Weekly Mail November 27, 2016

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I had a blast because 1) Tara didn't have to work and 2) I got to have dinner with my in-laws and dessert with my side of the family. To get to see everybody made it a special day.

Last year, you may recall, I attempted to play soccer at Oceanside Park, with disastrous results. At least this year, I stayed home and watched the parade. That way, I wasn't hobbling around all weekend.

NEWS ITEM: Black (and Blue) Friday

Flashback: Guess what city and state will report the first major injuries from Black Friday trampling, win valuable prizes.-Weekly Mail: November 20, 2016. 

      The first report of casualties I saw from Black Friday came from Atlantic City, NJ. Followed by Reno, NV. (I went shopping in Reno just to watch someone die)

Now, some of you may think me an insensitive a-hole for making light of Black Friday violence. And maybe I shouldn't. I abhor violence of all kinds, my heart breaks when any innocent person is a victim of violence, be it gun violence, knife violence whatever.

Some innocent person getting killed in a drive by shooting? That's a tragedy.

Someone getting killed in a fight over a Tickle Me Elmo doll at 5 AM on Black Friday?

I'm sorry, that's not such a tragedy.

What THAT is, is senseless violence that is perpetrated by the stores themselves, with their obnoxious commercials, and their decision to set their hours either in the wee hours of Friday morning, or worse late Thanksgiving night.

And here's the dirty little secret that nobody wants you to know.. There is nothing that you need to buy on Black Friday at that ridiculous hour that you can't get some other time, at the same discounted price. The idea that you have to beat the crap out of someone to get a gift at that hour because you won't be able to either 1) get that item or 2) get it at that price is absurd.

I remember as a kid watching the news with my mom and dad on a summer Sunday night, and without fail at least once a summer, there would be a story about a plane crashing during an airshow that killed the pilot and multiple people on the ground. "It happens every year " they would say "and yet, they'll do it again."

Same thing with Black Friday, multiple deaths every year. But next year, get there early.

OBITUARIES:

1) Florence Henderson: Most of us were not yet born (or too young to remember) when The Brady Bunch was a prime time show on ABC, but we all remember the afternoon reruns on Channel 5 or 11 when we were growing up. Even though the Brady Bunch wore the clothes and hairstyles of their time, (and thank the Lord those shirts, pants and man-perms all stayed right there in the 70's) the message of family unity and learning from mistakes transcend time. A family led by a kind, loving mom who was tough when she needed to be, but always fair.

That was Carol Brady, played to perfection by Florence Henderson.

Like Robert Reed, who played her on screen husband Mike Brady. Henderson had several credits to her name before the Brady Bunch, and was a multi talented actress and singer. Unlike Reed, she didn't seem to harbor any resentment over the Brady Bunch role being her defining moment. When Reed died in 1992, many of his obits claimed that he hated the role of Mike Brady and complained to anyone who would listen that he was a classically trained Shakespearean actor)

She embraced the idea of being a mother that everyone could look up to. There is something to be said about that. She'll be missed.

2) Ron Glass- AKA Detective Harris on Barney Miller.  I can't remember who it was, but I remember when NYPD Blue was on, I was talking to a retired cop. He was saying that while the cases that the cops on Blue were working on were realistic, the way those cops spoke to each other was totally unrealistic. "No cop talks like that" my friend told me. "Do you know what cop show is the most realistic in terms of how cops really carry themselves?"

Hill Street Blues? Kojak? I asked

\

Barney Miller was the response.

The grimy police station, the off the wall characters they arrested, not to mention the off the wall characters that worked there. You know what? I believe it.

Ron Glass played Det. Ron Harris, the squad's lone African American and aspiring novelist. A guy who at times seemed more interested in writing than in doing his job (something I can relate to). Barney Miller was one of the great ensemble shows of the 70's if not all time. It's definitely one of my favorite old shows, and Harris was a big part of that. Sad to hear of his passing.

