Hey There:
I'm sorry I didn't publish last week. I had taken the night off from the city but had so much to say that I started to write. I just couldn't finish, with things changing rapidly and also, just not having the time or the patience sit at the home computer. So, we have two weeks of things to discuss.
Last Monday was July 1st, which means 2024 for better or worse, is halfway done. As the years go on, it seems to go by faster and faster. I hope that for all of you that 2024 has brought you more joy than sorrow, more happiness than pain. That really is my wish for everybody, me included.
And I hope you all had a Happy 4th of July.
With that being said, we'll start with what my co-editor Karl (the Ace) Ludwig aptly described as a train wreck two Thursday nights ago.
POLITICS: The Debate Disaster
As I came home from work on June 27, I went back and forth over whether or not I would tune into the CNN Presidential Debate. For starters, having a debate before the two candidates had even been formally nominated at their respective conventions didn't seem like a good idea to me. I guess the conventional (no pun intended) wisdom was that since both Joe Biden and Captain Orange have been President, and that both have collected the required delegates that it really didn't matter that neither had accepted their nominations. About the only mystery left for lack of a better term, is who Orange is going to have as his running mate.
But more than that, I mean, at this point I'm not sure what we can gain from having these debates.
And I'm sure any of my MAGA friends read that last line and said, "Yeah that's because your guy got his a$$ handed to him the other night." We'll address that in a second, but really my question is what are we looking for here?
In the past what I would look for in a debate was how each candidate would describe how they would handle a situation, or a policy. Of course, you had an idea because as I said previous, even if you hadn't watched any stump speeches, you had probably seen the convention speeches, so you know where they stood. A debate would have each candidate explain their position while also saying why the other candidate's position was wrong for the country. Of course, there would be a certain amount of spin by both candidates, but you had to believe that they were both (or in some cases all 3) being somewhat honest.
But now you have the 45th President facing off with the 46th. More than ever, we know where each of them stands, and we know what both of their visions are.
Which is why as much as it pained me to see Biden trip over his words, misspeak, and lose his train of thought, I can't sit here and say Trump won this debate decisively. The man did nothing but lie and make shit up for an hour and a half. And I knew that was exactly what he was going to do, because that's all he ever does. That, and insult people.
About the only thing Trump said that was correct was that Biden's son was a convicted felon. The fact that Hunter Biden is 1) not running for President and 2) not going to be a part of his father's administration was immaterial. Trump just brought it up just to deflect from the fact that HE himself is a convicted felon.
Amongst the lies Orange tried to peddle:
1) That 1/6 was a "small number of people that went to the Capitol and in many cases were ushered in by the police.”
2) That "During my four years, I had the best environmental numbers ever."
I mean I don't even think there are MAGA people who are buying that.
3) That some states "will take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth, after birth.”
Infanticide is outlawed in every state.
Also per the AP:..
TRUMP: We had the greatest economy in history.”
THE FACTS: That’s not accurate. First of all, the pandemic triggered a massive recession during his presidency. The government borrowed $3.1 trillion in 2020 to stabilize the economy. Trump had the ignominy of leaving the White House with fewer jobs than when he entered.
But even if you take out issues caused by the pandemic, economic growth averaged 2.67% during Trump’s first three years. That’s pretty solid. But it’s nowhere near the 4% averaged during Bill Clinton’s two terms from 1993 to 2001, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In fact, growth has been stronger so far under Biden than under Trump.
Trump did have the unemployment rate get as low as 3.5% before the pandemic. But again, the labor force participation rate for people 25 to 54 — the core of the U.S. working population — was higher under Clinton. The participation rate has also been higher under Biden than Trump.
Trump also likes to talk about how low inflation was under him. Gasoline fell as low as $1.77 a gallon. But, of course, that price dip happened during pandemic lockdowns when few people were driving. The low prices were due to a global health crisis, not Trump’s policies.
I had to go into work during the pandemic. I'll admit gas was dirt cheap at that time. I also got to work in 10 minutes when it usually took me 20-25 minutes. Trust me, that wasn't worth seeing co-workers, and friend's parents die. Also not worth knowing that my wife was wearing a garbage bag at work.
5) At one point he said that Charlottesville was "debunked"
What?
I had to laugh every time he said that Biden was the worst President in history and that the world was laughing at us now. 1 million Americans died because of a virus that Trump did nothing to stop, even ignoring a plan that was put in place by the Obama administration for just such an eventuality.
