Rant #2,860: You Talk Too Much

“This is about putting New York City-based performers on a level playing field. Day One when I was mayor I looked at the rule that stated hometown players had an unfair disadvantage. Unimaginable. We were treating our performers differently because they lived and played for home teams. It's not acceptable.”
— New York City Mayor Eric Adams during his news conference rescinding the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for the city’s professional athletes and performers, later talking about the economic boost such an action would bring to New York City as full teams would be fielded, not teams where players are not allowed to play because of their shot status, and how much money such a "level playing field" would bring into New York City coffers.
 
“Performers, athletes — mostly rich people — don’t have to show proof of vaccination to do their jobs in New York City, and I’m pressing back on that: how come not for the little guy? How come not for teachers, firefighters, police officers, so many of us that are on unpaid leave or lost our jobs.”
—  Michael Kane, who taught in the New York City public school system until October, when his non-compliance with the New York City vaccination mandate cost him his job.
 
“If the mandate isn’t necessary for famous people, then it’s not necessary for the cops who are protecting our city.”
— Patrick J. Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association
 
“If the rules are going to be suspended, particularly for people with influence, then the UFT and other city unions are ready to discuss how exceptions could be applied to city workers.”
— Alison Gendar, a spokesman with the United Federation of Teachers
 
Journalism 101: never start off a story with a quote, unless the quote is substantial to the context of the story.
 
Well, I broke that rule, and I broke that rule pretty good here, because I had four quotes that I picked up from various news sources leading off my story, a story that is a continuation of yesterday’s story about New York City Mayor Eric Adams partial rescinding of the already idiotic “vaccination” mandate covering New York City workers.
 
He is exempting professional athletes and performers from this mandate, yet common people like cops, firefighters, hospital workers and teachers are still governed by the mandate.
 
About 1,400 such workers have lost their jobs because of this, and while I don’t believe that these workers were very smart in putting themselves into such a position—in fact, now more than ever, I believe that they are imbeciles—the mayor’s stance is completely idiotic, and clearly demonstrates that common folk don’t matter, but rich people do.
 
Reporter Marcia Kramer from the flagship CBS station in New York City asked the mayor about this disparity, and he double-talked her into near submission, not addressing the athletes vs. common folk dilemma that this can of worms has opened up, but put it in an athlete vs. athlete dilemma instead.
 
He stated to her that it was unfair for the city to allow athletes from out of town teams to play in city arenas if they haven’t been jabbed, and not fair to city athletes who haven’t gotten their shots to not be able to play.
 
But through the other side of his very big mouth, the mayor reiterated that he will not hire back the 1,400 workers who lost their jobs ue to their stance on not getting the shot(s), nor will he hire back others who are about to lose their jobs after they lost their hearings on things such as religious exemptions.
 
So, of course, this doesn’t answer the question she put to him, but, well, that is a politician for you.
 
When asked by others why the rich and famous appear to be getting a bye from rules and regulations governing others, Adams said that it wasn’t only the rich and famous that were getting this exemption, stating that “even your local comedian in your local club” would be getting this exemption.
 
So he is basically saying that if all the cops who were fired became comedians on the side, they could both make people laugh and keep their jobs.
 
Huh?
 
But here is a very clear bottom line here, as if anyone with a brain in their head doesn’t already know this:
 
• Yes the coronavirus exists, it is not going away, and we just have to learn to deal with it with the weapons we now have in our arsenal.
 
• Those city workers who put themselves into such a circumstance by their refusal to get their shot(s) continue to be imbeciles for doing so, because not only didn’t they really think about what they were doing and how it would impact their futures, but they have been dealing with two mayors—both Adams and his predecessor, Bill deBlasio—who are both not grounded in any reality whatsoever—and they should have known that before making such a life-changing decision.
 
• The handling of COVID-19 on all levels of government--from the get-go—has been tainted by greed and corruption, period. To have shut down a world for two years, as we did, which gave time for those to profit off of this to do so, was never grounded “in the science” as we have been told by the president, federal,  state and local governments, the medical community, and others; it has been nothing but a money grab, a way to control the population, a way to bring up supposed disparities, and a way to pit one American against another ... and a way to make money for pharmaceutical companies and others.
 
You can bet that there are going to be lawsuits flying all over the place now that the decision has been made that selfish people like Kyrie Irving are more important to the lifeblood of New York City than the police are, and rightfully so.
 
