Opinion category, Page 335
Jessica Poitras and Daryl James: Ugly deal for Pa. beauty workers
Pennsylvania code enforcers caught a criminal on May 21, 2021, but not the dangerous kind. The outlaw’s offense was braiding hair with a lapsed occupational license. Her penalty: $250. Many other Pennsylvania beauty professionals remain on the lam. Since 2009, anyone guilty of twisting, wrapping, weaving, extending, locking or braiding...
Letter to the editor: Let’s help our homeless like we help immigrants
The current estimate on immigrants illegally crossing the southern border since President Biden took office is approximately 5 million people. Where are these people now? How are they living? Where are they living? How do they eat? Does the U.S. government provide them with free housing and health care and...
Letter to the editor: World AIDS Day
Everyone around the world deserves to lead a life of dignity and opportunity. That’s why we mark World AIDS Day today. I urge Sen. Pat Toomey to ensure the U.S. can maintain its historic leadership in the global fight against AIDS by reauthorizing one of the most effective tools in...
Editorial: Corrections officers are key to a successful jail
The most important part of a corrections operation is not the bars. A jail is not a cage. It isn’t a place where people are chucked in and the door is locked behind them like some medieval dungeon. At least, it’s not supposed to be. No, the word “corrections” implies...
Letter to the editor: What will Republicans do?
Accepting that Republicans have gained control of the U.S. House, I was anxious to hear their plans for dealing with inflation and crime, these being the primary issues raised during their campaigns. I was especially eager to learn of their ideas for ways of battling worldwide inflation. How capturing just...
Jonah Goldberg: McCarthy may win House speakership, but he can’t control the clown caucus
Kevin McCarthy’s quest for the House speaker’s gavel is a near perfect inside-the-Beltway story because it’s about pure politics and personal ambition without many narrative-muddling concerns about principles, governing philosophy or policy considerations. McCarthy was never a policy wonk or doctrinaire conservative; he’s a dealmaker and glad-hander, which is why...
Letter to the editor: Our rights are absolute
Where is the outrage? In grade school social studies, we learned that our Founding Fathers defined our rights as God-given and cannot be taken away by any government. In other words, no self-serving dictator can supersede our constitutional rights. They come from our creator. It is for this reason communism must...
Editorial: Challenges and certification part of election process
The votes are in — officially. The day we cast our votes is the start of a process that isn’t completed for weeks. Starting in October, Pennsylvanians started voting by mail. Ballots were cast in person Nov. 9. While we knew who the projected winners for some races were within...
Letter to the editor: Good job, US Steel, USW
I am happy to see that, after extensive negotiations, U.S. Steel and the United Steelworkers Union finalized another four-year labor contract. This agreement showcases how labor unions and companies can work together and meet goals. We need to change the paradigm that this region is a tough place to locate...
John L. Micek: Mass shootings prompt new calls for assault weapons ban. Will it happen?
There was no mistaking the anger in President Joe Biden’s voice on Thanksgiving Day as he once again decried America’s fatal love affair with guns. “The idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick. Just sick,” Biden said, according to the Associated Press. In the wake of...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Club Q — it was exactly what it looked like
It might not have been what it looked like. That, at least, was the message you’d have heard had you turned to Tucker Carlson of Fox “News” for perspective the Monday after the recent massacre at Club Q in Colorado Springs. Club Q is a nightspot that had been known...
Cal Thomas: Biden’s misplaced emphasis on one gun
We now know at least one of the priorities of the Biden administration during the remaining weeks Democrats control the House of Representatives. The president says he would try to “get rid of assault weapons.” Speaking to reporters at his Nantucketholiday house, Biden said: “The idea (that) we still allow...
Letter to the editor: Intelligent thoughts on book banning
Bravo, Hempfield Area School Director Jeanne Smith (“Hempfield Area to resume book battles next week,” Nov. 20, TribLIVE): Such intelligent thoughts: “Those objecting (to the book) can opt out of using that source … . Library books can widen a student’s perspective, expose them to different life cultures and lifestyles.”...
Letter to the editor: Support small, local businesses this holiday season
I was so excited to see the article “Greensburg Art Center opens ‘Art of GIFTing’ holiday sale” (Nov. 5, TribLIVE). I’m a small business owner and jewelry artist, and shows like this are so important to me and my fellow artisans. Across Pennsylvania and the country, businesses large and small...
Letter to the editor: Narduzzi’s response to assault charges inappropriate
Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi would have been better served by simply demurring on the assault charges against Dayon Hayes for attacking a woman by whom he had a child. Instead, Narduzzi vaguely let on about the Pitt football team oddly presuming its teammate to be guilty from the jump...
Editorial: Hospital expansions, costs need checks for patients
The number of names in the hospital game is shrinking, even in a state abundant with facilities. Large hospitals buy smaller ones to create health systems. Health systems merge to create regional or statewide networks. On top of that, the building of more facilities happens steadily. More beds, more services,...
Letter to the editor: Democrats creating jobs
State Republicans have embraced President Biden’s agenda, claiming it as their own. PA EDGE (House Bill 1059) would establish specific incentives applied to investments that create jobs across an array of Pennsylvania industries including: • A regional clean hydrogen hub. • Natural gas-derived fertilizer production. • Biomedical and semiconductor manufacturing....
Tom Purcell: The gift of Christmas cheer
I’m not feeling it this year. I’m just not feeling the Christmas spirit of any kind, and I know, for the benefit of others, I need to get out of my slump. Christmas cheer is a real thing. A variety of studies have found we actually do become more cheerful...
Letter to the editor: Republicans’ bad idea on guns
Has anyone thought that maybe the Republicans’ idea that everyone can own a semi-automatic handgun or rifle might be a bad idea? Diane Powell New Kensington...
Letter to the editor: Where are all the workers?
I can’t understand why announced national employment numbers are so positive. Where are these people working? Local major highways are filled with cars during daylight working hours, and how is that explained? If you seek help in local banks, hardware stores, restaurants, etc., there aren’t enough workers to help you,...
Letter to the editor: Complementary Pa. senators
Congratulations Democrats! You have succeeded in electing two senators from Pennsylvania who complement each other: Bob Casey won’t do anything, and John Fetterman can’t do anything. What a country. J.R. Smith Penn Township, Westmoreland County...
Letter to the editor: Letter about Oprah hypocritical
I don’t usually send a response to a letter to the editor, but I couldn’t stay silent about what I read this morning (“Maybe Oprah will have something for us all for Christmas,” Nov. 17, TribLIVE). Whether you appreciate Oprah or not, this letter was at the height of hypocrisy....
Editorial: More work needed on mental health capacity to stand trial
Sometimes doing the right thing doesn’t fix the problem. In September, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court looked at the case of a mentally ill man convicted of a crime who was charged with another crime while in state prison. A judge found the man’s profound mental illness meant that, under a...
Letter to the editor: Steps to a fair election
There are a lot of “conspiracy theories” out there with regards to the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 midterm election. We have gone to “mail-in” ballots and computerized voting (which I believe can easily be hacked or otherwise manipulated). We will never have a “fair” election in this country...
Letter to the editor: Election results show that talk is cheap
So, America, the election is over, and I realized one thing: People (mainly the middle class and poor) are all talk. You see how this administration is ruining our country; you see how they allow illegals to not only trample the border, but leave behind tons of trash for, I...
