Opinion category, Page 493
Letter to the editor: We must de-politicize our rhetoric, resolutions
Jonah Goldberg’s “Defenders, opponents of critical race theory prone to exaggeration” (July 9, TribLIVE) is probably one of his better columns, but I don’t agree that there is equal exaggeration. However, it is useful in understanding our current racial climate. It is axiomatic and understandable that a proportion of Black...
Letter to the editor: Schools need to plan for student success
There is a reckoning coming in Westmoreland County schools, and we are not prepared for it. The lack of consistent schooling over the past 18 months, combined with the rising levels of racial consciousness in our youth, will bring unprecedented challenges to the public school system. We have a choice:...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Tough choices for small towns
As Pittsburgh City Council voted on how to divvy up $335 million in covid-19 relief money last week, the people of Wilkinsburg continued to wrestle with a proposal to merge their small town into Pittsburgh. Small towns that are part of a metropolitan area have big-city problems. But they often...
Rep. Emily Kinkead: Pa. leaders must focus on recovery
More than 75% of Pennsylvania adults have received at least one covid vaccination dose and 61.5% are fully vaccinated. Our state is finally reopening. But the long road to economic recovery is just beginning. With campaigns for 2021 and even 2022 underway, new statewide and local leadership is on the...
Michael Churchill: School funding lawsuit could help students across Pa. get what they need
In the article “Massive boost in state education funding is not much help to Franklin Regional” (July 14, TribLIVE), Franklin Regional School District Finance Director Jon Perry suggested that a ruling in the school funding lawsuit headed for trial this fall could cause his district to lose revenue. I am...
Sounding off: TV’s influence on conspiracy theories
TV may be at fault with the problem we have today with QAnon and other conspiracy theories. Once upon a time, History and the Travel Channel were my favorites. Now they should be renamed Pseudoscience Channels 1 and 2, as they are filled with programs about UFOs, Bigfoot, ghosts, ancient...
Alexandra Wimberly and Shawna Murray-Browne: Want to reduce overdose rates? Treat poverty first.
Overdose rates are higher in areas where people live in poverty and even higher among people of color living in poverty. In the last decade in Maryland, the proportion of opioid-overdose deaths involving Black people has continually risen, while the proportion involving white people has declined, mirroring nationwide trends. This...
Letter to the editor: Police fitness standards unfair to those who are out of shape
A settlement was reached in April after the U.S. Justice Department sued the Pennsylvania State Police for sex discrimination for giving applicants a physical fitness test that many women could not pass. Under the terms of the agreement, the police have lowered their standards, paid $2.2 million into a compensation...
Letter to the editor: Red-light camera grants tainted
I’m glad to see Wimmerton residents opposing the project for a Route 30 light to be funded by a grant from PennDOT’s Automated Red Light Enforcement (ARLE) funding program (“Wimmerton residents protest plan to end left turns onto Route 30 in Unity,” July 9, TribLIVE). While many ARLE grant projects...
Editorial: Nursing homes, covid and what’s right
Just because something isn’t illegal doesn’t mean it is acceptable. On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department informed Gov. Tom Wolf that it would not be opening an investigation into whether this order to Pennsylvania nursing homes requiring admission of residents treated for covid-19 in hospitals violated federal law. Pennsylvania wasn’t...
Letter to the editor: A pro-choice/pro-life bird dilemma
I try to dissuade birds from building nests around my house … too many areas to nest and too much bird crap to clean up. Well, one robin probed my defenses and built a nest in a previously unprotected area. I decided to dump the nest. But I got up...
S.E. Cupp: Megyn Kelly’s vile attack on Naomi Osaka
The pioneering American journalist John Chancellor once said, “The function of good journalism is to take information and add value to it.” So it’s hard to see what value people like Megyn Kelly, an influential, smart and accomplished journalist, despite her well-known and well-earned controversies, are adding when they use...
John Stossel: Woke language
Have you noticed how our language is changing? At a congressional hearing on “Birthing While Black,” nearly every politician used the words “birthing people” instead of “women” or “mothers.” Asked why, Shalanda Young, President Joe Biden’s budget director, said, “Our language needs to be more inclusive.” Activists have also changed...
Baltimore Sun Editorial Board: Insurrection investigation — will GOP rise to the moment?
Whatever one may think of Donald Trump or the circumstances of last year’s election or even the bitterness of this nation’s partisan divide, it ought to be easy to condemn the events of Jan. 6 and to support a broad inquiry into what happened and how to prevent it from...
Ronn Pineo: More pandemics coming; will we heed warning signs?
We should have seen it coming. There had been too many near misses for devastating human pandemics: the Ebola virus, beginning in 1976; the “bird” flu H5N1, first appearing in 1997; SARS in 2003; Zika, beginning in 2007; MERS, starting in 2012. There were others. We had ample warnings before...
Letter to the editor: God doesn’t care about churches’ rules
Can we please stop on the letters about whether President Biden should be allowed to take Communion, no matter which side of the debate you are on? Do you really think God cares for one second about the rules and regulations of the Catholic church (or any church)? Biden is...
Letter to the editor: Catholic Church and statute of limitations
In response to the article “Pa. lawmakers threaten university funding over statute of limitations deadlock” (June 18, TribLIVE): First, my heart truly breaks for the suffering the victims of abuse have endured, and I truly hope they find closure. But the issue of the statute of limitations is more complicated...
Lori Falce: What would you do with 18 months?
If you want to know what the impact of the coronavirus pandemic was in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put a number on it this week. No, that isn’t how long the world was in lockdown. It wasn’t how long we wore masks or kept six...
Letter to the editor: Biden’s energy stance
For once, just once, could you Trump cultists please try not to be so gullible? I know this is like asking the Pirates not to stink, but try anyway. Why am I pulling my hair out (this time)? It’s all the wailing and gnashing of teeth on the part of...
Laurels & lances: Tuition, trademarks, transportation
Laurel: To prioritizing education. The Diocese of Greensburg announced a massive demonstration of support for parochial schools Wednesday. Donations totalling about $20 million will help make it possible for more kids to attend diocesan schools through tuition assistance that will extend over the next five years. There also will be...
Paul Kengor: MLB strikes out in Cuba
“MLB remained absent-mindedly and cowardly mute on the Cuban people’s freedom struggles, despite the game’s close ties with Cuban players.” So writes David, a Pittsburgh native and reader of my columns. David continues: “The league has no excuse now for dodging the political issues of the day as they arise....
Kevin Mooney: In Pa., scientific, economic realities unsettle climate morality plays
Urgent action is needed to combat climate change for the benefit of Pennsylvania’s children and grandchildren, Gov. Tom Wolf said while commenting on his administration’s Climate Impacts Assessment for 2021. The governor claims that rising temperatures, heat waves, flooding and sea-level rise associated with global warming will directly affect what...
Letter to the editor: Time to embrace clean, renewable energy
It’s time to make fossil fuels a thing of the past. Every second that we rely on dirty energy sources, we threaten the air our children breathe, the water we drink and the planet we all rely on. The good news? We have the solution at our fingertips: clean, renewable...
Letter to the editor: What the media tells us
Things that won’t get printed in any newspaper or reported on the news: The two greatest works of American fiction are “The 9/11 Commission Report” and “The Warren Commission Report.” It’s easier to accept “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Cat in the Hat” as serious reportage than these two government...
Editorial: Don’t let more ’emergency contracts’ be a Harrisburg habit post-covid
Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware. It’s the kind of advice everyone has heard. The most common of common sense. If you spend money, know what you are getting in return. And if it is good advice for someone on a fixed income double-checking a grocery receipt to make sure...