What's more, there was literally a video of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emanuel Macron mocking Trump at Buckingham Palace in 2019. They were laughing at us then. Not now.
And when I consider how much Trump was the worst President ever, at least in my lifetime if not in US History, I think of the picture of Ron Turcotte looking over his shoulder as he was riding Secretariat across the finish line at the 1973 Belmont Stakes. The horse in 2nd place was 31 lengths behind.
Of course, in the week and a half between the debate and now, the $64,000 question has become is Joe Biden capable of carrying out the duties of the office, or should he step aside and allow, as George Steinbrenner used to say, the young elephants (or in this case donkeys) into the tent.
People whose opinions I highly respect have taken either side of this coin. I'm not listening to the Trump supporters who want Biden out of the race here because as I've said before, they had a chance to replace Trump with 51-year-old Nikki Haley, or 62-year-old Chris Christie, or even 46-year-old Ron DeSantis (who policy wise probably wouldn't have been any better than Captain Orange) but instead insisted on 78-year-old wannabe dictator. Thanks, but no thanks.
No, I'm talking about folks who are committed to vote blue in November but now are concerned about President Biden's ability to run the country. There are some who were alarmed by what they saw at the debate and that and his advanced age are reason enough for him to step aside. Others believe his story that he was tired from travel and was suffering from a cold.
I have gone back and forth myself these past two weeks.
I don't care how good of shape you are in, if you are north of 80 years old, you start to lose a step. It happens to almost everyone.*
I know there are age discrimination laws in this country. I believe that anyone who is capable and healthy enough and wants to work should be able to. (I even more believe that folks who worked their whole life and want to enjoy retirement should be able to as well, and probably won't if Project 2025 comes along. . but I digress)
I understand the concern about President Biden. And having said that, I want him to stay in the race.
I trust the man. I trust that if he feels he can't handle the job physically, he will step aside. If he feels like he can stay in the race, I trust that he can.
I used to believe that even politicians I didn't necessarily agree with, still put the country ahead of themselves. Of the two men running now, I believe Joe Biden is the only one who still does this. Captain Orange does not. He never has, he never will.
And now CO wants to have another "No Holds Barred" debate. If I'm Biden I'd agree to that on the condition that Andy Sipowicz is one of the debate moderators. That might keep Trump from lying.
I'll discuss the Supreme Court Immunity decision next week.
BASEBALL: The Subway Series (Part I)
Was obviously very happy that my Mets were able to win both games at Citi Field. I'm also smart enough to know that the four homers that were hit off Yankees ace Gerrit Cole were an aberration, that obviously wasn't Gerrit Cole at nearly full strength. Like Edwin Diaz, Cole is coming off an injury and is just rounding into form. A couple more starts under his belt, and he will be fine, I'm sure.
The second game with a big win off of Luis Gil was more impressive, as Gil has been a find for the Yanks, a big reason why they have been able to thrive while Cole was on the shelf. He's come back to earth a bit as of late, but still, if he can get back to close to how he was in the beginning of the season, they'll have a staff to be reckoned with.
And let's be honest, I am over the moon that the Mets turned it around. When the Rangers got bounced from the playoffs, I figured that was the end of any meaningful sporting events for a while. I even started watching a few streaming shows. But whether it's because of Grimace, or Jose Iglesias and his music, or maybe they just all decided it might be time to start hitting, the team has been much better of late (their series loss to the Astros notwithstanding) and also more fun to watch.
And part of what makes them fun to watch is their broadcasting team of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling. Even when the team is awful (which happens a lot more than it should) they are always entertaining. And they can entertain and not take away from the original task at hand which is to broadcast the game.
I don't watch enough of the Yankees team on YES to give a thorough analysis, but I will say that I'll always give props to David Cone, one of my favorite athletes of all time, I mean who is more New York than David Cone? John Flaherty is an excellent analyst and Paul O'Neill is good too (though I'm still licking my wounds from those late 90's dynasty teams)
But Michael Kay annoys the $h-t out of me. I could be wrong on this, but I just find him very arrogant, and self serving. Not to mentioned very thin skinned. He was pissed off last week because SNY ran an add that called GKR the best booth in town. The add apparently aired on YES during Kay's simulcasted radio show.
"It takes a lot of hubris for SNY to run that ad,” Kay told the Athletic.. “For them just to come out and say, ‘Go listen to the best booth in baseball,’ advertising it on my show, I thought was a little odd, so I thought I’d poke fun at it. I think it’s subjective. I think that they’re a terrific booth. I really do. Yeah, I think they’re great. And I think that we’re a terrific booth.
