From Assassins to Chicago to Sweeney Todd, there is a history of “bloody” musicals. Previously, many of the world’s best-known operas focused on murderers. Bluebeard’s Castle, Lucretia Borgia, Lulu, Macbeth, and Othello are just a few of the better-known names. Somehow, adding music to the tale gives it another dimension, if not making it more palatable.
“Luigi” which features Luigi Mangione and includes the characters of non-murderers Sam Bankman-Fried and Sean “Diddy” Combs, is set in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where all three were housed. This musical premiered on June 13t
Let me share a rather noble sentiment from the final song, “every single human being’s life has worth / so I’ll shoot everybody until there’s peace on Earth.”
The last sentence of the article is worded perfectly “To see the system at work means becoming a witness, and becoming a witness means being, on some level, implicated in the system, for good or for ill. “
This musical that Luigi has become an unwitting “star” of Yep, the Luigi Mangione musical is here , comes with more immediacy than most other works. Should this be out before the trial begins. Just saying.
This work was created by four stand-up comedians. Whether we can expect it on the East Coast is yet to be determined though we think that’s a safe bet.
Nova Bradford, one of the creators of this musical says “We’re not valorizng any of these characters and we’re not trivializing any of their actions or alleged actions.
Lily Janiak, Theater Critic, for the San Francisco Chronicle, has a “killer” review.
Towards the end of the review , though, she quotes a very effective line “I wanted them to understand what it feels like when someone else gets to decide if you live or die.” This brings us back to why an alleged murderer has such a wide swath of public sympathy.
Maybe one of our Delco Theaters that regularly runs musicals, The Media Theatre or Swarthmore Players Club can run it this Fall, so we can judge for ourselves,
Years ago, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band released a popular song titled ‘Born in Chicago.‘ Butterfield’s song talked about a group of young friends that, while politicians debated gun control, are shot to death on Chicago’s tough streets. Over the issue of safe Chicago streets, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have painted themselves into a tight corner. They cannot intelligently deny that crime is a huge problem in Chicago. Yet Pritzker and Johnson rail against the possibility that President Trump may send in the National Guard to stem citywide violence. Illinois Policy (IP) analysts found that Chicago residents reported 25,000 or more violent crimes since 2004. The 2025 summer was particularly deadly—June 22, summer’s first weekend, saw 23 people shot, 2 fatally; Independence Day weekend, 44 shot, 6 killed; Labor Day weekend at least 55 shot, 8 dead. IPI also found that black and Hispanic Chicagoans made up 95% of the city’s homicide victims during the past 12 months. Blacks were 20 times more likely to be homicide victims than white residents, while Hispanics were 4.7 times more likely. Chicago’s FBI head Doug de Podesta said that the agency had just wrapped up Operation Summer Heat, in which 25 murderers, gun runners, and fentanyl dealers were arrested. As IP summarized, crimes were up; arrests down.
Yet despite the carnage, resistance to federal intercession is fierce. Johnson, whose favorability rating recently bottomed out at 7%, signed an executive order establishing the Protecting Chicago Initiative and launching a Family Preparedness Campaign in multiple languages to educate families on how to prepare for potential detention by federal agents. Chicago, Johnson emphasized, “will be ready for anything and everything,” and he suggested that innocent grandmothers could be thrown into the back of unmarked vans and hauled away. Pritzker, a probable presidential candidate, said about President Trump’s commitment to send in the National Guard: “Let’s be clear, the terror and cruelty is the point, not the safety of anyone living here.” He insisted that there’s “no emergency” in Chicago that warrants federal intervention and argued that any federal action was not about fighting crime or making Chicago safer but instead about targeting blue and Democratic-led cities.
