Opinion category, Page 445
Editorial: Departing officeholders leave challenge for new public servants
In Pennsylvania, general elections are held in November. It is done by law, as the Tuesday after the first Monday of the month is named in the U.S. constitution for federal elections and it seemed to make sense to keep it there for the other years. The timing of elections...
Letter to the editor: Johnstown’s problems
It is ironic that, of all places, Andrew Cuff praised Johnstown in his op-ed “Western Pennsylvania is dying — or is it?” (Dec. 18, TribLIVE). I can pick two sentences and turn them on their heads. First of all, it’s disingenuous to focus on the negative? True. But Johnstown has...
Dave Anderson: The truth is that our citizens are not polarized
There are two problems with the conventional wisdom about polarization in American society. The first is that it mistakes widespread conflict with one master battle between conservatives and liberals. The second is that it overlooks a large percentage of Americans who do not identify with either the Democrats or the...
Tom Purcell: Hail to our everyday local heroes
A recent Reddit thread discusses the lack of heroes in modern society, but the truth is we have plenty of heroes. It’s true that in the internet era, historic figures we once considered heroic are being reevaluated as their past misdeeds and personal peccadilloes are revealed. Celebrities we once admired...
Letter to the editor: Social justice is opposite of justice
After years of hearing the term “social justice,” you might think you understand the term. I believe we can now definitively say that the term means whatever the “woke” mob wants it to mean. One thing is for certain: It has nothing to do with justice. Taking the case of...
Letter to the editor: There are honest Democrats, unionists
In his column “Pa. Democrats have a union problem” (Dec. 12, TribLIVE), Michael Torres attempts to prove that the Democrats are in trouble because they are siding with hard-working Americans and defending unions (one of the few institutions that actually works to protect working people). Donald Trump, leader of the GOP,...
Editorial: The opinions of 2021
The editorial is not a 10- to 15-inch space where a newspaper gets to let down its hair and loosen its belt and change the rules that apply to the rest of its coverage. In a news story, the reporters uncover the story and track down the details. The editors...
Letter to the editor: Rossi’s right; vaccine should be individual decision
State Rep. Leslie Rossi is right: Give everyone “exemption assistance” who needs it and wants it (“Westmoreland Co. lawmaker offers to help with vaccine exemptions as covid-19 infections surge,” Dec. 15, TribLIVE). I have a niece who was fired because she would not get the vaccine because of her rare...
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Dec. 27
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Dec. 27....
Editorial cartoons for the week of Dec. 27
Editorial cartoons for the week of Dec. 27....
Mark Barabak: Looking back on a plague year and ahead to more political upheaval
Today we look back on the year in politics and forward to the midterm election, now less than 325 days away. Because 2021 was so much fun, why not live it again? Please. Our plague year began, in fittingly grim fashion, with pro-Trump insurrectionists overrunning the U.S. Capitol in an...
Mona Charen: The unnecessary Manchin mess
“Joe Manchin Just Killed the Biden Agenda,” lamented a headline in The Week. The funereal tone was echoed in much of the coverage of Sen. Manchin’s blunt declaration last week that he would not support the Build Back Better legislation in its current form. Even President Biden’s White House has...
Letter to the editor: Don’t like statue? Don’t open time capsule.
Regarding the story “Crews may have found 1887 time capsule in Lee statue base” (Dec. 18): It is not often when an act so precisely defines so many words — arrogance, irony, hypocrisy. To remove a war statue because the history offends you, and then to open a time capsule...
Letter to the editor: Dangerous hatred of government
Relative to the pandemic and why the United States has something like the 70th highest rate of vaccination in the world and is lagging behind our allies is what I see as the incredible growth of anti-government ideology and propaganda. It began to grow around 1980 when Ronald Reagan would...
Editorial: Wolf’s school book veto was political
Gov. Tom Wolf should put away his veto pen. The governor is getting a little too comfortable killing legislation with his signature. He has used it more than any other Pennsylvania leader in 40 years with 53 notches in his belt and another year in his term. He did it...
Letter to the editor: Laws protect us from religious subjugation
We are one nation under the Constitution of the U.S. created in 1787 by representatives of “We, the people.” The Founders also incorporated a Bill of Rights in 1791 to protect individual rights and liberties, and citizen independence protected by freedom of speech, peaceable assembly, religious liberty and freedom of...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: We’ll muddle through somehow
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is one of those honest songs that calls for strength and hope while recognizing the sadness of the times. It was written by Hugh Martin in the thick of World War II and first sung by Judy Garland in the 1944 movie “Meet Me...
Sounding off: Maybe Dr. Oz will be good for Pa.
With Dr. Mehmet Oz throwing his hat in the Senate race, I ask myself, why not? In recent elections, we have had a diversity of candidates. Hey, we have a caterer as a coroner in Westmoreland County. Caitlyn Jenner is running for governor of California, a position formerly held by...
Mary Sanchez: Of tornadoes, changing science and twisted politics
The cadaver dogs were busy performing the grim duties of their training when the opportunists leapt into action. They couldn’t let a catastrophic loss of human life get in the way of pitching a hefty dose of politically expedient, anti-science rhetoric. To which countless others shook our heads and asked,...
S.E. Cupp: Why they target and terrorize journalists
“Cancel Christmas.” That’s what the chilling email addressed to me read, nearly a dozen years ago, right around the holidays. The anonymous author went on to say he’d kill me coming out of Fox News, where I was working at the time. As a political commentator, I’d sadly grown accustomed...
Letter to the editor: Good time to thank senior care workers
While many of us are celebrating the holidays with our families, please take a moment to thank the many dedicated and brave workers at Pennsylvania’s senior care facilities, including nursing homes. Since the pandemic began in March 2020, nursing homes have been ground zero for the virus. What may surprise...
Lori Falce: With every Christmas card I don’t write
I am very sorry that you didn’t get a Christmas card from me. Whether you are my closest family members or my best friends, coworkers or acquaintances, you didn’t go to the mailbox and get a thin slice of cardboard with smiling pictures of my son over the course of...
Letter to the editor: Churchill’s, Wilkinsburg’s woes
When Sandy Fox (“Amazon warehouses are sacrifice zones,” Dec. 18, TribLIVE) wrote about the majority of these Amazon facilities happily roosting in neighborhoods that tend to be challenged because of their socio-economic makeup, it would have been an important fact to add that Churchill is located next to Wilkinsburg. It’s...
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
In September 1897, a letter in the handwriting of a child arrived at The New York Sun. Upon its receipt, the editor summoned Francis P. Church, an editorial writer. “Here,” he said, “take this letter and write a reply to it.” Church, somewhat disgruntled over what he considered to be...
Letter to the editor: We need holiday cheer year-round
I had the opportunity to fill in for the guy in the red suit recently, assisting Bridget Faulk and the Norwin Show Choir spreading holiday cheer to members of a women’s shelter. Faulk has carried on this worthwhile tradition started by Cheryl Walter over 11 years ago. Each year, members...
