Thursday, May 31, 2018

The LuLac Edition #3795, May 31st, 2018


Our @ 50, 1968 logo

FRANCE'S RIOTS # 50

While college campuses were torn asunder here in the United States with demonstrations and sit ins, in France, one of our staunchest allies, civil war broke out. President Charles deGaulle was being challenged and was under fire We would be remiss if we did not include the issues facing France in 1968 during this challenging time. This is how it started.
The volatile period of civil unrest in France during May 1968 was punctuated by demonstrations and massive general strikes as well as the occupation of universities and factories across France. At the height of its fervor, it brought the entire economy of France to a virtual halt. The protests reached such a point that political leaders feared civil war or revolution; the national government itself momentarily ceased to function after President Charles de Gaulle secretly fled France for a few hours. The protests spurred an artistic movement, with songs, imaginative graffiti, posters, and slogans.
“May 68” affected French society for decades afterward. It is considered to this day as a cultural, social and moral turning point in the history of the country. As Alain Geismar—one of the leaders of the time—later pointed out, the movement succeeded “as a social revolution, not as a political one”.

The unrest began with a series of student occupation protests against capitalism, consumerism, American imperialism and traditional institutions, values and order. It then spread to factories with strikes involving 11 million workers, more than 22% of the total population of France at the time, for two continuous weeks.  The movement was characterized by its spontaneous and de-centralized wildcat disposition; this created contrast and sometimes even conflict between itself and the establishment, trade unions and workers' parties  It was the largest general strike ever attempted in France, and the first nationwide wildcat general strike.
The student occupations and wildcat general strikes initiated across France were met with forceful confrontation by university administrators and police. The de Gaulle administration's attempts to quell those strikes by police action only inflamed the situation further, leading to street battles with the police in Paris's Latin Quarter, followed by the spread of general strikes and occupations throughout France. De Gaulle fled to a French military base in Germany, and after returning dissolved the National Assembly, and called for new parliamentary elections for 23 June 1968. Violence evaporated almost as quickly as it arose. Workers went back to their jobs, and when the elections were finally held in June, the Gaullist party emerged even stronger than before.
After the Algerian crisis of the l950s, France entered a period of stability in the 1960s. The French empire was abolished, the economy improved, and President Charles de Gaulle was a popular ruler. Discontent lay just beneath the surface, however, especially among young students, who were critical of France’s outdated university system and the scarcity of employment opportunity for university graduates. Sporadic student demonstrations for education reform began in 1968, and on May 3 a protest at the Sorbonne (the most celebrated college of the University of Paris) was broken up by police. Several hundred students were arrested and dozens were injured.
In the aftermath of the incident, courses at the Sorbonne were suspended, and students took to the streets of the Latin Quarter (the university district of Paris) to continue their protests. On May 6, battles between the police and students in the Latin Quarter led to hundreds of injuries. On the night of May 10, students set up barricades and rioted in the Latin Quarter. Nearly 400 people were hospitalized, more than half of them police. Leftist students began calling for radical economic and political change in France, and union leaders planned strikes in support of the students. In an effort to defuse the crisis by returning the students to school, Prime Minister Georges Pompidou announced that the Sorbonne would be reopened on May 13.
On that day, students occupied the Sorbonne buildings, converting it into a commune, and striking workers and students protested in the Paris streets. During the next few days, the unrest spread to other French universities, and labor strikes rolled across the country, eventually involving several million workers and paralyzing France. On the evening of May 24, the worst fighting of the May crisis occurred in Paris. Revolutionary students temporarily seized the Bourse (Paris Stock Exchange), raised a communist red flag over the building, and then tried to set it on fire. One policeman was killed in the night’s violence.
During the next few days, Prime Minister Pompidou negotiated with union leaders, making a number of concessions, but failed to end the strike. Radical students openly called for revolution but lost the support of mainstream communist and trade union leaders, who feared that they, like the Gaullist establishment, would be swept away in a revolution led by anarchists and Trotskyites.
On May 30, President de Gaulle went on the radio and announced that he was dissolving the National Assembly and calling national elections. He appealed for law and order and implied that he would use military force to return order to France if necessary. Loyal Gaullists and middle-class citizens rallied around him, and the labor strikes were gradually abandoned. Student protests continued until June 12, when they were banned. Two days later, the students were evicted from the Sorbonne.
In the two rounds of voting on June 23 and 30, the Gaullists won a commanding majority in the National Assembly. In the aftermath of the May events, de Gaulle’s government made a series of concessions to the protesting groups, including higher wages and improved working conditions for workers, and passed a major education reform bill intended to modernize higher education. 
Many people feel that the riots and disorder of 1968 made France a more stronger and more modern nation. The price was a bit high to pay but to hear the French tell it, in hindsight, it was worth the uncertainty of May fifty years ago this month. (wikipedia, History.com., LuLac) 

The LuLac Edition #3794, May 31st, 2018

HOW LONG CAN SESSIONS LAST?
Attorney General Jeff Sessions (Photo: AP) 
Last evening President Trump tweeted once more about his disdain for Jeff Sessions as his own AG. Here's what he said.
Donald J. Trump
‏@realDonaldTrump
“The recusal of Jeff Sessions was an unforced betrayal of the President of the United States.” JOE DIGENOVA, former U.S. Attorney.
5,403 replies
3,076 retweets
10,527 likes 
Sessions is still on board. But there is something very different about a Cabinet member staying in there even with a constant onslaught from the man who appointed him. A few questions. Did Sessions testify in the Russian probe? Will Trump keep him or run him off? So far, Sessions is hanging around. More to come. 

TRUMP AND ROSEANNE
Roseanne Barr and Donald Trump (Photo:  Newsmax)
The White House said it was not defending Roseanne Barr for the racist tweet that ultimately led to the demise of her sitcom's cancellation on ABC.
But in making EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM, the President and his press secretary Sarah Sanders insisted they were also owed an apology from ABC for airing derogatory comments about the administration.
Let’s get this straight. Everything that is being reported by the news organizations, ABC, CNN, all of them happened BECAUSE of Donald Trump’s own actions. Trump’s deeply felt resentment at his portrayal in the media, as well as his long list of grievances at perceived slights since he started running have been vastly misplaced.But he refuses to place the blame on everyone but himself.

TRUMP BLAMING DEMOCRATS FOR IMMIGRATION

In a Tweet, The President blamed Democrats for holding up Immigration,. Bottom line folks is this: this man can’t control his own party. The REPUBLICANS are in charge not the Dems. But a basic 6th grader studying social studies would know that!

