Whatever Happened To...

Global Warming?  It was renamed Climate Change but now that's gone too.  Yeah, people still believe in it but it's hardly ever in the news anymore.  It's not like in the old days when news outlets, magazines, politicians and celebrities would whine and cry about it, like every day.  When was the last time you saw a story or a podcast on it?  The media has moved on.  Greta Thunberg is gone too.  She's moved onto other things you might not have even heard of.  And like a lot of has been, childhood stars, Greta has to get arrested to get any attention nowadays.

Whatever happened to Vanilla Ice?  No, that was not something you would eat in the midst of Global Warming.  That was a guy.  He was a rap artist with a really big hit record and a whole lot of attention.  "Ice, ice baby".  Doesn't ring a bell does it?  We didn't think so.

What happened to Kale?

What happened to Anthony Weiner?  Well he actually got back into politics or tried to.  He ran for a City Council seat in Manhattan, hoping the voters would forgive and forget.  Maybe they forgave or maybe they just forgot who he was.  He lost.

What happened to Cargo Pants?

 And whatever happened to Matt Lauer?  He used to be a somebody but now?  He's not even on an obscure cable channel like Chris Cuomo or even that station out of Russia, that had Dan Rather.  Yeah, yeah, we know what you're wondering.  Who was Dan Rather?

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Woman Of The Year 2025

That's right Marjorie Taylor Greene!  Or  MTG as she is known.  Why her?  Well she ran for office like a whole bunch of times before she actually got elected.  We call that tenacious.  And she got elected riding a wave of emotion on just about everything and anything that was controversial.   She was all in for DJT  POTUS 45, 47  and MAGA!  Then she was all against DJT POSTUS 45 & 47!  And MAGA was no longer enough for her.  Then she quit.

MTG also managed to increase her net worth from $700,000 to 25,000,000 in just two Congressional terms!  Yeah that's right!  She's now worth 25 million dollars!

Take a bow MTG!  You touched all the bases and you are our WOMAN OF THE YEAR 2025!

And yes, her leaving office is also commendable.  We hope a whole lot of elected officials of all parties, Federal, State and Local, follow her lead.  This could be the slippery slope, the country really needs.

And the runner ups were...

DJT 45 & 47 POTUS.  He's orchestrated peace deals between Cambodia and Thailand, India and Pakistan, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran and Israel and Israel and Hamas and he should be our Man Of The Year!  But well... eh.

The Jeffrey Epstein List.  Readers of this Blog know we give this award out to a Man, A Woman, whoever someone wants to be referred to, or a thing a ma jig.  This is the Thing A Ma Jig.  This Thing A Ma Jig refuses to die and refuses to rear it's ugly head.  It's resisted all kinds of court proceedings, proclamations of exposure by it's victims and even acts of Congress.  But it's out there.  Out there "where blue birds fly, where troubles melt like lemon drops and dreams that you dare to dream really do come true."

For those of you who don't recognize the lyrics, they are from. 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'*.

Honorable mention: 31/ATLAS, the Alien spacecraft that did not stop by, Valentin Luchin the celebrity chef who robbed three banks in one day, Sydney Sweeny. Cassie Ventura and no, no Elon Musk this year or any other probably.  Rarely has any celebrity fallen from grace so far and so fast.

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* 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' Harold Arlen music and Yip Harburg lyrics.

 

Conspiracies and Coverups

Now we don't like taking bows here but just a few weeks back, November 9th to be exact, we published an article asking Where Are the Conspiracy Theories?  Low and behold just a few days later Tucker Carlson late of Fox News, lists a whole bunch of things about Thomas Matthew Crooks!  Crooks in case you have forgotten, was one of the would be POTUS 45 & 47 assassins.  Seems this Crooks guy was all over Social Media with all kinds of nutty ideas.  And this after the FBI had proclaimed that Crooks had very small digital footprint.  Maybe the FBI doesn't know much about Digital Footprints and Social Media?  Or should we begin to think of those two dirty words...  Conspiracy and Coverup? 

