The LuLac Edition #5, 696, June 27th, 2026

 

 

ABIGAIL ADAMS

CONFIDANT, CARETAKER, WIFE AND MOTHER OF PRESIDENTS

Abigail Adams was the wife and closest advisor of John Adams, the second president of the United States, and the mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States. She is widely considered to be an influential figure in the founding of the United States, and was both the first second lady and second first lady of the United States, although such titles were not used at the time. She and Barbara Bush are the only two women in American history who both were both married to a U.S. president and were both the mother of a U.S. president.

Adams's life is one of the most documented of the first ladies. Many of the letters she wrote to John Adams while he was in Philadelphia as a delegate in the Continental Congress, prior to and during the Revolutionary War, document the closeness and versatility of their relationship. John Adams frequently sought the advice of Abigail on many matters, and their letters are filled with intellectual discussions on government and politics. Her letters also serve as eyewitness accounts of the home front of the Revolutionary War.

Surveys of historians conduct periodically by the Siena College Research Institute since 1982 have consistently found Adams to rank as one of the three most highly regarded first ladies by historians.

John Adams was inaugurated as the second president of the United States on March 4, 1797, in Philadelphia at the age of 61. Abigail was not present at her husband's inauguration as she was tending to his dying 89-year-old mother. When John was elected President of the United States, Abigail continued a formal pattern of entertaining. She held a large dinner each week, made frequent public appearances, and provided for entertainment for the city of Philadelphia each Fourth of July.

She took an active role in politics and policy, unlike the quiet presence of Martha Washington. Abigail was so politically active, her political opponents came to refer to her as "Mrs. President". As John's confidant, Abigail was often well informed on issues facing her husband's administration, at times including details of current events not yet known to the public in letters to her sister Mary and her son John Quincy.   Some people used Abigail to contact the president. At times Abigail planted favorable stories about her husband in the press. Abigail remained a staunch supporter of her husband's political career, supporting his policies, such as passing the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Adams brought the children of her brother William Smith, her brother-in-law John Shaw, and her son Charles to live in the President's House during her husband's presidency because the children's fathers all struggled with alcoholism. Charles's daughter, Susanna, was just 3 years old in 1800 when Adams brought her to live in the President's House in Philadelphia days before Charles's death.

With the relocation of the capital to Washington, D.C. in 1800, she became the first First Lady to reside at the White House, or President's House as it was then known.Adams moved into the White House in November 1800, living there for only the last four months of her husband's term. At this time, the city of Washington D.C. was wilderness, with the President's House far from completion. She found the unfinished mansion in Washington "habitable" and the location "beautiful"; but she complained that, despite the thick woods nearby, she could find no one willing to chop and haul firewood for the First Family. Abigail used the East Room of the White House to hang up the laundry. Adams’s health, never robust, suffered in Washington.

After John's defeat in his presidential re-election campaign, the family retired to Peacefield in Quincy in 1800. Abigail followed her son's political career earnestly, as her letters to her contemporaries show. In later years, she renewed correspondence with Thomas Jefferson, having reached out to him upon the death of his daughter Maria Jefferson Eppes (Polly), whom Abigail had cared for and come to love when Polly was a small child in London, even though Jefferson's political opposition to her husband had hurt her deeply. She continued to raise her granddaughter Susanna. She also raised her elder grandchildren, including George Washington Adams and a younger John Adams, while their father John Quincy Adams was minister to Russia. Adams's 48-year-old daughter, Nabby, died of breast cancer in 1813, after having endured three years of severe pain.

Abigail Adams became ill during her final years. She died in her home on October 28, 1818, of typhoid fever. She was buried in what was to become the family crypt, which now also holds her husband John, their son John Quincy, and John Quincy's wife Louisa, located in the United First Parish Church (also known as the "Church of the Presidents") in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was 73 years old, exactly two weeks shy of her 74th birthday. Her last words were, "Do not grieve, my friend, my dearest friend. I am ready to go. And John, it will not be long." Less than eight years later, on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, her husband died of heart failure at the age of 90. He was buried next to her in the family crypt in the United First Parish Church.

