Opinion category, Page 657
Letter to the editor: Goodness prevails with home health care workers
Sometimes in the midst of tragedy, goodness prevails and good people respond to the needs of others most in need. All across Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the United States, home care workers, staff, nurses and owners of home health care agencies have embraced this concept during the coronavirus pandemic. The home...
Letter to the editor: Hysteria shouldn’t kill our economy
It’s amazing so many are oblivious to the enormous damage this lockdown could do to our lives for years to come. When President Trump suggested we restart the economy soon, there was a chorus of criticism from the political left claiming he cared more about money than saving lives. Indeed,...
Editorial: The economy needs an immune system
When President Trump says the economy needs to be open, he’s not wrong. It’s a matter of timing and safety, based on scientific data, as the president himself has said. But when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says, “This is not a light switch we can just flick on and...
Michael Hiltzik: Trump can’t reopen the economy after the coronavirus, but governors can’t either
President Donald Trump’s assertion Monday that he has “ultimate,” even “total” authority to dictate the reopening of the U.S. economy raised eyebrows among constitutional scholars and set up a conflict with governors and local officials who have placed their own states and communities on lockdown. “In the coming weeks, the...
Susan Spicka: We must ensure equity in remote learning for students
For many Pennsylvanians, the covid-19 pandemic became real on March 13 when Gov. Tom Wolf ordered Pennsylvania’s schools to close. The governor’s recent announcement that schools will not reopen this school year has brought sadness and a deep sense of loss to students, families and educators, who will be wholly...
Letter to the editor: Trump hatred & hydroxychloroquine
“Unproven, risky hydroxychloroquine” a headline exclaimed on the April 10 front page. I wish President Trump hadn’t said he was optimistic about the drug’s ability to fight covid-19. Maybe then the media wouldn’t have launched into knee-jerk Trump hatred, attacking the one drug that has shown more success fighting the...
Letter to the editor: Methodist Church, LGBT & judgment
Jan Lee’s letter “Methodist Church & LGBT people” (March 13, TribLIVE) was spot on. Imagine, a bouncer at church. You are right: Jesus was not at that church because, if he were, the bouncer would have been bounced out. I, for one, would not attempt to enter that church. I...
Letter to the editor: Play by rules to keep parks open
It would be tragic if our beloved parks had to be shut down because of a few ignorant people. Seriously, how difficult is it to stay 6 feet away from each other, and maybe wear masks, too? During this beautiful but scary 2020 spring, our parks provide an important and...
Letter to the editor: We need a truthful, responsible president
In 2018, President Trump dismantled the National Security Council pandemic response leadership, leaving the U.S. unprepared for what medical professionals and scientists said would be inevitable. His administration also shelved a comprehensive pandemic response brief, prepared by the NSC’s health unit after the outbreak of the Ebola virus and finalized...
Pat Buchanan: What price victory in the coronavirus war?
T he same day the number of U.S. dead from the coronavirus disease hit the 15,000 mark, we also crossed the 15 million mark on the number of Americans we threw out of work to slow its spread and “bend the curve.” For each American lost to the pandemic, 1,000...
Letter to the editor: Gov. Wolf, please end this dilemma
Dear Gov. Tom Wolf, My concern is the economic cratering of our economy, both nationally and locally, from the social-distancing mandates. I may be a voice in the wilderness; however, consideration must be given to roll back your directives that have imposed harsh sanctions upon the people of our commonwealth....
Letter to the editor: We must keep being alone together
To our community: It has been a trying time. It is tough to be away from friends and family. It is hard for all of us. But this is not the time for us to take our collective feet off the brake pedal. Now is the time for us to...
Tom Purcell: Work-from-home productivity has come a long way since 1918
Covid-19 has millions working from home. As a longtime teleworker, let me offer some advice. Working from home has many upsides: no traffic jams, office politics or need for business attire. But a month-plus into this pandemic, many are realizing teleworking’s downsides. My morning commute goes from my bedroom to...
Editorial: Voting decision sooner, not later
In some high-stakes competitions, you can get two scores. You get one for degree of difficulty — for trying a backflip instead of a somersault. But you also get one for execution. Fail spectacularly on the attempt and the effort doesn’t matter quite as much. Let’s acknowledge that every government...
Letter to the editor: No use asking for property tax relief
Regarding David A. Colecchia’s letter. “Leaders must act on property tax relief” (April 2, TribLIVE): Mr. Colecchia, throw that whistle away; you’re just blowing in the wind. You have no leaders in your government, only feeders, and bottom ones at that. Carl F. Miller North Belle Vernon...
Letter to the editor: Medicines as bullets
Benjamin Franklin once said: “For the want of a nail the shoe was lost, for the want of a shoe the horse was lost, for the want of a horse the rider was lost, for the want of a rider the battle was lost, for the want of a battle...
Letter to the editor: Union PLCB workers ‘non-essential’?
Let’s see … our state leadership decided to close all “nonessential” businesses to fight the coronavirus (including the state-run liquor stores). However, grocery stores selling wine and beer and beer distributors were deemed “essential.” What is the difference? Oh, right — the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) employees, who continue...
Letter to the editor: Coronavirus ‘not just about you’
I heard it again at the grocery store, the loud boastful, “If I get it, I get it,” as if to say “I don’t need to take any precautions.” Yes, you are young and healthy and most likely would survive the virus. But no, this is not just about you....
Letter to the editor: We must keep health care providers safe
Our niece, Tracy, is an intensive care nurse at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, a small city in the rural southwestern corner of Georgia. Covid-19 invaded Albany in early March. The outbreak has largely been attributed to a funeral in late February that drew over 100 mourners, including a...
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of April 13
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of April 13....
Editorial cartoons for the week of April 13
Editorial cartoons for the week of April 13....
Noah Feldman: Mail-in voting is the only safe way to hold the 2020 election
Mail-in voting is the best way to ensure that the November 2020 election can proceed safely despite the coronavirus pandemic. It’s all too likely we’ll still be dealing with outbreaks then, and it’s well before we’ll have a vaccine. The United States needs to start making plans for mail-in ballots...
S.E. Cupp: Will Bernie brigade show up for Biden?
When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders finally announced he was suspending his campaign — but oddly, that he will remain on the ballot and collect delegates — the news hit his supporters understandably hard. Despite Sanders’ clear lack of viability over the past month, and a pandemic that paralyzed his and...
Editorial: Pandemic state prison release a bad idea
As soon as Tuesday, Pennsylvania will begin releasing inmates from state prisons. They will send them back to their communities on home confinement or to community facilities — as many as 1,800 people deemed non- violent and who would have been released within the next nine months anyway, or who are...
Letter to the editor: A covid-19 tax will be coming to Pa.
Does anybody remember the Johnstown Flood of 1936? Yeah, me neither. But do you know that in 1936, Pennsylvania enacted a “temporary” liquor tax in order to help pay for the damages caused by that flood? At the time, it was 10%; today, it is 18%. Fast-forward to 2020 and...
