The LuLac Edition #5, 107, May 9th, 2024

 

WHAT TRUMP WILL DO IN A SECOND TERM

MASS DEPORTATION WILL CREATE HIGHER TAXES

Trump  has stated that there will be a MASS DEPORTATION  in his second term carrying  out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants by utilizing local law enforcement, the National Guard and potentially the U.S. military,

Trump said he would create funding incentives for local and state police departments to take part in deportations.

“Well, there’s a possibility that some won’t want to participate, and they won’t partake in the riches, you know,” Trump said.

To be clear, Trump will incentivize police who are supposed to protect us to be mercenaries.

This would instill fear and division.

Break uo families.  

And it hurts the economy!

Undocumented immigrants pay sales, income and property taxes. In 2021, these households contributed $30.8 billion in total taxes, including $18.6 billion in federal income taxes and $12.2 billion in state and local taxes.

Evidence suggests that at least 50% of undocumented immigrant households file income tax returns using Individual Tax Identification Numbers, which the IRS issues to encourage tax compliance among non-citizens. Even though they pay into Social Security, ITIN holders are not eligible to receive benefits unless they become citizens or lawful permanent residents.

Many undocumented immigrants who do not file income tax returns still have taxes deducted from their paychecks.  Given the "illegals" contribution to the tax base, I side with McCartney on this one.

 

ALL JUDGES ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL OR FOR THAT MATTER EDUCATED

 

Trump has to be the luckiest bastard on the planet. In the stolen documents case he drew Judge Aileen Cannon. Cannon who was appointed in 2020 has shown deference to Trump in almost every action and motion put before her. In short as the following will show Cannon has given more benefit to Trump the individual vs national security. She is a pathetic example of a jurist who is in over her head.

In late June 2023, Cannon ruled against the Department of Justice, denying its request to keep the identities of 84 potential witnesses under seal. In August 2023, Cannon ruled in favor of Trump on the issue of potential conflicts of interest regarding co-defendant Walt Nauta's lawyer Stanley Woodward representation of possible witnesses in the case. She rejected the notion that sealed filings were required "to comport with grand jury secrecy", striking two sealed filings by prosecutors from the court record. Instead, Cannon instructed Woodward and prosecutors to discuss "the legal propriety of using an out-of-district grand jury proceeding" to continue actions in this federal case. Several legal experts, including notable constitutional scholar Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe, as well as notable former federal prosecutors Andrew Weissmann and Joyce Vance, indicated that the propriety of the grand jury proceedings were obvious, and that Cannon's questioning of their propriety was alarming.

After Trump's legal team in September 2023 requested an extension to the case, Cannon delayed a crucial pre-trial hearing on the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) from October 2023 to February 2024, while also ruling that she would only ponder on further scheduling in March 2024.   While prosecutors asked for a CIPA hearing in March and the defense teams requested for June, Cannon decided in April that the new hearing date should be in May, but when that date approached, the defense teams again requested delay, so Cannon in May granted the defense teams' earlier request of June CIPA hearings. Politico reported that Cannon "has run the pretrial process at a leisurely pace that will make a postponement [of the scheduled May 2024 trial] almost inevitable, according to experts on criminal prosecutions related to classified information"; Politico further states that if the trial is postponed to after the 2024 United States presidential election, Trump could become president and would then be "expected" to instruct the Justice Department to end the case.

In February 2024, Cannon granted Trump's team's motion for the names of witnesses in this case and their testimony to be publicly revealed; this caused the government's prosecutors to ask Cannon to reconsider, citing "significant and immediate risks of threats, intimidation, and harassment" which has been seen in other Trump cases. In March 2024, a witness in the case ("Trump Employee 5") and former Mar-a-Lago employee, Brian Butler, identified himself in a media interview and told his story about the incident, citing that in preparation for Cannon's plan to publicize the witness names, he would rather tell his story than "just waiting for it to come out ... I think it's better to at least say what happened than it coming out in the news, people calling me crazy. I'd rather just get it out there."In April 2024, Cannon agreed to censor the potential witnesses' names, but not their statements, from the public; Politico wrote that it was the "latest decision in which Cannon has sided with prosecutors in an opinion that is primarily critical of their tactics", with Cannon criticizing prosecutors' speed, compliance and basis for their arguments.

