Opinion category, Page 524
Letter to the editor: Dangers of vaccination passports
Medical freedom and informed consent have always been fundamental principles in the American health care system. Requiring “vaccination passports” (documented evidence of vaccination) not only intrudes on the privacy of health information and frustrates the principles of medical freedom and informed consent, but its most nefarious infraction is that it...
Letter to the editor: Why Pa. turns out stellar wrestlers like Spencer Lee
I enjoyed Bill Beckner’s article “Iowa senior, Franklin Regional grad Spencer Lee named nation’s top wrestler” (March 30, TribLIVE). The article looked at Lee being named the Hodge Trophy winner for two years in a row, which is remarkable. Lee’s career at Iowa has been incredible as was his high...
Editorial: Pa. State System takes right step to curbing crazy tuition rates
There is a lot of talk about how to handle student loan debt. There are the loans the students take out. There are the loans the parents take out to help. The Federal Reserve estimates Americans have about $1.7 trillion in student loan debt. Student loans are an overwhelming burden...
Letter to the editor: Politics shaping faith, negatively
I was very impressed by Leonard Pitts Jr.’s column “Small wonder the church is shrinking” (April 6, TribLIVE). He states that for the first time since Gallup has been tracking religious membership, we are at an all-time low. In 1937, 73% of us belonged to some form of house of...
Letter to the editor: Abortion burial proposal invasion of privacy
Dear state Rep. Kathy Rapp: You continue to introduce legislation about me without returning my offers to talk. You don’t consult with the health care professionals that cared for me and my baby. Instead, you choose to bury your head in the sand because you don’t want to hear the...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Saying goodbye to Phil Coyne, the Prince of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh buried its own Prince Phillip last week. But Phillip A. Coyne Jr. was simply called Phil or Philly by everybody around here. Phil Coyne had seen a lot, laughed a lot and put a lot of smiles on other people’s faces. And his life was a master class in...
Joe Nocera: Bernie Madoff left behind only misery and heartache
Bernie Madoff is dead, and it is unlikely that even the people who once were closest to him will shed a tear. Not his wife, Ruth, whose life was destroyed when Madoff’s Ponzi scheme was revealed in December 2008. Not his brother, Peter, Madoff’s former chief compliance officer, who spent...
Robert Lysek: Public charter schools want real reform
It might surprise those listening to Gov. Tom Wolf constantly attacking public charter schools that the charter school leaders in Pennsylvania support comprehensive education reform and have supported it for years. What we don’t support are the arbitrary funding cuts the governor and anti-charter activists seek to prevent Pennsylvania families...
Sounding off: We don’t deserve the wealthy’s money
President Biden’s new plan to fund American public programs is by taxing the wealthiest Americans. It’s not a question of if they should, but how much. Yet the question that is never asked is, “Why do we deserve their money?” The seemingly overlooked answer is we do not. Elon Musk,...
UPMC’s efforts to eliminate health care inequities, racism
As Black obstetrician-gynecologists, midwives and members of the UPMC family, we have come together to highlight the current state of affairs for pregnant women of color. The U.S., a developed nation, has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with Black women affected disproportionately in comparison with...
Letter to the editor: Urge leaders to work to prevent another pandemic
I can’t believe that a year ago this month my university sent me home because of the “new virus.” I remember thinking, “This won’t last long; in a couple weeks I’ll be back in school and everything will be back to normal.” Now here we are, a year later, with...
Letter to the editor: Mail-in voting good enough for Trump
Kudos to Commissioner Doug Chew. When I saw the headline “Westmoreland commissioner says county voters want end to no-excuse mail-in ballots, another disputes that” (March 23, TribLIVE), I wrote a blunt, acerbic email to the commissioner that emphatically indicated that I wanted to retain the mail-in ballot option. The commissioner...
