Anything Anti-Trump Is Tolerated

I have a liberal acquaintance who has no toleration for any humor that is at the expense of homosexuals. He is even offended when you're not up to date on current designations of the various gay groups and new subgroups.  However, he wasn't offended by Stephen Colbert's homophobic remark about Trump and Putin.  Of course, worst than these late night jokes, is that the Democrats are reduced to these previous second string comedians being their de-facto party leaders.  In some cases they actually believed their act and ran for office, enter Al Franken.  I see commercials for Samantha Bee, whoever the hell she is.  In every one she is bashing Trump.  What would all these comedians do had Hillary won?

Meanwhile, in the real world, Trump has been assembling a first rate team, like Rex Tillerson and Jim Mattis.  The actions taken, such as the strike on the airbase in Syria,  have been measured.  Yesterday's decision to arm the Kurds again shows realistic analysis and resolve.  However,  regardless of accomplishment or facts,  the liberals will wait up for the late night bashing.

Molovinsky As The Dour Prophesier

When I ran as the third person in 2005's mayoral race, The Morning Call gave me almost no press.  In addition to not reporting on my most important press conference, they excluded me from their sponsored debate.  My platform back then was that Allentown was becoming a poverty magnet, which would in the coming years adversely effect the housing stock and school system.  Now, don't misunderstand,  I don't think that Allentown was ready to elect an independent in 2005.  But,  the city would have benefitted from hearing my platform.

Flash ahead 12 years, and the paper is now covering all 9 candidates running, and covering them extensively.  What has changed?  The main change is the current reporter assigned to the city beat, Emily Opilo; She is excellent.  Unfortunately, for me and the city,  in 2005 the reporter was about as biased as they come.  Not surprisingly, he ended up being Mike Fleck's last employee, working on the Pawlowski senate campaign, until the FBI came to town two years ago.  Bill White now continues the bias against me, and labels me dour.  Bill White, until this eleventh hour and year, enthusiastically supported Pawlowski; That alone is enough to make someone dour.  I accept that label as a badge of my independence.

We now have Pawlowski, after installing surveillance cameras downtown, wanting gunshot sound locators.  He didn't mention that we would be needing those things back in 2005.

Frustration About Pam Geller Outside The Fearless

Unlike some bloggers who fashion themselves as reporters, I provide no contact information for tips or news.  I promote myself only as a guardian of local history, and as an informed commentator on issues of local  consequence.  Never the less, there are people who occasionally call me to vent about one topic or another. Among them is Iman Trek, a videographer and aspiring documentarian, concerned with black equality, among other issues. He was disturbed because I referenced Pamela Geller back in March; He considers her a bigot against Muslims. In the course of the conversation he mentioned that he planned to attend her upcoming event at the Fearless Fire House, and hopefully interview her.  As a disclosure, I told him that I also planned on attending.

Meanwhile, despite managing a blog, I do not do well with information technology; No online banking for me. I made a call to see if I could get a ticket set aside for me at the door, which of course I would gladly pay for. I was told absolutely not, there would be no exceptions to the ticket procurement procedure, specified by Geller's security concerns.  After purchasing the ticket online through Eventbrite,  I received emails reminding me to bring both my printed out ticket and picture ID.

Among other things, Geller is an advocate for freedom of speech; Even the freedom to speak against specific religious sub-groups,  no matter how politically incorrect that may be. Geller's agenda is not my topic here,  you must do your own research for information on her platforms.  Suffice to say she is not popular with some Muslims.

Meanwhile, when Iman Trek arrived at the Fearless Fire House, after walking there from center city,  he was denied entry, because he had not previously procured a ticket through the mandated procedure. He was not a happy camper; I heard about it in a subsequent phone call.  Understand, that from Iman's viewpoint, he walked an hour and a half to a public event, to be denied entry into someplace that seemed almost like an all white Klan House to him.

I don't think that Geller's freedom of speech also automatically gives Trek a freedom of access to listen.  If he had procured a ticket through the specified process, his entry would not have been an issue. Now, if she would have accommodated an antagonistic interview, that's another matter.

Pam Geller,Fearless At The Fearless

Last night The Lehigh Valley Tea Party invited Pam Geller to address their membership. The event was open to the public, although identification was necessary to purchase tickets. The Tea Party billed her appearance as following; Pamela Geller, a conservative activist, author, Breitbart reporter and dedicated defender of Individual Rights will join us to discuss our responsibility in protecting Free Speech. 

Although, she  certainly is a free speech advocate, we pro-Israel types also know her as a warrior princess. She is an outspoken critic of radical Jihadist violence, and those who try to minimize it through political correctness and hope for change.

It was appropriate that this fearless woman spoke at the Fearless Fire House.

ADDENDUM: The above portion of this blog post was written prior to the event.  I mention this because being fearless at the fearless wasn't lost on others.  Both the gentleman who introduced Geller used the same phrase, and Geller herself used it in regard to the audience.  Apparently, this was her first engagement that hadn't cancelled on her since the incident in Garland, Texas.  About 150 people attended the event, and many lined up afterwards for a signed copy of her book.

