Politics 2016, When Well Spoken Was No Longer Enough

I'll grant my liberal late night friends that Barack and Bill are both well spoken and cool. We saw Barack with Anthony Bourdain and Jerry Seinfeld, tres cool. You like your pols well spoken and witty. How you enjoyed Trump and Palin being ridiculed on SNL. How you loved Jon Steward bashing those low information Republicans. How you loved the beautiful entertainers campaigning for Hillary.   Well, friends, the proverbial fat lady has sung.

 Bill Clinton's explanation of Hillary's loss marks the end of his commentator days. Anybody with a shred of insight knows that the election was over well before the FBI announcement or any Russian hacking leaks. Bill's lack of candor also spells the end of Hillary, because her main credential was him. Likewise, Barack Obama's explanation of the loss was way less than candid. He was the quintessential inspirational speaker, who failed to bring any change with his hope. Democrats fail to realize that when there's no factories anymore, union bosses telling you whom to vote for doesn't carry much weight.

 There's even Republicans who loss big in this election, like the Bush clan. Of course, all this is the good news. The bad news is that I don't see this country coming together.  That would require the cooperation of the media, which is soundly married to the concept of polarization. With the country so split, it is more profitable to take a side, and stick with it. Alec Baldwin will have his Saturday night job for at least the next four years.

The Self Righteousness of the Left.

The last ditch attempt by the Democrats to reverse our election process has failed, although the results won't be official until January 6. Prevailing upon the electoral college members to vote their conscience, instead of their mandate under the Constitution,  required a heavy dose of self righteousness on the Democrat's part.  Unlike votes in swing states,  that is something in which they abound.

Worse, they don't seem to understand the true nature of their loss.  While they rave on about winning the popular vote,  but for New York City and Los Angeles,  they would have lost that also. While they rant on about not steering enough voters out to the polls on election day,  the Republicans had virtually no organized ground game under Trump.  What they did have was highly self- motivated voters, wanting to see some fundamental changes in their government.

I don't think  that the two post election strategies of having a recount, or subverting the Electoral College, will endear more voters to the Democratic Party.  Bill Clinton speaking of "angry white men", and using every excuse for Hillary's loss, won't help either.  Obama spending his final days in office muttering about Putin hacking our system, is just another example of poor losing.  He would have served righteousness better confronting Russia about the carnage in Syria.  Michelle Obama told Oprah Winfrey that the country is losing hope under president elect Trump.  She apparently doesn't understand that voters were looking for more than hope, they want progress, both for themselves and the country.

Bill White's Christmas Fruit Cake

If Pawlowski needed any indicator that his goose is cooked in Allentown, he need look no further than Bill White's column on Sunday. For the second year in a row,  Bill abandoned his usual Sunday Christmas Light Column for the low hanging fruit called Pawlowski. Last year's column already recommended that the mayor resign.  Understand, that White by nature isn't a boat rocker.  White's use of the previous mayors in the Pawlowski dream sequence was a very clever vehicle. I note that of one of the expressions he used,  shenanigans,  has appeared along with Pawlowski's name on this blog dozens of times.

Although, White has apparently decided that Pawlowski is now definitely Hall of Shame material, he  still shields the NIZ from such scrutiny.  He knows that Pawlowski really wasn't responsible for the new construction in Allentown, and that it just happen on his watch.  He knows that the NIZ is J.B. Reilly's handiwork,  who now even owns the Morning Call building and office, from where Bill wrote his column.

Since its been over a year since White called for Pawlowski's resignation, we certainly must give Mayor Ed credit for being resilient.  He may even decide to run for a 4th term.

A Bastard Blogger At Christmas

Last Wednesday's council meeting wasn't nearly as crowded as it appeared, considering that council and the mayor were finally going toe to toe.  One side of the chamber was half full with city employees, there by Pawlowski mandate.  I saw both  the park director and her foreman.  Pawlowski was giving a long soliloquy on how the budget cuts would affect each department, and the department heads were summoned for dramatic effect.  The other side of the chamber, populated by the citizenry, was about one third full.

However, if you wanted to find citizens,  you need only driven toward Lehigh Parkway Saturday night.  There, for Lights In The Parkway, the line of cars extended all along Parkway East, over Schreibers Bridge, and down Martin Luther King Drive.  When I drive through the park I see the neglected WPA structures.  I see the view and access to the creek obscured by Wildlands Conservancy Weeds. I see neglect, misappropriation, and undue outside influence.

It would be nice to only concern myself with twinkling colored lights.  Perhaps they have a pill for that.

