Category: Bob Small

America First Then And Now

America First Then And Now

By Bob Small

America First. What exactly do we mean when we say America First​?. Well, it depends on which organization or political party that we consult. We came across America First P.A C.T., in an internet comments section. America First P.A.C.T. , which has a Pa. Chapter. Some of their priorities are secure borders, along with freedom of speech and term limits, among others.

There is also the America First Policy Institute, with its Pennsylvania chapter America First Pennsylvania | State Chapter. One of the “advisors” is Ivanka Trump. They list some of their Policies as “expanding Pennsylvania’s energy leadership and Keeping Pennsylvania’s streets safe”

The most recent America First Party is the brainchild of Patrick Buchanan America First Party and they have a currently active website, without an active Pennsylvania Party, though they are seeking someone to start one. Their current platform — Platform of the America First Party — includes The Constitution does not empower the Federal Government to police the world or protect other nations. The Constitution does not allow our nation’s armed forces ever to be under foreign command, which has become common practice under present UN and NATO deployment. It also notes that there are US Troops in over 100 countries and discuss the Federal government taking private control of lands in California and Oregon.

America to these groups seems open to anyone who shares their viewpoints, not just white Christian males as their opponents allege.

This is unlike the 1943 America First Party, which was a gathering of American fascists and isolationists. One of their more well-known leaders was the noted Anti-Semite Gerald L. K. Smith who eventually ran for president on the 1944 America First ticket where he and Harry Romer (a Father Coughlin acolyte) garnered 1,780 votes out of a total of 47 million cast.

The mistrust of many to the America First rubric can be traced to this party.

Lastly, there is also the America Second theory — America Second by Isaac Stone Fish: 9780525657712 — espoused by Issac Stone Fish in which he describes Henry Kissinger as“an agent of Chinese influence”.

We’re sure this is slander, right?

America First Then And Now

Critter Crossings In Pennsylvania

Critter Crossings In Pennsylvania

By Bob Small

The Pennsylvania State House is backing “critter crossings”.

These are bridges or tunnels that let wildlife cross the roads.

Many states have them and now it appears the Keystone State will be joining them.

It’s understandable as Pennsylvania leads the nation in leads the nation in animal-vehicle collisions. Critter crossings: Pa. builds safe road passages for wildlife

Pennsylvanians have a 1 in 57 chance of hitting an animal on state roadways, says State Farm Insurance. Nationally, it’s 1 in 115 .

A Bi-partisan resolution introduced by Mary Jo Daley (D-148) and Jason Ortitay (R-46) asks a legislative body to help PennDOT develop a plan.

Not everyone has applauded this proposal which passed on a 129-72 vote.

Barb Gleim (R-199) expressed concern that the state would use eminent domain to seize property for crossings.

It should be noted there is a total of $350 million in federal funding for “animal infrastructure” from the Feds for the states.

There are already 35 “critter crossings” on state highways but only one on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

PA is due to receive $840,000 from the Federal Highway Administration for the crossings.

In Canada, where they have moose and caribou there are 38 undercrossings and six overcrossings in the Trans-Canada Highway which have reduced wildlife collisions by 80 percent.

Another reason for these “critter crossings”, is to “expand the dating pool” for these various animals.

According to Patricia Cramer of the Wildlife Connectivity Institute trainer deer teach other animals how to use the crossings.

Now some areas have highly intelligent animals. Brian Goldfarb says urban coyotes in Chicago look both ways and cross at the crosswalks

tSadly, our Pennsylvania deer are generally, not “roadsmart”.

For a counterview, see Is it safe? Why some animals fear using wildlife crossings

Critter Crossings In Pennsylvania
An obviously dumb deer in Delco

Successful Insurgency In Pennsylvania House District 80

Successful Insurgency In Pennsylvania House District 80

By Bob Small

The Pennsylvania 80th House District has been Republican since 1969. It encompasses Blair County — except Altoona and part of Huntingdon County. The Republican Primary is basically the general election.

On April 23, incumbent, Jim Gregory lost to Scott Barger 5,648 votes to 4,649.

It was basically a blow out.

A big issue was Gregory’s support of Mark Rozzi (D-126) as Speaker of the House when the Republicans had a temporary majority in January 2023.

Rozzi, had pledged to govern as an independent but reneged almost immediatly stepping down in place of radical Philadelphian Joanna McClinton take over. 

Both Gregory and Rozzi are childhood sexual abuse survivors and were working on a”a constitutional amendment to relax the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse survivors.”

Barger who has degrees from both Grace College and Grace Theological Seminary served 15 years as a Pastor, then joined the family business WRTA – Altoona,PA, a news/talk radio station that also carries the Altoona Curve minor league team Altoona Curve.

