Weekly Mail November 22, 2020

 Hi Everyone:

According to my records, this is my 250 blogpost since we relaunched WM back in 2015. So happy that I have been able to keep this going through all the ups and downs. Just taking it one week at a time. Hopefully in 5 years or so, we'll be closing in on 500. 

Onto the week that was..

BASKETBALL: Knicks pick. 

It's rare that I have good news to report about our New York Knickerbockers, but this week they drafted the player I really wanted them to draft, Obi Toppin from my wife's very own University of Dayton Flyers. 

I sound like a broken record here, but it's getting harder and harder to get excited about guys who are drafted, when it seems like NY leads the world in draft pick busts the last 10 years or so. The Jets are obviously the most notorious, are they are attempting to draft their second franchise QB in the past 4 years. But the Knicks aren't that far behind. You start with the night IN 1999 they decided that Fredric Weis was a better idea than drafting local star Ron Artest (Meta World Peace) and go from there. 

It's ugly man. Real ugly. 

On the rare chance that they actually drafted someone decent, they usually traded them away. Wilson Chandler, Kristaps Porzingis.  All the other picks were disasters... Mike Sweetney, Renoldo Balkman, Jordan Hill etc. 

But I actually cheered when the commissioner announced the Knicks selected Toppin. First I was surprised he lasted all the way to the 8th pick. Then relieved that as he sat there at 8, that the Knicks chose him. 

Yes I'm biased because he went to Dayton, and is a native New Yorker. Yes, I know that I've been thrilled on draft day only to see these guys fade like flowers many times in my life. I have a good feeling this pick is going to work out. If last year's pick, RJ Barrett, reaches his potential and Kevin Knox a high draft pick from a couple years ago, can somehow find is game, the Knicks may be on to something here. 

Free Agents still don't want to come to the Knicks. The good ones, if they want to play in NY are going to Brooklyn. Gordon Hayward who opted out of his deal with the Celtics, signed with the Hornets on Saturday, and Fred VanVleet, a PG the Knicks were thinking of signing, resigned with the Raptors. I want no part of trading for Russell Westbrook either. He makes too much money and he's on the back 9. 

No the Knicks have to build a core from within. That's the only way. I believe they made a big step forward the other night when they drafted Obi Toppin. 

RIP Alex Trebek:

He was the host of Jeopardy for 36 years, that is just amazing. Needless to say it's almst impossible to imagine anyone else hosting the show, he WAS that show. 

I have to say that I was impressed by the outpouring from so many Jeopardy fans, and also by those who participated. It used to bug me that when someone got an answer wrong, that he would give the correct answer in a way that made it sound like the contesant was asked what was William Howard Taft's middle name.  The first episode I ever saw of The View was the morning of the Mets 1999 home opener, and Jo Behar said to Trebek, "I know you don't know all the answers to those questions. You have them in front of you." He was pretty annoyed about that. 

But almost all the contestants I heard said he was nothing like that, he was kind of encouraging and was able to put them at ease. If so, that's good to hear. And like I said, anybody who can produce a host a show as successfully as he did for that long a period of time has got to be someone special. Nobody can dispute that. We may never see the likes of him again.

RIP

Speaking of Alex Trebek..

I'LL TAKE COLUMNS I'D LIKE TO HAVE BACK FOR $1,000 ALEX....

Over the summer, I signed up for a Newspapers.com account. I got it for a discount because I subscribed to an on-line newspaper, and I have to say, it is so easy to get lost in a series of old newspapers. 

When I first stated at the Post, I helped to put together a special about Pope John Paul II. It was near the end of his life, and I had to transcribe some Post articles that covered the Pope's 1979 visit to NY. I had to type in the 1979 articles of the Post into our processors. The old editions were bound together in large volumes. When I was done with the data entry, I'd read the old sports sections, all the predictions gone wrong from 1979. 

The Post isn't on Newspapers.com, but the Daily News is. 

I went back to the June 16, 1977 edition of the News, the day after Tom Seaver was traded to the Reds. The story started on the back page, and then continued on the top of another page. On the bottom of the page was the story about the 1977 NHL Draft. The Rangers had two picks that year in the top 15. The selected Lucien DeBlois with the 8th pick and Ron Duguay with the 13th. The Islanders picked 15th. They picked Mike Bossy

DOH! Talk about bad news on the doorstep. 