Last and Least

3) Fidel Castro- Readers of this blog know that although I believe that President Obama often has his heart in the right place, sometimes it leads him to decisions that I don't believe are in our best interests.

His decision to normalize relations with Cuba, without winning concessions on human rights violations and turning over exiles hiding there, was another decision that I felt could have been better handled.

What Fidel Castro did to the people of Cuba for the past 57 years is disgraceful. And don't take my word for it, ask any Cuban exile, go see how they are whooping it up in Miami as if the Dolphins finally won another Super Bowl, now that the cigar chomping dictator finally died at age 90.

Castro had baffled every US President from Eisenhower to Bush 43. (His brother Raul has ruled Cuba for the past 10 years). He had provided aid and comfort to our enemies, in addition to the brutality he imposed on the Cuban people.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who seems like a nice enough guy, praised Castro in a statement, which I find baffling. President Obama said he hoped that relations will continue to improve between the two nations.

I do too. Sending back cop killer Joanne Chesmard would go a long way to doing that. Fidel Castro dying this weekend? That will probably help as well.

I promised to finish these up on a positive note, (and I apologize for bringing in a little bit of politics on the Castro thing) so here goes.

My assignment for Thanksgiving was to bake an apple pie.

Now my late grandmother baked what pretty much anyone who ever tasted it swore was the best apple pie ever. I knew going into this project that I wasn't going to match, let alone top her masterpiece. Still I picked the brains of my sister and my aunt, who have done pretty well at replicating the Grandma Gallagher masterpiece.

So last Sunday we made our first attempt at it. I learned a few lessons from my first foray into the family business. 1) I needed to cut the apples smaller, because they we sticking out through the crust. 2) I needed to roll the dough out a bit more because I barely had enough to cover the pie.

It tasted all right, but it wasn't aesthetically pleasing.

I tried again on Tuesday, this time making extra dough and cutting down the apples. It actually looked more like an apple pie, though still a far cry from Krissy or Aunt Dot's. I plan on trying again for Christmas.

Stay safe out there my friends

And Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail November 20,2016

Hey:

Last Sunday, I went to Donovan's with Tara, Timmy and my mother and father in law. We were given the royal treatment from Jimmy Jakes and Danny Connor.  They made me feel like a celebrity there, and it felt like home.

I was back there again Sunday to celebrate my Aunt's birthday. Once again, we got treated like celebrities. Donovan's is amazing!

What made it extra special to be back in the old hangout was that my favorite nights at Donovan's was the big boozefest they had the night before Thanksgiving. Between 1993 and 2005 just about every Thanksgiving Eve was spent, either in part or totally on the corner of 58th and Roosevelt Avenue.

Future spouses met, light fixtures were broken, nicknames were created. There were hook-ups, throw ups and lots and lots and lots of laughs,

One year when I was in college, there was a girl I was sort of interested in. I asked her if she wanted to come to Donovan's for Thanksgiving Eve, and she was kind of going back and forth on it. In the end she said no, and it was probably just as well. Donovan's was a great place to take a date, but not on Thanksgiving Eve.

Another year, when I had just started working my first job out of school, we decided to do dinner before we started pounding. It made me feel somewhat grown up, as opposed to eating dinner at home and rolling out about 9 or 10 PM,

The year after that, we all showed up after Ray and Maureen's rehearsal dinner. It was the kickoff to what would go down as one of my favorite weekends of all time.

The next year I must have overdid it because on the train up to my Aunt's house in Poughkeepsie I felt like said train had run me over. The year after that, I deliberatly cut myself off around 2 AM, (Though I stayed out till last call.) The year after that, I went to see a co-worker of mine who was also an actress perform in an off Broadway musical, after which I high tailed it to Donovan's. A couple of years after that, in 2004, I staggered into the city to meet who would become my future in laws, after a night of partying. Somehow, despite a ripping hangover, I pulled it off, because the following year, we got married.

