Opinion category, Page 430
Editorial: Delayed petitions latest sign of redistricting drama
If you want a practical example of why deadlines matter, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has given it. The process of changing districts for lawmakers is not something that sneaks up on us. It’s prescribed by law. It’s enshrined in the Constitution. It is a tradition more than 200 years in...
Letter to the editor: Bridge collapse shows need for salt alternative
Will anyone be surprised to learn that the cause of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse was corrosion of steel components ( beams, joints, rivets/bolts) and concrete rebar/prestress cables? Such corrosion is accelerated by the use of salt for snow and ice removal. The ice/snow melt saltwater passes through small cracks...
Letter to the editor: We all benefit from ‘socialism’
An accusation that Republicans love to hurl at Democrats is that they are “socialists.” Do these Republicans understand what American socialism, also called “democratic socialism,” really is? Are they confusing it with Soviet socialism, from the old USSR days, or modern socialism in North Korea or Venezuela? Socialism, or socialization,...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Cancel culture, on both sides, robs us all
President Dwight David Eisenhower knew how to fight cancel culture before it had a name. As Sen. Joe McCarthy was destroying careers, attacking the Voice of America and demanding that books authored by those who he recklessly called “known Communists” be removed from library bookshelves, Eisenhower had a better plan....
Sounding off: Decisions of today’s women
I read with interest Betty Harp’s letter “Avoiding abortion.” Harp’s rudimentary understanding of modern social dynamics was on full display when she stated, “So, young women, keep yourself clean for that special man when you are old enough to get married. My mother was a wise lady.” Perhaps Ms. Harp...
Dan Rodricks: A ‘special place in Hell’ for the perpetrators of elder fraud
I seldom use the expression “a special place in Hell” because it has been suggested as the ultimate destination for too many people by now, from serial killers to women who voted for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. Invoked too often, it loses its punch. Still, it’s a tempting phrase...
Colin McNickle: Pittsburgh’s office vacancy rate continues to struggle
Languishing. That’s the best word to describe Pittsburgh’s continuing high vacancy rate for office space in its central business district (CBD), concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The data for 2021’s fourth quarter shows scant improvement in the city’s office market as the pandemic continues its...
Emily Jane O’Dell: Bearing witness in Tibet
My isolated summer cabin in the Himalayas of Tibet was raided this summer, when occupying Chinese Communist Party police stormed every hotel on the Tibetan plateau to force foreigners against their will into ambulances and clear them from the region. I knew instantly they were doing this to tighten their...
Letter to the editor: Research party platforms
To letter-writer Jim Papke (“Biden should learn history, humility,” Jan. 19, TribLIVE): It would behoove you to research the platform of the parties during the 1860s, as well as the platform of the Confederate States of America. Now which side do you support? Leonard Mucci Derry Township...
Letter to the editor: Conditions dire under Biden
Numerous letters to the editor bitterly harangue President Trump and his loyal followers to the point of blurred insanity. Why? Didn’t the Democrats win? The letters march in sync with whatever the Democratic party line is at the moment, all meant to obfuscate the dire circumstances America finds itself in...
Editorial: Bridge failures have courtroom costs
The cities and counties of Pennsylvania need to pay attention. The same goes for PennDOT, too. They need to note what happened on Friday as attorneys for a Penn Hills couple confirmed what was as sure as gravity at 6:41 a.m. Jan. 28. That was one minute after the Fern...
Letter to the editor: Republicans, the party of lies
The Republican Party has officially established itself as the party of Donald Trump and the party of lies. Its national committee has censured GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for having joined Democratic colleagues in investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. It gets worse: The charges against...
Rabbi Sara Perman: Learn, speak out against antisemitism
On Jan. 15, we were shocked to learn that once again a house of worship, the synagogue Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, was attacked during the Sabbath service. A man held the rabbi and three members hostage for over 10 hours. This was unquestionably an act of antisemitism. As...
Gary Franks: It’s time for liberal media to step up
When will the liberal media stop following the Democrats’ wishes? We get it. You despise former President Trump. Oh, yes, the riot on Jan. 6 was bad. However, doing a deep dive on this matter is like doing a deep dive into the sinking of the Titanic. Why? America has...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: These are no ‘ordinary citizens’
They stormed through police barricades, these “ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” They shattered windows and chanted death to the vice president, these “ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” They smeared their own feces on the wall, “ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” Over the last 13...
Paul Loeb: Moderate Republicans could save voting rights by following Bob Dole’s lead
Sen. Joe Manchin’s Freedom to Vote Act, a compromise bill addressing voting rights, has been deemed dead in the wake of Manchin and fellow Democrat Kyrsten Sinema’s refusal to support a filibuster exception. But it still could be saved if one or two self-described moderate Republicans stepped up. They’d follow...
Letter to the editor: Government should starting doing more with less
The Feb. 3 editorial cartoon really struck a nerve with me. One more time we see a perfect example of where we are always being hit with more taxes and fees from state and local governments to get their job done, but there is little or no accountability for them...
Letter to the editor: Answers needed on bridge collapse
Funny how President Biden showed up in Pittsburgh the same day a major bridge collapses and promises that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law would help fix this problem. If I remember right, back in 2009, under President Obama’s stimulus package, $48 billion was promised to help fix roads, bridges and other...
Letter to the editor: Save our Steelers
Apparently, a 39-year-old has-been is bigger than the team. Ringmaster Mike Tomlin must think so, as he let a very talented Mason Rudolph languish on the bench to appease a quarterback who can’t run or throw. If Ben Roethlisberger actually practiced, perhaps he’d see what we’ve seen the last 10...
Lori Falce: The unreliable yardstick of the N-word
I was in second grade the first time I heard it. The N-word. It was used casually, without thought or explanation, like hundreds of other words a 7-year-old hears every day, leaving me to puzzle it out with context clues. It was said matter- of-factly, the same way someone would call...
Letter to the editor: Government’s failings
I found Robert Supansic’s letter “Dealing with public health emergencies” (Jan. 25, TribLIVE), regarding the the U.S. government successfully handling the current and future pandemics, very funny. That would be the U.S. government that succeeded so spectacularly when it brought us: • The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ levees in...
Letter to the editor: Republicans’ mischief
When I think of our Republican lawmakers, I have an image in my head that I cannot shake. It is one of bored adolescent boys looking for mischief. Look at their recent antics. Some participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection or in its planning and preparation. They compiled fraudulent phony...
Laurels & lances: Victory, defeat and opportunity
Laurel: To an obvious fact. In a year that we are forced to watch the Cincinnati Bengals — the Bengals, for Pete’s sake — vie for the Lombardi Trophy on Super Bowl Sunday, it is nice to get a little bit of acknowledgement that some things are still right with...
Letter to the editor: Make your voice heard on redistricting
This is the true way our votes are stolen: We are forced to cast ballots where we have been directed — snaky lines going through townships, counties and sometimes even homesteads. Make your voice heard on redistricting. Simon P. Solar Lower Burrell...
Letter to the editor: Leaders kept Americans living in fear
The Great Barrington Declaration was written in October 2020 by three doctors concerned about lockdowns hurting children, workers and the poor. Eventually, 50,000 doctors, scientists and medical researchers signed on. The doctors are Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a physician, professor at Stanford University Medical School, epidemiologist, health economist and public health...