ROSEANNE’S RACISM

Why would anyone riding high with a hit show jeopardize it with a senseless, racist tweet? Roseanne is gone from ABC swiftly because of the way she compared Obama aide Valerie Jarrett with an animal. What is it with these Republicans and Trump-ites who have a fixation on Obama and even his people.
Please understand that Obama was elected by majorities BOTH times when he ran for President. No Democrat since FDR did that! It's over, a black man was President. But these people just can’t seem to let it go.
Again I reference this wonderful song from South Pacific.


WAGNER CALLS FOR 67 DEBATES AGAINST WOLF!!!!!!
Republican nominee for Governor Scott Wagner (Photo: Wagner campaign) 
2018 gubernatorial nominee Scott Wagner this morning called on Governor Wolf to participate in a debate in every county in the commonwealth before Election Day. In order for the candidates to break away from the rehearsed and canned answers that often come with traditional debates, Wagner is urging that he and the Governor discuss the issues in a town hall format, where they will have the opportunity to answer questions directly from the voters.
Speaking about the proposal, Wagner said, “It’s time for Pennsylvanians to have a gubernatorial campaign that focuses on them for a change. They deserve candidates who are not afraid to provide direct and personalized answers on their plans for the future of the commonwealth. I believe that Governor Wolf is failing us, and that it’s important for voters in every county to get a chance to see the differences between us in person so that they can make an informed choice when they head to the polls in November.”
Republican Lieutenant Governor Nominee Jeff Bartos added, “This may be a foreign concept to Governor Wolf, but Scott and I think a lieutenant governor should have a firm understanding of the administration’s agenda and be able to step in for the governor whenever necessary. Therefore, if Governor Wolf does not have time to attend all 67 debates, I suggest that he allow Mayor Fetterman and I to articulate the views of our respective tickets in front of the people.”
Wagner’s proposal to get the focus of the race back on the issues and the people of Pennsylvania comes after the Wolf campaign has spent the last two weeks launching a slew of negative attack ads against him.
•In the Republican Primary, however, the Wolf campaign criticized candidates for running negative ads “Rather than focusing on the issues that matter most to Pennsylvanians.” (PennLive, 4/5/18)
Pennsylvania’s editorial boards hold the Wolf campaign’s pre-general election view, and want an issue focused race as well.
•The Doylestown Intelligencer Editorial Board: “When candidates stoop to name-calling and other negative campaign tactics they cheat voters. What voters need in order to make an educated decision in any election is information about a candidate’s record and his or her agenda for the future. When candidates instead choose to distort their opponent’s record, they deny voters the ability to make a reasoned, fact-based decision.” (Doylestown Intelligencer, 4/8/18)
•The York Daily Record Editorial Board: “In the end, we hope this will be a race about policies and the future direction of PA, not about mudslinging and personality.” (York Daily Record, 5/16/18)
Tom Wolf said he’d be a different kind of governor. However, he’s running his re-election campaign just like a typical politician. If he really wants to shake up the system, he’ll ditch traditional negative media attacks and come explain to the voters in person why he deserves four more years.

CARTWRIGHT CALLS FOR PROTECTION OF RURAL BROADBAND
Congressman Matt Cartwright (Photo: LuLac archives)
Rural access to high-speed broadband internet stitches our country together. Small-town entrepreneurs rely on it to build their businesses and support their families. Schools depend on it to provide a better education for students.
Congressman Matt Cartwright is asking people to tell the FCC to prioritize rural broadband – not cut it.
Why is the FCC proposing cuts to rural broadband? Their plan: reduce the number of providers and limit resellers for the rural Lifeline Program.
This will only serve to drive up costs in communities that cannot afford it. That's why consumer advocates, internet service providers, and even conservative think tanks all agree – cutting rural broadband is a bad idea.


MEDIA MATTERS

WALN TV

BOLD GOLD COMMUNITY FORUM

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


ECTV Live welcomes Rev. Steve Perillo to the program during the week of June 4th to unveil plans for a series of concerts presented by "Making A Difference Ministries.

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

Television was introduced to New Zealand, as broadcasts started in Auckland on AKTV, Channel 2, at 7:30 pm and continued until 10:00 pm. The first program was an episode of The Adventures of Robin Hood....In Laredo, Texas, Charles Manson was arrested in on charges of violating the Mann Act and his parole terms. He would remain in prison until 1967, and go on to infamy as leader of a cult of serial killers....In St. Louis, Chuck Berry was acquitted by a ......Trans-Canada Air Lines began transatlantic jet service, with a Douglas DC-8 aircraft flying a route from Montreal to London.........Texas began the "Little School" program, pioneered by Felix Tijerina, in 614 schools statewide. The program, designed to teach Spanish-speaking preschoolers 400 essential English words for a head start in the first grade, enrolled 15,805 children at its start.........At a concert at the civic hall in Neston, Cheshire, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stu Sutcliffe and Tommy Moore performed for the first time under the name The Beatles….
Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker arrived in Washington, D.C for a state visit and private talks with United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower…in Pennsylvania work on The Civic Arena in Pittsburgh continues.  This facility was later named Mellon Arena and has become the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins……in Scranton the Young Democrats announce they will try to make the trip to Los Angeles for the Democratic convention and fifty eight years ago the number one song in LuLac land and America was “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” by Connie Francis.

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

The LuLac Edition #3793, May 30th, 2018

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY

Our Write On Wednesday logo.

This week's "Write On Wednesday" is an editorial from the Times Leader regarding the on going debate on taking a knee and the playing of the national anthem during NFL games. Some very cogent thoughts here today.

