Blogger's Note: Opinions Online is a regular Saturday feature. If you'd like to express your opinion on any topic, click on the Opinions Online button on my left sidebar. I prefer local topics, especially concerning topics I miss, as opposed to talking points. You can also call 385-325-2564. In addition to these submissions, I sometimes highlight comments from throughout the week and re-publish them here. Please keep your comments brief, if possible. Anonymous personal attacks will be deleted, especially when aimed at other readers. Same for anything I consider possibly defamatory.
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Olympics: "Bummed to see that the two US shot putters did not have their hands over their heart during the anthem. Gabby Douglas caught a ton of grief for the same thing."
Blogger's Reply -I see no reason why athletes should be forced to take some sort of loyalty oath every time they fart. This false patriotism, which extends to the pledge of allegiance before meetings, is complete bullshit.
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Internet Trolls: "Inquiring minds want to know: Is Leroy21 , ripping you and Rick a new one in the MC comments; The Slog Mentor (soon to be Martin's serf) or that ugly skank ( soon to get booted out of West Easton) ?
Blogger's Reply - It makes no difference. I'd rather discuss issues.
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IS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT A TWO EDGED SWORD? - Yesterday I drove past the new Fed Ex site and sure enough ground displacement has started. (They didn't even wait for the corn to mature...just bulldozed it over.) The thought occurred to me ,will the day come when we will regret the unabashed economic development we now see which is primarily all warehousing anyway. How many jobs do we really need?? Does anybody know? How many more days of unhealthy air will we have? need for new schools? increased congestion on our roads etc.? Virgin land sacrificed for a warehouse...go figure.
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Hillary Clinton's "boring" emails: "These days, Hillary brazenly goes on Jimmy Kimmel to clown around about her “boring” e-mails.
"Well, if they’re so irrelevant, why was she hiding them from the Justice Department? If it’s no big deal, why did it take four years and a lawsuit against the State Department to gain access to her planning schedules? Why did she lie to the American people? Erase tens of thousands of e-mails? Set up a private server in the first place?"
Iran Money: "It is being reported that 13 identical payments to Iran of exactly $99,999,999.99 ($1.3 Billion Dollars) from a State Department fund that pays foreign claims against the U.S. government were made. These payments were not authorised by Contress.
"While the evidence suggests that the payment was made via routine wire transfer, there is no definitive word on just how the money got to Iran and whom or what it was sent to."
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Northampton County elected officials should be embarrassed that expense reports are no longer listed online for candidates running for office throughout the County. The last reports are listed for 2013. Where candidates get their money is often key for decisions they make later. The public should know this information, without having to go to Easton to look for it. Why aren't these reports online?
Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
Local Government TV
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Saturday, August 27, 2016
59 comments:
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
Now Bernie, the fact that you do not wear a two foot American flag pin on your jackets proves you are a communist. Just ask the right wingers. Its all about appearance.
ReplyDeleteWow, it didnt take long for Bannon to create another conspiracy theory. Cookoo clocks are timeless.
ReplyDeleteyep more beating of the dead horse of e-mail.
ReplyDeleteask JEB about his private server and e-mail.
JEB basically did the same thing as Clinton yet because he is a republican--well nothing to see here.
under the last bush presidency five million e-mails were lost and conservatives just shrugged.as to money to Iran-- it is their money.
why would Congress have anything to do with it?
unless theft is ok,the Iranians got their money with interest owed to them
Lack of national pride & respect means a loss of the values that made America such a great nation. Bernie's attitude on this means the long term progressive democratic indoctrination plan has worked to brainwash Americans into self idolizing twerps lacking respect of tradition.
ReplyDelete9.37
ReplyDeleteword salad time.
gingrich believed his job was to be the savior of western democracy.
so the"self idolizing twerp" is covered.
I agree with you Bernie on the pledge of allegiance. What does reciting (often mindlessly) the pledge of allegiance actually mean? Being a good citizen means actually doing things like serving in the military, voting, community service, keeping informed about issues that matter to your community, writing letters to the editor, trying to bring about change, raising civic minded children and in other ways serve your community & country. Failure to execute a meaningless gesture is not unpatriotic, failure to meet your civic responsibilities is.
ReplyDeleteAny word on when MLK Drive will re-open?
