Letters to the Editor category, Page 188
Letter to the editor: Free school meals an investment in children
School meals are as important to learning as textbooks and teachers, but federal funding that provided free school meals to all students for the past two years has ended. This school year, only students from families who apply for and qualify will receive free school meals. The end of federal...
Letter to the editor: Not buying into global warming fear
Good fear, bad fear, birthed by truth, or, alternatively, lies. Good fear brings action and remedy. Bad brings chaos, fear and destruction. Global warming, truth or lie? Democrats say carbon dioxide levels are the greatest threat to life as we know it. To quantify the threat, think Heinz Field with...
Sounding off: Lessons from Kansas, Biden’s competence, guns, turnpike tolls, housing crisis
Lessons for Pa. from Kansas Kansas voters’ crushing rejection of the amendment that would have removed the right to abortion from the state’s Constitution sends a loud message to Pennsylvania’s GOP legislators. Underhanded tactics likely won’t play well here either, even with many conservatives. The Kansas amendment was deliberately worded...
Letter to the editor: Addressing housing crisis in Westmoreland
American Rescue Plan Funds are finally being used in Westmoreland County. Commissioners Gina Cerilli Thrasher, Doug Chew and Sean Kertes, thank you for your preliminary work. You now have a moral obligation to spend the remaining $70 million to help those most devastated by the pandemic. Allocating funds toward blight...
Letter to the editor: Jefferson would not have supported violence against government
Regarding the letter “Jefferson may have OK’d Jan. 6 insurrection” (July 31, TribLIVE): Thomas Jefferson was a revolutionary. He wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He wrote the Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty in the 1780s. His friend James Madison codified citizens’ liberties in the 1791 Bill of Rights....
Letter to the editor: Why aren’t unpaid turnpike tolls collected?
Why is the turnpike raising tolls when they have almost $150 million of tolls that are past due (“Pa. Turnpike tolls to go up for 15th straight year,” Aug. 2, TribLIVE)? Sen. Kim Ward and her staff have known about this for several years and haven’t done anything about it....
Letter to the editor: New Kensington intersection needs safety upgrade
For a while now, I’ve notice highway markings around the valley have been missing, unnoticed or disappearing. The public works departments are great and hard workers, especially in the winter when roads are snow- or ice-covered. But the markings at Route 366 (Tarentum Bridge Road) and Leechburg Road in New...
Letter to the editor: Lessons for Pa. from Kansas
Kansas voters’ crushing rejection of the amendment that would have removed the right to abortion from the state’s Constitution sends a loud message to Pennsylvania’s GOP legislators. Underhanded tactics likely won’t play well here either, even with many conservatives. The Kansas amendment was deliberately worded to confuse voters and hide...
Letter to the editor: Shapiro will deliver results for Pa.
We need to elect a leader for governor who will take the initiative to get things done. But, wait, what sorts of things? Josh Shapiro, as attorney general, stepped up when a fight between health industry behemoths UPMC and Highmark threatened the care of thousands of Pennsylvanians. He brokered a...
Letter to the editor: Joe Biden and the Peter Principle
To understand Joe Biden, you must understand the Peter Principle. Laurence J. Peter developed The Peter Principle, which states that a person rises to the level of their incompetence. In a hierarchical management system, a person is promoted due to past success until they reach a level where they can...
Letter to the editor: Plenty of evidence for Jan. 6
Letter-writer Kathleen Bollinger (“Jan. 6 witch hunt,” Aug. 4, TribLIVE) compares the investigation into the attempted coup against our government to the terrible events of the Salem witch trials, wherein hundreds of people were imprisoned and 20 were executed for their alleged crimes of “witchcraft,” all without a shred of...
Letter to the editor: Gun ownership and freedom
Rights can be considered to be individualistic or society-wide. The Founding Fathers, understanding that individual rights don’t actually lead to freedoms, wrote the Bill of Rights to provide the American society with certain freedoms. Take the Second Amendment. When people cite it as justification for our lax gun laws, they...