I'm not going to mock Kay here for sticking up for him and his team, but there have been other times I've listened to his show or read quotes of his in the papers where he acts as if he poops chocolate ice cream or even more obnoxiously, acts like he was right there with Cone and O'Neill winning those 4 titles in 5 years. I can tell you for a fact that Cohen knows his place amongst the two 1986 Mets legends he works with.
And to be clear, this isn't a Met fan woofing on the Yankees. I love Cone, respect Flaherty and O'Neill, and consider Suzyn Waldman a legend and a broadcasting pioneer. I know John Sterling wasn't everybody's cup of tea, but I got a kick out of his home run calls.
It's just Michael Kay. He's got an attitude problem.
BASKETBALL: Big Knicks Trade:
Tim and I were watching the first game of the Subway Series together when a couple of his buddies facetimed him. He figured since they were Yankee fans and the Yanks were making a gallant comeback, that they were calling to bust his chops, but they were calling because they heard that the Knicks had traded a bushel of draft picks to the Nets for Mikal Bridges.
The haul for the Nets was four unprotected first round picks, (pretty much every first-round pick in odd years till 2031) a protected first rounder the Knicks got from Milwaukee, and Bojan Bogdanovic, who the Knicks got at the trade deadline from the Pistons, and who got hurt in the playoffs just as he was rediscovering his stroke.
To me that is a $hitload of draft capital to give up for one player, who while very good, is not what you would call a franchise player. What seems to work in his favor is that he played college ball with Josh Hart, Dante DiVincenzo and most importantly, Jalen Brunson. Together with a hopefully healthy Julius Randle and a hopefully and healthy OG Anunoby (especially since they re-signed OG to a huge contract extension) it is hoped that Bridges is the final piece to a championship puzzle.
For what they gave up to get him, he better be.
Now, Leon Rose has definitely earned the benefit of the doubt. I didn't like the trade for Anunoby at the time, but there was no question that when he was in the Knicks line-up they were a much better team than they were with RJ Barrett and Imanuel Quickley. OG just has to not get hurt.
Can't wait to see how this all plays out.
HOCKEY: More Ranger aggravation
After their choke job vs the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Panthers, I had a list of players I wanted to get rid of and a smaller list of guys I would keep. So who was the first player they sent packing? Barclay Goodrow, one of the few who didn't spit the bit in the ECF. They worked out some Fugazzi waiver deal with the Sharks. The move apparently frees up some much-needed cap space, which I can dig, but again, I hate to get rid of someone who actually did what he was supposed to do.
The other player who it looks like they are trying to move is one from my get rid of him forthwith list, and that is the captain, Jacob Trouba.
Several reports had a trade between the Rangers and Red Wings for Trouba. The stories weren't clear what would be coming back from Detroit, but the move would clear cap space, even with the Rangers retaining $2.5 million of his salary.
Now Trouba had a full no trade clause that became a 15 team no trade clause on July 1st. Trouba apparently is resisting a trade mainly because his wife is completing her medical residency here in New York. The Rangers had asked Trouba to provide his 15 teams before July 1st, which he refused to do according to several reports.
It's hard for me to work up much of a lather over Trouba not wanting to be dealt, even though I still want him gone. I have a soft spot in my heart for anyone who wants to become a doctor. I also have a soft spot for athletes who love playing here. Few things annoy me more than a player who wilted under the spotlight here in NY and went somewhere else and flourished. (I have a bad feeling Zach Wilson may end up in that category) I also respect that athletes have to do right by their families.
But wherever he plays next year, Jacob Trouba is going to be paid a cool $8 million. And the past two years he hasn't played like someone making that kind of $$$ should be playing. I understand and respect the fact that he has the right to not be traded. Doesn't mean I have to like it. I can and will still hope the Rangers can figure out a way to move him elsewhere.
We will publish next week. Then on July 21st we'll have a special. Then we'll figure out how we'll wrap up for the summer. I usually shut WM down the last 2 weeks of August and the first two weeks of September, but we may have weigh in depending on what happens during this 2024 campaign.
In the meantime, stay cool
Stay Safe
and Have a Great Week
*There are some exceptions. Mick Jagger, Paul Mccartney and Mel Brooks come to mind. Before she died at 99, Betty White as well
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