Rant #2,924: Bits and Pieces

So what do I write about today?
 
Do I write about happy matters, or do I write about things that are bothersome?
 
When I have such a decision to make, it sure is nice to have “Bits and Pieces” in my toolbox.
 
Here, I am going to give coverage to topics that need to be spoken about, but not in a Rant-wide column.
 
So here goes—
 
Smithtown Library Returns LGBTQ Display To Children’s Section: They did this in a decision made yesterday, because they were going to be probed for civil rights violtions,and if you don’t know the story, here it is.
 
Smithtown is a town on Long Island, and like most towns out here,, they have their own public library.

 
And like most politically correct and woke areas that shouldn’t be that way to begin with, the library decided to put up LGBTQ displays in its various sections highlighting Pride Month this month.
 
The problem is that this included putting such displays up in the children’s section, a section geared to young children who wouldn’t know a gay person from a straight one, and they are way too young to grasp onto such concepts thrust on them by adults who want to take away their childhoods.
 
So weighing the benefits versus the negatives, the library board decided that the children’s section of a library is not the place to be thrusting sexuality onto the little ones, and they took down the display.
 
Books that were highlighted in this display were kept in the library and available to the little ones if they … rather their parents … wanted to take them out.
 
Based on original news reports, parents in the district applauded the removal, not because they did not feel that this group deserved such honors but because they did not want their young children sexualized with concepts that were far beyond their understanding at this age.
 
But then the governor’s office got wind of this, and in this election year, she got hysterical, LGBTQ groups—nothing but political groups themselves spreading their message that they should be accepted for their sexuality and little else—felt their rights were violated, even though the display was nothing but an indoctrination tool--and New York State planned on launching an investigation by state Human Rights officials, and so the library gave in, and restored the display to the library’s reading rooms for kids.

No other such LGBTQ displays were involved, and they remained where they were throughout the library.
 
Initial news reports that I saw—in particular on News 12, the local Long Island news channel—found that parents backed the original plan. Again, they were not against the aims and goals of the LGBTQ community, but simply found that little kids of four and five years old were not mature enough at this age to handle such topics.
 
Then funny, as the day went on, News 12 re-edited the original report, splicing in dissenting viewpoints to what the majority of parents they interviewed told them in the first place.
 
Again, the media presents pretty much what they want you to hear and see and read, not the real news, so News 12, in particular, twisted the news to fit their own agenda.
 
Anyway, the display has been returned and restored, apologies have been made, and parents can only roll their eyes at all of this, because shouldn’t they be the true arbiters of what their children experience as children?
 
And why can’t we just let kids be kids?
 
Because politics always prevail, and I hope the LGBTQ community is happy that they kind of won this battle … but you win a battle, you lose the war, and when you completely define yourself only by your sexuality and nothing else, you have clearly lost the war.
 
The Yankees Continue to Win: I have to tell you, I keep waiting for the bubble to finally pop, but as a New York Yankees fan since my first game at the old Stadium exactly 57 years ago in 1965, this bubble appears to be ready for the long haul—the World Series.
 
Sure, we are only 70 games into the 2022 MLB baseball season, but the Bronx Bombers are dumping A-Bombs on the entire MLB landscape with a 52-18 record, putting them more than a dozen games ahead of the second-place Toronto Blue Jays in their division.
 
They are winning games that they should be losing, as yesterday’s game against the hated Houston Astros—a team that still bears the stench of the cheating scandal from a few seasons ago that directly impacted the Yankees—so clearly demonstrated.
 
Down 6-3 in the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees put men on base as the crowd started to sizzle again after several innings of dormancy.
 
Aaron Hicks, a guy who at this point is having a bad season, came up to the plate, and based on his hitting this season, you really had to think that not much would happen.
 
Well, he rose to the occasion of a “new hero every day,” swatting a three-run homer to tie the score.
 
A few batters later, Aaron Judge—who is having an incredible Most Valuable Player-type season with his contract up in the air for next season—gave the fans something more to cheer about as he drove in the winning run, and the Yankees had another walk-off, come-from-behind win.
 
Honestly, I did not think the team was this good this year, but they have exceeded everyone’s expectations.
 
In fact, a New York Mets fan—rooting for a team that is also having a special season—recently lamented to me that “it figures” that the Mets are having a great season this year, “because the Yankees are having such an incredible year that the Mets’ season isn’t getting the hype that it deserves.”
 
And he is right … and the steamroll continues …
 
So there you have it, the good with the bad and the bad with the good.
 
Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.