The LuLac Edition #5, 746, August 22nd, 2026

 

 

PENNSYLVANIA’S FIRST U.S. SENATORS

Pennsylvania’s first U.S. senators were William Maclay and Robert Morris, both elected by the Pennsylvania General Assembly on September 30, 1788

They took their seats in the U.S. Senate on March 4, 1789, the day the First Congress convened at Federal Hall in New York City

 

WILLIAM MACLAY

From: Sunbury, Pennsylvania

Party: Anti-Administration (Federalist)

Term: March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1791

Notable: The only senator in the First Congress to keep a diary, providing rare firsthand accounts of behind-closed-doors Senate sessions

He assisted John Harris Jr. with the planning the layout of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1785, where Maclay Street is named for him.[2] Following his tenure in the Senate, he served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on two occasions, as a county judge, and as a presidential elector. He is known for his journal providing historical information on the 1st United States Congress.

He constantly feuded with Vice President John Adams in the Senate after Adams rejected Maclay's political deal to support his vice-presidential candidacy during the 1789 presidential election. In July 1789 he issued a resolution requiring the president to request the Senate's permission to dismiss Cabinet members, but it was defeated by Vice President Adams's tiebreaking vote when Adams convinced Tristram Dalton and Richard Bassett to withdraw their support. During Senate debates over the Residence Act establishing the site of the U.S. permanent national capital and seat of government Vice President Adams worked with Morris, who preferred Philadelphia as the capital, to defeat Maclay's motion placing it near his landholdings on the Susquehanna River.

In his journal, which is the only diary and one of the most important records of the First United States Congress, he criticizes Vice President Adams and President George Washington. He also criticized many of their supporters who ran the Senate and included particular senators, believing that their ways of running the Senate were inefficient. He was unsuccessful in his attempt to be re-elected by the state legislature of Pennsylvania. His diary expresses his dry wit and commitment to democratic principles.

Following his retirement from national politics, he was also a member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives in 1795, 1796, and 1797. In addition, he was a presidential elector in the 1796 presidential election (voting for Jefferson), a county judge from 1801 to 1803, and a member again of the state House of Representatives in 1803. He died in 1804.

 

ROBERT MORRIS

From: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Party: Pro-Administration (Federalist)

Term: March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1795

Background: A prominent financier and one of the Founding Fathers, Morris was a key figure in the oConstitutional Convention and the early U.S. government.

Pennsylvania ratified the U.S. Constitution on December 12, 1787, becoming the second state to do so

The 1788 election was the nation’s first senatorial election, with Maclay and Morris chosen by the state legislature before direct popular election was allowed under the 17th Amendment in 1913

Their terms were staggered: Maclay served Class 1 (two-year term) and Morris served Class 3 (six-year term)

Morris was a British-born American merchant, investor,  and politician, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Morris served in the Pennsylvania legislature, the Second Continental Congress, and the United States Senate. He was one of only two individuals (along with Roger Sherman) to sign the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the U.S. Constitution. 

 

From 1781 to 1784, he held the post of Superintendent of Finance of the United States, a role that earned him the title "Financier of the Revolution". Alongside Alexander Hamilton and Albert Gallatin, Morris is often regarded as a founder of the financial system of the United States.

Morris was selected as a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention, which wrote and proposed a new constitution for the United States. Morris rarely spoke during the convention, but the constitution produced by the convention reflected many of his ideas. Morris and his allies helped ensure that Pennsylvania ratified the new constitution, and the document was ratified by the requisite number of states by the end of 1788. The Pennsylvania legislature subsequently elected Morris as one of its two inaugural representatives in the United States Senate. Morris declined Washington's offer to serve as the nation's first Treasury Secretary, instead suggesting Alexander Hamilton for the position. In the Senate, Morris supported Hamilton's economic program and aligned with the Federalist Party. During and after his service in the Senate, Morris went deeply into debt through speculating on land, leading into the Panic of 1796–1797. Unable to pay his creditors, he was confined in the Prune Street debtors' apartment adjacent to Walnut Street Prison from 1798 to 1801. After being released from prison, he lived a quiet, private life in a modest home in Philadelphia until his death in 1806.

