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The town that wouldn’t let itself be passed by

EVERETT, Pa. For the past two years, items on layaway for over 200 families at the Walmart here have been paid for by some generous soul who won’t reveal his or her identity. Last year, this modern St. Nicholas paid off $46,000 in items placed on layaway by local residents. This year’s total was $40,000. Nestled in the narrows between the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River and the Tussey Mountain ridge of the Appalachian Mountains, Everett was originally called Bloody Run. Like many frontier towns with peculiar names derived from dubious tales, the townspeople, through a ...

Grieving for loved ones who paid ultimate price

“There’s a grief that can’t be spoken. There’s a pain goes on and on. Empty chairs at empty tables Now my friends are dead and gone.” — Marius, from the musical “Les Miserables” “It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” Andy Williams reminds us over tinny speakers in crowded shopping malls. It may be wonderful for the majority, but for those whose fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers or children have died in Iraq and Afghanistan there is a void this Christmas, and Christmases to come, that can never be filled. It is the same in every war. Memories of ...

Apple store the default church

During this season of heightened giving and concern for mankind, I’ve considered my own Chicago neighborhood of Streeterville and how it fosters a sense of community. I notice many people walking dogs and stopping to chat with each other, and people being nice to their doormen and retail clerks. But we have no real epicenter of community in Streeterville. And related to that point, there are no permanent houses of worship in Streeterville, except for hospital chapels and the occasional satellite church service. Our sense of community revolves around high-rise living and commercial ...

Sexual predator Weinstein lives the good life

By Carl Hiaasen Tribune Content Agency Harvey Weinstein, once one of the most brash and powerful men in Hollywood, has lately been having issues with his ankle bracelet. The shunned former movie producer is wearing a court-ordered monitor while he awaits trial for allegedly raping one woman and forcing another to let him perform a sex act on her. A Manhattan prosecutor told a judge that the tracking device on Weinstein’s ankle had stopped transmitting at least 57 times during a two-month period. “These were not technical glitches in any shape or form. Mr. Weinstein did not want ...

Boris’ victory has lessons for Dems

By Trudy Rubin The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS) Focused on impeachment, Democrats may ignore the crucial lessons they need to learn from the smashing victory by Britain’s Trump clone, Boris Johnson, in elections last week. The opposition Labour Party got its worst drubbing since 1935, and many longtime Labour strongholds in rust belt areas that were known as the Red Line turned Conservative blue. But because this election revolved around Brexit, some analysts doubt the relevance the British vote can have here. Here are five lessons that the Democratic Party could learn from Labour’s ...

Partisanship not all behind impeachment

The new normal is to worry about impeachment becoming the “new normal.” On Wednesday, during the interminable “debate” on articles of impeachment, one Republican House member after another warned, threatened, lamented or just plain promised that the Democrats’ decision to impeach President Trump would make partisan impeachments more likely in the future. I largely agree. Impeachment is becoming a partisan weapon because just about everything that can be turned into a partisan weapon is “being weaponized.” As my friend and former National Review colleague Andrew ...