NFL’S NEW RULE IS MISGUIDED MESS THAT WON’T HELP

The NFL, undoubtedly, is great at providing all-day entertainment every autumn Sunday.
But the same league has proven poor at providing sensible, cohesive policy on a variety of critical topics over the last few years.
First, it was the seemingly make-it-up-as-you-go-along method of punishing athletes accused of domestic abuse.
Now, it’s the newly issued and misguided rules regarding how teams and players should conduct themselves during the playing of our national anthem.
If you missed the new guide lines from the league office and its 32 sometimes clueless owners, the official policy now is those on the field must stand for the anthem. If they don’t want to do that, they can stay in their locker room.
From the NFL’s perspective, it’s safe from a legal standpoint in that it’s not forcing the few players who prefer kneeling to partake in a display they want no part of. At the same time, the league now has a rule to satisfy fans and advertisers offended by prior anthem antics that became highly publicized after former quarterback Colin Kaepernick began sitting in 2016, then later kneeling to protest racial injustice.
We must say we would greatly prefer if everyone stood at attention for the anthem, with hand over heart in reverence for the red, white and blue and all those who have made and continue to make sacrifices for our freedom.
And we don’t blame some for being offended by millionaire athletes who have used the anthem to make a political point.
But we didn’t need this rule.
The stand/take-a-knee controversy had mostly subsided by the end of last season. In fact, we don’t remember a mention of it during the entire playoffs.
The owners moved to protect their interests, however, because even a fading controversy might lead to some lost revenue.
So, in their infinite wisdom, they instituted a new policy with the potential to reignite the controversy all over again.
Instead of cameras trained on a few players or just one kneeling during the anthem, they will now be waiting for those who jog out of the locker room after they skipped it.
We also must say the move to outlaw kneeling is confusing, as we remember Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones holding hands and kneeling with his players as a show of unity during the anthem last year.
It was OK then because the boss did it but not now?
The real answer here is to move beyond simple sideline acts.
If players are serious about addressing racial injustice, police brutality and topics of that ilk, and we truly believe many of them are, they need to follow the example of someone such as Malcolm Jenkins of the Philadelphia Eagles.
He’s establishing dialogues with local police leaders so they have a better understanding of what the black community is thinking and feeling. That kind of work will create much more improvement than taking a knee.
Here's the link: 
https://www.timesleader.com/opinion/op-ed/705827/our-view-nfls-new-anthem-rule-is-misguided-mess-that-wont-help

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

The Lulac Edition #3792, May 29th, 2018

CONGRESSIONAL 8th 

CHRIN STAKES OUT EXETER ON HOLIDAY

For most people Memorial Day was the start of the lazy, hazy crazy days of Summer as Nat King Cole sang about years ago. But for 8th District Congressional candidate John Chrin, it was a busy day of campaigning. Chrin was in Exeter, the hometown of former Mayor Coleman who is the Regional Director of Governor Wolf’s office. Chrin is galvanizing Republicans in Luzerne County to get behind his candidacy.
This 8th District race will be decided by Luzerne and Lackawanna counties. Chrin will be strong in Wayne and Pike Counties but he is in  Luzerne County so much, some say he might be mistaken for a native.  After Trump in 2016, the years of any Republican candidate writing off Luzerne County are over.

Here are a few voters meeting him in Exeter yesterday.

MEANWHILE.......

CARTWRIGHT ANNOUNCES OVER $4.7 MILLION IN HUD FUNDS TO LUZERNE COUNTY HOUSING AGENCIES
Congressman Matt Cartwright (Photo: LuLac archives)
U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has granted Public Housing Capital Fund Awards totaling $4,765,756 to housing agencies in Luzerne County.
The Public Housing Capital Fund Award is awarded annually by HUD to Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) for the development, financing, and modernization of public housing developments and for management improvements.
“Ensuring that Northeastern Pennsylvania has access to safe and affordable housing is an important priority of mine,” said Rep. Cartwright, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. “Federal funding is critical to providing low-income households in our state with adequate housing, including many people who are elderly or have disabilities. I am glad that these funds will provide an investment into our community and ensure invaluable housing services to vulnerable Pennsylvanians.”
The following is a list of Operating Subsidy award recipients and the amount provided:
• Luzerne County:
o Housing Authority of the City of Pittston ($688,847)
o Housing Authority of the County of Luzerne ($2,442,678)
o Wilkes-Barre Housing Authority ($1,634,231)
U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was established through the U.S. Housing Act of 1937. HUD’s purpose is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. The funds awarded to the housing authority agencies through HUD gives them the ability to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers, meet the need for quality affordable rental homes, utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life, and build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination. (Cartwright office).

 J.F.K. @ 101 

Today would have have been John F. Kennedy's 101st birthday. 


Here are two photos to remember him on this day. 


The last photo of the President with his family was taken a few months before his death. 

Monday, May 28, 2018

The LuLac Edition #3791, May 28th, 2018

MEMORIAL DAY 2018 



Thursday, May 24, 2018

The LuLac Edition #3790, May 24th, 2018

THE FART OF THE DEAL

Trump and Kim (Photo: CNN)
The great Deal Maker didn’t get his big peace plan with North Korea. Today Mr. Trump cancelled the summit with North Korea that he hoped would gain him a much needed Foreign Policy achievement in a Presidency bereft of anything much substantial.
Trump, like a child, was captivated by the visions of glory while officials who have traveled down this road with North Korea before were wary. For now, the great global expectations for what would have amounted to a landmark diplomatic encounter between two similar but polar opposite leaders has abated. North Korea said they’ll talk but just not now.
The collapse happened for three reasons:
1. Trump's grasp for a legacy-making breakthrough, one he came to believe could even secure him a Nobel Prize, failed because he  put the cart before the horse.  He gave too much in praise and excitement.
2. Like the reality show visionary he is, he focused on the spectacle and the glitz and avoided the in-depth briefing and international calculations that great leaders need to make.
3. The comments of National Security Adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence were not helpful and pretty much scared the bejeezus out of Kim. It is true that Gaddafi failed 10 years after he ended his quest for nukes but the North Koran government used his demise as a propaganda tool. It scared and under cut them.
That’s why this deal went south because the Great Deal maker has feet of clay when it comes to the details, and nuts and bolts. International diplomacy is not swindling partners, stiffing vendors and going bankrupt and then calling it winning.
The devil is in the details. If the deal makers don’t pay attention to that, there is no deal.


SPYGATE????? IS HE KIDDING US?
President Trump (Photo: AP)  


Spy Vs. Spy (Photo: Mad Magazine) 
The President stood in front of The White House today and bloviated on investigations that seem to hurt his itty bitty feeling and his gorilla sized ego.
Trump’s latest attempt tries to discredit the special counsel's Russia investigation as "spygate,". It is part of a newly invigorated strategy heartily supported by his Republican colleagues to raise suspicions about the probe that has dogged his administration from the start.
Trump is focusing — and at times embellishing and throwing the biggest load of shit since the end of the Kentucky Derby by brandishing reports that a longtime U.S. government informant approached members of his 2016 campaign during the presidential election in a possible bid to glean intelligence on Russian efforts to sway the election.
NO!!!! The 13 Intelligence agencies warned both campaigns about Russian interference and the Trump campaign DID NOTHING!
President Ass Clown tweeted Wednesday that the FBI has been caught in a "major SPY scandal".
Okay, what, spying was done?  The White House has given no evidence to support Trump's claim that the Obama administration was trying to spy on his 2016 campaign for political reasons. It's long been known that the FBI was looking into Russian meddling during the campaign and that part of that inquiry touched on the Trump campaign's contacts with Russian figures.
A few hours later, Trump said that he wasn’t trying to undermine the investigation but rather trying to clean it up. He then brought up firing James Comey and said he did a great service to the country by firing Comey. Yeah Comey was the guy who gave the election to Trump.
Trump is fast becoming a national joke to this country and a world wide embarrassment that this county must endure.
Spygate? God, what next?


