Action
Association
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 52 UNE 21-27, 2019 BTR
49TH CO NATIW SPEAKS AT PPNA MEETING
BY GENE DEFRANCIS
AIM has met with the designers
for our upcoming holiday
lights. Believe it or not
time is running out. Can’t
believe we are talking about
the holidays now as summer
is just getting started but
that is how it goes.
‘Fail to plan. Plan to fail.’
This is behind the scenes of
what it takes to keep pushing
the community forward. Holiday
lights were costing us
$7,500 year and the price last
year was going up at least another
$1,500.
Our plan is to operate our
own lights like we did last
year. Enhance the lights we
display at the same or lower
cost. Earlier this year we
discussed and approved the
design and now it’s time for
fundraising. With most of
the cost upfront, we have to
start earlier and we need to
ask for everyone to put in a
little extra. That contribution
will balance out the following
year.
We are also getting the
US Flags proudly displayed
throughout the neighborhood.
Thank you for those
whosupported us early. We
are a bit behind of our targeted
date because we are
waiting for our shipment of
fl ags to come in.
We would like to rent a lift
once again to make installing
Captain Andrew Natiw, 49th Precinct commanding offi cer, was the guest speaker at the Pelham Parkway
Neighborhood Association’s monthly meeting on Tuesday, June 11 at Bronx House.
(Above, l-r) PPNA’s board member Louis Lutnik, vice president Steve Glosser, president Edith Blitzer
and captain Natiw. Photo by Silvio Pacifi co
the fl ags easier as well as the
successful project to remove
sneakers from the wires and
other debris on wires and in
trees.
We also noticed that
some blocks have an excessive
amount of dead wires
streaming across the sky.
We will look into how we can
safely and responsibly remove
these wires to clear up
the sky view.
Allerton Patrol is in the
planning phase and we are
hoping to roll out the patrol
before the Food Festival. If
you wish to interview and
sign up for our patrol, contact
us at AllertonMerchants@
gmail.com.
The Allerton International
Food Festival is gearing
up and will be August 17.
Stage set up on Allerton and
Barnes avenues.
Our next executive meeting
is scheduled for Tuesday,
July 2, 7 p.m. at the Sanz, 815
Allerton Avenue. On Wenesday,
June 25, 7 p.m. The 49
Precinct Community Council
will meet at the Sanz as well.
Friday, July 5 is our Freedom
Bingo, 7 p.m. at Beth
Abraham, 612 Allerton Avenue.
Twenty dollars for advanced
ticket purchases, $25
for tickets purchased at the
door.
Community Garden volunteers
and young aspiring
entrepreneurs are also welcomed
to contact us as we
are ready, willing, and able
to get some of these projects
launched and maintained.
Sponsors and vendors are
also welcome to contact us to
be apart of all or some of our
upcoming events.
All hands on deck. It’s
time to get up and get active.
Your community is your
business.
BY FRANK VERNUCCIO
It has been said that culture
trumps politics. In that
vein, it has been fascinating
to observe the bizarre reaction
to the conclusion of the
wildly popular television series,
Game of Thrones.
The fantasy-medieval
hit program featured what
was portrayed as an idealistic
young woman, Danearis
Targaryen, who, though fi rst
portrayed as a victim, rose to
become a powerful queen, a
monarch that eventually conquers
her world.
She became a living example
of how absolute power
corrupts absolutely. Upon securing
victory in an ultimate
battle, she goes on a wild killing
spree, destroying innocent
civilians for no reason
other than the fact that they
once lived under different rulers
who opposed her.
There was a widespread
reaction among viewers, who
so opposed this portrayal that
they demanded the show be rewritten.
But history has demonstrated
time and again that
giving anyone or any group
overwhelming power leads
to devastation. But that reality
condemns collectivist doctrines
like Socialism, which
has led to 100 million deaths
over the past century.
But as Socialism has become
popular in U.S. politics
and academia, the reality portrayed
so vividly in a work of
fi ction, in a realm of popular
culture normally dominated
by the Left, came as a shock to
its many naïve and underinformed
devotees.
The popularity of Senator
Bernie Sanders’ economic
policies, and the rise of anticapitalist
organizations such
as Antifa, indicate the growing
popularity of socialism in
the U.S.
Bernie’s beliefs are misguided,
but at least he has been
honest about them. Other primary
contenders for the 2020
nomination share his socialist
leanings but pretend to be
pro-free market. Their endorsement
of concepts such as
Universal Basic Income, nationalized
health care, and a
variety of other bring out the
vote with unfi llable promises
schemes demonstrates that reality.
Our young have been educated
in universities utterly
dominated by open and closet
socialists, all paid for by parents
who probably disagree
with that philosophy.
A 2017 Bloomberg review
noted that according to
Asher Kaplan, who organized
a well-attended event debating
the merits and problems
of capitalism, “These days,
among young people, socialism
is both a political identity
and a culture…Young Americans
have soured on capitalism.
In a Harvard University
poll conducted in 2016, 51
percent of 18-to-29 year-olds
in the U.S. said they opposed
capitalism; only 42 percent
expressed support. Among
Americans of all ages, by
contrast, a Gallup survey
last year found that 60 percent
held positive views of
capitalism. A poll released
last month found American
millennials closely split on
the question of what type of
society they would prefer
to live in: 44 percent picked
a socialist country, 42 percent
a capitalist one. The
poll, conducted by YouGov
and the Victims of Communism
Memorial Foundation,
found that only 59 percent
of Americans across all age
groups preferred to live under
capitalism.”
A similar result was published
in The Week that same
year: “Things are looking up
for the Democratic Socialists
of America. With a membership
of 25,000, it is now the largest
socialist group in America
since the Second World War…
Membership has more than
tripled in a year, gaining a
large boost from the candidacy
of Bernie Sanders…”
The increasing support
comes also from cultural fi gures.
Despite the dictatorial
and despotic depredations of
Venezuela’s late Hugo Chavez,
who played the key role in destroying
his nation’s economy,
well-known U.S. citizens
praised him. Throughout
Chavez’s life Penn was an outspoken
supporter of the dictator,
and at his candlelight
vigil in Bolivia Penn showed
up wearing a Venezuelan
fl ag jacket and told a group of
mourners: He’s one of the most
important forces we’ve had on
this planet, and I’ll wish him
nothing but that great strength
he has shown over and over
again. I do it in love, and I do it
in gratitude. He was joined by
Oliver Stone, who established
a solid friendship with the Venezuelan
strongman. Awardwinning
actor Danny Glover,
in an interview with La Nacion
stated: Glover told La Nación:
“He was not only my friend, he
was my brother… It’s diffi cult
for a leader like him to exist in
these times. His vision for humanity
and the world can only
be compared to that of leaders
like Nelson Mandela. He was a
great man and I cried when he
died.”
The fact that a major popular
event like Game of Thrones,
in a medium normally dominated
by the Left, exposed the
reality of what Socialism’s
centralized power leads to exposed
shocked viewers to a reality
they had ignored for far
too long.
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