Opinion category, Page 647
Letter to the editor: China’s covid-19 response shouldn’t be praised
In early February, the World Health Organization praised China’s government for its response to the covid-19 virus. While China was able to decrease the number of new cases rather quickly, the protocols the country put in place may have lasting effects on its citizens’ basic human rights. The government was...
Letter to the editor: Advice for Gov. Tom Wolf
Gov. Wolf: It appears you refuse to deliberate with the General Assembly, or hear constituents, concerning covid-19 and instead make decisions alone. You decide what we do — if we go to church, school or work; if we go bankrupt, stay in business, feed our family, or survive things more...
Letter to the editor: Gov. Andrew Cuomo a responsible leader
On April 26, CNN aired New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus press briefing from noon to 1 p.m. In that one hour the governor, very clearly and in detail, described where the city of New York and the state stood in fighting the pandemic and the recent progress that’s been...
Editorial: Following rules the key to lifting lockdown
Everyone couldn’t wait to get to yellow. It has been weeks since Gov. Tom Wolf announced a color-coded path from a full coronavirus lockdown to a more moderate restriction. On May 1, he signaled the first rope to drop with northwest and north-central counties enjoying the slightly relaxed rules of...
John Stossel: Ban plastic bags! No, never mind!
Recently, many politicians were in such a hurry to ban plastic bags. California and Hawaii banned them, then New York. Then Oregon, Connecticut, Maine and Vermont passed laws against them. More than 400 cities did, too. Why? Because plastic bags are evil , didn’t you know? “Look at the damage...
Walter Williams: Bad marks on nation’s report card
The Department of Education just released results of the quadrennial National Assessment of Educational Progress tests in U.S. history, civics and geography given in 2018 to thousands of American eighth-graders: “Grade 8 Students’ NAEP Scores Decline in Geography and U.S. History; Results in Civics Unchanged Since 2014.” The tests were...
Paul Finkelman: Intellectual property and protecting Pa. jobs
Paul Finkelman, Ph.D., is president of Gratz College and a former law professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. The novel coronavirus has ravaged Pennsylvania, forcing more than 1.5 million of our neighbors to the unemployment line. This represents 23% of the Keystone State’s workforce. The devastation far...
Candace McKinley: Covid-19 pandemic underscores urgency of ending cash bail
Candace McKinley is the lead organizer for the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, which is working to end cash bail in Philadelphia. The mission of the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund is to end the use of cash bail in Philadelphia and, until that day comes, post bail for as many of...
Letter to the editor: Why can Gov. Wolf see his barber?
This morning on the news I was listening to our governor and thought, “Gee, he looks well trimmed and coiffed.” His beard was very nicely trimmed and his hair was cut, and it made me wonder why or how can he get a barber and I’m not allowed to see...
Letter to the editor: Masks as campaign gimmick is insulting
During this viral catastrophe, our recognized heroes have been nurses, doctors, first responders, delivery people and many, many others who brave the danger of infection to help and protect us all. Also included on that list are the millions of Americans who are practicing social distancing and wearing masks when...
Letter to the editor: Bias in numbers
Regarding Lori Falce’s column “Truth, math and politics” (April 30, TribLIVE): Sorry, numbers do lie, numbers are biased, numbers are political and numbers do have agendas. You forget people with biases and agendas construct, collect and report the numbers. America’s one-third of all worldwide cases despite having 4% of the...
Lori Falce: The problem with pseudoscience
I love science. A casual glance at my high school report card might make that hard to believe, but it’s true. If social studies is the mythology of how we came to be where we are today, science is the magic. The simple recipes of adding this element to that...
Paul Kengor: Covid-19’s toll on tollbooths
As anxious Pennsylvanians push the commonwealth of Pennsylvania to open up and return to normal, I wonder about the new normal for state employees who collect tolls for the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It could be a new normal they will not be welcoming. The thought hit me while hopping on the...
Laurels and lances: Hunger, rats and food
Laurel: To comfort food. Hunger isn’t something new. While the economic instabilities of the coronavirus pandemic may have exacerbated the issue, food insecurity has affected the Southwestern Pennsylvania area at higher rates than the rest of the country for years. According to the City of Pittsburgh, about 21.4% of its...
Alessandra Hirsch: A GI Bill for health care workers
Alessandra Hirsch, M.D., is a first-year resident physician in obstetrics and gynecology in Chicago, Ill. On Sunday, March 15, the single day that I was given to adjust from a full month of working overnight to my next rotation in gynecologic surgery, I received an email with new instructions: all...
Letter to the editor: Recognizing nurses’ bravery
Every day, Pennsylvania nurses are on the front lines of our health care system, delivering high-quality patient care and saving lives. During National Nurses Week May 6-12, I want to recognize and thank the more than 500 nurses and health care workers whom I represent as president of HealthCare-PSEA. Nurses...
Letter to the editor: Playing politics with pandemic
The pandemic will end. Will Pennsylvanians have an economy left, or will Gov. Tom Wolf have destroyed it? Democrats, including Wolf, can’t understand how President Trump won the election. How could Pennsylvania vote for Trump? He must be destroyed at any cost, even if Pennsylvania’s economy is decimated. Of course,...
Letter to the editor: Trump ‘the chosen one’
In response to Bob Serena’s letter “Trump is protecting our country” (April 9, TribLIVE): I guess he forgot about a few things. President Trump is a great businessman, but his companies had to file bankruptcy six times. He couldn’t join the military because of bone spurs. Really? His words: “I...
Letter to the editor: Moving forward on covid-19
We are nearly two months past Pennsylvania’s first reported covid-19 case, yet there still seems to be a growing number of unanswered questions about just how much risk one faces from the virus. We know that covid-19 can be highly lethal in high-risk populations. At the time of this writing,...
Nicholas Goldberg: Is it time for Drs. Fauci and Birx to quit on principle?
How long can Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci keep this up? We’ve been watching their faces, and we know as surely as we know ourselves that they are in agony working for an administration ruled by chaos and led by an irresponsible enemy of science who gets his facts wrong,...
Editorial: State should open or offer help for smaller counties
Pittsburgh is definitely the big dog in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The city can suck up all the air in the room. Look up pictures of the area, and you can be overwhelmed by the rivers and bridges, the stadiums and the glass and steel skyline. But cross those bridges or drive...
Bryan Mark Rigg: Nurses are sacred part of our society, military
This month, National Nurses Month, we honor nurses throughout history, noting the brave care they are presently administering for victims of the coronavirus. All of us have benefited from nursing care, from the time we were born to the end of our lives. The word nurse comes from old-French nourice,...
Rep. John Joyce: America must hold China accountable for coronavirus
Over the past few months, the coronavirus has raced across the world, attacking innocent victims and causing economic strife. This unprecedented crisis has mobilized President Trump and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania to take aggressive action to slow its spread. Too many Pennsylvanians have lost their livelihoods and, in some tragic...
Letter to the editor: Thanks to behind-the-scenes workers
As we show our appreciation for caregivers, we may be forgetting to thank thousands of people who work behind the scenes such as housekeeping and maintenance staff, security guards, fast-food workers, delivery people — the list goes on and on. These are the people who make life tolerable through this...
Letter to the editor: We must accept risks to lead our lives
Letter-writer Leonard Mucci is waiting for a response to his question “How many deaths are acceptable to restart economy?” (April 27, TribLIVE). Mr. Mucci, 39,000 people die per year in the United States from vehicle accidents on our nation’s highways. How many deaths are acceptable to you in order for...