Now I usually spent Thanksgiving Eve, either baking something for the next day, or just hanging out at the house. Occasionally we'll head out for dinner, but those crazy Thanksgiving Eve's are a thing of the past.

From what I can remember, they were a lot of fun.


TELEVISION: Thanks for nothing Oprah!

I am proud to say that I have never watched one episode of that creep Dr. Phil's hideous program. And I normally wouldn't even waste ink on him, but this week he sank to a new low.

Dr. Dirtbag advertised all week that he was going to have Shelley Duvall on his program on Friday. Duvall, most famous for playing Wendy Torrance, Jack Nicholson's wife in The Shining, has apparently had some sort of mental breakdown in her later years. She looks about 20 years older than her 67 years, she believes her co-star in Popeye, the late Robin Williams is still alive,  as well as other hopeless rantings.

My understanding is that Dr. Phil McGraw emerged from Oprah Winfrey's stable of "talent" along with the likes of CBS This Morning's co-host Gayle King, Dr. Oz and Rachel Ray.

McGraw, more than the others, seems to cater to the lowest common denominator. In the guise of helping those who genuinely need psychological counseling, he seems more intent on exploiting said patients in order to boost his ratings.

He's been doing it for years. But this whole thing with Shelley Duvall seemed to really hit a nerve.

With guys like Maury Povich and Jerry Springer, there is no pretense. Springer is looking for inbred married relatives to come on stage and beat the crap out of each other. Maury is looking for people who are crazy enough to have DNA test results read out loud in front of a studio audience. The illusion that these guys are looking to help is thin to non existent.

But McGraw is a licensed clinical psychologist. He actually has the ability to help people. He might be able to help someone like Duvall get better. He could do it in the privacy of his office. Instead he trots the poor thing out on syndicated TV.

Sad. And shameful.




Guess what city and state will report the first major injuries from Black Friday trampling, win valuable prizes.



OK OK, let me try to finish this up on a positive or funny note.



Timmy had cultural day at his school on Friday, and the class was tasked with bringing in food that has to do with their culture. Since I couldn't send him in with a case of Guinness, Tara and I (well, Tara) had to whip our man up an Irish Soda Bread.

Full disclosure: I really don't like Irish Soda Bread.

My Aunt Eileen used to make an Irish Soda Bread that made the house smell wonderful.Hers I could eat  But in general, I just could never get into it. I find in very dry, and even with some butter, I just really didn't dig it.

Now add to that, the fact that all dishes had to be nut, gluten and dairy free to aviod all possible food allergies, and what we sent our son into class with might have been the worst Irish Soda Bread in the history of ISB. Donald Trump could have used it to build his wall along the Rio Grande.

Now, before you all go running to Tara to say that I was making fun of her cooking, please let me once again remind you all that she did the best she could under the circumstances. Gluten free + Dairy Free = Flavor free, so we never stood a chance here. I told Tara that we should have put a note with the Soda Bread stating "The Irish are not known for their culinary skills."

Have a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving

And have a Great Week!

Weekly Mail November 13, 2016

Hey There:


Now that the election is over, it's going to be a scramble to find interesting things to write about. Sports and elections make up so much of what I write about. You know how I feel about the NFL, I know how most of you feel about the NHL. The NBA? I'll watch an occasional Knick game, but not too much.

Timmy started playing CYO basketball, which should be very interesting. Lord knows he can get up and down the court with ease.

I wrote an election wrap up, but I didn't post it. I really tried to play it
down the middle. I didn't post it because things are very raw right now. Here is the link if you are interested.

http://weeklymailfb.blogspot.com/2016/11/election-wrap-up.html?m=1

As I say in the article, I really don't want to lose any friends over this. Nobody is worth that. Especially not any political figures.


FLASHBACK:


With all the hoopla regarding the election happening, an anniversary passed last week that I really didn't see much mention about. But it's something that I remember clear as day, and I think, anyone who saw it would remember too. But time and medical advances have rendered the story, well if not irrelevant, not nearly what we thought it was going to be.

