News & Brews September 14, 2026
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Trump, Shapiro face high stakes in Pa.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reiterates the importance of Pennsylvania’s midterm elections, heralding that “Trump’s final two years as president and a possible White House run for Shapiro could hinge on what voters decide in November.”Not only could Pennsylvania alone … ensure Democratic control of the U.S. House,” but Gov. Shapiro “hopes to provide the same kind of coattails that Trump did [previously], helping to carry enough Democrats to victory to give his party control of not only the U.S. House but the state Senate while at the same time expanding his party’s majority in the state House. Those would be wins that could demonstrate Shapiro’s electoral prowess in a must-win presidential swing state ahead of his potential run for the White House in two years.”
‘Thank capitalism & free markets for human flourishing’
While self-congratulating young socialists today have no concept of human history before today, a frank look at dramatic improvements in the human condition in modern history point compellingly to one reason: capitalism. In the Washington Post, U.S. Sen. John Curtis of Utah writes that “the quality and duration of human life, especially in the West, have changed more in my lifetime than in the preceding 500 years combined…. To what do we owe this phenomenal progress? Capitalism…. How many realize that, according to a U.N. estimate published in 2001, poverty was reduced more in the previous 50 years than in the prior five centuries?” This one’s worth the read.
‘Shapiro has a choice, so should Pa. parents’
Former public school educator Andrew Pry writes in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “In my nearly 20 years in public education as a teacher and principal, I have always respected the role that parents have in overseeing and directing their child’s education.” He notes that “for the first time in Pennsylvania history, [parents] could have unprecedented access to educational resources.” But only if Gov. Josh Shapiro opts Pennsylvania into the new federal tax credit scholarship program. “Will Shapiro give Pennsylvania families access to these new educational resources, or leave hundreds of millions of dollars in potential scholarships on the table while families in other states benefit?”
Pa. police share rules for skill games
WESA reports, “Pennsylvania businesses have a month to return skill games to vendors or be ‘subject to criminal prosecution and immediate seizure of machines,’” per a statement from the state police last week. “Enforcement actions may include seizing and forfeiting the machines, associated equipment and money associated with the operation of the machines and/or filing criminal charges where deemed appropriate.” WESA notes, “state legislators failed to include a fix for skill games in the suite of bills passed with the state budget, then left town for the summer. Legislative sessions resume Sept. 28, giving lawmakers little time to pass a law before the deadline. Businesses that wait to see what could happen could be playing with fire.”
‘Die first, white man,’ posted CMU professor
A Carnegie Mellon University professor has made the news again, and not for good reason. The Tribune-Review reports that “Uju Anya, an associate professor of second language acquisition, is under scrutiny following a 2021 exchange on X in which she is alleged to have posted, ‘Die first, white man,’” in a thread with another user.
Apparently, this is not out of character for Anya, who also posted shortly before Queen Elizabeth II’s death, “I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.” She also “posted most recently on the anniversary of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk’s death in September 2025, calling it ‘Kirkmas.’” And we wonder why kids leave college so messed up. (Actually, we don’t wonder. It’s super obvious why.)
