The LuLac Edition #4,091, June 13th, 2019

JUDGE EDWIN KOSIK DIES 

 (Photo: Openjurist) 

(Photo: Citizens' Voice) 

Judge Edwin Kosik who presided over the trial of former Judge Mark Ciavrella has died. Kosik gave Ciavarella 28 years in federal prison. Additionally, Kosik also sentenced former judge Michael Conahan to 17-and-a-half years in a federal prison after Conahan pleaded guilty to his roles in the scandal.
Both Ciaverella and Conahan originally had plea agreements that would have had them released in 7 years. But Kosik was not amused at the way they were acting before sentencing.
I had covered the trial for WYLN TV 35 and was struck by the genial manner of Kosik before testimony and in breaks. But during the trial, he was very much aware of the Judicial standards he wanted to uphold.
Kosik was 94.

GENE KELLEHER WILL LEAVE COUNCIL

(Photo: Citizens' Voice)

Eugene Kelleher will leave Luzerne County Council. Mr. Kelleher will be relocating to the Lancaster area to work with his son. For years, Gene Kelleher has been the conscience and the strong voice of not only the Republican Party here but also the Council. A man of true integrity, I cannot tell you the times we disagreed on issues big and small. But through it all, we respected each other and our views.
His experience as well as the way he presented all sides of an argument  or issue will be missed in this region.
Best of luck sir, our loss is Lancaster’s gain.

SARAH SANDERS EXITS 

(Photo: AP)

Sarah Sanders resigned today as White House Press Secretary. No one has been more embattled in this position since President Nixon’s Ron Ziegler. As she leaves, it will be interesting to see if her career path will follow that of Sean Spicer who to my knowledge has yet been able to find work after being tarnished by the Trump slimy auras. Ziegler at least wouldn’t answer a question or try to stonewall when he had the job but Sanders out and out lied. Perhaps her father will give her a soft landing somewhere but when the history of this administration is written and the way it treated the media and by association, the American people, she will not be treated kindly.

O.J. MURDERS @ 25

The crime scene. (Photo: CNN)

It is hard to believe that twenty five years have passed since O.J. Simpson found himself the focus of legal trouble. Simpson, an iconic football legend and later a Movie star (not to mention a broadcaster) was charged with the murder of his ex wife Nicole,. He was also charged with the murder of Ron Goldman who, the story goes was returning Simpson’s wife’s sun glasses to her home. The verdict divided America and made courtroom drama very cool.
I wonder how many lawyers practicing now were influenced by the flamboyant style of the late Johnny Cochran as well as the tenacity and frustration felt by Prosecutor Marcia Clark. There were so many twists and turns in the case that I cannot bring them all to justice in a short blog paragraph.
A few things are certain though. Simpson never did find those killers like he said he was going to. The TV coverage of trials were forever changed in America. The racial divide that still exists was exacerbated by the verdict which was divided along racial lines. Simpson did wind up in jail but not because of the crime. The L.A. police were not at their peak finest when doing the investigation. Simpson proved that if you had enough money and bluster you could get away with murder. Nicole Simpson never got to see her children she d had with O.J. grow. Ron Goldman would have turned fifty this year. And along with all of that, O.J. Simpson says on this day, he want s his family to have positivity for the future.
Easy for him to say as his ex and Goldman lie in stone cold graves.

THE CHASE

TRUMP VS. BIDEN

(Photo: CNN)

The general election is a long time away but right now in Iowa, (where to this day I still can’t understand why this state counts so much!) Donald Trump and Vice President Biden are exchanging barbs. Trump in true fashion calls Biden names, Biden lays out the truth about the utter destruction of the Constitution and the disregard for the Presidency that has been the hallmark of a Trump term.
If Biden makes it to the general and that is a big IF, by the time the conventions roll around I fear the voters might be numb to the prospects of a match between the two.
I mean this is starting now and there is a long way to go.
Meanwhile Biden is beating Trump by about 14%. Plus Trump is livid at his staff that the states that won him the White House, Pennsylvania, (or I should say the state of Luzerne County) Michigan, and Wisconsin are leaning heavily toward the “D” column. My heavens, I hope he doesn’t ask his buddy Kim in North Korea how to liquidate staff. Trump should realize (and I guess he really can’t count given the 6 bankruptcies) that out of those three states, less than 80,000 votes got him into the White House.
But look for the Trump propaganda machine to join forces with the GOP lie mechanisms and cloud what everyone here seems to realize. And that is the country is headed for a fall if Trump gets re-elected.

CASEY INTRODUCES BILL TO KEEP CALL CENTER JOBS IN THE U.S.

