Opposing public demonstrations regarding the ongoing Hamas-Israel strife provide a revealing window into not only the supporters of each side, but also how the media cover these events.

Hamas supporters tend to be destructive, belligerent, offensive. Witness handprints in red paint placed at places including the White House, to symbolize blood on the hands of Israel and its supporters. Public places and memorials similarly were defaced by pro-Hamas types. The call, either outright or implied for the extermination of Jews is a staple of these events

Just Wednesday, the headquarters of the DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE in Washington, D.C. came under siege by a mob of pro-Hamas types, requiring an evacuation of the area and police intervention in what an account of the event described as “chaotic.”

That turnout was estimated at 150 by NBCnews.com, citing U.S. Capitol Police.

Contrast that with the scene earlier in the week, when a pro-Israel rally brought mammoth crowds (more on this later) to Washington D.C., to support the Israeli cause.

No violence. No arrests. No damage to public property. The people showed up, many draped in Israeli or American Flags, or both. They listened to speakers, which included both Republicans and Democrats. They cheered. They waved signs.

I saw footage of the crowd and was impressed by the size.

Some news organizations, perhaps with an agenda to push, didn’t seem willing to cite specifics of crowd size.

A report from APnews.com headlined “tens of thousands of supporters.”

On CBSnews.com, the headline was “huge crowd” and the first words of the story were “A large crowd.”

Perhaps CBS, knowing full well video of the rally would be available, chose to use vague terms that could be interpreted however the reader chose and thereby refrain from pinning itself down with misleading terminology.

When it came to using numbers, the CBS story deferred to figures from “organizers.” Those “organizers” reportedly had estimated beforehand that 60,000 might attend but, after witnessing the actual turnout, estimated in all 290,000 had participated.

I’m not an expert, but based on footage I’ve seen, it was closer to 290,000 than to 60,000. Remember, in events such as this, people come and go, so a peak attendance at any particular time doesn’t necessarily reflect total participation.

Technically, AP was correct. There were tens of thousands present. But 20,000 is tens of thousands. So is one million. Which description more accurately captures the scene?

Back to the original premise of this post, those who protest for Hamas reveal themselves as having questionable awareness, warped judgment and a general inability to control themselves so as to act in a civilized fashion, sort of like the people they support.

This a significant reality that should be included in any calculus regarding the relative merits of opposing positions of this conflict.

Today we write of cycles, both the sort easily observed and those of longer duration that aren’t readily noted, but are obvious if you care to look closely.

The transition from fall to winter is unfolding in these parts, part of the annual cyclical rotation most of us are aware of and accept as inevitable. I was discussing this the other day with granddaughter No. 3, calling to her attention the difference between official dates for the start of seasons and the practical approximate timing of things such as the arrival of cold and snow in November, or warmth and better weather in April.

But, there are longer term cycles that play out over varying time frames, regarding bigger issues. Russian economist Nikolai Kondratiev was part of the Soviet government in the 1920s, doing research that was supposed to prove that capitalist societies must ultimately fail. By extension, communism would be eternal.

When Kondratiev instead identified long-term cycles in free-market economies lasting anywhere from 40 to 60 years that showed capitalism successively going from expansion, to stagnation, to recession, and back to expansion, he was identifying capitalism as being self-cleansing and therefore not doomed to failure.

These cycles were named Kondratiev Waves in his honor.

While Kondratiev was renowned outside Russian, his socialist bosses didn’t approve of his message. He was arrested and eventually executed.

Investors often use waves in their technical analysis of when to buy or sell. A favorite tool for them are Elliott Waves, the creation of R.N. Elliott. This work replies on so-called fractals, patterns of similar appearance, but of varying degree.

A large component of Elliott Wave analysis is the use of Fibonacci ratios. These are derived from Fibonacci sequences in which each succeeding number is the sum of the previous two. Example: 0-1-1-2-3-5-8.

Social scientists also have their cyclical analysis, identifying repetitive ebbs and flows of the public mood based on generations. Perhaps you have heard of the generational turning work of Strauss and Howe.

They identify recurring patterns of The High, The Awakening, The Unraveling and The Crisis, each of a duration approximating 20 years. The timing is based on the average life expectancy of humans and how we behave differently at varying stages of our lives. At any given time, one generation is dominant and sets the tone.

Proponents of this methodology believe we are currently in a crisis turning period, similar to that endured from the Great Depression of the late 1920s through the post-World War II period of the late 1940s.