An alternative that neither Johnson nor Pritzker has considered could protect Chicago’s citizens, enhance their political futures, and save face. Accept the president’s offer to help. The mayor and the governor both know that National Guard intervention has not only made Washington, D.C., a safer place but has converted Mayor Muriel Bowser from skeptic to a true believer. On September 1, just before President Trump’s emergency order that tackled D.C. crime was set to expire, Bowser signed an order requiring local law enforcement to cooperate with their federal peers “to the maximum extent allowable by law within the District.” Bowser’s order extends through December. Last month, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith issued a similar order allowing her officers to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify and detain illegal immigrants. A baseless law suit that activist D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed on September 4 against the Trump administration doesn’t change the fact that Washington is a safer place and that the president, who presides over a federal enclave, has the authority to send in the troops.
Chicago minorities, located mostly on the city’s west and south sides where much of the violence occurs, want law and order. They want illegal aliens deported from their communities, where their unlawful presence has disturbed local lifestyles, disrupted schools and helped create a $1.15 billion Chicago budget deficit. In San Francisco, however, Judge Charles Breyer ruled that when President Trump sent in 300 National Guard troops to restore order during the ICE protests—which saw criminals throw rocks and Molotov cocktails at agents—he broke the law. While Breyer wrote that the National Guard members still in Los Angeles can remain and “continue to protect federal property in a manner consistent with the Posse Comitatus Act,” he stayed his ruling until the following week, giving Trump a chance to appeal. Breyer’s ruling presents a moment for the White House to reflect before moving on to Chicago or anywhere else.
But Johnson and Pritzker have a path out: call President Trump to request that he send in the troops. If the National Guard fails, the mayor and governor can claim victory—federal involvement changed nothing. But if crime decreases, they can still declare a win—they recognized that strong steps had to be taken, and they took them. Back in the White House, President Trump can also take a bow. Winners all around are the best way to dampen hostility.
Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org
For some unknown reason, the murder of Arthur Folasa Ah Loo at the Salt Lake City segment of the “No Kings” rally has been “media silent”.
Mr Loo was a well-known fashion designer, was on “Project Runway” and co-founder of Creative Pacific Foundation. He leaves behind a wife, Laura, and two children.
My knowledge of this came from “an interested observer of political events” in the The Utah Vanguard The gist of this article is that the 50501 organizers, who parachuted into Salt Lake City, refused the input of the experienced organizers “on the ground”. It did not work out well.
The 50501 Organizers were warned ahead of time that “ it was a bad idea to have these ‘peacekeepers’ to be a part of what they were … attempting to do, and that it could lead to something tragic like this — and sadly it did.”
They were using ex-military, most of whom have vast weaponry experience rather than, say, Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT)
My years as a Quaker meeting attendee and member gave me great respect for their capabilities.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox said the group “were warned months and months and months ago that it was a bad idea to have these ‘peacekeepers’ to be a part of what they were … attempting to do, and that it could lead to something tragic like this — and sadly it did.”
According to this article, one of the event’s security team fired three shots from a handgun, one of which killed Mr. Loo.
Originally, according to the Salt Lake City Police an Arthur Gamboa was arrested but, since he never fired his gun, he was released. Since then, nothing much has happened that is web listed.
The national group has done everything possible to disassociate themselves from this violence. They’ve been aided by
the minimal coverage the murder of Mr. Loo has received.
Now just imagine if this had happened at a MAGA rally!
Once Swarthmore College Transgender Student Evelyn “Evie” Parts was accepted as a member in the Swarthmore College Track team, and subsequently elected captain, she assumed she would be running right up until this year’s graduation.
However, she was removed on Feb.6 , which was the day the NCAA issued a new “Transgender” policy. She, however, was “fully reinstated” as of April 11.
Parts’ lawyer, Susie Cirilli, argues “the NCAA is a private organization that issued a bigoted policy and that “Swarthmore College chose to follow that policy and disregard federal and state law.”
Parts is a 2025 graduate with a degree in Biology and Environmental Studies. The suit was filed Aug. 14 in Eastern District Court. Parts joined the track team, returning in 2023 after gender-affirming surgery.
She was named track captain for the 2024-25 season.
In response to the suit, Swarthmore College issued a statement that begins “We deeply value our transgender community members “
This was even reported by the British Newspaper, The Sun choose to focus on Parts” depression and suicidal thoughts after being removed. They quoted Cirilli as saying “the NCAA is a private organization that issued a bigoted policy.”