In March 2024, Cannon denied without prejudice an attempt by Trump to dismiss the case.  She wrote that Trump's team had raised "various arguments warranting serious consideration", then indicated that the Trump team's arguments about the Espionage Act being too vague could instead be brought up again later in "connection with jury-instruction briefing". After Trump's team argued that the Presidential Records Act allowed Trump to retain classified documents, Cannon instructed both prosecutors and Trump's team to craft hypothetical jury instructions regarding the Presidential Records Act, in an action that perplexed observing lawyers and former judges.Barbara McQuade, a law professor and former federal prosecutor, opined that the Presidential Records Act "is just not relevant here in any way it all; it provides no defense. To even allow it to be argued at trial would create confusion for the jury", while former federal judge Nancy Gertner commented that Cannon's instruction was "very troubling" because it was "giving credence to arguments that are on their face absurd". In April 2024, Cannon denied another motion by Trump to dismiss the case, stating that "the Presidential Records Act does not provide a pre-trial basis to dismiss", while criticizing as "unprecedented and unjust" the prosecutors' request for her to elaborate on whether her jury instructions would include the Presidential Records Act.

After the March 2024 hearing on postponing the May 20, 2024 trial, Cannon took until May 7, 2024 to issue an update on the matter.Cannon ruled to indefinitely postpone the trial, citing many pre-trial matters to settle. She accepted Trump's requests to have pre-trial hearings on the appropriateness of the appointment of the special counsel and the potential expansion of recognizing more government agencies as part of the prosecution, which would allow Trump to conduct the discovery process on them. Cannon scheduled pre-trial activities to continue up to July 22, 2024 at the earliest. It is "extraordinarily unlikely that there will be a trial before November", opined former CIA attorney Brian Greer, whose work focused on classified material.

At this point, The Guardian stated that Cannon has "generally given wide deference to Trump and his legal team, granting nearly all extensions they have requested and entertaining his most brazen defense theories, even if they have been without precedent in Espionage Act cases."  Meanwhile, the The New York Times stated that Cannon has "treated seriously arguments that many, if not most, federal judges would have rejected out of hand. Often, her acceptance of Mr. Trump’s unorthodox claims have resulted in significant delays in bringing the charges in the classified documents case in front of a jury. The Washington Post wrote that while the "facts of the case do not favor former president Donald Trump", "Cannon has repeatedly accommodated Trump's position", and if "there were a judge who actively wanted to delay Trump’s Florida trial … it's not clear what they might have done much differently."

While Donald Trump has continually denounced many of the judges presiding over his legal cases, including Tanya Chutkan, Arthur Engoron and Juan Merchan, he has not criticized Cannon. Instead, Trump has described Cannon as a "highly respected", "very smart", and "very strong judge". The Washington Post stated in May 2024 that Cannon's "rulings are generally hailed as uniquely wise" by Trump supporters, and she has "been celebrated by adherents of the QAnon movement".

This woman has not acted as an impartial judge. In Pennsylvania we have District Magistrates, some lawyers, some not who just took a test to be a sitting Magistrate. I dare say District Magistrates without law degrees have more knowledge of basic law and court rulings than this twinkie. (Wikipedia, LuLac)

 

LADIES & GENTLEMEN…..YOUR PORN STAR PRESIDENT

 

While I was working, I heard snippets of the Stormy Daniels testimony. To me, she was a strong witness who given her hard  scrabble background didn’t take any crap from the Trump defense lawyers.  

There are some who say she is a flawed witness given some of her work history.  But Trump is no angel which makes things even out for me.

But a word about the testimony on the sex encounter. We’ve had Presidents who had their assignations. Kennedy, Ike, FDR and Bill Clinton. Candidates too like Gary Hart, and John Edwards. We knew they did the deed away from hearth and home but we were spared the salacious details. What makes this so different is that we could actually visualize the spanking, the pajamas, the boxers and all of it. This is now part of history, part of the permanent record if you will.

A Facebook poster complained that Daniels, a porn star was now being referred to as “an adult film actress” which technically  is true. However, if this poster, an avowed Trump enabler insists on Daniels being called “a porn star” then it is within reason to call Trump “our porn star President”, no shrinking violet he.

As I thought about that aspect, coupled with the acceptance by the Trumpsanzees that all of this “was a witch hunt” Chubby Checker’s song from 1963 kept playing in my head. “The Limbo Rock” asked “how low can you go?”

With this Trump misadventure, we’ve run out of cellars!

 

 

CARTWRIGHT ANNOUNCES OVER $17 MILLION IN HUD FUNDS FOR NEPA HOUSING AGENCIES

Congressman Matt Cartwright (Photo: LuLac archives)

Representative Matt Cartwright (PA-08) announced that more than $17 million is coming back to the region to help build, renovate and modernize public housing across Northeast Pennsylvania.