Anyway the other night I was perusing some of Mike Lupica's old Shooting From the Lip Columns. I was in the summer of 1986, August 3 to be exact, and Lupica wrote a column basically destroying Wellington Mara, the owner of the Giants. 

The Giants would end up winning the Super Bowl that season, but as Lupica pointed out, the Giants to that point had never won a Super Bowl and before that, hadn't won an NFL Championship since 1956, a 30 year drought. (Which relatively speaking is like last week for my 4 teams-but I digress). And there had been many lean years for Big Blue, including an 18 year playoff layoff. 

Part of the problem was that Wellington Mara co-owned the team with his nephew Tim, and the two of them did not get along. It had gotten so bad, that NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle stepped in and mediated the hiring of George Young, who amongst other things, drafted Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor, and hired Bill Parcells. More importantly, he didn't fire Parcells after he went  3-12-1 in his first season.

Now, when Wellington Mara died in 2005, the Giants had won 2 Super Bowls and played in another. He was considered football royalty here in NY. All the writers including and especially Lupica talked about how classy he was. And he was was all that and then some. 

But it wasn't just that Lupica was bashing Wellington Mara in that 1986 column, he was also lavishing praise on someone else you all may have heard of. 

It all came to mind this week because Well Mara, noted football man, had tough things to say about not only Daily News writers, but Al Davis and Donald Trump. Of course were you Mara, you would be a bit touchy about the likes of Davis and Trump too. .... Trump has a job, knows how to run a business, and wants to have a pro football team in New York City.  -Daily News, August 3, 1986

If you read Jeff Pearlman's book about the USFL, or Sean Devaney's book about New York in the 1980's, you know one thing: Trump's plan to put an NFL team in NYC was basically to get the USFL to move from the spring to the fall, have the USFL fold and then have his team, the Generals merge with the NFL. Then he'd get the city to build him a domed stadium in Queens. 

I realize that I may be coming off as unfair to Lupica. A lot of people thought Trump was the bees knees in the 1980's. And again, when your team loses the way the Giants did from 1964-1981, the owner is the easy target. 

But I wonder if Lupica would look back a column like that and shake his head. I look back at things I said in my blogs and wish I could take it back. Do sports columnists, even the really great ones, do the same? 

He was the last great sportsman. Others have won more than the Giants. Certainly others have made more money. There was never a better owner than this because there was never a better man even in bad times. He honored his team and his league. 

That was from Mike Lupica's column, the day after Wellington Mara, or Mr. Mara as Lupica referred to him, passed away in 2005. 

Right now, the toast of the town in New York sports is Steve Cohen, the Mets new owner. I'm not gonna lie, I wanted him to buy the Mets, and I believe he could do great things.

I just hope 10 years from now, we're not looking back at old newspaper clips or old blogposts and shaking our heads saying "How could we write that?" 

FAST FOOD- Long time to get In and get Out

I've never been to California. In 2007, Tara's cousin got married in El Paso, TX, and if I recall correctly, someone made a run to the local Jack in the Box while we hung out at the hotel pool the day of the wedding. The day after the wedding, Tara and I headed to Arizona with a stop in Silver City, NM. Whilst in AZ, we hit Jack in the Box again. Those were some good burgers.

This came to mind as I heard about what was going on in Colorado on Friday. 

Two In N Out Burger joints opened in Colorado this week. The one that opened in Aurora, CO, was reported to have lines up to 2 miles long, and wait times of up to 14 hours. 

Not exactly fast food as it were. 

I mean 14 hours for a burger? I wouldn't wait 14 hours for a steak at Lugers, how good could this burger be? Like I said those Jack in the Box burgers we had were really good. But I'm not camping out like I'm waiting for Van Halen tickets to get one. 

I know this is going to be a tough Thanksgiving for many of us, but please have a safe and happy one. 

Stay safe

and Have a Great Week 

Weekly Mail November 15, 2020

 

Hope of of you enjoyed our election recap last night. Today we will cover more important subject matters...

BASEBALL: Mets New Owner:

When it started to look like Steve Cohen was going to purchase the Mets, I got a kick out of everybody spending the guy's $$$. It reminded me of Spaulding from Caddyshack.. "I want a hamburger, no a cheeseburger. I want a hot dog, I want a milkshake.."

