Opinion category, Page 625
Letter to the editor: Fireworks remind vet of soldier friends in Vietnam
As I was watching the July 4 fireworks on TV, I remembered my first night in Vietnam. The company commander told me to report to C Barracks until they formally could give me an assignment. I walked down the hill and was met by a young Black soldier. “Come on...
Letter to the editor: Democratic leaders must speak out, too
I feel compelled to respond to the letter “Our leaders must speak out on racism” (June 27, TribLIVE) regarding state Sen. Kim Ward’s warning on the Greensburg rally for George Floyd. I believe these protests are organized by Marxists who are using race as a vehicle to achieve their political...
Editorial: Our great outdoors are an asset to cherish
It’s hot out there. Southwestern Pennsylvania is in the middle of a heat wave that will see 90-degree highs all week. Seems like the perfect time to get outside and do something fun, right? But ugh, there it is again. The coronavirus pandemic. Just sitting there, ruining everything. We have...
Tom Purcell: A cool idea whose time has come again
I’m getting a whole-house attic fan installed this week — just like the one my father had installed in my childhood home — and I cannot wait to cool my house using his old-time methods. I have nothing against air conditioning, mind you. I run my central unit on summer’s...
Dr. James Thrasher: The call to do and act justly
As I approached the county courthouse for jury duty, my unfocused mind was in many different places, including being sincerely burdened by the state of our nation. I had filled out the eligibility questionnaire and made arrangements with my employer, and was committed to fulfilling my civic duty. I was...
Letter to the editor: American people need health care
The new attempt by President Trump to destroy the Affordable Care Act illustrates yet again that Republicans are desperate to take away the access of everyday people to health care. The fresh horror now is that they are doing this during a time of record unemployment due to an unprecedented...
Letter to the editor: Taking money, power from police is pitiful
So all the people who rioted in the streets, destroyed their neighbors’ property, started fires and committed crimes against the police suddenly think they’re entitled to do whatever they please. If a crime was not committed in the first place, there would be no reason for the police to be...
Letter to the editor: Reschenthaler drank the Kool-Aid
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler’s op-ed “Trump built greatest American economy before. He’ll do it again.” (June 22, TribLIVE) is nothing more than an ad for Trump. He drank the Kool-Aid. Leonard Mucci Derry Township...
Letter to the editor: Protesting in the Twilight Zone
“Peaceful protesters” vandalize a statue of the pioneer of peaceful protesting — Mahatma Gandhi. The same protesters who in the past probably carried signs that read “Stop Climate Change” stop traffic on busy interstate highways, creating miles-long stoppages, with thousands of cars idling and spewing climate-changing CO2. In numerous cities...
Letter to the editor: Reschenthaler’s Trump view out of touch
It is apparent that Guy Reschenthaler (“Trump built greatest American economy before. He’ll do it again.” June 28, TribLIVE) is out of touch with his constituents in Westmoreland County. Many people here are struggling to get by. Even before the virus hit, food banks were busy, and several homes were...
Letter to the editor: Wear masks to protect others
Letter-writer George Silowash (“Effectiveness of cloth masks”) brings up an interesting point. That is, his thoughts regarding viral particles remaining in a mask after evaporation of the exhaled respiratory droplets. It’s unclear to me whether the virus would adhere or be readily reinhaled. However, even if they were “free” and...
Letter to the editor: Nothing will come of grand jury report on fracking
Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s grand jury’s damning report clearly exposes the devastatingly harmful effects of shale gas drilling on Pennsylvanians. In particular, the incompetence and corruption of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection is revealed, showing how it not only failed to protect the public but worked hand in glove with...
Editorial cartoons for the week of July 6
Editorial cartoons for the week of July 6....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of July 6
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of July 6....
S.E. Cupp: Trump endangering his own voters
If you’re a white supremacist, racist or just feeling insecure about your status as a white man in America, the president of the United States sure wants you to know, he’s got your back. Over the past few weeks, President Trump has stoked racial divisions by making steady, clumsy and...
Editorial: Mask solution could be simple smile
Sometimes addressing one problem can solve others. It’s the happy accident of a Botox shot that could smooth out wrinkles or tame migraines, or the Kleenex that was intended to polish eyeglasses but became better known for wiping noses. You never know just what issues an invention will address. Rose...
Letter to the editor: Better ways to make impact than protesting
Regarding the article “Allegheny County reports 90 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily total for county” (June 27, TribLIVE): Why didn’t you include protests in the list of gathering places contributing to the uptick in coronavirus cases? Most of those attending didn’t have masks on and/or were nowhere near social...
Letter to the editor: After statues, what will we destroy next?
What next? Once we remove our national statues, where do we go from here? As a newly anointed anarchist (not), I am sorely troubled. I recently discovered pictures of despicable individuals in my wallet. Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Jackson, Lincoln and Grant. Should I shred or burn these nasty federal notes?...
Letter to the editor: Chief Justice Roberts should examine past
In his decision on Louisiana’s abortion law, Chief Justice John Roberts chose not to rule on the merits of the law (“Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana abortion clinic law,” June 29, TribLIVE), instead choosing to apply “stare decisis,” the following of precedents in law. If this practice had been rigorously...
Letter to the editor: Parents, put the good stuff in your kids’ minds
Perhaps the most important task facing parents today in this digital world is instilling in your children a sense of right and wrong and strong moral values. Their senses are on overload with constant exposure via phones and tablets that have more computing power than the Apollo 11 spacecraft that...
Letter to the editor: Coronavirus a test from the universe?
OK, so let’s be honest: Coronavirus and quarantine have been nothing but an absolute prison. This has actually caused the depression rate around the world to go up significantly, and I understand why. My experience with this horrible pandemic started out fine, but it’s really starting to get to me....
Letter to the editor: Suffering in long-term care facilities
People in local long-term care facilities are suffering far more from abandonment and neglect than covid-19. From what I’ve experienced, adequate staffing adjustments have not been made to accommodate residents’ needs. Families are not permitted inside the facilities to give attention, stimulation, love and care. Yet it seems the number...
Editorial: The importance of local news
The news is everywhere. It’s filling up your cellphone and your inbox and your Facebook feed. It’s on for 24 hours on stations devoted to updating you on what they just updated you about. It crawls across the bottom of the screen while you are trying to watch something else...
Robert Speel: County of residence often all that counts in Pa. primaries
Pennsylvanians just voted in primary elections to nominate Democratic and Republican candidates for the office of state auditor general. Those candidates will face off against each other in November. I teach courses about American politics and elections at Penn State. Every time I ask students if they know what the...
Annie Grice, David Ehrenwerth and Thomas Reiter: With religions working together, we shall overcome
Another cellphone video captures the sin of racism, the nation’s slumbering conscience awakens, and political solutions are forcefully advanced. Yet at the most fundamental level, do we not face a moral reckoning demanding a moral diagnosis and a moral cure? At such moments in our past, the Hebrew Bible, traditionally...
