Opinion category, Page 421
Letter to the editor: Klein should be reinstated to Jail Oversight Board
The apparent decision to not reinstate Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board member Terri Klein should be reconsidered (“Fitzgerald seeks to appoint former warden to Allegheny County Jail board,” March 4, TribLIVE). It feels like Klein not being reinstated is an act of retaliation for recent votes where she sensibly represented...
Lori Falce: Banning books cages potential
The most miraculous invention in the history of the world is not something with a plug or gas tank. It is not a medicine or surgical technique. It doesn’t fly you to the moon or explore the inner workings of the Earth. But without it, none of that would have...
Letter to the editor: War on fossil fuels
Unimpaired strategic energy planning would have allowed our fossil-fuel independence to continue unabated until clean energy products became nationally available and affordable. But clean energy ideologues convinced President Biden to declare war on fossil fuels. Americans are now living under the impact of that decision. Prices for everything are significantly...
Letter to the editor: Business tax reductions do not create jobs
A common false narrative, pushed by Republican politicians, is that reducing an employer’s income tax will lead to job creation. Not true. The theory is that employers, upon learning that their tax liabilities are being reduced, will be so overjoyed that they will rush right out and hire a bunch...
Laurels & lances: Shooting, sentencing and structure
Laurel: To surviving. Oakmont is not the kind of place where a mid-afternoon shooting is commonplace. It was certainly not what Greg Scampone was expecting at the Fox’s Pizza Den he owns on Allegheny River Boulevard. But it’s what happened when the shop was robbed Sunday. A man walked in,...
Douglas Hannah: How a nondescript box has been saving lives during the pandemic — and revealing the power of grassroots innovation
One afternoon, a dozen Arizona State University students gathered to spend the morning cutting cardboard, taping fans and assembling filters in an effort to build 125 portable air purifiers for local schools. That same morning, staff members at a homeless shelter in Los Angeles were setting up 20 homemade purifiers...
Letter to the editor: Why voting is a political issue
Regarding the letter “Biden, Casey, protect our borders first” (Feb. 13, TribLIVE): When I applied for my mail-in ballot, I was required to send a copy of my driver’s license and sign. They compare my signature and license number on file with PennDOT. I renew my mail-in voting privileges every...
Letter to the editor: Non-intervention may be best for peace
Mysticism is poorly understood. Properly engaged, it’s like an old television variety show, not unlike “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” or “The Carol Burnett Show.” Naturally, this requires an explanation. I was gazing into my crystal ball this morning and, as usual, faces of world leaders appeared between scenes of global...
Editorial: Infrastructure priorities demand plan for success
Failing to plan is planning to fail. Sometimes bumper-sticker-type advice survives for a reason — because it’s true. The saying often ascribed apocryphally to Benjamin Franklin cautions us to know what we are doing before we plunge in headfirst. More than that, it smacks us on the back of the...
Letter to the editor: Longing for safety of Trump
The world was a safer place when Donald Trump was president. During Trump’s term in office, a Middle East treaty was signed, creating trade between Israel and United Arab Emirates. After Trump met with Kim Jong Un, missiles were no longer launched from North Korea. The people of Afghanistan could...
John Stossel: Cowards and leaders
Russia’s invasion revealed big differences in how politicians deal with threats. The president of Ukraine, when offered evacuation, said, “I need ammunition, not a ride.” He’s a leader. By contrast, in Canada a few weeks before, when truckers staged a protest against covid-19 rules, the cowardly Prime Minister Justin Trudeau...
Jonah Goldberg: Trump’s power worship of Putin is repugnant — and predictable
“I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine, of Ukraine, Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful,” Trump explained on a radio show the day after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked...
John Metzler: Russia suffers stunning political setback on Ukraine
Russia has suffered a stunning political setback from the United Nations as Vladimir Putin pursues his ruthless attack against Ukraine. The diplomatic rebuff came amid Moscow’s widening military aggression on Ukraine which has created widespread civilian casualties and triggered a tragic refugee exodus from the East European country. In a...
