I have tremendous respect for the power of friendship. (I don't have friends myself, of course, though I DID see "Project Hail Mary" twice.) But the DEFINITION of being a pawn is that you are used to serve a broader strategy, regardless of your own interests. www.axios.com/2026/09/14/i...

One upside for Fetterman: maybe now folks will stop talking about that "he was too sick to meet with veterans but still made his Fox News appearance" story in the WSJ. www.wesanews.org/politics-gov...

Fetterman praises Trump, McCormick in taped appearance before Republican convention

The minute-long speech, which hailed Trump's support of the steel industry and decried socialism, is unlikely to endear him to already-disaffected Democrats.

wesanews.org

I'm not a Gainey booster, but it's wild to look at homicide rates in recent years, and try to square them with the urban dystopia some people depicted back then. Gainey took office in 2022. I don't necessarily credit him for the trend -- lots of cities had post-COVID crime-rate drops. But still!

Was thinking last night of the "have you no sense of decency" moment that ended McCarthy, and it is like a story from a country whose culture wholly alien to my own. This is all it took? Invoking the reputation of a young lawyer no one had ever heard of? www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaUg...

Joseph N. Welch: 'Have You Left No Sense of Decency?' | Defining Moment in American History

YouTube video by Voices Through History

youtube.com

"Behind closed doors"? This is stuff he does in plain sight.

Today I learned the word "hydronym," thanks to President Trump.

Gosh, haven't they heard he votes with Dems more than 90% of the time? No surprise here: If you want to see Dems punched in the face, Fetterman delivers better than McCormick. But will pundits who insist Dems should love him, despite his Fox appearances, tell these GOP voters THEY are wrong too?

Just engaged in what may be the most egregious wordplay in my journalistic career. Feels good, man.

Watching conspiracy theories emerge in real time, chapter 9,814. MAGA activist Scott Presler gripes about Slippery Rock officials voting NOT to let police work with ICE. He adds this is in Butler County, site of a tight special election win by Dems Tuesday. You won't believe what happens next!

In the Butler County special election for House District 12, the margin between Republican Scott Timko and Democrat Brandon Dukes is currently smaller than the number of write-in votes cast.

Yes, "Blanche COULD be better than the purely hypothetical construct I am imagining" is a low bar. But OTOH this IS pretty much the argument I used to get a date for homecoming. "I'm not very interesting, good-looking, or popular. But have you considered the NEXT guy could be an even BIGGER loser?"

Young conservatives embracing the guy who created the Environmental Protection Agency and OSHA, and who proposed a guaranteed income program for poor Americans. Is the revolution at hand?

The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · 2mo ago

The kids are “Nixonmaxxing”: More than half-a-century after Watergate, conservative youth are discovering the aesthetic, and adopting the attitude, of the late president. 🔗 www.wsj.com/politics/ric...

Six months from now he'll be doing speeches in prime time about sales on chipped chopped ham. JUST $2.99 A POUND THROUGH SATURDAY ONLY. THANK YOU FOR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.

Pittsburgh-area Rep. Chris Deluzio, like other previous Platner backers, is calling for Platner to withdraw from the Maine Senate race after new allegation of sexual assault surfaces. www.wesanews.org/politics-gov...

Deluzio, once a backer of Platner's Senate bid, calls on him to withdraw after assault alleged

wesanews.org

Kagan's dissent in NRSC v. FEC is enjoyably acidic.

👀

Are we blaming Antifa for the deaths yet?

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 3mo ago

“.. The agency did not address questions from The Post about what happened to the dead duck at the Reflecting Pool and whether its body would be tested for cyanobacteria or other causes of death.” @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

If I had a nickle for every PA Republican Congressman who married a Fox News personality in the godless Marxist enclave of New York City rather than in the district they share with Real Americans, I'd have two nickles. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.

This opinion by Pa Supreme Court Justice David Wecht on "skill games" is ... SOMETHING. For one thing, while IANAL I'm not sure I've seen a ruling take a harder line on a lower court opinion. Commonwealth Court gets bodied here, repeatedly. www.pacourts.us/assets/opini...

Fetterman appears very willing to discuss Platner's genitals. Though it is difficult to determine from this what he wants Platner to "show" -- a dick pic or the ABSENCE of a dick pic? Either request would raise other questions, I think.

New: John Fetterman’s Senior Advisor, Cole Brown, is leaving the senator’s office. Two weeks ago, Chief of Staff Cabelle St. John also resigned.

WESA's @juliazenkevich.bsky.social reports Allegheny County Council has a new president, Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis. Her replacement of Pat Catena (which she reported was likely last week) means women now lead the county exec office, and county's court of common pleas www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...

Allegheny County Council chooses Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis as next president

Council members approved her nomination just days after Pat Catena resigned the position.

wesa.fm

Wow just getting to this now, but this is the photo the PG used to illustrate a letter (written by a longtime leader in the local GOP, btw) expressing opposition to the county's proposed parental-leave policy.

Per my colleague @juliazenkevich.bsky.social, Allegheny County Council President Pat Catena has announced his resignation from the leadership post, though he will continue to represent District 4 on the body. www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...

Allegheny County Council’s Pat Catena resigns presidency

In an email to council members sent Friday morning, Catena said he would resign the leadership position "effective immediately."

wesa.fm

NYT polling just out shows *93 percent* of Democrats think attacking Iraq was the wrong move. The framing that this is Fetterman v. his base, or Fetterman v. "Code Pink dopes", masks the dynamic here. It isn't just the hardliners he is on the wrong side of.

Saw a handful of "write-in Doug Mastriano for governor" lawn signs this weekend ...

There appear to be 8 votes on county council to remove Pat Catena as president. 6 of those councilors attended the kickoff for his state House campaign just 4 months ago. A controversial mailer in that race now jeopardizes the presidency he's held since 2020. www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...

Majority of Allegheny County Council members call to remove Catena amid campaign mailer controversy

In a Wednesday morning statement, seven council members wrote, “We cannot entrust the powers that come with council leadership to someone who knowingly caused harm and refuses to address the impact of...

wesa.fm

Catena told an LGBTQ advocacy group he supported trans students’ right to "participate in sports fairly." Then his campaign put out a mailer criticizing his rival for being backed by "an extreme left group that advocates for transgender athletes." He apologized today. www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...

In Pa. state House race, Catena apologizes for mailer attacking rival over transgender athletes

The mailer faulted Catena's rival for a state House seat for being “supported by an extreme left group that advocates for transgender athletes in our sports.”

wesa.fm

I doubt this will help with Dems, but probably not the point. It mostly rehashes the by-now familiar argument, "I'm not leaving the Democratic Party, the party is leaving me," with nary a word about whether GOP has changed under Trump. They're presented as the reasonable partners. Nice pic though.

Achieved a professional milestone this week, when my editorial decision to insert an adverb into a sentence was interpreted (by at least two people on Reddit) as evidence that a story was written by AI.