Who was George Atzerodt? He was the guy who was supposed to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson while John Wilkes Booth was killing Lincoln. He got drunk instead. He was still hung for the conspiracy anyway.
Month: December 2016
Kimberly Reighley Featured Soloist With Delco Symphony
Kimberly Reighley Featured Soloist With Delco Symphony
By Joseph B. Dychala
The next full orchestra concert of the Delaware County Symphony is
this Sunday, Dec. 4, at 3 p.m. Featured soloist, flutist Kimberly
Reighley, performs Concerto for Flute and Orchestra by Lowell
Liebermann.
The concert opens with Wolfgang Mozart’s Overture to the Magic Flute.
Rounding out the program is Ottorino Respighi’s Ancient Aires and
Dances Suite No.1 and concludes with Alexander Borodin’s Second
Symphony in B Minor.
Tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for students and seniors. As
always, children under 12 admitted free with a paying adult. This is an
excellent way to bring the classics to a new generation of listeners.
A special rate of two tickets for the price of one with a valid
Delaware County or Montgomery County library card is available at the
box office day of show.
Neumann College hosts the Symphony at the Meagher Theater in the
Thomas A. Bruder, Jr. Life Center in Aston, Pennsylvania. Arrive early
at 2 p.m. for an informative talk with Dr C. Michael Kelly for insight
into the composers and selections on the program. The next Chamber
Series concert will be Feb. 12.
Kimberly Reighley Featured Soloist With Delco Symphony
Unemployment Calls Center Closings Political Game
Unemployment Calls Center Closings Political Game
By Sen. Scott Wagner
Contained in this column is a response letter that I submitted to the York Daily Record regarding the closing of state Unemployment Compensation Call Centers.
Very simply put – it is time to “Drain the Swamp in Harrisburg.”
I am completely sympathetic toward the union employees affected by this political game orchestrated by Governor Wolf.
Last month I met a Maryland State Senator and she was asking me how I liked being an elected official.
I told her a few stories of the waste, fraud and abuse that I see every day in Harrisburg and how powerless I see our Legislature when it comes to out of control spending.
She made a statement to me which cut right to the center of the problem in Government, whether in Harrisburg or Washington, DC.
The Senator stated, “The real problem in government is the career bureaucrats who work in government as a full career. They watch elected officials come and go and most times have an attitude that we have to put up with certain elected officials until they move on or get out of government. These career bureaucrats are the belly of the beast.”
How true is that statement ?
Trust me on this – the people who elected me are the real patriots. I am honored that the voters trusted me. I can assure you on this point – I will not stop until the swamp is drained in Harrisburg. I am on my way to the scuba shop to get the gear necessary to go down in the water, find the drain, and drain the swamp.
There are billions of dollars being wasted in Harrisburg – it is time to hold people accountable.
Below is the letter.
I am writing in response to Carl Huber’s letter to the editor (“Scott Wagner playing Scrooge this holiday,” Nov. 28).
Unfortunately, the call center employees have become political hostages of Gov. Wolf – so don’t blame me or my senate colleagues.
I was elected as a Pennsylvania state senator to do a job. I am expected to do my job. I will not be a rubber stamp for waste, fraud and abuse in Harrisburg.
There is an alarming amount of taxpayer money being wasted in Harrisburg. I see it first-hand every day. This project was fed approximately $240 million over the last four years with zero accountability. Now the senate is being pressured into throwing another $57.5 million down a black hole without any questions being asked.
In 2006, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania signed a $106.9 million contract with IBM to be completed in 2009.
IBM’s contract was to give the state a new computer system to track employee wages, employer taxes, handle unemployment claims, appeals, and payments.
In July of 2013, the state terminated the contract with IBM because it was $60 million over budget. The $60 million was in addition to the $106.9 million initial contract, and it was 42 months late. What happened with this contract? Who was held accountable for the cancelled IBM contract?
Later in 2013, the Legislature voted to allocate $60 million per year for four years, and that ends at the end of this year. This was for the same project that was contracted with IBM and then cancelled.
So let’s recap for taxpayers – $106 million plus another $60 million for IBM. Add the last four years of $60 million per year for a total of $240 million – all for a grand total of more than $400 million in taxpayer money.
