Opinion category, Page 469
Mona Charen: What Nobel Prizes say about national greatness
It’s Nobel Prize season. The just-announced 2021 winners in medicine/physiology are two Americans, Drs. David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian, who’ve done groundbreaking research on the senses of touch, taste, heat and pain. Their joint discoveries may yield new, nonopioid treatments for pain and other breakthroughs. Patapoutian had his cellphone switched...
Charlie Melancon: Congress should pause before rushing to spend $3.5 trillion
Underway in Washington is a debate surrounding Congress’ $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. The bill removes important industry tax deductions and establishes a new natural gas tax, essentially making it punitive to produce resources here at home. With rapid decarbonization goals driving the Biden administration’s agenda, some policymakers overlook the reality...
Letter to the editor: Train travel a good option for many
In response to Ken Goga’s letter “Amtrak an unwise investment” (Sept. 21, TribLIVE): A second Amtrak Pennsylvanian operating between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg would be a welcome addition for Western Pennsylvania travelers. The lack of public intercity transportation, decreasing percentages of licensed drivers, enhanced time utilization and significant unmet demand —...
Letter to the editor: Giffin deserves appreciation, gratitude
I met Doc Giffin in the press tent at the 1962 PGA Championship. He was the PGA press secretary, and I was a novice golf reporter for the Trib, and always the last to leave, except for Doc, who, despite long, frenetic days, would stay to be of assistance even...
Letter to the editor: Thrasher needs to be voted out
I see our fearless county commissioner, Gina Cerilli Thrasher, is up to her old tricks. According to the article “Westmoreland commissioners oust airport authority board members over restaurant lease” (Sept. 30, TribLIVE), Thrasher orchestrated the dismissal of Donald “Doc” Giffin and the well-liked and respected chairman, Paul Puleo, a successful...
Editorial: Responsible gun ownership means following rules
Conversations about guns and the limits of their accessibility are never easy. While most other rights like speech or a speedy trial are intangible, a gun is the one that can be held in your hand. It can be strapped at your side. It can even be packed in a...
Letter to the editor: Flying flag upside down is disrespectful
I noticed some local residents have been flying the U.S. flag outside their homes upside down. I believe some people feel this a way of protesting or expressing dissatisfaction with current U.S. officials and policies. While it is legal to express yourself in whatever way you so choose, it is...
Election letters deadline
Letters to the editor regarding upcoming election issues, including endorsements, will be accepted until Oct. 18. Election-related letters will not be printed after Oct. 24...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: John Wetzel taking his common sense on the road
John Wetzel was the warden of a small jail in Franklin County when he was nominated by Gov. Tom Corbett to become the commonwealth’s secretary of corrections. Wetzel, a former offensive lineman for Bloomsburg University, had started as a part-time corrections officer 20 years earlier, and he was ready for...
Colin McNickle: Chimera of ‘progress’ at PPS’ weakest-performing schools
Just-departed Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) Superintendent Anthony Hamlet promised “good things” when he was hired as head of the outlandishly expensive and academically struggling city school district in 2016. You might recall the prose from the 2017-22 strategic plan in which problems such as a falling graduation rate and declining...
Sen. Mike Regan: The right way to legalize adult-use marijuana
As a Republican senator who spent more than two decades in law enforcement, it may come as a surprise to some people that I have circulated a co-sponsorship memo outlining my intent to introduce legislation legalizing adult-use marijuana in Pennsylvania. For decades, marijuana has been used by adult residents in...
Sounding off: Misusing the word ‘freedom’
Personal freedom from the tyranny of a fascist or totalitarian government is what we all desire. However, the word “freedom” is sometimes used incorrectly. What has happened in Texas is a textbook example. The government of Texas wanted freedom from wearing masks and getting vaccinated. So covid cases spiked, sickening...
David Ayers: Doomed to marry beneath them? Marriage and the gender gap in college
The Wall Street Journal recently published a powerful article on the large and growing gap between the numbers of men and women enrolled in American colleges and universities. Enrollments have declined steeply in recent years, but they have declined much more among males than females. Only 40% of current college...
Letter to the editor: Grateful for honest people
It’s easy to get bogged down with negative news, which is why I’m writing with a positive story. A few days ago, I went to the farmers market in Lower Burrell. I bought a few things and then I left. Eventually, I noticed that I was missing my debit card,...
Letter to the editor: I don’t trust this covid vaccine
I consider all of the covid-19 vaccines “experimental.” I don’t agree that the completion of clinical trials and authorization for emergency use, or the FDA’s approval of one vaccine, make them safe. It has only been about 18 months, and no one can know the long-term effects that may manifest...
Editorial: It’s time for real press conferences again
A press conference is supposed to be a give and take. Somewhere between a dance and a duel, it depends on both sides taking turns. The speaker gives a statement. A reporter asks a question. The speaker either answers or evades — which is in itself a kind of answer....
Letter to the editor: Critical race theory gets it wrong
Critical race theory (CRT) is presumptuous. Even though the most recent Rasmussen polls show that the great majority of us do not believe Americans are inherently racist, CRT works from just that position. In my opinion, CRT thrives on division so its wielders can seize control. Though the display of...
John Stossel: Fighting the BEEReaucrats
Jim Caruso, CEO of Flying Dog Brewery, calls his business a “First Amendment brewery.” That’s because he keeps going to court to defend beer labels. It started in 1995, when Colorado’s Liquor Commission objected to the label, “Good Beer, No S—-.” Bureaucrats told him, “Pull the beer from the market,...
S.E. Cupp: Katie Couric is a cautionary tale
“Is she crazy?” read the early-morning text from a colleague. “What is she thinking?” read a text from another. “She can’t think this is GOOD,” read yet another. The barrage of chatter from fellow media friends, all referring to the release of several excerpts from Katie Couric’s forthcoming, trash-talking tell-all,...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: You can’t fix Facebook
Maybe Facebook can’t be fixed. Did anyone ever think of that? As a whistleblower releases damning information, as Congress holds another hearing into the harm the company does, the implicit assumption is that the social-media giant can be reformed, that with the right combination of algorithmic tweaks and legislative remedies,...
Letter to the editor: Learn meaning of ‘illegal’
The members of Joey’s presidential staff need to go to a nearby elementary school and take a quick class on the meaning of the word “illegal”! Lou Gregovits North Huntingdon...
Letter to the editor: Aspinwall council meetings no place for mayoral battle
Although I was not present at the Sept. 8 Aspinwall Borough Council meeting, I read your account (“Aspinwall Councilman David Brown draws fire from council colleagues for claims made on his election website,” Sept. 8, TribLIVE) and have spoken to council members and some audience members quoted in your story....
Letter to the editor: Enough with Trump’s ‘big lie’
It’s about time someone knocks some sense into Donald Trump. It looks like he is going to continue to force his “big lie” crap until the next election, and at whose expense? Of course, the taxpayers. This is free publicity and is one of the few ways he has of...
Lori Falce: Representation matters in media
Representation is a word that gets a lot of heat and light these days. You hear it called out in good ways as more people are given more presence in our media and culture. There is greater representation of minorities in films and television than there ever has been before....
Letter to the editor: A different perspective on ‘facts’
Regarding the letter “Republicans continue to deny facts” (Sept. 2, TribLIVE): As a Republican, if you add these prefixes to Joanne Garing’s “facts” — Fakebook, Goggle, MSDNC, CNN, among others — denying “those” facts I can assure you, I don’t believe any of them. I am desperate to resolve how...
