Category: Bob Small

Mad About Maduro

By Bob Small

President Trump’s recent Venezuela overthrow has been one of his most controversial actions. The reactions, surprisingly, have not adhered to the Party line.

Among the GOP nay-sayers were Rep. Don Bacon (NE-02), who said that “dictators will try to exploit this to rationalize their selfish objectives,” citing both China and Russia.

Persistent Gadly Rand Paul, junior senator from Kentucky, reminded us that “Best though, not to forget, that our founders limited the executive’s power to go to war without Congressional authorization for a reason . . .”

Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa-1) is a physician and politician who said that “We don’t want to have troops on the ground.”

Other GOP critics include, but are not limited to (outgoing) Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Senators Susan Collins, Cynthia Lummis, Roger Marshall, Eric Schmitt, and Todd Young.

While Rand Paul thought the process was flawed, he added, in justifying the action, “For Socialism to achieve its goals, ultimately and always, requires state-sponsored violence.”

In Pennsylvania, House member Bryan Fitzpatrick (PA-1) said “ the only country that the United States of America should be “running” is the United States of America.”, after first giving his approval of the overthrow of Maduro.

Meanwhile, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla-25^th) said “Venezuelans deserve the promise of democracy and the rule of law, not a state of endless violence and spiraling disorder.” Darren Soto was among other Congressional Democrats supporting the Maduro takedown. Others have, allegedly, supported this action “off the record”.

Pa Senator John Fetterman “Removing Maduro was positive for Venezuela “ and reminded us that L”less than a year ago, President Biden upped the Maduro bounty to $25 million.”

Why Democrats fear speaking out and Republicans don’t is a question beyond my understanding.

The SWP (Socialist Workers Party) remains anti-interventionist, maintaining “They have never forgiven Venezuela for nationalizing the oil industry in the 1970s. “

The SWP is one of a handful of Socialist parties with active chapters in Philadelphia.

See also Pennsylvania Democrats propose resolution ‘opposing unconstitutional military

The Postman No Longer Delivers In Denmark

By Bob Small

PostNord, Denmark’s 400-year-old national postal authority, delivered its final letter, on Dec. 30.

PostNord reported an operating deficit of 428 million Krone ($67,153,200 in US dollars).

The amount of letters has decreaseds by 90 percent since 2000. Since Danish Law mandates that citizens must be able to send and receive letters, a company called DAO is available, though one has to use their stamps.

Germany’s Deutsche Post scrapped its 60-year-old  next-day air mail delivery service  last year and is currently laying off thousands of workers. Poland’s Poczta Polska is similarly slashing thousands of jobs in a bid to reduce losses.

The decrease in physical letters can be traced to the computer. According to PostNord, physical letters have declined from almost 1.5 billion (2000) to only 110 million (2024). Additionally, “Since 2014, all public sector communiques, including those from banks, insurance companies, and pension companies, must by law be sent digitally. “

PostNord has been a joint operation since 2009, when the Danish and Swedish services merged.

It should be noted that around 1,500 jobs are estimated to be lost. Meanwhile, DAO expects growth, from young adults 18 to 34, who are rediscovering physical missives.

Meanwhile in Great Britain, the Royal Mail is ending Saturday deliveries of second-class mail and daily deliveries to be reduced to either two or three times a week. Royal Mail, by the way, is now owned by Czech Billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. The parcel services will continue, for now, but they’re now on a time clock.

“The final letter sent by PostNord is now on display at Denmark’s Enigma Museum, commemorating the historic shift in how the nation communicates. “

In the US, mail has dropped 80 percent since 1997.

If Hamlet had become king, this never would have happened.

Defiance And Concern At Swarthmore Chanukah Celebration –On Sunday, Dec. 21, Swarthmore Chabad had its 2nd Annual Chanukah celebration.

Because of the mass killing in Australia, there was some nervousness but the event went off without any problems, except for the cold.

