Weekly Mail November 12, 2017

Hello:


First of all, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who wrote, called, clicked or otherwise reached out to send sympathies last week. As hard as these last few days have been, the outpouring we've received has been really heartwarming. And will be long remembered.

Onto the week that was...



TERRORISM:

On the afternoon of Halloween, a 29 year old terrorist drove a truck down a bicycle path downtown, killing 8 and injuring many others. Just under a week later, another terrorist walked into a church in Sutherland Springs Texas and killed 26 people.

2 terrorist attacks within days of each other. One with a truck, one with an automatic rifle.

They weren't connected. Technically.

But they were. In this sense. Because they brought out the ugliness that we are capable of.

The NRA pointed out that the terror attack in NYC was committed by a guy driving a Home Depot truck, so lets ban trucks or Home Depot? They also pointed out that the creep who shot up the church was in turn shot by an armed citizen. Surely he would have gotten away if that guy didn't have rifle on the rack of his truck.

The anti-gun people said that it took far less time for the church shooter to cause his carnage than it did the truck driver, and that while 1 death is too many, 8 dead compared to 26 should tell you all you need to know. Some even went to so far to accuse the pro gun people of racism. I saw one person write that when a foreigner kills people (the truck driver was from Uzbekistan) we demand walls and border security, but when a white guy kills people, we offer thoughts and prayers.

Meanwhile nothing gets done. I'm sick of the carnage, more importantly, I'm sick of the rhetoric.

Because the rhetoric is what's tearing the country apart. I feel like if I listen to these yahoos enough, I should be choosing a side. Which of the bad guys do you root for? If your with the NRA, you have the church shooter, if your anti gun, the truck driver is your guy.

Does that sound sick to you? It should, and to most right minded people, it is.

Yet that's what we are being fed here. Once again the extremists on both sides are controlling the argument, while the majority of us in the middle suffer the consequences.

It never ends man, it never ends.


ELECTIONS: The Quietest Landslide

The night Barack Obama defeated John McCain in 2008, the people in the apartment next to me audibly cheered, nearly waking up my then 2 month old son. I looked out the window onto York Avenue and saw people hugging and high fiving. The next day at work, people were giddy. I was none of the above, but I got it. It was exciting.

Thing is, Obama won the popular vote with a percentage of 53% of the vote. A clear win, to be sure. But not a landslide by any stretch.

Last Tuesday, Bill deBlasio was re-elected mayor of New York City. The Dope from Park Slope captured nearly 67% of the vote, clobbering Republican candidate Nicole Malliotakis by over 400,000 votes. And yet, for a guy who supposedly had 2/3 of the electorate vote for him, I have yet to meet one person who has copped to doing so.

It's the strangest thing.... Not one person went on any of my social media and said Thank God we got him re-elected. I either had my fellow right wingers screaming their heads off like that poor thing in Washington DC did the day Trump got sworn in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh1Pj8HyWhk.
Or my left wing friends maintaining radio silence or even bashing TDFPS. I'm not exaggerating here, I didn't hear anybody say they were happy about this.

Now there were some good theories going around.  One of my political experts suggested that DeBlasio's critics are actually folks like myself who commute to the city for work, but actually live outside the city (Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester etc.) I'll buy that to an extent, but I still have plenty of friends in the boroughs, of all races and creeds, and I'm telling you not one of them told me they voted for DeBlasio. Look, it's none of my damn bidness who anybody voted for. I'm not looking for you to spill your innermost secrets, but the next person who tells me they voted that big doofus back for another 4 years, will be the first person to do so.

FYI: Out here in Nassau county, I actually voted for someone who won, believe it or not. Laura Curran was elected Nassau's first female county executive and although WM's policy is usually to bash the person I didn't vote for, I will admit I voted for Curran. I will also tell you I would have had no issue in NYC voting for Malliotakis, so anybody who thinks I didn't vote for Hillary Clinton last year because she's a female can take it and tuck it.


AVIATION (Sad News): RIP Roy Halladay

Former Blue Jay and Phillie star pitcher Roy Halliday died last week when a single passenger plane he was piloting crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. Halliday left behind a wife and two young kids. One of the premier pitchers of the early 21st century, Halliday is the only other pitcher besides Don Larsen to throw a post season no-hitter (Larsen's was in the World Series).

Two idiot shock jocks in Boston took Halladay to task for "screwing around in his toy plane" and called him a moron and a jackass, and said he deserved what he got.

I don't necessarily disagree that Halladay was reckless and maybe should have considered taking up a less dangerous hobby. I've read that the plane he was flying was considered quite risky. But to call the poor guy names just hours after his death is simply classless.


AVIATION (Fun News): Mile High Heater

A 48 year old woman and a 28 year old man were arrested and received citations after they were caught, well, I'm trying to put this in a way that I don't get in trouble.. aw the hell with it, the 48 year old was blowing the 28 year old.

The in flight hummer took place on a Los Angeles to Detroit Delta flight on October 29. Officials say the two were total strangers before the flight. So I guess that's one way to make friends.

According to the Detroit Free Press, while the highly intoxicated woman was going to town on this dude, who probably thought he should have played the lottery before he left LA, another man was sleeping in the seat next to them.

Apparently he was the only person to miss the show, as several passengers did see it and complained to the flight crew. One witness told the Detroit Metro Police that he approached the two and "witnessed the lady in the man's lap performing felatio...they had a blanket partially covering the act. I asked for boarding cards and names."I don't know if this witness was on the flight crew, but if it was just some random passenger, I would told him to get lost.

Then again, I wouldn't be getting paid on a plane either.

This ended up being investigated by the FBI, but no charges were filed. The woman apparently is banned from flying Delta again. It's too bad Donald Trump's airline went belly up, along with many of his other businesses. She probably could have flown on that airline free for life.


Again, thank you so much for all your thoughts, prayers and good wishes. Please keep them coming.

And Have a Great Week