Pink News chimed in to say that the PA Senate had passed a law banning transgender athletes but Senate Bill 9 remains stuck in the State House House. More than likely, it would not be signed by current Gov. Josh Shapiro
It should also be mentioned that “The board of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) reportedly didn’t consult with its own medical consultants before voting to ban all transgender women from women’s sports earlier this year.”
The alternative she was given when she was removed from the women’s team, according to the lawsuit , was that “that she could only compete with the men’s team or as an unattached athlete, and would only receive medical treatment if she competed on the men’s team. ““”
Swarthmore College, and other institutions, seem to regulate based on who’s in office and which way the wind is blowing.
Sigal Chattah Must Resign — Below is the text I sent to WhiteHouse.gov comment page. Please feel free to publish this as an article if you feel this may be of interest to your readers. This is regarding the events that took place in Nevada last week.
Mr President:
You need to immediately call for the resignation of your appointee Sigal Chattah. If she will not resign you MUST fire her to set an example.
We simply cannot allow suspected pedophiles to flee the country without consequences. In addition Chattah’s crocodile tears while complaining the local prosecutor failed to tale away the passport from Tom Alexandrovich is insult to injury. She had the opportunity to prosecute this matter but chose NOT to. She is unfit to serve the American People. Her loyalty is questionable at best, quite possibly treasonous at worst.
Personally I have had more than enough of these foreign born, dual citizens infiltrating our government and causing harm to the American People. Chattah needs to go!
You are either going to protect the children or you are not. It’s that simple. This is two tier justice and as such is completely unacceptable.
Not one single penny of our hard earned tax dollars should go to Netanyahu’s Israel until Tom Alexandrovich is immediately extradited to stand trial for his alleged crimes in Nevada. Enough is enough.
India is one of the countries we follow (Bollywood movies, Indian cooking and restaurants, Shah Rukh Khan and) India has a corruption level equal to the old Cook County, Ill. or, more recently, the Philly Dem machine. Something to think about as you read this
One Harshvardahn Jain aka Baron H V Jain decided to create fake embassies in Ghaziabad, a suburb of New Delhi. Among the “countries” he “represented” were Westarctica aka West Arctica. (See end of article for other “micro-nations”). He reportedly has an MBA from the London College of Applied Science among other degrees.
When the police raided his “embassies”they recovered $53,500 in cash in addition to doctored passports and forged documents bearing stamps of India’s foreign ministry.
That is what they found, who knows what else might be hidden.
Among his scams were promising people jobs in these “micro-nations” and laundering money through the Hawala system. A small golden nameplate at his door read “His Excellency Harsh Vardham Jain, Royal Consigliere, Principata de Seborga (Royal Advisor to Seborga)”
Jain follows in a long list of dreamers and/or scammers including Leicester Hemingway, who had a more famous brother named Ernest.
Swarthmore’s namesake Swarthmoor Hall, is in Lancashire England and there’s also Swarthmore, which is an “education center” in Leeds, also England. There is a Strathmore in Scotland but sadly, no principality. Another opportunity missed.
Previously, we had discussed the hidden history of the German-American WW2 Interments,
Now we move on to the equally unknown internment of the Italian-American population. Some 1,881 Italian-Americans were taken into custody and detained during the war.
In 2010, the California Legislature passed a resolution apologizing for US mistreatment of Italian residents during the war.”
Though there were WWII restriction zones for Italians in places like San Francisco these were only on the West Coast, even though Eastern cities such as Philadelphia had large amounts of Italian-Americans.
Among the Italians affected were Giuseppe Dimaggio, who son Joe was possibly the most famous professional baseball player of his time. Even more bizarre, Ezio Pinza, possibly the most famous Opera singer of his time, was even arrested and imprisoned, albeit briefly, on Ellis Island.
Finally on Columbus Day, 1942, the US Attorney General announced the lifting of the stigma of “enemy” status.
