Civic Saturdays comes to Pennsylvania starting 7 p.m., On Saturday, April 23, at Wake Forest Junior Senior High School, in Tionesta. They are the brainchild of Citizen University, started by Eric Liu of The Aspen Institute and we learned about it from Ken Krawchuk of The Pennsylvania Project.
Civic Saturdays are secular events but intentionally echo the structure of faith-based gatherings and include a sermon, songs, and readings, followed by a social hour, according to those involved.
There is a leftward tinge to these activities as befits The Aspen Institute, but all political belief systems are invited, according to organizers.
When right, to be kept right; when wrong to be set right
Wherever my ancestors and I were born, I claim America,
And I pledge to live like a citizen”
There are echoes of other voices, including Carl Schurz, maybe the first to say;
“My country right or wrong: if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right”. Why a Sworn Again American Oath when we have the Pledge of Allegiance, etc. is a mystery, though this does include “when wrong to be set right”, which should also be the duty of a Patriot, one would think. This is a non-deistic alternative. Though the founding fathers were all deists, that no longer applies to the population as a whole.
Answer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom; by paying attention to the wise they get knowledge.
Proverbs 21:11
When a mocker is punished William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 4-11-22
Answer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.
C. S. Lewis
Friendship is unnecessary William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 4-10-22
Phyllis Schlafly Eagles Event Featured Michael Flynn — Kudos to Stan Casacio for a top-flight show, Friday evening (April 8), with the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles 2022 Awards Ceremony at the Green Valley Country Club in Lafayette Hill., Pa.
Keynote speaker was Gen. Michael Flynn, who future generations will remember as a persecuted hero during a dark time in America.
Flynn, the recipient of the Phyllis Schlafly Freedom Award, described what we face as unprecedented that can’t compare with the Revolution or the Civil War. He said the battle wasn’t between Democrats and Republicans, or conservatives and progressives but between “those who love this country and traitors.”
The implication was well understood by the crowd of more than 200 that Republicans don’t automatically mean patriots.
Flynn said it was a spiritual fight with the opponents being those who hold that we are endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights, and those that want to bring forth a socialist/Marxist/fascist hell were people are mere pawns to be played with by those who hold power.
Stan Casacio at the podium. Seated from left are Gen. Flynn, Ed Martin, John Schlafly and an unidentified man.
He said this scheme well-preceded Donald Trump’s presidency. He noted that the removal of God from the Democrat platform in 2012 was planned.
He warned that sitting on the sidelines was no longer an option and that all who cared must get involved. He said he was doing it for his grandchildren.
When Flynn learned that an Oregonian was in the audience, he noted the Republican have not won there since the state went all mail-in voting two decades ago. He said it was a test case for those seeking to make elections forever meaningless.
The general talked about our low performing public schools. He described how parts of this great nation looked like third, even fourth, world places. He described wasteful wasteful spending and indifference among those who govern us. He said he was shocked when he was told that Pennsylvania’s budget was $42 billion for a state with 13 million residents.
Bad news, General. We got to $103 billion in spending in 2020-2021 before we stopped counting which was when departmental budgets dropped to nine digits.
Flynn and the event left one inspired rather than in despair, however. The panel and the crowd may have been diverse with regard to race and religion and sex but was upbeat, motivated and completely united in outlook.
Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who won election in 2020, to our delight cited Russell Kirk , a brilliant thinker whose name we haven’t heard in a long time.
Bunny Welsh, who served as sheriff of Chester County for 20 years, described the great people in law enforcement and noted how the sacrifices they make are not exaggerated. She described how two of her deputies were gunned down by a man with mental problems during an eviction, and the sickness she felt as she heard it happening while she was in the communications room. She described the long anguish a deputy suffered when forced to shoot a person in the lobby of the Chester County Government Center.
Kathy Barnette, who is running to replace Pat Toomey as U.S. senator, described her youth growing up dirt-poor in Alabama in a home without running water. She said her her birth came about after her mother was raped at the age of 11. She said she always felt loved and grateful despite circumstances, and that it was this love that motivated her to go to college and become a success. Casacio met her a pro-life rally several years ago and encouraged her to enter politics. Flynn met her a year ago and also highly endorsed her.
Ms. Barnette said she is in the top three in polling despite the other two out-spending her more than 10 to 1.
Ms. Barnette is pro-life, pro school choice, pro border security and pro health care. We can safely say we have found a senate candidate we can back in the primary on May 17.
Teddy Daniels, a Purple Heart recipient for action in Afghanistan, made a strong pitch to be the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor. Video was shown of the combat where he received his wound. He is certainly someone for whom we can vote but, unlike the Senate race, there are other good candidates and we remain undecided. We confess, though, that he may be our front-runner.
