Looking at logic on Trump
The last time I got into an argument over partisan politics, I tried to explain to someone that the tariffs President Trump imposed on Chinese imported goods were common sense. It was a moderate course of action intended to manage the trade imbalance in a global economy.
I tried to explain that his attempt to open relations with North Korea was potentially beneficial, and that peace and human rights activists should have supported the effort, irrespective of party affiliation. They didn’t. Note how North Korea has been firing barrages of test missiles lately, happy with Joe Biden in the Oval Office. It was all the more dense of me to suggest that the admittedly nauseating club-kid relationship between Trump and Vladimir Putin might have been the greatest hope for world peace. Never mind that the war against Ukraine started during Biden’s, not Trump’s, presidency.
The gent I was arguing with had only one line of reasoning to support his opposing position: that Trump has a narcissistic personality and acted solely for purposes of ego gratification. I tried to explain that if he took the most humane and appropriate course of action, it doesn’t matter that he may have done so for ego gratification.
Democrats have devolved to a childish form of reasoning: It’s wrong because Trump did it. If Trump said 1 + 1 = 2, he would be wrong and deplorable. Naturally, if a Democratic politician said the same thing, it would be correct and commendable. I am not a Trump supporter. As a voting Dem, I am one very unhappy logician.
Bruce Reisner
Perry South
***
We can do better with our election system
The election is over. I have been wondering how many individuals who submitted their ballot at the start of mail-in voting were deceased by Election Day? Are those ballots still viable?
I think that mid-September is way too early to vote for an election on the first Tuesday of November. If a person cannot go to a voting place in person, due to illness, employment, etc., they can request an absentee ballot as we have always done. Is that so difficult? Seems to me that it is a better way to avoid fraud.
And another thing, why can some states manage to count all the ballots in one night and others take days to complete the count? It seems to get worse and worse as the years go on.
This is America. We have the best technology in the world. We can do better!
Dorothea Cremonese
Greensburg
***
Pharmacies failing us
The large retail chain pharmacies in our area are absolutely failing to provide the critical services required by their customers. These services are necessary for the health and welfare of the community they serve and are even matters of life and death for many.
Their hours of operation are irregular at best. They often just close without any notice, and, even when they are open, often inadequate staffing is a real problem. Their employees are obviously stressed, yet they do the best they can under the circumstances.
Scheduling of flu or covid vaccines is a joke. One goes online to schedule these things and then receives notification at the last minute that appointments have been canceled, please reschedule.
The filling of prescriptions, which normally takes a few hours, now often takes days.
This situation is totally unacceptable.
With the critical nature of the services these pharmacies are to provide, they have a moral, ethical, if not legal, obligation to do so in a timely, professional, businesslike manner. They are failing to do so.
Bob Kunko
Murrysville
***
The cost of politics
Politics — America’s new blood sport. Unlike traditional sports, you don’t need to be big, strong or fast. You don’t even need to be smart. Maybe that is the reason why so many unqualified people enter politics.
Like it or not, politics is big business. It is a multitrillion (not billion) dollar business.
The cost of keeping a congressman in Washington is over $275,000 a year. This does not include indirect costs such as campaign funds; publications congress members give to constituents free of charge; the costs of military aircraft that are often available for congressional trips here and abroad; or the large amounts of counterpart currency they spend when they travel overseas.
When we multiply the cost of keeping one person in Congress, times the number of people in Congress, the figure is staggering. Make no mistake: National, state and local politics is big business.
What does all of this money give the American people? It gives us a chance to see politicians (men and women) acting as children in a playground. The difference between politics and the playground is that children have not been socialized to accept the herd mentality and reject anyone who disagrees with their party’s ideology.
The question can be asked: Who oversees the political process, and is that oversight effective? Children will be children; when will adults be adults?
Richard Arnold
Murrysville
***
GOP needs young, fresh faces
Although I have been an independent for years, I have leaned toward the Republican way of thinking — definite plans to improve life, the Reagan era, stock market on a positive note, low prices, low taxes, etc. The exception: I have voted for the Democratic candidate when I knew he or she was a good person.
Senator-elect John Fetterman never had what I consider a job, and lived on his parents’ stipends for years. The vote for him was along party lines to solely keep control of the Senate. Any intelligent person wouldn’t vote for such a person who I don’t think has accomplished anything.
But I keep remembering the Republican Party from years ago. The party today consists of mostly old hacks (term limits, please) with old ways of thinking. The party is badly in need of young faces with young ideas to fit the dramatically changing world today.
Mostly Democrats voted against Trump-backed candidates because of their dislike for President Trump. I don’t hate President Biden like many of them hate Trump, because to hate a person is wrong. The Democrats think that way; hate is spewed on any person who disagrees with their way of thinking.
The Republican Party needs younger members who are intelligent and will direct their actions to the public’s wants and needs. Evidently, my vote didn’t count!
Archie Atkinson
Lower Burrell
***
Republicans have nothing to offer
Poor Ed Davis (“Biden will take blame for destruction,” Nov. 10, TribLIVE)! He must be so thrown by the lack of the “red wave,” he’s forced to attack President Biden. Davis says the Democrats were responsible for racial, economic and religious differences. It’s the GOP that brought discriminatory voting laws, anti-LGBTQ laws and laws preventing many people of color from voting. They’ve even made it hard for senior citizens and people with disabilities to vote by limiting mail-in ballots.
Our justice system is still working rather well, Mr. Davis. Law enforcement has arrested many Jan. 6 traitors. So don’t worry, we’ll get the rest, even from Mar-a-Lago. Economic collapse? There is inflation, but it’s everywhere. Biden passed a bill which will help lower it. He is addressing the price gouging from big business.
What ideas has the GOP come up with? Maybe that’s why your “red wave” never materialized. They have nothing to offer. The GOP’s idea of taking away women’s right to choose hasn’t exactly worked out. Maybe Republicans should learn from us Democrats.
Leo Nagorski
Shaler
***
Why is nothing done about the $155 million in unpaid turnpike tolls?
I remember lots of promises over the past few years to reduce the outstanding unpaid Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls. Now they are up to $155 million. It surely seems like a failed effort, and no one is being held accountable. What does is take? Sen. Kim Ward should know.
Dave Bonazelli
Unity
Read More: Sounding off: Trump, elections and politics, pharmacies, unpaid tolls among week’s topics