These grants, provided through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Capital Fund Program, offer annual funding to all public housing authorities across the country. Housing authorities can use these funds to complete large-scale improvements such as replacing roofs or making energy-efficient upgrades to heating systems and installing water conservation measures.

“The work our local governments do to support affordable housing is invaluable, and this support from the federal level will help that work continue,” said Rep. Cartwright, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee. “These funds will keep our neighborhoods strong and ensure vulnerable residents, including the elderly and those with disabilities, will have a safe place to call home.”

The following housing authorities will receive funding through HUD’s Capital Fund Program:

  ·   Luzerne County Housing Authority: $3.93 million

    ·   Lackawanna County Housing Authority: $3.1 million

     ·   Scranton Housing Authority: $3.97 million

   ·   Pittston Housing Authority: $1.03 million

    ·   Carbondale Housing Authority: $1.03 million

     ·   Hazleton Housing Authority: $768,190

       + Wilkes-Barre Housing Authority: $2.45 million

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.

 

 

 

CASEY, FETTERMAN PUSH ADMINISTRATION TO KEEP TARIFFS IN PLACE ON CHINESE IMPORTS

AS ADMINISTRATION REVIEWS SECTION 301 TARIFFS, SENATORS WARN ANY REDUCTION WOULD JEOPARDIZE AMERICAN JOBS

Two Dems working for YOU!

Senators Fetterman and Casey (Photo: LuLac archives)

U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) joined a group of Senate colleagues to call on President Biden to maintain Section 301 tariffs, which are currently under interagency review by the Biden Administration. The U.S. created domestic protections with Section 301 tariffs in 2018, following an investigation by the United States Trade Representative (USTR), to combat China’s unfair anticompetitive policies. In a letter, the senators warn that China’s cheating remains as pervasive as ever, and that any reduction in the size or scope of the tariffs would undermine American producers and their workers.

“Generations of free trade agreements that prioritize multinational corporations have devastated our communities, harmed our economy, and crippled our job market. Keeping the 301 tariffs in place and increasing the tariffs where necessary maintains a critical piece of a pro-worker trade agenda,” wrote the senators. “Any reduction in the 301 tariffs allows China to gain a competitive advantage over hardworking Americans. American workers can compete with anyone if they have a level playing field, and now is not the time to roll back support. We strongly urge you to maintain or increase the 301 tariffs to stand with American workers and hold China accountable.”

Casey and Fetterman were joined by U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Gary Peters (D-MI), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

Senator Casey is a staunch supporter of Buy America standards, as well as legislation to develop American manufacturing capacity. In November, he sent a letter to President Biden sharing his serious concerns about potential reductions of Section 232 and 301 tariffs previously imposed on China on national security grounds. That month, he also voted against a resolution to effectively remove Buy American standards for electric vehicle (EV) chargers and force the United States to continue relying on China for products critical to the next generation of clean vehicle infrastructure. He fought to pass the Build America, Buy America Act as a part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which requires that all of the iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials used in infrastructure projects are produced in the United States. Casey also fought to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which included tax credits for individuals and companies manufacturing or deploying clean energy technologies to help lower costs and secure our energy independence, as well as his provision to provide a “domestic content” bonus credit for companies that use American steel, iron, and manufactured goods.

The full letter is available HERE and below:

Dear President Biden and Ambassador Tai:

As the Administration continues its interagency review of Section 301 tariffs, we write to express the critical need to maintain or increase the tariffs to address China’s continued actions to cheat and undermine our national security. Maintaining the scope and impact of these tariffs benefits American workers, manufacturers, and their communities, and holds China accountable for the country's continued anti-competitive practices. We welcome your diligence to protect American steel from China’s cheating and urge you to apply the same diligence to all 301 tariffs.

Section 301 tariffs were imposed in 2018 after an investigation by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to address China’s implementation of a policy agenda that was, and remains, detrimental to the United States. China’s policies regarding intellectual property, technology transfer, and innovation discriminate against the United States, creating trade barriers that negatively impact American commerce. Tariffs are an important tool to level the playing field and combat anti-competitive practices from non-market economies and trade cheats, and they must remain in place.

China has continued to cheat, circumvent, and manipulate to artificially strengthen its economy and harm the United States. Across sectors like steel, solar products, and electric vehicles, China employs tactics to distort markets and create artificially low prices by illegally subsidizing its industries and producing to overcapacity. These practices disrupt global product demand and supply chains and threaten the goals of the United States’ industrial policy. Our communities are left reeling from the impact.

