As you may have read, tomorrow SNAP benefits, better known as food stamps, will not go out to a little over 40 million Americans. There are as best we can tell, 342,688,984 people in the United States. In the last fiscal year (2024) there were 41.7 million people on food stamps. About 12.3% of the United States receives food stamps. About 10% of food stamps recipients are disabled people. 39% are children. 20% of senior citizens. Only a little over 30% are adults who are not seniors and not disabled, or between 12 and 13 million people. About 83% of them have an income, and are just still poor. There are maybe 2-3 million people on food stamps who are able bodied and not working, by my math. All of this is one google search away. You can ask AI too.
If you listen to conservative leaders though, they are alarmed at how many people are receiving benefits. Most Congressional Districts have over 100k people receiving benefits within them. The majority are children, the elderly, the disabled, and the working poor. As of tomorrow, none of them will receive their benefits. The message from Washington is clear- go to hell. We know that people in failing life situations cost society more, be it in welfare programs, prison costs, health care costs, and other programs designed to prevent catastrophic outcomes. What happens when you starve the people hanging on by a thread? Well, you’re in luck, we’re about to find out.
I would much prefer universal basic income to traditional welfare, if there was a fully ironed out plan to do so, but there’s not. These people are going to start dying and doing other bad things without this money. Congressman Mackenzie, Senator McCormick, and Senator Fetterman are prolonging the government shutdown by insisting on taking health care from millions of Americans. President Trump is making the shutdown worse by refusing to use funds available to him to fund this program. Real people are suffering as a result.
morrow could be the last baseball game of the 2025 season. God willing, the Toronto Blue Jays will be World Champions (I’m not convinced, because Yamamoto). And then the off-season will be here. Either way, you’ll wake up Monday as a Phillies fan thinking about what Kyle Schwarber is going to cost.
I already laid out the basics of the Phillies situation, but let’s start over briefly. The Phillies have a significant amount of guaranteed contracts on their hands. From the first post:
The Phillies have guaranteed contracts with Trea Turner ($27,272,727 toward the luxury tax), Bryce Harper ($25,384,615), Nick Castellanos ($20,000,000), Zack Wheeler ($42,000,000), Cristopher Sanchez ($5,625,000), Aaron Nola ($24,571,429), Taijuan Walker ($18,000,000), and Matt Strahm ($7,500,000 option that vested). The owe a minimum buyout of $500,000 on Alvarado if they buy out his option ($9,000,000 if they accept it) and $3,000,000 on Bader if they decline ($10,000,000 if they accept it. That leaves them with a guaranteed payroll of $173,853,771.
Not much has changed since then, but some things have. Harrison Bader is going to opt out of his end of the mutual option, saving the Phillies $3 million. I see no way that Castellanos is back here, regardless of whether he’s traded or released. Someone else will sign him to DH or be a 4th outfielder, assuming we can’t trade him away for better savings, so the Phillies are already saving $3,820,000. This puts their guarantees at $170,033,771. I expect Alvarado to be back, whether it’s on this deal or a new one, so let’s add the $8.5 million and take the guaranteed payroll to $178,583,771 to start the off-season. The Phillies will try to trade away more of Castellanos money, and probably a chunk of Walker’s (think somewhere between $6-12 million). You can’t change these numbers much, so moving Walker and Castellanos are the only way. Castellanos could be a fit for a team that could primarily DH him, for instance like the Cardinals, but I’m not sure bringing Arrenado back for him should be their *first* choice, though I wouldn’t rule it out if other things are also happening (like a Bohm trade and the signing of a bigger bat elsewhere). Castellanos is also mentioned as a fit with the Guardians, Royals, Rangers, and Padres. The Phillies chief goal should be to move his money, not be super worried about the return. Walker is a different story. Walker had a reasonably good season. Not $18 million good, but he was competitive. If you’re eating $8-12 million off of his salary, he’s actually a reasonably nice pick up for a team seeking a fifth starter, or a bad team that needs some veteran arms to eat innings. He’s just not worth what we’re paying him.
Then there’s arbitration eligible players. I went through this too:
The Phillies have a number of players who are also arbitration eligible. MLB Trade Rumors did a piece recently projecting what those players should get, you should give them a read. They project that should the Phillies agree to offer arbitration to these players (they can decline to and let the player go to free agency), Alec Bohm ($10,300,000), Brandon Marsh ($4,500,000), Bryson Stott ($5,800,000), Edmundo Sosa ($3,900,000), Rafael Marchan ($1,000,000), Garrett Stubbs ($925,000), Jesus Luzardo ($10,400,000), Jhoan Duran ($7,600,000), and Tanner Banks ($1,200,000) would cost the Phillies roughly (these are estimates) $45,625,000.