25 years ago, November 7, 1991. I was driving somewhere with my mom and dad, and Mike and the Mad Dog were reporting that Magic Johnson was announcing his retirement from the NBA. They had no idea why. He had missed the Lakers first couple of games, and if I recall correctly, Francessa and Russo speculated on a leg injury. (According to the great Jeff Pearlman's book Showtime, the press announced that Magic was out with the flu). On the radio, they kept saying how they couldn't believe Magic was hanging it up at the age of 32, coming off a trip to the Finals. They kept saying how they couldn't believe it, and they were driving my poor mother crazy. "These guys retire all the time, what's the big surprise?"

That came a couple of minutes later..

Stan Martyn, was the sports director at WFAN. He also did the updates for Mike and the Mad Dog every half hour. This time he broke in and once again announced that Magic Johnson was retiring from the Lakers, because he tested positive for the AIDS virus.

Silence on the radio.

OK, now that's a surprise my mom said.

Wow! Said the Mad Dog.

We were on 51st Avenue, right near where IS 5 is now.  Shock ran through me.

My first thought went back to May 9 earlier that year. Johnny Carson had Michael Landon on the Tonight Show that night. Landon had recently announced he was battling pancreatic cancer. He came out that night and joked that he had his hair, makeup and blood transfusion done back stage before the show. He looked like nothing was wrong. He said he would beat it.

2 months later, he was dead. But watching him with Johnny that night, I had no idea I was watching a dead man walking.

And now, four months after Landon died, I felt like I was watching another dead man walking.

There wasn't a TV Station in America, if not the world, that didn't carry the presser.

Magic came out and said "Um because of the HIV virus which I have attained, I'm going to have to retire from the Lakers."  Throughout the press conference, he was calm and smiling and confident, much the same way Landon had been with Carson. But at that point AIDS was undefeated. If you had it, you weren't going to live very long. Now, of course I have to mention that Magic had tested HIV positive, he didn't have AIDS, but at that point they generally went hand in hand.

When I was younger, adults all the time would say "You couldn't possibly understand, unless you were there." This was about big events, tragedies like the Kennedy assassination, or triumphs like the moon landing. I didn't understand why they would say that, of course I understood.

But I didn't, and as good as a writer as I like to think I am, I can't put into words what this announcement was like.

I now work with people who weren't even alive that day. They don't understand that HIV meant eventually full blown AIDS which meant a horrible painful death. To them, HIV means you can control the disease, that you can keep it from becoming full blown AIDS. That you can live a long time after you first get infected.

They don't understand that nobody watching that press conference or reading about it in the papers and magazines the next several days thought that Magic Johnson would live another 10 years, never mind the fact that 25 years later, he is still alive and strong, a part owner of the Dodgers.

I was by no means, a Lakers fan, but for a long time, I considered Magic to be the greatest player of all time. A 6'9 natural point guard who could play all 5 positions on the floor, Magic made passes that had to be seen to be believed. But you didn't have to be Jack Nicholson or Dyan Cannon to feel sick about what Magic announced that day. 25 years ago.


NEWS ITEM: McSorley's Closes Down

In a week where we all could have used a few glasses of personality, McSorley's Old Ale House, a Greenwich Village Haunt founded in 1854, was shut down by the DOH.  The health concerns that were raised include "Rats, food held at the wrong temperature, and conditions conducive to "vermin and pest activity" Sounds gross.

But in defense of the joint, what do you expect of a place that's been around since before the Civil War started? Now that they gentrified downtown, the rats need a place to go.

And who goes there to eat? That place is a pure booze bar, and the idea is to get nice and drunk on those pale and dark beers, then maybe you won't notice the rats and mice.

In any event, here's hoping they can get rid of the rats and mice and re-open sooner than later.


On that note, Bon Appetit

Hang in there.