Generations of free trade agreements that prioritize multinational corporations have devastated our communities, harmed our economy, and crippled our job market. Keeping the 301 tariffs in place and increasing the tariffs where necessary maintains a critical piece of a pro-worker trade agenda. Any reduction in the 301 tariffs allows China to gain a competitive advantage over hardworking Americans. American workers can compete with anyone if they have a level playing field, and now is not the time to roll back support.

We strongly urge you to maintain or increase the 301 tariffs to stand with American workers and hold China accountable. Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

 

GOVERNOR SHAPIRO’S PROPOSED INVESTMENTS TO COMBAT GUN VIOLENCE AND SUPPORT LAW ENFORCEMENT WOULD MAKE “A CRUCIAL DIFFERENCE” AND ALLOW PENNSYLVANIA TO “HAVE A MUCH BIGGER IMPACT”

“OUR GOVERNOR JOSH SHAPIRO DOESN’T JUST TALK THE TALK – HE CARES. HE SHOWS THAT BY THE COMMITMENT HE’S MADE TO GUN VIOLENCE. I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW MUCH THAT MEANS TO THOUSANDS OF FAMILIES WHO HAVE COME THROUGH MY DOORS OVER THE TWENTY-ONE YEARS WHO HAD TO BURY A SON, OR DAUGHTER, OR LOVED ONE BECAUSE SOMEONE MADE A CONSCIOUS DECISION TO TAKE THEIR LIFE.”

“I’VE LOST STUDENTS TO GUN VIOLENCE AND THEN I LOST MY OWN SON AT SCHOOL TO GUN VIOLENCE. I’M OUT HERE SUPPORTING THE GOVERNOR AND OUR COMMUNITIES BECAUSE I HAVE ALWAYS SAID – JUST AS ALL PHILADELPHIA TEACHERS HAVE SAID, AS MANY PEOPLE ACROSS THIS COUNTRY SAY – AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION IS WORTH A POUND OF CURE.”

“FOR ANYONE THAT’S PAID ANY ATTENTION – YOU MIGHT NOTICE I’M THE ONLY REPUBLICAN UP HERE. I’D LIKE TO THINK THAT’S BECAUSE GUN VIOLENCE AND FIGHTING CRIME IS NOT A DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN ISSUE. AGAIN, THIS IS PROOF THAT REACHING ACROSS THE AISLE, WE CAN ROW IN THE SAME DIRECTION AND DO THE BEST THAT WE CAN DO TO FIGHT CRIME IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA AND ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH.”

Governor Josh Shapiro (Photo: LuLac archives)

, Governor Josh Shapiro and Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis traveled to Wilkes-Barre and Philadelphia to meet with bipartisan elected officials and members of the General Assembly , gun violence survivors and victims’ loved ones, and advocates to hear how the proposed investments in the 2024-25 budget proposal would invest in community groups focused on reducing gun violence and the local law enforcement who investigate and prosecute gun violence.

Governor Shapiro and Lieutenant Governor Davis believe all Pennsylvanians deserve to be safe and feel safe in their communities – and to create safer communities, the Governor’s proposed 2024-25 budget invests $100 million to reduce gun violence, including a $37.5 million increase for the successful Violence Intervention and Prevention program (VIP) through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD).

Governor Shapiro and Lieutenant Governor have also called on the General Assembly to strengthen Pennsylvania’s laws and pass significant gun reform legislation. The Pennsylvania House has already passed a package of bills to do just that in a bipartisan manner, including universal background checks and legislation that bans ghost guns. Governor Shapiro supports these bipartisan bills that empower families and Pennsylvania law enforcement – and he is committed to building a broad coalition to support commonsense gun safety reform to protect communities all across the Commonwealth.

Read  what gun violence survivors and prevention advocates are saying about the Shapiro-Davis Administration’s work to create safer communities by investing in community groups focused on reducing gun violence:

 

GUN VIOLENCE SURVIVORS AND ADVOCATES:

Meredith Elizalde, mother of gun violence victim Nicolas Elizalde: “I’ve lost students to gun violence and then I lost my own son at school to gun violence. I’m out here supporting the Governor and our communities because I have always said – just as all Philadelphia teachers have said, as many people across this country say – an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I want to prevent children from becoming shooters, from becoming victims. And if everyone out here were like Jim, and like this mom, then Nick would be alive. If they had gym, if they had a soccer club, if they had a mom like this, if they had had any number of things that we are entirely capable of providing – that the Governor is supporting – they would have seen value in their own lives and they wouldn’t have been so quick to take others’.”

