<aside class="css-12dnjm8">This piece is part of MI x DW, a collaboration that brings Daily Wire readers exclusive commentary and research from the Manhattan Institute’s world-class team of scholars.</aside>
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In a bizarre joint <a href="https://x.com/HQNewsNow/status/2089768108898541784" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advertisement</a> for Liquid Death and Garage Beer, Super Bowl champ Jason Kelce calls on viewers to send their urine to data centers.
&#8220;AI data centers waste millions of gallons of water,&#8221; he claims, and so &#8220;we want your pee to cool these data centers.&#8221; Liquid Death&#8217;s vice president of creative <a href="https://www.marketingdive.com/news/liquid-death-and-garage-beer-take-on-ai-data-centers-with-pee/827879/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a> that the sentiment is &#8220;literally the one thing that unites all Americans right now, across the spectrum.&#8221;
As a web developer, most of what I build runs on Amazon Web Services, which means data centers in Northern Virginia and Ohio. Every request that reaches our servers lands in one of those buildings. So does almost everything else people use without thinking about it, from email and banking to every app on a phone.
But I find myself increasingly alone in my position. Public opposition to artificial intelligence and the infrastructure needed to support it has crescendoed in recent months, and politicians are following suit. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro <a href="https://x.com/GovernorShapiro/status/2089780762815992002" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed an order</a> &#8220;implementing the strictest standards in the nation for AI data centers,&#8221; while New York Governor Kathy Hochul <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/first-statewide-moratorium-new-hyperscale-data-centers-launched-governor-kathy-hochul" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a moratorium on new hyperscale data centers.
Nor is this attitude limited to the Left. Florida Congressman Byron Donalds is <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaNx2ecy62j/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">running ads</a> as part of his gubernatorial campaign promising to protect families from data centers that &#8220;jack up utility rates and make everything else more expensive.&#8221;
The trouble with this backlash is that the evidence doesn&#8217;t support it.
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Anti-data center arguments rest on three fears: that data-center buildouts are raising electricity bills for the Average Joe, that the infrastructure is consuming all of the drinking water and drying up rivers, and that the adoption of AI will ravage the job market. Under scrutiny, none of those hold up.
Consider the claim, voiced on both the Left and the Right, that data-center construction is raising everyone&#8217;s electricity bills. It’s true that rates are rising. But Manhattan Institute scholars Shawn Regan and Ken Girardin have <a href="https://cityjournal.substack.com/p/data-centers-arent-raising-your-power" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shown</a> that the real driver is regulation, since the sharpest increases came in states whose policies made producing and delivering electricity <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/energy-electricity-prices-utilities-government-policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more expensive</a>.
Data centers aren&#8217;t the culprit. In fact, a <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2606.19777" target="_blank" rel="noopener">white paper</a> by researchers at the <a href="https://www.epri.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Electric Power Research Institute</a> and <a href="https://watershed.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Watershed</a> found the reverse. From 2015 to 2024, per-unit electricity costs fell as demand rose. Accounting for where developers choose to build, the authors estimate the average American lives in a state where data-center capacity grew 160% since 2019, leaving residential rates roughly 6% lower than they otherwise would be.
This is economies of scale at work. Transmission and distribution are natural monopolies carrying enormous fixed costs, spread across everything the system sells. A large, steady load absorbs a substantial share of them, and everyone&#8217;s average rate falls.
The water panic is just as unfounded. Data centers draw around 450 million gallons of water a day, <a href="https://www.fwpcoa.org/content.aspx?page_id=5&amp;club_id=859275&amp;item_id=130961" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> the Florida Water &amp; Pollution Control Operators Association. That&#8217;s roughly 0.3 to 0.4 percent of national water withdrawals. Golf course irrigation, meanwhile, uses an estimated <a href="https://www.usga.org/content/dam/usga/pdf/Water%20Resource%20Center/how-much-water-does-golf-use.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2 billion gallons of water a day</a>.
As for jobs, technological innovation has historically created jobs in the long run while displacing them in the short term. In the early 1800s, handloom weavers smashed the new power looms. Wages cratered and many were displaced. Then textile manufacturing became Britain&#8217;s largest industry, employing more people than the cottage system ever had. Computing created more jobs than the typing pools it eliminated.
De-industrialist populism has set American innovation back before, with nuclear power in the late 1970s and 1980s and then with fracking. Both panics restricted the construction these energy sources required, and both set back environmentalism itself. Nuclear is <a href="https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/3-reasons-why-nuclear-clean-and-sustainable" target="_blank" rel="noopener">among the cleanest sources</a> of energy there is, and natural gas has <a href="https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/fracking-can-play-an-important-role-in-lowering-energy-costs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lowered</a> utility bills while displacing coal.
Ironically, a majority of Americans now say they <a href="https://x.com/christopherrufo/status/2089817513614004502" target="_blank" rel="noopener">would prefer</a> a nuclear plant near their homes to a data center.
These neo-Luddites won&#8217;t lower a single utility bill, won&#8217;t return a gallon of water and won&#8217;t save a job. They&#8217;ll move the construction, the tax base and the computing to whoever will take them. Right now that&#8217;s China. Compute is the input to everything AI does, and a country that stops building it ends up renting it from one that didn&#8217;t, on terms set by a government that answers to nobody here. These decisions compound, because a moratorium relocates a buildout permanently and the supply chain and expertise follow the construction.
***
Matias Ahrensdorf is a web developer at the Manhattan Institute.

Demonstrators Against Data Centers On National Day Of Protest

AI Nihilism Won’t Save The Water Or Create Jobs. But It Will Empower China.