BOB CASEY: A CHAMPION OF SMALL BUSINESS
Senator Bob Casey (Photo: LuLac archives)
You’ll hear a lot about how Republicans help small business in the state but through his two terms in office, Senator Bob Casey has helped lead the way to get things done.
From family farmers to small manufacturers to local shopkeepers, small business owners are drivers of Pennsylvania’s economy. Bob Casey has spent his time in the Senate fighting for laws that support their contributions.
Bob knows that small businesses create jobs, attract workers to Pennsylvania and otherwise make invaluable contributions to our communities. As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, Bob works across the aisle to find solutions that work for business owners and employees alike.
During his time in the Senate, Bob has:
•Passed a bill that extended tax incentives for small businesses to make capital improvements as part of the 2015 tax bill.
•Worked with Republican colleagues to pass a small business tax cut that helps business owners recover their investment costs faster.
•Introduced a bill to help local farmers make the transition to organic production and secured support for Pennsylvania dairy and specialty crops farmers in the 2013 farm bill.
•Sponsored an amendment to the 2007 farm bill to protect dairy farmers from the increasing costs of milk production.

NAACP STATEMENT ON SANTA FE HIGH
SCHOOL SHOOTING

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the nation’s premier civil rights organization, issued the following statement regarding the tragic
shooting at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas:
The NAACP mourns the tragic and senseless loss of 10 lives today at Santa Fe High School. In addition to those killed, 10 individuals were also wounded. Nine of the 10 fatalities were students, studying subjects they loved and planning for their future. This is the 22nd school shooting of 2018 according to CNN. We cannot sit back and allow gun violence to continue to take the lives of our students. The NAACP sends our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of the victims and everyone whose lives they touched. Talk alone is not enough to address the issue of gun violence in our communities and schools; sensible gun reform must become a priority among our politicians and policymakers.

MEDIA MATTERS


WALN TV


BOLD GOLD COMMUNITY FORUM

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

ECTV Live hosts Rusty Fender, David DeCosmo, and Program Director Mark Migilore welcome Scott Babinski from Quigley's Shelter Pets to the show during the week
of May 28th. Scott will be discussing the problem of the area's increasing cat population especially among feral cats. Quigley's Shelter Pets is a non profit corporation
which, like other volunteer organizations, is attempting to deal with the problem.

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

At the United Nations in New York, U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. 


displayed a hand-carved replica of the Great Seal of the United States that had been presented by the Soviets as a gift to the American ambassador in Moscow, and the listening device that had been discovered inside "right under the beak of the eagle…….. The American Society for Cell Biology was organized….. 
The interrogation of Adolf Eichmann began. one of the major organizers of the Holocaust. He was tasked by SS with facilitating and managing the logistics involved in the mass deportation of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe during World War II. In 1960, he was captured in Argentina by the Mossad, Israel's intelligence service…. The 1960 Indianapolis 500 was won by Jim Rathmann. Prior to the race, temporary seating collapsed, killing two people and injuring 70.…..
Boris Pasternak, 70, Russian author known for his novel Doctor Zhivago dies….in Pittsburgh Governor Lawrence leads a Memorial Day parade…..and in LuLac land various observances are conducted om Memorial Day to honor the fallen soldiers. Keep in mind this was a scant 15 years after the end of World War II and fifty eight years ago the number one song in America was “Alley Oop” by The Hollywood Argyles.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

The LuLac Edition #3789, May 23rd, 2018

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY

Our "Write On Wednesday" logo

This week's "Write On Wednesday" focuses on an article about Senator Bob Casey from the venerable New York Times. It is an eye opening profile of the Senior Senator from Pennsylvania written by Matt Flegenheimer.
It is from last year but worth a read.

