Opinion category, Page 639
Sounding off: How about a moratorium on income tax?
Left-wing politicians advocate using the pandemic to shape the country with liberal ideology. What would happen if right-wing politicians used the pandemic to shape the country with conservative ideology? Imagine if in addition to spending $2 trillion on a coronavirus emergency response bill, we also placed a one-year moratorium on...
Letter to the editor: Pharmaceutical companies should put humans first
Ever notice that during almost every commercial break on TV, at least one commercial is for a pharmaceutical company’s drug, a drug that only can be provided via a doctors’ prescription? Instead of trying to convince us to talk our doctors into prescribing a drug we think may help us,...
Letter to the editor: Let’s keep coronavirus numbers in perspective
It has been said that the devil can quote Scripture for his purpose. In the same vein, one can cite statistics to promote a point of view. The article “8 new coronavirus cases in Westmoreland County, state total tops 4,000” (March 30, TribLIVE) told us that from March 29 to...
Letter to the editor: Leaders’ shutdown decisions devastating
I believe the quality of life for the vast majority, if not all, Americans has diminished. Of course the coronavirus is a huge factor, but the Draconian, seemingly arbitrary shutdowns by Gov. Tom Wolf, other governors and some mayors have hurt us greatly. The state now is planning to reopen...
Letter to the editor: We must contain coronavirus
Jay Londino’s letter “Shutting down not way to deal with virus” (April 23, TribLIVE) offers no clue as to what is the answer. He states that we “cannot shut down our country every time there is a virus outbreak.” Well sir, we don’t. In my 69 years I have never...
Letter to the editor: Inadequate models for covid-19
The problem in applying a model to a real-world situation is always the inadequacy, even more so when the model cannot be worked through to the end of the argument. So it is with Dr. Christopher Koman’s model of the lily pad in the pond (“Normalcy bias hampers fight against...
Walter Williams: Today’s Americans and yesteryear’s Americans
Dr. Victor Davis Hanson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, a military historian and a professor emeritus of classics at California State University, Fresno. He has written two articles relevant to today’s society. Last October he published, “Members of Previous Generations Now Seem Like Giants,”...
Editorial: U.S. Steel layoffs sign of bigger issue?
Maybe 2,700 doesn’t seem like that big a number right now. There are 30 million people who have filed for unemployment benefits in the United States in the six weeks since the coronavirus pandemic closed businesses and sent workers home. Last week alone, there were 3.8 million laid-off Americans filing...
Lisa Gonzalez, Olivia Bennett and Summer Lee: One way to prevent a worsening crisis? Cancel rent.
Every person in our community needs and deserves a safe place to call home. Yet in the richest country in the world, housing is shamefully unaffordable and people are facing unreasonable struggles to pay the rent. Even before this crisis, nearly 12 million people were spending half of their paychecks...
Colin McNickle: Pittsburgh’s road out of coronavirus downturn
Wrestling with a serious coronavirus-induced revenue shortfall, the City of Pittsburgh must cut spending and cannot afford to raise taxes, conclude researchers at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “Now would be a perfect time to look at money-saving proposals — such as privatization and outsourcing — to reduce city...
Letter to the editor: Wolf’s closure of state homes shameful
Since everybody is so quick to put the president’s head on the chopping block, first try taking a look at your own pitiful governor. If anyone deserves to be impeached, it’s him. How can someone who holds such an office care so little about the people in his own commonwealth?...
Letter to the editor: Support travel agents
Covid-19 has turned our world upside down. After isolation ends, people will want to start re-exploring their community and world. When this time comes, I implore you to support small businesses. The livelihoods of boutiques, local restaurants and travel agents have been devastated, and we need your support. Yes, travel...
Letter to the editor: China and coronavirus
Engaging in a game of Chinese checkers as a kid was fun. But as senior citizens, engaging in warfare with a deadly virus that started in China is life-threatening and disruptive. It’s no surprise that China spies and lies, cheats and steals and wishes for our economy, the dollar and...
Letter to the editor: Joe Biden knows how to be president
In a pandemic, facts and competency are important. If elected president, Joe Biden will instruct government agencies to award government contracts for life-saving equipment to the most reputable businesses with a history of reliability, not to his campaign donors and friends. Biden will ensure that front-line workers have all the...
Letter to the editor: Gov. Tom Wolf’s limits on liberty endanger lives
Gov. Tom Wolf’s response to the coronavirus seems arbitrary and mysterious. He prohibits work he deems “nonessential” even though it could be performed while social distancing. He allows commerce that is clearly nonessential such as beer and liquor sales. A mere two months ago, Americans were encouraged to not wear...
Lori Falce: Truth, math and politics
Do the math. It’s a pithy, sarcastic little phrase that says if you take all of your numbers, line them up and funnel them into the right columns, you will get the answer that you want. There is just one problem. Sometimes that is exactly what happens. The thing about...
Jonah Goldberg: A modest proposal to counter Chinese pressure on Hollywood
During the filming of the 1939 movie “Jesse James,” a stuntman and his horse went over a cliff and fell 70 feet into a river. The stuntman was fine; the horse died. This incident is what gave rise to that line at the end of many movies: “No animals were...
Letter to the editor: Great time to be a bankruptcy lawyer
Just a thought: The small business lending fund burned through most of its allocated $349 billion in under two weeks. It ain’t enough money. So they had to get another $310 billion. This may be a great time to be a bankruptcy lawyer. Just sayin’. Joe Marmo Cheswick...
Letter to the editor: U.S. shouldn’t pick up any more checks
Look, I realize that anything bad that ever happened, going back to Noah and all that rain, is Donald Trump’s fault, I get that. “If only he weren’t a climate change denier,” lamented Yahweh. I stubbed my toe last night on the coffee table … Trump obviously sneaked in and...
Letter to the editor: Trump’s covid-19 rallies
Mixed emotions are the feelings parents experience the morning after the high school prom when their 16-year-old daughter arrives home carrying a Gideon Bible. For me, it is wanting to learn all I can about the coronavirus while suffering from information overload. President Trump has turned the virus pandemic briefings...
Letter to the editor: Shutdown is decimating Pa.
Bankrupting individuals and businesses will be more detrimental and deadly to our state than covid-19 or any other cause of death. There is a significant gap between those whose wealth and power insulates them from experiencing hardship as a result of Gov. Tom Wolf’s shutdown mandates, and those with little...
Letter to the editor: Stay home & stay safe
People are complaining about the stay-at-home restrictions, and I certainly understand. I’m not enjoying it either. But we must look at the larger picture. People complain about churches being closed, and I understand that, too. It is difficult to be absent from our Christian community, but it would be worse...
Editorial: Port Authority needs to find answer
If you get a flat tire, you can put on the emergency doughnut to get to the garage for a real repair. You can’t just accept that the little round rim of rubber is going to do the job of a full-fledged tire. A half-solution can end up being no...
Andrea Richardson and Tamara Dubowitz: Feeding needy and protecting front-line workers
Workers in food retail, donation or meal delivery are on the front lines of the covid-19 pandemic. Until now, food retailers, food banks and school food services operated under food safety regulations to prevent food-borne disease. But with the deadly outbreak of covid-19, they are developing new standards and guidance...
Letter to the editor: Kudos to grandparents who step in
As we live cautiously in these uncertain times, I would like to say thank you to all the grandparents who are taking the time to educate their grandchildren. I know I’m not the only person in a position to “care for” and “see to it” that my grandchildren continue their...
