Weekly Mail March 4, 2018

Yo!

So last week I said that since we were pretty much done with February, the worst of the bad weather was over. Of course, Friday we ended up with a windstorm that gave some of us flashbacks to Superstorm Sandy. There was some snow, but nothing sticking, at least not around my neck of the woods. I got a little nervous Friday morning when I turned on CBS This Morning and saw they had a reporter in Freeport. When a national newscast is doing a weather story two towns over from your house, that's a cause for concern.

So this week I'm going to predict the Mets won't win the World Series this year and I won't hit the lottery either. We'll see how that goes.




EDUCATION: 2 Live School

Mayor DeBlasio ended up with egg on his face this week when Miami school superintendent Alberto Carvalho went back on his agreement to replace NYC School Chancellor Carmen Farina.

The Dope from Park Slope announced on Wednesday night that Carvalho had agreed to take over for the retiring Farina effective April 1.

However during an emergency meeting of the Miami school board on Thursday, Carvalho announced he had changed his mind and decided to stay in Miami rather than freeze his a$$ off here in NY.

Apparently, Carvalho change of heart occurred after several Miami residents begged him to reconsider, including (and this is my favorite part of this story) former 2 Live Crew leader and rap legend Luther Campbell.

Uncle Luke attended the emergency meeting in Miami and implored the board to keep Carvalho down in South Beach...


“This man here brought dignity back to that seat … He brought respect to this. Whatever is going on in this system that is pushing this man out — y'all need to straighten it out,”


I don't often feel bad for the DFPS, as I believe he creates most of his own problems, but on this I have to give the devil his due. He thought he had a deal with this idiot, and then to have it reneged on because the guy who sang Me So Horny and F-ck Martinez got him to change his mind? That's hard to swallow.

Having said that, there has to be someone here in the city who is qualified to run the city schools, no? I mean do we really have to find someone in a city people go to to get away from NY? I know we've had some real doozies running the city schools in the past, Cathy Black, Joe Fernandez and Rudy Crew come to mind. But there are some really fine educators here, some of them are family and friends of mine. We don't need some out of towner running our schools do we?


TV REVIEW Waco- Miniseries on Paramount Network.

My first impression was that whatever book this miniseries was based on was extremely sympathetic to the Branch Davidians. If I knew nothing else about this story and based it solely on this movie, I'd say that the BD's were all innocent and the government should have left them alone. The movie turned David Koresh out to be a sympathetic figure, practically ignoring his multiple wives and accusations of child molestation.  I'm not suggesting he deserved to get killed over that, but I felt the movie was giving him a slap on the wrist.

You know how in baseball they always say "Tie goes to the runner?" Well anything that was in dispute went to the BD's. Who started shooting first? Movie says the ATF.  Was the tear gas flammable (like the BD's said) or did they set themselves on fire? Movie says the former.  Did Koresh have kids who disobeyed him beaten? Government said yes, movie said no.

Now, I'm not suggesting for a second here that the ATF and the FBI didn't royally screw this whole thing up. I remember back in the day when all this went down that there was ample oppurtunity to question or even detain Koresh. He often went into Waco's city proper for supplies. The townsfolk didn't seem to have an issue with him. Was a battalion of sharpshooters really necessary to serve a search warrant? If a couple of agents had simply served the warrant, could all this bloodshed been avoided? I can't help but think it could have, and even though I felt at the time it happened that the first shots came from inside the compound and that Koresh and his people committed mass suicide.

The truth is we'll probably never really know what really happened during those 51 days 25 years ago. The bottom line was that it was a tragic loss of human life. Who was ultimately to blame? I guess like most things, it's in the eye of the beholder.

As for the series itself, it was pretty well acted and wonderfully filmed. The last episode was an absolute heartbreaker, no matter whose side you were on.

STATISTICS:

According to a US News & World Report survey, New Jersey ranked as the 49th state in quality of life, only California finished worse. North Dakota came in first. According to USA Today..


The report, released Tuesday, ranks states based on a healthy environment and a sense of community. It takes into account each state's urban air quality, pollution and voter participation, among other measures.

I don't know man, lets say it's January 25, and you have a choice of sitting on Laguna Beach or hanging out in Fargo, North Dakota where it's probably 30 degrees below zero with a foot and a half of snow. I'm not sure urban air quality pollution or voter participation would be on the top of my priority list.  "I can't feel my face, hands or feet, but by golly everyone got out to vote so let's stay here in North Dakota.

New Jersey, on the other hand, well, as George Carlin once noted, "The Garden State? Sure, if you're growing smoke stacks!"  I have friends and family that live there, but for the life of me, I don't know why. It's got the lousy weather we have here in NY without the charm.

A couple of last minute obituaries:

David Odgen Stiers: With his death from stomach cancer at age 75, by my count only Hawkeye, BJ, Klinger, Radar and Margaret are left from MASH.  It's a shame, I really wish somewhere along the line they could have had a MASH reunion show. One where they were all in character, meeting up somewhere in the States in the 70s. Stiers, besides his portrayal of Charles E. Winchester III, was a prolific screen and voice actor.

Sir Roger Bannister: back in 1989 on the 35th anniversary of his having broken the 4 minute mile, Sports Illustrated ran a lengthy piece about what was considered one of the great athletic accomplishments of the 20th century.  This was one of those records that were thought to be impossible. But as Bannister and Australian runner John Landy began to get closer, the anticipation became great. Bannister broke the barrier on May 6, 1954, and became a household name all over the world. Then almost as quickly, retired from competitive running to focus on his medical career in neurology.  Can you imagine someone doing something like that today? Me neither. RIP.


I have no interest in tonight's Oscars. Hopefully no one f_cks up like last year. If you are watching, enjoy.

And Have a Great Week