Blockade Ended Swarthmore Protest

Blockade Ended Swarthmore Protest

By Bob Small

Swarthmore College is in the news again. The Swarthmore Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) staged a sit-in on Feb 19 (See also the letters)

Their demands were “ that the college drop its disciplinary cases against students for charges related to protests for Palestine and that the college divest from companies tied to Israel.

However this time Swarthmore Public Safety blockaded the building, preventing further protesters along with supplies, etc. This was the opposite of the previous lazes-faire reaction.

Last time, for instance, a number of us took photos. Now they were told not to take photos.

For a report that the SJP is an anti-Israel group.

It should be clarified that the FBI only contacted Swarthmore College after Swarthmore SJP put out a call for others to join them. My protest experience was that if you put out a call for others to join you that, inevitably, you would have some undercover Philly PD, State Troopers, FBI, etc.

The Swarthmore Administration in the person of Val Smith wanted to clarify that the College did not contact the FBI or any other federal law enforcement agency in response to the protest.

Meanwhile, on the Left Coast, Multiple pro-Palestine groups protest suspension of SJP, Graduate SJP on campus It seems the SJP violated UCLA’s Time , Place and Manner rules by protesting in Dickson Plaza and also in front of UC Regent Jay Sures Brentwood home on Feb. 5 and chanting “Jonathan Sures, you will pay, until you see your final day.”

If only the British had said “these are the official days and times for tea-tossing”.

Finally, this story about a Pro-Israel counter-demonstration, under the aegis of Who We Are | Let’s Do Something.

Probably no one on either side listened to each other because both knew, as Bob Dylan sang, that they were demonstrating With God on Our Side.

Unlike Sunday, Oct. 4, 1936, Battle of Cable Street where there were the Fascists versus the Anti-Fascists.

See also On third day of SJP encampment, protests continue …

Blockade Ended Swarthmore Protest

When Clemente And Mays Roamed The Same Outfield

When Clemente And Mays Roamed The Same Outfield

By Joe Guzzardi

During the seven-plus decades that I’ve been a baseball fan, I’ve watched games at all levels— Little and Pony League World Series, high school, the NCAA World Series and countless major and minor league games. When friends ask about my most memorable baseball moments, I answer going to Puerto Rico Winter League (PRWL) games. I’m not alone in my judgment. Dick Young, a New York-based columnist who wrote about the Yankees, Giants, Mets and the Brooklyn Dodgers for more than 50 years said that the most exciting games he ever covered were between the San Juan Senators against its neighbor, the Santurce Crabbers.

Thomas E. Van Hyning’s new book, “The Caribbean Series: Latin America’s Annual Baseball Tournament, 1949-2024,” transported me back to those wonderful days in the mid-1950s through the early 1960s, when as a Puerto Rico resident, I watched some of MLB and the Negro National League’s (NNL) best “peloteros,” as the fans referred to them. Among the league batting champions were Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, and Orlando Cepeda; NNL stars Willard Brown and Buster Clarkson won the runs batted in titles. Crabbers’ mound stalwarts were the Giants Ruben Gomez, a 28-year regular in the PRWL and Chicago Cubs ace and Sam “Toothpick” Jones, the first black pitcher to toss an MLB no-hitter. Santurce fielded the most successful PRWL teams of the 1950s. Author Van Hyning compared Santurce to the New York Yankees, “a franchise with a rich history and a winning tradition.” The Crabbers were all of that and more in the first season I watched them, 1954-1955. Most thrilling of all, in the Crabbers’ outfield, Clemente played left field with Mays in center, a fans’ delight as the duo roamed the deepest recesses of magnificent Sixto Escobar Stadium to snag long line drives. Well-traveled fans called Sixto Escobar the Fenway Park by the ocean. Clemente and Mays played together in numerous All-Star games, but the only time they played side-by-side continuously was as Santurce teammates.

Clemente respected Mays, with whom he had friendly competition, but Roberto didn’t worship the 1954 NL MVP. Instead, Clemente admired Monte Irvin, his childhood baseball hero who played for the Giants and, earlier, the NNL’s Newark Eagles. Mays played only one season with the Crabbers, 1954/1955, but what a season it was: batting average, .395, with 12 HRs and 33 RBIs in truncated season. “Ole, mira,” came the chants for Mays, the Spanish translation of, “Say, hey.” Clemente captured the 1956/1957 batting crown with the decade’s highest average, .396. During his 15-years-long PRWL career, Clemente played for the Crabbers, the Caguas Criollos, and the agaSenators, and against topflight MLB pitching, had career total of hitting .323, with thirty-five homers, and 269 RBIs. Clemente also had two managing stints with the Senators and guided the team to the playoffs twice.

