When Democrat Abigail Salisbury won the special election for the 34th Pennsylvania State House District, previously held by Summer Lee (who is now in the U.S. Congress), she became the second openly bisexual candidate to be elected in Harrisburg. There are now six openly LGBTQ state representatives in Harrisburg, and they belong to the LGBTQ Equality Caucus.
Abigail Salisbury won 10,068 votes (87.7 % of the vote) to Robert Pagane’s 1,404 votes (12.3% of the total). This result had been expected.
Born in Ohio, Abigail Salisbury attended Case Western Reserve University for her undergraduate degree and received her law degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She was endorsed by Clean Water Action, Planned Parenthood, and various labor unions.
Among other things, Salisbury initiated her own low-cost law practice for nonprofits and small businesses in Swissvale. One of her major priorities has been to reduce the time it takes for a new business to acquire its business license. (She says it takes 2.5 months.)
Robert Pagane graduated from the Allegheny County Police Academy in 1989. He has been affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Police and the International Police Work Dog Association.
Now retired, Pagane spent 30 years as a police officer, five of them in the city of Pittsburgh and 13 as a K-9 handler.
Three key messages of his campaign were to make the streets safe, to lessen the tax burden on the elderly, and to fight on behalf of his constituents to raise his district “from the ashes”. He believes that businesses will return when the streets are safe.
PA House District 34 is in Allegheny County and includes Braddock, 12 other towns, and sections of Pittsburgh.
The two Democrats who served as state representatives prior to Summer Lee (Paul Costa and Ronald R. Cowell) served a total of almost 45 years, from 1975 to 2019.
In 100 years, assuming truth prevails as the standard in history and life, hopefully an historian, in writing about the failed Biden presidency of 2021 to ????, tells the story of how an 80-year-old mentally decrepit president chose to fly to the Ukraine on Presidents’ Day.
Again, depending on what prevails in 100 years, the historian might have to remind the reader of what Presidents’ Day is (or was) – a day to commemorate the lives of former U.S. presidents (not foreign presidents). It was the first federal holiday, designated in celebration of the first U.S. president, George Washington. Over time, the day centered around Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
But Biden, and his minions or masters (it’s unclear how things are managed in this installed regime), chose not to honor those who came before, but to take the day to fly 4,864 miles across the pond to honor another country’s president. Biden made an appearance as second banana to Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, the actor, and talented piano man who plays with his penis, another installed president, this one of the Ukraine, a man likely unknown to 99 percent of Americans until the U.S. proxy war ensued in 2022 with the Ukraine and Russia.
Now, who doesn’t know the man named Time’s Man, uh, sorry, Person of the Year? Zelenskyy is the media darling, who manages to always find time in his war-time schedule to make appearances at the Golden Globe Awards, Cannes Film Festival, Grammy’s, United Nations and with the leadership of various countries that support this disaster and devastation in the Ukraine, usually demanding more money to destroy his country and the citizens, as he makes references to a coming WWIII. And, Zelenskyy does it all with only one change of clothes!
When Zelenskyy isn’t making virtual appearances at high-profile events, he’s at them in spirit, for instance at the 2022 Oscars. The ever-dramatic and overwrought actor Sean Penn actually gave his Oscar to Zelenskyy. Drama queen to drama queen.
At the most recent photo opp on Monday, Biden fell short of pulling out an oversized check prop showing $500,000,000, made out to Zelenskyy, or kneeling at the feet of Zelenskyy, but he may as well have. America is not bound to the non-NATO country of Ukraine by treaty, and we’re most certainly not “fighting for Democracy” there, despite the massive messaging campaign – heck, much of current U.S. “leadership” doesn’t even support the idea here at home. Yet, we’ve handed over more than $100,000,000,000 (and more going back to 2004) to the Ukraine and now to the man who played a president on TV – and then became the president, heading a party named after the TV show, “Servant of the People.” Additionally, as we hear repeatedly from Biden, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby and others, the checking account from the U.S. for the Ukraine has an unlimited balance.
