Looking For A Motive In Ohio

Main stream media tells us that the authorities are looking for a motive as to why the young angry Muslim immigrant attacked people at Ohio State.  Needless to say, I find the inquiry mind boggling.  With open hearts and closed eyes we have become easy targets.  We worry more about xenophobia and political correctness, than security. Our college professors want to label our self preservation instincts as racist.  We hide from the reality of our enemy's blind hatred, and instead concentrate on weapons, like gun control. The weapons used in Ohio were a car and kitchen knife.

While our social scientists look for complex answers, hopefully our government will resort to simple procedures, like increased vetting.

During WW2, the navy didn't have time to psychoanalyze each kamikaze pilot.

Unfriending The Election Results

Before and since the election, I have been amused by reactions to Donald Trump. One facebook friend started to unfriend people yesterday that support Trump. Others are even less tolerant, and will unfriend those who don't loudly condemn Trump. They just cannot be associated with any possible connection to racism or xenophobia, even if contrived. I suspect that the next four years will be tough on them. Although, I do not believe that their characterizations are fair, this post isn't intended to defend Trump, but rather note the mindset of those so upset. Meanwhile, they feel free to viciously demonize, ridicule and mock anyone they suspect remotely connected to the evil one.

Counselors were actually recommending that family members didn't discuss the election at their Thanksgiving dinner. Nonsense like that makes bastards like me grin, and I don't smile that often.

The Marginalization of Dr. Stein

When Jill Stein campaigned for President she defended herself against taking votes away from Hillary.  She claimed that Hillary was just the status quo, and not really progressive.  The Green Party is now saying that they're not doing the recount for the benefit of any one candidate, but for democracy. Well, we know that they're not doing it for Jill, because she only got about 1% of the vote.  She is now getting more contributions for the recount than her campaign generated.  She has become a willing tool for those despondent over Hillary's loss.  Clinton's campaign staff will be on the ground monitoring the recount.

Trump's victory was pure democracy.  He had no get out the vote organization,  no ground game.  If history will show any shenanigans in the 2016 election, it will be in this recount,  not on November 8th.  As someone who ran himself for office twice as an independent,  I find this action disappointing.  It depreciates the Green Party to the children's Junior Achievement section of the Democratic Party. In essence, Stein is a front for Hillary to recant her concession.  Jill Stein's legacy will be the confirmation of Trump's victory, instead of the principles on which she had run.

Observations From An Old Allentown Meat Market

Card carrying members of this blog know that in addition to being a son of a bitch, i'm also the son of a butcher. Because my father had a meat market, I was impressed when Wegmans opened about 15 years ago. They raised the bar for local supermarket chains. Getting on their parking lot the day before Thanksgiving was a fool's errand, until this year. On Wednesday there were plenty of spaces, I couldn't even describe the store as very crowded. What happen? The simple answer would be more competition, with Hamilton Crossings and their new offerings. I actually think that  something else was also in play.

For the last several years, Wegmans had indulged in one remodeling project after another. Although new, changing and different might appeal to their clientele in upstate New York, I don't think that they understood local Pennsylvania Dutch thinking. Make it do, wear it out, use it up, do without has been the mentality here for generations. I found the continuous remodeling annoying, and with each improvement there seemed to be less customers.

This blog has received some complaints, mostly from my distressed Democratic readers, about straying too far from the valley with my recent election posts. I wouldn't expect to hear that beef about this entry.

Allentown As The Little Apple

Before we start, if you're looking for some nice holiday sentiment, click away now, it's not here. I've called Allentown the Little Apple, but that's unfair to New York City. The comparison gives Allentown too much credit, even with the Revitalization. Understand, that the entire revitalized area is primarily owned by just one person, and that's just too freakish for anywhere, even here. Understand, that we have a newspaper that not only doesn't question that, it promotes it. Understand, that we have a mayor who is the center of a FBI investigation, who goes around like nothing's wrong. Talk about an elephant, or hippo in the room.

 reprinted from November 2015

Obama Rewards Trump Bashers

Yesterday, President Obama bestowed the Metal of Freedom upon those celebrities who bashed Trump on Hillary's behalf during the recent presidential campaign. Among those being rewarded was Robert DeNiro, who wanted to punch Trump in the face. Others who met the criterion included Tom Hanks and Bruce Springsteen.

By now, some of you may realize that I'm using this post title as a teaser and introduction to a few other issues. The hot media topic, besides the election, is fake news. With declining hard copy newspaper sales, many readers are reducing themselves to just the titles of articles that appear on their mobile devices. Although the liberal left had declared Trump voters as low information people, that description crosses party lines.

Last, but not least, allow me to mention blogging and this site. Yesterday, I noticed that a few local readers believed that an associate broke an important story. Although, that particular blogger has indeed broken many stories, yesterday's post wasn't one of them, nor did he claim that it was. That false assumption was made by some of his readers, who apparently rely on a blog for local news. Although, I imply on my sidebar to have extra-terrestrial sources, it may not be totally true. Any insight I have about this valley is gleaned from every local news source that I can find, plus conversations with those few officials who still talk to me. Lastly, several readers have reprimanded me for posting on topics beyond the Lehigh Valley. As Steve Martin would say, EXCUSE ME.

The Alt-Left In America

Since Trump's election and Bannon's appointment, we hear of the Alt-right. Although this element is supposed to be the radical right, they were so quiet that nobody even expected Trump to win the election. They were so undemonstrative that nobody saw his victory coming. However, since Tuesday November 8th, what do we call those now acting out? The media has politely designated them protestors.

Vice President Pence went to a popular broadway show last week. The actors apparently couldn't resist the temptation to reprimand him from the stage after the show. Never mind that the new administration is still about 7 weeks away from assuming office, and at least months more from any policy change in this country. College presidents, including local ones from the Lehigh Valley, have signed a letter to Trump asking him to repudiate hatred against minorities. I didn't know that Trump invented bigotry or prejudice, but is apparently now responsible when it appears. I do know that nobody ever expected President Obama to address anti-Semitism on American campuses.

According to the left, everybody Trump considers for appointment is a racist. They have been using that derogatory term very loosely. Allow me to annoy my liberal readers a bit more. It wouldn't surprise me to find that some of the intolerant incidents being attributed to Trump supporters are in fact dirty tricks.    I suspect that most Trump supporters are content enough by the election results to relax. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the other side.

Obama Saves Planet Earth

You may recall that President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize before beginning his first term. It was bestowed upon him in hope of the change he promised to bring. Now, in an equally inspiring gesture, he has instructed his contemporaries in Europe to continue cooperating with the United States, even with Donald Trump. He has in essence given the world permission to keep turning, even with his departure. Now, if Germany and the other European nations do continue cooperating with the most powerful nation on earth remains to be seen, but they surely would not have without Obama's recommendation. They had been looking forward to weaning themselves against America's money in supporting NATO, United Nations and every other institution mostly bankrolled by United States. Some conservatives thought Obama was just an easy smile, with virtually no foreign policy chops, but this last trip sure set the record straight.

A draft of this post was inadvertently published for several minutes this past weekend.