Broom Needed At Allentown City Hall

When former mayor Pawlowski was convicted, there were those who called for a clean sweep of city hall.  At the time I argued against it.  I felt that the city needed the remaining institutional knowledge, and that Pawlowski's downfall would sufficiently put the necessary fear in the bureaucracy... I was wrong.

I will be appearing in District Court this morning as a witness for a harassed homeowner.  She has  apparently been victimized to accommodate a friend of a city supervisor.  Corruption is not only limited to bribery and graft, but includes abuse of power and violation of citizen rights.

About a decade ago, blogger Bernie O'Hare and I teamed up to expose some shenanigans in Pawlowski's city hall.  Although we have not cooperated for several years,  we will be sharing notes on this story.

Allentown In Fort Worth

There was a police shooting this past weekend in Fort Worth, Texas. A woman was shot in her own home, after allegedly pointing a gun toward her bedroom window, by a police officer outside in her yard. Allentown and Fort Worth have a former police chief in common.

Former Allentown police chief Joel Fitzgerald's lawyer is claiming that if he hadn't been fired from his position in Fort Worth last May, the black woman shot early Saturday morning would probably still be alive. While Fitzgerald is fighting to get his Texas job back, he omits the fact that if things had gone his way, he would have gotten the top police job in Baltimore, and would not have been in Fort Worth anyway. 

Fitzgerald was hired by former mayor Pawlowski, and resigned to take the Fort Worth job. Fitzgerald's son was given a job at Lehigh County prison, and was subsequently arrested for pointing a gun at county detectives. Although acquitted with the help of high power Philly lawyer Jack McMahon, his subsequent suit for racial profiling against the county was dismissed. McMahon would later become a daily figure in Allentown, unsuccessfully defending Pawlowski against corruption charges.

I don't know if Fitzgerald's guidance would have prevented the shooting last weekend, but he certainly has expertise when to comes to hiring lawyers.

photo of former mayor Pawlowski swearing in former police chief Fitzgerald/The Morning Call

Looking For A New Political Tribe

Swimming upstream is nothing new to me, I have never been in calm waters. Recently when I decided that I must cut bait with Donald Trump, I assumed that there would be plenty of tents available to me. I have always considered myself a conservative independent. What I'm finding out is that the country has become so polarized, that there only remains for or against Trump, nothing else.

Even such prestigious sites as AmericanThinker have a distinct slant, now pro Trump. While there are Independents Against Trump, there are no Independents for being independent. when I refer to independent, I don't mean that you won't vote for either party, but that your vote isn't based on party.

In addition to writing molovinsky on allentown since 2007, I have another blog titled Rainy Morning Chronicle. On that venue I place posts that are not Allentown centric, such as this one. If that's not enough of me, there are also two facebook pages...  Allentown Chronicles majors in Allentown history and minors in local politics. The facebook page Rainy Morning Chronicle mirrors the blog of the same name. If there are any other people out there who are not polarized,  perhaps you can direct me to your tent?

Reactions To My Trump Divorce

The push back against my divorce from Donald Trump was adamant. To a Republican friend, it was only a matter of time before I would be advocating  redistribution of wealth. When I republished the post on a conservative social media track, the nicest comment was calling me a traitor.

Because the straw that broke my support was the green light given Erdogan, I felt compelled to find informed analysis contrary to mine.  I say informed, because many Trump supporters don't seem heavy on that trait.  I did find some analysts who felt the Turks were coming anyway, and Trump either had to reposition our forces, or fight another ally, Turkey...  They discounted being able to dissuade Erdogan from crossing the border.  However, that viewpoint makes one doubt that Trump can now get Erdogan to slow down his attack,  despite threats of economic sanctions.

Getting back to this question of how informed Trump supporters actually are, I watched a segment of Trump's rally on Friday night in Minneapolis.  Many of those present were wearing red shirts and being delighted by Trump saying that "Biden kissed Obama's ass."  While some newscasters complained about how unpresidential that comment was,  all I could think of was the Jerry Springer show.

While it is apparent that those willing to dress in a red tee-shirt won't change their support of Trump over the plight of the Kurds,  how many are like me remains to be seen. .  My support for Trump didn't flip just because of the Kurds, but rather a build up of winces...you can only wince so many times.