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Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro claims that vaccination rates have fallen under President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Data from his own state tell a different story.
The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination rates of Pennsylvania kindergartners dropped nearly 2% during the Biden presidency, according to data the Pennsylvania Department of Health provided to The Daily Wire. The MMR vaccination rates went from 95.5% during the 2020-2021 school year to 93.7% during the 2024-2025 school year, data show. Vaccination rates have consistently decreased since the 2019-2020 height of 96.4%, according to the Health Department.
<div id="attachment_1168093" style="width: 1723px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1168093" class="wp-image-1168093 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-28-at-6.19.52-PM.png" alt="" width="1713" height="570" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-28-at-6.19.52-PM.png 1713w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-28-at-6.19.52-PM-300x100.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-28-at-6.19.52-PM-1024x341.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-28-at-6.19.52-PM-768x256.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-28-at-6.19.52-PM-1536x511.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1713px) 100vw, 1713px" />Screenshot of an email sent to The Daily Wire from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.</div>
Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen publicly stated the state&#8217;s drop in vaccination rates occurred during the Biden administration during an October 2025 press conference at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).
“Over the past five years, we&#8217;ve seen about a 3% decline in the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rate for children entering kindergarten in Pennsylvania. And we&#8217;ve seen similar rates of decline in other vaccines,” Bogen said at the <a href="https://pacast.com/m?p=28416">press conference</a> where Shapiro signed an <a href="https://www.pa.gov/governor/newsroom/2025-press-releases/gov-shapiro-signs-eo-2025-02-safeguarding-pa-access-vaccines-pro">executive order</a> promoting vaccination.
But neither the facts nor his own administration&#8217;s acceptance of them stopped Shapiro from pushing the claim that the Trump administration&#8217;s policies were depressing vaccination rates.
Shapiro&#8217;s order, &#8220;Protecting Pennsylvanians’ Health and Freedom by Ensuring Access to Safe and Effective Vaccines,” <a href="https://www.pa.gov/governor/newsroom/2025-press-releases/gov-shapiro-signs-eo-2025-02-safeguarding-pa-access-vaccines-pro">directs</a> state agencies to follow vaccine advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics instead of the “politically-influenced recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.&#8221;
“I do not want you to be guided by someone like RFK Jr. who I believe is wholly unqualified to give medical advice and who is restricting our freedoms here in Pennsylvania and across this country,&#8221; Shapiro stated during the October 2025 press conference. “RFK kicked off 17 highly qualified medical experts off of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices… including the very competent, the very qualified Charlotte Moser, the co-director of the Vaccine Education Center right here at CHOP.”
Moser spoke at the signing alongside the hospital&#8217;s CEO, Madeline Bell, who was a member of Shapiro&#8217;s <a href="https://shapirodavis.org/news/governor-elect-josh-shapiro-and-lieutenant-governor-elect-austin-davis-announce-transition-leadership-board-personnel-committee/">transition team</a>. Bell met with President Joe Biden in September 2021 to discuss “the importance of vaccine mandates” after the hospital&#8217;s 22,000 employees were required to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in July 2021, according to the hospital&#8217;s <a href="https://www.chop.edu/news/chop-president-and-ceo-madeline-bell-meets-president-biden-discuss-vaccine-mandates">website</a>. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center is directed by <a href="https://www.chop.edu/doctors/offit-paul-a">Dr. Paul Offit</a>.
The Children&#8217;s Hospital of Philadelphia did not immediately respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s request for comment. 
Shapiro and Bogen announced two &#8220;measles-associated deaths&#8221; had occurred in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on August 25. Shapiro stated the deceased were “unvaccinated” and refused to provide any additional information. The governor laid blame on the Trump administration for the deaths and said he was &#8220;very, very blunt&#8221; with Secretary Kennedy on a phone call before the announcement. 
“I made very clear that his actions and the rhetoric that’s coming from this administration are having a negative impact on communities across America,” Shapiro stated during the press conference. “There&#8217;s real life consequences to spreading misinformation.”
Kennedy <a href="https://x.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/2092441234581160251?s=46&amp;t=ZAoIkqhiKpZyQayFV_2XbQ">fired back</a> at Shapiro on X, claiming the governor acknowledged during their call that Pennsylvania&#8217;s vaccination rates fell during the Biden administration.
“Governor Shapiro also faulted me for the decline in Pennsylvania vaccination rates from 97% &#8211; 93.2%. When I pushed back on this assertion, he acknowledged that most of the decline occurred during the Biden administration,” Kennedy wrote. “It’s unfortunately true that the government lockdowns, deceptions, manipulation, and overreach during Covid severely damaged public faith in the vaccine program. Governor Shapiro’s press conference was an example of the same species of gaslighting.” 
Lancaster County Commissioner Joshua Parsons directly challenged Shapiro’s narrative and claimed the county coroner had no record of any deaths caused by measles hours after the announcement in an X post. 
“The Coroner’s office indicates that it currently has ZERO reported cases where measles is the immediate cause of death,” <a href="https://x.com/CommissionerJP/status/2092350307132903644?s=46&amp;t=ZAoIkqhiKpZyQayFV_2XbQ">Parsons wrote</a> on August 25. “They have one case where a person died WITH measles, but not FROM measles. Measles was definitely NOT the cause of death in that case.”
The Pennsylvania Department of Health posted a <a href="https://x.com/PAHealthDept/status/2092702734084386962?s=46&amp;t=ZAoIkqhiKpZyQayFV_2XbQ">statement</a> on August 26 suggesting a “measles-associated” death meant the deceased person had laboratory evidence of measles without it being assessed as “the immediate cause of death.” 
&#8220;PA DOH uses the term &#8216;measles-associated&#8217; when laboratory or epidemiologic evidence of measles is present, but the disease may not be assessed by the medical certifier or coroner to be the immediate cause of death,&#8221; the department said in the statement. 
Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni confirmed to <a href="https://lancasteronline.com/news/health/lancaster-county-coroner-shares-details-says-measles-didnt-contribute-to-newborns-death/article_74d23fb1-13ac-4306-a697-659ae57e96c2.html">LancasterOnline</a> on August 27 that one of the announced “measles-associated” deaths was a newborn who died of a ruptured spleen. 
&#8220;Measles was not the cause of death — the laceration to the spleen is the cause,” reported <a href="https://lancasteronline.com/news/health/lancaster-county-coroner-shares-details-says-measles-didnt-contribute-to-newborns-death/article_74d23fb1-13ac-4306-a697-659ae57e96c2.html">LancasterOnline</a>. “And measles was ruled out as a contributing factor because, Diamantoni said, ‘there was no swelling or enlargement whatsoever’ of the spleen and there was &#8216;massive blood loss&#8217; from the laceration.&#8221;
Shapiro has been criticized by both sides of the aisle for mishandling the situation and further eroding America’s trust in public health. He was asked by a reporter on August 28 for clarity about the case, but he refused to provide additional information.   
The governor&#8217;s office did not respond to The Daily Wire’s requests for comment. 
Parsons told The Daily Wire the Shapiro administration needs to be honest with the public.
&#8220;We just want the facts and we want the truth about what happened here, and we haven&#8217;t gotten that,&#8221; Parsons said. &#8220;I think the lesson that was learned from COVID is that government and public health officials need to be honest.&#8221;
This controversy has unfolded as the Shapiro administration is pushing to radically rewrite the state’s health code and give itself authoritarian police powers, as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/josh-shapiro-arms-himself-with-draconian-police-powers-amid-re-election-fight?author=Megan+Brock&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Josh+Shapiro+Eyes+New+Powers+That+Make+COVID+Restrictions+Look+Like+A+Warning+Shot">previously reported</a> by The Daily Wire. 
