Opinion category, Page 222
Freedom, democracy are here to stay — reflections on politics in 2024
It’s winter: dark, dreary and cold. There is a palpable feeling of dread in America as we face the upcoming 2024 political season. Pundits wonder why everyone is so grumpy. Positive economic news fails to change the national mood or lift the electoral prospects of President Joe Biden. We are...
Colin McNickle: Better ways for Pittsburgh to cull tax-exempt properties
A City of Pittsburgh effort to return properties to the tax rolls by challenging their tax-exempt status is paying dividends. But the research director of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy says there are better, alternative actions that would bolster the city’s coffers even further. “Government-owned properties are included in...
Rep. Rob Mercuri: America’s largest full-time legislature should not be its least productive
As the new year begins, Pennsylvania’s state Legislature, the nation’s largest and one of its most expensive full-time legislative bodies, needs to make a New Year’s resolution for 2024 — to earn a return on the investment of the taxpayers whom they were elected to serve. Over the course of...
Letter to the editor: Shame on Leechburg School Board
The new Leechburg Area School Board is batting 0 for 3. They secretly hired a new solicitor in a shady fashion, drove an outstanding superintendent to resign and destroyed teacher morale. After a series of “fill-in” superintendents, Tiffany Nix took over and stabilized the district. She oversaw a huge and...
Letter to the editor: A Civil War history lesson
The mainstream media’s attacks on Nikki Haley not recognizing slavery as the reason for the War Between the States is way off base. The reason for the war was both economic and political. First, the processing of cotton was controlled by New England states. The South had no processing facilities,...
Editorial: Astrobotic launch is next step for space program in Pittsburgh
In 1962, when President John F. Kennedy spoke at Rice University in Houston, Texas, challenging Americans to go to the moon, he used the timeline of advancement to make his argument. Compress human history’s accomplishments to just 50 years, and you could see how quickly things moved, he rhapsodized. “Only...
Letter to the editor: Honoring law enforcement officers
National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, held each year on Jan. 9, was created as a way for the community to show their gratitude to all law enforcement officers across the country. Dozens of officers give their lives in the line of duty each year, making law enforcement one of the...
Tom Purcell: Making the best of the common cold
I forgot what it was like to experience a good old common cold. Prior to covid, you see, the cold-getting experience went like this: I’d wake with a stuffy nose and scratchy throat and my only thought was to curse the gods for visiting a new virus cocktail on me...
Jonathan Rothermel: Can a single, 6-year presidential term save us from ourselves?
The 2024 presidential primary season officially begins in just a few weeks, but former President Donald Trump’s commanding lead in the polls of likely Republican primary voters and President Joe Biden’s absence of a Democratic challenger appear to destine a repeat of the 2020 election. The most innovative country in...
Letter to the editor: Go vegan? No thanks.
This is my simple reply to the letter suggesting that we all go vegan in 2024 (”Vegan New Year’s resolution benefits all,” Dec. 27, TribLive): No thanks. Why would I stop eating the proper human diet, even for a single day? I will continue to nourish my body with the...
Letter to the editor: US Steel and what ails corporate America
Now that U.S. Steel is in the news with its impending sale, let’s take a look at the reasons why it is a poster child for what ails American corporations. First is the corrupting influence of lobbies. Because of the steel industry’s decades-long lobbying, the companies have received billions of...
Editorial: Hydrogen isn’t clean if it adds to climate pollution. Biden’s rules are a good start
The Inflation Reduction Act, signed by President Joe Biden more than a year ago, is a game-changing law that invests hundreds of billions of dollars to fight climate change and boost renewable energy. It includes lucrative tax credits aimed at making it cheaper to produce clean hydrogen, which are expected...
Letter to the editor: Vote as if your freedoms depend on it
Many young men answered their country’s call and served with honor. Many suffered greatly for their efforts, both physically and mentally. Some never came home at all. All the while, our political leaders failed us. Over 300,000 have died since coming home due to Agent Orange, a product private industry...
Editorial cartoons for the week of Jan. 8
Editorial cartoons for the week of Jan. 8....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Jan. 8
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Jan. 8....
Letter to the editor: County tax increase
I want to thank our Westmoreland County commissioners for the lovely Christmas gift of a 32.5% tax increase. Your thoughtfulness this time of year is truly appreciated by your constituents and especially those of us on a fixed income. I suggest that had you implemented this increase before the election,...
Letter to the editor: It takes work to see understand climate crisis
The letter “Only Trump can save us” (Dec. 26, TribLive) purports to explain the climate crisis as a globalist conspiracy to nationalize the economy and make us change our collective lifestyle. This plot is said to be orchestrated by the suppliers of windmills and related technologies. The author notes that...
Letter to the editor: Teaching kids about finances
Regarding “Personal finance class long overdue for Pennsylvania students” (Dec. 28, TribLive): What a great editorial! It was good news to hear that our state finally woke up in 2023 and realized this should be part of our children’s education. Where have they been for 200 years? Better yet, where...
Editorial: A new year, a new chance to get involved
In January of presidential years, there is a turnover of authority. It doesn’t happen in Washington, where everyone is far too focused on the White House or which U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs. The U.S. House of Representatives — where all seats are up at once — becomes...
Letter to the editor: Pa. Legislature’s blank check
There is a popular commercial dealing with the timeshare industry. Basics are this: You don’t know how much and for how long you are going to pay for a real estate mistake. You signed a blank check for life. Several times this paper has granted me my railings against the...
Letter to the editor: Thankful for all who improved Route 28
I have been traveling to Pittsburgh from Natrona Heights since 1981, and I would like to thank the designers, construction workers and agencies who funded the work on Route 28 in these past 42 years. I started at the Bradford School and worked a co-op position at PPG when they...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: George Westinghouse knew how to take care of people
Westinghouse Air Brake was more than just another industrial plant in the Turtle Creek Valley east of Pittsburgh, and the recently announced plan to close the 134-year-old Wilmerding factory now known as Wabtec reminds us of an earlier corporate philosophy that we need today. If you grew up in that...
Counterpoint: Jan. 6 was a protest and riot — not an insurrection
On Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress was preparing to certify officially the results of the 2020 presidential election, a melee took place at the nation’s capital, temporarily stalling the certification process. Later that evening, after the calm was restored, the Electoral College votes were cast, paving the way for another...
Point: Confronting the stain of an insurrection on American democracy
The chaos and fear wrought by the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, still stings fresh in the minds of millions of Americans — and particularly mine, as someone who served as a congressional staffer that day. But, as a country, I don’t think we’ve adequately grappled with the gravity of...
Letter to the editor: ‘Iran-backed militias’ — IBMs the new WMDs?
Regarding President Biden’s latest authorization of airstrikes on an “Iran-backed militia” that injured a serviceman in Iraq: Why are U.S. servicemen still in Iraq? U.S. attacks on supposed Iran-backed militias in Iraq, Syria and Yemen are becoming an all-too-familiar news item lately. Will “IBMs” become the new go-to-war acronym to...
