Why Do Democrats Hate the Workers of America?

A decent percentage of my income is derived from freelance video production gigs at sports events.  As such, I've worked at a Super Bowl, a few PGA Championships, the U.S. Open (tennis and golf), the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals, and thousands of other sports events as a part of a video production crew or as a video journalist.  I've thoroughly enjoyed my career in media production even though it has often taken me away from my family.

Last month I was booked to cover the LIV Golf Invitational at Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey.  Trump National is a top-notch golf course that had originally been booked to host this year's PGA Championship - an event that would have brought hundreds of millions in (taxable) revenue for New Jersey businesses as well as millions in taxable income for those who worked the event.  I was slated to cover all seven days of the PGA Championship.  The PGA, however, chose to move the event out of state, costing the state millions, costing businesses tens of millions, and costing people like myself thousands.

When the PGA abandoned New Jersey, our state's leaders - almost all Democrats - had nothing to say about it.  Deep down, they were probably happy to spite former president Donald Trump.  The fact that many New Jersey workers like myself, on the heels of losing 18 months worth of freelance income to the pandemic, were out thousands due to the relocation of the PGA Championship did not matter to our democrat politicians.  The only thing that mattered was a Trump golf course losing a prestigious event.

This is beyond sad.  In their zeal to spite one man, hundreds - even thousands - suffered, and Democrats didn't give a damn about us.

President Trump Signs autographs

Thankfully, I made up some of the lost income covering the LIV Golf Invitational and the Friday morning protest of the event a few miles away.  The course was beautiful.  The former president was a great host, signing autographs and posing for pictures with fans.  He was accommodating to the media as well, giving me and another videographer a few minutes of his time to answer a few questions.

Personally, it was great to get back to covering a golf tournament for the first time since 2019 and to earn some money.  Unfortunately Democrats are out to spite Trump again even though it will mean loss of wages for myself and hundreds of others who made money last month at LIV Golf.  Petty Democrat state senators Dick Codey and Andrew Zwicker have decided to introduce legislation to ban any sports events in New Jersey that are backed by "a sovereign wealth fund," meaning the Saudis, who back LIV Golf.  This legislation is aimed at Trump National Bedminster because I am quite sure Saudi-owned thoroughbreds will still be racing at the Meadowlands and Monmouth Park.  

Of course, I don't recall hearing Codey or Zwicker complaining about Joe Biden's flight to Saudi Arabia days before the LIV Golf Invitational to beg the Saudis for more oil.  They don't mind spending our money over there for oil.  But then, New Jersey Democrats mind being seen as hypocrites as little as they mind cutting the wages of hard-working New Jersey citizens by limiting their ability to work.

Celebrating 80, Paul McCartney in the 21st Century

Paul McCartney has turned 80 years old.  Approximately half of the population in the developed world never reach 80, so getting there is an accomplishment, but what Paul McCartney has done this century, leading up to 80, is a tremendous accomplishment.  Consider, in this century, beginning when he was already 57 years-old, McCartney released:

- Six rock/pop albums, on which he played most of the instruments and wrote or, in few cases, co-wrote all of the songs:

• Driving Rain (2001)
• Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (2005)
• Memory Almost Full (2007)
• New (2013)
• Egypt Station (2018)
• III (2020)

- Two electronic albums:

• Twin Freaks (2005), with producer The Freelance Hellraiser
• Electric Arguments (2008), with producer Youth, released as “Firemen”

- One standards album:

• Kisses On the Bottom (2012)

- Three classical albums:

• Liverpool Sound Collage (2000)
• Ecce Cor Meum (2006)
• Ocean’s Kingdom (2011)

- Five live albums:

• Back in the US (2002) with Concert DVD
• Back in the World Live (2003)
• Live in Los Angeles (2007)
• Good Evening New York City (2009) with Concert DVD
• iTunes Live from Capitol Studios (2012) with Concert DVD

- Two Retrospective albums with DVDs:

• Wingspan (2001)
• The McCartney Years (2007)

In all, 12 LPs in 22 years of original recordings plus 5 live LPs and two compilations.  On top of that, he has been involved remasters and new releases from The Beatles including:

• Let It Be... Naked (2003)
• Love (2006)
• On Air: Live At the BBC, Vol. 2 (2013)
• Live At the Hollywood Bowl (2016)
• Get Back (2022)

And then there are vocal performances McCartney did on recordings with other artists (and they’re all good songs, check them out on-line!), such as:

• George Michael – “Heal the Pain,” 2006
• Tony Bennett – “The Very Thought of You,” 2006
• George Benson & Al Jarreau – “Givin’ It Up,” 2006
• Nitin Sawhney – “My Soul,” 2009
• Ringo Starr – “Walk With You,” 2010
• Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers – “Best Love,” 2011
• The Bloody Beatroots – “Out of Sight,” 2013
• Eric Clapton – “All of Me,” 2013
• Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic & Pat Smear – “Cut Me Some Slack,” 2013
• Kanye West – "FourFiveSeconds" and "Only One" 2015
• Hollywood Vampires – "Come and Get It" 2015
• Ringo Starr - "We're On the Road Again" 2017

