Looking Good or Not?

Senator Robert Menedez of New Jersey has been indicted on charges of bribery and if that sounds familiar, it's because he was indicted on federal corruption charges back in 2015.  This is a case of deja vu all over again.  In that first case, Senator Menedez had done favors for some guy who had committed Medicare fraud and wanted to bring hot women from Brazil into the country.  The guy in turn had given Senator Menedez free rides on his private jet and bought the Senator some gifts.  The jury had a hard time differentiating between corruption and the usual practices of elected officials, so they couldn't get to a verdict.  The Prosecutors realizing this case might be a bridge too far, dropped the charges.

But this new bribery case might be different.  Seems the Senator had 480k in cash stuffed in his socks, the mattress and various other places in his house.  Then there was another 100k in cash in his wife's safety deposit box.  Now he could argue that he doesn't trust banks after all he is a Senator and should know.  And he and his wife have scrimped, saved, used coupons a lot and tucked the cash away for a few decades but then he also has gold bars.  Yeah the stuff you see in the movies that the bad guys like the Nazis would hide away.  And, these gold bars have ID numbers on them that are registered to a guy who is facing prosecution and the Senator is trying to get him off.  Well, who knows?  Maybe the Senator has a story for the jury but right about now, it doesn't look too good.

Now there is Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift.  They seem to be dating.  Travis Kelce who plays for the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs and Taylor Swift who needs no introduction, have been seen together on numerous occasions.  She invited him to one of her concerts and he was bewitched.  Taylor Swift has been known to have that effect on men.  He in turn invited her to see him perform with the Chiefs.  She showed up with an entourage and they all danced to the tune of the Chiefs, crushing the Chicago Bears 41 to 10.  So right about now, it all looks really good.  But given their dating histories by this time next year, they'll both just be a memory to each other.  Hell they might not even make it to the Super Bowl.  And she'll write a song next year about a guy who was "out of bounds" caught in a "personal foul" or he just couldn't get "into the end zone".  But right about now, it looks really good.

And continuing with the NFL, the New York Jets watched the sugar plum fairies of the Super Bowl that were dancing in their heads make a quick run for the exits, as Aaron Rodgers went down on his fourth play in a New York Jets uniform.  He tore his Achilles tendon, highlighting a reality that billionaire sports team owners don't seem to grasp.  As the human body ages, it loses it's elasticity and we all of us but especially athletes, can no longer do the things we used to do and we are more prone to injury.  The Jets brain trust's plan B seems to be Zach Wilson but they'd be better off looking around at the many local high school Quarterbacks out there in New Jersey.  

What's really bad is the Jets have to play the Chiefs this week on Sunday Night Football where everyone with no other games to watch, will be tuned in.  And, they may well have to watch Taylor Swift and the entourage dancing again which will be good for her fans, fans of her romance with Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs fans but for the long suffering New York Jets fans, this isn't looking too good.

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On The Road To Political Stardom

We pointed out in our last article, two venues that politicians might take on their way to political stardom and we did mention that there could be others but we failed to elaborate.  One of our astute readers pointed out that President Zelenskyy of Ukraine was a comedian.  And we feel that we should have added failed comedian to the failed actor category on the road to political stardom.  But it shouldn't have been just failed actor/comedian, as we once had a very long discussion here of running Jerry Seinfeld for President.  And Jerry is a very successful comedian and the press conferences would have been classic.  Someone would have asked about nuclear proliferation and Jerry could have said.  "Nuclear weapons yes.  They cost a lot of money and you really can't use them.  Why do we have them?'  Or Jerry could have opened up a press conference with.  "What's with Russia?  Are they really the world's 2nd best military or are they just the 2nd best military in Ukraine?"

But one other road to political stardom that no one here ever thought of has now thrust itself into the political arena...  Only Fans.  Susanna Gibson a candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates has an Only Fans account.  For those of you who have been living under a rock, an Only Fans account is usually a sexually explicit venue where the star of the show performs live and the viewers pay money, to watch.  Much to the shock, the horror or maybe the delight of her opponents and some of the voters, this has all come to light.  Susanna Gibson's reaction is.  "It won’t intimidate me and it won’t silence me. My political opponents and their Republican allies have proven they’re willing to commit a sex crime to attack me and my family because there’s no line they won’t cross to silence women when they speak up."  In other words, "What's your problem?"

As you can see from the picture above Susanna Gibson is quite attractive and most of us wouldn't mind seeing her in action but if all the people running for office had to have an Only Fans, we could clear the field of almost everyone, overnight.  We wouldn't need term limits in Congress.  And, it would certainly get rid of all the current Presidential candidates tout de suite.  

Hmmmm to echo Susanna Gibson.  What's the problem?

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Words of Wisdom from Sonny the Capo

With the propensity of people to fight, argue and stop speaking with their families and friends over political candidates, we think it is wise to recall the words of Sonny the Capo to little Calogero in the play and the movie 'A Bronx Tale'.  In case you didn't see the play or the movie it's about a kid, Calogero, growing up in the Bronx in the 1960's.  

The kid befriends the local Mafia Caporegime Sonny and Sonny in turn takes an interest in him.  One day Sonny can see the kid is all upset and asks why.  Little ten year old Calogero tells him that the Yankees just lost the World Series and he read in the paper that his hero Mickey Mantle, was so upset, he cried.  Sonny looks at the kid and bestows this wisdom.  "If you father can't pay the rent and you ask Mickey Mantle for the rent what is he going to say to you?  Mickey Mantle doesn't care about you.  Mickey Mantle doesn't know you're alive."

We imagine two scenarios where the modern day candidates spring into the political arena.  The first is a young actor/actress whose agent first sends them out to audition for movie roles.  When that doesn't pan out, the agent sends them for TV shows, first dramatic and then sit-coms.  When that doesn't work, the agent sends them to auditions for Reality shows and when that doesn't work, he tries for slots as a contestant on game shows.  When all of this doesn't work out, the agent turns to the young ingenue and says.  "Politics?"

In the second scenario a young lawyer who did very well in law school, hooks a position in a big, prestigious law firm.  After a few years, this young lawyer wonders if they'll make partner.  This is a big law firm with a lot of talented attorneys and only a few make partner.  Then again, this young lawyer begins to wonder even if they make partner...  Will it be enough?  Slowly but surely their mind begins to turn and the light blub clicks on and they think... Politics!

Of course there are other scenarios but the one where the candidate tells you or implies that they've been called to public service  because they care about you and they want to serve their country well...  You can believe that if you want to.  But walking around in three thousand dollar suits with your hair perfectly coiffed and mouthing pious platitudes written by someone else (We think the last guy to write his own speeches was Teddy Roosevelt.) and becoming a multi-millionaire in the process, is not serving your country.  It's called riding the gravy train.

The people who serve this country, are in the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard and the United States Marine Corps.

So the next time you're on the verge of no longer speaking to someone close to you over some political hack, try to recall the wisdom of Sonny the Capo.  You can fill in the blank with whoever it applies to.  "If your father can't pay the rent and you ask ________ for the rent what is he/she going to say to you?  ________ doesn't care about you.  ________ doesn't know you're alive."

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