Rant #2,534: Bridge Over Troubled Water ... But My Dad Is OK

Yesterday was a rough day for myself and my family, and, in particular, for my dad.

My father took ill, sick enough that he had to be admitted to the hospital.

We took him there pretty early, at 6 a.m., not knowing what was the matter with him, and quite frankly, we still are not 100-percent sure that his problem was and why he was not right.

After doing numerous tests on him over the course of several hours, we found out one major thing and one very minor thing, in the grand scheme of things.

The major point that we discovered is that he has anemia, which saps his strength and can often make him lethargic. He has to go to a hematologist to provide him with a new regimen so that the anemia subsides.

The other thing, way less interesting but still something in itself, is that he has remnants of a broken rib, an injury that he has absolutely no memory of. it is not a fresh break, but it evidently did happen sometime in his life, and he says he has absolutely no memory of it, so it probably happened when he was a child.

But my father is home, alert, back to his cantankerous self, and once we get the anemia checked out and hopefully corrected, he will be back to his real self.

The one thing that really bothers him is that until he gets checked out by his neurologist, he cannot drive, which is almost taking his entire purpose of life away from him. This is what he has done for almost his entire life, and to take it away from him, even for a few weeks, is really upsetting him.

But for right now, it has to be. I am sure that in a few weeks, he will be back behind the wheel again.

Yesterday could have been much, much worse, and thank goodness it wasn't. Thanks for all the inquiries into his health. It has been a rough go for him during the past few months, but at 88 years of age, he still has a lot of spit and polish in him.

But his recent struggles illustrate that yes, it is tough getting older.

We all feel it, one way or the other. Heck, I am 62, and at times, I want to be 25 again, but my body does not lie, there's more mileage on me than there was 37 years ago, and my body lets me know when I am stretching it too much.

That is a terrible segueway to what I am going to talk about now, but 50 years ago on this date, I was 12 years old, preparing for my bar mitzvah in just a few months time--the age in the Jewish religion that signifies manhood--and my mother had the radio on all throughout the day in our small kitchen ... and this is what we were listening to on the radio way back when on February 28, 1970.

Coming in at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week 50 years ago was "Venus" by the Shocking Blue. This tune would be covered years later by Bananarama, where it would also reach the top of the charts, and the original did just a few weeks earlier.

Brook Benton's "Rainy Night in Georgia" was at No. 9 for the week. Funny, I remember my father telling me that he actually picked up Benton in his cab way back when, and he spoke about how eloquent the singer was--and a good tipper, too.

Another former No. 1 single resided at the number 8 spot on the chart this week, B.J. Thomas' "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head." This song was a highlight of the popular film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

One of the Temptation's biggest hits was at the No. 7 spot this week, "Psychedelic Shack." This was one of the group of songs that the Motown group did that ushered in psychedelic soul, in response to the new type of music that white kids and black kids alike were grooving to at the time.

One-hit wonder the Tee Set had the number six song for the week, "Ma Belle Amie." Like the Shocking Blue, the act came out of Sweden, and the two hits on this week's chart were two of the biggest songs in the short-lived Swedish rock boom of this period.

The Guess Who had one of their biggest hits this week, "No Time" at No. 5. The Canadian group had been around for years, but was just getting lots of airplay across the border on United States radio with this song and a while group of others that would get played on both AM and FM radio in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s.

Smooth soul was the domain of Eddie Holman, another singer who had been around for years before he had his biggest hit, "Hey There Lonely Girl," which would hit No. 4 on the chart this week. Holman placed a total of a half-dozen singles on the Hot 100 over a period of a few years, but nothing approached this song's height.

One of two two-sided hits on this week's chart--with both the A and B sides charting together--was
"Travelin' Band"/"Who'll Stop the Rain" by Creedence Clearwater Revival, in at No. 3 this week. CCR would have several two-sided hits during this period, but they never hit the No. 1 spot on the singles chart during their chart history.

At No. 2 was the other two-sided hit on this week's chart, "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)"/"Everybody Is a Star" by Sly and the Family Stone, the former No. 1 single which moved down to No. 2 this week. Sly Stone's girlfriend at the time lived in my old neighborhood, Rochdale Village, South Jamaica Queens, New York, and I believe he visited her one time with his Rolls Royce in tow. I can't remember her name right now, though.

And at No. 1 this week, certainly one of the greatest songs of this period, a classic that continues to have endurance 50 years later--

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel. The tune--also covered by many including Aretha Franklin--spoke about turbulence of a real and metaphorical direction, and would spend six weeks at the top spot of the singles chart.  And yes, there is a Rochdale Village connection with this song, or at least with Paul Simon, as I knew the family that purchased his mother's home, believe it or not! The two sons were a little older than me, but I knew them from camp and being members of the same synagogue.

And the song kind of wraps up this week, 50 years after its heyday, pretty well, what with my dad's ailment. We all went through our own "troubled water" yesterday, but the "bridge" was that his problem was hopefully identified and will be taken care of.

Funny how songs can be so appropriate to describe our current feelings and situations, even years after they debuted.

The highest debuting single on the chart came in at No. 49 this week. Three Dog Night's "Celebrate" would eventually reach as high as No. 15 during its more than two-moth chart run.

The biggest mover on this week's chart--jumping from No. 68 to No. 28, or 40 places up in one week--was by nother one-hit wonder--sort of. "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" by "Edison Lighthouse was the song, and the tune eventually reached No. 5 on the chart. The group's lead singer was Tony Burrows, who would have several big hit singles under a variety of group names during this period, including on songs by Brotherhood of Man and First Class.

So there you have it, the top 10 singles that we new and red hot 50 years ago.

They are now considered to be top-flight oldies, but things that were once new do age, some not better than others.

I think I have aged pretty well, and if I can age as well as my father has--with a few missteps along the way--I think I will be OK.

And that goes for my mother, too. She turns 89 years young in March!

Speak to you again on Monday. Have a great weekend.

Classic Rant #1,203 (May 7, 2014): Creepy

No, I am not talking about Donald Sterling now, but I could be talking about many others, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, Miley Cyrus, and countless politicians.

I am talking about a TV show that sends the creepsup my spine, and it is called "Bates Motel," on the A&E Network each week.

It just finished its second season, and I cannot wait for the third.

This is not just your average fringe show on a fringe network.

This is something really different, something that I didn't think I would like but was drawn to by its pedigree.

The show is based on some of the characters in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho,"--which itself was based on a novel by Robert Bloch--namely Norman Bates and his mom, who, as you know, he basically becomes by the end of the film.

This is a reboot, but a different type of reboot.

This one takes place during the current day, and Norman (Freddy Highmore) is a high school student who lives with his mother Norma (Vera Farmiga) in the creepy house on the hill that overlooks the motel that they own.

This one does not take place in California, but in the Pacific Northwest, and brought into the present day, it also concerns things like rape, incest, and drugs--marijuana in particular. The whole town is bought and sold on weed, and Norma Bates' other son, Dillon (Max Thieriot)  is very involved in this trade.

But the focus continues to be on Norman Bates, and how he turns from a high school kid like any other to someone who needs to kill.

I generally do not like reboots, and I went into this thing with a lot of trepidation. But the stories and the acting really won me over this time.

We all know the conclusion to this. Norman will eventually kill his mother and he will become her, a person having dual personalities. He has already arrived at that point through the show's second season, but he isn't there just yet, so succeeding seasons will see him move right into that role.

