Opinion category, Page 668
Letter to the editor: Tale of 2 Americas
Reading recent letters, you’d think there are two Americas. One is certain righteousness, President Trump’s logic and reason, spouting claims that “He has arrived,” supporting a chosen son who’d make Geppetto’s head explode. The other squandered all political capital promoting morally offensive “progressive” social reforms while abiding archaic bureaucratic mores...
Paul Kengor: Eerie echoes of influenza epidemic
Exhibit 1: Elizabeth Sovel Flinn. Born in 1891, she died about this time 100 years ago, age 29, a victim of the catastrophic influenza epidemic of 1919-20, also known as the Spanish flu. She was my grandmother’s mother (my dad’s side). My grandmother wasn’t even 3 years old at the...
Lori Falce: Antidote to panic is information
My son is at home today, no doubt ignoring his vocabulary and the math homework he should be getting done in favor of battling zombies on his PlayStation. I did not keep him home because of coronavirus. Well, not because I am afraid of coronavirus. No, he is home because...
Laurels & lances: Seizing, teaching, tasting and hoarding
Laurel: To doing the right thing — eventually. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has returned $82,373 to an Allegheny County man after confiscating it from his daughter. Rebecca Brown boarded a plane with the cash that had been saved for years in her father Terry Rolin’s South Fayette home. She...
Letter to the editor: Reasons for Trump support
Four possible reasons why certain voters rabidly support the impeached B-actor President Donald John Trump: Either they’re deaf, intellectually disabled and blind, or they are of his ilk. Anthony Cortazzo Jr. Penn Township, Westmoreland County...
Letter to the editor: Paying on both ends with MAWC
On Feb. 11 at 4:15 a.m., we awoke to our water pipes banging. Then we had brown, muddy water in our house. On Water Street in West Newton at 7:40 a.m., the fire hydrants were open full onto the streets, and water crews were working on several streets. We pay...
Letter to the editor: Stop importing from China
The recent outbreak of covid-19 from the coronavirus originating in China should force us to reexamine the wisdom of importing so many of our products from China. I believe it is high time to consider ways of manufacturing more of our products in the U.S. Many products shipped from China...
Letter to the editor: ‘Mediacrats’ & mind control
The Democratic Party and the great majority of the news media have a symbiotic relationship. They support and live off of each other. It’s the height of collusion and greatly influences elections. The Republicans in Congress have historically been the designated losers, like the Washington Generals to the Harlem Globetrotters....
Steve Hvozdovich: We need candidates who support blue-collar jobs & environment
Philip Ameris’ perspective on the types of elected officials, projects and policies we need in order to ensure we uplift Pennsylvanians (“Don’t expect labor’s endorsement after opposing blue-collar jobs,” Feb. 29, TribLIVE) only gets it partially right. As someone who came from a union household, I couldn’t agree more that...
Editorial: Being proactive with coronavirus
This is not about panic. It’s about recognizing reality. The World Health Organization officially designated the novel coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic Wednesday. At that moment, 121 countries were affected, with 124,830 patients diagnosed and 4,585 deaths. Of those diagnosed, 67,050 have already recovered. That is good news and shows...
Letter to the editor: President Trump & coronavirus battle
It’s not very reassuring that the man on the front line protecting us from the coronavirus is the same person who had (allegedly) unprotected sex with a porn star. Joe Lucas South Side...
Letter to the editor: Dead people voting is easy to prove, disprove
The issue in the letter “No excuse for not requiring ID to vote” regarding ineligible voters can be easily proved or disproved by a comparison of voter databases with Bureau of Vital Statistics’ death records. Both are considered to be public records and can be easily compared to see if...
Letter to the editor: For sake of world, Trump must be voted out
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi symbolically trashed the president’s State of the Union speech. Her actions described his three years in office. He has trashed our Constitution, the environment, our farmers by issuing tariffs on China, the children of immigrants, citizens with speech and other impediments, our relations with our friendly...
Letter to the editor: More on turnpike nightmare
In his op-ed “The truth behind the turnpike nightmare” (Feb. 22, TribLIVE), Matthew Brouillette of the Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs mentions former state Senate President Pro Tempore Bob Jubelirer — the same senator who vowed that the turnpike would never connect directly to Interstate 70 at Breezewood without passing...
Letter to the editor: Why Democrats hate Trump
You’re on the 50th floor of a burning building with two choices: be consumed by the fire or jump. At the last minute, a fireman appears; however, you are acquainted with him and rumors say he is a sexist, racist, homophobic womanizer. What to do? Jump into his arms, or...
Letter to the editor: Congress violating our rights
I listened to Congress citing constitutional violations and how they need to be addressed. I then looked at my copy of the Constitution and couldn’t get past the Bill of Rights. For those who have not had civics in school (since it is no longer required curriculum in some states),...
Michael Hiltzik: Trump’s payroll tax cut would hurt Social Security without helping workers
It’s natural for decision-makers grappling with a new crisis to dust off ideas tried in the last one, whether they were good ideas or bad. Here’s a bad idea, unearthed by President Trump from a decade ago: Cutting the payroll tax to goose the economy. A payroll tax cut was...
Pat Buchanan: Will Joe Biden kick it away again?
A week or so ago, the candidacy of Joe Biden was at death’s door. Today, Biden’s candidacy is not only alive. He is first in votes, victories and delegates, and is favored to win the nomination and, by most polls, to defeat Donald Trump in November. “The World Turned Upside...
Editorial: Parents are firewalls to protect kids
There are a lot of names for parents today. Helicopter parents hover. Snowplow parents clear the way. Lawn-mower parents cut down obstacles. Name a piece of equipment you probably shouldn’t operate while on cold medicine, and there’s a metaphor for a parent who spends too much time involved in a...
Letter to the editor: Pittsburgh parks deserve equal treatment
It’s been more than three months since Pittsburgh voters approved via referendum a 0.5 mill property tax increase to fund city parks. All of our parks are necessary for the quality of life of everyone in our region. I believe the City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy will...
Letter to the editor: Judge too easy in drug case
Is it any wonder we have a drug problem in Westmoreland County? In January 2019, Laplez Cummings led police on a three-mile car chase, tossing 2,600 stamp bags of heroin out and then jumping out of the moving vehicle and fleeing on foot. Police had to ram his unoccupied vehicle...
Editorial: Pitt’s need-based aid is good call
There are two kinds of scholarships in the world of higher education. There are the ones that you get because of merit. You achieved a grade or passed a test or submitted an essay or won a contest. You show real skill as a student or real promise in your...
Letter to the editor: Where’s evidence on Russian interference?
I am a bit skeptical about all of the news of Russian interference in this year’s presidential election. I hear and read about these allegations coming from sources that made these same claims about President Trump’s election in 2016. Do not tell me to believe these accusations without showing unbridled...
Jonah Goldberg: Calif. primary shows why early voting bad idea
Now will someone listen? Early voting is stupid. Under California’s new election protocols, as many as 40% of California voters voted early, either by mail or at voting centers, for the March 3 primary. And what about those who cast ballots for Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, Mike Bloomberg...
Tom Purcell: Just when we need it, Irish wit, wisdom abounds
We could use some Irish wit and wisdom right now. Here’s a good start: “You’ll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind.” That’s a lesson well taught by the many Irish immigrants, including my great-grandfather, who boldly came to America to make a better life for...
