What if?

The reason you haven't heard from the Crack Emcee for months is because he finally gave it up and started his own New Age Cult.

What if?

The Evil Blogger lady blogged about her vacation.

What if?

Bags told us about his career as an underwear model back in the 1970's.

Oh the stories he could tell!

What if?

Wisconsin lesbians were in charge of the Fashion world.

Would everything be plaid and carpets to munch?

These Douches think this a dis!

When in fact it should be his campaign song..

I went to the movies and a living room broke out.

I never go to the actual movies. I mean I have been to about five movies in the actual theaters in the last five years. Only to big budget superhero movies where you want the big screen. Even then it is an ordeal in Brooklyn.

You see you have to deal with the audience. Screaming and talking through the whole show. Or better yet throwing things and fighting. Who needs that crap. So when the Florida people suggested we go see the new Star Wars I was kind of hesitant. You see I am not a big Star Wars fan. I guess it passed me by. I mean I have seen the movies but I didn't think it was all that big a deal. But apparently it is.

We went to this opulent suburban movie palace. It was all so different. They bought the tickets in advance and their was assigned seating. Our seats were reserved and they only had to flash the
I-phone and we were good to go.

The seats were unbelievable. They were full recliners with lots of room. With a cup holder. Plenty of spaces between the seats and to pass by. Now this means there are a lot fewer seats in the theater so that will never fly in New York.

All in all it was a pleasant experience. Well except for the movie. I mean it is what it is. It's Star Wars made by interminably politically correct  Hollywood Assholes. The trailers were what was interested. It was about five features that were all about the apocalypse. Some how the world is ending and the Xmen or some hero is going to save it as everything is getting destroyed.

In the end I guess I just prefer TV.

I didn't see this when it was first on but it seems pretty cool.

Charm City...this is what happens when you put the wrong people in charge....every freaking time.

Breibart.com by Warner Todd Hustson December 30, 2015

As December nears its end and so with it the year 2015, the number of homicides in Baltimore has surged to its highest rate since the 1990s with 340 deaths as of Monday, December 29.

While there were more murders in the past, Baltimore has reached a grim new milestone with its 340th murder making 2015 the worst year for murders on a per capita basis. And it should be noted that there is still three more days left to the year.

Authorities report that in 1993 there were 353 murders, making that year the most dangerous year on record. However, Baltimore had 100,000 more residents at that than today.

More from the Gluten Free Kitchen......Hey that's not Christmas Music

Just a few days after Christmas remember......

I went to see Star Wars! In an actual movie theater.

It kinda was a dog but waddayagonnado?

Dagnabit...don't interrupt me!

That's right Hossaroni!

If it is Holiday Time you know what that means.....It's Florida time!

If it is Holiday Time you know it is Vacation Time and we head down to Florida. Now we didn't have a Muslim drive us because Trump told us it was illegal and he was not going to let any Muslims into Florida so Omar had to stay home. We flew down on Christmas Day and boy are our arms tired.

We had some fun at family gatherings and parties the last couple of days. Today was the first day we had a real break. So what did we do? We went food shopping.

Of course this is a little different than what we used to do. We had to shop gluten and diary free and had to be careful to not load up on Junk food the way we used to do on other trips. There was a Whole Foods type place called Fresh Market and it had some of the stuff  we buy up in New York. I loaded up on chicken cutlets from the butcher and made a load of gluten free breaded cutlets.

I was lucky 13 and my number was called so I could put in my order. We loaded up on organic meats and vegetables. Some tasty gluten free pasta. Spices and condiments to tart up what we are eating. But when it was all said and done I had to do some begging. I pleaded and I begged and I finally was allowed to get one thing I wanted.

An Apple Pie. Because I am a freaking American!!!!!!

Hey! I'm over here now!

Trump is ready to hit Hillary over the head with Bill's Sclong

The reason why I love Donald Trump is he is not afraid to get down and dirty and fight fire with fire. When Hillary gets all weepy about how she is being abused by Trump because he is a woman he laughs in her face. He reminds her not to go there. Because he is going to tie all of those women she trashed to protect her husband. He is going to broadcast Bills trip with that pedophile guy.

