Letters to the Editor category, Page 371
Letter to the editor: Shame on Megan Rapinoe
It was with great pride that I watched the U.S. women’s soccer team defeat England’s team for the world championship. And then we saw the team’s captain, Megan Rapinoe, shame herself and her team by refusing an invitation to visit the White House to receive our president’s congratulations on behalf...
Sounding off: Alternatives to accruing college debt
I understand that the op-ed “Plan would slash higher-education costs” is all about debt. It is not about paying off debt, merely getting out from under debt at the expense of someone. Me, I’m a taxpayer. If you owe the government at whatever level and you don’t pay, I do....
Letter to the editor: Politicians’ oath is to Constitution
Will we make it to 2021? OK … many people support President Trump, but this has now moved in a very scary direction. I beg of everyone to reject the idea that citizens — especially elected citizens — should leave the country if they don’t agree with things our country/current...
Letter to the editor: American dream needs borders
There’s no American dream without a border. It marks the beginning of differences between what’s inside the boundary and what’s outside. Some of those differences are opportunities, some are the laws designed to protect the people within. Without laws, a person’s assets might easily be exploited or stolen by others....
Letter to the editor: Turnpike Commission’s math is off
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission approved a 6% toll hike (“Turnpike commission hikes tolls for 12th straight year — and will until 2044,” July 16, TribLIVE). However, the increase from $1.40 to $1.50 is 7.1%, and the increase from $2.30 to $2.50 is 8.7%. So this is really almost an average...
Letter to the editor: Roots of racism, xenophobia
A number of people at President Trump’s recent campaign rally in Greenville, N.C. were sporting T-shirts emblazoned with the message (Expletive) Off — We’re Full. The words were “creatively” etched to resemble an outline of the United States of America. I assume the message was directed to immigrants and refugees...
Letter to the editor: Conor Lamb protects animals
U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb made a commitment during his campaign to support animal protection legislation if elected to the House of Representatives. This earned him the support of the Humane Society Legislative Fund and animal protection advocates throughout the district. In his first six months in Congress, Lamb made good...
Letter to the editor: Herd of unqualified Democratic candidates
In 2015-16 there was a herd of 17 Republican candidates for president who negated each other by sharing campaign funding, diluted votes in the primary, and elected and established the least qualified candidate for president. We now suffer with a president who does not understand the workings of our government,...
Letter to the editor: Motivation of Wolf’s election system veto
In the wake of the 2016 elections, Republican voters have repeatedly been referred to as uneducated, unsophisticated hayseeds who marched hypnotically into the voting booth having been immersed in the MAGA gospel and blindly pulled the Trump lever. Now comes Gov. Tom Wolf vetoing the funding for a new updated...
Letter to the editor: Hoping for a winning Steelers season
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ drama players have finally gone to other teams. Can head coach Mike Tomlin get the team back together again, both on and off the field? Will Tomlin have control inside the locker room? I hope he does, because this is his job. If his reputation is of...
Letter to the editor: Greensburg residents didn’t ‘abuse’ brush pickup
I was shocked to see my neighbors’ home featured in your July 10 article, “People ‘abusing’ Greensburg brush pickup program.” The picture implies my neighbors “abuse” this program. I can tell you, driving past it daily for weeks, that their “large pile of brush” is no bigger than leaf piles...
Letter to the editor: Billboards & people’s rights
Regarding the article “Billboard company calls Tarentum zoning ‘unconstitutional’” (July 10, TribLIVE): It’s important to note that when it comes to rights, it’s not only the billboard company’s that are at issue here. There is also the right of people of Tarentum to use zoning to help determine the scenic...
Letter to the editor: Next steps for Trump supporters
I’m guessing that Trump rally-goers will soon be chanting “String ‘Em Up” each time the president names an African-American Democrat. I see it as a natural next step for this crowd. I’m more certain of what will follow when this happens. Trump will deny that it has anything to do...
Letter to editor: ‘The Squad’ dividing our country
In the 1950s, The Four Freshmen blended “open-harmonic jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires (Glenn Miller), The Pied Pipers (Tommy Dorsey) and The Mel-Tones (Mel Torme/Artie Shaw),” according to Wikipedia. They combined different tones into one united musical sound in the barbershop tradition. These...
Letter to the editor: Conservative case for carbon tax
The climate crisis, with its incredible heat wave in Europe, terrible drought in India and unrelenting rain in our Midwest, shouldn’t be a political issue. But we all know that it is. Resistance to doing something about the crisis is coming primarily from the conservative side of the political spectrum....
Letter to the editor: MLB shows patriotism
Once again, Major League Baseball teaches all other sports. Patriotism, respect and sportsmanship were all perfectly presented at the All-Star Game. The NFL and, sadly now, the women’s soccer team, should take notice. Raymond Smith Buffalo Township...
Letter to the editor: Blackout trauma in New York
So a small part of NYC lost power from right after dinner to right before bed. Wall to wall, commercial free cable news coverage. It was such a catastrophe that Komrade Bill DeBlasio suspended his presidential campaign, aka the No Chance in Hell Express, and immediately got back home, later...
Letter to the editor: Mike Doyle can help fight global AIDS crisis
Over the past 15 years, we’ve made immense progress in the global AIDS fight, but the disease remains a deadly crisis. Every day, the AIDS epidemic claims 2,500 lives. Earlier this year, the House Appropriations Committee took a big step toward continuing America’s leadership in the AIDS fight by maintaining...
Letter to the editor: Opposition to gerrymandering, census question ploys for votes
It confuses me how anyone could be opposed to gerrymandering and the citizenship question on the census. Aren’t they both political ploys to affect voting outcome? One is by redistricting, and one is by counting people who aren’t citizens and should have no right to vote. The citizenship question is...
Letter to the editor: Tax cheats should be forced to pay
I was shocked when reading the Highlands School District delinquent taxpayer list — not only by the sheer number of people who haven’t paid their taxes, but the amounts, many over $10,000. Clearly some people have not been paying their taxes for years, and nothing happens to them, other than...
Letter to the editor: Censorship & disingenuous global warming report
On March 4, Apple removed Westmoreland author Greg Wrightstone’s Inconvenient Facts smartphone app from its App Store. The preferred view is that extreme weather is surging. We are spun and told a partial truth in regards to global warming data. The impacts are exaggerated and the costs of fixing it...
Letter to the editor: School directors’ contact information should be public
Please tell your local legislators to support House Bill 703, which would make it mandatory for school board members to publish their email addresses so their constituents can contact them. Even though the bill does not go far enough, as it should also mandate that they provide their phone numbers,...
Letter to the editor: Integration vital for ending hatred of Muslims
If I told you that 10,000 Muslims and guests gathered in a town in Pennsylvania to celebrate peace and to share an olive branch with their neighbors, would you hold it to be true? Or would you fear the unknown? The Ahmadiyya Muslim community held its annual convention, the USA...
Sounding off: 13-star flag was co-opted by hate-mongers
When I first heard about Nike removing its Betsy Ross flag shoes from the market, I was dismayed and thought that people where being too touchy-feely and too PC. Once I heard the context of the situation, I understood the objection. I always saw that flag as a starting point...
Letter to the editor: Let’s be civilized, decent again
Let’s be civilized, decent again Let’s all go back to where we came from; about 90% of me would have to go to the British Isles, and the rest chopped up between Sweden and Germany. I guess I could take part of a cousin or two along, but they’d have...
