News & Brews May 22, 2025
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Study ranks Pa. near worst in the nation
Well this isn’t great news. A recent study from U.S. News & World Report ranks Pennsylvania an abysmal 41st among the 50 states based on eight categories: Crime and corrections, Economy, Education, Fiscal stability, Health care, Infrastructure, Natural environment, and Opportunity. Do you agree? See the full rankings here.
Analyzing O’Connor’s primary win
WESA looks at the voting data behind Corey O’Connor’s primary win against incumbent Democrat Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey. One factor was mail-in voting. “Gainey himself got about 35% of those votes — roughly the same share as he earned in his challenge of then-Mayor Bill Peduto four years before. But his rival, Corey O’Connor, improved on Peduto’s performance by 10 percentage points — a roughly 800-vote improvement.”
Kenyatta: ‘Make life better’ (But be vague)
Democratic National Committee Vice Chair (and Democrat Pa. State Rep.) Malcolm Kenyatta, who might have his DNC election voided due to internal party wrangling, has an op-ed in City & State PA positing that the way for Democrats to win is to “Make life better.” But other than raising the minimum wage and passing universal paid leave, he offers few policy details on what that actually looks like. Sure, he advocates “making it easier to join a union.” But really, it’s not that hard. Make people feel safe? Great. But he doesn’t say how. Have schools where kids can thrive? No solutions—like school choice—offered. But sure, let’s “make life better” with hardly any concrete proposals to do so.
These Dems need serious help
”Coexist” bumper-sticker wielding lefties have given way to a new kind of Democrat: those who wear their hate on their sleeves and brag about destruction. The Inquirer reports that an outfit called FUBAR PAC (which is led by someone who literally calls himself an “expert hater,” although the Inky leaves that part out) held a “destroy a Tesla” event to protest Trump and Elon Musk. The “expert hater” also said his group has “declared war” on Trump supporters and DOGE. Honestly. with craziness like this, the Left has done more to elect Republicans than anyone else.
Inquirer forced to explain AI story with false info
The Philadelphia Inquirer was one of at least two major newspapers (the Chicago Sun-Times being then other) that published AI-generated content that included recommendations for books that literally don’t exist. Forced to explain the embarrassing incident, the Inky wanted everyone to know that “the newsroom staff had no involvement in the editing or production” but that the content was from a syndicate. And the Inquirer is “looking at ways to improve the vetting of content … going forward.” For the record, the Inky should vet its own content, too, as at times that has proven equally imaginary.