Month: May 2026

Fetterman. Platner. Crooksy.

/ Rich Wilkins / Leave a comment

In 2022, I opposed John Fetterman in the primary, even after it was obvious he would win. Even in the general election, it took me until 4pm on Election Day to drop my ballot off at a ballot box, because I really didn’t want to vote for the guy. His history of chasing a Black jogger with a shot gun, supporting Bernie Sanders, and his debate performances really turned me off to the guy. I feel vindicated by how awful he’s been. He was lucky though. Dr. Oz won the GOP nomination despite not living in the state, then decided to talk about incest and say that local governments deserve a role in abortion decisions. Now we’re stuck with this idiot.

Graham Platner in Maine is drawing a lot of comparisons to Fetterman. Obviously, he got a Nazi tattoo, something that should be disqualifying, but leftists love it. He posted hateful rhetoric on Reddit, attacking sexual assault victims, criticizing Black people for not tipping, and using homophobic slurs. His campaign is paying his wife, allowing him to profit personally and still collect his disability. Platner defended urinating on dead fighters and once was a Blackwater mercenary. This guy is a walking red flag, and he’s bad enough to make me appreciate Fetterman. This guy is a scumbag and I hope he loses.

Here in the Lehigh Valley, we have Bob “Crooksy” Brooks. Deadbeat Bob is trying very hard to stiff his ex-mother-in-law out of six figures of money he owes her. He hates Barack Obama. He hates Colin Kaepernick for opposing police brutality. He supports guns and school prayer. He’s at least oblivious to political violence, if not worse. He’s kind of stupid. There’s an ethics investigation into him. Man, I’d hate to hear how this guy talked as a bartender, wouldn’t you? Seems like a wonderful, tolerant, good person.

So what’s the common ground here, besides being awful human beings that shouldn’t be trusted with leadership in a society? Fight Agency, their media consultants. It’s worth noting that they’re also Ruben Gallego’s team, and he’s having some issues right now. They’re good at what they do, but man do they know how to pick ’em. Of course, beyond Fetterman being a scumbag, he’s also been a huge disappointment to most Democrats as Senator. Why should anyone not believe Platner and Deadbeat Bob will be the same? They clearly don’t *believe* in liberal values in any meaningful way, based on their actions. Why wouldn’t they end up just as bad as Fetterman, under the best case scenario? Don’t be fooled here. These guys aren’t good or decent people, let alone solid Democrats. It’s all a fraud, a scam, a lie. Reject it.

It’s Time to End Tax Breaks for Luxury Housing

/ Rich Wilkins / Leave a comment

Far from me to ever agree with the Democratic Socialists, sometimes you kind of have to agree with someone when they’re right. If a rich guy wants to build luxury apartments and is following all zoning and planning laws in the community, they should be able to do that. This is why we have laws and really the success or failure should be on them- if people want the properties they’re selling, they’ll fill them. If they don’t, they’ll fail, and you know, capitalism or something. Obviously it’s in a community’s interest to have some high income people live in their community, within reason, and so I got giving them some public help when our community’s were down. The state and local governments subsidizing development in Center City Allentown 15 years ago, or in Bethlehem in the 90’s and 2000’s, or even in Easton up until five to ten years ago made some sense. That shouldn’t become a hard and fast policy though. Local leaders don’t need to subsidize these guys. It’s not like they’re willing to share in the profits with the community- that’s literally what they’re asking to do when asking for tax credits and RACP grants. We subsidize their profits. Again, that might make sense in areas that are really down. That’s not the Lehigh Valley in 2026.

When I graduated high school, you could rent in Easton for under a thousand dollars a month. Now you’re spending an easy two grand for anything kind of acceptable. That’s because the Easton area is desirable. Now yes, this proposal in front of County Council is technically in Wilson, but that is essentially a part of the Easton area. Rents don’t need to be driven any further up, they need to be driven down. If a developer comes forward and wants to build *low* income housing in the Easton area, the local governments can and should consider helping with that. It’s needed right now. High income housing? We have enough. Really, we don’t need more.

Now, of course I have to find a few problems with the DSA position above. Bernie already pointed out that they just are opposed to the current deal, not the project inherently. They also magically left the Republican member of council off, as one kind of expects from a group that only seems to protest Democrats. Magically they also left two Democrats off, ostensibly because they probably think they’re a “no” vote anyway, but what the hell here? It feels… selective. I don’t care though, they’re right on this and it’s time for local government to stop asking the public to fund big pay days for guys who already have a lot of money.