BILL AIMS TO STOP CALL CENTER JOBS FROM BEING SHIPPED OVERSEAS

Senator Bob Casey (Photo: LuLac archives) 

In recent years, many call center operators have shifted operations overseas and shut down or downsized their U.S. operations at an alarming rate. Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced the United States Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act, legislation that would protect call center jobs across Pennsylvania and the United States.
“Shipping jobs overseas is hurtful to American workers and our economy, and it poses a threat to the security of consumers’ personal data,” said Senator Casey. “That’s why I introduced the U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act, which supports American workers and ensures that federal benefits aren’t going to companies that ship good jobs out of the United States.”
The United States Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act would:
•Make companies that ship call centers overseas ineligible for federal grants and guaranteed loans;
•Require that all call center work performed on federal contracts be done in the U.S. and that the federal government give preference to companies that do not off-shore jobs when awarding contracts;
•Ensure that U.S. callers be told the location of the call center they are speaking with and offered the option of being transferred to a U.S.-based call center should they prefer.
Call center closures and downsizing have occurred across the country and across industries, as companies have moved service centers to countries where working conditions and information security practices are often far inferior to those in the U.S. This has both devastated communities that have lost jobs and placed American consumers’ sensitive information at greater risk. There are roughly 3.6 million call center positions across the country, according to industry data.
This bill is supported by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and cosponsored by U.S. Senators Brown (D-OH), Blumenthal (D-CT), Cortez Masto (D-NV), Baldwin (D-WI), Rosen (D-NV), Manchin (D-WV), Stabenow (D-MI), Harris (D-CA), Van Hollen (D-MD), Durbin (D-IL) and Peters (D-MI).

MEDIA MATTERS

WALN TV

BOLD GOLD COMMUNITY FORUM

This week's guest will be Carolyn Quinn, Executive Director of the Educational Opportunity Center.
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 John Maday to the program the week of June 17th. Mr. Maday is with Wilkes- Barre's Riverside Parks Commission and he'll outline plans for this year's Riverfest along the Susquehanna in Wyoming Valley

Join hosts David DeCosmo and Rusty Fender along with Program Director Mark Migilore for the program that can be seen on Comcast channel 19 (61 in some areas) and on the Electric City Television YouTube page.

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!

1969

Our 1969 logo

The long-awaited debut of Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood performing together in the short-lived "supergroup" Blind Faith took place in front of 100,000 people in London's Hyde Park. Guitarist/vocalist Clapton and drummer Peter "Ginger" Baker came from the recently disbanded rock group Cream; Winwood had been played keyboards and was lead singer for Traffic, the first supergroup. Bassist Ric Grech from Family completed the quartet.

Blind Faith would release their only album in August, and do concerts in Europe and the United States for eleven weeks before playing their final show in Honolulu on August 24. The U.S. Department of Defense expanded its AUTOVON (an acronym for AUTOomatic VOice Network) to its military posts worldwide, giving priority to all defense-related phone calls over civilian phone lines….Following a meeting at Midway Island between U.S. President Richard Nixon and South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, President Nixon announced that 25,000 American troops would be withdrawn from the Vietnam War by the end of September. The first group to be removed from South Vietnam would be 900 combat infantrymen from the 9th Infantry Division of the United States Army, who would be "airlifted to the continental United States for inactivation", according to Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird.[27] Withdrawal would be completed between July 8 and August 28….....Pope Paul VI became the first Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church to visit Switzerland, landing in Geneva for 12 hours to visit the headquarters of the World Council of Churches in the traditional "intellectual center of Protestant thought". The Pope was greeted by the Reverend Eugene Carson Blake, an American Presbyterian minister and General Secretary of the World Council, where the two discussed issues relating to future Christian unity. The Council itself was composed of representatives of 234 different denominations of Protestant and Orthodox organizations (with 234 different denominations), and event marked the highest level meeting of the leaders of Catholic and non-Catholic Christians. The Pope also delivered a speech at the annual world meeting of the International Labour Organization, which was celebrating its 50th anniversary, and which had 1,700 delegates from nations…..Further work on the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL), the U.S. Air Force's planned military space station, was halted on orders of American President Richard Nixon as part of a cut of the defense budget. Ever since the first announcement in 1963 of the planned MOL (which would have featured two USAF astronauts working for 30 days at a time "to inspect and destroy, if necessary, hostile satellites"), 1.3 billion dollars had been spent on the project and another $1.5 billion was projected to be paid over until completion in 1974, which was already 2½ years behind schedule and was 50% more expensive than originally projected. The end of the American program, in effect, brought an end to the need of the MOL's counterpart in the Soviet Union, the Almaz ("Diamond") space station (which would be modified for launch as the civilian Salyut 2 station). By 1969, however, the reconnaissance features of both the MOL and Almaz had been made obsolete by unmanned spy satellites…….in Pennsylvania Mayor Joseph Barr announces that he may not seek another term as Mayor of Pittsburgh, in Pittston the Detato’s Supermarket is sold to a chain and then re-acquired a few weeks later by the family and fifty years ago this week the number one song in LuLac land and America was “Grazing In the Grass” by the Friends of Distinction.