Look, I was curious, because I loved "Psycho." Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh cannot ever be replaced, and I think that is why the producers of this new show brought the story into the present time.

They knew they could not duplicate what Hitchcock did, and no, there haven't been any shower scenes in this show, not that one isn't coming.

Anyway, the show just finished its second season, and if you can, give it a try in reruns, on Demand, or via NetFlix.

I think you will be surprised as I have been at the quality of this show, even with the creepy themes.

There have been other reboots of "Psycho"--a horrid remake from a few years ago and several years ago, one with equally creepy Bud Cort as Norman--but I think they really hit on something here.

I rarely praise a new TV show, in particular one that is so adult in its storylines, but "Bates Motel" really does give me the creeps, and for that, I would highly recommend it.

Rant #2,533: Different Drum

Happy Wednesday, the middle day of a week that has been tortuous at best.

Yes, the Harvey Weinstein trial reached its conclusion, and the right conclusion, so we can be pretty happy about that.

And on the very same day, the public mourning over the Kobe Bryant helicopter mishap also ended, in a way, with the public memorial that was held for the fallen basketball star out west.

But funny, I kind of think that the world is slightly off its axis having the two episodes end on the same day.

Yes, Harvey Weinstein used his power to bed women who were at his beck and call because he could make them or break them in the entertainment world. Whether some of these women used any logic whatsoever is another story, but the fact of the matter is that he did what he did, and ended up paying for it, not like many of us would have liked, but he went way too far with at least a few of these women, and it came back to get him in the end.

Now we have Bryant, the great basketball player who has also had his problems with the opposite sex, and those problems were not unlike what Weinstein perpetrated, although on a much lesser scale.

Bryant, being portrayed as a saint on earth and the ultimate family man, is being heralded by both men and women who evidently have very, very short memories about the basketball star's behavior, seemingly in another life.

Years ago, while rehabbing an injury, he used his own star power to forcibly bed a very young woman who worked at the venue where he was supposedly rehabbing the injury. Like Weinstein, he said the dalliance was consensual, and like the women in the Weinstein situation, the woman said it wasn't.

One thing led to another, and Bryant, like Weinstein a married man, ended up settling with the woman by paying her an unspecified sum, so the case never went to trial, unlike Weinstein's case(s), which did.

Look, Weinstein is a real crumb in my eyes, but is Bryant's situation that much different from the movie mogul's situation? And word back then was that Bryant had numerous situations with females which were kept hush hush.

Look, maybe he reformed himself, something that Weinstein never did.

And Weinstein's behavior still hasn't been completely sorted out, as he has another trial in Los Angeles on similar matters to deal with.

But the crux of the matter is that Bryant is being lauded as a hero, a virtual god on earth who put family first before anything else. I mean, that is why he was on the helicopter to begin with, to be with his young daughter when she played in a basketball tournament.

Where was that dedication years ago, during the early days of his marriage, when his actions were, like Weinstein's, front page news around the country?

Bryant was a great basketball player, and you can say what you want about Weinstein and his bedroom behavior, but as a movie mogul, he was at the top of his class, so both of these people were superstars at what they did.

But both also had major blemishes on their souls, which we choose to ignore about Bryant but we jump on when it relates to Weinstein.

Yes, Bryant was never a convicted rapist. His case never went to trial. He settled with the woman, and whatever 15 minutes of fame she got from this situation has long expired.

Weinstein went to trial, got what was coming to him, and will probably be in jail for the rest of his life.

That is a major difference between Weinstein and Bryant, but I just found it to be so interesting how things work out, that Weinstein and Bryant both kind of met their final bell in the exact same day.

I also found it interesting how the press covered the two situations.

In Newsday, the local newspaper, on the back page in the sports xection, there was mention of the Bryant memorial, framing his wife for what she said, about how her husband was such a loving, family man.

On the front of the very same newspaper was a picture of Weinstein, and the headline announcing that he had been found guilty of two counts.

I guess there was a fine line between Weinstein and Bryant, and that fine line was even finer when separated with the back page of the newspaper and the front page of the newspaper.

But metaphorically speaking, the back page and the front page are both printed on the same piece of paper--along with page two and the next to last page of the newspaper--so are the two stories really that dissimilar, or are they somehow linked not just by newsprint, but also by ...

Guilt?

"You and I travel to the beat of a different drum

Oh can't you tell by the way I run

Everytime you make eyes at me ... "

Classic Rant #1,201 (May 6, 2014): I Have Sold My Soul For a Cell Phone

Well, not really, but ...

Way back in Rant #957, which was dated a year ago today, I brought up the fact that I dislike cell phones intensely.

More to the point, I detest what it does to people, how it takes over their lives.

A year later, my diagnosis is still the same, but I have to tell you, I have come to enjoy my cellphone, because yes, it is so smart.

I have a Samsung model, and although I often don't know where to keep it while I am not using it--in my pocket or, during the work week, in my vinyl lunch bag--it has become a pretty good friend to me.

No, I don't use it while driving, but I do use it when I need it.

Let's be honest about it. Although these are cell phones, and they have phone capability, they are basically pocket computers, and that is what people generally use them for.

Sure, they use them as phones, but from what I have seen--and based on what I personally use my smartphone for--the phone capability is more a feature than the main use for these devices.

I have to tell you that I was turned off at first by this phone, because it simply did not do what it was advertised to do if I used it at home.

I have no idea why to this day, but although it was hooked up to our Internet here--and I also have the faster speeds that my system offers--it used to take a year and a day to hook up to the Internet.

But once I installed the Google Chromecast thingamajig to my television, this thing acted as another hot spot, and the phone has worked correctly since that time.

My wife wanted me to have a phone because of the safety factor, and I appreciate that. However, I have learned to use it for a bit more during the past year.

I go on the Internet on the phone almost daily at least once, because frankly, it is quicker and easier to do it than using my PC. Sure, I type out my entries here on the PC, but if I want to search for something quick, the smartphone is the best option.

I have also used it at work when our Internet has gone down.

I use it to check sports scores, get movies from NetFlix, watch videos on YouTube, and answer my son's questions. For instance, yesterday night, we were watching Monday Night Raw, the WWE flagship show, and he asked me a question about the infamous Chris Benoit, a top wrestler who ended up getting messed up on drugs and in a real tragedy, killed himself and his family.

My son wanted to know when that all happened, and within a matter of seconds, I found out that it happened in June 2007, nearly seven years ago.

It would have taken me much longer to look that up on the PC.

But again, I am not attached to the phone like some people are. If I go a day without using it, that is fine, I didn't use it simply because I didn't need to.

And I do not text and drive. Heck, I barely text--only to my wife and occasionally to my daughter--and it took me a while to learn to do that, but I never use the phone in the car, except if I am parked.

I still don't know how to take photos or put music files onto the phone, but I am sure I will learn how to do that in the future.

But I have to say that I was wrong about the smartphone. I really didn't see the need for it, but in the past year, I have learned to like it, not love it, but like it.

So there, I admit that I was wrong about this little device. I didn't think that I would take to it, but now that I can use it anywhere, it is a nice "toy" to have available to me.

But as a phone, per se, my ratio of phone uses to other uses pretty much leans to the latter. I don't think I have made even 100 phone calls on this thing in the past year.

So yes, it is a smarphone, but really, it is simply a pocket computer, but get people to call these things anything other than phones, and, well, it simply isn't going to happen.

