Opinion category, Page 638
Letter to the editor: Another coronavirus scenario
Consider this scenario: The CDC approaches Madam President Hillary Clinton with projections of 2 million deaths and 50 million infected. Knowing the stock market will tumble from its record high 34,000, the president makes the grave decision to shut down the country and close all borders for the next 30...
Letter to the editor: Legislation would curb elder abuse
As executive director for the Alzheimer’s Association’s Greater Pennsylvania Chapter, I understand personally and professionally the impact this disease has on families across Pennsylvania and our country. Alzheimer’s and all dementia are often emotionally and financially devastating. As the number of people living with dementia rises, so, too, will their...
Letter to the editor: Coronavirus power grab
As we continue our way back from this event, let’s all put aside emotions and politics for a minute. There have been far worse outbreaks in history and there will be more. Life can’t just shut down or stop. The majority of deaths are the elderly and some with other...
Letter to the editor: Local governments need federal funding
I am a licensed practical nurse providing care to individuals with intellectual disabilities. I am on the front lines of this battle against covid-19. I have not been able to stay home and isolate myself. I need to go to work. My workplace is a state-funded entity, and I fear...
Letter to the editor: Global partnership needed on coronavirus
I’m so excited that my favorite bakeries are finally opening up again (“Let them eat Torte: Prantl’s Bakery reopens in Greensburg, Shadyside,” May 21, TribLIVE). Life feels like we’re going back to normal again. However, I’m concerned that this will happen again. With the phase 4 roll-out of the covid-19...
Letter to the editor: Listen to scientists on climate change
The covid-19 pandemic has led to enormous changes in both our daily and our civic lives, most of which are unwelcome. But I have noticed one change that bodes well for our future. Ask most Americans whom they trust the most for information about the disease and its spread, and...
Letter to the editor: Mail-in voting safeguards
I have a question on where letter-writer Daniel C. Mahon Sr. (“Mail-in voting would damage election process,” May 24, TribLIVE) got his information. You see, Mr. Mahon, if you did participate in the mail-in ballot process, you would have learned two things from the beginning to the complete process. First,...
Letter to the editor: Science has made our lives better
Science has given us so many things to make our lives better, such as microwave ovens, televisions and computers, and amazing technologies such as medical imaging and genetic engineering. We gladly accept these conveniences, but whenever they tell us something inconvenient, too many of us would rather believe a scientifically...
Letter to the editor: Nazi comparisons disrespectful
I cannot believe people are equating our current situation to the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. It is an insult and not respectful of the millions who died at the hands of the Nazis. It is an insult to the survivors. We are not being herded into cattle cars, we are...
Editorial: Violence is a different kind of virus
A virus is something that starts small and commonplace, unseen, but is picked up and takes root and can make you sick to your soul before spreading to the next person and the next and the next. We are fighting an epidemic now. We have been fighting it for a...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Trump walking the high wire on coronavirus
Lately, Donald Trump has been missing the mark, one that he usually hits without fail. As a brilliant counter-punching tactician, he could take down his opponents with a cutting nickname. He could enflame his supporters’ passions by finding just the right distortion of his opponents’ records and dominate news cycles,...
Editorial: Don’t be a fair-weather voter
Election turnout can be swayed by interest and sentiment. Care deeply about the position? More people show up. Not excited by the candidates? More people stay home. The ballots cast rise and fall with our rage or our apathy, our engagement and our disdain. A 2007 study by researchers including...
Sounding off: We need both faith, masks
In response to letter-writer Cindy Wallace (“We need faith, not masks”): There is an old Irish saying, “God is good, but never dance in a small boat,” meaning God takes care of us when we do our part to take care of ourselves. Jesus’ message is to love our neighbor...
Andrew Smolar, M.D.: Technology binds us, separates us
In 2016, I was president of our psychoanalytic organization, when progressive colleagues aimed to train new psychoanalysts in China — which would mean providing intensive telehealth psychotherapy for them. The faculty was divided about the idea, as some favored treating patients in-person only. I was torn. I am traditional, but...
Letter to the editor: Missing the smiles during covid-19
Dear Monica Bensko (“Thoughts from a front-line cashier,” May 21, TribLIVE): Bless your heart for your concern and your letter. I understand what you are going through — and many are going though the same. I, too, miss the smiles more than anything. Hannelore Miller Hempfield...
Letter to the editor: Supporting Dickinson for Congress
I have always bled black and gold, but does our representative? Since joining Team Jerry, I have seen a lack of representation and care in our communities. I support Jerry Dickinson and his campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives because of what I have seen. Living in New Kensington,...
Letter to the editor: Vote for the best, not straight ticket
Don’t vote straight ticket. Vote for whoever you feel really will be the right ones in office. The last 12 years have been terrible, so let’s make it great again (although it always has been) by electing the right people. It’s up to us to decide. Remember, “by the people,...
Letter to the editor: We need both faith, masks
In response to letter-writer Cindy Wallace (“We need faith, not masks”): There is an old Irish saying, “God is good, but never dance in a small boat,” meaning God takes care of us when we do our part to take care of ourselves. Jesus’ message is to love our neighbor...
Letter to the editor: Trump and responsibility of presidency
“I don’t take responsibility at all.” President Trump, March 13, 2020 These words will go down in history alongside “we have nothing to fear but fear itself,” “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” and “with malice towards none and...
Letter to the editor: Squandering military sacrifices to covid-19
I was standing at the Memorial Day observance in Vandergrift, having taken advantage of the long weekend to spend time with my elderly parents. As the ceremony was winding down, Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” was played. I can’t shake the irony of listening to the chorus of that...
Editorial: The virus doesn’t recognize political parties
The most important thing people can have from their leaders in a time of crisis is the truth. They need to know that if they are told, “This building is on fire,” it is actually on fire. Conversely, they need to know that if they are told, “This water is...
John Stossel: Jo Jorgensen, a different presidential candidate
We have a choice! Next presidential election, we don’t have to decide between two big-spending candidates, neither of whom has expressed much interest in limited government. Now, we have a third serious choice. This week, Jo Jorgensen, a psychology lecturer at Clemson University, won the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination. OK,...
Walter Williams: A roundup of insane news tidbits
Is it important to have racial or sexual diversity in our fight against the covid-19 pandemic? Heather Mac Donald suggests that some think it might be in her City Journal article “Should Identity Politics Dictate Vaccine Research?” The funding priorities of the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for...
Kristen O’Toole: Masks mean life or death
Wearing a mask is not a political statement for me. It is life or death. I have multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease that is different in everyone. My body attacks its own central nervous system. The disease-modifying therapy I get every 28 days at the hospital intravenously suppresses my...
Jonah Goldberg: Biden faces marketing decision on his running mate
The first thing to remember about vice presidential picks is that they are marketing decisions. That is, once a candidate has been deemed qualified to be president, the only thing that matters is what the choice says about the person at the top of the ticket. It wasn’t always this...