If it appears like we’re living a movie or TV plot, it may be we are. Shades of “Wag the Dog,” “Argo” and “BrainDead,” with some “Dr. Strangelove” thrown in.
The Ukraine may serve some purpose for the busy dark forces in the U.S. that we peasants may never be able to even imagine. While that might have sounded like “crazy talk” a few years ago, not so much now. Maybe the very bad, greedy and corrupt are in charge – those who want to destroy Russia and carve her up for her resources – or maybe there are bigger forces at play. I talk with more and more people who frame what’s being played out as something of more epic proportions – something Biblical – a good vs. evil battle. Whatever the case, we regular folks are on edge, because we don’t really know what’s going on.
One of the most important underpinnings to a functioning United States has been journalism and the practitioners of it committed to one thing – the truth. That’s dead amongst the big players. Since we now have a failed Fourth Estate, it’s difficult to get to truth. What’s really happening? Who the f _ _ _ knows! Is Biden really a Manchurian candidate? Who is actually calling the shots? How come there’s barely a breath of an anti-war movement in America now? Why do so many Americans apparently no longer care that people are dying for no reason?
To sift through the tons of propaganda and ferret out real news is a major workout. Few citizens have the time for that.
A year into the Ukrainian shit-show, there’s essentially no on-the-ground reporting. While, for instance, FOX was on the ground early on with regular reporting, that quickly got the kibosh. We see stories that the mainstream media works to slap down hard – reports of bio labs, money laundering, corruption, nazis and plans long in the making to destroy Russia, driven by the Wicked Victoria Nuland, the U.S. under secretary for political affairs with the State Department, and a long-time hand in the Ukraine, well-versed in colour revolutions. Nuland pretty much stays out of public view, except when called in for the Congressional hearing here and there, where she drops a bomb or two.
A lot of theater. But we want theater to actually be theater, as in entertainment only. We don’t want this madness to be reality and in our actual lives!
A brief note on the corruption. Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world – human trafficking, drugs and money laundering. And, the Biden family has dipped their toes in it. That Hunter Biden – son of the U.S. president – received $50,000 a month, for no particular skillset, from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma stinks to high heaven on the face of it. What better way to get access to Joe, and funnel money to him, than through his drug-addicted, amoral son. And we can’t forget Uncle Joe’s direct action when, as vice president of the U.S., he strongarmed Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in March 2016 to fire a prosecutor, whose investigations were about to include Hunter Biden. Hrrrrm.
Biden is either so daft or so beyond any comprehension, after a lifetime of lies, of right and wrong that he bragged about putting the hammer to Poroshenko at a Council of Foreign Relations gathering, two years after the deed.
That Biden chose to go to the Ukraine on a day he should have been in his own country is probably not surprising then. There’s money to be made and plunder to be done in the Ukraine. Must have priorities. Biden has spent more time in the Ukraine than in the crisis zones of the U.S. – the southwest border where more than 5 million illegal aliens have been allowed to cross in a tsunami and, now, the environmental and health crisis in East Palestine, Ohio, a community of 4,700.
For as bad a form as it was on Monday that Biden shunned his own country by failing to commemorate those who came before him, that he went on a European tour without having traveled to East Palestine in a show of support – and with actual support – for the residents who are suffering there is an affront to every American citizen.
On 3 February, a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed. Among the chemicals were butyl acrylate, which can cause eye, respiratory and skin irritation, and the carcinogenic vinyl chloride. A decision was made to burn the chemicals, thus releasing more toxic material into the air. Could this turn out to be one of the worst environmental disasters in recent U.S. history? Could be, but no one is on the job to tell us. It took Biden’s people two weeks to even put out any statement, and as of 22 February, Biden had made no direct statement, according to a Newsweek report. The mayor, many in the community and many across the country were appalled by the unpresidential behavior of the sitting president of the United States. More abdication of duty.
Likely former President Trump, if he were still in office, would have been onsite early. Unlike the man who holds the job now and his no-show transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg (who has to be sure he gets his personal time), President Trump did actually show up in Ohio. In addition to bringing water, Trump reassured the people of the community that “they were not forgotten.” The contrast between the competence of Trump and the unrivaled incompetence of Biden, Buttigieg, et al is, to say the least, stark.
