
Photo of the Day, 3/19



If you bat .500 in baseball, you win the batting title. I told you yesterday that Taiba Sultana’s nominating petitions for the 18th State Senate District and Carol Obando-Derstine’s nominating petitions for the 7th Congressional District were potentially being challenged. Only Sultana’s petitions ended up being challenged. It turns out that Carol’s 1,800 plus signatures stood up. Sultana’s may not.
Bernie O’Hare reports that Ray Lahoud filed the challenge to Sultana, stating that she only has 484 valid signatures amongst her 901 signatures. He also says her statement of financial interests is invalid. They will now go to a hearing.
Meanwhile in more/less surprising news, Ana Tiburcio’s petitions were also challenged in the 22nd House District. The suit contends that a majority of her signatures are bad. After watching the debate for the special election, I don’t find myself shocked.
The Sultana and Tiburcio cases will now get a court date. Then we’ll see what happens.


Sure, I told you he’s a deadbeat. Sure, I told you he’s a religious fanatic and gun nut. I told you he’s for political violence. I told you he likes election deniers. I told you he wasn’t a fan of Barack Obama. I told you he expressed racist views about Colin Kaepernick kneeling. I told you he’s a fake “everyman.” I told you about his awful endorsers. Hell, I even told you he’s the next Fetterman. I not only told you all of this, I showed you. I showed you his screenshots. I showed you the Superior Court opinion against him for stiffing his mother-in-law. This stuff isn’t questionable. This is the verifiable stuff. I didn’t go into the other stuff I heard, about his private business, about how he came into the Presidency of his union, about some of his friends he’s pals with from over the years, about investigations into him, or even that one of his superiors has a lot to say about him (and is giving it to the Republicans). I even stayed out of what he promised other candidates who exited the race for him. In general, I think you only fire verified shots. More so, I don’t think every past misdeed actually really should matter. Of course, that’s if you’re not a candidate for Congress. If you’re going to seek the nomination of your party for the U.S. Congress, you need to understand that the other side will find everything and make you look as awful as humanly possible. Look at the way Susan Wild was savagely attacked in the last election for doing her job as a defense attorney for Lehigh Valley Hospital. Look, you may not approve of what a client does in any given case, but the premise of our legal system is even that the worst scumbags deserve a lawyer to help them navigate the ordeal in the best legal way possible.
I’ll tell you what, I hope Crooksy has a good lawyer.
I was too nice to this guy. I mean, I knew he was a deadbeat. According to the lawsuit filed against him in February by his ex-mother-in-law, this guy is nothing more than a parasite that is still taking her for every dime he can. I’m going to let Bernie’s piece on this do the talking here:
Let me give you some background. In 2008, his in-laws transferred a residential property to Brooks and his Wife #1. They even fronted the cost of subdividing the property to the tune of $55,000. Everyman Brooks promised to pay the money back but never did. Eventually, he and Wife #1 signed a promissory note for the money, but he never paid a cent. He was sued, and a $130,000 award was entered against him in 2020. In an effort to string things along, he appealed. He lost in a unanimous Pennsylvania Superior Court ruling. In 2022, judgment was entered against him for $130,000.
That judgment remains open of record.
After screwing over his in-laws, he and his wife eventually parted ways, with a divorce being granted in 2018. Then, in the midst of two mortgage foreclosures and lawsuits by two credit card companies, Brooks quitclaimed his interest in the property to a person who I thought was Wife #1 in 2022. But according to the lawsuit filed against Brooks, he actually quitclaimed his interest to Wife #2 in a Quitclaim Deed that both he and Wife #2 executed.
I’ve told you that Wives #1 and #2 have virtually identical names. Wife #1 is Jennifer Lynne Brooks. Wife #2 is Jennifer Lynn Brooks. There is no “e” in “Lynne” in Wife #2’s name. The lawsuit avers that the Quitclaim was a fraudulent attempt to obscure the real identity of Wife #2 in order to avoid paying a $130,000 judgment. As a bonus for Brooks, this alleged subterfuge would have enabled Wife #2 tro obtain a $330,000 mortgage.
According to the lawsuit, the signature in the Quitclaim is different than the Note signed by Wife #1 and Brooks for the cost of subdividing their property.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the mother-in-law, now seeks $160,000 from Brooks and from Wife #2. In addition, punitive damages are sought for “outrageous” and “malicious” subterfuge that “shock the conscience”
He’s no working-class hero. He’s shady. While there might be an innocent explanation to these allegations of forgery, there’s no denying that Brooks has adamantly refused to pay a family loan, not just a bank loan, for the home in which he lives.
I don’t even know what to add to this. The dude married a lady with the same name as his ex, basically, then pretended he was signing away the property he owed money on to his ex-wife? Remember, he was actually given this property in 2004, or 22 years ago, then signed the promissory note in 2008, then still hadn’t paid ten years later when she sued, then lost his appeal about four years ago, and then he did this. His plan is literally to con this woman out of the money that he signed that he would pay back forever.
I’ve had some Democrats say to me that they think he can get past this. I mean maybe, perhaps if Democrats win 40 seats or more and Josh Shapiro wins by 12 points it’s possible that just enough voters will overlook this man’s personal stench. I mean, Ryan Mackenzie has stayed true to his word and completely enabled a President cares not of constitutional rights, human dignity, helping his fellow man, or doing anything to improve life on this planet with his power, only that he protects himself from prosecution, exposure in the Epstein Files, and enriching himself. That may be enough of an albatross to sink Ryan Mackenzie even if we nominate a fraud who stole from his own family. Maybe. Or maybe Mackenzie slimes him up so badly with his personal baggage that 10-15% of Democrats are personally repulsed and either leave it blank or vote for Mackenzie who wouldn’t have against literally any of the other three. And perhaps we haven’t even seen rock bottom yet. No one has got into that divorce yet. No one has dropped all the stuff I just don’t feel is right to drop. One of his former bosses did give negative info about him to a DC Republican, we have no idea what’s in that.
Nominating this man is malpractice. Some folks are not Congressional material, and God knows that applies here. I get it, a lot of people are so partisan at this point that they’ll vote for Ted Cruz or a guy with a Nazi tattoo to vote against the other side. I guarantee you that’s not every last voter. And it won’t take much. Even in the best election imaginable, no candidate is winning by 10%. I guarantee you that 1 in 20 voters will see this stuff and want to puke before they’d consider voting for this guy. I might even know a few.