Jim Hardy, Executive Director and Founder of the Kensington Soccer Club: “Governor Shapiro’s violence intervention and prevention funding has really made a crucial difference for our youth and our young adults. This funding enables us to reach so many more than we used to and have a much bigger impact on each person. We’re teaching conflict resolution skills, connecting them with careers and connecting them with education, helping them navigate that transition from high school to adulthood, building them up as leaders who serve a community with empathy and help guide the next generation.”

Felicia Bryant-Dawson, Kensington Soccer Parent and Board Member: “I’ve seen firsthand the benefits this program has had on kids. It’s my belief that for a community to be able to grow and flourish and impact things like preventing violence, these are the types of initiatives that need to be supported, so that all families and all children can have these kinds of resources.”

Dr. Dorothy Johnson-Speight, Founder and Executive Director of Mothers in Charge: “This is really about saving lives and saving these precious children. Children are dying every single day in the city – but it’s a new day in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I have made this work my life’s work over twenty years and through many different administrations. Never has the Governor made a commitment to support gun violence in my 21 years. This is a new day. Our Governor Josh Shapiro doesn’t just talk the talk – he cares. He shows that by the commitment he’s made to gun violence. I can’t tell you how much that means to thousands of families who’ have come through my doors over the twenty-one years who had to bury a son, or daughter, or loved one because someone made a conscious decision to take their life. There are so many others that are doing the same thing here in the city that need our help. We have got to have the resources for that to happen. This Governor is making that happen for the first time I know about in twenty-one years.”

Kathy Lee Toothill, Gun Violence Survivor: “I was shot 12 times with a 22-caliber rifle – six times in my legs, four times in my abdomen, and two times in my left arm. I had a broken hip, broken arm, and numerous internal injuries from the from the bullets. I have to say that recovering from gun violence is a lifelong process. There was no victim’s advocacy back in 1972 – and so we were left to our own devices. I joined Moms Demand Action and became a fellow of the Everytown Survivor Network. I am so glad to hear that there will be money available to help the prosecution and helping people like me who have been victims of gun violence who are now survivors.”

ELECTED OFFICIALS:

Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce: “For anyone that’s paid any attention – you might notice I’m the only Republican up here. I’d like to think that’s because gun violence and fighting crime is not a Democrat or Republican issue. Again, this is proof that reaching across the aisle, we can row in the same direction and do the best that we can do to fight crime in Northeast Pennsylvania and across the Commonwealth. On behalf of the District Attorney’s office and the people of Luzerne County, I would like to personally thank Governor Shapiro for not forgetting Luzerne County, for putting us front and center in this fight. This announcement demonstrates –  as I said – his understanding of the issues we are facing and that we are not lost in the size of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown: “Investigation and prosecution of gun-related crimes requires training, time, and funding. The PCCD’s Gun Violence and Prosecution Grant Program allows for funding to make these investigations and prosecution possible. As Mayor of the City of Wilkes-Barre, I implore the Pennsylvania State Legislature to work with Governor Shapiro’s Administration to again secure funding for this grant program for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. I thank Governor Shapiro and Lieutenant Governor Davis for their visit today, and continued dedication to law enforcement agencies throughout the Commonwealth.”

Representative Jim Haddock: “I’m ready to go to Harrisburg and fight for this $37.5 million in the state budget that invests more money in keeping the people of Luzerne County safe. As a former Clerk of Court manger and a former Mayor of Avoca, I know we must support our district attorney’s and our local law enforcement agencies. This money is vital. I am ready to fight for more funding for them our schools and more funding to create good jobs, and everything else we should be doing to stop gun violence at the source.”

Representative Eddie Day Pashinski: “What an incredible place to have the Governor make his presentation about the safety and the welfare of all of us. We’re not Democrats or Republicans – we are Americans first and our safety does not have a political party. This money and this program that Governor Shapiro is bringing forth today is one of those things that’s necessary to help all of those that keep us safe every day.”

Senate Minority Appropriations Chairman Vince Hughes: “Over six years, we’ve invested over $200 million in the Violence Intervention & Prevention grant program to empower and invest in grassroot organizations that are working at a community level to prevent gun violence. And now we’re pushing for $100 million more in our next budget. I’m thankful to Governor Shapiro and my colleagues who recognize the value of getting this money to local programs who are truly making a difference. Their prevention efforts are one of the most effective ways to keep our communities safe and keep young people away from violence and crime.”

