Rant #2,439: Release Me

"I just blocked a 'friend' that has seemingly become empowered by the Black Lives Matter rhetoric, spreading hate and hostility with nearly every post she has put up over the past several weeks.

I hated to do it, but she does not realize that she is adding to the hate by putting up these posts, and I simply cannot stand it anymore.

And anyone who truly believes that BLM is an organization thst is full of love and righteousness is no 'friend' of mine.

I believe this lady is not a bad person; however, she has had some type of personal epiphany, and her constant justification of this anarchistic, racist, anti-police and anti-Semitic organization has become a bit much to take.

See her later, if and when she realizes that what she is doing is not only wrong, but wholly misguided."

Journalism 101: Never begin a story with a quite unless it is a strong one.

Well, I can't be any stronger with my words than what I just put up here, so I think I would pass muster with my Journalism 101 teachings.

And yes, it is painful.

It is painful on a number of levels, one of which is that she grew up in the same place that I did, Rochdale Village, South Jamaica, Queens, New York.

As I have said many, many times, this was a truly special place to grow up in during the early to mid-1960s and into the early 1970s.

In our own way, we were the "Garden of Eden" that everyone dreams about, a then-new community where blacks and whites lived together as one, single community. And we did smack dab in the middle of one of the largest, oldest and proudest black communities in the country.

There were cracks in this dream neighborhood from the very beginning--many in the existing community did not want us there, and us meaning white people, "infiltrating" their community--and on the other side, there was some racial disharmony in the construction area, as few blacks were employed to build the place from the ground up, much of this having to do with the New York City unions not welcoming many people of color with open arms back then to begin with.

Anyway, the 20 buildings rose from the ashes of the old Jamaica Race Track, and yes, during the early years of the development--from late 1963, right after the JFK assassination, through 1967 or so--this was the perfect community to grow up in, espcially if you were a kid of my age.

There were seemingly thousands of kids around my age who lived in the development--mainly white and Jewish, making up the racial makeup of the city's unions at the time, but with plenty of kids of color too--and we all somehow lived together without many major occurrences inside the development.

Of course on the outside, even though the development brought needed services to an underserved commuity--such as schools, supermarkets and various health services--we were looked at as the enemy. And I found out years later that the outside community often looked at those blacks living inside the community as "Uncle Toms," traitors to their own race.

Then the late 1960s hit, and as there were changes occurring in our society, there were changes happening in Rochdale Village.

Between constant teacher strikes and the murder of Martin Luther King, the old neighborhood was coming down in flames. Eve had bitten the apple, and the neighborhood that we all loved as not the same neighborhood that we had moved into just a few years prior.

from 1969 and until my family--and hundreds of other families--moved out of the place in 1971 and throughout the early 1970s, the place had become an anarchy in and of itself.

Lawlessness and wrecklessness had replaced harmony in this neighborhood, with gangs of people from the outside terrorizing residents, using us as their playthings to rob and steal from.

The security force was just that and it was above their pay grade to do anything much but drive around in what we called "Roach Coaches"--motorized mini0cars--and terrorize kids for no rhyme or reason.

The schools--and primarily, the junior high school, I.S. 72--had become the centers of the recklessness, and as students, we were being educated in fear--fear of pins being thrust into us for absolutely no reason but folly, fear of being mugged of our money, fear of rebellion, as when a certain faction of the school took it over for one day after an assembly that was supposed to be a display of talent, but ended up becoming a Black Power rally that scared not just us white kids, but our fellow black students and also the teachers.

White kids and white teachers were getting attacked on a regular basis in the school--I remember one heinous incident where in my speech class, a visibly pregnant teacher had the class interrupted when a kid came in who did not belong in the class and started to fondle the teachers enlarged belly--and we started to put our money in our shoes for safe keeping.

There was a PTA meeting that was attended by both black and white parents, and my mother firmly remembers the message that the principal had for all the attendees: "GET OUT OF THIS ENVIRONMENT WHILE YOU CAN."

He was being honest. He had lost control of the school, and the neighborhood had lost control of itself to those who did not want us there--both black families and white families--in the first place.

"All I find, all I keep" became the buzz phrase of the school and the neighborhood, and once word got out that we kept our money in our shoes, the shoes came off, and the money was found. I remember incident during lunch break where my friend actually had his shoes stolen, along with the money contained in those shoes.

And then there was one incident, where my sister was waiting on line in the cafeteria to purchase something, and in plain sight of teachers and other adults, a kid put his hands down her "hot pants" and assaulted her. Nothing at all was done, and I mean nothing.

Outside of school, young teenagers rode around ther community on bicycles, two to a bike, and if you were walking alone, you would ge open to getting jumped and robbed. Yes, it happened to me.

I also remember gangs of kids robbing some people I knew of their Halloween candy, by hiding in the stairways of our building, waiting to see Halloween revelers, and the attacking them.

Parents were also being attacked. I remember one incident where my mother was waiting in the hallway for my sister to get off the bus taking her to Hebrew School. It was the evening, and the community had had its spate of rapists and others attacking young people, so it was not an uncommon experience for parents to wait for their children to come home after various activities, especially those happening in the evening.

My mother waited like she always did, and a security guard told her she couldn't wait for my sister to get off the bus--and he used the most vile, racist and anti-Semitic language to fully explain his actions.

Mix this anarchy with a rising drug problem, and is it any wonder why people moved out in droves in the early 1970s?

And now I see anarchy happening in our streets now, and that gets me back to my main point, about "unfriending" someone who i believe has gone off the deep end, and why it hurt me so much to do so.

During those horrid times in the late 1960s that my neighborhood experienced, my sister and I had numerous friends, and numerous friends of all colors.

For boys, we just wanted enough people to make up teams to play baseball or stickball or punchball, and no, we really did not see color at all. For girls, it was inclusivity at the best level, as these young ladies were very involved in the Camp Fire Girls and the Girl Scouts and other activities that were open to anybody who wanted to join, black and white alike.

Anyway, when Martin Luther King was murdered, that horrid incident seemed to be the tipping point of the development, and the ideals it was created upon were completely out the window when this leader was slain.

As I said, my sister had friends both black and white. One day, one of her black friends came to our house seemingly to play dolls or listen to records or talk about boys, stuff that they had always done together previously.

The girl came into the kitchen of our apartment and was crying, with tears coming out of her eyes like waterfalls.

My mother asked what was wrong, and my sister seemed concerned and tried to comfort her.

The girl said to my mother, "My mother had told me that I can't come here ever again," and we knew exactly what she meant.

Martin Luther King was in the ground, as was the hopes and aspirations of Rochdale Village, which seemed to go with him when he was senselessly murdered.

We never saw the girl again in our home.

I don't remember clearly, but was that girl the same girl, now as an adult, that I unceremoniously dropped yesterday as a Facebook "friend?"

I don't know, and I will never know for sure, but adding two and two together, I believe it was the same girl.

And that made it even more difficult to drop her, but it is even more incredible that she buys into the BLM philosophy, and buys into it more than 50 years after she came into our kitchen with tears in her eyes.

So when others tell me that organizations like BLM are all flowers and roses, I tell them that I have lived in an anarchy myself, experienced what goes on in an anarchy, and when i see an anarchy, I know an anarchy ...

And in spite of BLM becoming seemingly as mainstream as baseball and apple pie, I don't want any part of it, and I don't want any part of anything that BLM has to say.

I just remember that beautiful little girl crying so in our kitchen ...

Classic Rant #1,288 (September 12, 2014): Selected Rantings and Ravings

Sometimes you simply do not have enough stuff to fill up a whole column, so you simply gather up everything and put it into one basket.

That is what I am doing today, so here goes:

Pistorious Trial: Why anyone really cares about this thing is beyond me, but whenever I go on the Internet, and I go into Yahoo, an alert about this trial is at the top of my page, in color, as if I am biting my nails over this one.

He thought his girlfriend was an intruder, he shot her, and now, he has to pay the consequences.

And this is in South Africa yet? We have enough nonsense at home, we are supposed to worry about this?

