Opinion category, Page 436
Letter to the editor: Conflicting interests and the Marcellus circus
Reading about the latest trials and tribulations in Upper Burrell (“Former supervisors ask Upper Burrell to add 2 more seats; ties to Marcellus shale raised,” Dec. 5, TribLIVE), one thing is obvious: The circus with Marcellus gas drilling continues. Supervisor Ross Walker’s appearance at a West Deer meeting extolling the...
David Ayers: Why is America so sad? And where do we find joy?
A study by the Harvard Graduate School of Education — based on an October 2020 poll released in February 2021 — deserved widespread media coverage. It got almost none. Given what was going on this past February, that is not surprising. But it is regrettable nonetheless. The study found that...
Daniel Reeping: The empty manger, a true story
The year, 1944. The date, Dec. 24, Christmas Eve. The time, midnight. And for this day, we hoped the sounds of World War II would be drowned out by the hymns of Christmas sung by millions of Christians in tens of thousands of churches celebrating the birth of a small...
Cal Thomas: Testing, testing
President Biden has attempted to tamp down the frustration many feel over his inability to crush the pandemic, as he promised he would do when campaigning for the office he now holds. In a Tuesday afternoon address from the White House, the president promised to ramp up testing sites and...
Letter to the editor: Government control
Apparently my Webster’s dictionary has become obsolete. According to it, a vaccine is a substance to induce immunity to a disease, and a mandate is an authoritative command — not a law. The government is trying to force all American citizens to get the covid-19 shots; workers could be fired...
Letter to the editor: The supply crisis is real
Until very recently I was on the fence regarding this “supply chain” crisis. My friends on the political left told me there wasn’t one, that this is all part of the Christmas gift-buying season. They hedged by saying if there was one, it is the fault of Donald Trump. On...
Editorial: Settling on opioid suit is right thing for Westmoreland County
Westmoreland County is seeing a minor business boom from gambling. That’s great for Live! Casino at the Westmoreland Mall. It’s not what you want to see at the courthouse. That makes the decision Monday to join the settlement with major pharmaceutical companies a good bet. The county is one of...
Letter to the editor: Rep. Leslie Rossi is not demonstrating leadership
Rep. Leslie Rossi, please demonstrate some leadership (“Westmoreland Co. lawmaker offers to help with vaccine exemptions as covid-19 infections surge.” Covid-19 cases and deaths are rising. Consider these headlines: • “Excela reopens Unity testing center in response to rising covid-19 numbers.” The article reports that on Dec. 10, a record...
Ramesh Ponnaru: Democrats should blame themselves, not Joe Manchin
The Democrats should have listened to Joe Manchin. As their “Build Back Better” agenda assumed legislative shape, the Democratic senator from West Virginia kept telling them what he didn’t like about it. On Nov. 1, he decried the bill’s “shell games” and “budget gimmicks” and called it “a recipe for...
Teresa Ghilarducci: The perfect Christmas gift? Cash.
If you still haven’t gotten a holiday gift for someone — or anyone over the age of 12, for that matter — you’ve come to the right place. As an economist, I can assure you that not only have you done the responsible, even thoughtful, thing. It may also not...
Sally Pipes: Post-pandemic, fix scope-of-practice laws
Even health care answers to the law of supply and demand. Before the pandemic, demand for care was surging as our nation aged. Supply has not kept up. More than 83 million Americans live in areas where there’s a shortage of primary care health professionals, according to the federal government....
Letter to the editor: Why run S.E. Cupp’s bitter diatribes?
Reading (which I usually do not) S.E. Cupp’s columns has me wondering why the Tribune-Review continues to print them. Cupp must have a dictionary with only words like “conspiracy-spewing quack,” “rotten fermenting barrel of toxic waste,” “soulless,” “insane” and “kooks.” Her hatred of President Trump has no end. Cupp dislikes...
Letter to the editor: Nurses need a lifeline
There are currently more than 1.7 million positive covid cases in Pennsylvania, which is leading to burnout for nurses and causing a spike in staffing shortages. Pennsylvania has been hit hard in terms of nurses leaving their jobs, and these professionals are in need of a “rapid response” to help...
Editorial: Commissioners have to prove emailed comments are more than junk mail
There are only so many hours in the day, and in a work day, that number is even shorter. Instead of working with 24, you are compressed to just eight. Anyone who has tried to shoehorn one more meeting in between this planning session and that roundtable can attest that...
Letter to the editor: Biden’s climate order is not enough
Regarding the Associated Press story “Biden order would make U.S. government carbon neutral by 2050”: After the less-than-adequate pledges coming out of COP26 in Glasgow in November, the executive order seems like good news. Here’s the problem. Presidential executive orders can be easily reversed by the next administration; and with...
Tom Purcell: The basics of student loan debt
’Tis the season for giving — or, for some legislators, a good time to demand that the government force taxpayers to give others a large gift. A few weeks ago, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to the house floor to issue another plea for the federal government to cancel nearly $1.7...
Dr. David Macpherson: ‘Anonymous homicide,’ part 2 — a message to local leaders
Most of us are tired of thinking about the pandemic. It’s ceased to be interesting news. It’s become fertile ground for politicians who increasingly seem to need a soapbox to stand on and shout from to attract votes. The more they shout, the less interesting it seems. Even reports of...
John Sparks: Vaccine mandate a case of federal overreach
Whether you have strong convictions against vaccines, or just about the covid vaccine, or you have no particular aversion to vaccines, understanding what is going on with President Joe Biden’s OSHA-enforced vaccine mandate is important. The OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) mandate is just one leg of a three-legged...
Letter to the editor: Schools must ensure safety of all
Following this month’s state Supreme Court ruling striking down Pennsylvania’s school mask mandate, Mark Holtzman, McKeesport Area School District superintendent, announced that students and staff will no longer be required to wear masks in district schools. He believes this ruling is good for the district, because it gives parents the...
Letter to the editor: Our problems are government-inflicted
OK, can we be any more ridiculous? Non-American citizens should never be allowed to vote for anything, period. Also, if the government is going to allow businesses to continuously be robbed without any bail or penalties, then all businesses big and small should be equipped with a bar system keeping...
Editorial: Can UPMC solve the nursing shortage?
Necessity is the mother of invention. It’s a truism because, well, it’s true. You don’t find a new way to do something unless you have a problem that needs to be fixed. Is that what UPMC is doing with its latest announcement? This isn’t a new hospital or a new...
Letter to the editor: Republicans are not planning for our well-being
Can you imagine that one of our two major political parties has no platform, no legislative agenda, no guiding principles beyond “Democrats are bad,” to improve the lives of Americans ahead of next year’s election? The Republicans have no proposed legislation to help us survive human-caused climate change. No sense...
Editorial cartoons for the week of Dec. 20
Editorial cartoons for the week of Dec. 20....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Dec. 20
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Dec. 20....
Gabe Kaminsky: GOP’s crowded Pa. gubernatorial field a help or hindrance?
With Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf term-limited in a state that narrowly went to Joe Biden in 2020, both Democrats and Republicans are scrambling to best position themselves for the 2022 gubernatorial race. Democrats have rallied around Attorney General Josh Shapiro; on the Republican side, it remains unclear whether a...
