Opinion category, Page 621
Editorial: Names of jurors in Held trial should be released
A jury has a job. Everything that happens in a criminal trial plays to an audience of 12. The jury is entrusted with the solemn responsibility of hearing evidence and legal arguments and setting aside preconceptions to determine whether or not someone committed a crime. It’s arguably the most important...
Sounding off: A Biden win would benefit Republicans
A Joe Biden victory is the best hope Republicans have. Because if Biden loses, President Trump will continue to drag down the party for four more years. Republicans are already in serious danger of losing more seats than anyone ever imagined because they have protected and enabled Trump. If the...
Sarah Charlier-Vermeire: Our children deserve better
When I first heard of a local district’s plan to reopen schools in the fall, with seemingly little in the way of mitigation efforts beyond the use of face masks, I was utterly appalled. I openly proclaimed that I would never trust my children in the hands of a district...
Letter to the editor: If Trump cared, he wouldn’t hold rallies
What does it say about the character of a man who would willingly and knowingly put thousands of people’s health and lives at risk seemingly for the sake of flattering his ego and feeding his lust for power? Surely if President Trump’s record was as sterling as he would have...
Letter to the editor: We need to band together to deal with crises
I can’t understand why we keep changing from one thing to another. The coronavirus has cost us many lives, and many more if we keep fooling ourselves that it is not serious or deadly. Everything was being dealt with until May 30; then our nation turned itself into a riot...
Letter to the editor: Trump could win if he becomes diplomat
Our country and our culture are being undermined and destroyed by terrorists. What we are doing about it is not working. We treasure our federal system of government. If President Trump is forced to call in the Army, it sets a dangerous precedent for him and for the country and...
Letter to the editor: Refusal to wear mask endangering lives
Some people are complaining about their civil rights and freedoms being taken away by Gov. Tom Wolf’s mask mandate. Some realize the danger we are facing from this killer virus and are happily following the advice of scientists and medical experts. Others are saying “No one is going to tell...
John Stossel: Too much faith in models
Between 2 million and 3 million Americans will die! That was the prediction from “experts” at London’s Imperial College when covid-19 began. They did also say if there was “social distancing of the whole population,” the death toll could be cut in half, but 1.1 million to 1.46 million Americans...
Walter Williams: Despicable behavior of today’s academicians
The Michigan State University administration pressured professor Stephen Hsu to resign from his position as vice president of research and innovation because he touted research that found police are not more likely to shoot Black Americans. The study found: “The race of a police officer did not predict the race...
Stuart Fisk: Syringe programs save lives
As Pennsylvania continues to grapple with covid-19, it is urgent that we do not lose sight of the overdose crisis that has ravaged our state in recent years. Pennsylvania has the third highest rate of overdose deaths and the ninth highest rate of new HIV infections in the nation. In...
Colin McNickle: Allegheny Co.’s law of diminishing educational returns
If graduation criteria for Pennsylvania high school students set to begin with the class of 2022 were in effect today, a large percentage of students in a diverse group of 16 Allegheny County school districts would not meet the basic requirements, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public...
Letter to the editor: Democratic leaders failing on covid-19 response
Once again, Joseph Sabino Mistick shows he is just another political hack (“Medicine and science, not politicians, will keep us safe,” July 11, TribLIVE). While his comments are true about the politicians cited, all Republican, he ignores the most egregious examples of failure, all Democrats. I believe the governors of...
Letter to the editor: Public cybercharter schools provide quality education
Recently, the Hempfield Area School Board sent a letter discouraging families from choosing public cybercharter schools, which are often the best educational opportunities for their children. I have worked within a public cybercharter school for 15 years. As public school educators, it is our responsibility to both ensure all students...
Letter to the editor: The Common People’s Four Freedoms
In 1942 U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace gave a speech about the “Century of the Common Man.” He stated that the American Common Man (people) would be willing to die and go abroad to defend the “Four Freedoms” articulated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt: freedom of speech, freedom of religion...
Letter to the editor: Media should be more equal in reporting
Although I have no case in point, I absolutely refuse to believe that no white person has ever been killed by a Black officer in the commission of a crime or as a suspect of a crime. Why is that? It’s not on the news, there are no protests or...
Letter to the editor: Confederate soldiers were not traitors
I am disappointed in Colin Powell, former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Democrats for playing politics by calling the Confederate military “traitors.” They are playing insult politics with the dead who were faithfully defending their seceded independent country and its principles. I remember in the 1950s...
Lori Falce: Can Disney solve pandemic problem?Video
I love Walt Disney World. I have spent more than my fair share of time in the parks, and yes, I am one of those people who visited even without kids. (If you haven’t, you should. It’s a totally different experience.) I love Dole Whips and the Haunted Mansion, and...
Laurels & lances: Working, moving, rewarding, destroying
Laurel: To a change of plans. For some, a youth group trip cancellation would be the end of a very short story. Cornerstone Ministries made it the start. When middle schoolers from the Murrysville church couldn’t go to New York on a mission trip, the trip didn’t happen, but the...
Adam Marles: Time for state lawmakers, Wolf to fund covid-19 testing
As Pennsylvanians enjoy warm summer days, thousands of older adults living in nursing homes, personal care homes and assisted living cannot leave their facilities or receive visits from their loved ones. This has been the reality for many older adults since our commonwealth entered into lockdown four months ago. The...
Jonah Goldberg: The Republican Party now belongs to Roger Stone
Roger Stone is an infamously execrable force in American politics. Perhaps his only saving grace is that he’s not a hypocrite about it. Stone is a proud “dirty trickster.” The GOP kept him on a leash lest his amorality be too closely associated with the Republican brand. Part of his...
Letter to the editor: God’s supply is limitless
“OK, that’s enough! I’ve had it with your murmuring and complaining!” What child hasn’t heard those words? Now we have a number of people in the country who need to hear those words. In God’s economy, you don’t need to take from those who have to give to those that...
Letter to the editor: Falling coronavirus deaths
With a constant barrage of headlines about “x” number of new cases of covid-19, little is mentioned about how the number of deaths has fallen. A constant focus on cases with very little attention to the few deaths has conditioned people to equate cases with death. Nothing could be further...
Letter to the editor: Wolf, Levine must take the heat
The trouble with politicians is their vision is blurred by political correctness and they can’t see or do what is right for their townships, boroughs, state or nation. Will Rogers once said “a remark generally hurts in proportion to its truth.” Trafford Councilman Zach Cole’s comment about Pennsylvania’s health secretary...
Letter to the editor: ‘Left-wing’ labels misused
After seeing letters like “Democratic leaders must speak out, too” and plenty of fearful tweets and Facebook posts, I feel the need to share some thoughts about the threat of left-wing extremist violence. It’s completely overblown. Pundits throw out misused buzzwords — “Marxist, socialist, antifa”— to create a fearsome boogeyman....
Letter to the editor: Covid-19 and the Catholic Church
Covid-19 has become a whipping boy for all ills associated with the failure of ecclesiastics and hierarchs to protect the Catholic Church. Effeminacy has resulted in inept management and cowardly responses to its festering systemic problems. On March 28, the Pittsburgh Diocese capitulated to the civil authorities, thereby abandoning the...