Richard Keil Dies: Another tragic death of someone I really liked as an actor, this hulking fellow was in everything from an episode of "The Monkees" to the James Bond movie where he played the memorable character "Jaws."

He actually used his huge frame to his advantage, usually playing Frankenstein monster or simply monster types.

He will be missed.

Yankees' Season Goes Down Drain: I am a big Yankees fan, but I have to admit, this season has been extremely difficult to watch.

After a promising off season, where they brought in several new, high profile players, they are worse off than they were a year ago.

Yet, attendance is up. I guess people enjoy spending $100 a seat to see mediocrity.

Like the old Brooklyn Dodgers used to say every year, "Wait 'til next year," and the ongoing Derek Jeter going away party hasn't soothed my wounds this year.

The Yankees are as bad as the Mets are, and that is really saying something.

Denise Milani Double Take: One of the people I converse with on Facebook is obsessed with model Denise Milani, and he has put up dozens of photos of her for myself and others to gaze at.

The only thing that I can say is that if you were looking for a brunette Barbie, she is it.

I cannot believe that a lot of what she has wasn't man made, but whatever the case, she is quite fetching.

I am not obsessed with her, but I have to admit I am intrigued by her, because I think there is more plastic in her than in all the Khardashians put together.

I will let you be the judge.

Working Six Days a Week: Yes, that is what I am doing now, and I can't say that I am happy with this arrangement.

Every year, my company puts out an issue that takes extra effort, so the thought is that we have to come in an extra day to get it done.

"Hogwash!" I say to that.

It can be done in five days a week, not six, and working the six is killing me.

It fouls up my Saturdays--supposedly a day of rest for me--and ends up screwing up my mind and body.

Woe is me--I have to do it again tomorrow.

The world is not fair.

Speak to you again on Monday.

Rant #2,438: Laugh

We are in the throes of June, and moving right into July later this week.

Doesn't it already feel like we are in the dog days of summer, even though summer officially began just a few days ago?

Of course, that has to do with the presence of the coronavirus, which has put a major damper on summer for all of us.

It has to do with all the protesting and all the marches or lynch mobs or whatever you want to call them.

It has to do with major corporations and people looking back on their pasts and apologizing for things--and not anything illegal--that were done years and years ago, as if they were carrying this guilt from the moment they did it until now.

And in large part it has to do with the media, which is stumbling over itself in trying to bring what they believe is a balanced picture to the proceedings, but who are, in fact, the most biased organization in our country.

And it also has to do with lack of fun that we have now, coronavirus or no coronavirus. We have simply forgotten how to laugh at ourselves, to laugh at the condition of the human condition, and to laugh at all of our foibles.

This can definitely and unequivocally be linked to the Internet, to handling our social matters via social networks through our computers and other devices.

I was just talking about this with my wife the other day, and the conversation bears worth repeating.

Our generation of kids--born in the late 1950s--learned how to interact with others face to face as had previous generations, whether it be in school, on the ballfield, or in our churches and synagogues.

I remember many a summer night when I was in the park with my friends, and we used to have what we called "rank-out parties," where we would playfully knock each other for whatever reason, whether it be for our lack of prowess on the ballfield, something stupid that we had said, or even for out last name or our nickname.

Sure it could get nasty, but to be honest with you, it was all in fun. When we were done and went upstairs to our apartments--which we called "houses," even though we lived in an apartment complex, Rochdale Village in Queens, which at one time was the largest cooperative housing development in the world--we had had a lot of fun, expended a lot of energy, and needed to rest up for the next day.

You simply cannot do this on the Internet.

Even with emojis that have been created to signify every feeling, including a wink of an eye meaning that we are kidding in what we said, you cannot get the proper nuances of the language and how it is being used.

So everything is taken literally, and that has led to entire generations of kids--pretty much with those who were born starting in the late 1980s--who have no idea how to interact with others, to socialize and to react to remarks that on the surface, might appear to be negative, but in their actual meaning, really aren't.

That is particularly wheat is fueling the marches for racial justice that are going on around the country right now, as it is the very first time that the generation of kids born in the late 1990s and into the early 2000s have had any real, one on one social interaction with their peers.

I spoke to one such person a little while ago, a young man who was born in the late 1990s and is now in his early 20s.

He told me that yes, he believed that there were issues that needed to be addressed, and the marches were addressing them, but on the other hand, yes, these marches were often as much social as they were political.

With the coronavirus putting a stranglehold on everything that young kids normally do during the hot summer--go to the beach, work in part-time jobs, simply living out their young lives--the marches served as sort of a modern YMCA or playground, and one just has to be in it to feel a part of their generation.

Of course, there are many other things involved with these marches. This includes the safety factor, which we are now finding out is not only impacting older people who come in contact with marchers, but even the participants themselves, young people that are getting the coronavirus in record numbers because of the lack of social distancing at these rallies.

But taken without the safety factor, these rallies are perhaps the very first time that this generation has had the opportunity to physically, one-on-one, in person, interact with their peers without doing it through the Internet.

And with little else to do this summer because of restrictions placed on all of us due to the coronavirus, "let's go to the march" has replaced similar summer rallying cries of "let's go to the beach" and "let's go to the movies" of yore.

It is simply a byproduct of all that is going on, and however disturbing it is, we are going to have to put up with these mobs for the foreseeable future, if for nothing else that these kids have absolutely nothing else to do as kids in previous summers had to do.

When you look at it this way, it makes these massive mobs almost understandable, but no less virulent, because the direction of these mobs is anti-social and racist and often violent to a point, whether the participants want to acknowledge that or not.

Yes, we have completely forgotten how to laugh at ourselves, and we have created a generation that has no clue about what ribbing is, has no patience for any behavior that took place even if it was eons ago, and is so serious about what they believe in that they are not only prime candidates for coronavirus infection but seemingly for high blood pressure and heart attacks later on in life.

Boy, was I glad I was born when I was, when life was seemingly simpler--it really wasn't--and I did not have to worry about offending anyone if I called my parents' bedroom the "master" bedroom or if I waved the American flag with glee and a sense of purpose.

These younger people don't know what they are missing ... and that is simply because they simply don't know, or have a clue, about how life is to be lived.

We only have a few years here on earth. Live it to the fullest--and laugh ... it is good for the soul.

Classic Rant #1,287 (September 11, 2014): What More Can One Say?

Today, the unlucky 13th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, I ask you, what more can one say that hasn't already been said?

The world changed that day, and it hasn't been the same since.

Not only have actual wars escalated, but cyber wars also seemingly started that day too.

And sometimes, the cyber wars are every bit as costly as the ground wars.

Remember in school, we were all taught the phrase, "The pen is mightier than the sword"?

Well today, the Internet might be mightier than the sword.

Social media escalates actual combat, and often sets it in motion.

But back to 9/11 ...

The only thing that I can think about are my kids.

My daughter is 26, and since this is the 13th anniversary of those horrid attacks, she has lived exactly half her life since the world changed.

My son is 19, and he was only six when this happened, so he knows no other way of living.

But on the positive side, we have done just what we should have done since those heinous attacks.

We have moved on.

Not forgotten, just moved on.

We have rebuilt, we have revitalized ourselves.

We are what we are.

So in a sense, we have defeated the enemy, which sought to change the way we live.

But the enemies that we have, and their yearning for change to their way of living--if that is what you want to call it--persists.

We have ISIS,. we have Hamas, we have cells within our own country that do not believe in the American way.

We are ultra-security conscious about everything.

We kind of do look over our shoulders just to make sure everything is OK.

But again, I think of my kids, and the world that they are growing up in, and yes, it is scary.

But they will survive, we will all survive, and we will prosper.

And our enemies will be defeated, if not today then tomorrow or within due time.

And we will continue to live our lives, by and large, the way that we want to live our lives.

Because of that, we have not been defeated.

We have won.

Rant #2,437: Ball of Confusion

Well, it has been another tumultuous week.

More lies, more controversy and more marching, and the U.S.A. is more resembling a third-world country than anyone could have ever thought.

