In the holiday spirit, I give you the gift that keeps on giving: a thread about the Pittsburgh-iest film ever -- one that leaves "Flashdance," "Striking Distance," AND "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh" in the dust. It's the 1963 classic "A Visit to Santa!" www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlkt...

Blocks gonna Block www.wesa.fm/courts-justi...

The New York Times investigated 346 people who donated at least $250,000 to Trump and found that more than half of them (197) have received pardons, jobs, government contracts, special treatment, or favors.

Missed that Gainwell TD catch because I've been working with @marucajulia.bsky.social on Pittsburgh City Council's 20% property tax hike vote. Which just HAD to happen today. IMPEACH. www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...

Look, this is an urgent need. It's not like healthcare policy, where you have years to burn.

Rename the Lincoln Memorial, you say? Why, that sounds like an intriguing possibility.

BREAKING: Trump's hand-picked board votes to rename Washington performing arts center the Trump-Kennedy Center, the White House says.

"Nobody can believe what's going on." -- Donald J. Trump

I similarly keep a wall of clippings by @richelord.bsky.social mounted along the upstairs hallway, each with explanatory text about how I could have done the story better. And my friends say it isn't pathetic AT ALL! So who are YOU to say I suffer from a limitless void that nothing can fill?

Out sick today and not capable of Vanity-Fair-length periods of coherence, but damage control on Wiles is puzzling. The buzz is she says Trump is vengeful, Vance a conspiracy theorist, Bondi inept, etc. And WH pushback is "Susie is GREAT"? OK, but sounds like she isn't the one to be worried about?

Tone policing "liberal podcasters" on Erika Kirk last week, but nothing to say about Trump's statements on Rob Reiner so far.

And they said Downtown housing construction would never take off!

Huh.

Christmas came early this year thanks to @tomlriese.bsky.social, who discovered it in the state Capitol press room. Real ones know!

Dunno how many here watched it, but Trump's speech in PA last night was a case study in what Republican candidates could expect from him in mid-terms. Whatever the message is supposed to be, it ends up being about the President having fun, often at other people's expense...

Live footage of council members discussing Barb Warwick's property tax increase proposal. It's like Call of the Wild on the fifth floor.

Sam Hens-Greco -- who shepherded Allegheny County Democrats through highs and lows and undertook a number of internal reforms -- will step down as party chair in a key Pennsylvania county next month. www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...

Whatever else you may think of him, one cherished American tradition Donald Trump has NOT made great again is the "slow news week."

Here's the latest on the video that western PA's Chris Deluzio and other Congressional Dems put up last week urging servicepeople not to follow unlawful orders: The FBI is now seeking interviews, a move Dems say is an attempt to harass and intimidate them. www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...

The first thing I'd do is park my car in JR's spot.

Developing story: One day after Donald Trump accused him and 5 other Dems of sedition, Chris Deluzio's office reports bomb threats to district offices in Carnegie and Beaver. Bomb squad has cleared Carnegie location at least. www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...

Rep. Chris Deluzio on being accused of sedition: "The fact that the president's reaction to us stating a basic principle of the Constitution is to threaten us with death, tells me everything I need to know about the importance of restating our oath to the Constitution." www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...

Lol I'm not a Seinfeld fan at all but holy shit.

One of life's little ironies is that the Supreme Court has said open partisan gerrymandering -- which everyone agrees is gross -- is fine, whereas drawing districts to ensure racial representation -- which some people approve of -- is bad. Seems that cognitive dissonance bit the GOP hard in Texas.

You're on Bluesky so I am going to assume this is relevant to your interests. www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...

And there it is.. the location for the new plant promised as part of the Nippon deal. ArkansasOnline: Pittsburgh-based steelmaking giant U.S. Steel, ..., plans to build a new metals plant at the Big River site as part of the company's plan to invest $11 billion in its domestic operations by 2028.