Scott’s wife, Beth, is a public school teacher. They have five children.

On his campaign website, he lists five goals, including enacting a school report card and blockage of the Shapiro Energy Tax. He said “Our job as Representatives is to represent people from our district”.

He also received $15,000 from a PAC associated with State Senator Doug Mastriano (R-33)s.

Unless the Pennsylvania Alternative Parties (Constitution, Green, Libertarian, or Socialist Workers Party) or an Independent gains ballot status, Scott can waltz into office uncontested. This doesn’t speak well for our Pennsylvania Democracy.

See also Bryan Cutler survives primary, Kevin Boyle loses election

Successful Insurgency In Pennsylvania House District 80

An Interesting Race In Pa 172

An Interesting Race In Pa 172

By Bob Small

There were few upsets in the April 23 primary. Even Bryan Cutler managed to survive.

And it was not unexpected that incumbent Kevin Boyle would lose in the 172nd House District in Northeast Philly. A warrant had been issued for his arrest for violating a protection from abuse order and that his opponent Sean Dougherty was supported by the State Democrat Party.

Note that the warrant was withdrawn the day before the election by Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner, because the order was “not active”.

But Boyle also had other problems. He was banned in February from Rockledge’s Gaul and Malt House, where he was “caught on video berating employees”. Here’s the video in case you missed it.

Also see this story from PennLive.

Boyle’s brother Brendan is the Democratic Congressman from the third District.

So Sean Dougherty is on the ticket for November where he will face Republican Aziaz Gill. Dougherty is the son of Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice Kevin Dougherty and the nephew of the infamous Johnny Doc.

Dougherty has a BA in Political Science and a minor in Criminal Justice and Psychology from Chestnut Hill College. His law degree is from Temple. He is as an associate attorney at The Duffy Firm.

He had been an assistant public defender in Philadelphia. worked at the Defender Association of Philadelphia (Assistant Public Defender)

Gill in his primary got 65.2 percent of the vote to Pathrick Gushue’s 34 percent.

Gill is the son of immigrant parents from South Asia. He has a Bachelor from Chestnut Hill College. He has worked as manager on City Councilman Brian O’Neill’s election campaign and was community outreach coordinator for City Commissioner Al Schmidt.

An Interesting Race In Pa 172

An Interesting Race In Pa 172

Palestinian Supporters Set Tents In Swarthmore

Palestinian Supporters Set Tents In Swarthmore

By Bob Small

(Update: We have been told that the tents have been pulled)

We’ve put off for a long time discussing the “third rail” of American Politics, which is the Middle East.

 As someone who maintains “we will always need an Israel, just not this one,” I’ll say that both sides have blood on their hands, going back to 1947.

Further back, we have the Balfour Declaration of 1917.

 Though not all Jews are Zionists, they hold sway, partly because neither Europe or North America were welcoming to the concept of a Jewish state.

Israel’s founding, unfortunately  is another case of “the oppressed becoming the oppressor”.

To move on to today, Swarthmore College has it’s own Pro-Palestinian Tent City courtesy of Swarthmore Students for Justice in Palestine.

There email is SwarthmoreSJPgmail.com.  

Among their demands, according to Spokesperson Ragad, are that Swarthmore College should divest from HP, Lockheed Martin, and Vanguard, because they support Israel.

Ragad compared this to the previous divestment campaign regarding South Africa.

The only outside group that had an easily visible tent was Jewish Voice For Peace (JVP) which describes itself as “ the largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world”  and to which I subscribe, although I don’t always agree with their sentiments.

When we brought up Joe Biden, whom we said, could easily tell Israel, that “we’re only sending you bows and arrows after Tuesday, but won’t”, Ragad responded with the Leahy Law which the current president has consistently ignored.  This was last brought up concerning South Africa.

On the issue of what they wanted, they suggested a Palestinian state, where they thought Jews could also peacefully live, which I find to be a very naive answer.

Meanwhile, Gov. Josh Shapiro, who went to Georgetown and the University of Rochester, who said in Politico “If the universities in accordance with their policies can’t guarantee the safety and security and well-being of the students, then I think it is incumbent upon a local mayor or local governor or local town councilor, whoever is the local leadership there, to step in and enforce the law.”

Palestinian Supporters Set Tents In Swarthmore
Protestor tents in Swarthmore
Palestinian Supporters Set Tents In Swarthmore
And what they are protesting

Palestinian Supporters Set Tents In Swarthmore

Pennsylvania Auditor General Primary 2024

Pennsylvania Auditor General Primary 2024

By Bob Small

The Pennsylvania Auditor General “monitors how public dollars are spent.” This is done by “conducting financial audits” and other reviews.