These two senators set the precedent for Pennsylvania’s role in the early Senate, representing the state’s Federalist leanings and marking the beginning of its long history in U.S. federal politics.  (wikipedia)

 

 

The LuLac Edition #5, 745, August 20th, 2026

 

GOVERNOR SHAPIRO SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER DEMANDING DATA CENTER DEVELOPERS COMPLY WITH STRICT REQUIREMENTS AND BLOCKING SPECULATIVE, IRRESPONSIBLE DATA CENTER PROJECTS

 

Executive Order 2026-05,. directing Commonwealth agencies to require all data center proposals applying for. Permits with the Commonwealth to comply with the Governor's Responsible. Infrastructure Development (GRID) Requirements, blocking speculative,. Irresponsible data center projects from moving forward, giving local communities more. Power over data center development and protecting Pennsylvania residents.

 

Governor Josh Shapiro signed Executive Order 2026-05, directing Commonwealth agencies to require all data center proposals applying for permits with the Commonwealth to comply with the Governor's Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Requirements, blocking speculative, irresponsible data center projects from moving forward, giving local communities more power over data center development, and protecting Pennsylvania residents. The Executive Order directs the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to evaluate permit applications from proposed data centers only if developers have made a legally binding commitment to meet the Governor's GRID Requirements and have received local approval.

"Over the past year, I've listened to the people of Pennsylvania - and I've heard directly from many residents across our Commonwealth who are concerned about what data center development could mean for our communities, our environment, and our utility bills," said Governor Josh Shapiro. "My message to data center developers is clear: if you can't agree to our strict requirements and get the community where you want to build to say 'yes,' you're not going to have the Commonwealth's support either. These are some of the biggest companies in the world - they can afford to be good neighbors, follow the rules, and do this right."

This Executive Order lays out strict requirements that data center developers must meet regarding energy affordability, community engagement, workforce and economic development, transparency, and environmental protection - and gives local municipalities a greater say over development in their communities.

 

GOVERNORS’ RACES

AND THE DATA CENTERS

 

The Associated Press reports that more governors are shifting their stances or taking more steps to squeeze data centers as the midterm elections near and public opinion sours on the energy-hungry behemoths that tech giants and developers are building to fuel artificial intelligence products and cloud computing.

The backlash to the massive server warehouses is enveloping races for governor in some of the nation’s biggest states and presidential battlegrounds.

On Tuesday, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said his administration would no longer put data center projects at the head of the line when it comes to issuing construction permits or granting developers a lucrative tax exemption if they don’t meet certain standards.

Those include plans to pay the full cost of their electricity and show how they will use advanced technology to limit water use. They also must first win local approval before they can seek state approval. They are, he said, the “strictest guardrails in the nation,” although he stopped short of imposing a moratorium on issuing permits.

 

TRUMP WANTS TO BOMB ALLY

To show you how screwed up Trump is and how dangerous, he threatens to bomb Oman.

WHY?

Because he is unhappy the country is close to a deal with Iran to manage ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, two regional officials said on Tuesday, a day after Trump leveled the threat.

The officials said the Trump administration has told Oman it is opposed to parts of the yet-to-be-announced deal, including the joint Iranian and Omani management of the exit route out of the passage that’s critical to global supplies of oil and natural gas. The officials were briefed on the U.S. position and how the administration views Oman’s position.

Meanwhile, a projectile hit a ship as it sailed out of the strait, and a cargo vessel was rendered a “constructive total loss” by multiple projectiles off the coast of Yemen, according to the British military’s maritime monitoring agency. The defense ministry of the United Arab Emirates said two ballistic missiles were launched from Iran toward the UAE.

 

AND IRAN SAYS……………….

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi appeared to respond to Trump’s post on social media depicting the strait as American territory. Just as Trump correctly wrote the name of the eternal Persian Gulf, his delusion regarding the Strait of Hormuz will soon either be corrected, or we will correct this deluded man’s delusions for him,” Gharibabadi wrote on X. Trump’s comment on Monday was not the first time he has threatened Oman. In May, he told reporters during a Cabinet meeting that Oman “will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up.”

Iran reiterated Tuesday that Tehran plans to maintain its grip on shipping traffic until Washington meets its conditions.

“Until the United States fulfills its commitments under the agreement, including lifting the blockade, releasing frozen assets, lifting oil sanctions, ending threats and military operations on all fronts, and implementing the other conditions to which it committed, the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen,” said Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker and negotiator in previous talks with the U.S.