BOB CASEY WAS AN UNDERSTATED SENATOR. THEN CAME TRUMP

Senator Bob Casey was overdressed for the resistance. But he seems to have made it in time.
On the January evening of President Trump’s first executive order banning travel from several predominantly Muslim countries, Mr. Casey — an understated, conspicuously moderate Democrat from Pennsylvania — darted early from a Philadelphia Orchestra ball, still in his white tie and tails, to be at the airport where families were being detained.
When he got wind this month of the deportation of a Honduran mother and her 5-year-old son, the senator, whose voice rarely exceeds the decibel level of a yoga instructor, could be found on MSNBC, building to an unrecognizable semi-shout, after his hail of missives to the Trump administration went unheeded.
And when Mr. Trump’s firing of James B. Comey as F.B.I. director last week returned the Capitol to characteristic chaos, Mr. Casey was among the first to post on Twitter what several Trump critics had long been thinking: “This is Nixonian.” The message has been shared nearly 10,000 times.
Mr. Casey is not behaving like a senator approaching a re-election race next year in a state Mr. Trump carried, erasing any expectation that vulnerable Democrats would edge toward Mr. Trump en masse and distinguishing himself from some more reticent colleagues.
Nor is Mr. Casey behaving, according to some friends and supporters, entirely like himself — or, at least, the iteration they had come to expect during his even-tempered decade in Congress under presidents not named Trump.
Yet, as the anti-Trump movement continues, it has accommodated a leadership role for Mr. Casey, 57, the son of a governor from a suddenly red state, initially elected to the Senate as an anti-abortion, pro-gun product of Scranton, Pa. — that irrepressible exporter of blue-collar political narratives for Bidens and Clintons and most any other candidate with a credible Rust Belt connection and a story to tell.Of course, times change, and senators, too.
But Mr. Casey insists his higher gear has existed all along, suggesting that his circumstances have shifted far more than his legislative priorities, which have long skewed toward a familiar sort of Democratic Catholicism: programs for children, people with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups.
“We’re in a period of time where we’ve never been before,” Mr. Casey said in an interview at his office in the Capitol — once occupied by another noted Catholic Democrat in the Senate, John F. Kennedy. “I’ve been fighting these battles for years.”
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Composure is central to the Casey political brand. There is a family joke about a stubborn mood ring given to Mr. Casey in the 1970s: It never changed colors.
Still, admirers say they can identify Mr. Casey’s recent spark.
“Trump has gotten his Irish up,” said Paul Begala, the Democratic strategist who first encountered Mr. Casey when his father, Robert P. Casey, ran successfully for Pennsylvania governor in 1986.
During off-hours back then, Mr. Begala said, he would join the younger Mr. Casey for pickup basketball in Philadelphia. Swinging elbows were common. The senator has described his own skill set as “blue-collar banger.”
For Mr. Casey, the Capitol’s most prominent anti-abortion Democrat, the more visible Trump-era profile also coincides with a national reckoning over whether opponents of abortion rights should have a place in the party’s future. Last month, Thomas E. Perez, the party’s newly elected chairman, said it was “not negotiable” for Democrats to “support a woman’s right to make her own choices about her body and her health.”
Other party leaders have countered that such a litmus test could doom Democrats to perpetual minority status. In private, many elected officials have invoked Mr. Casey as an example of the kind of figure the party would do well not to alienate.
The Casey family’s opposition to abortion is enshrined in a Supreme Court decision: Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which, in 1992, reaffirmed Roe v. Wade but upheld part of a Pennsylvania law regulating access to abortions during the elder Mr. Casey’s tenure. The former governor died in 2000.
During his time in the Senate, though, the younger Mr. Casey has become an ally of sorts for Planned Parenthood, fighting Republican efforts to defund the organization.
“I think our party is a much bigger tent than it was 10 or 15 years ago,” Mr. Casey said in his office, where a Pope Francis doll is perched beside his desk. He suggested that work on economic priorities for Democrats could transcend social issues.
As he seeks re-election next year, Mr. Casey has charted a different course from that of some fellow Democrats in states that Mr. Trump won, several of whom have trod more carefully. Generally, such Democrats, like Senators Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, represent far more right-leaning states.
Perhaps most notably, Mr. Casey was an early and forceful opponent of the nomination of Justice Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, joining the Democratic filibuster without hesitation.
Pennsylvania Republicans say his choices will not go unnoticed.
“Even before the Trump presidency, he’s been moving consistently to the left, abandoning any pretense of being the man his father was, somebody who could reach across the aisle,” said Val DiGiorgio, the chairman of the state’s Republican Party, who predicted that Trump-voting Democrats in Western Pennsylvania would abandon Mr. Casey, too.
Mr. Casey’s possible challengers include Representative Lou Barletta, one of Mr. Trump’s earliest campaign supporters in Congress.
Edward G. Rendell, the former governor who won the job after defeating Mr. Casey in a 2002 primary, said Mr. Casey’s heightened outspokenness was not politically foolproof.
Mr. Casey, center, left a Philadelphia Orchestra ball in January to join demonstrators at Philadelphia International Airport in protest of Mr. Trump’s travel ban.
“You can say that Bob Casey is doing this at some political risk to himself,” Mr. Rendell said, adding that he believed Mr. Casey’s “evolution” in tone reflected a genuine anger at the Trump administration. “He always was a Democrat who ran well with moderates and even some reasonable conservatives. Is he throwing that away by being so vocal and emphatic on these issues? Well, maybe so.”
Mr. Casey’s office noted that of the 31 Pennsylvania counties he had visited since the election, 21 voted for Mr. Trump.
And his words have carried outsize weight in Democratic caucus meetings, where the party continues to grapple with how to recover its standing with working-class white voters.
“He’s one of my favorites,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, said of Mr. Casey, sounding like a teacher at a parents’ conference. “That quiet tone shouldn’t fool anybody.”
In all likelihood, though, Mr. Casey’s seat became safer with November’s result, allowing him to position himself against a sitting president rather than defend a third consecutive Democratic term in the White House.
Mr. Rendell predicted that Mr. Casey and Gov. Tom Wolf were the “only two Pennsylvania Democrats who will benefit from Donald Trump winning.”
Several colleagues and supporters rejected any suggestion that Mr. Casey had changed much in substance with the arrival of Mr. Trump.
“It’s the Bob Casey I’ve known for 10 years,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio. “Trump hasn’t changed him. Trump has forced all of us to be more outspoken.”
At the very least, Mr. Casey, who became an ally of President Barack Obama after endorsing him over Hillary Clinton in 2008, seems to have established himself as a broadly reliable Democrat — one whom the party’s leading voices appear eager to embrace in public.
It was not always that way.
When Mr. Casey was weighing a Senate run before the 2006 elections, Mr. Rendell remembered, he received calls from Mr. Schumer and Mrs. Clinton, who was then a senator from New York. They asked if Mr. Rendell, then the governor, could help clear the primary field for Mr. Casey, he said. He obliged.
Then came the deluge of protests from abortion rights activists. Mr. Rendell called the senators back, asking if he could ease the pressure by spreading word that Mr. Casey had their support.
“They said, ‘We’ll get back to you,’” Mr. Rendell said, chuckling. “It’s now 10 years later. They’ve never gotten back to me.”
 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/us/politics/bob-casey-was-an-understated-senator-then-came-trump.html

The LuLac Edition #3788, May 23rd, 2018

SUPPORT LOCAL HISTORY WEDNESDAY (TODAY) AT FRIDAYS
 

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

The LuLac Edition #3787, May 22nd, 2018

MAYBE I’M AMAZED

Our “Maybe I’m Amazed logo.