Have a Great Week.

Election Wrap Up

The part of this blog that are in brackets { } were written Wednesday. 

{I'm lousy at predicting stuff.

Really, look at my weekly football picks, I've been in pools since I was in high school. I've won maybe 10 times? That's over a 25 year span.

My college basketball brackets? I've won a couple of those pools, but more often than not, my bracket is usually in tatters by the Sweet 16.

But that's sports. That's a fools errand.

In politics, I've been a bit better.

In 2000, I told my family that the election was going to come down to who won Florida. I said that a week before. I had no idea that it would be decided by the Supreme Court over a month later, but yes I did say Florida would decide it.

In 2004, I predicted that John Kerry would beat George W. Bush and win the Presidency. I was wrong, but only because I picked Ohio for Kerry. I picked every other state correctly.

In 2008, I figured Obama would win. I thought it would be closer than it was. Same thing in 2012. In 2012, I looked at the map and told my Obama loving friends they had nothing to worry about. They thought I was trying to jinx them. I wasn't. I didn't.

Nothing in life is supposed to shock me anymore. At 43, I've seen so much. I'd felt like I had seen it all. I know that's impossible but that's how I felt.

Last night? I was shocked.

Last night, I can't believe what I witnessed.

Timmy had his first CYO basketball practice last night. I was walking with him into the gym, when the first results were coming in. The first electoral score I heard was Trump 19, Clinton 3. " He should enjoy it while it lasts" I thought to myself.

By the time I got home figured the wave of blue States that would carry Hillary to the White House would start pouring in. At one point, I saw she was winning in Texas. She wins Texas, it's game over right there.

I expected him to win Florida. I thought if he won Ohio, he'd stay alive. When Hillary pulled out a win in Virginia, once again I figured she was on her way.

Hillary was winning Pennsylvania, so while the pundits were suggesting that this was turning out to be a closer race, I was thinking "OK, if she wins, but he keeps it close, I can take that as a win. She wins, but knowing that it was close, she can't brag that she had a mandate." 

I couldn't believe that Michigan and Wisconsin were still in play and that he was leading. I just kept waiting for the surge of voters that would push those two states blue. It wasn't coming. I started doing the math I my head. If he somehow won Michigan,Wisconsin, Georgia and New Hampshire, he was going to be well over 270.

Michigan began to tighten. For a split second, I thought OK, here we go..... Then my mind was totally blown...

He was now leading in PA. There was despair all over my FB feed. Weekly Mail co editor Karl (the Ace) Ludwig texted me to remind me of the Gallagher jinx. And how I assured him that it wouldn't hold here.

She would take back PA, and Wisconsin and Michigan. How could she not?

11 PM approached. I remembered 2008, when the network's literally counted down the seconds to 11 PM so they could announce that the US had elected it's first African American President. They probably figured they would get to do it again with the first Female President.

I still thought they would. But it wasn't happening at 11 PM.

Midnight came, and the numbers were still in his favor. Now I was starting to see. I just couldn't believe what i was seeing. The guy on CNN was insisting that she could still pull it off, but MSNBC was starting to sound as if he was going to do it. On Fox News, Neil Cavuto was also very quietly speaking of an upset.

I tried to nap during commercials and kept giving myself bedtimes that I kept breaking. Finally at 2:00 AM, John Podesta announced that Hillary wasn't going to make any speeches that night.  I turned in, but really didn't sleep.

I kept hearing that this was an upset, but that doesn't do it justice. The Giants beating the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII? That was an upset. This was the 62 Mets beating the 61 Yankees. This was the Washington Generals beating the 96 Bulls.

This was by far, the biggest upset I have ever seen. Politics, Sports, the Oscars, you name it. I was never more stunned by anything in my life.

I was all set for the Hillary victory party. I was all set for having my nose rubbed in it by some, all set for the barrage of Congratulations Hillary memes that were sure to fill up my news feed. I remembered back to 2008, how I bad I felt, but that I thought I was gracious in defeat, could I do that again?