When the crews of German and Italian merchant ships in Britain began to”sabotage their own ships to keep them out of British hands, the Italian crew members were sent to North Dakota. The thousand or so seaman who arrived at Fort Missoula in May 1941 eventually spent their “down” time “ presenting plays and musical performances, which townspeople occasionally were invited to attend. “
According to this article, Fort Missoula Camp Help during World War 11” Most of the men were deemed a risk because the hearing officers couldn’t be sure they were not a risk “ One notable member of the Alien Enemy Board members was Democrat Senator Mike Mansfield, who would go on to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Very rarely does a Delco Murder catch the nation’s eye, but the alleged murder in Chester Heights by Michelle Zajko of her parents Rita and Richard Zajko seems to be all over Fox News and other outlets. It could be because she is a “person of interest” in the previous killing of Border Patrol Agent David Maland Jan. 20 in Coventry, Vt.
Or it could be her membership in a cult-like group known as the Zizians.
Or it could be that she’s a transexual.
She’s certainly aware of the Zizans’ status, saying of the coverage of the group “ has painted them as “Satan’s lapdogs, the devil and the Manson family all rolled into one.”
There are many articles on the Zizians most of which tirelessly remind us that Ziz Lasota, the alleged founder, is a transexual as are many o Zizians. Many of them are also vegetarians, but that’s not as frequently mentioned.
One fascinating tidbit can be found in this BBC article. In 2022 after her failure to show up at a court hearing her lawyer said she was “now deceased after a boating accident in the San Francisco Bay area”. She even received an obituary in an Alaska Newspaper. How many of us, besides her and Mark Twain, have been able to claim to have read their own obituary?
Forget the noise about the Zizians being transexual and vegetarian. According to the Desert Sun quoting the San Francisco Chronicle, many Zizians had worked previously at either Google or NASA. Poulami Saha, a professor at UC, Berkeley said “The internet culture and the absolute immersion that’s possible there means there are forms of connection that only appear only after the fact” She went on to add, “We are kind of grasping for a story that makes sense of it. … People on the outside can never fully know what’s happening on the inside.” Basically, this is not an hour documentary, more like a twelve chapter mini-series.
Wrestlecon is a small pro wrestling convention where you met former WWE Superstars, WWE Legends and wrestlers from other organizations for photo ops and autographs. They even have a little wrestling superstore. They are not associated with the WWE but when WWE has a big event in town they’ll have their convention near by. The one I attended was Aug. 1-2 in Newark, N. J.
I attended Aug. 2.
MY EXPERIENCE: This was my first time attending and I had a great time. Like seriously I couldn’t smiling because I was ecstatic with joy. I had the opportunity to take a picture with some of the legends. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to meet everybody, but it was cool to stop by their table and shake some hands. My favorite part of the event was meeting my childhood hero, Jeff Hardy. He’s the reason I fell in love with a professional wrestling.
WHO WAS THERE: Tommy Dreamer, The Steiner Brothers, Carlito, Sting, Mickey James, Victora, Jerry “The King” Lawler, Abdula the Buther, Kevin Nash, Lio Rush, Jake the Snake, The Hardy Boyz, Kurt Angle, Enzo Amore , Layla, Mark Henry, JBL, The Great Muta, Bret Hart, Billy Gunn, The Honky Tonkman and etc.
I had such a great time and I’ll do this again.
Jeff Hardy with TevinWith Mickey JamesWith Lex LugarThe Legendary Jake the Snake at Wrestlecon
President Donald Trump has a second golden opportunity to end the H-1B visa program that, since it became commonly used in the early 1990s, has displaced millions of qualified Americans.
During his first presidency, Trump—who campaigned on a “Hire American” platform—let the opportunity to cut 85,000 H-1B visa foreign nationals from the labor market and replace them with U.S. tech workers slip through his hands. In 2017, President Trump’s first year in the White House, the H-1B visa represented a grave threat to U.S. tech workers and recent college graduates seeking entry-level, white-collar technology jobs. Today, the tech job market is more dire.