And this is all backed by the coronavirus, which is taking the heart out of our lives, changing them forever.

So today, let's have a happy Rant, a nice Rant, to round out the week, because let me tell you, we need some happiness right now.

And unlike others who want to change the past to suit their own agendas, today we are going to report the past as it was; there are going to be no changes, updates, or tearing down of anything that we are going to look into today.

Let's go back 50 years, to the week of June 27, 1970, and see what the top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart were for that week--unfettered and reported like it was, like it is, and like it always will be.

At the 10th spot on the Hot 100 was the Poppy Family, with their bubblegum hit "Which Way You Goin' Billy?" This family act from Canada was real hot back then, with a succession of mildly hit singles culminated by Terry Jacks' "Seasons In the Sun" a few years down the line.

Elvis Presley remained a presence on the Hot 100 with a two-sided hit at No. 9 this week, "The Wonder of You"/"Mama Liked the Roses." The A side would soon become one of his signature tunes, in particular in concert.

A pure folk/pop singer teaming with a pure gospel/pop ensemble seems like a risky proposition, but Melanie and the Edwin Hawkins Singers pulled it off with "Lay Down (Candles In the Rain)," which came in at No. 8 this week. And it all came out on the Buddah label, best known for its gooey bubblegum concoctions.

In another bizarre confluence in the music scene at the time, the Motown label, best known for its black acts, created its own label to delve into white rock and roll, and the Rare Earth label's top act, aptly named Rare Earth, registered with "Get Ready," which was at the No. 7 spot in the chart this week. What made this entry even more bizarre is that it was originally recorded by Motown's top black male act, the Temptations, and the better known original did not even crack the Hot 100's top 20, peaking at No. 29 four years earlier.

Blues Image's lone top of the line hit, "Ride Captain Ride," came in at the No. 6 spot on the chart. It moved up and down the top 10 for several weeks, eventually peaking at No. 4.

Vanity Fare's bubblegummy "Hitchin' a Ride" came in at No. 5 this week. The single proved that bubblegum was not only the domain of American acts, but the British could chew such ear candy just as well as we could.

The Beatles continued to be a major force on the Hot 100 in 1970, and their former No. 1 two-sided hit, "The Long and Winding Road"/"For You Blue," was at No. 4 this week. It had been the No. 1 song on the chart for the previous two weeks.

We just mentioned the Temptations, and while their music was influencing a new generation of musicians, their newer stuff was making major dents on the Hot 100, with "Ball of Confusion" coming in at No. 3 this week. This was another of their songs that tried to make sense out of the then-current world situation, and it kind of rings true even today with our current world.

Three Dog Night was becoming a major presence on the Hot 100, and one of their biggest hits, "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)," an eventual No. 1 tune, was the No. 2 song on the chart this week. How ironic that earlier this week the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island may have closed its doors for good, because Three Dog Night was the first concert ever held in that venue, back when it was new in 1973.

And coming in at the No. 1 spot on the charts was--

"The Love You Save" by the Jackson 5, which would spend two weeks at the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100. Michael Jackson and his brothers were probably the hottest singles act in the country at the time, and everything they released seemed to be destined for the top of the Hot 100, so this song did not disappoint.

The highest debuting single on the Hot 100 during this week was another in the line of many hits for Stevie Wonder, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours," which made its maiden bow on the chart at No. 49. The tune would eventually climb to the No. 3 spot on the Hot 100 in a few weeks time.

The biggest mover on the Hot 100, the song that jumped the most places upward from one week to this week, was Mark Lindsay's "Silver Bird," which jumped 28 places from No. 83 to No. 55 this week. Although not as big a hit as "Arizona" was, the lead singer of Paul Revere and the Raiders still managed to have another solo hit with this song, which eventually stalled at No. 25.

So there you have it, the top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of June 27, 1970, 50 years ago.

Nothing has been changed in the reporting of this chart, nothing has been made different to meet any agendas ... like Howard Cosell used to say, "I tell it like it is," but in this case, "I tell it like it was."

Three is no need to distort history, because my only agenda is to write a decent Rant, and nothing else.

Have a great weekend, and speak to you again on Monday.

Classic Rant #1,286 (September 10, 2014): Free For the Taking

The word "free" means, basically, without any cost.

It isn't used too much in today's world, because in 2014, we know that just about everything comes with a cost.

But yesterday, Apple iTunes and the rock band U2 did something that was unprecedented.

They allowed U2's new LP--"Songs of Innocence"-- to be released for free.

That's right, for free, to any iTunes subscriber, which means anybody who subscribes to iTunes, with a couple of simple clicks, can get the album for free.

For nothing, zilch, zero, call it what you want, you don't have to pay for it.

With iTunes' millions of users, this means that album is in a category all by itself: it is the first album to go multi-platinum without a single cent in sales.

How can this be, in this world where everything costs something?

Well, it draws people to iTunes, where after getting the LP for free, the user might try another U2 album, which he will have to pay for, or maybe another album by another artist, which again, the user will have to pay for.

U2 is an aging rock beast. Ultra successful, their last album didn't do very well, and this is a way to get their new music out there without any muss or fuss ... or sales.

I haven't heard anything off the new LP yet. Some people I know have, and they say that it really doesn't jump out at you, musically, like the best of U2 music usually does.

But it is free, so it is good. If you have to pay for this, maybe it isn't that good, but if you can get it for free ... well, it is not only good, it is wonderful.

I don't know if there is a limited time to get this album, or it will free in perpetuity for iTunes subscribers, but right now, it is free, so come and get it.

With millions of illegal downloads being completed as I write this Rant today, here is one free download that is completely legal, ripe for the taking.

And now that it is out, even people who don't subscribe to iTunes will be able to get it, because as you know, once it is on the Internet, it is out there, ready to be taken.

So in all actuality, it is a win/win for iTunes, for U2 and for rock fans, so rather than stare this one down and try to pick it apart, just go and get it.

I mean, it's actually F-R-E-E!

Finally, here's one for the consumer.

Rant #2,436: Let's Pretend

Regarding yesterday's Rant, I stand by it 100 percent, 1,000 percent, 1,000,000 percent.

That race car driver, Bubba Wallace, is the latest purveyor of "let's pretend," where one thing equals another as long as the end justifies the means--regardless of whether it has any hint of reality or not.

The driver has now become the darling of television, appearing on more shows that he had ever appeared on before, persisting in his lies and drivel and acting as if he was going for an Oscar nomination.

So of course he winds up on the CBS Morning News, interviewed by fellow racist Gayle King, who nearly broke down in tears when he told her about his plight, a plight that the FBI said, after through investigation using the resources of more than a dozen of their agents, never happened.

Wallace contends that the FBI is wrong, that it was a noose planted in his garage as a racist "message," but even he admits that he never saw the supposed noose, that it was reported to NASCAR and the FBI by a lot attendant, and that NASCAR actually called him into their offices and alerted him about the possible racist symbol without doing a thorough investigation of their own.

Now, either Wallace is a true moron or he is trying to put one over on us all.

Look, he is not a NASCAR rookie; he should know that a garage door pull is; and he should know that what is commonly referred to as a noose is, in fact, a tie knot that is commonly used not for lynching purposes or as a symbol of hatred, but as a simple knot that is widely used for things that have absolutely nothing to do with hatred.

Being that he has been driving for several years, he must have seen this knot being used before, and never determined that it was used for racial hatred ... until the other day.

Heck, maybe he is not as dumb as I thought he was ...

This is what I wrote about this idiotic, repugnant incident on Facebook yesterday, and it holds as true as can be:

"He now says he never saw the supposed noose, that a race attendant saw it and brought it up to officials, who decided WITHOUT ANY EVIDENCE that it was based on racism and called him in so they could apologize to him. What ensued was a big brouhaha over nothing. A noose is a knot, but it doesn't mean it was a racist symbol. 

In lieu of the circumstances, all parties got what they wanted: the driver, who now had a solid platform to stand on in the midst of all the racial fervor in our country now; NASCAR, which now has the word out that they took care of this, after being dragged through the coals due to the presence of Confederate flags at their races; and the FBI, which doesn't have to look into another non-existent crime like the Smollett case. 

