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Is Fetterman well enough to serve?

John Fetterman's debate performance against his rival, Republican Mehmet Oz, for a seat in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday night was as bad as it gets. The lieutenant governor and former mayor of Braddock, the victim of a stroke last May, stumbled over his words so badly and so often that it was ...

Missing the fun and the big crowds

Once upon a time, politics was a panoply of color, crowds, and, on occasion, good humor.Not today. TodayÄ¢¹½ÊÓÆµ politics is a grim, self-isolating business.The men and women running for high public office in the here and now are veiled by social media and TV ads from the eyeball-scrutiny of ...

Hearings over, nothing’s changed

Barring an appearance by the now-subpoenaed Donald Trump, the House Jan. 6 hearings are over, and what have we learned? Nothing at all, at least from the viewpoint of TrumpÄ¢¹½ÊÓÆµ most rabid followers. Like the former president himself, they deny the validity of the Jan. 6 riot.The Capitol was ...

Now the trouble with dogs is …

We had a dog once upon a time – this would have been Riley – who took an instant liking to me. I walked in the house from work one day to discover a dog happily wagging its tail and following at my feet around the kitchen.I didn’t pay much attention. We already had a dog – good, ...

Hold boys back to move them ahead

Every spring I read the stories in this newspaper about high school graduation classes; these stories trumpet the academic achievements of the very top students – the valedictorians and the salutatorians.The stories are interesting in at least two aspects. First off, I’m eager to see where ...

Doug Mastriano: religion and politics

A man is entitled to worship as he pleases. What Doug Mastriano does to get right with the Lord is his business. Individual religious preferences are sacrosanct. ItÄ¢¹½ÊÓÆµ in the Constitution.But itÄ¢¹½ÊÓÆµ fair to make a judgment when a man — in this case, Mastriano — drags those preferences into ...