If I lost my job because of this idiocy, you bet I would want my union to sue, and if I was an individual, I just might launch a lawsuit myself.
 
But there is another bottom line here that no one will mention, but I will:
 
• You get what you pay for, New York City voters.
 
This is who you voted into office to be your mayor.
 
How did you not learn anything from voting in—twice—Bill deBlasio, probably the worst mayor in the city’s history?
 
Sorry, you brought all of this onto yourself, and in dong so, you made all the cops, firefighters, hospital workers and teachers and others who have lost their jobs because of this idiotic mandate into nothing more than collateral damage.
 
You have yourselves to blame, and no one else.
 
Period.
 
Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday. 

Rant #2,859: Money Changes Everything

Once again, proving that protocols in place during the pandemic do not go “by the science” as many say, but by who can make a profit off of them, New York City’s lattest decision about home athletes that are not inoculated against the virus rings of “k-ching, k-ching,” and nothing else.
 
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is supposed to make the announcement today that players on home teams based in New York City, and entertainers who come to the city to perform, are exempt from the "vaccination" mandate, that basically says that those who work in the city, and who come into contact with at least one other person, must have either the two-shot Moderna or Pfizer shots or the one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot in order to keep their jobs.
 
Due to this mandate, thousands of city workers who refused to get their shots were fired from their jobs, could not collect unemployment, and basically gave up their careers because they would not get the shot(s).
 
Fine and good. I personally thought these people were imbeciles for giving up all of their hard work because they refused to get the shots, and I still feel that way.
 
However, a major monkey wrench has been thrown into that thinking--and my thinking too-- with the mayor’s impending announcement.
 
Now, home team athletes—those from the Knicks, Nets, Yankees, Mets, Rangers and the soccer teams that call the city home—are going to be exempt from this idiotic mandate, which has been idiotic from the get go simply because it allowed players from teams outside the city who were not inoculated to play in New York City arenas.
 
So, if you played for, let’s say, the Boston Celtics, and your team came into Madison Square Garden or Barclays Center to play, and you were not inoculated, you could play in those arenas, but the Brooklyn Nets’ Kyrie Irving—the poster boy for the complete imbecility of this mandate-and the true selfishness of these players—could not play because he didn’t get his shot(s).
 
The mandate made no sense, but I am sure it made even less sense to your police, fire and hospital workers who refused to get the shots and lost their jobs in the process.
 
Irving never lost his job, he simply lost the ability to play in New York City arenas, so he wasn’t unemployed, he still brought home a paycheck, and was still a part of the Brooklyn Nets organization even though his stance completely fouled up the organization this season as it maneuvered to cover for him while he wasn’t able to play versus when he was able to play while on the road.
 
Adams’ ruling not only is not “for the science” and completely “for the green,” but it dovetails into two important sports happenings where the city can make lots of money with all of its star athletes able to compete.
 
The NBA is ready to dovetail from its regular season to its playoff season, and the Nets—although they have faltered this season with Irving in and out of the lineup—are probably going to the playoffs.
 
This means that with Irving not having to worry about the mandate anymore, he can play in not only the very important final games of the regular season, he can play in all of the playoff games, games that bring plenty of money into New York City coffers.
 
And let’s not forget that the baseball season begins in early April, and reports are that there were several players on the New York Yankees and New York Mets who never got their shots, including some big names.
 
So without the exemption, these players would not be able to play in Yankee Stadium or CitiField, and yes, the more fannies in the seats bring more cash into New York City.
 
What is even worse about this thing is that Adams—unlike several of his predecessors—is an unabashed sports fan, and is a big fan of the Nets and the Mets.
 
His mandate exemption allows Irving to play, and allows many Mets—one of the few teams in baseball last year that did not reach the minimum 75 percent level of "vaccinated" players and personnel that the league asked its teams for—to play without getting their shots.
 
None of these athletes lost their jobs and their livelihoods because they did not get their shots, so once again, we are putting the rich and famous on a pedestal above us common folk, and it is just so wrong, a true money grab that goes against every supposed scientific principle that we are using to measure the pandemic.
 
And let me tell you, if I was a New York City worker who lost my job because I did not get my shot(s), I would be calling my lawyer today and suing the city to get my job back, with full back pay and other money to placate me in the months since I lost my job.
 