The Democrats’ <a href="https://www.irrc.state.pa.us/regulations/RegSrchRslts.cfm?ID=3505&amp;fbclid=IwY2xjawTrAr9wZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMDF2THVSdFBiTGw4RkthVTBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeDjPUZ4ah2MvvtDVP4AQJOK7zJlqjAesOEbVTI3TjEyE9KLNGNjgg96xqbIg_aem_qta635xD7C0PTWC51tz6Nw">proposed changes</a> to the state&#8217;s health code would give Pennsylvania’s Department of Health centralized police powers under the guise of “disease control measures,” including the ability to enter homes and schools without a warrant, access confidential medical records, and impose statewide school mask mandates for disease prevention. Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf used his unchecked emergency powers to impose some of the harshest COVID restrictions in the nation from March 2020 to June 2021, which were doggedly enforced by Shapiro, who at that time was Pennsylvania’s attorney general. 
Pennsylvanians responded to the COVID mitigation measures by passing a constitutional amendment in May 2021 that limited the governor’s emergency powers to <a href="https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2021/05/pa-primary-2021-ballot-question-disaster-declaration-results/">three weeks</a>. The Department of Health reports to the governor’s office, meaning the proposed changes to Pennsylvania’s health code would give Shapiro — and his successors — the ability to single-handedly implement draconian policies across the state.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health will be able to stop students from receiving an in-person education if they are deemed “susceptible” to a disease, such as measles, and will require healthcare providers to input every delivered vaccination into a statewide database, unless the patient proactively declines in writing.
A department spokesman told The Daily Wire the proposed regulations are undergoing a review process and encouraged Pennsylvanians &#8220;to review the proposed regulations for themselves and participate in the regulatory process by providing feedback during the extended public comment period.&#8221;

President Trump Meets With Governors At The White House

Josh Shapiro Says Vaccination Rates Are Falling Under Trump. His State’s Data Say Otherwise.

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Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is quietly trying to erase women and mothers from his state&#8217;s health code. 
The Democrat&#8217;s administration has removed female terminology and replaced it with transgender-inclusive language in a proposed overhaul to Pennsylvania&#8217;s health code. The terms “pregnant woman&#8221; and &#8220;mother of a newborn&#8221; have been replaced with “pregnant or postpartum individual&#8221; throughout the 502-page proposal, which was announced on August 8. Women who have given birth to a stillborn baby are no longer called a &#8220;mother&#8221; but are instead referred to as a &#8220;postpartum individual&#8221; in the proposed <a href="https://www.irrc.state.pa.us/docs/3490/AGENCY/3490PRO.pdf">regulation</a> changes.
Shapiro is pushing to give Pennsylvania’s Department of Health centralized police powers under the guise of “disease control measures” through expansive proposed regulatory changes to the health code, as The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/josh-shapiro-arms-himself-with-draconian-police-powers-amid-re-election-fight">previously reported</a>. These expanded powers include the ability to enter homes and schools without a warrant, access confidential medical records, and impose statewide school mask mandates for disease prevention. The Department of Health reports to the governor’s office, meaning this change would give Shapiro — and his successors — the ability to single-handedly implement draconian policies across the state. 
&#8220;Somehow, in the midst of hundreds of pages of new government mandates, the department also found it necessary to erase words like &#8216;pregnant woman&#8217; and &#8216;mother&#8217; in the regulations and replace them with terms like &#8216;pregnant individual,'&#8221; Pennsylvania lawmaker Michele Brooks told The Daily Wire.
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<div id="attachment_1166545" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1166545" class="wp-image-1166545 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-27-at-9.16.33-AM-1024x568.png" alt="" width="1024" height="568" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-27-at-9.16.33-AM-1024x568.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-27-at-9.16.33-AM-300x166.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-27-at-9.16.33-AM-768x426.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-27-at-9.16.33-AM.png 1360w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Screenshot of proposed changes to the Pennsylvania health code that remove the term &#8220;woman.&#8221;</div>
Transgender activists believe men can <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breastfeeding-group-promotes-trans-lactation-with-horrifying-photo">give birth</a> and that obstetricians and gynecologists should use transgender inclusive language when delivering female healthcare. The American College of Obstetricians &amp; Gynecologists (ACOG) told doctors to “make their offices inclusive and inviting to all individuals who need obstetric or gynecologic health care” and to “educate themselves and their medical teams about appropriate language and the health care needs of transgender patients,” in an online statement.
“Some postpartum transgender individuals may not identify as ‘mothers;’ thus, obstetrician–gynecologists and other health care professionals should be mindful of the language they use. It may be appropriate to use a more neutral term, such as ‘parent,’&#8221; wrote ACOG in a March 2021 committee opinion titled &#8220;<a href="https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2021/03/health-care-for-transgender-and-gender-diverse-individuals">Health Care for Transgender and Gender Diverse Individuals</a>.&#8221;
Randall Wenger, chief counsel of the Independence Law Center, told The Daily Wire that Shapiro’s language changes reveal a “triumph of ideology over biology.&#8221;
“The changing of language in the [Department of Health] regulations represents the triumph of ideology over biology,” Wenger told The Daily Wire. “This change of language doesn’t reflect reality; it obscures it. It erases female identity as a stable category in favor of a fluid concept of gender. The Shapiro administration is so concerned with affirming transgender identity that it can no longer recognize the realities of biological sex. The department cannot pretend to fight dangerous diseases with its delusions about gender.&#8221;
Shapiro ardently supports transgenderism and allowing children access to harmful sex-change interventions. 
&#8220;I want to say, especially to our trans children, I see you and I love you,&#8221; Shapiro said at a <a href="https://www.wgal.com/article/governor-josh-shapiro-pride-festival-harrisburg-trans-children/61716119">July 2024</a> pride event in Harrisburg. &#8220;I&#8217;ve gone to court to protect our trans kids and I&#8217;ll continue to stand in the town squares and town halls in every community across Pennsylvania — rural, urban, and suburban — and proclaim loudly and clearly that we love all God&#8217;s children, including our trans children.&#8221;
Shapiro joined a group of state attorneys general in his capacity as Pennsylvania&#8217;s Governor and <a href="https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/court-filings/commonwealth-of-massachusetts-et-al-v-donald-j-trump-et-al-complaint-2025.pdf">sued</a> the Trump administration for banning pediatric transgender medical procedures such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sex-change surgeries, in August 2025. 
Shapiro created the Governor’s Advisory Commission on LGBTQ Affairs in <a href="https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/governor/documents/20230606_Governors-Advisory-Commission-on-LGBTQ-Affairs_Final-Executed.pdf">June 2023 </a>that engages in LGBTQ activism throughout Pennsylvania and provides the administration with legislative and policy recommendations. Ashleigh Strange, who<a href="https://www.pa.gov/governor/administration/advisory-commissions#accordion-3c14ae505f-item-4419d2d9db"> identifies</a> as “they/them,” is the executive director of the Advisory Commission on LGBTQ Affairs and is paid an annual salary of $106,289, according to a government transparency <a href="https://pennwatch.pa.gov/Employees/Salaries?handler=ExecuteSearch">website</a>. 
&#8220;We are an advisory commission, so there are 30 people all across the Commonwealth who are dedicated to getting the information from the LGBTQ community to the governor&#8217;s office. And everyone in the governor&#8217;s office and all of the agencies under his purview are dedicated to making sure that the LGBTQ community is safe, seen, and heard,&#8221; Strange said in a July 2026 <a href="http://facebook.com/reel/1566902568198581/?fs=e&amp;s=TIeQ9V&amp;mibextid=wwXIfr&amp;rdid=9PB0QxX7tuo86quH&amp;share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2Fr%2F1GdDVHRU52%2F%3Fmibextid%3DwwXIfr#">social media post</a>. &#8220;We know that our communities are under attack. The governor knows this.&#8221;
Governor Shapiro and the Pennsylvania Department of Health did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s requests for comment.

