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Chris Potter

@cpotterpgh.bsky.social
1.7K followers 148 following 610 posts

Two potholes in a hoodie, politics/government editor for WESA-FM. Too young to die, too old to pray.

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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 10h
Welp, I saw "Digger" last night. Real 'Murricans who don't to be lectured are definitely right to stay away. I think the film more subtly implicates the audience who WILL see it too. But based on the 6 other people in the theater on opening weekend, I think that damage will be easily contained.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Just leave us the hell alone.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Man how did I not know until just now that Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Ken Krawchuk has a blues song about Flock cameras? www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYhI...
youtube.com
The Flocked Up Blues -- Ken Krawchuk, Libertarian for Pennsylvania Governor
YouTube video by Ken Krawchuk
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
First world/fourth estate problems but ... the state's campaign finance online database is killing me. Was never great, but I just feel like it has gotten progressively worse. Someone please hear my desperate prayer.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I've seen signs that after the WSJ story, Fetterman may be getting the memo: There've been more public statements from his office in the past few weeks, and I haven't seen/heard of him being on Fox lately. But that doesn't mean he's shifting on Israel/Middle East! theintercept.com/2026/09/30/i...
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Look, I'm as much a western PA homer when it comes to music as anyone else. When "Ah! Leah!" comes on the car radio, I turn it up, every time. But that "Penny on the Floor" song? They gotta stop playing that, I'm sorry.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I have tremendous respect for the power of friendship. (I don't have friends myself, of course, though I DID see "Project Hail Mary" twice.) But the DEFINITION of being a pawn is that you are used to serve a broader strategy, regardless of your own interests. www.axios.com/2026/09/14/i...
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
One upside for Fetterman: maybe now folks will stop talking about that "he was too sick to meet with veterans but still made his Fox News appearance" story in the WSJ. www.wesanews.org/politics-gov...
wesanews.org
Fetterman praises Trump, McCormick in taped appearance before Republican convention
The minute-long speech, which hailed Trump's support of the steel industry and decried socialism, is unlikely to endear him to already-disaffected Democrats.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I'm not a Gainey booster, but it's wild to look at homicide rates in recent years, and try to square them with the urban dystopia some people depicted back then. Gainey took office in 2022. I don't necessarily credit him for the trend -- lots of cities had post-COVID crime-rate drops. But still!
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Was thinking last night of the "have you no sense of decency" moment that ended McCarthy, and it is like a story from a country whose culture wholly alien to my own. This is all it took? Invoking the reputation of a young lawyer no one had ever heard of? www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaUg...
youtube.com
Joseph N. Welch: 'Have You Left No Sense of Decency?' | Defining Moment in American History
YouTube video by Voices Through History
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
"Behind closed doors"? This is stuff he does in plain sight.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Today I learned the word "hydronym," thanks to President Trump.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Gosh, haven't they heard he votes with Dems more than 90% of the time? No surprise here: If you want to see Dems punched in the face, Fetterman delivers better than McCormick. But will pundits who insist Dems should love him, despite his Fox appearances, tell these GOP voters THEY are wrong too?
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Just engaged in what may be the most egregious wordplay in my journalistic career. Feels good, man.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Watching conspiracy theories emerge in real time, chapter 9,814. MAGA activist Scott Presler gripes about Slippery Rock officials voting NOT to let police work with ICE. He adds this is in Butler County, site of a tight special election win by Dems Tuesday. You won't believe what happens next!
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
In the Butler County special election for House District 12, the margin between Republican Scott Timko and Democrat Brandon Dukes is currently smaller than the number of write-in votes cast.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Yes, "Blanche COULD be better than the purely hypothetical construct I am imagining" is a low bar. But OTOH this IS pretty much the argument I used to get a date for homecoming. "I'm not very interesting, good-looking, or popular. But have you considered the NEXT guy could be an even BIGGER loser?"
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Young conservatives embracing the guy who created the Environmental Protection Agency and OSHA, and who proposed a guaranteed income program for poor Americans. Is the revolution at hand?
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Six months from now he'll be doing speeches in prime time about sales on chipped chopped ham. JUST $2.99 A POUND THROUGH SATURDAY ONLY. THANK YOU FOR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Pittsburgh-area Rep. Chris Deluzio, like other previous Platner backers, is calling for Platner to withdraw from the Maine Senate race after new allegation of sexual assault surfaces. www.wesanews.org/politics-gov...
wesanews.org
Deluzio, once a backer of Platner's Senate bid, calls on him to withdraw after assault alleged
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Kagan's dissent in NRSC v. FEC is enjoyably acidic.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
👀
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Are we blaming Antifa for the deaths yet?
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
If I had a nickle for every PA Republican Congressman who married a Fox News personality in the godless Marxist enclave of New York City rather than in the district they share with Real Americans, I'd have two nickles. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
This opinion by Pa Supreme Court Justice David Wecht on "skill games" is ... SOMETHING. For one thing, while IANAL I'm not sure I've seen a ruling take a harder line on a lower court opinion. Commonwealth Court gets bodied here, repeatedly. www.pacourts.us/assets/opini...
pacourts.us
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Fetterman appears very willing to discuss Platner's genitals. Though it is difficult to determine from this what he wants Platner to "show" -- a dick pic or the ABSENCE of a dick pic? Either request would raise other questions, I think.
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Reposted by Chris Potter
Alex Shultz @alexshultz.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
New: John Fetterman’s Senior Advisor, Cole Brown, is leaving the senator’s office. Two weeks ago, Chief of Staff Cabelle St. John also resigned.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