Ok, so this is where things get a bit expensive. “The Daycare” (Bohm, Marsh, and Stott) cost $20.6 million together, and basically are roadblocks to the Phillies getting Justin Crawford and Aidan Miller into the line-up, regardless of where exactly you want to put them. Moving Bohm or Stott is a must if you want Miller up at some point next year. Marsh could co-exist with Crawford, if the Phillies move on from Harrison Bader, but I’m kind of hoping they don’t (more on that later). There’s no Earthly world where both Marchan and Stubbs should be back, neither is really ready to start at Catcher and both are out of options, so you should be trying to move one or both, depending on your plans. For argument’s sake, let’s assume for a moment that Stubbs is non-tendered (that’s not a lock to me, but it’s what you would do on paper if you keep Realmuto, and everyone else is retained.). That leaves you at $44,700,000. You’re at $223,283,771 in then-guaranteed contracts. You have a full infield, one catcher, one outfielder, a utility man, five starting pitchers, and four relievers at that point. Let’s, for the moment, add on Orion Kerkering, Daniel Robert, Max Lazar, Andrew Painter (I’m sliding Walker back into his swing man role), Justin Crawford Otto Kemp, and Weston Wilson or Johan Rojas to the roster at league minimum $820,000 contracts to fill out my pitching staff and bench. That is $5,740,000, which takes us to $229,023,771 in payroll to start the off-season. I don’t have a DH and I don’t have a starting catcher yet. I need another starting outfielder too. The luxury tax is $244,000,000. The Phillies total payroll this year was in the $305 million mark, including non-tax expenses like minor league pay, player benefits, and differed moneys. The Phillies are carrying around roughly $30 million in those areas. The Phillies also say they will be in a “similar” payroll situation next year. Based on all of that, the Phillies have about $14,976,229 million dollars before they hit the luxury tax and about $45,976,229 until they hit this year’s costs. That’s not an awful lot to spend if you’re keeping most of your own guys. The Phillies three biggest free agents aren’t likely to be cheap. Realmuto would fill the starting catcher’s spot, and two numbers I’ve seen on him were two years at $17 million a piece and three years at $15 million a piece. Either way, that effectively eats up all of your remaining room under the luxury tax. Schwarber would fill your DH spot up, but he is rumored to be costing five years and $30 to $32 million a year. Do the math on that and you quickly see that the Phillies would meet or exceed this year’s payroll just bringing those two guys back. Want Ranger Suarez back? I do, and I actually think he’s both a better investment and possibly more crucial to sustaining the Phillies success than Shwarber and Realmuto. He’s going to cost you six years at $26,000,000 or so though.
So then let’s start with a reasonable early laundry list here of things the Phillies can do, should do, or will have to do.
Move Castellanos and Walker and save as much as possible. This is self explanatory, and really every dollar they can move beyond the minimum helps. I’d aim to save about $8 million on Walker (hopefully a bit more, but that’s ballpark). I’d try to get from the $820,000 you’ll save just cutting Castellanos up to at least $2.5 million. Would I take a sunk cost like Arrenado back in return? Sure, if A.) I had Bohm moved out of town, and B.) If I signed a major outfield/first base/DH/second base bat already. This would be an additional $9,680,000 in savings.
Shop Bohm and Stott. Let’s just be honest, these two are $16.1 million of payroll roughly, neither has become a superstar yet, Aidan Miller is going to need at least one of their spots, and the Phillies have shown no interest in extending either one yet. Frankly I’m shipping them both out if there is any pathway to do so. Combined with #1, you’re at $25,780,000 in savings.
Move or non-tender one of their back-up catchers. Sure, you’re only saving $925,000 to $1 million, but it helps. I’ve already factored in non-tendering Stubbs though, so no new savings here.
Choose between Harrison Bader and Brandon Marsh. You need to open a spot up for Justin Crawford and you probably can’t afford both Bader and Marsh on this team next year. There is a world where you simply carry these three into the season as your starting outfield, but that really only works for me if you add a significant infield bat, and keep Schwarber. If you let Bader walk, it’s a wash. If you trade Marsh, you can save $4,500,000. If you let Marsh go and keep Bader, it’s basically plus $5,500,000, most likely. If you just keep both, it’s probably about $10,000,000 spent. Pick your poison.
Work something out with Jose Alvarado. Look, he’s far from perfect, but better late inning relief options are going to cost significantly more than $9 million. I’d offer him a two year $16 million or three year $21 million deal (so $7-8 million a year) and save what I can here. Alvarado, Strahm, and Kerkering, with Banks as a situational lefty, is not a bad unit to set up for Duran to start next season. Let’s just assume a $1 million savings for now. You’re at $26,780,000 in savings.