She is going to be pummled like a German Christian on his way to church when he passes a bunch of Muslim Migrants.

I can't wait to see it.

Merry Christmas Country Style!

"Welcome to our CBS Country Christmas"  Party. The whole gang is here. Well except for you. I mean I know you went to Florida for Christmas but you really missed out. Later  we are going to skinny dip in the Water Tank. That Miss Hathaway is a real hose bag."

Merry Christmas Whitey!

Three Young Black Women Accused of Beating 51-Year-Old White Man to Death

By William Bigelow December 25, 2015 Breibart News

Next week, three young black women will stand before a Philadelphia judge for savagely beating a homeless white man to death with a hammer and a chair leg last April, all because the 10-year-old son of one of the women lied and said the homeless man struck him.

Not only did the women participate in the murder; they brought three children age 12, 13, and 14, to aid them in their savagery.

Merry Christmas

So I go to the bank today to make an account to account transfer with my production manager in California. Now this is different than a wire or a ACH deposit since it happens in five minutes if you both have accounts in Chase. Which we do for just this reason.

Now the bank is a disaster area. Half of the staff are morons. Well  no. They are all morons. Only the manager and the assistant manager have half a fuckin brain. The rest of them are half a fuckin retard. So I walk in and the manager is at lunch and the assistant is helping three other people. This kid comes up to me all dressed in a Chase uniform. They have to wear a Chase shirt and what not. He is about twenty one and has no idea what he is doing. He tells me "Sorry Sir I am training so I can't really do anything."  I tell him "No problem I wouldn't let you help me anyway."

You see he has fucking topknot. A bun in the back. Like he is fucking John Belushi Samurai. WHAT THE FUCK! I mean that is fine if you are selling me coffee or you are a bartender or even working in a boutique. NOT IN A FUCKIN BANK HANDLING MY MONEY YOU PUTZ!!!!!!! You ain't a fuckin' Samurai. You are a Puerto Rican dude! Stop with the bullshit. He went to help an eighty year old Italian lady and I though her head was going to explode. She ran out of there like her Depends were on fire.

Of course it is against the law to say anything about that. You can be brought up on charges. The manager a Jamaican guy named Marvin is pissed about it. I can tell. He don't want that shit in his joint. He is always neat and clean and dressed to the nines. He must be shitting.

It is sick out there and getting sicker.

New show to watch on Netflixs: River!

Netflix's is the only thing saving TV viewing for me these days. I mean I am off most commercial programing. It has all become too sordid and politically correct. We have taped every Hallmark Christmas movie and watch one every night. But occasionally we want something little less frothy so we pick a series on Netfix to binge watch.

Now if those shows are little rougher it is fine because you picked it and are expecting it. Some of the shows we have enjoyed included Harry Bosch, The Fall, Happy Valley and Broadchurch. All adsorbing dramas. Last night we found a new one called "River."

The premise is that a detective is investigating the murder of his partner who appears to him as "manifestation" or basically a ghost. The detective is played by Stellan Skarsgard who played the mad scientist in Thor and the Avengers. The ghost partner is Nicola Walker who is the great actress from "Last Tango in Halifax."  She is a superb actress and really does a stellar job here.

The show is very atmospheric and cool and I highly recommend it.

It beats the shit out of "Hawaii Five O" or "Blue Bloods." That's for shit sure.

Asshole doubles down.

Tarantino: I ‘Utterly Reject’ Argument That Only Some Cops Are Bad

Breibart.com by DANIEL NUSSBAUM21 Dec 2015

Quentin Tarantino continues to stand by anti-police comments he made earlier this fall in a new interview, saying he “completely rejects” the “bad apples” argument that only a small number of police officers behave inappropriately on the job.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly on Monday (and in an interview with Howard Stern last week), the Hateful Eight director put the blame for some instances of police brutality on the “institutional racism” of the profession.

“I completely and utterly reject the bad apples argument,” the director told EW. “Chicago just got caught with their pants down in a way that can’t be denied. But I completely and utterly reject the ‘few bad apples’ argument. Yeah, the guy who shot [Laquan McDonald] is a bad apple. But so are the other eight or nine cops that were there that said nothing, did nothing, let a lie stand for an entire year.”