There may have been some people who did not attend because of the previous violence, though possibly just as many may have attended in defiance of the Australian violence.

See also 6pm – Swat Central – Swarthmore College Calendar

At the same time, we could also choose to be in defiance of the Gaza violence, especially as members of a persecuted religion. This is one place to go: Jewish Voices For Peace.

Rebellion in Swarthmore

By Bob Small

Upon arriving at the Dec. 8 Swarthmore Borough Council Meeting, the public was greeted with a notice from Bellwoar Kelly, LLP: West Chester Criminal Law & Personal entitled “Opposition Proposed Rezoning of Cunningham Field Property”.

Note: Though this was given out at the meeting, it is not on their blog.

Briefly, this eight page legal document listed the opposition of neighbors living on College Avenue, and adjacent, to the expansion of Cunningham Field and the rezoning required.

Traditionally, there’s been an “understood” quid pro quo between the Borough and the College. The Borough needs money and the College plucks money from their “magic money tree”. The College needs rezoning and it just naturally seems to happen.

Rarely has there been an instance where a neighborhood could afford the high-powered legal representation to oppose something.

This is that we have here.

Among the many sections of this six page document is the stipulation that “The Application should be withdrawn and a new application submitted that addresses the use of the fields from June through August”. The college is also requested to list days and times the fields will be used.

This is a far cry from the old “trust us, we’re your friends”.

Perhaps the example of Clothier Field, where the adjacent neighbors have heard and seen the ongoing activities for a while enters into this.

For a comparison of the original plan to the “updated plan”, see Proposed Changes to Cunningham Fields – Mem including “Additionally, we propose to eliminate the current condition of visiting buses queuing along College Ave. by using the South Cunningham Lot as the main entry point for the new park.”

It wouldn’t be uncharitable to read this as “you caught us, so we’ll change.”

Uncharitable but probably correct.

The Philadelphia Inquirer devoted a (printed) six page article Swarthmore College hopes to redevelop Cunningham … to the controversy but could only find room for one paragraph about the residents reaction!

It does list many of the changes.

Susan Cunningham was involved with Swarthmore’s founding in 1864, at a time when women were not welcomed in many colleges and universities Princeton didn’t become co-ed until 1969, after all.

She became Mathematics Chair and both a building and a field bear her name.

To follow the ongoing controversy, read The Swarthmorean which covers this controversy regularly.

Hey Verizon, What Is Going On With 888-234-6786?

By Bob Small

For the past few weeks we, and others in Delco, Pa., have been receiving spam phone calls from the Verizon number: 888-234-6786.

Some have said this number is for Verizon’s voice mail service.

Others note they get calls from it despite not being Verizon customers.

If it was Verizon’s voicemail connection, one would think Verizon could solve the spam problem.

One would think.

My battle started by spending a whole Wednesday on the phone and online before being assured the actions taken would stop these calls.

Thursday morning the calls began anew.

After contacting my local state rep by internet, the staff member I was connected to in the subsequent phone call said there was no hope.

“The criminals are smarter than us . . . we cannot stop them,” I was told.

Does that mean Verizon is the criminal?

Or is the state rep and her staff just a tad on the lazy side and doesn’t feel like writing an inquiry letter asking Verizon what is going on?

The 1-888-234-6786 / 18882346786 (2) issue appears to go back to at least 2011!

PhoneSpamExpo hosts a summary of FTC complaints for 888‑234‑6786, including details on robocalls, charities, according to co-pilot, but when it was searched for again, though the printout was in front of me, the website had, somehow vanished

I felt like Carl Kolchak, a Chicago reporter, who discovers zombies, vampires, werewolves can never develop any photos to prove his stories.

I found the website on my wife’s desktop 888-234-6786 (15) Complaints – PhoneSpamExpo but still invisible on on my laptop.

Is this number an example of Caller ID Spoofing? There’s been several theories, including the involvement of Communist Chinese call centers.

There seems an unwillingness to stop this by those in authority.