 

 

 

 

The LuLac Edition #5, 695, June 25th, 2026

  

BABY TRUMP GETS YELLED AT

SHITS ON HIS OWN PARTY

 

Bill Cassidy told pig baby President Trump off and other Senators told him there wasn’t any votes to pass his Voting act. So he refused to sign a bi partisan housing bill that was the only bipartisan thing the Senate did his year.

But Cassidy went after him on Iran. A Republican lawmaker reportedly shouted at President Donald Trump during a tense closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill.

The 80-year-old president met with Senate Republicans for lunch Wednesday after abruptly canceling the signing ceremony for a bipartisan affordable housing bill. He said he was scrapping his plans in response to Congress’s refusal to pass the SAVE America Act, a Republican-backed measure that would require new voters to show proof of citizenship.

During the meeting, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy challenged Trump over the Iran memorandum of understanding — Trump’s 14-point plan to end the Middle East war, according to MS NOW reporter Mychael Schnell. The president signed the document in France on June 17.

One unnamed source told the outlet that the senator was “yelling” at the president.

According to CNN’s Manu Raju, Trump instructed Cassidy to sit down, but the lawmaker refused and raised his voice, referring to Trump as “brother.”

Trump responded that he was not his brother and called him a “lunatic.” Cassidy eventually took his seat.

Shedding further light on the private meeting, Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio reported that “Cassidy came in guns blazing.”  (CNN)

 

 

TRUMP IS BEST PRESIDENT EVER

IN GRIFTING

 

This article was to good to not share with the LuLac readers. It was from The Hill and does a deep dive on the past President’s corruption and Trump’s outright disregard for ethics and shame.

In 1958, the normally staid Eisenhower administration was rocked by scandal. White House chief of staff Sherman Adams was forced to resign for accepting a vicuna coat and a rug from a Boston textile manufacturer under federal investigation.

Adams, Eisenhower’s top political enforcer, was never charged with a crime. His ethical lapses look laughably tame compared to the Roman orgy of corruption President Trump presides over today. In fact, the magnitude and brazenness of Trump’s reign of grift and graft is without parallel in U.S.

Three previous administrations stand out as the most scandal-prone. Coincidentally (or not), all also were led by Republican presidents: Richard Nixon, Warren G. Harding and Ulysses S. Grant. 

Nixon makes the list mainly because of the Watergate break-in and subsequent White House cover up, which led to his impeachment and resignation to avoid a likely conviction in a Senate trial. But with his “enemies list,” campaign slush fund and secret bombing of Cambodia, “Tricky Dick” also presaged Trump’s penchant for dissembling, trading access for cash and siccing federal agencies on political foes.

The Harding administration is generally regarded as the 20th century’s most venal. Crooked cabinet officers sold government medical supplies to private contractors and secretly leased drilling rights for U.S. Navy oil reserves to oil tycoons. There is no evidence Harding himself was involved in these schemes.

The same is true of President Grant, whose administration heretofore has occupied the pinnacle of public graft. On his watch, a so-called “Gold Ring” tried to corner the gold market, sparking a financial panic. Most infamous was the Credit Mobilier scandal, in which railroad stock was given or sold at steep discounts to top Republican politicians, including Grant’s two vice presidents and members of Congress.

The ringmaster of graft in Trump’s second administration is the president himself. There are so many examples that it’s hard to know where to begin.

In blatant violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause — which bars U.S. government officials from accepting gifts from foreign potentates — Trump eagerly accepted a $400 million 747 jet from the Royal Family of Qatar. Shortly afterwards, he publicly vowed to defend the oil-rich Persian Gulf sheikdom. 

Previous presidents have divested financial assets or put them in blind trusts to avoid profiting from public service. Unfazed by appearances of impropriety, Trump is an avid player in the stock market.

John Avlon reports that his stock portfolio made 3,600 trades — 60 a day — in the first quarter of this year alone. Trump also holds positions in companies with major business before the government, like Nvidia. Its stock soared after the White House lifted a ban on selling advanced AI chips to China.

Trump claims he can’t be accused of insider trading because his sons manage the family’s investments. But when it comes to monetizing ties to a powerful relative, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. make Hunter Biden look like a piker.