And as usual a day late and a dollar short, the rest of the Mass Hysteria begins to chime in.  Just remember you read it here first!  Why here?  Because we ask the tough questions.  And that is what this Journalism thingy is all about.

And the House of Representatives is going to release their Epstein files!  They are going to name names!  And the names if they belong to anyone you heard of before, will say.  "Yes I knew him.  We did charity work together."  "We talked about investments as Epstein was a financial whiz."  "Epstein knew a lot of people.  He knew a lot of things."  Will anyone say.  "I did not have sexual relations with those little girls!"  Will anyone get arrested?  Will we see or hear any of those supposed sex tapes with famous people in them?  Fugettaboutitt!

One new thing we did learn about Jeffrey Epstein even though it didn't come from the House report was,...  He had a little wee wee.  Similar information was given about another great sex abuser, Harvey Weinstein.  Does anyone see a pattern here?

And as the anniversary of the assassination of JFK creeps upon us once again, the conspiracy theories will rear their ugly heads.  Our favorite has always been, the one put forward by our own Financial Editor Carmine S.  Carmine's conspiracy is, Lee Harvey Oswald was one of Joseph P. Kennedy's (father of JFK and well known philander ) many illegitimate kids.  And Oswald had had it.  JFK got to be President with a beautiful wife and kids, not to mention all the money the Kennedys had, while poor Lee Harvey, had to work in a Book Depository in Dallas for a buck twenty five an hour.  How would you feel, if you were poor old Lee Harvey?

We know we've mentioned this conspiracy theory before but everyone trots out their conspiracy theories every year, and this one bears repeating.  It's a goodie.

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Bad News ? Good News?

The bad news is Prince Andrew's troubles are far from over.  And this time he will not only get kicked out of the Royal family for good but he might wind up in jail!  So says historian Andrew Lownie.  Underaged girls again!  No, this time it's financial improprieties.  We know, we know what you're thinking a royal in prison!  Think of the embarrassment to the royal family!  Oh the horror!  Has a Royal ever been in prison before?  Well yeah, so maybe it's not so bad.  Edward II comes to mind and Richard II as well.  So it's not unprecedented.  It wouldn't be just him, in the history books of England and its Royals.  But one additional note for ex-Prince Andrew, those guys Edward II and Richard II, they died in prison.

And Cleveland Guardian pitcher Emmanuel Clase has been indicted on whole host of charges relating to gambling.  Every degenerate gambler and anyone who knows a degenerate gambler, knows they will bet on anything and everything.  And with the new sports betting around everywhere you turn, you can bet on everything and anything.  Including whether the pitcher will throw a strike or a ball on the next pitch.  Clase and his buddies decided he'd tell them what he was going to throw every now and then.  Better than good news (no pun intended)  this was great news for them.  How could they lose?  And these friends of Emmanuel Clase cashed in big time.  But then, well, the bad news.  Clase tipped them off with the usual where and when he was going to throw a ball.  But, then, the batter who wasn't in on it, swung and missed.  Even though the ball wasn't even near the strike zone.  But once the batter swung, it was a strike in the score book, no matter how much the ball missed the plate by.  Worse news is, someone talked.  So there's a lot of indictments now.  And Emmanuel Clase isn't throwing any pitches, anymore.  Boo hoo.

And this is a biggie!  The government is open again!  We leave it to you as to whether that is good news or bad news

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Where Are The...

Conspiracy Theories?

Donald John Trump POSTUS 45 and 47, had one assassin shoot him and another assassin lay in wait ready to shoot him.  The first guy who was killed on the scene and the other guy has already been convicted but where are the conspiracy theories?  The guy who lay in wait, Ryan Roush had his place all staked out in the grassy knoll.  No need to speculate whether or not there would have been shots fired from it.

Was Thomas Matthew Crooks a lone gunman?  Have they accounted for all the bullets?  Did he actually hit POTUS 45?  Was there a second gunman?  a Third even?  Thomas Matthew Crooks whose first shot  nicked DJT's ear. didn't seem to be able to come close with any of his other shots.  What makes anyone think he hit DJT with that first shot?  Why was he killed at the scene?

Why are we the only people asking these questions?  Does anyone care?  If we hadn't put these guys names in this article, could you have named them in a quiz?

