Weekly Mail Season Premiere September 18, 2016

One thing that has been absolutely mind blowing since I've lived here in Oceanside is the amount of people that I have run into that I've known from my past.  I often joke that I have two hometowns, Woodside and Rockaway, and it seems like lots of people from both of those communities have migrated eastward.

The other night, while I was at Timmy's welcome back to school barbecue, I ran into another old friend from the Rock. I hadn't seen him in years. Timmy's soccer coach was a Woodside/Maspeth kid, I was in 7-11 one day and met up with a St.Mary's classmate, ran into the parents of another not too long ago, and Timmy's teacher told me her husband was from Rockaway. (which was seconded by the guy I met at the BBQ)

A guy I worked with at the Post once said You know how they have the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon? Well they ought to have the two degrees of Bill Gallagher. At least in Queens." His girlfriend (now wife's) brother in law went to high school with me, and her best friend used to work at the St. Mary's rectory.  I don't know, I didn't think I was that famous. Or infamous as it were.



NEWS ITEM: DOWNTOWN EXPLOSION

  Saturday night, Mayor DeBlasio said that while the device that exploded in Chelsea was set intentionally, there was no reason to believe it was terrorism.

Huh?

So let's give this buffoon the benefit of the doubt and suggest that maybe he meant he didn't think it was  ISIS or al-Qaeda. In other words, it wasn't international terrorism or heaven forbid we she should say it fundamentalist Islamic Terrorism.

Well as of my writing this he still hasn't said the word terrorism. At all. Even after governor Cuomo said it was.

Look, an explosive device was planted deliberately in a densely populated area. That's terrorism folks, no matter how you slice it. No, I won't sit here and speculate that it was an organized plot, I have no idea what the motive was. I may may not be the sharpest knife the in draw, but I know a terrorist attack when I see one.

Tara sometimes asks if I miss living in the city. On days like this I do. Days when I'm sorry I won't be able to vote that doofus out of City Hall.

2016 ELECTION


I was going to wait a couple of weeks before I wrote about this, but in light of Hillary Clinton's health woes last week, I felt compelled to move up my timetable.

I've made no secret of my dislike of our former Senator for many reasons, most of which I will detail later. But there are a few things that I do admire about the woman. Things you can't really take away from her.

1) She's TOUGH- I thought this about her even before last week, when she tried to soldier through the 9/11 memorial services despite her having pneumonia. Hillary Clinton can take a verbal punch better than anyone I've ever seen. It goes without saying that she can take one better than her opponent, who can't take any punches at all. But she even puts our current President to shame in that department, and her husband as well.

I'm not saying she doesn't deserve the criticism she gets, no, she brings much of that upon herself. But through it all, the legitimate and the bull$h-t, she keeps going.

I'll take her at her word that she was trying to fight her way through her sickness to honor those who died 15 years ago. I think sometimes she too tough for her own good, but I have to admit, she is as tough a politician as I have ever seen.

2) She's SMART- Whether or not you believe the things that she says, (and more often than not I don't) even I have to admit that she has a wealth of knowledge. She'll never ask "Is our children learning?" (Bush 43) or claim to have "visited all 57 states" (Obama 44). When someone asks her about Aleppo, she won't ask "What's that?" (Gary Johnson) *Editor's Note- To be honest, I didn't know what Aleppo was myself, but then again, I'm not running for President.* I can, have, and will say negative stuff about her. One thing I can't call her is stupid.

3) She was an excellent First Lady, (but not a transformitive one), Next year around this time will mark the 20th anniversary of the deaths of Princess Diana and St. Theresa of Calcutta. Even though both were important figures to their respective countries, they weren't considered world leaders. So it wouldn't have been appropriate for President Clinton to attend their funerals.
Instead Hillary went. And she represented our country with dignity and class.
She also made several trips abroad as a diplomat in the traditional sense of what First Ladies of the past did. She may have been more educated that her predecessors, and probably more knowledgeable of international affairs, but she wasn't sent to negotiate deals. Again, she went and put our country's best foot forward. And she did an excellent job.

Now some of you may read these three statements and say they are back handed compliments, especially the last two. Maybe they are, but I really don't mean them to be. I give her credit for her inner toughness and her brains, and I think she was an excellent representative of our nation as First Lady. I have at least another 6 weeks, (and more likely the next four years) to point out everything that's wrong with her.

Today I'm just saying what I think is good about her.


SPORTS: JETS BEAT REX:

AS I've written before, I am trying to ween myself off of the NFL Jones that has gripped most of the country. Firstly, and most importantly, I would much rather spend my Sundays doing fun things out of the house with Tara and Timmy. The idea of plopping in front of the TV and watching 12 hours of football strikes me as a total waste. Trust me, I've done it before, usually after a Saturday night of drinking and debauchery. But since those days are over, I have no excuse.

But also, football is so ripe with woman beaters, sexual assaulters, dog abusers, drunk drivers, druggies,  and cheaters, that I find it harder and harder to rally around them. And the reason that they all get away with it, is that no matter how low these scumbags go, we'll always be there on Sunday, ready to root them on. As Mike Vaccaro of the Post has stated, Football is our National addiction. I'm trying to break away from that.

All that being said, it did my heart good to see the Jets beat the Bills the other night up in Buffalo. Still kind of wish they had done that back in January when a win in Buffalo would have gotten them into the playoffs, but I guess I'll take what I can get. I loved Rex Ryan and his big mouth when the Jets were going to the AFC Title game, but now I enjoy shutting him up. And it looks like his days in Western NY may be numbered.

Sorry that I got this out late, and I hope I didn't miss any new developments with the explosions
in Chelsea.

Have a Great Week!