Weekly Mail March 31, 2019

Hello All:


We took off last week because we marched in the Rockville Centre St. Patrick's Day parade, a fun annual tradition for the family and I. Unlike this past Saturday which was beautiful, it was real chilly last week. Still, we had a blast.



VINDICATION? Part One-  President Trump:

It was announced on a Friday evening, smack dab in the middle of March Madness, that Robert Mueller had submitted his report on possible Russian Collusion in the 2016 election to the Attorney General. Sunday afternoon, AG William Barr released a 4 page memo stating that the Trump campaign did not conspire with the Russian government and that "while the report does not conclude that the President committed a crime (Obstruction of justice) it does not exonerate him."

Jimmy Kimmel put it best.... "I haven't been this confused since the last episode of Lost."

Are we to take the word of Trump's appointed AG? If so, how does he draw this conclusion from a 300 page report? If not, where are the people working for Muller coming out and saying No, that's not what we said!" You want to tell me Meuller's people are bound from leaking any info? Please! Loose lips may sink ships, they also are what make the world go 'round.

Of course we all should wait till if/when the full report comes out, but you know Trump and friends would have declared victory no matter what. The fact that AG Barr's letter said there was no evidence of collusion, you know it was going to be New Year's Eve in Trumpland.

I don't know. My common sense tells me Don Jr. and Jared Kushner weren't ordering vodka for Mar-A-Lago at that August 2016 Trump Tower meeting. But until we see the full report, or until Muller himself or one of his peeps disputes Barr's letter, that's all we've got to go on.


VINDICATION? Part Two-Jussie Smollett.

Two days after Barr's letter came out, came word that Chicago's Cook County state's attorney's office was dropping all the charges against Smollett and wiping his record clean.

I thought 16 counts against Smollett was a tad excessive. I think dropping all the charges is excessive the other way.

Look, he goes to trial and a jury finds him not guilty? Hey, that's our justice system*.  But to just act like it didn't happen? This I don't get.

And again, maybe in the grand scheme of things, I'm one of the ones making a mountain out of a molehill here. I just think if Smollett pulled this stunt, (and I believe he did), he did African-Americans and the LBGT community a disservice. There is enough bad things happening to these poor people that this idiot didn't need to go and make something up.


All right that's enough of that.


NCAA TOURNAMENT:

Last year as much as I hate to bring it up, the tournament was historical as a 16 seed beat a one seed for the first time. This year, we had almost the entire Elite 8 was either a 1, 2 or 3 seed. Entirely all chalk. Auburn, who I picked to get knocked out in the first round, was the lone 5 seed. They knocked off Kentucky on Sunday to advance to the Final Four. Cheers to my Alabama relatives.

The only good thing to come out of this for me is that North Carolina got knocked out on Friday night. The one thing our fair nation didn't need was a Duke-North Carolina NCAA Final. Thanks to Michigan State, neither one of them got to the Final Four.

My bracket officially bit the dust Thursday night when Michigan got their doors blown off by Texas Tech. I would never pick Duke or North Carolina to win it all, I had no faith in Gonzaga, who also lost to Texas Tech Saturday night, and I felt like I gave my sister in law's alma mater the horns last year by picking Virginia to go all the way. They're in the Final Four this year, thanks to an OT win over Purdue on Saturday.

Duke getting knocked out by Michigan State should have given me cause for great joy, instead it ensured that not one of my picks made it to the Final Four. What's worse, I finished second to last in the pool I was in, so I don't even get the booby prize for coming in dead last.

As Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam once sang,,,Que Sara Que Sara




HOME SECURITY: What you don't know ........

Many people have gotten themselves these door cameras. And they are probably a good thing. If you catch some scumbag making off with your Amazon Boxes, or more recently some dirtbag was ripping off poor elderly people in my neighborhood. He was arrested mainly the result of door camera footage.

Like I said, it's a good thing.

But every once in a while you might pick up something you may not have wanted to see. Something you may regret that you saw.

Such was the case for poor Rishab Malhotra of Stockton CA.

He had a milkshake delivered from Cold Stone Creamery via Door Dash. Everything was cool till the next day when Rishab's father checked the video and saw the delivery dope sipping the milkshake.

yyyeeeewww!