State Sen. Doug Mastriano, (R-33), was the recipient of the event’s Pennsylvania Voter Integrity Award. Mastriano, who is running for governor, was praised for his military service, for his strong opposition to Gov. Wolf’s covid lockdowns, and for his support for an investigation into the 2020 election. He was endorsed by Casacio and Flynn, and by radio host Donald Beishl, Jr.
There are some people we respect who are very much opposed to Mastriano. We looked for him after the event to ask questions but were unable to find him. He mingled before hand and we likely could have talked to him then but things slipped away so shame on us.
Vote fraud was a big subject with no one in the room questioning that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
Toni Shuppe and Karen Taylor from Audit the Vote Pa described themselves as moms and homemakers, and explained how they became involved when it dawned on them how the election was stolen. They both had high praise for Mastriano.
Calvin Tucker, who is deputy chairman of the state GOP, described the in-roads Pennsylvania Republicans are making with communities that traditionally vote Democrat. He said Trump increased his share of the Black vote from 8 percent in 2016 to 12 percent in 2020. Consider it just one more proof that Trump won the election.
The depravity of abortion came up several times during the night especially with regard to the indifference shown by Washington D.C. authorities to discovery of the bodies of infants who may have been killed outside the womb.
Flynn said that earlier that day he urged Tucker Carlson to keep the story going.
Also mentioned was the unfair treatment of the January 6 protesters who are rotting in a D.C. jail for what is basically trespass.
There were at least two lawyers in the crowd representing some of them. They said the prisoners were not allowed to shave and the man all had thick beards.
Fourteen months in jail is a pretty long sentence for someone who has actually been convicted of a crime. No matter where one stands on the political spectrum, one should be outraged at people being held this long without bail or trial.
Also among the speakers was John Schlafly, who is Phyllis’s son, and Ed Martin.
Josephine Hughes sang The National Anthem, God Bless America and I’m Proud to Be an American. Pastor Todd Johnson gave the invocation and led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Phyllis Schlafly, who died in 2016, was also an American hero, fighting and beating the Marxists and corporate feudalists starting in the 1950s. She wrote the perceptive and influential book A Choice Not An Echo, which you can read for free here.
Phyllis Schlafly Eagles Event Featured Michael Flynn
Best way of doing good to the poor William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 4-9-22
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J. Z. Sldpz
Answer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion about the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.
Benjamin Franklin
Remembered for the rules William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 4-8-22
O gs lux juotm muuj zu znk vuux, haz O jollkx ot uvotout ghuaz znk skgty. O znotq znk hkyz cge ul juotm muuj zu znk vuux oy tuz sgqotm znks kgye ot vubkxze, haz rkgjotm ux jxobotm znks uaz ul oz.
Hktpgsot Lxgtqrot
Answer to yesterday’s William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit quote puzzle: You are remembered for the rules you break.
Douglas MacArthur
Remembered for the rules William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 4-8-22
John Lawrence Hears Footsteps And Makes Silly Warning In 13th District Race — Is John Lawrence actually afraid that Carmela Ciliberti is going to keep him from getting his seventh term in the Pennsylvania House?
He seems to be.
Lawrence, the Republican who has represented the very Republican 13th District since winning in 2010, is strongly endorsed by the people who supposedly count in Republican politics yet is facing fire for ignoring the wants of his very Republican constituents.
Hence the primary challenge by Ms. Ciliberti, who worked for 20 years in the private sector with FlightSafety International before becoming a lawyer.
Still when the “conservative” organizations and Republican leaders are backing you, it should be a slam-dunk right? Especially when the opponent is a political novice.
Yet, a little birdie tells us that Lawrence is warning that if he loses the primary, which is May 17, the Democrats are going to pour millions in the race and hence let the seat be taken by Chamir James, whose qualification is that he is a graduating senior at Lincoln University.
Props to James for getting involved, but his resume doesn’t compare with 20 years in the private sector followed by a law degree.
And that leaves aside the issues.
Yet, Lawrence is claiming getting James is what replacing him means.
Sounds like desperation.
If we lived in the district, Carmela would have our vote. We suspect a lot of the people who live there are thinking like us.
Below is what she is saying about Lawrence, and maybe that’s why he seems frightened.
Click to expand
John Lawrence Hears Footsteps And Makes Silly Warning In 13th District Race
This important nation is almost entirely dependent on Russia for its energy.
Of course, the US can’t help. Two years ago we may have been an energy exporter but now with Green New Dealies running things and pipelines shuttered, not so.
What’s horrifying is that this weakening is not the result of domestic stupidity but out-and-out treasonous greed.
Yes, our environmental activists are getting mega-bucks from Gazprom, the Russian energy giant which is funneling the money through Bermuda.