Yes we know that conspiracy theories historically take time.  First there is the investigation and then the official report.  And after all that, the conspiracy theories begin to rear their ugly head.  But this 2025 not 1961 or 1968!  No one much believes anything the government says any more.  Especially in official reports.  Besides we have Facebook, X, Tik Tok, Instagram, Podcasts and Blogs like this one.  There is no reason to wait!

Now we could speculate as to why there are no conspiracy theories but that would be a conspiracy theory.  And as readers of this Blog know, we don't engage in conspiracy theories.

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Questions?

Have you been worrying about climate change?  You know the polar ice caps melting.  The seas rising.  The increase of hurricanes, tornados and other climate change related disasters that will bring about the end of it all?  Well cheer up Bunky.  There's nothing to worry about.  Says who?  Says Bill Gates that's who.  And he was one of the biggest climate change guys going.  Just short of Al Gore, we think.  Now Bill Gates doesn't say there is no climate change.  Just that we or industry and science can handle it.  So all that time you spent gnashing your teeth, well fuggettaaboutit!

And as the government goes into it's second month of being shut down we have to ask one other question.  What is the matter with these people?

And a Manhattan sized object out in there in outer space named 31/ATLAS turned blue and exhibited non-gravitational acceleration.  So says Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb.  Loeb also says this could be an indication of an alien craft engine.  But this begs the question, will the aliens stop by?  Probably not, as they never do.  Why is that?

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Sports And Gambling

While this latest NBA betting scandal explodes, try to understand that sports and gambling go hand in hand.  This is not to say situations like the current one with the NBA happen a lot and we're not trying to spread conspiracy theories.  And, this is not just about bettors who may or may not know anything about the games they bet on.  This is just a little insight.

If you were or are an athlete of any kind, it was probably was the amateur kind.  That means you weren't doing it for a living.  But it doesn't mean, there wasn't any gambling going on.  Some leagues have an entry fee and the winning team or top teams get to divey up some of that money.  But even if it was a league just for fun or you're just playing with friends in a pick up game, it doesn't mean you weren't betting on anything.  At the very least, you were betting on your skills.  Every ballplayer in every game is doing that.  Everyone wants to win and play well doing it.  It's why we all play.  But what will happen and how you will perform in any game, is the great unknown.

You could be hitting a line drive on every batting practice pitch and then pop up or strike out in every at bat in the actual game.  Or just the opposite.  You could step up to the plate in the game and just hit line drive after line drive.  Or you could walk out onto the basketball court and sink every practice shot and then proceed to shoot 2 for 10 in the game.  Or just the keep hitting your shots in the game as you did in practice.  You just never know.  Of course you work on your skills.  That's what practice is for.  And, if you're playing well, you have a lot of confidence but then, you just never know.  Everyone has a bad game.  We don't care who you are.  So every game is... well, a gamble.  So all athletes every where, are gamblers.

When we were young we would bet on ourselves.  We'd bet the other team we could beat them and put up a $100 to prove it.  That was a lot of money back then.  And the money heightened the competition for us. Money heightens the competition for everyone, everywhere.  That's why they tell you what the winning share in every sport is.  The Superbowl winner gets...  World Series winner gets...  The Masters Champion gets...

It was not uncommon in my old neighborhood for players to leave the field and wind up working for bookies.  Or in one case, becoming a bookie.  And, of course becoming bettors too, a whole lot of bettors.  There are a whole lot of neighborhoods and a whole lot of bettors out there.

The athlete gets that big adrenaline rush from making a great play or winning the big game.  The bettor gets that too, when they put their money down.  No one should be too surprised that the bettor and the athlete, might be the same guy.

So as we said in the beginning, this is not to say that professional sports is riddled with gambling or create conspiracy theories.  Just understand that gambling and sports go hand in hand.  It's the just the nature of the beast.

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One Came Running

 Chapter 5    

Casualties of War 

 

The morning broke nice and clear, not a cloud in the sky.  The temperature would remain in the 70’s with very little humidity.  It would be a perfect Indian summer day.   Teddy left at his usual time, got to the office at his usual time.  Had his book out on his desk as none of the Managers would be in for a while.  He had a nice big cup of coffee on his desk, when he heard it. 