McCartney also performed on five tribute/film soundtrack albums:

• “Vanilla Sky,” 2001, from the soundtrack to the film Vanilla Sky
• “(I'm Partial to Your) Abracadabra,” 2001, tribute album honoring Ian Dury
• “I Want to Walk You Home,” 2007, tribute album honoring Fats Domino
• “Whole Life,” 2007, tribute album honoring Nelson Mandela, featuring Dave Stewart
• “(I Want To) Come Home,” 2009, from the soundtrack to the film Everybody’s Fine
• “It’s So Easy,” 2011, tribute album honoring Buddy Holly

In addition, McCartney has conducted 14 concert tours as well as performing at the 9/11 concert, the 12-12-12 concert for Hurricane Sandy relief, the 2012 Olympics, Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005 and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in
2012, all of which required much organizing and rehearsal. 

Simply put, at a time in his life when most artists are resigned to nostalgia package tours and retirement, Paul McCartney in his 60s and 70s was more productive than almost any other artist on the planet (U2, for example, released just 5 studio albums and 2 live albums in the same span).  

At 80, Paul McCartney clearly has a lot less time in front of him than behind, but enjoy him now because we are not at all likely to see another singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and perform like him in our lifetime.

A Hundred Years of Socialism In America

Since the 1920s, about a century now, socialists and communists have been trying to bring socialism to America. A group that traveled to Moscow in 1924 and returned with glowing reviews of socialism infiltrated FDR's cabinet and produced policies that made the Great Depression last far longer than it should have. Why? Because a desperate population will revolt, and capitalism created the first middle class in world history, making people far to happy and comfortable. But then WWII interfered.

Of course, FDR was the future model for the Democrat party - someone who leaned socialist, loved power, threatened the Supreme Court, created unconstitutional socialist programs and refused to cede power.

FDR passed before WWII ended, but the socialists did not stop. They've been in it for the long haul. They began to infiltrate Hollywood, then the media, then our schools. They've been teaching revisionist history bunk. They've been feeding us lies. They've decimated all things that produce comfort, wealth and good mental health, like family structure and capitalism. They've enacted social programs to create dependency - LBJ admitted this.

By the 90s, the goal was 8 years of Bill Clinton, 8 years of Al Gore, and 8 years of Hillary Clinton, and in 24 years, America as we know it would be gone. But then Bush won in 2000 and despite desperate attempts to cheat and overturn the election, Bush was inaugurated. The 9/11 attacks brought the nation together and flag-waving patriotism was back, much to the disdain of the left.

So Democrats came up with a new plan to bring about socialism - 8 years of Obama and 8 years of Hillary. Obama started the ball rolling, too - a healthcare bill that Congress "had to pass to see what was in it." An explosion of school violence and street violence that has eliminated the Giuliani-led clean-up of urban areas in the 90s. Racial division. "Climate change." Riots.

But the people saw through this and, despite cheating by Democrats and Hillary Clinton, elected Donald Trump as president. Trump got the economy going, began to bring manufacturing back, got Europe to pay more of their "fair share" of our defending their borders, defended our own borders, got ALL Americans a tax cut, putting more money in our pockets and allowing us to live more comfortably, and got us out of the Paris Accord whose entire goal was to redistribute American wealth.

So now Democrats really had to cheat. And they did. Somehow Joe Biden, who campaigned from his basement, received millions more votes than even Obama despite a complete lack of voter enthusiasm for him. Democrats used ballot harvesting to install an absolute puppet in the White House - two of them actually, because the healthy Kamala Harris is actually less intelligent and competent than the senile groper, Biden. The results have been completely predictable. Food shortages for the first time in my lifetime, inflation running rampant, an anemic economy, shrinking retirement accounts - all done to make us poor and less comfortable. Essentially, it's like fattening a turkey before Thanksgiving. Democrats are spreading hatred, poverty, and desperation in an attempt to bring about the socialism they've been trying to bring here for a century.

This November we can save our free lives. Let's not screw this up, America.

My 10 Most Memorable Sports Event Experiences

 I have been very fortunate to have a long and fulfilling career in sports video production in the largest market in America – the New York market.  As such, we’ve hosted a great number of major events in the area before and during my career, giving me opportunities I would never have had if I lived in, say, Tulsa, Oklahoma.  I have also traveled to a few events outside of the area as a fan.  What follows are the top 10 memorable events I have attended either as a fan or as a worker:

10.  1990 AFC Wild Card Game, Miami vs. Kansas City – I had been a Miami Dolphins fan my whole life, and began going to see games in the northeast and Miami with a college buddy (and lifelong friend) in the late 1980s.  The team was not very good, aside from Dan Marino, Mark Clayton and Mark Duper; they could not run the ball nor play defense.  In 1990, Don Shula finally began putting together a good team, and I followed them all year long, attending the NFL Draft for the first time as Miami drafted the left side of their offensive line (Richmond Webb and Keith Sims) and traded for cornerback Tim McKyer.  Two weeks later I was in South Florida to shoot minicamp practices with my friend Dave Hack, who was the Dolphins’ Director of Video, because his assistant had to be out of town to attend a family wedding.  To say this experience, shooting practices for a pro team, was a game-changer for me is an understatement; it was then that I realized I had to have a career in sports, no matter what.  That became my goal.  During the 1990 season, I attended a pre-season game in Philadelphia and the season opener in New England as well as games in Buffalo, twice in New Jersey (Jets and Giants), and Washington, making friends with some of the players, taking photos from all over various stadiums, including from the sideline.  I wasn’t wealthy, but knowing Dave meant media passes rather than buying tickets to attend games.  Finally, the Dolphins finished the season 12-4 and made the playoffs, hosting the Kansas City Chiefs at Joe Robbie Stadium.  Because my Dad worked for American Airlines, I flew down for the game and got to cheer the Fins on to a tremendous comeback victory with Dan Marino driving the team for two touchdowns and a victory after entering the 4^th quarter with a 16-3 deficit.  It was so great to finally see the team in a playoff game – and to win – in their home stadium.  That season set me on a course to work in sports, and I’ve succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.  I was in Buffalo the following weekend to see Miami fall 44-34 during a blizzard so strong that no defender could maintain footing, which was why the score was so high, but that didn’t matter after the Chiefs game.  I knew what I wanted to with my life, and I went out and did it.

9.  Game 4, 2002 NBA Finals, New Jersey vs. Los Angeles Lakers – I’m not much of an NBA fan, but I did get to work on the videoboard crew at the 

Meadowlands Arena for the 2002 NBA Finals, and what made Game 4 most memorable was seeing the Lakers hoist the NBA Championship Trophy (ugly, as it may be – it looks like a ball teetering on the rim of a garbage can) after completing a 4-game sweep of the Nets.  It’s not often you get to see team win it all, but I did on that night.  I remember Shaquille O’Neal absolutely dominating the Nets for the entire series, averaging over 36 points and 12 rebounds per game because the Nets simply had no answer to Shaq.  I still have one of the façade banners from the arena somewhere in my garage.  The following season the Nets made it back to the Finals and fared better, but lost to San Antonio in six games with the decisive game in Texas.

8.  2021 Army Navy Game – When I was laid-off, “RIF’d,” let -go, fired, whatever you want to call it, in 2010 from my job at the Meadowlands Sports Complex because Giants Stadium had closed and the arena’s last sports tenant, the New Jersey Nets, announced they were moving to Newark’s Prudential Center for two seasons before moving to Brooklyn, I began my freelance career in earnest.  One of the first freelance gigs I scored was working as a cameraman for Army football games.  I was the end zone camera operator for a few years, then their replay operator for a few years before settling in as their wireless sideline cameraman, which may be the best regular job I have ever had because it was so much fun.  Unfortunately, my client lost the Army gig after the 2019 season, but I had a tremendous decade-long run at West Point.  Thus, in early 2021, I asked my contacts at MetLife Stadium if I could direct the videoboard show at the Army Navy 

game, to be held in December.  Given my history of directing events at the stadium and my history with Army football, I was granted my request.  I worked the 2002 game at Giants Stadium, and while that was a great experience, I did not have the knowledge and respect for the military academies that I’d gained through working Army football in the 2010s, so the 2021 game meant far more to me than the 2002 game.  I remember giving a pep talk before the production meeting with the crew, something I had never done before, to emphasize the importance of the game, how some of the men and women who would be on that field either for the academies pre-game march-on or in the game itself would leave after graduation to serve our country and come home in a casket, and that the people they would focus their camera lenses on were not mere college kids, but soldiers and sailors.  I wanted them to see the faces in their lenses and realize what this game was about, and many told me that was the best pre-game speech they’d ever heard.  But we have a great crew at the stadium anyway, so I knew they’d deliver and they did, in a nearly perfectly executed show, from pre-game to post-game.  It was one of the most perfect shows I’ve ever been associated with, and the Army Navy show is a really long show, with crew in position for 3 hours before the game even starts.  I don’t know if or when the game will return to New Jersey, but I am hoping to get on the crew for this year’s game in Philadelphia.

7.  1994 World Cup Games – The World Cup is obviously one of the biggest sports events in the world, so when the United States was named host to the 1994 World Cup, I had hoped to score tickets to a game…. To no avail, at least not through the FIFA lottery system.  Giants Stadium, being the only soccer-sized stadium in the New York market, hosted numerous games, so I decided I’d try to scalp tickets at the venue, which I had done successfully in the past, never paying more than face value for numerous concerts that I’d attended.  Problem was, they wouldn’t even let drivers into the parking lot without tickets.  So I parked in a warehouse parking lot in Moonachie and walked a mile to the stadium where my beloved Italian squad (my mother’s Sicilian) took on Norway.  I scored a $50 ticket for just $30 because there 