The primary election Tuesday, April 23, includes two running in the Democrat primary and the Republican incumbent running unopposed.

Republican Incumbent, Tim Defoor, is the first person of color to win a statewide office in Pennsylvania, as a Republican. The first, Austin Davis (Democrat) is the current lieutenant governor.

Defoor, from Dauphin County, is a graduate of Penn State, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology. He has served as Dauphin County controller, a special agent for the State Attorney General, and fraud investigator for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Defoor says that a dozen school districts had raised local taxes, while holding millions of dollars in their general funds.

During his first term he created the first (DEI) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office among many other initiatives.

See also Timothy DeFoor

Malcolm Kenyatta, of Philadelphia, graduated from Drexel and Temple. He represents the 181st District in the Pennsylvania House and is the first openly Gay person of color to serve in the General Assembly. Kenyatta, says “ I’m running for Auditor General because it’s time for the underdog to be a watchdog for Pennsylvania’s working families. “

He says that  “I will stand up for our workers by creating the first ever Bureau of Labor and Worker Protections and use the power of the office to take on wage theft, employee misclassification, and union busting. “

(Ed note: Will stopping union busting apply to Delaware County’s George Hill Prison?)

He has been chosen for  the Bertelsmann Leadership Fellow in the Digital Economy, the bipartisan Hunt/Kean Leadership Fellow in Education, and American Jewish Committee (AJC) Project Interchange.

See also Philadelphia’s rising Democratic star on another school …

Mark Pinsley is a graduate of Indiana University and Northeastern University. He is a businessman and a US Army Veteran. He’s currently Lehigh County Controller.

He owns Dermamed Solutions DermaMed Solutions. His goals as Auditor General are included in the following article Jewish Democrat Mark Pinsley Running for Auditor . See also Mark Pinsley For Auditor General

Pennsylvania Auditor General Primary 2024

Full Ticket In Pennsylvania 12

Full Ticket In Pennsylvania 12

By Bob Small

Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District is mostly Allegheny County with some of Westmoreland County.

The current Congressperson is Summer Lee, widely acknowledged as Pennsylvania’s most progressive congressperson. How you feel about that will probably determine your vote.

She voted for a ceasefire in Gaza and is supported by Justice Democrats Pa.

She is the first Afro-American to represent Southwestern Pennsylvania in the state legislature.

Her opponent in Tuesday’s Democratic Primary is Bhavini Patel, the daughter of a mother who emigrated from India.

After Graduating from Pitt, the site of her family’s food truck, she earned her masters in International Relations from the University of Oxford.

She was cofounder and CEO of Beamdata which helped people connect with their elected officials during Covid and has continued to use data technology to advance social justice. She is on Edgewood Borough Council. She has the support of Modsquad which is a PAC that declares itself moderate and funds candidates of both parties.

See The Moderate Democrats for the April 7 Debate between her and Summer Lee.

On the Republican side, there is James Hayes.

Hayes, an African-American, declares himself to be a supporter of Israel which contrast himself with his probable November opponent. He has degrees from Case Western (doctor in Business Administration) Georgetown (bachelors in International Economics, Princeton (masters in Economics and Policy) , and the University of Chicago. ( MBA in Finance and Accounting)

He has three children with his wife, Brenda Diaz,, whom he met while working in Mexico in the 1990s.

Finally, there is Laurie Macdonald. She was originally a Democratic candidate but was challenged off the ballot. She then announced a write-in campaign to be the Republican nominee.

She is president and CEO of Center for Victims.

“Good leadership requires the vision to see both sides, coalesce the ideas and bring people together,” she says.

Full Ticket In Pennsylvania 12

5 Dems Seek To Be Pennsylvania AG

5 Dems Seek To Be Pennsylvania AG

By Bob Small

Though there are five Democratic Candidates for Pennsylvania Attorney General, only Eugene Depasquale and Jack Stollsteimer have name recognition.  The others are Philadelphians Keir Bradford-Grey, Joe Khan and Jared Solomon.  None are endorsed by the state party.  If you like what Jack or Eugene has done, you can stop right here. If not, read on.

Keir Bradford-Grey would be the first Afro-American to be elected to this post.

She was head of the Defender Association of Philadelphia, and Chief Defender for Montgomery County. In Philadelphia, she led the Pre-Entry Initiative and Participatory Defense Hubs.

“I’m running to be the people’s lawyer, and that’s what the attorney general is in every other state other than Pennsylvania,” she said in a debate.

Boston-born, she went to Albany State University and Ohio Northern Pettit College of Law

Khan and Solomon are graduates of Swarthmore College, but that needn’t be held against them. Both now reside in Northeast Philly.