Patrick Cicero and Bill Johnston-Walsh: Best defense against home heating bills is a good offense
With rising oil and gas prices, inflation woes and the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, these winter months are proving difficult for many Pennsylvania families, especially the 50-plus community. That’s why AARP Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate recently teamed up for a telephone town hall to answer Pennsylvanians’ questions...
Letter to the editor: Invasion of U.S. vs. invasion of Ukraine
Why are liberals OK with the U.S. being illegally invaded by millions from other countries through our southern border, but not OK with Russia invading other countries thousands of miles from the U.S.? The results will be the same: The countries will be changed forever. One will just take longer...
Letter to the editor: A tale of 2 verdicts
The verdicts of Kyle Rittenhouse and Ahmaud Arbery gave us a glimpse of the best and worst of the U.S. justice system. Rittenhouse was judged “not guilty” by his peers in his trial for killing two people and severely injured a third with an assault rifle. The judge insisted the...
Letter to the editor: Shame on those who condone Trump’s evil
Letter-writer Archie Atkinson (“Still blaming Trump?” Feb. 3, TribLIVE) claims hatred and shame on all Democrats. To say all Democratic voters are full of hate is a prejudiced statement. Judging people you know nothing about is no different then judging someone by their nationality or religion. Atkinson says he can’t...
Editorial: The real cost of having — or not having — child care
Think about your monthly household bills. It’s something a lot of people are doing as prices go up, especially in some of the areas that take the big bites. Imagine the largest chunks, and you might go right to rent or a mortgage payment. Maybe a car loan. Health insurance...
Letter to the editor: Biden is a failure
With Joe Biden’s approval rating dropping like a rock, many Americans have concluded that he is a failure. But many Americans, some 34%, still think Biden is doing a good job. Just so everyone is on the same page, I’ll define failure. 1) Using the pandemic to secure emergency powers...
Letter to the editor: GOP betraying America
Letter-writer Katie Forsythe (“Republicans taking us back to the past,” Feb. 22, TribLIVE) and columnist Jonah Goldberg (“RNC’s idea of ‘legitimate political discourse’ shows how far gone it is,” Feb. 9, TribLIVE) are right regarding the GOP. It wasn’t enough for Republican politicians to lick Donald Trump’s boots; they continue to...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Kanye West’s latest behavior has all the makings of a tragedy
This is not funny. I don’t know who needs to hear that. I just know that I need to say it. Not only is it not funny, it’s also not a “celebrity feud,” a “hot topic” or however else you care to characterize meaningless ephemera from the world of the...
Anaïs Peterson: Fracked Gas in Appalachia won’t help Ukraine, but will hurt our communities
On Feb. 28, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition David Callahan took to the press to exploit Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an excuse to advance the coalition’s agenda to increase Appalachian natural gas (aka fracked gas) production, pipelines and exports. In his interview with KDKA, Callahan said “we have...
Joyce Davis: Putin will not stop at destroying Ukraine
We need a global peacekeeping force to stop monsters like Russian President Vladmir Putin. That’s what I told Sharon Reed, morning anchor for the nationally syndicated Black News Channel, last week, as reports emerged that Russia had bombed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Putin is threatening to unleash World War III,...
Sen. Gene Yaw: American energy key to undermining Putin’s war
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bloody and unhinged campaign to topple a democratic nation once subjugated by the former Soviet Union has resurrected the threat of global conflict from its deep, dark Cold War-era grave. It’s easy to paint the invasion of Ukraine as the delusions of a narcissistic despot desperate...
Letter to the editor: Biden’s fuel problems
The price of our fuel has skyrocketed to over $4 per gallon. Gas gets us to work, school, church, recreation and the doctor. Gas gets supplies to all who serve us. Gas gets our military to their bases to protect our country. President Biden insists that our fuel should not...
