Trump's Constitutional Ignorance

When a giant portrait of a sitting president is unfurled over the Justice Department, our democracy has a problem. When a sitting president says "I'm ashamed of certain members of the (Supreme) court. Absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what's right for our country," our democracy has a problem. When a sitting president claims that the Supreme Court is “very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution." we have a problem.

As Trump berated the Supreme Court, it became indisputably clear that he is unfit for the Presidency. He doesn't know and understand the difference between the branches of our government. The sycophants that surround him, many of whom are lawyers, have compromised themselves for their careers.

The only tool we have to defend our system of government is the ballot box. None of the Republicans running, even for special elections, have repudiated Trump.

FCC Courting Women

The FCC is investigating whether The View violated the equal time doctrine with a segment featuring JamesTalarico, an anti-administration senate candidate from Texas. Their premise is that liberal politicians and liberal media are using entertainment shows to bypass long established equal time rules by conventional news sources. The Talarico controversy also recently surfaced on the Stephen Colbert show.

I question whether conventional news sources still exist. All the stations now-a-days seem to have a slant, one way or another. What is new is weaponizing these agencies, such as the FCC.

Not to reveal my sexism, but isn't there an old expression about a woman's scorn? Attacking The View before the midterms must have James Carville snickering. Talk about snickering, The Morning Call just gave Ryan Mackenzie promotion to announce that he doesn't know about any ICE detention centers planned for Lehigh Valley. Considering they're planning one next door in Berks County, why would they build one here? They're not McDonalds, not yet anyway.

Divide And Conquer For Allentown's 22nd District

During last week's debate for the Special Election to fill Josh Siegel's vacated Pa. House Seat, Ana Tiburcio on several occasions answered that she was not familiar with a particular issue. Meanwhile, on the dais, Bob Smith was animated and appeared more informed. Now keep in mind that Tiburcio just learned that she was a candidate after Julian Guridy disqualified himself. Smith, meanwhile, had run in the past.

Immediately, in response to Tiburcio's performance, several people have called for writing in Ce-Ce Gerlach, who is a candidate for the full term primary in May. It occurs to me that the intention of promoting a write-in vote is to divide the Democratic vote for Smith's benefit. 

There are people, such as streetwise activist Eddie Aviles, who feel that if Tiburcio wins, she may well go on to win the full term in November of 2026, and that she is the least qualified of all three previously mentioned.

photocredit:VictorMartinez/101.7FM

Radio Returns To Center City

In 1952, WSAN opened its office and studio at 39 N. 10th Street. A pioneer in local radio, the station started in 1923. Although long filled in, next to the door there was a microphone carved into the granite.  In 1982, the station sponsored a contest with three men living on a Rt.22 billboard. The stunt lasted 261 days and attracted national attention.

In the 1990's, former WAEB DJ Guy Ackley produced his iconic radio ads from a sound both inside his advertising agency at 7th & Linden. Bobby Gunther Walsh has hosted a morning show on WAEB with a conservative theme for decades. While Republicans flock there for exposure, for Walsh it's just a gig.

Victor Martinez is building a new studio for his La Mega 101.7FM (WTKZ) on the upper floor of a building in the 600 block of Hamilton. Unlike the Dopey Duncan era of Pennsylvania Dutch, the Martinez show is completely in Spanish. While mostly music, Martinez does produce a news segment.

This blogger is looking for some early morning microphone time, for a balanced discussion of issues local and beyond.

shown above 1982 billboard stunt

An Allentown Story

My grandfather was a wholesale butcher who would deliver meat to corner stores with a horse and wagon.  Family lore has it that on a Sunday, the horse would not take the family on its social outing until he first completed the store route. My grandfather passed away when I was two, and of course I have no memory of the horse and wagon era.

The family lived on the corner of Chew and Jordan, with a small barn structure behind the yard on current Jute St. In a the late 1960's, a friend wanted to show me his younger brother's hot rod, which he was building in a rented garage somewhere in town. 

As we approached the garage, while the brother and hot rod were unknown to me, the structure wasn't. When Jim worked on his car, he had no idea that fifty years earlier my grandfather harnessed his horse to his wagon in the same garage. The old wooden garage is no longer there, but the house, now over a century old, shelters on.

Jim, like his father before him, would go on to work for Mack Truck. When Mack moved production to Winnsboro, South Carolina in 1987, Jim went with them. While production there only lasted for 15 years, today there is a community of retired Mack workers and their children still living around Winnsboro. Allentown officials over the years establish sister cities for political benefit, but Winnsboro really is connected.

Mackenzie Español

After I wrote the post on Wednesday about Trump torpedoing Ryan Mackenzie with his Bad Bunny rant, I was wondering how long it would take Mackenzie to try and make nice with the valley's Puerto Ricans. On Thursday he had himself photographed with some Latino officials. I expect a trip to the island is also on the horizon.

Will a couple photo ops be enough to help Mackenzie come November...I doubt it. I think if he really had bucked the boss, if he had reprimanded Trump at the time, that would have played very well with the Latino community. 

Mackenzie is playing the odds. He wants to keep his MAGA support, and do damage control with the Spanish speaking voters. I think that his real problem is going to be with the independents, not the cross-over Democrats.