Mr. Malhotra was a lot more diplomatic than I would have been. He told Fox 40 in Stockton..

"They just need proper training and then an apology, 'Hey, what you did was wrong.' And we want to make sure he doesn't do that to other people,"


Funk that man. If you need to be trained not to drink out of other people's cups, you're in the wrong line of work.

Now look, I had a little trick back in my Baskin Robbins days. When we made shakes, we had to put a metal funnel in the cup for the mixer to work. Sometimes (very rarely) I would put a little extra milk in the funnel, then pour that extra into one of those little dixie cups. If it was customer I liked, I'd slip them the extra. ("Here, taste this. How'd I do?"..it was good for a little PR) If it was someone I didn't like it went to the house.

But the thought of drinking out of someone's shake never even crossed my mind. How gross! I don't believe there is justifiable homicide, but delivery people who drink out of their customer's cups? That might qualify. Especially in California*

https://fox40.com/2019/03/27/video-doordash-driver-secretly-sips-milkshake-before-giving-it-to-stockton-boy/

WSIP in CINCINNATI: (Sex In Public)

Two Ohio horndogs were arrested last week when they were caught doing the nasty on something called the Sky Star Wheel, along the banks of the Ohio River.

Michael Mathisen, 30, and Lauren (Wild Thing) Wilder 31, were taken into custody after Thursday's Reds-Pirates opening day game. They were both charged with disorderly conduct.

The criminal complaint says that the pair "engaged in sexual intercourse in the open in front of children and adults."

Todd Schnieder the managing partner of Sky Star, said that when workers observed the couple going at it, they hit a button that stopped the ride, and an off duty officer responded. Apparently the officer was expressly hired for an eventuality just like this. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer...

The officer was hired "in anticipation of any type of incident like this or a rowdy crowd," Schneider said.

Similar incidents have occurred at other SkyStar locations, he added.

So this is a thing apparently. The Mile High Club on a Ferris Wheel. Hey, the St. Anthony's Feast is coming up in Oceanside in a couple of months. They usually have a Ferris Wheel. Of course the Sky Star Wheel is glass enclosed, the Ferris Wheel at the feast is open. That's a long way to fall...
Yeah I'd avoid sex on ferris wheels.

https://nypost.com/2019/03/29/intoxicated-duo-busted-for-having-sex-on-observation-wheel/


The Mets and Yanks both opened their seasons this week. I'm glad baseball is back, but March 28 is way to early to be playing ball. Especially since winter seems to be hanging around extra these past few years.

That's all my complaints for now.

Have a Great Week.









*See the People vs. Orenthal James Simpson

Weekly Mail, March 17, 2019

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!


So we decided not to march in the big parade this year, but I did manage to catch about 15 minutes of it before heading to the Post. It was another glorious afternoon to celebrate our high holy day.

As I said last year though, once again I had to put up with this kind of crap..

Special Message

Attention Customers: In an effort to maintain orderly travel, no alcoholic beverages will be allowed on LIRR trains, platforms or at stations on March 16 & 17. MTA Police will enforce this restriction.

I don't know of any other holidays (maybe New Year's Eve) where they feel the need to make that announcement. Sounds an awful lot like profiling to me.

Despite this, it's always a fun time.



All right, let's get to it....



EDUCATION: The high cost of college.

The Justice department announced on Tuesday that they had uncovered a large scale bribery scheme designed to get rich but mediocre students into the country's top universities.

Although 50 people were charged, the overwhelming majority of the attention was focused on two television B-listers. Former Desperate Housewife Felicity Huffman, and Aunt Becky from Full House herself, Lori Loughlin.

Loughlin's case piqued particular interest, because one of the two daughters of hers that she tried to help, is a big shot on social media (an "influencer"-whatever the hell that means) who all but blabbed on line that she didn't belong in college.

Olivia Jade Giannulli is the younger daughter of Loughlin and her husband Mossimino Giannulli. The couple apparently paid some lowlife named William "Rick" Singer to help create a false profile for Olivia Jade, including doctoring photos in order to get her a crew scholarship to USC.

