Is ASD Superintendent Selling Out To The Highest Bidder?

Sure sounds like it if he can land the job.

The Morning Call
Thomas Parker, the fourth superintendent in 10 years to lead Allentown schools, applies for job in Nashville"Allentown School District Superintendent Thomas Parker, who is in the middle of his five-year contract, has applied for a job leading Nashville, Tennessee, schools. Parker is one of 19 people who applied for the superintendent job of Metro Nashville Public Schools, according to The Tennessean newspaper. The district is expected to narrow the number to five....

Before receiving the Allentown job, he was superintendent of schools in Ecorse, Mich., a small financially distressed district outside Detroit with about 1,000 students."

Was this job just a steeping stone for this 40 year old's career?
Sure seems like it. Nobody applies for another job just for the fun of it as he tends to want us to believe.

It seems to me some of these jobs ought to come with a financial penalty if someone doesn't fulfill their contract. Let's say they only get 75% of their salary and the other 25% when they fully complete their contract at the end of five years in the form of a lump sum. I'm tired of these guys pulling this crap on us.

Some Random Thoughts

Why is it now every time I see news reports they say some car left the "roadway" even if it were on a city "street"?

Why do reporters now say someone was knocked to the "floor" when it occurred outside instead of the "ground"?

Why oh why can cable news just report the news instead of hosting panels endlessly discussing it?

Speaking of cable news. If your interested in anything other then the coronavirus, the elections or what some other fool said on TV your SOL.

Just about every public official or TV personality is complaining about death threats they receive on social media. There's a simple solution for that... duh!

Post something humorous, informative, educational or entertaining and I'm sure to get 90% less views.

The 30% rule states someone's rent should not exceed their net income by this amount. The average rent in the Lehigh Valley is $1,500. So how many take home $5,000 a month after deductions?

The average Social Security income for a couple is less then $2,000 a month. Is it possible to live on $24,000 a year? A 2019 analysis of more than 30 million retirement accounts by Fidelity Investments found that the average balance in corporate-sponsored 401(k) plans at the end of 2018 was $95,600. So if average rent is $18,000 a year this means in 15 years (less if there are unexpected medical costs, taxes on your withdrawals, rent increases etc.) you'll go broke in less then 15 years... unless you die first.

If you receive a new car rebate of let's say $1,000 doesn't this mean the car was overpriced? If bought for dealer invoice one can assume the dealer also got a rebate... meaning the car was vastly overpriced in the first place. Which explains why cars can lose more than 10 percent of their value during the first month after you drive off the lot.

I heard on a business news channel today consumer borrowing is higher then it ever was. They said it was because of consumer confidence in the economy. That doesn't make any sense to me. If the economy is so good wouldn't they be borrowing less?

I heard on this same business news channel that average family of four needs to earn a net of $70,000 annually to be comfortable. That works out to about $45 an hour gross combined for a full time working couple.

Full time child care runs around $200 per child a week. So if you have two kids you'd have to earn around $12 an hour x's 40 just to break even. Plus you'd likely need a second vehicle which would increase those costs greatly.

I have a bunch more thoughts running around in my noggin but that's enough for now.

Husbands Of Target

Fortunately Holderness and Dude Dad came up with a solution for this.

John J Moser Is Out At TMC (Another One Bites The Dust)

ICYMI: Saying farewell: I had the time of my life.

Read @mcall: https://t.co/MvkZIsq0Yk pic.twitter.com/MCmH9hRKm7

— John J. Moser (@JohnJMoser) February 7, 2020

"I thought I’d never leave The Morning Call. But now I’m doing that, too. After almost 31 years (this time) at The Morning Call, I’ve accepted a buyout offer. Tomorrow [02/08/2020] is my last day."

John was a senior writer and music critic at The Morning Call.
The way this is going The Morning Call could soon relocate to a small store in a strip mall. Either that or they could rent a small area in my basement I'm not using.

Utah Sends Employees to Mexico for Lower Prescription Prices

New York Times (AP)
Utah Sends Employees to Mexico for Lower Prescription Prices"The cost difference is so large that the state's insurance program for public employees can pay for each patient’s flight, give them a $500-per-trip bonus and still save tens of thousands of dollars."

It's a shame the United States government refuses to do a damn thing about this. Sure every election cycle these windbags talk, talk and talk about doing something about it... but it never happens.

I've read a number of folks who organized frequent group travels to Canada and Mexico. This is the first I heard of insurance paying for it. Since the conservative wing of this government is so beholden to pharmaceutical firms I wonder how long before congress or some government agency makes laws against this and begin confiscating them at the border.