As I went to bed, I was in to much of a fog to think. My head was spinning. I'm not angry, but I'm not happy. I didn't think I would be happy, but I also didn't think I'd have the feeling that I did have. The feeling I still do have.

Stunned disbelief.}

*****************************************************************************

I've been reluctant to post anything because things are still too hot. I really don't want to lose any friends over this. And technically I shouldn't. 

I didn't vote for the man. I was pretty adamant that I didn't want him to the the President. I don't need to re list the reasons. The bottom line is I said I wasn't going to vote for him and I didn't. 

But to many, a vote for anybody but Hillary was a vote for Trump. And I didn't vote for her either, as I said I wouldn't. Again, refer to my previous writings as to the hows and whys. 

I ended up writing in Evan McMullin for President and Mindy Finn for VP. Probably the fact that I wrote both of their names in invalidated my ballot, but again that doesn't really matter, because my ballot looked a lot like my college basketball brackets. Pretty much everybody I voted for lost. I mean I wasn't dumb enough to think McMullin would win, but I hoped Chris McGrath and David Gurfein would pull out victories, but nothing doing. Only Chuck Schumer kept my ballot from being perfect. Albeit with losers) 

I decided Monday night I would write in McMullin after I saw a report on CBS about him. He seemed like a decent, relatively honest man. And young, the first candidate for President to my knowledge who is younger than I am.  And he pulled 20% of the vote in Utah. Which technically hurt Trump more than it would have Hillary. 

To wrap this whole thing up, and to hopefully not ruffle too many feathers I will leave you with this....

President-elect Trump, Secretary Clinton, and President Obama, all gave eloquent speeches about the peaceful transfer of power, and about how they would all pledge to work together. 

However I hearkened back to the speech Al Gore gave on December 13, 2000, in conceding after over a month of contesting his loss to George W. Bush.....

"I've seen America in this campaign and I like what I see. It's worth fighting for and that's a fight I'll never stop."

And I think all of us should take those words to heart. This country has taken a beating throughout this campaign, and especially the last few days. I've read that this result proves that we are inherently racist, sexist and homophobic, that this confirms the ugliness of America. 

These people forget that we just put an African American in the White House, twice by pretty strong margins. That the first female candidate for President actually won the popular vote. That we wept together on 9/11, and celebrated victories like Bin Laden's capture together. 

Maybe I'm naive, but like Gore, I see a nation that is inherently good. Perfect? Far from it. Is there still racism? Far too much. But you'd have to be blinded by hate to not see the progress. Is there poverty? Again, far too much, but there are millions of Americans willing to help, who help every day. With little to no fanfare. 

One thing that has pissed me off, is all these celebuturds who said they would leave the country if Trump won. As John Kerry used to say "Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

My heroes are the ones who, as Gore said, will stay and fight for what they believe in. They believe in this country, and that's to be admired. I have no issue with people going out and protesting, (so long as they do so peacefully and without destruction of property) Better yet, they should pour their energy into coming up with a couple of contenders to take Trump on in 2020. Create a movement behind a candidate who is young, smart, energetic and all inclusive. Take a page out of what the Republicans did this time, and find an outsider or a young insider. 

This country is bigger than one person, better than one person. Yes I worry that the economy will tank, yes I worry about war. But we've gone through recessions and depressions and war before. I'm giving the man a chance because we have to. If you really can't stand the man, then you have 4 years to get someone to run against him. 

Pour your passion and anger into that. 

Weekly Mail Election Guide

So here we are. Two days away from the election.

And I spent the better part of the week writing my feelings on both candidates. All the things I can't stand about either one of them. The lies and deception and the insults coming from both candidates and their campaigns. I was talking with a really good friend of mine, a fellow writer, who joked that she had to delete so much that she writes before she posts on social media because of how angry this election has made her, she will certainly post something she would regret.

