Opinion category, Page 320
Letter to the editor: Library book banners wasting their energy
These library book censor fanatics crack me up. Don’t they realize today’s students have access to anything on the internet and their cellphones and that they seldom frequent the library? What a misplaced waste of energy. Ralph Resnick Slickville...
Letter to the editor: $1.6 million fine is chump change for Trump
“Trump Organization fined $1.6 million for tax fraud” (Jan. 13, TribLIVE) … big deal. Chump change! The Trump Organization will spend more on the appeal than the cost of the fine. Maria Maliszewski Brackenridge...
Letter to the editor: We all have a right to pray
I watched in horror as Damar Hamlin fell back to the ground after a tackle. We knew something terrible happened. What happened next was no surprise to many of us. We all started praying for the well-being of this young man. Skilled athletes were seen kneeling on the field praying....
Editorial: Reading the crystal ball of layoffs and low unemployment numbers
Jobs numbers are never a constant. They shouldn’t be. They can’t be. The number of people who are employed is constantly rising and falling. If nothing else, the numbers will shift because the workers age. New people enter the workforce. Older people retire. Pennsylvania is a northern state, meaning seasonality...
Letter to the editor: Jobs for immigrants
A tip of my cap to the letter-writer who suggested that those seeking to enter America could fill available jobs as employers are unable to find workers to satisfy their needs (“Immigrants can help fill jobs,” Jan. 16, TribLIVE). He believes in supply and demand. Unfortunately, he is a dreamer...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Now is Gainey’s leadership moment
Most Pittsburghers are sickened and exhausted every time they turn on the news and see another street killing in our town. There was another fatal shooting Thursday in broad daylight on Liberty Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh. Mayor Ed Gainey, a man who knows the personal tragedy of random gun violence,...
Sarah Webber: Santos allegations highlight how scams divert money from worthy causes
Rep. George Santos, the New York Republican whose 2022 election to the House of Representatives flipped a seat previously held by a Democrat, faces pressure to resign for having reportedly lied extensively about his education, employment history and religious heritage. He also faces allegations that he may have participated in...
Dean Baker: Think Big Tech’s thousands of layoffs indicate a coming recession? Think again.
Amazon is laying off more than 18,000 workers. Salesforce is shedding 8,000, and Twitter has let go thousands more. While we should never minimize the difficulties of people facing an unexpected layoff, these announcements by major tech companies are not a large-scale tragedy for the American economy. What would be...
John M. Crisp: But what if Damar Hamlin had died?
Damar Hamlin, a safety for the Buffalo Bills, almost died Jan. 2. His heart stopped after a blow to his chest during a “Monday Night Football” game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Thanks to prompt attention by team trainers and paramedics, Hamlin survived, and America enjoyed a collective sigh of relief...
Letter to the editor: PennDOT should be taking better care of Route 30
After having the entire spring, summer and fall, PennDOT did little to serve the growing openings in the lanes and seams on Route 30, and now we have moved to larger, deeper holes in random spots running from the Pittsburgh Street entrance near the mall all the way to Latrobe....
Sounding off: Wolf, gas stoves, Steelers, perks among week’s topics
Not seeing many ‘wins’ from Gov. Tom Wolf I read with interest the Spotlight PA article “Here’s what outgoing Gov. Tom Wolf will be remembered for” (Jan. 12, TribLIVE). I noticed the authors mostly sought the opinions of politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, in order to propose Wolf “leaves behind...
Letter to the editor: Ziccarelli should be ashamed
Thank you, editors, for the excellent editorial “Was Westmoreland County DA Nicole Ziccarelli’s car crash a minor incident?” (Jan. 10, TribLIVE). Ziccarelli should be ashamed of what she did. Does she not own her own car? Did she ever hear about Uber? Lana Lindauer Greensburg...
Letter to the editor: Look at other side of environmental regulations
The letter “EPA’s new soot standards welcome” (Jan. 16, TribLIVE) from a PennEnvironment activist suffers from the same tunnel vision that the EPA does. They both say that tighter standards to reduce soot will save thousands of lives in the U.S. each year. But the EPA and activists never look...
Editorial: PennDOT should enforce right-of-way sign rules
When is taking a sign out of the ground a crime and when is it not? That was the question a Westmoreland County jury had to decide. Did former Franklin Regional School Board member Gary English, 66, of Murrysville steal someone’s property by pulling out the signs that pop up...
Gary Franks: Biden’s classified documents problem
No. No one planted the various top secret and/or classified documents in the University of Pennsylvania office of President Joe Biden or in Biden’s locked garage where he also keeps his Corvette. And no one planted the documents inside his Delaware home either. An overly zealous Black Democrat congressman recently...
S.E. Cupp: GOP — rotting fish or bag of rotten apples?
As the ancient proverb goes, the fish rots from the head. The expression’s been used by countless leaders in business to describe the way a bad CEO can hamper productivity downstream, or to explain how corruption can infect an organization. Of course, it’s also been used by law enforcement to...
Scott S. Greenberger: Shared power used to be the norm in statehouses. Now it’s nearly extinct.
Terry Kilgore has been a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates since 1994. During that time, there have been four years in which the GOP controlled the governor’s office and both chambers of the legislature. For two years, Democrats held complete control. In the other 23 years, Republicans...
Joanne Kilgour: Future of Southwestern PA — decades of good-paying clean and green jobs
This region is a place where hard work and innovation go hand in hand. For years, Western Pennsylvanian workers proudly built the steel that fueled America’s economy. Now we’re ready to do it again — and we have no time to waste. While there’s been debate about the path forward,...
Letter to the editor: McCarthy and Santos
There must be a sitting speaker of the House before a member of Congress can be sworn into office. Republican Kevin McCarthy became that speaker after 15 roll call voting sessions and after he made multiple concessions along the way. One noted concession was lowering the bar to remove the...
Letter to the editor: GOP hypocrisy on documents
The hypocrisy of the GOP never fails to amaze me. Now they want to see visitor records for the White House and President Biden’s home in Delaware. And, horror of horrors, Hunter Biden stayed at the home in Delaware, so naturally he snooped through all 25 pieces of secret documents....
Lori Falce: We all need a little help with our bootstraps
My bootstraps have gotten a solid workout over my life. That’s impressive if only because I rarely wear boots. As a rule, I wear flat black dress shoes with bottoms far too slick for Pennsylvania snow or rain. They have frequently led more to spectacular falls than impressive rises. But...
Laurels & lances: Leading, charging and pulling together
Laurel: To a local leader. Westmoreland County is really having a heyday in the state Capitol at the moment. In addition to all people elected to represent the county’s constituents in the General Assembly, there is the fact that Republican Kim Ward of Hempfield is the first female Senate majority...
Letter to the editor: Not seeing many ‘wins’ from Gov. Tom Wolf
I read with interest the Spotlight PA article “Here`s what outgoing Gov. Tom Wolf will be remembered for” (Jan. 12, TribLIVE). I noticed the authors mostly sought the opinions of politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, in order to propose Wolf “leaves behind a long list of policy wins.” Except for...
Paul Kengor: Surviving Egg Armageddon
A reader and friend from Wexford ribs me about raising chickens. She finds it cute, funny, but also appreciates my philosophy behind it. She especially appreciates it right now, given the soaring price of eggs. The Avian flu outbreak in the poultry industry has sent the cost of a carton...
Cal Thomas: Lisa Marie Presley and the other side of fame
“I’m gonna live forever, baby, remember my name” — (from “Fame”) The death at age 54 of Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis, got me thinking again about the two-edged sword that is fame. Poems, books and movies have addressed fame, how some people lust after it and how it...