Everywhere I go throughout the state, taxpayers complain to me about the pension crisis, school property taxes, and many other hot button issues such as lack of accountability in Harrisburg. If we don’t stop the waste and abuse of taxpayer money, we will never fix other problems in Pennsylvania.
Without getting into too much detail, there is another project that has wasted almost $1 billion of taxpayer money over the last 10 years, and that is the statewide radio system. Guess what – the statewide radio system doesn’t work!
Gov. Wolf recently terminated the 10-year failed radio contract and re-signed with another company in the last 90 days for another stab at the statewide radio project.
That’s another almost $1 billion wasted. Again, I ask – who is being held accountable?
I have a suggestion for the affected employees at the call centers: Why don’t the union officials who represent you and collect dues from the affected employees at the state call centers that Gov. Wolf is threatening to close look into taking legal action to stop the layoffs and force Gov. Wolf to find funding to keep these employees from being laid off?
Instead of criticizing me or my colleagues in the senate, the unions who represent these affected workers and collect dues from these same workers should step up and fight for them.
Is the relationship between these unions and Gov. Wolf too cozy for them to fight for their members?
To Carl Huber: You are obviously a Democrat by your Republican comment in your letter. As an elected Pennsylvania state senator, I represent Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.
Maybe waste and abuse of taxpayer money in Harrisburg is not an issue for you – but I can assure you a large majority of the taxpayers in Pennsylvania are fed up with Harrisburg.
Sen. Wagner represents the 28th District in the Pennsylvania Senate.
Unemployment Calls Center Closings Political Game
Delco Sanctuary City Debate Continued
Delco Sanctuary City Debate Continued — Delaware County Councilman John McBlain made a passionate reply to yesterday’s (Dec. 1) article regarding how the respected Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) — it has been cited by the Supreme Court and members have testified before Congress — listed Delco as a sanctuary for illegal aliens.
“Our Council has not and will not approve any policy that would qualify our county as any sort of ‘sanctuary’ status that would oppose the application of federal law,” McBlain said. “There’s no parsing words or being cute here – this website is flat out wrong.”
McBlain has demanded that CIS remove Delco from the list and retract the claim.
Bryan Griffith has since replied saying the data is correct and, further, “(Delco) has policy/legislation that limits or prohibits cooperation with ICE“. He said the county should take the matter up with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if it wants the claim removed.
CIS defines “sanctuary city” as a jurisdiction that does not comply with ICE detainers for jailed or incarcerated illegal aliens as opposed to the more commonly understood one of a jurisdiction that has declared that it will protect undocumented immigrants by not prosecuting them solely for violating federal immigration laws in the country in which they are now living illegally.
The CIS definition is quite useful in that it exposes non-compliance that would otherwise be unknown to the public. It is unfair, however, to use it in a fundamentalist way. Three declined detainers over 21 months ending Sept. 30, 2015 — which is what Delco is accused of having done — does not a sanctuary city make. We would be interested in learning specifically what policy/legislation Delco has that “limits or prohibits cooperation with ICE”. None, however, is listed on the CIS map, unlike the listing for Philadelphia.
Chester County, which is also listed, has had but one declined detainer between Jan. 1, 2014 and Sept. 30, 2015. Montgomery County has had seven. Philadelphia County has had 171 and the city itself has declared itself to be a “sanctuary” via mayoral executive order.
The difference between Delco’s alleged sins and Philly’s known ones is huge and it is kind of unfair to put them on the same list.
UPDATE: A link has submitted by Bryan Griffith of Center for Immigration Studies to a Temple University Study from March 2015 says Delaware County has a written policy not to comply. As per the study: A privately run company, Community Education Centers (CEC), is responsible for correctional services at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Delaware County. Dated August 5, 2014, CEC’s policy is to not hold individuals based solely on ICE detainers. CEC was unwilling to turn over the policy because CEC considers it to be “proprietary information,” but noted that arrangements can be made for “in person” review of the policy.
Delco Sanctuary City Debate Continued
Megyn Kelly CNN Bound?
