Opinion category, Page 704
Letter to the editor: Get informed on guns, NRA
Another biased and ill-informed letter from Robert Jedrzejewski (“NRA’s terroristic ways”) — on 9/11 no less. We of the NRA use the organization to lobby just like unions, businesses and other organizations. We don’t have to agree, just express our wishes. It would be nice if people checked facts instead...
John Stossel: Despite cable’s perspective, there’s good news
I rarely watch cable news anymore. It’s all hysteria, all the time. CNN: “We are destroying the planet.” MSNBC: “The middle class is disappearing!” I’m glad my favorite magazine, Reason, cuts through the gloom and tells us the truth: There is less war and more food. We live healthier and...
Editorial: Colt’s AR-15 decision is market driven
Guns aren’t just about hunting or target shooting or personal defense. They aren’t just about firepower. They are also about money. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, it’s big money. The total economic impact of the gun industry topped $52 billion in 2018. Nationwide, there are 311,991 jobs related...
Letter to the editor: 9/11 story should have focused on attack
Your front-page article on 9/11, with an inane acknowledgment of a new memorial park in Somerset (“Somerset County community starts memorial in honor of post-9/11 War on Terror,” Sept. 11, TribLIVE), is upsetting. Your article should have been about the attack, the enormous loss of life, and the grief and...
Letter to the editor: Reasons to be ‘proud’ of Trump
OK, I get it. All along I thought these people liked President Trump. I can see that all they wanted was a Republican in the White House. It does not matter what he says or does, he beat Hillary. Whoopee! He can disrespect veteran heroes, Gold Star Families and the...
Letter to the editor: Trump as messiah
Letter-writer Keith Kondrich recently implied that President Trump is the anti-Christ (“Anti-Christ,” Sept. 9, TribLIVE). From another perspective, maybe Trump is America’s messiah. Jesus came in the fullness of time to build his church. Trump came in the fullness of political time to Make America Great Again. Jesus came as...
Walter Williams: Racist exam questions?
The U.S. Department of Justice recently sued the Baltimore County government, alleging that its written test for police officer recruits is unfairly biased against black applicants. It turns out that black applicants failed the written test at a rate much greater than white applicants. That results in fewer blacks being...
Donald Boudreaux: In defense of so-called ‘price gouging’
It never fails. Every natural disaster brings in its wake higher prices for goods such as plywood and propane, and for services such as plumbing repair and carpentry. Just as surely, politicians and pundits and the general public — as they did in response to Hurricane Dorian — blame these...
Laurels & lances: Music, malice and money
Laurel: To making a good thing better. And bigger. The inaugural Greensburg Music Fest went well in 2018 with about 3,000 people showing up for concerts. It can’t get much better than that. Except it did. The second festival last week saw attendance top 5,000 music lovers coming out to...
Lori Falce: Vaping defense is up in smoke
Vaping was supposed to be better than smoking. That was the idea. It was vapor. Not smoke. All the nicotine with none of the risk. What could go wrong? A lot. People are dying. Not from cancer that they contracted after 40 years of sucking on smoke. Not from old...
Letter to the editor: Unions fight for workers’ benefits
Regarding the editorial “How 3 workers fought union coercion — and won” (Sept. 4, TribLIVE): I didn’t see anything about any one of them being willing to turn down any of the benefits that the union won for them, such as higher pay, time off, job security and pensions. Are...
Letter to the editor: Media insensitive during tragedy
I was angered at what I recently observed on a major TV network — a reporter interviewing a man whose family perished in the recent California boat explosion. The reporter showed up at his home, invading his privacy and sorrow by asking him what he would you say to his...
Letter to the editor: Let’s move on from Antonio Brown
And we’re surprised? We traded the best receiver in the NFL for Donte Moncreif. Obviously that did not literally happen; however, last year we had Antonio Brown, problems and receptions alike. This year we have Moncreif. I’d like to take the yinzer blinders off for a second and truly respect...
Letter to the editor: A plan for Democrats
President Trump’s planning isn’t all wrong, and if Hillary won the 2016 big roll of the dice, maybe Dems would be cheering her on for doing some of the same things. The plan to increase border security, beef up the nuke arsenal and reduce the scale of a standing army...
George Will: Hong Kong stands athwart an increasingly nasty regime
HONG KONG — Lee Cheuk-yan, unlike most Americans, remembers and reveres Lane Kirkland, a hero of the first Cold War. During 16 years as leader of the AFL-CIO, 1979-95, Kirkland gave crucial support, both material and moral, to Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement in Poland, where it was an...
Jonah Goldberg: White liberals have moved to left of black voters
“No Democrat is going to win the nomination for president of the United States without African-American support. Nor should they,” Kate Bedingfield, Joe Biden’s deputy campaign manager, told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. Bedingfield was pushing back on a single bad poll for Biden (from Monmouth University) that had the media and...
Editorial: Student sports more than athletics
The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League is once again investigating allegations of slurs at a local sporting event. If it sounds familiar, it’s because the same thing happened a year ago. Connellsville students, fans and players were accused of hurling racial slurs against black Penn Hills players at a soccer...
Letter to the editor: Nameless evil on social media
In response to the threat posted on Twitter Sept. 3, where an unidentified person indicated he or she would commit a hate crime at an undisclosed Pittsburgh hospital on Sept. 4 (“Online threat made to Pittsburgh-area hospital not credible, traced to teen,” Sept. 3, TribLIVE), I have one simple question:...
Letter to the editor: Thinkspot could be dangerous
The recent news about the launch of Thinkspot, a new social media hub founded by controversial Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, left me troubled. I am worried that Thinkspot will become yet another platform for haters to post their vile bigotry and conspiracy theories, radicalizing each other and inciting violence. I...
Letter to the editor: Fracking in Allegheny Township
Huntley & Huntley is proposing to tap into public water lines and waste millions of gallons of purified public drinking water in order to frack the Porter well pad in Allegheny Township. Huntley & Huntley is poised to start work soon, amid a stifled lawsuit and ongoing public opposition. This...
Pat Buchanan: After John Bolton, Trump goals remain unrealized
The sudden and bitter departure of John Bolton from the White House was baked in the cake from the day he arrived there. For Bolton’s worldview, formed and fixed in a Cold War that ended in 1991, was irreconcilable with the policies Donald Trump promised in his 2016 campaign. Indeed,...
Colleen Cook: Tom Wolf’s attack on charter schools unfair
When I see Gov. Tom Wolf’s actions on charter schools, I cannot help but think of what would have happened to my family if we didn’t have school choice in Oklahoma. Legislators in Pennsylvania should know that my oldest son — a well-behaved honor-roll student — attempted to take his...
Editorial: Capitol capacity can’t contain protests
Pennsylvania invites its citizens to engage in lively and personal protest at the seat of government. As long as it’s done in small enough groups. As reported by PennLive.com, if you want to marshal your forces and show up at the state Capitol with a contingent of like-minded individuals to...
Letter to the editor: Corporate Transparency Act would harm small businesses
Legislation will soon be heard in Congress requiring all small business owners with fewer than 20 employees to file reports with the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The Corporate Transparency Act is meant to help law enforcement track down criminals who form small shell companies for illicit activities. A...
Letter to the editor: Vaping getting bad rap
I have been vaping for many years, and I know others who also vape. We have no breathing issues. But what’s interesting is the rash of illness since the legalizing of THC, and everyone is blaming regular vape juice. One theory is that legalized THC from approved dealers, mixed with...
