Opinion category, Page 109
Letter to the editor: Schwager a force for behavioral health
Mental health, much like physical health, is something we all have in common. Where one person experiences back pain, another lives with depression and anxiety. That’s why I’d like to take a moment to recognize someone who has devoted her career to destigmatizing mental health and strengthening our communities. Over...
Editorial: Post-traumatic stress is a shock to the system for first responders
At any emergency, there is a concern beyond bandages and oxygen. The victims of a car crash, fire or other event are observed and kept calm. An emergency medical technician may wrap in a blanket someone who doesn’t have any outward signs of injury. It is more than about keeping...
Letter to the editor: Where is sheriff’s evidence of danger?
I am confused as to the purpose of Sheriff James Albert’s letter “Keeping Westmoreland County safe” (Dec. 10, TribLive). Was it a press release that they will cooperate with ICE in 2025? Or was it to instill fear in the citizens of Westmoreland County? “… society has become more dangerous.”...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Basics count in local government
Any mayor who fixes the potholes, plows the snow and picks up the garbage can get reelected forever. That’s an old saying in local politics, and all it means is that the average citizen cares first about the basics of government — those services and actions that affect their daily...
Point: Time to get real about renewables
The debate over fossil fuels has produced a narrative that is long on rhetoric and short on realism. Those who argue for a complete transition from coal, natural gas and oil ask us to do what John Lennon suggested: “Imagine.” Imagine the world they want and not engage with the...
Counterpoint: Trump’s big oil cronies poised to prop up fossil fuels
Why in the world should the public provide giant subsidies to the giant corporations that are rushing us to climate catastrophe? Showered with tens of millions of dollars in oil and gas campaign contributions, President-elect Donald Trump is poised to pay back the favor thousands of times over — at...
Letter to the editor: Future with Trump looks grim
The future with Trump looks very grim. A friend who owns an oil company hinted that the stock market is going to crash. I’m glad I am soon to be on regular Social Security. Whatever gets passed into law will not affect me. Maybe the age and amount people get...
Sounding off: Politics, abortion, U.S. Steel among week’s topics
Democrats need a new direction I am very confused. Will the DNC continue to walk away from rural America, thus our district, or will it open its eyes and look in the mirror? My bet is that nothing will change, and we will continue to lose elections by larger and...
Letter to the editor: Holiday drinking
A festive holiday cocktail can help make the season merry and bright but only if consumed responsibly. Whether you’re enjoying an Irish coffee after caroling through your neighborhood or enjoying a glass of poinsettia punch at the office party, it’s important to remember the ABCs of ABVs: A — Alcohol...
Editorial: There is no justice in Biden’s commutation of Kids for Cash judge
Michael Conahan should be familiar with what goes into difficult decisions about crime and punishment and their effect on a person’s life. Conahan was a Temple-trained lawyer who spent 13 years as a Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas judge. For four years, he was the county’s president judge —...
Letter to the editor: Nippon key to U.S. Steel’s future
After reading the ad in the Dec. 8 paper promoting the U.S. Steel-Nippon merger, I wanted to share an outside opinion, as I have no stock and never worked for USS. I did work for the Elliott Co. in Jeannette, which was bought by Japanese-owned Ebara Corp. in 2000, so...
Gary Franks: Sports superstars should help make America better
For me, the top story of the past week had nothing to do with politics, the federal government or wars abroad. For me, it was “the contract.” As an avid lifelong New York Yankees fan, at first I was crushed by the Yankees’ failure to land and keep the young...
William Farrier, Jim Johnston and Dave Morgan: We’ll keep fighting U.S. Steel and Nippon to save our jobs
Members of the United Steelworkers (USW) went to the bargaining table with U.S. Steel in 2018 seeking a fair contract that recognized our hard work in steering the company back to profitability. The company, true to form, just demanded additional sacrifices. As negotiations wore on, U.S. Steel tried to divide...
Colin McNickle: Questioning Downtown Pittsburgh’s redevelopment plan
What should be done when an expansive and expensive public policy full of economic nonsense and moral hazard is proposed? It should be questioned. “There are many questions that need to be answered before any taxpayer money is doled out,” says Frank Gamrat, executive director of the Allegheny Institute for...
S.E. Cupp: With Assad out, what we must do help save Syria
This was a long day coming, and frankly one I never thought I’d see. Thirteen years ago, Syria’s Bashar Assad unleashed a reign of unmitigated terror on his own people, in response to protests of his inhumane Ba’athist government. Over the course of the civil war, he unabashedly committed the...
Jane Hillstrom: Why aren’t more people talking about America’s alcoholism?
I come from a family of alcoholics. Sarah, my cousin, was the most recent to die of complications from alcoholism, at 41. Before her, seven people in our extended family, including her father, my father and our grandfather, died from alcohol-related problems. At one Thanksgiving, my grandfather passed out drunk...
Letter to the editor: Nothing frivolous about Trump
In answer to the letter “Trump’s win will make us safer, more secure” (Nov. 25, TribLive): With due respect to the writer, I ask, what is frivolous about inciting a riot and trying to overturn a legitimate election, falsifying records and mishandling government documents? Not to mention tax evasion, fraud,...
Letter to the editor: Is Allegheny County Council listening?
I attended the Dec. 3 Allegheny County Council meeting in the courthouse’s fourth-floor Gold Room. All the seats were filled when the meeting was called to order. The council was scheduled to vote on the proposed 2025 county budget. First, John Palmiere made a motion to reduce the three minutes...
Lori Falce: Pardon me, do you have any clemency?
I beg your pardon. It is a phrase you might hear as someone slips by you in an aisle at the store — unless you are in Minnesota, where it would be “Ope! Just gonna scoot past ya!” An “uff da” or “you betcha” might be thrown in for good...
Laurels & lances: Rescue & ratings
Laurel: To those who helped. Elizabeth Pollard, 64, was last seen Dec. 2, looking for her missing cat near Monday’s Union Restaurant near the village of Marguerite in Unity. About 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, a search began for Pollard, centered around a sinkhole into an abandoned mine nearby. The search went...
Letter to the editor: Ranked choice voting gives all voters a say
In the Bob Casey-Dave McCormick Senate race, no candidate received the majority of votes. McCormick won with 48.8% of the vote, narrowly edging out Casey’s 48.6%. Meanwhile, 200,000 voters — 2.6% of the total — backed third-party candidates and didn’t have a say between the two front-runners. Some states hold...
Peter Morici: Trump’s tariffs are the opening rounds of Trade War II
China, along with the rest of Asia and Europe are bracing for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s threatened steep trade tariffs. But Trump should consider how much the world has changed since he first campaigned on a protectionist platform, as well as make the connection between trade and U.S. national security....
Vanessa Stine: Close the Moshannon Valley immigration prison, Mr. President
Just over a year ago, Frankline Okpu, a Cameroonian national who was being detained at Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County, was found dead in a solitary confinement cell. Okpu was a father and a husband, and his immigration case had just been resolved favorably. He won what’s known...
Letter to the editor: Move on from election results
I just looked at some of the Trib’s letters to the editor. It’s been a long while. It was as if I turned on the TV. Look, there’s nothing any of us can do when our candidate wins or loses. Just accept it. Move on. Whether you like what’s going...
Letter to the editor: Trump unfit for presidency
While you Donald Trump supporters sip your Kool-Aid, you need to be reminded of several facts. As you recall, former Vice President Mike Pence and Gen. John Kelly, among hundreds of others, declared Trump unfit for the presidency. Now we see already that he is planning to put people who...