It was an explosion, loud and rumbling.  Teddy could tell it was coming from the Trade Towers.  His first thought was the terrorists were back.  A small group of them had tried to bring down one of the Trade Towers by planting a car bomb in one of Tower’s parking lots a few years back. 

It was almost comical as all they managed to do was blow a hole in the floor of the parking lot.  It had no effect on the building.  Teddy hadn’t even heard the explosion that time.  He was in a different building not near the Trade Towers. 

So, Teddy figured he’d wait to hear what was going on.  But then phones started ringing.  It was early 8:48, so there weren’t too many people there.  But those who picked up were getting frantic phone calls from their families.  Something about an airplane going into the Trade Towers. 

Teddy decided to go downstairs and when he got there, he saw Rene in the front of the building with his arms spread wide and shocked look on his face. 

Teddy asked.  “What happened?” 

Rene shook his head and said.  “An airplane just crashed into the Trade Towers.  I saw it.” 

Teddy turned and looked up.  He could see black smoke billowing out of the building.  He figured somebody flying a small plane had just lost their way.  Small planes were not allowed to fly over Manhattan.  Probably not terrorists after all. 

As the smoke kept billowing out, Teddy wondered why hadn’t the sprinklers turned on?  Why was it still burning? 

Teddy went back upstairs.  The phones were ringing off the hooks.  Teddy’s phone wasn’t so he dialed his home number.  There was no answer.  But then she would be on her way right now.  He tried her cell phone, but it didn’t connect.  That was the bad thing with those phones.  They didn’t always have service. 

Teddy knew he could get a better look if he went to the big conference room on their floor as he would be higher up.  Not quite on par with the Towers but high up enough that you could clearly see the buildings. 

When he got there the windows were already ringed with other employees none of whom could believe what they were seeing.  It wasn’t just the black smoke but the amount of it.  This was a roaring fire.  Teddy knew by the extent of it that the sprinklers just weren’t going to have much effect. 

Then everyone by the windows gasped.  Teddy didn’t see it at first but then he saw a man, falling or jumping out of the building.  Teddy tried to tell himself it was furniture, but the man’s arms and legs were flailing in the air.  Teddy could see him falling, falling, failing till he was out of sight.  Teddy turned his head away as he began to see other people jumping or being blown out of the building.  And Teddy knew instinctively that he would see that man falling, for the rest of his life. 

Then someone to Teddy’s left screamed.  Teddy turned and saw it.  It was big and moving fast.  It turned slightly and the way the sun hit it, it looked all black with wings and Teddy thought it was a huge, guided missile. as it flew right into the south Tower.  There was a huge, massive black and red cloud that was expanding and coming right for their windows. 

Teddy had a moment of sheer terror, and he yelled.  “Get away from the windows!”  But then the black and red cloud stopped expanding and began receding quickly.  In the next moment Teddy turned into a block of ice.  He felt nothing.  He didn’t even hear the explosion.  If anyone had asked him what had just happened, he would have said a guided missile went into the south Trade Tower and it didn’t make a sound. 

Teddy hadn’t realized Nick was in the room.  He must have just gotten to the office, but he saw him run right by.  Nick’s wife worked in that building, the south Tower. 

Teddy went back to his phone and dialed both numbers again, no answer.  Teddy knew he should be anxious, scared out of his mind with worry over Livi.  He realized he probably was, but he felt nothing.  He was numb. 

Teddy walked over to Fulton Street and waited between the two exits Livi would come out of after she took the 4 or 5 train. 

Across the street he could see Nick at the foot of City Hall Park with his cell phone in hand.  He was texting furiously.  

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Chapter 1 continued

Teddy sat back at his desk.  He could go back to his book about the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor.  It was quite an interesting take on the attack.  All his life Teddy had read history books or watched documentaries that told how it was this great victory for the Japanese and this horrible defeat for America.  But this guy’s take showed how the Japanese had sunk 4 Battleships, one Mine Sweeper and damaged another 12.  The ships that hadn’t been sunk were all repaired and back out to sea in a manner of weeks.  The Aircraft Carriers that they needed to cripple weren’t even there.  They were all out to sea.  So, the whole attack was an unmitigated disaster for Japan.  Which was kind of astonishing to Teddy Green. 

