Opinion category, Page 82
Letter to the editor: Politicians, quit wasting our tax dollars
Congress, Senate, Democrats and Republicans: I’m a proud citizen and taxpayer of these United States. I accuse you of fraud, waste and abuse of my tax dollars. It’s your job to spend it responsibly. But lately it seems you’re not doing your job. I hear a lot of crying about...
Lori Falce: False promises of learning from Social Security mistakes
I am not old enough to retire. That doesn’t mean I am unfamiliar with the Social Security Administration. My father-in-law lived with us for several years after he suffered a heart attack. My husband received disability because of a constellation of health issues. I am a woman and I got...
Letter to the editor: How the wealthy exploit tax loopholes
There are many loopholes in our tax system that allow the extremely rich to legally cheat on their taxes. One such tax avoidance scheme is buy/borrow/die. First, the wealthy buy assets that appreciate in value without producing cash. These assets can include things like stock, collectibles and, particularly, real estate....
Laurels & lances: Partnership & partying
Laurel: To experienced support. Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute is using a secret weapon in helping patients navigate their medical journey: survivors. The Community Cancer Patient Ambassador Program launched in February. It connects cancer survivors with newly diagnosed individuals. It offers support for 14 disease lines, helping those fighting blood,...
Letter to the editor: Power plants and energy costs
Regarding the article “Facing competition from Big Tech, states dangle incentives and loosen laws to attract power plants” (March 9, TribLive): Gov. Josh Shapiro’s push for new power plants to meet growing energy demands glosses over an important detail: the cost of expanding liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. While companies...
Jonah Goldberg: Trump administration has a free-speech problem
I have to wonder: When will Vice President JD Vance condemn his own administration? Last month, Vance, a self-described foreign policy “realist” who scorns the practice of describing countries as “good guys” and “bad guys,” caused quite a stir at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. He invited controversy, however,...
Scott Bricker: Safe, vibrant and thriving — Penn Avenue needs a better design
In his column ”Don’t mess with the Strip” (March 15, TribLive), Joseph Sabino Mistick paints a romantic picture of the Strip District, a neighborhood that has grown and evolved over time, especially in the past decade. He’s right about one thing — the Strip is a treasure. But treasures need...
Letter to the editor: If Democrats won’t fight, vote them out
In 2018, I was the founder of Mt. Lebanon Rise Up, an Indivisible Group that helped elect Conor Lamb and Pam Iovino. I spent hours canvassing and phone banking for Democrats. I have since moved to Heidelberg, Germany, where it is obvious to everyone the United States has aligned itself...
Letter to the editor: EPA cuts will damage Americans’ health
I read with sadness about mass firings planned for the Environmental Protection Agency. How terrible for the health and safety of every American. When government agencies are gutted and civil servants are fired, the excuse is often that private industry can do it more efficiently, but private industry doesn’t want...
Letter to the editor: Today’s Democratic Party a far cry from Kennedy’s party
Today’s Democratic Party is directed by lifetime, millionaire politicians like Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden and Barack Obama, non-elected Washington, D.C., bureaucrats and extreme progressive left-wing, woke socialists. In my opinion, it has become synonymous with open borders, sanctuary cities, defunding the police, weak leadership, poor schools, huge federal...
Editorial: 1-stop shop for Westmoreland human services is good for all
Westmoreland County is considering putting its various service operations under one roof. The idea is to take the offices of the Human Services Department and move them all into the South Greengate Road building that used to be home to the county housing authority. “There’s nothing in stone yet,” Commissioner...
Letter to the editor: On Ukraine, Trump dishonors America
For hundreds of years Ukraine has been contested, divided and ruled by a variety of external powers. In the 1900s, they had mass suffering and death due to Stalin’s policies and then the German occupation during World War II. After years of struggle, Ukraine gained independence from Russia in 1991....
Letter to the editor: Grieving for America
Who died? As I was driving the other day, I noticed an American flag at half-mast at a university. I asked myself, “Who died?” I thought, “If I had a flagpole, I’d fly the flag at half-mast.” Who died? I grieve and mourn the death of many of the values...
Cal Thomas: Putin on the blitz
The cliche has been that the ball is now in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s court. Not any longer. Putin has responded to U.S. appeals for a ceasefire in the war with Ukraine with a strong backhand, rejecting a ceasefire in his unprovoked invasion. Now the ball is in President Trump’s...
Letter to the editor: EPA head’s plans worthy of the Upside Down
Just another day in the Upside Down, an alternate yet much worse dimension that exists alongside the human world that we used to inhabit. The Upside Down, a dark and chaotic place, is continuously blanketed with a thick layer of soot, noxious fumes and neurotoxins. The water is a poisonous...
Letter to the editor: We need Trump’s changes
Real change one can believe in always comes from people outside the “system.” America has caved to special interests and profit first. Two hundred million Americans are obese. One in 36 children are autistic. Thirty-eight million people have diabetes. From 13%-27% of children have a chronic illness. Many ingredients in...
Letter to the editor: Tough to be a conservative Democrat
I can’t tell you how enervating it gets being a conservative Democrat in Pittsburgh. Heavens to Betsy, I grew up, birth forward, gargling like Listerine all the billions of humanitarian goals espoused by liberal and progressive post-hippy and beat generation intellectuals. Please trust me when I say I have virtue...
Editorial: Political attacks are shameful slides to gateway violence
Aspinwall is not big. The suburban borough in Allegheny County has fewer than 3,000 residents. It always was intended to be a residential area, carved out of a wedge of land along the river. It was a suburb before America really had suburbs. It calls itself “The Town That Pride...
Letter to the editor: Egg prices the least of our worries
I hope everyone has seen how President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance bullied and browbeat Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. If you voted for Trump, you should hang your head in embarrassment at how Trump tried to make Zelenskyy grovel and beg for security guarantees to go along with...
Letter to the editor: Humane treatment at the Allegheny County Jail
The Department of Justice recognizes that “Do not underestimate culture, it drives everything” and “The culture of the facility will be the determining factor of your warden’s success.” An opposing viewpoint will be describing horror stories and statistics of how the restraint chair was abused for punishment. I suggest the...
F. Willis Johnson: Liberation through the womanist perspective
Women’s History Month finds us at a critical crossroads. Nearly three-quarters of the world’s population faces increasing backlash against women’s rights, while technological disruption and economic uncertainty threaten to deepen existing inequalities. Yet, within this challenging landscape lies an opportunity to radically reimagine our approach to gender equality through a...
Aaron T. Redis: Public cyber charter school saved my life
Last spring, I read a lot of articles calling for cuts to public cyber charter school funding here in Pennsylvania. It’s hard to believe these schools continue to be targeted for cuts at a time when more people are moving away from traditional public schools and toward these public cybers....
Letter to the editor: The last four years — the story of the century
I can’t believe Bob Woodward is missing the story of the century which is “Who was really running the United States the last four years?” Surely he would cover that, right? Peter A. Mamula Venetia...
Letter to the editor: Whose side is Trump on, America or Russia?
There is no other way to say it but that the good old USA is extorting a small, democratic country that is fighting for its life into giving us 50% of its rare earth minerals. President Trump tries to explain it as paying off a “loan.” No other country considered...
Letter to the editor: Are immigrants picking our vegetables, watching our kids?
Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal recently said this: “If you look at the food that’s on your table, think about who picked it. If you look at your homes, think about who built them. If you look at your vulnerable elders and your kids, think about who’s taking care of...