I know what she means.

Because I wrote a whole ton of stuff about both of these people,  And I started to realize that as much as I have wanted to go off on the two of them, as much piss and vinegar as I wanted to spray on the page about them, it was taking too long to write. And if it took too long to write, it would take too long to read.

As I've said before, I know that there is no way I'm going to change anybody's mind, influence anybody's vote. I'm just giving you one man's opinion of this whole mess. And I don't want you to change your mind.

I don't want Hillary Clinton to be the President of the United States.

I don't want Donald Trump to be the President of the United States.

I've tried to narrow down the groups of voters

Group One- Those who think Hillary Clinton is the most qualified candidate to ever grace an election.

Group Two- Those who think Donald Trump is the outsider/game changer this country needs to make America great again.

Group Three-Those who don't really like Hillary Clinton, but believe Donald Trump to be a) dangerous, b) racist c) offensive to women, Muslims, Mexicans, well, pretty much everybody except rich white men,

Group Four-Those who think Donald Trump is  a) dangerous, b) racist c) offensive to women, Muslims, Mexicans, well, pretty much everybody except rich white men, but believe Hillary Clinton is a lying conniving two faced shrew.

Group Five- Those who believe three and four, and are going third party.

I honestly don't know what group I'm in. I attempted to figure it out by writing all my beefs with both Hillary and Trump. With Hillary, I went all the way back to 1992, when in one fell swoop, she insulted stay at home Mom's and women who had to work to support their families. "I don't just sit around baking cookies and having teas"

I went on to her failure to produce a comprehensive health care plan or social security reform while she was First Lady. And even with those failures, still managed to convince enough New Yorkers (in part by donning a Yankee hat and proclaiming "I've always been a Yankee fan!")  that she would make a fine US Senator, (because she knew she couldn't convince enough folks from Illinois and Arkansas that she could.) I ranted about how she voted for the Iraqi War, then acted like someone else cast that vote. I talked about how thin her resume was when Obama asked her to be Secretary of State.

I didn't even get up to Benghazi, the e-mails the Clinton Foundation, or the disgraceful way the DNC acted to grease the skids on her behalf. (and screwing Bernie Sanders in the process)

 In brief, there is enough blame to go around for Benghazi including Senate Republicans) that I actually think she's taken too much blame for what happened. She wasn't upfront with her e-mails, which I believe is 90% of all her problems, that she lies, and I'm going to be honest, I haven't dug into the Clinton Foundation stuff too much. I've seen enough of what she has done, or hasn't done to know that I can't vote for her.

As for Donald Trump, I mean he's just as much a liar as she is, maybe more so. He lied about having information that would prove that President Obama was born outside the US.  (Because nobody else was sharp enough to catch that before he ran for Senate, never mind the White House) He lied about not being able to release his tax returns, probably because he's lying about how much he's worth.

I also wrote about how Adam Sandler had a CD out in the 1990's called "They're All Gonna Laugh at You." One of the characters they had on there was Toll Booth Willie. Sandler played Willie, a Worcester, Massachusetts toll collector, who would greet drivers with a friendly hello, till he tells them the price to go over the bridge, (da state chaaages a dawlah twenty five paw) at which point the driver slams Willie with an insult and drives away, with Willie screaming insults and names at the driver.

Donald Trump is Toll Booth Willie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcI0TJixars.
(don't watch this at work or in front of kids)

I wrote about all the insults. Reporters with disabilities, Gold Star Families, POW's. I wrote about how a crying baby got him unhinged, but he says he can go toe to toe with ISIS?  Rosie O'Donnell sends him into convulsions, but he can stand up to Bashar al Assad? 

I didn't even get up to the Access Hollywood tape, or any of the women who accused him of sexual assault. Do I question the timing of the accusers coming forward? Yes I do. Do I also believe that more times than not, where there's smoke there's fire? 

