Opinion category, Page 389
Letter to the editor: Bad guys will always get guns
In response to recent letters about sensible gun control: Background checks are a must and registration is good, but I’d like to think these writers would agree the evil element can bypass background checks and certainly won’t register illegal firearms. So where does that leave us? If guns are taken...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: A son’s promise spans generations
Bill Mistick never forgot the day his father, Andy, came home from the mill and unfolded a large sheet of paper after the supper table was cleared. It was a drawing of something, but nothing that anyone recognized. Andy paused while the kids puzzled over it. Decades before, Andy had...
Con: Mandatory voting is a bad, unconstitutional idea
A handful of countries, most notably Australia, impose mandatory voting, with citizens facing fines and punishments if they don’t appear at the polls. And every few years, somebody proposes bringing this practice to the United States as a good-government reform that allegedly would improve the health of our democracy. Luckily,...
Pro: Universal voting makes sense for a full and healthy democracy
In our book “100% Democracy: The Case for Universal Voting,” E.J. Dionne and I make a case for universal voting — that voting should be a required civic duty for every American citizen. Universal voting could be enacted federally or — more likely — by states or municipalities. If adopted,...
Letter to the editor: Dems will stop at nothing to take down Trump
I currently am watching, not for much longer, the Jan. 6 “hearings,” with no defendant, namely President Donald Trump. The Democrats, drowning in their own insanity, will stop at nothing to stop this great man from being reelected in 2024. What scared them in 2016 and what is scaring them...
Letter to the editor: Why still supporting Trump?
Why so many Americans support Donald Trump is beyond comprehension. I must confess that I am a DINO who bought wholeheartedly into the slogan to “Make America Great Again” in both 2016 and 2020. But Jan. 6 has caused me to do a 180-degree turnaround. Are the American people just...
Editorial: Victim’s stories have to be remembered
Homicide is a very clinical name given to the killing of one human being by another. Legally, killings can fall in a spectrum of responsibility. Vehicular homicide, involuntary and voluntary manslaughter, different degrees of murder. They all mean the same thing in the end. One person’s story ends. The drama...
Letter to the editor: It’s not extreme to expect Biden to solve our problems
Recently it was disclosed that a plot to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was foiled. The intentional leak of an upcoming court document in regards to the Roe vs. Wade decision was behind it. If this misguided individual would have gotten his news somewhere other than CNN, MSNBC, “The...
S.E. Cupp: Dems’ risky bet on Trumpy Republicans
If you gave money to the House Majority PAC, associated with Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, you probably didn’t intend for it to help back a far-right Trump defender in California’s 22nd district, who believes Trump would still be president if the 2020 votes had been “properly counted.”...
Rep. Dan Frankel: Yes, this time is different — a new era of gun violence prevention is coming
I am from gun safety future, and Republicans, you’re in trouble. For more than 40 years, you have successfully avoided talking about this issue as fatalities and injuries climbed and as firearms became deadlier. With the help of the National Rifle Association, you declared any form of regulation a dire...
Letter to the editor: Dems’ uproar over Roe v. Wade ridiculous
I have watched the Democrats with a degree of humor over the leaked abortion ruling, but Suzie Morris’ letter “Women, vote while you’re still allowed” (May 17, TribLIVE) is an example of just how utterly ridiculous Democrats have become. She starts with sarcasm, then uses insults to make her point,...
Letter to the editor: Return to Judeo-Christian values solution to violence
The impassioned June 1 Trib editorial (De’Avry Thomas won’t be the last victim, June 1, TribLIVE) states that a “chain of many stitches to close the wound of violence will involve law enforcement and social work, health care and mental health, economics and culture, government and grassroots.” Isn’t that what’s...
Letter to the editor: Hostage to America’s guns
Letter-writer Russell Dejulio’s idea is to lock down schools like they are Fort Knox (“Solution to school shootings,” May 26, TribLIVE). Armed guards, metal detectors, allowing teachers to carry guns. That’s like putting a Band-Aid on major surgery. What happened to the “land of the free”? The United States is...
Lori Falce: Formula shortage hits babies’ health and parents’ sanity
The baby formula shortage might seem like yet another in an ongoing series of random supply chain problems since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and the global economic complications that followed. Unless one is the parent of an infant. Then it could seem more like a siege. Oh, come...
Letter to the editor: New teachers will steer clear of certain school districts
Multiple articles have appeared in the Trib regarding local school board actions that make teaching more stressful. It’s time for a reality check. The Pennsylvania Department of Education reports a steep drop in the number of teachers being certified. In 2010-11, the state certified 15,031 new teachers. By 2019-20, that...
Letter to the editor: Leftists destroying America
The Biden/Harris administration is rapidly destroying America as we know it with the full cooperation of congressional Democrats. President Biden started the process on Day 1 in office with a series of executive orders limiting domestic oil production. This resulted in a rapid spike in energy prices. We are now...
Laurels & lances: Stress, permits and cooperation
Laurel: To valuable advice. Tim Murphy understands something about stress. Not only is he a licensed psychologist who specializes in psychological trauma, but he is also a former congressman who spent 14 years in Washington and resigned in 2017 amid a sex scandal. On Monday, he spoke at Westmoreland County...
Peter Morici: Biden’s infrastructure bill is hardly ‘monumental’
America was once capable of transformational projects — the Erie Canal, transcontinental railroads and Interstate Highway System. President Joe Biden says the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a “monumental step” that will create millions of jobs, but that’s quite an exaggeration. The American Society of Civil Engineers...
Letter to the editor: Property tax and rent relief available
Given the current economic times, with everything increasing in costs, let’s not forget that Pennsylvania offers a property tax/rent rebate program. It is open to all Pennsylvania homeowners and renters age 65 and over as well as all widows/widowers age 50 and over and to those disabled age 18 and...
Letter to the editor: Common sense should direct gun rules
OK, I own guns: rifle, pistols and an air rifle, kept locked up with safety devices on them. Most of the deadly shootings as of late were done with large-bullet-capacity rifles that could shoot large amounts of rounds in seconds. If you hunt, in most cases one or two shots...
Editorial: Workweek changes could be good for everyone
The five-day workweek is a concept that seems like it is knitted into the fabric of our culture. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s the shorthand for what it means to be in business or to have a job. Weekends are the time we have to ourselves,...
Letter to the editor: When will we wake up to climate reality?
I believe that there are very few of us who don’t understand that the climate crisis is now on our doorstep and, in many cases, has come crashing through, in the form of drought, fire, flood and famine. Just ask the folks in south Florida. And yet the Associated Press...
John Stossel: The cost of rent control
Rents have reached record highs. But have no fear, renters! In the Minnesota cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, progressives persuaded people to vote for rent control. That’ll punish those greedy landlords! Except, profits are what persuade builders to build things. When profits are high, other builders build. That’s what...
Letter to the editor: Keystone pipeline could transport water
I’m all for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. This project was long overdue to help America solve an ongoing problem. Oil, not necessarily. If we engineer this properly, we can possibly bring water to the Midwest, West and Southwest. People don’t need gasoline to survive. Fresh water is...
Letter to the editor: Grateful for Lamb’s focus on real issues
With so many competing priorities in Washington and Harrisburg, we’ve been fortunate to have leadership here in the Pittsburgh area that hasn’t forgotten about the real issues that matter to our community. While the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate didn’t break his way, we’re glad that the rest of the...
