Opinion category, Page 517
Letter to the editor: You’ll need a loan for that cone
In his column “Klavon’s wage hike great for business and workers,” reliably liberal Joseph Mistick lauds the owner of Klavon’s Ice Cream Parlor in the Strip for increasing his starting wage to $15 an hour, in line with the current push for a similar nationwide minimum. The owner claimed he...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Reasons to celebrate Flag Day
William T. Kerr was just a Pittsburgh school kid when he founded the American Flag Day Association of Western Pennsylvania in 1888. Later, he became the national chairman of the association, a position he held for 50 years, and he was at President Truman’s side in 1949 when the law...
Sounding off: Government leaders should at least try to balance budget
This is a comment about the Associated Press article “Biden’s $6T budget: Social spending, taxes on business”. I don’t care if you are a Democrat, Republican, independent, conservative, liberal or whatever — the government needs to at least try to balance the budget. I understand we have been through a...
Alexa L. Gervasi and Daryl James: Allegheny County calls off the cookie police
Baking enthusiasts in Pittsburgh and surrounding communities will have new freedom this summer, just in time for Independence Day. Thanks to a recent policy reversal at the Allegheny County Health Department, people can turn on their ovens and start making money from home. Code enforcers previously showed zero tolerance for...
Amanda Little: World’s food supply has never been more vulnerable
After a cyberattack crippled the world’s largest meat producer last month, JBS SA meat plants have begun to reopen across the globe. But the meat industry shouldn’t be returning to business as usual — and for the security of our food supply, the Biden administration needs to make sure that...
Letter to the editor: Bucs boycott could help save baseball in Pittsburgh
Bottom-line Bob Nutting is doing a great disservice to Pirates fans who would like to see a competitive team. Since Nutting doesn’t own PNC Park, can the Pittsburgh Sports and Exhibition Authority do anything about putting pressure on Nutting, such as raise the rent so high that he will be...
Letter to the editor: RINOs, military priorities and BLM
If you want to be a hero with the Democratic socialist party, just be an elected Republican and bad-mouth President Trump constantly, even when he is out of office. How many of the writers who sing the RINO praises ever voted for them? How long would these RINOs last if...
Editorial: Legislators, show us the receipts for your expenses
The first real political scandal in the newborn United States — and an excellent second act number in a Broadway musical — is the Reynolds Affair. In 1791, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton had a relationship with a married woman, whose husband subsequently blackmailed the politician. When the tawdry...
Letter to the editor: Presidency may be Trump’s downfall
Who does Donald Trump owe $421 million to? Vlad? Probably some to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Is that why he kept his mouth shut even after reports that Vlad paid bounties on U.S. troops in Afghanistan and also why he kept his mouth shut when the Saudis assassinated Jamal...
S.E. Cupp: Trump harassment continues through fundraising emails
“This is ridiculous,” blared the subject line of the fresh email in my inbox Monday. “Will you join Trump’s new site? We’ve emailed you 13x. Fail to respond=Trump knows you’ve abandoned him.” I guess the cat’s out of the bag — I have, indeed, abandoned Trump. The fundraising email, which...
John Stossel: Facebook’s climate censors
Whom does Facebook trust to censor? A Ph.D. graduate from France. Really. The Frenchman, Emmanuel Vincent, started a group he calls “Climate Feedback.” It does “a new kind of fact-checking.” It sure is new. And wrong. I released a video in which some climate scientists argue that climate change is...
Jonah Goldberg: Outrage over billionaires’ tax returns ignores basic facts
ProPublica obtained the tax returns of the richest Americans and discovered what every informed person already knew: They don’t pay as much in income taxes as some people would like them to. This is being called a great scandal by many Democrats and liberal journalists. Meanwhile, that these returns were...
Colin McNickle: Gambling revenue rebounds — but at what cost?
