Sounding off: Pittsburgh Pirates need an owner who cares

Pirates’ fans are fed up with the circus. Back in the Kevin McClatchy era, we were told the Pirates needed a new stadium to be competitive. Perhaps that’s true, but it won’t work unless we build a winning team.

We need an owner who cares about our team and Pittsburgh. Until then, our woes will continue. Bob Nutting has committed sports treason on our city and Pirates fans everywhere. It’s time for fans and political leaders to pressure him into selling the Pirates to somebody who wants to win championships and improve Pittsburgh’s economy.

Spend the money and put a winning team on the field. Then ticket sales, concessions and so on will increase. Bars, restaurants, parking garages and hotels would thrive as more people come to the city on game days.

Millions have been spent in recent years on our Minor League Baseball system that does nothing but groom players and prepare them for the trading block. Take Gerrit Cole. Need I say more? You can’t blame some of these guys for not wanting to play here. Many have moved on and become high-profile players.

I feel bad for Clint Hurdle. It has to be hard to manage a team whose owner isn’t interested in a trip to the World Series. Don’t blame Neil Huntington, either. He is stuck being Nutting’s yes-man and doing the dirty work .

Apply the pressure needed to get rid of Nutting and make a positive change in Pittsburgh. Put the “sport” back into Pirates baseball.

Jeff Kostie, Lower Burrell

Crime victims need Marsy’s Law

As indicated by the article “Pa. voters will decide constitutional amendment on rights of crime victims,” Pennsylvanians will soon have the opportunity to vote on the Crime Victims’ Rights Amendment, known as Marsy’s Law.

As the article stated, the language in Marsy’s Law echoes the Pennsylvania Crime Victim Act, but without constitutional protections, these rights can be challenged. Put simply, victims currently have no recourse if their rights are violated.

Also, the ACLU’s assertions are incorrect and misleading. Marsy’s Law will not give victims more rights than defendants and furthermore, judges are highly experienced in weighing competing rights. In fact, 35 states already have constitutional rights for victims and there has not been a single instance, going back 30 years, in which a victim’s rights have been found to trump those of a defendant.

If equity and inalienable rights are the foundation of our nation, why would we deny victims equal constitutional protections as those already afforded to the accused by the Constitution?

I encourage all Pennsylvanians to educate themselves on Marsy’s Law and support equal rights for crime victims on Nov. 5.

Laurie MacDonald, South Side

The writer is president and CEO of the Center for Victims.

Republicans and voter suppression

A common misconception has it that you can’t legislate morality. Hogwash! That is the only thing you can legislate.

Likewise, you can legislate immorality. Witness the dozens of Republican state legislatures that are continually pushing voter suppression laws. I maintain this is tantamount to murder, “democracide,” if I may be permitted to coin a word.

Voting is how a democracy breathes. All these devilish legislative tricks the Republicans employ — strict voter ID, restrictions on voting hours, days, polling places, purging of voter rolls, etc. — effectively serve to choke off the vital inhalation/exhalation breathing function of our republic, i.e., voting. And this disproportionately affects the poor, minorities, rural voters and obviously those tending to vote Democrat.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, “this is the worst voter suppression we’ve seen in the modern era.” Along with groveling before Wayne LaPierre and the NRA — which strikes terror in the hearts of any aspiring candidates for public office who would dare to vote for any type of sensible gun control — voter suppression is the most despicable action taken by spineless Republican elected officials. I wonder if they stop to think that this is how the seeds of tyranny are sown.

Please be grateful for your right to vote and take the opportunity to exercise that right this November.

Robert Jedrzejewski, Tarentum

Media ignoring Democrats’ corruption, lies

Even his supporters know it. Many of the attacks on President Trump are justified. The poor guy hasn’t learned that if he ignored the goading, we’re talking easy re-election and continued economic gains, especially for minorities. He can’t, so we’re left with an adolescent mentality bent on self-mutilation. That rarely ends well.

But it doesn’t absolve media outlets from ignoring continued fallout from Trump’s predecessor, who I believe is corrupt, or the pathological lies of the front-running Democratic presidential nominee.

