Shelter from the storm
Politics
October 22, 2024
This can be a miserable time, the run-up to a presidential election. I have a few consolations, though, when politics is driving me crazier than usual. One is the Al Smith Dinner, which raises money f...
Politics
October 22, 2024
DISCUSSION AND DEBATE has always been a part of small-town America. From coffee shops to the local bars and restaurants, small-town folks aren’t afraid to show their loyalty for one candidate or anoth...
Trump works the fry station at Pennsylvania McDonald’s
Politics
October 21, 2024
FEASTERVILLE-TREVOSE, Pa. (AP) — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump manned the fry station at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania on Sunday before staging an impromptu news conference, answering qu...
Politics
October 21, 2024
ELECTION INTEGRITY IS IMPORTANT. We have to be able to trust that the votes cast in an election represent the will of the people. That means they need to be the votes that belong to a specific area. W...
Here’s what Ta-Nehisi Coates got right about Israel and Palestinians
Politics
October 19, 2024
The writer Ta-Nehisi Coates has gotten far more attention than he deserves for his new book, “The Message,” which contains a blistering condemnation of Israel. The response from Israel’s defenders has...
Old demons, new times
Politics
October 18, 2024
An American leader denounces new immigrants as “generally the most ignorant Stupid Sort of their own Nation,” and warns: “They will soon so out number us ... (and we) will not in My Opinion be able to...
What’s the forecast? Extreme conspiracy theories with heavy lies
Politics
October 18, 2024
Chances are quite good that yet another major hurricane will come ashore in the United States sometime before the 2024 presidential election is decided, and that it will afflict mainly Republican area...
Politics
October 18, 2024
RUMORS CAN BE HILARIOUS. They are what sell supermarket tabloids. They make gossiping with friends entertaining. They are the little whispered snips that make a great story. The problem is that rumors...
Politics
October 17, 2024
IT USED TO BE COMMON to see “Let’s Make a Deal” contestants leave the TV game show smiling after winning $100 for every coin they could pull out of their purse or pocket. But as America moves ever clo...
Michelle’s column was trite, too
Politics
October 17, 2024
When MSNBC signed off at 3 a.m. the first night of the Republican National Convention, they were still talking about Melania’s speech. For five solid hours, MSNBC had been obsessing over two paragraph...
Politics
October 16, 2024
DID YOU TURN on the heat yet? It’s a touchy topic in some households as October settles into its annual indecision. Sixteen days in, the month has had highs in the 80s and lows in the 30s. It creates ...
Politics
Fact checking
October 16, 2024
To the Editor: The recent uproar with the 80-foot high, two-sided sign at the Belle Vernon Area School District transportation building should be applauded. I’m not certain that this next idea would h...
Try a little honesty about Israel
Politics
October 15, 2024
Both the Harris-Walz presidential ticket and now lameduck President Joe Biden keep insisting that they are Israel’s best friend. A snarly Biden recently bragged at a contentious press conference, “No ...
Politics
October 15, 2024
EVERY YEAR, THE NATIONAL Network to End Domestic Violence conducts a survey of those seeking help. It is not a total for the year. It is a snapshot of one day. How many people reached out? How many pe...
Politics
October 14, 2024
IS A PRIVATE FACEBOOK PAGE a public record? It’s a complicated question — so complicated that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is being asked to decide. The line between public and private isn’t as blac...
Extremist misinformation threatens lives
Politics
October 14, 2024
“Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.” — Jonathan Swift, 1710 I am old enough to remember predictions of the glorious promise of the internet, which optimists declared would usher in...
Would the Republican party survive if Trump loses?
Politics
October 12, 2024
If Donald Trump loses the election, to hear him and his campaign tell it, the fate of the Republican Party should be the least of our concerns: his defeat would spell the end of the nation itself and ...
‘We’re all Americans, too’
Politics
October 11, 2024
If Kamala Harris loses the election next month, one big reason will be the steady drift of Latino voters away from the Democrats. In a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, Harris led Donald Trump...
Politics
October 10, 2024
To the Editor: It’s so sad to read about the closing of area personal care homes. I feel sorry for the people in them and their families. Where will they go? How far away will they have to go if there...
Politics
October 10, 2024
THE TRAGIC SCENES from Hurricane Helene’s path of destruction are nothing short of heartbreaking. In the week and a half since it made landfall, subjecting coastlines across the Southeast to storm sur...