Opinion category, Page 460
Ed Gainey: Fight to lower prescription drug prices continues
Over the past year and a half, not only have Pennsylvanians had to struggle with the everyday stress of living and working during a global pandemic, they’ve also had to worry about the ever-increasing price of their prescription drugs. As the covid-19 pandemic ravaged Pennsylvania, predatory drug companies took the...
Letter to the editor: Reactions to parklet sale manipulative
In response to the letter “Parklet sale slap in face to those who worked to create it” (Oct. 20, TribLIVE): I’m appalled at the audacity of local leaders threatening to make an example of nonprofits that do not have a hand in the City of Greensburg’s former control over the...
Letter to the editor: Westmoreland commissioners’ spending
Regarding the article “Tablets for all at Westmoreland County Prison” (Oct. 25, TribLIVE): Combined with the need for the newly created position of director of elections (“Quality assurance manager hired for Westmoreland elections, pay is $80K,” Oct. 21, TribLIVE), it surely seems like the commissioners are spending taxpayer dollars as...
Letter to the editor: Confiscating guns
On Oct. 26, Gov. Tom Wolf called on the state Legislature to pass more gun control laws. One of the proposals is so-called extreme risk protection orders. These are nothing more than gun confiscation orders. Using a red flag law, the police or an “angry ex” can petition a judge,...
Editorial: Parental support for kids vaccine can make difference
Covid-19 has been a disease fraught with hot-button aspects: The masks. The mandates. The shutdowns. The treatments. And the vaccines. Eleven months after the first Pfizer-BioNTech injections were administered to front-line health care workers, about 61% of Pennsylvanians have been vaccinated, but there is still pushback from certain quarters —...
Letter to the editor: A Sputnik moment?
Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently called China’s apparent test of a hypersonic weapon (China denies the allegation) “very close” to a “Sputnik moment.” Milley was referring to the Soviet Union’s launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957, which created hysteria over Russia’s apparent...
Letter to the editor: Ranking the contents of ‘Build Back Better’
Regarding Jonah Goldberg’s column “The trouble with ‘Build Back Better’ is no one really wants to pay for it” (Oct. 19, TribLIVE): First, the headline is disingenuous. Of course no one wants to pay for “Build Back Better.” The rich want no part of legislation that will raise taxes, and...
Tom Purcell: Never forget our veterans
My dad’s hearing was damaged more than half a century ago when, as a young man, he trained to be an Army military policeman during the war in Korea. MPs were required to qualify for every weapon, including the exceptionally loud .50-caliber machine gun. One day, while he was congested...
Kyle Sammin: Pa. illustrates America’s nursing shortage
These days, it seems like there are shortages of everything. While the media has largely focused on shortages of goods, the increasingly tight labor market is also having widespread effects. Nowhere is this truer than in the shortage of qualified nurses. It’s a serious problem with many causes, most of...
Ernie Hogan: Mayor-elect Gainey, invest in neighborhood development
Last May, Pittsburgh voters decided it was a time for change, giving state Rep. Ed Gainey a Democratic primary win over the incumbent mayor. With Tuesday’s general election, Gainey became the first Black mayor of Pittsburgh. As the Gainey transition begins to unfold, Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG), a coalition...
Letter to the editor: Consequences of tax on corporations
So, the leaders of the world’s biggest economies have endorsed a 15% minimum tax on corporations. Well, what’s to stop the leaders of some third-world countries like Burundi or Mongolia or Tuvalu from turning into fiscal paradises for multinationals? Just sayin’. Maria A. Maliszewski Brackenridge...
Letter to the editor: Drug testing very different from vaccination
Does the political cartoonist who drew the Oct. 28 cartoon really believe that being asked to give a urine sample is the same as being required to get the covid vaccine in order to continue working? Drug testing in any form does not require you to put something in your...
Letter to the editor: Let’s look at the Bill of Rights
Regarding David A. Scandrol’s letter “Has Pelosi read Constitution?” (Oct. 27, TribLIVE): Mr. Scandrol, have you read the Bill of Rights? You cite four amendments in particular. In the First Amendment, did you see the phrase “peaceably assemble”? The Fourth Amendment guarantees the right of the people to be “secure...
Letter to the editor: Don’t trust Biden
I was watching the television set this morning when I saw President Joe Biden arrive at the Capitol to caucus with House Democrats to “close” on his $1.75 trillion infrastructure bill. (For comprehension purposes that is a 1 with 12 zeros after it). Whether you are a Democrat or Republican,...
Editorial: Municipal budgets are public documents
When it comes to money, a municipality is supposed to be an open book. That’s not just a metaphor. The book in question isn’t a euphemism. It’s literal. The way a city or a borough or a township spend its money — whether from its own residents or passed through...
Letter to the editor: How far will Republican cult go?
Unwilling to admit that Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, unsupportive of efforts to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection, and seemingly unable to differentiate between truth and lies, the cult which has hijacked the once-respected Republican Party has dusted off the Jim Crow playbook used by...
Letter to the editor: We’ll all be safer when stolen guns must be reported
The article “3 charged with receiving stolen property after guns reported missing from Adamsburg home” (Oct. 18, TribLIVE) demonstrates how the simple act of reporting lost or stolen firearms can help police to get these illegal weapons off the streets. Unfortunately, reporting missing weapons is not required under state law,...
Editorial cartoons for the week of Nov. 8
Editorial cartoons for the week of Nov. 8....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Nov. 8
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Nov. 8....
Mona Charen: Have Democrats forgotten how to cheat and steal?
Isn’t it interesting that Democrats appear to have forgotten how to manipulate voting machines, stuff ballot boxes, engage in the wee-hour ballot dumps, collect ballots from dead people and coordinate with Chinese/Venezuelan governments to change the outcome of elections? Two-thirds of Republicans believe that’s what happened in 2020. And yet,...
Gabriela Maradiaga Panayotti: I’m a mother and a pediatrician. My kids are getting covid vaccines right away.
Dear fellow parents: Please get your kids vaccinated. I’m doing so this week. As a pediatrician at Duke Health, I’ve seen many children and families suffer from covid-19 over the last 20 months. The parents of my patients tell me about the fevers, body aches, headaches, and loss of smell...
Letter to the editor: Postal saga illustrates USPS problems
Recent news reports have stated that first-class mail delivery will be delayed (and take up to five days), and, of course, the price is going to rise. I recently ordered an item that was in U.S. Postal Service possession in Bonita Springs, Fla., on Oct. 4, and was not delivered...
Letter to the editor: Taxpayer money for vaccine compensation is wrong
Where does this idea come from when the government can take taxpayer money and decide to spend it by giving government employees five days of vacation time for simply accepting the covid-19 vaccination? The state treasurer estimates this is going to cost $100 million. It comes from the arrogance of...
Letter to the editor: Make a nonmaterial difference this Christmas
Recently, we have heard how the global supply chain is disrupted. This has resulted in an unprecedented backlog of goods in transit. Dire warnings of empty shelves have prompted panic buying, especially with Christmas less than two months away. “Get those gifts now to avoid a blue Christmas” has become...
Editorial: Was Wolf’s ballot an honest mistake?
Often, changing a law is all about politics — especially when it has to do with the big issues that make headlines. In recent years, there is no issue that gets more attention than elections. How people register. How they vote. How those votes are counted and where and for...