ReplyDeleteBarbara @10:12. Would you stand in a movie theater if the Star Spangled Banner is played before the film is shown ?
ReplyDelete10:55, It took me three seconds to find an answer to your question on google. The work should be nearly done. http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-lehighvalley/Local/martin-luther-king-jr-drive-set-to-close-for-2-months/40071520
ReplyDeleteThe anti-economic development comments represent a flat earth world view of the comfortable, not the realistic optimistic view of the strivers. Our area would not have a growing population (Lehigh was top in PA 2010-12) without a vigorous pro-growth, bi-partisan consensus which began from the ashes of the 79 to 82 recession and Steel's precipitous demise. Investing in the infrastructure to accomodate growth is a challenge and urgently needs to be addressed including out-of-the-box ideas regarding transportation. Many working families welcome those Fed-Ex jobs; many young people need those Amazon positions; property owners want a growing tax base to lessen their burden--and all of us benefit living in community where the sun is rising, not setting. Or one can move to Altoona, Johnstown or scenic Wyoming county....
ReplyDeleteRe: economic development
ReplyDeleteYou have to realize there is a whole apparatus in the Lehigh Valley that is vested in keeping the development train on the tracks for as long as they can.
Cheap homeowners - Yes, we're cheap. Most don't want to pay the taxes that it takes to keep warehouses away. We want police, parks, pools, libraries, smooth streets, plowed streets all for the same price we've always paid for them.
Townships - Most have elected leaders that are closer to elderly rather than family age and loathe paying school taxes or taxes of any kind. Warehouses to them are easy tax dollars and they don't live near them so who cares. No school kids. They are also generally easily scared by any threat of being sued even if they are right. Most are bankrolled by the small time developers in their elections.
Lvedc - All have jobs to do in keeping developers interested and putting a shine on the fact that most of these developers bring low paying jobs and endless years of reassessments with them in return for their "needed" tax breaks, zoning variances, and other sacrifices that are absolutely "necessary" for them to build. You don't need highly paid LVEDC people if you don't have "development" to gin up.
County planning commission - They can't hold all of their fancy meetings without developers and developer's engineers paying for them and developers aren't going to pay to sponsor tables if you aren't nice to them or give them a hard time or not put them on their board. This part was sponsored in part by "insert developer name here" You don't need the highly paid planners to plan if there is nothing being built. Don't need to build roads or plan for corn crops.
The airport - will literally sell everything they have that is or isn't bolted down. The airport business doesn't pay the bills but being a landowner sure does and they have figured that out.
The county - will never stand in the way of development because it helps ward off the tax increases and the revenue always lasts longer than the griping soon to be former residents. Farmland is nice to look at but doesn't pay the bills. For those who hate seeing all the farmland disappear for warehouses often have the means to move if they want to and after a couple years of truck noise and traffic, they do. People without choices don't join Renew or sign petitions against development or show up at township or county council meetings railing against it.
The newspaper and the business magazines - they don't care if you read it or even if what's in it makes any sense. They do care about the advertising revenue and they get it from not only the new businesses, but the classified ads for new warehouse workers and of course the endless zoning meetings that have to be publicly advertised. All big dollars in an era of fewer and fewer people buying the paper. Without development dollars, the LV Business Journal would be even more of a charitable donation to a waiting room table than it already is.
Lawyers, real estate agents and engineers - Many owe their livelihood to all the development. Without it, there are many unemployed engineers, attorneys and real estate agents. Don't need a firm of 30 to design an occasional playground or fix a road.
Could keep going but the fact is the longtime resident, the environmentalists, the farmland preservationists, the smart growth"ists" are up against a machine that has every incentive to keep things the way they are.
When it comes to Hillary Clinton, the bottom line for the Louisiana flood victims is, if there’s nothing in it for her, don’t expect her to give a damn.
ReplyDeleteGrant Grab Get to Give back, the gift that just seems too keep giving!
DeleteMurray and Fleck ?.
ReplyDelete5:02pm>>> so the ghost of Al Seiss endures? Party like it's 1986....
ReplyDeleteBernie,
ReplyDeletelike FOX and all the other news networks Googgle is just yet another one of the democratical dyfuctional tools implimented on various silver screens that have and will continue to attract the mindless gaze of many? When I truely want to look up facts I travel to the court house or a public library and do it the old fasioned way?