These people cite wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the great financial crisis of 2008 and the unsteadiness since, general social tension around the world and our domestic tension in which basic concepts of good and evil are diametrically opposite depending on political affiliation.

Zerohedge posted a story yesterday that began by identifying a time of such strife, breakdown of political, religious and social institutions and a general sense of despair over rapid change, not necessarily for the better.

The story quoted from was written in 1974.

History does repeat, both good and bad. The story went on to highlight the work of another social scientist, Peter Turchin, whose 50-year cycles begin with people finding ways to agree and cooperate and devolve into them being unable to find consensus on almost anything.

Sound familiar?

The hope to be found in cyclical work is that better times eventually return. But, at a certain point, the matter becomes whether one will be around long enough to welcome them.

We come to praise Penn State coach James Franklin, not to bury him.

Give the guy credit for taking the mystery out of the PSU football seasons. You know before the first kickoff that Penn State will beat the riffraff of the Big Ten, dispose of nondescript nonconference opponents (this year West Virginia, Delaware and UMass), and then be beaten by Ohio State and Michigan.

The only mystery is how demoralizing and emphatic those losses to the Buckeyes and Wolverines will be.

Saturday’s 24-15 Michigan win at Beaver Stadium was a particularly telling example of the Franklin shortcomings, which prompted booing of him during the game and some heated commentary directed at him as he left the field that was captured and relayed on social media.

The Big Ten tried to gift wrap this one for Penn State, sneakily deciding to suspend Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh Friday.

Anyone in the media knows these late Friday afternoon news dumps are specifically designed to minimize coverage. In this case, as alleged by Michigan hierarchy, it also was timed to leave little legal recourse since it was a court holiday.

For those living under the proverbial rock, Michigan has been accused of illegally scouting opponents before games to steal their play signals. I have read stories that Harbaugh is said to have been cleared by the NCAA of knowing about this act, which supposedly was performed by a rogue staffer.

Said staffer has quit and the NCAA investigation continues. But the Big Ten, appearing to bow to whining from the conference masses, decided to frontrun the NCAA and suspend Harbaugh from coaching games for the remainder of the regular season.

Many neutral observers felt this action was heavy-handed at best. That included college football analyst Booger McFarland.

Speaking on the halftime show of a Clemson-Georgia Tech game, being broadcast at the same time as Michigan was running Penn State into the turf, McFarland said, “It sure seems like they are coming down really harsh on Michigan right now, especially timing a Friday news dump, late on Friday, the team has already flown to Happy Valley, on a holiday, knowing the court system quote-unquote can’t get involved, just seems like they’re kind of out to get Michigan.”

You think?

As one social media wag noted, Franklin was outcoached by a team without a coach. Actually, Michigan did have an acting head coach, Sherrone Moore.

Moore presided over a Michigan offense that didn’t have an official pass attempt in the second half (one pass try resulted in interference by Penn State, which negated the attempt statistically).

Michigan became the first Big Ten team to go an entire half without a pass attempt since 2013.

The Wolverines didn’t need to pass. All the they did was torch the Penn State run defense, which had been ranked first nationally, for 227 yards and three touchdowns in the game.

Maybe PSU defensive coordinator Manny Diaz should have been toughening up his guys instead of taking to social media to post a video of him using hand signals telling fans to show up and be loud, an obvious dig at Michigan’s alleged signal stealing.

During the game, at least one PSU defender was seen feigning using binoculars and then writing down something on an imaginary notepad.

Again, maybe that effort would have been better put to use manning up in the second half and not allowing Michigan to run the ball down the throats and out the rectums of Penn State’s defenders.

In the final analysis, Franklin lived down to his coaching reputation. No surprise there. His Penn State teams are 4-16 combined vs. Ohio State and Michigan, have lost 13 of their past 14 games vs. AP Top 10 teams, are 3-17 vs. such opposition in his career at Penn State and are just a puny 2-8 in those games when his Penn State teams also were in the Top 10.

Someday, Franklin, who seems to have a lifetime job guarantee, will again coach Penn State to victory against either Ohio State or Michigan and the chrome dome can be counted on to celebrate madly. All he would need to do after that would be win 11 more consecutive matchups with them and he’d be back to .500 vs. the Big Ten powers!

I voted today, the latest installment of hope triumphing over experience.

There were no national races; little on a statewide basis, either. But there were local contests and some state judiciary positions that merited attention.

