Opinion category, Page 553
Shannon Chambers-Aguilar: ‘Elective’ surgery not always optional
For my son Ethan, “elective surgery” is a misnomer. For Ethan, the word “elective” doesn’t mean optional. It doesn’t mean his surgery isn’t urgent or necessary, and it certainly doesn’t mean that he doesn’t need it as soon as possible in order to live a full, healthy, safe and happy...
Letter to the editor: Young people should get stimulus checks, too
Many people did not qualify for the second round of stimulus checks. It is hard for people under 18 to qualify unless their parents qualify. Many children file taxes as dependents of their parents who do not qualify. Is it unfair that a child would qualify if they were not...
Letter to the editor: Teachers need covid vaccines
Regarding John Petrancosta’s letter “Teachers should not be vaccine priority”: My daughter is a teacher. In case you missed it, children can be carriers and, yes, my daughter has been working in school every day this year. If it makes you feel better, I’m more than happy to give her...
Letter to the editor: Giving America away
Well, Monty Hall has barely been in office for a full week and is already giving America away. Where’s the 1 million doses of vaccine a day? They don’t even have a million doses for one day. Maybe we should save it for all the illegals that get counted in...
Letter to the editor: Cover-up of corruption
When it comes to political corruption, one basic fact always holds true: the cover-up is always worse than the crime. We have seen a lot of criminal activity in Washington over the last four years. Any libel, slander and defaming that went on with the news media and in Congress...
Editorial: All hands on deck for vaccination rollout
Why isn’t there one coordinated plan to navigate the rough waters of the coronavirus pandemic? It isn’t that government doesn’t know how to work together in a disaster, pulling all hands together and tugging on the rope as one to get something done. It absolutely does. The Federal Emergency Management...
Letter to the editor: More excuses for Trump’s actions
I thought I had heard every excuse there was to justify President Trump’s actions. There were plenty of them over the past four years given by his enablers and abettors. That is, until I read Eileen Condie’s letter “Democratic ploy to take down Trump?” (Jan. 19, TribLIVE). It left me...
Letter to the editor: We need more from our Pa. legislators
Dear Pennsylvania legislators: You were warned, but again this month, as you do every session, you neutered yourselves, ceding your powers to the four leaders of the Pennsylvania House and Senate. Those leaders presented the rules at the last minute as they always do, and you passed them without amendments,...
Ryan Navarro: March for Life virtual but just as important
For the first time in 47 years, thousands of pro-life activists from around the county are forgoing the journey to the National Mall for the annual March for Life. A combination of the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns in Washington, D.C., has led to the decision to keep participants at...
Jonah Goldberg: Biden needs to set even more ambitious vaccination goals
We are far from the destination, but the return to normalcy has begun — and so have the normal games presidents play. President Donald Trump said many times that covid-19 would just “disappear,” as if it were so much fake news ginned up to help Democrats. At one campaign stop,...
Letter to the editor: Capitol riots not a Democratic ploy
Regarding Eileen Condie’s letter “Democratic ploy to take down Trump?” (Jan. 19, TribLIVE): Ms. Condie, time to put your pen down and smell the coffee. Leonard Mucci Derry Township...
Letter to the editor: Republican vs. Democrat debt
It has been bothering me that letter-writer Sandra Kremer (“Republicans’ legacy of debt,” Dec. 1, TribLIVE) was knocking the Republican president for increasing the national debt. She writes about Democratic presidents with surpluses, like LBJ’s $3.2 billion. Also, Bill Clinton had a surplus. She then states Ronald Reagan added $1.5...
Editorial: Clamoring to be ‘most eligible’ in the vaccine sweepstakes
What does it mean to be eligible? It is the right to do something, the right to get something. If you are looking to fix your daughter up with the perfect guy, you are looking for the most eligible bachelor — the guy who will check all the boxes. To...
Letter to the editor: Reschenthaler is not a patriot
I feel compelled to respond to Jeff Hoener’s letter “Reschenthaler and Joyce are patriots.” This was “the most secure election in history.” “We have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.” Those are quotes from officials in Trump’s own administration. There...
Letter to the editor: We need faster vaccine distribution
With hundreds of thousands of coronavirus deaths in the United States, and cases still on an upward trend, it is imperative the distribution of the vaccine is faster and more efficient. How can this be done? The key is transportation. If we can transport the vaccine to key areas in...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: We should all want to answer Biden’s call for unity
It’s been said of Abraham Lincoln he had a “mystical” devotion to the idea of Union. His conviction the American states were united in an indissoluble bond is what braced him through the monstrous burdens he bore. It’s not too much to say the very existence of this country owes...
Pat Buchanan: Coexistence or cold war with China?
“The United States acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States … does not challenge that position.” Thus did President Nixon, in the Shanghai Communique of 1972, accept China’s territorial...
Randall Rutta: Another pandemic is coming — it’s time to prepare
Even as we confront a still-surging covid-19 pandemic in advance of global vaccination, another looming pandemic threatens us. This threat comes from rising numbers of drug-resistant bacteria and fungi. These “superbugs” are immune to most antibiotics. They already kill 700,000 people around the world each year. And they’re evolving faster...
Sylvia Neely: Bipartisanship crucial for our world’s future
Last year I read Ezra Klein’s book “Why We’re Polarized.” He traced the history of partisanship, explaining the ways parties have evolved, the changing role of the media and the crucial influence of identity politics. The horrifying events on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6 were the culmination of this corrosive...
Letter to the editor: Was Butterball really a threat?
What kind of serious threats was the Forbes Road pet turkey causing that gave rise for the game warden to kill it (“Forbes Road residents shocked gobbler ‘Butterball’ shot by game warden,” Jan. 16, TribLIVE)? Was it causing serious automobile accidents? Was it transporting Lyme disease-infected ticks into the neighborhood?...
Letter to the editor: Democrats’ end game is their ‘social justice’
For who knows how long, our country will be run by a single party with a leadership that espouses conspiracies, divisiveness, greed and a lust for power. I believe their path to power is paved by racism, and they will play that card at every opportunity. Their end game is...
Letter to the editor: New Kensington-Arnold tax hike not right
The New Kensington-Arnold School Board’s latest tax increase proposal is totally unreasonable (“New Kensington-Arnold considers property tax increase to address ‘bleak’ financial picture,” Jan. 21, TribLIVE). You should do your own due diligence on the budget before scaring the public with a 7% increase. A real self-examination of all programs...
Editorial: When recovery houses fail, so does addiction recovery
It is no secret that the coronavirus pandemic isn’t the first health crisis Pennsylvania has faced in recent years. Until a never-before-seen disease started to burn around the world last year, there was another epidemic that was discussed on an almost daily basis. The opioid crisis has killed more than...
Letter to the editor: Focus energy on vaccine rollout
People are outraged by the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6. However, that outrage would be better placed elsewhere. Namely the slow distribution of, and inoculation with, the covid-19 vaccine. What government activity could, or should, have a higher priority? The vaccine was approved for emergency use Dec. 11....
Letter to the editor: Will we work to overcome our losses?
In the winter of 2020, a foreign virus squeezed our lungs and our hearts. It changed our lives. The nation fought it, doubted it, ignored it and defied it. People suffered and died. And so it went. In the spring of 2020, authorities defiantly knelt on the neck of George...