This is for you Anthony!

Anthony Cumia arrested for assaulting his girlfriend

Anthony Cumia of "Opie and Anthony" fame was arrested for allegedly beating up his girlfriend. The girlfriend posted a video in which she claims he broke her wrist and her ribs. Cumia was arrested and released without bail.

I have always followed Opie and Anthony. You will remember when Anthony got fired from his satellite radio gig because of tweets he made after he was assaulted in Times Square by a hooker. He was taking photos and this broad objected to her photo being taken so she hauled off and whacked him. He made the mistake of saying what he really thought about the situation. He got murdered. Lost his gig. Lost everything. For being honest.

He started his own program which is pretty good. It is subscription service. I admit I am cheap and did not subscribe. Mostly because I don't have time to listen anymore. But I do catch up with the highlights on Youtube. Consistently funny especially when he has good guests. I don't know what this new arrest will do to him. I suspect nothing. His fans are his fans. The question is how bitter will he get. If he keeps the funny he can do great things. But I think it is pretty hard to be funny when you are so pissed at getting screwed over.

I can't wait to see what he has to say about this.

It is embeded in the culture now and there is nothing you can do.

So I am watching this stupid little sitcom on demand last night. It is called "Superstore" and is set in a Walmart/Costco sort of superstore somewhere in the burbs. It has all of the current stereotypical characters. The bumbling white store manager who is a Christian and is mocked for his slogans and piety. The sex crazed plus sized assistant manager who has the hots for the young white college hipster guy who is slumming by working at the Costco because he can't get a regular job. Of course there are the super wise minority characters. The wheelchair bound black guy who is a fount of wisdom and good sense but not threating because he is one wheels. And the wise Latina in the form of the Ugly Betty girl who is the protagonist of the piece.

The premise is the hispter guy like the wise Latina. He is played by the Jewish dude who cut his ear off in Mad Men. He is constantly put in situations where his college smarts are shown up by the wise minorities who have to school him.

The last episode is all about racism. It seems they are hawking a salsa and the white manager guy wants Ugly Betty to promote it because she is Mexican. She freaks out because she thinks it is a demeaning stereotype. Meanwhile some of the other workers are happy to do it. The other Spanish Chick loves it because it gets her out of the dressing room duty which really sucks. Ugly Betty starts fighting with her to the point that she pulls a bowl of salsa out of her hands and trips her up and she sprains her ankle. So the obsequious Filipino dude goes full retard with the sombrero and fake accent to sell salsa. The Ugly Betty chick starts to berate him and asks him how he would like it if she faked being an Asian and did this:

Of course the customer reports her and the whole store has to watch a sensitivity training video. Which is as stupid as you might imagine. Everyone is pissed that they have to go throw this.

The subplot is what I found interesting. TV shows now have to gild the lily by portraying sweet old white ladies as racists. They did it last week on Chicago Med and then again in this show. The hipster guy was working in the pharmacy and giving out flu shots. He sees this eighty year old frail white woman in the line who calls him over to ask how long was the wait. He decides to escort to the front to have a seat and naturally someone in the line asks why she is going to the front of the line. Of course it is a black dude who asks. The sweet old lady turns to him and says "He's white and we take care of our own." This is one of the causes of the store being forced into sensitivity training. It was termed the worst kind of racism.

My question is why?  Why is it a problem if white help out whites when a whole cottage industry has sprung up for blacks to assist blacks and Hispanics to assist Hispanics and women to assist women. Are white people the only people who have to not help their own? I guess so. This type of political correctness is soaked into everything. De Blasio has passed a law that if you refuse to let a transgendered person use your ladies room you are subject to a $250,000 fine. If you talk about it and say you are against it or are say anything in any way that they find offensive you are subject to the same fines. Political correctness has triumphed. At least in New York City. In television. In print. On blogs. You can't even watch a stupid sitcom without getting hit over the head with this stuff.

Enough is enough.

You got it right Billy!

Ginger or Mary Jane

Yes that's right! Pick your favorite!