Pennsylvania Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro speaks at the

Democrat Governor Wants To Remove ‘Mothers’ And ‘Pregnant Woman’ From State Health Code 

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I moved from Seattle to Chattanooga in 2021. My house in Seattle was less than a mile from the Microsoft campus. Whenever I went to an after-hours tech get-together or happy hour, everyone who attended worked at Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, or some other massive tech company. Everyone around me made tech wages and was on the cutting edge of their field. I really enjoyed living there. The people felt like my people; we were all tech-savvy, tech optimists, eager for work and building the latest of whatever we thought the world needed (or would make a lot of money). Politics aside, we shared a vision of technology and of the future that seemed filled with promise and potential.
A few months after I moved to Chattanooga, I was chatting with a young couple in the pew behind me at my church. I asked the gentleman where he worked, and he said he worked at Amazon. I lit up because I had several friends who worked at Amazon. He seemed confused at my eagerness and quickly changed the topic.
I didn’t realize until later that this was because we lived in very different worlds. In my world, a job at Amazon was a prestigious job. Amazon was infamous for a brutal working environment but rapid elevation and generous stock options. They have their 14 leadership principles that everyone knows and every new employee builds their first desk from a slab door, just like Jeff Bezos did when he founded the company. Everyone I knew who had been with Amazon for more than five years was very well off.
But in Chattanooga, Amazon is not a premier tech company that makes its employees millionaires. Here, <a href="https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/amazon-avoids-paying-warehouse-workers-for-long-waits-and-walks-practices-that-affect-thousands/">Amazon is a warehouse owned by a stringent, wealthy task master who gets sued regularly</a> for requiring unpaid wait times from their hourly employees. His Amazon job is not a prestigious job. It’s not going to make him generationally wealthy. It’s just a job. We know two different Amazons because we are in two different working cultures.
Despite moving to Chattanooga, I still mostly live in this tech culture. That’s why I was caught off guard by the raging debate around data centers. As a technologist, an optimist, and an AI enthusiast, I have long thought that the resentment against AI-centric infrastructure was more of a fringe position held largely by people who are instinctively anti-corporate or anti-technology. I assumed they would fail in their attempts to shoot down these very expensive, very lucrative infrastructure projects driven by the richest and most powerful companies in the world.
The last six months have convinced me otherwise. This week, Pennsylvania Governor <a href="https://www.pa.gov/governor/newsroom/2026-press-releases/governor-shapiro-signs-executive-order-on-data-center-developmen">Josh Shapiro signed an order</a> demanding the strictest rules on data centers in the country. New York Governor <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/14/nyregion/new-york-data-center-moratorium-hochul.html">Kathy Hochul ordered a statewide moratorium</a> on hyperscale data centers and <a href="https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/08/texas-halts-data-center-connections-to-power-grid-amid-overwhelming-demand/">even Texas Governor Greg Abbott</a> has ordered a pause on new approvals pending an audit on what this will mean for the Texas electrical grid.
There have been dozens of other examples of state and local efforts to restrict construction, and these efforts are not following a reliable partisan pattern. If there is any pattern at all, it is that the entire vibe over the last 12 months has become substantially more negative against new data centers. According to polling from HeatMap, public support for data centers <a href="https://heatmap.news/daily/data-center-opposition-poll-collapse">has collapsed across the ideological spectrum</a>.
&nbsp;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1165539" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/89a73c35-9de7-4804-bd77-8d1ab81c5397_1464x1020.jpg" alt="" width="1464" height="1020" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/89a73c35-9de7-4804-bd77-8d1ab81c5397_1464x1020.jpg 1464w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/89a73c35-9de7-4804-bd77-8d1ab81c5397_1464x1020-300x209.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/89a73c35-9de7-4804-bd77-8d1ab81c5397_1464x1020-827x576.jpg 827w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/89a73c35-9de7-4804-bd77-8d1ab81c5397_1464x1020-768x535.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1464px) 100vw, 1464px" /></div>
&nbsp;
Why is this? If you listened to the rhetoric from the people leading the anti-data center charge, you might think you know why they are anti-data-center. You would be wrong.
What They Say They Want
<a href="https://open.substack.com/users/109001275-cremieux?utm_source=mentions">Cremieux</a> <a href="https://substack.com/home/post/p-211797956">wrote up a well researched overview of the reasons people give for hating data centers</a>, why most of those reasons are false, and how learning the truth doesn’t seem to change people’s opinions. As for what to do about this, his conclusion was basically “do whatever it takes to placate the opposition and just build.”
I’m not sure that is going to work because I think the problems that opponents are citing aren’t really the thing that bothers them. Worries about water, energy, noise, aesthetics, and subsidies are not the root problem that people have with data centers.
The piece “<a href="https://jasmi.news/p/no-data-centers-in-my-backyard">No Data Centers In My Backyard</a>” from Jasmine Sun cuts much closer to the heart of the issue. Sun writes from Wisconsin and Michigan about the tension between local leaders, who see that data centers are a natural fit for land that is otherwise undevelopable, and local residents, who fear that these big companies are making empty promises, manipulating local politicians, and planning to roll over the local community.
A core part of Sun’s reporting is that these residents have been made promises in the past by big corporations. She mentions a Foxconn deal in Wisconsin where the company was offered $4 billion in tax incentives for a plant that would have created 13,000 jobs. A decade later, only 1,000 jobs materialized.
The biggest difference between that deal and these data centers is that there are no promises for permanent jobs with data centers. After construction is complete, even a hyper-scale data center can be run with 100-200 employees, which is <a href="https://www.lonestarlive.com/news/2024/06/how-much-do-buc-ees-employees-make-the-answer-may-surprise-you.html?outputType=amp">fewer employees than it takes to run a Buc-ee’s gas station</a>. In 2025, a look at the permit filings across 17 data center projects showed plans for <a href="https://poweredbywho.com/methodology/jobs">only 1,547 permanent operations employees</a>.
In the meantime, the tech companies that are building these data centers<a href="https://layoffhedge.com/industry/tech-layoffs-2026"> have fired 170,000 of their own employees in the last year</a> alone, claiming that these layoffs are due to AI. For computer science students ready to start their careers in this high-tech culture, the on-ramp to a lucrative career has been blocked off. The<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2026/02/23/unemployment-and-underemployment-rates-among-recent-college-graduates/"> unemployment rates for new graduates in computer engineering and computer science</a> are higher than for graduates in art history.
While previous industrial construction projects promised thousands of jobs and economic revitalization, this time the industry that wants more data centers is plainly telling people that more data centers mean fewer jobs.
Techies vs Normies
I consider myself a part of the tech industry. I am excited about AI and what we are going to build. This is a moment of tremendous opportunity. But I have also seen a very dark cloud rolling over our labor market. Most of my friends from Microsoft have been laid off or taken the “early retirement” buyout option. People in the industry that I’ve known for 15 years are writing LinkedIn posts about how excited they are for the future, but they have an undertone of despair. It’s bad out there. It’s bad for 20-year tech veterans and for newly minted junior developers.
While all this is happening, I see fountains of money gushing out of AI startups based in San Francisco and New York City. There is a hyper-optimism in my AI tech circles, but the optimism is mostly about how good things are for us, the builders. To the extent that the tech culture believes things will get good for those outside our orbit (the normies), we seem to think that they will benefit from our grand benevolence and that they will be lucky to get it. We seem to view people outside our tech sphere not as participants in the future but as recipients of whatever good things we create for them.
I don’t want to pick on Cremieux here, but when you click to his post about trying to persuade the data center skeptics, the first thing you see is an AI company sponsor offering $300K for junior software engineers. All the positions are in-person in San Francisco. That is what things look like from inside the tech cultural bubble.
But when I look outside my tech bubble, I don’t see that energy or optimism. Much of tech culture is not open to everyone. It is an elitist culture that looks down on those who don’t share its values. One of the values they have is that you have to physically live in their bubble. You can make $300K as a junior engineer but not if you need to stay in Indiana so your spouse can be available to help your aging parents. You can raise millions for your AI startup but not if you live in the South or Midwest.
Venture capital is pouring billions into these companies. It isn’t because they have the best ideas or the best people. It is because they exist within the right culture, within the right cities. This isn’t a merit-based proposition. It’s a social club.
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<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1165541" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/25f3ec84-54eb-4550-862d-f30aa3e95d51_1126x682.jpg" alt="" width="1126" height="682" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/25f3ec84-54eb-4550-862d-f30aa3e95d51_1126x682.jpg 1126w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/25f3ec84-54eb-4550-862d-f30aa3e95d51_1126x682-300x182.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/25f3ec84-54eb-4550-862d-f30aa3e95d51_1126x682-951x576.jpg 951w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/25f3ec84-54eb-4550-862d-f30aa3e95d51_1126x682-768x465.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1126px) 100vw, 1126px" /></div>
&nbsp;
A tech company will spend $10 billion building a data center outside of a Wisconsin town but they won’t sponsor a Little League team. They won’t support the local Girl Scouts. They won’t build a park. They want the land and space and they want to escape the burdensome regulations and insane anti-growth politics of California, but that doesn’t mean they actually like any of the people who live near their data centers. They don’t care if these outsiders find growth and success; they want them to get out of the way. And if paying enough taxes to reduce the overall tax burden of the local bumpkins is what placates them, fine. Whatever gets them to shut the hell up, leave us to our more important business, and accept their rightful place as the underlings of this particular arrangement. They don’t really have any place in our vision of the future.
This is starting to sound like a populist rant, but that’s not where it is coming from. I love working in tech. I love the people in tech (most of them). I love what is happening in AI, and I’m really excited to build with this new tool and to help others build. We are in the middle of the most exciting tech development of my lifetime (so far!) I want to share that excitement with friends and colleagues and especially with young people who are just graduating and coming into the world of tech. I love being part of a culture with this optimistic energy and eagerness to build the future. But I want this to be an open door. I want $300K junior developers in Atlanta and Nashville. If the AI promise is everything it says, then why are the jobs and money increasingly concentrated in a few culturally isolated tech hubs?
How Do We Fix This? Do We Even Know What We Are Trying To Fix?
Even assuming I’ve identified this cultural backlash as the real reason people oppose data centers, how would we fix this problem? I’m going to try to avoid the smarmy answer to this, which is “Go back in time and don’t make a decade worth of corporate and cultural mistakes that led to this problem.&#8221;
In my view, the core problem is the astonishing arrogance of people within the tech culture. Even in debating this issue, the overwhelming response from libertarian and tech-adjacent people seems to be dismissal and disdain. There is some outright anger against both people who oppose data centers and the politicians who are responding to this movement. There is a lot of this sentiment that “these idiots don’t know what is good for them,” along with a seemingly resilient insistence that data center opposition is just a successful Chinese psy-op. The “Chinese psy-op” position is a perfect distillation of this arrogance because it assumes that these people couldn’t possibly be thinking for themselves or using their own judgment; they must just be stupid people who are easily manipulated.
Of course, now I’m being a bit dismissive of my friends within tech culture. Many of them really do want to address the actual concerns that the data center opposition is raising. The problem is that very few of the data center opponents have articulated the cultural resentment I’ve brought forward here. It is reasonable for the pro-data-center people to become exasperated as they repeatedly ask:
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1165543" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/36a3a8b0-d4d3-4bda-bd78-ad506fbab6d4_459x195.gif" alt="" width="459" height="195" /></div>
And if we want to do a deep dive on introspection, we could argue that I’m being smug and arrogant in this very article towards the very people I say we need to understand because I’m elevating myself as the “normie-whisperer” while portraying myself as acting as “team tech” at the same time. Maybe I’m part of the problem that I’ve just identified.
At the end of the day, I genuinely do want the following things:
<ol class="ol1">
<li class="li3">More data centers to support the most tremendous innovative technology of my lifetime.</li>
<li class="li3">Everyone to feel like they are participants in and beneficiaries of this emerging world.</li>
</ol>
You shouldn’t have to live in San Francisco or New York City to feel like you’re a part of this revolution. I want the towns that build these data centers to feel like they are a part of this movement and not like they are a cheap and convenient place for Californians to build the things they need but are unable to build in their state because they have spent decades supporting a completely dysfunctional government that they inexplicably refuse to abandon. I want tech companies to say, “We want to build with you because we want you to be a part of this great thing,” not “We have to build with you because our native state is so screwed up that we can’t possibly build here despite having near-endless land and money.”
Flipping the script, there can’t be any form of compromise if the data center opposition can’t even tell us what changes they would accept in exchange for permission to build. If what they really want is to be treated with respect, they might not get that. Respect might simply not be on the table. If that’s the case, they will end up in a place where they don’t get the respect, but they also don’t get the fringe benefits of boosted tax revenues.
From a practical perspective, I don’t see that the anti-data-center team needs to compromise. They have overwhelming support at the moment. If we want more data centers (and I do), the question then shifts to “How do we change this so that people will accept more data centers?” I suspect the answer is something close to “We need to treat these communities with respect and make them feel like a part of our team in this endeavor.&#8221;
What I see instead is the tech community doubling down on disdain. This makes me feel crazy because, as a tech person, I place very high value on strategies that work. If my first tactic doesn’t work with my target customer, I can bitterly blame the customer while my company goes out of business, or I can change my tactics to something that finds more success.
To their credit, many in the tech community are trying to figure out what will work. To their detriment, most of these strategies assume that their opponents are stupid and that we can just deftly outmaneuver them with money and power and the fact that they are oh so much smarter than those flyover hicks. Which is exactly the attitude that makes negotiations pointless.
***
This is republished with permission from the author. The original can be found <a href="https://www.marginallycompelling.com/p/data-centers-are-a-culture-war">here</a>. Subscribe to Marginally Compelling <a href="https://www.marginallycompelling.com/">here</a>.
Matt Shapiro is a data visualization artist and software engineer and the creator of the Substack newsletter Marginally Compelling.