The weather was good. The people milling around outside the polling place boosting their candidates were pleasant. Interestingly, more than one person I spoke with referred to voting despite the general feeling of helplessness to do anything to stop the rapid decline of the nation.

Again, no options on my ballot would address national issues. But this general feeling of voting out of habit, without expecting positive change, speaks to despair among the masses, specifically conservatives.

Here in tiny Southmont Borough, there were several contests for borough council, a thankless task on many levels, including the verbal abuse received at monthly meetings.

Most of the candidates were familiar faces. One newcomer joined the fray, a neighbor of mine. I couldn’t bring myself to vote for him since he goes by one last name on things like ballots, and another on social media.

I asked him about this several weeks back and got what I considered a non-answer.

I went with the incumbents and it wasn’t merely because the leaf collectors were out and about today after a hiatus due to broken equipment. That equipment, a glorified vacuum cleaner for leaves, still is said to be broken. This left collection to be done with rakes, shovels, a backhoe and a truck.

Incumbents also largely got my vote for Westmont Hilltop School Board positions.

Once again, I voted for Tom Chernisky for Cambria County Commissioner, and not because you can’t read a newspaper, watch a TV broadcast, or try to look up car ads on social media without seeing his smiling face.

Chernisky is a Democrat and I’m a Republican, but unlike most Democrats I know, I am willing to vote for someone in the other party if they are the best option.

I didn’t vote for Chernisky’s running mate, nor for the incumbent Republican. We could use some legitimate political diversity, not just someone identifying as a Republican while voting Democratic.

Along that line, it is disappointing that so many candidates have cross-filed and carry both Republican and Democrat credentials.

The choice for Cambria County District Attorney was simple. Incumbent Greg Neugebauer, having both the Republican and Democratic nods, was the only choice, other than writing in someone. But I think Neugebauer is doing a good job, so it was easy to pick him.

Ads for Neugebauer pop up almost anywhere I go on the Internet, even today. Greg, you could have saved some money and still won – that’s presuming you are going to win.

Court positions, once not a high-profile part of the ballot, have become so due to radical far-left judges beginning to take it upon themselves to turn their courtrooms into political operations.

It’s happening nationally and in many states. I don’t want it happening in Cambria County, so I voted for conservative picks here.

As for state-wide posts, I voted to install or keep conservative judges and oust a left-winger.

While departing the polling place, I stopped outside and signed a petition calling for less gerrymandering, the political setup of voting districts specifically to favor one party or another.

Upon coming home, I did some more research. I’ve seen some give and take on the group, Fair Districts Pa. Having gone to its web site, a red flag went up when they acknowledged a significant out-of-state contribution from the Ben and Jerry’s Employee Foundation. The ice cream gurus are somewhere to the left of Bernie Sanders on the political spectrum, and have the same state, Vermont, as their home base.

If Ben and Jerry and Bernie are associated with it, run the other way.

I’m confident my signature on the petition won’t do much harm. I’d certainly never vote for any of their progressive claptrap mislabeled as nonpartisan.

I can only imagine what election day is going to be like next year. Will Clueless Joe survive his own party’s plans to dump him? Will Donald Trump be stuck in legal purgatory and unable to run?

Will Republican election observers be barred from proceedings, and/or sent home only to have massive suitcases full of ballots pulled from under tables and run through scanners? Will there be another manufactured scare to mandate voting by mail?

Most of all, will people accept the outcome of our next major election? Spoiler alert: No.

One local television station used to have a ridiculous format for its news intro that went something like this: Nuclear war breaks out, Johnstown decimated by fire, but the big news tonight is the annual Centre County Grange Fair opens tomorrow.

It was a quintessential example of pushing narrative and misplacing emphasis.

Along that line, as I write this, there are Queers for Palestine signs showing up at pro-Hamas protests even though Hamas would kill all queers, Kamala Harris has a stepdaughter who has helped raise $8 million for Hamas, police have debunked a claim that a person draped in an Israeli flag attacked a Muslim student of the University of North Carolina, and Secretary of State Antony Blinked reportedly is urging Israel to use “smaller bombs.”

But the big news is Clueless Joe Biden is pitching war in Ukraine and the Middle East as good for the U.S. economy because we make so many of the weapons being expended there. He specifically cited Pennsylvania for making artillery shells.

I hold Biden blameless for this latest shilling. It’s become clear, as he inadvertently reads out loud instructions to him on his teleprompter, or needs to refer to cheat sheets to identify friendly media members to call upon for questions, that Biden is a hollow shell.