But unlike Judge Smails (You'll get nothing and like it!) Cohen seems to be willing to spend. I got to listen to his conference call the other day, and I mean, what was not to like. He said Are we going to act like drunken sailors in the marketplace? No. “ but he also said  "I do believe this is a major market team and it should have a budget that is commensurate with that.

Thank the Lord!

I also liked when he said "It's too much work to be considered a hobby" before explaining that his hedge fund Point 72, is still where he plans to make his money. 

“I’m essentially doing it for the fans,” Cohen said. “When I really thought about this, I can make millions of people happy. What an incredible opportunity that is.

“It’s really about building something great, building something for the fans, winning, and I just find this an amazing opportunity.”

So now that we've established that, it's my turn to play Spaulding, and let Mr. Cohen know what I want..

We need more starting pitching. The rotatuion is thin after Jacob deGrom. Marcus Stroman, who accepted the Mets qualifying offer, could be a number two starter, but more likely a three or a four. David Peterson was a nice surprise this season, but he's young and unproven. Noah Syndergaard won't be back till June and who knows how he'll be after Tommy John surgery. Steven Matz is done. 

So I'd like to see them sign Trevor Bauer. Sounds like new team president Sandy Alderson would like to sign him too. I know he's a bit of a head case and a big mouth, but if he wins, that won't matter. Remember what Ted Turner said, "There's a fine line between being colorful and being an a$$hole." In this town it's not that fine. You win here, you can say whatever you want. 

They also need a catcher. Right now Tomas (Positively) Nido is the team's only experienced catcher. I like Nido, but you're not winning with him as your everyday catcher. 

So I'd like to see them sign JT Realmuto. Not only is he a solid bat, he'll give the Mets a fighting chance at throwing out a base stealer every once in a while. 

(And while I'm spending Uncle Steve's money, maybe we can get a pitching copach in here who can teach these guys how to hold a runner on first, you know while I'm thinking of these things) 

He’s has already committed to establishing an improved analytics department, and I’m hoping he invests in some good old fashioned bird dog scouting.  I’ve seen enough press conferences in my time to realize that winning a press conference doesn’t always equate to winning period, but at this point, its hard not to be excited as a Mets fan.

Now a word on the outgoing owner, Fred Wilpon. I really believe Fred is a decent guy and in his younger days, a good owner. I think the narrative that Fred was a dunce and Nelson Doubleday was the true brains behind the operation was not altogether fair. 

I think the issue with the Mets since Doubleday left was that Fred let his son Jeff run the organization, and Jeff, like other son’s of privilege who will go nameless, was in way over his head. The more Fred delegated to Jeff, the worse the team seemed to do. I know the Bernie Madoff stuff was a huge factor in all of this, but I truly believe that the biggest win here is that Jeff Wilpon is no longer involved with the franchise or at least the day to day operation of it. 

RADIO: Changes at the FAN

So with everything going on in politics, we didn’t get to write about all the goings on on WFAN.

First, Joe Beningo announced his retirement and did a week of shows as a farewell. I understand that doing anything for 25 years might make one want to change things up, and at 67, he wasn’t m’t getting any younger. But I would have thought they would have to peel his carcass out of the chair. 

Beningo wasn’t a radio lifer, he had a real people job before he joined the FAN. What made him great was that he was a true fan. While most of us watch our football teams on Sunday, then come to work on Monday and kvetch about it (or in my case blog about it). Beningo did the same thing and got paid handsomely for it. Why on earth would you give that up?  

But to each his own as they say. So off to Florida goes Joey B, and in his place returns Craig Carton. 

I’m very mixed about this.

I do believe that America is the land of second chances, that everyone deserves to earn a living. Carton paid his debt to society (if not his complete debt to those he stole from) and as a radio personality, should have the chance perform his profession. 

I think that part of my issue with Carton is that so much of his act is insults and having fun at other people’s expense, and that will always be in the back of my mind as I listen to him rag on other people. It’s the ultimate person throwing stones from the glass house. Unless he comes out a kinder, gentler radio personality, which I tend to doubt he will.

As for this new show Carton and Roberts (Beningo’s old partner Evan Roberts is now paired with Carton) it has potential. The first week of shows I have to admit were entertaining. I didn’t think Boomer and Carton would work out, but it did, so you can’t go by me. We’ll just have to let this one play out. 