Biden claimed he would be a “uniter,” but he’s in dereliction of duty in Ohio, at the border and in so many ways to the citizens he is supposed to be representing. Trump took Ohio in 2020 with 53 percent of the vote. Is Biden’s AWOL status in Ohio his payback to the people? That too would not be surprising, as Biden comes across as a mean and vengeful old man. “You cross me, man, why I’m going to throttle you!!!”
Biden has not been held to account for any of his many failures in his two years in office. He’s not going to straighten up and fly right now. Biden’s regime will continue to print money for the Ukraine and arms makers as fast as it can, with no end in sight, in line with Biden’s plan which has been revealed: Put America Last.
Maria Fotopoulos writes about the connection between overpopulation and biodiversity loss, and from time to time other topics that confound her. On FB @BetheChangeforAnimals.You can find her Substack here and other articles here.
Failed Presidents Cuddle On Presidents’ DayFailed Presidents Cuddle On Presidents’ DayFailed Presidents Cuddle On Presidents’ Day
What is now seen as a “medical condition”? Is it no longer purely physical? Does it now include “clinical depression” and other purely mental conditions? Evidently so, and it’s been a long time coming. If a mental condition has the same incapacitating effect as a physical condition, then how should it not be considered just as serious? I was on leave from my job for about six months in 1997, due to triple bypass surgery. Would I have been granted the same kind of paid or non-paid leave if I had had some form of depression?
“John is doing exactly what he should do, which is seek help” said Minnesota Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn), who has been public about her battles with depression. She went on to say “Seeking help when you need it is a sign of strength”.
So let’s agree that anyone who needs mental-health care should feel free to seek it, without stigma or retribution.
However, should his or her job, especially if s/he is an elected official, be held open indefinitely? During the period when Pennsylvania’s senior senator, Bob Casey of the Pennsylvania Casey dynasty, was being treated for prostate cancer, the same questions arose.
According to the Pew Research Center, Pennsylvania is among the majority of states that permit the governor to name a US Senate replacement in the event of a resignation, death or expulsion. The last of Pennsylvania’s five appointed senators was Harris Wofford, who was named to replace John Heinz.
In Pennsylvania a special election is held “when someone in office can no longer serve”, according to PA.gov.
According to BipartisanPolicy.org “no sitting member of Congress has ever been replaced for incapacitation”. However, if there were to be a resignation, Gov. Shapiro would choose the successor.
According to the Washington Post, “the hospitalization doesn’t necessarily say anything about his future status,” said Will Cronenwett, Chief of General Psychiatry at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
There has been some fear expressed in various quarters about the choice the governor might make were Fetterman to resign. The name of Gisele Fetterman has come up, for one.
In conclusion, unless there is a resignation, we are engaging in meaningless speculation about what comes next for him and for the state.
President Joe Biden, the magic man who can convert illegal immigration into legal immigration with the stroke of his pen, took bows at his State of the Union address. Biden tried to convey the impression that granting immigration parole to illegal aliens from Nicaragua, Haiti, Venezuela and Cuba converted their status to legal. Biden boasted: “Since we launched our new border plan last month, unlawful migration from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela has come down 97 percent.”
Patting himself on the back during his SOTU speech, Biden neglected to mention that his latest sovereignty-destroying immigration scheme is unlawful and unconstitutional. Since his inauguration, Biden has consistently broken immigration laws and mocked Americans who want enforcement, not $20 billion-dollar giveaways to 5.5 million unlawfully present foreign nationals.
Backing up to Biden’s disingenuous assertion that illegal immigration “from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela has come down 97 percent…,” it’s true on its face. But the back story that explains the how and the why that precipitated the drop is more telling and reveals — again! — the extent to which Biden blatantly breaks immigration laws.
In early January, the Biden White House and the Department of Homeland Security issued a press release that promised “border enforcement measures to improve border security” and — for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans — “create additional safe and orderly processes.” The migrants, the press release claimed, are “fleeing humanitarian crises.” Going forward, 30,000 migrants a month, 360,000 annually, will be parole-eligible, but conveniently for Biden, because they will be entering legally, their totals won’t be included among the numbers for illegal immigrant border surgers.