But this pitching of war as economic development is a new low for his handlers.

Like most leftist proposals, it makes sense only if you don’t bother to think about it.

In their particular case, Biden’s ghost writers are invoking a falsehood familiar to anyone who has taken an Economics 101 course, that being the broken window fallacy.

The construct is attributed to a 19^th century French economist, Frederic Bastiat, who created the story of a boy breaking a window of his father’s. In thinking that will ring true with typical leftists – the same people who believe borrowing trillions to waste on handouts is productive economics – gullible townspeople decide the kid was merely stimulating the economy by breaking the window.

They argue that a repair person would need to be paid to fix the window. Said person then would have more income to spend on other activities. And so on and so forth. The money would ripple through the local economy, with a multiplier effect. That’s how our local spinmeisters used to be able to gin up a $20 million estimate of the economic impact from Thunder in the Valley.

The fallacy of the breakage-for-economic-growth thinking, as pointed out by Bastiat, is that one also must consider other costs. The father would need to spend money on the window that he might have spent on other, more productive things. Also, the father incurred a time cost, needing to attend to the matter of arranging the window repair instead of working or being otherwise productive.

Further, replacing an existing window merely balanced out the value of the building and the town’s true value. It was a maintenance cost, which should be considered as such, not economic growth.

Biden’s puppeteers are not the first to invoke this broken window fallacy to justify armed conflict, nor will they be the last.

But it does smack of desperation, on par with the plaintive pleas from Zelenskyy not to forget Ukraine in this fresh emphasis on Israel.

As long as the U.S. is borrowing money at a ridiculous rate, Zelenskyy figures he, too, should be getting a huge slice of the handouts, until the money spigot is closed. You want broken windows? He will break millions of them.

Here’s a simple question for all these people pushing broken windows/or wars, as beneficial economically. If breaking one window, or supplying munitions for one war, is good, does it not follow that breaking all windows and having the world devolve into World War III would be even better?

That’s one question I’d love to hear answered.

The wife and I joined the party and accompanied two of our granddaughters on their trick-or-treat mission last night, allowing me the opportunity to make observations on the good and bad of society.

While many organizations have set up structured trunk-or-treats, most often at churches to try to tone down the pagan aspects of the celebration, and also to enhance safety and convenience, I am a fan of the old house-to-house candy canvassing as practiced in my youth.

If appearances are to be believed, my grandkids, and their friend who came along, like it too. Adults get into the spirit of the thing by also donning costumes. I didn’t, but my son, his wife, and the mother of the children’s friend were costumed escorts.

The older granddaughter whooped with joy after many stops. The younger, clad in dinosaur togs, often lagged the other two, sort of like Randy in “ A Christmas Story” always seemed to trail his older brother.

But, eventually, the younger child got the job done and, furnished a cute moment when she and a younger child, also rocking a dinosaur costume, stopped to embrace on a street.

That people spend their money to gift kids, often strangers, with candy is noteworthy. Also noteworthy is the explosion in decorating for Halloween, which now seems to run a close second to Christmas, at least in these parts.

I was impressed that many people, perhaps busy with other things on this night and not at home, still left treats in containers on the porch.

I was depressed that several trick-or-treaters, despite having adults with them, seemed to mistake signs telling people to take one item of candy, for a sign saying take one handful of candy, dump it in the sack and come back for another handful.

That those kids’ supervising adults saw no problem with this speaks to a societal ill that produces misconduct in our public schools, pro-terrorist demonstrations on college campuses, and an increasing number of overall scofflaws.

As mentioned earlier in this post, I like kids roving for their treats. I don’t like them being ferried between destinations like shock troops, presumably to increase their take.

When we used to be home to distribute treats, and when different municipalities seemed to have different treat nights, we were amazed at the number of vans or SUVs pulling up, disgorging massive numbers of kids from who knows where, that went at the treat bucket like starving dogs. Sometimes I’d mention they didn’t look familiar. Some would explain that was because they were from (fill in the blank) and it wasn’t Southmont.

That, and the adults horning in on the kids’ night by insisting on treats, too, made it more than a bit disturbing.

I have been made aware that in advance of Halloween some on social media were requesting information on which neighborhoods would provide the best haul. Not exactly the sort of thing you’d expect from responsible adults, which these days too often is an oxymoron.