Make your offer to Realmuto, inquire about Rutschman and Herrera. The catching market behind Realmuto is a significant drop off. I’d go ahead and offer him three years and $45 million, and try to negotiate some of his differed payments from the last contract off of this year’s payroll, maybe save $2-3 million on that end. If he’s not excited about that, I’d inquire about Rutschman, who is a candidate for a change of scenery in Baltimore, and Herrera, who is a very good young catcher, but injury prone. Ryan Jeffers and Jonah Heim are also potential trade options from Minnesota and Texas, as well, and would be much cheaper than Realmuto. My main point here is that you’re unlikely to get a major upgrade, if you don’t outright downgrade at catcher, so I’d try to do something early here. Keeping Realmuto makes sense to me. Let’s say it costs you $15,000,000 a year. You now are about $11,780,000 to the positive.
This puts your payroll around $217,243,771. You have Realmuto and Marchan catching, Harper at first, Turner at short, Sosa and Kemp manning second and third, no DH, Crawford as your only settled outfielder, Weston Wilson and Johan Rojas on your bench, Sanchez, Wheeler, Luzardo, Nola, and Wheeler in your rotation, and Duran, Alvarado, Kerkering, Strahm, and Banks in your bullpen. I’m still keeping Robert and Lazar in the bullpen as placeholders, and now I’ll add Alan Rangel as a placeholder. That puts me at $218,063,771. I still need two starting outfielders. I don’t have my DH. Since we already are counting Marsh’s payroll, let’s count him as an outfielder. Now I need one outfielder and a DH. I could re-sign Bader at around $10 million a year. I could move Harper into the outfield, but then I need a DH and first baseman. I could make Harper my DH, but then I need a first baseman and outfielder. So no matter what I do with Bader, I’m almost certainly going to spend $10 million or more for him or any upgrade, and I still will need one more player. So let’s add $10 million on and move that payroll to $228,063,771. The Phillies would be just a hair below $16 million under the luxury tax and roughly $77 million below this year’s payroll at that point.
So now, who is on the menu with this money? Let’s set the Schwarber, Ranger Suarez, and Harrison Bader questions aside for a moment. You don’t want to go into the season with Sosa and Kemp starting on your infield. You would live with them platooning in one spot until Aidan Miller is ready. Miller could be your future at second or third base, so really you could look for a player at either. At second base, you’re probably looking at Gleyber Torres ($13 million a year?), Luis Arraez ($15 million a year?), or Jorge Polanco ($13 million a year?). At third base you have some larger upgrade options, particularly in Alex Bregman ($30 million a year?) and Eugenio Suarez ($24 million a year?). If you want to be a bit more creative, Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto are both options from Japan to come over, and both are under 30. If you really wanted to be creative, you could try to sign Trevor Story ($25-26 million a year, if he opts out?) or Bo Bichette ($25-26 million a year?) to move to second or third. If you were willing to move Harper to DH or back to the outfield, or you just didn’t re-sign Schwarber, now you can take a look at Pete Alonso ($30 million a year range) and Cody Bellinger ($28 million a year?). In fact, you could look at Bellinger as an outfielder too. Trent Grisham ($15 million a year?) is coming off of a career year, which worries me, but he would be a more affordable option. Kyle Tucker ($42 million plus a year?) is an option in the outfield as well. You could also entertain a trade for Jarren Duran ($8 million?) from Boston, who is considerably cheaper, perhaps in exchange for Bohm and/or Stott if they indeed have infield needs? As for pitching, I doubt they’re swimming in the Framber Valdez because then why not sign back Suarez? I could see them looking at a Dustin May/Jordan Montgomery type as a swing man, to start the season with the team while Wheeler heals (for like $2-4 million), but then why not just keep Walker Buehler at that point? Assuming they sign a reliever at all, and don’t just go with guys with options for a while (and just wait until David Robertson wants to pitch again), I would think they’d be looking at the Kyle Finnegan’s and Raisel Iglesias types of the world, a touch under $10 million.