Anybody for rotary dial?

Rant #2,532: Until the End of Time

Sometimes, I write these blog entries on the morning that they are finally published for all the world to see, and sometimes, like today, I am writing this blog post on the previous day related to when this entry will be published. It was edited on Tuesday, the day it was published, but pretty much 85 percent written in what they call real time.

I could not help it, because a huge story just broke a few minutes ago, and when you finally read this, it will be old news, but it will be news that will be talked about not only today, but for years to come.

Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of just two of the five counts of sexual assault that he was charged with, but since he was found guilty of rape in the third degree and a criminal sex act, he could get 25 years in prison.

Equally as important is what the jury did not find him guilty of. Among those charges, he was cleared of first degree rape, as well predatory sexual assault, the most serious charge against him, which, if he had been convicted of, carried the possibility of life in prison.

"Life in prison" might end up being a moot point. Since he is in his late 60s, if he serves the maximum term for what he was convicted of, he won't get out until he is in his 90s, so this might, in fact, be a life sentence for him.

After sentencing next month--and who knows if Weinstein will get 25 years, but I don't think the judge will be so forgiving, even if Weinstein's health is as bad as it has been portrayed--the focus turns to Los Angeles, where he has a similar trial coming up.

Now back to what he was not found guilty on ... sure, the prosecution can say that they won a victory in this trial, but not being found guilty of predatory sexual assault casts aspersions on why the jury could not convict him of this top charge--and all charges--and basically sent back to the judge a split verdict.

Nobody is doubting that Weinstein's behavior was reprehensible. This married man went after females who, he believed, were obviously at his beck and call, to provide whatever he needed in order to advance their careers.

But the women are not without their own demons. Why did they agree to do what he wanted? Did they put up with this behavior because, at the time, it was expected of them? Did they put up with this behavior because if a simple roll in the hay would open up doors for them in the entertainment industry, was it an understandable sacrifice to make, with their own personal dignity out the door?

And why did they wait so long to report his behavior, and why did some of these women stroke his ego by sending him pleasant and sometimes head-scratching emails and other correspondence telling him not only how wonderful he was, but how good they felt after the encounters they had with him?

They, like Weinstein, have a lot to think about, and while the former movie mogul will undoubtedly do his thinking in prison, you just know that a new cottage industry will be born, of women harassed by Weinstein who want to tell the world everything they think we all want to hear about these sordid encounters.

In the old days, some of these women would probably be pursued by Playboy, to both tell their stories and to show the world some of what Weinstein was getting in the hay ... remember the cottage industry that was created by President Bill Clinton's escapades? Women came out of the woodwork stating that Monica Lewinsky wasn't the only person he had had illicit relations with, and some even showed off their wares to a public that, in the long run, really wasn't interested.

That won't happen today, but what will surely happen is bad enough.

And on the other hand, Weinstein will continue to plead his innocence, show absolutely no contrition, and like Bill Cosby, will say that each and every act that he and the women committed was consensual.

He got what he wanted, and they did too.

For all we know, 95 percent of what he is saying is true, but that 5 percent got Weinstein thrown into the can, and thrown in there for a long time.

And as Cosby is, Weinstein is also a married man, which makes the two of them look even worse than they already do to the public.

Trading favors for sex is not an up-and-up thing to do, it puts the powerless in a bad position against the powerful, and these two fools were married, to boot.

And what about the women who 1) did sleep with Weinstein, and Cosby, in a fully consensual arrangement, benefited from this arrangement, an--even though to the general public it looks heinous--have nothing bad to say about it, as the dalliance was a plus for both parties, and 2) what about the women who, flat out, turned him down--were they able to move on with their careers, or did any possibility of movement in the entertainment industry end right then and there when they refused his disgusting advances?

My mother, who was never in the entertainment industry, has told me a story of getting a job when she was in her early 20s--this was in the early 1950s--and being told that this particular place she was now employed in was a good place for her to work, because the owner was so up there in years "that he won't chase you around the table."

My aunt, who was in the entertainment industry, has, let's say, seen it all, and I am sure she dealt with the Harvey Weinsteins of her day--the mid to late 1960s--as best as she could. She left the industry and went into publishing and then teaching, and I am sure she has plenty of stories of men who couldn't keep their pants on.

During earlier eras, this is difficult to word correctly, but let's just say that while this type of idiotic behavior between employer and employee might not have been prevalent, it certainly was recognized and out there.

In fact, I have personally worked in two places where there were plenty of rumors about stuff having gone on between one person and another at one time ... and I did not work in the entertainment industry.

I am not discounting the actions of Weinstein, Cosby and others, but men will be men and women will be women, and often the twain meets, but just as often, the twain doesn't meet at all.

In the Weinstein trial, I personally believe that things were copacetic with whatever arrangement he had with many of the women, but with others, no, things did not mesh, and the movie mogul did things to this group of women that were heinous at best.

And do you think his conviction, and the earlier one of Cosby,will stop this cycle?

As I said earlier, men will be men and women will be women, and until that ceases to be true, this type of idiotic behavior will certainly continue.

And when sex is used as a weapon, it will certainly hit its mark a good portion of the time--but can be stopped by the use of a simple, two-letter word that has immense meaning.

N-O.

More of us should learn what this word means, and use it when necessary.

Its use won't stop all of this horrid deeds from happening as we learned at this trial, but it will clearly set the line between right and wrong ...

Something that the Weinsteins of the world, and women who find themselves potentially on the wrong end of this horrid behavior, need to know.

Classic Rant #1,200 (May 5, 2014): Yes, This Is Correct

Due to a botched numbering system engineered by yours truly, I seem to have entered in 200 extra Rants by mistake, a problem that I discovered two weeks ago, but finally figured out late last week.

Sorry about that.

I changed as many Rants as I could to the proper numbers, but some of them can't be changed, so there will be some, if you are doing a search, that will have the wrong numbers on them.

I don't know how it happened, but suffice it to say that I am upset with myself for not finding out about this until recently.

That being said, today is Rant #1,200.

It is hard to believe, but this blog has been going on for a few years now.

It pretty much is five years to the day that I started this thing up on May 4, 2009.

Many blogs are created with a lot of good intentions, but soon are history, because the creator simply can't keep up with it.

And yes, that has happened to me too, elsewhere.

But Ranting and Raving is a little different.

It is a daily blog, which I do early in the morning before I go to my paying job.

It allows me to expand my writing, enabling me to write about what I want to write about rather than stuff that I have to write about.

And there is a tremendous difference in the two types of writing.

I know that every column is not a sterling piece of journalism, but I think that many of them are pretty good, and some are better than pretty good.

Sure, I wish I got paid for doing this, but heck, you can't have everything.

So for you people out there who read this thing from time to time or every day--and I know you are out there, because I have the analytic data to prove it--all I can say is thanks so much for reading what I have to say.

The publication I get paid to write for has a circulation that stretches around the world as a print publication, and Ranting and Raving is also seen around the world, digitally on the Internet.

So somewhere outside of the U.S., probably at least once a day, someone is reading something that I have written, and that is very gratifying.

Of course, I enjoy the fact that my writing is being looked at inside the U.S. too, but the global reach of the Internet is really incredible, isn't it?

So thanks for visiting, and keep on reading, because I have no intention of giving this up anytime soon.

Here's to the next 1,200 blog entries, and I hope you are here for as many of them as possible... especially if I get the numbering right!