Letter to the editor: Democracy in action in Kansas
Finally, true democracy in action. Hooray for the all the voters of Kansas. The issue of abortion was put on the ballot for the voters to decide. I think there was a bigger issue decided here. It wasn’t just the right to keep abortions legal, but the rights of the...
Letter to the editor: ‘Election integrity’ is the Big Lie, rebranded
Pennsylvania Sen. Kim Ward is creating fear about a problem that doesn’t exist. That is clearly the point of her op-ed, “A step toward election integrity in Pa.” (July 24, TribLIVE). Voters are losing confidence in elections solely because of the Big Lie told by Republicans. The 2020 election was...
Letter to the editor: Big cat legislation will protect animals, community
The House made the right decision in overwhelmingly passing the Big Cat Public Safety Act, House Resolution 263. Law enforcement and animal welfare groups agree that it’s reckless to allow private citizens without the resources and know-how to keep endangered tigers and lions in their backyards and basements. It is...
Letter to the editor: Ideas to solve housing crisis inspired by Gerald Ford
People who are quite old (me, for example) may remember the 38th POTUS (1974-77), Gerald R. Ford. He took some actions to stanch inflation, which was serious at the time and a walk in the park compared to what is happening now. He instituted a wage/price freeze and distributed lapel...
Letter to the editor: Denying rights, supporting lies
While growing up in North Irwin, I knew people with many different political and religious views. We still got along for the most part, and I miss that. During my lifetime, I’ve seen civil rights afforded to Black people. I’ve seen women get the right to own property without a...
Letter to the editor: Abortion right is a license to kill
“My body, my choice,” Planned Parenthood: Sounds to me that you want what James Bond has, “a license to kill.” Lots of aid is available to you if you want to keep your baby. Larry Howard Plum...
Letter to the editor: Facts on constitutional amendments
I’d like to offer letter-writer Sandy Kremer some factual corrections (“Stop legislators’ power grab,” July 29, TribLIVE). She claims constitutional amendments are done to “circumvent the bill-writing and vetting processes.” In truth, these measures must be approved in two consecutive sessions of the General Assembly. She claims that for a...
Letter to the editor: Problems with climate modeling
Letter-writer Robert Mitchell (“What the real science world says about climate models,” July 1, TribLIVE) states that climate models have predicted for decades that the global temperature would now be about 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, in good agreement with current measurements. Mitchell’s information is derived from a publication...
Letter to the editor: Elites, not populism, the threat to democracy
Many elites in the media and politics think populism is a threat to democracy. But are they correct? A dictionary definition of populism is “a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.” What’s so wrong about that?...
Letter to the editor: Jefferson wouldn’t have approved of Jan. 6
Ed Collins is wrong in his letter ”Jefferson may have OK’d Jan. 6 insurrection” (July 31, TribLIVE). Thomas Jefferson would not have approved. That insurrection was neither good, nor brief. It is ongoing, and I predict it will end in a Trump dictatorship if not stopped. Sure, Jefferson is famous for his...
Letter to the editor: Deluzio will fight for ‘made in America’
According to the article “Chip shortage leaves 95K GM vehicles incomplete in storage” (July 1, TribLIVE), “The global shortage of computer chips forced General Motors to build 95,000 vehicles without certain components during the second quarter (of 2022).” The article notes that the shortage of chips has forced many automakers...
Letter to the editor: Why churches are closing
I rarely write to the paper, but this time I was compelled to do so. In my opinion, the big reason churches are forced to close in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has little to do with income, although it may be a lesser factor. I personally believe the major...
Letter to the editor: Denial won’t stop climate change destruction
The writer of the letter, “Climate change hysteria destroying economy” (July 25, TribLIVE), is a master of irony. Could it be that he is blissfully unaware of the already destructive events in this nation and the world due to climate change caused by human actions? Record high temperatures in the...