So once more Iran is deflating all of Trump’s pumped up lying claims. Here’s my question. If Iran, our enemy can see Trump is deluded, why can’t MAGAs?

 

BRESNAHAN ANNOUNCES $1 MILLION FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN KINGSTON

 U.S. Representative Rob Bresnahan, Jr. (PA-08) joined local community leaders for a press conference announcing $1 million in federal funding he secured for the Jewish Community Alliance of Northeastern Pennsylvania on behalf of the Friedman Jewish Community Center (JCC). The investment will go towards the expansion of the Illumination Early Learning Center to accommodate more children while fostering partnerships with local educational institutions to train new instructors. 

“We need to make it easier for parents to provide for their families. We also need to make sure our communities have the workforce they need to grow,” said Rep. Bresnahan. “When parents can find reliable childcare, they can get to work. When we train more childcare professionals, we can open more classrooms and serve more families. By expanding the Illumination Early Learning Center to serve more children and creating a facility to train the next generation of early childhood educators, this investment addresses both sides of that problem.”

ep. Bresnahan was joined by JCC Past President Greg Fellerman, JCC Board President Jane Messinger, JCC Board Member William Grant, JCC Chief Operating Officer Jim Gillespie, Sandra Lee Weaver Charney with State Rep. Brenda Pugh’s office, and Mark Grochocki with State Sen. Lisa Baker’s office.

This project is one of 13 that Rep. Bresnahan secured federal funding for in the Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations process, including investments in wastewater infrastructure, roads, bridges, housing, and law enforcement.

“I want to thank the Jewish Community Alliance of Northeastern Pennsylvania and everyone who worked to bring this project to the finish line,” continued Rep. Bresnahan. “Our office is proud to help deliver this $1 million investment to Kingston, and I look forward to seeing the new facility take share, and most importantly, seeing more children and families benefit from it.”

 

 

SHAPIRO ADMINISTRATION DELIVERS MORE THAN $410,000 FOR FREE PERIOD PRODUCTS TO NEPA SCHOOLS, PART OF $3 MILLION INVESTMENT TO ALL PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOLS IN 2026-27 BUDGET

Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen visited West Scranton High School to highlight the Shapiro Administration's ongoing commitment to provide free period products in schools across the Commonwealth, emphasizing that no girl should have to choose between her health and her education.

National studies show that one in four girls struggle to afford period products, and a staggering 23% miss class entirely because they lack access to menstrual hygiene essentials.

With a newly secured $3 million in the recently signed 2026-27 state budget, Governor Shapiro has now delivered a total of $9 million over three consecutive budgets for this first-of-its-kind initiative, which removes a significant barrier to learning, ensuring that girls can focus on their schoolwork rather than worrying about unmet basic needs.

 

MEDIA MATTERS

WVIA 

89.9 FM 

WALN

BOLD GOLD COMMUNITY FORUM

You'll hear the program Sunday at 6 on 94.3 The Talker; 6:30 on 1400 am The Mothership and 7:30 am on 105 The River.

 

THE LAURIE CADDEN SHOW

Tune in every Saturday morning at 9am for The Laurie Cadden Show on WILK FM 103.1 and AM 980 and 910. Laurie’s program has been a northeastern Pennsylvania mainstay every Saturday. Tune in to hear her insights and take on local issues as well as entertaining and informative interviews.

 

BOBBY V’S DOO WOP SUNDAY NIGHT SOCK HOP

 

BEATLE EDD’S FAB FOUR MUSIC HOUR

Tune in every week to the Home of Rock and Roll for a jam packed, unpredictable hour starting at 9am Sundays. Host Edd Raineri gives you facts and great music from the immortal Fab Four on ROCK 107.

 

THE LULAC TIME MACHINE

MICKEY MANTLE DIES

August 1995

Mickey Charles Mantle nicknamed "the Mick" and "the Commerce Comet", was an American professional baseball player who played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York Yankees, primarily as a center fielder. Mantle is regarded by many as one of the best players and sluggers of all time. He was an American League (AL) Most Valuable Player three times and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.