They have joined with the family of Steven Witcoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, to start a cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial. The United Arab Emirates, another rich kingdom, made a $2 billion investment using a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial. Two weeks later, the Emirates struck a deal with the Trump administration — the first of its kind — giving them access to advanced U.S. AI chips. 

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a powerful member of the Abu Dhabi Emirate’s royal family known as the “spy sheikh,” secretly shelled out $500 million to buy a 49 percent stake in World Liberty Financial.

An overt pay-to-play culture pervades the Trump White House. According to an American Bar Association report, “The Trump administration has exchanged government benefits, appointments, pardons, and policy decisions for financial contributions from wealthy individuals, corporations and foreign governments.”

Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, who was serving a four-month prison sentence for violating anti-money laundering laws. Binance provided the fledgling World Liberty Financial with technical support and helped secure the Emirates’ massive investment in the Trump-Witcoff venture.

As Trump’s job approval has plummeted, his personal wealth has surged. Forbes estimates that his net worth, $3.9 billion in 2024, has grown to around $6.6 billion since his reelection. 

In a healthy democracy, Trump’s ethical sleaze would be considered eminently impeachable. But a cowardly Republican Congress has largely ignored his cynical and greedy buckraking. 

The Senate finally showed some backbone by blocking Trump’s plot to hit up U.S. taxpayers for a $1.8 billion slush fund to reward his political allies, like the Jan. 6 rioters convicted of crimes. It could strike another blow for probity by rejecting Trump’s shady nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche.

Ultimately, though, it’s up to U.S. voters to shut down Trump’s unprecedented carnival of corruption, starting in November. 

Will Marshall is president and founder of Progressive Policy Institute, The Hill and LuLac) 

 

 

TRUMP AND VANDALISM

HE’S GUILTY OF THIS ALL RIGHT

 

JUDGE SAYS SODA AND CANDY OKAY FOR SNAP

The federal government can’t block benefits from the nation’s largest food aid program from being used to buy candy, soda and other sugary drinks, a judge ruled.

Monday’s ruling scuttles restrictions now in place or planned for the federally funded and state-run Supplemental Nutrition Assistance  

Program in 23 states. President Donald Trump’s administration has not said whether it will appeal to a higher court.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who sits in Washington and was nominated to the bench by former President Barack Obama, said in her opinion that the ruling was because the federal government did not follow its own definition of “food.” She said it wasn’t a comment on whether the restrictions are a good idea.

“The federal defendants and the states may have a genuine desire to improve the health of SNAP households by encouraging healthy choices at the store, and they can take lawful steps to meet those goals,” she wrote. “But what they cannot do is violate the law and their own regulations along the way.”

Jackson said the main legal misstep in restricting what SNAP benefits could buy came because it ran contrary to Congress’s definition of “food.”

Under the law, SNAP benefits — formerly known as food stamps — can be used for “any food or food product for home consumption except alcoholic beverages, tobacco, hot foods or hot food products ready for immediate consumption.”

The government can waive requirements, but limiting use of the benefits to improve nutrition isn’t listed as a reason to do so. Yet when states asked the Agriculture Department to let them restrict purchases, their requests included using alternate definitions of “food.

The Agriculture Department has not said whether it intends to appeal the ruling.

The case is among scores of challenges to Trump administration policies that hinge on whether the administration has the authority to change policies without congressional approval.

While it’s a big program helping nearly 39 million Americans — about 1 in 9 — buy groceries, SNAP is normally relatively low-profile. That’s been different since Trump returned to office last year.

Trump and his billionaire thieves are denying poor people the same think rich bitches and bastards routinely buy. This lack of compassion is typical Trump and GOP policy of the three Cs, Cruelty, Chaos and Crazy. (AP, LuLac)

 

CRAZY ASS REPUBLICANS ARE AT IT IN LUZERNE COUNTY

The crazy ass Republican party is at it again signing a petition to jettison county government itself by trying to put the ordinance of anti-discrimination voted on by a majority of county council people who were elected by a majority of voters in a general election on the ballot. Why?

Because the poor little babies think it’s going to destroy the county. Now they won’t give you a reason as to why but they will tell you it’s about immigration and transgender crap. They’ll tell you jobs will be lost, that freedom (which by the way is only good for them) and not everyone else will be involved.

