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Pennsylvania business owner says 'liberal myopia' swinging voters toward GOP: Dems 'can't see' our problems

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Pennsylvania business owner says 'liberal myopia' swinging voters toward GOP: Dems 'can't see' our problems

Pennsylvania is suffering from a “liberal myopia,” fueling an exodus from the Democratic Party as more voters flee to the GOP, one Pittsburgh business owner told Fox News on Wednesday.

“We’re suffering from a liberal myopia. They can’t see the crime. They can’t see the vacancies on the buildings. They can’t see the crumbling infrastructure. And downtown Pittsburgh, we have the largest homeless encampment in the tri-state area,” Rich Cupka, who owns Cupka’s Cafe in the Steel City, told “Fox & Friends First.”

He appeared alongside two other voters from the Keystone State, a hotly-contested battleground zone up for grabs between Trump and Harris, with polls indicating no clear winner. With just under four weeks until voters cast their ballots, its political attitudes on the ground are in focus.

The sentiment draws on a recent article from The Philadelphia Inquirer, finding that working-class voters in deep blue Philadelphia are making a pivot to the GOP. The article warned that Democrats losing ground in lower income areas could signal bad news for Vice President Harris next month. 

FOX NEWS POLL: HARRIS, TRUMP LOCKED IN TIGHT RACE IN BATTLEGROUND PENNSYLVANIA

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Pittsburgh business owner Rich Cupka told Fox News that a “liberal myopia” is driving voters away from Democrats. (Fox News)

Pennsylvania also saw one of the most pivotal moments of the current election cycle, when shots rang out at former President Trump’s first Butler rally in July, marking the first of two attempts on his life.

Noreen Johnson, also a resident of the state, said those shots heard around the world had a lasting impact.

“They say there were 100,000 people there over the weekend,” she said, speaking of Trump’s recent return to the site. “That alone, I think, speaks volumes.”

“Butler’s attempted assassination, I think, really changed the landscape, not only in Pennsylvania, but across the nation,” she added. 

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“To see a former president be nearly killed by a hair. I think a lot of people – even people that don’t care for Donald Trump – that affected them and that may or may not have swayed their vote… We are where we are with our candidates. It is crunch time but, at the same time, people are hurting all over the country, and while Kamala is busy with her last-minute interviews and not answering questions and word salads, people are suffering, dying all over the country, and we have to make a change, and there’s only one change, and that is Donald Trump on November 5th.”

PA GOV TAKES VICTORY LAP AFTER SUPREME COURT REJECTS GOP BID TO OVERTURN ELECTION LAW ‘USURPATIONS’

PA voter panel

A panel of Pennsylvania voters shared their thoughts on the upcoming election on “Fox & Friends First.” (Fox News)

Registered Democrat Jahmiel Jackson, a resident of Philadelphia, also joined the panel and was asked to weigh in on Harris’ recent media tour, during which she has spoken to personalities like Howard Stern, Stephen Colbert and the women of “The View.”

Jackson, echoing many others, voiced concern about her reluctance to answer tough questions.

“I think when we see her, what we’re really missing from her is a really hard interview where she’s being grilled, where she’s being fact-checked, and her feet are being held to the fire because Donald Trump has been doing this for eight years but, even when he’s been running now, it’s been two years. He hasn’t been scared of a single interview, so I think when we see her keep dodging on very important issues, then she doesn’t represent Philadelphia at all,” he said.

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“For example, with the economy that’s looming over her, she keeps saying that, ‘We aren’t going back.’ That’s one of her main catchline phrases that so many young people see as well, but when I talk to many people in Philadelphia, when I’m doing street interviews, I’m talking to my friends and families and their friends, they’re always saying, well, we do want to go back to lower priced groceries, to a more stable world where there aren’t as many embassy evacuations or there aren’t as many foreign wars, a more stable country, for example, so a lot of us do want to go back to the 2019 amazing economy.”

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Boston, MA

Mayor Wu’s line in the sand on property taxes doesn’t make political or economic sense – The Boston Globe

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Mayor Wu’s line in the sand on property taxes doesn’t make political or economic sense – The Boston Globe


Apparently not, even with a late-November deadline for legislative approval of her home rule petition fast approaching.

To the bafflement of many on Beacon Hill and in the business community, Wu on Wednesday made clear once again she wasn’t interested in modifying the bill she filed with the Legislature in April to help the city offset the decline in commercial real estate values.

The legislation has stalled amid opposition by business groups and skeptical state senators who think City Hall should share the financial pain of property owners by also reducing spending or tapping reserves to balance its budget.

