Opinion category, Page 434
Letter to the editor: Opioid settlement money will be misused
After reading the story “Westmoreland County signs on to $26B settlement in opioid lawsuit” (Dec. 20, TribLIVE), I couldn’t help think that settlement money will do nothing to stop a single addict from using and/or overdosing. The interesting part of the story was learning that J&J is the parent company...
Cal Thomas: A little peace and goodwill in Congress
Peace on Earth and goodwill to men this time of year seems increasingly absent in diverse places. In America, the noble objective seems to have long ago left the U.S. Capitol, where too many members of Congress are as divided and angry at each other as ever. A new study...
David Campt and Allison Mahaley: Through compassion we can transform the current culture war
America is immersed in a culture war that is a new manifestation of its age-old problem with race. School board meetings across America have devolved into ugly protests about critical race theory. The strategy to rebrand CRT was created, organized and executed intentionally as a political wedge issue. Right-wing operative...
Letter to the editor: Baseless claims?
“It is another step driven by former President Trump’s baseless claims about election fraud.” (“New front in Pa.’s GOP election ‘investigation’ draws challenges,” Dec. 18, TribLIVE). I guess if you repeat it being baseless enough times while ignoring and not reporting on any such claims, then sure, they’re baseless. Thomas...
Letter to the editor: Democrats stick together
It has been almost one year since the Biden/Harris administration, aided and abetted by the Democrat-controlled House and Senate, assumed control of the nation. Let’s review what they have done for us in that period. We now have borders being exploited by illegal immigrants from all over the world, record...
Editorial: Alcohol use increase is pandemic side effect
Stress can push people to do things that aren’t good for them. They can eat too much. Watch too much TV. They can gamble. Or they can abuse drugs or alcohol. The coronavirus pandemic is exactly the kind of stressor that can make people look for a source of comfort...
Letter to the editor: Legislators like Leslie Rossi making us less safe
I recently received a “news letter” from my state representative, Leslie Rossi, encouraging her constituents to apply for covid-19 vaccination exemption assistance. Is she not aware that she was elected in a special election because our former representative died from an apparent brain aneurysm that could have been related to...
Martin Schram: Worst-case scenarios — unasked, unresolved
Outside, millions of desperate people have been standing for hours in lines stretching around the corners of America’s city streets and suburban strip malls. Inside, others have been searching the internet — and getting kicked off by overloaded websites and ticked-off by under-informing ones. They were just trying to do...
Letter to the editor: Actions of Biden, Democrats worrisome
The longer President Biden and Democratic leaders go without being arrested for ignoring immigration laws and their oaths of office, the more worried I get. We are getting unvetted illegals from all over the world daily. Even the mainstream media is in a low tone admitting that we have the...
Letter to the editor: ‘Time to Talk’ about Alzheimer’s
The Alzheimer’s Association has announced a new campaign called “Time to Talk,” which focuses on the benefits of early detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia. More than 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s, but only about half of those with the disease have a diagnosis. While...
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...