"[B]rooding but not particularly thoughtful. Fetterman offers generalized contempt instead of pointed arguments ... A preoccupation with tough-guy masculinity ... Not especially long, but it starts to feel interminable." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/books/review/unfettered-john-fetterman.html

... And here's some sharp criticism of the deal from Deluzio's predecessor, a former Senate candidate who is ALSO mentioned as a potential Fetterman challenger in 2028.

Western PA rep opposes shutdown deal. Deluzio's district includes Trumpy Beaver and suburban Pgh: He's a pro-labor Dem sometimes mentioned as a potential challenger for Fetterman seat.

BREAKING: We won! Today the 3rd Circuit Court ordered the @post-gazette.com to restore our contract it illegally tore up 5 years ago. That’s our health care, PTO, right to a 40-hr. work week, short-term disability and so much more we’ve struck for 3+ years. pghguild.com/2025/11/10/p...

As his party divides sharply over whether to end the government shutdown, Fetterman appears to be offering an olive branch to critics by stating a position on which they share common ground.

Didn't realize Inclusionary Zoning was on the agenda again.

By blaming GOP election losses on the shutdown (as opposed to his unpopular policies), Trump gave Dems an opening to declare victory and go home. Doesn't sound like this changes the fundamentals that motivated the shutdown.

Jesus wept.

Scoop: The University of Pittsburgh will maintain its current federal funding for indirect research costs after cuts announced earlier this year threatened to push one of the region’s major research institutions off a financial cliff. www.wesa.fm/health-scien...

Hey, I like a "Dems in disarray" story as much as anyone, but feels like this story should make more of a case, given the results of elections just a few days ago, about why this is even a bad thing, necessarily. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

“.. in a group Signal chat, .. he wrote in part: ‘I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.’” @reuters.com #Chicago www.reuters.com/world/us/bor...

By comparing Dwayne Woodruff's retention vote results with those of other Common Pleas Court judges on the ballot last night, we can now quantify the political salience of being a former Steelers great. By my calculations, it is worth roughly a 4 percentage point boost per Super Bowl ring (1).

Not saying all those polls about Democrats being historically unpopular were wrong. Just saying they maybe weren't all that relevant. Makes you think!

Too busy reporting to tweet much and you know the big stories already. So this is just an aside ... but to me this is the best evidence yet that in a hyperpartisan climate, cross filing just doesn't help.

We experience these events through our media bubbles. So please take a little time to look at the details. For example: here is how DHS described one incident in Chicago. Now watch the video, which tells a different story. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/whos-threa... bsky.app/profile/news...

On the Sunday before Election Day, Trump urges a "no" vote on retention for three Pa. state Supreme Court justices ... a few minutes after railing against the NFL kickoff rule. (And a few minutes before giving Sarah Huckabee Sanders his "complete and total endorsement.")

Q: What did you mean when you said you're prepared to send 'more than the National Guard' into American cities? TRUMP: if I want to enact a certain act, I'd be allowed to do whatever I want. The courts wouldn't get involved. Nobody would. I could send Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines -anybody I want

I dont pretend to know what's in Steve Bannon's mind. But I think it'd be awesome, and a nice change of pace, if these patriotic Americans would wag their finger at the OTHER side and say, "It's actually not that hilarious to joke about violating the Constitution."

I've had this gubernatorial livestream for like 20 minutes and it's creepy. While the event hasn't started yet, THIS GUY JUST DOESN'T MOVE. HE DOESN'T EVEN BLINK.

"SEEMINGLY AI-generated"? "Brown sludge"? What's most interesting about Trump's "pooping on protesters" fetish video is how clearly it illustrates the way journalistic convention bars reporters from saying what is right before everyone's eyes. "Sources say the emperor was informally attired."

"ICE has also purchased spyware in recent weeks that enables it to remotely hack into smartphones and extract data, even if the phones are locked or communication is over encrypted apps."

Hur hur hur. I get the desire to document this kind of stuff. But at a certain point, reporters may want to consider not publishing these non-responsive "dunks", because it just encourages them. You can always just say "the White House did not address questions about 'x.'"