Lastly, allow me to observe that while most drivers seemed to respect the reality that this was a night with an unusually large number of pedestrians, and made accommodations for that by limiting their speed, an unfortunate number of drivers drove with what could politely be called reckless abandon.

In the final analysis, Halloween trick-or-treating is a slice of life. As I observed to my son, I’d like to be a kid again, but back when I actually was a kid, not in these perverse times.

Mass shootings are stark reminders of opportunists being all too eager to use tragedy to push narratives at the expense of reality.

I has happened again in the wake of the Maine mass shooting.

David Hogg, who became a media darling in the aftermath of the Parkland School shooting in Florida years back, already has climbed on the dead bodies of the victims to use them as a platform in his crusade to push for the disarming of the country.

Hogg blames not the shooter, nor a mental health system that reportedly had this guy for treatment, nor any and all who could have and should have picked up on warning signs. No, Hogg blames “white woman (sic) in the suburbs” for voting Republican and thereby enabling carnage.

You would expect no less from Hogg, a product of Harvard, AKA Gaza City west.

You might recall Hogg was a media go-to interview after the Parkland tragedy. He was an effeminate looking guy, often flanked by a Hispanic bisexual female at birth, who also was a Parkland student. It was a wet dream for the social justice warriors in the media to have all kinds of protected groups represented in this anti-gun message.

If reports are to be believed, the Maine shooter, now said to be deceased at his own hand, was a military reservist who had been identified for displaying delusional traits, even was treated, but then was released back into the community.

This speaks to a longstanding gripe I have with such mental health professionals. If these patients are judged to be no threat to society in the opinion of the professionals, perhaps the professionals should face charges for being so wrong so often.

But, then no one with mental problems ever would be released, say the apologists. Exactly. It’s the same problem with criminals being thrown back onto the streets for reasons either of weak stomachs regarding the punishment of the guilty, or supposed overcrowding of prisons.

Let’s take money we’re squandering in Ukraine and build more mental hospitals and jails. Let’s keep troubled minds off the streets.

And, no, David Hogg, the answer is not disarming the law-abiding population because of bad actors such as the Maine shooter, who apparently couldn’t be identified properly as a threat despite ample evidence that he had provided.

The solution is not more laws, more infringement on personal liberties, but instead a greater resolve to deal with those who have identified themselves as problems.

That’s the narrative you won’t hear amid the screaming of buzzwords such as “assault rifle” or “semi-automatic” by anti-gun imbeciles.

First off, an assault rifle, by definition, has fully automatic capability. Most AR-type weapons are not assault rifles.

Also, there are uses for AR-type weapons beyond killing people. Hunting and target shooting come to mind.

Not that such reality will intrude on the warped logic of people with limited mental abilities such as dial-a-(misinformed)-opinion talking head Joyless Behar.

Joyless has gone on record in the past saying gun control will come when Blacks also own guns. Hey, Joy, there are many Blacks who legally own guns and, judging from Black crime in urban settings, a lot of Blacks who possess guns illegally.

In the wake of the Maine shootings, Joyless checked in with the observation that people can’t eat a deer killed with an AR-15 because it turns the deer into a mess of raw meat.

Wrong, again. AR-15 type guns shoot a relatively small caliber, high-powered round, known for penetration rather than making massive in and out wounds.

The employers of Joyless will not call her on this misinformation, just as Hogg will not be called out for displaying bigotry toward white women.

That’s the joy of being inside the narrative loop, you never have to admit you were wrong, or say you were sorry.

The weather has been drop-dead gorgeous this week, particularly for late October, and I’ve been taking advantage of it. But events continue to unfold, so it’s time for an installment of news and views.

NEWS: Clueless Joe Biden, in last week’s address from the Oval Office, pitched war as good for U.S. arms merchants. Since then, Politico reportedly has obtained a copy of talking points to paint more war as being beneficial for U.S. arms manufacturers and therefore, Bidenomics.

VIEWS: For a change, the Biden regime is speaking the truth. Wars tend to enrich select companies and countries. The rise of the United States to industrial dominance in the 1950s was a direct result of World War II decimating European manufacturing capacity, and not doing a lot of good for Japan, either.

NEWS: Stock shares of German company Siemens Energy plunged 37 percent Thursday on news that the wind turbine division was having issues with quality and demand. This comes a week after shares of SolarEdge tanked 30 percent or so on weakening European demand.