WESA's @juliazenkevich.bsky.social reports Allegheny County Council has a new president, Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis. Her replacement of Pat Catena (which she reported was likely last week) means women now lead the county exec office, and county's court of common pleas www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...
wesa.fm
Allegheny County Council chooses Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis as next president
Council members approved her nomination just days after Pat Catena resigned the position.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Wow just getting to this now, but this is the photo the PG used to illustrate a letter (written by a longtime leader in the local GOP, btw) expressing opposition to the county's proposed parental-leave policy.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Per my colleague @juliazenkevich.bsky.social, Allegheny County Council President Pat Catena has announced his resignation from the leadership post, though he will continue to represent District 4 on the body. www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...
wesa.fm
Allegheny County Council’s Pat Catena resigns presidency
In an email to council members sent Friday morning, Catena said he would resign the leadership position "effective immediately."
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
NYT polling just out shows *93 percent* of Democrats think attacking Iraq was the wrong move. The framing that this is Fetterman v. his base, or Fetterman v. "Code Pink dopes", masks the dynamic here. It isn't just the hardliners he is on the wrong side of.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Saw a handful of "write-in Doug Mastriano for governor" lawn signs this weekend ...
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
There appear to be 8 votes on county council to remove Pat Catena as president. 6 of those councilors attended the kickoff for his state House campaign just 4 months ago. A controversial mailer in that race now jeopardizes the presidency he's held since 2020. www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...
wesa.fm
Majority of Allegheny County Council members call to remove Catena amid campaign mailer controversy
In a Wednesday morning statement, seven council members wrote, “We cannot entrust the powers that come with council leadership to someone who knowingly caused harm and refuses to address the impact of...
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Catena told an LGBTQ advocacy group he supported trans students’ right to "participate in sports fairly." Then his campaign put out a mailer criticizing his rival for being backed by "an extreme left group that advocates for transgender athletes." He apologized today. www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...
wesa.fm
In Pa. state House race, Catena apologizes for mailer attacking rival over transgender athletes
The mailer faulted Catena's rival for a state House seat for being “supported by an extreme left group that advocates for transgender athletes in our sports.”
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
I doubt this will help with Dems, but probably not the point. It mostly rehashes the by-now familiar argument, "I'm not leaving the Democratic Party, the party is leaving me," with nary a word about whether GOP has changed under Trump. They're presented as the reasonable partners. Nice pic though.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Achieved a professional milestone this week, when my editorial decision to insert an adverb into a sentence was interpreted (by at least two people on Reddit) as evidence that a story was written by AI.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Actually, I'd argue this was a big problem at the Post-Gazette.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Final note before the weekend: No better account of what is happening at the Post-Gazette than this piece by my colleague @marucajulia.bsky.social www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...
wesa.fm
New Pittsburgh Post-Gazette owners making deep cuts to newsroom staff
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will shrink to just under half its current size under its new owners, Post-Gazette employees told 90.5 WESA on Friday. And while the downsizing was no surprise, staffers ex...
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Oh great, another round of pointless "will John Fetterman flip" discourse.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Could be the long goodbye for this guy.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
I've seen some rough stuff in my time covering politics. But doxxing a candidate in an anonymous mailer AND accusing them of being a 'traitor' because of a family tradition of supporting the Bills is ... something. www.wesa.fm/politics-gov...
wesa.fm
Anonymous mailer doxxes Bloam, calls her 'traitor' for being a Bills fan
“I think the mailing would be funny if it didn’t have a picture of my house and address on it,” Bloam told WESA.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Fetterman gets a shout-out in this ... unusual ... court filing in the White House ballroom case.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
As someone old enough to remember how the G20 was going to showcase Pittsburgh to the world, I'm generally wary of claims that the draft will have more than a transitory economic benefit for the city. But goddamn is Primanti's getting a lot of earned media. Another big win for private equity!
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
This story about Trump and the 8 Iranian women who may or may not have faced execution seems like a complete and total epistemic failure. Just crystallizes for me how completely scrambled our perceptions of reality are in this moment, and how haphazardly they overlap.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
My colleague @marucajulia.bsky.social has an update on the pending PG sale, and there may be a gray cloud attached to the silver lining: PG's union says "representatives of the new ownership confirmed that steep staffing cuts to the Post-Gazette are incoming" ... www.wesa.fm/economy-busi...
wesa.fm
New ownership means new questions for Pittsburgh Post-Gazette union members
Following bitter feuds with management, members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh are tentatively hopeful about the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s new ownership.
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Reposted by Chris Potter
The Associated Press @apnews.com · 17/04/2026
Wildfires used to die down and even stop at night with cooler temperatures and lower humidity. But a study says climate change is making burning weather more around the clock in North America because night is becoming warmer and drier.
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Chris Potter @cpotterpgh.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
I feel like if you'd done this a year or two ago, Trump supporters would have denounced it as an offensive mockery of both MAGA and Christianity. And yet ...
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Reposted by Chris Potter
Kate Knibbs @knibbs.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Journalists know that losing the Wayback Machine would be a nightmare: www.wired.com/story/the-in...
wired.com
The Internet's Most Powerful Archiving Tool Is in Peril
As major news outlets cut off the Wayback Machine, journalists and advocacy groups are rallying to protect the Internet Archive’s vast collection of web pages.
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