News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia in Sarajevo in 1914 started World War I. Their car’s license plate read 111118. Some can read that as Nov. 11, 1918. That would be the date the war ended.
Deep State Immigration Policy Mocks Sacrifice
By Joe Guzzardi
Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, about 389,000 veterans are still living, a remarkable total given that most are in their 90s or older. Among our veterans also are approximately 3.5 million Korean War vets, 610,000 Vietnam War and hundreds of thousands more from the Gulf Wars and other conflicts.
On Veterans Day 2019, as those brave men and women reflect on their service in America’s defense, they could be forgiven for questioning whether, in light of Congress’ repeated betrayal of traditional U.S. values, putting their lives on the line was worth the risk. Congress has consistently refused to protect the homeland through border and interior enforcement. At the same time, Congress has passed legislation that subverts job opportunities for Americans. Good U.S. jobs have been offshored or given to foreign-born employment-based visa holders.
Despite President Trump’s immigration bravado, at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Paso del Norte Port of Entry press conference, it was announced that in FY 2019 illegal immigration apprehensions hit a decade-high 1.1 million, a 68 percent increase over FY 2018. Along the southwest border, family unit apprehension set another record, 474,000. Because of the flawed catch and release policy, most of the migrants are released inside the U.S., eventually disappearing into the general population. Department of Homeland Security officials acknowledge that catch and release is, in terms of good policy, a grave failure that Congress refuses to correct. Only 1.4 percent of migrant family members from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador who crossed the border illegally in 2017 have been deported to their home countries.
Congress has cataclysmically failed to protect American workers. A job is essential to maintain dignity and provide for family. But Congress has looked the other way as U.S. companies have, over the years since the Immigration Act of 1990 which expanded employment-based visas, hired millions of foreign nationals to displace Americans. Employers addicted to cheap labor, in all areas – from tech and call center operations to manufacturing and human resources – love the lower wages that they can pay the outsourced workers. Studies found, however, that if the outsourced jobs returned, they could be numerous enough to provide opportunities for unemployed Americans. Adding to the job challenges of unemployed citizens, including veterans, is the annual 1 million or more legal immigrants who receive lifetime valid work permits.
Finally, the amnesty specter never fades from the Swamp. The latest, but certainly not the last effort, is the House of Representatives’ Farm Workers Modernization Act which would grant amnesty to 1.5 million illegally present ag workers, expand the controversial and often-abused H-2A visa, add 40,000 Green Cards to the EB-3 category and mandate E-Verify across the agriculture sector. The bill would also create a new immigration category, the Certified Agriculture Worker, and will provide a citizenship path. The sponsors, led by Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Mario Diaz-Balart (D-FL), are notoriously anti-American worker, and have throughout their careers consistently voted for more employment-based visas.
Despite the bill’s title, the legislation does nothing to modernize agriculture technology through time-saving, efficient mechanization. Unlike stoop labor, robots can operate 24/7 and have been adopted by forward-thinking U.S. ag businesses in Florida and California.
Getting inside vets’ heads to learn their immigration leanings, pro or con, is impossible. But likely many vets, like so many other Americans, must wonder when Congress decided to cater to illegal immigrants and lobbyists instead of passing legislation which assures that citizens come first.
Joe Guzzardi is a Progressives for Immigration Reform analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.
The Soviet Union took 3 million Germans and other Axis soldiers as prisoners of war during World War II. While Soviets said 381,000 died in captivity, a West German government commission says it was a million. Pretty mean of the Soviets but remember that of the of 5.7 million Soviets captured by the Nazis, 3.3 million died in captivity.
Stock Market More Treats Than Tricks In October
By Bruce Cook
Turning the calendar from October to November brought more than trick-or-treaters, pumpkins, and leaves to rake. It also brought a wave of important economic updates that delivered more treats than tricks and helped the stock markets reach new highs.
Those new highs may be causing you to feel a bit wary, however, wondering if the end is nearing for what is now the longest bull market ever recorded. Should new highs be feared or embraced? Since 1980 the S&P 500 Index historically has generated above-average returns one year after reaching a new high. New highs have been a normal by-product of bull markets, and we should expect to see more.
There are several reasons to expect this bull market may deliver more new highs in the months ahead. Overall, the U.S. economy remains on solid ground with no sign of imminent recession. Gross domestic product for the third quarter came in better than expected despite businesses’ weak capital investment related to the U.S.-China trade conflict. The consumer remains the anchor of the U.S. economy, as shown in recent strong consumer spending data. Job growth in October was solid, even when considering the General Motors strike (which is over), and wages continued to rise.