Senator Marty Flynn: “Governor Shapiro’s plan shows he’s thinking ahead to tackle crime. I’m all in on this. By investing in community-based programs, law enforcement resources, and emergency services, we can build stronger, safer communities that benefit all Pennsylvanians.”

Senator Tina Tartaglione: “We know there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to fixing our Commonwealth’s violence and gun violence problems. By empowering local community groups that are familiar with the specific needs of their neighborhoods, we can help tailor interventions designed to address each community’s specific challenges. Every dollar invested in violence prevention is an investment in safer streets, brighter futures, and lives saved from the gun violence.”

House Majority Appropriations Chairman Jordan Harris: “It’s great to be here and be with so many of my colleagues to celebrate not only what we’re looking at doing in this year’s budget, but what we’ve done in the past. What we know in our communities is that time after school between when the children get out of school and when their parents get home is a very crucial time for young people in our community. What we’re trying to do in Harrisburg with these funds through PCCD – led by our former colleague Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis – is make sure that we have opportunities for our young people to be productive when their school day may end. I’m very grateful to be here and be supportive of the resources that are in the Governor’s budget to continue to fund programs like these all across the state.”

 

MEDIA MATTERS

 

MICHAEL SMERCONISH FAIR AND SENSIBLE CANCELED BY GUTLESS  SCHOOL

Smerconish (Photo: You Tube)

Sirius Radio and CNN Talk Show host Michael Smerconish was going to give a Commencement speech at Dickinson University but his invitation was withdrawn because of his comments in a book written in the early 2000s. Mrs. LuLac and I saw him in Kingston in 2019 when his college classmate Atty. David ScHwager helped in getting him to the newly minted Jewish Community Center. We have been fans of Michael when he was on AM radio in this market and are very connected to David through community activities. Dave is fellow WRKC radio alumni and a Republican but like Smerconish, we (we're DEems try to find common ground. That has been the hallmark  of his success. That's the reason why I am giving this so much attention in our Big Thursday edition.

Response of Michael Smerconish to Being Disinvited as the ’24 Dickinson College Commencement Speaker.

On a personal note, and as a long-time acquaintance and admirer of your career, I am excited to welcome you to campus.”

So wrote Dickinson College president John E. Jones by letter dated January 17 when inviting me to be the school’s 2024 commencement speaker and an honorary degree recipient.  But on Saturday morning, he wrote for a different reason – to rescind the invitation, citing a desire to limit distraction at graduation.

On one thing we agree:  I would never want to take attention from the Class of 2024, especially recognizing that COVID robbed its members of celebrations when they graduated from high school in 2020.

Dickinson was my fifth commencement invitation.  I have previously addressed the graduating classes of Widener University (2016), the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University (2017), Delaware Valley University (2018), and the University of the Sciences (2020).

So what changed?

In the last few days, some Dickinson faculty and students raised complaints about a book I published in 2004.  That’s not a typo – 2004.  They were left uncomfortable after a selective reading from my post-9/11 book through their 2024 lens.  Signs at a student encampment this week displayed the demand of my cancellation alongside divestment in Israel.

This should be a cautionary tale for anyone in America who believes in fairness, common sense, the free exchange of ideas, rational decision-making, and the importance of leadership in the face of hysteria.

My work as an author was well known to Dickinson and applauded by its president.  The press release announcing my selection correctly acknowledged that I’ve written seven books.  My first book was the only one I never set out to write.  It just evolved based on personal experience. To be sure, the words I wrote at a time when Bin Laden was still on the lam, and America was reeling from the greatest strike on our homeland since Pearl Harbor might look intemperate to a student who wasn’t born when the attack occurred.  But my words resonated when written with adults, including their parents.

Times change, people change, circumstances change. Statements in books written decades ago, if penned by the well-intentioned with a history of tolerance and advocacy of unity, cannot in a just and rational society be the basis for judging someone’s soul or determining their fitness to be part of the national conversation. And it certainly shouldn’t obliterate someone’s lifetime of reputation and performance. Those students who demanded I not speak had better hope that twenty years from now, when they are looking for a job, no one will look at everything they said and did two decades earlier, yanking it out of context and using it as a weapon of personal destruction.