VIEWS: The renewable energy folks, wind or solar, exist largely on the backs of government subsidies and make-work infrastructure handouts. It is the same with EVs. Try getting the government to give you a $7,500 tax credit the next time you purchase a traditional internal combustion engine vehicle. You can’t fool Mother Nature. If renewable energy and electric vehicles are not competitive in the market without the helping hand of government money, they never truly can be the solution. Another story predicts fossil fuel use will rise 1.8 percent in 2024. This despite all that government largesse for alternatives.

NEWS: Democrat U.S Rep. Jamaal Bowman has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for pulling a fire alarm in the Capitol that interrupted a key House vote. Bowman alleged he was just trying to open a door.

VIEWS: Bowman reportedly will pay a $1,000 fine and write an I’m sorry note. You might ask why he’s not being charged with insurrection for interrupting the proceedings of Congress and you would not be alone. I guess because he didn’t do it on Jan. 6 and is a Democrat, gives him immunity.

NEWS: Just The News reports that a U.S. prosecutor had evidence of Hunter Biden misdoings, but was thwarted in pursuing them by, among other usual suspects, the FBI. In a separate story, there is a report of more than 40 whistleblowers on Biden family alleged illegalities reported to the FBI and left to die there.

VIEWS: Note the hypocrisy of the political left. Any whistleblower intimating Trump, or Republican misdeeds must be believed and the allegations investigated with the full power of all federal departments. If Biden is mentioned, let’s just forget about it. FBI now stands for Federal Biden Ignorers. CIA is Can Ignore All (leftist misdeeds).

NEWS: House Republicans finally have elected a speaker, Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

VIEWS: I must confess to not being up to speed on Johnson, but the more I read, the more I like. He’s a Christian and doesn’t think public schools should be spending government money discussing sexual orientation with children under 10 years of age. Johnson also is for limits on abortions and didn’t see the 2020 election as being on the up and up. What sealed the deal for me was Democrat House leader Hakeem Jeffries lamenting the selection of a right-wing idealogue. Being a left-wing idealogue is OK, however. Speaking of hypocrisy, Jeffries referred to Johnson as an election denier. This would be the same Jeffries who, on archived social media posts, spent plenty of time denying the 2016 election of Donald Trump.

I got my first up-close-and-personal glimpse of Medicare fraud Monday, prompting an at times troubling effort to report same.

Perhaps this was my penance for having enjoyed an otherwise glorious day, beginning with eating a snoball (coconut, marshmallow, chocolate cake, cream filling treat) breakfast with granddaughter No. 3 and progressing through mowing the lawn (for the last time!) at my late mother’s house, then taking a 30-plus mile ride in the Mustang convertible (top-down).

Returning home from the drive, I discovered that the wife had brought in a pile of mail, including three Medicare claims summaries (NOT A BILL, NOT A BILL, NOT A BILL).

Two were legitimate, for actual medical treatment for me and my wife. The third was not.

The scam requested payment from Medicare for not one, but two urinary catheter insertions, allegedly performed at some facility in Alexandria, Kentucky.

Having had zero urinary catheter insertions in quite some time, and not having been to Kentucky for maybe 20 years, I was pretty sure this was a bogus billing.

Each was a $1,990 charge by the provider, winnowed down to Medicare paying $1,458.24 for each and me possibly being on the hook for $372 times two.

I would not actually have needed to have paid anything had this been legitimate since I have a Plan G supplemental policy and already had hit my Part B Medicare deductible.

But it raises the hackles on my neck that my name might be used in a scam to defraud not only Medicare, but my Highmark Medigap insurance provider.

The call to Medicare was the easy part, which I had not expected. The first man handled things quickly and as soon as I mentioned a catheter and this particular provider, he confirmed fraud, not some honest mistake in billing.

I had to hold to talk to another person to complete the report. This was a bit more cumbersome, including a wait on hold and a woman who seemed a bit overwhelmed by it all. But the report was made and it was time to get in touch with Highmark.

Funny thing about fraud reporting phone numbers, they tend to answer almost any time you call, as opposed to general customer service numbers.

To my surprise, the first number I called for Highmark answered, but put me in limbo, without any kind of verbal clues as to progress of things. After five minutes, I hung up and dialed a second number.

This call was answered in a relatively short time, but by someone whose attitude suggested she was confused and just plain doing me a favor.

Allow me to interpose that I am more well-versed than most on health insurance, having obtained a state license for same following retirement from newspapers, and also having used that license to work seasonally servicing both Medicare and Affordable Care Act plans.