Recent trade headlines also reflect encouraging progress. President Trump and China President Xi likely will sign a preliminary trade agreement within the next month or so. The most contentious issues will need to be worked out in future negotiations, but any de-escalation of the current trade tensions will be welcome. Resolving the trade dispute may encourage companies to invest more, which could drive stronger economic growth and corporate profits and help push stocks higher.
Doing its part, the Federal Reserve (Fed) gave investors what they were hoping for and cut interest rates for the third time this year. Stocks historically have responded well one year after cuts that were also characterized as a “gradual mid-cycle rate adjustment.”
We are entering what historically has been the best performing six months of the year for stocks. When we add that positive seasonal factor to the overall good health of the U.S. economy, support from the Fed, and progress on a trade agreement, it appears this bull market may have more left in the tank. At the same time, we cannot dismiss potential risks to markets, most notably the possible unraveling of the U.S.-China trade pact, lackluster economic growth in Europe and Japan, stalled corporate profit growth, and the potentially contentious upcoming U.S. presidential election campaign. After a relatively calm and steady stock market advance this year, a pickup in market volatility would be totally normal.
We should continue to watch for signs of excesses in the economy that could lead to a recession and bring this record bull market to an end. For now, there don’t appear to be any worrisome cracks in a strong economic foundation, and the backdrop for stocks appears to remain favorable.
Bruce R. Cooke is a Havertown based CFP with LPL Financial.
Here’s something squirrelly: South Koreans eat acorns. A lot of them. The country imports 9,000 tons a year from China. The government has had to pass strict laws against gathering them in forests. Violators face a five year prison sentence.
Marti Oakley Features Montco Woman — Elaine Mickman of Lower Merion has appeared twice over the last few months on Marti Oakley’s Minnesota-based radio show.
Marti is a world-wide advocate for the elderly who have been taken advantage of by “guardians, and fights injustices by probate systems and courts in general.
She airs on the TS Radio Network and her shows are archived on the web.
Montgomery County, Pa is one of her favorite topics with a whole category labeled “Ottholes” in honor of Stanley Ott, who was Montco’s Administrative Judge of the Orphans’ Court Division until his retirement last year .
Elaine says Montco falsely credited her ex-husband for $550,000 he never paid relating to child support regarding their divorce, and never required proof of income from him at child support hearings. She says the county is trying to make her autistic son — now an adult at 18 years of age — pay it back.
It’s easy to dismiss the grievances of a woman — or man for that matter — regarding a divorce. We don’t though because we find it far easier to believe corruption and greed are rampant in Philadelphia suburban government. See here and here.
Anyway, here are link’s to Elaine’s appearances on Marti’s show:
She appears at about the 18:40 and 47 minute marks respectively.
Borderless USA Dem Dream
By Joe Guzzardi
Presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) shocked most observers, including her New England neighbor and fellow White House hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), when she announced the price tag of $52 trillion for her Medicare for All proposal. Sanders’ plan for essentially the same universal coverage would come in at a comparatively modest $32 trillion.
Despite the mind-numbing costs, Warren, with a straight face, said her proposal would not increase taxes on the middle class “by one penny,” a point disputed by many. But most alarming was Warren’s lack of compassion when she brushed off the large numbers of working Americans who would lose jobs under her plan.
Laying out $52 trillion on Medicare for All, however, is just the latest unsound Warren suggestion. Her promise to decriminalize illegal border crossings and defang interior enforcement would lead to endless migratory waves from all the world’s corners with major societal consequences on domestic employment, health care, education and population growth.
In recent years, erasing the border has become an increasingly popular goal among elites. In fact, Congress has repeatedly demonstrated more concern about Syria’s border than the shared U.S. border with Mexico where neglect has festered for decades. With only token resistance, the U.S. has ceded border control to criminal operations, including the Sinaloa Cartel, that wreak havoc along and inside Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California.
Last month, President Donald Trump defended the United States’ troop withdrawal from northern Syria by saying that “it’s not our border” and that “we shouldn’t be losing lives over it.” Congressional Democrats and many Republicans roundly condemned the president. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell objected forcefully to President Trump’s action. In a Washington Post op-ed, McConnell called the troop withdrawal “a grave strategic mistake.” McConnell said that pulling out of Syria leaves the U.S. homeland more dangerous and encourages our terrorist enemies.