    

FOOTBALL: Decisions, decisions 

Made the big mistake of watching last Monday night's Jets-Pats disaster at the Meadowlands, which had set up an interesting dilemma.

Rooting for the Jets to win, in addition to being a fools errand, is also counter-productive. At 0-8 going into the Pats game, they're going nowhere. So the best case scenario is for them to lose all their games and secure the number 1 pick. 

But I find it nearly impossible to ever root against any of my teams, and it's even more impossible for me to root for the Patriots, quite frankly the team I hate more than any other in professional sports. 

So there I was in the peculiar position of kind of rooting for the Jets to lose against a team I never root for to win. And of course being that I am a total wack-a-doodle, I was convincing myself that Bill Belichick was having his team lay down just to cost us the number one pick. 

But alas, our boys didn't let us down, boldly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Our dreams of a winless season and all the trimmings that go with it still intact. 

Is this a great time to be a football fan in NY or what? 

All right, I'm tapped out right now. Sorry this is a short one.

Stay Safe, Wear a Mask

and Have a Great Week 

Election Wrap Up

 

Hey There:

So I wrote a lot of this last Saturday. I didn't post for a few reasons, but the main reason was sort of an internal personal battle between my wanting to celebrate Joe Biden's victory against my not wanting to raise the temperature as it were. 

Some of the wacky conspiracy theories I saw, some of the things written on social media that was just plain incorrect, made me want to get on here and gloat, the way I know many of the Trump supporters I know would have done had he won the election. 

On the other hand, I said it 4 years ago, and it hasn't changed.. no election is worth losing friends over. I've had some knockdown, drag out screaming matches over politics back in my younger days that now I just thank God that I didn't burn bridges permanently over them. Presidents come and go, friends can last forever, provided that you don't f-ck it up by claiming moral or intellectual superiority. 

So I'm going to attempt to give my recap of the events of what became election week and hopefully not offend anyone. Here goes...

       4 years ago, I watched CNN as the results were coming in. I remember posting on FB at 11 PM that night, "8 years ago, at 10:59 and 50 seconds, I remember Charles Gibson of ABC News saying in 10 seconds it will be 11 PM in the east. He stared at the camera for 10 seconds, then declared Barack Obama the next President of the United States. I could tell by the commotion in the apartments around me that other networks did the same thing. I thought the same thing would happen tonight and we'd be hearing about the first female President. It still might, but clearly not at 11 PM."

A couple people replied that it wasn't going to be announced at all. Most of the other networks were saying that Trump had an insurmountable lead. They were right.

So this year, I set it up so I wouldn't get caught with my proverbial pants down again. I put my gal Norah O'Donnell and CBS on the TV, CNN on the laptop and MSNBC on the iPad. After a couple hours, I went from Norah to the great Neil Cavuto on Fox Business Channel. The broadcast networks were slow in calling states, the cable networks were a bit faster. 

Former Vice President Joe Biden had pretty substantial leads in Florida, Ohio and even Texas in the first couple of hours. President Trump had a huge leads in Pennsylvania Georgia and Michigan, and a slight lead in Wisconsin.  Since Florida is Trump's new home, I figured they would turn red and they did. Texas too. Ohio I thought might hold on for Biden, but ended up in the Trump column.  

I had made a promise that I wouldn't stay up past midnight. I stayed up till 2 AM in 2016, and driving into work the next day was not pleasant, as much because of lack of sleep as because of the result. I had Jack Buck's voice going through my head, his famous call of Kirk Gibson's walk off homer in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. "I can't believe what I just saw!" 

But as I was texting with (Razor) Ray McGarvey around 12:15 or so, I saw that Joe Biden was going to address the nation at 12:30. So I stayed up and watched that. 

Right before I went to bed, James Carville was on MSNBC and he was like "Don't panic" Well, I was panicking, but I have to admit, I felt a bit better after hearing Carville. To me, he is still the gold standard for running a Presidential Campaign. Those of us old enough to remember 1992 know that Bill Clinton at one point was a distant third in both the Democratic Primary season (behind Paul Tsongas and Jerry Brown) and then in the race for the White House (behind George HW Bush and Ross Perot) and ended up winning both races.  

