Opinion category, Page 624
Mary Lou Bitar: An Allegheny Ludlum dad’s dream for his daughter
“I want you to go to college and become a teacher because if you marry a steelworker and he goes on strike you’ll have a job to help support your family!” These words were spoken to me in 1959 by my late father, Andrew Suveges Jr., as I was preparing...
Laurels & lances: Slide, shade, view
Laurel: To big fun outdoors. The summer of 2019 passed without one of the best ways to enjoy the great outdoors in Westmoreland County — the giant slide in Mammoth Park. The delightful Mt. Pleasant Township landmark was closed down for a $1.1 million renovation project that upgraded it from...
Luke Popovich: Pandemic, politics threaten Marcellus jobs
To the seriously stricken airline, hospitality and tourism industries felled by covid-19, add Pennsylvania’s less visible but equally vital oil and gas industry. The viral plague that has slashed economic growth has crippled demand for fossil energy. From Texas oil wells to shale fields in Pennsylvania, producers are facing what...
Letter to the editor: Anti-Trump bias on front page
When editors choose news articles for the front page, do they bother to read them? The AP story “Trump rally shows cracks in campaign” (June 22) reads like a hate-filled diatribe written by a left-wing activist. Where was the objective reporting? Where was the rebuttal quote from a Trump supporter...
Letter to the editor: Trump making America great, all right
President Trump campaigned on making ’Merica first with nostalgia for the past, his slogan calling to make ’Merica great “again.” And indeed, he has recreated many of the most notable moments in past American history. He made ’Merica first all right. We’re first in total covid-19 infections and deaths. Here’s...
Lori Falce: Take off the headphones and listen
I have a love-hate relationship with part of my son’s head. His earphones. Oh, sure, you may argue they are not actually a part of his head. You would be wrong. Prying them away is very much like pulling out fingernails or a tooth. It’s dangerous work best done while...
Paul Kengor: Tear all the statues down?
Last weekend I overheard two recent grads (both musicians) discussing America’s greatest composers. The usual names were raised: Copland, Gershwin, Bernstein, Sousa … Foster. “Who?” said one. “Stephen Foster,” replied the other. Only one knew who Foster was, and neither knew he was from Pittsburgh. Both, ironically, recently spent a...
Claudine Schneider: Republicans’ betrayal of principles
I was born and schooled in Clairton, where I learned a great deal about our nation’s courageous founders. They put their lives on the line at Independence Hall to advance the principle of “rule of law.” When I came of age politically in the mid-1970s, the nation was recovering from...
L.E. McCullough: A masked encounter unmasks a glimpse of truth
Last week I stood in a local grocery checkout line in the East End. The store was large with very high ceilings, and there was enough ambient noise to prevent most people from hearing a normal-volume conversation occurring more than a few feet away. I, however, have excessively sharp and...
Letter to the editor: Trafford leader’s cheap shot on Dr. Rachel Levine
Zack Cole took a cheap shot at Dr. Rachel Levine (“Trafford councilman criticized for transphobic joke about state health secretary,” June 24, TribLIVE). As an elected official and a representative of the people, he should have used better discretion. But like he said, he speaks his mind “regardless of possibly...
Letter to the editor: Can’t understand treatment of police
I would like to try to understand the disdain and even hate some socialist Democrats have toward our police. I realize the hate for the cop who put his knee on George Floyd’s neck — who, in my mind, was trying to murder him. Thankfully he was accused of murder,...
Letter to the editor: Look at fracking report for what it is
Before everyone loses their minds over the state grand jury report on fracking (“‘We started getting sores all over us’: Grand jury report blasts DEP, health department over fracking failures in Pa.,” June 25, TribLIVE), let’s remember a few things about how this report was put together. Attorney General Josh...
Letter to the editor: Elizabeth power plant permit should be denied
As a lifelong resident of West Newton, I am concerned about the proposed Invenergy gas-fired power plant along the Youghiogheny River and Great Allegheny Passage trail. This Elizabeth Township facility will impact not only my community but many that border the river and the trail. These communities bear the burdens...
Editorial: Local impact of international students
New rules for students coming from overseas to study in the United States might seem like something that only needs to concern people coming here from China and France and India for their higher education. But it doesn’t. It affects kids going to school in Pittsburgh and State College and...
Harold Kyriazi: Eliminating the ‘dirty’ root of systemic racism
There are many factors underlying “systemic racism” in the United States. One rarely mentioned but surprisingly vital root cause, however, is our system of land tenure. Currently, land is treated as purely private property, with little or nothing owed to the community for excluding all others from use of that...
Chadwick Dolgos: Experts are being silenced during coronavirus pandemic
America is confused right now, and who can blame us? We are experiencing an increase in coronavirus cases while the media, politicians and health experts argue the cause of the recent spike and best practices in combating the spread of covid-19. While navigating through daily media briefings and news stories...
Letter to the editor: Eliminating identity politics
The America I grew up in had a merit system. We were self-reliant and didn’t want handouts. I don’t care what color your skin, hair or eyes are because all lives matter equally. I expect a level playing field. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I look to a day when...
Letter to the editor: Local politicians are cowardly
Please — let me get this right because I’m confused by all I’m seeing and hearing on all local TV newscasts and to a lesser degree by newspaper and radio reports. Because of an increase in covid-19 diagnoses in Allegheny County, almost all of them among young people — especially...
Letter to the editor: Preserving the Plumer House
We were delighted to read about Gregory Barr’s reuse of the historic John C. Plumer House (“Historic West Newton house converted to Airbnb rental,” June 28), and hope generations of visitors will enjoy it. Unfortunately, the article’s descriptions of the sale of the property and the restrictions imposed by the...
Letter to the editor: Passion can lead to peace
Passion! Most everyone I talk to is passionate about what they observe and believe as it relates to their perspective about what is going on in our country. Passion is often so strong it resembles rage. It doesn’t seem to matter if it’s about racism, wearing masks, Marxism, socialism, patriotism,...
Editorial: Grand jury report on fracking indicts the state
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s latest grand jury report might seem like a diatribe on the evils of fracking. That is definitely what draws attention. The problem is that is only half the story. The other half is the failings of government. As attorney general, Shapiro has made a point...
Pat Buchanan: Are uncivil protests and mob violence winning?
The Seattle Commune is no more. Declared three weeks ago by radical leftists as CHAZ, the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, rechristened CHOP, the Capitol Hill Occupation Protest, the six-block enclave inside Seattle ceased to exist July 1. The cops shut it down. As Marx said, history repeats itself, first as...
Western Pa. health care leaders: Your simple actions matter the most to prevent covid-19
This letter was signed by nine regional health care leaders, named below. Over the past three months, our organizations have proudly come together in an unprecedented fashion to address the enormous challenges we have faced as a community due to the novel coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic. This public health crisis is...
Letter to the editor: Why would Putin pay Taliban to do what they’ve already sworn to do?
When last I heard, those Taliban fellows are all sworn to kill every one of us Americans. Now there’s a story going ‘round that Putin has offered some of those same Talibans a bounty to “assassinate” American soldiers in Afghanistan. Why would Putin offer to pay some of those thuggy...
Letter to the editor: Greensburg Salem’s ‘solution’
In response to “Greensburg Salem keeps taxes flat, cuts librarians and band teacher” (June 29, TribLIVE): At the June 29 Greensburg Salem School Board meeting, Superintendent Gary Peiffer and school board President Ron Mellinger assured the public they have tried every possible creative solution to save numerous eliminated positions. If...