In 1996, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 gave statutory power to temporarily “parole” aliens into the United States “in emergency cases, such as the case of an alien who requires immediate medical attention” or “a witness or for purposes of prosecution.” But to curb parole abuses, the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act clearly stated that only on a case-by-case basis, and assuming compelling humanitarian reasons or urgent public need, can parole be granted.
Obviously, 30,000 per month is neither case-by-case nor a pressing public necessity. The rewarded aliens, with unknown intentions, will be arriving from far-left, authoritarian countries, including impoverished Haiti. For citizens concerned about safety and security from extremists, DHS assured the public that all migrants are thoroughly vetted, a physical impossibility since too little confirmable data is immediately available to U.S. officials.
While aliens from the parole-designated countries aren’t lined up at the border, the 97 percent decline Biden touted, the migrants are nonetheless U.S. bound, and likely lifetime residents. Here’s an example of how parole will work out: as the Los Angeles Times reported, a 25-year-old Cuban engineer applied online for parole. Within a week, he landed in Florida, hoping to eventually earn a master’s degree from MIT, and then get a white-collar IT job. The young Cuban’s dreams conflict with many U.S. high school grads who also aspire to quality education and high-paying jobs, a reality that Biden doesn’t care about. If the Cuban migrant’s dreams go awry, he can collect welfare and await U.S. citizenship, the greatest gift. Look for the Cuban’s tale to endlessly repeat itself as other parolees arrive.
Enforcement advocates wonder what lawbreaking immigration venture Biden will embrace next, and whether Congress will intervene to save the nation from the president’s lawlessness. They won’t have to ponder long. The Canadian border is the latest sieve for illegal immigrants. The Border Patrol’s Swanton, Vermont, sector, responsible for protecting New Hampshire, Vermont and the northern tip of New York, is generally the most active region in the north.
Agents say that they’ve detected “historic” levels of illegal crossings, with a nearly 900 percent increase in encounters. Included are Canadians, Indians, Chinese, Mexicans, Filipinos, Brazilians and Columbians. The word is out: Biden and his Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Majorkas are patsies. The Biden-Mayorkas tandem’s message to the world is come, settle and thereby deny Americans of their own dreams for a better life.
Joe Guzzardi writes about immigration issues and impacts.
U.S. presidents’ love affair with baseball dates back to George Washington who wrote in his journal that during Valley Forge he “sometimes throws and catches a ball for hours with his aide-de-camp.” Every president since Washington, except Teddy Roosevelt and Calvin Coolidge, had a passion for base ball, as Washington then referred to the game. Roosevelt thought baseball was a “mollycoddle game,” and Coolidge attended to appease his passionate-fan wife, Grace.
Abraham Lincoln, upon hearing in 1860 that he won the presidential nomination, allegedly responded, “They’ll have to wait a few minutes [for his formal acceptance] until I have another turn at bat.” In 1893, Herbert Hoover was Stanford University’s shortstop, and at age 88 called himself one of the sport’s “oldest fans.” In 1910, William Howard Taft became the first president to toss out the now-traditional first pitch.
Dwight Eisenhower played semi-pro baseball under the pseudonym “Wilson” which, luckily for Ike, preserved his West Point scholarship. Richard Nixon was an avid fan, a players’ favorite and knowledgeable enough about baseball to be seriously considered as a potential MLB commissioner. George H. W. Bush, a 1948 Yale University graduate, was a standout Eli first baseman who played in the first College World Series and kept his well-oiled MacGregor mitt handy in his Oval Office’s desk drawer.
But after historians researched the baseball archives, and read countless news accounts, the nearly unanimous consensus is that Woodrow Wilson, the former Princeton University president, New Jersey governor, and from 1913-1921, a two-term 28th president, was baseball’s biggest fan.
