would ya please not stare at me like that

 “It’s just my foolish pride

But sometimes a man must be alone
And this is no place to hide”  (Dylan)

Oh Trump.....what the heck are you doing ? 

again i admit that in the past there has always been a method to his madness, and sometimes i did not know why or where he was going with certain moves.....but in the end they always seemed to work out.....but lately i am not as certain......has he turned into just another swamp creature. ?

last week POTUS disclosed his independently managed accts had  invested 5 million in Spacex through multiple investments....these were the day before he announced his executive order to have the Transportation Sec eliminate or expedite any environmental reviews and remove certain rules for commercial rocket launches.....a few days later he signed a Space Policy memo with a target of 1,000 annual commercial launches.....Great News for Space Ex and the stock jumped....let's be honest....if Biden, Warren or any Dem did this, I would be screaming.

In the past month he rans ads patting himself on the back and celebrating all of his accomplishments , and then at the end of the ad the voiceover proudly stated that these ads were paid for by the US Government.......that's taxpayer dollars......i know he is trying to aggravate the left, but at a time when people are struggling with inflation and govt fraud and wasted $$....this was stupid.......run the ads, but pay for them with campaign funds......if Biden did this we would all be livid...

He also announced a lifting of sanctions on Russia , so that we may purchase their diesel fuel.....that's good for our farmers and commercial trucking  ( eventually) but what does that say about the Russia-Ukraine War ?? did we change sides overnight ?? what message does this send to current or potential allies ?  In fairness, in his follow up yesterday he suggested that Zllinski must go and that Ukraine should chose another President .......he may have a point, but it's not something you expect from your supposed ally.

The latest shooting by ICE will probably be the ticket they ride until the midterms......daily protests at Foley Square and around the country.....the facts no longer matter when it comes to ICE....the MSM smells blood in the water and they will not let up......the fact that this dirtbag was illegal, had a significant rap sheet, and tried to run over ICE agents while his 5 year old kid was in the back seat doesn't matter......he is now a walking, living Saint amongst us to the media.

nice move by Scott Bessent to wish Elizabeth Warren a Happy Indigenous Peoples day....that's funny

Broadway Blueshirts were dealt a blow when the lost the Russian Goalie for the year.....injuries happen, they have a good young nucleus......let's make a sensible trade for a Vet like Binnington or Coax Jonathan Quick into coming out of retirement for a year..........side note, i still stand behind my call to trade the Russian last year....they could have received a haul from Edmonton......and it;s bad business to have such a large portion of the payroll tied to one player......but what do i know.

I know that

2+3=BEEER

Well, the moral of the story
The moral of this song
Is simply that one should never be
Where one does not belong
So when you see your neighbor carryin’ somethin’
Help him with his load
And don’t go mistaking Paradise
For that home across the road

This is a Public Service announcement

 with Guitar (the Clash)

the actual Public Service Announcement pertains to Sweater Nite 29....I hope to see at least one Ken Dryden Sweater donning his oddball number.

the truth is we are getting squeezed.....the NFL drifts further into February and the MARCHing Irishmen are pregaming for the high Holy days earlier and earlier.

The Super Bowl this year will be on the Sunday of Presidents weekend, aka the traditional day of Sweater Night, Sunday Feb 14th.

So we moved it back a week......but it turns out the Bay Ridge Parade dinner/dance in El Caribe is the same night.......SOOOO.....since we have a long history of Sweater Nite alum serving as Deputy Grand Marshals we decided to move it back another day.

There may be some hungover skaters, but at least they can attend both events if they so chose....

Sweater Nite will be held on Sunday Feb 21st in PC's.......pregame skate hopefully at the Kettle Black, but stay tuned for that one.

Rangers at the Stanley Cup Champion Hurricanes at 1:00

Sabres at the Dead Wings at 3:30 TNT

Devils at the Blackhawks at 6:00

in a peculiar scheduling event.....the Flyers will be hosting the Habs on Monday AFTERNOON........a 2:00 start on a weekday because the league wants to televise a few games in prime time for eastern Europe....go figure.

anyway from where i sit

2+3=29

know your rights !

