This and That…

      What’s going on? Good bad and ugly. this week’s blog post is a look at what’s going on… They say truth is stranger than fiction and some of these stories you could never even dream up even if you were the best fiction writer of all times let’s go!

     The race for Mayor of New York is on and it’s very interesting to me. It’s hard to believe that a communist could be leading the leading candidate. That’s pretty sad and when you look at the three candidates opposing the communist you can sort of see why. Let’s look at the communist, Zohran Mamdani. He really has very little experience to prepare him to be the Mayor of one of world’s largest and most prominent cities. Zohran has very little experience at any real job. He did do a stint in the New York State  assembly from the 36th district in Queens, but his record is very poor.  He has worked as a housing counselor and as a hip-hop musician. Mondami comes from a wealthy family. His mother works in the entertainment industry, and he has done some work with her. His father is a college professor. Zohran does get for getting out there, meeting young New Yorkers and utilizing social media to garner attention. As a neighbor growing up used to say, “what does he bring to the party?” Answer, “Not Much.”

     The opposing candidates taking on the communist are, Andrew Cuomo, former governor of New York, an attorney, and probably the most experienced of all the candidates. However, he lost much credibility both in his state and nationally as to how he handled the Covid situation. His father was a very well respected politician, Mario Cuomo and former governor of New York as well. The second candidate is the incumbent Eric Adams. Adam is a former police officer and police chief. He gets credit for trying,and he most certainly knows the plight of the city, having worked in law enforcement,  but he has had many obstacles to deal with as the current mayor. Third candidate opposing the communist is Curtis, Sliwa, running as a Republican. Curtis has been a well known name in New York City for decades.  He started The Guardian Angles program in New York City. The Guardian Angels is an American nonprofit volunteer organization with a goal of unarmed crime prevention. The group was founded in 1979 in New York City by Sliwa.  Curtis is a man who likes the attention and notoriety. He has made news both good and has been married four times.  Of the three opposing candidates I would say that Curtis is the biggest cheerleader for New York City, having lived in New York his whole life. Really that’s what a mayor is, they set the tone for the city. We all saw a Rudy Giuliani and brought the city together in the days, months and years following September 11, 2021.  Giuliani was also responsible for cleaning up the crime he inherited when he first became mayor of New York in 1994.  At that time, the city was so dangerous and he started a policy of arresting criminals for even the smallest offenses, like breaking a window. The philosophy was that those people who create the small crimes graduate up to the bigger crimes. It worked and New York became a much safer city, which helped the city prosper even more with more tourism and business coming to the city since it was safer. That’s the situation with New York right now. There’s a lot of crime, and criminals are released back onto the streets. New York needs a mayor that will tackle the crime problem and back the police department. In my opinion, the communist would be easy to beat if the three opposing candidates came together and decided who would run and the other two would need to strongly back the other, with each taking a prominent roll in the victor’s administration. I don’t know if that’s possible I think all three of these men have very big egos.  Of the three I would say that Adam’s is probably the most humble. Cuomo did not put enough energy into running against Zohran in the primary, and so he lost to him.  He is now running as an independent, as is the current mayor, Eric Adams.

  Zohran is young, good looking and charismatic.  His policies are enticing to young people who are feeling that  their future looks looks dire. Free housing, health/childcare and government grocery stores look attractive when you have lots of college debt and the prospect of ever owning a house looks unlikely.  This is why Mondami looks good to them.  They see how expensive living in New York City is and they think that this is their answer.  He is very well spoken, either it is a gift or he has been coached. His eloquence comes from that and not from experience.  

     Hoping Cuomo, Adams and Sliwa can paint of picture of live under Mandami’s philosophy.  Those who pay the taxes may just depart from the Big Apple if a communist takes over and takes more or their money and tax dollars with them, to a city with less restrictions and “tax the rich’ mentality, when they are already paying some of the highest taxes in the country. He doesn’t believe there should be billionaires (who creates jobs and pays the taxes?)  Wake up New York City…

     Justice Janine Pierro is a former judge, prosecutor and the current United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Janine is tough, smart, sharp and very wise. She speaks from experience and knows the law.  I watched her press conference on the charges against the man who shot and killed the young couple at the Jewish center in Washington DC.  Near the end of the press conference, the attorney general spoke about the need to come down hard on the criminals and that her department WILL prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. Washington DC and other major cities are overwhelmed with crime. Many criminals, some juveniles get by. I agree. There is no deterrent so the crimes continue.  The larger problem is that kids are unsupervised or the parents don’t have the skills to raise them.  Unsupervised kids are more likely to get into trouble. The larger question is what can we do to deter the kids from a life of crime. Sports and other interests available to kids will keep their bodies and minds interested and engaged. In the mean time, strict sentences for crimes and consequences are absolutely necessary.    Hats off the Janine Piero,  Pam Bondi, the U.S. Attorney General and her Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights for the Department of Justice, Harmeet Dhillon,  for who are doing all they can do to try to make cities safe and criminals pay for their actions, no matter who they are…

     Gustavo Dudamel.  I saw a video of of him conducting Itzhak Perlman and an  orchestra playing the theme to “Schindler’s List.”  What passion in his conducting.  When I saw the clip, I first thought that the conductor might be Itzhak’s son, which prompted further reading.  He was born in Barquisimeto, Lara Venezuela In 1981, the year I graduated from high school.  He grew up in a very musical family, his father a trombone player, mom a voice teacher, grandparents musical as well.  What touched me in the interview was that he said how honored he is to conduct and work with the talented musicians he works with.  He said that conducting, for him, starts there, with respect for the talented musicians in front of him.  I liked that from a leader. Among his largest gigs are the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 2026 he will become the conductor New York Philharmonic.  He excelled in music from a music program from an early age in the public schools, The famous Venezuelan social action music programme, El Sistema, initially learning the violin.  From there he learned to compose.  Later he attended the Jacinto Lara Conservatory.  How cool!  What accomplishment he has for such a young man of forty-four years….

