Showing posts with label Pittsburgh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pittsburgh. Show all posts

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Miracle: California City REVOKES Its Sanctuary Status

More good news!

Another city--and in Northern California, no less--refuses to go sanctuary.

If they can take a stand in Northern California, then no other state has any reason to cave to Big Amnesty.


On Monday, the city of Pittsburg, California, announced it will not opt to become a sanctuary for refugees.

Pittsburg attorney Ruthann Ziegler cited the reason behind the decision to revoke the city’s sanctuary status is the concern of the town council over losing federal funding if it does not comply with the Trump administration’s orders.

Did you read that?

The city REVOKED its sanctuary status! Thats is so cool!

I thought that this kind of thing only happened in other states, but not in California.

“The short-term risk of sanctuary is an immediate loss of funds,” said Ziegler. “The long-term risk is unknown.”

Well, how about that?

I wonder if more states will take the same stance and choose to be safe (and compliant) rather than sorry.

The Pittsburg city council held a meeting with the public to discuss the decision. In the town of 60,000, a significant number of citizens voiced concern over the decision to council officials.

Arturo Fernandez, a Mexican immigrant and U.C. Berkeley grad student, told the council: “I am here with hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are not afraid anymore.”

They will be afraid now!

The arrogance is going down fast! They are not going to get away with anything anymore

And the corrupt Attorney General Xavier Becerra cannot protect them.

Another opponent of the decision told the council: “This will only encourage persons to come here illegally.”

No it won't. Revocation of sanctuary status ensures that more people will stop coming illegally in the first place!

“If somebody is a criminal, or on drugs, or whatever, then yes, take them and deport them,” said restaurant owner Johny Khalilieh, who is also a local math teacher. “We have a diverse culture here in Pittsburg. Everybody watches for each other. And I would hate to see some of my customers disappear.”

Read that agan. Mr. Khalilieh has to work two jobs to make due in the city.

That's insane! Does he really want to bring in more competition for work?

Oh wait, maybe he wants the cheap labor provided by illegal aliens.

The police were present at the event, in which Police Chief Brian Addington assured citizens that the department does not typically ask for documentation from Pittsburg citizens:

“Our role is not to enforce immigration laws. We don’t intend to start enforcing immigration laws. ICE has been in our community and made an arrest just within the past two weeks, and it’s the first time that’s happened, to our knowledge, in years.”

How about that? Law enforcement is getting the job done.

The city of Pittsburg received $60 million in annual federal funding in the last four years. The funding goes toward housing subsidies, street repair, code enforcement, fighting crime, and maintaining a dozen non-profit agencies within the city.

That's right!

If cities don't want to get left out of the federal funding, then they need to follow federal law!


Saturday, October 29, 2016

Pennsylvania and Pat Toomey: The Key(stone) to Election 2016

Pennsylvania---nicknamed the Keystone State--has a soft spot in my heart.

My mother was born in Pittsburgh while her father was fighting in the Korean War. When I was younger, I visited my Aunt Frannie’s home in West Mifflin. I can’t say I looked forward to seeing her, but it was a memorable wonder looking over the hillside where her towering two-story home stood. The valley led down to the urban core of Pittsburgh. Even then anyone with two eyes in their head could see how the steel and other manufacturing industries were hitting hard times. That was 1992, and the crooked trade deals and crony crapitalism have only hurt working families more.



Pennsylvania’s voting contingency contains all the elements of the Not-So-Silent majority—a strong, endearing ethnic enclave of working and middle-class voters—define Election 2016. They will assure (or doom) Trump’s Presidential chances this year. The hard times have been particularly rough for them. For those who still register as Democrat, it’s more out of tradition and deference to the Democratic Party of their parents’ (and grandparents’) time. Republicans are now out-registering Democrats in a state which has not gone Republican in Presidential years since 1988. Such good news cannot pass by unread … and reread.

