Letters to the Editor category, Page 145

The new woke policy on force-on-force reenactments that the National Park Service adopted, and this blue state liked, is being used to censor the history of Bushy Run Battlefield (“Pa. agency explains why it enacted no force-on-force rule for Bushy Run, other sites,” Feb. 6, TribLIVE). They claim it is...

Ninety-nine percent of Republican lawmakers voted against banning assault weapons, and 96% voted against commonsense background checks before gun sales. Both of these safety measures are supported by the majority of Americans and would save countless lives. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there were 648 mass shootings in 2022....

As the U.S. continues to funnel tens of billions of taxpayer dollars and military aid to Ukraine, with what seems like zero accountability, ask this simple question: If Country A supplies Country B with missiles to bomb Country C, does Country C have the moral right to bomb Country A?...

Hopefully, the talk of banning gas stoves marked the beginning of the end of the radical climate change movement. It’s becoming a bad joke. The effort to switch from internal combustion engine-powered vehicles to EVs sounded like it made good environmental sense, but we are learning that it does not,...

Our region has a gun violence problem that threatens to undo all progress we’ve made on equity and economic development. Public safety is a just expectation from every person. Our day-to-day existence is shaken to its core without the feeling of safety. Tragically, for many, this means the fear of...

I was appalled by the way police responded to the Tyre Nichols traffic stop. My military training taught me you are only as strong as your leaders. These officers had no skills in policing. The leaders who gave them their jobs should be fired. Giving jobs to people who are...

The two teams participating in the Super Bowl each year get 17.5% of the tickets. The host city gets 5%. The league gets 24%. The other 30 teams, including the Steelers, each get 1.2%. State Farm Stadium holds 75,000, meaning the Steelers will get 900 tickets. Although the number is...

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald’s staffers finally appeared publicly to discuss the seven-year ratio coding scandal. After fixing one of the seven years of bad luck for taxpayers, Fitzgerald’s chief of staff, Jennifer Liptak, was asked about conducting a voluntary review of the other six years so taxpayers would finally...

Solving the energy crisis requires a course correction from Washington — and one that encourages domestic natural gas and oil development, energy security, economic growth and continued progress toward a lower-carbon future. What doesn’t help is the finger-pointing at producers, unfounded accusations of price gouging and threats to impose new...

I respect but disagree with columnist Joseph Sabino Mistick that saving Pittsburgh requires a coalition of “corporate leaders, the foundations, universities and colleges, neighborhood groups, and political leaders from the state and county and city” (“Can we save Downtown Pittsburgh?,” Jan. 28, TribLIVE). A bureaucracy is not needed to get...

What happened to our freedom? If individually owned businesses cannot decide who they want to serve, then the freedom of the owner is denied. I’m not talking of a hospital, but individual doctors and nurses should not be compelled to provide services against their own beliefs. It’s not as though...

The video of Memphis police officers inflicting blows that ultimately proved fatal to Tyre Nichols was very disheartening. This was a senseless act by officers who did not deescalate the situation, but instead allowed their frustration and anger to take over. Nichols and the five officers involved are Black, so...

Regarding “‘Don’t be numb to this’: Battling despair over gun deaths” (Jan. 29, TribLIVE): As a lifelong hunting and firearm enthusiast, I would gladly give up my modern firearms if it would end the active shooter carnage we are now experiencing. But it won’t because the bad guys who have...

During his swearing-in ceremony as our new governor, Josh Shapiro said, “Pennsylvanians can indeed find light in the midst of darkness and drown out the voices of hate and bigotry. ... Here in Pennsylvania, we didn’t allow the extremists who peddle lies to drown out the truth. ... We assume...

The Hempfield Area School District recently drafted a proposed update to the district’s resource material policy, which applies to library books (“Hempfield book policy draft could provide guardrails to sexualized content,” Jan. 19, TribLIVE). The proposed changes are extremely problematic. One proposed revision says that high school students may view...

There seems to be no depth that Republicans in Harrisburg will not sink to in order to get their way. An amendment to the state Constitution would have opened a new time window for reporting sexual abuse of minors. No one in their right mind could openly oppose it. The...

WCCC’s ‘equity’ isn’t ‘equality’ Isn’t this special. Westmoreland County Community College has created a “Center for Equity, Inclusion and Belonging,” according to a glowing newspaper report (“Westmoreland County Community College opens Center for Equity, Inclusion, Belonging,” Jan. 27, TribLIVE). Lots to unpack here, but let’s pick one nit. Equity. “Equity”...

Hey, President Biden, when are you going to get your priorities straight? You and you alone are destroying America by not closing our borders. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is a joke, and, so far, so are you. The amount of drugs, criminals, “gotaways” and probably terrorists coming over our...

Both politically conservative and politically left-wing letter writers call each other names and traffic in disinformation. And, since the biased mainstream media is full of omissions and lies, how can we voters determine the real facts? Perhaps comparing presidential job achievements the past six years might make the picture clearer....

Which PennDOT division is responsible for keeping our highways free of litter, trash and animal carcasses? Whoever they are, they’ve either retired, been fired, quit, moved or died. Route 28 north of Pittsburgh looks like a dump, both north and southbound lanes. It’s embarrassing! I guess all of the PennDOT...

Isn’t this special. Westmoreland County Community College has created a “Center for Equity, Inclusion and Belonging,” according to a glowing newspaper report (“Westmoreland County Community College opens Center for Equity, Inclusion, Belonging,” Jan. 27, TribLIVE). Lots to unpack here, but let’s pick one nit: equity. “Equity” is not “equality.” Equality...

If there is one thing we know at AARP, it’s that Pennsylvanians 50-plus vote. That’s why we want to ensure that people age 50-plus and their families know about the quick-­approaching elections in Allegheny County. Although the first opportunity to vote in the 2023 election cycle was anticipated to be...

According to news reports, former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush say they have no classified documents. Really? Does anyone believe them, given their history of veracity? I.e., Monica Lewinsky and Iraq WMDs. Gerald Schiller Penn Hills...

Columnist Joseph Sabino Mistick claimed there are now nihilists in the House Republican Party (“Kevin McCarthy and the GOP nihilists” Jan. 14, TribLIVE). He was referring to the 20 House members who “wrecked McCarthy’s plans to smoothly assume” speaker of the House. Nihilists, as most know, are people with no...

On the corner of Freeport Road and Elizabeth Street in New Kensington stands an architectural beauty, commonly known as the Old Nurse’s Residence. Circa 1923 red bricks are punctuated by a row of stately arches I’ve admired since I was a kid. For years, the vacant property was maintained, never...