were no fans in the parking lot looking for tickets and scalpers took a beating.  It was a great time, with the Italian crowd singing and cheering the Azzurri on to a 1-0 victory.  The German team advanced to the quarterfinals in what was expected to be an easy game against Bulgaria.  I was dating a woman from Ireland at the time and when I told her I had gotten myself into the Italian game, she begged me to take her to the quarterfinal; she being a soccer fanatic as a European.  My father’s German heritage meant that I rooted for Germany when they weren’t playing Italy, so I didn’t need convincing to execute my park-and-walk scheme one more time.  Like the Italian game, the parking lot was one giant party, with a mostly German crowd downing pints and eating German food.  We easily scored tickets just below face value and as soon as we got into the stadium, my date made her way to a pay phone to call her family in Ireland screaming with joy that she was attending a World Cup game.  That call must have cost a fortune, back then.  And that was the first time I began to realize just how much soccer meant to Europeans.  That game made her summer, though I went home quite disappointed with Germany falling 2-1 loss to underdog Bulgaria after opening the game’s scoring.

6.  2000 NFC Championship Game, Giants vs. Minnesota – the 2000 Giants were not expected to be a good team, but after a 3-2 start, they went on a tear, winning 9 of their next 11 games en route to a 12-4 record and the NFC East Division title.  Still, the media mocked them, calling them the worst division champ in the NFL.  After winning the divisional round, once again, they were mocked as the worst team to make it to a conference championship game.  That game was held at Giants Stadium, where I sat in the producer’s chair and served as music coordinator/DJ for Giants home games.  It was a really fun job, playing tunes, getting the fans into the game, coordinating TV timeout activities, and cueing legendary PA Announcer Bob Sheppard, who was one of the finest gentlemen with whom I have ever worked.  The Giants were hosting the Minnesota Vikings and were a home underdog because the Vikings had one of the most high-powered offenses in the NFL with Duante Culpepper, Randy Moss, and Chris Carter lighting up 

scoreboards all season long.  But Giants quarterback Kerry Collins played the best game of his career and the Giants defense manhandled the vaunted Viking offense.  The score was 35-0 Giants at halftime, which turned the second half into a party every time I got to play music during a TV timeout.  I remember playing “We’re Having a Party” by local favorite Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes at the two-minute warning and having 78,000 fans singing along.  But the best experience that day, for me, was in the postgame.  The Giants had won the game 41-0 and Bob Sheppard left at that two-minute warning to beat traffic out of the parking lot.  After the game, an NFL official brough up a page of copy for the PA Announcer to read, and since we no longer had a PA Announcer, I became the PA Announcer.  Telling fans that they could pick-up championship merchandise for, “your 2000 NFC Champion New York Giants” elicited a massive cheer; what a rush!  The fans hung on my every word when I told them to turn their attention to the stage where “NFL on Fox host Terry Bradshaw will now present the George Halas Trophy to your 2000 NFC Champion New York Giants.”  That announcement brought the house down the way Paul McCartney does when he ends Live and Let Die with a pyrotechnic fusillade.  It was so damned awesome.  I’ve never experienced anything like that before or since.

5.  The 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games – Long before meeting my wife, Susan, she and her law school roommates bought tickets to attend the Atlanta games, trying to score tickets to premiere events but ultimately receiving tickets for badminton, baseball, volleyball and team handball.  By 1996, Susan and I were engaged and her friends had lost interest, so the two of us went and had a ball.  Fortunately, we got to visit Centennial Park (so named because this was the 100^th anniversary of the first modern Olympics) before it was bombed and closed.  Going to the park was a fun experience in and of itself, meeting people from all around the world and trading pins.  Oh, and scalping tickets.  I managed to deal our extra tickets while also dealing some of the tickets for events we were going to attend, wheeling and dealing and working my way up to those coveted medal-round gymnastics tickets;

yup, I scored!  We did enjoy team handball and sat with the girlfriends of two of the Team USA players, who were super nice and explained the game to us to an understandable level.  Fortunately, we had left the park a few hours before the bombing and witnessed neither the carnage nor the panic that ensued when the park was evacuated.  I had always wanted to work an Olympics and still have not done so, but in truth, attending was better because I got experience multiple events in multiple venues while hanging out and partying instead of working in one venue for two weeks.

4.  2019 PGA Championship – I serve as a freelance video news journalist for a company based in London, and they send me to championship-level events and press conferences.  They sent me to my first golf tournament, the 2016 PGA Championship in nearby Springfield, NJ at the Baltusrol Golf Club.  It was a great time, covering the tournament for the entire week, but I was new to covering golf and spent the week learning as I went.  They next sent me to cover the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnicock Hills Golf Club in the Hamptons, which was equally memorable to my 2016 PGA Championship experience.  But when I was assigned to the 2019 Championship at Bethpage Black, I was now a multiple-major veteran.  But what really made that experience better than my previous major tourney experiences was that I received a photgrapher’s lanyard and was permitted to work “inside the ropes” to cover the tournament.  Though I couldn’t shoot video on competition days because television had exclusive video rights on the course, I could take pictures.  Further, a vendor I know at Sony was on-site loaning camera gear and gave me a camera that shoots great photos and video.  As a result, I did my usual work, getting hours of footage on the three practice 

days for my client as well as post-round interviews with dozens of golfers through the competition, I also managed to shoot some 1,600 photos on the course over the 4 days that I had the camera.  What’s more, Brooks Koepka, one of my favorite golfers, won the Championship, his fourth major in two years (he won the Open a year prior at Shinnicock) in dominating fashion and some of the other golfers gave great quotes about him.  It was a really great week that left me looking forward to the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot and the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump National.  Unfortunately for me, the pandemic meant no media at Winged Foot and the PGA’s decision to go woke moved the PGA Championship away from Trump National to somewhere in the Midwest.  Missing those two majors makes me appreciate the week I spent at Bethpage even more.