How Data Centers Became The New Culture War Provocation

artificial intelligence

greg abbott

opinion

tech industry layoff

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is pushing to radically rewrite his state&#8217;s health code to give his administration authoritarian police powers as he seeks re-election.
The Democrat&#8217;s <a href="https://www.irrc.state.pa.us/regulations/RegSrchRslts.cfm?ID=3505&amp;fbclid=IwY2xjawTrAr9wZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMDF2THVSdFBiTGw4RkthVTBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeDjPUZ4ah2MvvtDVP4AQJOK7zJlqjAesOEbVTI3TjEyE9KLNGNjgg96xqbIg_aem_qta635xD7C0PTWC51tz6Nw" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.irrc.state.pa.us/regulations/RegSrchRslts.cfm?ID%3D3505%26fbclid%3DIwY2xjawTrAr9wZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMDF2THVSdFBiTGw4RkthVTBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeDjPUZ4ah2MvvtDVP4AQJOK7zJlqjAesOEbVTI3TjEyE9KLNGNjgg96xqbIg_aem_qta635xD7C0PTWC51tz6Nw&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1787243287958000&amp;usg=AOvVaw17LPVJE_hCEQrpQiVVBRmR">proposed change</a> would give Pennsylvania&#8217;s Department of Health centralized police powers under the guise of &#8220;disease control measures,&#8221; including the ability to enter homes and schools without a warrant, access confidential medical records, and impose statewide school mask mandates for disease prevention. The Department of Health reports to the governor&#8217;s office, meaning this change would give Shapiro — and his successors — the ability to single-handedly implement draconian policies across the state.
&#8220;The administration’s proposed new regulations on mask mandates and communicable diseases are deeply concerning,&#8221; Pennsylvania lawmaker Michele Brooks told The Daily Wire. &#8220;These include catch-all authority to impose masking, distancing, and virtually any other disease-control measure it wants, a statewide vaccine database with mandatory reporting, authority to restrict attendance at funerals, and extraordinarily broad powers to monitor private health information and enter private property.&#8221;
Pennsylvanians voted to limit the unilateral emergency powers of the governor&#8217;s office through a constitutional amendment in <a href="https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2021/06/pa-coronavirus-disaster-declaration-terminated-legislature/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2021/06/pa-coronavirus-disaster-declaration-terminated-legislature/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1787243287958000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2bsMez51ySc22WRgspjV5Q">May 2021</a>. Shapiro, who touts himself as a moderate and centrist, is said to be on Democrats&#8217; short list of possible 2028 presidential nominees. His office did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s requests for comment.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health can currently only impose disease control measures when attempting to provide “surveillance” of infectious disease outbreaks. Added clauses in the massive 502-page regulation proposal unveiled on August 8 would allow the department to implement disease control measures not only for surveillance, but also for the “prevention, containment, or mitigation” of a disease, infection, or “condition.” Disease “prevention” could include measures such as coerced vaccination and mask mandates, without the active spread of infectious disease. The term “condition,” another new addition to the health code, is nebulously defined as a “noninfectious medical ailment or other health-related event.”
The Daily Wire asked the Department of Health if, under the new regulation, it could proactively impose a statewide school-mask mandate before flu season to prevent flu outbreaks and if the term &#8220;conditions&#8221; included mental health problems. The department did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s requests for comment.
The regulatory changes hand Shapiro&#8217;s team unfettered power to enter apartments, schools, or any “other location” determined by the Department of Health when conducting a disease investigation, without a warrant.  
“The department or local health authority may enter an apartment, building, health care facility, school, college or university, or other location as necessary to conduct its investigation under this chapter if the representative presents documentation to establish that they are an authorized representative of the department or the local health authority,” states the regulation proposal.
The new regulation explicitly states that no person can “interfere” with a DOH investigation and further specifies that health bureaucrats have the power “to meet and speak with a student or other person in private” at schools. It explicitly states that school employees “may not obstruct” an investigation of a student. 
Randall Wenger, chief counsel of the Independence Law Center, told The Daily Wire he is troubled by how these regulatory changes could interfere with parental rights.
“Parents have a fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their children. And these regulations that allow a bureaucrat to go into a school to meet with a child without parents&#8217; knowledge and telling the school officials that they can&#8217;t even interfere with this,” Wenger said. “That ends up then interfering with the parents&#8217; fundamental right to direct the care and upbringing of their children. That&#8217;s unconscionable. I don&#8217;t want any government agent coming in and talking one-on-one with my child about immensely personal subjects like sexually transmitted diseases.”
Other expansions of the Department of Health&#8217;s authority include gaining the ability to confidentially access citizen health records and the power to exclude K-12 and college students from receiving an in-person education if they are deemed “susceptible” to a disease. It also allows the Pennsylvania Department of Health to create a mandatory statewide Birth Defect Registry for newborns and requires healthcare providers to input every delivered vaccination into a statewide database, unless the patient proactively declines in writing.
Shapiro is already hinting at how this data could be publicly shared. Five days before announcing the regulation changes, the governor published an online <a href="https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/health/documents/topics/healthstatistics/school-immunizations/current/school-immunization-rates.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/health/documents/topics/healthstatistics/school-immunizations/current/school-immunization-rates.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1787243287958000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1-dVmCaaaGH27N9YFExZwI">database</a> with detailed information about the vaccination rates of kindergarten, 7th grade, and 12th grade students in private and public schools throughout Pennsylvania. The database includes the rates of religious, philosophical, and medical exemptions at each school. Secretary of Health Dr. Debra L. Bogen said sharing this personal data was an important “tool” to help families and community leaders to &#8220;work together to reduce the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases&#8221; in a social media <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pennsylvaniadepartmentofhealth/videos/pennsylvania-parents-should-have-easytounderstand-information-about-their-kids-s/2235925534021412/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/pennsylvaniadepartmentofhealth/videos/pennsylvania-parents-should-have-easytounderstand-information-about-their-kids-s/2235925534021412/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1787243287958000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0-mdDzfIxbOUT3YAlErfpJ">post</a>.
Wenger told The Daily Wire the database is an example of the Shapiro administration&#8217;s contempt for religious vaccine exemptions.
“The Shapiro administration again demonstrates its contempt for religious exemptions by publishing this vaccination database,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Its effect is to expose and target schools with high rates of students claiming statutory exemptions, generating public pressure and political justification for government intervention in the name of public health.&#8221;
Shapiro promised to protect vaccination in an October 2025 <a href="https://www.pa.gov/governor/newsroom/2025-press-releases/gov-shapiro-signs-eo-2025-02-safeguarding-pa-access-vaccines-pro" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.pa.gov/governor/newsroom/2025-press-releases/gov-shapiro-signs-eo-2025-02-safeguarding-pa-access-vaccines-pro&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1787243287958000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2QMbrKJznnFkki2D4-sF6d">Executive Order</a> that accuses Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Trump administration of sowing “confusion and chaos around vaccines” and directs state agencies to follow vaccine advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics instead of recommendations from the “politically influenced” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Shapiro signed the order during a <a href="https://pacast.com/m?p=28416" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://pacast.com/m?p%3D28416&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1787243287958000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1YZDPY-_jGgwSc6_hZBeYT">press conference</a> hosted at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which helped draft and develop the proposed health code regulations, according to the Department of Health. Shapiro said the Pennsylvania economy depended on “people having access to vaccines.”
“This isn&#8217;t just good public health guidance. This is also really good for our economy,” Shapiro said during the press conference. “More than half of all vaccines administered in the United States come from a facility here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This vaccine production is responsible for 4,700 jobs of our fellow Pennsylvanians and generates 4.74 billion dollars for our economy &#8230; It’s also big business for us here in this Commonwealth. Our health, our safety, and our economy all depend on people having access to vaccines. And sadly, RFK Jr. and the president want to try and take that away from us.”
The Children&#8217;s Hospital of Philadelphia did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s requests for comment.
The Shapiro administration openly admits pushback against COVID-19 restrictions motivated the proposed regulation changes. It cites Corman v. Acting Secretary of Pennsylvania Department of Health, a case in which the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled the Pennsylvania Department of Health did not have the power to enforce a statewide school mandate, as the impetus for the drastic restructuring of Pennsylvania’s health code.
Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf used his unchecked emergency powers to impose some of the harshest COVID restrictions in the nation from March 2020 to June 2021. These policies were doggedly enforced by Shapiro, who at that time was Pennsylvania&#8217;s attorney general and became known as the muscle of Wolf’s COVID regime.
Shapiro defended Wolf’s order that closed Pennsylvania businesses for months, calling it “a lawful exercise of the Commonwealth’s police power” in a May 2020 <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19A1032/142846/20200504095730241_Respondents%20Opposition%20to%20Appl%20to%20Stay.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19A1032/142846/20200504095730241_Respondents%2520Opposition%2520to%2520Appl%2520to%2520Stay.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1787243287958000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1keh0lIoChA7yhSSLaMdR1">legal brief</a> submitted to the United States Supreme Court. When a federal judge <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17139062/county-of-butler-v-thomas-w-wolf/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17139062/county-of-butler-v-thomas-w-wolf/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1787243287958000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0RpndY-mitQi0XjNlzzGOH">struck down</a> Wolf’s ordinance that prohibited citizens from gathering in groups in September 2020, Shapiro filed a successful motion to have the ruling stayed, and the gathering restrictions were reinstated by October 2020.
Pennsylvanians responded to the authoritarian COVID mitigation measures by passing a constitutional amendment in May 2021 that limited the governor’s emergency powers to <a href="https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2021/05/pa-primary-2021-ballot-question-disaster-declaration-results/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2021/05/pa-primary-2021-ballot-question-disaster-declaration-results/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1787243287958000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2ZLkLrGj-ejPh34EINmQcw">three weeks</a>, ending an almost yearlong mask mandate and other disease control restrictions.
During the summer of 2021, Wolf urged local school boards to impose their own mask mandates as a requirement to attend classes. Most school districts ignored his pleas and less than 15% planned to mandate masks by the end of July 2021, according to reporting from the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-education-coronavirus-pandemic-c8afbf409f8e16eaf34e3fe89e6d7a97" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://apnews.com/article/health-education-coronavirus-pandemic-c8afbf409f8e16eaf34e3fe89e6d7a97&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1787243287958000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0BHNo6DLFBEQtGR8AxfJvb">Associated Press</a>.
Wolf was stripped of his power but used the Department of Health to create a statewide school mask mandate that acting Health Secretary Alison Beam <a href="https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2021/08/pa-school-mask-mandate-tom-wolf-covid-19-coronavirus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2021/08/pa-school-mask-mandate-tom-wolf-covid-19-coronavirus/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1787243287958000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0dxUrn65gAQ9jy0kI3TMaM">announced</a> on August 31, 2021. A group of parents challenged the legality of the order and faced off with <a href="https://www.pacourts.us/Storage/media/pdfs/20210928/162804-sept.23,2021-respondent'sbrief.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.pacourts.us/Storage/media/pdfs/20210928/162804-sept.23,2021-respondent'sbrief.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1787243287958000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1PeBuA0wxuXP1sclR3A1d3">Shapiro</a> at the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, where he ruthlessly defended the order and called the parents &#8220;self-centered.&#8221; 
&#8220;Petitioners seem to believe they know best how to protect the health and safety of school-aged children in the midst of a global pandemic,&#8221; wrote Shapiro in a <a href="https://www.pacourts.us/Storage/media/pdfs/20210928/162804-sept.23,2021-respondent'sbrief.pdf">legal brief</a>. &#8220;To that end, they seek to place their hands on the proverbial scales of justice and, in doing so, bypass the Secretary of Health. But petitioner&#8217;s self-centered gambit — which fails to take the power of the executive into account — cannot carry the day.&#8221;  
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court handed Shapiro a major loss in December 2021 when it <a href="https://www.pacourts.us/Storage/media/pdfs/20211223/175930-dec.23,2021-opinion.pdf">ruled</a> the Department of Health had acted outside of its regulatory authority, ending the statewide school mask mandate. But the court’s ruling noted the department could change to regulation and grant itself more power.
“We’ve already seen how this kind of authority can be abused, and we cannot allow the mistakes of the past to be repeated,&#8221; Brooks told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Pennsylvanians haven’t forgotten how these powers can be misused. They remember how our last governor and Department of Health imposed sweeping and arbitrary statewide lockdowns that devastated small businesses and disrupted the lives and education of millions.&#8221;
“It is shocking that the administration is now trying to work around those democratically enacted limits through regulation.&#8221;