Petitions to be placed on the ballot for the May Primary are all done, so in theory we know who will be on the ballot now. Of course, members of your own party can challenge your petitions, either by stating they have a fatal defect, that you don’t have enough valid signatures, or that you are not actually eligible. There’s a lot more legalese than that, but none of you are here to read that. You want to know who is getting challenged. So I’ll tell you about what I know.
Taiba Sultana’s petitions to challenge State Senator Lisa Boscola in Senate District 18’s Democratic Primary are being challenged. Sultana has a rough history with petitions. Two years ago her petitions to challenge State Rep. Bob Freeman made waves when Boscola’s name was actually on her petition as a signer, but at an address that doesn’t exist and in a town which Senator Boscola doesn’t live in. Senator Boscola accused her of forging the signature, which was on a petition circulated by now-County Councilman Nadeem Qayyum, Sultana’s husband. Freeman decided not to challenge her petition, and he ended up beating her by over 50% of the vote, winning every municipality in the district. Supporters of Senator Boscola are apparently not giving Sultana the opportunity to get crushed this time, and they are challenging her petitions. I’m not sure what the challenge is this time, but we’ll hear soon.
The other challenge I heard about was quite interesting. Someone is apparently considering a challenge to Carol Obando-Derstine’s nominating petitions for the 7th Congressional District. I was sent the petition above (I screen shotted part of it) as an example of allegedly forged signatures in her filing. The person sending it also says there are other issues, and someone thinks they can drive her under 1,000 valid signatures with their collective challenges. I was told by a source closer to Carol that she filed over 1,800 signatures and they would be shocked if it’s an issue. I won’t post who circulated this petition, but they do work in government. If I didn’t know better, I’d think some of the Harrisburg boys who are pushing Crooksy want to send this woman a message about who she supports. Then again, Crosswell would also benefit from being the only Lehigh County candidate in the race. Hell, if we’re honest, all three guys would benefit at least a little if she was driven off the ballot. They better really have the goods though, challenging and failing would look bad to insiders (like that matters to any normal people though). You can be the judge of at least the sheet above, but it definitely looks like the same handwriting to me. One sheet wouldn’t be enough to win the challenge though.
We’ll know by 5pm tonight. I’m sure there’ll be more.