Ok, so let’s get real for a second. It’s very obvious the front office and the owner want Kyle Schwarber back as their DH. That’s going to take the Phillies across the luxury tax at $30 million a year. That’s going to leave you around $47 million, but it’s also baking in about $10 million in free money that you would pay Bader. Of course, unless you’re going to pay Kyle Tucker (highly doubt it) or Cody Bellinger (slightly more realistic), if you’ve already re-signed Schwarber, you really should pay Bader, rather than paying more for Trent Grisham. If I could get Duran, he would be a similarly price option that would be very good too. So let’s just assume Bader is probably back here. With him and Schwarber back, I don’t need to keep both Rojas and Wilson on the roster as placeholders, so now I’ve saved myself another $820k. I have just shy of $48 million to spend, and basically need an infielder. It could be a shortstop, then I move Turner to second base, but there’s no defensive upgrade at shortstop with a tolerable bat. It won’t be a first baseman at that point, unless I want to move Harper back to the outfield and make Marsh a fourth outfielder (and shed another $820k placeholder on the roster). It’s most likely a third baseman or a second baseman though. I would focus my energies, in order, on Alex Bregman, Bo Bichette, Eugenio Suarez, and Luis Arraez. If I sign Bregman, I’m probably out of any other major moves, and I’m moving on to the Dustin May/Jordan Montgomery/Walker Buehler swing man market and looking at a Finnegan or Iglesias relief pick up. I might still shop for Duran anyway, as he’s affordable and good, but you’re probably close to done. Bichette gives you slightly more wiggle room, but not a ton, so you’re off-season is similar from there, but you might be able to shop for a little better relief help, if you want. If we were to go the Suarez or Arraez route, things get pretty interesting. Suarez doesn’t give you a lot more free money, but his deal would be shorter and you could probably talk ownership into a little extra leash. You could suddenly see your way into a situation where you keep Ranger Suarez, thereby basically making Painter this year’s swing man, which is fine by me. I don’t see harm in that, especially knowing that there are questions around Wheeler and Nola’s health, and Luzardo is a free agent next Winter. If you sign Arraez to play second, I almost think you *need* to take those savings and keep Ranger in Philly.
If I really had my wish list, I would actually prefer Bregman to any offensive free agent- he’s a good defensive player, he bats right-handed, and I feel decent about how he’ll age. If not him, Bo Bichette would be really nice. I would like to see Schwarber back, like all Phillies fans, but I’d be perfectly fine nabbing Alonso or Eugenio Suarez for a little less if it gets to that point. I’d prefer Ivan Herrera to J.T. Realmuto, and maybe Adley Rutschman even to Realmuto for the right deal, but I think re-signing Realmuto probably makes the most sense. I want Crawford and Miller both in the lineup by next September. I want Painter on the team next season, even if I have more than five starting pitchers. I want Alvarado back, and maybe one more solid relief arm. I think you have to keep at least one of Bader and Marsh, if not both, but I’d really like the Phillies to get Duran from Boston. If I can’t land a major (Bregman/Bichette/Eugenio Suarez) infield bat, Luis Arraez would interest me. I want Ranger Suarez back, and think it’s the best in-house investment the team can make. I’m ready to move on from Bohm and Stott if I’m ready for Miller this year. I obviously want to trade Castellanos and Walker. After all that, go work on extensions with Luzardo and Jhoan Duran. And for the love of God, stop this idiotic talk about trading Harper, no one really wanted to do that, right?
We all know I’m not going to get what I want though.
In less than a week, Election 2025 will be over. In Pennsylvania, that means no more commercials with judges in them, very soon. The overwhelming bulk of the attention is on the Supreme Court retention race, and rightfully so. Justices Dougherty, Donohue, and Wecht have been fair, extremely fair, and have protected Pennsylvania from some of the ridiculous shit that has gone on across the country. Even when they threw out the partisanly gerrymandered Congressional map in 2018, they didn’t draw a left-wing utopia map to give Democrats a huge edge. They drew a 9-9 map and stated that Pennsylvanian’s have a right to fair districts. They gave every region that could support a Congressional district a district. They have kept our state from becoming a partisan Petri dish. These judges are protecting the law and deserve a second ten year term.
Make sure you go to the end of the ballot, whether you vote on Election Day or by mail, and check yes for Justices Kevin Dougherty, Christine Dougherty, and David Wecht.
Don’t stop there though. Superior Court Justice Alice Beck Dubow and Commonwealth Court Judge Michael Wojcik are also up for retention. Beck Dubow serves on a narrowly divided court partisanly, and yet has spent the last decade being a fair and impartial judge on one of the busiest courts in the country. The Superior Court is the last court that has to consider your appeal, and they need her for another ten years. Judge Wojcik is on a rather conservative court, but finds common ground with his colleagues every day to uphold the law on matters of policy and government. Go to the end of the ballot, after the Supreme Court Judges, and vote YES for these two as well.
No, you’re not done voting to retain Judges. In Northampton County, Judges Paula Roscioli and Sam Murray have to run for retention. These two judges sit on the bench every day in Easton and hear literally every kind of case- from armed robbery to a custody battle, a civil lawsuit to a PFA. If you’re saying to yourself that you don’t hear much about them, like you forgot them over the last ten years, THAT IS A GOOD THING. Common Pleas Judges don’t belong on the news, because that usually means they did something wrong. These people are literally not allowed to be political at all. They are supposed to just do their job. They have, for ten years. That’s why you don’t hear much about them. That’s why you need to go to the very end of the ballot and vote YES to retain them for another ten years.