MAYBE I'M AMAZED.........that in the course of under a year, WILK Newsradio lost two of its most popular Talk Show hosts, the late L.A. Tarone and Sue Henry. The broadcast business is one of revolving change. L.A.'s death is still being felt in many corners of this area and Sue was the most community minded broadcaster we've had in this community for a very long time. Their legacies, both formidable, will be something for future generations to emulate.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED……that the numbness of another school shooting permeated the airwaves last Friday. Eight dead, shooter wounded, people killed. Politicians and right wingers say “Guns don’t kill, people do”. Facebook goes berserk with gun nuts trashing sensible gun legislation. Once more, here it goes again. Wash, rinse and repeat. And the beat goes on.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED….there are more trees on earth than stars in the galaxy. Well at least for now under this administration.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that the Royal Wedding really put England on its best behavior. Many in this country felt that it is a frivolous exercise but for those who love history, tradition, it was one for the ages. Class, nationalism and two good people in love. What more can anyone want.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that the great tradition of the Fine Arts Fiesta continues with great excitement and ceremony every year. And at least one day of rain. It is tradition.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED….the first typewriters was called a literary piano.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that Donald Trump Junior met with two wealthy Arab princes as well as an expert from Israel who was well schooled in media manipulation. It’s unclear whether anything was instituted but you really have to wonder why the Trump campaign was trying to get support from foreign governments.
MAYBE I'M AMAZED…..that every nuance of the Royal Wedding was scrutinized. For example there was an empty seat next to Prince William and speculation abounded that it’s placement was in honor of Princess Diana. However, the real story was that Queen Elizabeth could have a better view. Thus the empty seat.
MAYBE I ’M AMAZED…..that with all of the talk about Mike Stack’s loss as Lt. Governor, not many people were talking about Stack’s stances on two crucial issues. One was sensible gun legislation and the other was his frequent mentioning of pardons that were granted in the state under hm. Democratic statewide leaders have had bad luck with even mentioning pardons. Prime examples are Governor Michael Dukakis during his Presidential run in 1988 and Mark Singel in his run for Governor in 1994.
MAYBE I’m AMAZED….the amount of concrete used in the Hoover Dam could build a highway from New York to California. 
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on the same day that he founded the Secret Service: This certainly seems like a bit of cruel irony, though the Secret Service wasn’t created to protect the President at first. It took another 36 years before Congress added that to the agency’s duties. The agency was set up to detect counterfeiting. It wasn’t until 1901 after two other Presidents had been assassinated, Garfield in 1881 and McKinley in 1901 that the protection began.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..you share your birthday with more than 9 million people in the world. On the same day!  Okay, that's redundant.

Monday, May 21, 2018

The LuLac Edition #3786, May 21st, 2018

MEDIA MATTERS

SUE HENRY NOT AT WILK ANYMORE
Sue Henry and your blog editor. (Photo: LuLac archives)
There was a Facebook post earlier this afternoon from Sue Henry indicating that she will no longer be on WILK. The stunning announcement was a surprise to the legion of fans she has had through more than a decade and a half on the station. .
Sue was always on my radar because of her wonderful Media columns in The Citizens’ Voice newspaper. Her biting wit and dry humor made her articles a must read.
As a Talk Show host on WILK, she was very kind to LuLac and to me personally when I promoted my books. Through the years we had our philosophical battles on politics but always ironed them out with an annual Chinese meal at Peking Chef or Yo Hi.
On air personas sometimes are just that. It is the facade that shields the performer, entertainer. Host, whatever you want to dub them. But with Sue, what you heard was what you got. At times she could be prickly but who wouldn’t be with some of the people she had calling in.
Talk Radio was only one part of Sue. Her shows on WRKC FM at King’s are listened to by baby boomer bloggers like Gort, Marc Cour and me. Her classes at King’s are filled with current broadcast professional who learned from her commanding and personable style Sue also was demanding of those students in a the most positive way you can think of, just look at the awards WRKC FM won through the years. I don’t see many other professors going on trips to get recognition for er students.
Now this part she might not like but it has to be said. Sue’s friendship to L.A. Tarone through his lifetime and in his final days impressed my family to no end. She was his advocate, his friend and (God I better duck next time I see her) his angel as he transitioned from this life to another. There aren’t many people like her, constant in motion, seemingly everywhere to promote the good in people. Her three hour stint was punctuated by hours of community involvement. Show prep to her was showing up in the community. 
She is devoted to her three children, guiding them in a way where they could find themselves and is the type of person who is reliable in every sense. In this day and age, for many, that is a tall order. For Sue, that came naturally. 
I have no idea why she’s gone at the time of this writing. Broadcasting is a fickle business. People who get the bug and stay in the business know that right from the start. Personalities all have a shelf life. Nothing is guaranteed in the media career you choose. Newspapers get sold, radio stations change format, obladi, oblada life goes on. But to paraphrase the late Governor Bob Casey’s mantra on making an impact, “In the end, what did you do when you had the limelight?” well that answer my friends is easy. Sue Henry grabbed it, embraced it, and used her platform for only the best things this area has to offer.
9 am to noon will never be the same again.

RICHARD GOODWIN
Richard Goodwin (Photo: UPI) 
Richard Goodwin died today. He was a speech writer for various Democratic Presidents and power brokers putting poetry in his words and making them look more insightful than perhaps some of them were.
Goodwin’s wife, Doris Kearns Goodwin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and historian, said he died after a brief bout with cancer.
He joined the Kennedy administration in 1961 and stayed on with Lyndon Johnson after JFK’s death. He wrote speeches for both of them along with Al Gore’s concession speech in 2000. Goodwin worked on the Bobby Kennedy campaign and was at his bedside when he died. That totally aggravated Johnson at the time but never stopped him from having Kearns Goodwin work on his memoirs.
Speech writers are those men and women who toil in the shadows putting words into the mouth, literally of world leaders. Esquire Magazine wrore, “He made Presidents sound like Presidents”
God we can use that today.
He was 86.