“Flying Blind: How Political Correctness Continues to Compromise Airline Safety Post 9/11” was written by me in the immediate aftermath of that calamitous day.  It has been grossly distorted by those who advocated for my Dickinson cancellation.  I doubt any of those critics read it in total.  Instead they have surgically selected quotes that suit their narrative, not the thesis of the book.“Flying Blind” was an outgrowth of my weekly newspaper column for the Philadelphia Daily News in which I often addressed a post-9/11 world, including airline security.  Much of that which ended up in the book was first published in the newspaper.  My investigation was entirely serendipitous; it began with an unusual airport screening preceding a flight to Florida for our kids’ Spring Break and ended with my invited testimony before the United States Senate.

See my sworn testimony here: Oversight Hearing on Passenger Screening and Airline Authority To Deny Boarding

My whistleblowing focused on a Department of Transportation policy pre and post-9/11, which precluded more than two individuals of any particular ethnicity from being singled out at the same time for secondary screening at airports.  Applying that illogic to the 19 terrorists who killed 3,000 Americans on 9/11 means that even if airport security had suspected criminal intent by the would-be hijackers, they could not have been subjected to secondary questioning.  I believed that policy to be ludicrous then – and still do now. My primary source was the Honorable John Lehman, former Secretary of the Navy and 9/11 Commissioner (who wrote a blurb for the book jacket).

Secretary Lehman first piqued my curiosity when he asked the following question of Secretary Condoleezza Rice at the 9/11 Commission hearing on April 8, 2004. 

Among the many I personally interviewed was Herb Kelleher, the founder and President of Southwest Airlines who confirmed what Lehman had raised in the hearing.  Pennsylvania’s longest-serving U.S. Senator, Arlen Specter, wrote the Foreward for the book.  All author proceeds were donated by me to the Garden of Reflection, Pennsylvania’s official 9/11 monument based in my native Bucks County.  I was interviewed extensively by major media when the book was published.  The manuscript was well-received and not controversial at the time.

“Flying Blind” is actually one of two books I have authored on airline security.  The other is called “Instinct” and tells the story of Jose Melendez Perez, an American hero who stopped the presumed 20th hijacker from entering the United States one month prior to 9/11 and, in the process, arguably thwarted a direct attack on the U.S. Capitol or White House by the four terrorists aboard Flight 93.  I donated all author proceeds from “Instinct” to the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA.  The front jacket of “Instinct” contains the endorsement of former Pennsylvania Governor and the nation’s first Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge.

My commencement speech was already written.  It’s a 14-minute version of longer remarks I’m delivering across the country called The Mingle Project.  In a world of bombast and discontent, I’m on a mission to restore civility and compromise to our public discourse.  For three decades, I’ve had a front-row seat to the increase in polarization that has gripped the nation.  I see the current climate as part of a much larger disconnect in society fueled by technology and self-sorting that has caused a mental health crisis among our youth.  In my remarks, I draw on anecdotes, social science, and humor to encourage common experiences through social interaction that is not based on technology.

Class of 2024, when we mingle, we tell each other our life stories. We practice empathy, we build connections, and we strengthen our social fitness,” I would have said.

The twisting of an uncontroversial book when I wrote it twenty years ago without acknowledgment of the context in which it was written — and the resultant cancellation of constructive graduation remarks — is regrettably a reflection of our times. I am collateral damage. This will not dissuade me from seeking to be a voice of reason in unreasonable times.

I’ve worked on a hot mic since 1990.  Today (and for the last 11 years), I am responsible for 15 live hours of radio per week on SiriusXM.  And last month, I celebrated my ten-year anniversary as the host of my own program on CNN.  As Malcolm Gladwell would say, I’ve invested my 10,000 hours. I’ve always viewed my access to the airwaves as a privilege.  Admittedly, I have said plenty of foolish things over the years.  But none with animus.  My record contains no hate, no prejudice.  If the case were otherwise, you’d know it.

Which is why I find the Dickinson decision so troubling and chilling. Before there was any hint of controversy at Dickinson, in both my SiriusXM and CNN advocacy, I condemned the decision by the University of Southern California to cancel the planned speech by its valedictorian, who happened to be Muslim, after some of her social media postings drew attention. We are doing our youth, future leaders, and nation a disservice if the civil, deliberative speech of the type I would have delivered at Dickinson is now unwelcome because it is easier to yield to the uninformed than to invest the time necessary to make reasoned decisions.

I am already hearing from many alumni who are disappointed in their alma mater.  One suggested, and I agree, that the honorable thing for Jones to have done was to call me and explain his inability to control the unjustified campus sentiment while asking me to withdraw my acceptance in return for a public statement saying that this should in no way be viewed as a negative reflection of my scholarship or work as a journalist.