Judges are critically important in our society, but they are not the only things that matter in this election. Here in Northampton County, you have three separate races you need to vote for. One is a County Executive, which will change for the first time in eight years this coming January. The County Executive runs the county on a day to day basis. Some things the Executive oversees are the Gracedale county senior citizens home, the department of children and youth, preserving open farmland space, a courts system, the public defenders office, replacing and repairing some bridges, and a whole host of other very basic, day to day functions of our society. You don’t want to put Tom Giovanni or his puppet masters in charge of this government. You do want to put County Controller Tara Zrinski in charge. With the County feeling the crunch of less or no money coming from the Federal and State Governments, you need someone like Zrinski, with a deep knowledge of the county’s finances and the right values to protect our elderly, our sick, children in broken families, and our environment amidst fiscal uncertainty. The next Executive will face some very difficult decisions leading the county forward, and will very likely have to raise taxes to execute functions that have been mandated on them by Washington and Harrisburg. You need someone who will protect the taxpayers and those most in need, as much as you can possibly do so.
The race for the vacant seat on the Court of Common Pleas between Jeremy Clark and James Fuller offers less stark of a contrast. For one thing, Judges can’t say how they will rule on a case, so when running for a new seat, you have to guess. Jeremy Clark is a really solid guy, he’s experienced, smart, and has served his country before as a member of the armed forces. Fuller and I went to school together, and he was always a quiet guy, which is a great character trait in a judge, and his legal work absolutely qualifies him to be a judge. Knowing both, I won’t say anything negative about them. I’m going to vote for Clark, because he shares the values that I do, but there’s no monster in this race.
There are ten seats candidates (five seats), all at-large, up for grabs on the Northampton County Council, and honestly this race depresses me. I am definitely not voting for all five Democrats on the ballot. In fact, I’ll be honest, removing partisanship, the Republicans ran a better, more accomplished ticket. Right now, I’m only going to endorse you voting for Jason Boulette and I guess, Dave Holland, who I didn’t vote for in the primary, but seems perfectly fine, I guess. I voted for Lori Vargo Heffner in each of her past elections, and might even again, but some of her decisions this term were deeply disappointing, particularly when she voted with the Republican minority to give a warehouse in the Slate Belt a tax break, when she voted against her fellow General Purposes Authority board member Paul Anthony to be on the Council, and her vote against a county health center. She decided in this term to be a “check” on the County Executive, which would be fine if he were doing things the public opposed or that contradicted his past statements, but that was not the case. He ran on protecting Gracedale, preserving open farmland, and not raising taxes, which is what he did. There was no need for a “check” on what 56% of the county voted for. Lori is a wonderful human being and she is absolutely smart and qualified to serve on the council. I’m not going to tell you to vote for her or not though, because she did some things I frankly don’t support. She is absolutely one of the five best people on the ballot, but I’m troubled here.
I will not be voting for Theresa Fadem or Nadeem Quyuum. I don’t know Fadem at all, and all I have seen of her campaign consisted of her talking about things the county council has no say over, like affordable housing. The last thing the council needs is another activist who doesn’t really know what county government does, but wants to be heard. Nadeem ran his race for Controller two years ago talking about affordable housing too, and he and his wife waged an ugly campaign against State Rep. Bob Freeman, focusing on “genocide” in Gaza, something Freeman neither supports or has anything to do with. Sorry, I can’t sign for that. Fortunately, these two are barely actively campaigning, and hopefully they will not win. There are some decent people running on the Republican side, but none of them would benefit from my endorsing them, as their voters probably mostly perceive that they disagree with my political positions (I doubt they do as much as they think). At least three of their candidates have family members that are good friends of mine. I just don’t think it would be helpful for me to say anything nice about them, even as people, in this political environment. Unfortunately there are people in their own party who would make that a negative for them. Also, at the end of the day, I’m reluctant to publicly endorse a candidate who I’m probably going to disagree with 60% of the time or more on council, as I won’t want to defend that later. Do I really want this person on council, or do I just think they’re a better, more qualified human than some folks on my side? Right now, I will tell you that I probably leave at least one space blank in this race, if not three.
Here in Palmer Township, we have a few local elections. Brian Snyder is unopposed in his school board race, so all I’m going to tell you here is he’s not this guy. Baron Vanderburg is unopposed to replace Zeke Bellis for the next four years as township Supervisor, so I could say nothing here, but I will just go ahead and tell you that Baron is one of the smartest, most dedicated, and hard working people in local government that I know, and I hope you enthusiastically vote for him. I used to serve on the Board of Auditors with Stephen Colbeth, and he’s unopposed, but vote for him anyway. Doreen Umholtz has been Tax Collector forever, and she’s unopposed to stay there, which is good. There are two contested Supervisor seats on the ballot in the township. First, I’m going to tell you to vote for Tung-To Lam, he’s a hard working young guy that knows township government already and has run an active campaign. Then I’m going to tell you that I don’t know any of the other three very well. From everything I’ve been told by current members of the board, Marcella Cardone will probably be the most productive and “no harm” of the three, so vote for her.