At the risk of sounding insensitive here, have you seen pictures of this chick? Does she look like she could paddle her way out of an inflatable pool, much less be on USC's crew team? I'm not condoning what these people did, not at all, but doesn't some of this fall on the universities involved?  Did someone think to check Olivia Jade's high school records to see if she participated in any sports? You mean to tell me if my parents had a few million dollars lying around, I could have been the starting center for the UNLV Runnin' Rebels in 1992? (Actually that's a bad example)

I agree that the real victims here are the hard working kids who have the work ethic and the grades to get into these schools, but not the money. Or those kids who earned a spot in one of these prestigious schools, only to lose their spot to one of these spoiled brats. I have no problem seeing the book thrown at Loughlin, Huffman and their husbands, Gianulli and Frank Gallagher himself William H. Macy.

But I also believe the universities aren't the victims here. In fact I believe they are just as culpable.


As loyal readers of this post know, I am loathe to discuss anything relating to football this time of year. I think anyone who reports on the NFL Scouting Combine should have their credentials revoked*. But I have to admit, this was an interesting football week around these parts.


SPORTS: Football week in NY

First my Jets: In the span of 24 hours, the Jets signed an all-pro, watched as another all-pro changed his mind at the last minute, then signed another superstar. Typical day.

As soon as free agency opened, the Jets signed former Raven LB CJ Mosley. Then they appeared to have a deal in place with Vikings LB Anthony Barr. Only to have Barr change his mind and re-sign with Minnesota.

Last year QB Kirk Cousins flirted with the Jets before signing with the Vikings, and though I defended him at the time, it is obvious that he used the Jets to drive up his price. Barr says he didn't do that, but he could be full of beans. In any event I'm hoping he Vikings go 0-16 and both those guys end up on IR. More likely, Minnesota will make it to the Super Bowl and lose to the Patriots. You can pin that one up on your fridge.

However the Jets saved face by signing disgruntled RB Le'Veon Bell from the Steelers. This guy looks like the real deal. He sat out last year in a contract dispute, so maybe he's a bit of a headcase and he may be rusty, but I still think it was worth a shot.

And then there were the Giants...

Trades don't shock me anymore. They really don't. 31 years ago, when Wayne Gretzky was traded from the Oilers to the Kings, that's when I ceased to be shocked by any trades. Gretzky was far and away the best player in his sport. And he was traded in his prime.

That said, I didn't see the Odell Beckham trade to the Browns coming.

And here's what I don't get... Yes, they gave him a ridiculous contact that they probably felt they needed to shed, but much of his contract for 2019 is still counting against the Giants salary cap, so was this really a salary dump? And the return wasn't much to write home about, so they got rid of a great player (albeit a head case) for very little in return and they have a bunch of dead money on their cap. I can totally understand why Giants fans are shaking their heads. I would be too.

________________________________________________________________________________

I've often complained about how 3 of my 4 teams have horrible ownership (one could argue that all 4 of them do, but for me the jury is still out on the Johnson brothers) The Wilpons are a joke, and of course two of my teams are owned by arguably the biggest a$$hole in New York, James Dolan. If you need any more proof of what an absolute turd this guy is, consider that he had a fan permanently removed from Madison Square Garden because the fan had the audacity to suggest that Dolan sell the Knicks.

WFAN's Maggie Gray was forced to apologize to this creep for things she said about him (accurate things BTW) in order for the FAN to have access to the Garden. I have no such worries. I can't afford to go to the Garden now. And for what? To watch two $hitty teams? If the ticket prices are this outrageous now, how are they going to be if/when the Knicks and the Rangers become good again?

James Dolan's skin makes Donald Trump's skin look like it's made of iron. And again, if you think I'm complaining more about Dolan than I am about Trump, remember, we can (theoretically at least) vote Trump out. We're stuck with this other dickwad.

He Should sell the team.  He should skip town. He's a piece of $h-t. And I'd have not one iota of trouble telling him that to his face.


_________________________________________________________________________________

I have no problem taking President Trump to task when he deserves it. I also will give him credit where credit is due. His decision to order the Boeing 787 Max planes grounded this week after a second plane crashed in less than a year was the right call. You want give him flack for not doing it right away? Fair enough, but he did the right thing.


 And finally, I read somewhere that the head of the Gambino crime family was killed outside his home on Staten Island this week. That stuff actually still happens? Seriously,  I haven't heard of anybody getting whacked since the Sopranos went off the air.