3.  Super Bowl XLVIII – Yes, the game itself was terrible, with Seattle destroying Denver by a score of…  well, I don’t even remember.  I remember the Broncos were down 3 touchdowns at halftime but thinking that with Peyton Manning, the Broncos could still come back; then Percy Harvin took the second half kickoff and ran it back for an 87 yard touchdown.  How do I remember that detail of the game?  I was a cameraman for the MetLife Stadium videoboard show; the 50-yard line game camera operator, in fact, and that kick return was the hardest play to cover, panning to my right to follow the kick, the following Harvin from the east end zone to the west 

end zone, a good 120 degree pan.  I had always wanted to attend a Super Bowl, going back to when I was a kid watching those championship Miami Dolphins teams win back-to-back, but never made it.  Tickets were too expensive.  But working the game was incredible.  We were there the Thursday before the Super Bowl to build and test cameras, then Friday for rehearsals, including two fly-overs and three halftime rehearsals from the foot of the stage – we were told that anyone who had a cell phone out would be fired immediately because they didn’t want any footage out before the Bruno Mars/Red Hot Chili Peppers performance on Sunday.  On Super Bowl Sunday, our call time was 9am, and after firing up cameras again and a long production meeting, we had 5 hours to walk around and take everything in, which we all did.  To date, Super Bowl XLVIII remains the only time I ever ran camera at an NFL game.

2.  1995 Stanley Cup Finals, Game 4, New Jersey vs. Detroit – I was working for the New Jersey Devils at the time as a freelance video editor, creating content for the video board show all season long.  The Devils had made it to the Stanley Cup Finals one season after losing the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals to the New York Rangers in heartbreaking fashion in overtime in Game 7 (and I was there, at the game, crushed because I wouldn’t be working the Stanley Cup Finals).  In 1995, the Devils swept the Detroit Red Wings, four games to none, winning the clinching game four by a score of 5-2, so the

game’s outcome was never in doubt after the second period and the third period was one long, loud party.  The Devils became the state’s first major sports champion and while the Devils went back and won two more championships in 2000 and 2003, nothing beats the first time.  After the game the team hosted a party through the overnight and we all got to hoist the Stanley Cup.  I met my wife at the Stanley Cup parade a few days later.  It was my first time experiencing a championship game, and it wouldn’t be the last.

1.  2022 Kentucky Derby – Susan and I were married on Derby Day in 1997; Silver Charm won the race and is still alive today, retired at Old Friends Equine Facility in Kentucky.  Thus, for our 25^th Anniversary, I decided to take

Susan to the 2022 Kentucky Derby earlier this month.  It was just a phenomenal experience.  We attended the Kentucky Oaks the day prior, so we spent two days at America’s most iconic track, chatting with people in our trackside courtyard section on the rail and at the Galt House hotel’s Conservatory bar.  And what a Derby to attend, with longshot Rich Strike winning at 80-1 odds in front of a crowd of 147,294.  The food offerings were delicious and the bourbon was flowing as all food and beverages were included in the price of the admission.  It was a phenomenal time we hope to repeat in 2024 at the 150^th running of the Derby.  Hope to see you there!

Yes, I have been very fortunate in my career, which is why I really enjoy sharing my experiences with sport management students at Rutgers University, where I teach part time.  I genuinely hope that my students get where they want to go in their sports careers and exceed my experiences, and some are well on their way.  It took me decades to get to my first Super Bowl and golf grand slam events, but I’ve had students who have worked their first Super Bowl, PGA Championship and Hall of Fame induction ceremonies before they’ve graduated!  They are getting tremendous experience and building a resume before earning their degree, and that’s how college should prepare students for their futures.  But I’m not done yet.  I still hope to do some more championship-level events, including the World Series, which is the one event that has eluded me so far.

Routine Sadness Does NOT Require a Therapist

A few weeks ago, mid to late-April, it had been unseasonably cold, cloudy, and windy for a few days.  This is the time of year in New Jersey when everyone looks forward to spring and warm weather, but that weather seemed to disappear for days.