Thanks again.

Rant #2,531: Fake Friends

Happy Monday.

I had a pretty blah weekend, nothing much happening, and I barely could keep my eyes open yesterday, when my wife had to work.

I did my "due diligence"--somebody actually told me that that I should pick a different term to use for what I need to do during the day, but I like the phrase, so I am going to keep using it--and then that was that.

My day was pretty much over.

But I did wander onto Facebook during the weekend, and I had a bizarre encounter with one of my "friends" there this weekend, and let me tell you about it.

One of these supposed "friends" put up an absolutely vile photo, and I don't care what side of the fence you sit on, it was absolutely vile and disgusting.

I viewed the photo, took issue with it, and let the "friend" know what I thought of it.

One thing led to another, I reported the photo to the Facebook police, my "friend" took the offending photo down, he let me have it, and that was pretty much that.

I also put up a message about it, without using the photo, because, quite frankly, I have been attacked before from all sides, but never like this.

Here is what I said. And no, I am not going to put up the photo, because it is reprehensible.

Through my message, I think you can get a good visual in your head about what the photo was and what it looked like.

Read on:

"I do not like Michael Bloomberg, and I will not vote for him. That being said, a photo going around showing Bloomberg's head being photoshopped on Adolph Hitler's body--with a mustache for good measure--is patently anti-Semitic, because the poster told me flat out that Bloomberg reminds him of Hitler.

And yes, the poster is JEWISH.

When are Jews on both side of the aisle going to open up their eyes and see that such posts justify the hate that many harbor toward the Jews--in particular when the post is put up by someone who is Jewish?

If you see such a post, please report it to Facebook as being offensive.

I do not care for Bloomberg. He is an elitist, but he is not a Nazi.

Any depiction of him as being a Nazi is promoting anti-Semitism, whether the poster believes it or not."

Yup, reprehensible.

Just so you know, the "friend"--who as you can probably tell, is no longer a "friend"--called me every name in the book, said that people loved his post, and that he had every right to put it up, because that is what he believes.

Having every right to do something, and actually doing it, in my book at least, equals out to two different things.

The photo was repulsive, and as a Jew, I couldn't let it just fly by.

Others who read my explanation were as repulsed as I was, simply through my description--they had never seen the photo, and probably never will.

There is a rise in anti-Semitism in this country. It has always been there, and the rise actually began during the Obama years, and has continued upward during Trump's first term in office.

People who have a hate for the Jews--it is really a jealously, that such a relatively small faction of people can make such a major contribution to society--have this hate festering in their souls, and they only need a slight shove to go over the tipping point.

Portraying the Jewish Bloomberg as perhaps the most repulsive figure in our recent history--his reign was only 80 years ago--and photoshopping a Jew upon a photo of the very person who exterminated 6 million Jews from this earth--is reprehensible.

And even if it was done as satire, the photo itself was not satirical, it was reprehensible, because unlike portrayals of Hitler in the movies--such as by Charlie Chaplin, Mel Brooks, and yes, even Moe Howard of the Three Stooges--doesn't show how stupid his thinking was, doesn't show how idiotic the Nazis were in their hatred of Jews and others that opposed them, and it doesn't show the vileness of their mission.

Chaplin, Brooks and Howard demonstrated, through comedy, what a heinous creature Hitler was, and the entire Nazi regime was.

This photo almost celebrated Bloomberg as heir apparent to Hitler, and I just could not tolerate it on an open network like Facebook is.

When I asked the poster to tell me what link there was between Hitler and Bloomberg, he only said that Bloomberg reminded him of Hitler, and that was that.

That is begging the question, not answering it.

And yes, even though I believe Bernie Sanders is a horrid individual who himself festers the anti-Semitic flames with his own behavior, I would have said the same thing to the poster if he had put Sanders' likeness on Hitler's body.

We need to be more civil with each other on social network platforms, and Jews, in particular, must be very, very careful, because it has been proven time and time again that these networks are one of the tools people use to spread the hate.

If there is some fallout over it, so be it.

When I see anti-Semitism, I am going to call it out.

And when I see it from a fellow Jew, it just makes me sad. And angry.

Speak to you tomorrow.

Classic Rant #1,199 (May 2, 2014): Road To the Finish

As we close the week out, this has become a week to remember.

Race is still at the forefront of the week's news, as an NAACP leader has resigned over the Donald Sterling flap.

There are plenty of twists and turns left in that story, so stay tuned.

But here, I am going to talk about race in a different way, through the eyes of a kid of 10 or 11 years old, which I was back in 1967 or 1968.

I lived in a racially diverse community in Rochdale Village, South Jamaica, Queens. As I have said many times, the community was designed this way, and was surrounded by one of the oldest black communities in the country.

This is how I grew up, and while the community, as it was designed, didn't last long, it still gave me a perspective that many of my peers who grew up elsewhere could never have.

Anyway, with that perspective in hand, I found out yesterday that Larry Ramos died on April 30.

Who is Larry Ramos, you ask?

Larry Ramos was one of the guitarists with one of my favorite rock acts growing up, the Association.

That group had numerous big hits, and Ramos, although not an original member of the band, played on many of their most popular tunes after joining them in 1968, including "Everything That Touches You."

Now, let me tell you my story about Ramos and how his stature in the band touched me way back when.

Ramos, a prior member of the New Christy Minstrels, was Hawaiian, and was of Asian extraction.

Growing up in a racially diverse area didn't mean that all races were represented in that area, and no, there were no people of Asian heritage in our community that I knew or could recall.

I have asked this question of others in the community, and if there were people of Asian background living there at the time, they were certainly few and far between.

Anyway, when Ramos came into that band--and since there was no MTV back then, it was through numerous television appearances that I noticed something "different" about this group--well, to me, he stuck out like a sore thumb, but in a most positive way.

Sure, you saw plenty of white faces in rock bands, and as for soul, that was the domain of the black community.

For this kid who grew up on television, the visual thing was a very big deal, and when I discovered that Ramos was a member of the Association, it really opened up my eyes to the fact that Asians could do more than be waiters at the local Chinese restaurant or be servants, like actor Sammee Tong's portrayal of Peter on "Bachelor Father."

They could rock too.

Ramos wasn't the first person of Asian background to be in a rock band, but for awhile, he certainly was the most prominent. I also noticed that Dino, Desi and Billy featured guitarist Billy Hinsche, but I think at the time of their greatest prominence, I was still a bit too young to notice.

But when Ramos joined the Association, and they were hot as could be, with lots of hits, I noticed.

And yes, I also think it was his name. One Larry to another, I think that made him stand out to me even more.

And he often wore those big hats, and maybe that was his own personal statement. He wanted you to sit up and notice, and I can say that I did.

So even all these years later, I still noticed.

I saw them in concert a few times, and Ramos still stood out, and when seeing them, I seemed to always focus on him.

And when I heard he had passed, all these memories came back to me.

Yes, when you are 10 or 11 years old, you really are pretty innocent, although growing up where I did, I think I was in touch with things perhaps a little more than my age would have it appear to be.

So I wish Larry Ramos safe passage to heaven, and another piece of my childhood is gone, but certainly not forgotten.

Thanks for the memories.

Rant #2,530: Here, There and Everywhere

Happy Friday!

The days kind of blend one into the other for me, but as I look on the calendar, it is Friday, so the work week is coming to an end.

It used to be my work week, of course, but that ended more than four months ago.

