Free Palestine.
No data centers.
Abolish ICE.
Until now no candidate in the 8th Congressional District race has boldly advocated for these three vital quality-of-life issues that mean so much to Northeastern Pennsylvania voters.
As of today Green Party candidate Leila Hazou stands as an unapologetic champion of all three crucial public policy positions. As of today Hazou joins countless voters who oppose American-sponsored Israeli genocide, support Palestinian human rights, oppose hyperscale AI data centers and want to abolish domestic terrorist cops running amok on our streets.
Unlike incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan and challenger Democratic Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, Hazou favors protecting air, water, pristine land and a healthy future for humanity. Unlike the two professional politicians Hazou refuses to abandon the hopes and dreams of struggling, hard-working people where she lives and works.
Hazou and her Green team are already circulating petitions to get her on the November ballot. She and her insurgent army have until Aug. 3 to obtain the required number of signatures. Expect Bresnahan and Cognetti to challenge her every move. Expect them to play dirty with their elitist staff and deceptive misinformation. Expect the worst, which is the most powerful weapons both campaigns currently offer voters.
Hazou offers the best.
The 8th District race is one of the most significant races in the nation, a massive opportunity for Democrats to help resume majority power in the House of Representatives. Political opportunity for the Greens is even bigger. This race affords a victory for third party power on behalf of good citizens who rarely ask for much and usually get less.
Hazou’s fearless advocacy makes her the perfect opponent for Bresnahan and Cognetti, mainstream lackeys with everything to lose. Moneybags “rich kid” Bresnahan is already a GOP puppet. Harvard Business School graduate Cognetti is smarter, slicker and more desperate. Cognetti’s technocratic narcissism also works in Hazou’s professional favor.
Until now Cognetti stood as the darling of traditional liberal Democrats, many of whom have packed local government meetings to oppose data centers, particularly in Archbald. Following the lead of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Cognetti’s political boss and mentor, she has tried to make it appear as if she supports the power of the people with lackluster calls for data center “regulations” when she truly only supports her own cut-throat aspirations as well as the corrupt Democratic establishment that supports her with barrels full of campaign cash from states across the country.
This is the same woman who claims “fighting corruption” as the centerpiece of her campaign, a public servant who cannot provide a single solid example of a victory against corruption in her entire political career.
Shapiro has already greased the fast track to monster data center big business developers and their plans to steamroll unpolluted land throughout the Commonwealth, destroying the quality of life for taxpayers as well as jeopardizing the health of future generations.
Shapiro’s support for Israeli genocide and Zionist supremacy also creates a problem for Cognetti who is on board with Shapiro’s cash-on-the-barrel Israeli political fervor. In a recent interview Cognetti said she’s even looking forward to a visit to Israel. Shapiro’s already been there. One of Israel’s staunchest supporters in the barbaric quest for Zionist supremacy, Cognetti regularly pushes for more jobs for the Scranton bombshell factory where Israel is a valuable customer. The Israeli ambassador to the United States, by the way, another Zionist fanatic, is a Scranton native who says he still has a bank account in the city.
Cognetti makes a big deal out of not accepting corporate political action committee money.
Hazou won’t take any corporate cash.
But Hazou will reject any and all pro-Israel money including AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) cash, the blood money that comes to degenerate American politicians from the powerful Israeli lobby.
Cognetti accepts pro-Israeli blood money, tainted through exploitation, suffering and death.
When it comes to support for Israeli genocide, little policy difference exists between Cognetti and Bresnahan. Each candidate already does Israel’s bidding and takes marching orders from the Zionist lobby in the massacre of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. Unswerving in her loyalty to Israeli nationalism, Cognetti might be a bigger warmonger than Bresnahan.
More and more NEPA voters oppose Israel. More and more NEPA voters oppose data centers. More and more NEPA voters will now oppose Cognetti and Bresnahan. Discerning 8th District voters with a genuine social conscience no longer have to try to persuade these two dangerous establishment candidates to speak truth to power.
Leila Hazou will do it for them.
The Dingman’s Ferry feminist has previously taken on big money and degenerate institutional political power. And even though she lost the 2024 race for U.S. Senate she helped oust longtime company man and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, sending the Israeli apologist and white, male chauvinist into comfortable retirement as a washed-up misogynist.
In a June 8, 2024 column in The Scranton City News I wrote:
“Expect much more pro-Israel money for Casey’s campaign as long as he continues to do Israel’s bidding. Pro-Israeli manipulators are flush with cash to buy American politicians as long as our servile elected representatives keep following orders to feed the Israeli killing machine.”
The same goes for Cognetti and Bresnahan.
In that column I wrote, “Hazou, a Palestinian woman, says ‘she can no longer sit idly by and witness her country openly support the ongoing oppression funded by U.S. taxpayers.’”
Hazou’s integrity has only become stronger.
“Never trust a hypocrite,” I wrote about Casey.
That gospel now goes for two more hypocrites.
Free Palestine.
No data centers.
Abolish ICE.
Vote Leila Hazou.