Still needless to say, getting up Wednesday morning was no picnic, especially since when I went to bed, Trump was still leading bigly in PA and Michigan. But when I woke up, Biden had taken the lead in Wisconsin and was catching up in Michigan. Biden also had a big lead in Arizona, with the AP and Fox going so far as to call it for Biden. Around 2 PM on Wednesday, they called Wisconsin for Biden. Two hours later, they called Michigan for him too. Two of the three big upsets Trump had pulled off in 2016 had gone back to the Democrats. The third state was Pennsylvania.

I turned in early Wednesday night. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't stay up late. 

Thursday not much happened, except the numbers in Georgia and Pennsylvania were trending towards Biden, while Trump's numbers in Arizona were improving. 

Now I felt like Thursday night we were going to have some news, but it ended up being a big nothing burger. I stayed up till almost midnight with nothing to show for it.

But the first thing I saw Friday was that Biden was leading in Georgia, a state I figured he had no shot of winning. He took the lead in Pennsylvania shortly thereafter. 

Had my WM staff call Friday night. 

Of course I was out doing stuff with Tara and Timmy on Saturday morning when the news came over that Pennsylvania had been called and that we now had a new President-elect. You know what they say about a watched pot never boiling. 

Obviously I was elated. 

Joe Biden will be America's first Catholic President since JFK, and only the second in history. Kamala Harris becomes the first female Vice President and the first person of color to hold the office. He's the first person to lose Ohio and win the Presidency since 1960. For my Trump friends, your guy has received the 2nd most votes in the US election history. Even more than Hillary got in 2016. That's something you can hang your MAGA hats on. 

Like I said in last week's post, my record in Presidential elections is about the same as my record with football picks. I've been there. I went for Gore in 2000, Kerry in 2004, McCain in 2008 and Evan McMillan in 2016. I voted for Bill Clinton enthusiastically in 1992, a little less so in 1996, and if not for Super Storm Sandy, I may have voted for Mitt Romney in 2012. I voted for Obama that time, and I'm happy I did. Biden's win gets me to the .500 mark. Somewhere between Bill Belichick and Richie Kotite. 

When I worked at OTB, I'd watch the bettors as they watched the races on TV, if the horse the people were betting on was in the lead at the first turn, they'd all shout "Stop the race!". They were being facetious, the President was being serious. "Stop counting the votes!" in the states where he was winning, "Every vote should count" in the states he was losing. Got it?

For the record...

I know people said "Not My President" when Trump took over. I never did. I always acknowledged him as the President, as our President. 

I also never said that he wasn't duly elected. Go back through my blogposts. I acknowledged his victory.

I never questioned the results, never accused anyone of rigging anything. I detested a lot of the things he said, but he ran a hell of a campaign. 

Did I say that the Russians interfered? Sure I did. You know who else did? Trump's intelligence people. The evidence was overwhelming. How much Trump knew about it at the time is up for debate, but what's not debatable is that it happened. 

Hillary Clinton conceded the election the next morning.  President Obama invited the President-elect to the White House two days later. Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate was the one who asked for the recounts. This idea that Democrats held up the transfer of power 4 years is just more right wing fantasy. 

While I didn't have the guts to make a prediction, I did fill out a map on RealClearPolitics.com, it's kind of like March Madness, you have to give it a shot right? I took a picture on my phone to capture the date and time, lest you think I was pulling a Mike Francesca. 

I got Georgia and Arizona completely wrong, and I gave all of Nebraska to Trump and all of Maine to Biden. (Maine and Nebraska split their votes by Congressional District) Otherwise, not bad. 

And one final thing....You guys wanna say that this election was stolen, rigged, whatever, go ahead and prove it. I'm sure it wasn't, but hey, if you think so have at it. Maybe by some miracle Trump will get it to the Supreme Court and have his stooges overturn the election for him. I wouldn't hold my breath.

But for those of you saying that "Oh, no more COVID now that Biden won,"  Please don't go there. You all know my stance on the "COVID is a Hoax" people.  I'll repost my COVID special from last June if you need a reminder. 

Now full disclosure here.. I did walk through Times Square last Saturday, and yeah it was crowded. I did stop and shoot a video of a Trump balloon flying away. I had my mask on, I didn't touch anything, or anybody, and I got the hell out of there quickly. I probably should have avoided it all together and walked up 6th Avenue. As soon as I got to the office, I washed my hands and went nuts on the sanitizer. 