Those members of the college community who pressured to get my speech cancelled are surely celebrating today that their censorship-fueled campaign succeeded. But my guess is that more than a few who remained silent and succumbed to the mob are at least a little bit embarrassed at having done so.  Surely, they realize the precedent that’s been set for future commencement speakers?  Achievement of the sort that warrants invitation to speak at such a ceremony does not come from a life lived quietly.

I wish the Dickinson Class of ’24 all the very best for a wonderful graduation day and a bright future. And I hope for them a world where volume no longer eclipses reason.

 

PLUS HERE’S WHAT FORMER GOVERNOR ED RENDELL WROTE ON THE SUBJECT

Dear John,

I am writing to express my disappointment in the college’s decision to rescind the invitation to Michael Smerconish to be its graduation speaker. I say that not to ignore the difficulty that many American colleges and universities are having responding to the after-effects of the Israeli Hamas war. I understand that you as the chief executive of the college have a responsibility to avoid disruption of college sanctioned events and I assume the decision was based on legitimate belief that Dickinson’s graduation ceremony could have been disrupted and sent into total chaos by demonstrators.

Given that belief I understand the college’s decision was the “safe course to follow” but I would submit that by taking the safe way-out the college is missing the opportunity to send the students an even more important message, that honest disagreement can be shown, and the speaker could be given the opportunity to express his point of view and even respond to the disagreement. In this instance, before graduation formally began, someone from the college should have noted the disagreement and given the students a short period to hold up their signs and make their disagreement known. And it should have been made clear to them that after that allotted period of time expired no disruption of the graduation ceremony or Mr. Smerconish’s speech would be tolerated. Demonstrators would then be required to sit back down and not block the view of any other attendees and to remain quiet.

I have been friends with Mr. Smerconish since before he was head of Housing Urban Development for Philadelphia. I have found him to be an extremely reasonable person who will listen to opposing points of view and on occasion even let them persuade him his initial position was incorrect. But I know he always has a well thought-out and well-reasoned argument in advance and in support of whatever decision he makes. I think your students and all attendees would have gotten some things to really think about from his remarks and they are all poorer for being denied that opportunity.

I am deeply troubled by our nation’s seeming divide into two camps, with each side denying the possibility of the other having anything g worthwhile to say. If we continue down this road, we are headed to the colloquial “hell in a handbasket.” When I was Governor of Pennsylvania I took pride in the education offered by both Dickinson College and Dickinson Law School. I still do and personally believe that you have done a wonderful job advancing the education you have given your students. But I am sad to say in this one instance I think you have failed by preventing them from having an important lesson on free speech and the benefits of civil discourse and any disagreement which would flow from it. Students must learn we must agree to disagree but also agree not to be disagreeable about it.

Ed Rendell

#45th Governor of Pennsylvania

2003-2011

EDITOR’S NOTE: The preceding content came from Michael Smerconish’s website https://www.smerconish.com/

 

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1984

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Mick Fleetwood, drummer and leader of Fleetwood Mac, files for bankruptcy….. Minnesota Twins Kirby Puckett debuts with 4 singles…. Tigers set best 30 game start record (26-4)……Transit of Earth as seen on Mars….. Discovery moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for mating of STS 41-D…….. STS-41-D (formerly STS-14) was the 12th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the first mission of Space Shuttle Discovery. It was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on August 30, 1984, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on September 5, 1984. Three commercial communications satellites were deployed into orbit during the six-day mission, and a number of scientific experiments were conducted, including a prototype extendable solar array that would eventually form the basis of the main solar arrays on the International Space Station…… south African prisoner Nelson Mandela sees his wife Winnie Mandela for the 1st time in 22 years….. "Oliver!" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 17 performances… Mackay pays $218,718 for 44,166 tickets to keep Twins in Minnesota Twins sell 51,863 tickets but only 6,346 fans show up for the game…. MLB Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton hits a grand slam homer off Fernando Valenzuela, in 7-2 win against Dodgers, in Los Angeles….. Prince Charles calls proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend," sparking controversy on the role of the Royal Family and course of modern architecture…….In 1984 Democratic primary news, Gary Hart and Walter Mondale prepare to do battle in Super Tuesday in June where primaries are held in delegate rich California and New Jersey….and this week inLuLac land and America the number 1 song was "Hello" by Lionel Richie.