But I still have to do my due diligence today, I have to continue to look for a job and answer job notices, and I do it on Saturday and on Sunday, too.

Sunday is the magical day in an unemployed person's life, because that is the first day that you can apply for unemployment for the previous week, so I do that, to get it out of the way.

Now that I actually can do that--there was a period where I was blocked from applying, but happily, that was fixed--I just want to get it over with, and it takes about two minutes to do, so I celebrate my Sunday by doing it.

And I probably will be doing it for the next few months, because I do not see any light at the end of the tunnel as far as getting a new job is concerned.

But that being what it is, I have laundry to do today, I also have to transport my son back and forth to work, I have my exercises to do, I have to take my son to basketball later on, and I have some other things I have to do to keep myself busy as maybe not a bee, but certainly I am not sitting on my rump doing nothing.

And when I really am out of options about what to do, I have fallen into a routine, not that I necessarily want to, but it kind of happens naturally.

I usually digitize some records each weekday and sometimes on the weekend, just to keep myself busy. It is fun, and it allows me to put this music onto a thumb drive and listen to these tunes in the car.

I invariably watch some TV, and although I don't necessarily like what I see on daytime TV, I have kind of found something of my own niche, watching "The People's Court"--I just love Judge Marilyn Milan--and "Judge Judy"--who I really do not like.

Heck, it kills two hours right there.

Today, as I said yesterday, I have to go to the local Job Center today to demonstrate that I am living up to the contract that I signed, that being that I have to apply for at least three jobs per week while I get unemployment insurance.

It is very degrading, they feed me the lines that they are supposed to feed me about "not giving up" and "older workers ARE valued," which I know is a load of nonsense, but I have to go with the flow, not upset the applecart, and just yes them to death, even though I know that it is all a game that I am losing.

Yes, it is such a droll day ...

Looking back on other February 21s in the history of this Rant, I found a couple to talk about, and even when I was working, it seems today has really been such a nothing day on the schedule.

On this date in 2018, Rant #2,087, "Automatically Sunshine," I wrote about how the weather was so crazy, and that "as the day goes on, it is going to feel more like May 21 than February 21."

It has been crazy weather-wise this year too. In my neck of the woods. We haven't had a real winter, with nary a hint of snow--not that I am complaining--and temperatures anywhere between 15 degrees and 70 degrees, so nothing much has changed during the past two years.

Going back even further, to this date in 2014, "Mumps To You" spoke about "one of the biggest current news stories in my neck of the woods is that there is a mumps outbreak at Fordham University in the Bronx, New York. It has spread to two campuses of the New York City-based college."

Well, now we have to worry about another disease, the coronavirus, which has hit Asia and is being spread elsewhere. Mumps was scary, the coronavirus is scarier, but you can't get crazy about it, you just have to live your life and hope that it is contained to some degree.

The weather and health ... two major topics in our lives, and two topics discussed right here at the Ranting and Raving Blog with regularity.

But back to February 21 ... happy birthday to Tyne Daly, Kelsey Grammer, Christine Ebersol, Alan Trammell, and anyone else out there born today.

That is really all I have to say about today ... thank God it's Friday ...

But I still "work for the weekend," even if I don't have a job, so yes, happy Friday, but an even happier Saturday and Sunday to you!

(And remember, next Friday, February 28, is not the last day of the month ... the calendar gods have given us February 29 this year as the extra day of Leap Year, so just be aware that we have that extra day in 2020.)

(And on Saturday, the spring training season begins, so baseball is just around the corner ... just what I need to bring up my spirits a bit!)

Speak to you again on Monday. Have a great weekend.

Classic Rant #1,198 (May 1, 2014): The Gift of Love

Let's forget about Donald Sterling right now.

He appears to be history already, even though he hasn't sold his team yet.

And I heard that Rush Limbaugh kind of agrees with me, there may have been some conspiracy involved in getting Sterling moved out of his ownership position.

Strange bedfellows ... .

Anyway, let's backtrack a little bit.

Let's talk about something happier, like my birthday.

As you know, it was on Monday, and I am very happy to be 57 years old.

But I never spoke about what I actually received as gifts for my birthday.

I got a little money from some family members, including my parents and my aunt.

I got a nice T-shirt from my wife and son, and a gift certificate, which segues right into the gift that I am going to tell you about now.

As you know, I am an avid believer that vinyl is the only recording medium through which to listen to rock and roll.

CDs are handy, music files are even handier, but if you want to get the full thrust of rock and roll, you absolutely must listen to it on vinyl.

The gift certificate that they got me was from my local record store, which sells used records, new records, and yes, CDs too, and the T-shirt I got is one that shows my love for vinyl records, proclaiming that right on the front of the shirt.

But my wife did that one better. She got me a gift that I really, really appreciate.

We were in that local record store on Record Store Day, which was on April 19, and we were hoping to get one of the specials that were offered during that day--there was such a line for those records that we never got to them.

I managed to find some things to add to my collection, some old 45s and LPs that I just had to have.

I also bought her a Judy Garland multi-disk set that was pretty good, and certainly great for the price. I talked about that one a few Rants back.

Anyway, what she bought me was something else, really something else, something that I would not have bought for myself.

She got me a pretty rare record from the era of Beatlemania, but although it is linked up with the Beatles, no Beatles are on the record.

She bought me one of the two singles released by the Beatles' producer, George Martin, and his orchestra to coincide with the release of the film "A Hard Day's Night."

These are instrumentals only, and they are are for "Ringo's Theme (This Boy)" and "And I Love Her." I do believe that both of these are featured in the film, nuggets in between the great Beatles songs that they do themselves on this wonderful soundtrack.

The sleeve is pretty wonderful also, featuring the Fab Four, in snapshots, on the back of the sleeve.

This is the least rare of the two such singles, and "Ringo's Theme (This Boy)" actually made #53, and even the B side, "And I Love Her," bubbled under the Hot 100 at #105.

Such was Beatlemania at the time, where any song even remotely related to the Liverpudlian lads could become a hit.

Anyway, we saw the record at the store, and I mentioned to her that if I had the money, I would buy it, and then I moved on to other, less costly stuff.

Well, as they say, she done did it, because she bought it for me!

I was greatly surprised, and very happy at this, because quite frankly, I don't think I had seen this record in about 50 years, and probably wouldn't see it again in my lifetime.

Sometimes, when you see something, you have to grab it, and that, basically, is what she did.

But more importantly, for our nearly 21 years of marriage, my wife has shown me nothing but love.

I really lucked out with this girl; she is everything I ever wanted for a companion, for a wife, for the mother for my son, and for the woman that sleeps next to me each and every night.

All told, this was really just a small token of the love we have for each other, but boy, what a token.

Even these few days later, I am still marveling at this gift.

Thanks, Elena, I really appreciate it.

Rant #2,529: Welcome To My Nightmare

Yes, I overslept again.

It seems that Thursday is my day to oversleep.

I have yet to figure out why that is, but it is what it is.

I did have a dream last night, or perhaps it was a nightmare. I still cannot figure it out.

I dreamt that my family and I had clothes in the washing machine and in the dryer, but the main focus of the dream was what was happening in the dryer.

The clothes were turning as they normally would, but the lint filter kept on tumbling out of is place inside the dryer, necessitating me to open the dryer and put it back in where it should be.

The problem was that it kept on tumbling out of that area, and I had to sit and watch it and put the lint filter back in every time it fell out.