Josh Shapiro, Governor of Pennsylvania speaks during a rally

Josh Shapiro Eyes New Powers That Make COVID Restrictions Look Like A Warning Shot

covid19 restriction

parental right

vaccine mandate

A dust-up in Pennsylvania over sentencing guidelines has lawmakers raising alarms about a potential judge-sanctioned prison break for murderers. 
Judges in Pennsylvania no longer have to impose a mandatory minimum prison sentence on criminals convicted of murder while committing robbery, rape, or arson. That happened because lawmakers failed to pass new guidelines after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down the previous standards requiring murderers to be sentenced to life in prison without parole. 
“We sit here with no sentencing guidelines currently for felony murder. Nobody&#8217;s exactly sure how that&#8217;s going to play out,” Pennsylvania House Republican Leader Jesse Topper told The Daily Wire. “There has to be at least a minimum accountability standard for them in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or else we simply have stopped valuing human life in the same way.”
Law-and-order advocates worry the lapse in guidelines could lead to soft-on-crime judges imposing light sentences and to early release for the over 1,000 murderers currently imprisoned who now can argue their sentence was unconstitutional. 
“The new Democratic socialist movement is making no bones about what they support: no prisons, no minimums for crimes. And they&#8217;re not big fans of law enforcement,” Topper told The Daily Wire. “It just seems to be the radicals are driving the conversation on this issue and that party.”
The issue looms politically large for potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate Governor Josh Shapiro and the upcoming House elections, which are crucial for control of Congress. Many Democrats have backed away from their 2020-era push to defund the police, but the issue remains a focus of many GOP campaigns.
Topper fears that many of those currently behind bars for second-degree murder will capitalize on the court’s ruling to try to get out of prison. 
“The greatest danger is that you will have current murderers sitting in prison, being able to appeal their sentencing,” he said. “I do believe that you could be in a scenario where there will be judges who use this as an opportunity to kind of impose their ideology, and so letting people out of jail that don&#8217;t belong out of jail, and certainly don&#8217;t belong back on the streets.”
Under Pennsylvania law, second-degree murder is <a href="https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?txtType=HTM&amp;ttl=18&amp;div=00.&amp;chpt=025.&amp;sctn=002.&amp;subsctn=000.">defined</a> as being “committed while defendant was engaged as a principal or an accomplice in the perpetration of a felony,” which is listed to include the crimes of robbery, rape, arson, burglary, or kidnapping.
Shapiro <a href="https://x.com/GovernorShapiro/status/2037166490252726403?lang=en">praised</a> the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in March 2026 to strike down mandatory life-without-parole sentencing requirements. He called it a “common sense” ruling because the law held accomplices and the person who committed the murder to the same standard. 
In the decision, the court gave the General Assembly a 120-day deadline to come up with new sentencing guidelines. While the Republican-controlled Senate passed a bipartisan proposal one month before the deadline, the Democrat-controlled House did not vote on the guidelines until the very last minute. 
The Senate passed a bipartisan bill in June that <a href="https://www.palegis.us/legislation/bills/text/PDF/2025/0/SB1400/PN1834">included</a> a 35-year minimum sentence for those convicted of second-degree murder. The bill also included provisions allowing for judges to impose a life-without-parole sentence in certain circumstances, including if the murder involved rape. The proposal <a href="https://www.palegis.us/senate/roll-calls/summary?sessYr=2025&amp;sessInd=0&amp;rcNum=445&amp;sort=party">passed</a> the Senate 31-19 on June 23 with 26 Republicans in support and five Democrats. 
One month later, and just one day before the deadline, the Democrat-controlled House voted on a significantly altered proposal from the version passed by the Senate. 
Republicans <a href="https://x.com/VoteMartinaPA/status/2084399064775348255?s=20">said</a> the amended bill contained a “poison pill” that gave judges broad discretionary power to give murderers light sentences for vaguely defined medical purposes. The bill passed the House 102-100 with support from just one Republican. The GOP-controlled Senate has no plans to pass the House version, leaving the sentencing guidelines at a standstill. 
Topper told The Daily Wire that he believed the Senate version would have passed the House without amendments if leadership had allowed it to receive a vote. He said Democratic leadership wanted to appeal to the more radical wing of their caucus. Topper also believes Shapiro would have signed the Senate’s version had it made it unscathed through the House.
Democrat House Majority Leader Matthew Bradford did not respond to a request for comment. 
“I believe it would have ultimately been signed into law by the governor,” Topper said. “The governor needs to show some leadership if he wanted that Senate bill to pass… it&#8217;s incumbent upon him to make sure members of his own party are in line with what he believes and values.”
When asked by The Daily Wire if the governor would have signed the Senate version, Shapiro’s office recycled a statement from last month in which he called for Republicans to support the House version. 
“Our state Supreme Court took the right action declaring that law unconstitutional and gave our state Legislature time to address those who are serving life sentences for second degree murder,” he said. “While some have played politics and suggested 1,100 people could be immediately released from prison — that is simply not true. It’s time to end the politicization and demagoguery and instead work to provide individualized sentencing within a predictable and consistent framework.”
Some Republicans believe the issue will be an issue focused on as the November election approaches. Reilly Richardson, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, told The Daily Wire that crime will be a major focus as the November election approaches with numerous contested seats on the line. 
Multiple incumbent House Republicans, including Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Rep. Rob Bresnahan, Rep. Scott Perry, and Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, are being targeted by Democrats for potential seat flips. 
“Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies have been nothing short of disastrous in Pennsylvania,” Richardson said. “Now, they’re trying to send those same disastrous policies to Congress by nominating far-left candidates who are backed and bankrolled by groups who want to defund the police.”

corridor of a prison with bars and open cell door.

Swing State Republicans Fear Judge-Sanctioned Prison Break For Murderers

2026 midterm election

crime policy

sentencing guidelines

Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, a potential 2028 presidential contender, suggested he may have played a role in bringing LeBron James to the Philadelphia 76ers after personally lobbying the NBA superstar to join the team months before the blockbuster signing. 
In an interview with Politico Playbook, Shapiro said he first met James at the private club ZZ&#8217;s in New York City and used the opportunity to pitch Philadelphia.
“I don’t want to suggest that I’m the reason why LeBron chose the Sixers, but when I saw him at this dinner in New York, I figured I had to shoot my shot,” Shapiro <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2026/07/31/josh-shapiro-shoots-his-shot-01018938">said</a>.
According to an anonymous source close to the governor cited by Playbook, Shapiro “was relentless until he finally got word&#8221; last Friday that James was headed to Philadelphia.
Minutes after NBA insider Shams Charania broke the news of the signing online, Shapiro celebrated on social media by proclaiming it &#8220;LeBron James Day&#8221; in Pennsylvania.   
 