Well that was fun while it lasted.

Do I amuse you?

Just sayn'

Hey I am what I am!

As you know I am busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest. Besides all the stuff with the store and trying to finish a couple of books that I started....I am selling my books on Amazon and we have to move next month. So I am really busy.

I have been enjoying blogging at Lem's even though there have been some complaints. Some people think I put up too much stuff. Some people don't like what I have to say and flounce off in a huff. I am past the point of worrying about it anymore. I think you have to state your case and let the chips fall where they may. So my appeal might become a lot more selective. Waddayagonnado?

Even if it becomes tumbling tumbleweeds around here I am going to keep on keeping on. Cause that's how I roll.

The book sales are going great

The selling of my library on Amazon is going pretty good. I sold four books today. Not to shabby. It is almost another full time job.

Just what I need.

Marilyn's Diary

We always tried to take advantage of  living in Southern California. We would go to Disneyland. We always got free tickets to the Dodgers because Sandy Koufax was best friends with Grandpa. And we really loved the beach.

The only problem is that we couldn't go out when it was sunny. You see Grandpa was a vampire and Aunt Lily was half vampire and half succubus so they weren't supposed to be in the sun. In fact the only reason they could go outside during the day is because Grandpa invented sunblock. It was originally a super strength lube but it worked to keep him from dissolving into a pillar of salt.

So we just hung out and enjoyed hanging out at the beach. Eddie would run around and peep at girls. Aunt Lily would go and put her feet in the surf and let out her succubus wail that attracted sailors.

Who she introduced to Grandpa. It was their favorite father daughter thing to do.

It's nice to be missed

I have been busy in the store so my  internet work has been limited to Lem's Levity. I wanted to help Lem keep his joint alive so I am throwing some old stuff up and then adding a new thing here and there.

Of course that means I have posted less here but I will pick it up once we have the Japan wholesale order out on next Wednesday. But a funny thing happened at one of the other places I have been posting "Previously TV." I haven't been posting for a week or more and people missed me. They like me. They really really like me. A couple of people direct messaged me and one made a comment asking where I was. It is nice to feel missed.

Custer is just a very compelling character!

So I am finishing up the new Robert Conroy novel of alternative history called "Custer in Chains." The premise is that Custer survives the Little Big Horn and is a hero who is elected President. He looks around to see what he can do and decides to start a war with Spain a couple of decades before it happened in our timeline.

Hilarity ensuses and Custer ends up getting captured by the Spanish. Don't ask. It is pretty far-fetched if logical and part of the Custer mystique. There are so many crazy Custer books that it is almost a subsection in the library like vampire books or something.

The first of these books I read many years ago. It was novel by Douglas C Jones and it portrayed a fictional court martial of Custer after the Little Big Horn. Several old school Union generals are on the jury. RC Ocean would get a kick out of it.

I have spoken about the weirdest version before. It is the series which starts with "The Year the Cloud Fell." In it the Indians win the war and Custer becomes President. Oh and they ride dinosaurs instead of horses. It is very realistic.

When I was a kid I enjoyed the Custer TV series "The Legend of Custer." It wasn't all that accurate but I enjoyed it. All of those TV shows were about American Heroes. Custer. Daniel Boone. Davy Crockett. The Swamp Fox. Old white guys. You don't have that anymore. There are no heroes in American History that will be profiled on TV. You get your Dexters or Don Drapers or Hannibals. But no Davy Crockett. Definitely no Custer.

So you have to find it in books. Maybe I should write one. An alternative history with Custer. But no dinosaurs. That has already been done. Vampires? Gay? Furries?

Wait a minute! He had long hair and was very vain and his wife was a control freak who managed every part of his life. I got it.

Transsexual Custer!

That's a million dollar idea right there.

John Wayne`s --- God Bless America

Remembrance of Things Pabst

After we finished wandering around all of the high end shopping joints we wandered around looking for a restaurant to sit down and have a bite. We wandered down Fifth and decided to head to Madison. We were on 59th and came across a cute bistro named Bottega de Vino.