It was also affecting the wash in the washing machine, which almost instinctively would not finish until the dryer's load was completed, which, because of the problem with the lint filter, was taking forever to accomplish, and it never did in this dream.

Compounding matters is that the entire wash was being done as a prelude to a cruise my family and I were soon taking, and we needed the clothes done ASAP so we could leave and board the ship.

I have no idea what this dream means--any dreamologists out there have any ideas?--but again, it is probably somehow linked up with my employment status, which is currently unemployment.

Maybe it alludes to the fact that even though I am doing everything right in my job search, the wheels keep on falling off my cart, and even when I put them back on where they should be, they just fall off anyway.

The end result of my due diligence should be a new job--equal to the cruise in the dream--but as in the dream, getting to that point appears to be elusive.

(And as an aside to all of this, I just did the laundry for myself and my family yesterday morning in between looking for jobs.)

I might have mentioned, or I might not have, that for the very first time, I actually had to take a "test" as part of my application for a particular job. That happened late last week, and to sum it up, I had to write up some ad copy related to a nutritional supplement.

It was challenging, fun in its own way, and although I thought it would take longer to do than it actually did, it was something that at least gave me hope, that my resume did catch the eye of someone at this particular company, they thought I had a chance, and they gave me one.

Whether it is good enough to attain the particular job--or at the very least a followup interview--is another story, but at least it gave me hope, and proved that at least some people are actually doing what they are supposed to do in the employment process, which is to actually look at my resume.

Wow! What a concept!

So today after I finish writing up this Rant, I will go on the job boards again, go into Linked In for who knows what reason, and see what is around for me to apply for.

On Friday, I have been "ordered"--my word--to appear at the local Job Office, so I can prove that I am actually doing what I am doing, which is looking for a job.

It is all so demeaning, in particular when they ask you to look for and apply to three jobs per week, and I apply for three jobs per day, sometimes per minute.

Yes, it is demeaning, but nothing as demeaning as I went through some 30 years ago while I was going through my divorce.

I lost my job right in the middle of the proceedings, a job, like the last one I lost, that I had had for a good amount of time but was lost because the company I worked for at the time was going out of business (they laid me off probably two months before they went under, if even that long).

Anyway, in those pre-Internet days, you went to the newspapers--particularly for me, the New York Times--and you searched for work, in particular on Sunday, when they ran the big job section. You would find a job that looked appealing, and sit by the phone and start making calls on Monday morning, and you could literally set up your week doing this.

Some of the jobs required sending out your resume and cover letter to a P.O. Box, so you spent your Mondays both calling and using the Post Office to help you find a job.

Being that I was in the middle of a divorce and custody situation, when the court learned that I had legitimately lost my job through no fault of my own, they put on my head that I had to prove to them that I was looking for work.

So what I had to do was set up a looseleaf notebook, where I had to cut out each and every job ad that I answered, and put them into the book on a page with Scotch tape. I had to date the page, and I had to bring that book--which became huge, since I was out of work for 18 months--each and every time that I went to court, which was pretty often back then.

The judge scrutinized each and every entry out in the open, and often times I had to explain a particular job to the judge and why I applied for it, again, out in the open.

If this wasn't the lowest of the low, the most demeaning thing I had to do probably in my entire life, then I don't know what was.

But I guess if I could get through that, I can get through anything, and I vow to you that while it is very difficult, I will get through my current situation one way or the other--

Probably with an emphasis on "the other," to be honest with you.

Classic Rant #1,197 (April 30, 2014): Just Not Enough

Yes, the NBA did what it had to do yesterday, and basically banned Donald Sterling for life from the league.

The owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, who made insensitive comments about blacks in a recorded rant, cannot do anything related to his team and the league.

He cannot attend games, he cannot attend Board of Governors meetings, he can't participate in player moves, he can't really do much of anything.

And he was also fined the maximum, which to a billionaire, is nothing but play money.

With an upcoming vote by owners, just a three-quarters majority is needed to force him to sell the team.

Commissioner Adam Silver was strong in his repulsion at what had transpired with Sterling shooting off his mouth against Magic Johnson and then blacks in general.

He even apologized to the earliest black players in the game, the ones who opened the door to the Lebron Jameses and other black players who followed.

Look, Silver had to do something, because if he wasn't quick and thorough about it, players would have boycotted the league.

Former player Larry Johnson, who you never know if his tongue is firmly in his cheek or if he is serious, said that the players should start their own "black" league.

Of course, if he was serious, that wouldn't solve anything, and make everything worse.

But back to Silver.

He did what he had to do, and he was applauded for it.

But he should have gone at least one step further.

With this incident, and past incidents in hand, he should have said that every person who is employed by the NBA--from him to owners, team executives, players, and any periphery people--must take sensitivity training classes related to race, religion, and male/female relations.

With all of its strides, the NBA has had many incidents beyond this latest one that says that yes, it is progressive in some ways, and dinosaurs in other ways.

The NBA was the first league to "allow" blacks to hold positions of authority, including coaches, team executives, and yes, owners.

It was also the first of the major professional sports leagues to allow women to officiate, and it does boast the supposedly first openly gay player.

But it also boasts negative incidents too. The Yao Ming/Charles Barkley incident is one of the worst, the Knicks anti-Semitic rants are another, and again the supposed anti-Asian feelings between certain Knicks players and former teammate Jeremy Lin is yet another.

Also involving the Knicks over the years is a sexual discrimination lawsuit that they lost. Most recently, J.R. Smith was fined a small sum for posting anti-female images on Twitter.

And the use of the N-word still exists in this league, as is the degradation of some of those who happen to be white and play in this nearly all-black league.

I would have thought that Silver would have taken the opportunity to look at the league's history beyond those black trailblazers.

The league started out as a Jewish league, with most of the earliest ballplayers being Jews. Heck, Silver and Sterling are Jews.

As the generations came and went, the league continued to be one of opportunity for those on the "outside" of the WASP populace, and blacks emerged as the greatest force in the league.

While Silver apologized to the trailblazers, he should have apologized to all. It is the league's history that makes it strong, and without sensitivity training, his actions yesterday are almost hollow.

Now back to Sterling. Even if he is "forced" to sell, it doesn't mean that he has to sell. That would take a court action, which isn't going to happen.

And why did it take more than 30 years to "out" this guy? He has had some questionable dealings in the past, both inside and outside of the league. Why did it take until now to get rid of this cancer?

The next thing is that I still have this question: Why was the tape made to begin with?

Conspiracy theorists would say that making the tape pushed the scenario that Sterling, always one of the most hated owners in the league, was going to be pushed out of the league by the making of the tape.

He mentions Magic Johnson, and Johnson just happens to be part of a group that is rumored to be interested in purchasing the Clippers.

So, some would say that the scenario was set into motion by this tape, that certain people wanted Sterling out and Johnson and his group in, and that is why the tape was made.

Hmmmm ...

Look, the NBA had to do something.

My problem is that it didn't do enough, certainly not enough to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again.

Silver has come out of this looking like gold, but to me, he could have done more, and looks more like tin now, easily pliable and bendable at a mere touch.

He should have done more, much more, and what he did simply isn't enough.

Mark my words, we have not heard the last of this. You can bet the arena on that.

Rant #2,528: Plastic People

Today, I am going to tie a couple of things together with a nice bow.

I hope that it works for both you and me.