“LEBRON IS COMING TO PHILLY,” Shapiro <a href="https://x.com/GovernorShapiro/status/2080680553683046819?lang=en">posted</a>. “By the power vested in me as the Governor of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a die-hard Sixers fan&#8230; I hereby proclaim today to be LEBRON JAMES DAY. Welcome to the City of Brotherly Love, King James.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
LEBRON IS COMING TO PHILLY.
By the power vested in me as the Governor of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a die-hard Sixers fan&#8230; I hereby proclaim today to be LEBRON JAMES DAY.
Welcome to the City of Brotherly Love, <a href="https://x.com/KingJames?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KingJames</a>. <a href="https://t.co/JHsNkCFyyN">pic.twitter.com/JHsNkCFyyN</a>
— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) <a href="https://x.com/GovernorShapiro/status/2080680553683046819?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 24, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Shapiro also said he believes James can make an impact beyond basketball.
“I expect he’s going to bring a championship mentality to our team, and if he’s doing that in a way that also allows him to be a good father and husband, I think that’s great,” Shapiro said. 
Shapiro added that he “thought that there was a lot of important philanthropic work he could do in Philly.” 
James recently posted on social media about his new deal, saying he had briefly considered retirement before deciding to continue his career. 
“I thought I was done when the season ended. I wasn&#8217;t ready to announce it, and I knew I needed some time to really decide, but I was pretty sure I played my last game,” James <a href="https://x.com/KingJames/status/2080677086386430018">said</a>. “I was honest at that last press conference when I said I needed to look at myself and deicide [sic] if I still love this game. I still truly love this game, and I have more to give.”
“I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team and I am so excited to energize a new fan base and start this incredible journey one last time,” James added.
James <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/sports-gaming/5988495-lebron-james-nba-sixers-shapiro/">joins</a> Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey on a Sixers team hoping to bring Philadelphia its first NBA championship since 1983.

Screenshot 2026-07-31 at 12.42.56 PM

Dem Presidential Hopeful May Have Had Hand In Getting LeBron James To Philadelphia

2028 presidential election

lebron james

philadelphia

Philadelphia 76ers

sports

The threats to President Donald Trump and his administration are growing rapidly.
The Secret Service has investigated approximately 10,000 threats against its protectees, including President Trump, in the first half of this year, the head of the agency revealed Wednesday, <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/us-news/threats-to-us-officials-reach-unprecedented-numbers-ahead-of-rescheduled-white-house-correspondents-dinner-secret-service-boss-says/">according</a> to The New York Post.
“The numbers are numbers that this agency and certainly I have never seen in my 24-year career,” Secret Service Director Sean Curran told reporters, painting a chilling picture of an increasingly hostile political environment. In the first half of 2025, the agency opened roughly 7,000 cases.
The alarming surge comes ahead of Friday night’s rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., which was forced to move after suspect Cole Allen stormed an April checkpoint packed with guns and knives, allegedly hellbent on killing Trump and other administration officials.
Curran defended the security apparatus, insisting “the system worked” when agents stopped Allen before he could make it in the ballroom. Yet, the relentless barrage of target-painting on the president’s back raises urgent questions about the toxic political atmosphere.
The Secret Service’s massive threat log arrives after years of terrifying, real-world attempts on Trump’s life. From a 2016 gun-grab attempt in Las Vegas and a 2017 forklift ramming attack in North Dakota, to the horrific July 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania, rally shooting, and Ryan Routh’s Florida golf course ambush, the dangers have hit unprecedented highs. Add in thwarted international assassination schemes from Iran and ISIS, and the target on Trump remains massive.
In the meantime, Left-wing rhetoric is pouring gasoline on the fire.
Democrat leaders have repeatedly branded Trump an &#8220;existential threat,&#8221; a &#8220;fascist,&#8221; and an &#8220;authoritarian.&#8221; Former President Joe Biden once boasted he’d take Trump &#8220;behind the gym and beat the hell out of him,&#8221; and infamously <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/biden-says-it-was-mistake-to-say-he-wanted-to-put-bulls-eye-on-trump-during-donor-phone-call">declared</a> &#8220;it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye&#8221; in a phone call with donors right before the Butler shooting. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) publicly egged on mobs to harass administration officials, telling crowds, &#8220;You push back on them &#8230; tell them they&#8217;re not welcome.&#8221;
The hostile drumbeat from top Democrats has only grown louder:
<ul>
<li>House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) <a href="https://floridapolitics.com/archives/792200-maximum-warfare-hakeem-jeffries-promises-dems-will-target-8-gop-incumbents-in-florida-if-redistricting-happens/#:~:text=House%20Minority%20Leader%20Hakeem%20Jeffries%20is%20threatening,statement%20shared%20by%20Punchbowl%20News'%20Jake%20Sherman.">called</a> for “maximum warfare” just days before the April WHCD attack.</li>
<li>Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) <a href="https://iqconnect.house.gov/iqextranet/view_newsletter.aspx?id=172352&amp;c=FL13VB#:~:text=Schumer%20claimed%20in%20his%20interview%20with%20MSNBC's,do.%20That's%20what%20tyranny%20is%20all%20about.%22">urged</a> supporters to &#8220;be forcefully rising up against&#8221; the president.</li>
<li>California Governor Gavin Newsom bluntly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/24/no-holds-barred-fight-californias-governor-takes-off-his-gloves-to-punch-back-at-trump#:~:text=But%20then%20Trump%20came%20for%20California%2C%20and,Newsom%20said%20on%20a%20podcast%20last%20week.">told his base</a> to “punch these sons of b*tches in the mouth.”</li>
<li>Illinois Governor JB Pritzker <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/28/jb-pritzker-speech#:~:text=Joseph%20Gedeon%20in%20Washington.%20Mon%2028%20Apr,filled%20with%20Democratic%20activists%2C%20officials%20and%20donors.">proclaimed</a> that “Republicans cannot know a moment of peace.”</li>
<li>Minnesota Governor Tim Walz went so far as to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/tim-walz-trump-administration-ice-enforcement-republicans/">declare</a> his state is “at war with our federal government.”</li>
</ul>
Most threats originate online, but as the 10,000-case milestone proves, the leap from online hate to real-world violence is closer than ever.

BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA – July 13: Former president Donald Trump r

10,000 Secret Service Threats Prove Left’s Violent Rhetoric Has Consequences

Death Threats

Democrats

donald trump

gavin newsom

hakeem jeffries

J.B. Pritzker

joe biden

secret service

tim walz

Members of the far-Left &#8220;Squad&#8221; have built a reputation for their antisemitism — but apparently they struggle to tell individual Jews apart when attacking them for political positions.
Longtime Democratic commentator <a href="https://x.com/VanJones68/status/2078517905554288900">Van Jones</a> sparked the conversation with a post on X in which he called out the extremism within his own party. Clearly referencing the rise of the antisemitic democratic socialists, Jones said that he did not believe the party writ large should just open up the tent and &#8220;swear allegiance to crazy ideas.&#8221;
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) reposted Jones&#8217; video, adding his concurring thoughts: &#8220;I’m glad to see other Democrats reiterating what I’ve been saying all along: the DSA are not Democrats. They’re socialists, who want to hijack the Democratic Party. The Democrats have a big tent. That’s our strength. We embrace a range of ideas — but there’s no room for anti-American bomb-throwers who oppose our ideas, values, &amp; leaders.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I’m glad to see other Democrats reiterating what I’ve been saying all along: the DSA are not Democrats. They’re socialists, who want to hijack the Democratic Party.
The Democrats have a big tent. That’s our strength. We embrace a range of ideas — but there’s no room for… <a href="https://t.co/4egn90PNm0">https://t.co/4egn90PNm0</a>
— Rep Josh Gottheimer (@RepJoshG) <a href="https://x.com/RepJoshG/status/2079234888918843442?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 20, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Squad member Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) replied to Gottheimer, saying, &#8220;What about Dems who sign bombs and vote to drop them?&#8221;
It was not long before the Community Notes began to pour in, pointing out the fact that it was Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) who had signed the bombs destined to support Ukraine in the ongoing fight against Russia. &#8220;Different Josh,&#8221; the comments read.
&#8220;You know that’s the other Jewish guy named Josh, right?&#8221; Gottheimer replied in another post.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
You know that’s the other Jewish guy named Josh, right? <a href="https://t.co/dCF0AtT0rY">https://t.co/dCF0AtT0rY</a>
— Rep Josh Gottheimer (@RepJoshG) <a href="https://x.com/RepJoshG/status/2079673421529600327?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 21, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Card-carrying Squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) rushed to Lee&#8217;s defense, firing back at Gottheimer, &#8220;He signed the bombs you voted to be dropped. Hope this helps!&#8221;
The Community notes on Omar&#8217;s post reminded her that Shapiro had signed bombs destined to defend Ukraine — not Israel — and Gottheimer quickly pointed out the fact that Omar herself had also voted to send aid to Ukraine.
&#8220;Ilhan, you know who else voted for it? You,&#8221; he said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Ilhan, you know who else voted for it? You. <a href="https://t.co/IjIQW4TNwF">https://t.co/IjIQW4TNwF</a> <a href="https://t.co/OwiNHHcXdz">https://t.co/OwiNHHcXdz</a> <a href="https://t.co/m8E8N4g8RD">pic.twitter.com/m8E8N4g8RD</a>
— Rep Josh Gottheimer (@RepJoshG) <a href="https://x.com/RepJoshG/status/2079730367397822598?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Rep. Lee also voted in favor of H.R. 8035, the Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024.

