Opinion category, Page 219
Editorial: What mattered to readers in 2023?
Every day in this space, we try to open a conversation. The idea isn’t to tell you how to think or what to think. It’s to take the stories that are breaking across the other pages and explore them. Are there questions you want answered? Are there angles that should...
Letter to the editor: Consumers would pay bills for carbon regulation
The Dec. 14 op-ed “Legislators should come to table for Pa.’s energy future” (Dec. 14, TribLive) offers “a form of cap-and-invest carbon regulation for the power sector” as an alternative to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). However, cap-and-invest is just a scheme by another name to impose costs on...
Bobby Ghosh: Pro pickleball’s woes won’t dent the sport
In the great national divide over pickleball, one side is enjoying a serving of schadenfreude over the news that the sport’s professional league is in trouble. Those who view the sport as an abomination — and they are legion — will take heart from the fact that Major League Pickleball,...
Letter to the editor: Which party is looking out for seniors?
The writer of the letter “Who’s going to help senior citizens?” (Nov. 2, TribLive) seems to forget that seniors got an 8.7% cost of living adjustment (COLA) in Social Security payments in 2023, the largest increase in 40 years. While this was not nearly enough for struggling seniors on a...
Editorial: Why Biden can’t convince voters he has beaten inflation
Economic happy talk doesn’t lower mortgage payments. It’s one reason Bidenomics remains deeply unpopular. President Joe Biden wants the public to believe the economy is doing great. At a recent campaign event, Biden bragged that he had overseen “record job creation, historic economic growth (and) among the lowest inflation rates...
Letter to the editor: Only Trump can save us
For the last 50 years we have been warned about the dire consequences of “global warming.” I believe this is one of the primary vehicles America-hating globalists are using to destroy our country: It was never about saving the planet, but about exercising control over the population. Here’s how: Scare...
Editorial cartoons for the week of Dec. 25
Editorial cartoons for the week of Dec. 25....
Tom Purcell: Adopting a pet a win-win New Year’s resolution
Here’s a great New Year’s resolution: Get a pet. As we wrap up a very inflationary 2023, pet shelters across the country are at maximum capacity, and they don’t have room to house the pets people are turning in. ABC News reports that animals entering shelters began to climb in...
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Dec. 25
.Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Dec. 25....
Letter to the editor: Love the Steelers, but not Tomlin
Mark Madden’s column regarding the Dec. 16 loss to Indianapolis was spot on in every point (“Steelers’ loss to Colts another embarrassment for Mike Tomlin,” Dec. 17, TribLive). We have watched the loss of spirit, the poor decision-making, the relentless pursuit of mediocrity instead of excellence — since the opening...
Letter to the editor: Immediate action needed on gun safety
Gun violence is an epidemic that claimed 1,900 Pennsylvanian lives in 2022 and is the leading cause of death in U.S. children ages 1-19. Yet since publication of my letter “Protect our children from gun violence” (May 4, TribLive), nothing has changed, due to a state Legislature that is so...
Editorial: We wish you a merry Christmas
What is your Christmas tradition? Do you open presents on Christmas Eve? Is that the night you finally decorate the tree? Do you eat homemade candy and watch “It’s a Wonderful Life?” Do you dress in matching pajamas? Do you put your kids to bed and then eat the plate...
Letter to the editor: Ceasefire won’t work in Gaza
It’s clear that ceasefires have not brought peace in the Middle East, but instead prolonged the violence. Over the past 80 years, terrorist groups have attacked Israel and frequently killed innocent civilians. And whenever Israel fights back to the verge of victory, the U.N. calls a ceasefire. Ceasefires allow terrorists...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: People who care keep Christmas alive for those in need
“Santa isn’t coming to certain homes because they’re poor? I don’t think so. Santa’s sleigh stops here first,” according to the Rev. Tracy Hudson, the manager of volunteers and the holiday coat and toy drive for Pittsburgh’s East End Cooperative Ministry (EECM). That’s the Christmas spirit that will make the...
Llewellyn King: Christmas is the world’s festival, its happy place
I am an oddball. I like to work on Christmas. I don’t know how it is now, but when I was younger and worked for newspapers, variously in Africa, Britain and the United States, I always volunteered to work over the holiday and loved it. There was a special Christmas...
Letter to the editor: Abortion not the answer to overpopulation
Regarding the letter “Abortion and overpopulation” (Dec. 7, TribLive): I am incredulous of the writer’s idea to alleviate overpopulation by killing unborn babies. Why stop there? Maybe you could create a committee to decide who among the elderly should be eliminated to alleviate overpopulation. I cannot fathom how you consider...
Sounding off: Bidenomics, Christmas, energy, politics among week’s topics
Bidenomics has been disastrous The article “Biden goes into 2024 with the economy getting stronger, but voters feel horrible about it” (Dec. 11, TribLive) quoted a few “experts” that stated they were “mystified” as to why Americans weren’t more positive about Bidenomics. They cited the reduced inflation rate of 3.2...
Letter to the editor: Hospitals should provide price lists ahead of time
Regarding Renee Y. Hsia’s op-ed “Same hospital, same injury, same child, same day — why did one ER visit cost thousands more?” (Dec. 15, TribLive): What would really be helpful are price lists. I can’t think of anything else where you have no idea what you are paying for ahead...
Letter to the editor: Christmas is under attack
Yet again, Christmas is under attack. Multi-billion-dollar companies deceiving some into thinking that Christmas means getting and receiving material things, consumers flooding the stores of multi-billion-dollar owners, gluttons feasting on Christmas dinners, going to church and filling the coffers for the next golf outing, and yet homelessness hits a record...
Editorial: Is massive Westmoreland tax increase an overcorrection?
The most dangerous part of an imminent crash can be the attempt to avoid it. This being Pennsylvania, most of us are familiar with the hazards of driving on an icy road. When the wheels slip, you can make cautious adjustments that help you regain control — or you can...
Letter to the editor: Smart policies will secure Pa.’s energy future
With the holidays upon us, many Pennsylvanians are trying to budget for everything from gifts and family get-togethers to fuel for long car rides. Fortunately, it seems the focus can stay on holiday cheer and not gasoline costs this season, as discussed in “National average gas cost falls for 3...
Gary Franks: Could the Colorado ‘insurrection’ decision give Trump momentum?
The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that former President Donald Trump will not be allowed on the ballot in the state due to his alleged breaking of the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment. The clause was meant to prevent Jefferson Davis, among other Confederate leaders, from seeking political office...
Noah Feldman: Supreme Court unlikely to uphold Colorado ruling disqualifying Trump
In a remarkable plot twist, the Colorado Supreme Court has found that former President Donald Trump must be excluded from the state’s primary ballot because he engaged in insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Now the pressure is on the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether Section 3 of the 14th...
Paul Thornton: Christmas gift-giving turbocharges our trash problem. This is how I cope.
Every time I rip open a lovingly wrapped gift (and plenty of us will be doing a lot of that soon), one thing pops into my mind: trash. The wrapping paper, trash. The package hidden underneath it, trash. And the gift itself, in most cases, future trash, given enough time....
Jerald McNair: ’Tis the season to be more neighborly. And doing so can transform communities.
You rake your leaves and wake up the next morning only to see more on your lawn. You look to your neighbor’s lawn and realize their leaves have found their way onto your lawn. You say to yourself, “If only they would rake their leaves, my yard would be fine.”...