A recent social media post revealed depressing statistics that America First supporters should note. President Trump must examine these numbers closely and end the job-destroying H-1B program. In 2024, 384 tech companies—including Cisco Systems, Intel, mMicrosoft, Meta, and Amazon—laid off 124,000 workers. Combined with the 428,449 tech workers who lost their jobs in 2022 and 2023, plus those laid-off in 2025, the employment picture is ominous. In the current year to date, 100,000 jobs were cut. Meanwhile, H-1B petitions hit the fiscal year cap within six months, and foreign nationals received 82% of all new tech jobs. Offshoring has reached record highs, with entire shadow economies emerging worldwide to replace American tech jobs which led to office closures across the nation. Meta, Microsoft, Instagram, and Walmart Tech have shut offices in Austin, Portland, Menlo Park, and other IT centers. U.S.-based employers have expanded hiring abroad faster than domestically for the past seven years—a trend especially evident among tech and consulting firms.
Salesforce, having recently announced major Bay Area workforce layoffs, provides a good example. Concurrently, over the past five years, the company has shifted its employee base increasingly to international hires. Salesforce is not alone: U.S.-headquartered multinational enterprises that employ workers both abroad (offshore) and domestically (onshore) have grown their offshore workforce faster in recent years than their onshore workforce. Among these companies, the number of offshore workers grew by 32% since 2019, while those employed onshore grew by 16.7%—a net 15.3% increase in offshore employment.
President Trump has done outstanding work securing the Southwest border. Within six months, border apprehensions dropped to zero—an all-time monthly low. Now is the time for the president to turn his attention to ending the dozens of temporary non-immigrant visas that include work authorization. He should start by curtailing the H-1B, an idea that first came to him in June 2020. More than five years ago, President Trump signed an Executive Order that directed the Secretaries of Labor and Homeland Security to take appropriate actions within 45 days to protect any adverse effects on wages and working conditions caused by H-1B visa holders including doing work at 3rd party sites.
Nothing productive came of that EO perhaps because by November President Trump would be a lame duck. At a recent White House AI summit, however, President Trump hinted that he’s again leaning in the right direction. For too long, the president said, much of America’s tech industry has pursued “radical globalism” that left millions of Americans feeling “distrustful and betrayed.” Many of our largest tech companies, the president continued, “have reaped the blessings of American freedom while building their factories in China, hiring in India, and shifting profits to Ireland. All the while dismissing [via H-1B hires] and even censoring their fellow citizens right here at home. Under President Trump, those days are over.”
Congress has also taken notice of the negative impact the H-1B visa has in academia. Representatives Tom Tiffany (R-WI) and Andrew Clyde (R-GA) introduced the Colleges for the American People Act, or CAP Act, which would end the long-standing H-1B visa cap exemption for U.S. colleges and universities. If enacted, all prospective foreign hires seeking to enter on a U.S. visa—including administrators and professors—would be required to compete under the existing visa cap. Wisconsin Right Now found that the University of Wisconsin System employs nearly 500 foreign workers on H-1B visas, earning salaries totaling almost $43 million annually—income that could have gone to qualified U.S. citizens.
Guest worker visa programs have operated on autopilot for so long that both Republican and Democratic administrations have either forgotten about or stopped caring about its collective and devastating effect on the domestic labor market. In 2024, an estimated 740,000 H-1B holders and an additional 100,000 H-4B visas designated for H-1B holders’ spouses were issued. Another j500,000 work-authorized foreign nationals with temporary, unnecessary visas compete with Americans for employment in a shrinking labor market.
For President Trump to fulfill his America First agenda, he must slash legal visas that allow temporary workers easy access to blue and white-collar jobs yet rarely require them to return home. He should take aim at the biggest offender—the H-1B visa, which President Jimmy Carter’s Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall called “one of the best con jobs ever done on the American public and political systems.” Ample evidence from left-leaning and conservative think tanks supports Marshall’s brutally honest assessment of the H-1B visa.
Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org
