Why can’t our congressmen connect the dots? This post is reprinted from John Frederick’s Substack Allegheny Matters. The recent storms with 80 mph winds on Labor Day in the Johnstown area also underscore climate change’s impacts. An average five-year-old can draw a connect-the-dots picture, transforming a scattered bunch of numbers into a coherent image. And […]

Right after completing the previous post on the HRSA data set I came across this article in the Guardian titled Trump 2.0 has deleted or altered nearly 400 US datasets, endangering public health, education and more. As someone who relies on these releases to find meaningful social, environmental, political and economic trends for the Alleghenies, […]

Jackie Allison wrote this humorous piece, Working Class Majority, for the online magazine Funny Times in 2015. It is still relevant today and is reprinted with permission. I suggest a new government party, the Working Class Majority. Note that it would be called a majority, not a party. The working class isn’t a hedonistic picnic. […]

The last day of the Netroots Nation Conference in Philadelphia was a whirlwind of activity. In the morning I filmed this panel with state legislators from Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania on pursuing Medicare for All healthcare systems in their states. Later, I interviewed U.S. reps Summer Lee (D-PA) and Jaime Raskin on their views […]

The Netroots Nation Conference was held in Philadelphia this year to coincide with America 250. I attended to network and interview some attendees. One of the things I noticed at Netroots Nation 2026 was the proliferation of Data and AI trainings and exhibitors. Data Storytelling The first training that I recorded was one titled Beyond […]

The next variable in the County Health Rankings updated is Flu Vaccinations. The data is from 2023 from the Medicare database for Medicare enrollees. The overall flu vaccination rate for the state was 52% which was higher than the U.S. rate of 44%. Potter county had the lowest rate at 26%. Montgomery had the highest […]

Scrolling through the feed on LinkedIn I came across this photo showing the Catholic Dioceses with the largest rise in converts. The Altoona-Johnstown Diocese reports an 84% increase in converts to the faith. Could this increase in converts be an example of a Pope Leo XIV effect? He is the first Pope to be born […]

Jackie Allison has submitted this article on how the Iran War and all wars are rackets. “War is a racket,” said Major General Smedley Darlington Butler USMC (1881-1940) in the book of the same name. Major General Butler received many outstanding medals and commendations during his years of military service including two Medals of Honor. The […]

Nancy Coleman wrote this piece on Johnstown’s third No Kings rally on March 28. I was unable to attend. Several hundred like-minded people from Johnstown and surrounding areas assembled once again at Johnstown’s Haynes and Bedford streets Saturday, March 28, for the third No Kings Day demonstration organized by indivisible. The graveled area under the […]

Many liberal pundits often predict that Trump’s MAGA followers will desert him every time he breaks one of his campaign promises. Except for the Epstein files, these predictions have not come to fruition. The latest prediction of a MAGA revolt is over Trump’s Iran war, which began on February 27. The polls so far tell […]