It is being reported that commentator Megyn Kelly may be leaving Fox News for CNN. We say they deserve each other.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 12-1-16
Narcissus papyraceus is a flower named for paper. It’s color is “paper white“. It is the birth flower for December.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 12-1-16 Narcissus papyraceus
Dale Kerns Seeks Senate Seat
Dale Kerns Seeks Senate Seat — Dale Kerns of Ridley, who has been active in the Delaware County Libertarian Party, announced, Nov. 19, that he will be a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018.
You can find information about him at his website www.DaleKerns.com and his Facebook page.
Here is the statement he released Nov. 19.
As we approach another Thanksgiving Holiday, we have plenty to be thankful for. I for one am thankful for my wife and two daughters. I am thankful for my friends, family, coworkers and customers. Each day that I have these individuals in my life I grow, I am challenged, I am grateful, and I look forward to each consecutive day. Consequently, with so much to be grateful for one obstacle impedes pure satisfaction. The obstacle is our lack of freedom, the lack of Liberty. In order to be purely satisfied and purely successful we need to have Liberty in our lives. This is something we must all fight for together, and right now!
We live in a country that was founded by Liberty lovers, with a document called the Constitution that was completely written around the concept of Liberty. We still are governed under this founding document, but; ironically, we often toss Liberty to the side in order to achieve some sort of political goals. Each time we do this we sacrifice our freedoms for some sense of security. Benjamin Franklin once said that when a person sacrifices Liberty for security, they deserve neither. We allow the NSA to spy on us out of the name of security even though the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects us against such drastic overreaches of government. This among many travesties like the war on drugs take place on a daily basis. One can only reflect back to the words of Benjamin Franklin and wonder “what are we doing”.
The war on drugs has been going on for decades, this clearly has made matters worse. We simply cannot legislate morality and expect people to adopt them. Not everyone has the same moral compass as the next individual. That is why I always advocate for individual freedom. With the war on drugs, we take addicts, and lock them up like criminals for a drug offense. In prison, they are not treated by their doctor for the issue. Our prison system is supposed to keep them safe; yet, these individuals are now able to readily find heroin and other substances in prison. This makes them less safe, and it ultimately creates a bigger problem than we had. But we cannot just change the system over night. Voices are not being heard. We must ban together and fight the “for profit prison system” and their lobbyists. Talk about losing your Liberty, we allow corporations to profit for each prisoner? We must fight this and the criminal justice system created in Washington. The criminal justice system that has mandatory minimums, and targets poor neighborhoods. The criminal justice system that has created a marriage with the war on drugs, which is a war on our communities.
Our national debt has surpassed $19 TRILLION, which leaves our future generations enslaved. We need to pass a balanced budget amendment in order to stop our rouge government from spending more than they bring in. Speaking of bringing in, let’s cut some of that out too while we are at it. Back when the revolutionary war was fought, they paid a lot less in taxes. Remember they were worried about the Stamp Act and the tax on tea? Well, we can see their tea and stamps and raise them a death tax, a gas tax, a sales tax, an inheritance tax, a liquor tax, a social security tax, a healthcare tax, an inflation tax, an income tax and the list continues for quite a while. So, let’s abolish the IRS and allow people to opt out of Social Security since the money that was promised to us has been stolen. This is real change!
Looking at things from the 10,000 foot view, our national debt grows yet we borrow money from China to nation build around the world and give countries foreign aid. Simply put, we borrow money from China in order to fund our imperialistic nature- overthrowing regime after regime. In the end, we leave these countries and each is no better than when we came into it. Often times they are worse. For instance, take a look at Iraq, Syria, and the Iran. Iran actually had a democracy in 1955 until we overthrew the government and installed a dictator. In Iraq, we created ISIS. While in Afghanistan we are fighting Al Qaeda, but funding and arming them in Syria and Yemen. This by very definition is chaos and insanity. We need to allow Liberty to take over our country once again. We should not be nation building and policing the world. How about we fight wars that are declared by congress, not by a President acting as a dictator? Let’s promote national defense instead of nationalism! That is the way the Constitution designed this process.
If we use a declaration of war from Congress out of defense, then can we go into that war with a plan. Right now, we are carelessly sending our soldiers to fight wars without a plan, without a clear path to victory. Then they come home and are discarded like trash. The healthcare is abysmal, the support is lacking to say the least, and we follow this up with repeating our careless foreign policy as if we do not learn from our mistakes. A nation that is so heavily involved with embracing the flag, and the national anthem- one would expect the patriotism to extend from a declaration of war from congress, all the way to the care the soldier receives at home. A common sense foreign policy, based off American Ideals is what we need to implement. Let’s combine that with a withdraw from the UN!