     If you are on social media, you may have come across a handsome, common sense, maybe a little sassy family law attorney, James Saxton.  I follow him. Some may call him blunt, but I like listening to him. He often discusses the problems that get a couple to The point of divorce.  The topic that caught my attention this week was “Don’t Forget the Plot” as in don’t forget why you got married.  Yes the job, the kids, the other responsibilities are important, but also is the reason you got married. You fell in love with this person, you were attracted to them and you couldn’t imagine your life without them.  That’s the plot.  When you loose the plot, you loose interest and one of you may look elsewhere to find the plot-I’m paraphrasing here, but that’s what I got. Something to work on this week…

     The Sydney Sweeney American Eagle commercial and ads. I did not know who she was until last week. What a pretty girl was my first thought. Actually no, that was not my first thought.  The first photos I saw of her were the ones with the old Ford Mustang. THAT’s what got my attention, as in “oh the cute girl girl with the old light blue Mustang. My dream car would be a convertible red 1966 or ‘67 Ford Mustang.  What a great car and I like the story of Lee Iacocca and that car. Back to Sydney.  I don’t understand the problem.  Pretty girls and blue jeans are nothing new. Pretty sells.  I clearly remember the Brooke Shields commercials of the 80s, the Calvin Klein. They were more suggestive than these. Beyoncé has done jeans commercials.  The stupid stuff people are saying makes no sense.  As an older friend of mine would say, “Pass the Mashed Potatoes”.  Those who have a problem a pretty woman or a successful woman, must be jealous.  My response to the naysayers would be, “go find something that makes you happy and successful, rather than wasting energy hating.”  What a waste of time…

     Gerrymandering.  I clearly remembered this lesson from Mr. Trembly’s United States History class in tenth grade.  What a fascinating lesson to me that people could actually draw lines for election districts for the state senate seat in Massachusetts, during Governor Eldridge Gerry-hence the name GERRYmandering.  Governor Gerry signed the bill in 1812. Incidentally, Gerry was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a two term member of the House of Representatives, Governor of Massachusetts and U.S. Vice-President under James Madison, back then, the VP was the runner up in the election, imagine that today, with Hillary being Donald Trump’s VP or Trump being Biden’s VP or Kamala being Trump’s VP.  Imagine how you would feel and how that would work. Anyway, all that to Eldridge Gerry’s bio and he is most remembered for the not so noble tactic as Gerrymandering.  

     Anyway, Gerrymandering is in the new this week because the Texas State Legislature is having a hard time getting all of their members to show up to vote on redistricting.  The republican governor, Greg Abbott, is calling the legislature into session for this among other topics, pertinent to Texas residents, such as dealing with the aftermath of the floods earlier this summer.  Some of the democratic members have taken chartered private jets to Chicago, New York and Massachusetts to ‘protest’ the redistricting. Actually what they have done, is to bring to the national spotlight the topic of gerrymandering.  It is legal and has been used throughout history, probably by both parties. However, if you look at the maps of several states, the current boundaries, benefit the democrats.  On some of these maps, there is no rhyme or reason to the boundaries.  Look at Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, or even California.  When you see how many representatives these states have, based on their population, the numbers don’t add up.  Read up on this and you’ll see what I am talking about. This may even lead to some updating on voting rolls when the dead people are accounted for and illegals who have voted are no longer in the country.  An influx of illegal immigrants shuffled and redistributed around the country where they are needed to ‘jack up’ population numbers for a census most certainly benefits someone.  Taking a ‘deep dive’ into these measures, maybe be fruitful in making sure that our legislature is made up of the Americans they represent. Who knows, there may be “no there, there,” but taking a look under the hood may at least make sure that things are done by the book.  Had these Texas legislatures not made a big deal about this, it might not have brought it to our attention.  They may have opened a can of worms they will have wished they had not…

     Wasn’t it refreshing to see all of those young people in Rome last week!?  Young people are taking their faith seriously and it’s good to see.  They say church/synagogue attendance is up. Churches and Synagogues took a big hit during covid.  People got used to not going or staying at home and watching from their living room.  I watched several clips of the event in Rome…

    Lastly, Jared Allen’s acceptance speech at the Football Hall of Fame last weekend was very inspiring. He gave credit to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and said that the most important job he will have in his life is being the Dad to his two daughters.  The speech prompted me to read more about Jared. He has not had a smooth ride to a place in the Football Hall of Fame. Shenanigans in high school caused him to loose his original scholarship to the University of Washington.  He was about to earn a spot on the Idaho State team. He has had much success on the field and some ups and downs off their field.  However, a strong faith and marrying the right woman has helped him navigate his life. The lesson here is that even the someone who seems to have it all has bumps in the road, none of us are perfect. Getting up from a fall or set back is the most important thing and not letting the hiccups in life define us.  Who hasn’t had a set back or bump in the road?  Even with the detours in Jared’s life, he was able to put them behind him and push forward. What a good example for us all…

     Is there anything more interesting than people and human behavior?  No.  Remember when the major networks each had a soap opera or two? Or remember the Spanish Novellas?  Well who needs those when there is all this drama going on all around us? It does make for interesting reading and may inspire additional topics and reading. You learn something new everyday, or at least I try to…Makes for many…Great Days 🌼