From an early age, baseball and its intricacies absorbed Wilson. As a child, Wilson sketched in his geometry notebook a hand-scribbled diagram of a baseball diamond, and labeled it “Base Ball Ground.” Wilson later played varsity center field for Davidson College and was Princeton’s assistant manager. Scouts said that Wilson was “a fine player,” but his teammates countered that the scholarly outfielder was often too caught up in his studies to show up for practice.
Author Curt Smith in “The Presidents and the Pastime: The History of Baseball & the White House” wrote that Wilson absorbed baseball more deeply than any White House occupant who preceded or succeeded him, an opinion that Washington Senators’ owner Clark Griffith, premier Senators’ first baseman Joe Judge and the peerless Ty Cobb all agreed with. Griffith had been watching Senators’ Opening Days for nearly 30 years, more than enough time to make a sound evaluation. Judge concurred that “Wilson was by far the best fan. He knew a lot of us players and came out to the park often. He’d run his car right on the field and we’d put a player who wasn’t in the game at each corner of the car to watch for fly balls.” Through a special arrangement between Wilson and Griffith, Wilson’s chauffeur would enter the stadium through an outfield gate where the then-ailing president could watch the game undisturbed. But Cobb paid Wilson the highest compliment when he called the president “the greatest American.”
In Wilson’s final years, the travails of World War I and a stroke had taken their toll on the former president, but he still found solace in baseball. Wilson invited his secretary Randolph Bolling to his Washington home’s basement, referred to as “the dugout,” where they reviewed the previous day’s box scores, and second guessed the losing managers. At his life’s end, infirm from his stroke, plagued with constant migraines and painful dyspepsia, baseball provided Wilson with a few, rare calming moments. Wilson died in 1924, age 67, one year before his beloved Senators won the World Series.
Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research and Internet Baseball Writers Association member. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com.
The Feb. 7 special election in the 32nd Pennsylvania House District went as was expected in the solidly Democratic district.
Democrat Joe McAndrew received 74.9% of the vote (9,515), while Republican Clay Walker received only 25.9% of the vote (3,185).
McAndrew is a former executive director of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, and has served as chair of the Penn Hills Democratic Committee. A graduate of the University of Dayton, he was endorsed for this race by Clean Water Action and Planned Parenthood, among other organizations.
Walker, of Verona, works as a health-care customer representative. He is better known as the pastor of Monroeville’s Mustard Seed Church. He calls himself a conservative on criminal rights and gun rights. He is a University of Pittsburgh graduate and a US Army veteran, and this is his first run for office.
The 32nd District covers four areas of Allegheny County. Anthony M. Deluca was its longest serving representative (1983-2022). He died in office on Oct. 9
Does New Battle For House Speaker Loom In Pennsylvania?
By Bob Small
Before we attempt to answer the title question, let’s give some (convoluted) history. Because there were three vacant Pennsylvania House seats (one due to a death and the others due to people having attained higher offices), the Democratic majority was challenged, of 102 seats to the Republicans’ 101 seats.
All three special elections were in Democratic Allegheny County, which voted for Joe Biden by more than 15 points. Unless there had been an upset, these seats would remain in Democratic hands.
Now, under Pennsylvania law, the majority leader schedules special elections. Democratic leader Joanna McClinton said she became majority leader on Dec. 7 because the Democrats won more districts on Nov. 8. However, there was a competing majority leader; Republican Bryan Cutler says he became majority leader on Dec. 12. Lawsuits followed, as tends to happen. On Jan. 13, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court decided that all three elections should take place on Feb. 7.
Democrat Mark Rozzi was elected Speaker of the House, as a compromise candidate with a vote of 115 to 85. On Jan. 5, he affirmed Feb 7 as the date for the District 34 and District 35 elections. Both sides had previously agreed on Feb 7 for the District 32 elections.
“Clear as mud”, as a former teacher of mine used to say. See the Ballotpedia article for further clarification.
The speaker battle is now between the Democrats McClinton and Rozzi.
Since the Pennsylvania Democrats control the House, and the Pennsylvania GOP controls the Senate, we will either have compromise or we will have stalemate.
The Democrats, theoretically (unless there’s another change), can set the state house agenda for the first time since 2010.
