Weekly Mail July 26, 2020

Hey:


Tim and I went for haircuts on Friday afternoon.  Used to be you could just walk in, grab a seat and wait for the barber. Now, you have to make an appointment. I'm not complaining, believe me, I'm just grateful to be able to get my hair cut. It's just another thing we have to add to the "new normal" I suppose.


Anyway, onto the news...

POLITICS: Sticks and Stones


I'm going to take the unusual step of defending two women I don't particularly care for.

Both Rep. Alexandra Ocosio-Cortez (D-NY) and White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany were allegedly called bitches this week. AOC was confronted on the steps of the Capitol by Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL). Yoho complained about the Queens rep's contention that the spike in NYC crime is due to poverty and unemployment as opposed to the mayor cutting funding for the cops.  When she blasted him for his rudeness, he stormed away, calling her a "f-cking bitch"

Earlier it had been reported, (as it turns out falsely) that after McEnany refused to take another question from Al-Jazeera reporter Kimberly Halkett, Halkett said "OK she's a lying bitch. What was actually said, even according to the White House Transcript, was "OK she doesn't want to engage"  The two had been sparing over whether President Trump was doing enough to combat outside interference in the upcoming elections. When Halkett went to ask another question about Chinese vaccine research, McEnany shut her down and took a question from a different reporter.

So I want to make this crystal clear here. There is no place in either of these situations where calling any woman that word is acceptable. Just because the President is a loudmouth obnoxious blowhard doesn't give the rest of us the right to use that kind of language.

In the case of McEnany, calling her a bitch is way out of bounds and even calling her liar is not appropriate in the setting of the White House Press Briefing room, but liar isn't an incorrect notion, especially how we reported last week that she said we shouldn't let science dictate whether or not we open the schools. (and I was thinking about how my 9th grade biology teacher would have reacted to me having an attitude like that. Let's just say it would have been quite ugly-but I digress).  I don't know if those reporting that Halkett called her the name really misheard her, or if they are right wing loudmouths trying to stir up stuff (see Hannity, Sean and Carlson,Tucker) But I do think it's a good time to remind people that decorum should still be in style.

And no one needs that reminder more urgently than this dope from Florida.

Even before he swore at her he was out of line. Could this conversation not have taken place on the floor of the House?  And what was he getting all bent out of shape about?  He doesn't think poverty and unemployment contribute to crime? Sure they do. No one is saying that everyone who is poor and or unemployed are criminals, but despair sometimes leads one to do something they normally wouldn't do. She's right about that. If his point was that defunding the NYPD is what's causing the crime spike, well I agree with him too. But there's a right and a wrong way to act. He acted like a complete a$$hole.

Now my main beef with AOC, aside from some of her policies, is that I feel like she's an attention hog. She's never met a camera or a notepad she doesn't talk to.

But even that's not totally her fault. If the aforementioned Hannity's and Carlson's of the world are going to broadcast her every utterance, why shouldn't she take advantage?

And that's all this putz from Florida did here, give AOC more face time, while exposing himself as a foul mouthed bully. Great job moron!


SPORTS: New Names

Seattle NHL Team- I seriously thought someone was playing a gag on me when I heard that the new name for Seattle's hockey team was the Seattle Kraken.

During the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals between the Rangers and Vancouver, my then 10 year old sister got a kick out of some dude at MSG holding up a sign asking "What the F-ck is a Canuck?"  Alas, I had the same question when I heard about the Seattle Kraken? What the hell is that?

Turns out Kraken is mythical sea monster that may or may not have been based in the Pacific.  I know I'm sometimes a bit behind the times, but I cant be the only one who had no idea about this. I guess this is what happens when you have lots of rain and drink a lot of coffee, you come up with spaced out ideas like this.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the new team name of the football team in Washington.

Before Super Bowl 38, the infamous Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction Super Bowl, David Letterman sent Biff Henderson down to Houston to interview the fans and the locals. Biff asked the owner of a Houston sports apparel store what the name of Houston's new NFL team was, and when the owner answered the Texans, Biff replied. "Wow you must have really busted your ass to come up with that"

Well that was downright creative compared to what they came up with in Washington DC.

The new name of Washington DC's football team is wait for it, Washington Football Team. I kid you not.

Seattle had an excuse, they were awarded their team a couple of years ago. People have been clamoring for years for the 'Skins to change their name. They really had nothing sitting in the hopper?

And again, I also realize that with the slew of misconduct allegations that were levied on the franchise late last week, this might not be on the top of the priority list, but how freakin hard is this? I say, since FedEx is the main reason you finally came around to dropping that insensitive team name, how about the Feds, or the Express?  It's not rocket science here guys.