Clemente was destined for stardom from the day that Brooklyn Dodgers scout Al Campanis, who had managed Cuba’s Cienfuegos Elephantes that winter, attended a tryout at Sixto Escobar. Campanis graded Clemente, then 18, as either A or A+ in the essential five-tools category—hitting, hitting for power, fielding, throwing, and speed. In his report to Dodgers’ management, Campanis wrote, “Has all the tools and likes to play. A real good-looking prospect.” On Nov. 22, 1954, the Pirates selected the 20-year-old Puerto Rican prospect from the Brooklyn Dodgers in MLB’s Rule 5 Draft. The Dodgers didn’t need Clemente that first season — outfielders Duke Snider and Carl Furillo hit .309 and .314 respectively, combined to hit sixty-eight home runs and helped Brooklyn win the 1955 World Series. But letting Clemente get away was an obvious Dodgers’ mistake when he won the ’66 NL MVP Award, four NL batting crowns and led the Pirates to World Series championships in ’60 and ’71. Over the course of his 18 MLB seasons, Clemente slashed .345/.382/.466 against the Dodgers with seventeen triples and twenty-one home runs in 291 career games. He didn’t hit higher than .330 against any other MLB team and is the only Hall of Famer to have been selected in the Rule 5 Draft.

The Crabbers, led by Mays’ .440 average and Clemente’s series-leading eight runs scored, topped off an excellent season by winning the 1955 Caribbean World Series. I moved back to the mainland before I would have seen a long string of Cooperstown Hall of Famers like Bob Gibson, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, Robin Yount, and Reggie Jackson. As I read Van Hyning’s book, thoughts of those great evenings I spent in Sixto Escobar Stadium, enjoying the warm Caribbean trade winds and top-flight baseball came back to me as though they happened yesterday.

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

When Clemente And Mays Roamed The Same Outfield

Twelve good horses William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 2-27-25

Twelve good horses William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 2-27-25

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Answer to yesterday’s puzzle: Twelve good horses and silver candlesticks won’t stop the snow from falling in Bialystock.

Thomas Banacek

Twelve good horses William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 2-27-20
Twelve good horses William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 2-27-20

Cure de Repos On Kelly Drives

Cure de Repos On Kelly Drives –Cure de Repos, the new state-of-the-art health spa at 65 Cricket Ave. in Ardmore, Pa. will be featured, 6:30 p.m., tomorrow, Feb. 27 on Fox 29’s Kelly Drives with Bob Kelly.

The salon features hand-picked massage therapists and estheticians, custom skin care products curated by owner Chrissy Dress, red light therapy, saunas and cold-plunge pools.

Cure de Repos On Kelly Drives
Bob Kelly and Cure de Respos owner Chrissy Dress

Delco Precinct Consolidation Plan Makes Elections Less Secure

Delco Precinct Consolidation Plan Makes Elections Less Secure — The great Greg Stenstrom let us know last week that the twisted plot to consolidate Delaware County’s (Pa) precincts to make vote fraud more convenient is being contested in the courts.

The case is Kocher et al v. Delaware County Board of Elections and is being heard in Delco Common Pleas Court.

The case number is CV-2025-000528.

The Delaware County Board of Elections wants to consolidate 104 of 428 precincts diluting local control and increasing highly untrustworthy centralization.

Director of Elections James Allen says this will save Delco $100,000.

Seriously, that’s chicken feed to the crowd that just jacked the taxes up 24 percent.

Paul Rumley writing in Broad And Liberty points out that three items alone in Delco’s budget specific to elections total $4.3 million.

Check out his column here.

By the way, Allen et al’s love of toys has made Delco’s elections less secure, more costly and much less efficient.

Delco Precinct Consolidation Plan Makes Elections Less Secure

Delco Precinct Consolidation Plan Makes Elections Less Secure

Each generation imagines William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 2-26-25

Each generation imagines William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 2-26-25

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Answer to yesterday’s puzzle: Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.

George Orwell

Each generation imagines
Each generation imagines William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 2-26
 
For the Legend of Abd-el-Kader and a recipe for baba ghanoush, which goes great with Cryptowit Quote Puzzles, visit here.

Meaghan Wagner Pledges To Torment Rongione In Register of Wills Race

Meaghan Wagner Pledges To Torment Rongione In Register of Wills Race — The Delaware County Republicans, last night, Feb. 24 picked Liz Piazza as their second County Council endorsement and endorsed Upper Darby Councilwoman Meaghan Wagner for register of wills.

The GOP endorsed, Feb. 18, former Upper Darby Council President Brian Burke and Chester Upland School Director Tasliym Morales for the two County Council seats up for election.

Ms. Morales, however, stepped down after a social media smear campaign implying she supported DEI and was a closet Democrat.