Mantle won the Triple Crown in 1956, when he led the major leagues in batting average (.353), home runs (52), and runs batted in (RBI) (130). He was an All-Star for 16 seasons, playing in 16 of the 20 All-Star Games that he was selected for. He also had a solid .984 fielding percentage when playing center field, winning a Gold Glove in that position. He appeared in 12 World Series, winning seven championships, and holds World Series records for the most home runs (18), RBIs (40), extra-base hits (26), runs (42), walks (43), and total bases (123), and he has the highest World Series on-base and slugging percentages.

After retirement, Mantle worked as sports commentator for NBC for a few years and had a brief stint as first base and hitting coach for the Yankees in the 1970 season. Despite being one of the best-paid athletes of his era, he was a poor businessman and suffered financial setbacks from business failures. His private life was plagued by tumult and tragedy. His marriage fell apart due to his alcoholism and infidelity, and three of his sons became alcoholics, one of them dying from it. Towards the end of his life, Mantle came to regret his hard lifestyle and the damage he had inflicted on his family. Before his final year, he was treated for alcoholism and became sober, afterwards warning others of the dangers of hard drinking. He died in Dallas, Texas, aged 63, from liver cancer brought on by years of alcohol abuse.

During the 1961 season, Mantle and teammate Roger Maris, known as the M&M Boys, pursued Babe Ruth's 1927 single-season record of 60 home runs. Five years earlier, Mantle had challenged Ruth's record for most of the season, and the New York press had been protective of Ruth on that occasion. When Mantle finally fell short, finishing with 52 home runs, many reporters were relieved. The New York press was harsh in its treatment of Mantle in his early years with the Yankees, emphasizing that he struck out frequently, was injury-prone, was a rube from Oklahoma, and was perceived as inferior to DiMaggio. Over time, however, Mantle had learned to deal with the New York media and had gained the favor of the press, receiving help from teammate Whitey Ford, a native of Queens.["I couldn't do anything wrong after Roger beat me," Mantle said. "I became the underdog; they hated him and liked me. Everywhere I went I got standing ovations. It was a lot better than having them boo you."

Unlike Mantle, Maris was new to the New York scene, having been traded to the Yankees from the Kansas City Athletics before the 1960 season, and never managed to adjust to demands of the New York press, many of whom began to view him as surly and rude. During the 1961 season, the press pushed the notion of the Yankees being Mantle's team, with Maris often belittled and ostracized as an outsider and not a "true Yankee".

Late in the season, Mantle was hospitalized with a severe abscessing septic infection on his hip, which had resulted from a "miracle shot" that he had received from physician Max Jacobson at the recommendation of Yankees broadcaster Mel Allen. It was discovered years later that Jacobson's so-called "miracle shot" was in fact laced with various substances, including amphetamines and methamphetamines, and resulted in at least one death. This revelation exposed Jacobson as a fraud and he was stripped of his medical license in 1975.

While Maris went on to break the record on the last day of the season, Mantle finished with 54 home runs, setting a single-season record for a switch-hitter that stood until September 2025.  He also led the AL in runs scored and walks. For the second consecutive year, he narrowly missed winning his third MVP award, finishing second to repeat winner Maris. Under new manager Ralph Houk, the Yankees won the World Series that year against the Cincinnati Reds. Neither Mantle nor Maris performed well in the series, recording between them three hits and two RBIs in twenty-five at-bats over five games.

lthough he was among the best-paid players of the pre-free-agency era, Mantle was a poor businessman and did not invest well and struggled financially for a while. Amongst his failed business ventures was his chain of Mickey Mantle's Country Cookin' restaurants in the early 1970s.

Mantle at Coal Street, October 1985  

His financial situation improved after the sports memorabilia industry boomed in the 1980s. Mantle was a prized guest at baseball-card shows, and was paid considerable sums for his appearances and autographs. At the same time, he always insisted that the promoters of baseball-card shows include one of the lesser-known Yankees of his era, such as Bill Skowron or Hank Bauer, so that they could also earn money for their appearances.

"Two men in formal wear, one the President of France and one President of the United States, greet a third man in formal wear during a state dinner party."

Mantle with French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and American President Gerald R. Ford, at the White House in 1976

In 1976, the Mantles were amongst the honorary guests invited to the White House when French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing came on a state visit to celebrate the American Bicentennial.