Sunday, May 20, 2018

The LuLac Edition #3785, May 20th, 2018

DO LUZERNE COUNTY DEMS HAVE THE LEADERSHIP TOOLS TO COMPETE ANYMORE

(Photo: Disney screen caps, com, quotesgram.com)
Since the age of 8, I have been following politics on all levels. I guess it all started when my father took me to see John F. Kennedy in 1960 when he was motorcading through half of Pennsylvania on the last Friday in October. Two years later, he took me to a rally for Richardson Dilworth who, in an off year election, was running for Governor. Here in LuLac land, it was an uphill climb against local businessman turned Congressman Bill Scranton. Scranton had a huge, bipartisan following and you would expect that the turnout would be paltry. But the place was jammed with men in suits and ties and women in their Sunday finest scurrying around. My father explained who they were to me but that was lost on my 8 year brain because I was drawn to the glitz and excitement generated by the event. But in hindsight, all those officious people bouncing about were Democratic committee people.
Fast forward a few years later and I was again in the center of Democratic politics when my late Uncle, Timmy Pribula took me to those old Democratic party dinners that used to pack The Mayfair, then later The Woodlands. I knew then the Committee people had a huge role in the party.
I did not realize how huge until I worked as Campaign Manager/Campaign Media Person/Campaign Chauffeur/Campaign Building Janitor (now they’re called Facilities Managers) for the Tom Lehman campaign for Senate. Lehman, a successful businessman and friend of then Chairman of the party, Joe Tirpak was running against Frank O’Connell. O’Connell was a State Representative running for the open seat vacated by Senator T. Newell Wood. The Lehman office was on Pierce Street in Kingston. When it opened and I was in place on that first day in August of ’78, streams of people came in to give advice, strategize tactics and offer support. These were the Democratic Committee people.
I thought of those days, now more than 4 decades later during the recent primary.
As a political blogger, Jesus as the only free standing political site, LuLac gets invited to a lot of things. We try our best to get to as many as possible. During this campaign, the major invitations I got were from the Republican Party. When I went to those events, I was struck by three things.
1. The energy surrounding the event. The organization and precise order that programs were in and the downright determination to win.
2. The total acceptance at these of events of my presence when I am most likely one of the most vociferous Trump critics in the state!
3. The party members, those ground troops seemed to be a little population of varied interests and social levels. The one goal was the success of their candidates. I saw the same people at events that numbered more than 200  at a hundred bucks a pop as I did at wakes for their party members. The same faces filled with joy at an event for Republican Jim Haggerty were the same somber ones in grief at the viewing for the late Donna Baloga.
My point here is with this Republican population of politicos is that this just isn’t all about politics. It is a belief system of an articulated, multiple repetition philosophy that resonates with average voters.
Do you want to know the real reason why President Trump carried the Democratic county of Luzerne? Because the local party, those foot soldiers, connected with locals better than the Democratic organization did. As an example, look at the yard signs for Trump. You think Don Junior and Eric were putting those up?
It wasn’t all the Arena events, it wasn’t all anti Hillary, it was about connecting. In 2018, the Republicans at least here in Luzerne County, are still doing that.
Now don’t get me wrong. The Democratic Party did try to connect too. But it seems to me that the once proud party of “one for all and all for one” has become one with a motto of “you’re on your own kid!” I know Republicans who are members of the Wilkes Barre NAACP, are there any Democrats who are or do they just show up at the debates once a year at Mount Zion Baptist Church? 
Politically, take a look at the local efforts of the County Committee the last few years. Jeez, can you name any? Democrats hold events and I swear to God the only information I ever get from anyone is from Cartwright’s and Jerry Mullery’s people. Why is it that it took years for a Luzerne County Democratic Women’s organization to be chartered when Lackawanna County has had one for decades?
Why is it that when a party event does happen, the usual suspects from the old days show up? To most of them, LuLac is an article, not a web site.
It is painfully obvious that the Republican Party, at least in Luzerne County is outperforming the Democrats because of one thing. Leadership. Even in this past Tuesday’s election, the GOP was not afraid to make a change in some of its state committee people by voting out two long serving members, Lynette Villano and Bill Lewis. Whether jettisoning those years of dedication and experience is a mistake, well that’s another matter. But for better or worse, the party voters weren’t standing pat.
In 2018 there were two big party events for the Democrats, Rock The Vote in March and Pizza, Pop and Politics in May. Those events were not organized by the Democratic County Committee and none of the Leadership attended. I mean none of them even had the curiosity to see what members of their own party were up to! Talk about arrogance. Or maybe I’m giving them too much credit here, let’s just call it out for what it is: laziness. It seems to me the Democratic Leadership has fallen into the trap that I usually accuse national Republicans of, “I got mine, now you get yours” way of life. In the meantime is it any wonder why Luzerne County went red in ’16?
Parties are built from the ground up and when a foundation is turning to sand, something should be done. As an unbiased observer here, as a Democrat, I think things need to be addressed.
I had the opportunity to look over the by laws of the Democratic party after I heard that some party members wanted to violate them right from the start. They want to have a County Convention after the time frame mandated by the State Committee. Why? Hell I don’t know. I mean these are the same by laws enacted in the early 90’s and not put into effect until the early 2000s because of………wait for it.........a clerical error!!!! What, Aunt Bea borrowed the typewriter from Andy’s office to organize her recipes and never gave it back? Incredible.
The by laws state this:
County Party Reorganization Meetings- No later than June 13, 2018
The State Party bylaws require each county to reorganize and elect new officers no later than the sixth
Wednesday following the primary. However, in order to provide full representation at the State Party’s June 15th and 16th meeting, we are requesting that each county party hold their reorganization meeting no later than the fourth Wednesday following the primary, so we may have the opportunity to properly credential all members.
This meeting I feel is a turning point for the Democratic party in Luzerne County. They have to decide if they want the Chair to be a person who lets things stand and watch the weeds grow or make things happen.
My frame of reference in this whole thing, at least for this year, are the two events held by younger members of the party. I mentioned the extremely successful “Rock The Vote” but the most impressive event to me in the days leading up to the primary was the “Pizza Pop and Politics’ put together by the Wilkes College Democrats. One of the main drivers of this was a young man named Dominic Butchko of Forty Fort.
He is 21 years old and a senior at Wilkes University studying Political Science. The Poly Sci Department there is extraordinary with instructors like Dr. Thomas Baldino. But I digress, when Butchko was in High School, as a Democrat. he won his first election and was the only candidate, in a seven way, race to walk away with both party nominations. At 19 and a Freshman he was the youngest elected official in the state and is currently serving his first term on Forty Fort Borough Council. Translating that experience to the campus, he has been Chair of the Wilkes College Democrats for 3 years and restarted the group as a freshman. During the 2018 Primary Season he helped get a large number of Luzerne County Democratic Committee People get interested, elected or reelected. To boot he was also elected to a first term as a County Committeeman. 


Butchko (center) with Congressman Matt Cartwright and attendee at event. (Photo: LuLac archives).
I use him as an example because there are many talented people like him who want to move the party. There at least needs to be a discussion as to where this party will go. This is not the sleepy Luzerne County of old in terms of statewide and national identity. The eyes of the national media have been on us for some time. With Donald Trump winning Pennsylvania by 44,000 votes, and more than half of those votes coming from Luzerne County, you bet there will be interest centered here. Furthermore, as Dr. Terry Madonna stated on PCN the other night, the Barletta-Casey, Wagner-Wolf races will be a referendum on Trump. I know the GOP is at the starting line, the Democrats in the County are just trying to figure out where the track is.
If there is no change in the way this party is run, from the top, and Wolf and Cartwright don’t do well here, the current Democratic leadership will have a lot to answer for. The old line Dems won’t be able to blame unions, lack of interest or even Hillary Clinton for a lackluster effort, they only need to look in the mirror.The Luzerne County Democrats are at a crossroads, do  they take the same old exit of complacency or hit the highway with petal to the metal in a different, more community oriented direction.

Friday, May 18, 2018

The LuLac Edition #3784, May 18th, 2018

ELECTION VIDEO WRAP

For those of you who might not have been up early Wednesday morning, here are random thoughts on the outcome from this past primary election. These are segments from our stay with Chris Langlois and Kelly Byrne on WBRE/WYOU TV Eyewitness News the day after. 


