidential campaign, top Republicans in Washington are continuing to attack one of the constitutional pillars of American democracy: our free press. America’s founders knew freedom of the press was so important that they enshrined it in...
Letter to the editor: No plea bargains in exchange for more drug arrests
Regarding the article “Feds accuse 26 of being part of fentanyl-trafficking ring tied to Shot Boyz gang, Latrobe drug dealing” (Aug. 21, TribLIVE): Great, as long as the DA does not plea bargain the charges down to get them to talk so he can claim more arrests. Clem Zahrobsky Delmont...
Letter to the editor: Make your vote count — in person
President Trump is correct when he says mail-in ballots are open to fraud. A recent report from the Crime Prevention Research Center says 78% of the countries in the OECD (generally representing the developed world) either do not allow mail-in ballots “for people living in the country” or require a...
Letter to the editor: Joe Biden’s ‘goodness’
Erstwhile conservative S.E. Cupp’s take on the Biden family album displayed at the DNC convention inspired her to pronounce them “good people” (“I’m voting for Biden because he’s a good person — and why that matters”). She may have to revise her sentiment upon learning that the supposed blind-date-to-bliss romance...
Letter to the editor: Not all Democrats are ‘radical left’
I received a pop-up ad on my iPhone: “STOP THE RADICAL LEFT.” Like the bell-shaped curve that graded your tests in college, the curve can also describe the political spectrum in America. The radicals are those who favor quick change. Protesters, strikers and revolutionaries are included in this group. They...
Editorial: Sign theft stifles free speech
Speech isn’t always about using your voice. Maybe it’s a book. Maybe it’s a quote in a magazine article. It could be a T-shirt or a hat or a tattoo. But as the election approaches, one form of speech will pop up more and more: the yard sign. They may...
Letter to the editor: What I’ve learned from covid-19
Since March 2020 when this pandemic started, I have learned that this virus is very intelligent. I had expected people to be dropping dead in the streets based on the media hype, but the virus seems to have evolved so much in the past five months that it: • Understands...
Colin McNickle: Allegheny County demolition fee questions abound
It was in April that Allegheny County, under the auspices of Pennsylvania Act 152 of 2016, increased by $15 the fee to record deeds and mortgages. The money is to be used to pay for the demolition of “blighted properties.” Allegheny County’s document-recording fee is now $181.75. Since 2013, when...
Phyllis Chamberlain: We must protect renters, homeowners impacted by covid-19
The coronavirus pandemic has affected our daily lives in unanticipated ways, and our path to recovery won’t be short. Shortly after Gov. Tom Wolf announced he didn’t have the ability to extend eviction and foreclosure moratoriums, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an order to halt the pending...
Michael Poliakoff: The challenge of anti-racism education
The shock of seeing so many Black people killed this summer in brutal police actions has seared the conscience of the nation. The memory of the 2015 murder of nine African Americans at a Bible study in Charleston, S.C., by an unrepentant white supremacist needs to weigh on America as...
Letter to the editor: Destruction of our nation
Saul Alinsky — that’s a name the Democrats know well; after all, he wrote the playbook many of them use. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate your target. Most of all, keep up the pressure and rhetoric. We have...
Letter to the editor: Op-ed writer is no longer a Republican
It is all about trust. The Tribune- Review printed a stunning opinion piece by Wayne Gilchrest (“Republican senators want to kill health care and now Social Security and Medicare?” Aug. 20, TribLIVE). He really let his fellow Republicans have it about cutting the payroll tax deduction, refusing to negotiate with Democrats...
Letter to the editor: Trump fills, not drains, swamp
“I’m getting rave reviews.” Those were the words of President Trump after he granted clemency to Roger Stone. Yes, Trump drained the swamp, all right. And filled it with his own creatures, turning it into what I see as a sea of hypocrisy. In my opinion, the Republican Party of...
Letter to the editor: Jeannette, a great little town
Regarding Roger Stock’s letter “Retire term West Jeannette?” (Aug. 11, TribLIVE): Taking the “West” out of West Jeannette means you are taking away my childhood and the childhoods of thousands of kids from Jeannette. I’m 70 years old, and I have never heard of a separate and autonomous neighborhood in...
Editorial: Evictions need answers, not hints
This is no time for hints. On Tuesday, the moratoriums on evictions in Pennsylvania expired. Gov. Tom Wolf pushed the pause button on the legal process that removes renters from their homes. Nonpayment of rent is the most common reason for eviction and both the state and the federal government...
Pat Buchanan: Where will all these war games lead?
In northeast Syria last week, a U.S. military vehicle collided with a Russian armored vehicle, injuring four American soldiers. Both the Americans and Russians blame each other for failing to follow established rules of the road. Had an American been killed, we could have had a crisis on our hands....
