Category: Guest Authors

Speaker Johnson’s Moment Of Truth

Speaker Johnson’s Moment Of Truth

By Joe Guzzardi

With a Nov. 17 deadline looming to pass a new budget, and with lingering GOP divisions over former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ousting, House Speaker Mike Johnson faces a tall challenge. But, in the short time that he’s has been Speaker, Johnson has built significant good will among his peers and generated excitement among the GOP voting base.

One thing Johnson can’t afford to do in the budget discussions is come away empty-handed. With the border wide-open, and terrorism suspects easily infiltrating the interior, the budget squabble is the ideal time to insist that the strong border enforcement HR-2 bill be included in any legislation that provides funding for the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

House Republicans have slowed their Ukraine enthusiasm, understandably so. Reports from the U.S. State Department Office of Inspector General and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget showed that, to date, the U.S. has approved about $113 billion in aid to Ukraine. Biden vowed in his September speech to the UN that the U.S. will “continue to stand with Ukraine” indefinitely. Many House Republicans reasonably question where, with a $33 trillion deficit, the money will come from.

The open-borders’ negative effect on Americans is ongoing and continuous with a dramatic, adverse impact on schools, hospitals, communities and crime. Countless millions of illegal aliens, literally, have been processed at the border, with some flown during the middle of the night into major airports, compliments of an unlawful Biden program, the CBP-One app. Others have snuck in. These gotaways have alluded the otherwise occupied Customs and Border Patrol officers. CPB agents are processing, not arresting, removable aliens.

HR-2 would 1) prevent the Biden administration from continuing its policy of catch-and-release, thereby discouraging future illegal immigrant waves, 2) stop the surges of family units and unaccompanied alien children which would protect them from cartel and traffickers’ criminal exploitation, 3) enforce expiration dates on visas and ensure that nonimmigrants depart on a timely basis, actions that would deter overstays and 4) end parole abuse in which the administration has illegally rewarded aliens with work permission and other affirmative benefits. Crimes related to parole have all been committed in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Speaker Johnson's Moment Of Truth
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La4)

Biden and his aide-de-camp, Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, have been, since Inauguration Day 2021, negligent, incompetent and criminal in their disregard for national security, with tragic consequences inevitable. The spotlight now falls on Johnson whose impressive voting record promotes a pro-America agenda. Johnson has consistently voted for stronger border and interior security, tighter asylum laws and eliminating amnesty enticements.

Within the GOP conference, stopping Biden’s border invasion has near-unanimous support, great news for Johnson. Even immigration apologists want immediate action to end the invasion. Johnson’s moment of truth will arrive soon. If Johnson doesn’t make good on his agenda, to quote verbatim an Arizona CBP border officer when Biden ended Title 42, America is “screwed.”

Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org.

Speaker Johnson’s Moment Of Truth

DHS Gives Low-Wage Workers Short Shrift

DHS Gives Low-Wage Workers Short Shrift

By Joe Guzzardi

Today’s headlines are about the Israel-Gaza War, pro-Palestine rallies, Democrats’ success in the Nov. 7 elections and President Donald Trump’s legal travails. But away from the bold print, permanent Washington continues its nonstop assault on American workers.

As is the Department of Homeland Security’s cowardly practice when the agency anticipates voters will wince from its announcement, it chose a late Friday afternoon to make public its decision to increase by 65,000 yearly the H-2B nonagricultural, low-skilled workers’ visa. The hike is staggering because the existing annual total is 66,000. With a stroke of the pen, DHS doubled the number of foreign nationals who will arriving to do a wide number of jobs that Americans would otherwise perform.

Every year, congressional immigration expansionists and the Chamber of Commerce along with its corporate allies repeat the same tedious stories: No workers! Bankruptcy alert! Neither side of the aisle mounts much of a challenge to the false narrative. Over the decades, the mainstream media has done little if any investigative journalism to uncover and then reveal the H-2B program’s widespread fraud and abuse.

From time-to-time, however, insightful reports, surprisingly from left-leaning sources, have dug deeply enough to disclose the distasteful truth lurking within:

  • NPR: “It’s not just about labor scarcity, it’s about employer control.”
  • New York Times: The shortage claim “does not stand up”… H-2B [is] “not an acceptable solution.”
  • The Economic Policy Institute: Their blockbuster report uncovered that over the past two decades major H-2B employers have stolen $1.8 billion from workers.

EPI’s researcher and the damning report’s author, Daniel Costa, turned out to be prescient. Costa wrote that, despite its shameless exploitation of workers, and its consistent failure to add worker protections to the program, the H-2B program is “growing.” Lo and behold, at 4:08pm, Friday, Nov. 3, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ DHS doubled the H-2B program. David North, a long-time H-2B observer and critic, broke down the new 65,000 as follows: a 20,000 set-aside for aliens from Haiti, Colombia and Central America’s Northern Triangle – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. DHS bureaucrats slipped this outrage through even though previous work permission expansions to Haiti, for example, yielded almost no applicants. The remaining 45,000 in DHS’ harmful giveaway are retreads from recent H-2B workers who have, over the last three years, toiled for a pittance.