Ilhan Omar

The Squad Can’t Keep Their Jews Straight

antisemitism

ilhan omar

Jews

media

Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro wants the White House. On Wednesday, that ambition was on full display as he tap-danced around a direct question about his party&#8217;s newest crop of Israel-bashing socialists — brushing off the widening rift as a distraction from his own brand of buttoned-up &#8220;pragmatism.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.ms.now/morning-joe/watch/gov-shapiro-trump-s-chaos-and-cruelty-is-infecting-everything-2505282115932">Pressed</a> by MS NOW&#8217;s Willie Geist on whether hard-Left firebrands out of New York and Colorado risk becoming the face of the Democratic Party nationally, Shapiro punted.
“Do you worry, though, governor, about some of these candidates in these high-profile races in New York and now in Colorado will be elevated as representative of Democrats nationally with some of their extreme views?” Geist asked.
“I mean, look — here in Pennsylvania, folks know what pragmatism results and getting stuff done looks like, because they see me, they see other Democrats who are doing that in our commonwealth. Look, I want to work with anyone to get stuff done,” Shapiro replied.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Shorter Josh Shapiro to the Jew-hating communists who&#39;ve taken over the Democrat Party: Please, please, eat me last <a href="https://t.co/lmJdXJ6WkW">pic.twitter.com/lmJdXJ6WkW</a>
&mdash; Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) <a href="https://x.com/CurtisHouck/status/2072328489974276500?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 1, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Shapiro refused to confront the elephant — or camel — in the room.
That elephant has a name, or rather <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/jun/24/israel-critics-sweep-new-york-house-primaries-signaling-democratic/">several</a>. Brad Lander, the self-styled &#8220;liberal Zionist&#8221; who in his victory speech accused Israel of “genocide” and “apartheid” and declared that Americans were “paying for Netanyahu’s wars with our tax dollars.”
New York U.S. House candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier <a href="https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2026/06/avila-chevalier-attended-oct-8-pro-palestinian-rally-lander-condemned/413981/">showed up</a> to a Times Square rally the day after Hamas butchered 1,200 Israelis — October 8, 2023 — and later refused to condemn the attacks at a candidate forum, instead <a href="https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2026/06/avila-chevalier-attended-oct-8-pro-palestinian-rally-lander-condemned/413981/">lecturing</a> moderators about “75 years of occupation.” She spent her New York primary campaign branding Israel an “apartheid state.”
Another New York U.S. House candidate, Claire Valdez, marched with the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace for years, reportedly co-sponsored Mamdani’s “Not on Our Dime!” legislation targeting charities that fund West Bank settlements, and <a href="https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2026/06/mysterious-pro-reynoso-super-pac-funded-teachers-union-not-aipac/414238/">falsely accused</a> her opponent, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, of being bankrolled by AIPAC — a claim her own campaign finance filings blew up.
And now Colorado&#8217;s Melat Kiros, fresh off toppling 15-term Rep. Diana DeGette while <a href="https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/jta/really-alarmed-jewish-groups-concerned-about-democratic-socialist-on-colorado-ballot/article_447c18dd-fa78-5de5-95f7-60e2650d1014.html">calling</a> for a total arms embargo on the Jewish state and refusing to label the Boulder firebombing an act of antisemitism.
All were cheered on by Mayor Mamdani&#8217;s growing socialist machine. None drew so much as a syllable of pushback from Shapiro on air.
It&#8217;s not hard to see why. Shapiro, still nursing the sting of getting passed over for Kamala Harris&#8217;s ticket in 2024 — a snub widely chalked up to Democratic squeamishness about his faith — knows exactly how combustible this topic is for a man eyeing 2028. Distance yourself too loudly from the socialist wing and risk the base. Cozy up and risk everything else.
Except Shapiro&#8217;s own recent Israel commentary has <a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/morton-a-klein/pennsylvania-jewish-governor-wrongly-points-fingers-at-trump-and-netanyahu?utm_source=chatgpt.com">hardly been a profile in courage</a>. On the &#8220;All-In&#8221; podcast, he accused Benjamin Netanyahu of &#8220;leading around&#8221; and &#8220;bullying&#8221; Trump into confronting Iran — the same &#8220;bully&#8221; label he&#8217;s slapped on Trump himself over Venezuela and Canada, but somehow reserved for Israel&#8217;s prime minister when Tehran was the target. Critics, including the Zionist Organization of America, called the framing straight out of the &#8220;Jews control America&#8221; playbook — a particularly bitter irony for a governor whose own home was firebombed on the first night of Passover last year.
NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck summed up Shapiro&#8217;s comments well when he wrote, &#8220;Josh Shapiro to the Jew-hating communists who&#8217;ve taken over the Democrat Party: Please, please, eat me last.&#8221;

Josh Shapiro

‘Eat Me Last’: Josh Shapiro Makes 2028 Calculation To Indulge The Israel-Hating Left

anti-Israel

democratic socialists of america

Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro is used to running the state — but now his neighbors say he’s been running their backyard too.
A bitter property fight between the governor and the couple next door has exploded into a federal lawsuit, with Jeremy and Simone Mock accusing Shapiro and his wife, Lori, of trespassing on a slice of their land and trying to claim it for themselves.
At the center of the dispute is roughly 2,900 square feet of property between the two homes in the Philadelphia suburb of Jenkintown. The Mocks say the strip belongs to them. The governor’s family says otherwise.
According to the complaint filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the fight began after security concerns intensified around Shapiro’s homes. In April 2025, an arsonist hurled a Molotov cocktail into the governor&#8217;s mansion in Harrisburg while Shapiro and his family were inside celebrating Passover. The attack prompted officials to review security at the governor’s other home as well.
As part of those discussions, the Shapiros wanted to build an eight-foot security fence near the edge of their property in Jenkintown.
The situation also carries a dose of political irony. Shapiro previously criticized former President Donald Trump’s border wall and other immigration policies. Now the Democratic governor finds himself in a legal fight tied to building a fence around his own home.
That’s when surveyors discovered something surprising: a piece of land the Shapiros had long treated as part of their yard was actually deeded to the Mocks.
Court filings say the governor first tried to buy the land from his neighbors so the security project could move forward. When the two sides couldn’t agree on a price, the Mocks say they offered another option — leasing the strip instead.
But the lawsuit claims negotiations soon broke down.
The Mocks allege the Shapiros began acting as though the land already belonged to them, planting trees on the disputed strip and asserting control over the area. The complaint also claims that the Pennsylvania State Police began patrolling the property as part of a security zone connected to the governor’s protection detail.
When the Mocks attempted to access the land, officers allegedly told them the area was considered “disputed” and ordered them to leave.
The neighbors say the situation forced them to halt construction of their own fence and prevented contractors from entering the area.
The Shapiros strongly dispute the allegations and have filed their own legal action.
Their argument relies on Pennsylvania’s adverse possession law, which allows someone to claim ownership of land if they have openly used and maintained it for 21 continuous years without the legal owner objecting.
According to their filing, the Shapiros say they’ve treated the fence line as the real property boundary since they purchased their home in 2003, mowing and maintaining the area for decades.
The Mocks call the situation something else entirely — an “outrageous abuse of power.”
In the end, it’s the kind of neighbor property fight many homeowners have seen before — just with a governor on one side of the fence.
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Home improvement Josh Shapiro

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According to a new law, all public and private schools in Pennsylvania will be required to add cursive handwriting lessons into their curriculum beginning next month.
The bill was signed into law by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) last month and will take effect on April 12. It also had bipartisan support and passed the House 195‑8 and the Senate 42‑5 before being signed by the governor, according to <a href="https://www.fox29.com/news/pennsylvania-schools-will-be-required-teach-cursive-again-starting-april">Fox 29 Philadelphia.</a>
PA Senator and bill sponsor Wayne Langerholic (R) said in a statement that &#8220;by reintegrating cursive into the curriculum…we are investing in our students’ cognitive development, strengthening their legal preparedness and preserving their connection to historical literacy.&#8221;
&#8220;Cursive is more than handwriting. It’s a bridge,&#8221; Rep. Dane Watro (R), a cosponsor of the bill, said in a statement. &#8220;It connects us to our history, strengthens learning and deepens our understanding of the world. By teaching cursive, we’re equipping students with skills that sharpen the mind and safeguard our shared heritage.&#8221;
There’s been a big debate over cursive writing instruction ever since the Common Core Standards for public school education, which were adopted in 2010, did not include a cursive handwriting requirement. Those standards stressed printed writing and keyboard skills to be used for writing instead. 
One recent <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11943480/">study</a> found that cursive helps children with brain development. 
“The Neuroscience Behind Writing” found that “cursive writing involves greater activation of the motor cortex and cerebellum, as it requires fine motor coordination and smooth transitions between letters.” The report went on to note that, …this fluidity enhances memory retention and cognitive engagement, as the writer must anticipate the next letter in a continuous motion.”
Per the website <a href="https://mycursive.com/states-that-require-cursive-writing/#:~:text=Arizona,introduced%20as%20recently%20as%202022.)">MyCursive</a>, almost half of states still require or encourage cursive instruction in the classroom. That number has been steadily increasing over the years. 
New Jersey just updated their cursive writing requirements earlier this year as Governor Phil Murphy (D ) signed a cursive mandate into law just before leaving office in January. The new standards will go into effect next school year for students.
“We owe it to our students to give them a well-rounded education that ensures they have the tools to fully understand our rich history and become competent leaders,” Murphy said in a statement at the time, per the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/01/20/us-news/nj-flips-script-mandates-teaching-cursive-writing-in-schools-starting-next-fall/">New York Post</a>.

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