Letter to the editor: Republicans making sacrifice by refusing vaccine
Republicans who refuse to get the covid vaccine are to be commended for making the ultimate sacrifice. Some Republicans are good people, of course, but clearly that doesn’t apply to Republicans in Congress. When they weaken American democracy, deny climate change and reject science, they create a menace to human...
Mona Charen: Not every tragedy is a racial lesson
Reliving the awful details of George Floyd’s slow suffocation is brutal and emotionally draining. As always in matters touching on race, the thrum of ethnic hostilities is the background noise. Some have been eager, since the trial began, to cite George Floyd’s drug use or heart trouble as the true...
John Stossel: Steven Crowder calls out censorship
The most viewed conservative commentator on YouTube is Steven Crowder with his channel, Louder with Crowder. His fans love his politically incorrect jokes. He also sets up a table at college campuses, invites people to debate and airs the debate unedited. One such video, titled, “There Are Two Genders: Change...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: It takes 2 parties to be bipartisan
There is nothing sacred about nine. The number was not carried down from a mountain on stone tablets, nor did it appear in a burning bush. In fact, before the Supreme Court contained nine justices, it contained six, the number fixed when the tribunal was established in 1789. Then, in...
Jonah Goldberg: Biden citing wrong reasons for Afghanistan withdrawal
President Biden has decided to end the war in Afghanistan. He feels it’s time, and so do a lot of Americans. I feel it too. I’m just not sure feelings should win the day. In his televised address announcing the decision, Biden reiterated that American withdrawal can’t be “tied to...
Laurels & lances: Efficient vaccine clinics and not-transparent leasing
Laurel: To a well-oiled machine. When it comes to large gatherings of people for a specific purpose, sometimes the operation can function perfectly. Sometimes it turns into chaos. Anyone who has tried to get out of a parking lot after a big concert can attest to best laid plans going...
Letter to the editor: Writer belittled our land, president, intelligence and hope
It is rare that a liberal hater can besmirch, demean and insult as broadly as Al Scovern did in his letter “Loyalty to Trump has gotten Allegheny Valley nowhere” (April 8, TribLIVE). He belittled our beautiful Western Pennsylvania countryside, our former president, our intelligence and our hope in one fell...
Lori Falce: Risks of not researching women’s health
It seems like just a couple of weeks since I was writing a column where I said we need to pay more attention to the way diseases and treatments affect the bodies of women. Oh, wait. It was. Now, here we are, with one of the three vaccines meant to...
Letter to the editor: Tell Chew, other leaders how you feel about voting process
I am thankful to Rich Cholodofsky for writing the article “Westmoreland commissioner says county voters want end to no-excuse mail-in ballots, another disputes that” (March 23, TribLIVE). Sadly, Doug Chew is certainly not adequately representing all Westmoreland County residents. I disagree with the assertion that constituents do not want “mail-in...
Letter to the editor: Totalitarianism frightening — and coming
Coming soon to a theater near you: the frightening blockbuster with the unforgettable catchphrase, “Show me your papers, please.” It’s the request for your internal passport: the vaccine documentation necessary for any travel, social gatherings, purchases and so much more. We’ve seen this movie before, and it never ends well....
Paul Kengor: Will MLB boycott the Pirates — and the Phillies?
“Georgia has 17 days of in-person early voting, including two optional Sundays. Colorado has 15. … They also have a photo ID requirement. So, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.” So puzzled Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp over the decision by Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred...
Dave Kitzinger: Gupta should be confirmed as associate attorney general
Bipartisanship is often invoked but rarely practiced in politics these days. Unfortunately, the confirmation fight over President Biden’s nominee for associate attorney general, Vanita Gupta, has become the latest example of partisanship crowding out substance in Washington. Fair-minded senators like Sen. Pat Toomey have a reputation for rising above the...
Colin McNickle: Government-mandated sick leave bad idea
Allegheny County Council could not muster enough votes to override the county executive’s veto of a mandatory paid sick-leave ordinance for private businesses. Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald said that while he supports paid sick leave, the legislation did not originate where it should have — with the county health board...