It is an old school Upper East Side Italian restaurant with waiters dressed up and old fashioned service. There were a bunch of tourists, bridge and tunnel people, and executives out cannoodling with their secretaries or their side pieces. Directly across from us there was this old white guy chatting up a hot young Latina with her boobs hanging out. We took a photo with our reflection in the glass but I didn't want to get the girls photo in the shot. I think she was a pro and was too aware of the situation. But is is an artsy fartsy photo.

I screwed up and didn't take any photos of the appetizers. We did the cheese plate and a nice goat cheese soufflé with a pistachio pesto on the side. Very tasty. I had one glass of wine because that is my limit these days and Lisa didn't have any because of her allergies.

By the way the prices were pretty pricey but that is normal for the East Side. So the apps went for around $12 but you got a lot for your money so I had no complaints.

Next we ordered the main course. Lisa has gone to a totally gluten free diet as it is imperative for her health. You can always find an alternative if you just ask questions. It turns out that they have a gluten free linguine which we got with garlic and oil, grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes and gaeta olive. It was pretty tasty.

I don't have too many restrictions so I ordered tortellini stuffed with beef and prosciutto in a cream sauce. It was quite tasty and delicious.

Then it was time for the desert. We don't always get desert but since it was a rare night out in the city we decided to go for the full boat. The menu was typical for a mid level Italian restaurant.

We don't do cake and most of it was with gluten so we decided to just do gelato. Lisa did the chocolate and I did the peanut butter. It was very nice.

All in all it was a fun time. We ordered Uber to go home and relax. A day in the city. You have to make the best of it at the time you can.

When you are shopping in Midtown you can have only one response...Jazz hands!

So on our trip into the city we decided to wander around. Lisa had to visit her friends at Louie to let me know what handbag she wants if we get signed to the new show. It is always interesting as it is such a clean and well lit place. It must be frustrating for the clerks because so many people come in to look and so few people buy.

Then we went over to Tiffany's. The sales clerk was very nice and Lisa look at a couple of bracelets. There was a very nice one but I had to gulp when I saw how expensive it was. Not possible right now but know knows in the future. It was still fun for her to check them out and decide which one she likes. When my granddaughter comes in next month we will come back to check it out again.

Finally went to a joint where we could actually spend money. At least a little money. Lisa gets a lot of her make up and eye shadow stuff from Chanel. So she had a ball picking out some stuff from the make up counter. We can never get it from Macy's in Brooklyn because they are always out of it. So she got what she wanted in the right colors.

Lisa even insisted that I get some cologne. I mean it wasn't that bad but I am sure it would be shocking to some people. I remember when we had the show and they said they were going to buy makeup for Lisa. When I told them how much it was they said why can't we just get it from CVS? Right.

One thing about wearing a Hawaiian shirt is that they think you are a tourist. Which I don't care about at all. I know when I am getting ripped off and I know when I will not get a discount. So even though it was reasonable I still had to have my usual reaction when we go shopping in the city.

On the Town!

Yesterday was a little different for us. Normally we are off on Tuesdays but we had set up a Doctors appointment in the city so we went into the belly of the beast. It was a beautiful summers day so it was quite pleasant.

We had an appointment with a homo-pathetic physician. No he wasn't a sword swallower. Well he was but this wasn't what is it about. He basically uses vitamins and supplements to treat allergies instead of all these pills that the other doctors prescribe. He had a whole apothecary where you can get all of the vitamins and such. I know it looks like a racket but it was surprisingly plausible as he backed up his reasoning with blood tests so we are going to try it. This is the tea section alone.

So we got finished at around five and had some time to wander around the city on a pretty summer day.

The first thing we did was take some selfies at the fountain in front of the Plaza.  Plus a couple of photos of my honey.

So I will be putting up a few posts about our adventures during the day.

You never know who you will meet

There is a different dynamic now that we have split into two stores.

The back store is the lingerie department and is the domain of my wife and our full time store manager. Of course I always joke with the customers that I am not the bra fitter because they get a little weirded out if I bring to the back if the girls are busy with other customers. So I try and stay in the front and deal with the Lee Lee's customer.