Allentown's Runaway Monster

Allentown City Council created the monster that they are now trying to reign in.  They turned the mayor into this rebellious creature, by granting his each and every wish for eleven years.  Although that will not be the defense used by the attorney he hires to defend his budget,  it could be.  The attorney could claim that council itself conditioned the mayor to think that he was entitled to create every position he desired, and fund it to the extent that he wished.  Council for three consecutive terms never voted no against his requests.  The longest sitting member,  Julio Guridy, never had to learn  how to say "no" in English. *  Pawlowski was so strong that he actually decided who should cast his yes votes, and stacked the council to his will.  He likewise stacked every authority in Allentown with board members assigned to approve his greater agenda.

Credit the FBI for finally subduing the monster.  It was certainly something that the voters weren't up to.   It is ironic and painful that the citizens must pay for both Pawlowski's and Council's legal costs to defend their relative budgets.  However,  call it the price to pay for those eleven years of indiffernce.  As to which case will prevail,  I don't think that the taxpayers will win either way.

* please pardon my culturally insensitive little joke

News In The Lehigh Valley

One of the new terms from this election, among many, is fake news.  With so many people now getting their news and information from scrolling on a  mobile device, often a headline is what people have come to believe.  Broadcast journalism no longer really exists.  Who believes that Fox is fair and balanced? Who doesn't see the objective of MSNBC?  In our era, trying to get close to the truth is laborious and time consuming.  You have to check multiple sources, and try to distill common denominators in a story.

Here in the valley, I think that we're still pretty lucky in the news department.  It's true that we lost one of the three papers, and the other two are skeletons of their previous self.  And of course, there's certain topics which have no credibility in reporting, such as the NIZ in Allentown.  J.B. Reilly literally now owns the Morning Call building.   The fox owns the henhouse.  Although the paper would claim that there are firewalls, they have always been very thin at 6th and Linden.  That topic aside,  they are pretty good reporting the saga at City Hall,  and being forthright about crime.

WFMZ also does a good job.  Although their medium restricts them to sound bites and short segments for the tube,  their websites produces detailed stories, written by former reporters for both the Morning Call and Express Times.  How many people actually read those reports is another story.

Here in the blogosphere, you have Bernie O'Hare, who relentlessly hunts the stories. Although he has some prized politicians,  he takes his role very seriously, and includes disclosures. Then, of course there is another blogger, who writes less, and likes nobody.

ADDENDUM: The national venues,  such as Huffington Post and MSNBC,  with Trump having lost the popular vote,  are reinforced with their agenda news spin. (Same for Conservative venues, with Trump winning the election.)  Yesterday,  Rachel Maddow and MSNBC, vowed to keep the pressure on the new administration. Of course that means continue with the aspersions and inneuendos popular with their audience.  Entertainment business as usual, masquerading as news.

Trump's Brilliant Cabinet

During the campaign nothing about Trump really impressed me.  Now, that he has been elected,  I'm impressed with his cabinet formation.  While his opposers are complaining about appointing the rich, fat cat capitalists, after he swore to drain the swamp, he indeed is doing as he pledged.  These people are not being picked for their skin color or gender.  They are not being picked because they need a paycheck or career.  Each will actually sacrifice economically to serve.

What is prompting this post, at this time, is Trump reportedly has picked Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State, along with John Bolton as his deputy.  Tillerson, a $25 million a year CEO of Exxon Oil, didn't need a job or prestige. He doesn't need to be Secretary of State to help Exxon, as American Voice of Reason, claim in the facebook notice shown above.  When Trump ran he pledged to bring the best people into our government, and he seems to be doing just that.

Defending Tony The Tiger Against Breitbart

I have been defending Steve Bannon from association with white supremacy and anti-semitism. I also defend Breitbart News, from such accusations. However, I must now defend Kellogg's from Breitbart's boycott campaign against the cereal company. Kellogg's pulled their advertising from Breitbart's because of perceptions referenced above. Breitbart in turn started the boycott in response. There is no obligation for a company to advertise with a media outlet, and there should be no penalty for ending the relationship, regardless of the reason. I can only think that this tactic will hurt Breitbart more in the long term. Monetizing web sites is no easy matter.  Kellogg's undoubtedly advertised with Breitbart because of their growing readership. Although, they decided to end the relationship for political reasons,  that is their prerogative.  Breitbart's niche is being conservative in a mostly liberal field.  Perhaps the only other site of their size is Drudge Report.  I think that Breitbart should have a firewall between their editorial position and their advertising department.  To end up being boycotted after spending your advertising dollars doesn't seem a worthwhile dollar placement.  I  suspect that other potential advertisers will take notice.