Sounding off: U.S. vulnerability, raises for school retirees, 4th Amendment, student loans among week's topics

America vulnerable to enemies

America has never been more vulnerable to being destroyed by a foreign enemy than it is now. Since Joe Biden has been in office, there have been over 4.5 million migrant encounters at the southwest border and 1.2 million known gotaways who evaded U.S. Border Patrol agents. China alone has sent thousands across the border in the last few months, almost all of them bilingual and healthy military-age men.

We could be experiencing a modern-day Trojan horse with the full cooperation of our government. The destruction which just a few hundred of these illegal aliens could cause to our country is beyond anything the average American could comprehend. Our electric grid, transportation arteries, bridges, rail system, and water supplies all brought to a deadly halt within minutes with a well coordinated attack, and who could we blame? Pick your country. The havoc, chaos and disorientation that would envelope America instantly would be devastating. The American dream dead.

In March, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said that the U.S. and China are hurtling toward inevitable “confrontation and conflict” unless Washington changes course.

Sun Tzu, Chinese author of “The Art of War,” wrote, “Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.” China has been confronting the U.S. Navy in the Pacific recently, and to quote former Joint Chiefs Vice Chair Gen. John Hyten, the Chinese “just ran rings around us, they knew exactly what we were going to do before we did it.”

Joseph Krill

Murrysville

***

Taxpayers would finance COLA increase for school retirees

The writer of the letter “School retirees deserve COLA increase” (July 3, TribLIVE) raised public awareness on the cost of living adjustment (COLA) issue, which led me to dig deeper and gain a broader perspective.

The issue that teachers haven’t had an increase in two decades belongs to the PSERS pension fund “that has been saddled with problems, disappointing investment returns and subject to several investigations,” according to a February 2023 Times News article. PSERS must get its own house in order.

The Legislature is debating House Bills 1415 and 1416 on teacher COLAs, costing taxpayers about $63 million a year. Foremost, the Legislature must focus on equitable education funding, as the state Supreme Court ruled that the state’s school funding method is unconstitutional. Shifts from school property taxes and primarily funding it with state tax dollars (income tax) will also help eliminate the burdens of homeownership.

The letter-writer stated, “the contributions I, along with my fellow retired educators, provided to students over the course of several decades were underappreciated and unrecognized.” These are code words asking for more money though she was duly compensated. Currently, retired teachers with at least 20 years’ service collect about $33,000, in addition to their Social Security benefits.

Every few years, teachers enter into collective bargaining agreements that are ratified and increase their compensation. Each time, teachers have the opportunity to include future payments, health care and retirement benefits. Agreements have been made and teachers need to live within their means and honor these agreements.

Gary J. English

Murrysville

The writer is a former Franklin Regional School Board member.

***

4th Amendment controversy

During the War for Independence, British soldiers ransacked the home of patriots with general warrants. Our founders created the Fourth Amendment to keep our government from doing the same. Legal warrants have to be very specific. It is the basis of our privacy rights.

The armed FBI raid on President Trump’s home was no different than that of the British soldiers 250 years ago. Unrestricted access with no particular description of the items seized included his personal items. The unsupervised ransacking of his private property to take or even plant evidence taints its validity. If the documents are indeed classified, a jury could not even see them.

The Presidential Records Act was cited in a case involving Bill Clinton, who hid classified documents in his sock drawer. An Obama-appointed judge, Amy Berman Jackson, ruled that Clinton was “completely entrusted with the management and even disposal of presidential records during his time in office.”

Trump was following the act while the DOJ/FBI ignored it.

Politics is a blood sport, but “rules for thee but not for me” is a serious abuse of the process. Using the police powers to sway public opinion is an existential threat to our constitutional republic.

Dr. Bill Choby

Latrobe

***

Student loans and personal responsibility

Now that the Supreme Court has struck down President Biden’s illegal and shameful student loan scam to secure your vote, I ask you, “Have you learned your lesson?”

When I see you protesting outside the Supreme Court, I have my doubts. Your sense of entitlement is apparent. You chose to participate in the college “pyramid scheme” under the guise that you would make more money than the rest of us working stiffs who you want to bail you out.

Who is ultimately responsible for the hole you have dug yourself? The school counselor who didn’t steer you to a field where you had better opportunity to make a living? Your parents, whose wisdom you discarded? The college you chose that taught you to be a social warrior and little else to make money? Joe Biden, who played you like a fiddle to secure your vote? Many of you will double down on his false hope next election.

Or is the real culprit (begin ital)you(end ital)? You made the decision, you drank beer instead of studying, you chose your field and you signed the loan agreement. As always, it’s all about (begin ital)you(end ital). There’s no free lunch. Start digging yourself out. Don’t depend on others if you won’t depend on yourself. Good luck.

Rob DiSanti

O’Hara

***

Greensburg residents have good ideas

Greensburg faces many challenges. Hopefully many Greensburgers will fill out the survey (“Greensburg survey will provide input as real estate consultants weigh in on downtown sites,” July 8, TribLIVE); I have. I believe we are a citizenship with good ideas. Maybe a beginning could be traffic calming (two-way streets), parking solutions (how about courthouse employees use the lot at the Greensburg shopping center and be shuttled into town) and more green space.

Sandra Finley

Greensburg

***

Shapiro just another figurehead

Dear Mr. Shapiro,

For about five minutes there, I was so astonished, and proud, that it looked like we had a leader who was a leader for “all” the people. Sadly, you reveal who you really are after all by vetoing school choice. Just another special interest figurehead. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Peter A. Mamula

Venetia

***

Higher education, health care not ‘rights’

Regarding government-­paid higher education and health care: First, we need to understand that neither of these programs are rights. Our rights were created to ensure our freedoms solely. These things are the individual’s responsibility to ensure their future, based on their ambition and ability only.

Second, as we have seen with health care and most other government-run programs, it is fraught with waste and mismanagement, plus disproportionately expensive for the working class.

Public education is another cash cow that burdens almost every school district, and liberal ideals have run many off to private schools to escape the lack of structure, basic “3 Rs” instruction and discipline that is essential to preparing children to become responsible, coping adults.

Lastly, nationalizing college education removes the incentive for colleges to be cost-effective or for students to pick an education they can afford that will be able to sustain them in the future. It throws all that responsibility on the backs of taxpayers who have chosen other paths or can’t afford it.

James Chrisner

Mt. Pleasant Township