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Pennsylvania 2020: It’s going to get complicated

Pennsylvania is not a slam-dunk for Donald Trump’s re-election campaign. That’s one takeaway from Tuesday’s elections, which turned the Philadelphia suburbs even bluer, as Republicans suffered additional congressional losses following last year’s midterms. The Democrats have gone from a 13-5 minority in the House to a 9-9 split. These results in the eastern part of the state “are not helpful to Trump’s re-election prospects in Pennsylvania,” said Jeff Brauer, political science professor at Keystone College. “The big question will be the extent of enthusiasm of his ...

Trump cannot ever go home again to New York

The (mostly) charming family movie “Mr. Popper’s Penguins“ is about a divorced father living alone in his posh Manhattan digs. Unexpectedly, he receives two boxes of penguins and then chaos ensues. But the 2011 film has a not-very-subtle subtheme: The prominence of future President Donald Trump as the quintessential rich and heroic New Yorker. Popper (Jim Carrey) and the penguins go skating at Central Park’s Wollman Skating Rink — excuse me, the Trump Wollman rink. You see TRUMP in gigantic letters appearing in almost every camera angle and no Wollman. There’s a scene in ...

Don’t have to look far for a case of real collusion

If you are paying attention to the Washington circus that is the impeachment inquiry into President Trump’s handling of the much maligned Ukraine call, this is what real collusion looks like: A media largely committed to advancing the goal of Democrats to severely damage or remove him from office, a series of at first private testimonies by people who appear to have similar motives and connections to Democrats and/or anti-Trump forces, and now a new book by “Anonymous,” which claims the president has a bad attitude and is difficult to work with. Where to start? “Anonymous” ...

This boomer OK with ‘OK boomer’

Kevin Riordan The Philadelphia Inquirer I tell my millennial editor I want to write about this “hey boomer” thing. I flirt with the notion of asking her if she learned about hey, boomer from Fortnite (which I have since realized is an online video game about survival). But I refrain because I prefer to avoid revealing that I, a man who once thought he knew pretty much everything, seem to know so little about so much anymore. I’m late yet again to the latest party — and this time, the party is all about the hey boomer app, or meme, or hashtag, or whatever it is. But better ...

Immigrants serve America, too

Honor. Courage. Commitment. These were the Marine Corps values instilled in me day in and day out from the very moment I first stepped foot on those yellow footprints at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island to become a United States Marine. I was born in Pakistan. I immigrated to the U.S. around age 6. English was my second language. Oh yes, did I mention — I’m tan skinned and a proud Muslim. And just like many Americans, I follow the news and try to keep myself apprised of all that’s taking place in our nation, in particular, these days, the U.S. Congress and its potential ...

2020’s bellwether House race in western Pennsylvania

Army combat veteran Sean Parnell kicked off his race as a Republican running for the U.S. House here at Pamela’s Diner in Mount Lebanon, Pa. It’s within a stone’s throw of the district office of Rep. Conor Lamb, the Democrat he’s challenging for the 17th House District seat in 2020. “My plan for today is just to tell the voters who I am, give them a sense of what I stand for and just listen to them and figure out what they feel is important,” said Parnell before he headed off to two other diners in the district in Beaver and Butler counties in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. ...