BASEBALL: Blue Jays without a home

At least the Kraken and the Football Team have a place to play. The Toronto Blue Jays have been bandied about like the friend no one wants to take in.

First of all, how is it that Toronto has room for 12 NHL teams but not room for two baseball teams? If you are playing in an empty stadium, what difference does it make?

It had looked like the Jays would play their home games in Buffalo, but then PNC Park in Pittsburgh offered to take them in. When that fell through, it was looking like Camden Yards which made no sense to me at all. (Detroit or Cleveland made more sense geographically)

But now it looks like they will shuffle off to Buffalo after all.  I understand the stadium is not major league compliant, but for 30 games it will do. And if they make the playoffs? Well, like I said with the Mets, lets figure that out if it happens.

Speaking of the baseball playoffs, they expanded it from 10 to 16 teams at the last minute.

Had this format been in place last year, the Mets would have qualified. More disturbing, the Texas Rangers would have qualified with a record of 72-90.

To be honest, they can do what they want with this season. Universal DH, runner on 2nd to start extra innings, over 1/2 the league making the playoffs, it's fine. I know there has to be some outside the box thinking in times like these. I'm just hoping none of these measures become permanent. 

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It was announced Saturday afternoon that the Jets folded like a cheap suit and traded away disgruntled safety Jamal Adams to the Seattle Seahawks.

I realize they got back a bunch of picks and a serviceable safety in Bradley McDougald. But that's not the point here. The point is they could have held onto Adams for at least the next two years and quite possibly a third. Somewhere along the line they could have worked out a deal.

Draft picks mean nothing to me anymore. Do you have any faith that anyone in the Jets organization will do anything with the picks they got from Seattle? Or are you like me and figure they will either draft a) busts or b) a legitimate Pro-Bowler who will just become disillusioned with the team and talk his way out of town.

I read Adams account of what went down in Friday's Daily News, but all that did was show me that there were no true winners here. If the Jets promised Adams they would discuss a long term deal with him, and then left him twisting in the wind, well that's not right. But I still contend that demanding a new contract for tens of millions of dollars in the middle of a pandemic with millions of Americans out of work is just plain stupid and insensitive.

And the real kicker to all this is that I have no doubt that defensive guru Pete Carroll, the Seahawks head coach, will punch Adams ticket to Canton for him and win a couple of Super Bowls. All while us Jets fans are supposed to treat NFL Draft night as our Super Bowl.

Pathetic.


OK, I guess that's enough ummm, complaining and moaning for tonight.

Thank you for reading

and Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail July 18.2020

Hey Everyone:

Decided to publish on Saturday instead of Sunday for this week. A hot one here in NY.



FOOTBALL: Mess in Washington

So the week started off on a positive note for the NFL team in Washington. They finally decided to change the name of the team. Now if I was a cold-hearted cynic, I would say that the reason owner Daniel Snyder decided to make the change was that his largest corporate sponsor, Fed-Ex, was not going to re-up with the franchise while they kept their old name. But I'm an old softie, so we'll go with Snyder had a change of heart and wanted to stop offending Native Americans.

So I heard some of the possibilities for new names. The Redtails allows them to keep their colors while honoring the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American military aviators. The Hogs would honor the nickname given to their All Pro offensive line in the 80's and 90's. The Federals would work with the Nationals and Capitals the cities baseball and hockey teams respectively.

 In the same vein I saw a couple people suggest Generals. Really? The Washington Generals? Anyone suggesting that name for the team has obviously never seen the Harlem Globetrotters in action.

The Redtails might be the winner here. I like the connection to the Tuskegee Airmen, what a way to honor true American Heroes. One of the issues that has come up with the Black Lives Matter movement is the fact that as a nation we haven't done enough to honor or even take care of the African American men and women who have fought for our country. This wouldn't nearly be enough to right that wrong, but it would be a good start.


Now as the week went along, there were leaks coming out that a "Bombshell" story about the franchise was about to drop, one that would render the team name debate pointless. These leaks and drips started Tuesday night, and the story didn't come out till late Thursday/early Friday, that 15 female employees of the Washington football team accused the organization of sexual harassment and verbal abuse.

I always say that I will put my trio of sports owners up against any owners in professional sports for dishonesty, ineptitude and overall creepiness. But Dan Snyder is one owner who is right up there with Wilpon, Dolan and Johnson. Snyder himself is not named as one of the harassers, but since he's the owner, theoretically anyway, he's the one who hired them.

Mark Cuban had a similar issue with his Dallas Mavericks, and he took steps to make sure that it was dealt with. I hope Snyder does the same thing. It doesn't matter what the teams name is, if their employees are subjected to this kind of abuse, they shouldn't be allowed to operate.