Activism In A Conforming Community

Why in the world would I want to question anyone's integrity or ethics? Why would I want to imply that someone is a liar? Why would I want public officials to take exception or offense at what I say? Truth be told, I take no pleasure in these confrontations. However, they are a necessary consequence of defending our history or tradition, at least with my limited skill sets. Understand, that there is seldom really due diligence in public deliberation. Instead, there are agendas to be justified by public officials. That's how South Whitehall set out to accommodate the Wildlands Conservancy demolishing Wehr's Dam. That's why the Lehigh County Commissioners have been studying Cedarbrook for years, instead of actually remodeling it. We who defend a dam, or want to see the county nursing home really be viable, must call out the officials who indulge in these dog and pony shows. They count on public decorum to allow the necessary studies to justify their pre-determined agendas. For the most part, it's called governance. For the most part, we limp by, losing a piece of our history now and then. Their hired spokespeople call it progress.

Most local newspapers are now owned by large media corporations, and the staff keep their heads down and safe. Even dissident ranting, at the beginning or end of the meetings, is no longer reported.  We activists who also blog have another outlet.  Although our audience may be miniscule compared to a newspaper,  the truth will linger on.

ADDENDUM: Bill White in his column today writes; Leave it to dour blogger Michael Molovinsky, longtime critic of The Morning Call and other targets,.... Bill is very much into grammar, I suppose dour can only be described as a pejorative adjective. Likewise, he attempts to further marginalize my endeavors by describing the Morning Call and other subjects of my scrutiny as targets.  I must be doing something right.

A Populist Evening With Trump

I watched YouTubes of both Trump's speech in Harrisburg (just the beginning), and the monologue by the host comedian at the Correspondents Dinner in Washington. Although, the press thought that the monologue was wonderful, I must say that it was Trump's evening. What he said is reality in today's America. Now, he doesn't speak as artfully as Obama spoke. There is no sophisticated wit to delight the enlightened. Certainly, there is no cool singing a verse or two, but there's reality. Truth is America was tired of Hope With No Change.

While another entertainer commented that there's no funk in the Trump, America is beginning to realize that what entertainers think isn't all that important. Article after article tries to analyze why Hillary lost the election. While these entertainers made their career and fortune portraying the Greatest Generation, they openly supported Hillary continuing Obama's nanny state; Obama-care and Obama-phones rubbed America the wrong way. It is this America that came out to vote last November 8th.  So, while the media and liberals continue to amuse themselves on Sunday morning with the NY Times Magazine, Trump will continue to fill arenas in the Harrisburgs of America.

photocredit: The Mercury News

Chris Kocher's Wildlands Conservancy Dilemma

Chris Kocher's letter to the editor,  which appeared in The Morning Call on December 7, 2014, assured the public  that the Wildlands Conservancy will respect certainly whatever decision South Whitehall Township makes about the (Wehr's) dam's future.  It was of course just a public relations gesture, knowing full well how much influence his organization welded over the township.  In reality, the Wildlands have written the township's Master Park Plan, which called for the dam's demolition.

When the Commissioners were presented with over 7,600 signatures, actually collected at the dam itself, they felt publicly pressured not to give the Wildlands permission to proceed with the demolition.  However,  they declined to proclaim the dam saved, or grant it historical designation. Likewise,  despite Kochers gesture in his letter, he made no subsequent statement.

The Commissioners then decided to hold a public referendum on funding the dam's repair, believing that the public would never vote themselves a tax increase to save the dam.  Once again they underestimated the public's regard for the beautiful historic structure.

Although Chris Kocher publicly stated that the Wildlands would back away from the dam's demolition if the Commissioners voted to save it, he never has afforded the residents of South Whitehall the same respect.  On the contrary, the Wildlands has written the state, claiming that the dam is in poorer condition than the state inspection indicated. It is now morally incumbent upon the Wildlands Conservancy to respect the wishes of the public, as affirmed through the referendum.  After writing his letter to the editor back in 2014,  hopefully Kocher has the integrity to now publicly repeat his commitment to the residents of the township.

photocredit: K Mary Hess

Confederate Flag, History or Hate

Hotel Bethlehem removed a Confederate flag this weekend that was part of a Civil War reenactment wedding. In the last several years the flag has been deemed a symbol of hate. I never associated it with something encouraging discrimination, but rather more synonymous with rebellion. I think that comparisons to Nazi flags are contrived. Although, the flag may have some association with slavery, it is not reasonably associated with the wholesale extermination of 20 million people.  But even the Nazi flag is part of history.  Understand, that during the crusades and inquisition, there were also victims of the cross.

The American Civil War is one the most studied conflicts in history. Its historical sites spread from Pennsylvania to Florida. While I can understand removing that flag from the South Carolina capital building, removing statues of General Lee from parks in New Orleans is pure revisionism. We cannot edit history on contemporary standards of political correctness. The Confederate flag is certainly appropriate in any reenactment setting.

photocredit: The Morning Call

Morning Call article on incident