Years ago there was a political party called the Know Nothings. The name for this party,. This GOP party of Trump devotees and election deniers should be called, “I’m Against’ It”. Here’s the perfect theme song for these morons.

 

GERALD FORD

THE BICENTENNIAL

PRESIDENT

Military, 

Congressman,

Unoffensive bridge builder

Part 3

 Following the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Ford enlisted in the Navy.[31] He received a commission as ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve on April 13, 1942. On April 20, he reported for active duty to the V-5 instructor school at Annapolis, Maryland. After one month of training, he went to Navy Preflight School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he was one of 83 instructors and taught elementary navigation skills, ordnance, gunnery, first aid, and military drill. In addition, he coached all nine sports that were offered, but mostly swimming, boxing, and football. During the year he was at the Preflight School, he was promoted to Lieutenant, Junior Grade, on June 2, 1942, and to lieutenant, in March 1943.

Sea duty

After Ford applied for sea duty, he was sent in May 1943 to the pre-commissioning detachment for the new aircraft carrier USS Monterey (CVL-26), at New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey. From the ship's commissioning on June 17, 1943, until the end of December 1944, Ford served as the assistant navigator, Athletic Officer, and antiaircraft battery officer on board the Monterey. While he was on board, the carrier participated in many actions in the Pacific Theater with the Third and Fifth Fleets in late 1943 and 1944. In 1943, the carrier helped secure Makin Island in the Gilberts, and participated in carrier strikes against Kavieng, Papua New Guinea in 1943. During the spring of 1944, the Monterey supported landings at Kwajalein and Eniwetok and participated in carrier strikes in the Marianas, Western Carolines, and northern New Guinea, as well as in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. After an overhaul, from September to November 1944, aircraft from the Monterey launched strikes against Wake Island, participated in strikes in the Philippines and Ryukyus, and supported the landings at Leyte and Mindoro.

Ford received the following military awards: the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with nine 3⁄16" bronze stars (for operations in the Gilbert Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, Marshall Islands, Asiatic and Pacific carrier raids, Hollandia, Marianas, Western Carolines, Western New Guinea, and the Leyte Operation), the Philippine Liberation Medal with two 3⁄16" bronze stars (for Leyte and Mindoro), and the World War II Victory Medal. He was honorably discharged in February 1946.

After Ford returned to Grand Rapids in 1946, he became active in local Republican politics, and supporters urged him to challenge Bartel J. Jonkman, the incumbent Republican congressman. Military service had changed his view of the world. "I came back a converted internationalist", Ford wrote, "and of course our congressman at that time was an avowed, dedicated isolationist. And I thought he ought to be replaced. Nobody thought I could win. I ended up winning two to one."

During his first campaign in 1948, Ford visited voters at their doorsteps and as they left the factories where they worked. Ford also visited local farms where, in one instance, a wager resulted in Ford spending two weeks milking cows following his election victory.

Ford was a member of the House of Representatives for 25 years, holding Michigan's 5th congressional district seat from 1949 to 1973. It was a tenure known for its modesty. As an editorial in The New York Times described him, Ford "saw himself as a negotiator and a reconciler, and the record shows it: he did not write a single piece of major legislation in his entire career." Appointed to the United States House Committee on Appropriations two years after being elected, he was a prominent member of the United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. Ford described his philosophy as "a moderate in domestic affairs, an internationalist in foreign affairs, and a conservative in fiscal policy."  He voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, and 1968, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[49][50][51] Ford was known to his colleagues in the House as a "Congressman's Congressman".

In the early 1950s, Ford declined offers to run for either the U.S. Senate or the Michigan governorship. Rather, his ambition was to become Speaker of the House, which he called "the ultimate achievement. To sit up there and be the head honcho of 434 other people and have the responsibility, aside from the achievement, of trying to run the greatest legislative body in the history of mankind ... I think I got that ambition within a year or two after I was in the House of Representatives".

