Opinion category, Page 483
Dr. Rosanne Granieri: Sexual harassment is not funny
Recently, we’ve all likely heard them. They are, unfortunately, the type of stories we’ve heard before. Television networks, magazines, online news sources and newspapers carried the details and subsequent fallout. Let’s start with alleged alleged escapades of Andrew Cuomo as New York governor. These stories finally ended with Cuomo’s departure...
Sounding off: Plenty of blame for Afghanistan
What’s most astonishing about the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is how astonished everyone professes to be, while conceding delaying the inevitable would not have prevented it. Failure is often an orphan; this one lays claim to plenty of fathers. Bill Clinton regrets not assassinating Osama Bin Laden after the 1998...
Letter to the editor: Issues with electric vehicles
I realize electric vehicles are getting very popular, but I have some issues with them. First, they have limited range, and would add an enormous amount of time for a trip, let’s say from Pittsburgh to Atlanta. The second issue is the availability of charging stations as well as the...
Letter to the editor: Bigger problems than social media
I hate to rain on Mallard Fillmore’s parade to go after social media, but America has bigger fish to fry. Our law enforcement agencies are doing their best to round up the Jan. 6 insurrectionists and their ringleader who caused the death of at least one police officer and put...
Editorial: So now the legislature is guardian of public health
In March 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic erupted, Gov. Tom Wolf declared an emergency. It was the right move at the time. That does not, however, mean that every step Wolf has taken since has been on firm ground. There have been plenty of errors, both forced and unforced, in...
Letter to the editor: Still using Trump as an excuse
The illogical, absurd letter by William J. Bilo Sr. (“Republicans, do the right thing”) demands an answer. The Democrats simply will not let Donald Trump rest; he is their excuse when things go wrong, and they are going wrong big time. President Biden has been so hell bent on reversing...
Dr. Andrew Smolar: A psychiatrist’s perspective on kids returning to school
I consider myself fortunate. Our kids are in their 20s. Two are in graduate school, and two have begun careers. They were vaccinated last spring. They embrace masks when they are indicated. They work on Zoom, in-person, and they have the freedom — backed by their institutions — to choose...
Michael Lamb: Pass the infrastructure bill
During my time as city controller, I’ve expressed concern about Pittsburgh’s “infrastructure deficit” — the repairs and improvements we should be making to our roads, bridges, wastewater systems and other critical infrastructure compared to what we actually complete each year. Consider this: Pittsburgh has nearly 1,000 miles of paved roads...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Tired of marching for what should already be ours
He said many profound things that day. He said America had given African Americans “a bad check.” He said he had come to remind the nation of “the fierce urgency of now.” He said we might hew “out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.” He said, “I...
Letter to the editor: Pulling out of Afghanistan was right move
Twenty years, $2 trillion and thousands of our troops killed or wounded. How much is enough? We spent billions of dollars to train 300,000 Afghanistan troops. We equipped them with all of the technology and weapons they could possibly need to fight the Taliban, and what did they do when...
Letter to the editor: A dog’s wisdom
“Mutt” is a mean word. So is “mongrel.” I’m pleased everyone is sensitized to the impact words have. “Dog.” Use the word “dog.” I am a dog, as good-natured, complex, fallible and canine as any Afghan hound or Yorkshire terrier. And now I have to let it out. I’m not...
Lori Falce: Frivolous lawsuits? Don’t be a baby
Everyone loves to talk about that hot, hot coffee at McDonald’s and the frivolous lawsuit that popped up when a woman complained that her hot coffee was — surprise, surprise — hot. This is why we can’t have nice things, they say. This is why we have warnings on irons...
Letter to the editor: Pat Buchanan’s racism appalling
I was appalled at the blatant white supremacism and hateful rhetoric being spewed in Pat Buchanan’s column “Is diversity making U.S. stronger?” (Aug. 18, TribLIVE). Correlation doesn’t equal causation — Buchanan implies a fallacious connection between the drop in white births over the past decade and the presence of other...
Laurels & lances: Corn, community and stepping up
Laurel: To kernels of kindness. The area has been dealing with increased food insecurity in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic for more than a year. Food banks have been hit hard, and donations are always welcome. But a special kind of donation required additional hands Wednesday when 30 volunteers...
J. Joseph Cullen: Best options for Pa.’s coal plant communities
Last week, a Pennsylvania State Senate Committee issued four pages of procedural objections about the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a plan to reduce carbon pollution from power plants in the state. While the bureaucratic issues raised will be sorted out by the regulatory process and/or the courts, the committee...
Colin McNickle: Pittsburgh’s static high office vacancy rate
Pittsburgh’s central business district office vacancy rate remained stubbornly high in 2021’s second quarter. And trends — those eminently controllable by public officials and those totally out of their control — are not encouraging for improvement, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. The wild card of...
Letter to the editor: We should welcome our Afghan partners here
A continuing issue in Southwestern Pennsylvania is our aging population and loss of residents at a time when the situation in Afghanistan is terrible and perhaps broken beyond repair. This is an occasion for us in Pennsylvania to aid our evacuated Afghan partners and show a big welcome to new...
Letter to the editor: Penn Hills mask ruling decried
Penn Hills School District passed a mandate that includes masking all kids and visitors for the foreseeable future (“Penn Hills School District requiring masks for all students, staff at start of school year.”) Current science demands different policy, and this takes away my choice as a parent. The CDC states...
Editorial: For Westmoreland workers, a confusing new math on raises
Percentages can be confusing things. They might seem simple at first blush. A penny is just 1% of a dollar. How hard is that to figure out? But anyone who has tried to figure out exactly how much their $100,000 house will cost over the lifetime of a mortgage and...
Letter to the editor: Congress must invest in our communities
Too many families in Westmoreland County and communities across Pennsylvania were suffering before the pandemic. For too long, we have seen tax cuts for corporations while investments in our local communities are blocked. As a longtime resident of West Newton, I see firsthand the need for investment in our community....
Aron Solomon: Full FDA vaccine approval and the law
On Monday morning, the FDA gave full approval to the Pfizer covid-19 vaccine. This is an even faster approval than Pfizer has hoped for, as the most optimistic date had been early September. Until now, all covid-19 vaccines have had only EUA (emergency use authorization). Full approval of even one...
Letter to the editor: Biden worst president ever
Crisis on the southern border, inflation, nobody wants to work because they get more money sitting at home collecting Biden Bucks, and now the dumpster fire in Afghanistan. I never thought I would see it in my lifetime, but we have a new “Worst President Ever.” Congratulations, President Carter; Joe...
Letter to the editor: No more lives, resources wasted in wars
U.S. involvement in Vietnam: 1950-1975. For 25 years under six U.S. presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon and Ford. Twenty-six years (just one generation) later: U.S. involvement in Afghanistan: 2001-2021 (hopefully ending this year). For 20 years under four U.S. presidents: George W. Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden. First...
Letter to the editor: Conor Lamb should clarify views on voter ID
After reading the article “Rep. Conor Lamb jumps in race for Pat Toomey’s Senate seat” (Aug. 6, TribLIVE), I wished Lamb had clarified some of his statements. He says his opponents are determined to see him fail. What opponents? I assume he means elected Republicans; I’m not sure. He states...
Editorial: The shame of Shuman Center’s demise
The Shuman Juvenile Detention Center no longer is licensed by the state of Pennsylvania. On Friday, the state Department of Human Services notified Allegheny County that the facility that houses minors involved in the justice system would have to make new arrangements for its residents and close by Sept. 18....
