Opinion category, Page 316
Letter to the editor: Wishes for the new year
As the holiday season starts to wind down, I have had a moment or two to reflect on many things. The Mrs. and I again this year were blessed to be able to stand in for the man in the red suit. The pure joy for us to share this...
Letter to the editor: Thank you, Franco
If you spent any significant amount of time in Pittsburgh over the past several decades, you were bound to occasionally run into Franco Harris. About 10 years ago, a small group of us were excited because there was a rare day that the Pirates and Steelers (albeit only a preseason...
Editorial: The to-do list for 2023
As the clock runs out on 2022, we say goodbye to a year that has been jam-packed with significant events from the start. The pandemic was still going on. There were booster shots and new variants to address. The midterm elections made Pennsylvania a focal point for politics. The U.S....
Greg Fulton: 50 years later, remembering the greatest Pirate of them all
On Sept. 30, 1972, Roberto Clemente in his last at bat as a Pittsburgh Pirate stroked his 3,000th hit, an accomplishment achieved by only 33 players in baseball history. Sadly, three months later, Roberto Clemente, the greatest Pirate of them all, would be dead at age 38. On New Year’s...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: The good and the bad from 2022
“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves,” according to the late William E. Vaughan, author and longtime columnist for the Kansas City Star. It is never that simple. There are always some bad things...
Danny Tyree: Thoughts on the ‘bomb cyclone’
I won’t hazard a guess as to whether it achieves immortality like “grassy knoll” or “hanging chads,” but surely the phrase “bomb cyclone storm” will remain in the public consciousness of those who endured its cruelties. We’ll laugh about this someday, but right now an awful lot of Americans have...
S.E. Cupp: The year ahead and what people resolve to do
While covid-19 thankfully waned in the U.S. and many of us felt a slow return to normalcy, 2022 was still an eventful year. From Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to the death of Queen Elizabeth, the overturning of Roe v. Wade to midterm elections, the rise in inflation to the collapse...
Carl P. Leubsdorf: Some not-so-serious 2023 predictions
Last year’s column successfully predicted Democratic Senate gains and a smaller-than-expected Republican House takeover. Here is our not-totally-serious forecast for 2023: JANUARY: Rep. Kevin McCarthy falls six votes short of 218 in House speaker election as 10 Freedom Caucus members vote for challenger Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs. As deadlock persists,...
Bloomberg editors: Thanks to FTX, regulating crypto should be easy
As the demise of the FTX crypto empire unfolds — on Twitter, in bankruptcy proceedings, in congressional hearings and potentially in criminal court — lawmakers and regulators are grappling with a question: What, if anything, should they do to civilise a market so rife with abuse? A few simple fixes...
Letter to the editor: PennDOT should take better care of Routes 88, 837
To PennDOT: I have lived in Washington County for almost six years. There has not been one winter that I can say that you have kept Routes 88 and 837 clear or even passably safe through Monongahela to Bethel Park or to West Elizabeth, and surrounding Valley routes. Don’t use...
Letter to the editor: Happy New Year, Team America!
We the people, for the people and by the people, team Democrat or team Republican, we should all be on team AMERICA! God bless, Happy New Year, peace out. Marianne Glesk Harrison...
Letter to the editor: Here’s what Democrats have done for us
Regarding Gary Pallone’s letter ”Republicans don’t improve lives” (Dec. 19, TribLIVE): First of all, let’s understand one thing — voting strictly along party lines throws your vote away; it doesn’t help anyone. Pallone states that voting for a Republican is only thinking of yourself and that he doesn’t believe the...
Lori Falce: What do you want in 2023?
Many of our New Year traditions are not, despite our well wishes, about happiness. Well, not on its own. We want to be happy, of course. But, when we are cracking open a new calendar, we are shrugging off a different truism. On Jan. 1, we embrace the idea that...
Laurels & lances: Results, delays and education
Laurel: To finishing up. The 2022 election is officially complete, as far as the state of Pennsylvania is concerned. The Department of State announced this week that the acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman has completed certification of results. That process was delayed because of recounts and challenges in 27...
Letter to the editor: Westmoreland’s high-paid commissioners
I doubt most Westmoreland County residents received a 13% raise in their paychecks over the past two years, like our current county commissioners (“Westmoreland elected officials to receive record raises,” Dec. 18, TribLIVE). The commissioners’ nearly-six-figure salaries are now 60% more than the county’s median per capita income. The 20-year-old...
Cal Thomas: An old debt carries over to a new year
”Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.” — Herbert Hoover “Rather go to bed without dinner than to rise in debt.” — Benjamin Franklin Eighteen Republican senators voted for the monstrosity known as the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill, thus forever relinquishing their claim to belong...
Paul Muschick: Is your New Year’s resolution to make more money? Here’s one idea.
If you’re looking for a resolution to make for the new year, here’s a suggestion. We’d all like to find a way to bring in some extra cash, right? So check to see if you have unclaimed property in your name. The Pennsylvania Treasury is holding more than $4 billion...
Peter Morici: Degrowth solutions won’t solve global warming
Climate change, pandemics, Putin’s madness and China’s ambitions threaten humanity with droughts and floods of biblical proportions, nonnavigable rivers and disappearing island nations, fractured global supply chains and shortages of vital resources like commercial fertilizer, and famine and mass migrations. Much of this has been enabled or exacerbated by industrialization...
Letter to the editor: Essential workers, not football players, are heroes
Let’s praise, salute and give many thanks to everyone who has to work outdoors and bear the bitter sub-zero-degree temperatures, especially over the last week. The workers for the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County, Columbia Gas, Allegheny Power, the mail carrier, the person picking up my trash for a living...
Letter to the editor: Westmoreland raises outrageous
An 8.1% cost-of-living increase for county retirees and a 7.8% raise for elected officials and non-union county workers is outrageous (“Westmoreland retirees raises to cost $6.7 million in 2023,” Dec. 21, TribLIVE). How others are not outraged is beyond me. Most of us working class people are lucky to get...
Editorial: What do you really care about?
What is an editorial? It isn’t an article that keeps close to the events as they unfold, like with a car crash or a fire. It isn’t an investigation that takes a larger incident and digs into the background, unearthing truths that were perhaps not just unknown but unexpected. It...
Letter to the editor: Republicans, it’s time to pull together
Open letter to all Republican senators and Congress members: Please get your act together! This is not the time to be bickering amongst yourselves. Debating on the speaker of the House and holding things up … . You do realize that some of your fellow Republicans are speaking with Democrats...
Sarah Green Carmichael: What we learned about hybrid work in 2022
This was supposed to be the year of returning to the office. The same could be said for 2021, and even the second half of 2020. The office seems to have become a place where we’re always “returning” but never quite “arriving.” Although office occupancy rates have risen meaningfully, they...
Letter to the editor: We’re better off now? Are you kidding?
I have been an independent for years, leaning toward the Republican Party, but have voted for Democrats if I knew they were good people. But reading recent letters praising current conditions under President Biden, I have to ask the question, “Are you kidding?” Inflation, recession, buying oil from foreign countries,...
Letter to the editor: How about a bottled water plant at Yough River Lake?
It is in the interest of Southwestern Pennsylvania that I write on the prospects of a purified bottled water plant or facility being placed near the Youghiogheny River Lake reservoir in Somerset and Fayette counties. Such a facility could bring revenue into the state and also help with with water...