During Don Zimmer’s 66-year career in professional baseball, the scrappy infielder shook Babe Ruth’s hand, posed for pictures with Clark Gable and Lana Turner, played with Brooklyn Dodgers’ Hall of Famers Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella, played as a New York Mets for Casey Stengel, managed the Boston Red Sox when Carlton Fisk hit his 1975 12th inning World Series home run to defeat the Cincinnati Reds, and coached the 1978 New York Yankees when Bucky Dent broke bean towners’ hearts his with game winning, American League East clinching four-bagger. Zimmer played and managed winter baseball in Japan, Cuba and Puerto Rico where he managed Roberto Clemente and Willie Mays. In all, Zimmer played for six major league teams, managed four and coached 11. Except for a single Social Security check he cashed between gigs, Zimmer never earned a penny outside of baseball.
But despite Zimmer’s Hollywood experiences and his baseball achievements – he was a two-time All-Star and a six-time World Series champion – he was most proud of his 1951 home plate marriage to Carol Jean Bauerle before a night game in Elmira, New York, where, as a top Brooklyn Dodgers’ prospect, he had worked his way up to the Class A Pioneers. Zimmer and Carol Jean, nicknamed “Soot” by her German grandmother, had been sweethearts since the 10th grade at Cincinnati’s Western Hills High School when the couple were on a girl-asks-boy hayride. A star quarterback, the basketball team’s starting guard and shortstop on the Ohio state championship baseball nine, Zimmer was the state’s most widely recognized high school athlete. As Soot recalled the hayride, “We were 16, and were together from then on.”
Soot attended and documented every Opening Day for each of the teams that her husband played in, managed or coached during Zimmer’s 66 years in baseball. In 2015, about 18 months after Zimmer’s death, Tampa Bay Times reporter Lane DeGregory visited Soot at her Seminole, Fla., condo where she shared the contents of more than 70 scrapbooks and photo albums she had lovingly compiled.
Soot’s cabinets were filled with “Zim” bobbleheads and baseballs that Ronald Reagan, Robert Redford, Pete Rose and Reggie Jackson had signed. Also, the shelves contained the scrapbooks Soot meticulously stacked in chronological order. With loving dedication, Soot collected everything printed about Don, including team bios, photos, stories, programs and baseball cards, and tiny print box scores. She cut out each entry, underlined Zim’s name with a blue pen, and then gently pasted the clipping into the pages of her scrapbooks.
In her senior year, Soot went to the local dime store, bought a scrapbook, and the cardboard corners used long-ago to secure pictures in place. The first scrapbook was conceived, intended as a gift to her boyfriend, and compiled evenings after she completed her homework assignments. Soot subscribed to every Ohio newspaper whose city had a ball park. Outside of Ohio, Soot asked friends to mail her newspapers. As Zim’s baseball skills improved, stories about him started appearing in more widely distributed newspapers, eventually landing him on the front page of The New York Times. Soot’s albums had clippings from more than 10,500 games played in hundreds of ballparks.
From 2004 to 2014, Zimmer worked for the Tampa Rays as a senior advisor, his last baseball job. On Opening Day 2014, Zimmer, wearing number 66 to honor his years spent in professional baseball, rode across the diamond in a golf cart, too weak to walk. Fans gave him a standing ovation. Two months before their 63rd anniversary, Zimmer died from heart and kidney failure. But Soot had one more event to chronicle. A Rays’ representative called to tell Soot that the team would honor Zim on Opening Day 2015, hang his jersey from the Tropicana Field rafters and retire number 66. Then age 84, Soot had a few empty pages in one of her volumes to add the latest Zim stories. “Good thing there’s still room in here,” Soot joked, “Too old to start a new scrapbook.” Soot, now 92, treasures her memories of life with Zim, on and off the field.
Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research and Internet Baseball Writers Association member. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com.
The United States Forest Service (USFS), a Department of Agriculture agency that administers the nation’s 154 forests and manages 194 million acres of land, released an analysis which estimated that, every day, the nation loses 6 million acres of open space. USFS defines open space as publicly or privately owned, protected or unprotected areas that include forests, grasslands, farms, ranches, streams, rivers and parks. The 6 million acres lost to development at what USFS called “an alarming rate” hampers a functioning ecosystem, agriculture, forest health and recreational pleasures.
