Opinion category, Page 473
Tom Purcell: Is it autumn for America?
The autumn leaves are expected to be extra vibrant this year in Pennsylvania, though they are changing colors a week later than is normal. That’s fitting. Very few things are “normal” this year. According to Merriam- Webster, “autumn” is “the season between summer and winter comprising in the northern hemisphere usually...
Letter to the editor: Nepotism in Yough School District
What is nepotism? Nepotism is the practice of promoting or hiring relatives or friends, often over more qualified external candidates. In family-owned business, such decisions are expected and make sense. However, in public institutions, hiring should always involve finding the best qualified candidate through an open and transparent process. At...
Editorial: A local coalition will ensure that no child goes hungry
Hunger was a problem before the pandemic started. Food is one of those bills that can be scrimped and shorted. The very euphemism that we use to talk about cutting back — tightening the belt — acknowledges the corners that get cut when money is short are often meals. So...
Letter to the editor: On covid, where’s common decency?
A recent front-page photo showed a youth at a school mask protest holding a poster that read “Communism spreads faster than covid.” What does that even mean? More than 685,000 Americans have died from covid. Thousands of new patients are dying each day. Nearly 42 million have contracted the disease....
Matt Smith: Pittsburgh region a national model for future-focused infrastructure
When President Biden and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg chose our region to make significant announcements about a robust federal infrastructure package, we knew they did so with confidence that the Pittsburgh region was poised to take the lead, and rightfully so. We have a long-awaited opportunity in infrastructure...
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Sept. 27
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Sept. 27....
Editorial cartoons for the week of Sept. 27
Editorial cartoons for the week of Sept. 27....
Mona Charen: Why I’m a single-issue voter
In a few weeks, Virginia will hold an election, and I will have to make a decision. In the past, it would have been no contest. I’d have voted Republican. But now, though Terry McAuliffe leaves me cold, I will vote for him. I guess that makes me a single-issue...
Letter to the editor: Some ‘kids,’ like Jeannette’s musical athletes, know how to work
I get so tired of hearing people say that “kids today don’t know how to work.” The article about the four young Jeannette men who play on the football team and march with the band turns that idea on its head (“Jeannette players band together, show determination,” Sept. 16, TribLIVE)....
Letter to the editor: Money’s worth on the turnpike
The Turnpike Commission is laughing itself all the way to the bank! The diversion of E-ZPass and Toll by Plate has allowed the commission to drastically increase tolls while keeping the public ignorant of those increases. Turnpike usage is geared toward the commuter and not the occasional user who must...
Letter to the editor: Time to be FAIR
It’s been a rough couple years for us all in society. We’re more divided than ever. Controversies bubble up on social media and bubble out into reality, resulting in families who won’t speak to each other, terminated friendships and uncomfortable workplaces. Maybe you’ve seen some attempts at fixing things that...
Letter to the editor: Politicians’ errors and grand plans
Dear editor, U.S. citizens and old-time Democrats: I have seen and watched presidents and their administrations make errors in judgment and boneheaded decisions since President Eisenhower. Politics being politics will cause stupid judgments to be made. The results are sometimes slow in presenting themselves. Never do the politicians admit making...
Editorial: Booster shots are as common as vaccines themselves
Booster shots are not a new idea. Kids get them periodically for measles and mumps, for diphtheria and for chickenpox. Adults are cautioned to get a tetanus or meningitis booster. Travelers may get an update for things like hepatitis or yellow fever. A booster is just what it sounds like...
Letter to the editor: Our society’s selfishness is sad
My body, my choice, right? Too bad if it adversely affects other people. It’s selfishly all about me. The hell with everybody else. Guess I can go into a store without a shirt and shoes. Maybe I can wear a tank top instead of the required collared shirt at a...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: America’s civil religion
Think what you will about Richard M. Nixon, but the guy showed how to lose an election with grace in 1960. The Republican presidential nominee lost to Democrat John F. Kennedy in a squeaker, and charges soon surfaced that Kennedy won because of vote rigging in Illinois and Texas. The...
Jessica Tomko: Disability representation in the entertainment industry
Representation. We see this word used a lot these days. It has become associated with the fight for social justice, a quantifiable goal, a hashtag, a marketing effort. In short, it has become a buzzword. I am a 31-year-old disabled woman, and I can safely say that I didn’t even...
Sounding off: RINOs have ruined conservative movement
Regarding the article “Sen. Toomey says it’s ‘completely unacceptable’ for GOP to pick Trump in 2024”: What is completely unacceptable to conservatives are Republicans in name only (RINOs) like you who have ruined the conservative movement. Your ilk of Republicanism is a ruse. You do not want to govern or...
Filippo Menczer: Battling social media manipulation
On the surface this seems reasonable. If people like credible news, expert opinions and fun videos, these algorithms should identify such high-quality content. But the wisdom of the crowds makes a key assumption here: that recommending what is popular will help high-quality content “bubble up.” We tested this assumption by...
Letter to the editor: Stop GOP’s plans to invade privacy to back ‘big lie’
Every registered voter in Pennsylvania should be outraged by what the pro-Trump lackeys in our state government are now trying to do. They have issued subpoenas to seek the name, address, driver’s license number and partial Social Security number of every person who was registered to vote in the last...
Letter to the editor: A look at how Trump honored fallen soldiers
Regarding Ed Liberatore’s letter “Comparing presidents’ honor of fallen soldiers” (Sept. 15, TribLIVE): From the Huffington Post dated Sept. 2, 2020: “According to a review of Air Force records, there had been 96 ‘dignified transfers’ at Dover AFB since the start of Trump’s presidency, which saw the return of 127...
Editorial: Canine comfort can help in the halls of justice
A courthouse can be an intimidating place, even if you aren’t charged with a crime. Victims of crime can have to relive their worst moments while facing down an attacker. A witness might have to find the strength to participate in the process. Family court cases, such as custody disputes,...
Letter to the editor: Commissioners should work with residents on ARP funds
The American Rescue Plan is confirmed. It’s designed to bring major improvements through out our nation. With skilled management it ensures the power to resolve glaring disparities currently existing in Westmoreland County, and particularly to its at-risk communities. For that to happen requires a closer relationship between our county commissioners,...
S.E. Cupp: Biden, a frenemy of our experts
He made the promise over and over again. During his run for president, and amid a worsening covid-19 crisis, Joe Biden promised if elected, he’d “follow the science.” The pledge was a clear rebuke of his then-opponent and now-predecessor, Donald Trump, who routinely and recklessly denied, questioned and even mocked...
John Stossel: Charity that changes lives
Government-run schools fail kids. Teachers unions and education bureaucrats say, “We need more money!” But America already spends a fortune on public schools. My town, New York City, spends $28,000 per student — half-a-million dollars per classroom! Think about what you could do with that money: Hire five teachers? Pay...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: You can starve an ideal only so long before you kill it altogether
Those pictures are traumatizing. That’s because they contain so much more than what’s in them, so much more than horse-mounted U.S. Border Patrol agents at the Rio Grande in Texas, running down and flogging would-be Haitian immigrants. No, those pictures contain George Floyd and forced removal from ancestral land, contain...