DHS’ unwarranted labor market expansion action is a direct slap in the face to American workers. President Joe Biden’s open borders has led to more than 5 million mostly unskilled, undereducated individuals who are perfect fits for H-2B labor in construction, landscaping, hospitality and the seafood industry. For employers, the border surge represents Christmas everyday – thousands of workers to choose from and without having to fill out the tedious paperwork that the government requires to secure an H-2B visa.

Moreover, in yet continued good news for employers, through the first eight months of 2023, nearly a quarter million migrants received parole at the Southwest border. Customs and Border Protection paroled another 221,456 foreign-born nationals who flew, compliments of U.S. taxpayers, into their preferred port of entry using Biden’s illegally concocted CBP One App. In all, nearly 475,000 parolees received work permission, further diminishing down to zero the need for more H-2B visas.

As subversive as DHS’ disregard for U.S. workers and American sovereignty is, the story just begins when illegal aliens get their employment authorization. Overwhelmingly unvetted, most quasi-legalized migrants will never return home, will add to already-unsustainable population growth and collapsing social services, and will contribute mightily to school and hospital overcrowding. Doubters who view this interpretation as overstatement should ask themselves if they think Haitian, Salvadorans, Guatemalans or Hondurans, once settled in the U.S., will return home. Such a possibility is unlikely, at best. Barring a new 2025 administration’s heroic intervention, complete with a vigorous removal plan of those who arrived through Biden’s unconstitutional and illegal scheming, the migrants are here to stay.

Here is a final thought on the long-standing, unproven claim that the nation has a worker shortage. The traditional solution to labor scarcities, when and if they exist, is offering workers higher wages.

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

DHS Gives Low-Wage Workers Short Shrift

DHS Gives Low-Wage Workers Short Shrift

Judge Landis Winked At 1926 Baseball Gambling Scandal

Judge Landis Winked at 1926 Baseball Gambling Scandal

By Joe Guzzardi

World Series 2023 had the lowest television ratings in history. No need to belabor the whys and wherefores. Instead of listening to the ceaseless chatter of announcer John Smoltz, fans would be better off acquainting themselves with the game’s rich history. A good start: read Dan Taylor’s “Baseball at the Abyss,” which takes a deep dive into the forgotten 1926 scandal that involved Hall of Fame greats Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker, as the principal scoundrels.

Baseball has a long, unhappy gambling history with wagering playing a prominent role that dates back before the 1919 Chicago Black Sox scandal. In baseball’s early days, bookmakers plied their trade in the open, working the ballpark areas inside and outside, taking wagers. The 1919 World Series may have, in the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald, destroyed the faith of 50 million people, about half the U.S. population then, but throwing baseball games was commonplace. As Emil “Happy” Felsch, a White Sox fixer, said, “Playing rotten ain’t that hard to do.”

Author Taylor explains that the dirty deeds had their inception in 1919, when the Cleveland Indians were in Detroit to face the Tigers. Neither the Indians nor the Tigers were going to win the pennant, but the Tigers were in a tight scrum with the Yankees for third place. In the dead ball era, a third-place finish meant a small share of the post-season loot for every Tigers’ member. The Indians had second place locked up. Cobb and Speaker, the respective managers of the Tigers and Indians, huddled prior to the September 25 game to iron out the details.

Speaker assured Cobb that he “wouldn’t have to worry” about the game’s outcome. The Cleveland team preferred, Speaker insisted, that Detroit finish in third. By virtue of that finish, the Tigers were likely to make about $500 for each player. Cobb, Speaker, Tigers pitcher Dutch Leonard and Indians pitcher Smoky Joe Wood all agreed to conspire in the fix.

Years later, Leonard confessed the four had agreed that since their post-season share would be small, they might as well wager on the game. Cobb was to put up $2,000; Leonard, $1,500, and Speaker and Wood $1,000 each. Cobb suggested park attendant Fred West would be a good man to place the bets. But because Detroit was a 10–7 favorite and because the local bookmakers were unwilling to handle such large sums, West only managed to get down $600 against the bookmakers’ $420.

The Tigers won the September 25 game 9–5, plating four runs in the first two innings. The Indians committed three costly errors, and Cleveland starter Elmer Myers — perhaps tipped off to the fix or maybe acting on his own whimsy — floated pitches to the plate for the Detroit batters. Speaker banged out three hits, all of them well after the Tigers had control of the game and the outcome was clear. No one is certain whether Cobb, Speaker or anyone else actually received money from their bets. The scant remaining evidence indicates that the wrongdoers may not have been able to place all the bets they hoped to.

That winter, Cobb, Speaker, Wood and Leonard went home, but the four men exchanged letters about the incident, sharing their regret that they were unable to get their bets down in time and that their shared proposition fizzled. The letters came back to haunt the four.