She addressed party leaders, last night, with a generous and passionate plea for unity. She noted that the allegations against her were false and that her day job is in jeopardy due to her opposition to DEI.

Also addressing the leaders, was activist Charlie Alexander of Marple. He had earlier sought GOP endorsement for County Council but now said he wanted the GOP to make no primary endorsements and would reject one if given him.

Charlie made several good points about governance in his statement, though. He also noted how skillful use of social media can overcome financial disparity.

Also seeking the endorsement was Sharon Devaney of Springfield. The reasons why she was running can be found here.

Sharon got the votes from the party organizations of Swarthmore, Chester and Newtown.

Ms. Wagner’s statement was a sledgehammer against Democrat incumbent Vincent A. Rongione.

Rongione had been chief administrative officer of Upper Darby until he had to resign in disgrace in 2023. Municipal bank accounts were found far lower than they should have been. Ms. Wagner says the missing money was in the millions.

Rongione was appointed to the post a year later after incumbent Rachel Ezzell Berry stepped down to take a seat on Common Pleas Court.

Ms. Wagner said he was “punished up” as Democrats often do to those caught doing wrong.

She said she will enjoying spending the months through November — figuratively — kneeing Rongione in the groin.

Alternative Power And Nuclear Plants

Fire away from straw William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 2-25-20

Fire away from straw William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 2-25-20

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Answer to yesterday’s puzzle: Keep fire away from straw.

Ukrainian Folk Saying

Fire away from straw William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 2-25-20
Fire away from straw William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 2-25-14

Why I’m Running For Delco Council

Why I’m Running For Delco Council

By Sharon Devaney

I am running for Delaware County (Pa.) Council. Here is what I plan to say at tonight’s endorsement meeting for the Delaware County Republican party.

My start in politics concerned my kids and the Haverford public schools. Granted schools are not a County Council matter but this is when I became politically active circa 2014.

I was an Obama voter, by the way, and never supported a Republican until Donald Trump in 2016.

My rambunctious son was declared to have attention deficit disorder and they pushed hard to put him on meds. I objected. To my shock, I found myself pressured by the faculty and administration to the point where it reached intimidation and bullying. I held my ground, but parents rights were not what those running things respected.

I then became aware of books being assigned that were, to be polite, sexually inappropriate. They seemed like a grooming effort.

I again objected. To my still puzzlement the administration and staff dismissed my concerns. This was not an attempt to ban books from the library but a desire to see parents consulted and warned about curriculum.

One of the administrators with whom I most butted heads was the Haverford High vice principal. This man was eventually found putting sexualized photos of himself on Instagram where he was friends with many students.

He was defended by the administration until one Christmas when he published a photo of himself wearing only a Santa cap and Christmas lights.

He had to be let go, at this point. I understand, though, he found himself a nice job in public education in New Jersey.

The other issue for which I became a bit notorious was illegal immigration.

On April 10, 2017, I was taking my daughter to my parents before going to work when my Toyota was t-boned at Lawrence and Ellis roads. The other driver turned out to be an illegal immigrant. She did not have insurance or a drivers license. She never passed a drivers test. She was speeding. The police at the scene angrily told me they could do nothing due to policies created to protect those here illegally.

If this was you or I we would find ourselves intimately involved with the criminal justice system.

This woman escaped all consequence.

Thank God, she hit my side else my daughter would likely have been killed. As it is, I am crippled. I can no longer run. I fear walking on ice and using escalators. I almost always use the handicapped ramp.

What happened to me was not a one-off. I’ve heard from many who have had similar experiences about the unwillingness of law enforcement to arrest illegals.

I am not opposed to immigrants or anyone here legally, but what has been going on in this county is social suicide. Willfully ignoring the law is social suicide.

Regarding, the 2025 election the big issue is the massive property taxes imposed by the Democrat controlled council, and the big tax hikes coming in the next few years.

I think we all hope this wakes the citizens of Delco up and they demand a change.

Democrat Richard Womack is seeking re-election. He is a nice guy and he voted against the 23.8 percent tax hike his fellow Ds imposed on us.

Richard, however, was a rubber stamp for every wild spending project passed by council during his term and he does not deserve to be returned.

And we really don’t want Joanne Phillips of Middletown to be elected. She most certainly will continue the impoverishment of Delco’s middle and working classes.

Why I'm Running For Delco Council
Former High School Vice Principal Steven Quinn on Instagram

Justice shall deliver William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 2-24-25

Justice shall deliver William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 2-24-25

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Answer to yesterday’s puzzle: Treasures of wickedness shall profit nothing: but justice shall deliver from death.
Proverbs 10:2

justice shall deliver William Lawrence Sr Cryptowit 2-24
Treasures of wickedness shall profit nothing: but justice shall deliver from death.
Proverbs 10:2