PANDEMIC 2020: Schools, Bars etc.

Governor Cuomo gave a broad outline of his plans for re-opening schools in September.

Per the Governor's website:

Schools in a region can reopen if that region is in Phase IV of reopening and if its daily infection rate remains below 5 percent or lower using a 14-day average since unPAUSE was lifted. Schools will close if the regional infection rate rises above 9 percent, using a 7-day average, after August 1. New York State will make the formula determination during the week of August 1 to 7. 


Got all that? Good, explain it to me then..

Just kidding. The bottom line is if the number stay low, they can re-open and be monitored. If the numbers start to spike, either before school starts or after, he reserves the right to close them down again. Makes sense.

And again, I realize that the kids need to be with their friends, I pray daily that the number stay low so that we have some more options. But as Cuomo went on to say...

Everybody wants to reopen schools, but you only reopen if it's safe to reopen, and that's determined by the data...

We're not going to use our children as the litmus test and we're not going to going to put our children in a place where their health is endangered. It's that simple. Common sense and intelligence can still determine what we do, even in this crazy environment. We're not going to use our children as guinea pigs. 

And that's unlike someone else I know, whose press secretary came out with this head scratching quote..

"The president has said unmistakably that he wants schools to open. And when he says open, he means open in full, kids been able to attend each and every day at their school....The science should not stand in the way of this"

You've heard the saying he or she doesn't let the truth get in the way of a good story?  Well according to White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany we shouldn't let a little thing like science or data or information get in the way of opening the schools. You can't make this $h-t up folks.

I like Cuomo's plan but I'd still give it a couple extra weeks before I'd reopen in September. I'll admit that has more to do with me wanting summer to last a few extra weeks. So don't go by me.


What I do have a question about is this edict Cuomo came up with whereby you can only order booze if you also order food.  I understand this is supposed to reduce the number of patron's bellying up to the bar, but what constitutes food with drink? Is it one drink per meal? Can you order apps and drinks? How about a burger and 5 beers? How about just french fries?

I want to be a good citizen and I want to keep the curve flat, but I'm not sure this one is necessary. We went to a pub in our town a couple weeks ago, and they kept us all 6 feet apart, masks on unless we were in our seats, and we didn't have to order food with our drinks. I guess if certain places can't keep the crowds down, they feel like they have to do this. It just struck me as odd.

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Two titans of the Civil Rights Movement died within hours of each other this week.

CT Vivian, an associate of Martin Luther King, and Congressman John R. Lewis (D-GA) who participated in several protests for racial equality in the 1960's both passed away on Friday. Vivian was 95 and Lewis was 80.

Both suffered beatings and taunts from racist authorities in the segregated south in the 1960's.

Lewis participated in the march over the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama in 1965. He had his skull fractured.

Both would be recognized with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama.

This summer started out with protests for racial equality all over the country. These two men should be who the protesters emulate.  RIP

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The Mets and Yankees are playing each other in an exhibition game as we go to press tonight. And while I'm thrilled to see live sports for the first time in months,  as I stated on FB, the cutout fans behind the plate are just strange. It reminds of Robert De Niro in the movie The King of Comedy.

                                Rupert Pupkin and the Mets play in front of a fake audience 


Y'all enjoy the rest of your weekend

and Have a Great Week

Weekly Mail July 12, 2020

Hey Everyone:

Hope everyone had a great July 4th. We took last week off to celebrate and get a little R&R. It was nice, some back yard grilling and the like. Then back to the grind on Monday.


WAR: Russians and the Taliban

The New York Times reported that Russian Military Intelligence Units paid bounties to the Taliban to kill coalition troops in Afghanistan. President Trump claims he was never informed of this. Both the Times and AP have sources that say that the intelligence was included in the daily briefing that the President gets everyday, outlining threats to the nation.

So I realize I'm going out on a limb here, but from where I'm sitting, Trump either did one of two things... either he didn't read the briefing, or he ignored it.

We can argue all the live long day about him, but I'd like to think the one thing we can all agree on is that the President's number one job is to keep us safe. Especially from foreign enemies. I won't get into how he didn't keep us safe from viruses, (again) but let's look at this matter of Russians helping out the Taliban.

The BEST case scenario here is that he didn't read the briefing. I'm not saying it's good that he didn't read it, indeed that's as clear a case of dereliction of duty as you're gonna get. But the alternative is that he knew about it and did nothing.