Several years later, the stench from the fixing incident wafted out. A vengeful Leonard wanted to settle a score with his former teammate, Cobb, now the Tigers manager. Once, Cobb kept Leonard in a 1925 game in which the southpaw surrendered 20 runs, and the manager mocked the idea that he yank his humiliated starter. Leonard never forgot, and the memory ate at him.

Cobb released Leonard, and insiders said Ty discouraged other American League teams from signing the lefty. Dutch stewed, and in May 1926 he presented the letters he received from Cobb, Speaker and Wood — the evidence — to Tigers owner Frank Navin who turned them over to American League President Ban Johnson. To keep a lid on the percolating scandal, Johnson paid Leonard $20,000 to go back to Fresno where he owned a farm, and focus on his raisin growing. At the season’s end, Johnson forced Cobb and speaker to resign. Eventually, however, the superstars appealed their cases to Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis who, sensing that the public and the baseball writers were solidly behind the diamond, absolved Speaker and Cobb, facts be damned.

Landis read the room correctly. Baseball bugs were fed up with scandal. At least five World Series — 1905, 1912, 1914, 1918 and 1919 — were rumored to have been influenced by game-fixers. And the 1923 Teapot Dome Scandal that implicated President Warren G. Harding — considered the greatest presidential scandal until Watergate — was still reverberating among the citizenry.

Cobb and Speaker played until 1928, Speaker for one year with the Washington Senators and one year with the Philadelphia A’s, and Cobb two years with the A’s.

Better to remember Cobb as one of baseball’s all-time greats, .366 career batting average with nine consecutive titles, and Speaker, the “Gray Eagle” who holds outfielder records for assists, double plays and unassisted double plays. Balls hit to center field where Speaker patrolled were considered the place where triples go to die.

Cobb, Speaker, Wood and Leonard got off the hook, and played into their 40s. Pete Rose, however, who holds MLB career records for 4,256 career hits, 3,215 career singles, 3,562 career games played, 14,053 career at-bats and 15,890 career plate appearances, was permanently banned for his gambling infractions. In life, good timing is invaluable.

*****

Taylor’s other books include
Walking Alone: the Untold Journey of Football Pioneer Kenny Jackson and Lights, Camera, Fastball: How the Hollywood Stars Changed Baseball.

*****

Joe Guzzardi is an Internet Baseball Writers Association and Society for American Baseball Research historian. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com. 
On X @JoeGuzzardi19.

Judge Landis Winked at 1926 Baseball Gambling Scandal

State Races Got Higher Totals Than Local Ones

State Races Got Higher Totals Than Local Ones

By Loranne Mazzulo

I live in Edgmont, Delaware County, Pa. and I was a school board candidate for for the Rose Tree Media School District on Nov. 7.

I would like to say I am making NO accusations or asserting that I am 100 percent correct on some of the things I am going to explain.

I will be clear that I was not looking for what I happened to come across.

This began when I couldn’t believe that Bob Steiner, running for Edgmont Township Supervisor, lost the election. Edgmont is a Republican community, Bob is extremely well liked and respected, hence my shock. So I started flipping through the election results in both precincts in Edgmont. I live in Precinct 1.

As I was reviewing these results it seemed extremely odd that there would be significantly more number of votes cast in the election for the Justice of the Supreme Court, as opposed to a local and very popular township supervisor election. Edgmont has been battling the school district for the past two years and this race between the two supervisors has been highly anticipated. There is no way more people would cast votes for the higher offices than the local ones.

There is not another race that had more votes than the Supreme Court race between MCCaffery and Carluccio on the Edgmont result sheets!

I am not a super political person, I am familiar with races in general but basically I’m just the average citizen. So I thought to myself… “if I were going to go and just vote one race, would it be the BIG statewide race that I knew very little about??? NO WAY!!!

Why would there be more votes in the Supreme Court Race??? If you care that much about politics to vote in the Supreme Court Race, you would also care about your local politics that affect your everyday life.

Ok so here is what I found as I went through reviewing the Edgmont in-person voting for two person races.

Edgmont 1

Justice of Supreme Court (McCaffrey/Carluccio) Cast Votes: 763

Judge of Commonwealth Court (Wolf/Martin) Cast Votes: 744

Judge of Common Pleas (Berry/Sutphin) Cast Votes: 747

DA (Stolsteimer/Miscichowski) Cst Votes: 750

Edgmont Auditor (DiPillo/Besvinick) Cast Votes: 743

Edgmont Supervisor (Thorne/Steiner) Cast Votes: 735

NOTE: 1% more votes cast for Supreme Court than next highest.

Edgmont 2

Supreme Court: 500

Commonwealth: 498

Common Pleas: 500

DA: 492

Auditor: 479

Supervisor: 492

There were 1 percent more votes in Edgmont 2 for Supreme Court (500) than local elections (492).

So you may think ahh 1 percent, that’s so small what’s the big deal?.

