Extreme politics on both sides harmful to country

I watched with disgust the debate between Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. Their extreme political philosophies are both harmful to this country. West Coast liberalism has degraded the quality of life in San Francisco and made Portland a byword for chaos. Florida’s ultraconservative social agenda makes pariahs of many of its residents. My own ex-wife died of covid last year, her spiraling ill health no doubt triggered by Florida’s refusal to adopt Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid.

The thought of the repeat of a Trump vs. Biden election makes me deeply depressed. If Biden refuses to step aside despite his age, he should at least abandon Kamala Harris as a running mate and choose someone more centrist. Harris was the administration’s point person for solving the immigration crisis. How did that work out?

I generally vote Democratic, but a “No Labels” ticket headed by someone like Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has a lot of appeal. My only reservation is that the last time the electorate in a presidential election was so fragmented was 1860, a prelude to our bloody Civil War.

To quote Shakespeare: “A plague on both your houses.”

Richard Krepski

Highland Park

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Don’t write off Pickett, Steelers

Regarding the letter “Steelers set up for failure” (Nov. 25, TribLIVE): No, the Steelers organization is not rudderless and unrecognizable. The Rooneys pick good people, and they trust them. But how do you know if it’s a good person going through a rough patch, or you just have the wrong person?

With Matt Canada, they had the wrong person. Canada hadn’t really shown brilliance at any level, and the Steelers gave him enough time to sort it out. Eventually they knew Canada was not the right fit, they thoroughly convinced themselves of it, and they let him go.

But Kenny Pickett is the opposite. Pickett has shown brilliance. Just like hitting a home run in the majors, being able to throw a dime in the NFL takes a special kind of talent, and Pickett has shown he has elite accuracy. I saw the same missed passes against the Browns that you did, but Babe Ruth didn’t hit a home run every time. That’s not the point. The point is he was one of the very few human beings who could hit a home run.

Pickett is not a busted draft pick. Let’s give him an offense that is of NFL caliber, not high school caliber, and see what he can do before we write him off. We’re not the Browns.

Bob Leitzel

Little Elm, Texas

The writer is a Squirrel Hill native.

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Abortion, choices and free will

I’m always amazed when letter-writers cite the Constitution and twist it to support their topic (“Unborn Americans have right to life,” Nov. 28, TribLive).

But I digress. This is tough for me to write, as I am pro-life and agree with this particular letter-writer. But not for the same reason. I see in his writing that he mentioned the creator; I applaud him. With that being said, it is also the law that I follow. God’s law. I also feel I have no right to infringe on others’ choices. That free will comes from God as well.

Leonard Mucci

Derry Township

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Antisemitism misplaced

I am horrified by the monstrous outbreaks on prestigious campuses and big-city streets of antisemitic demonstrations, many of which terrorize Jews and have an anti-American tinge. Antisemitism has a centuries-old history in the Middle East and Europe, and the U.S. is not without fault, but these current quasi-militant protesters appear to cast both the United States and Israel as oppressors.

No epithet could be more misplaced. Both nations are pluralistic and open to the achievements and successes of every citizen. The poor plight of the Palestinian people is not from oppression by Israel; there are many historical factors — today, the subtle oppression by Hamas and its benefactors.

In America, Jews have immeasurably contributed to the common good. They have been doers and builders in commerce, medicine, the professions, the arts and civil society. I give thanks that Jews have made such important contributions to American life, and pray that they and all of their fellow Americans can forever enjoy the blessings of freedom, liberty and law on which our nation is founded.

John J. Driscoll

Greensburg

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Take care of communities first

The op-ed “Opening the door to people-based economic development in Western Pennsylvania” (Nov 20, TribLive) hit the nail on the head. We should focus on the well-being of our communities rather than the false promise of new jobs from big business. Let’s not court big corporations like Amazon, with a poor track record of environmental and worker concern, who vacuum up the wealth of an area and funnel it to their out-of-state headquarters. Then, when the wealth is all gone and they have a more lucrative offer elsewhere, they pack up and leave us to clean up their mess.

Instead let’s focus on developing good-paying jobs that go to local people with companies invested in improving our communities and who keep the profits locally. One such idea is to help our local electric utility convert from a centralized grid with increasingly expensive and unreliable power plants to a decentralized one by putting its power source in customers’ homes with television-size storage batteries. The electric company employees will be the first to be retrained in green energy jobs. These are good-paying jobs of the future in an industry that improves the environment and the community’s quality of life, instead of low wage work that becomes obsolete in 10 years.

We should ask our local officials to improve our environment, our quality of life and our economy by going green.

Michael Garing

North Huntingdon

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PennDOT crews should be out picking up litter

Since the weather has not really been conducive to highway repair projects and there has not yet been a snowfall that requires PennDot intervention, why aren’t there litter crews out picking up the massive amounts of litter on the highways?

Monica Yuhas

Smock

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We must fight for accessible recycling

The article “Fluctuating prices leave recycling industry at mercy of supply and demand” (Oct. 15, TribLive) reminded me of a harsh reality: While residents in other counties can simply place their recyclables outside their homes, most Westmoreland County residents do not have that luxury. As the value of recyclable material plummets, the volume of materials recycled by residents drops as well.

In 2018, Westmoreland County recycled 16,000 tons of residential waste; 2021 only saw 13,000 tons recycled. This forces eco-conscious residents to drive miles to make a positive impact. Not everyone is willing, or able, to make that effort.

The accessibility, or lack thereof, of recycling is partially due to the heightened cost of recycling. In some cases the cost of the service is higher than the value of the material. Part of the problem is that China no longer imports American recyclables, and America got too comfortable relying on China instead of building our own recycling infrastructure.

Westmoreland County needs to increase the number of in-county facilities capable of processing numerous recyclable materials. Furthermore, companies must be pushed to use more recyclable materials in their manufacturing, which would divert waste from landfills and move us toward an economy that prioritizes reducing and reusing materials, as opposed to extracting more from our precious natural resources.

The onus has been forced onto the consumer as corporations create problems they have no intentions of resolving, but through our persistence, we can fight for recycling to be more accessible to county communities.

May Torpey

Penn Township, Westmoreland County

The writer is sustainability coordinator for Protect PT.

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