Even though the incumbent Republican governor lost his re-election bid in 2014 (he didn’t govern as a Republican, did not advance right-to-work, wanted to raise taxes, and refused to privatize the liquor industry), Pennsylvania Republicans expanded their numbers in the Harrisburg state legislature. Five months later, voters in Philadelphia elected a Republican assemblyman, the first time in over twenty years! The ground game is looking better for Republicans this year.



And one man at the top of the state-wide ticket is particularly important, and will very likely make or break not just control of the United States Senate, but the Presidency.

Pat Toomey.

I like this guy.

This man typified the Tea Party miracle wave of 2010.

Edging out a fellow Congressman, a veteran named Joe Sestak, Toomey squeaked out a narrow victory. But what a win, part of the seven-seat gains which Republicans recouped in 2010.

Most politicos don’t even remember, but Toomey faced a long road to the U.S. Senate. In 2004, he challenged former Republican US Senator Arlen Specter. Ironically, Specter was as pink as they come on Republican terms, and would eventually return to his Democratic roots after Obama’s election. The ghost of an incumbent was a RINO in 2004, leaning toward the Democrats with his refusal to vote for a conviction following the Clinton (Bill, not Hillary) impeachment in the House. Specter played to the center, as if his lack of ideological conviction was an asset. He even crowed about his “centrism” in  weekly news magazines. Toomey wanted to upset that establishment mentality.

He also targeted the profligate, spend-thrift  ways of Washington. Toomey’s brand—fiscally prudent without a fault--has defined his tenure, from a local townsman to US Senator.



A conservative born in Providence Rhode Island (who would have guessed? Awful Surprising and Awful Gratifying), Toomey studied Government at La Salle University in Pennsylvania, and never looked back.

After working in the corporate sector, he opened up his own restaurant with his brothers. He then served on the Allentown Governing Board, and put forth a charter which would require a supermajority for any tax increases in the city. The voters approved.

In 1998, he ran for an open Congressional seat, one which an incumbent Democrat was giving up. Who could blame him, since Republicans had taken over four years ago! Democrats love getting elected, but only when their team holds all the seats.

Toomey is a rare bird, and was a welcome politico even then. In his Congressional bid, Toomey pledged to serve three terms, and he kept his promise. In two of the elections, he faced off against the same President of Bethlehem Steel, but beat him down.

An impressive record, to say the least.

Election 2004 would not be Toomey’s time to shine, but instead of sulking and sitting out, Toomey became President of the Club for Growth.  Six years later, Toomey would defeat Sestak, who had in turn defeated the desperate long-term incumbent Arlen Specter during their unlikely, contentious Democratic Primary.

As a U.S Senator, Toomey has not forgotten his roots. He fights for public safety officers. He is pro-life, but he has also taken care to keep the major Democratic hubs, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, within his reach. The moment he was sworn in, Toomey knew he would endure another bruising fight for his seat in 2016. He supports school choice, and has worked with both sides (sometimes to his political detriment) to ensure student safety in their classrooms.



He has also been a staunch opponent of illegal immigration since his tenure in the House. This Northeastern elected official, 3,000 miles away, did more to commemorate the tragic and tragically unnecessary death of Kate Steinle. He introduced one of two key bills to stop sanctuary cities in this country. My two US Senators did and said nothing, since they side with illegals more than their constituents. Toomey voted against the Gang of Eight bill in 2013.

On financial matters, he voted against the fiscal cliff, tax-raising, hair-rising budget deal in 2012. His brand of take-no-prisoners budgeting is exactly what we need in Washington. I still remember him coming out of the last minute Fiscal Cliff drama, and telling the country at large: “We have to stop the spending! If we have to shut the government down, then let’s do it!”

His sparring in the race of his lifetime has been particularly outstanding. His opponent, Katie McGinty, has to spend more time running away from Crooked Hillary and her anti-working class platform. The Trump card is all played out, too.


Pennsylvania is the key to Election 2016. The Keystone state is within striking distance for Trump. Toomey’s re-election chances are a pure toss-up. Toomey wins, Trump can likely win, and all of us win.