Well we are talking about 10 to 20 extra votes for SOMEONE in the Supreme Court race! That’s just one little town in PA. What if we look at the rest of the county????? Guess what pick a precinct in the county… you will see this same pattern. It doesn’t matter if it is 1 extra vote for the Supreme Court race or 20. It adds up! I have included a couple for your viewing. But rest assured this pattern repeats for every precinct I looked at! Think about it 1 percent, who is gonna notice, I only noticed because I was looking for something else. Its such a small amount barely matters, but in the grand scheme of a statewide election. It is HUGE!!!

Delaware County Results: More votes cast for the Supreme Court Race than any of the other county wide races:

Supreme Court: 113,022

CommonWealth Court: 111,352 Common Pleas: 111,319

That’s a difference of approximately 1670 votes, JUST from DELCO!!! There are 67 counties in the state of Pennsylvania!! I also cant rule out that the two other elections above did not benefit from some extra votes as well, if that is the case we are looking at more votes than just 1670.

Next, if this is happening in Delaware County. Could it be happening in other counties? Why yes it is!!!

I will start with Erie County, because I think this is mostly what I would expect in an election::
This seems like it was not “tampered” with to me.

In person voting:

Supreme Court: 41482 Commonwealth Court: 40958 Common Pleas (local): 42031 Controller (local): 41441

Note I suspect other smaller counties, but not all, will look like this but I have not looked at them all.

Another small county is Adams. You have to look at local races that have 4 people and make the assumption that if you divide the total in two, and each voter voted for two people you get the total number of votes cast. (no 2 person races listed on county site) Copy is provided of Adams County.

Supreme court total votes cast: 22,797

Superior Court (Beck, Lane, Battista, Small): 40,843 divided by 2= @20,422 Commonwealth Court: 22654
Commissioner: 20,795

NOTE IF YOU COMPARE THE SECOND HIGHEST NUMBER OF VOTES, YOU ARE LOOKING AT @1% more for Supreme Court. . Remember this is likely 1 to 5 extra votes for Supreme Court at each precinct in Adams County.

I’m going to run through a few more larger counties but the same thing repeats!!! Court race has MORE votes. .

Lancaster County, in person::

Supreme Court: 97472 Commonwealth: 97121 Wills: 95491

Lehigh county:

Supreme Court: 73,554 Commonwealth: 73034 Controller: 72879 Coroner: 72,686

Bucks County:

Supreme Court: 197,631 Commonwealth: 196,778 Wills: 195,911 Treasurer: 196,085

Clerk of Ct: 195,595

Montgomery County In Person:

Supreme Court: 175, 225 Commonwealth: 174,103 Common Pleas: 172,804 Clerk of Courts: 173,143 Controller: 172,708

Westmoreland

Supreme Court: 91310 Commonwealth: 90152 Sheriff: 90674

The Supreme

Berks

Supreme Court: 81625 Commonwealth: 80029 Controller: 81039 Wills: 80861

I’m going to end here, I have not looked at every County.
consistently appearing that more votes are being cast for the Supreme court race? Where are these votes coming from? We all know that next year is a presidential election, with the win of McCaffery the Supreme Court of PA is 5 Dems and 2 republicans!

Looking at Edgmont as an example, I can only surmise that either 13 people cast votes with ONLY the supreme court race checked off, or something crooked went on.

My hope is that I am completely wrong and I am missing something that will make all of this make sense. If I am not wrong I hope that someone will look into this and figure out what is going on.

State Races Got Higher Totals Than Local Ones

State Races Got Higher Totals Than Local Ones

Election Day 2023 In Swarthmore Pa

Election Day 2023 In Swarthmore Pa

By Bob Small

So we –me and Paula my wife — spent Tuesday, Nov 7, at our polling place on Rutgers Avenue, in the Cades Building in Swarthmore, Pa.  We were handing out information on behalf of two Republicans running for Borough Council. Did I really say Republicans? To paraphrase Admiral James Stockdale “Who am I and what am I doing here.?”

This started with there being a special election for Swarthmore Borough Council.

One of the candidates, Rob  M. Jordan, had contacted me and I shared my years of expertise, such as it is, from involvement with Green Party Politics.  Surprisingly, he followed my guidance, and both GOP Candidates made it on the ballot. 

This was the first time in decades that there was a contested election for Swarthmore Borough Council!  For some more perspective, see A Republican In Swarthmore.

So we spent the day and night, 8 to 8, asking people to “be part of history, vote in a Swarthmore Borough Council contested election.”

Usually, you could only vote for the Democrat.  Or not. Are elections for the Beijing City Council like this?

At any rate, several Democrats engaged with me during the campaigning. They know us from attending almost every Borough Council Meeting –we even received a citation for this — and considered Green and harmless. 

When one elected official, as part of his harangue, asked me why I would dare be doing this, I mentioned Swarthmore Council members who promised to vote against the Condo but ended up voting for it.

At least 80 percent of the public comment on this issue was against.  

Also mentioned was Council’s inability to prevent PECO doing massive replacement of trees for their new and taller electrical poles..

 Swarthmore has boasted about been a “tree city”.

Cell phone tower trees are not a replacement.

My candidates lost getting around 5 percent of the vote.

We consider it both a “new beginning” and a consciousness-raising”.

