Opinion category, Page 183
Robin Abcarian: Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and iPhones are ruining my kid and yours
With apologies to Allen Ginsberg: I am seeing the best minds of our middle- school generation destroyed by Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and iPhones, Teenagers on the cusp of young adulthood dragging themselves out of bed each day to mainline TikTok and Snapchat. Measuring themselves by the yardstick of uber-filtered Kardashian perfection...
Christine Ledbetter: Aging comes with stigma. Let’s admire the defiant.
Who do you want to be when you grow old? Increasingly, senior citizens decide to keep working, including the two front-runners for the 2024 presidential election. Because many Americans consider the candidates too old for the job, age has become part of the national conversation. Both Joe Biden, 81, and...
Marc Champion: Biden is right. Netanyahu is damaging Israel’s future.
Tensions between the leaders of Israel and the U.S. have boiled over, with President Joe Biden accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of doing more to harm than help his own country. These are harsh words to hear from your most important ally, and Biden went further still. He described the...
Letter to the editor: In U.S., many dangers from within
I fear the dangers to our republic are coming from within. Our policies toward immigrants are encouraging more folks to cross the border illegally. Some of these people are receiving pre-loaded credit cards, transportation and housing in the sanctuary city of their choice. California even offers these “newcomers” financial aid...
Letter to the editor: Abstain on MeatOut Day
Once again the mayor of Washington, D.C., has proclaimed March 20 MeatOut Day to her 700,000-plus residents. MeatOut, launched in 1985 by Farm Animal Rights Movement, has grown into one of the largest annual grassroots educational programs encouraging the end of the use of animals for food. On the first...
Editorial: Allegheny County can continue to sue Allegheny County
Allegheny County council is suing the county government over a five-year contract with Adelphoi to reopen and operate Shuman Juvenile Detention Center. Why? Because the contract was entered into by former county Executive Rich Fitzgerald. Under the county’s Home Rule Charter, the executive can do that for services the county...
Letter to the editor: Another side of Trump
In 2005, Donald Trump sent a handwritten letter to former Miss Wisconsin Melissa Consin Young, who was lying gravely ill in a hospital room. She described the letter in 2016 during Trump’s presidential campaign, noting that he wrote, “To the bravest woman I know”; “I remember, such a wonderful, beautiful...
Dr. Asif Ilyas: Leveraging resources for opioid recovery
As the United States continues to confront the opioid crisis, a comprehensive strategy that includes robust support for addiction treatment and recovery services is critical. The opioid epidemic has devastated communities across the nation, leaving a trail of destruction that demands an effective, multifaceted response. Central to this approach is...
Jason Altmire: Crippling LNG would be a political blunder Biden can’t afford in Pa.
As a Donald Trump/Joe Biden rematch comes into focus, we find ourselves at an important crossroads. The decisions Biden makes between now and the election will impact not only his electoral viability, but also America’s energy independence. Biden has focused on our commonwealth early and often, already visiting Pennsylvania three...
Letter to the editor: Doesn’t anyone care about roadside trash?
I recently traveled toward Pittsburgh on Route 28 and was saddened to see that no one seems to care about the trash along the roadside. Grass and weeds will soon grow, and the mowers will chop up what they ride over. That will spread the trash to more places. I...
Letter to the editor: Lingg a true conservative
Let us be honest. Every time the conservatives extend an olive branch to the so-called moderates in Harrisburg, the moderates respond with machetes. There should be no concessions given to Democrats. I am talking about the Republicans collaborating with the enemy by meeting in the middle. The uni-party needs crushed,...
Editorial: Westmoreland County needs to learn more lessons about pay
Westmoreland County has realized that employees are valuable. What was it that drove this home to the commissioners and the salary board — and other departments within the county government? Was it the critical shortages among essential areas like the jail and Westmoreland Manor nursing home? Was it the challenges...
Letter to the editor: We deserve better than Biden
Most of the media coverage of President Biden’s recent State of the Union speech focused on his prepared speech. Little attention was given to what was said in those rare moments when he went off-script. However, these moments provide insight into his true character. They are not written in advance...
Tom Purcell: Still living the American dream
A growing number of Americans think the American dream is out of reach, but I think they are wrong. According to a recent Wall Street Journal poll, only 36% of voters said the American dream still exists, way fewer than the 53% who believed so in 2012. Half of the...
Laila El-Haddad: My family in Gaza faces starvation. How do I find solace this Ramadan?
Ordinarily, the days leading up to Ramadan, the holy month when Muslims give up food and drink from dawn to dusk, are exuberant. My younger children and I would prepare “iftar jars” and food baskets with Ramadan staples, such as dates, nuts and apricot paste, to hand out to neighbors....
Ben Harris: Inflation isn’t the real problem for U.S. economy. The housing shortage is.
Recently released government data hammered home what we have known for at least a year: A national housing shortage, not broad-based price increases, is driving inflation. Inflation over the past year was 3.1% — far less than in 2021 but still high enough for the Federal Reserve to keep interest...
Letter to the editor: Steelers thoughts
We need to make dunce caps for Art Rooney, Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin. They are an embarrassment. Six years to figure Mason Rudolph is their best quarterback. His league-leading play at the end of last season wasn’t enough to list him as No. 1, let alone make a contract...
Editorial: No waiting line for vets’ care
Plastics. Paint. Petroleum. Metals. Munitions. Medical waste. All of these and more were set aflame and disposed of in open-air pits used by the U.S. military in its Iraq and Afghanistan operations. Too often, members of the armed services served downwind of the airborne hazards created by this wartime waste...
Letter to the editor: Westmoreland County taxpayers deserve accountability
The article “Property owners get sticker shock from Westmoreland hike” (March 7, TribLive) focuses on reaction but provides no information about money spent. Residents are rightfully outraged; they are being asked to cover ever-increasing costs with little or nothing to show for it. There needs to be accountability for county...
Editorial cartoons for the week of March 18
Editorial cartoons for the week of March 18....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of March 18
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of March 18....
Letter to the editor: Don’t vote as a ‘fan’
In this forum, people write that they either favor President Trump and bash President Biden, or favor Biden and bash Trump. Whomever you vote for, I ask that you not vote if you are a fan. Fans vote for their favorite regardless of the candidate’s credentials. Fan voting is voting...
Letter to the editor: Biden’s mental fitness
Consider President Biden’s stamina, his schedule so full, reporters traveling with him — some half his age — worn out. Others describe him as “vigorous intellectually,” “an intellectual firepower,” “his mastery of the geopolitical world astounding.” Research shows two-thirds of Americans over 85 do not have dementia. That reality is...
Editorial: Westmoreland overdose deaths show changing numbers, familiar problem
Accidental overdose fatalities are down in Westmoreland County. On Thursday, Coroner Tim Carson released the data for deaths in 2023. The news overall is good. The number of people who died due to accidentally ingesting too many drugs fell from 118 to just 95. That’s an almost 20% drop, and...
Brian Clancy: Can St. Patrick and green beer save American democracy?
Let’s make a few things crystal clear right up front. First and foremost, green beer has always been a bad choice and is without any saving grace. I also doubt that even St. Patrick in his prime could drive all the political snakes out of today’s Washington. The history of...