That’s my ballot. If you really want to dig further, and you have my phone number, you can call me to ask.
I struggle with this every day- am I still supporting the same party I have grown up supporting. The answer is yes, from the standpoint that Democrats are still the party protecting labor unions, the environment, access to health care, protection of the environment, and Civil Rights, to name some things. That doesn’t mean it’s the same party, and I think the image above nails how it’s changed. Did we support Native Americans in 2012? Yes. But what the hell is this? Rather than being for concrete things that help people, we’re now very into virtue signaling and appeasing activists and organizations. People like Graham Platner, Bob Brooks, AOC, Bernie Sanders, John Fetterman, and even Zohran Mamdani, may marginally agree with some parts of the Democratic platform, but they want a more extreme version that represents something totally different than Obama or Bill Clinton’s America. I prefer Obama and Clinton to this. So did America.
Back in the Spring, the PA House of Representatives passed House Bill 1200. It passed on a 102-101, party line vote. The PA Senate Law and Justice Committee then voted the bill down 3-7, with one member absent. Reportedly there is a new bill though that might just pass. Senate Chairman Daniel Laughlin is reportedly on board and has the support of all four Democrats on his committee. Reportedly there is a mirror bill sitting in the House that has bi-partisan sponsorship. If Senator Laughlin’s bill moves out of the committee and makes it to the State Senate floor, there is at least a decent chance that it will pass there. Then the House could consider the mirror bill and possibly advance this to either the Governor’s desk or a conference committee to iron out any differences.
An Act providing for the regulation and treatment of cannabis, for exemption from criminal or civil penalties, for effect on cannabis convictions and expungements and for membership and duties of the Liquor Control Board; establishing Pennsylvania Cannabis Stores; providing for social and economic equity, for license, permit or other authorization, for packaging, labeling, advertising and testing, for recordkeeping and inspection, for prohibitions and penalties and for tax and tax administration; establishing the Cannabis Revenue Fund, the Communities Reimagined and Reinvestment Restricted Account and the Substance Use Disorder Prevention, Treatment and Education Restricted Account; providing for the issuance of bonds; imposing duties on the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Revenue; and making repeals.
We are long, long past time to legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana. Everyone from high school kids to retirees uses marijuana. New Jersey and New York legalized it and have stores literally sitting on our borders. Our citizens are going into their states and buying marijuana, and the tax dollars on the sale are going to their public education systems, to help their senior citizens, and to replace their roads and bridges. We should be getting a piece of that pie for ourselves.
Reportedly, Mike Tyson is out in Harrisburg lobbying the State Senate for the bill. It could pass the State Senate as soon as this week. Governor Shapiro has been supportive of legalization and the things we could do with that money. It’s time for Harrisburg to act.
Alright, we’re getting close to halfway. Some teams have seven games, some have eight. Do I believe in my own frankings yet? No. However, Indy and Green Bay have been the best so far, albeit I’m far from convinced. I think our eventual Super Bowl Champion is somewhere between three and twelve. With that said, no one believes in you until you do it.
How bad is the NFC East? Seriously, Dallas are frauds. Washington, well that’s just unfortunate. New York? Meh, their most exciting guy is done now. The Eagles can start building up some room on these teams now. They aren’t good.
Ok, I felt like torturing myself above with the game 1 NLDS box score. That’s about the extent of this week’s news. Oh, and I guess I’m basically making my prediction for the World Series, as the series is tied 1-1, and it should be over by this time next week.
I hate it, but the Dodgers are going to repeat. Whether it was wisdom or luck that they kept three of their top four arms all relatively fresh for the postseason, it doesn’t matter. It worked. Their starting pitching, and the starters they moved into the bullpen, are going to pitch them to another World Series. They played it perfectly and brilliantly. This is a really good Blue Jays team, but they are now going to rely on two formerly really good pitchers who have a lot of mileage on their arms, against a red-hot Glasnow and Ohtani. This is the point in the series where the Dodgers take the advantage, and eventually win.
I’ve been around long enough to remember the Bush Republican Party. It was an awful institution, an institution that ruined our standing in the world with their post-9/11 foreign policy, created permanent deficits with their tax cuts, wars, and unfunded mandates, wrecked public education, put the architects of repealing Roe v. Wade on the bench, ran a Presidential campaign in 2004 based on gay baiting and homophobia, weakened environmental laws, and deregulated housing and Wall Street to the point of an economic collapse in 2008. In short, the reason I am a Democrat today is that the Bush Republican Party was an incredibly damaging group of people and was full of completely repugnant people, from Dennis Hastert to Dick Cheney. We should not opine the moral superiority of “those good ole’ days.” There was nothing good about them.