On Wednesday, I transitioned my voter registration from Green to Republican.

Election Day 2023 In Swarthmore Pa

Election Day 2023 In Swarthmore Pa

Hall Of Fame War Heroes Include Kiner and Greenberg

Hall Of Fame War Heroes Include Kiner and Greenberg

By Joe Guzzardi

Legendary Pittsburgh Pirates sluggers Ralph Kiner and Hank Greenberg shared more than Hall of Fame induction. They were World War II heroes whose Buccos power-hitting careers overlapped, and led to the construction of Forbes Field’s controversial Greenberg Gardens. Over the years, Kiner and Greenberg developed an enduring friendship.

The day after Pearl Harbor, Kiner enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Kiner flew Martin PBM Mariners from Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station in Hawaii on submarine search patrols, and accumulated 1,200 flying hours. Unlike most other major league players stationed in the Pacific, Kiner played little baseball during his Navy service. As Kiner recalled, he played at the most six games during his two and a half Navy years. Kiner considered his pilot training and defending America more valuable than baseball.

When the war ended, the Pirates had Kiner penciled in to begin the 1946 season for the Pacific Coast League’s Hollywood Stars. But during Spring Training, Kiner tore the cover off the ball, and made the Pirates active roster. The Pirates chose wisely. Despite Forbes Field’s imposing dimensions for a right-handed hitter, 365’ down the left field line, 406’ in left center and 457’ in dead center, Kiner’s 23 home runs led the league in his rookie 1946 season, and he topped the league every year thereafter through 1952. Kiner’s home run title streak for seven consecutive years is an unbreakable record.

Enter Greenberg. In the 1946 off season, the Pirates bought American League home run king and two-time MVP Hank Greenberg, who was embroiled in a bitter salary dispute with the Detroit Tigers. Like Kiner, Greenberg served in World War II. Greenberg was drafted in 1941, and he was honorably discharged when Congress released servicemen age 28 years and older. After Pearl Harbor, Sergeant Greenberg volunteered to join the U.S. Army Air Corps. “We are in trouble,” Greenberg told The Sporting News, “and there is only one thing for me to do – return to the service.” Assigned to the first Boeing B-29 Superfortresses’ group to go overseas, Greenberg spent 1944 flying in the India-China-Burma theater. Greenberg served 47 months, the longest of any major league player.

When he joined the Pirates, Greenberg befriended Kiner, corrected his swing, which during the following season helped raised his anemic batting average from .247 to .313, and increased his home run output to 51. Pirates’ management, in turn, acted swiftly to help Greenberg hit more homers; they installed an inner fence that shortened left field’s distance by 30’. Society for American Baseball Research historian Ron Backer analyzed the controversial Greenberg Gardens’ consequences, and found that the new construction benefited Kiner more than Greenberg.

In his one year with the Pirates, 1947, Greenberg hit only 25 home runs. Of that total, 18 were hit at Forbes Field, of which nine landed in the Gardens. Of the 369 home runs that Kiner hit throughout his major league career, 71 landed in Greenberg Gardens, or about 20 percent. Eventually, Greenberg Gardens became known as “Kiner’s Korner.” Greenberg Gardens and the home run barrage launched from Kiner’s bat that it facilitated made Pirates ownership the biggest winner. In 1947, for the first time in Pirates’ history, more than 1 million fans showed up at Forbes Field, a milestone that, even though the Pirates were perennial cellar-dwellers, continued throughout most of Kiner’s Corsair days.

In June 1953, General Manager Branch Rickey abruptly traded Kiner to the Chicago Cubs. Since Rickey’s arrival, the relationship between the two had been acrimonious. The next day, Rickey ordered the fence torn down and said: “I don’t believe in building artificial barriers to suit any individual.” The league intervened, ruled that parks could not be reconfigured in mid-season. The gardens remained in left field until February 1954.

After their playing days ended, Greenberg and Kiner had prosperous careers. In 1948, Greenberg became the Cleveland Indians farm director and in November 1949 was promoted to general manager. Greenberg assembled the 1954 Indians squad, which set the then-American League record for most wins in a season, 111. In his eight years as GM, the Indians finished in first or second place six times.

In 1956, Greenberg became the first Jewish ballplayer inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Greenberg died from liver cancer on September 4, 1986. Greenberg, along with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx and Ted Williams, is one of only five players to hit over .300, have an on-base percentage over .400, and a slugging mark above .600. In 2013, Greenberg received the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award given to 37 Baseball Hall of Fame members to recognize the courage he displayed during his World War II Army Air Force service.

Kiner, injury-plagued, was traded from the Cubs to the Indians in 1955, but was unable to produce for his old friend Greenberg. After hitting only 18 homers, Kiner retired. During the late 1940s, Kiner dated Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh and Ava Gardner before marrying tennis star Nancy Chafee in 1951. Greenberg was Kiner’s best man. Then in 1962, he joined the expansion New York Mets broadcast team. Kiner joked that he was chosen “because I had a lot of experience with losing.” Kiner broadcast through 2013, and is one of the longest tenured broadcasters with a single team in MLB history. In tribute to Greenberg Gardens, Kiner’s post-game television show on WOR was called Kiner’s Korner and aired for more than 30 years. Kiner died of natural causes in February 2014. Like Greenberg, Kiner received the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award given in honor of his heroic World War II Navy service.

