Opinion category, Page 651
Donald Boudreaux: Essential questions on essential medicines
The clarity with which we humans express desirable objectives often hides reality’s complexity. That’s true for the increasingly common notion, as expressed by President Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro, that America should “bring home its … supply chains for essential medicines.” This sentiment is supported by U.S. Trade Representative Robert...
Lori Falce: Reluctant covid-19 homeschool lessons
I have never wanted to home-school. While I want my son to reach for knowledge, and I want to be his partner in finding it, I have never wanted to be his teacher. That is largely because I am all too aware of my strengths and my weaknesses, and how...
Laurels & lances: Giving, feeding, showing
Laurel: To the right prescription. Match Day is something medical students look forward to from their first day of class. It’s the day they find out the hospitals where they will do their residency years. It’s a celebratory day, with students getting their assignments all together. At Pitt, it’s a...
Joseph Otis Minott: Public policy matters, especially when it comes to our air
As we all stay home and learn to navigate this unprecedented health crisis affecting people not just in Pennsylvania but around the world, coronavirus understandably dominates our public consciousness. The pandemic starkly reminds us all that there is nothing more important than our health and the well-being of the people...
Alicia Santi: Charter schools under attack
My son, like many children in Pennsylvania, is a student with special needs — specifically, developmental disorders requiring him to receive individual tutoring. Like the experiences of many others who have found that the public cyber school option works best for their child, my son would easily get distracted by...
Letter to the editor: Thanks to all who keep our homes safe havens
A big shout-out to all utility workers who keep our gas, electricity, water and sewage operating, and sanitation workers who continue to haul away our garbage. Thanks to all of you for letting us continue to find safe haven in our homes. James A. Bernauer Crafton...
Letter to the editor: Leaders must act on property tax relief
I have not heard what our local governments and school districts are doing to offer property tax relief to all of us who have been affected by the coronavirus shutdown. It would be unconscionable to have our local government make profits with interest and penalties on property taxes when our...
Letter to the editor: Trump is disastrous
We knew it was coming, but prayed it wouldn’t happen with President Trump in office. To be caught off guard by covid-19 is disastrous, and once again showed Trump’s incompetence. First he called covid-19 a hoax, then declared the virus would be gone by April — after 15 confirmed cases...
Letter to the editor: Democrats’ ads disrespectful during crisis
With the world gripped in fear of covid-19, can the liberal super PACs take a break from their TV ad blitz attacking President Trump as he tries to guide us through the crisis? In one ad, a “truck driver” claims “In 2016, I voted for Donald Trump” but now tells...
Letter to the editor: Highlands boys’ dedication pays off
The effect the Highlands boys basketball journey has had on the school district and community is profound. Of course, the highlight was winning the WPIAL Class 4A title at the Petersen Events Center on Feb. 29. The community celebration that followed allowed everyone an opportunity to see the culmination of...
Tundra cartoons
Tundra cartoons...
Editorial: Creativity can save pandemic economy
The Pennsylvania economy is a butterfly in a jar, held in place but still fluttering. The jar is the shutdown ordered by Gov. Tom Wolf in response to the coronavirus pandemic. They’re an effort to mitigate the risk to human life posed by a disease that the latest federal estimates...
Eli Lake: When tracking virus means tracking your citizens
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, some democracies around the world have used technology to avoid having to impose draconian mass quarantines that were common earlier this year in China. That’s reassuring — and it’s also worrying, because the very strategies that can help fight a plague can also...
Jonah Goldberg: Trump’s daily briefings shine light on his inadequacy
On Sunday, President Trump, absent any hard evidence, suggested that large numbers of masks were being stolen from New York hospitals, citing an unnamed facility he said had seen a huge surge in mask usage. “How do you go from 10 to 20 (thousand masks being used), to 300,000?” Trump...
Letter to the editor: Trump & appreciation for public service
Dear President Trump: Thank you for the clarification. I did not realize that “public service” and “servant leadership” were all about being “appreciated.” Keith G. Kondrich Swisshelm Park...
Letter to the editor: Suspending worship services an act of love
I was seriously disturbed to learn that the Word of Life Church had a service March 22 with 200 people in attendance (“About 200 attend Hempfield’s Word of Life Church amid coronavirus shutdown,” March 22, TribLIVE). I am a Christian who attended church several times a week. Now I am...
Letter to the editor: Witness to caring, generosity
While I was in a self-checkout lane at Shop ’n Save on Route 66 in Greensburg on March 21, a woman came up and asked if she could buy my groceries. I said, “Thank you very much, but I would prefer if you bought groceries for a family in need...
Letter to the editor: Strong immune system is key
School closings, sports event cancellations, food hoarding … we live in a new coronavirus-induced world. Yet some personal health facts remain unchanged. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers good advice for preventing community-spread and personal infection: Apply social distancing, sanitize surfaces, wash your hands, don’t touch your face....
Letter to the editor: Coronavirus & abortion
The covid-19 epidemic is a serious problem and requires our best efforts to combat its effects. Hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions, may die from this deadly virus worldwide this year. We know that the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are most at risk and our concern...
Letter to the editor: We’ll be better country after coronavirus crisis
The order from Gov. Tom Wolf to Pennsylvania’s taverns and restaurants to limit service to takeout only initially shocked the industry. Fear of lost revenue and paychecks was very evident. Pennsylvania’s taverns and restaurants were the tip of the spear in this fight against coronavirus. Early and decisive decisions had...
Pat Buchanan: Is coronavirus killing Joe Biden’s bid?
“This is the question that is going to dominate the election: How did you perform in the great crisis?” So says GOP Congressman Tom Cole of Oklahoma in the New York Times. GOP National Committeeman Henry Barbour of Mississippi calls the crisis “a defining moment … . The more (Trump)...
Editorial: Mixed mask messages for covid-19
When the chips are down, you listen to the people who know what they are talking about. The firefighters say this is the way out of the fire? Go that way. The police say get down during a bank robbery? Lie on the floor. So what do you do when...
Letter to the editor: Coronavirus cleaning methods suspect
I want to applaud the news media, including the Trib, for the extensive coverage during this coronavirus crisis. All the tips for keeping ourselves safe is certainly prudent at this time. However, watching the television as workers clean school buses, subways, vending machines, etc., I noticed something discouraging, even alarming...
Letter to the editor: The possible good that could emerge from covid-19 crisis
Let’s not ignore the possible positive results of this crisis: • Over 3,000 people die each month in car accidents in America. With traffic reduced, many of those people will live now. • Everyone who becomes infected, with or without symptoms, is likely to have acquired an immunity that may...
Letter to the editor: Gov. Tom Wolf perjured oath, should be removed
Neither the U.S. Constitution nor state constitutions provide for their own suspension. In 1866, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the still-standing Ex parte Milligan that the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law protecting all people in both war and peace and under all circumstances. It also states that none...
