“It doesn't, and you can't, I won't, and it don't

it hasn't, it isn't, it even ain't, and it shouldn't, it couldn't”

— Frank Zappa “Apostrophe,” 1974

To determine what something is, sometimes you must eliminate all the things that it isn't.

Given the animosity in today's political climate, it's not surprising to learn that a Western Pennsylvania congressman's office was invaded and vandalized the night of July 4. But should such misbehavior worry us in Butler County? It didn't happen here, after all.

In Pittsburgh's Mount Lebanon district, unknown hoodlums broke into the offices of U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, where they used red paint to smear the word “Filth” across a 10-foot section of wall. “Rot” was painted twice on the glass front doors.

Evidence points to premeditation — a scheme requiring stealth and planning akin to the Boston Tea Party. Police believe the vandals struck at about the time that fireworks merriment was at its zenith, between 9:30 p.m. and midnight. Police noticed the graffiti around 1 a.m.

Incidentally, the police station and congressman's office are on the same block — a proximity that made stealth even more imperative.

Mount Lebanon Township Police Lt. Duane Fisher described the office site as “very low-key;” he said the July 4 break-in was the only unusual incident he could ever recall there.

Well, that and the “Mondays with Murphy” protests. That's a group of angry constituents that's been meeting weekly since January at Murphy's office to rail against the congressman, his Republican Party, its policies and its president, Donald Trump.

There's a similar group in Butler County, called Mondays with Mike, demonstrating weekly in front of Congressman Mike Kelly's offices on Diamond Square in Butler.

On its Facebook page, Mondays with Murphy condemned the July 4 vandalism and said the graffiti “dismayed” them, adding, “Whoever did this was not acting on behalf of our group.”

In other words, check the meeting minutes. We've never voted for vandalism. We've never bought a single can of paint.

What more proof is needed?

The state Republican Party spurned the denial. It said the protest group has “targeted the congressman's office with street antics” and has “no business expressing surprise that things have escalated to this point.”

The GOP offered no hint of an acknowledgment that the protest group might have valid concerns about Murphy.

So what's the big deal? For Butler County, nothing actually.

A congressman's office didn't get vandalized. Not in Butler, anyway.

A congressman didn't get shot last month. Not a Pennsylvania congressman, anyway. That was Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican.

And protests at a current G20 economic summit on the brink of turning riotous? It's not even happening on this continent.

None of that's happening here.

Not yet, anyway.