The LuLac Edition #3711, February 15th, 2018

THE GUN TRAGEDY IN FLORIDA 

Another loser shot and killed 17 people on Wednesday in Florida. These were kids going to high school. Predictably the REPUBLICANS offered this: 

“Yesterday, America was shown the face of evil at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Today, millions of American join together with broken hearts. We will continue to pray for the victims, their families and the community impacted. As we learn more about why and how this attack was carried out, we must review and address the protocols that allowed for this murderer, who made his intentions clear, to slip through the cracks.” 

That was From Lou Barletta. The President issued something similar. Hey guys, the time for prayers is over. The default position that we need more Mental Health care is BULLSHIT! Here are the facts. 

Michael Stone, a psychiatrist at Columbia University who maintains a database of mass shooters, wrote in a 2015 analysis that only 52 out of the 235 killers in the database, or about 22 percent, were mentally ill. “The mentally ill should not bear the burden of being regarded as the ‘chief’ perpetrators of mass murder,” Stone concluded. Other research has backed this up.

The real problem, instead, is guns — and, specifically, America’s extraordinary stockpile of firearms. The US has by far the highest number of guns in the world: According to a 2007 estimate, the number of civilian-owned firearms in the US was 88.8 guns per 100 people, meaning there was almost one privately owned gun per American and more than one per American adult. The world’s second-ranked country was Yemen, a quasi-failed state torn by civil war, where there were 54.8 guns per 100 people.

As a result, America has nearly six times the gun homicide rate of Canada, more than seven times that of Sweden, and nearly 16 times that of Germany, according to United Nations data compiled by the Guardian. (These gun deaths are a big reason America has a much higher overall homicide rate than other developed nations.)

The Republican party that has had the majority in Congress since 2014 has blocked every attempt to get even the barest of gun control. 

The deaths of these kids are ON THEIR HEADS! 

In the meantime, here's where we stand in terms of the most guns in a country. (LuLac, Vox) 

THE TARNISHED JEWEL THAT IS WYOMING BOROUGH

(Photo: Borough Facebook page)

When I was growing up Wyoming was the crown jewel of Luzerne County. It was historic, where the more well to do lived as well as a place to aspire to. But lately, especially this week, Wyoming Borough has become the epitome of old school, denial politics. Trouble has been brewing in the burgh for a while with investigators looking into finances at the Borough building's Manager's office and as well at the Library.
Since the swearing in of Mayor Joe Dominick, it has been revealed that the Borough manager’s working area was raided. At the last meeting, Council voted 6 to 2 to let the Manager keep her job. Tamara Smith has been serving in that position for a few years now. But she has been under investigation for concerns at the Hose Company #1 and the Library.Many have questioned her prior experience in obtaining such a job.
Councilman Mike Baloga made a motion seconded by Joseph Scaltz. It was voted down by Council members who are not happy Dominick won the last election handily.
The majority reasons were:
1. They had no one to fill the position.
2. No one was charged yet.
But then the majority Council pulled a Sarah Huckabee Sanders when the Library Board President asked for a much needed donation to the Library. The lackey majority said that the reason why they didn’t was because they were concerned about past financial impropriety not revealed at the Library.
Board President Colleen Garrision said, “I cannot speak for the previous board,, Marcella Starr was the president of the (Wyoming Free Library Board of Trustees) and Tamra Smith was the treasurer, you can ask them.”
Garrison’s response was met with a thunderous applause by the audience.
At the end of the meeting, council members voted to donate $500 to the library.
The Council also asked the incumbent Mayor Joe Dominick to leave because the Smith matter was one of personnel. Wow!
The fact that the crowd applauded the Board President when she called out the majority who has refused to work with the new Mayor speaks volumes.
Somewhere former Council member Joe Soricelli and Mayors Joe Chorba and Doc Stroh are spinning in their graves!

TRUMP, A WEEK AFTER PORTER RESIGNED, SAYS HE’S ‘TOTALLY OPPOSED’ TO SPOUSAL ABUSE

The President says "Yep, it's wrong!" (Photo: CNN)

It took one week after Trump’s honcho Rob Porter, his staff secretary, resigned amid spousal abuse allegations, President Trump on Wednesday said he was “totally opposed to domestic violence,” his first condemnation of the alleged conduct behind a scandal that has engulfed the White House.
He couldn’t say that sooner? What’s next, totally opposed to burning an apple pie, crashing in a baby’s head with a cinder block?
His statement, which members of both parties had said was long overdue, came as John F. Kelly, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, faced new questions about his handling of Mr. Porter’s case, including how Mr. Porter could have held a temporary high-level security clearance for more than a year in light of the allegations.