COVID's not over folks. Not by a longshot. The numbers are going back up. I don't care who you voted for. Wear a mask, and stay safe. This virus has already cost us all way too much. 

Please let's all of us at least agree on that.

Weekly Mail returns tomorrow night. 

Weekly Mail Election Special

Saturday October 24, 2020: Garden City, NY 

 

If you are reading this, and have read any of my blogposts or anything I've posted on social media, you already know who I'm not voting for. There's no surprises here, nothing new to report. In some ways, writing about it is just a waste of time. 

I have read and listened to countless opinions, watched and/or engaged in numerous debates, watched hours upon hours of news coverage. What’s left to say?

Well for what its worth, there are a couple of things I want to discuss.  

For starters, let's go back to the event where Joe Biden says he felt compelled to enter the race.

Charlottesville Virginia, the second weekend in August 2017.  A clash between protesters. A statue of Robert E. Lee was being removed, and a group of made up of White Supremacists, Neo-Nazi's and other alt-right organizations planned to march on the city. One of the white supremacists drove his car through a group of counter-protesters, killing a 31 year old woman and injuring 19 others. 

      President Trump, at his golf course in Bedminster, NJ came on TV and said 

"We all must be united and condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Let's come together as one!" ...."we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides."

There was some immediate blowback for the words "on many sides". Several of Trump's staffers encouraged him to give another statement, which he did, from the White House two days later...

"To anyone who acted criminally in this weekend's racist violence, you will be held fully accountable. Justice will be delivered. ... Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the K.K.K., neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans."

In Bob Woodward's book Fear,  the author says that after Trump gave those remarks, Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin and Economic Advisor Gary Cohn greeted the President and showered him with praise. Cohn telling Trump it was "your finest moment as president." 

However, a Fox News correspondent referred to the second speech as a "course correction". And this sent Trump over the edge.

According to Woodward, Trump told Rob Porter...."That was the biggest fucking mistake I've made. You never make those concessions. You never apologize."

A day later at Trump Tower, he made his infamous "very fine people on both sides." comment. 

To me, that story right there is the essence of the person we have as our President now. A man so self indulgent, he'd rather be thought of a racist than admit he misspoke. 

Alan Colmes for many years was the token liberal at Fox News. He was teamed with Sean Hannity to create Fox's version of CNN's Crossfire. When Fox got rid of him, he would still come on Don Imus' radio show and serve as their token liberal. 

Back in 2016 before the election while debating Imus' wife Deirdre and producer Bernard McGuirk, Colmes said "I don't think Trump's a racist. I think he's worse than a racist. Racists, as despicable as they are, at least stand for something. Trump only stands for himself." 

I didn't quite understand where Colmes was going with that. What could possibly be worse than a racist?

That would be someone who actually uses racism and division to achieve a goal. Maybe Trump doesn't really think Mexicans are rapists, or that Barack Obama was a Kenyan born Muslim. 

Maybe he doesn't think that the KKK has fine people in there.

But he said all those things. And it's bad enough if he believes any of that shit. If he's just saying those things because he thinks it's going to get him votes? Well that's what Colmes meant as worse than a racist. 

I was once involved in a FB discussion about when it was that we decided that Trump was unfit for office. I realize that many folks thought he was never fit, but many of us even if we didn't vote for him, knew we had to give him a chance. Many people chose Charlottesville. Some felt it was the press conference in Helsinki, where standing next to Vladmir Putin, he said "President Putin said it's not Russia (who interfered in the 2016 election) and I don't see why it would be." (after his own intellegence people told him it was the Russians) 

The moderator of the FB discussion James Tubridy, said for him it was when Trump invited two Russian nationals into the Oval Office, with the Russian translator the only other American allowed in the meeting. There is a whole laundry list, and I'm not going to get into it all here. The point is, and really what ties all his indiscretions together, is one common theme. That Donald Trump is looking out for only one person. 

Himself. 

The tax cut? Who did that benefit? Mostly rich people like himself. 

All the clean air regulations his administration has rolled back? Less money for his businesses to pay.

I could go on and on. I won’t. There is no need. 