What followed the Bush Republican Party was not an improvement. Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, and the rise of people like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul was not some return of moral leadership to the Party of Lincoln. Those folks gave rise to Trumpism, and Trump has been the revolution. Our government is largely no longer functional, and that’s what many folks who supported him want. “Norms” are no longer normal, there is no discussion of common ground. The current pathway is simply a regression to the desired conservative mean, a natural outcome of the algorithm billionaires and conservative culture warriors wanted. The destruction of this moment cannot be understated.
The problem of course is that as dumb as Trump truly is, there was a decent argument that a 20th century government and political culture was no longer working for America. The large, bulky government we had put together after World War II, and it’s technocratic wonkiness, had become a hinderance to the desires of the public. Our society was not, and by the way is still not, meeting our needs.
I won’t draw a comparison between the party of Obama/Clinton/Biden and the Bush GOP, because let’s be honest, they gave us things like Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, and an infrastructure bill. If you want to argue they didn’t go far enough, fine, but they were good things. However, the Democratic Party had become the defenders of systems and institutions that were not, and are not, popular. We were arguing the economy was fine because of market growth and job numbers, while housing and costs in general were rising. We were arguing that Israel was right to attack Hamas, because they were, but were giving ourselves no room to criticize Netanyahu’s incompetence and total disinterest in getting to a sustainable outcome, even as he criticized and attacked us. We were right to bail out Wall Street, the auto industry, and the health care industry after 2008, but also not only didn’t make them pay for their bad choices, we sort of got stuck defending why America “needed” them. Basically, we got stuck keeping our systems working, because it was the best thing for society, and then also got stuck defending the institutions on which we had always been the only check. We started to look like the kids serving as hall monitors in high school, the wet blankets.
The correct response to this is not to start yielding to anti-semitism and white men with Nazi tattoos, that much I know. Globalizing the Intifada is still a very, very bad idea, even if you think Netanyahu is an abject criminal. Sure, Democrats should never have conceded to the data nerds and embraced a “base only” approach to politics, but the answer to that is not to embrace the very worst human beings one can find. The 2010 Republican Party conceded power to the Tea Party, and within a few years they were embracing Pizza Gate, Charlottesville, chem trail theorists, and “white replacement theory.” So much for Milton Friedman economics and “real politic” foreign policy. They were overrun with an unmanageable caucus in both houses of Congress and a Presidential candidate who was completely self motivated and transactional. What could go wrong? Well, everything. And now it’s the Democrats turn. We are on the verge of accepting anti-semitism, grifters, and crackpot conspiracy theorists. They are defending political violence against Jews. And before you say, it’s just one of them, no it’s the whole Alt-Left movement. As DSA calls murder okay, they organize for Mamdani. That would be Zohran Mamdani, who last year was a part of the uncommitted movement over, yes, Gaza. Up on stage at their DSA rally he had AOC, a proponent of the “defund the police” movement. Seriously. She didn’t just want changes to policing, she wanted it defunded. She meant it too. And then there was Bernie up there with them. Bernie, who ran and lost for President twice, the second time much worse, who never misses a chance to attack Democrats. Not on stage with them was Bernie’s heart throb in Maine, Graham Platner, a loud progressive who also thinks the Democratic Party sucks, and also has Nazi tattoos. Of course, the Alt-Left loves him and thinks they “might have found our Trump.” They also didn’t bring their old buddy John Fetterman around, because he’s sort of problematic right now, but he was Mamdani and Platner before they were.
There are Democratic leaders, from Martin Heinrich to Chris Murphy, maybe to even Hakeem Jeffries and Kathy Hochul, ready to concede to these folks. They are ready to concede the Democratic Party to self avowed socialists, conspiracy theories, and nuts. It’s about to happen here in the Lehigh Valley too. Bernie Sanders has endorsed Bob “Crooksy” Brooks in the 7th Congressional district primary. Just like he did for Fetterman. That would be Crooksy who stiffed his mother-in-law, but lives in a state of denial that people won’t care about stealing $55k, defending political violence, sharing racist memes, and being a religious radical. Of course Bernie is for this, he was for Fetterman too. And like Bernie and Fetterman, Crooksy lectures the Democrats about “not supporting the working class,” which for Crooksy just means they let the Black lady talk to Black people, which he definitely hates. Sadly, it sounds like Governor Shapiro is going to join the PA Dems in conceding the Democratic Party to the most vile, terrible elements of the left for political expediency. This is no profile in courage moment. Our leaders are letting us down. They are allowing anti-semites, conspiracy theorists, and socialists to be our future. This is our Tea Party Moment. We are failing it.
