Letters to the Editor category, Page 158
Letter to the editor: Effective policing required to save Downtown Pittsburgh
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...
Letter to the editor: People should be able to decide who they want to serve
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...
Letter to the editor: Fallout from Tyre Nichols’ death
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...
Letter to the editor: Giving up guns won’t end carnage
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...
Letter to the editor: Let’s live up to Franco’s legacy
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...
Letter to the editor: School book proposals problematic
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...
Letter to the editor: Republicans holding abuse victims hostage
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...
Sounding off: ‘Equity,’ documents, ‘wokies,’ taxes and roadside trash among week’s topics
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”...
Letter to the editor: Biden should close borders
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...
Letter to the editor: Comparing Trump, Biden administrations
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....
Letter to the editor: Why doesn’t PennDOT keep roads clean?
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...
Letter to the editor: 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” is not “equality.” Equality...
Letter to the editor: Voting encouraged in Feb. 7 special election
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...
Letter to the editor: Should we believe Clinton, Bush on documents?
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...
Letter to the editor: Republicans not nihilists
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...
Letter to the editor: Hoping The River stays in New Kensington
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...
Letter to the editor: Battle of the wokies
The new Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission’s guidelines that have resulted in the cancellation of reenacted battles at Bushy Run Battlefield is a classic example of unelected “woke” appointees mandating their insecurities upon us without any public input (“Bushy Run Battlefield reenactment canceled amid new state guidelines,” Jan. 28, TribLIVE)....
Letter to the editor: Gloom and doom
We are at the mercy of our politicians. All of our problems started with giving the rich and companies tax breaks. They gave tax incentives for our companies to go overseas. We had the fear of Donald J. Trump. Now we have the fear of the new Congress. They want...
Letter to the editor: Help close pollution loopholes
I feel overwhelmed when I get an alert from my weather app warning me about dangerous air quality conditions within my community. Are local residents expected to stay in the house and drop all responsibilities during this time to protect our health? Action is needed now to ensure that residents...
Letter to the editor: Is government for us or against us?
Considering two local stories over the weekend, the state-mandated end of historical reenactments at Bushy Run, which seems to have started with one out-of-state person’s complaint (“Bushy Run Battlefield reenactment canceled amid new state guidelines,” Jan. 28, TribLIVE)) and the plan to spend $3.6 million for a homeless shelter in...
Letter to the editor: High earners get tax breaks
The letter “What’s ‘fair share’ when it comes to taxes?” (Jan. 24, TribLIVE) repeated the tired old saw that “Roughly 50% of wage earners pay no federal income tax at all.” This is simply not true. 6.2% of each employee’s wages is deducted as a dedicated tax, matched by an...
Letter to the editor: We must end our government excesses
In January, many of us look at our bills after Christmas and ask, “How am I going to pay for everything I bought?” I have not heard this asked of our elected officials. Everyone seems to want to ignore this elephant in the room and push it onto the next...
Letter to the editor: ‘Context’ and book challenges
Regarding the editorial “Does Norwin director’s book challenge require more context?” (Jan. 18, TribLIVE): Talk about the liberal Trib calling the kettle black! They are attacking the messenger, not the message. Only conservatives require “context.” It’s quite OK for liberals to rewrite the meaning of words or history, even though...
Letter to the editor: America is broke
In the letter “Republicans holding us hostage” (Jan. 26, TribLIVE), the writer accused the Republicans of blackmail in which all of us are held hostage by playing a high stakes game of chicken over whether or not to increase the debt ceiling. It would be highly appreciated if the writer...
Letter to the editor: Israel not apartheid government
I find it necessary to correct false statements in the letter “Trump and antisemitism” (Jan. 19, TribLIVE) responding to my letter “The real antisemitism” (Dec. 17, TribLIVE) regarding the antisemitic statement of Rep. Rashida Tlaib accusing Israel of being an apartheid government. The writer incorrectly defined Israel as an apartheid government...