Kiner and Greenberg played important roles in Pittsburgh’s history and are remembered for being bright lights in an otherwise bleak chapter in the Pirates’ early 1950s Forbes Field era.

Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research historian. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com.

Hall Of Fame War Heroes Include Kiner and Greenberg

Hall Of Fame War Heroes Include Kiner and Greenberg

Only ‘A Fool’ Wouldn’t Expect Terrorism At Open Border Says Az Rep

Only ‘A Fool’ Wouldn’t Expect Terrorism At Open Border Says Az Rep

 By Joe Guzzardi

From the Oval Office, President Joe Biden made an impassioned mid-October address that laid out the stakes for Americans as to why they must support Israel and Ukraine in their wars against aggressors Hamas and Russia. He called the wars an American national security imperative, with victory critical to the future of democracies worldwide.

Biden spoke forcefully, but unconvincingly to many in his audience. Included in Biden’s message was an “urgent budget request” – his proposed $106 billion package which designated $64.1 billion for Ukraine. But Biden gave short shrift to Israel, a proposed $14.3 billion, and tagged on $10 billion for humanitarian assistance, a category that will give $850 million to process more illegal aliens at the border.

Since the start of Ukraine’s endless war with Russia in 2022, the U.S. has sent more than $135 billion on Ukraine. For its ally Israel, since its founding as an independent state in 1948, the U.S. has provided just over $150 billion. President Biden’s latest request would tie Israel’s $14.3 billion to Ukraine’s $61.4 billion. But Louisiana U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson’s election as House Speaker put Biden’s bid for continued Ukraine funding in doubt; Johnson is a long-time opponent to indefinite Ukraine funding. Johnson did, however, agree to $14.6 billion for Israel, slightly more than Biden requested, with the caveat that each dollar given must be offset by an equal amount in federal government spending cuts, a process called “pay for’s.”

Biden urged Americans to get behind Israel and Ukraine’s defenses because, in the president’s words, support “is vital for national security.” The president’s plea to send Ukraine more billions while the Southern border remains wide open, and exploitable to terrorists, is incomprehensible, and it is unacceptable to Johnson and millions of concerned Americans. Ukraine is a profoundly corrupt country. Transparency International, a worldwide movement that works to expose corruption and the injustice it inflicts, ranks Ukraine No. 116 out of the 180 nations it evaluated, a red flag to lenders since monies sent aren’t specifically accounted for in detail.

Biden and his administration’s like-minded, pro-war Secretaries of Defense and State, Tony Blinken and Lloyd Austin, are staunchly behind Ukraine. In September, Blinken made his fourth trip to Kyiv to give President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a message from President Biden: the U.S. wants “to reaffirm strongly our support” for Ukraine. Austin, in a recent telephone call to Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, reassured his Ukrainian counterpart of the U.S.’s continued support in the war against Russia.

Yet, none of the federal government’s three most powerful and influential – Biden, Blinken and Austin – have even hinted at what dangerous and possibly fatal consequences could evolve from the border invasion. In October alone, Customs and Border Protection apprehended 100 Syrians and 50 Iranians. During the one-week period from October 8 to October 14, CBP arrested six Iranians, three Lebanese, one Egyptian and one Saudi Arabian trying to cross the Rio Grande River in the Del Rio Sector, which includes besieged Eagle Pass. Because of ongoing terrorism, instability and anti-American sentiments in the region, Syria and Iran are currently listed under State Department Level Four Travel Advisories: DO NOT TRAVEL. Adding to the homeland’s risk from Middle Eastern nationals who may harbor terrorist intentions is the growing number of what CBP refers to as “known gotaways,” 23,000 during October’s first three weeks, or about 1,000 per day.

Eli Crane, an Arizona U.S. representative whose 2nd congressional district includes portions of Maricopa and Pinal counties which have experienced a steady inflow of illegal aliens, is on the invasion’s front line. Noting that about 280 people on the FBI terrorist watch list have been apprehended at the border, Crane wrote in a “Newsweek” op-ed, “If you don’t think there are any lone wolves or terrorist cells that have come in through that wide open border, you’re a fool.”

To ignore the obvious risks that open borders present, and at the same time vigorously promote and magnanimously underwrite Ukraine’s defense of its border against Russia, insults all Americans, proving Biden’s contempt for Americans.

This entry was posted in Posts, Project for Immigration Reform and tagged CB, Lloyd Austin, Mike Johnson, Tony Blinken, Ukraine.

Only ‘A Fool’ Wouldn’t Expect Terrorism At Open Border

Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org.