My Experiment With Trump Is Over

When Trump was elected in 2016, as a conservative I approached his term with guarded optimism.  After all, maybe an outsider wouldn't be a bad thing, especially aided by some people whom I respected.   Over the next two years, as these advisors peeled off,  I said well,  some of them are still on board, until they were all gone.  I did cringe when Trump berated the departed, who all knew more than he would, ever.

Allowing Turkey to enter Syria, at the peril of the Kurds, is the deal breaker for me. While diehard justifiers might cite ending endless foreign missions,  it was neither the time or the place for that.  We are clearly serving Turkey's interests, not our own.  Trump's ramble about the Kurds not being our allies in WW2 pretty much sums up his lack of any historical perspective.

Assuming Trump remains the Republican nominee in 2020, I may be forced to vote for the Democrat, whoever that may be.  This experiment in outsider governance is over for me.  I suspect that I may not be alone about this being a deal breaker.  Many of his supporters consider themselves patriots,  and the notion of abandoning an ally in the field is completely contrary to their values.  One thing is certain,  there are no new supporters coming forward to replace them.  Trump may soon feel like the Kurdish fighters he abandoned.

photo of betrayed Kurdish fighters

Icon Of Allentown's 10th Ward

While the pulpit section of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary Orthodox Church is adorned with murals and icons of Mary, parishioners may notice that there is no such imagery on the beautiful stained glass windows. More careful inspection reveals that while there are no graven images in the glass, Stars of David and scrolls can be seen. As the ancestors of the current members came from eastern Europe and the Czarist Russian Empire, so did the building's original congregation. The gothic edifice was built as a synagogue in 1909 by Allentown's Jews. The Orthodox Jewish congregation, Sons Of Israel, utilized the structure for 50 years, before it was repurposed by the current American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox congregation.

The stained glass windows are surely among the most beautiful in Allentown.  The synagogue turned church is located on the northeast corner of 6th and Tilghman Streets in Allentown.  The area, Allentown's 10th Ward,  has a strong neighborhood group. The exterior photograph of the church is from their facebook page.  The large round window shown above is behind the balcony,  in the back of the church. Inside, the congregation faces east,  toward Jerusalem.


reprinted from March of 2016

The Sabaean Mandeans of Iraq

I'm glad that the plight of Christians in Iraq is starting to attract main stream media attention, but there is another persecuted group you may not hear about. The Mandeans predate Christianity, do not believe in Christ, and are believed to have been followers of John the Baptist. Accepting no converts, their numbers have always been small. Apparently, they migrated to the swamps south of current Baghdad after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Their writings are in Aramaic, the language of the Bible in the time of Jesus. Their rules and ethics are similar to Jewish tradition. Baptism is their central ritual; they call the water Jordan.

reprinted from 2010,2013, 2014 and 2017

previously scheduled for Wednesday publication 

The Misconception Of Hamilton Street

There's not many mid size cities that can boast having two national chain stores within one center city block, Allentown could. Not too many cities could say that one of those stores was one of the biggest producers in a chain of over 7000 stores, Allentown could. There's not many cities that are ignorant enough to tear down their most successful block, a virtual tax machine, Allentown is. This horrible mistake took a combination of political arrogance and public misconception. The arrogance is well known, so let me concentrate on the misconception. The perception was a few undesirable people, buying cheap things. The reality is Family Dollar sells the same merchandise in their suburban and rural stores. Rite Aid fills the same prescriptions and sells their standard merchandise. The new upscale stores, visioned for the arena front, will never produce the sales tax produced by Family Dollar and Rite Aid. The arena will never have that amount of employees, nor produce that much earned income.* The traffic congestion and lack of parking for arena events will destroy the new restaurants. Welcome to the white elephant, welcome to the ghost town.
Shown above and below is the early morning delivery to Family Dollar, every week of the year.
*sales tax and earned income currently going to city and state will now go to debt service for arena
reprinted from December 5, 2011

ADDENDUM OCTOBER 8, 2019: While The Morning Call promotes Allentown's new NIZ zone, only this blogger documented the reality of the former Hamilton Street. While the Moravian Book Store could have been restocked from a small hand basket once a month, the previous Family Dollar Store needed a full tractor trailer every Sunday.  Retail is virtually destroyed on Hamilton Street. Over seven years later, and the Morning Call is still deceiving about Hamilton Street, and this blog is still delivering the truth.