On the way to work one of those days, I had been listening to the "Seriously Sinatra" channel on my SiriusXM radio on the way to work when Sinatra's rendition of A Very Good Year came on the radio.  I immediately flashed back about twenty years ago when I was visiting my 80-something year-old grandmother who had been overcome by dementia and was, as we discovered, months from the end of her life.  During that visit, that same Sinatra song was playing on the radio in her kitchen, which was tuned to a standards station. When the song changed to the melancholy tone prior the final verse and Sinatra sang about the "autumn of the years," the aging of the song's protagonist reflecting on his life, my grandmother asked, "When are you going to settle down and get married?"  I couldn't tell her that I had married years ago and that she had met my wife and her great-grandchildren many times, that would've confused the hell out of her so there was no point in going there.

From that moment on, I cannot hear A Very Good Year without thinking of that moment with my grandmother and feeling melancholy.  And that's fine.  Occasional sadness is natural and healthy and makes you experience and appreciate happy times more intensely.

Thus, when I read the graphic to the left which had been posted by a teacher's account on LinkedIn, I winced.  How did we get to the point where kids, teens, and college students are led to believe that one needs "a counselor or therapist when feeling sad?"  Don't get me wrong, if someone has bouts of depression, they should absolutely be referred to counseling, but routine sadness?  There is absolutely no need for therapy or counseling for sadness and we should not overwhelm therapist's offices with visits from people whose presence there may be preventing people who really need therapy from getting it in a timely manner.

If you've spent any time recently visiting numerous campuses on college visits with high school students, you've probably noticed an abundance of signs posted on campus walls sending a similar message - that students need help from counselors.  It's as if they're trying to convince students that they're all depressed and suicidal.

This was certainly not the case when I was a college student decades ago.  So it came as no surprise to me that suicide rates among those under the age of 25 have spiked recently.  In fact, according to a 2016 report, the Centers for Disease Control, suicide rates are up more than 30% in more than half of America's states since 1999 and in 54% of suicides, the victim was not known to have had mental health problems.  Those rates have only continued to rise due to the isolation of the pandemic.  One must wonder, is society conditioning acceptance of suicide as routine and convincing young Americans that natural, occasional sadness is a condition that must be treated?

Imagine going through life thinking that every time you experience routine sadness you are in need of treatment.  Clearly, with suicide rates skyrocketing, it's time for America to take a look at the messaging around sadness and reconsider what is labelled as a situation in need of treatment and what is a situation that is routine and normal and passes sometimes in minutes, sometimes in hours.  The health of young America is truly at stake.

The Mess In Ukraine

For decades, Democrats and the left along with the sports world have legitimized the Russian government and downplayed Russian aggression.

In 2008, after nearly two decades of strife and ethnic cleansing, Russia essentially took over South Ossettia, a small territory that had been part of the Republic of Georgia.  This barely made the news.

In 2012, President Barack Obama told outgoing Russian president Medvedev to pass a message to incoming president Putin that he (Obama) would "have more flexibility" in helping Russia after his re-election campaign.  Less than two years later, Putin annexed Crimea, a small peninsula in Southern Ukraine.  The world responded with useless sanctions.

From 2017 to 2021, Russia stayed within their borders.  

Within months of President Joe Biden's 2021 inauguration, however, Putin began amassing troops at the Ukrainian border.  It became obvious to anyone with a functioning brain that trouble was brewing.  

Then the 2022 Winter Olympic games began, with Putin in attendance at the opening ceremonies in China despite Russia officially being banned from Olympic competition.

Because the Olympic games take 16 days to complete, it became obvious to anyone, again, with a functioning brain that Putin would not invade Ukraine until after the Olympics.  Instead of using those 16 days to negotiate with Putin and find a way to peace, Biden spent those 16 days saying that Russia would attack "any day now," almost goading Putin.

During the last week of the Olympic games, Biden sent his vice president, Kamala Harris, to eastern Europe, where she held a press conference and praised Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy for allegedly wishing to "join NATO."

For those, again, with a functioning brain, this was a statement akin to "poking the bear."  Clearly Putin did not want Ukraine in NATO for the same reason president John Kennedy led the United States through the Cuban Missile Crisis - Putin did not want missiles at his border.  Like he did with South Ossetia and Crimea, Putin also wanted territory in Eastern Ukraine where there were majority Russian populations.  

One must keep in mind in all of these situations that Soviet Russia resettled many areas across their border with Russians during the Cold War and beyond, setting up the situation we are in today.

Less than a week after the Olympic Games ended, Putin's Russian Army invaded Ukraine.

Now that we see what happened, where do we go from here?  That's the big question.

First, let's consider that despite more useless sanctions against Russia, European nations are still buying natural gas and petroleum from Russia.  And the Russian Ruble, which Biden mocked as "rubble" when he imposed sanctions, is actually as strong as it was pre-invasion.  Finally, the Biden Administration is wasting ridiculous amounts of U.S. taxpayer money to fund this war.  Meanwhile, the U.S. economy is suffering greatly, buried in massive inflation and plummeting GDP.

Further, the American population does not want war, though to what degree is unknown.  We known that the pink hat-wearing "Code Pink" organization that protested President Bush disappeared when Obama became president and didn't seem to mind Obama expanding wars.  They also seemed to be anti-Trump even though Trump is the only president in, perhaps, my lifetime that didn't get the Unites States into any new military conflicts. And, of course, they seemed quiet when some mentioned enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which would've meant shooting-down Russian military jets, which the rest of the American public did not seem to desire.

