Opinion category, Page 622
S.E. Cupp: Trump wants to ride chaos into November
It’s easy to forget, with the unending cavalcade of life-altering news, that we are deep in the midst of an election year. There are just 146 days until Nov. 3, and it’s shaping up to be one like no other. Around this time in 2016, Hillary Clinton had secured President...
Editorial: Taxes, honesty and hope for 2020
Everybody hates paying taxes. It’s a story as old as time itself. People hated paying taxes in the Bible. They hated paying taxes in Robin Hood’s day. They hate the Internal Revenue Service. Except government. Government loves getting tax money. They might be skittish about passing the tax rate and...
Letter to the editor: Turquoise Takeover for lung cancer
During this challenging time, it’s important for all those living with lung disease, including covid-19 and lung cancer, to feel hope, optimism and support amid the pandemic. About every five minutes in the U.S., a woman is diagnosed with lung cancer, and the disease represents more than one in five...
Letter to the editor: Tax dollars propping up UPMC
The article “UPMC to get $1 billion in federal aid after hard hit from coronavirus pandemic” (May 29, TribLIVE) explains that UPMC sustained a $41 million operating loss for the first three months of this year. In response, UPMC has received $255 million through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic...
Letter to the editor: On Flag Day, are we still as patriotic?
June 14, Flag Day. A day set aside for observance that is not often remembered. The terrorist attack on 9/11 triggered a call for patriotism. Streets were lined with flags displayed proudly on homes and businesses. Many wore American flag lapel pins symbolizing support for the nation. It’s been 20...
Letter to the editor: Solving our leadership crisis
The country does not have a police brutality crisis. It has a leadership crisis at the top of every government and every political organization in the country. This is America. We are not being governed as we deserve. We need to start at the top. President Trump needs to step...
Letter to the editor: Gov. Wolf ignores citizens’ wishes
Dear Gov. Wolf, Once again you desire to stymie the wishes of the citizens of our great commonwealth. Both legislative houses of the state of Pennsylvania have passed the bill that would rescind your expanded emergency declaration concerning the covid-19 health scare. The representatives of the people have acted upon...
Sonny Perdue: Fresh food from America’s farmers to America’s families
These past few months have been difficult for many Americans, economically and emotionally. The coronavirus has impacted the way we lead our daily lives, and that includes how we eat. With many restaurants, hotels and schools closed, the food supply chain has had to adapt to bring to market the...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Voting and justice
In 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson said, “The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.” Congress passed Johnson’s Voting Rights Act then, outlawing any measures that would deny...
Editorial: ‘Defunding’ the police is the wrong reform
There are obvious problems with the idea of defunding the police. The police are not a piece of questionable art in front of a courthouse that we can debate. They are not a pork barrel project to slice away. They aren’t a program that is there to benefit some people...
Sounding off: How will you behave in the next pandemic?
How will you behave during the next pandemic if the virus kills children, adults and seniors equally? Would President Trump behave differently if his family was at risk? Would he treat preventable deaths as just part of doing business? Would you insist on opening everything and not wear a mask...
Letter to the editor: Trump derangement syndrome
The writer of the letter “Trump and responsibility of presidency” (May 30, TribLIVE) blasts the abilities and legacy of President Trump. Our Constitution allows for free speech. However, slander and suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome” is not a virtue to be shared. Our Constitution allows one vote for one candidate....
Letter to the editor: Pittsburgh Mills never needed, wanted
After a 30-day engagement and marriage in 1974, I was about to meet the relatives. The wife’s aunts and uncles were siting around the kitchen table mired in a heated discussion. They glanced up and greeted me and returned to the subject matter at hand: “We don’t need no damned...
Letter to the editor: Leaders must address hunger
Last week, I graduated from Winchester Thurston School. Instead of walking across a stage in front of my school community, I watched my name flicker across a laptop screen from my kitchen. What I miss more than the ceremony itself are the goodbyes to my classmates and teachers that cannot...
Letter to the editor: Don’t like president? Send stimulus check back.
Letter-writer Joe Palumbo (“Will America survive Trump?,” June 3, TribLIVE) wrote about his bad feelings for our president, but said he received his $1,200 stimulus check. If he was so unhappy with the president, he should have sent the check back so a deserving person could use this badly needed...
Letter to the editor: Trump and responsibility
President Truman famously said “The buck stops here.” But for Trump, it seems to be “I take no responsibility.” He said at the Republican National Convention in 2016 the following: “The most sacred duty of government is to defend the lives of its own citizens. Any government that fails to...
Editorial: Turzai’s goodbye is premature
There is no surprise to when an elected official’s term is due to start and stop. If you are hired to be an accountant or a lawyer or a grocery store clerk, you may face questions about that hiring date. Did you pass your background check in time to start...
John Stossel: Let vaccine volunteers risk their lives
Deaths from covid-19 are dropping, but we probably can’t resume normal life until someone develops a vaccine. Experts say it will take at least 12 to 18 months. Why so long? Because to make sure a vaccine works, researchers must recruit lots of volunteers and wait for them to get...
Walter Williams: The true plight of black Americans
While it might not be popular to say in the wake of the recent social disorder, the true plight of black people has little or nothing to do with the police or what has been called “systemic racism.” Instead, we need to look at the responsibilities of those running our...
Dr. Rachel Levine: Working for health of long-term care residents
The vision of the Pennsylvania Department of Health is a healthy Pennsylvania for all. This includes vulnerable populations like residents in rural communities and minority communities, as well as seniors and those living in skilled nursing homes. Since the start of the Wolf administration, we have made it a priority...
David Kennedy: State Police holds troopers to highest standards
Pennsylvania state troopers don’t enlist for medals or to win popularity contests. Many of us grew up wanting to be troopers, proud to serve our communities and willing to lay down our lives if necessary. Since the formation of our department in 1905, our ranks have suffered 98 line-of-duty deaths....
Letter to the editor: Police should take vacation
One sure way to highlight the need to control supposedly peaceful protests that morph into violent confrontation, looting and destruction of property is for police to withdraw from the troubled areas. Law enforcement officers en masse should take a one-week vacation and let mayors, city officials, and their political allies...
Letter to the editor: Ending injustice
The backlash of unrest on our city streets exposes two unresolved problems. The first is the immediate issue, which is an egregious absence, or at the very least, a massive delay of legal justice when it comes to felonies committed by white law enforcement against black people. The second, deeper...
Letter to the editor: Thanks to front-line workers
I read Monica Bensko’s letter “Thoughts from a front-line cashier” (May 21, TribLIVE) at least eight times. It was one of the most well written and clear pronouncements of what really should be important today. She didn’t scream or make half-true comments. She very kindly explained something most people seem...
Paul Kengor: Life in nature amid pandemic
Life in nature, said Thomas Hobbes, is nasty, brutish and short. So is life for many infected by covid-19, the death toll from which is now 114,000. And yet nature can offer refuge, if people seek its best use. Pennsylvania has eased up on social-distancing restrictions. For many people, the...