Save the fake outrage and cries of racism. Fact-check it. Black, white or turquoise, when your secretary of state queues up unencrypted, classified e-mails for enemies to read, your FBI director confirms several Espionage Act violations but does nothing, your vice president publicly boasts of blackmailing the Ukraine and your Justice Department starts a suspiciously unproductive investigation of an incoming president, that’s political corruption like nothing we’ve seen. It makes Watergate and Bill Clinton’s perjury resemble parking tickets.

Add the non-reporting of Elizabeth Warren’s fixation on telling lies that brand her a victim, and media bias is clear, present and sad.

Suppression of facts — even opinion — by media servants who favor the Democrats’ socialist agenda may get the desired result. It may even feel like victory. But forfeiting integrity is never that. And promoting “dependence on government” to youth is a stain no adult can wash off, and a scar no election win can heal.

Robert Szypulski, Penn Township, Westmoreland County

Impeachment is a farce

People don’t understand the procedure of impeachment. There are several stages involved.

First, an impeachment resolution is introduced in the House of Representatives. The House conducts a hearing to decide if the resolution moves on for a full vote. If a simple majority of approves an article of impeachment, the president is impeached, and the Senate takes over.

The Senate holds a hearing. If members vote guilty, the president is removed from office. If they vote not guilty, he is acquitted and remains in office.

What confuses people is that his acquittal does not erase the fact that he was impeached. His record will forever show that he was impeached. That is part of the Constitution.

Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were impeached, but were acquitted and served out their terms. Sorry, Clinton fans, he was and is impeached. He also had his law license suspended for lying in a federal court.

Trump may or may not survive the continuing farce. I believe it is a witch hunt. He is a fighter and a survivor. Either way, he has already set this country on the right path. He has made American great again and will keep it great.

Kathleen Bollinger, Fawn

Let’s talk corruption, GOP

It’s getting old hearing President Trump’s defenders use the fake news or hoax arguments to cover every lie he tells. The “most transparent president of our time” seems to be the exact opposite, blocking legal subpoenas, hiding personal documents in this nation’s most secure server, obstructing legal congressional oversight.

How many national security decisions are being made for this president’s personal interests? He decided unilaterally to pull our troops out of Syria to the detriment of our allies and our national security. One can only surmise that his Trump Towers Istanbul might have had some influence.

He presses another ally, Ukraine, to investigate a political rival without any evidence of wrongdoing. Why? To benefit his re-election? He may order the DOJ to investigate the Bidens. What an irony. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are making millions from businesses in China, and through January of this year, Ivanka Trump obtained 34 product trademarks in China. Who would have thought — most of their products are exempt from tariffs, while farmers and others are asked to sacrifice.

What about our military planes landing at a private airport in Scotland and the crews staying at Trump’s Turnberry resort? Why would Vice President Mike Pence stay at the Trump Doonbeg resort and commute at taxpayer expense to his Ireland meetings in Dublin 180 miles each way daily? How about the millions of taxpayer dollars spent by government officials staying at Trump U.S. properties?

If you want to talk about a swamp and corruption, let’s go, GOP!

Bob Grottenthaler, Springdale

Penguins’ Bryan Rust is inspiring

I was not surprised to read the article “As always, Bryan Rust is filling several roles for the Penguins,” as Rust has been one of the Pens’ top players the last few seasons. It should be noted that Rust fills another important role: inspiring young people who stutter.

The Pens forward has been very public about his stuttering, a condition he shares with his older brother Matt, who was also drafted by the Penguins. The fact that Rust has not let stuttering hold him back conveys to young people who stutter that they should not let stuttering keep them on the sidelines from their dreams and aspirations.

The Stuttering Foundation website has a biographical article on Rust titled “The Stanley Cup and Stuttering,” which gives a history of his struggles with stuttering. Ironically, the founder of the Stuttering Foundation was Malcolm Fraser, who co-founded NAPA Genuine Parts with his brother, and was a proud graduate of the University of Pittsburgh.

To say that Rust is filling several roles is always an understatement!

Michael Crisci, Astoria, N.Y.