REpublican redd no party affilliation nor joining or going to be traveling with the carnival
patent pending
If the charges against David Tidd are true(innocent until proven otherwise), why didn't the powers that be do something sooner? Instead of spying on him for 4 years?
ReplyDeleteWhat is truly tragic is that there are millions of Americans who will never hear of Hillary Clinton's slimy conduct with regards to taking money for political favors when she was Senator and Secretary of State. And there additional millions who have drunk so much Democratic Media Koolaid that even when they hear of these crimes they run to her defense. These are voters whose minds will not be changed. We can only hope that there are enough persuadable voters who are willing to look for news about Hillary Clinton's pay to play schemes and email messes and then be influenced to vote against her. God help us.
ReplyDeleteI'm posting this as anonymous because I don't want to be publically identified as a Trump supporter and wind up getting my house or car vandalized.
8:46 I don't think Ben Carson or Bobby Knight live in a trailer or have a moped.
ReplyDelete"IS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT A TWO EDGED SWORD? - Yesterday I drove past the new Fed Ex site and sure enough ground displacement has started. (They didn't even wait for the corn to mature...just bulldozed it over.) The thought occurred to me ,will the day come when we will regret the unabashed economic development we now see which is primarily all warehousing anyway. How many jobs do we really need?? Does anybody know? How many more days of unhealthy air will we have? need for new schools? increased congestion on our roads etc.? Virgin land sacrificed for a warehouse...go figure. "
ReplyDeleteThe health ramifications from the above highlighted project will take years to decipher but sadly lung issues may top the list. This project offers a
community health major a powerful Ph.D. topic.
Ben Carson and Bobby Knight don't really support Drumpf, they're just brain dead GOP drones who would vote for whoever the GOP nominates.
ReplyDeleteAs the election gets closer, it appears to me that Hillary Clinton is desperately seeking to find an avenue to attack Donald Trump that will be successful. She can't really attack his record as a politician as Trump can with Hillary's because Trump doesn't have a political record to attack. However, she tries to attack his changing, or perhaps evolving, positions as if politicians have never ever before changed their minds about an issue but that would leave Hillary open to counter attacks from Trump since she changes her stand on issues as often as you change your underwear. What is really disgusting though is that Hillary is pulling the one card out of her deck of plays she thinks will be successful and which has, in the past, always seemed to work for democrats; the race issue. Now we have Hillary screaming that Trump is a "racist" without ever actually offering any proof of this outrageous charge. Funny though is that she didn't think of him as a 'racist' when Trump donated $100,000 to her foundation. It's most likely because Trump is talking to the Blacks and trying to get them to vote for him, which drive the Democrats nuts because they think they have the black vote in their pockets. But then, she really doesn't need to offer proof of anything she charges Trump with as long as the media and the talking heads are all liberals and cover for her in everything she says and has done in the past. But perhaps this year, this election, the voters are not so eager to be taken in, are better informed and have had their fill of the never ending scandals that seem to swirl around Hillary, her lies and the rest of the Clintons like a giant swarm of flies that circle around cow droppings.
ReplyDeleteThe intermingling of landlords and charter schools is troubling especially considering that subsidies would not be the same if the charter school owned a building they take residence. Can anyone explain to me why legislators would place such restrictions that fleeces public education money and does not have the same restrictions when it is passed to a privately held company. This is like the same unethicsl policy that provided two levels of reimbursment for privately owned and public owned nursing homes. Policies such as this provides lucrative benefits to privately owned institutions and disadvabtages public or nonprofit institutions. It would appear polocies such as this incentivises private transfers of public funds. It seems there shoukd be a level playing field.
ReplyDeleteThey are both disgusting. It's really hard to say who is worse, but I'll be voting for neither.
ReplyDelete"County planning commission - They can't hold all of their fancy meetings without developers and developer's engineers paying for them and developers aren't going to pay to sponsor tables if you aren't nice to them or give them a hard time or not put them on their board. This part was sponsored in part by "insert developer name here" You don't need the highly paid planners to plan if there is nothing being built. Don't need to build roads or plan for corn crops."
ReplyDeleteMunicipal meeting reports often are provided by the same firms that travel town to town.