One would think our government would have the “tech savvy.” Maybe this is what part of what the Genesis Mission is meant to solve.

Right now, we never answer our phone until we recognize the number.

See also:

Stop The Calls From 888-234-6786 | America’s Consumer .

Stop Harassment from Verizon

888-234-6786 / 8882346786

Talking ’bout a Revolution

By Bob Small

We’ve known John B since I arrived in Swarthmore as a legal immigrant from Philadelphia in 1988.

Recently, John B sent me an email asking my opinion on the recent election in his homeland of Brooklyn.

We should mention John is a fellow Lansman approaching his ninth decade. He is an artist, poet, and builds harpsichords in his spare time, which he has precious little of. He lives with his musician wife. This is an edited text of the email sent to him.

John, you should probably watch Watch the Final Mayoral Debate Live – New York City News Service It’s an hour long but we found it entertaining, We both thought Andrew Cuomo should never be given the levers of power until he’s finally incarcerated, in which case he could be felon-in-charge. If we lived in New York City, we would have worked for Curtis Silwa’s campaign as my wife’s daughter did. He’s the only candidate who works for animal welfare.

As for Zohran Mandami, many of his plans sound good, such as free bus fares, free universal child care and rent freezes but these may not be practical, unless he has the magic money tree in his backyard For such changes, he will need a natural support system on both a city and state level, and I don’t know where that comes from. We can’t hold his youth against him after castigating Joe Biden for his lack of same, but he’s only had four years in government. That, too, may be an advantage rather than a detriment.

As far as his being anti-semitic, read What NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has actually said about ..

Being Pro-Palestinian does not automatically make one an antisemite any more than being against pedophile priests equate to anti-Catholic. My position has always been that both sides, as is usual in most wars “have blood on their hands”.

The group I follow is Jewish Voice For Peace, though like most groups I follow, I disagree with some of their actions. If I wanted a group I always supported, I’d have to create it.

I’ve written many poems on this, all of which Benyamin Nethanyahu and Hamas will choose to ignore if I actually sent them to them. Why interrupt a good war for the sake of peace, anyhow.

As far as Mandani, we await the verdict of my wife’s daughter, currently ensconced in Brooklyn.

Where are all the curious?

By Bob Small

In the world of ideas and art, there’s a fear of the new, whether it be new ideas, new methods ,any new way of doing things. From Beethoven to Elvis, from Mozart to The Rolling Stones to Nirvana to Katzeye to Twenty One Pilots new ideas are not always welcome.

A new violin concerto by composer Clara Iannotta was cancelled in Germany last October without telling the composer, conductor, or violin soloist.

Titled “sand like gold-leaf in smithereens” required non-musical instruments that were “additional sounding objects” .and it was reported that, due to this, “30 percent of the musicians refused to play the piece.

“What concerns me most is a profound lack of curiosity,” said the composer.

This lack of curiosity is not restricted to the arts world.

To quote the movie Cool Hand Luke: What we have here is a failure to communicate.

Too many people assume there is only one side and they know it!

The Essener Philharmoniker raised concerns but said discussions between players and management to find a solution were “initiated too late or not conducted with sufficiently empowered personnel. As a result, a genuine dialogue or joint decision was hardly possible”.

Translation, management wanted not to do this piece.

Clara herself said

“If situations like this are not addressed, they risk creating a climate where composer — especially younger ones — begin to anticipate refusal and adapt their language in advance,” Ms. Iannotta said.

In other words, self-censorship.

She noted the decision to cancel the performance was ultimately made by the management.

Let’s discuss the recent election in hometown Swarthmore.

Even though many of the problems of Swarthmore Borough such as high taxes, over-regulation, and the threatened changes to Cunningham Field, arise from the all Democratic Swarthmore Borough Council, many of the voters were not curious enough to give the Republicans a chance.

We now live in the “Delco Hospital Desert” and the all Democratic Delaware County Council has to do with that.

How bad does it have to get for people to consider a change?