We probably won't publish next week. I hope you all enjoyed your St. Patrick's Day weekend

and Have a Great Week

*that's a joke. I'm not trying to censor the media. 

Weekly Mail March 10, 2019

Hey:


Saturday was a picture perfect March day, sunny and not too chilly. Took Timmy to the park for a bit. He's getting to the age where he's not going to want me to take him to the park, or maybe just to drop him off at the park. So I'm enjoying these trips.

Now we have Daylight Savings Time. We'll be discombobulated for a few days, but the extra sunlight will be nice.


Anyway, need to start with a couple of obits....



Luke Perry-  Beverly Hills 90210 made it's debut in my senior year of high school.

I wouldn't have given it a second look, but Karl (the Ace) Ludwig told me he stumbled upon the series premiere and he got a kick out of it. So I watched a few episodes myself. It was fairly entertaining. The theme music was awesome.

But when Shannen Doherty, who played Brenda Walsh, went on a show and said "People like this show because it deals with real issues and real problems..." well, that's the station where 17 year old Wild Bill jumped off the BH bandwagon. Was she kidding? Even the geeks on that show were getting action. Nothing like that was going on in Woodside 11377. At least not in my neck of the woods.

Nevertheless, when I heard that Luke Perry had succumbed to the effects of the massive stroke he suffered last week, I had that feeling you get when someone from your high school class dies. Not someone you were close to, but maybe a guy you just knew.

Maybe it was because the show started while I was still in high school. Maybe because Perry, from what I read, was nothing like Dylan McKay, the brooding James Dean like stud he portrayed on 90210.  He was just an actor who took his craft and not himself, seriously. (See-Buffy the Vampire Slayer-the film version)

Maybe because 52 is way to young to have a stroke, much less die from one.

It's probably all of the above, but it was a gut punch when I heard this news. Too sad.


King Kong Bundy- Phil Mushnick often writes about professional wrestlers who have died young. Of course most of the ones he writes about are the ones who most likely died from overdosing on 'roids.

King Kong Bundy didn't have that problem. His body was all natural. That's probably the best thing you could say about it.

Bundy was big but not exactly cut, if you know what I mean. Still for a (how shall I put this) heavy set dude, he could move about the ring with decent speed.

One of the cool things that YouTube has provided me is clips like the show Kayfabe Corner, where a guy interviews wrestlers I watched growing up and listen to them spill the secrets of the trade. George the Animal Steele gave a great one. So did King King Bundy.

He described how he and Hulk Hogan planned their steel cage match at Wrestlemaina 2.  "Hulk asked me if we should use color." (Blood). I said nah we don't need no color for this one." He talked about what a (jerk) Randy Savage was. Even as a kid I knew the wrestling was scripted, but man some of these guys were really convincing. King Kong Bundy was as convincing as any of them. He died Tuesday at 61.

Tom Seaver- OK technically this is not an obit, but the outpouring after his family announced he was suffering from dementia and was retiring from making public appearances sure did feel like one.

I was not yet 4 years old when Seaver was traded to the Reds in 1977, still considered the darkest day in Mets history some 42 years after the fact. But I was there, opening day 1983, at Shea, when the Franchise came back.  I can remember that as if it was yesterday. Pete Rose of the Phillies was his first batter faced and he struck him out swinging. The older I get, the more I get a kick out of telling people I saw Tom Seaver strike out Pete Rose. Two of the all time greats.

That Seaver is now not going to get to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Mets 1969 championship is one of the true unfortunate twists of fate life too often throws at you.

And yes, he needs to be honored with a statue outside of Citi Field. I have no issue whatsoever with the Mets having the Jackie Robinson rotunda, there aren't enough tributes baseball can give Jackie Robinson for what he did for this game. But Seaver means so much to this franchise, there needs to be a statue in his honor. The sooner the better.

_______________________________________________________________________________

In other news...


R Kelly: CBS This Morning has become my go to morning news program.  So I was watching as R Kelly went batspit the other day in his interview with Gayle King.

I have to give King all the credit in the world, she did not bat an eyelash as Kelly was flipping out.  And if the rapper felt like he did himself a favor by acting like that, well, I think not.

I had almost forgotten about this, but I actually had my own run in with Mr. Kelly. It was back in 2004.