FOR THE PARTIES: RETURN TO YOUR CORNERS AND PREPARE

The aftermath of the Primary Election is just settling in and now after a brief respite, there are stirrings from the parties. The GOP will be touting the Presidency of Donald Trump arming themselves to the hilt with Trump soldiers. Scott Wagner, the candidate for Governor, Lou Barletta for Senate and Dan Meuser for Congress in the 9th have not been shy about their affinity for the President. They are organized and ready to fight.
Meanwhile the Democrats here in The Lu must have their County Convention by June 13th. There’s no getting around that because the state by laws indicate that it must be done. Look for plenty of activity in making the Democratic  party a bit stronger than it was for the 2016 race here in the County.  More on that to come.  


THE IGNORANCE OF HATE

This week there was video evidence of what I always believed about the intolerance of Americans. When I worked for a company a few years back, at least 5 times a day i got complaints about the fact that Americans were outraged at the fact that Spanish instructions or information  was written on products. 
The whiners, usually dumb, inarticulate losers would say "people should learn and speak English" or "Why should there be a foreign language on what I want to buy". Then the topper was when they'd say, "My grandparents learned English, why can't they?"  The tone was sinister, mean and degrading. But I chalked it up to ignorant, uneducated people who were not in their white comfort zone. 
Now in New York (which by the way is the capital of ignorant a-holes, some, not all) comes the case of Aaron Schlosslserg, an Attorney who went on a rant about consumers  in a coffee shop speaking something other than English. This is uncomfortable to see but I'm putting it up on the theory that I want people to see the hate and ignorance coming. 
This shameful piece of human excrement is an example that America needs help. NOW! Not everyone who is different than any of us deserve this treatment.  A-holes have the right to say what they want, even this, but they must pay with consequences for their hate.


A REPUBLICAN CONTROLLED SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE BACKS CONCLUSION THAT MOSCOW ATTEMPTED TO BOOST TRUMP

For those of you who still cling to the belief that Russian officials didn’t want to help Trump, please do your best to understand this. A Senate Committee, with REPUBLICANS as the MAJORITY, came to the conclusion that Moscow made the attempt to help the Trump campaign. Can anyone spell collusion?
It appears the Russians backed Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign by hacking and spreading misinformation, a bipartisan conclusion that breaks with a House panel’s position and the president’s rejection of the notion that Russia wanted him to win.
The Senate Intelligence Committee’s conclusion, made public Wednesday after a closed-door hearing with former intelligence chiefs, is part of the panel’s continuing probe, begun 14 months ago,
The Senate panel is led by Conservative Richard Burr.
The committee which is more bi partisan than the House panel (which was a pathetic joke) cuts the legs out from Trump in two major ways.
1. Republican lawmakers who have looked at this seriously say Russia helped Trump.
2. The Intelligence Community’s credibility is back. The Trump administration has seriously tried to undermine the credibility of the investigation. The big boy pants were put on by the smarter more ethical branch of the GOP wing of government.
Now there will be the Trump faithful who will call that a lie, a witch hunt, what have you, but if you were a Republican sitting on that committee, especially the Chairman, why would you do something like this?
Just asking.

CARTWRIGHT TO HOST SERVICE ACADEMY INFORMATIONAL SESSION IN LUZERNE COUNTY
Congressman Matt Cartwright (Photo: LuLac archives).
Congressman Matt Cartwright will host a Service Academy Informational Session at Wyoming Area Secondary School. The event is set to take place on Saturday, May 19 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and is open to all interested students and their families.
The informational session will include representatives from the United States Military Academy, West Point, NY; United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD; United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO; and United States Merchant Marine Academy, King's Point, NY.
“Throughout our nation’s history, U.S. Service Academies have played an important role in preparing young people for service to our country,” said Rep. Cartwright. Pennsylvania has never been short of patriotic young men and women willing to step forward and answer the call of duty. It is an honor to help them take advantage of the opportunities provided by these institutions in preparing tomorrow's generation of leaders.”
The session will include an overview of academy life as well as an opportunity to meet with academy representatives to discuss requirements for admission. Academy nominations are available only through a Member of Congress, U.S. Senate, the Vice President, or the President. After receiving a nomination, students then must be accepted by the individual academy for final admission.
What: Service Academy Informational Session
When: Saturday, May 19, 2018, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Where: Wyoming Area Secondary School, 252 Memorial Street, Exeter, PA 18643.

GO FORTH AND BULLY NO MORE!!!

A new book, novelette on bullying. Check it out. Sadly, school shootings have become the new normal. These horrific crimes and events lead us to ask Is a mass murderer born or created?
What makes a school shooter?
Is it availability of guns?
Is it mental illness?
Could it be something else?
Shouldn't we look for a cause?
This novelette explores these questions.
click the link below:
https://www.amazon.com/Tortured-Tormented-creating-school-shooter/dp/1718792603


MEDIA MATTERS

WALN TV

BOLD GOLD COMMUNITY FORUM

This week's guest will be Melinda Holmes from Concern4Kids discussing foster care. 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


ECTV Live hosts Rusty Fender, David DeCosmo, and Director Mark Migilore welcome Lisa Nelson and Luzerne County Community College President Tom Leary to the program during the week of May 32st with an exciting update on plans for a Pittston campus to open this year. President Leary will also discuss the status of the school's Scranton branch campus as well as its success in training students for career opportunities here in northeastern Pennsylvania.
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.


SUE HENRY’S SPECIAL EDITION

Tune in to Sue Henry's "Special Edition" this week as Sue recaps the week's news. The show will run Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. on WILK, and on KRZ, Froggy and Max 102 early Sunday morning.

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

The satellite Sputnik 4 is launched into orbit by the Soviet Union.....Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from President Dwight D. Eisenhower for the U-2 reconnaissance plane flights over the Soviet Union, thus aborting the summit meeting scheduled for Paris in 1960

......Theodore Maiman operates the first laser.


In Japan, police carry away socialist members of the Diet of Japan. The Diet next approves a mutual security treaty with the United States.....in Pennsylvania Governor David Lawrence says that Pennsylvania will certainly be going with Senator John F. Kennedy when the convention begins in Los Angeles….in Luzerne County Dan Flood breezes to another primary win as Congressman and in Lackawanna County businessman William Scranton wins the nomination for Congress. Scranton two years earlier had divested himself of hi broadcast holdings which included WARM Radio an TV….and fifty eight years ago the number one song in LuLac land and America was “Good Timin” by Jimmy Jones.