 

Warren Commission

On November 29, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Ford to the Warren Commission, a special task force set up to investigate the ate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Ford was assigned to prepare a biography of accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. He and Earl Warren also interviewed Jack Ruby, Oswald's killer. According to a 1963 FBI memo that was released to the public in 2008, Ford was in contact with the FBI throughout his time on the Warren Commission and relayed information to the deputy director, Cartha DeLoach, about the panel's activities. In 1965, he published Portrait of the Assassin, co-written with John R. Stiles, which defended the Warren Report. It has been described as essentially the Warren Report repackaged as a non-fiction book.[58] Again, in the preface to his 2007 book, A Presidential Legacy and The Warren Commission, Ford defended the work of the commission and reiterated his support of its conclusions.

House Minority Leader (1965–1973)

Four men in suits are outdoors, speaking to each other in front of a large white automobile.

Congressman Gerald Ford, MSFC director Wernher von Braun, Congressman George H. Mahon, and NASA Administrator James E. Webb visit the Marshall Space Flight Center for a briefing on the Saturn program, 1964.

In 1964, Lyndon Johnson led a landslide victory for his party, secured another term as president and took 36 seats from Republicans in the House of Representatives. Following the election, members of the Republican caucus looked to select a new minority leader. Three members approached Ford to see if he would be willing to serve; after consulting with his family, he agreed. After a closely contested election, Ford was chosen to replace Charles Halleck of Indiana as minority leader.  The members of the Republican caucus that encouraged and eventually endorsed Ford to run as the House minority leader were later known as the "Young Turks". One of the members of the Young Turks was congressman Donald H. Rumsfeld from Illinois's 13th congressional district, who later on would serve in Ford's administration as the chief of staff and secretary of defense.

With a Democratic majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Johnson Administration proposed and passed a series of programs that was called by Johnson the "Great Society". During the first session of the Eighty-ninth Congress alone, the Johnson Administration submitted 87 bills to Congress, and Johnson signed 84, or 96%, arguably the most successful legislative agenda in Congressional history.

In 1966, criticism over the Johnson Administration's handling of the Vietnam War began to grow, with Ford and Congressional Republicans expressing concern that the United States was not doing what was necessary to win the war. Public sentiment also began to move against Johnson, and the 1966 midterm elections produced a 47-seat swing in favor of the Republicans. This was not enough to give Republicans a majority in the House, but the victory gave Ford the opportunity to prevent the passage of further Great Society programs.

Ford's private criticism of the Vietnam War became public knowledge after he spoke from the floor of the House and questioned whether the White House had a clear plan to bring the war to a successful conclusion. The speech angered President Johnson, who accused Ford of having played "too much football without a helmet".

As minority leader in the House, Ford appeared in a popular series of televised press conferences with Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen, in which they proposed Republican alternatives to Johnson's policies. Many in the press jokingly called this "The Ev and Jerry Show". Johnson said at the time, "Jerry Ford is so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time." The press, used to sanitizing Johnson's language, reported this as "Gerald Ford can't walk and chew gum at the same time."

After Richard Nixon was elected president in November 1968, Ford's role shifted to being an advocate for the White House agenda. Congress passed several of Nixon's proposals, including the National Environmental Policy Act and the Tax Reform Act of 1969. Another high-profile victory for the Republican minority was the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act. Passed in 1972, the act established a revenue sharing program for state and local governments. Ford's leadership was instrumental in shepherding revenue sharing through Congress, and resulted in a bipartisan coalition that supported the bill with 223 votes in favor (compared with 185 against).

During the eight years from 1965 to 1973 that Ford served as minority leader, he received many friends in the House because of his fair leadership and inoffensive personality.

 

PA-08 TO “TOSS-UP” AS NEPA VOTERS CONTINUE TO LEARN PAIGE COGNETTI’S RECORD OF RESULTS AND BRESNAHAN’S CORRUPTION

The non-partisan race rater cited Bresnahan’s “finances” and “health care issues” in their update

SCRANTON, PA – Non-partisan race rater Inside Elections today shifted their rating of Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District to “Toss Up” as more Northeastern Pennsylvanians reject Congressman Rob Bresnahan’s corruption and self-serving record and momentum builds behind Paige Cognetti’s campaign to shake up Washington.

In response to the ratings shift, Paige issued the following statement:

“I didn’t plan to run for Congress. I love my job as mayor. But I couldn’t stand by while a broken Washington prioritizes special interests and personal profit over NEPA families. Congressman Bresnahan is the poster child of this corruption and we deserve better. Challenging the system to deliver for Pennsylvanians is what I do. I took on the local Democratic machine to clean up city hall and I will bring the fight for reform to DC to deliver a government that serves the people, not selfish politicians.