There are so many things to be thankful for. There are so many issues that we must fight. There are so many Liberties that we have lost, but there are so many Liberties that we can gain. We need to bring government back to the American way. We need to start using the Constitution. We need a common sense foreign policy, a tax code that is simplified and eliminates the IRS. We need to scale back the size, and scope of government. But most importantly we need to ensure that our politicians are keeping their oath of office. The very oath that says they will protect and defend the Constitution. We need them to think about Liberty every step of the way. We need each citizen holding them accountable and protecting their Liberties as well.
I look at my little girls and I think, “who will fight for them and their generation”. I wonder what life will be like for them when they are older. Then I realize, it can only get worse, not better because these issues are barely discussed. As they get older, they might not have anything left to be thankful for. Liberty, America, it all could be gone if we keep traveling down the road of debt, destruction, and contributing to the demise of our Liberties.
For these reasons and many others, I am announcing my candidacy for United Stated Senate. I am running as a 3rd Party candidate, a Libertarian, challenging Pennsylvania’s 2018 seat that is currently held by Bob Casey. I will not sit back and concede, the children of the future deserve better- each and every one of them. Together, we are going to fight the corporate for profit prison system in Pennsylvania, we are going to fight for a common-sense approach to foreign policy, we are going to demand our Liberties, demand that our own government not spy on us like criminals, and we are going to fight for term limits in Congress, and we are going to fight to abolish the IRS! Join me for just 2018, let’s try to do this together. If you decide after a term of Liberty and being free that you don’t like it, you can always go back- the politicians and lobbyists will always welcome us back! Make your voice heard in Pennsylvania. Join me and be Libertarian, because you have to admit, the alternative just is not working.
In Liberty,
Dale Kerns
Candidate for United States Senate
Ridley Township, Delaware County
www.DaleKerns.com
Dale Kerns Seeks Senate Seat
MyPillow Settles $1 Million Lawsuit
MyPillow Settles $1 Million Lawsuit — Sad news. MyPillow has agreed to settle a civil lawsuit brought by several California consumer-protection groups for $1 million.
The groups claimed that the pillows really didn’t cure insomnia, sleep apnea, fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis.
Oh, how could they have led so many astray.
The company based in Chaska, Minn was founded in 2004 by Michael Lindell and uses a patented open-cell, poly-foam design.
Hopefully, this legal issue doesn’t prevent Lindell from airing his commercials on so many different media. We know one person who would be truly heart-broken judging by the passionate commentary he provides each time he sees one.
MyPillow Settles $1 Million Lawsuit
Delaware County Sanctuary City?
Delaware County Sanctuary City? — A listing of sanctuary cities, counties and states is being circulated by the influential Center for Immigration Studies and on it is Delaware County, Pa. We contacted CIS asking the reason for the inclusion of Delco but have yet to hear back.
A “sanctuary city” or county or state is a jurisdiction that has declared that it will protect undocumented immigrants by not prosecuting them solely for violating federal immigration laws in the country in which they are now living illegally.
It rarely involves giving necessary sanctuary to true refugees. More often than not the motivation is cheap labor or the consolidation of political power through divisive identity politics.
Chester, Montgomery and Lehigh counties are also named as is, obviously, Philadelphia.
You can find the complete list here.
UPDATE — We heard back from Bryan Griffith of Center for Immigration Studies who tell us the definition in the article is incorrect with regard to their map. They define “sanctuary city (county/state)” as a jurisdiction that does not comply with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers for jailed or incarcerated illegal aliens. Griffith says Delco declined three detainers between January 2014 and September 2015 as per ICE.
UPDATE 2 — Bob Small has let us know that Swarthmore College President Valerie Smith has released a statement that the college is evaluating how to become a sanctuary campus after a petition signed by more than 1,100 students, faculty and alumni requesting such was presented to her. http://www.delcotimes.com/article/DC/20161116/NEWS/161119728#.WEBMF-4tJU8.email
Delaware County Sanctuary City?