Sounding off: Plenty of blame for Afghanistan

What’s most astonishing about the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is how astonished everyone professes to be, while conceding delaying the inevitable would not have prevented it.

Failure is often an orphan; this one lays claim to plenty of fathers.

Bill Clinton regrets not assassinating Osama Bin Laden after the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. George W. Bush overreached by endorsing mission creep after ousting the Taliban following 9/11. Barack Obama stood by as Pakistan harbored Taliban terrorists. Donald Trump recognized the Afghan civilian government’s impotence when he opened talks with the Taliban, but typically never got beyond bombast.

President Biden takes advantage of Trump policies when they suit him. No one should be surprised that he built on Trump’s Afghanistan initiative. His timing is timely. He’s still in his first year, so the outrage should have long faded if he runs for reelection in 2024. And wagging the dog now gives House Democrats cover as they fight among themselves over physical and human infrastructure while battling to gerrymander congressional districts in purple states.

Meanwhile, Biden continues to position himself to advance his agenda. If, as many predict, the GOP takes the majority in one or both houses of Congress following next year’s midterms, Biden won’t allow himself to be sidelined as Obama was. Like Clinton, Biden can thrive as a minority president. As such, he would be situated to deracinate the bitter seeds of division sown by Obama and reaped by Trump. It’s worth hoping he succeeds.

Peter Busowski, Jeannette

Health professionals should be vaccinated

I recently tried to ascertain the vaccination status of several local dentists, their hygienists and staffs. They were unwilling to provide this vital information, citing privacy concerns. I then contacted the Pennsylvania Academy of General Dentistry to find out what its position is on this matter. I was shocked to learn that the academy has not taken a position advising vaccination of dentists.

This is a critical public health issue. Every unvaccinated person is a walking hot spot for this plague. To have any one of them working in the mouths of the public is insane.

The same caution applies to every health care worker: doctors, nurses, psychologists, counselors, chiropractors; in fact, anyone whose work involves face-to-face contact with the public. Personal privacy should never trump public health and safety.

Charles Henry, Greensburg

We must unlearn our racism

Criticism of critical race theory is indoctrination. Denying America’s history of racism is indoctrination.

Consider: Benjamin Franklin in 1751 preferred only English- speaking whites from England emigrate to Pennsylvania. No Germans, no Italians, etc. Timothy Pickering coined the terms “negro president” and “negro Congress” because the Constitution’s three-fifths clause gave Jefferson’s South a representation advantage in electors and Congress. Twelve of the first 18 presidents were slave owners.

In the 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote: “The prejudice of race appears to be stronger in the states that abolished slavery than in those where it still exists.” Indiana’s 1831 Constitution Article 13 stated: “No negro or mulatto shall come into or settle in the state.”

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln said: “I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and Black races … and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.”

In his book “The Strange Career of Jim Crow,” C. Vann Woodward observes: “The South’s adoption of extreme racism was due not so much to a conversion as it was to a relaxation of the opposition.”

Now is not the time to relax the opposition to increased racism in America since 2016. We must talk about it, including in our schools. Racism is central to our history. Racism is learned. We must unlearn it.

Bruce Braden, Carmel, Ind.

The writer is a Mt. Pleasant native.

Vaccination, not God or selfishness, is the way out

What does it take for America to wake up? Serious covid cases reportedly are mostly among the fearful, anti-science and simply ridiculous. These folks are now joined by our local leaders. School boards that are supposed to protect kids are failing and should resign.

Superintendents are perhaps the most guilty. The Hempfield Area School District superintendent for one has apparently bowed to the pressure by making masks optional. I’m of the belief masks must be mandated, teachers fully vaccinated (or find another job) and for the selfish families that are anti- everything … enroll elsewhere.

It’s the responsible masked believers who should be in schools, not the other way around. I know Hempfield superintendent is a highly sought after job with a salary of $175,000-plus. I also know fear of losing that position and fear of bad PR can sway decision- making. This is different. Time to stand up and do what is right, not what is easy, which unfortunately has become the norm in education.

Not joining together to defeat covid is not the American way, and we’re paying the price. Without simple precautions, restaurants will reduce hours lacking customers; schools will sporadically shut down by October, and we’ll have new variants appearing.

Normal was at our fingertips, then conspiracies took over common sense. There is one way out, and it’s not selfishness or God will save us. It’s vaccination.

Frank Flori, Hempfield

Penn Hills mask ruling decried

Penn Hills School District passed a mandate that includes masking all kids and visitors for the foreseeable future (“Penn Hills School District requiring masks for all students, staff at start of school year.”) Current science demands different policy, and this takes away my choice as a parent.

The CDC states there are 423 deaths of children ages 0-18 with covid in the U.S. Total. More than double the amount of children the same age died of pneumonia in the same period. Children have a better chance of getting struck by lightning, and more than triple the chance of dying from suicide. Covid is not fatal to children.

The original rationale for masking kids was they were super-spreaders, which they are not. This is important because it shows that children are dead ends when it comes to transmission — even unvaccinated. Children aren’t responsible for driving community transmission. The science has evolved. Are we?

Data clearly show universal masking in schools, while highly visible, appears to do nothing to protect the vulnerable. It smacks of covid safety theater. It’s optics, not science. It’s the easy answer for the adults to “feel safe” to the detriment of our kids, and I condemn this.

Brian Herr, Penn Hills

Still using Trump as an excuse

The illogical, absurd letter by William J. Bilo Sr. (“Republicans, do the right thing”) demands an answer. The Democrats simply will not let Donald Trump rest; he is their excuse when things go wrong, and they are going wrong big time.

President Biden has been so hell bent on reversing all Trump policies that it’s causing big-time trouble — allowing illegal immigrants with covid-19 and drugs going practically unchecked across our border; chaos and lives lost in the Afghanistan withdrawal.

Some in his own party declare that in all his years in Congress, Biden got foreign policy very wrong. And it seems he can’t answer any questions without notes. At times, the man doesn’t know where he’s at!

Sen. John McCain was a military hero but not a viable presidential candidate. In my opinion, his negative vote to kill the Affordable Care Act was his hate for Trump, and nothing else.

To liken Trump to Hitler is human disrespect to the utmost. Trump was rough on the edges, ruled like a businessman and bragged too much, but he had policies that worked. He stood up to foreign powers and said it like it was, not the naive soft talking of the current administration.

I’m a proud independent and hope that Trump runs again; he’s the man, and I will be proud to vote for him again.

Archie Atkinson, Lower Burrell

Bigger problems than social media

I hate to rain on Mallard Fillmore’s parade to go after social media, but America has bigger fish to fry. Our law enforcement agencies are doing their best to round up the Jan. 6 insurrectionists and their ringleader who caused the death of at least one police officer and put dozens of officers in the hospital, all because Donald Trump seemingly attempted to stage a coup.

The mayhem against the police and destruction of public property were treasonous and must be addressed. The coup attempt failed thanks to the bravery of our police that day and those in the Trump administration who honored their oaths of office to support the Constitution and our democracy. But we still have trials to convene and further investigations to ensure that coups like Jan. 6 never recur.

We also may have to find a good optometrist to prescribe glasses for all the Republican politicians in Congress who, when they look at the footage of the insurrectionists’ “handiwork,” see only happy-go-lucky tourists instead of the barbarians who seriously harmed the police defending the Capitol — gee, I thought the GOP loved police — destroyed public property, and sought to hang Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Once they’re all safely behind bars, we can then turn our attention to social media.

Leo Nagorski, Shaler