Yes. I. Do. And I've seen and heard enough from him to know I can't vote for him. 

I'm sorry to all of my friends, cyber or otherwise, who have tried to convince me one way or the other that their candidate is the bee's knees, but i'm not buying it.

She's full of $h-t. She knows she's full of $h-t. She knows that we know she's full of $h-t. It doesn't matter because she knows most of her most devoted followers don't care. And look, I think we are well past overdue for a woman to lead our nation. Just not this one.

And liberal commentator Alan Colmes put it best with Trump. "He's worse than a racist. Racists at least stand for something, despicable as their stance might be. Trump's only stands for himself, and he says whatever he thinks will win him support." And look, I understand why someone outside the political arena would be an appealing candidate. Just not this one. 

I'm not voting for Hillary 

I'm not voting for Trump. 

So here are my options.

1) The third party candidates- The choices here are Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

I was pretty high on Johnson for a while till I saw that he couldn't figure out how to get off an elevator without a map. I could forgive the man for not knowing where Aleppo is, but to not be able to know the name of one foreign leader? That's inexcusable. He was the governor of a border state, he couldn't name the President of Mexico? Sorry folks, he gets the gas face.

My understanding about Jill Stein is that even the environmentalists don't like her, a problem if you are representing the Green Party. I don't consider myself an environmentalist, but if you can't even fire up your base, how do you expect to draw folks like me. I can't rule her out, but I seriously doubt I'll be casting my vote for her.

There is another possibility: There is a former CIA operative named Evan McMullin who apparently is giving Trump a run for his money in his home state of Utah. I'm not so excited about McMullin as I am that his running mate's name is Mindy Finn. Mindy Finn! Is that not a great name or what? I have Finn's on my Mom's side of the family so she could be a cousin. And have you ever met anyone named Mindy who isn't a ton of fun? (I did once back in the early 90's but for the most part..)

Unfortunately, I don't think the McMullin/Mindy Finn ticket is on the ballot here in NY, (I'll check with my political team) So that leads me to my second voting option....

2) The Write In Candidates- A few of my friends who are still feeling the Bern are planning to write America's favorite Socialist in as a proverbial FU to Hillary and the rest of the DNC. I can certainly dig that. I'm also considering writing in my GOP pick John Kasich as a protest vote. So besides Bernie and Kasich, I have my new favorite Evan McMullin or better yet, just to enforce my stance that my vote against Hillary has nothing to do with her gender, I can write in Mindy Finn. That would be cool!

But then I have what I call my nuclear option (or as George W. Bush called it, the neucular option) and 

3) Turn in an empty ballot. - Now understand something: I would never NOT vote. I will vote for Chuck Schumer in the Senate. He's done a really nice job (and if you don't believe me, just ask him) Out here on the Island, I'll vote for whoever is running against Kathleen Rice, both to support my friends who fought to keep the Islanders in Nassau, (yes you read that right)  and to keep to my vow to vote against any local pol who was in office when Super storm Sandy hit. I will also vote for Chris McGrath because Todd Kaminsky is an a$$hole. Over the summer, I was at Timmy's summer camp and Kaminsky was there shaking hands. He came over and shook my hand, and asked if I was a member of the beach club. When I told him I was just there visiting  he walked away! No time to deal with peons like me I guess. So he can go kick rocks.

But for President? Keep the ballot blank.

Let America know that I think we can do better that these two lying crooks. Its like being at a restaurant, you don't like what you are being served, you send it back. Let's face it we are being served some real crap here, let's send it back. No thanks. I'll come back next time when you have something I can stomach. I mean 2020 has got to be better than this doesn't it?

I will let you know what I do on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning but here is my... 

PREDICTION:

Everyone is freaking out because the overall polls are in a dead heat. Of course that means squat. The bottom line is there are about 11 toss up states and Trump needs to win just about all of them. 

He won't. 

Weekly Mail predicts Hillary will waltz to victory. 311-227.