With only four Republicans voting in favor the house passed H.R.3 - Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act last December. Then sent it to the Senate. Where it still awaits action to take it up by Mitch McConnell (the grim reaper).



Nancy PELOSI PUT OUT THIS STATEMENT which said in part... Gives Medicare the power to negotiate directly with the drug companies, and creates strong new tools to force drug companies to the table to agree to real price reductions, while ensuring seniors never lose access to the prescriptions they need.

Makes the lower drug prices negotiated by Medicare available to Americans with private insurance, not just Medicare beneficiaries.

Stops drug companies ripping off Americans while charging other countries less for the same drugs, limiting the maximum price for any negotiated drug to the average price in countries like ours, where drug companies charge less for the same drugs – and admit they still make a profit.

Creates a new, $2,000 out-of-pocket limit on prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries, and reverses years of unfair price hikes above inflation across thousands of drugs in Medicare.

Reinvests in innovation and the search for new cures and treatments, using some of the savings from lowering the unjustified drug prices that are bankrolling Big Pharma’s stock-buybacks to reinvest billions of dollars in the search for new breakthrough treatments and cures at the National Institutes of Health.The "grim reaper' strikes again!
Mitch McConnell already promised back in September (when the bill was first introduced) it would be "dead on arrival" in the Senate. According to AMERICAN INDEPENDANT (01/08/2020)..-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell still refuses to hold a vote on a House-passed bill that could drastically lower costs....

In an email, the committee revealed that the House-passed bill would lower the cost of Humira by 81%, from $34,411 per year to $8,276 per year. For Premarin, the House-passed measure would drop the cost by 96%, from $568 to just $21 per year.

The same analysis showed H.R. 3 could lower the cost of several other prescription drugs that increased in cost in 2020, including medication dealing with diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and arthritis. The costs of drugs provided by the committee would drop in prices ranging from a 73% drop for Gilenya, a medication for multiple sclerosis, to a 96% drop for Premarin.Obviously he has thrown his lot in with Trump trying to destroy the Democrats at all costs. So much so nothing else matters. I'd bet a dollar and a donut if they renamed this bill "The Ivanka Trump Lower Drug Costs Now Act" it would sail through the Senate and Donald would sign it in less then 24 hours. What a bunch of bullshit to withhold this from the American people.

May 2019

It's gotten only worse.
Now there's over 250 bills the house passed sitting on his desk.
H.R. 3 being one of them.

Riley And Nicole Latest Reporters To Leave TMC

Personal news: I’m leaving The Morning Call after 12 years. I’ve accepted a buyout, during what is the fourth round of staff cuts in my tenure. If you want to say goodbye, please call, message or stop by, because tomorrow is my last day.

— Riley Yates (@riley_yates) February 6, 2020

Riley was the senior reporter in Easton for The Morning Call.

I can’t thank enough The Morning Call and all the wonderful journalists I have worked with there over the last 19 years. I’ll miss you all and will continue to follow your important work as a reader. -30- pic.twitter.com/dm3tcQjtRM

— Nicole Radzievich (@NRadzievich) February 8, 2020

Nicole was the Morning Call reporter assigned to cover Bethlehem.

Chris Mathews OK BOOMER!

Chris Scare Mongering

Bernie shoot me in central park pic.twitter.com/y8cK9VvjSo

— Shuja Haider (@shujaxhaider) February 8, 2020

I expect a whole lot of the corporate controlled talking heads to trash talk Bernie even more in the coming weeks. Face it these huge corporations are going to find no favor in Bernie considering 60 Fortune 500 Companies Avoided All Federal Income Tax in 2018. Why would they?

Bernie Sanders On Socialism, Taxes And Criminal CEOs



February 2019- CNN Town Hall
Bernie Sanders fires back at Trump over socialism


There's not a doubt in my mind the corporate controlled media and Trump's pals will do everything in their power to paint Bernie as a full fledged communist. The wealthy have a good thing going on. They're not about to let Bernie's campaign gain traction if it's in their power to prevent uprooting their game. As far as I'm concerned no matter which network one considers being liberal or conservative each will oppose Bernie. It's simply not in their advantage to allow Bernie to gain ground.

Of course if people are happy the total wealth of Gates, Bezos and Buffett combined was $248.5 billion, exceeding the total wealth of $245 billion of the bottom half of Americans then Bernie may not be for you.