You can bet that the unions covering these workers will be looking into what they legal avenues are, I will bet that there will be plenty of lawsuits covering just about everyone who lost their job because of this, simply because why are athletes and entertainers put on a pedestal versus the real heroes of the pandemic, such as hospital workers and cops?
 
Why are athletes and entertainers thought to be more important than these people, which is basically what Adams is saying related to the enforcement of the mandate, which was an idiotic mandate to begin with?
 
Adams has previously stated that whatever happens with this mandate, the fired workers would not be rehired, because he believes they left their jobs themselves by not getting the shots—in other words, it was their decision to not get the shots, so it was their decision to lose their jobs.
 
I am sure that if Adams goes through with this, he will have reporter after reporter asking him what he would say to the common folk who lost their jobs because they refused to get their shots.
 
And for once, this very talkative mayor might just go mum for that moment, because even he will not admit to the real answer to this question—
 
“K-ching, K-ching.” 

Rant #2,858: Help!

I am going to post an age-old question to you today.
 
The question is this:
 
“Do you ever help a beggar?”
 
More to the point, “Do you ever give money or food to a beggar?”
 
Further, “Is it better to give money or food to a beggar, or to point this person in the right direction?”
 
The basic question, and all the other subquestions, have come up recently where I live, because all of a sudden, out here in affluent suburbia, we are beginning to see more and more people standing on the street in retail areas begging for money, their next meal, and for help in general.
 
Some people go out of their way to help these people by giving them money and food, but most people ignore them, like I do, because quite frankly, I don’t believe a word that they are saying.
 
Sure, there are a lot of unfortunate people out there, and millions of people have lost their jobs since the pandemic began.
 
But funny, I did too, but I never stood on a street corner begging for food or money.
 
I did things the proper way, which was to apply for unemployment insurance, and when that ran out, I admittedly did have a fall back, which was Social Security, and after applying for over 1,000 jobs of all kinds without nary a single positive response, I had to take what I could get, which was to retire.
 
I never begged. Complained, yes ... felt bad about my fate, yes ... felt I got the short end of the stick, yes ... but I never begged.
 
Since the weather has gotten better in my neck of the woods, all of a sudden, we have seen numerous people with signs asking for money and food, and doing so, ironically, right across the street from places that might assist them in getting employment, like supermarkets and department stores.
 
They have big signs stating that they “just lost their jobs” or “I have no food for myself or my family” or “I have nowhere to sleep tonight,” and they stand there asking for money and/or food, of course doing their begging not close enough to the stores so that the stores would throw them off the property, but close enough that you know they are there.
 
Now, as I said, some people give them food and money, which I believe makes these good-hearted people into enablers of the worst kind, sort of like giving a drink to an alcoholic.
 
The problem is that others have seen these people being part of a scam, where they stand in their spot begging for a few hours, and then give up their spot to other people who beg for a few house, who give up their spot …
 
I think you see what I mean.
 
And when they are done with their few hours of “work,” they go right into their late-model cars and whip out their cell phones.
 
The police have been called about this on numerous occasions, but these people still come back, like flies to honey, because they know that they will get what they are asking for.
 
I read the other day that one of these beggars made $800 in a single day of “work,” and I wonder where that money went … and I also wonder how stupid people can actually be at giving them anything, money included.
 
Look, if they are really that desperate and must beg for assistance, there are numerous agencies that can help them.
 
There is unemployment, as I mentioned before, for those who have just lost their jobs. Your employer pays into unemployment with each check you get for your salary, so there should be no problem getting unemployment if you need it.
 
And for those who would have problems getting this, there is always Social Services, for the most destitute of the bunch.
 
Many years ago, after being out of steady work for 18 months—and right in the middle of my divorce … what a horrible time that was for me!—I was pretty much forced to go to Social Services to see if they could help me.
 
I am not saying it was pleasant, but I went there in a suit and tie looking for help.
 
In my case, they decided that since my parents owned a house, I could get money to live on from them, so they rejected me, which was a ridiculous decision, but God looked down at me and right after this, I was finally hired and didn’t have to worry about this nonsense anymore.
 
But it is a resource for our most down-and-out people, and if these people are as down and out as they appear to be, then this might be a place that they should be directed to.
 
And giving them this advice, and pointing these people in the right direction, is way better than giving them money or food, and in the case of what is going on in my neck of the woods, again, I ask the question:
 
“Do you ever help a beggar?”
 