Of course, even during the Cold War, America never entered into direct military action against Russian troops despite the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Bay of Pigs disaster and Vietnam War.  Thus, enforcing a no-fly zone would put the American military in an unprecedented position.

So what does America do?

I'll give you my opinion on the best option, which will likely be an unpopular option:  Team Biden needs to contact Putin immediately and tell him that he can have two eastern territories in Ukraine and that Ukraine will not join NATO.  In return, Putin must promise that he will immediately cease-fire in Ukraine and refrain from any future expansions of the Russian border.

I know I will be accused of giving into a madman, but clearly Biden allowed this to happen through his inaction and, since Europe is still funding Russia by their reliance on Russian energy, there really is no other option.  By ending the war now, lives will be saved, which is the most important thing to consider.  Further,  American taxpayer dollars will be saved, and we might be able to slow the rate of inflation and stave-off a recession.  Ukrainian refugees could return home immediately, and a fraction of the money Biden was going to spend on war could be used for humanitarian aid to help rebuild Ukraine, which would be far more useful than spending the money to further destroy Ukraine.

If there's a better option, I'd love to hear it, but after giving this much thought, I really believe this is the best option. 

Rock's Most Unheralded and Underrated Guitarist

Rush was a great and unique band.  The Canadian trio featured and all-time great drummer in Neil Peart, a phenomenal bass player in Geddy Lee, and a superb guitar player in Alex Lifeson.  What made them unique was that Lee and Lifeson would write the music while Peart wrote the lyrics, something drummers did not typically do.  A band’s singer usually writes the lyrics because he’s singing them, and he has to sing them with conviction; he has to “buy-in” and commit to the lyrics, which is much easier to do when a singer writes them.

But they were unique in another way.  Peart is one of the most heralded drummers in rock history, deservedly so.  And Lee has more skill as a bass player than most.  But the key to the band is Lifeson, as I will explain in a moment.

Having gone through high school in the early 1980s, when Rush had reached peak popularity, my high school years coincided with their best LPs:

•  1980 – Permanent Waves was released while I was in 8^th grade and was played a lot my freshman year on the high school grounds.
•  1981 – Moving Pictures, released midway through freshman year
•  1982 – Signals, my junior year
•  1984 – Grace Under Pressure, my graduation year

Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart, 4/1/86

The second concert I ever attended was Rush at Madison Square Garden on the Signals tour, December 3, 1982.  I saw them again at the Meadowlands Arena on September 29, 1984, in the Grade Under Pressure tour and once more for the Power Windows tour on April 1, 1986.  I thoroughly enjoyed their music and seeing them live.

Of course, any time I saw them, my eyes were fixed on Peart absolutely rocking the drum set.  But over time I’ve come to appreciate Alex Lifeson because his versatility makes him better than most rock guitar players.

Consider, most guitar players have their signature sound.  You know Eddie Van Halen when you hear him.  Same with U2’s The Edge.  And Stevie Ray Vaughan has his own sound that makes his music instantly identifiable.  I can go on and on, naming almost every great guitar player that’s ever been recorded and they have their own sound, save for a handful of versatile and unique players like Eric Clapton and Steve Howe.  Among that handful has to be Alex Lifeson.

On Rush’s self-titled debut album, Lifeson, just 20 years-old, sounded like he was imitating Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, using a similar guitar sound with heavy distortion.  Even on their second LP, Fly By Night, the guitar intro to Beneath, Between & Behind sounds like if could be a Led Zeppelin intro.  But there were hints of evolution on the title track, played with sparing distortion.  His sound evolved through the 70s, playing acoustically (The Trees, Closer to the Heart) and on electric, with effects and without, and playing fast and artistically (La Villa Strangiato, Xanadu).

By 1980’s Permanent Waves LP, Lifeson sounded nothing like he did on Rush’s debut just seven years prior.  A year later, on Moving Pictures, Lifeson was at his rock peak, playing skillfully when appropriate and rocking hard other times.

Then Rush began changing their sound, and as he did throughout the 70s, Lifeson’s sound changed with the band.  In the late 1980s and into the 90s, Rush went for a more keyboard-driven sound and Lifeson changed his guitar sound, but also his style.  The power riffing rock leads evolved into new wave textures and rhythms.

And that’s the greatness of Lifeson; he’s a shape-shifter, a guy who can really play any style and always wrote and played to the style of music the band was playing.  And while fans consistently raved about the virtuosity of Peart’s drummer and talent of Lee playing outstanding bass runs with his hands while often accompanying himself on synthesizer foot pedals, Lifeson, I believe, has been the key to the band’s sound.  Whether rocking a hard lead or applying texture to Geddy’s keyboard leads with appropriate guitar rhythms, Alex Lifeson always made Rush’s music better by playing to the song rather than trying to force a signature sound into a song.  That make Alex Lifeson one of the best guitar players in the industry because he can do so much and play so many styles.  It’s just a shame more music fans don’t recognize his talents.