On March 1, New York State will be implementing its long-awaited ban on plastic bags. The measure, which includes each and every county in the state, places restrictions the sale of plastic bags, mainly in supermarkets.

For instance, if you still want a plastic bag for your groceries, you will have to pay five cents for each bag you use.

Paper bags are under some restriction, too, as supermarkets can charge the same five cents for these bags, which cost more to produce than plastic bags do. There is no statewide restriction on paper bags, so some supermarkets will charge five cents per bag, others won't.

These restrictions on plastic bags have already been around in certain counties of New York State for years, including in Suffolk County. My family and I live in Nassau County, but we less than a mile away from Suffolk, so when we have done our shopping in Suffolk, we know we have to bring our own bags for packing.

The law does not impact every bit of plastic that is still going to be used, including in certain packaging, so plastic will not fully go the way of the dinosaur.

And, of course, the reasons for this are environmental. While they are well meaning, I just think that consumers are going to get stuck again with the bill, and prices on consumer items, in the supermarket in particular, will rise as a result of people not electing to use the plastic bags and/or the paper bags.

Further, yes, the environment will be saved by the scarcity of plastic bags, which do not break down safely ecologically, but look at all the other plastic that we use that will still be legal--including water and soda bottles, which also litter the environment--and you see that that type of non-biogradeable junk will still be around, so unless you ban plastic 100 percent, you might think you are getting ahead of the situation, but your really aren't.

And what about retailers who can still use plastic bags, like restaurants and fast food places? Those bags will still litter our environment, so what exactly are you going by lessening their impact in just certain places, like supermarkets?

A better response to the plastic bag mess might be to recycle them, like we do water and soda bottles, getting back money when we turn them in.

If industry can create bottle retention machines, industry can create plastic bag retention machines.

I always turn in my bottles--not just plastic but cans and glass bottles too--and you can garner a nice return if you collect enough bottles. I do it every two weeks or so, and I make back between $5 and $6 each time, which I invariably use to pay for some extra items from the supermarket.

Can't we also do this with plastic bags?

Now, here is my segueway ...

I remember as a kid that we used to use a shaker bottle, made out of plastic, of course, to create a treat for ourselves.

Sure, in today's world, the product called "Great Shakes" would be looked down upon as unhealthy and something that we don't really need to imbibe as kids, but I just remember that it was just sooooo good, I can almost taste it today.

No, it is not still repeating on me, but it was a fun way to have a quick shake on a hot day.

If I remember correctly, the concoction came in a box--paper, not plastic--but it contained a shaker cup that was all plastic. The box came with some type of pre-made concoction in a tube. You poured the tube's contents into the shaker cup, added milk--whole milk, the only people who drank skim milk were our grandparents--and you shook the thing up for a minute or two. You took the cover off the shaker cup, and you had a perfect, although kind of thin, chocolate malted.

I don't remember if it came in vanilla or strawberry, but the chocolate one was just so good.

And this product was quite popular with us younger folk. In fact, to entice our moms to buy the product for us, there were a couple of records released featuring the hottest rock acts of the time if you bought the product and sent away box tops (I think). Here is one of them; I have the two that came out, but one without the picture sleeve.

And here is the audio commercial from the Yardbirds about "Great Shakes." And you wonder why Led Zeppelin came about a few years later! https://youtu.be/Czb7EZWxc14

And this wasn't the only such product that you shook in a plastic container to get a sugar-filled concoction from.

There was also "Shake-A-Pudd'n'" (puddin', puddin', Shake-A-Pudd'n'") which I don't have as clear a recollection of, but I think it was very similar to "Great Shakes." So, you had a shaker cup included in the product's box to make the concoction.

This time, you added water to the shaker or the box, shook the whole thing for a minute or two, and you came out with some type of thin pudding that wasn't as good as the regular pudding your mother made, but in a pinch, it was OK.

And the marketing of the product was similar to that of "Great Shakes," with heavy commercial rotation on TV and tie-ins with popular movies and TV shows of the time.

Here are a few commercials to help you remember this product, or discover it for the first time: https://youtu.be/hbA1zkXiEmM

I know that I really liked both, but neither really lasted very long on the shelves and faded from view entirely before the 1960s did.

So as we talk about plastic, paper and everything else we use to hold and box products that we love ... well, I am still trying to find a proper tie-in, but I am coming up little short ...

Other than to say that supermarket plastic bags are seemingly going the way of "Great Shakes" and "Shake-A-Pudd'n'," and will only be a distant memory for many of us in the future.

OK, I got it! How'd I do?

Classic Rant #1,196 (April 29, 2014): Still Alive

That title that I used today could go for a couple of things that I am going to talk about here.

One is the fact that I actually made it through my 57th birthday unscathed.

I had lots to do yesterday, and even when I completed my tasks, I still had a lot more to do.

In the middle of it all, lots of people called me on the phone, and I had some nice conversations.

I always look forward to my birthdays, and based on what I accomplished yesterday, I would say that I hope that my 58th birthday is as fulfilling as my 57th was.

Next on the docket are two incidents that have happened over the span of about three weeks, two incidents that show us that things we might have thought were dead truly aren't.

The first is that neo-Nazi who murdered three innocent people in Kansas.

He shot them without any provocation, other than the fact that they were on the grounds of Jewish institutions in that state.

He thought they were Jewish, but they weren't. They were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

When he was arrested for the crimes, he shouted out "Heil Hitler."

Many people, including many Jews, do not believe that anti-Semitism exists anymore. On the Jews' part, many believe that they are so homogenized into society at this point in time that anti-Semitism has faded away, along with their uniqueness about being Jewish.

Well, if this incident didn't demonstrate that anti-Jewish feelings still exist in this world, I don't know what does.

Once Jewish, always Jewish, whether these people want to believe that or not.

And no, I don't believe this is an isolated incident. There are plenty of people who believe the same way that that imbecile did, and would blow away Jews if they had the nerve to do so.

The next instance of "still alive" also involved somebody who happens to be Jewish, but it has nothing to do with his religion, but all to do with his character.

Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA, was allegedly recorded saying some heinous things about blacks, among them that he didn't want his girlfriend to be appearing with any blacks or bringing them to games his team plays.

He allegedly said these things, simply because it still isn't known whether that was his voice on the recording or not.

First off, I wonder why he was recorded, and who did the recording? What reason was there for this to have taken place, in the first place?

Secondly, if the allegations are true, Sterling must really be color-blind, but in the worst sense.

Heck, aren't at least 80 percent of the players in the NBA, and on his own team, black?

Personally, I think the guy is losing it to begin with.

He supposedly said these things to his girlfriend, a woman of mixed extraction who is at least 40 years his junior.

Sterling is also married, and his wife has come out saying that she, personally, is not a racist.

If you hear the tape, and believe it is Sterling who said these things, they really revolved around Hall of Famer Magic Johnson. The Clippers and Johnson's old team, the Lakers, share the same arena, and are hated rivals. I think what Sterlilng meant is that he still considers the Lakers the enemy, and would prefer his girlfriend not appear in photos with the enemy.

But he didn't say that. Magic Johnson morphed into "black," and that is where the problem is.

His own team did a silent protest during their Sunday game, and everybody, from players in the league to the President of the United States, are asking for his head.

Today, this afternoon, is judgment day, and I am sure that NBA commissioner Adam Silver will do everything in his power to try to make things right.