Oooooh, Oh Alabama

 The Devil fools

with the best laid plan,

Swing low Alabama

you got the spare change

you got to feel strange ( N. Young)

Not much chatter on the MSM about this topic, but now Quebec has officially scheduled a Vote, along with Alberta; to ask the people if they wish to seceede from Canada. 

On one side you have Mark Carney and Neil Young insisting that Canada remain galvanized and unified against outside forces that wish to destroy them ( TRUMP) and on the other side you have 2 very different provinces that feel the ship is sinking and they would prefer to go it alone. The truckers set the table a few years ago and i think it resonated with the populace....the Govt painted regular ordinary truck drivers that were protesting Vaccine mandates as terrorists......the limp wristed ottawa ruling class, the ones that support BLM and have more tolerance than snow; could not tolerate their own working class voicing their dislike of the Vaccine policy....and so the Govt called in the military, villified the truckers, shut down their bank accounts, blocked donations from the US and other Canadiens and basically threatened to blacklist and destroy the lives of anyone that continued to protest in the Capitol.

In a similar show of Authoritarian force, the Security of Rogers Place (Edmonton, Alberta) home of the Edmonton Oilers, has banned the Alberta Flag......strange....and during a home game Saturday Night the Police and Security teams aggressively confronted and threw out people waving the Flag of the Province.....not a Gay Flag or a Palastinian flag but the Flag of the Province in which they live and exist and do business....they are telling the paying cstomers that thay cannot support their own Province....this will backfire dramatically......there already is a grass roots movement to bring thousands of flags into the arena for the next home game...Thurs Oct 15 they host Utah....stay tuned.....either the arena caves or we may very well see a riot in olde Edmonton.

the crackdown on the Truckers may have worked short term too......but it sowed the seeds of contempt and is now coming back to bite them......As Carney portrays America as the villian and tries to cozy up with the EU, the people are calling BS....they see this window in time as an opportunity to either pull away and gain Freedom from an oppresive regime OR force meaningful change within....they might realize that the may never be another time with someone as sympathetic to their cause,  as they have with Trump right now......he would love to strike favorable trade pacts with 2 breakaway Provinces...just to stick it up Carneys butt....

Something similar is simmering in France.......More like Burning.......the protests are being framed as a statement on school conditions, but it is as obvious as the Palastinian Flags that they wave as to what it is really about.....on the anniversary of Oct 7th is it really a surprise that the moslems are burning the city and diverting attention.....this is a fight for the future of France.....and i may be an optimist, but i think these protests will backfire and lead to the election of right wing Marine Le Pen in April wen Macron is forced to step down due to term limits.......France is in dire straits and this may be her last chance to elect someone that will stop accepting moslem refugees and start deporting the illegals.....it may be too late already, but i have faith.....once you get outside the Big Cities, I hear the people in the countryside lean right, love their country and want desperately to preserve their culture......time will tell

I mentioned Neil in the beginning and i chose this lyric because i think it's hysterical that the Frog that had soo much to say about Alabama and Civil Rights in the USA.....has remained silent on the 2 Provinces considering Seceding..he is a laughable hypocrite, but i still play his music ...and look at my picture of Neil and Trump arm in arm and full of smiles back in the day....

i'm still drinking in the free world

and

2+3=BEEER

Oh Alabama
Banjos playing
Through the broken glass
Windows down in Alabama
See the old folks
Tied in white robes
Hear the banjo
Don't it take you down home?

Said, Crossin Jordan

 I need not fear

Jesus' gonna be the engineer
Then you'll need that true religion
Allelu  (Jorma)

It will be interesting to see where this Cornell story goes......strong arguments on both sides...collusion....privilege's....cover ups......this story has everything ...and for every person that insists May 8 1977 in Ithaca NY was the greatest Dead show of all time, there are an equal number that side with Dick Latvala and stand with the May 22nd show in Pembroke Pines, Fl

serious question.....Tennessee botched an execution last week, why not just strap the criminal onto a gurney and lock them in a room with a steady flow of carbon monoxide ?  it works in garages and in the movies......you fall asleep and wake up dead .....seems like a reasonable way to go. 

don't look now but the Rangers and Giants are both 3-1 and atop their respective divisions.....it's early....but it's better than being 1-3.