I was sent out by the Post to help cover his release from St. Vincent's hospital downtown. The night before, he had been performing with Jay-Z at the Garden when he thought someone was pointing a gun at him. He walked off the stage and was proceeded to be maced by someone in Jay-Z's entourage.

My job that night was to get Kelly's attention so that we could get a photo of him. As he was leaving the hospital with his crew, I yelled out (as instructed) "Jay Z says you are jealous of him." Kelly shot me a look and said "Tell him I love him. I love 'em."  I will be the first to admit I wasn't as cool as Gayle King was the other day. But my colleague was. She got right in R. Kelly's grill and demanded to know if he would show up the next night for the final show. He said he would. I have no idea if he did.

Read all about it here.   I didn't get a byline on this, but take my word for it. Please.




I saw that Jussie Smollett was charged with 16 felony counts for his false police report arrest. And while I still think he should pay for what he did, and I still crack up at the liberals defending him, I will give my left wing friends this: If Smollett ends up doing more time than Paul Manafort does, I'll agree that maybe it's time for us to tweak our criminal justice system a bit.


A-Rod and J-Lo are apparently engaged. Just what the world needs, right? Their egos are so big, they could declare it as a tax deduction.


That's all from here folks.

Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail, March 3, 2019

Hi:

We took last week off. First time in a while. Sorry if some of the stuff we'll be discussing today is old news.

Used to be if you got through February relatively unscathed by the snow, you were pretty much home free. Not anymore. I think this is the third year in a row that we got socked with snow in March.  I know when my cousin got married in 2015, I drove through a blizzard to get there so maybe 4 out of the past 5 Marches had snow storms? Whatever it is, it's annoying. And once again it's getting harder and harder to deny climate change.

Again I apologize if any of this is old news (at least it's not fake news)


LAWSUITS: Kaepernick settles with NFL.

Former 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick and current Panthers cornerback Eric Reid reached a settlement with the NFL over the players contention that the NFL was colluding against them.  Kaepernick hasn't suited up for an NFL team since he began protesting by not standing for the National Anthem before games.

I'm not so much interested in that, as you all know where I stand on Kaepernick's actions. (no pun intended) To me the story here is that Kaepernick had hired Mark Geragos as his attorney. $h-t Kaepernicus is lucky he's not cutting the NFL a check.

I'll admit I didn't do much research on this, but my recollection is that Mark Geragos is like the Washington Generals of defense attorneys. A real life Lionel Hutz.

The first big case I heard about Geragos was Scott Peterson, who is now on death row in California. Then I remember he represented poor Winona Ryder in her shoplifting case, another loss. Michael Jackson had the good sense to cut him loose in favor of Thomas Mesereau, otherwise the King of Pop would be doing hard time for supplying Jesus Juice to those kids at Neverland. (On the other hand, the Gloved one might still be alive if he didn't have access to the pharmaceuticals that offed him in 2009-but I digress).

I realize that a nobody like me probably shouldn't be ragging on a guy who (allegedly) graduated from law school and passed the bar exam. But I'm being honest here, this is the first time I heard of Mark Geragos actually getting one in the win column. And now that he's on a one case winning streak, it looks like he's been hired again, which leads me to,

CRIME-The award for best acting in the role of hate crime victim goes to....

Jussie Smollett. The Empire actor has retained America's hottest attorney because he was arrested and charged with filing a false police report. To review real quick, Smollett, an openly gay African American actor, told Chicago police that he was jumped by two men on January 29. He alleged that the attackers hurled homophobic and racial slurs at him. He told Good Morning America's Robin Roberts that one of the attackers said to him "This is MAGA country" and called him the N word.

Two brothers were taken into custody, but were released after questioning. Based on what they told the cops, suspicion began to rise that perhaps Smollett had orchestrated the whole thing. Smollett turned himself into the cops on February 20, though he continues to deny that he concocted this attack.

The district attorney stated that the real reason Smollett cooked up this hare brained scheme was that he was unhappy with his Empire contract. If that's the case it's even more despicable.