Although the USFS developed its “Forests on the Edge” program to emphasize preserving open space, no educational campaign can keep up with U.S. population growth and the urban sprawl that it generates. A NumbersUSA study, “Vanishing Open Spaces, Population Growth and Sprawl in America,” analyzed the projected long-term decline in per capita farmland. Using the projected cropland losses based on 1982-2010 data, and U.S. Census Bureau population estimates, the study found as follows: available cropland will have declined from 1.9 acres per person in 1982 to 0.3 acre per person in 2100, an 84 percent cropland loss decrease. After two centuries of nonstop development, little of the remaining acreage would be in pristine condition.
Assuming the Census Bureau 2050 and 2100 population projections prove accurate, population of 404 million and 571 million, respectively, and available cropland per person declines to a corresponding 0.7 and 0.3 acre per person, government officials should be gravely concerned. Available food production will be drastically slashed – too many mouths to feed and not enough farmland to produce the food.
Selling farmland to developers is lucrative and often too good a deal for farmers to decline. Farming is a tough, often uncertain business. Crops can be hit with blight; bad weather can impact yield, and crop prices may decline. The land is more valuable to developers than to the farmer-owner. Farmland might be worth $10,000 or $20,000 per acre, but as residential or commercial land, rezoned, it might be valued at $100,000 or more per acre.
The core issue is the federal government’s inability – some say refusal – to adopt sustainable population policies. The Census Bureau has identified immigration and births to immigrants as the population growth’s primary driver. In February 2020, the Census Bureau published “A Changing Nation: Population Projections Under Alternative Immigration Scenarios.” It showed that between 2020 and 2060 different legal immigration levels – zero, low and high – could change the population in those years by as much as 127 million people, with estimates ranging anywhere from 330 million to a high of 447 million total U.S. residents.
In the zero-immigration scenario that also accounts for out-emigration, natural increases – births minus deaths – are the only way population can increase. Negative natural increases will, in the zero-immigration scenario, create a shrinking population with annual declines starting in 2035 and continuing at an accelerated pace through 2060.
The Census Bureau is the ultimate Washington, D.C. nonpartisan agency. Many wonder, then, why the Biden administration, and the many Republican and Democratic administrations that preceded the current one, have ignored, or merely paid lip service to, the population conclusions. The Census Bureau acknowledges that its zero immigration calculations are hypothetical, but low immigration, generally considered about 500,000 or about half the current admission level, would be an overdue step in the right direction. Under the high immigration estimate, the 2060 population will increase 124 million to 447 million. The 5 million-plus ongoing border surge, which grows numerically every day, is excluded from the Census Bureau’s data, but if included would increase the 2060 population increase well beyond the 124 million.
Even if legal immigration is reduced to the Census Bureau’s low-level, the U.S. will still remain the world’s most welcoming nation, open to refugees, asylees and others. At the same time, reduced immigration will help protect the natural resources that make the U.S. the preferred destination of immigrants.
Joe Guzzardi is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist who writes about immigration and related social issues. Joe joined Project for Immigration Reform in 2018 as an analyst after a ten-year career directing media relations for Californians for Population Stabilization, where he also was a Senior Writing Fellow. A native Californian, Joe now lives in Pennsylvania. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc dot com.
Tuesday is the first day this year to circulate petitions for Democrat or Republican candidates including those who are running independent of their Party’s nominating process.
The petitions will be collected on March 7.
In municipal elections, the signature requirement can be minimal. In our little borough of Swarthmore, only 10 signatures are required for Borough Council. As always, one should collect three times as many for the expected challenge.
What it means is that there would be challenges in the May 16 Primary election. There could possibly even be debates, certainly social media discussions. The alternative is one-party towns where the incumbents may not have any incentive to listen to the voice of the people.
One can get further information at one’s local county Board of Elections.
As a citizen, you have the right to create your own Independence by choosing candidates rather than having them chosen for you.
