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Trump could learn from Washington

Though rarely honored these days exactly on Feb. 22, his actual birth date, “Presidents Day” is officially still Washington’s birthday. And that’s entirely right and proper, as every American should happily honor our first chief executive. Washington was a man for the ages. Born a Virginia aristocrat, he carefully cultivated his virtues — self-control, moderation, civility; his strengths physical and moral — to become the most widely admired presence first in the 13 colonies, then in the new nation. As president, he also set the future course of the US government ...

Christmas means it will be OK

I used to be a mall Santa. From the ages of 17 to 27, I dressed up as a hairy, overweight elf to bring joy to children throughout the Pittsburgh area. It was good honest work. OK, it was honest work. For 3 to 4 hours a day, seven days a week, starting after Thanksgiving, I would put on a fat suit, wear the traditional red vestment trimmed with pure white rabbit fur, stretch the FeBreezed beard over my chin and sit on a green velveted throne while hundreds, nay thousands, of children were placed on my lap. They told me what they wanted for Christmas. I had my picture taken with them ...

A time of togetherness

During the Christmas season when I was a boy, my mother used to take my brothers and sisters and me down to one of the roughest neighborhoods in San Francisco — to visit some animals that were gathered there. This was the Tenderloin District, which attracted drug dealers, drug users and a sad number of homeless people. Our destination was St. Boniface Catholic Church. St. Boniface was established as a parish in 1860, according to the San Francisco Examiner, and its present structure was completed in 1908, after its predecessor was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire. It ...

New laws improve health care in Pa.

When anyone is sick, hurt or needs help, we want to be sure high-quality, affordable health care is accessible to everyone. My Senate Republican colleagues and I have been hard at work the past two years advancing and implementing commonsense health care policies that do that, benefitting all Pennsylvanians. No one wants to experience a health emergency, but when it happens, you want to know an ambulance is on its way with trained emergency medical services personnel on board. That’s why we approved a new law to increase reimbursement rates for EMS organizations, delivering more ...

Political realignment seen in history

President-elect Donald Trump calls the recent election results the most historic in U.S. history. Although that may be an exaggeration, it is worthwhile looking at past major political realignments to gain an historical perspective The First (and greatest) Political Realignment in America took place at our founding. Prior to that, Americans were subjects of the King of England. Although there were a few representative governments scattered around the world, none were of great size or economic importance. The founding, with our Constitution, bicameral legislature, and three-branch ...

Talking dog has a sense of humor, too

I have a talking dog. We didn’t know it when we got him, of course. He didn’t reveal this talent to us right away. He would vocalize occasionally in dog-speak, but no one really had any idea what he was saying because he spoke in his language, and we spoke in ours, and there was no Rosetta Stone program for either of us. But then one morning I came down the stairs, as I always do, and I said: “Hello, Bowie!” Bowie greeted me with some howling, as he always does, but this time, he said something very clear and easy to understand. “Hello,” said the dog. I stopped ...