Only ‘A Fool’ Wouldn’t Expect Terrorism At Open Border

4 Seek 2 Seats For Pennsylvania Superior Court

4 Seek 2 Seats For Pennsylvania Superior Court

By Bob Small

Two seats are up on Pennsylvania Superior Court  and those seeking them are Maria C. Battisa and Harry F. Smail Jr. on the Republican ticket; and Jill Beck and Timika Lane on the Democrat one.

The court was established in 1895 and is one of two statewide intermediate appellate courts. It hears appeals in criminal and most civil cases from county courts of common pleas; and matters involving children and families.

Terms are 10 years and the court is headquartered in Harrisburg.

Maria C. Battista

Maria C. Battista received her Juris Doctorate from Ohio Northern University. She has worked with the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners and currently works for the Judge group in Wayne, Pa..

 She has been endorsed by the Pennsylvania FOP.

Jill Beck

Jill Beck is a graduate of Duquesne Law School. She has worked at Kids Voice a private nonprofit representing Allegheny County abused, at-risk, and neglected children.  At Blank Rome, she was co-chair of their working group aimed at protecting the right to protest. She worked for a decade as a clerk with Justice Christine Donahue.  She has also focused on representing “low-income criminal defendants.” Shlives in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh with “her husband, two children, and  their rescue dog”.

Timka Lane

Timika Lane has her law degree from the Rutgers University of Law-Camden. She was elected to the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas  in 2013 and has also served as a chief legal counsel for the Pennsylvania Senate.  Her philosophy is that “litigants are not just names on a pleading”. 

She sees the greatest threat to the practice of law as  “ keeping up with the changes of technology and its effect on traditional methods of litigation.” 

She also worked for Habitat for Humanity during Hurricane Katrina,.

Judge Harry F. Smail Jr.

Harry F. Smail, Jr. has been a Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court judge since being appointed by Gov. Tom Corbett in 2014. He attained his Duquesne University of Law Degree while working as a full-time Probation/Parole Officer.  He has also worked for the Federal Public Defender’s Office of indigent defendants.

‘I do not legislate from the bench; rather, I apply and enforce the law as intended as the third branch of government providing the checks and balances that make our government functional,” he said.

He is a member of The Federalist Society 

He states his opinions “have a 97 percent affirmation rate.”

He said that his decisions about setting aside ballots without the required dates were affirmed by Commonwealth Court and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

He lives in Westmoreland County with his wife and  two daughters. 

Bounty Put on Customs and Border Patrol Agents

Bounty Put on Customs and Border Patrol Agents

By Joe Guzzardi

Recently, San Diego’s Customs and Border Protection officials issued an intelligence notice alerting its agents that “Hamas and Hezbollah militants may potentially be encountered at the Southwest border.”

The memorandum added, in part: “Individuals inspired by, or reacting to, the current Israel-Hamas conflict may attempt travel to or from the area of hostilities in the Middle East via circuitous transit across the Southwest border.” The intel document showed various insignias associated with Hamas, Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad groups. The document also informed CBP personnel to be vigilant of young men wearing military gear and traveling alone. CBP’s alert coincides with San Diego’s latest border encounters data that show a dramatic increase; September 2023’s 26,000 encounters reflect a 67 percent increase from last year’s 15,000.

From the view of the cartels and coyotes, nothing has been better for their multibillion-dollar businesses than the Israel-Gaza war. As little attention as Biden has paid to border enforcement during his presidency’s three years, the Middle East warfare has pushed Southwest security completely out of the White House’s line of vision. Potential terrorists are well-aware that the border is open. They know that now is the ideal time to take further advantage and ratchet up crossings.

Through the 12 months ending October 21, 169 people on the FBI terror watch lists were encountered between southern border ports of entry, a number that exceeds not only fiscal year 2022’s record-setting total, 98, but the last six fiscal years combined. With encounters between ports at the northern border included, the total for fiscal year 2023 was 172.

Ample evidence exists that terrorists are already present, and plotting. U.S. Customs and Border Protection warned agents that someone who is planning to torture, if not murder, them is looking for their addresses. One text that CBP intercepted read: “We will pay for any addresses of border patrol agents!!”

The sender offered to pay $200 for an agent’s address and $1,000 for “they mommas [sic] address.” Another message read, “I’ll post us torturing any bp agent u send.” Perhaps the texts, a federal felony, are a hoax; no one knows. The FBI, as is its practice, will neither confirm nor deny that an investigation to locate the sender is in progress. But if and when a probe gets underway, the FBI should have little trouble pinpointing the source. When motivated, the FBI operates with peak efficiency. The Department of Justice has, for example, identified and charged nearly 1,200 people who participated in the January 6 protest, the largest criminal investigation in U.S. history.

With the loss of life mounting in Israel and Gaza, and hostages’ fates unknown, the Biden administration is focused exclusively on the Middle East. And on the domestic front, the administration is focused on appeasing Israeli and Palestinian supporters. But the invasion of the U.S. continues, and more migrants are on the way. In September alone, more than 75,000 migrants crossed the roadless Darién Gap jungle on foot, the second-highest monthly tally recorded by Panamanian officials, only a few thousand less than the 82,000 reported August crossings.