It is refreshing to see those miserable SOB's at NIKE struggling financially....the stock has been in a long downward spiral and now they are facing massive layoffs......they went out of their way to back any and every controversial-anti American-poor character slobs they could find......they spit in the face of average Americans that bought their products, got in bed with China.....manufactured their sneakers in sweat shops with slave labor in Asia and also had the balls to Lecture the rest of the world on Human Rights....Portland scum....good riddance......it's ironic that they didn't listen to the one man most responsible for their rise to global domination in the sneaker market.....Michael Jordan and his Air Jordans were Nike's ticket to fame.......and when asked why he refused to weigh in on politics and or support Democratic candidates at the time.....Jordan replied " Because conservatives by sneakers too".....simple, sage advice.....it is still astonishing how many companies, actors, musicians or athletes have no problem alienating half the country by attacking their beliefs.......go woke, go broke.

well.....i'll say it again.......Trump does what is best for Trump.....and i am seriously questioning his judgement and motives these days.....case in point the South Carolina senate seat.......a safe Republican seat back in June when Lindsey Graham died.......but Donn insisted on first getting Lindsey's sister named interim Senator and then convincing her to run for the vacant seat and supporting her through the primaries.....she is dumber than 2 stumps.....and has no business running for dog catcher, let alone senate; and so now with the election 1 month away, the Demonrat candidate has a lead.....serves him and all the sheep that voted for the little sister right.

Trump is also offering cash checks to everyone and anyone...trying to buy votes....Last year the Republicans dug in and ended subsidies for Obama care...and now Trump wants to send checks to people that lost their subsidy....for the last decade i accused the demonrats of trying to bankrupt the country and now i can't sit on the sidelines while Donn does the same thing.....wrong is wrong.....the Trump accounts are Brilliant, but the rest of the deliberate spending sucks.

2 recent terrorist attacks thwarted......who else on the planet could be behind these attacks ? we ALL know it is Iran ? are we waiting for them to succeed before we respond or just waiting until after the mid terms ?  not very different from Hillary blaming Benghazi on a video.......the swamp is deep and EVERY Politician in drowning.

2+3=BEEER

Well, take the pillow from under my head
Jesus's gonna make up my dyin' bed
Then you'll need that true religion
Allelu

It was long ago

 and it was far away ,

and it was so much better

than it is today. ( Meat Loaf)

I have been looking back fondly on the glory of the sports world in the 1970's-1980's and I realize just how spoiled I was. The things i remember that were so great, that they couldn't possibly go away...and then suddenly went away. I loved baseball and watched all summer long for as long as i can remember, but i really earned my sea stripes during and after the Mets trip to the World Series in 1973.( I was lucky enough to attend game 4 of the Mets-Reds series...yep, the day AFTER the Rose-Harrelson fight) and i was devastated when my "second favorite" team, the Oakland A's ; defeated my Mets in 7.....Truth is that the prior year i listened to my older brothers drone on and on about how the more professional, and classier and simply better Big Red Machine would crush the upstart clowns in their green and gold uniforms.....i immediately fell in love with Oakland and my childhood hero was Joseph Oden Rudi...#26.

for the rest of the decade we were blessed with some of the Best National and American League Championship series.....there was something special about only 2 divisions in each league and one 5 game series to decide who goes to the World Series.....something very dreadful and sudden to be eliminated in 3 or 4 games after battling for 6 months and 162 regular season games.........bam it's over......like a Johnny Bench golf shot that just cleared the wall or a Chris Chambliss Bomb into the October Night that still hasn't come down......but the real beauty.....this thing that set baseball apart from all the others....was the 3:00 weekday start under that October cloudless sky ....the setting sun that played havoc on right fielders...the shadows from the light stanchions that creeped across the infield as the later inning approached....the blackout under the eye that every player seemed to donn.....and the green grass that survived August heat, just seemed to breath new life with every Kelly green Blade.