The Idiocy of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

In 1978, singer/songwriter Kenny Loggins scored a hit with a "Whenever I Call You Friend," a song he co-wrote with Melissa Manchester and sang as a duet with Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks.  The song peaked at number 5 on the Billboard pop charts.  The song marked Nicks' first success on the charts outside of Fleetwood Mac, as well as Loggins first solo success after splitting from Jim Messina, whith whom he had scored a top 10 hit ("Your Mama Don't Dance") as well as two top 20 hits ("My Music" and "Thinking of You") prior to going solo.

In fact, it was as a solo artist that Loggins had his greatest success, scoring two Grammy Awards in his 12 nominations.  Loggins also earned a Golden Globe and has been nominated for Tony and Academy Awards.  As a solo artist, Loggins penned and performed nine Top 20 singles, five Top 10 singles, and a number one with the theme from the film Footloose.  Loggins also scored big with film soundtrack songs "Danger Zone" from Top Gun, "I'm Alright" from Caddyshack, and "Meet Me Half Way" from Over the Top.

Loggins also co-wrote one of the biggest-selling Doobie Brothers songs with Michael McDonald - "What a Fool Believes."

From 1978 to 1988, few artists dominated radio the way Loggins did.  That's an undisputable fact.

The one honor Loggins has not received is induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  In fact, Loggins has never even been nominated.

After success with "Whenever I Call You Friend," Stevie Nicks, on the other hand, had two more Top 50 singles with Fleetwood Mac - "Sara," which peaked at 37 on the pop chart, and "Gypsy," which peaked at 46.

Nicks also went solo, scoring her first two 'solo' hits by singing duets - "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and "Leather and Lace" with Don Henley, both of which cracked the Top 10.

Nicks finally broke through with true solo success in 1982 with "Edge of Seventeen," which peaked at number 11 on the pop charts, and "Stand Back," her first true solo Top 10, peaking at number 5.

She scored four more Top 20 singles in her solo career, one of which peaked at 4 ("Talk To Me," which I have no recollection of ever hearing, and I was a college radio DJ in the 80s and a sports DJ in the 90s with the NJ Devils, NY Giants and NY Jets, so I remember 80s music extremely well).

Nicks had 8 Grammy nominations as a solo artist, without ever winning.

Clearly, Kenny Loggins had far more success as a solo artist than Stevie Nicks; it's not even debatable.  Loggins was a far greater songwriter than Nicks, who was the third best songwriter in Fleetwood Mac, behind hitmaking keyboardist Christine McVie and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham.

But Stevie Nicks is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Twice.  Once, justifiably, as a member of Fleetwood Mac, and once as a solo artist.  How did Nicks make it in as a solo artist?  The Hall admits they wanted more women in the Hall; you know, more "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion."

The question thus becomes, is it fair to put someone like Nicks in the Hall because she's a woman while a far more successful artist like Loggins can't even get nominated?  I'll leave that for you to decide.

From Energy Independence to Desperate Dependence in One Election

The differences between President Trump and Joe Biden couldn't be more stark:

• Trump had a strong pre-COVID economy.  Bidenomics has given us a Jimmy Carter economy.
• Trump's foreign policy saw no new wars in the world.  Biden's got North Korea back to testing missiles and Russia back to exceeding their borders.
• Trump opposed illegal immigration.  Biden's got open and porous borders.

But perhaps the most important distinction is in energy policy:  Trump believed in energy independence and made America a net-exporter of energy.  Biden is pushing electric cars that will make us completely dependent on foreign nations.

And the results of Biden's policies, predictably, will end in disaster.

According to Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe,

there is a severe shortage of materials needed to produce the 1,000 pound batteries that power electric vehicles.  Said Scaringe, "All the world's cell production combined represents well under 10% of what we will need in 10 years, meaning, 90% to 95% of the supply chain does not exist."

Government's answer to this problem is to require gas-powered vehicles to average at least 40 mpg by 2026, a goal designed to decimate the auto industry because it's simply unattainable for most cars on the market today.  Put simply, cars are already made so cheaply to make them as light as possible so they can meet today's mileage standards and to raise those standards will mean even cheaper cars.

Those Mustangs made of a horrible and cheap plastic interior will be made even cheaper - I drive a Mustang and am surrounded in the cockpit by cheap, thin plastic.

Those Toyotas made with aluminum block engines that require you to re-tap the holes for the head bolts any time a head gasket change is needed will be made every cheaper - I've changed a Camry head gasket and re-tapping holes means removing the engine, a very costly fix for car owners.

Those cars that crumple in a fender bender because fenders are made of tin will fall apart because the metal on the exterior will become paper thin.

Simply put, more cars will be junked faster than every before because they simply won't last.  This creates far more waste than ever before while costing consumers more money for replacement.  And these fuel-powered cars will be absolutely necessary because, as Scaringe stated, there simply is not a supply chain for electric vehicles on an adequate scale.

So why did this administration dive-in head first into the EV market without a means to supply the forced demand?  It simply couldn't have been an accident.  They can't be that dumb, can they?