Days into the war, Russians attacked Red Cross evacuation routes. Later they would use thermobaric weapons, a vacuum bomb with two charges, as Petraeus and Roberts explain: “The first disperses fuel into the air and the second ignites it, sucking all the oxygen out of people’s lungs.” It was a notable barbarity, “especially against civilians trapped in enclosed spaces.”--Will
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Actor Jon Voight responded Saturday to comments made by his daughter, actress Angelina Jolie, who harshly attacked Israel and claimed that it deliberately bombed civilian centers in Gaza, accusing it of turning the city into a "mass grave."
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Innamorato vs. Rockey
Doug Heuck wrote an analysis in the Quarterly on the problems with Allegheny County and the election today. It contains a back-and-forth with a couple of guys he met then turns to analyze the election through some candidates. Here is a cut.
In the last five years, the county has lost 50,000 jobs — five times more than any other Pennsylvania county. Our labor force is actually shrinking and we have the highest natural population decline — that’s more deaths than births — of any metro area in the country. Way more than anywhere else.
“We desperately need good leadership, but it’s a one-party town — Democrat — and the whole place is being turned over to Progressives. I think it’s a disaster, and I don’t believe they’re representative of the population. But not only are they way over on one side, they don’t have experience leading anything. No matter, the Democrats vote the party line — like lemmings.”
The guy from Detroit said, “Oh I read about that! Last November, people in Pittsburgh actually elected a dead guy!” I nodded — Democratic State Rep. Tony Deluca from Penn Hills was elected a month after he died.
“And Fetterman!” said the Cincinnatian. “They elected him, even though he had a stroke and couldn’t talk. It’s like Chicago.”
The two key local elections this fall involve the race for District Attorney and Allegheny County Executive. Each race offers a series of contrasts that couldn’t be more stark: Far-left Progressives versus moderates; inexperienced candidates versus experienced leaders; and out-of-town funding versus local funding.
Matt Dugan won the Democratic primary for District Attorney by about 19,000 votes. He received about 93,000 votes, which is about 10 percent of the registered voters in Allegheny County. He was funded almost exclusively by one person — billionaire George Soros who is bent on reshaping the American justice system by lavishing money on candidates who follow the Progressive agenda. Dugan has worked in the Public Defender’s Office for 15 years and has been Chief Public Defender for the past three years.
Longtime Democrat Steve Zappala has been Allegheny County District Attorney since 1998 but lost the Democratic primary to Dugan. Nearly 10,000 Republicans wrote in his name in the Republican primary, so Zappala is squaring off against Dugan again, this time as the Republican candidate. Though Zappala raised $227,000 locally versus the $77,000 raised by Dugan, the $759,000 donated by Soros to Dugan swamped Zappala’s efforts.
By far the most important race in the region is that of Allegheny County Executive, featuring the heavily favored winner of the Democratic primary Sara Innamorato, 37, versus political newcomer Republican Joe Rockey, 58. The County Executive is the third most important political office in Pennsylvania, behind the Governor and the Mayor of Philadelphia. Allegheny County has nearly 7,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $1 billion. It’s a huge job.
Innamorato’s personal story involves her family’s struggle because her father became an opioid addict who never beat it and died suddenly 14 years ago. She grew up in Ross and overcame those difficulties, graduating magna cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh with a business degree. Then, she was an Apple store concierge for two years and an associate in a store leadership program for two more. Then she became a barista, then did marketing for a local tech firm and from 2015-2017, launched a marketing business with the mission of “marketing for social good.” Then, as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, she ran for the state House in 2018 and won. Before resigning from the State House earlier this year, she had a relatively lackluster output, the Post-Gazette reported: “Since taking office in 2019, none of the 25 bills on which she is listed as the prime sponsor even advanced out of committee.” Her campaign mission statement is that she wants to put “people first — over corporate profits and greedy individuals.” For the May primary, her major funding came from two left-wing sources outside of the region — the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which largely financed and is heavily influencing Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s office, and a New York-based entity called the Working Families Party.
Joe Rockey’s personal story is that he grew up on the North Side and when he was five, his Dad, a union man, became disabled. His mother went to work, and the family pulled together and raised six children. The family had no car and clipped coupons, and he worked his way through high school with a variety of jobs, ultimately getting a scholarship to Duquesne. He became a banker, rising to the job of Chief Risk Officer at PNC, one of the key top leadership roles in the country’s sixth-largest bank. His job was to anticipate risks of all kinds and solve problems. He’s a low-key moderate Republican, who rejects the divisive politics of Trump, has worked hard, succeeded at the highest levels of business and wants to try and help his hometown get back on its feet. He’s long been on the boards of St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality and Little Sisters of the Poor among others, was President of Ronald McDonald House of Children’s Hospital, and played a key role in getting the new homeless shelter on Second Avenue Downtown built last year. He and his wife of 36 years, Diana, have three children and five grandchildren, all of whom live in Allegheny County. His campaign motto is: “Extremists and career politicians have failed us. I’m a problem solver, not a politician.”