The other fact that hardly got any mention in the other books he’d read was why December 7th?  Why not November or even January 1942?  The American embargo on their oil, meant that Japan was going to run out of oil by the end of 1941.  Their whole modern industrialized economy was going to come screeching to a halt.  They were about to go dead broke. 

He thought about that for a moment.  It was all about the oil or the lack thereof.  Or the wealth that the oil let their economy, and everyone else’s economy produce.  He wondered for a moment if all wars weren’t fought over that.  Not oil but what it let a country produce, its wealth.  Had all wars been fought over that, wealth?  If the British hadn’t tried to collect taxes would the Colonies have ever started The Revolution?  And if some guy had figured out a cheaper way to pick cotton and tobacco than using slaves, would there have been The Civil War? 

Food for thought but then he was just a clerk in a Housing Agency, and he hadn’t even been a history major.  No, his Major had been English.  So, what did he know? 

There was only one other thing to do.  He opened his lower drawer and took out the instant coffee and the powdered creamer.  He didn’t want coffee and if he did, he would go downstairs to the coffee stand, not drink this crappy concoction.  He had no idea of drinking it, so he just spooned in enough of the coffee and the creamer to make a half a cup. 

No, he’d make a coffee because there was only one water fountain on this floor that had a hot waterspout.  So, he made his way over to it.  It was on the east side of the building where the offices looked out on the beautiful span of the Brooklyn Bridge.  In fact, this row was so good that their Assistant Commissioner had her office at the far corner of that row.  The closer you were to the Assistant Commissioner’s office indicated how important you were to this Division. 

The hot waterspout was diagonally across from one particular office that was seven offices away from the Commissioner.  But its nearness to the Assistant Commissioner’s office didn’t matter to Teddy Green.  What was important about this office was that its occupant was the very beautiful, no more than beautiful, the stunning Marie Livette Henri.  She was five foot eight inches tall, and she weighed 130 pounds, and she had curves in all the right places.  She had the most beautiful coffee, colored skin tone anyone could ever wish for.  Even though she was forty-eight years old, she still hardly even needed any makeup.  Her hair was naturally just slightly curly, light brown and hung down to her shoulders.  She was Haitian so she was always impeccably dressed.  And, she had that slight French accent which also got men all steamed up.  And, if Teddy could just catch a glimpse of her, it would make his last hour livable. 

Of course, he did not want her to catch him gawking.  That was not a good idea.  So, he kept his head down as he let the hot water run into his cup.  Her door was open, and he just gave a quick look, a glance, a peek really.  He could see some guy go rushing in the door like he had something important to talk to her about.  But Teddy knew better.  Men were always doing that.  Going into her office over one pretense or another.  Like Honeybees drawn to a beautiful flower, hoping.  When a man was foolish to actually ask her to go to lunch, she would just hold up her left hand with the wedding ring on it. 

But then the men wouldn’t really mind when she said no.  They just wanted to be in the presence of a beautiful, stunning, impeccably dressed woman.  Even though they got shot down, they went out more intoxicated than when they went in.  It was the Honeybees and the flower thing.  Teddy couldn’t blame them he’d done the same thing himself. 

Of course, Teddy knew she wasn’t married.  She’d been divorced for years.  She only kept the ring on so she could turn men down gently. 

But he did catch a glimpse of her.  The side of her head, the curve of her neck and her light brown hair falling gently on her shoulders. 

When Teddy got back to his desk, he sighed as he sat down.  The only difference between him and the other Honeybees was that at a little before four o’clock, just when he was getting ready to leave, the phone on his desk would ring.  He’d pick it up and on the other end would be the slight French accent and the voice of the beautiful, stunning Maire Livette Henri.  Then they would figure out if they were going to get some kind of takeout or if one of them, usually him because he would be home first, was going to cook something for dinner. 

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