You know how sometimes a lot of stuff happens in a week, but really nothing stands out so you really don’t remember anything? Good times. It’s almost Spring. It’s St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow. No matter how bad life is, it’s good right now. Or it could at least be worse. It could still be early February and there could be snow on the ground. Lots of snow, frozen solid because it’s too cold to melt.
So March Madness is here. Locally, Lehigh University is in the big dance, as are two Philly schools, Villanova and Penn, while St. Joe’s is in the NIT. It seems like most of New York City is in, with St. John’s, LIU, and Hofstra in. I haven’t filled out my brackets yet (that’s tomorrow morning), but I think I’m split between Florida and Arizona at the moment, but also considering Duke. Here in Easton, PA, we celebrate March Matness religiously, with this week’s NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships almost being a religious holiday. I’m taking Penn State to win by a million. In the World Baseball Classic this week the United States and Venezuela have advanced to play a championship game tomorrow night filled with geopolitical irony this year. Phillies Cristopher Sanchez, Aaron Nola, and prospect Dante Nori have all stood out for their teams in this tournament, while Phillies Americans Brad Keller, Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper will play in tomorrow’s final. I’m enjoying it. This past weekend was the New Jersey State High School Wrestling Championships, and while the wrestling was good, two tweets stood out- this one about the best Italian names in each weight class and this photo of an amazing scene at the end of a semi-final match on the IBEW Local 102 mat. Peak stuff. Also if you ever thought of giving up on something, 33 year old Izzy Balsiger became an All-American 13 years after previously achieving the honor at the NCAA Division III Wrestling tournament.
In more serious matters, the United States suffered casualties in a war that it won a week or two ago in Iran. The U.S. Embassy in Iraq was hit by a drone. The President is pressuring NATO and China to reopen the Straight of Hormuz. Gas prices are up. Israel is talking to Lebanon as it increases it’s ground campaign in Lebanon against Hezbollah. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has breast cancer and I wish her a speedy recovery. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has threatened to revoke licenses for television networks that don’t cover the Iran War the way he likes. Congress doesn’t seem super pleased, but they can’t get themselves out of a paper bag. A federal judge has blocked parts of RFK Jr.’s vaccine guidelines. The USDA is making indentured servitude great again, deciding to increase temporary visas for immigrant migrant farmworkers and lower their pay. There are major primary elections tomorrow in Illinois and apparently Altoona, if you believe that. New York City is lowering speed limits to 15mph in school zones. I’m fine with that.
Last night was the Oscar’s. I watched Conan’s opening monologue and thought it was pretty funny, but Conan O’Brien is funny. “One Battle After Another” won best picture. Jessie Buckley won best actress for her role in “Hamnet.” Michael B. Jordan won best actor for his role in “Sinners,” officially making him the second most famous Michael Jordan. “Sinners” won four Oscars as a movie, while “One Battle After Another” won six. Nicole Kidman showed up Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez on the Red Carpet. And in my favorite win, “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” won best documentary feature, a big fuck you to Vlad. I still couldn’t sit there and watch the whole show though, ADHD gets in the way.
Well it’s just about St. Patrick’s Day. Go drink a green beer or some Guinness, throw on your Birds jersey for the day, and blast the Dropkick Murphy’s. Oh, and eat all of the corned beef and cabbage that I don’t get to first.


Once upon a time conservatives supported mass immigration, because they wanted cheap labor. Democrats were actually more hawkish on immigration than Republicans in my childhood. The issue was largely a fight over cheap labor vs. good wages. That was largely before Donald Trump, in fact the change started late in George W. Bush’s term. The Republicans adopted hardline views on immigration, and even want to stop legal immigration now in some circles. Of course the United States does need some legal immigration to deal with labor needs, so Trump’s hardline immigration positions are causing serious problems in some labor markets. One of them is agriculture, where the work is frankly hard for the pay and most Americans won’t do it. Since they now lack immigrants and Americans don’t want to do it, we’re getting the worst of every world now.
So now the plan is to quietly let some migrants back into the country to work, but to pay them way less and basically give them less freedom while here. Great.
Nothing like returning to the policies of the Jim Crow South.