The driver and attendant should both be disciplined, and/or apologize to the racing community for their indiscretions, but that will never happen. I would not be surprised if this wasn't fully orchestrated like the Smollett case was, but we will probably never find out."

Repugnant, absolutely repugnant, that Wallace and NASCAR can get away with this nonsense, but not only will they get away with it, they will certainly prosper from it, which makes it even worse.

Of course, social media either lined up behind Wallace or rallied against him. I even heard a rumor, and again, it is only a rumor and I am reporting it here as such, that the entire parade the NASCAR drivers had to support Wallace, a video shown around the world to show solidarity with the driver's plight, was also staged. Drivers were told to participate, and many did not do it by their own decision, as they were smart enough to see through this charade.

Again, this is only a rumor, nothing more, but would anyone put it past NASCAR to do something like this after what we know now?

And then we have the "let's pretend" governors for the ages, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York and Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey, who are so engrossed with pleasing people that they feel need to be pleased that they are stumbling over themselves to brown nose everything with a dollar sign attached to it.

The latest nonsense is that they, and the governor of Connecticut, have joined together to put a travel isolation rule on those coming to their area if they come from states with a high surge in coronavirus cases, such as Florida and Arizona.

Those visiting New York, New Jersey or Connecticut from these high surge states must self-quarantine for 14 days, and if it is found that they did not, they are putting themselves in the position for fines of anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 for their infraction.

Number one, how are they going to enforce this rule? Are they going to look at lists of people who use air travel to get to those states and look at cell phone records to see who quarantined and who didn't? Are they going to have traffic stops at their borders to check papers?

And to get to my point about how the New York and New Jersey governors are playing a serious game of 'let's pretend," New York Governor Cuomo has decided that Major League Baseball teams are exempt from this ruling--even though 1) many of their players are coming to New York State for their spring training at both Yankee Stadium and CitiField from states with the highest surges; and 2) when the season begins, the Yankees and Mets will be playing teams from the current centers of the virus, such as Florida and Georgia.

Cuomo claims that these people will be vigorously tested, so they are exempt ... and that leads us to Governor Murphy of New Jersey, who buys into all of this and is now questioning why President Trump should be allowed to have a rally in the Garden State.

Well, the last time I looked, the President was being as vigorously tested as the baseball players were, but I guess that doesn't count when you are a Democratic governor and the President is a Republican.

I guess the testing is different for Republicans and ballplayers, I don't know.

But what I do know is that this all has to do with money, as does the NASCAR situation.

With money down, with states bordering on bankruptcy, with organizations losing their hide during this pandemic, EVERYTHING has to do with money ... and yes, EVERYTHING has to do with politics, too.

Heck, my wife can't even see her father in the Veterans Home in person, but if she wanted to, she could get a tattoo. It costs money to get your body tattooed, which translates to tax money, but it costs nothing--but means everything in the world, and is priceless--to see your elderly loved ones.

And don't get me started on the thugs who want to rip down every statue in creation as long as it features a white face. They are trying to rewrite history to their own agendas, and they live in some alternate universe where everything matches their "let's pretend" world and has nothing to do with historical reality.

Yes, we are in the "let's pretend" stage of our American life now, and this is accepted by just so many people as being the real deal.

It isn't, and it is time for people to stand up to this nonsense and say something about it, and why it is just so wrong.

I guess I did just that in my own simple way.

/classic Rant #1,285 (September 9, 2014): Solid State

There are reports out of the Middle East that there is a proposal on the table to create a Palestinian state--out of a large chunk of Egypt.

Supposedly, Israel has warmed up to the idea, and the United States backs such a plan.

It wouldn't involve Israel giving up any land, and would put the constant pain in their butts further away from them.

It would give the Palestinians their own homeland, where they could build up their infrastructure, build up their economy, and not be a threat to anybody.

One of the caveats is that they would be disarmed, and as they claim to be, they would live as civilized human beings.

One problem with this proposal is that Hamas, the ruling terrorist organization there, has supposedly rejected the proposal, once again highlighting the fact that they only exist to annihilate Israel.

In the past war that is under a lasting cease fire, it was clear from the outset that this rebel group existed only to destroy the Jewish state, sending out missiles with glee, taking them 100 fold in return, using its own people as human shields, and generally creating turmoil in the region, blindsided by the fact that Israel simply wasn't going to take it--and was going to do what it normally does when it is threatened, attack back.

Now with this proposal on the table, Hamas has something tangible to offer its people, but instead, it rejects it, certainly casting doubt on its vow to create such a homeland for its people.

Nobody really wants the Palestinians. They are not non-Jewish Israelis. They are actually Jordanian, and why has Jordan rejected them, forcing them on Israel?

Israel has provided the Palestinians almost full autonomy. They have their own government, many actually cross the border and work in Israel.

But the Israelis are smart people. Their technological infrastructure--phones, television, communications--are controlled by Israel, and that is why the Jewish state was so successful in intercepting communications during the recent war--they simply tapped into something that they created.

Many Palestinians rue the day Hamas took over, but can't say too much publicly or they will be removed from this earth. But reports are that many of the Palestinians don't like how Hamas is ruling their land and treating their own people.

It is clear that Israel wants peace, but not at the cost of its own people and own land and own lifestyle. They are warming up to the proposal simply because it will bring some sort of peace to the region.

The Egyptians have become master negotiators in the region, and if they suggest something, others in the region at least listen.

Let's hope that this proposal isn't shoved aside as it has been thus far. It is an interesting thing to think about, but if Hamas continues to reject it, then no one can give them any sympathy.

We know why they exist, but by their actions, they just put an exclamation point to it.

Rant #2,435: Drive

Yes, we are going through troubled times, every which way you look at it.

That includes troubled times on the national stage in places that no one would ever dream there would be problems.

Yesterday, we found out that the supposed "noose" found in the garage of NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace wasn't a noose at all, but a door pull that was there for months.

This story, which smacks of the earlier and just as incredible to believe Jussie Smollett case--where the actor claimed he was assaulted by white men, with a noose put around his neck, but was found to be an out and out lie connected to him wanting a raise in pay and notoriety--saw the race car driver--the only black man in the upper regions of the NASCAR standings--claiming that he found a noose in his garage.

With everyone being on their racial edge in today's times, seemingly the entire NASCAR circuit backed Wallace and his plight, marching with him to show solidarity for him and his cause.

The problem was, the FBI investigated--and came to the conclusion very quickly--that this incident was, like the Smollett case, much ado about nothing. The supposed "noose" was a door pull, had been there for months, and has as much to do with racism as one of the tires on Wallace's race car does.

All the while, the supposed case received national and international attention, allowed this individual to grab the national stage for a brief moment, played into our current paranoia about race relations, and sullied NASCAR with irreparable damage.

Wallace even festooned his race car with Black Lives Matter imagery, and even his mother had her say about the matter, and how her boy was bigger than the racism thrown at him.

The problem was nothing was true about this, and I mean nothing. The "noose"--or door pull--was there since October, no federal hate crime had been committed, and, in fact, Wallace was only assigned the stall a week ago, randomly, just like all the other drivers are assigned stalls, so if someone else was assigned this stall, they would have seen the supposed noose, too, so it was simply the luck of the draw that he was assigned to this area.

And being that he was an experienced NASCAR driver, he should have known that this was not a noose, and that it had no racial connection at all.

The FBI said no charges would be pursued in this matter, so Wallace comes off smelling like roses even though he also comes off as a blatant liar, looking for a platform for the most popular cause on the planet right now.

And he certainly got the publicity that he wanted ... but don't you think he has a lot of 'splainin' to do?

Even though he lied through his teeth, he sullied an organization that is known not only in this country, but worldwide.

Even though he lied, he defrauded his fellow drivers and others related to the sport, having them march in his behalf for absolutely no reason.

And he took advantage of the national hysteria on race for his own advantage.

NASCAR had already removed Confederate flags from its itinerary--an itinerary that is Southern based, where in recent years these flags have become symbols of Southern pride more than anything else--and now they are faced with this latest charade.