Khan is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School. Speaking of his upbringing;  “when my parents got together in the 70s, he was Muslim and my mom was Catholic, so they settled on a Jewish neighborhood as a place to raise their kids. “

He has been an assistant district attorney in Philly and assistant US Attorney for the Pa. Eastern District. He also spent three years as Bucks County Solicitor. He mentioned starting a “Housing Justice Unit”, among other plans.

According to Meet Joe Khan he plans to “enact a 67 County Strategy for Public Safety”

Jared Solomon, State Representative for the 202nd District, has worked in both private law and as a Jag Officer in the Army Reserves.

He also mentions the Colorado Method among other innovations.

He also believes that police officers should engage with the community, as they used to.

Below is the link for the latest debate between the five candidates FULL DEBATE: Democratic candidates for Pa. attorney general

My favorite fictional cowboy lawyer was The Big Valley ‘s Jarrod Barkley.

5 Dems Seek To Be Pennsylvania AG

5 Dems Seek To Be Pennsylvania AG

7th District Wild Congressional Race

7th District Wild Congressional Race

By Bob Small

The 7th Congressional District was the bailiwick of such icons as Pat Meehan, Joe Sestak, and Curt Weldon and even a Mary Gay Scanlon before it became the District of Allentown’s Susan Wild. The shape of the District was described as “Goofy kicking Donald Duck”

Susan Wild became infamous recently for saying, with a later apology, that she was “dismayed” to have Trump-leaning Carbon County added to her District, which also includes Lehigh, Northampton, and a small parcel of Monroe counties.

Though she doesn’t have a Democratic opponent, there are three Republicans vying to take her on in November.

The primary election is April 23.

Maria Montero is bilingual and a first-generation American on her father’s side while her great-grandfather was a Carbon County coal miner.

She grew up in Carbon County.

She is a graduate of St. Joe’s and Widener Law. She has led the Pennsylvania Commission for Women and The Pennsylvania Latino Commission.

Kevin Dellicker with his wife, Susan, wrote Twenty-Percent Soldiers, Our Life in the National Guard

They are the co-founders of Dellicker Strategies Dellicker Strategies – Technology, Solutions, Services a technologies solution company.

He was an economic policy advisor to Tom Ridge and has degrees from Air University, Liberty, Penn State and Syracuse. His family, including three sons, live in Lehigh County. There are 22 issues on his platform.

Ryan Mackenzie is the State Representative for the 187th District.

He is a descendant of a Northampton County Militia soldier in the Revolutionary War.

He is a graduate of NYU and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.

He wants to prohibit congresspeople from trading stocks based on insider information. He also wants term limits.

As a state rep, has voted to eliminate state cars for legislators and for curriculum transparency in K-12 schools.

He lives with his wife, Chloe, and their rescue hound dog, Ruckus, in Lower Macungie Township.

7th District Wild Congressional Race

Republican Battle In District 1

Republican Battle In District 1

By Bob Small

Pennsylvania Congressional District 1’s Republican primary, April 23, features a real contrast between incumbent Brian Fitzpatrick, who has held a seat since 2107, and his challenger Mark Houck.

This District was the 8th District during Fitzpatrick’s first term and then became the 1st due to a court-ordered redistricting.

Houck and Fitzpatrick share a connection with the FBI. Fitzpatrick is a former FBI agent and Houck was arrested by the FBI.

Houck’s arrest stems from an incident outside The Philadelphia Planned Parenthood Clinic on Oct. 13, 2021.

Abortion activist Bruce Love claimed Houck assaulted him.

The Biden Administration filed charges against Houck — which not even Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner was willing to do — and Houck was arrested the early morning of Sept. 23, 2022 by a large contingent of feds in body armor and carrying assault rifles at his rural Bucks County home.

The FBI’s official statement back peddles the bullying, of course.

“No SWAT Team or SWAT operators were involved,” they say. “FBI agents knocked on Mr. Houck’s front door, identified themselves as FBI agents, and asked him to exit the residence. He did so and was taken into custody without incident pursuant to an indictment,”

Houck was tried and declared not guilty, Jan. 30, 2023. The jury took just one hour.

Houck is a co-founder and president of The King’s Men

He has been with the Pro-Life movement for many years. He has a BA from Catholic University in Human Resource Management and a Masters in Education from Holy Family University.

In Houck for Congress, he quotes James Madison “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal Government are few and defined”. He also wants to defund the Department of Education,

Houck is negotiating a debate with Fitzpatrick as part of the Eagle’s Forum at The Fuge in Warminster on Sunday, April 14.

Republican Battle In District 1
Mark Houck at a meet and greet in Doylestown