The answer is this:

 
“The best help that you can give them is not money or food, but is to point them in the right direction, because there are numerous agencies that are set up to help them overcome their current circumstances and help them get started in making a better life for themselves and their families.” 

And, of course, this is if they are legit about their situation, which, in the case of what is happening in my community, is highly questionable.

Rant #2,857: Music In My Bones

I told you yesterday about my soda shower incident, which will go down in my own personal history as among the weirdest things that ever happened to me.
 
Now that the soda is all washed out all over my body, I can tell you about a better thing that I did this weekend—and on the very same day, earlier in the day on Sunday.
 
I went to a record show that was held in my community at the local American Legion Hall.
 
I have attended this show before, as the outfit that put on the show has held numerous such shows in my area, and in other areas of Long Island, for the past couple of years.
 
At these shows, you usually have about two dozen vendors showing off their wares—mostly vinyl records—LPs and 45s—but also CDs, DVDs, and a lot of other things, like magazines and T-shirts and things like that.
 
These shows have become very popular, as I see that more and more people are attending.
 
This particular show, which comes every two or three months during the year, had to shut down completely during the pandemic, but has recently revved up again, and I have gone to about two or three of the shows in the past year or so—not every one, but I did do so this past Sunday.
 
When I was younger, I used to go to these things all over the place, and I used to go to the big ones held in Manhattan, where thousands upon thousands of people look over the wares of hundreds of vendors.
 
Those days are over for me for a variety of reasons, so when one of these record shows comes to my area, I kind of argue with myself whether I should go or not, and even if I go, I don’t spend very long in the exhibition hall, maybe 20 minutes or a half hour.

Because the room gets pretty crowded, they require that everyone wear a mask, and they do make sure you have one on when you pay your entrance fee to get in.
 
It gets very warm in the hall as the number of people in there jumps up, so when it gets too tight in there, it is my personal signal to leave with whatever I have.
 
You see all types at these shows—young and old and those in between. Vinyl records are hot right now, so you see plenty of college kids as well as plenty of old fogeys like myself looking through rows and rows of records of all kinds.
 
I put myself on a strict budget—I mean, I paid more than $50 to fill up my gas tank last week—so I can’t buy much, but I find it fun—and often personally rewarding—when I go to these shows and find things I didn’t even think of or knew to even exist.
 
On Sunday, I found the Doors’ picture sleeve that is at the top of this Rant that I had never seen before, so I snapped it up for a good price. I knew it existed, but never actually saw it, so when I saw it and saw the price, that became my first purchase of the day.
 
The Doors are thought of as an album-oriented band, and I do have all of their LPs--even the two without Jim Morrison--and a smattering of singles, so this one became my newest addition.
 
And then I wandered around, looking here and there, and I found a table manned by two Japanese vendors who had an array of Japanese singles that they were trying to sell.
 
I went through what they had, and let me tell you, if I had more money, I could have bought them out—they had some great things to sell on Sunday.
 
I settled on three Monkees’ singles from Japan, singles that I knew existed but which never found their way into my collection, one of which is pictured below.

 
I already have a few of the group’s Japanese singles, so I bought the three that they offered that I did not have, with nice picture inserts—not sleeves—and I bought them at a good price.
 
The Monkees were, and always will be, absolutely hugely popular in Japan, so I am happy with what I purchased, and maybe one day I can get even more of their Japanese singles.
 
These two Japanese vendors also were selling a couple of rows of LPs, and I looked through what they had—and again, I wish I had more money to spend, because they really had some great stuff at good prices.
 
I figured I would buy from them something completely off the wall, so I bought a Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders LP, which features their biggest U.S. hit, “The Game of Love.”

 
Again, I knew that this LP existed, and I wasn’t necessarily looking for it, but yes, off the wall it is.
 
It was then beginning to get a bit busy in there, and I was very warm, so I figured that I had purchased enough, and I left the exhibition hall, pretty happy with what I had in my bag.
 
My time was done there, I went ot my car, and came home.
 
Everyone has their “thing,” and I just find record collecting to be such a relaxing hobby.
 
Little did I know that I would become “soda pop” just a few hours later, but at least the records that I had purchased earlier in the day were safe in the house while I got my shower.
 
And yes, if I can, the next time this show comes to my town, I will hopefully be able to go and see what is there for me to buy.
 
And I hope those two Japanese vendors come back, because I still have business to do with them.