Jenn O’Mara Birthday Greeting

Jenn O’Mara Birthday Greeting –– A few days ago was my birthday, and in the evening I got a call from my state rep Jenn O’Mara wishing me a happy one. At first I thought it was a robo but as the conversation continued I realized it was live.

Jenn O'Mara Birthday Greeting
Thank you, Jenn O’Mara

I was impressed. Granted, if my birthday was in June and this was an off-year election perhaps I wouldn’t have been so honored but I was still impressed.

So thank you Jenn, you made my night. I will be voting straight R, Nov. 3, which means for Bob Smythe in Pennsylvania’s 165th House District but what you did was very nice and you seem like a nice person.

If you want to get my vote push for ending prevailing wage. It would have made the cost of Springfield’s new white elephant high school about 20 percent less. Single parents, newlyweds with diabetic kids and the elderly are paying for it you know, and the extra money doesn’t help the trades unless you happen to be the one running the union.

Don’t sweat it though. I doubt Smythe will try to end it either.

Jenn O’Mara Birthday Greeting

Bob Smythe Gets Business Nod

From the Bob Smythe campaign

Bob Smythe Gets Business Nod — Bob Smythe, a K-12 teacher and volunteer firefighter who is running for State Representative in Pennsylvania’s 165th Legislative District, has received the endorsement of the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), a statewide organization that advocates for small businesses.  Earlier this month, Smythe earned the endorsement of another statewide business group, the PA Chamber PAC, the political advocacy arm of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry.   

Bob Smythe Gets Business Nod
Bob Smythe gets business nod

Smythe’s opponent, incumbent State Representative Jenn O’Mara, earned a dismal voting record from the NFIB, scoring just 20 percent due to her repeated opposition to legislation designed to help small businesses, which are the driving force behind Pennsylvania and our local economy.  

“It’s clear that Bob Smythe shares our vision that a healthy small-business jobs climate can best be achieved through lower taxes, less wasteful state spending and less government regulation,” said Gordon R. Denlinger, State Director of NFIB/Pennsylvania.  “Smythe recognizes that small businesses are the driving force behind Pennsylvania’s economy — producing high-quality products, services, and jobs. And it’s also apparent that Bob has a clear understanding of the problems and challenges facing small-business owners in Pennsylvania.”

“I am honored to have the endorsement and support of Pennsylvania’s small business community,” said Bob Smythe. “As our nation and state continue efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 and protect our vulnerable citizens, we must begin to identify how we will support the countless small businesses in our local communities that have been devastated by the virus,” said Bob Smythe.  “The negative impacts on small business owners – who employ so many of our friends, neighbors, and family members – will be felt for years to come.  As we begin the economic recovery process, we need elected officials who will put the needs of our communities ahead of their blind loyalty to leaders of their political party.” 

NFIB cited a number of anti-business votes by Representative O’Mara, including votes related to Governor Wolf’s widespread shutdown of small businesses that he categorized as non-essential while allowing large box stores to remain open for businesses. For example, NFIB cited O’Mara’s opposition to HB 2376 in late-April. 

The legislation would have permitted some small businesses to re-open if they only had one employee and only allowed one shopper into a store at a time or provided contactless, curbside pickup.  Representative Brad Roae noted that under his legislation, which O’Mara opposed and was later vetoed by Governor Tom Wolf, “Pennsylvanians could shop at small stores with one worker and no other customers, rather than going to large grocery chains or big box stores with dozens of workers and hundreds of customers.”

NFIB also faulted O’Mara for her vote against SB 613, which would have require the governor to create clear safety guidelines that businesses would be required to meet before they were permitted to reopen.  Those guidelines – which would need to be based on guidelines issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – would have provided a clear framework and safety standards that businesses would have to put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 before they could safely re-open.  Although the legislation was approved by both the Pennsylvania House and Senate, it was again vetoed by Governor Tom Wolf. 

“These were not reckless bills that endangered the health of the public,” said Smythe.  “These were bills that sought to find areas of compromise and implement common sense measures that mitigated the spread of the virus while allowing small business to reopen and compete with large box and chain stores.  These were bills that earned widespread support from local residents, yet O’Mara opposed them and justified her votes with scare tactics by falsely claiming they endangered residents.” 

“As a history teacher, I feel very strongly that a good State Representative should do just that – represent the people of their district,” said Smythe.  “But time and time again, Jenn O’Mara’s votes in the legislature don’t reflect the values and opinions of residents. She votes the way her party leadership wants her to vote, not the way residents want her to vote.  If I am elected to be out next State Representative, my votes will reflect the views and values of local residents, even if it puts me at odds with the leadership of my party. Because that’s how our representative form of government – our democracy – should work.” 

