Opinion category, Page 637
S.E. Cupp: No, we shouldn’t cancel ‘Hamilton’
Like thousands and thousands of others, I spent 2½ hours watching the streaming version of “Hamilton” on Disney+ with my family for the first time. I was gobsmacked. I had a hunch that I’d like it — I’m a fan of most musicals and, until recently, a regular theatergoer. But...
Letter to the editor: Freedom comes with responsibilities, so wear a mask
People were without masks everywhere I went today on July 2. I am disappointed and at the same time angry with those who think the rules don’t apply to them. The “land of the free” doesn’t mean you don’t have civic responsibilities, which means you do what needs to be...
Letter to the editor: Politicians should think before they speak
The Preamble of the United States Constitution was finalized in September 1787. It’s time we’re all reminded: We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings...
Letter to the editor: Don’t leave dogs in hot cars
As we approach the dog days of summer, it is important to remember that hot dogs belong on the grill, not in a vehicle. Canines can easily overheat and die when left in a hot car. When a dog’s internal body temperature exceeds 105.8, it can suffer from heatstroke, which...
Letter to the editor: Pandemic unemployment compensation must continue
At the end of July the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) will end and millions of families will be in dire straits if the $600 supplemental weekly payments end. If the feds pull the financial rug out from so many people who are hanging on with no jobs and little...
Letter to the editor: Perfect time to abolish death penalty
As our state faces inevitable social and economic change in light of recent protests and the current pandemic, Pennsylvania needs to abolish the death penalty. According to the United States General Accounting Office, a defendant’s race directly influences the likelihood of a death sentence, with Black individuals most likely to...
Letter to the editor: Protesters like overgrown children
After watching young people marching in protests, destroying and looting property, toppling statues and blocking traffic, it makes me wonder if these are the children of “helicopter” parents. Maybe they never got to fight their battles during their growing years and now they react like this as adults, thinking they...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Medicine and science, not politicians, will keep us safe
There must be a reckoning. For some public officials, it may be as soon as the next election, or it may come with the judgment of time and history. But sooner or later, those who have led us away from prevention and safety and toward calamity during the coronavirus pandemic...
Naz El-Khatib: Trump’s capitulation to Xi, Putin
In the past few weeks, we learned President Trump did nothing when he found out Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, successfully paid bounties to militants for killing American soldiers in Afghanistan and Trump begged China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to help him win reelection. These are just the latest examples of Trump...
Eric Falk: Our Founders were all too human
It hurts to realize your heroes had flaws, major flaws. It really hurts. As a society we are now finally confronting the tangled legacy of the Founding Fathers. It is a legacy summarized in one simple, yet profound contradiction — many of the men who wrote and approved of the...
Editorial: Pennsylvania should value first responders
On a normal day, Pennsylvanians don’t realize how much they rely on an almost invisible wall of people standing between them and disaster. Some of the disasters are metaphorical. A minor car crash can snarl traffic but isn’t critical to more than the insurance deductible. But others are literal, like...
Sounding off: Wear masks to protect others
Letter-writer George Silowash (“Effectiveness of cloth masks”) brings up an interesting point. That is, his thoughts regarding viral particles remaining in a mask after evaporation of the exhaled respiratory droplets. It’s unclear to me whether the virus would adhere or be readily reinhaled. However, even if they were “free” and...
Letter to the editor: Appreciating Walter Williams’ insight
Walter Williams has to be one of the most insightful and intelligent op-ed writers that I have ever read. His perspective on an appreciation of black history (“Insults to Black history,” June 26, TribLIVE) demonstrates his ability to grasp the American culture and race relations for the last 80 years....
Letter to the editor: Trump’s role in covid-19 spread
A billboard in the Delmont/Export area says, “China lies, Americans die.” China has a history of being secretive, and the government did not quickly inform the world of covid-19. But blaming China alone is dangerous; it promotes antagonism against Asian Americans. This includes President Trump’s constant Asian descriptions of the...
Letter to the editor: Let local government act on single-use plastics
Plastic waste is becoming a massive public cost. According to PennDOT, the state spends $13 million a year just to clean up roadside litter, and that does not include the millions spent to clean plastic bags out of stormwater and sewage overflows. And yet, instead of doing something to tackle...
Letter to the editor: Why band is important to students
To Superintendent Gary Peiffer and the Greensburg Salem School Board: I read with sadness and a great deal of concern that you made the decision to eliminate the elementary band position at Greensburg Salem (“Greensburg Salem keeps taxes flat, cuts librarians and band teacher.”) My sadness is for the harm...
Letter to the editor: Let’s defund high schools, colleges
How do you screen police better and train them better while cutting their budget? Maybe it’s time we defund our radical high schools and colleges. In my opinion, our kids are not educated; they are indoctrinated into communism. Is this what our high-priced teachers and professors are paid to do?...
Editorial: Real solution needed for evictions
You can’t shelter in place if you don’t have a place to shelter. That’s the crux of the rental and foreclosure problem amid the coronavirus pandemic. When Pennsylvania went into covid-19 lockdowns back in March, Gov. Tom Wolf put a moratorium in place on evictions, providing cover for renters and...
Walter Williams: Charter schools and their enemies
Dr. Thomas Sowell has just published “Charter Schools and Their Enemies.” He presents actual test scores of students in traditional public schools and charter schools on New York State Education Department’s annual English language arts test and its Mathematics Test. Sowell gives the results of student tests in charter schools...
John Stossel: Standing up to the online mobs
The online mob came for Harald Uhlig. What terrible thing had he done? He tweeted that Black Lives Matter “torpedoed itself, with its full-fledged support of #defundthepolice.” Instead of defunding, Uhlig suggested, “train them better.” Hundreds of people then signed a petition to demand that Uhlig, a University of Chicago...
Mary Lou Bitar: An Allegheny Ludlum dad’s dream for his daughter
“I want you to go to college and become a teacher because if you marry a steelworker and he goes on strike you’ll have a job to help support your family!” These words were spoken to me in 1959 by my late father, Andrew Suveges Jr., as I was preparing...
Laurels & lances: Slide, shade, view
Laurel: To big fun outdoors. The summer of 2019 passed without one of the best ways to enjoy the great outdoors in Westmoreland County — the giant slide in Mammoth Park. The delightful Mt. Pleasant Township landmark was closed down for a $1.1 million renovation project that upgraded it from...
Luke Popovich: Pandemic, politics threaten Marcellus jobs
To the seriously stricken airline, hospitality and tourism industries felled by covid-19, add Pennsylvania’s less visible but equally vital oil and gas industry. The viral plague that has slashed economic growth has crippled demand for fossil energy. From Texas oil wells to shale fields in Pennsylvania, producers are facing what...
Letter to the editor: Anti-Trump bias on front page
When editors choose news articles for the front page, do they bother to read them? The AP story “Trump rally shows cracks in campaign” (June 22) reads like a hate-filled diatribe written by a left-wing activist. Where was the objective reporting? Where was the rebuttal quote from a Trump supporter...
Letter to the editor: Trump making America great, all right
President Trump campaigned on making ’Merica first with nostalgia for the past, his slogan calling to make ’Merica great “again.” And indeed, he has recreated many of the most notable moments in past American history. He made ’Merica first all right. We’re first in total covid-19 infections and deaths. Here’s...