I know the subject and I know how to treat people on the phone. The Highmark experience (she kept interjecting Gateway into the conversation) was not a prime example of phone demeanor.

She was abrasive, rude, and committed the classic sin of chastising the caller for interrupting her.

I was answering her question, but she felt I was talking over her. Allow me to assure you, people providing telephone support are taught NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER talk over the customer or accuse them of this offense.

I felt the need to tell this person that she was making it an unpleasant experience and since I’d clearly told her umpteen times I was a Highmark customer, quit asking me for a Gateway ID. I told her if I had the wrong number, please tell me.

No, she said, I had the right number. Apparently I just had the wrong person, as in someone having a bad day and eager to be a super spreader.

I was trying to save Highmark money, so you might think the response would have been higher on the gratitude scale.

Alas, I had to satisfy myself with having done the right thing. When we finally got our work together completed, I took my case number and instructions on what to do if no one had contacted me by Nov. 6, and returned to watching the Phillies-Diamondbacks NLCS Game 6.

It occurred to me that just maybe my last customer service contact was a Phillies fan, one doubly miffed at not being able to watch the game and also perhaps knowing that her Phillies were trailing late.

In view of recent events, Penn State should be announcing revised lyrics for the chorus to its traditional “Nittany Lion” song.

Here is the update: Hail to the Lion, his fans are blue,

Can’t beat the Buckeyes, and Wolverines, too.

Winning the Big Ten, is only a dream,

And all this makes the fans just truly want to scream!

Penn State played Ohio State yet again Saturday, with both teams highly regarded; at least going into the game they were highly regarded. Penn State lost again. If you are keeping score at home, that’s seven consecutive losses to the Buckeyes.

To be fair, once upon a time, coach James Franklin had a Penn State team beat Ohio State, making him 1-9 overall vs. the Columbus bullies.

This setback sank Franklin’s record to 2-12 on the road vs. Top 25 teams

Franklin’s Penn State teams do slightly better vs. Michigan at 3-6. But that’s nothing to brag about, either, when you want to portray your program as among the nation’s elite.

If I’m an Ohio State or Michigan fan, I’m setting up a GoFundMe account designed to keep Franklin coaching Penn State in perpetuity.

Yes, Franklin has already been gifted with a contract that grants him a king’s ransom annually for failing to do more than elevate Penn State’s football program into the head of the also-ran category in the Big Ten.

I guess when a school has had its reputation besmirched by a sexual misconduct scandal in the not-so-distant past, that’s good enough.

But, for fans who would desire a return to the days of competing for conference titles and even a national championship, it’s a bit short of the mark.

This was a game Penn State might have been expected to win, a sentiment expressed in this space recently. For once, the Ohio State offense was not being directed by a quarterback a few months away from advancing to running an NFL team.

This Buckeyes offense had a questionable line, and limited depth both at running back and wide receiver.

Ohio State has a typically competent defense, but it was going to need it based on its offensive unit.

Admittedly, Penn State’s unbeaten record prior to the game had been run up largely on a schedule populated by teams on par with Sisters of the Poor, or School for the Blind.

But Penn State had won the games. The defense had looked strong. The offense had looked capable of keeping up with a troubled Ohio State offense in terms of production.

No doubt, some Penn State fans will cry foul over a defensive holding call that wiped out a fumble return for a touchdown Saturday. It was a legitimate call, followed closely by yet another grab on an Ohio State receiver that was missed by the game officials.

Penn State’s defensive gameplan seemed to be to mug the Ohio State wide receivers and count on the zebras to ignore some calls. The defense might have done a bit better on Marvin Harrison, Jr., who dropped a few and was roughed up at times, but still managed 11 grabs for 162 yards and a touchdown.

On one play, a combo wheel route, Penn State completely lost track of Harrison.

Inexplicable? You bet. Similarly inexplicable is Franklin’s reputation as a top coach in view of his ability repeatedly to come up small in big games.

The talking heads on the TV postgame shows were roasting the Penn State gameplan for being short on imagination. Execution was lamentable, too, as evidenced by converting just 1 of 16 third-down plays into a first down.

There is a benefit to all this failure in big games. Judging by his already lofty salary, there would not be enough money in the world to pay Franklin were he able actually to beat Ohio State or Michigan. And so the Penn State bean counters no doubt are grateful for yet another egg laid on the day of a big game.

Hail to the Lion, his fans are blue.