I know many people who voted for Trump because they thought they were getting a foreign policy hawk. Someone who would not hesitate to take out any and all of our enemies. I remember watching the beginning of a CNN Republican Debate on foreign policy, and they played clips of each of the candidates during speeches or interviews talking about something related to foreign policy. Most of the candidates (Rubio, Cruz, Kasich, Bush et al) said things like We'll give out troops all the tools they need" or "Our safety is my number one priority." When it came to Trump they played a clip pf him saying "I will bomb the $hit out of them!"  This was still around the time the thought of him as the President was beyond believable.

But now that we have him, he's either not reading the most important document he gets regarding our safety or he's not taking it seriously. And this would be disturbing enough but for the fact that he has several times in the past taken the word of the Russians over the words of our own intelligence. That's why I can't even buy his explanation that there wasn't enough evidence. Maybe there wasn't but at this point who am I supposed to believe?

This just burns me. The cyber attacks and meddling in the elections are bad enough, but if they are paying people to actually kill our troops, that's disgusting. And I'd call out Obama, Bush, Hillary, or anybody who allowed this to happen.

Thing is, they wouldn't.



HOCKEY: I should be happy but....

So on Friday the NHL released their playoff schedule. We are now (hopefully) three weeks away from seeing regular season baseball, and post season hockey and basketball. With the Knicks out of it I have no horses in that race, but my Rangers are in the qualifying round against the Hurricanes.

But of course I have a beef.

Not a night goes by where I don't hope and pray that we never go through a pandemic again, and there are a million reasons why before we get to anything that has to do with sports. But since this is where we are, I was looking forward to watching the Rangers play the first week of August.

Especially the 5th.

My birthday is usually a quiet one on the sports calendar, my usual hope is that the Mets are doing well enough to matter. One time, the Jets played an exhibition game on that day, but mostly it's baseball.

Now again I pray we never have another NHL playoff game in August, but Game 1 of Rangers-Caines is Saturday August 1, Game 2 Monday August 3. So it would stand to reason that Game 3 would follow the pattern and be played on Wednesday the 5th, with the Blueshirts up 2 games and about to deliver a birthday present for yours truly.

But no! Game 3 is the day before,. Tuesday the 4th. Game 4 if necessary on the 6th.

It's almost like Gary Bettman heard all the icky things I've said about him and decided to screw me again.

I also have to eat some crow as I not only predicted that the two hub cities would be Columbus and Vegas, I also said there was no way they would play in Canada. Wrong on both counts, the hub cities are Toronto and Edmonton. I didn't think Canadian Prime Minister  Justin Trudeau would ease the quarantine order for those coming up north from the US, but he made an exception for the NHL, so that's what happened there.  I also errred when I said that the Eastern Conference teams would play in the Western Hub and vice-versa. The Eastern Teams will play in Toronto and the West teams will play in Edmonton.

All will be forgiven if my guys are still playing on my sister's birthday (September 27). They're targeting the SCF to start on September 22.



CRIME: Knuckleheads in the News

Kid: Are you a cop?

Fletch: As far as you know

Kid: Are you gonna take me to jail for car theft?

Fletch: Why? Did you steal the car?

Kid: I sure did!

Fletch: Well I'm not even sure that's a crime anymore.

From Fletch 1985

Randy Lee Cooper a 27 year old Oregon resident was being chased by the cops for stealing a Land Rover. Said Land Rover crashed into a Buick Regal that as luck would have it was being driven by Kristin Begue, herself having stolen the Regal.

That cop must have thought he won the lottery, two separate collars in one accident. Not only that, Begue was drunk and high on speed, so that's two collars for grand theft auto, one for evading the police and one for DUI. I think you can just give that cop the officer of the month award right now.



Live Aid was 35 years ago this weekend. Just like this past Saturday, a hot cloudy sticky day.

I must have been so into the baseball season, that I don't remember hearing anything about the concert beforehand. I just happened t turn on the TV around noon that day and saw the beginning of the show from JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.

I'm not sure any of the show from London was broadcast here in the States, I'm sure someone reading this can give me some feedback on that. A couple of weeks ago, I was reading some clickbait about Live Aid, and then I was reading the FB comments. One guy commented that he didn't remember Queen's epic performance being buzzed about the way it has been made out to be. Honestly, I don't remember that either. Though now having watched Bohemian Rhapsody (historical errors, poetic license and all) and all the You Tube clips I can find, it really was a legendary performance.

The performance that I do remember folks talking about was Mick Jagger and Tina Turner. And watching it again, the two of them, both past 40, still heating up the stage, was amazing.

I was talking about this on-line with some of my old friends and one of them talked about hanging out at the park down the block from my house, listening on boom boxes. It made me smile. Simpler times.

That's all we got this week folks

Stay Safe

and Have a Great Week