The organization said it will launch its own investigation, just to cover itself and all the bases, but the fact of the matter is that one of its drivers lied to further his own personal cause, dragging NASCAR into the mud with him.

Look, there are going to be people who take advantage of a situation all the time. Look at all the supposed manufacturers of face coverings who are charging astronomical prices right now when the need for such coverings is mandatory and on center stage.

But this is different. This entire episode dovetails into the movement for racial justice, plays right into its hands, and even though it is false, just adds more gasoline to the already raging fire.

If the FBI isn't going to prosecute Wallace for his lie, then NASCAR certainly should, for making them look like fools and sullying their image.

But you just know that they won't penalize the driver in any way, shape or form, because if they did, there would be a firestorm of bad publicity thrown at them about their racial ambivalence, and no organization wants to be associated with that now--just ask Quaker Oats and Pepsico, among others, related to the Aunt Jemima fiasco.

So Wallace comes out smelling like roses no matter what, NASCAR is branded a racist organization no matter what, and demonstrators continue to march no matter what.

What a sorry state of affairs we are in today, where the innocent are often painted as guilty, the guilty are often painted as innocent, and anybody can accuse anyone else of racial bias without the least bit of evidence or truth to the matter.

God help us all.

Classic Rant #1,284 (September 8, 2014): Never Can Say Goodbye

Yesterday was joyous in New York City, and it was also an unhappy day, too.

Only New York City can have it both ways, and it did yesterday.

It said goodbye to an entertainment icon while it also said goodbye to a sports icon.

Or, I really should say it said its final goodbyes to an entertainment icon, and simply a sports goodbye to its most popular player of the current generation of athletes.

Comedienne Joan Rivers died late last week, and as per Jewish law, the funeral was held almost right after her death.

Celebrities and more "common folk" gathered to celebrate her life, and laugh and cry at the fact that she is with us no more, and in such a tragic way.

It came out during the preparations for the funeral, at Temple Emanuel in Manhattan, that she wanted as glitzy a funeral as possible.

She wanted red carpets, she wanted celebrities, she wanted the whole nine yards, and I believe she got pretty much what she wanted.

She was cremated, which I found a bit odd, but not out of the ordinary.

Jews are supposed to leave this earth as they came here--intact--so cremation really isn't an option.

However, in today's world, more and more Jews are going the cremation route, which is actually against the religion, but it is what they want.

It's like tattoos. Jews aren't supposed to mark up their bodies this way--for religious and other reasons, including the use of numbered tattoos that were forced on Jews during the Holocaust--but more and more Jews are going this route.

What can you say? If Joan Rivers wanted to be cremated, that was her decision.

There were also tons of flowers--another Jewish funeral no-no--the playing of Amazing Grace--at a Jewish funeral?--and some other bizarre things, but as attendee Geraldo Rivera later said, it was the funniest funeral he ever attended.

Now, all that is left is the investigation into the clinic involved in her death, and we should be hearing about that somewhere down the line.

Moving uptown to the Bronx, the Yankees, fans and Major League Baseball all said goodbye to another icon yesterday, just a few weeks before he official goodbye is put into stone.

Derek Jeter Day at Yankee Stadium had plenty of pomp and glamor, too.

The stadium was full to the brim, sports and other celebrities--I noticed Paul Simon in the stands--were in attendance, and the Yankees really know how to do this better than anyone.

He was foisted with many gifts--no, his number was not retired just yet, that will probably come in another ceremony in the near future--he was able to share the whole thing with his family, and the Yankees made a healthy contribution to his charitable organization.

He even made a speech, and as usual, said just the right thing, ended by, "We have a game to play today," which the Yankees promptly lost.

So yes, I can use Joan Rivers and Derek Jeter in the same sentence.

Two icons, two very different goodbyes, but goodbyes nonetheless.

As only New York can do them.

But with television, YouTube and the like, is it really "goodbyes" in the traditional sense?

No, not really.

Joan Rivers and Derek Jeter's artistry will live on for generations to come, because their work will be highly obtainable through many, many outlets.

Your grandkids, if they are interested, will be able to find out why Jeter and Rivers were so special, and that makes these goodbyes almost in name only, to a certain extent.

But yes, we do bid adieu to two of the most captivating people of this or any other generation, certainly of the past 50 years or so.

So to Derek Jeter and Joan Rivers, I wish both of you the best, one in her final resting place, the other in any other endeavors he hopes to pursue.

You both gave us the best, so you deserve the best too.

Rant #2,434: Stompin' Everywhere

Happy Tuesday.

What do I write about today?

Do I write about the mob scenes ... err ... the protest marches, which continue unabated, reported by the press to be friendly rallies ... until you look deeper into them, and they are full of intimidation to harass people and destruction on a daily basis?

Do I write about the continued lifting of restrictions about the pandemic across the country, which, of course, since the restrictions have been lifted while we are still smack dab in the middle of the pandemic, have shown spikes just about everywhere these rules have been relaxed?

(Except New York, which somehow, seems to have beaten the curve upward ... hmm ... how could that possibly be, yet in just about every other city, cases have spiked through the stratosphere?)

Do I write about Major League Baseball, a group full of entitled, miserable people with a lot of money who cannot agree on anything except that they both love money, and are doing this during an environment where we are experiencing record-setting unemployment?

Do I write about the USA Network, which in its own pandering move, is now showing recruiting commercials for Black Lives Matter, that anti-white, anti-cop, anti-Semitic anarchistic organization behind much of the unrest today in our streets, making them appear as if they are a charitable organization like the United Way, bathed in love and colors that are endless and without hue?

Or do I write about my own employment situation, which sank to a new low this weekend, with me actually applying for a freelance writing job--which I sincerely doubt I will get--with, well, let's say in a nice way, an adult entertainment site?

Well, I really don't know what I want to write about today.

I could go into chapter and verse on all of the topics that I just described, but it just seems so futile to do so at this moment in time. Some of these subjects have been beaten to death, other of these subjects are so new--the USA Network one, in particular, which was run during their WWE Raw episode last night--that I can't get my arms--or words--around it now.

So I go back to the original question, what do I write about today?

I write about a subject with great gravity in our country now, and that is--

Ta da--

The rise of socialism in our republic.

Socialism has numerous definitions and elements, but at its very basic definition it is a system of social organization where private property and distribution of income are both subject to control outside of the individual, or just the opposite of capitalism, where individuals are purveyors of their own destinies.

So, for instance, you are eating a sandwich that you just made, and someone comes over to you and demands that they give you the portion of the sandwich that you have not eaten, because in socialism, you don't own that sandwich, everyone owns the sandwich, and if someone wants a piece of the sandwich, it is their right to have it.

It is a sort of "spread the wealth" theory, which on paper, might be appealing, especially for those on the lower sphere of influence and income in our country, but in reality, has never worked anywhere it has been tried.

People at the top of the sphere of influence and income remain there, and are even made stronger, while those on the bottom also remain where they are, and they are much worse off than they were before.

With nowhere else to take this failed way of life, socialists now have their eye on the United States, because we have become such a fractured country. They feel now is the time to seize control and implement their beliefs, and to do it in the U.S. would be a real feather in the cap of this movement, because we are so vulnerable today.

We have people in power who believe that socialism is the next wave, including Mayor Bill deBlasio of New York City and to a lesser extent, the governor of the state, Andrew Cuomo.

And on the national stage, we have the Democratic Party, which is leaning in this direction, and what is most distressing, proudly leaning in this direction, greatly influenced by people like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who are proud socialists, and let you know it at every turn.

In the upcoming presidential campaign, they have put in place a disciple of one of the most egregious socialists of them all, former President Barack Obama, who put us on the path for this change in our country during his eight years in office, and that person is his former vice president Joseph Biden.

Biden was supported by Obama only after it became clear that the party would not go "obvious socialist" with Sanders, choosing to go "socialist-lite" with Biden, who has a non-existent personality which serves the socialists well; he can be manipulated as easily as Play-Doh can be, a purpose which serves them well.