Joe Biden is not perfect, we all know that. But I've always felt he was a good and decent man. I remember I had just gotten out of the hospital after my heart scare in 2015, and watching Beau Biden's funeral on CNN. I remember watching Vice President Biden, at what had to be one of the worst moments of his life, comforting his grandkids, who had either just lost their father or their uncle. I thought it almost incomprehensible that this was the second time in his life he had to bury a child, something nobody should have to go through once.  How anyone can question the man's intestinal fortitude is beyond me.

I also remember reading a New Yorker profile on Biden. It talked about how back during the transition from the Bush 43 administration to the Obama administration, several world leaders reached out to Biden, whom they all knew and respected from his time as a Senate Chairman, to get an idea about Obama. Obama at first was less than thrilled about this, but soon realized that having someone with Biden's experience could only help with his foreign policy vision.  

To me his qualifications are impeccable. 

And for all the Trumpsters who keep saying "He's had 47 years and nothing to show for it", I say find and read that article. I know fat chance right? 

Ok, then how about this? In Joe Biden's 47 years in public service, how many Americans have died because of his neglect? I guarantee you it's nowhere near the 200,000 that have died in 6 months because Donald Trump didn't have a pandemic plan. 

I’m not going to convince anyone. There was a time where I thought I could. That was a loooong time ago. Nothing I say, especially about politics is going to change anyone’s mind. That much is true in ordinary times, which these certainly are not. 

So why put my $0.02 in where that is probably way overpriced? 

I knew when I woke up on Wednesday November 9, 2016 I wasn’t going to be happy. One of two people I didn’t want was going to be elected our nation’s 45th President. I figured it would be Hillary Clinton. 

I had made up my mind that I wouldn’t give either Clinton or Trump my vote. I felt confident that I had made the right decision.

I didn’t. 

My feelings for Hillary Clinton haven’t changed. She’s still the master of saying one thing and doing something else. She’s still the one who said “I’m not going to stand by my man” then did just that. She still the one who blasted the Bush administration for the Iraq war, a war she voted for. She still she’s herself as a pioneer, though she wouldn’t have been elected dog catcher here in NY, much less US Senator, if not for her husband. 

And with all that, I should have voted for her in 2016. 

I’ve never admitted that before. 

Because as much of a liar as I believe she is, Trump is 100 times worse. As much as I feel there would have been divisiveness in our politics with her as President, it wouldn’t have gotten to this point. 

As much as I want to smash my computer every time some putz types “But her emails...”  as if what she did was no big deal, I also believe we wouldn’t have 200,000 dead of COVID-19 if she was in charge. 

Trump’s hatred of all things Obama caused him to get rid of the playbook the administration had set up to handle pandemics. For that alone, we’d have been better off with President Hillary Clinton. 

But I also know she wouldn’t have bowed down to Vladimir Putin or went for a glorified photo op at the DMZ with Kim Jong Un. 

As self centered as I always felt she was/is, I still believe she would have respected the office. 

I don’t mean to come off as arrogant or self important. I know most people take their vote seriously as I do. I can look back at every time I have voted for President and say that I voted for the person I thought was the best choice at the time. I haven’t always voted for the winner (my record in case you were wondering is 3-4). In three of the four times my candidates lost, I still felt my choice was the right choice. I voted for John McCain in 2008. As much respect as I have for Barack Obama, I still don’t regret voting for McCain. 

I can’t say that about what I did in 2016. 

I can’t comfort myself by saying it didn’t matter. That Hillary was going to waltz to victory in NY no matter who I voted for. I can’t comfort myself as I tried to do by saying “Hey I didn’t vote for Trump either.”  My vote is no more important than yours, but it’s as important as everyone else’s. It’s one of the few things we can truly call our own. 

And that's what this is all about really. I don't know if anyone will see this in the future. But even if I come back and read this 10-20 years from now, I want it known that I did the right thing. I have to live with having not done that in 2016. 

When I wake up on Wednesday morning, no matter what the outcome, I will do so knowing I made the right decision.  That I voted on the right side of history.

                                                           PREDICTION

As one of my best friends here in Oceanside would say "No Shot"

I'm not touching this with a 10-foot pole. Call me gutless, that's fine. I'm keeping my mouth shut this time. 

If you haven't done so please vote.