Funny how the Clinton supporters try to paint Trump supporters as uneducated just as they have tried to convince you that conservatives are uneducated. Fact of the matter is that the educated Clinton supporters are mostly college professors or non profit workers while the educated Trump & conservative voters run companies that make products & employ workers.
ReplyDeleteThe difference among college educated supporters can likely be best described as the liberal arts majors vs the business & Engineering majors. The liberal arts majors consider themselves as the only ones educated.
"I'm posting this as anonymous because I don't want to be publically identified as a Trump supporter and wind up getting my house or car vandalized. "
ReplyDeleteI know and am actually friends with numerous Trump supporters.I have heard none complain that they fear retaliation for their support. But like most Trump supporters, you are irrationally afraid.
Bernie-Where have you been when Trump rally participants have been virtually mugged by the progressives!!! Trump supporters are berated regularly as uneducated goons when the facts are that the goons are the Bernie supporters now moving to the Clinton camp to harass hard working law abiding citizens.
ReplyDelete@9:59 I have to laugh when I hear the Democrats saying that Trump Supporters are uneducated morons and guerillas. Their comments are usually short being full of profanity and racist taunts.
ReplyDeletePatriot2, You are pretty much full of shit on all counts. Your basic premise, i.e. Trump supporters are uneducated, is untrue. Forty-four per cent of Trump supporters have college degrees, at least among Republicans. After making a pretty basic factual error, you goon to claim, as fact, that the educated Trump supporters are business and engineering majors. You cite no link to back up your second assertion. Since you got your first fact wrong, I don't believe your second. Also, a few among us would dispute your claim that business is a tough major. Let me clue you in. Chemistry is a tough major. Biology is a tough major. Business? Not so much.
ReplyDeletehttp://qz.com/679589/trump-voters-earn-more-and-are-better-educated-than-the-typical-american/
9:23 Ben Carson brain-dead and for God sakes he's a brain surgeon, you're a moron.
ReplyDelete@9:50 AM - All the smart people realize those 'protesters' are paid by Trump to act up like that.
ReplyDeleteCalling Trump supporters 'uneducated goons' would be a compliment.
Here's your peeps....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KG5ILNJe7k
10:09 - Apparently you've never heard him speak. Go to youtube and watch him talk awhile, brain dead is a compliment.
ReplyDeletePatriot2, You have just denigrated Trump supporters yourself. You bought into the myth you are largely uneducated. Now I am supposed to think Trump supporters are under assault bc of the fights at rallies? Is there any logic in the space between your ears? Seriously.
ReplyDelete9.26
ReplyDeletetrump has a wonderful relationship.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-courtship-of-black-voters-hampered-by-decades-of-race-controversies/2016/07/19/d9822250-4d2e-11e6-aa14-e0c1087f7583_story.html
"“I’ve got black accountants at Trump Castle and at Trump Plaza — black guys counting my money!” O’Donnell’s book quoted Trump as saying. “I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day. Those are the kind of people I want counting my money. Nobody else. . . . Besides that, I’ve got to tell you something else. I think that the guy is lazy. And it’s probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is; I believe that. It’s not anything they can control.”
so Hillary can just use trump's own words.
10:18AM - except, that most Republicans are antisemitic. This will be another plus in their books.
ReplyDeleteChanging the subject from the election, there is the main headline in our quaint little newspaper this morning about our schools changing policies about transgender students and turning boys and girls facilities into unisex ones. This would be, according to the article to be in compliance with federal guidelines otherwise the schools would lose federal funding. This is standard procedure with the feds, to coerce local government with pulling funding for one reason or another if they don't comply with what the Progressive Democrats want in Washington.
ReplyDelete"Most Republicans are anitsemetic"
ReplyDeleteI call bullshit on that slanderous and unsubstantiated allegation, Anon 10:21. Vote for Hillary and be happy already. But enough with the outright bullshit.
10.53
ReplyDeletewell trump showed his true colors retweeting a white supremacist graphic.
along with who he wants counting his money.
so is it fair to say at least --- one republican?
There aren't any liberals in the KKK.....
ReplyDeleteI'm Jewish, and I've never had a problem with liberals, just right wingers. But, too be fair, they hate everyone who isn't like them, not just Jews.