THE CONGRESSIONAL GERRYMANDERING ISSUE

BOTH SIDES

WOLF OBJECTS TO HOUSE VERSION OF CONGRESSIONAL MAPS

Governor Tom Wolf (Photo: Penn Live)

Here is Governor Tom Wolf's statement on the recent gerrymandering decision: The current map -- drawn by a Republican legislature and a Republican governor -- unfairly divides our communities to benefit Republican political interests. And the map submitted to me just last week by Republican leaders was still gerrymandered.
It’s simple: gerrymandering hurts our democracy. That’s why I made a pledge to support fair maps that will restore our democratic process.
This is not a partisan issue. It’s about unrigging the system and drawing fair maps that are representative of the people, not politics.
I vow to do everything I can to make sure we fix our gerrymandered maps now and ensure that they stay that way in the future.
Brass shines as fair to the ignorant as gold to the goldsmiths.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/fair

WAGNER CRITICIZES WOLF FOR USURPING LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY ON CONGRESSIONAL MAP

URGES GOVERNOR TO HEED ADVICE OF DEMOCRATIC COLLEAGUES; WORK WITH LEGISLATURE

GOP candidate Scott Wagner (Photo: Wagner campaign)

2018 gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner condemned Governor Wolf for indicating that he is prepared to act outside the realm of his constitutional authority and submit a new congressional map to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court without the consent of the legislature.
As reported by WESA on Monday, “Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is promising he'll send a politically impartial congressional district map to the state Supreme Court by its Thursday deadline if the Republican-controlled legislature cannot draw one themselves. ‘“What happens next, in any case, is that I take a look at this map and have a panel of objective experts look at it,’ Wolf said Monday.”
“There’s a difference between leadership, and trampling on the Pennsylvania Constitution, and it’s clear Governor Wolf doesn’t get it, said Scott Wagner. “Our House and Senate leadership did a good job with the map based on the short amount of time they were given by the Supreme Court, and if the Governor doesn’t like what was presented to him, he should come to the table and negotiate, rather than politicizing the issue to curry favor with national, liberal interest groups.”
Additionally, Wolf’s decision to act on his own accord is at odds with what Democratic leaders in the legislature have said they wanted out of the process.
In a letter to Governor Wolf on Friday, Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa and House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody criticized the Republican drawn map, stating, “This map was not the product of bipartisan work, nor is it a piece of legislation that passed through both of our chambers.” (Letter to Governor Wolf, 2/9/18)
Wagner point to the comments made by Democratic Leadership, adding, “Governor Wolf should take the advice of Leaders Costa and Dermody and let the elected representatives of the people of Pennsylvania have a vote on the map before it goes to the Supreme Court.”

MEDIA MATTERS

WALN TV

BOLD GOLD COMMUNITY FORUM

This week's guest will be Adam Marco, Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Tune in Sunday morning at 6 on 94.3 The Talker; 6:30 on 1400-The Game, NEPA's Fox .Sports Radio and 106.7 fm; and at 7:30 on 105 The River.

ECTV LIVE

Rusty Fender fills in for David DeCosmo as he and Program Director Mark Migilore welcome Sarah Donahue to the show during the week of February 19th to unveil plans for Pittston's annual Saint Patrick's Parade ECTV Live is seen on Comcast channel 19 (61 in some areas) and aired three times daily throughout the week.

ECTV Live can be seen on Comcast channel 19 (61 in some areas) and is aired during the Noon, 6pm and Midnight hours each day of the week. Following Monday's Live program the show will become available on Electric City Television's YouTube channel which can be viewed on your computer.

BUDDY RUMCHEK

Want to hear some great parodies on the news? Tune in to WILK Radio at 6:40 and 8:40 AM on Mondays. As Ralph Cramden used to say, “It’s a laugh riot!”

BOBBY V’S DOO WOP SOCK HOP

SUNDAY NIGHTS!

1960

Our 1960 logo

Gerboise Bleue: France tests its first atomic bomb in the Sahara Desert of Algeria....The 1960 Winter Olympics begin at the Squaw Valley Ski Resort, in Placer County, California….

in Pennsylvania the two baseball teams in the state, the Pirates and Phillies head to spring training……in Wilkes Barre young college students begin to follow the Kennedy campaign after the candidate starts making inroads in the first primary state New Hampshire and 58 years ago the number one song in Lulac land and America was “You Got What It Takes” from Marv Johnson.