I remember racing home from grade school to catch the Orioles-Athletics series and listening to Tom Seaver as a guest in the booth talk about Jim Palmer.....and then chuckle as the mighty A's crushed their dreams, year after year.....I remember the story about the house behind the Center Field wall at Memorial Stadium , and how they refused to paint it Navy Blue to help the batters eye....and so the Orioles planted trees obstructing their view......i remember Rick Monday going yard to snap a tie in the 9th inning of game 5 in Montreal in 1981....a dejected Gary Carter....( surely that game would have been moved to 8:00 nowadays). I remember the Candyman (John Candeleria)  and his Pirates battling the Reds.....and of course the Yankees-Royals parts 1,2 and 3.......and that one day playoff in Fenway Park....if ever there was a 3 hour commercial for the game, something that should have been bottled up and sent to the Smithsonian to explain to future generations what Baseball was like in her prime....this was it.......I can still see Nettles settling under that Yazstremski pop up..........yes we were blessed.

I still long for those days......and i still love the baseball playoffs..although sometimes i find myself sitting in a backyard, under the brilliant fall sunshine, sipping a delicious beer , and instead of focusing on the game on TV......i'm thinking of Lenny Dykstra leaping 5 feet in the air as his HR sailed into the dugout in the bottom of the 9th vs the Astros at Olde Shea......of Bert Campaneris throwing his bat at the Tigers or Reggie breaking his leg on a play at the plate....or Stargell & the Cobra sweeping the Reds in 79, we are family.......or Rusty Staub lacing doubles off the wall and Tug Mcgraw hopping off the mound......Thurman Munson hitting a blast into monument park ....the series was tied 1-1.....bottom of the 8th.....Yanks trailing 5-4......Munson hit a mammoth blast off Doug bird ....410 feet....i had to just stop and watch the video on You Tube....you should too.....the crowd demanded a Curtain Call, he finally popped out of the dugout with his catching gear on...Reggie greeted him at home plate.......Cosell announcing ... said it was Thurman's first homer in 54 games ....the field was in complete shadow....but the left-center field bleachers were drenched in sunshine........we'll never see the likes of meaningful day baseball again.

anyway.....i bought myself a new 75 inch TV for the wall in my garagee...it is being delivered and installed tomorrow morning....the fridge is packed with beeeer and hot dogs and kielbasa will be grilled before the first pitch......and i will watch, but my mind may still be lingering in the 70's 80's....

2+3=BEEER

Holy Cow I think he's gonna make it 

Ticking Away

  the moments that make up a dull day

You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way (Pink Floyd)

I have returned from a glorious trip up north and i have made a few observations. The trip was a grand success... but , as i grow older ; these reunions take on multiple meanings and spark so many different emotions. I chose the Floyd opening lyric because it is the best song i have ever heard about the changing outlooks that develop and advance with age. how seamless the transition can be from bored youth....to dying adult....we all know it, but we all fall into the same trap......from having nothing to do...the restless angst of youth...to being too busy to do anything...the pressures of work/adulthood....to praying for more time at the end......and so with each go around......i find myself being more appreciative of everyone i had a chance to see......to have a chat, share a beer or just shake hands......that unspoken crossover from worrying if you would ever see an old timer again...to reluctantly acquiesce that it is YOU that may never be seen again....I wasn't alone.....On the top of that Hill in Bliss Park there was a spoken and unspoken vibe ....nobody is guaranteed tomorrow....make the most of the moment.

I will add that rumors of the demise of New York City are premature....sure they have their problems....their politicians suck......taxes and cost of living are out of control and crimes is always a problem.....but the living , breathing spirit of the Greatest City the World has even known is still alive and well......the 5 boroughs tend to adjust and reinvent themselves as each wave that was supposed to drowned them recedes.....maybe a year away at this age was what i needed.....but it sure was exciting to be back in midtown and drinking on the banks of Redhook.....I fully see what the attraction is ...i get it why college grads are willing to live in a closet sixed apartment on the edges of the madness....just to say they were A PART of IT and some date in the future.

2+3=BEEER

Every year is getting shorter
Never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught
Or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone
The song is over
Thought I'd something more to say

Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
When I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells

Come down off your throne

 And leave your body alone

Somebody must change
You are the reason I've been waiting all these years
Somebody holds the key (Blind Faith)

The night is dark and full of terrors as they say on Game of Thrones….but we have to identify and isolate the true Satan…and fight that…..no more friendly fire or collateral damage…..it’s easy to swing on the defenseless , but it takes courage to admit the true problem and climb that mountain…..but we can …..and we must.

Well, I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time
And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home