Yesterday I had a very nice girl come in looking for some clothes. She told me she had just had a baby and her body changed and she needed a different fit. Still and all she was in my smallest size and I put together a couple of nice outfits. A pencil skirt and a couple of tops with a cardigan. A wrap dress. A maxi. She was very happy and loved the fit.

So she decided to come in today to buy bras. She had said she was going on a second honeymoon and needed some great lingerie. Of course Lisa got the real story.

You see she had a baby. But it had died. She had to carry it to term and have it delivered by C-section. My wife and I and the girl were all weeping. When you see someone be so brave after a tragedy like that most of the rest of the bullshit you see is just meaningless. I just had to think of all of the poor babies that were murdered at the hands of this Supreme Court. It is just unbelievable how much evil there is in the world. Here is a family that so wanted a child and was denied in the cruelest possible way. So many others treat it like a wart removal.

In any event she is now part of the Lee Lee's Valise family and is off to the Caribbean.

There really are no words.

The Normalization of Deviance

All societies have a natural progression from birth to death. Born in health and vigor they gradually decline into scleroses and entropy until such time as they fail and are swept from the board. The surest sign that such a society is doomed is the acceptance and promulgation of the deviant as the norm. The tried and true values of human society that built successful societies is chipped away bit by bit. The elite will of course call the tune and demand that all dance to their music. Their boredom and existential ennui leads to them to sensations and indulgence in deviant behavior that has long been abhorred by conventional society. Soon enough they engage and celebrate sexual excess, incest, bestiality and homosexuality as though this is perfectly normal behavior. The most outré practices will soon not merit censure or even comment. You risk all you own to disavow such behavior. That is how you end up with a horse in the Senate.

We are well along the route of this descent into madness. Deviance will be normalized and voices that caution that this has all happened before will be shouted down. The sybarites and hedonist will rule and anything that puts a brake on excess will be at best mocked and belittled or at worst outlawed and criminalized. Those that refuse to accept deviance will be marginalized and driven underground. The process is ongoing and if you do not realize it you have not been paying attention.

You will not be able to opt out of the normalization of deviance. You will be coerced by the state and your religious and moral values will be dictated to you by the elite. You will not have a choice in the cakes you bake or the photos you take or the religious values you hold. If you express your disagreement you will lose your job and be harried from the public square. Soon even the symbols of your faith will be outlawed. Much as in China the government will dictate that the Cross will go the way of the Confederate Flag. They will deem Christian symbols “hate speech” and restrict their display. Churches, temples and synagogues will be forced to perform same sex marriages or be sued and penalized and driven underground.

Those who tell you this will never happen are lying. Those that tell you that the Courts will protect religious freedom are deluded. The elites will enforce the normalization of deviant behavior with all of the power at their disposal.

They are enjoying their victory dance in the endzone right now. But soon enough they will put their shoulders to the goal posts to move them once again. This is not the end of the matter. The drive to normalize deviant behavior will progress into even more ridiculous extremes.

(I originally posted this as a comment at Lem's Levity but I feel it is too dangerous to express such sentiments in public. We must follow the example of Saint Benedict and divorce ourselves from society until such time as the fever breaks and the body politic can heal.....or die)

I finished the latest Spenser Novel and it was pretty good

But not as good as one written by Robert B. Parker. He had a unique voice that is hard to imitate. I think Ace Atkins does a pretty good job but he is just too crude. He doesn't have the subtlety with invective that Parker had.

I know that Parker took a lot of inspiration from a great Boston Crime novelist called George V. Higgins. You can taste the echo's of Higgins style in the early Spenser books. Higgens best book was his first "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" that was made into a movie starring Robert Mitchum. There is a lot of that character in Spenser. But he branched out from there.

The problem for Parker was that Spenser has become sort of a superman. He wins every fight and every shoot out. Consider the fact that he mentions he was a Korean War vet in an early story it would make him about seventy years old right now. So some of the exploits he gets into are sort of ridiculous. Atkins tries to blend in some younger characters but the bulk of the story is still Spenser. I don't know how much longer they can pull this off.

Still it is a lot better than most run of the mill hard boiled detective novels.

