Opinion category, Page 128
Editorial: Domestic violence shelters need to be private to be safe
Every year, the National Network to End Domestic Violence conducts a survey of those seeking help. It is not a total for the year. It is a snapshot of one day. How many people reached out? How many people found services? How many were adults, and how many were children?...
Letter to the editor: FEMA great example of socialism
Regarding the letter “Do we want socialism?” (Oct. 4, TribLive): Whelp … FEMA is a prime example of socialism, and I’m betting the victims of Helene and Milton would sure like some of that socialism right about now! Jeffrey Hice Penn Township, Westmoreland County...
Letter to the editor: Allegheny County should tax on land value
I request our Allegheny County representatives, whatever they decide on increasing the property tax, it be 100% on land value. It is time to transition to the only tax that enhances economic productivity. Tax revenue derived from land value puts more land into play. Vacant land is put to use....
Letter to the editor: Vulgar political display shameful
I thought long and hard about submitting this letter because I truly believe in the right to free speech. But don’t hide behind the First Amendment in order to display vulgarities. Recently, I couldn’t help but notice a neighbor on my street who felt a need to post a vulgar...
Letter to the editor: Gainey, Innamorato should visit Israel and see
To Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato: My name is Andy Luterman. I was born and raised in Pittsburgh. My father, 92, stills lives in Squirrel Hill. In November 1986, I moved to Israel, where I have lived ever since. I was very distressed to see...
Letter to the editor: Be prepared to vote — register by Oct. 21
The League of Women Voters (LWV) was founded as a nonpartisan, grassroots organization in 1920 with the goal of empowering voters and defending democracy. Our goals today have not changed, and the League of Women Voters of Westmoreland County wants voters to be informed and make their choices in the...
Letter to the editor: Stuck with the evils of many ‘lessers’
As we all know, political ads (especially the negative ones) provide nothing but untarnished truths, factual information and sincere regard for civility, untainted by name-calling, visual trickery and distorted representations. Given that high-quality cornucopia of reliable guidance, we can come to only one conclusion: There are absolutely no candidates for...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Women’s rights may decide this election
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Dobbs case — reversing Roe v. Wade and throwing the issue of abortion back to the individual states — women voters have shown their political strength in every state where the issue has been on the ballot. With that collective clout, women...
David Urban: Obama’s damage control for Harris won’t work
In the same week Kamala Harris claimed on “The View” she wouldn’t change a single action taken by the Biden-Harris administration in the past four years, Democrats scrambled and sent Barack Obama — a man who once called Pennsylvanians “bitter” and “xenophobic” — to do damage control. Unfortunately for the...
Michael S. Johnson: Political centrism has been getting a second look. Why?
Political centrism has a bad name. In fact, it has a lot of bad names. Centrists have been denigrated as squishy, weak in the knees, guilty of being sellouts — and worse, unpatriotic. However, the idea of centrism has been getting a second look recently. Americans are feeling like they...
Mitch Kates: Anniversary of Hamas slaughter reminds Jews of stakes in election
This week, Pennsylvania 434,00 Jewish residents are mourning the one-year anniversary of the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust — by Hamas. Hamas murdered more than 1,200 Israelis during the attack, slaughtering babies, committing sexual violence, burning whole families alive and taking 240 civilians hostage. One year later, Hamas...
Letter to the editor: Move on, Trump
I can’t believe it, four years after Donald Trump lost the election legally, he is still saying he won. Get a life. Move on to your next golf outing. Donald Boland Leechburg...
Sounding off: Campaign countdown continues
Military generals’ endorsement of Harris is telling The letter “Trump is the tough leader we need” (Sept. 27, TribLive) talked about Donald Trump’s toughness and said he can’t be bought. I would remind voters Trump spent three hours alone with Vladimir Putin; one can only imagine what they discussed, aside...
Letter to the editor: Where is Sen. Bob Casey’s money coming from?
We have heard where one candidate for Pennsylvania U.S. senator got his money. What about the other, since he has been in government all his life ? Clem Zahrobsky Delmont...
Letter to the editor: Cherri Rogers will support women and girls
How well does Rep. Eric Davanzo support the needs of women and girls? Or even the needs of young families? His voting record suggests not very well. He voted “no” on HB 2137, a bill aimed at Pennsylvania’s working and single-parent families, to improve health outcomes for both parents and...
Letter to the editor: County jail correctional officers need better training
A referendum passed in Allegheny County in 2021 not only included a mandate for county jail residents to be out of their cells for four hours a day, but also banned the use of leg shackles, restraint chairs and pepper spray. The training our correctional officers have had in the...
Editorial: Social media blurs public and private communication
Is a private Facebook page a public record? It’s a complicated question — so complicated that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is being asked to decide. The line between public and private isn’t as black and white as it might seem. Public officials are also private individuals. Sometimes the two sides...
Letter to the editor: Republicans’ nonsense
As a huge “Seinfeld” fan, I ask, “What’s the deal with Republicans?” Here are a few examples: Donald Trump was recorded saying women should be punished for abortions. A U.S. congresswoman said the Parkland School shooting was staged. We’ve seen a video of another congresswoman fondling her date in a...
Letter to the editor: Casey, Harris, Walz the best Dems have?
I’ve watched three debates, and as a retired executive, I ask myself, would I hire or promote any of these Democrats on an interview? The answer is “no.” Sen. Bob Casey sounded as monotone and boring as any human I’ve ever heard. He’s a 99% “yes” vote for progressives. After...
S.E. Cupp: Ignore the election noise; the swing voters are
With less than four weeks until Nov. 5, the inundation of election news — and, more importantly, non-news — is at a fever pitch. From a bombardment of election ads — especially in swing states — to a dramatic parsing of every word out of former President Donald Trump and...
Colin McNickle: Challenges abound converting offices to residential
Converting vacant office space into residential units supposedly has become all the rage in the post-pandemic era, in Pittsburgh and nationwide. But is it, really? And do such conversions make economic sense? That depends, says the president-emeritus of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “There are several potentially serious obstacles...
Dr. David Macpherson: Who will govern better during the next national crisis?
Over my lifetime, I’ve thought about the people I want around during an existential crisis — a world war, pandemic or whatever other disaster we might imagine. I can’t predict the nature of the crisis, but I can think of family, friends, colleagues and others who I imagine will perform...
Letter to the editor: Craziest election ever
This has got to be the craziest election I have ever seen. One candidate, the Washington elites tried to put in prison any way they could think of. Governors tried to throw him off the ballot. Even the FBI pushed Russia collusion for two years. Fifty-one CIA contractors signed a...
Letter to the editor: Many reasons to be pro-choice
These are my reasons for being pro-choice and why you should vote for pro-choice candidates like Cherri Rogers in District 58: I am pro-sex education and pro-birth control because that prevents unwanted pregnancies in the first place. I am pro-paid family leave, pro-fair minimum wage, pro-affordable child care and pro-child...
Lori Falce: The dangerous spread of misinformation
The American Psychological Association has an entire section of its website dedicated to the dangers of misinformation and disinformation and how the not-so-slow creep into our daily lives is hurting us all. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also concerned. So is the Department of Health and Human...
