Opinion category, Page 663
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of March 30
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of March 30....
S.E. Cupp: Trump can’t guide us through coronavirus, but conservatism can help
While many state governors are stepping up to meet the continuing challenges of coronavirus in unprecedented ways, our federal government continues to let us down. At the White House, we know the president took too long to act, dismissed the seriousness of the pandemic in the earliest days, spread misleading...
Editorial: Helping each other in pandemic
Bad situations can bring out the best in people. It can also bring out the worst. People are scared and unsure in the coronavirus pandemic. They don’t know what’s coming next on the economic roller coaster, and they are nervous about grocery shopping and opening doors. And let’s just admit...
Christopher Regan: Every American deserves a chance to live
Christopher Regan is an attorney with Bordas & Bordas in Pittsburgh, and the former vice chairman of the West Virginia Democratic Party. It has been hard for a long time to say anything about politics that helps anyone with anything. If you say something to one side or the other,...
Letter to the editor: Government should issue cash via credit cards
The best way to get cash quickly into the hands of the people would be credit cards. This would solve the problem of having to leave the house to place an order, and the cash would get into the economy immediately. Also, it would make it impossible for anyone who...
Letter to the editor: Wolf should rethink liquor store closure
As the world faces an unprecedented pandemic, businesses and industries struggle to cope with uncertainty and the devastating impacts of covid-19. Leaders in every state are struggling to find a careful balance between protecting public health while also protecting the financial health of state and local economies. To date, Pennsylvania...
Letter to the editor: We need to put politics aside & come together
Though it’s nearly impossible for individual citizens to have much impact on the idiotic, partisan behavior of our elected representatives in Washington, it is possible to take a moment to recognize the actions of those who, regardless of political leanings, are out doing the jobs that are truly vital to...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: During crisis, people want information, not false assurances
The people of L’Aquila, Italy, went about their business as usual in the first week of April 2009. It was a city of around 70,000 residents and the capital of the Abruzzo region — a busy center for government, commerce, education and culture. Abruzzo has a history of plagues and...
Dom Costa: Crime victims deserve more rights
Nobody plans to be a victim of crime. As a 27-year veteran of the Pittsburgh Police department and former chief of police, I’ve seen this firsthand. I’ve sat with women who have been abused and mothers who have lost children, and I’ve seen the terror in their eyes. I know...
Editorial: Tracking covid-19 spread in Pennsylvania
It’s up to us all now. The Pennsylvania Department of Health is not untangling the webs that tie one covid-19 infection to another anymore. The disturbing thing is that isn’t just happening now. “Contact tracing stopped last week, as the number of cases alone, without doing follow-up contact, became challenging...
Sounding off: Hoarding is un-American
The coronavirus outbreak has panicked people into hoarding food, paper products and sanitizing compounds. Consumers across the country are conducting binge purchases of these products, and most supermarkets are reporting bare shelves and difficulty in restocking them. The binging activity is very un-American. There is no need for people to...
Nathan Benefield: State lawmakers must act now to mitigate crisis
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Pennsylvania workers, health care providers, and students and families are faced with unprecedented obstacles that demand action from Harrisburg. Gov. Tom Wolf has taken a strong approach by closing schools and shuttering so-called “non-life-sustaining” businesses. But could the cost of these drastic measures...
Letter to the editor: God’s grace & covid-19
Never has our economy and day-to-day life come to a sudden and complete halt. In the coming months, we will see many of our neighbors lose their jobs and businesses. In addition to a very real fear of disease, we soon will be forced to confront the fear of being...
Letter to the editor: Men & women & coronavirus survival
This coronavirus is putting a crimp in my masculine world, and my wife’s from her feminine domain, because we are not free to move about the country. The thing is, I sort of have this illusion of myself as a roaring lion. And with the loudest burps I can conjure,...
Letter to the editor: Climate change the bigger threat
After months of lying, denying and downplaying the threat, President Trump finally admitted on March 16 that the virus is out of control (while giving himself a “10” for his handling of the crisis). He waited until it was no longer possible to deny the problem, instead at one point...
Letter to the editor: Westmoreland County, we will be OK!
My wife always tells my children, “I would jump in front of a bus to save your life.” Westmoreland County, I want you to know that the doctors, nurses and first responders of this county will jump in front of a virus to save your lives! Every day health care...
Letter to the editor: Universities should focus on medicine, not athletics
The onset of the covid-19 virus already has brought our “normal” way of life to an abrupt halt. Our health care inadequacies will result in many more deaths than need be, if we were better prepared. Our economy will be in recession and likely a depression. Covid-19 also brings us...
Editorial: $2.2 trillion is coronavirus intensive care
Don’t call it a stimulus. The bill passed by Congress and signed by President Trump will pump $2.2 trillion from Washington into the pockets of Americans and the checkbooks of businesses and the coffers of cities and states. For people who have rent to pay and groceries to buy —...
John Stossel: Red tape pandemic
Coronavirus is frightening. I’m working from home, practicing “social distancing.” Experts say it’ll help “flatten the curve” so fewer people will be infected simultaneously. Then hospitals won’t be overwhelmed. But the infection rate grows. Doctors and hospitals may yet be overwhelmed. It didn’t have to get to this point. Coronavirus...
Lawrence McCullough: Anniversary of 15th Amendment & vigilance for voting rights
March 30 marks the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment’s addition to the U.S. Constitution. It’s the amendment that guaranteed the right of African American men to vote, declaring, “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be abridged by the United States or by any...
Mary Schmich: Covid-19 as ‘Boomer Remover’? Let’s talk about that.
Mary Schmich is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune and winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Until the past week or so, I’ve rarely thought of myself as old, at least not in the diminishing way the word is often used. I work a full-time job, walk 5...
Letter to the editor: God’s protection at Word of Life
I — and I’m sure those at Word of Life Church — believe and hope that letter-writer Dr. Marti Haykin is filled with love, compassion and courage as she attends to her physician duties (“For everyone’s sake, stay home!.” Those of us in attendance March 22 prayed for this nation,...
Letter to the editor: A look at covid-19 growth rates
The potential growth of covid-19 should be appreciated so as to maximize the hopefully short-term public response that is badly needed. If it takes its natural course, the virus tends to infect others at a compounding rate of 30% or so. That will lead to a peak infection supposedly around...
Lori Falce: Older Americans can’t be sacrificed
I have spent my life in the shadow of people who have lived more than I have. My grandma was 92 when she died. She taught me how to make the perfect chocolate cake and about facing the world with grace and dignity no matter what happened to you. My...
Paul Kengor: A professor’s coronavirus perspective
“Well, you know I’m graduating this semester. This may be the last time I see you.” So said one of my students somberly at the end of class last week. Typically, that’s a goodbye I hear in mid-May, not mid-March. It came in response to a campuswide email announcing that...