In his autobiography, Mantle said that he had married Merlyn not out of love but because he was told to by his father who was, at the time, terminally ill.  While Mantle's drinking became public knowledge during his lifetime, the press kept quiet about his marital infidelity and philandering. He was indiscreet about them: at his retirement ceremony in 1969, he brought his mistress along with his wife. In 1980, Mantle separated from his wife, and while the two lived apart for the rest of Mantle's life, they never filed for divorce. During his final days, the two made peace and Merlyn was at his bedside when he died.

During the last decade of his life, Mantle lived with his agent and live-in aide Greer Johnson. After Mantle's death, his family pursued a federal lawsuit against Johnson to prohibit her from auctioning many of Mantle's personal items, including a lock of hair, a neck brace, and expired credit cards. A settlement was reached allowing for the sale of some of Mantle's belongings for approximately $500,000 and the number one song in LuLac land and America was “I Can Love  You Like That” by  All-4-One

The LuLac Edition #5, 744, August 19th, 2026

 

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY

Our “Write on Wednesday” logo

This week we run an editorial that calls out the feckless Republican congress led by pipsqueak Mike Johnson. Worth reading when a MAGA person talks about his policies from the President. 

 

REPUBLICANS HAVE SUPERCHARGED DEFICITS. FOR WHAT?

For the 119th Congress, the answer has been simple: Tax less and borrow more. As Republican leaders ponder yet another party-line spending bill — expected to include at least $95 billion in new outlays with no offsetting revenue — they might reflect for a moment on America’s budgetary crisis in the making.

Over less than two years, this Congress has worsened the nation’s fiscal trajectory dramatically. Its main accomplishment, last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will by itself increase deficit spending by at least $4.1 trillion from 2025 to 2034. Add another $1 trillion or so once many of the law’s “temporary” tax cuts are inevitably extended, and the US will soon be looking at annual deficits approaching $3 trillion and a debt-to-GDP ratio exceeding post-war highs.

Making matters worse, lawmakers have twice slashed Internal Revenue Service funding, by a total of about $32 billion. Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office imply that each dollar these measures rescinded from tax enforcement could lead to about $3.27 in lost revenue, meaning they’ll actually add about $73 billion in net deficits. A huge reduction in the agency’s workforce hardly helped.

What about the spending cuts Republicans have promised? Although the OBBBA’s backers touted some $900 billion in Medicaid savings, achieved largely by slashing coverage, this merely slowed the program’s annual growth rate and was dwarfed by the bill’s tax cuts. A rescissions bill also cut overseas aid and public broadcasting funding — at significant cost to national prestige and soft power — saving a grand total of $9 billion through 2035.Even these meager efforts have been partly negated by repeated splurges.

In addition to the tax cuts, the Secure America Act enacted in June included about $70 billion in duplicative funding for immigration enforcement and border security. This latest bill, as passed by the House, would add some $73 billion to pay for the war in Iran, among other things; a $12 billion bailout for farmers harmed by the administration’s trade policies; and $10 billion for dubious “election security” measures. (The Senate’s stalled blueprint would double the latter amount.)

For its part, the White House has worsened this picture at almost every turn. Its immigration crackdown alone could increase deficits by $500 billion over a decade. Its Department of Government Efficiency, created to cut spending, may have done the opposite: Its claimed savings have been largely illusory while one analysis found that the costs it imposed — from lost productivity and chaotic personnel decisions — may have reached $135 billion last year.

Perhaps most egregiously, Congress has sat by as the White House has imposed a global tariff regime, at an annual cost of $900 or so per household. It’s true that tariffs raise revenue. Yet they do so in a way that’s uniquely misguided: They tax a base that erodes over time while impeding the investment and productivity growth needed to stabilize debt in the long term. For all that, they might yield $2.1 trillion over 10 years — or less than 9% of projected deficits.

If Congress wants to get serious about these matters, there’s no shortage of available proposals. A bipartisan group in the House has recently introduced a bill that would improve spending transparency, make much-needed reforms to the budget process, establish a fiscal commission and adopt a formal goal of reducing annual deficits to 3% of GDP within a decade. Nothing revolutionary, but it’s a start.

As things stand, across nearly two years of unified government, Republicans have imposed enormous new costs on Americans with precious little to show for it.

Come November, they shouldn’t be surprised if voters say they’ve had enough

2026 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com/opinion. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.