Opinion category, Page 340
Cal Thomas: Barn doors and horses
After months of ignoring the problem and demonstrably false claims by his Homeland Security secretary that the southern border is “secure,” President Biden is finally visiting the area this week as part of a trip to Mexico. Last week, the administration announced it would immediately begin turning away Cubans, Haitians...
Letter to the editor: Republicans’ ‘Family Feud’
Friday evening at 10 p.m., I tuned to a cable news station to watch the U.S. Speaker of the House election, but they just kept playing reruns of “Family Feud.” Doug Baughman McKees Rocks...
Letter to the editor: All involved in Jan. 6 attack should be tried
We just marked the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol meant by many to disrupt constitutional processes for the transfer of presidential power. A large number of the mob proudly proclaimed that they were going to hang Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence,...
Editorial: Was Westmoreland County DA Nicole Ziccarelli’s car crash a minor incident?
It does not matter if a public official’s incident is a fender bender or a four-car collision. What can make it a big deal is how it is handled. Just like with information requests and properly conducted meetings, the difference between doing it right and doing it wrong is doing...
Letter to the editor: Biden at the border
Finally, President Biden went to visit the southern border. It only took two years, but I know he’s been busy causing other problems and taking vacations. And in typical Biden and Democratic Party fashion, he attempts to falsely blame others for the crisis that he has helped create. Caravans of...
Tom Purcell: Laughing your way to happiness
What makes us happy and fulfilled? According to the directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted, the answer is very simple: our relationships. “The stronger our relationships, the more likely we are to live happy, satisfying and overall healthier lives,” according...
Scott Sonenshein: Americans are taking more control over their work lives — because they have to
One thing that’s become clear in the past few tumultuous — and for many, traumatic — years is that it’s easy to feel like there is no control in our lives. Control is a basic psychological need that helps people feel like they have agency, from how they live to...
Nathan Benefield: On voter ID, trust the voters
Last session, Pennsylvania lawmakers advanced a proposed constitutional amendment to require voter identification in elections. The state House and Senate must pass this measure again to put it on the ballot as a referendum, giving voters the final say. Regardless of which political party ends up controlling the state House...
Letter to the editor: How about a new bridge in New Kensington?
I have a random thought about the work to be done for nearly two years on the C.L. Schmidt Bridge in New Kensington: Rather than rehabilitate a bridge as old and in the same condition as the former Hulton Bridge was in Oakmont, why not keep that bridge open and...
Letter to the editor: Judging Robert E. Lee by 1862 standards
The letter “Don’t judge Robert E. Lee by 2022 standards” (Dec. 31, TribLIVE) urges us recognize that Robert E. Lee was a patriotic Virginian who only objected to the use of federal forces to solve the question of slavery. He came to that opinion fashionably late. The 1850 Fugitive Slave...
Editorial: The too-long list of 2022 homicides
There was no waiting for Allegheny County’s first homicide of 2022. It came promptly Jan. 1 when Amariey Lei was found shot to death in the 1300 block of Wood Street in Wilkinsburg. She was just 19 and coached hip-hop and baton for the Lady Diamonds dance team, of which...
Letter to the editor: Law Enforcement Appreciation Day
Courage, bravery, hero, public servant. These are all words that come to mind when you think of an individual in law enforcement. When someone answers the call to serve and protect, they are doing more than that. They are often sacrificing sleep, holidays with loved ones and potentially their life...
Editorial cartoons for the week of Jan. 9
Editorial cartoons for the week of Jan. 9....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Jan. 9
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Jan. 9....
Nicole Kraft: Sports broadcasters have a duty to report injuries responsibly — for Damar Hamlin, they passed the test
Injuries are an unfortunate part of any sport — none more so than in the NFL, where players can be felled in front of a TV audience in the tens of millions. Typically, when a player suffers an injury, the media cuts to commercial and returns with replays of the...
Letter to the editor: Lee chose not to be a great American
Regarding Dan Manka’s letter ”Don’t judge Robert E. Lee by 2022 standards” (Dec. 31, TribLIVE), on the matter of West Point removing the artwork of Robert E Lee: I am not convinced that this was a judicious move. In point of fact, would the portrayal of Lee surrendering his army...
Editorial: Can Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau audit results be shrugged off?
Between 2017 and 2020, unbalanced books led to more than $650,000 in state reimbursements not being made to the Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau. It is a testament to reviews of those books by state Auditor General Timothy DeFoor that the unpaid funds were identified in December 2022. The audits turned...
Letter to the editor: Caring for our mental health
Thank you for the article “As Westmoreland’s suicide numbers rise, ‘we have to talk about it’ ” (Dec. 30, TribLIVE) and the editorial “Address suicide by respecting mental health” (Jan. 2, TribLIVE). Society has long ignored the diseases of mental illness and cast them into the shadows of blame and shame....
Letter to the editor: Praying for our health care system
I pray for our current health care system. I pray for a health care system that is more “system” than health care. I pray for administrators and insurance companies behind desks and spreadsheets creating criteria to meet their bottom line. I pray for the exhausted health care providers on the...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Honoring Chief Justin McIntire, a hometown hero
Police officers have the toughest job in America, and Brackenridge Police Chief Justin McIntire gave it his all while pursuing an armed and dangerous fugitive last week. McIntire was shot and killed doing what we ask our police to be ready to do — protect the public from the terror...
Letter to the editor: Insanity virus hits Republican reps
A classic definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results each time.” Clearly, Donald Trump over the past seven years has successfully infected the Republican members of the House of Representatives with the insanity virus. Kenneth Powell New Kensington...
Joe Guzzardi: Midterm voters prefer status quo, which is bad news
Voters are, to understate their mood, disenchanted with Congress. Yet paradoxically, voters reelect, over and over, the same representatives they hold in dismally low esteem, consider ineffectual and out-of-touch. On average for 2022, about 80% of polling respondents disapproved of how congressional representatives handled their jobs. Many critics had previously...
Dominik Stecuła and Matthew Levendusky: Talking across the political aisle isn’t a cure-all — but it does help reduce hostility
Simmering tension in American politics came to a head two years ago, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election. The failed insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, resulted in several deaths and injuries to almost 150 police...
Rob Perkins: Fair defense funding is a must for criminal justice reform
Our local system for providing counsel to poor people facing criminal charges violates people’s constitutional rights. The most pressing problem is chronic underfunding. Attorney compensation in particular hasn’t increased in 17 years. Predictably, unfair pay leads to underperformance. This should matter to all of us. When defense attorneys fail to...
Letter to the editor: Admission of immigrants criminal?
If I had the ability (money and staff) to allow illegals into this sovereign nation on a scale similar to that of Joe Biden, how many would it take to get the attention of Attorney General Merrick Garland, Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Democrats and the media before it would be...