In total, more than 400,000 U.S.-bound migrants, many of them Venezuelans, have crossed the treacherous jungle route this year to enter Central America, a record and once-unimaginable number. Luis Gilberto Murillo, Colombia’s ambassador to the U.S., called illegal immigration through the Darién Gap “an unsustainable crisis” that poses serious safety risks to all who attempt the trip.

Murillo added, disingenuously, that Colombia and the U.S. are working together to dissuade those who contemplate the dangerous journey from taking their first step. Truth be told, Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s left-wing president, has said his government will not physically stop illegal aliens from entering the jungle. He argued instead that migration must be dealt with in a humanitarian way – translation, no impediments to the journey further north. The U.S., for its part, has imposed no deterrents to stop the invasion.

Biden’s criminal disregard for breaking immigration laws ensures either bad or tragic results. The bad – crime, bankrupt communities, a lost America – is terrible. The worst, an attack on the homeland, is unthinkable.

Joe Guzzardi is a Project for Immigration Reform analysts who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org.

Bounty Put on Customs and Border Patrol Agents

Bounty Put on Customs and Border Patrol Agents

1925 World Series Mystery Went Unsolved For 50 Years

1925 World Series Mystery Went Unsolved For 50 Years

By Joe Guzzardi

It took nearly 50 years to resolve one of the World Series’ most controversial plays. For the decades between 1925 and 1974, fans debated whether Pittsburgh Pirates batter Earl Smith was out when Washington Senators outfielder Sam Rice tumbled into the left field stands to hold on to a long fly ball. Or was Smith, as some cranks in the bleachers insisted, safe when the ball fell out of Sam’s glove? The dispute was the stuff that kept hot stove leaguers buzzing for many a cold winter month.

The National League Pirates were the reigning world champions, and the Senators, the American League challengers. Both squads had several players destined for the Cooperstown Hall of Fame. From the Senators, Rice, Walter Johnson, “Goose” Goslin and boy manager, 27-year-old Bucky Harris; from the Pirates, Pie Traynor, Kiki Cuyler and Max Carey. The teams split their first two games and braced themselves for a pivotal third game that would be played in terrible weather. Griffith Stadium, the Senators’ home park, was, wrote one reporter, “swept by hurricane blasts that chilled to the marrow.” In the bottom of the eighth, with the Senators clinging to a 4–3 lead, Pirates catcher Smith sent a line drive into right field. Fleet-footed Rice snared the bulb, and his momentum carried him into the stands.

1925 World Series Mystery Went Unsolved For 50 Years
Sam Rice

As Rice re-created his dramatic catch, he jumped as high as he could, backhanded Smith’s drive, but toppled into the first row. Umpire Cy Rigler raced out from his position at second base, some 250’ away, to signal Smith, rounding third, out. But Pirates fans, first-hand witnesses to the catch, protested that the ball had fallen from Rice’s glove. Rice, the fans griped, replaced the ball in his glove before Rigler arrived on the scene. Some fans were prepared to sign sworn affidavits to back up their claims. Pirates manager Bill McKenzie and team owner Barney Dreyfuss stormed over to the box seats where Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis and President Calvin Coolidge were watching the unfolding action. McKenzie demanded that Landis overturn Rigler’s call. The commissioner, deferring, said that his baseball powers didn’t include reversing umpire’s judgment calls.

The Senators won the game, but lost the series 4–3. For the rest of his years and wherever he went, Rice was asked if he truly caught the ball or if the questioning fans had really seen sleight-of-hand. Rice had a pat response: “The umpire called Smith out.” Finally, tired of being pestered, Rice announced that he would write a letter to Hall of Fame officials describing the events that could be opened upon his death.

After Rice died in 1974 at age 84 from cancer, HOF brass began a two-week search digging through their files — no letter. Finally, Rice’s missive was found in HOF historian Lee Allen’s file. Allen died before Rice, so he couldn’t point administrators to the tell-all’s location. Finally, the moment of truth had arrived. In Rice’s testimonial, written July 26, 1965, he related that Smith’s line drive landed in his glove’s pocket, that he had “a death grip on it,” and “at no time” did he “lose possession of the ball.”

Time has diminished Rice’s skills and contributions. During his 20-year career, most of which he spent in Washington, Rice achieved a .322 lifetime batting average and fell just 13 shy of 3,000 total base hits. He missed .300 only five times, never by more than seven points, and reached 200 or more hits in a season six times, including 207 in 1930, when, at age 40, he hit .349, a single point shy of his career best.

Rice rarely struck out, averaging only once every 33 at bats, and still shares the all-time American League lead with Joe Jackson for most consecutive multi-hit games, 11, set in 1925 season, and his peers considered him to be the league’s most effective baserunner, on par with Ty Cobb.

The Hall of Fame inducted Rice in 1963, a class that included Dizzy Dean, Bill Dickey and Jimmie Foxx.

Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research and Internet Baseball Writers Association member. Email guzzjoe@yahoo.com or X @JoeGuzzardi19.

1925 World Series Mystery Went Unsolved For 50 Years