I get that Philly is a drama queen town with our teams. That’s fine. You want to scream and yell at A.J. Brown, and fine, whatever. You’ll love him in a few weeks when he’s cooking.
But really, are we debating Bryce Harper? Yes, we’re at 7 years into his deal. Yes, it’s been 4 years since his last MVP, and 3 years since his NLCS MVP. Sure. I might agree he’s not quite elite anymore. He’s still really good.
Look, a 13 year deal is always ugly at the end. I expect us to get three or four more very good seasons from Bryce Harper. The problem with this team is *not* it’s stars though, even if Harper/Schwarber/Turner struggled a bit in the playoffs.
The Phillies didn’t have Wheeler, or Alvarado for the playoff series. They also didn’t see noticeable jumps forward by Bohm, Stott, or Marsh. Also, Castellanos, who I generally like, wasn’t good. All of that explains losing to a really good Dodgers team more than blaming the guys who are elite. Great pitchers will get out great hitters. It’s baseball. We hit our best series right away this year.
What the hell do you think you’re getting for Bryce Harper? You aren’t moving his money and getting great prospects right now. He’s very good. He’s also owed over $150 million against the luxury tax yet. You won’t get an even trade now. He still makes plenty of money, even if not a crazy number. Hoping he plays more next year and continues at his current per game rate (which is still likely at 33) is the best case scenario for the Phillies. Trading him is a losing proposition. Dave Dombrowski was right to shoot it down. No one should have pushed it to begin with. I mean really, you think Ben Rice is a game changer?
The question hit like a ton of bricks. The person asking me it was one of several people that have been accused of leaking me stuff to put on here. Like usual, the accusations were wrong. There are some people upset about things I find out and print here, things like Governor Shapiro getting ready to endorse the man known as Crooksy or that the State Democratic Party is helping Crooksy’s campaign. The thing is, they don’t deny these things, because they’re true. They just don’t want them talked about. So they want to know who is leaking me the info. They want to stop the leaks. Never mind that they are getting ready to nominate a deadbeat. That’s not the problem for them. They’re ok with that. They’re living in denial.
Look, I’m a political dinosaur at this point. I’ve been around campaigns long enough to remember who managed the Governor’s first campaign and what happened to them. It shouldn’t be a shock that there are a few people who will tell me what the state party is doing, or what the governor is doing, or what Crooksy shot his mouth off about in a room of people he thinks won’t tell. I have friends in this business who literally came to see me at the hospital, but I also have tons of acquaintances, and I know the difference. They’d stick a knife in me if convenient. Apparently the folks around Crooksy and Harrisburg don’t think that happens to them. They don’t get that the calls come from within their own house.
None of this really matters though. The truth is, all I write about Crooksy, or Crosswell, or anyone else, is quite literally things that are verifiable facts. Crosswell doesn’t deny that he was a Republican registrant and primary voter in at least four separate states and districts, or that he worked at a union busting firm, he just claims somehow that he “wasn’t partisan” while he was voting in Trump’s elections, even as he consciously re-registered as a Republican and voted in Republican primaries that featured Trump. Crooksy doesn’t deny that he failed to pay his mother-in-law back one cent of the $55k they had loaned him and his ex-wife for over 15 years, or that he lost twice in court, he just tries to deflect by saying it only was an issue because of a messy divorce. He doesn’t even bother to make up a spin for his racist social media posts or his lax attitude on political violence, or for that matter his belief in school prayer. He knows he posted this stuff. He just hopes you don’t care.
Look, whether it’s a Nazi tattoo in Maine, a Hamas supporter in New York City, a Republican union-buster from Pottsville, or a deadbeat right-winger from Nazareth, I am not going to be okay with crooks, lunatics, liars, and terrible people taking over the Democratic Party in some vain hope of “taking back” young male voters. This stuff is unacceptable. I get that there are staff people in the Harrisburg establishment who don’t want people to get to read about these people and what they did. They hope you never learn about it. I’m not going to oblige them. I’m going to make sure it’s out there for everyone. There are downsides to this, of course. I know that several staff members from Congressman Mackenzie, and many other Republicans also read my blog, and they will use this stuff against these folks. So be it. These are not good people.
I think it goes without saying, voters get to make the last call. If voters don’t care that Crooksy is untrustworthy, if they don’t care about the things he did, so be it. Same for Crosswell. If Democratic Primary voters in Maine don’t care that a self-professed history buff claims he didn’t know he had a Nazi tattoo, when he clearly did, then so be it. As long as they know, because the truth is that they will find out, either from us, or from the other side. You can’t hide it as a candidate.
Apocalypse Vibes 