Weekly Mail July 4, 2022

 

Happy 246th America! 

Sorry we didn't publish last week, as we took off to celebrate a couple of graduations. My buddy Liam McGarvey is done with high school and off to  SJU so we celebrated that on Saturday afternoon at Donovans.

Earlier last week my son Timmy graduated from 8th grade (or moved up as they now say it). I know it's cliché, but I can't believe how fast the time flies. Since Tara and I both work, we sent Tim to Oceanside's afterschool program, and I remember the first day I picked him up from there back in 2013. That just seems like yesterday, but that's going to be 9 years come September. And now he's starting high school. It's unbelievable

I'm so proud of the young man he is becoming. I'm so happy for all the kids in his class who are also moving on up as it were. I've said it before, I really believe with these kids, we are in good hands.

Providing the rest of us don't f-ck it up in the meantime. And on that note......

SURPEME COURT- Two Landmark Decisions

I've spoken about this many times before... I have an internal battle with this blog. The desire to be entertaining vs the desire to chronicle the happenings of the day. Trying not to offend anyone vs. calling it like I see it, damn the consequences. 

Last week presented an even bigger dilemma..

The Supreme Court in a 5-3 vote overturned the 1973 Roe vs Wade decision. Regardless of what side you come down on, one thing we can all agree on was that this decision was historic and newsworthy. Something I don't feel like I can ignore. 

But I also made a decision when I started blogging again back in 2015 that under no circumstances would I discuss abortion in this forum. 

Several years ago, I was talking to a couple of co-workers. I don't know how it came up,  but one of them remarked that he had never met anyone who wasn't pro-choice. He then asked us where we stood on abortion. Our co-worker said "I'm going to say this as succinctly and as politely as I possibly can. It's none of your f-cking business"  

From that day on, that was my official position on abortion. 

There are only two people on earth who need to know where I stand..... My wife and my kid.  

Of all the countless issues that divide our fair nation, I feel the one that causes the most angst is abortion. If you are pro-choice and you get into it with someone who is not pro-choice, it's usually a very ugly confrontation. And nobody ever walks away from one of those debates saying, "Wow, maybe I need to rethink my position." No they just dig their heels in deeper. 

I will say this however, this decision I fear will have more far reaching effects other than abortion. Remember, it's at the very core of it, about the right to privacy. Now back in the day, when they passed the Patriot Act, I had many a debate over that. I felt it was necessary, a tool needed to help ensure that we would never have to deal with another 9/11.  Others felt that it went too far, that it risked ordinary people, you know, those not looking to take down skyscrapers, losing their right to privacy. I guess I always believed that common sense and pure intentions would win out, and that the Patriot Act would be used strictly for what what it's stated goal was-to keep us safe. 

It's hard to see what the SCOTUS did last week and feel like they want to do either, protect our privacy or keep us safe. Because in another decision that I damn well will discuss.

The day before the court overturned Roe, they also overturned a New York law that place limits on carrying guns outside the home. 

And I mean my question is, if you are looking to protect children, as the Right to Life movement is insisting, wouldn't regulating guns be a great place to start?  So that maybe we don't have anymore slaughters like they had in Uvalde, TX? 

Instead it was made much easier to take a gun out of the house with you. With the way crime has been rising around here, I think a bunch of ordinary folks packing heat isn't a great idea. Just give everyone a gun and turn Times Square into the OK Corral. Because that's where we are heading from where I'm sitting. 

And we had another mass shooting in Chicago on Monday. During a 4th of July parade. 

Unbelievable. 

And speaking of Unbelievable. 

THE JANUARY 6 HEARINGS:

Last Monday afternoon, the January 6 Committee announced they were convening a hearing for the following day. They hadn't been planning another hearing for at least a week. Speculation began to spread about why the sudden change of plans. CNN finally broke the story that Cassidy Hutchison, an aide to former WH Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, was going to testify. 

The hearing began at 1 PM when I go on my lunchbreak, so I hopped in the car and listened to it FDR Fireside Chat style on the radio. 

Amongst the things that Hutchison testified about...

1) That Captain Orange was so pissed that the Ellipse wasn't filled to capacity, that he demanded the magnetometers be taken down so that even those people carrying weapons would be allowed in. "They're not coming for me" was his explanation as to why letting a bunch of angry armed people into the ellipse was no biggie. 

2) That House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy texted her some nastygrams because he felt that Hutchison was reneging on her promise that the President would not go to the Capitol. Hutchison assured Mccarthy that she was not aware that this was being planned and while she felt he felt she was being honest, he was still livid that trump was insisting on going to the Capitol.

3) That upon learning that the secret service was returning Trump to the White House, that he grabbed at the steering wheel of the car he was in and also attacked another secret service member. 

Hutchison also testified that upon learning that Attorney General Bill Barr didn't find any evidence of voter fraud (surprise surprise) that Trump through his plate of food clear across the room. While the three issues mentioned above were admittedly second hand, Hutchison said that she had helped to clean up the mess he made. 

Now the Secret Service agent that Hutchison says told her all this stuff is apparently willing to testify that none of what she said is true. Fair enough. Let them come in and testify under oath that she made this all up. If someone else wants to come before the committee and swear under oath that Trump didn’t turn the Oval Office into the cafeteria at Faber College, that’s fine too. Till then I take her at her word.  

And the fact that any of these shenanigans are even remotely plausible, just blows my mind. 

All right let's move on here...

BASKETBALL: Land of Confusion (my favorite Genesis song and also the state of the NBA around these parts)

The second most exciting thing for Tim besides his graduation was that the NBA draft was later that night. He was anxious to see what the Knicks were going to do with the11th pick. I, having sat through the likes of Fredrick Weis over Metta World Peace, and Jarrod Mustaf over Toni Kucoc, couldn't really work up much of a lather over this.

But he was into it so we watched it together. And folks, I'll be able to explain the meaning of life before I  could explain what the Knicks did on draft night. 

They drafted some guy it seemed like nobody wanted then traded him immediately to the team drafting next. (OKC) Then it seemed like they were trading picks they didn't even have. Tim kept asking me what was going on, and for the life of me, I couldn't tell him. 

Turns out the goal was to trade out of the draft all together and also to clear cap space so they could sign former Mavericks PG Jalen Brunson, which they did on Thursday night. The Knicks have been woefully deficient in the PG dept, so hopefully this is the answer to our prayers. It better be, after all the crazy $h-t they did to get him here.  

The Nets didn't have any draft picks because they were the epitome of the win-now team. That seems to have taken a major hit as both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are now seeking to take their talents elsewhere. Now maybe I missed something here, but didn't Kyrie opt in to an extension with the Nets? Why would he do that just to demand a trade?

There are few things sadder in this city than the state of our pro basketball teams and even our college team, St. John's. Not that I really wanted the Nets to win, but it would bave given us all something to take our minds off of everything else. Now it seems like if they really are intent of dealing Durant and Kyrie, they are starting from scratch. Another team in NY as Mike Lupica likes to say, just selling you on a game plan. 

Hope everyone enjoyed their July 4th weekend. Can’t believe 2022 is halfway done. 

Stay Safe

and Have a Great Week