In the last five years, the county has lost 50,000 jobs — five times more than any other Pennsylvania county. Our labor force is actually shrinking and we have the highest natural population decline — that’s more deaths than births — of any metro area in the country. Way more than anywhere else.
“We desperately need good leadership, but it’s a one-party town — Democrat — and the whole place is being turned over to Progressives. I think it’s a disaster, and I don’t believe they’re representative of the population. But not only are they way over on one side, they don’t have experience leading anything. No matter, the Democrats vote the party line — like lemmings.”
The guy from Detroit said, “Oh I read about that! Last November, people in Pittsburgh actually elected a dead guy!” I nodded — Democratic State Rep. Tony Deluca from Penn Hills was elected a month after he died.
“And Fetterman!” said the Cincinnatian. “They elected him, even though he had a stroke and couldn’t talk. It’s like Chicago.”
The two key local elections this fall involve the race for District Attorney and Allegheny County Executive. Each race offers a series of contrasts that couldn’t be more stark: Far-left Progressives versus moderates; inexperienced candidates versus experienced leaders; and out-of-town funding versus local funding.
Matt Dugan won the Democratic primary for District Attorney by about 19,000 votes. He received about 93,000 votes, which is about 10 percent of the registered voters in Allegheny County. He was funded almost exclusively by one person — billionaire George Soros who is bent on reshaping the American justice system by lavishing money on candidates who follow the Progressive agenda. Dugan has worked in the Public Defender’s Office for 15 years and has been Chief Public Defender for the past three years.
Longtime Democrat Steve Zappala has been Allegheny County District Attorney since 1998 but lost the Democratic primary to Dugan. Nearly 10,000 Republicans wrote in his name in the Republican primary, so Zappala is squaring off against Dugan again, this time as the Republican candidate. Though Zappala raised $227,000 locally versus the $77,000 raised by Dugan, the $759,000 donated by Soros to Dugan swamped Zappala’s efforts.
By far the most important race in the region is that of Allegheny County Executive, featuring the heavily favored winner of the Democratic primary Sara Innamorato, 37, versus political newcomer Republican Joe Rockey, 58. The County Executive is the third most important political office in Pennsylvania, behind the Governor and the Mayor of Philadelphia. Allegheny County has nearly 7,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $1 billion. It’s a huge job.
Innamorato’s personal story involves her family’s struggle because her father became an opioid addict who never beat it and died suddenly 14 years ago. She grew up in Ross and overcame those difficulties, graduating magna cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh with a business degree. Then, she was an Apple store concierge for two years and an associate in a store leadership program for two more. Then she became a barista, then did marketing for a local tech firm and from 2015-2017, launched a marketing business with the mission of “marketing for social good.” Then, as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, she ran for the state House in 2018 and won. Before resigning from the State House earlier this year, she had a relatively lackluster output, the Post-Gazette reported: “Since taking office in 2019, none of the 25 bills on which she is listed as the prime sponsor even advanced out of committee.” Her campaign mission statement is that she wants to put “people first — over corporate profits and greedy individuals.” For the May primary, her major funding came from two left-wing sources outside of the region — the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which largely financed and is heavily influencing Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s office, and a New York-based entity called the Working Families Party.
Joe Rockey’s personal story is that he grew up on the North Side and when he was five, his Dad, a union man, became disabled. His mother went to work, and the family pulled together and raised six children. The family had no car and clipped coupons, and he worked his way through high school with a variety of jobs, ultimately getting a scholarship to Duquesne. He became a banker, rising to the job of Chief Risk Officer at PNC, one of the key top leadership roles in the country’s sixth-largest bank. His job was to anticipate risks of all kinds and solve problems. He’s a low-key moderate Republican, who rejects the divisive politics of Trump, has worked hard, succeeded at the highest levels of business and wants to try and help his hometown get back on its feet. He’s long been on the boards of St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality and Little Sisters of the Poor among others, was President of Ronald McDonald House of Children’s Hospital, and played a key role in getting the new homeless shelter on Second Avenue Downtown built last year. He and his wife of 36 years, Diana, have three children and five grandchildren, all of whom live in Allegheny County. His campaign motto is: “Extremists and career politicians have failed us. I’m a problem solver, not a politician.”
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