And we’re back..
So first of all, I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.
We were delayed on this for a couple of reasons, not the least of which was a technical difficulty. I had most of this written on Saturday and then it disappeared when I went to save it. I was so besides myself after that, I almost just said screw it. But there were too many important things to discuss, so I had to go back to the drawing board.
In any event....
What I wrote last Wednesday in light of the events that happened in Washington DC was on pure emotion. As a writer, my first instinct is to capture the moment for posterity sake to write exactly what I was feeling as the events for unfolding.
But now that we’ve had a few days to cool off I’d like to try one last time to explain what I think went down last Wednesday at our nation’s Capitol.
We often talk about trigger words. I have a word that triggers me all the time. It’s not just the word it’s a place, actually. But you’ve heard about it so much these past 10 years that we forget about the details of it.
Benghazi.
The reason that Benghazi such a trigger word for me is because no matter what side of the aisle you are on, if you happen to bring it up, it’s probably going to piss me off.
Many on the left take great pains to point out that Republicans ordered 10 separate congressional investigations into the events that led to the attack on the United States Embassy in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012. This was designed in part to try to derail President Obama‘s 2012 reelection campaign and failing that, the expected 2016 run of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee for President.
And I do agree that if you can’t prove your point after one congressional investigation or 2 investigations tops, you shouldn’t get eight more bites of that apple.
But on the other hand, it also doesn’t sit well with me when Benghazi is made out to be a big fat nothing burger. It bothers me just as much when I hear people say “Only four people died in Benghazi.”
And you hear it all the time. “We had 3000 people die yesterday of COVID-19, but only 4 died in Benghazi.”
Hell I even heard that this week. When it was reported that five people were killed at the capitol, numerous people pointed out that again “Only four people died in Benghazi.”
Why that bothers me so much is that what fails to get pointed out most of the time, is that one of those “only four” people that were killed that night was the US ambassador to Libya at the time, J. Christopher Stevens.
I have to imagine that protecting your ambassadors is right up there with protecting Senators, Representatives and the Vice President of the United States. I can’t imagine it’s too much further down that proverbial food chain.
It bothers me that Stevens death was minimized.
One person who never minimized it and I give her credit for this (for all the differences I have with her) was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who numerous times during her repeated grillings expressed extreme sadness over the death of her friend, Chris Stevens.
Stevens assassination came to mind again for me this week as I witnesses the siege on Congress that took place January 6, 2021. We cannot be a country that allows our leaders to be attacked. If you are an American citizen, you can’t be cool with what went down last Wednesday afternoon.
President Trump couldn’t get his Vice President to overturn the election (which as Pence pointed out, he had no authority to do) so Trump incited an angry mob to attack members of Congress including the President’s own number 2 man? I mean that’s Aaron Burr type shit there.
The immediate response from many in the MAGA crowd was that we all turned a blind eye to the violence that took place during the George Floyd protests during the summer.
I watched those protests as they happened, and while I believe much of those protests were peaceful, I watched too as cops, across the country had stuff thrown at them. That was absolutely disgusting.
This blog gets posted to my Facebook every week. Several of my FB friends are police officers. I would trust my life with any one of them. And if any of my readers are ok with cops being attacked, they’re not going to see the light of day here, because I won’t be friends with anyone who thinks like that.
But that’s apples and oranges.
What happened on Wednesday was nothing short of a terrorist attack on the United States, incited by the sitting President. We can disagree on policy or even some tactics, but there is absolutely no justification for this. This was, by the very definition of the word, sedition. I’m less angry now than I am sad and disappointed. That people can be so taken in by this con man that they are cool with an armed coup against our nation.
I don’t know if this latest impeachment try is going to go anywhere. I believe it’s more important come January 21 that the Biden justice department indict the crap out of Trump when he no longer has the office of President to protect him.
Why?
For me it’s mostly so that the Ted Cruz’s and Josh Hawleys and Matt Gaetz’s of the world don’t see this as a winning formula. Or worse, that some kid in college whose looking to get into politics doesn’t see the Trump way as the blueprint for political success.
It needs to be a blueprint to end up in Federal prison for a long time. So nobody else ever tries it again.
