Sounding off: Fox, opioids, national debt, Biden, gun laws, book bans, GOP

Another snake will surface at Fox

Rather than Fox hosts having to come clean live on air and tell the Big-Lie-­believing faithful that they were repeatedly lied to by them, Rupert Murdoch has paid a $787 million (ouch!) settlement in the defamation case brought by Dominion.

I’m reminded of that old movie “A Face in the Crowd,” where Andy Griffith plays a charismatic television performer who begins pushing a power agenda on a mush-minded audience debased by advertising jingles and political jingoism. Privately, he crows: “I’m not just an entertainer. I’m an influencer, a wielder of opinion, a force! … This whole country’s just like my flock of sheep. I own ‘em! … I’m gonna be the power behind the president.”

But then his public hears the truth when he thinks the audio has been cut off at the end of a broadcast: “Those morons out there? I could take chicken fertilizer and sell it to them as caviar … . They’re a lot of trained seals. I toss them a dead fish and they’ll flap their flippers … . Good night, you stupid idiots.”

With more litigation looming, Murdoch has cast off Tucker Carlson as a sacrificial viper. But at Fox, another snake will always rise to the top of the pit.

David Ninehouser

Ambridge

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We can’t police ourselves out of opioid crisis

The article “Expecting more than $1B in opioid settlement money, Pa. grapples with policing versus treatment” (April 18, TribLIVE) discusses how many counties are planning on using their settlement money to hire more police officers. There is no evidence supporting that more policing decreases overdoses. We must use this settlement money to implement more effective strategies to save lives.

The only way to end the opioid epidemic is through evidence-based methods. The CDC recommends evidence-based strategies for preventing opioid overdose such as targeted naloxone (Narcan) distribution, medication-assisted opioid detoxification (MAOD) and syringe services programs. One study on 40,885 adults with opioid use disorder found that, out of six treatment pathways, only treatment via MAOD resulted in significant reductions in overdoses, with a 76% reduction after three months and a 59% reduction after 12 months, compared with the no treatment group.

While counties should take a multifactorial approach to the opioid epidemic in Pennsylvania, making MAOD widely accessible should be the top priority, which will involve creating and staffing MAOD clinics. Rather than pumping money into law enforcement, Pennsylvania counties must work on making MAOD widely accessible if they want to effectively reduce opioid-related deaths.

Ryley Handyside

South Side

The writer is a graduate student in public health at George Washington University.

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Biden’s video announcement shows he’s unqualified

In making a video to announce that he is running for president again in 2024, President Biden is really telling the American people something. Since he seems to have trouble communicating to the American people live, those around him have stooped so low as to make a video — I think it’s to cover up his mental incapacity and his inability to think, act and make decisions when needed for our country.

If our supposed leader cannot give a live announcement to the American people as to him running for president, I don’t think he is qualified to hold that position.

It is time for the citizens of the United States of America to ignore this guy. He is not transparent to the American people, he does not answer questions and he is arrogant, ignoring journalists by walking away or changing the subject.

I think it has been shown that he is not a qualified candidate for president for the Democratic Party. Biden is truly an embarrassment to the Democratic Party, and I believe his health keeps declining.

Douglas Johnston

Franklin Township, Beaver County

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We need enforcement, not more gun laws

In response to the letter “God didn’t give us guns” (April 23, TribLIVE): We do not need more “commonsense” gun laws; we need commonsense enforcement of existing gun laws.

If you do not punish bad behavior, you get worse behavior. Anyone who has raised children should have learned that.

The mayor of Pittsburgh recently complained that people in the Pittsburgh area are obtaining guns illegally (stolen, discarded, etc.) and are using them to commit crimes of violence, yet he is blaming it on the abundance of guns. Let’s look at the “logic” (or lack thereof behind this).

It is a felony to steal a firearm.

It is a felony to carry a firearm (concealed) without a license.

It is a felony to possess a firearm if you are a convicted felon.

It is a felony to use a firearm to shoot someone without just cause.

If I steal a firearm, I commit a felony. If I carry that firearm concealed without a permit, that is two felonies.

If I am a felon doing both of the above, that makes three felonies. If I use that firearm to shoot someone without justifiable cause, that is four felonies.

And the revolving door of the “justice” system keeps releasing bad actors back into society. It is no wonder things are the way they are.

You do not have the right to unjustifiably take a life; you do have a right to protect your own.

George Silowash

Penn Township, Westmoreland County

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Saving the Republican Party

Calling all the moderates in the Republican party — if there is to be any chance of saving the party, you must vote the extremists out. No more election deniers, no more ridiculous culture wars (does anyone really care if the green M&M isn’t sexy anymore?), no more assault on the LGBTQ community and no more assault on women’s reproductive health (please look up the story of five Texas women who had to fight for the right to an abortion when it was realized they could not carry to term — now one of them is infertile from being forced to wait so long to abort).

Does the government really belong in our bedrooms? At one time the GOP stood for individual rights, for American businesses and for commonsense laws on immigration and gun control. Can these principals be restored? Or is the party just too far gone?

Karla Thomas

Hempfield

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‘Book bans’ are attempts to eliminate pornography

I feel I must take exception to a portion of the editorial “When is free speech not free on college campuses?” (April 25, TribLIVE). I think what you call book bans by conservatives are in reality parents trying to restrict pornographic books from their children’s school libraries.

I doubt many books, if any, have been banned. Some, considered pornographic, have been restricted from a number of schools. Interested parties can still acquire these books, just not from a school where underage children can be exposed.

I think pornography is the unspoken “elephant” in the classroom. It is hardly ever mentioned when the media laments book bans. I also feel calling parents’ attempts to restrict inappropriate sexual content a “book ban” is deceitful.

Ken Kretschman

Crafton

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Government should default on national debt

The national debt is rapidly approaching $32 trillion. This number was inconceivable a decade prior, and even today we still have trouble picturing what it looks like. For the individual, the issue appears insoluble. What must be done?

We must unconditionally default on the national debt. In other words, the federal government must cease all payments on its bonds now and forever, decreasing our debt to $0. Many will shirk at the idea. Wouldn’t that be immoral? Not at all.

The debt was issued against our consent, so we, as citizens, have no obligation to pay it back. It doesn’t affect our credit scores if the national debt is repudiated; it affects the U.S. government’s creditworthiness, which would be a wonderful thing.

No more will the U.S. government endlessly expand. Harder limits would be put in place.

One might be reminded of the student loan crisis. Why should students have to pay back their loans if the government shouldn’t? The students voluntarily took out the loans while the government backed its loans with the involuntary payments of future U.S. taxpayers. The latter is wholly unjustifiable.

Government, at all levels, should repudiate their debt.

Benjamin Seevers

North Apollo