State-sanctioned gambling appears to be on the rebound and, in fact, growing in Pennsylvania as the coronavirus pandemic wanes and life in the Keystone State returns to some semblance of normal. But that has prompted the revival of an important and evergreen question from a researcher at the Allegheny Institute...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Yes, Sen. Manchin, the right to vote is fundamental
Dear Sen. Joe Manchin: It has only been 56 years. As Americans, we are pleased to call ourselves one of the world’s oldest democracies. We are actually one of the world’s newest. Democracy, after all, is government shaped by the will of the people. But until 1920, roughly half the...
Letter to the editor: Emasculation of American males doesn’t bode well
The Russian and Chinese armies are becoming hardened by the day, while here in America the emasculation of the male is “in vogue” and mainstream. How to seamlessly apply your makeup while deciding which dress goes best with which heels. You know, “man stuff.” I’m concerned the once proud eagle...
Letter to the editor: Severance tax not solution for Pa.’s recovery
For the seventh consecutive year, Gov. Tom Wolf proposes a severance tax in the state budget. The Wolf administration claims that the severance tax, along with other proposed taxes, will help us recover from the covid-19 crisis. The natural gas industry plays a critical role in developing products we use...
Laurels & Lances: Celebrated centenarians, slippery silence, real recycling
Laurel: To longevity with brio. Newspapers usually wait for an occurrence of threes to cite a trend, but two will do in this case. This week, we observed the 100th birthdays of two dynamic men: Ufemio “Fem” Biagioni of Leechburg and Frank Pugliano Sr. of Washington Township. Both are Italian...
Letter to the editor: Wolf cutting charter school lifeline
Like a lot of parents across America, I watched as state governments and public school monopolies failed our children when schools were closed during the covid-19 lockdown. For years, states like Pennsylvania told anyone who could listen that they could do online learning better and cheaper than charter schools. But...
Paul Kengor: Highway robbery on the Pa. Turnpike
In a column around this time last year, I wrote about the toll that covid was taking on tollbooth workers on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I had been prompted by an eerie ride to Latrobe from my home in Grove City. Like many Pennsylvanians under lockdown, I hadn’t been on a...
Letter to the editor: Why do Buffalo residents get biggest tax hikes?
Why does it always seem that the biggest tax increase goes to the residents of Buffalo Township (“Freeport Area School District set to raise taxes next school year,” May 29, TribLIVE)? Why can’t it be the same across the board? Also, I think it’s time Freeport be considered a Butler...
Letter to the editor: Applauding Loyalhanna supervisors
In her letter “Roads sacrificed for pricey garage?” (May 14, TribLIVE), Jane Kelley implies that Loyalhanna Township supervisors Ken Walters and Mary Trunzo neglected roads by constructing a new public works building and office. If they, as reported, saved up to half the cost of a potential expenditure of $1...
Letter to the editor: Not all who are vaccinated are immune to covid
Many people heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing that the mask mandate was lifted for fully vaccinated Pennsylvanians. I did not. As of June 6, 45% of Pennsylvanians are fully vaccinated against the covid-19 virus. This does not mean that 45% of the state’s population has immunity against the...
Editorial: College students, step up and get the vaccine
The team project has been the bane of many an educational institution. There are the ones who have done the reading, come up with a plan and broken it all out into a series of tasks. There are the ones who will do what they are told. And there are...
Letter to the editor: Biden’s job to restore our dignity
Letter-writer Jack Juris (“Biden will destroy our country,” May 8, TribLIVE) states that President Biden has made our country a laughingstock on the world stage. James Cataldi says “Biden proving to be worst ever” (May 10, TribLIVE). Archie Atkinson says “Biden will ruin country” (May 20, TribLIVE). I see it...
Letter to the editor: Lower, middle classes will pay for Biden spending
President Biden and the Democrats are saying only the rich will pay for their spending bills. They are lying. Biden said he “will not increase taxes on the middle class.” He is simply going to let their tax cut expire, which will effectively raise their taxes. Even if income tax...