BASEBALL: Blockbuster
I have to admit I was getting a bit antsy about the Mets off season. I realize that Steve Cohen didn’t get to be a 14 times over billionaire by bidding against himself, which is what he would be doing in this year’s free agent market. I also understand that Cohen and Sandy Alderson are pouring time and resources into rebuilding our dilapidated farm system as much as they are building the current big league team. I can dig it, I really can.
But I’ve also seen Jacob deGrom pitch well enough to win 50 games the last two and a half years and he doesn’t even have 1/2 of that to show for it, nor does he have any postseason appearances these past 5 years. So yeah, I was a bit anxious for some action.
And that action came on Thursday afternoon, as the Mets pulled off a blockbuster trade with the Cleveland Baseball Team, sending Amed Rosario, Andres Jimenez and a couple of minor leaguers, for SS Francisco Lindor and pitcher Carlos Carrasco.
I’ve seen it pointed out by a few of my fellow Met diehards, that the last two times we made big deals with Cleveland for all-star infielders that it did exactly work out in our favor. We traded Jeff Kent amongst others in 1996 for Carlos (one if by land, two if by sea, three if) Baerga, and in 2002, we traded for Robert Alomar. Baerga was OK, just not for what we gave up for him, and Alomar, a future hall of farmer, was a huge disappointment in Queens.
But Lindor is in his prime, is much more talented than either of the previously mentioned players and is also playing for a huge payday. I was a big fan of Rosario and Jimenez looked good last year, so I’m sorry to see them go, but you have to give up something to get something, right? This is a really good thing, a happy day to be a Met fan.
FOOTBALL: Gase Closed
It wouldn’t have mattered, since I never wanted him here in the first place, but I really was hoping former Jets coach Adam Gase would go out a winner last Sunday against a very beatable New England Patriots team. Instead, after beating two teams that made the playoffs this year, and costing themselves a shot at Trevor Lawrence, Gase and the Jets laid down like dawgs against those lowlifes from Foxborough.
For what it’s worth, my choice for next Jets coach would be Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.
Until last week, I was in the “Let’s get some weapons for Sam Darnold and see what he can do” camp rather than the “Let’s draft another franchise quarterback” camp. But after seeing how Darnold played against the Pats, I think it’s time to send him packing. He’s just another in a long line of Jet QB’s who likes to throw the ball to the guys in different colored jerseys. You know, Kenny O’Brien is often remembered as the guy we drafted instead of Dan Marino, but that dude had balls. He threw a total of 7 interceptions in 1985, less than half a pick a game. That he got hisself sacked 62 times that year just shows that he’d rather get clobbered than give up a possession.
7 INT’s for Darnold is about 3 weeks of work. It’s time for him to leave along with Gase. Adios!
As for the Giants, yes what Eagles coach Doug Peterson pulled last Sunday was absolute bush league garbage, and if it was my team he pulled that against I’d be screaming bloody murder too. Still, 6-10 should get you nowhere near a shot at the Super Bowl, so as much as I can’t stand Tom Brady, I’m glad he helped send the WFT home for the winter. Now at least everyone still playing has a winning record.
And of the 6 games that were played this weekend, the only one I watched was the Saints-Bears game, which I watched on Nickelodeon. They did a great job. Noah Eagle (Ian’s son) was the play-by-play man, Nate Burleson and 15 year old Gabrielle Nevaeh Green (star of the revival of All That) were the commentators. Eagle and Burleson were awesome explaining the rules of the game, and Gabrielle brought great humor and a bucket of green slime) to the proceedings. Fun, fun stuff, after a tough week.
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I couldn’t believe how emotional I was Friday night watching Jeopardy, knowing that it was Alex Trebek’s swan song as host. Between that and that Montifiore Commercial they play around 7 PM, I was an absolute puddle.
And it’s weird, because I can best describe my relationship with Trebek as love/hate. Too many times he came off as the smartest guy in the room IMHO, but almost everyone who was a contestant on the show insists that he was more reassuring and calming than he was arrogant. I have to go by that. And as I said before, if you can be the best in the biz as something for as long as Alex was the best at what he did, that has to count for a ton.
He’ll be every sorely missed, that’s for sure. RIP.
Sorry again for the delay.
Stay safe, wear a mask..
and Have a Great Week
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