The news: Such moves “would be very financially irresponsible,” Wu told reporters in a virtual briefing from Moon Island, where she was attending a Boston firefighters event. It’s a message she recently delivered behind closed doors to lawmakers and business leaders.

The mayor also dismissed the idea of using city funds to help homeowners who can least afford to pay higher property taxes, saying it would violate state laws and perhaps the state constitution.

  • Wu said City Hall would need to cut its $4.64 billion budget by $265 million, or nearly 6 percent, to have the same impact as her property tax plan. That would force a layoff of 2,200 city employees and cuts to essential services.

The reaction: Business leaders said they’re not asking the city to come up with the entire $265 million. Instead, they are pushing for a package of changes that would soften the blow on commercial landlords and still provide relief for homeowners.

  • “We need to piece a solution together,” said James Rooney, chief executive of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. “This was not an unexpected storm,” he said, noting that the city’s budget increased 20 percent over the past three years even as signs emerged that commercial real estate was in trouble.

Marty Walz, interim president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, a business-backed watchdog group, said that after boosting spending by 8 percent in the current fiscal year, a trim of 1 or 2 percent was easily manageable without crippling the city.

  • “What manager can’t find that in their budget?” she said.

Recap: High vacancy rates have eroded the value of office buildings and other business properties. Recent data from real estate firm JLL show a slight improvement, but the decline threatens to throw Boston’s operating budget out of whack. Commercial real estate taxes, which are pegged to assessed values, account for about 40 percent of its revenue.

New numbers: At her briefing, Wu said the city’s latest data show that commercial assessments will drop an average of 7 percent, effective in January. The average residential assessment will increase 4 percent.

  • Based on those numbers — which are subject to a final revision — residential tax bills would increase an average of 14 percent compared with the fiscal year ended in July without approval of Wus plan, and 5 percent if she gets the green light from lawmakers.
  • The impact on commercial properties would vary, but Wu said a typical building valued at $5 million would see its tax bill fall 6.7 percent under the new assessments, or 0.5 percent if her plan is in place. (Newer “Class A” properties, which are doing better in attracting and retaining tenants, would likely see an increase in tax bills, the city said previously.)

Final thought: For the average Boston home, which the city said is assessed at $838,000, the tax increase in the third and fourth quarters of 2025 compared with the first two quarters would be a total of $770 if Wu’s bill doesn’t pass, and $275 if it does.

As a possible compromise, the city could kick in enough money to split the difference between those two outcomes, leaving an increase of less than $250 on the average residential tax bill between January and June.

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Why is the mayor taking on Spilka — whose approval she also needs to complete the city’s takeover of the Boston Planning and Development Agency — over a change the city could afford?

  • “If you think that the only way forward is to be as uncompromising as possible,” Obama said, “you will feel good about yourself, you will enjoy a certain moral purity, but you’re not going to get what you want.”

Wise words for any politician.


Larry Edelman can be reached at larry.edelman@globe.com.





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Pittsburg, PA

Pittsburgh Steelers fans are expected to invade Las Vegas once again

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Pittsburgh Steelers fans are expected to invade Las Vegas once again


Pittsburgh Steelers fans are expected to invade Allegiant Stadium and take over Las Vegas for the second straight year. According to Vivid Seats’ Fan Projection, a secondary ticket marketplace, up to 56 percent of fans at the game could be Steelers fans. Pittsburgh fans took it over a season ago, so it would not be a surprise.

It is also one of the hottest tickets on the market, with tickets selling for $602 per ticket. Per the projection, steelers fans are traveling an average of over 900 miles to attend the game. A year ago, Pittsburgh fans took up over 50 percent of the crowd in Las Vegas, so a similar number would not be surprising for Steelers fans.

It is the last West Coast game that the Steelers have this season on their regular season slate, which could prompt plenty of the West Coast Steelers fans to travel to Las Vegas to see the Steelers play.

  • BETTING: Check out our guide to the best PA sportsbooks, where our team of sports betting experts has reviewed the experience, payout speed, parlay options and quality of odds for multiple sportsbooks. How does this year class of rookie quarterbacks stack up in the Offensive Rookie of the Year odds? We look at the NFL rookie QB power rankings.



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Connecticut

Sunny and chilly weather for Thursday

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Sunny and chilly weather for Thursday


We will have plenty of sunshine and chilly weather on Thursday.

High temperatures will be in the upper 50s and a frost advisory is in effect for Northern Litchfield County for early Friday morning.

We will have lots of sunshine on Friday and Saturday and milder temperatures.

Then there are chances for rain showers on Sunday and Monday.

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