And going against President Donald Trump, you really have a "David vs. Goliath" match, and the socialists hope that their David will beat the other side's Goliath and take over control of this country in January.

Look, that is my take on the whole thing, and you can agree and disagree with it all that you want.

I see a country where anarchy is the first order now, people destroying the very fabric of the very country that they live in and that has embraced them from the get-go.

Are we perfect? No, we are not.

Even in a democracy, there are going to be cracks in the firmament, cracks that need to be addressed and are being addressed as we speak.

But if we move to even a "socialist-lite" environment, all that we have created during the past nearly 250 years will go down in the dust, faster than any statues that anarchists have torn down.

And in my opinion, that would destroy everything America has been, is, and will be in the future.

That is one man's opinion, and I stick with it.

Classic Rant #1,283 (September 5, 2014): Many Rivers To Cross

Yes, I am sad today. Sad about how Joan Rivers left this earth.

Although she brought smiles to millions, what happened to her isn't very funny.

She had some type of procedure in a doctor's office related to her vocal chords, she went into cardiac arrest, and certainly, precious time was lost because the office had no means to resuscitate her as a hospital would.

And for the past week, she has been in a vegetative state, and yes, it is a real mitzvah, or blessing, that she is gone. Her quality of life was minimal at this point, and she went quickly.

I feel for Rivers way more than I feel for what happened to Robin Williams.

No matter how gallant the news media made his suicide out to be, he offed himself, ridding himself of his problems, but simply putting them on other people's heads.

Rivers' demise was way different, and really, the only comparison between the two is that television made them both into superstars.

I remember Rivers on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

She was basically a housewife that told jokes, and she was funny as funny can be.

Along with the likes of Stiller and Meara and Alan King, Sullivan basically made their careers, and Rivers was certainly a special person, very talented, who used the Sullivan show as a springboard for even greater fame.

She had many, many ups and downs. She survived her husband's suicide, a long period where she was on the outs with her daughter Melissa, being virtually blacklisted by Johnny Carson, and changes in the entertainment climate that made her type of family-oriented comedy pretty much obsolete.

So she changed with the times, and she survived all of those turmoils with aplomb.

She was pretty much able to reinvent herself, and although I personally did not like her current persona--as a foul mouthed fashion police diva--she won fans of all generations with that very persona.

She, along with Don Rickles, are really the only inter-generational comedians we have, or had now that she is gone, loved by teens and people of her own age--in their 80s--alike.

There really isn't much more to say about Rivers. The funeral will be on Sunday, it will be a Jewish funeral, and you can bet that Hollywood and her people in her hometown of Larchmont will come together to remember one of the most talented people in show business.

In her statement about her mother's death, Melissa said something to the effect that while her mother expected mourning, she did not want it to be long winded, and she wanted everyone to laugh again.

You can just bet that at the funeral, there will be as many laughs as there will be tears.

Goodbye, Joan Rivers, you will certainly be missed.

Rant #2,433: Papa Was a Rolling Stone

Happy day-after Father's Day to all the dads!

We had a good Father's Day weekend, certainly our busiest weekend in a couple of months or since the pandemic hit us smack dab between the eyes.

On Friday, as I was getting my eyes checked--the doctor found some blood in one eye, but later tests found that it was nothing to worry about, although I do have to go back in four months--my wife finally spoke to her father via FaceTime. She actually could see him and speak to him at the same time, and the chat went well. She said he looked good, and I think it was great for both of them to get together like this.

New York State still prohibits nursing home visits, so it is the best we can do for now.

On Saturday, we traveled out east to visit my brother-in-law, and also there was my other brother-in-law and my nephew, and everyone's spouses.

Once again, we spoke with my father-in-law, and he seemed to be in good spirits seeing everyone there this time. He did look pretty good, we know he is well, so that started a nice day for all of us.

We had pizza, kept our social distancing, and had a nice afternoon and early evening.

When we drove home, I said to my wife that not only did it feel real good to give my car some exercise--40 miles there, 40 miles back--but that this was the first time that I had driven the car at night in months.

The funnier thing is that even though I had my headlights on, I didn't really even need them, because June 20 is the longest day of the year as the dovetail into summer.

Thus, although we got home at past 8:30 that evening, the sun was really still out a bit even when we arrived home, so we never really drove in the dark.

Yesterday was the big day, of course, and on Father's Day, I did exactly what I wanted to do for once, meaning that we had a great barbecue--nothing fancy, just hot dogs and hamburgers and some fish and chicken--but it was a great barbecue.

For some reason with me, the first barbecue of the summer rarely is the best barbecue of the summer, but yesterday, everything went the way it was supposed to.

The charcoal burned the right way, the food cooked well, and everything just fell into place the right way.

My family was there, my parents were there, and my sister and her family were there, too. We were careful, and it went well.

And during these two days, the protests continued, with Saturday's being a so-called "Children's March."

Yes, it is so nice to hear about what oppression means from five year olds, but in this pandering environment that we are in now, what could anyone expect?

People say racism is taught at home, but so is uncivil behavior, I'm afraid.

Well, I expect that I will never participate in these marches, which again, I believe have turned into modern lynch mobs, looking to strong up white people, police and anyone who stands in their way.

Enough is enough, but evidently, some people don't believe that, so these marches go on, destroying any sense of civility in the world we live in.

President Trump had his rally in Tulsa, which you just knew was going to be overstated and overwrought and overdone.

I have no doubt that people were scared away from the rally by what they thought was going to happen there and around the arena where it was held, but again, so be it.

It happened, and there really is not much more to say about it.

But all the while that all of this was happening, my family, at least, tried to have the best Father's Day that we could have in this pandemic and anarchistic environment we are in now, and I think that we succeeded.

And we all said that we hope that Father's Day 2021 will be much better than Father's Day 2020, that we can return back to the way the day should be celebrated, rather than have the day being shaped by viruses and unrest.

We can only hope for that, can't we?

Classic Rant #1,282 (September 4, 2014): Brock 'n Roll

Yes, the world of professional wrestling does literally exist in its own personal universe, and that universe has been shaken up by an unconfirmed announcement that WWE world heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar has a new contract ...

And one of the stipulations of that contract is that the WWE can use him when they want to use him, rather than use him on a part-time basis as before.

This is huge news for the company and for pro wrestling fans everywhere.

Lesnar is one of the most enigmatic characters ever to put on wrestling tights.

He is built like a fireplug from head to toe, and he seems to have been put on this earth for one reason: to wrestle and to cause complete havoc in that business.

A failure as a pro football tryout, Lesnar came to dominate the WWE some years ago, then left for mixed martial arts, where he was also quite successful, but his bread and butter is the WWE, and he returned a while back to state his case once again ... but only on a part time basis.

What this means in that unique WWE universe is that he was booked only on selected telecasts and/or pay-per-views, so he wasn't on every show, virtually being a part-time performer.

Yes, only in the WWE could this situation exist.

However, as a part timer, Lesnar continued to make his mark.

He silenced the Undertaker's impressive win streak at Wrestlemania, and just recently, he pummeled John Cena so mercilessly to take the heavyweight title that reports are that Cena is so banged up and bruised as to make him think of hanging up the tights sometime soon.

Lesnar is painted as almost the devil incarnate in the WWE, and I am sure he is being paid really well to be able to be used at an accelerated rate as he reportedly is now.

In 2014, pro wrestling is as hard to understand as ever.

It remains immensely popular, but it is kind of at a crossroads now.

It doesn't really have one figure that will draw the casual fan to watch it, or pay for it.

The WWE's stock recently took a tumble when potentially lucrative deals fell through, and the WWE Network is an enigma in itself, a great idea that a lot of people are paying for, but not enough right now to make it a success.

The No. 2 pro wrestling outfit, TNA, is teetering on falling off the face of the earth. Although its product is good, its delivery hasn't resonated with viewers, and Spike TV has reportedly dropped it, but with an interesting stipulation: it won't stop showing it until it finds another TV outlet.