I mean look, if he pulled this stunt because he was frustrated with race and sexual relations in this country, and he saw himself as a modern day John Carlos/Tommie Smith, I can almost see why he would do it. Don't get me wrong, even though a couple of my left wing friends defended Smollett, they are the ones who should be really pissed. Now when something like this really does happen, everyone is going to pause and say "Did it really?"

But Reuters reported around the same time this all went down that the number of hate groups in America is at an all time high. I'm one who always tries to put the best face on our country, but there's no putting a spin on that statistic. That's just a disgrace in this day and age.

But if he did this for money? Well, I'm sorry, but he can go f himself.  I can't feel bad for him. With his talent and looks, he could have found many better ways to spread the message of acceptance, hell ANY method is better than what he did. If he wasn't even doing that? Just looking for a better contract? Well, he deserves what he gets.

CRIME (Part II)-Not so Happy Ending for Kraft

My first reaction when I got the alert that Patriots owner Bob Kraft had been busted for getting serviced at a seedy South Florida Hand Job House was to laugh out loud. When the reports said that the place in question was being investigated as part of a human trafficking ring, it wasn't quite as funny.

There are few things more disturbing than the idea of taking someone away from their homeland and forcing them into sex acts against their will.

I can't get into the mind of Kraft. I'm guessing he didn't realize the rub and tug he was getting was being given by someone who was being forced to give it. But still, you are a billionaire, why risk it?

Not enough bad things can happen to the Patriots to suit me, but I really hope this place wasn't using sex slaves.

SPORTS: The Return of JT91

OK so first, my annual rant on the state of sports coverage in this city come February/early March....

On Thursday afternoon, I went to sack out in my car during my lunch hour. I turned on the FAN to listen to Carlin, Maggie and Bart (who I have to admit I'm starting to enjoy listening to-even Bart Scott has gotten better) and the first person they interview is some dude from the NFL Network who is covering the Indianapolis NFL Scouting Combine.

The scouting combine?  I try not be too judgmental in my old age, but if you are watching the NFL
Scouting Combine you are in serious need of a life.  This also applies to watching Spring Training games anytime before the second week of March.

So off went CMB and on came NHL Network Radio. And they were all over the return of John Tavares to the Nassau Coliseum that night. That should have been the story in New York sports on Thursday.

I was going to miss the beginning of the game because I was at a birthday party, so I recorded it on the DVR, and I listened on the car radio.And I may be at risk of having to turn in my Ranger fan membership card. But I loved what I saw in Uniondale the other night.

As soon as Tavares stepped on the ice for his first shift, you could hear the boos. Then Timmy asked what they were chanting. He had a Kool Aid grin on as he asked, because you couldn't miss it. It rhymes with gasbowl.

It reminded me of the old Garden. Loud, crazy. I went to a playoff game at MSG in 1986 against the Flyers and I couldn't believe how insane it was in that building.

And while some pundits were taking the Islander fans to task for their treatment of their former captain, I say more power to them. Again, this guy led the team to believe he wanted to stay, then took off the first chance he got and said it was his childhood dream. He deserved all the piss and vinegar he got the other night. I'd have done the same thing. Hell, I HAVE done the same thing. (See Darryl Strawberry-1991, Mark Messier-1997, Bill Bellichick pretty much every year since 2000)

Like I said, my fellow Ranger fans are going to hate me for this, but the Islanders are the more exciting team right now. And they are hard to root against.



Speaking of my Blueshirts, they traded away one of my favorite players (Mats Zuccarello) for two draft picks, and another solid player, (Kevin Hayes) for a first rounder and a feisty if not spectacular player in Brendan Lemieux. They are not going to suck enough to get a high first round draft pick, but they are not going to make the playoffs either. These draft picks better turn into something good, or Jeff Gorton is going to be looking for a new job.

Some quick hits:

I'm not sure if Trump adviser Roger Stone is guilty of what he was arrested for, but if he were charged with being a creepazoid and an idiot, he'd be guilty. Who would post an image of the judge presiding over their case with a target on their face to his social media account?

Bryce Harper signs a mega deal with the Phillies- I was all set to kill the Mets for not even attempting to make Harper an offer. But if this is what it was going to take to get him signed, I'm glad they stayed away. I realize there will come a time where he is killing the Mets and I'm going to be banging my head against the wall, but 13 years? Even I can't justify that.

Good Luck with the snow

and Have a Great Week