Learn more about Bob Smythe’s campaign at www.bobsmythe.com.

One Billion Americans Is Crackpot Fantasy

One Billion Americans Is Crackpot Fantasy

By Joe Guzzardi 

 Glenn Beck, the well-known former Fox Network anchor, a self-professed conservative, and Blaze TV network owner, teamed up with ultra-liberal Matt Yglesias, the left-wing Vox editor to advocate for a U.S. population of 1 billion.

After an interview with Yglesias, who authored “One Billion Americans: the Case for Thinking Bigger,” Beck tweeted that a 1 billion population, triple of today’s 330 million, is a “noble goal” and “crucial” to keep China from overtaking America as the leading global power. Yglesias and Beck agree that the best way to add approximately 670 million new residents is through immigration.

One Billion Americans Is Crackpot Fantasy


The Beck/Yglesias concept is so mind-bogglingly outlandish that it barely merits a response. But since Beck and Yglesias represent Trojan Horses for globalist immigration expansionists, a counter is required. Delivered via Beck and Yglesias, expansionists’ sub rosa message to immigration restrictionists is that more people benefits America. Accordingly, Beck urges restrictionists to put jingoism aside, and instead welcome one and all.

But neither globalist puts forward an intelligent, tangible argument for how more people would actually play out on a practical, day-to-day level. No explanation was offered how the migrants would be selected, how they would arrive and at what pace would they come. Then, after the migrants reach America, how would they actually survive?

For his part, Beck repeated the tedious, insulting bon mot that immigrants work harder than “most Americans.” That is Beck’s opinion, factually unsubstantiated, and a direct slap in the fact to about 30 million unemployed Americans. But for the sake of meaningful discussion, Beck should explain where exactly the arriving immigrants would work.

COVID-19 has eliminated thousands of jobs, many of which will never return. Even the pre-COVID unemployment forecast was grim. In 2013, the Oxford Martin Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology found that at least half of all American jobs are vulnerable to computerization, a trend that’s well-underway in production labor and service industries. The jobs lost plus immigrants added equation means more cheap labor for the industries that may survive computerization, and severely depressed wages for Americans.

Assuming the immigrant labor issue could be resolved – a huge if – then follows the practical questions of where the new migrants would live, how they would transport themselves, how quickly new infrastructure could be built to accommodate them, and what post-migration America would look like. Despite the pandemic, building permits, housing starts and housing completions are moving briskly along. The nation’s highways are gridlocked nightmares, and the 1 billion Americans would live in a country unrecognizable from the one we inhabit today.

In her article, “The Flaw in the Statue of Liberty,” Karen Shragg laid out the compelling case to limit immigration to sensible, sustainable levels. Shragg wrote that more people make numerous negative environmental impacts regardless of their nationality. Since all people are consumers, Shragg said, their collective goal should be to consume less. But that’s unlikely as we all need water, energy, food, jobs and open land – all of which are in limited supply.

With an average multiplier of 3.1 persons per petitioner, chain migration would eventually grow the 670,000 new migrants into more than 2 million. TheNew York Times provided an excellent example of how chain migration functions as a population atomic bomb. In “One Face of Immigration in America is a Family Tree Rooted in Asia,” the Times reported that a young Indian engineer arrived in America at age 23, and settled in Nevada. Between the 1970s and the mid-1980s, he brought his wife, mother, five sisters and a brother to the U.S. from his native India. Eventually, his siblings sponsored their family members. Over three decades, more than 90 immigrants arrived in the U.S. who can link their presence back to one immigrant.

America needs thoughtful immigration laws that serve its citizens’ best interests, something that neither Beck nor Yglesias wants to promote. Immigration has already dramatically increased U.S. population. Between 1776 and 1965, immigration to the U.S. averaged 250,000 annually. But major legislative changes in 1950s, 1960s and 1990, sent immigration totals skyrocketing.

The Beck/Yglesias fantasy will never become reality. But more rational sounding yet dangerous proposals are routinely introduced in Congress. The latest is the 2,154 page Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, the so-called HEROES Act, which offers amnesty, work permits and fast-track Green Cards to temporary visa holders and to illegal aliens. Knowing that few in Congress would read the lengthy bill, the HEROES sponsor, Nita Lowey (D-NY), made sure to bury the amnesty and work permit provisions on page 2,030. Obscure government is always immigration advocates’ stealth strategy.


Joe Guzzardi is a Progressives for Immigration Reform analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.

One Billion Americans Is Crackpot Fantasy

Peace and justice William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 10-9-20

Peace and justice William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 10-9-20

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Answer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit puzzle: Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Peace and justice

Peace and justice William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 10-9-20