So here we have Lesnar, who might be an ogre to some, but he might actually be the savior of professional wrestling if everything reported out there is true.

He is the one wrestling personality who can draw people to the WWE's shows, and now that he is supposedly in the fold, things seem to be looking up for the WWE and pro wrestling in general.

And as his manager, Paul Heyman, often says, the star of the show is ...

BR ... ROCK LESNAR!

Rant #2,432: Color Him Father

Father's Day comes up this weekend, and it will certainly be like no Father's Day we have ever celebrated.

We will have get togethers, but they will be smaller and more intimate than ever before--more intimate as we socially distance ourselves from each other.

We will have barbecues, and in certain areas, we will be able to go to our favorite restaurants to honor the man of the house.

And in other circumstances, we will mourn those men who were our fathers, and are no longer with us.

I am super lucky. My father is still alive and well, lives at home, and we will be able to enjoy the day with him.

But what about the fathers that are still with us who we cannot celebrate the day with?

I am specifically talking about those fathers who are in nursing homes and veterans homes, and who have been secluded away for months because of the dangers of the coronavirus.

And yes, it is impacting my family.

My father-in-law resides in the Veterans Home in Stony Brook, Long Island, and we have not seen him since February.

The home, like many such venues, was completely devastated by the coming of the pandemic, and we have not been allowed to see him since it hit, and still cannot see him in person, because the regulations related to nursing home visitation have not yet been lifted by New York State Governor Cuomo.

Many residents of the home, and numerous workers there, were hit by the coronavirus, and these homes are thought to be literally petri dishes for the disease, hitting our most vulnerable citizens and those who care for them.

We have happily received word that my father-in-law was never infected by the virus, having been checked several times for it and always coming up negative, so that is good, but what is bad is that we have had virtually no contact with him for months.

He does not have a cellphone or a tablet at his disposal--my wife's family has tried to get him to use one or both, but he is not technically savvy and simply can't use these things without a lot of help--and there has been virtually no way to get in contact with him because of this.

One of my brother-in-laws works at Stony Brook Hospital, and he has been keeping tabs on his father, but whether he has actually had any contact with him is unknown to me. But we know he is healthy, at the very least.

But what do we do for Father's Day?

We have asked my wife's brother if he can find out if his father can be provided with a cellphone or more realistically, a tablet just for a few minutes, and perhaps we can set up a Zoom or FaceTime chat with him, with at least his two sons and my wife, his daughter, participating.

It would be nice to get his two grandchildren--my son and my nephew--in on this, too, and sure, I would love to be a part of it too, along with the spouses of his children and the spouse of my nephew, but at this point, we would settle for just his three children speaking to him.

And with various protocols in place, it isn't as easy as it might seem to get this done. We will wait and see what transpires, and I hope we might be able to meet with him via these social media devices this time around.

Actually seeing him in person? Who knows? It might be months before these types of facilities are cleared for visitors, and even when they are, you just know that there will be numerous protocols in place that will govern these meetings.

But that being said, it is Father's Day on Sunday, and I am sure we will all celebrate the day in the best way we know how.

My family is having a backyard barbecue, including my son, my wife, myself and my sister and her husband. One of my nephews may be there, and my daughter has not given a final decision yet on whether she will be there or not. She has told us via text messaging that she is a bit skittish being in groups right now, and I really cannot argue with her at this point, so it is her call.

It should be a fun day, but even with what we are doing, the current pandemic will stifle the usual hugging and kissing and hand shaking that we normally do when we get together, but so be it, at least for this year and the time being.

At least we will be together.

With that being said, what are the greatest "father" songs of all time?

I have made up my own list, and as you will see, some of the songs are quite congratulatory on the role that fathers have in our lives, and some, well, they simply are just the opposite.

But in one way or another, they celebrate "fatherdom" in their own ways, and their inclusion on this list was not only necessary, but mandatory.

So here goes my top 10 "fathers" songs, I guess you could say, "for better or worse":

Winstons - Color Him Father
Temptations - Papa Was a Rolling Stone
Shep and the Limelites - Daddy's Home
Madonna - Papa Don't Preach
Giorgio - Son of My Father
Cat Stevens - Matthew and Son
George Michael - Father Figure
Dusty Springfield - Son of a Preacher Man
Wayne Newton - Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast
Mike Douglas - The Men In My Little Girl's Life

These are in random order, although I think the top three that I have here are the top three "daddy" songs of them all, personally. The other ones you can mix and match, include or discard, and honestly, I don't really even like some of these songs, but they belong on at least a master "daddy" song list, at the very least.

So there you have it. It hasn't been easy for me being a father for the past 32 years, but I have managed to enjoy it, embrace it, and totally love it, even with all the pitfalls it has brought me.

And I am sure that every father would echo my sentiment 1,000 percent.

This is my final blog entry for the week. I have an important and very-early-in-the-day eye doctor appointment tomorrow, so I am going to take the day off from writing this column to attend to that appointment, which has been a year in the making.

So in my absence, have a great Father's Day and a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.

Winstons - Color Him Father (1969)
no rights granted; from the site Lyrics: https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/23360930/The+Winstons/Color+Him+Father

"There's a man at my house he's so big and strong
He goes to work each day, stays all day long
He comes home each night looking tired and beat
He sits down at the dinner table and has a bite to eat
Never a frown always a smile
When he says to me how's my child
I've been studying hard all day in school
Tryin' to understand the golden rule

Think I'll color this man father
I think I'll color him love
Said I'm gonna color him father
I think I'll color the man love, yes I will

He says education is the thing if you want to compete
Because without it son, life ain't very sweet
I love this man I don't know why
Except I'll need his strength till the day that I die
My mother loves him and I can tell
By the way she looks at him when he holds my little sister nell
I heard her say just the other day
That if it hadn't been for him she wouldn't have found her way
My real old man he got killed in the war
And she knows she and seven kids couldn't of got very far
She said she thought that she could never love again
And then there he stood with that big wide grin
He married my mother and he took us in
And now we belong to the man with that big wide grin

Think I'll color this man father
I think I'll color him love
Said I'm gonna color him father
I think I'll color the man love, yes I will"

Classic Rant #1,281 (September 3, 2014): The Naked Truth

I almost have to laugh at those stupid, and I mean really stupid, Hollywood actresses who are now crying foul over the fact that nude pictures of them that were taken for supposedly private use have been made public.

Hackers got these photos off a cloud, which is basically a storage device which can be used to store, access and post data from computers, tablets, and phones.

Somehow and for whatever reason, these photos were stored on the cloud--actually, grounded super computers which can hold massive amounts of data--and hackers got wind of them and were able to access them, putting them up for everyone to see.

Among the hackees are Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence and blond bombshell Kate Upton.

But you know, I have to laugh at this aspect of what amounts to a serious breach that goes way beyond these photos.

Look, these are adults. If they want to take nude and/or compromising photos of themselves for their boyfriends or husbands or for themselves, that is fine.

But in the old days, they would whip out their Polaroid camera, take their photos, give them to their loved ones, and they would probably end up in a drawer somewhere, for their eyes only.

Today, with digital photography, taking a picture is just so easy, and the storage of these photos is another concern.

Rather than keep them on their cameras, or on their own personal computers, these photos ended up on a cloud, which is tantamount to putting these photos up on a town bulletin board.

Didn't these ladies realize that once the photos were put up on the Internet--even on a cloud--that they were open to be compromised?

What's on the Internet stays on the Internet, forever, and it becomes public, whether you want it that way or not.

And I just love their "innocent" harangues about this, pleading being the victim here and wondering how the photos got where they were.

Please, don't further show your own vain, ego-driven stupidity by opening up your mouth without dialogue written for you. You have shown how dumb you really are, and yes, a job at McDonald's is waiting for you if you ever need it.

So these photos, which might have been taken rather innocently to please their mates, are now fodder for everyone to see.

And that is something that I can really laugh about, how stupid these people were in doing what they did and storing these photos the way they did.

However, the more serious topic here is not these nude photos--which, of course, is so important in today's world, where celebrities are put on pedestals that are so high that they don't know when to get off of them--but the actual breach that these hackers caused.