Honestly, I don't know what the league can do, legally or otherwise. Can they force him to sell the team, a team he has owned for more than 30 years as the senior owner in the league?

I don't know what the legal ramifications are, but I do know that this is a firestorm that won't go away so easily.

I also remember that the NBA can be a hotspot for these types of things.

Although many people choose to forget other such incidents, I remember the horrible, anti-Asian things former player and current commentator Charles Barkley said when Yao Ming, the Chinese basketball player, was drafted by the Rockets, some years ago.

I also remember allegations of anti-Semitism that were hurled the way of my beloved Knicks in the 1990s, the teams of Patrick Ewing, teams that were close, but never won the championship.

Unfortunately, both anti-Semitism and racism go underground, but they seemingly never go away, and these two recent incidents demonstrate that we all have to be on our guard, all the time, for such things, whether we like it or not.

Maybe that is one of the downsides of living in a free society like we do, but these things do not just go away.

Rant #2,527: Lazy Day

I'm back, after celebrating Valentine's Day and Presidents Day and doing next to nothing.

Yes, it was very quiet in my household yesterday.

My wife and son had to work, so I was alone most of the day.

I took my son to work, of course, but that was my only time outside during the entire day.

I looked for jobs yesterday as I always do, each and every day, rain or shine, holiday or no holiday.

That is my job now, to look for a job. In fact, I have been "ordered" to go for an interview with my local job center for this coming Friday afternoon. They want to check up on me, see if I am abiding by the terms of my "contract," which is to apply for at least three jobs per week while I am getting Unemployment pay.

Yesterday, I applied for four jobs, both in and out of my field. Do you think I qualify?

Son in between looking at the job notices, going onto Linked In for goodness knows why, and filling out electronic applications, that filled up a good part of the day.

A good part, but I still had plenty of time to try to find other things to do, which wasn't easy.

I did my exercises, and that made me feel good. The exercises that I was given by my time in physical therapy really have helped me get back to where I should be, which is pain free. I do have some minot pain in my left arm, but otherwise, I don't have any pain--what a difference from the way I was! It's like night and day.

I checked up on my parents, both of whom are now 88 years young. I am happy to report that they are both doing well, and they really didn't need my help yesterday at all, which is a very good thing.

I did some other things to pass the time, such as scan a couple of the covers of my 45s--the picture sleeves, which I am trying to get a scan of each and every one, and it has already taken me years to do this--and yes, I ended up watching television when I ran out of things to do.

I went from this channel to that channel, including hearing the latest about the Major League Baseball cheating scandal, which is escalating beyond where, I believe, the sport ever thought it would get to.

Commissioner Rob Manfred has completely lost the players, and the fans, because of his relative inaction on the guilty players of the Houston Astros, and I believe that somewhere down the line, he is also going to lose his job because this fiasco took place under his watch.

When you have the normally quiet Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels--the game's best overall player--and the New York Yankees' Gleyber Torres--the game's youngest superstar--speaking out like they did yesterday, you know that the powder keg is ready to burst.

2020 should be an interesting season, and let's see how the first retaliation works out, and you just know that there will be retaliation of some form heaved at the Astros for their misdeeds.

Anyway, I went from channel to channel, was pretty much bored with what I saw, and I ended up watching some YouTube stuff, including the casting of a nearly 60-year-old episode of the old "To Tell the Truth" game show to my TV.

The show piqued my interest because it featured a segment about the winner of a 1965 contest, a teenager who entered through a cosmetics company promotion and won a trip to England to meet with her favorite rock and roll band, the Dave Clark Five.

The celebrity panel had to choose among three teens the one who was actually the winner, and only one member of this panel--I believe it was Orson Bean, who, as you know, just passed away--got it right.

It was interesting, the line of questioning was interesting--a lot about "who was the cutest boy" in the band and the length of the band members' hair--and I must admit I, myself, chose the wrong girl, too, so it was fun to watch and play along.

You can see the show yourself at https://youtu.be/zIAzghVWKXY

When that was over, I continued to try to find things to watch, and at the same time, I constantly checked my phone for new job updates. I actually applied for one or two jobs while sitting on my bed watching TV,  two very good jobs that I hope that someone gives me a chance at, even just for an interview.

But I know that ultimately, this is just so futile, but I go at it with the thought that maybe, just maybe, someone will look at my resume and application with an open mind.

In fact, over the weekend, for the first time, I took a written test for a job, where a prospective employer asked me to write up something as a test. I actually did it on Friday morning, after I went into my email and saw the job listings for the day. It took me about an hour or so to do, and I hope it was good enough to proceed to the next step.

I have yet to hear from the prospective employer, so I have to give them the benefit of the doubt, what with the weekend and the holiday having passed.

Let's see what happens.

Anyway, that was pretty much my day, a quiet and very boring Presidents Day for me.

Maybe that was good for me; a day to pretty much tone it down a bit, even though I really didn't do that.

Now, the holiday is over and I move on to other things, and busier days ...

Maybe, maybe not.

Classic Rant #1,195 (April 28, 2014): The Best of Ranting and Raving No. 4: Happy Birthday To Me

Today, April 28, is my birthday.

I cannot believe that I am 57 years old today.

To celebrate the occasion, I took the day off from work, but I won't be lounging around today.

I have some work to do related to my son's future that I really don't have time to do if I am at work, so it all worked out that I took today off.

But rather than not provide a Rant for the day, I figured that I would rerun one. What I said a year ago pretty much still holds true, so here is what I said, in edited form, a year ago about my birthday.

"It seems the years have gone fast.

My mother has often told me that as a young child, I was clearly "Larry the Menace," getting into everything and being a real pain in the butt.

She has told me a story that one time, she was shopping with me, and visibly pregnant with my sister, who was born at the tail end of 1959. I was so bad that she was standing on line to check out, and another woman actually had the nerve to say to her, "And you want another child?"

I could swear that only yesterday, I was playing in the mud in the grime of my old stomping grounds in Rochdale Village, South Jamaica Queens, New York.

Even though I haven't lived in New York City since 1971, I am a city kid at heart, always will be.

The suburbs have been my home since then, but you can take the kid out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the kid.

Fast forward all these years, and I have several layers of education under my belt, married (twice), have two kids, and a halfway decent job.

Looking back five years, one of the most tumultuous times of my life played out back then, and I prefer where I am now.

On April 24, my car died after being on life support for several months.

On April 25, I bought a new car.

On April 27, I had horrible pains in my stomach, and was rushed to the hospital.

On April 28, I had gall bladder surgery, the best birthday present I ever gave to myself.

Wow, what a ride it has been.

And I plan on being here many more years.

I just had my physical, and other than being a bit overweight and having some minor cholesterol issues, I am fit as a fiddle.

I have a great wife, a great family, so why complain?

So happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Larry, happy birthday to me ...."

UPDATE: Things remain pretty good at the Lapka household. 

We are looking forward to our son's imminent graduation from high school, and the question is, what is he going to do afterward? He is not going to college, has a disability that we are trying to get backup for, and he is really like any high school senior, ready to take on the world.

And today, I will be filling out some forms and making some phone calls to make sure that he is able to do just that.

I received some wonderful gifts from my parents, my aunt, my wife and my kids, so everything has been taken care of for today.

Once I am done with the important stuff, maybe I can relax today, but right now, I am revved up and ready to go.

So you have a nice day, I will be back with an original column tomorrow, and I do look forward to the next 57 years on this earth, I really do!