 

This change follows a rating update from Cook Political in April, which also shifted the race toward Paige to “Toss Up.” These changes reflect a growing momentum behind Paige’s campaign, which has received the endorsement of several local labor unions and Governor Shapiro, who won Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District by more than 9 percentage points during his statewide victory in 2022. Polling conducted around Paige’s launch shows she is already in the lead, starting up 45% – 43% against Bresnahan.

 

ABOUT PAIGE:

Paige Cognetti lives in Scranton with her husband and two daughters. Prior to her tenure as Mayor, Paige served on the Scranton School Board in 2017 and as a special assistant to the Pennsylvania Auditor General in 2018 where she worked to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in government.

In 2019, Paige ran for mayor of Scranton as an Independent, taking on the local political establishment in a campaign that was referred to as “Paige Against The Machine.” Paige chose to run as an Independent after the then-mayor resigned after pleading guilty to federal bribery, conspiracy and extortion charges. Paige stunned Scranton’s political establishment when she won thanks to her promise to clean up the corruption in Scranton. Paige was the first woman ever elected Scranton Mayor, and was eight months pregnant when she won. Paige ran for reelection as a Democrat in 2021, winning a full term with over 71% of the vote and beating the Machine again. She beat the longtime local Democratic boss with 76% of the vote in the Democratic Primary in May of 2025. 

As Mayor of Scranton, Paige has made government reform a top priority. In office she has:

Turned down the city government car and gas card

Eliminated cash payments and took on no bid contracts

Took on utilities and fought big businesses gouging consumers

Held more than 100 public events across every neighborhood in the city

Cut red tape, slashing building permit fees

Led the city’s credit rating to investment-grade status

Saved millions for taxpayers by refinancing bonds

Paige has reinvigorated the city’s finances and helped attract new businesses while simultaneously laying a solid foundation for a brighter future — restoring confidence through responsible government and reimagining outdated ways of doing business.

Now Paige is running for Congress to clean up corruption in Washington and give the people of NEPA a Congresswoman who will work just as hard as they do. Congressman Bresnahan campaigned on a pledge to ban congressional stock trading, but has instead made more than 600 trades worth millions in assets since arriving in Washington. When pressed by WVIA on why he won’t stop trading stocks while in office, Bresnahan – who has reported assets in the tens of millions – complained that he did not want to “lose money and go broke.” Most recently, unearthed audio revealed that Bresnahan admitted to speaking with his financial advisor about his upcoming stock positions while voting in Congress.

 

KEYSTONE STATE CHALLENGE ACADEMY FOR AT-RISK TEENS GRADUATES FIRST CLASS OF 2026, OFFERING LIFE SKILLS AND CAREER PREPARATION

Keystone State ChalleNGe Academy for at-risk teens graduates 56 cadets from the 22-week residential phase of the program, offering life skills and career preparation for a brighter future, a priority of the Shapiro administration.

56 cadets from the Keystone State ChalleNGe Academy (KSCA) graduated from the 22-week residential phase of the program on their way to a brighter future.

The KSCA is designed to give challenged teens a second chance at obtaining their basic education and the opportunity to learn leadership, self-discipline and responsibility, while working toward finishing their education and building a better life. In addition to academic work and career training, the cadets participated in and completed 2,467 hours of community service throughout the program, including volunteering at food banks, assisting with the annual March for the Fallen, along with maintaining cemetery, park and military ceremony grounds

Along with aiding the community, their efforts are estimated to have saved up to $89,157.38 in labor costs. The cadets will now complete a 24-month mentorship phase of the program throughout their various communities while they pursue their future endeavors.

 

MEDIA MATTERS

WVIA RADIO 

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

WATERGATE

June 1972

The Watergate scandal, or simply Watergate, was a political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon. On June 17, 1972, operatives associated with Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign were caught burglarizing and planting listening devices in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at Washington, D.C.'s Watergate complex. Nixon's efforts to conceal his administration's involvement led to an impeachment process and his resignation in August 1974.