If only McConnell and his congressional colleagues were as concerned about the U.S. Southwest border crisis where the drug war is ongoing, with powerful cartels pushing their deadly products stateside. Why Congress continues to ignore the mounting chaos at the southern border is a question Americans should be asking of their elected representatives. Acting Citizenship and Immigration Services director Ken Cuccinelli said that savvy northern Mexico cartel bosses – “the most evil, vicious, awful people in the western hemisphere” – have turned the border “into a toll booth.”
Experts on the front line describe how the cartels have taken over. Jackson County, Texas Sheriff Andy Louderback explained that every minute of every day cartel lords perpetrate human and drug trafficking, among their many criminal activities. They also are responsible for a record 33,341 murders last year alone in Mexico that are a signature method of maintaining control over their methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine and heroin distribution centers in key metroplex areas, including Phoenix, Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago. Other local authorities concur. Otero County, New Mexico Sheriff David Black said that lax enforcement has given the cartels “the green light” to continue their deadly criminal behavior.
Yet Congress remains mostly mum about inadequate enforcement, especially as it applies to asylum seekers traveling with minor children, who the cartels are particularly adept at manipulating. While some border security improvements have been initiated, others have remained in limbo since the Secure Fence Act of 2006.
But even excluding the cartels’ deadly dominance, open borders is a horrible, indefensible policy. The Census Bureau predicts that if the status quo remains, by 2060 U.S. population will hit an unmanageable 404 million, up from today’s 330 million. If Warren and other candidates who champion open borders get their way, over the next five decades, today’s population of 330 million people is likely to approach a nightmarish 500 million.
Joe Guzzardi is a Progressives for Immigration Reform analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.
Theodore Sturgeon, the noted writer of science fiction and literary hoaxes, gets his name from his stepfather William Dickie Sturgeon who was a professor at Drexel University.
Besides SF, Sturgeon collaborated with Jean “A Christmas Story” Shepherd on I Libertine, which was a noted hoax on the book industry in 1956.
Shepherd made up the title and began talking about it on his radio show. His listeners started asking booksellers for it. The hoax became real when publisher Ian Ballantine hired Sturgeon to write it up based on Shepherd’s notes.
The real rub? I Libertine is fairly accurate historical fiction concerning the life of Elizabeth Chudleigh.
Sturgeon motto was “ask the next question.” He represented it with the symbol a Q with an arrow through it. He signed his name with it and wore it around his neck for his last 15 years.
Superior Court Race Remains Uncalled Calling For Questions — Here it is two days after the election and the Pennsylvania Superior Court race remains uncalled with Republican Megan King at 1,237,170 votes about 30,000 votes ahead of third place Democrat Amanda Green-Hawkins. In first place is Democrat Daniel D. Mccaffery at 1,245,052 votes.
Two seats with 10-year terms are up for election on the court which is the intermediate appellate court for most matters in the state.
As per the Pennsylvania Department of State’s website 99.19 percent of the vote has been counted, which has remained unchanged since at least early this morning. Seventy of the 74 districts with tallies still out are in Philadelphia.
S0mething stinks especially considering this report of massive voting malfunctions in York County.
If only Pennsylvania allowed for statewide certification for poll watchers.
Update: We have been told that more of the missing Philly precinct counts will be added at 2 p.m. and between 5 and 5:30 p.m.
Dear Editor
Elizabeth Preate Havey must resign as chair of the Montgomery County Republican Committee.
With the result of the Nov. 5 Pennsylvania general election, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, has remained with its Democratic Row Officers winning this election, consistent with the former Chair.
Monies were funneled to Montgomery County Republican insiders in a joint effort to defeat the current / newly elected Republican County Commissioner, from Philadelphia Democrat politicians. The recipient being the Horsham Republican Party. The Chair supports / accepts the former Planned Parenthood board member’s donation as well. We do not want to fall under the guideline(s) and become another Philadelphia county.
As true grassroots, the registered voters of Montgomery County support the pre-born. Said Chair is not acting in true fashion with our values.
The Chair held no regard to the fraudulent activity / activities that occurred in our May primary election. Voters were being purposely deceived into believing there was an “endorsement” when there actually was not. We find this theft by perception.
A grassroots candidate is flourished from seed. Said candidate is deemed a Free Thinker, not to be controlled by the Chair / Committee. To uphold true morality, integrity, and honesty, as our Founding Fathers were so very instrumental in doing. The majority of voters feel the Chair did not and does not stand up to these Conservative grassroot attributes and is no friend to them.
With this being said, I am requesting the Chair to step down immediately after the new year. A special election will appoint the new one.
Jane Taylor Toal
President (Ret.)
Citizens for Liberty