Book-banning futility

The article “Hempfield book policies up for future vote with further revision” (July 10, TribLIVE), states that the school district is banning pictures of female breasts. How perverse. I believe this book banning thing has gone too far. Are we going back to the Spanish Inquisition with banning books and burning women at the stake?

Book banning is the most widespread form of censorship in the U.S. It is promoted by Moms for Liberty, a successor to the John Birch Society, which was a conspiracy- obsessed political fringe group that also tried book banning. Moms for Liberty is funded by far-right political groups and has been labeled an extremist organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Books help children develop empathy for others. They expand one’s knowledge and understanding of our very complex and diverse world. Choosing age-appropriate books should be left to the professionals. We need to show teachers our trust and respect their expertise. Having individual parents choose books leads to chaos and confusion.

In this age of the internet, with all kinds of information at our children’s fingertips, banning books seems like an exercise in futility.

Sandy Kremer

Youngwood

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The Trump blind spot

When George Will analogizes the current state of the Republican race to the first inning, he is, to borrow his language, “harpooning himself” (“Neither Trump nor DeSantis will get GOP nod,” July 16). We are a year removed from midterms in which Donald Trump’s candidates lost in spectacular fashion — three from a Jan. 6 riot that he clumsily incited, seven from an “Access Hollywood” tape in which he said things of a tone and content that could not be imagined from the mouth of any heretofore electable politician. Ample time for Trump’s political vulnerability to reveal itself; ample time revealing that no such vulnerability exists, at least among Republican primary voters. He is 30 points ahead of his competition in most polls.

Old-guard conservatives have a vast blind spot when it comes to Trump, charitably, because they cannot understand supporting somebody so objectionable, and uncharitably, because they cannot understand why someone who ignores their advice continues to beat them. Either way, it would be best for them to get that blind spot taken care of. Otherwise the Tim Scotts and Ron Desantises of today will join the Jeb Bushes and Ted Cruzes and Chris Christies and Marco Rubios and Carly Fiorinas and Rand Pauls of yesteryear.

Daniel Kline

Delmont

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Cyber charter reform long overdue

Thank you for the editorial on cyber charter funding (“Cyber charter reform needs to be about education, not politics,” July 23, TribLIVE). That reform is long, long overdue. Few taxpayers understand that cybers aren’t “free,” as ads have claimed, but rather that their property taxes are paying for a “shadow” school district whose spending is opaque and whose academic success is abysmal.

I hope your editorial gets voters to raise some questions to their representatives and, even more, to their senators. Given the contretemps over vouchers, Sens. Kim Ward and Joe Pittman, our locals, can’t be counted on to support the House bill to adjust cyber funding and operation. My guess is that it will never even get a vote. Sigh … .

Helen Sitler

Ligonier

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Division and corruption in America

Did you ever think you’d see America so divided and corrupted as it is today?

Yes, I’m aware there are many great people doing great things all over the place, but sometimes it seems overshadowed by all the craziness, violence, deceit and moral decay.

Mass shootings daily, cities imploding and levels of corruption in our government and media unequaled in our history. Educational decline, and a lack of historical appreciation, begets ignorance, which foments citizen-supported attacks on our Constitution and freedoms.

All the while, the most corrupt media in American history carefully cherry-picks what to report. Keep in mind there are six or seven media conglomerates that control the vast majority of what we are allowed to know. As their ultimate goal is profits, there is no inclination to tell the truth. National news is a farce. It’s so full of slanted stories and lies by omission that it’s a clown show. Nothing that goes against a network’s bias is covered fairly. Just so they can play to their audience.

That happy-go-lucky news person you’re riveted to every night, who tells you about the cat in the tree or the bear on the loose, is nothing more than an entertainer, giving you what some producer thinks you can handle. Barring a catastrophe, real news is at a minimum. Economics says they must give their audience what they want, so we’re fed pablum.

It’s hard to believe we are living the fall of the Roman Empire and 1984 simultaneously.

Tim Kaczmarek

Natrona Heights

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God is a problem, not an answer

I must humbly disagree with the letter “Faith can change lives” (July 17, TribLIVE). God is not the answer, he is the problem.

The God of the Bible is an angry being with a childlike mentality. He creates man and then floods them when they anger him beyond repair.

The idea of repentance is absurd. Why do we need the son of God (who claims to be God) to save us from God’s wrath based on actions he created and knew we were going to make? He cannot be all knowing and then be angry when you commit the action. Nor can you argue that if he knows about everyone and every single event that we have free will.

Additionally, we are “praying” we get to a place that has never even been seen by humans. Where is the proof of the existence of heaven?

Please also explain God’s absence in our lives. We are born on Earth to mortal parents who teach us to love a being we cannot see or hear, but if we question it or defy it, then we are damned for all eternity.

The whole Christian and Catholic faith is based on a book that was man-made to fit a narrative. Books those men disagreed with were removed, yet we are told theirs is the only true religion with a flawless story.

My view is that there is no God, rather just the universe. I believe people should take care of each other and move away from the church. Only then will there be peace among mankind.

Ashton Caldwell

Cheswick

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Biden won’t accept ‘no’ on student loans

President Biden’s plan to cancel an estimated $430 billion of student loan debt that is now held by more than 40 million borrowers was struck down by the Supreme Court. He has now proposed a “Plan B,” which, like his original scheme, is intended to minimize the cost of, or eliminate completely, outstanding student debt (“Biden plan cuts student debt to $0,” July 15).

The legality of Biden’s Plan B remains unclear, but most likely it will be challenged. Stephen Pavlick, Washington policy analyst at Renaissance Macro Research, said, “Given the 6-3 decision to reject the first debt relief plan … it’s hard to see this court not reaching a similar ruling on Plan B.”

That being the case, the question that I have for Mr. Biden is, “What part of ‘no’ do you not understand?”

Wayne E. Baughman

Salem

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Pa. needs to hike minimum wage

I disagree with Colin McNickle’s op-ed “The lose-lose situation of a $15 Pa. minimum wage” (June 30, TribLIVE), which begins with “the Law of Unintended Consequences” — implying that unknown bad things will happen. But we know the consequences of raising the minimum wage from the myriad of recent examples. It will raise millions of low-paid workers out of poverty and, at the same time, stimulate the economy, which adds jobs. Low-paid workers tend to spend their pay. They do not bank it like the rich.

McNickle states that Pennsylvania does not need an increase in minimum wage because our cost of living is low. But, in 2019, the reported living wage for a family of four in Pittsburgh was $36.69 an hour (see livingwage.mit.edu). The median income in Pittsburgh in 2020 was $14 an hour (according to Google). If both parents work at the median wage, they still make less than a living wage.

The official minimum wage in Pennsylvania is $7.25 an hour, which has not increased since 2009. Meanwhile, members of the General Assembly in only two years have increased their wage by 14%, to a salary of over six figures. I imagine they believe their salaries should keep up with inflation even if they have only been on the job for a year or two.

Gloria Gralewski

Manor

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