Hi everyone:
Thank you for reading my special about the horrible tragedy in Uvalde, Texas that I posted last night. I didn't feel right speaking about that and then going into my usual news of the week. I felt that merited a separate post. It's just unbelievable that this can still happen, that it does still happen here in America.
We try to push on. Several of us have kids who are graduating this year, either from grammar school, middle school, high school or college. If this applies to you, congratulations. We're celebrating an 8th grade graduation in a few weeks. I can't believe we're going to have a kid in high school come September, I feel like we just brought him home from the hospital last week.
Whether or not you have someone graduating, I'm sure you don't need me to tell you to hug them a bit tighter. I'm sure you all have done so already.
Hopefully we can help ease some of this pain, but first more bad news....
RIP-Ray Liotta (1954-2022)
Was shocked to hear of the death of one of my favorite actors on Thursday. What an unbelivable verastile talent he was.
Sure, many times he played the tough guy, bad ass, like he did as Henry Hill in Goodfellas, perhaps his signature role. Or the innocence and genuine enthusiasm he brought as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams. He played good guys and bad guys, sometimes in the same role. He did TV and films. And nobody seemed to ever have a bad thing to say about him.
And upon hearing of his passing, I couldn't help but think of something else he did.... A commercial for Chantix, a smoke cessation aid. You remember the commercial. Chantix had done several other commercials with ordinary people who came on and said, "I'm so and so and I quit smoking with Chantix."
Then one day there was Ray Liotta who came on and said "I'm Ray and I quit smoking with Chantix"
And the crazy thing is, I believed him.
The even crazier think is my longtime (and not old) friend Ed Robinson and one of his friends had the same thoughts as I did. How Liotta put himself out there. I'm sure he didn't need the money, nor did he need to admit to the world that he struggled to quit smoking, something millions of people struggle with every day.
Met star Pete Alonso and Walker Buehler of the Dodgers are both doing Car Shield ads, and while Ed reminded me that the Polar Bear was in a big car accident this past off-season, I'm sure neither him or Buehler, (Buehler? Buehler?-sorry I couldn't resist) are depending on Car Shield to pay for a new alternator. I'm sure they got that money in their seat cushions.
And my man Joe Namath is on TV talking about getting Medicare to deliver home cooked meals to his house in Florida. Broadway Joe hasn't paid for a meal since the Jets won Super Bowl III, which I need not remind anyone was 53 years ago.
But Liotta just seemed to be so genuine, that I really think he used this product to help him quit, then decided to help other people do the same. I could be wrong, but he really did seem like that kind of man. Honest, caring, genuine.
Real.
Not too many you can say that about in Hollywood. RIP
Two other people of note who passed this week-- Alan White was the drummer for Yes, and the longest remaining member in the band. But prior to joining Yes, he was the drummer in John Lennon's Plastic Ono band, the drummer on Imagine. Imagine is in my all time top 10 songs, and the drumming on that track was done to perfection.
Also Depeche Mode founder Andy Fletcher died this week at age 60. I can't hear a Depeche Mode song and not think of my Baskin-Robbins days in the early 90's, where changing the store radio off of WDRE was punishable by being locked in the freezer for an hour and a half.
NHL: Rangers Still Going
This Rangers-Hurricaines series has been something else.
It's not just simply that the home team has won every contest, that's unusual enough, but not impossible, I've seen that happen before.
What's weird is how lousy each team has played in the other team's barn.
Really except for Game 1, where the Blueshirts controlled the play for 2 and 1/4 periods in Raliegh, the other games were either not close, or not as close as the score indicated.
The Rangers were totally outclassed in Game 2, they never really once threatened Annti Raanta. And coming off two strong games at the Garden, they fell apart in Game 5 too. First they let the Caines score an inexcusable short handed goal. They tied it up and then seemed to have taken the lead on a Ryan Strome goal, only to have the goal disallowed after a replay showed the Rangers were offsides on the play. After that, it was like the air came out of their sails.
Carolina's a good team, make no mistake. That defense they play can be suffocating. But they look like the 2003 Devils at home and the 2022 Devils on the road. Again, I can't remember ever seeing that much disparity in the NHL playoffs before.
So now the Rangers, backs to the wall once again, have to try to beat Carolina in a place where they look almost unbeatable. The Rangers are young, one of the concerns going into these playoffs was that their lack of experience would haunt them. Well, this will now be their 14th playoff game this year, hopefully that's enough experience to know what they are up against playing in a hostile arena.
Hopefully, they have learned enough to change the narrative.
I haven't really been following much of the Amber Heard-Johnny Depp trial in Washington DC. My co-workers at the hospital have been filling me in. I heard the case finally went to the jury on Friday afternoon. I know it's not even close, but I feel like this case is going on as long as the OJ trial did. I'm wondering if this is what George W. Bush had in mind when he campaigned in 2004 about how tort reform would single-handedly kickstart the country's economy. OK, I'm not sure he really ever said that, but that was the theme of almost every speech he gave that year. Anyway, in case you are wondering, I'm not on team Johnny or team Amber, I'm on team. Let's Get This Over With so I don't have to hear any more about it.
Speaking of George W., on Tuesday the FBI arrested Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab, 52, an Iraqi man living in Ohio on a visa, for his role in a plot to kill our 43rd President. According to the Washington Post, Shihab3 (my name for him) told an FBI informant that he was surveilling the former President's Texas home. He was also looking to smuggle a team of 4 Iraqis into the US from Mexico and secure vehicle penetrating weapons.
Some critics will look at this as a reason to enhance border security and I can't say that I blame them. On the other hand, it also shows me that the system in place is working. There was an FBI informant with this creep at all times and he never even got close to completing his mission. Obviously we need to stay vigilant, but again, I think this shows that we are.
Finally on this Memorial Day Weekend....
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