Sure, photos like this are evidently stored on clouds, but so is medical data, social security information, personal information and the like.

If hackers can get nude photos off the cloud, then they almost certainly can get, let's say, medical records that your doctor put on the cloud, they can get your social security number that is being stored there, they can get other personal information that companies have stored there.

So it is way more important than nude photos; it is the breach of these clouds to get to more personal information that you don't even know is being stored there.

Sure, the experts says that passwords need to be made more involved and longer to thwart the hackers, but again, once it is on the Internet, it is open for anyone to hack and anyone to get, so that is far from being a solution.

It appears that once again when it has to do with the Internet, we have put the cart before the horse.

We have created a storage device without also creating a way to fully protect it from being compromised, if that even is something that can be actually done.

So watch what you put up on the Internet, even in storage, because if someone really wants it, they will get it.

And to all of us who are subject to having our personal data compromised, well, heaven help us all, because that information is out there for the hackers to get if they want to get it, whether we like it or not.

Rant #2,431: Over and Over

Well, I received my weekly stipend from the New York State Department of Labor, so I can stave off retirement for at least another week.

I am not going to go into chapter and verse about the reasons I got what I got, or why the website has contradictory information on it that can make one's head spin. (See graphics below, all from the NYS DOL site.)

But whatever the case, I guess I am still on the dole, and while I don't like to be where I am one bit, it is not for lack of trying, and I will keep at it until the end, even though at this point, all that I am doing is banging my head against the wall, if not right through it.

That situation is bad enough, but the situation with sports in America today, amid a pandemic and rampant unemployment and other unhappiness, is simply the pits, even for non-sports fans who just want us to get back to whatever "normal" is or can be.

Case in point is Major League Baseball, who can't get out of its own way to have its two sides--the owners and the players--agree on anything at this point.

Things are so bad between these two warring factions that I will bet they couldn't agree on who the first president of our country was if they were asked.

Being such a baseball fan as I am, I actually did something I had not done in decades. I actually had the audacity to call sports radio to air my views of what is going on with baseball, and yes, I actually got through to one of the most popular sports radio shows on the planet.

I called the Michael Kay Show on ESPN Radio to air my views. If you know me, I generally hate sports radio. It tends to be a "my pop is better than your pop" environment, where participants stumble over themselves trying to show how smart and knowledgable they really are, and I have never been a fan of this format.

But on occasion, I do watch the Michael Kay Show, hosted by the New York Yankees venerable play-by-play announcer, on the Yankees' YES Network, and I have been tuning in here and there to hear what they have to say about baseball and what is happening to our National Pastime.

Yesterday, I got so fed up with the carping and the yelling and the screaming and the accusations between both sides that I actually called up the show, and after about a 45 minute wait, was put through to Kay and his two cohorts, Peter Rosenberg and Don LaGreca.

I have no tape or video of what I said--if anyone has it, please contact me--but the gist of what I said is that both sides are right, both sides are wrong, but in the midst of what is gong on today--millions of people out of work while we battle a pandemic that seems to be endless--their carping over money is a huge turnoff, in particular to me, being out of work and such.

I told them quickly--I was on for two or three minutes tops--that I have been out of work since October, have been a huge baseball fan since I was eight years old in 1965, and I would have more respect for each side if they were arguing over how to handle the coronavirus rather than how to handle millions of dollars.

I said that what message is that sending out to me--our of work for more than eight months, with absolutely no hope of ever finding a job, worried about my finances and just basically in a holding pattern?

Michael Kay told me point blank that while he completely agreed with me, that the owners and players don't care about people like me, and he is correct, of course. If they did, they would already be playing baseball NOW.

As my time ended and they were moving over to the next segment, he asked me a question: "Larry if they had a 50-game schedule, even with the way you are feeling, and if you were able to, would you watch the games?"

And I said to him, "Yes, I would, because I am a sucker."

And that ended that.

And I guess I would.

I have become such a sucker for punishment lately, that I would love for there to be baseball to watch, and being sort of a "sucker hypocrite," I would watch the game I love even if the stench coming from it was worse than from the local garbage dump.

And talking about garbage dumps, earlier in the day, it was announced that the just about brand spanking new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum was perhaps closing for good, because the owner has decided it is not worth keeping open and operating right now, what with the pandemic and large debt hanging over its head.

The owner wants to sell the venue and have the new owner take over not only the operation of the arena but the tremendous debt that it has--who in their right mind, even with deeper pockets than the Grand Canyon, would take over such a mess, in particular during this horrid period we are going through now?

There is way more to this story than that, but the fact is that this project--which will certainly go down in history, no matter what happens to it, as one of the greatest white elephants we have ever seen--was obsolete before the first hoe hit the ground in its rebuilding/refurbishment or whatever you want to call it.

The arena, originally designed as a major league sports venue to house major league basketball and hockey, was state of the art in its time--the early 1970s--but was allowed to vegetate by its various owners over the years, and became what amounted to a third-class arena in a major league market.

And then, through its link with the brand new Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn, it was reborn as a companion venue, which would serve the market as a minor league arena showcasing lower-level sports and concerts and other attractions.

It was downsized, and was supposed to be the hub venue of the emerging Nassau Hub, a major expanse that would site not only a sports arena, but other venues related to technology. medicine and yes, even retail and housing.

That was the vision, but in reality, the Nassau Hub became the Nassau Flub because its hub center, the Nassau Coliseum, was so ill conceived and poorly planned.

Few came to the Coliseum to see any of the sports events--including minor league basketball and professional lacrosse--and while the music concerts and professional wrestling shows brought out the fans in droves, it was to a minor league arena, whose entire purpose for being was already usurped by the newer, swankier Barclays Center, which operated in the suddenly very hip borough of Brooklyn.

The Coliseum became the poor stepsister to the Barclays Center, but there was a ray of hope--the New York Islanders franchise was playing some games at its old stomping grounds in Nassau County, and the team was welcomed with open arms there, unlike in Brooklyn, where the arena was not really built for hockey and the populace showed disinterest.

All was still fine and good when it was announced that the venerable Belmont Park would be the site of what the Islanders wanted all along, an arena for themselves that they could really call home, and even when digging started at the site, the Nassau Coliseum still had a reason for being, as the Islanders would play their home games there while it waited for the Belmont venue to rise from the ground.

The intentions were good, the Nassau Coliseum could still serve in disinterest with at least one sterling tenant, and its future sounded OK, if not great.

The Nassau Hub was still gurgling in its formation, but with the economy at its peak performance, it would only be a matter of time that this hub and its own hub facility would be solvent and a force to come not only at the present, but for years to come.

But then the pandemic hit us out of nowhere, throwing a curve ball to everything in its path.

Arenas and stadiums around the country went dark, and the Nassau Coliseum became the afterthought that it was really from the beginning of its refurbishment.

Things happened both before the pandemic and after it--Barclays Center was sold, and the deal did not include the Nassau Coliseum, so the two entities basically parted ways--and the Coliseum stood empty as the first hoe went into the ground for a similar, better planned venue just 10 miles away from its address.

The owner of the Nassau Coliseum saw the writing on the wall--no way to generate any income from it during the pandemic, mounting debt, and nothing to draw anybody to it today or in the future--and decided to throw in the towel, and yesterday was the day.

The building is only three years old, the Nassau Hub is really the Nassau Flub, and politicians are jumping over themselves making excuses and stating that the arena--one of the biggest political footballs in American history since it opened in the early 1970s--will survive even this latest onslaught.

They say that because the future of the Nassau Hub depends on its survival and existence, but the fact of the matter is that the arena was obsolete before it was redone, and is even more obsolete--and unnecessary--now that the Belmont Park arena is rising from the ground.

How stupid the politicians were for counting on this venue to survive as a minor league, at best second string outlet, and it proves once again that the pandemic has not only destroyed peoples' lives, it has also destroyed things that have no heartbeat.

My career, Nassau Coliseum and Major League Baseball aren't in rubble yet, but they are all heading in that sorry direction.

Can any one of these be saved?