Emerging from the White House's efforts to stop leaks, the break-in was an implementation of Operation Gemstone, enacted by mostly Cuban burglars led by former intelligence agents E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy. After the arrests, investigators and reporters like The Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein—guided by the source "Deep Throat"—exposed a White House political espionage program illegally funded by donor contributions. Nixon denied involvement but his administration destroyed evidence, obstructed investigators, and bribed the burglars. This cover-up initially worked, helping Nixon win a landslide re-election, until revelations from the burglars' 1973 trial led to a Senate investigation.

Mounting pressure led Attorney General Elliot Richardson to appoint Archibald Cox as Watergate special prosecutor. Cox subpoenaed Nixon's Oval Office tapes—suspected to include Watergate conversations—but Nixon invoked executive privilege to block their release, triggering a constitutional crisis. In the "Saturday Night Massacre", Nixon fired Cox, forcing the resignations of the attorney general and his deputy and fueling suspicions of Nixon's involvement. Nixon released select tapes, although one was partially erased and two others disappeared. In April 1974, Cox's replacement Leon Jaworski reissued the subpoena, but Nixon provided only redacted transcripts. In July, the Supreme Court ordered the tapes' release, and the House Judiciary Committee recommended impeachment for obstructing justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. The White House released the "Smoking Gun" tape, showing that Nixon ordered the CIA to stop the FBI's investigation. Facing impeachment, on August 9, 1974, Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign. In total, 69 people were charged for Watergate—including two cabinet members—and most pleaded guilty or were convicted. Nixon was pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford.

Watergate, often considered the greatest presidential scandal, tarnished Nixon's legacy and had electoral ramifications for the Republican Party: heavy losses in the 1974 midterm elections and Ford's failed 1976 reelection bid. Despite significant coverage, no consensus exists on the motive for the break-in or who specifically ordered it. Theories range from an incompetent break-in by rogue campaign officials to a sexpionage operation or CIA plot. The scandal has generated over 30 memoirs and had such historical impact that the suffix -gate entered the lexicon globally to denote scandals, even those outside of American politics……and this week in 1972 the number one song in LuLac land and America was “The Candy Man” by Sammy Davis, Jr. with the Mike Curb Congregation.

 

 

 

 

The LuLac Edition #5, 694, June 24th, 2026

 

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY

Our “Write on Wednesday” logo

This week’s article centers on a letter writer who calls out the lies of the Luzerne County Republican party regarding the anti-discrimination   ordinance passed by County Council a few weeks ago. It speaks to the misleading information given by the county GOP in its efforts to remain relevant after losing huge in the last election. 

 

LETTER CALLING OUT GOP LIES FROM LUZERNE COUNTY GOP 

I say this with respect: the Luzerne County Anti-Discrimination ordinance does not make undocumented immigrants a protected class, as some are falsely claiming.

The law simply mirrors existing federal civil rights protections against discrimination based on national origin or lawful citizenship status. It references Section 1324b of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which only protects people who are lawfully present in the U.S.—citizens, green card holders, refugees, and asylees. Undocumented immigrants are not covered under that federal definition, so they are not covered under this ordinance either. Nowhere in its 18 pages does it say it protects “illegal aliens.”

What the ordinance actually does is prevent discrimination in jobs, housing, healthcare, education, and public spaces. It helps veterans, people with disabilities, domestic violence survivors, families with children, and people using housing vouchers. It doesn’t change anyone’s immigration status, override federal law, or hand out special rights.

It also doesn’t make it easier to sue. Section 302.1Q states plainly that nothing in it requires an employer to hire, promote, or keep an employee who isn’t qualified. Being unqualified remains a lawful reason for denial. And people can already file discrimination complaints under state and federal law. This ordinance just creates a local process so problems get solved faster through a county investigation, mediation, and findings by the Human Relations Commission instead of waiting 18 to 24 months for the state.

That actually reduces lawsuits by settling most issues close to home.

Meanwhile, we face an affordable housing crisis and data centers eyeing our land. I live here too, and I want our priorities aligned with our community’s real needs.

If I’m wrong, please enlighten me. I’m always up for an honest conversation.

Can we please focus on the real issues?

 

Holly Spece

Forty Fort