King Levinsky

In 1964, a young Cassius Clay trained in south Miami Beach for his first fight against Sonny Liston. At that time, this section of the city was home to mostly retired Jews on fixed income. The hotels, decades after their prime, became pension rooming houses. Decades later, these same buildings would be restored to their art deco splendor, creating today's South Beach. As Clay trained, a middle aged punch drunk necktie peddler told him, "After Liston punches your head, you'll be selling ties with me." The street peddler was a fixture in Miami Beach. He didn't ask, he told people they were going to buy a tie. The future champ probably didn't realize that the heckler was none other than King Levinsky, legend of the 1930's, and veteran of over 118 heavyweight fights. Levinsky was born Harris Krakow in Chicago, and worked at his parent's fish market on Maxwell Street, the Jewish section during the roaring twenties. Although he never got a title shot, and weighed only 185, he fought all the leading heavyweights of his time, including the 265lb. giant, Primo Carnera. Managed by his sister Lena, he was known never to turn down a fight, including those against Max Baer.

reprinted from February of  2009

photo shows Levinsky with sister/manager Lena in 1932

Molovinsky Scales Back New Radio Division

Molovinsky Publishing, after just announcing a daily radio show last week,  has cancelled its studio buildout and subleased the space.  Michael Molovinsky, President and CFO, expressed fears that the studio would be shut down by the city. After J.B. Reilly's City Center RE declined to rent us space, we ended up in a older building. I saw what happen to the tenants in another non-Reilly older building,  

Although  Radio Molovinsky will not be a daily, Molovinsky himself will produce an occasional broadcast from a commercial studio in Radio City Music Hall. I don't relish traveling to NYC, and will be looking for a closer sound studio.

The initial episodes are archived, and remain accessible through the Radio Molovinsky link.

There will be a new episode today,  airing at 6:30AM, hopefully for your listening pleasure.

You Don't Have To Be Antisemitic To Be anti-Zionist, But It Helps

I have been a continuous subscriber to the Morning Call for over 50 years. Back in the day, anti-Israel letters to the editor were a common event, and this was long before conflicts with Hamas or other Palestinian factions. 

Gary Olson and Vincent Stravino of Bethlehem were regular writers of that persuasion. When I would occasionally send a reply to their pieces, my submissions were not given the automatic editor acceptance they received. 

I was surprised to see a recent piece by George Heitman who explained that Israel was responding to an entity dedicated to Israel's destruction. Mr. Heitman acknowledged that Israel was badly losing the public relations war, but that their enemy left them no alternative. 

Zionism is the appreciation of the Jewish homeland. Jews have lived continously in the Holy Land since biblical times. The two-state solution has been rejected by the Palestinians and the Arab world numerous times. Today, many people use the term Zionist as a derogatory term, meant as an insult and slur.

I have yet to meet an anti-Zionist who ever had much use for Jews.

Housing Court For Allentown

The Morning Call picked up on a woke premise that perhaps Allentown should have a special tenant court, which would provide or steer tenants facing evictions to legal council. With such council, tenants have statistically staved off eviction longer.

I happen to know quite a bit about this. For 35 years I operated a number of apartments in center city. In all those years I never received one building code violation, or had one complaint by a tenant. However, I did have to file evictions. 

Allentown became a poorer city quite rapidly. Competing social agencies handed out money for rent and security deposit. As news of these giveaways spread to New Jersey and New York, low income people flocked to Allentown. 

Allentown now has a large core of low income people. Unfortunately, some of these people are also low-discipline. While they could afford their apartment, paying rent isn't a priority for them. At the same time real estate prices have risen dramatically. Recent landlords need a steady rent flow to meet their debt service. 

What would be worse for Allentown than evicted tenants, much worse, would be abandoned buildings.

The Shadow Returns

In 2009, I presented a series of posts as the Shadow Mayor. I contended that I donned a janitor outfit and worked undetected in City Hall, where I was able to ascertain secrets and shenanigans concerning the Pawlowski Administration.  Whether that disguise was real or fictional, this blog's disclosures, along with those of blogger Bernie O'Hare, became of interest to the FBI years later, in their investigation of Allentown.

The Shadow retired during Ray O'Connell's time in the fifth floor, but now is coming back, to monitor Matthew Tuerk. I must clarify that I suspect no shenanigans or illegality from Tuerk, whatsoever, but rather think that his policies need surveillance. 

I have been told that he has run out of flags to raise from the Caribbean, Central and South America, and now is looking to Africa for sister cities. He also supposedly wants to make Genderfluid Identity Support a cabinet position.

I apologize for being a dinosaur, and thinking that Mayor Tuerk is too concerned with things beyond the proper scope of city government.  Although I will not reveal my new disguise, I will admit that I have dyed my hair. Although Tuerk wants to protect every possible type of personal choice, I heard that regard for the elderly isn't high on his priority list. In Tuerk's younger and younger City Hall, my gray hair would have given me away.

above reprinted from November of 2022 

ADDENDUM MARCH 6, 2024:Mayor Tuerk is excited about the iconic PPL building being sold for apartments. It sold for $9million, which is less than a fraction of its replacement cost. As a Shadow Mayor, I would be excited if it was being turned into condominiums, where a group of invested owners might create a demand for some vibrancy downtown.

Meanwhile, outside of Reillyville in Realityville, there was another shooting this past weekend on the east side. We learned that the victims are not cooperating with the police...Apparently, there were no innocents involved.

As  Shadow Mayor, I would be excited to take non-cooperating shooting victims and roust them out of town!

RADIO MOLOVINSKY

Wednesday morning, March 6th at 6:30AM, I hope to kick off a live internet radio program. I'm starting with 15minute segments as I explore and learn about the medium. I invite my fellow early morning humans to join me putting together an alternative talk venue for independent conservatives. Use the link below to find the program.

Radio Molovinsky