Where is Hillary Clinton? She doesn't have any public events scheduled for a month. You really have to wonder how fit and healthy she is and what meds Hillary is on to get thru public events and future debates. What Trump should do is at events, place a empty chair on the stage and refer to it as the opponent without giving out Hillary's name. that would infuriate Hillary and her campaign crew.
ReplyDeleteShe certainly is not accountable or transparent.
ReplyDelete12.03
ReplyDelete"Where is Hillary Clinton? She doesn't have any public events scheduled for a month"
Hillary is just sitting back and watching trump self destruct.
one thing the donald is good at is flip-flopping and managing to insult just about every demographic.
@12L93 She's too arrogant to campaign. Or too ill. Probably both. She thinks a campaign can be done though television commercials. The "Queen" doesn't stoop down to actually talk to her subjects, you know
ReplyDeleteBernie-I didn't say Trump voters are uneducated-that is what progressives try to pitch. Chemistry & Biology are not the liberal arts majors I am referring to but rather the true artsy types that can't get a real job when they graduate majoring in woman's studies or psychology or design arts etc.
ReplyDelete12.03
ReplyDeleteadded bonus
http://iava.org/press-release/iraq-and-afghanistan-veterans-of-america-to-host-hillary-clinton-and-donald-trump-for-first-ever-commander-in-chief-forum/
seems it is scheduled for Wednesday, September 7, 2016.
on most calendars that would be within one month from now.
but why let reality interfere with your claim.
Trump appears to have written his own medical report.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/27/the-strange-tale-of-donald-trumps-doctor-letter-just-got-stranger/?wpisrc=nl_most-draw10&wpmm=1
Wow! The unabashed hatred from the Left is downright astonishing. Vote for Hillary and be happy!!!
ReplyDeleteClinton supporters are now showing their desperation, if you go out and talk to the public you will see she is in trouble. they are now adopting tactics that are usually reserved for the final weeks. And their internal polls are alarming.
ReplyDeleteYou don’t use BleachBit for yoga emails or bridesmaids emails. When you’re using BleachBit, it is something you really do not want the world to see. Hillary's attorneys probably used it on a USB drive, which left no fingerprints on the server that it was used.
ReplyDeleteWell, Director Comey, Is Hillary using BleachBit enough 'intent' for you?
ReplyDeleteSo little time, so much Trump bashing to do. Too bad Hillary can't talk about how great these last eight years under Obama have been. No, instead, day after day, we have to talk about how much white people suck. I just hope Monica Lewinsky gets her old intern position back. Bill is looking forward to it.
ReplyDelete8.26 and 8.31
ReplyDeletetry
http://money.cnn.com/2016/08/26/technology/hillary-clinton-bleachbit/
"Jonathan Zdziarski, a computer security expert, characterized BleachBit as a fairly "amateur" tool that doesn't raise any red flags.
"It looks like the type of tool someone would run who's conscious of cleaning old crud off their system," Zdziarski said. "Someone trying to cover their tracks would likely pay for and use a much more expensive, specialized data destruction tool."
from Trey Gowdy?
the guy trump called "Benghazi loser gowdy".
keep beating that dead horse.
9.04
ReplyDeleteyep Monica gets to send the weekly postcard to trump reminding him how much of a loser he is.
of course trump does not need to lose an election to prove he is a loser.
he has done that already.
@9:09 If Hillary wasn't trying to hide things, she would have simply deleted them, rather than going though the trouble of using BleachBit to try and shred her emails.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the technology which matters, it's why she used it in the first place.
Glad to see all the cLiNtOn cRaZiEs out in full force today as I am sure you are, Anon 9:12.
ReplyDeleteDamn glad to know you wouldn't care if your spouse got caught cheating on you, too, just like Bill got busted, Anon 9:12.
ReplyDeleteHillary and Bill could have the blood dripping from their hands on top of the money they stole, and their lemmings would still vote for them
ReplyDelete10.50
ReplyDelete"believe that Trump is a racist"
trump's own words are being used.
"Woodrow Wilson that encouraged the rise of the modern KKK"
going back to 1913?
there were roman senators that hated the idea of Britons having any say in their government.
were they racist?
would that matter today?
go back even farther and everybody came from Africa.
so cherry picking history is just that.