Opinion category, Page 554
Mary Carney: Vital rural access hospitals need support
As we brace ourselves for another wave in covid-19 cases, we are reminded of the gratitude and overwhelming need for health care professionals. The rollout of the vaccine is giving us a sense of hope for the future, but Pennsylvania is still grappling with the state’s confirmed 577,000-plus covid-19 cases...
Letter to the editor: Making democracy work for all will take practice
It has been my custom in the days leading up to Christmas to take time and listen to a full recording of Handel’s “Messiah,” something I did this week. The opening took me back to the year when a friend and I ventured to Pittsburgh to join members of the...
Letter to the editor: Letter from Santa enchants granddaughter
I cannot express how excited my 6-year-old granddaughter was to receive not only a letter from Santa but a certificate reading that she made the “Nice List” this year. Seeing how thrilled she was on our iPad — “Grammy, Grammy, I got a letter from Santa!” — holding up her...
Letter to the editor: Love God by loving all you encounter
Scripture tells us that the Christ child was “laid in a manger” because there was no room for him elsewhere. He was turned away. Today, the Christ child continues to be turned away. He is turned away when there is no room in our hearts for our LGBTQ neighbors. He...
Letter to the editor: North Huntingdon chooses sunshine
Regarding the article “County considers pulling $30K grant from North Huntingdon for defying state public health mandates” : The Pennsylvania Sunshine Act ensures the right of the public “to be present at all meetings of agencies” and further, that it is “vital to the enhancement and proper functioning of the...
Letter to the editor: Families have right to visit nursing home residents
I am writing to all families who have loved ones residing in nursing facilities in Pennsylvania. If your loved one is terminally ill or emotionally struggling, you have the right to in-person visits. On Sept. 17, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released memorandum QSO-20-39-NH to provide new...
Editorial: Never too late for covid investigation tools
The state of Pennsylvania announced Monday a new “digital case investigation tool” is launching. The tool will let state residents between 19 and 64 years old who live in counties that don’t have county or local health departments help trace covid-19 contacts. It’s a good development. If the Pfizer and...
Jonah Goldberg: Ted Cruz shows why the GOP isn’t going back to Reaganism
Throughout Donald Trump’s captivity of the GOP, many Republicans have held fast to the hope that after he leaves office, the party can return to the sunny Reaganism of the Before Times. Of course, Trump’s bitter-enders have made it clear that they’d be happy to tear down not just the...
Frasat Ahmad: Muslims don’t celebrate Christmas, but still commemorate Christ
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, right? Christmas has come. The Christmas trees, filled stockings, mistletoe and bright lights are spectacular. What’s not to like? So how come Muhammad down the street is not soaking up the holiday joy? I don’t see his house decorated with lights, or...
Letter to the editor: Drivers, riders should all pay fair share
Kudos to letter-writer Joe Kujawski (“Electric car fees? Fair is fair,” Dec. 4, TribLIVE). I couldn’t have stated the facts better myself. Note to the complainers: Please reference my letter “Comparing motorcycles, bicycles” (April 9, 2018, TribLIVE): Bicycle riders pay no user fees. Period. John M. Figler Tarentum...
Letter to the editor: Disappointed by opinion on front page
Sadly, I believe the Trib has joined the ranks of most mainstream media and has abandoned the basic tenets of journalism. You obviously don’t believe your readers are intelligent enough to take the information you print and make independent judgments. I suppose you’ve succumbed to schools and colleges that no...
Letter to the editor: UPMC staffers overwhelmed
To UPMC Senior Vice President Leslie Davis and other UPMC executives: As a UPMC nurse, I am angry, disappointed, betrayed — yet not entirely surprised. UPMC leadership has been less visible this year and less in touch than ever with what occurs at the bedside. “Davis said the system has...
Letter to the editor: North Huntingdon commissioners’ callousness
Your Dec. 13 issue was filled with articles about covid-19: weekly deaths hit a high in Westmoreland County, hospitals and health care workers plead with the community to follow CDC guidelines, health care facilities at breaking point, etc. And then there was the article “North Huntingdon says ‘no’ to Wolf’s...
Pat Buchanan: Can democracy hold us together?
If America was a company and not a country, we would have long ago dissolved the corporation, split the blanket and gone our separate ways. What still holds this disputatious and divided people together? Consider. In announcing the $900 billion stimulus bill to deal with the pandemic, House Speaker Nancy...
Paul Kengor: Remembering Christmas 1945
No Christmas in American history compares to that of 75 years ago: Christmas 1945. For the first time in several painfully long years, a nation at war was a nation at peace. Germany had surrendered in May and Japan in August. World War II was finally over. “Home for Christmas!”...
Michael Carnahan: Mill 19 solar project step toward clean air — if expiring tax credit is renewed
When the switch flipped on for Mill 19 at Hazelwood Green last month, I felt a rush of gratitude for the union workers who had stood on netting hammocked between steel beams 85 feet off the ground. Slow, steady and with great skill, they’d clamped on each of the 4,968...
Letter to the editor: Lies will lead to disaster
If important actions occur because of believing lies, consequences could be devastating. To often, we take lies as fact without thinking and make stupid mistakes that are hard to correct. We need to be very careful when our country’s future is at stake. Dave Bastl Manor...
Letter to the editor: Reschenthaler should resign or apologize
Rep. Guy Reschenthler took an oath to abide by and defend the Constitution. I think he should resign immediately for breaking that oath: He was willing to be a party to subverting a fair election merely to keep his favored candidate in office. His support for Texas’ lawsuit is outrageous...
Letter to the editor: Proving election fraud difficult
When at the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked if we had a republic or monarchy and replied, “A republic, if you can keep it,” he probably was not thinking of election fraud. But I believe that’s exactly what happened during the recent presidential election. Hundreds of sworn affidavits possessed...
Letter to the editor: ‘Locking Down’ — a covid carol
“Locking Down” (Sung to the tune of “Silver Bells”) Empty sidewalks, vacant sidewalks dressed in pandemic style. In the air there’s a feeling of covid. Children homeschooled, Parents drinking, Meeting mask after mask. And on every street corner you hear. Shutting down, closing down, It’s lockdown time in our city....
Editorial: Learn from the 1st covid relief package
As leaders in Washington come to a new coronavirus relief plan, it would seem the old one had been exhausted. The money allotted to help people through the pandemic was long since spent, right? Wrong. While some of the most obvious chunks — such as the stimulus checks sent in...
Letter to the editor: What now for America?
We have a president who won’t admit he lost the election. President-elect Joe Biden boasted about how much he can do for the country; he needs to get his ducks in a row so after he is sworn in and can make decisions, he’ll get his rear end in gear....
Tom Purcell: A white Christmas would do us good this year
We got blanketed with 10 inches of snow last week and I loved it — because I love how snow slows us down and brings us to our senses. When it snows in Pittsburgh, people pour out into the streets. We shovel our sidewalks and driveways, invigorated by the crisp...
Editorial: The hopeful light of Scarlett’s Sunshine
Scarlett Lillian Pauley should be building snowmen and chattering about the holidays. She should be struggling with pandemic homeschooling. She should be asking a million questions. But in 2017, the Pittsburgh toddler died at just 16 months old. There was no obvious disease to blame or tragic accident to hold...
Glenn Marsch: Triumph of the vaccine — the swift rescue
In the first month or two of 2020, we had the first hint of a new, strange disease that originated in Wuhan, China. By March, we were locked down in our homes and have lived unprecedented disruptions of normal life since then. All along we have looked to science for...
