Just as we were putting Thanksgiving behind us and looking forward to the batch of holidays that dominate December, a new coronavirus threat emerged: the omicron variant.

We Americans are a bit spoiled. We want what we want, and we expect it now. Deferred gratification is a thing of the past. This outlook has worked fairly well for decades, but the pandemic has created some supply chain problems, and many are unhappy when their desires are stymied.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published this editorial on Nov. 18:

While countries such as China and Taiwan worked for years to grow their technological prowess, Americans, sadly, have worked to send our manufacturing to other shores.

Despite what Jimmy “JJ” Walker, Joe Namath and other Baby Boomer darlings would apparently have you believe, Medicare Advantage plans are a bad deal for most Americans 65 and over.

The Toledo Blade published this editorial on Nov. 20:

The Thanksgiving weekend brought not one but two news stories that indicate changes to come in December and in 2022.

We have cast our lot as a household with the most bountiful source of renewable energy — the sun.

Back in 1989 I covered a meeting at the Cabell County Public Library where a group of Tri-State residents was to discuss how the BASF plant in Huntington was burning a hazardous material called aniline in its boilers. From that meeting came the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.

The holidays should be filled with excitement, but that’s not always the case for families like mine who live on a financial knife’s edge. When you can’t afford gifts for your child and can’t take time from work to relax with family, the season of joy can become a time filled with stress.

If all is well in your world — or at least mostly well — you’ll be gathered with family and friends today or some other day this weekend, enjoying the company of loved ones, feasting on a big meal, perhaps watching a parade and some football.

For my family and many others, Thanksgiving 2021 is going to be a great improvement over 2020. This year we will celebrate with much of our family. All the adults are immunized against COVID-19, and even the youngest in our family had their first shot.

New approaches are needed to control addiction and overdose deaths in West Virginia and especially in Huntington.

This column first appeared in The Herald-Dispatch on Nov. 15, 2011. It is reprinted at the writer’s request.

The Orlando Sentinel published this editorial on Nov. 15:

The old ACF factory in Huntington’s Highlawn neighborhood may soon be gone, but it won’t be forgotten.

Nearly 500 years after Niccolo Machiavelli’s passing, intense debate over him persists in small circles of chin-strokers, but otherwise he is seldom contemplated in America, which has become, like “Seinfeld,” a show about nothing.

The expanded child tax credit that went into effect earlier this year is not only assisting families in West Virginia with food, child care and debt reduction; it also is helping families struggling with substance use disorder. It provides essential support to parents and guardians who are a…

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin deserves our thanks for the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that will send approximately $6 billion to West Virginia over the next five years for infrastructure improvement.

A few weeks ago, the Miami Herald carried a report that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said parents could opt out of having their children wear masks in school, despite high COVID-19 numbers in Florida. While we Americans value our freedoms, there are times when the public’s good should trump tha…

Among the many things West Virginians tend to complain about is their public school system. People may take pride in their own community’s schools, but overall they tend to give the public school system poor grades — justified or not.

Automakers are investing billions in electric vehicles and the batteries that power them. Will West Virginia, or Appalachia in general, capitalize on this trend, or will it watch as other states benefit the most from this transition?

“Would you want to go see a movie about C.S. Lewis?” Paula asked me across our kitchen counter as October morphed into November. “There’s a one-time-only showing at the Huntington Mall, 3 o’clock on Sunday (Nov. 7).”

In January of 2021, Democrats were elected to majorities in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and won the White House. Due to their razor-thin majorities, they’re relying on Vice President Kamala Harris to break ties in the dead-even Senate to pass their agenda for the most pa…

Officials from Marshall University and the City of Huntington did more last week than toss a few shovelfuls of dirt in a ceremony along 4th Avenue. They called attention to a plan to bring new vitality back to a corridor, a city and a region that need it.

Across the Mountain State, we are in desperate need of infrastructure investments. More than 3,200 miles of highway and 1,545 bridges are in poor condition. At least 258,000 West Virginians have no broadband access. Thirty-two percent of trains and transit vehicles are beyond their useful lives.

Struck by fits of illogic, rational sorts periodically attempt engagement with internet trolls only to learn this is like dining with piranhas, only the fish smell better and have more refined table manners.

This thing we call a president is the anchor taking us down. Biden is destroying our country. I cried.

A few random thoughts to begin the weekend:

Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., doesn’t think he should have to apologize for passing a bill that will pump billions of dollars into West Virginia to improve roads, bridges, water systems, broadband internet and other things. McKinley was one of 13 House Republicans who helped get President Jo…

Voters in some parts of West Virginia will have fewer members of the Legislature to vote for next year as the House of Delegates has eliminated multimember districts. It’s a change that has been in the making for decades, and now voters can see whether West Virginia benefits from a practice …

Monday’s online Herald-Dispatch had a riveting article about West Virginia’s charter schools, some of which may be opening soon. Ryan Quinn’s article, “One company applies to run half of WV’s first charter schools,” deserves close attention. That company is Accel.