Uber is destroying yellow cabs and you know what...its a good thing.

Yellow cab drivers have always been nasty arrogant fucks. They would almost always refuse to go to Brooklyn back in the day. Sometimes when I would go down to Clinton St to catch a cab to go downtown they would refuse to take me unless I was going to Manhattan. When you hail a yellow cab it was always a crap shoot. It could be dirty and smelly. He might not have air conditioning or even refuse to turn it on. The last cab driver we had fell asleep on the FDR drive and I had to slap him on the back of the head to wake him up.

The Post has an article about how the Yellow Cab companies are trying to destroy Uber because it is putting them out of business.

We have been using Uber lately and it is working out great. You just use the app on your phone and they come right to you and take you to where you have to go. They charge your card and email you a receipt. You don't have to fight with the cabbie if you want to use a card instead of cash. You don't have to worry about a tip since it is included. It is cut and dried. You pay a little more but you don't have to fight about the route where the cabbie might go roundabout to run up the tab.

The Yellow Cab is going the route of the horse and buggy. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of illegal immigrants.

It's De Blasio time .....and nobody was flying the Confederate Flag

A woman was pistol whipped and robbed a couple of doors away from Bill De Blasio's house in Park Slope. He is renting it out so his police detail was not around. So these mooks figured it was good hunting in Park Slope.

From the New York Post:

"A woman was pistol-whipped by two thugs during an attempted robbery just doors from Mayor de Blasio’s home in Park Slope, cops said Monday.

The 43-year-old woman was attacked by two men who targeted her while driving by her parked car on 10th Street near Seventh Avenue early Sunday, cops said.

The thugs hopped out of their car and pulled her out of her vehicle, with one jamming a silver handgun in her mouth and demanding she hand over her cash, cops said.

When the woman fell to the ground, clutching her purse, one of the attackers repeatedly bashed her in the head with the weapon before both men jumped back in their car and drove off without any loot."

It looks like they robbed two women a few blocks away on Degraw Street so they made out.

Meanwhile the citizens of the city are going to have to brace themselves for a long hot summer.

When your favorite write croaks....what do you do!

We all of us have favorite writers. People who we eagerly await the next book to come out. It could be a series or just the general output of the author.  I have a bunch of guys I follow and get every book that comes out as soon as it is published. Robert B. Parker. Eric Flint. SM Stirling. George RR Martin. Elmore Leonard. Elmer Kelton. Robert Conroy. Harry Turtledove. Sean Chercover. George Peleconos. Dennis Lehane. Loren Estleman. And a bunch more.

Sometimes the author dies. People like John D. MacDonald. Elmore Leonard. Tom Clancy. Robert B. Parker. Then your supply is shut off. Your favorite characters will not be having any new adventures. Series are cut off in the middle of their run.

Now some authors are so popular that other people step up to continue the legacy. Sometimes it is the son or daughter of the author. When Michael Shaara the author of one of my favorite books "The Killer Angels" died his son Jeff picked up the mantle and produced some pretty good books. But more often than not there is no one to carry on the series.

That is not to say that many people don't try to use the famous characters in new stories. The most prominent example is of course Sherlock Holmes who seems to have moved into the public domain. There are innumerable pastiches using Holmes and Watson in stories by fans and authors who pay homage to the great stories first put forth by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Some are great and some are dreck. I always wanted to try my hand at that and the Inspector Lestrade letters are a nod in that direction. Maybe someday I will try.

The estate of Robert B. Parker is trying a different approach. They have several different professional authors to carry forward three of the series. The Jesse Stone novels are being written by Reed Farrell Coleman and more interestingly TV producer Michael Brandman. He is making a cottage industry of Jesse Stone has he has produced a series of TV movies staring Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone. You can catch them on Netflicks and they are pretty good although quite different than some aspects of the books.

Robert B. Parker's Westerns are being carried forward by Robert Knott. Now Parkers Westerns were always his weakest work and this has not changed with a new hand on the reins. I sympathize because I am a big Western fan and wish I could write them as effortlessly as someone like Louis Lamour or Elmer Kelton or Elmore Leonard. It is a noble effort that just doesn't quite cut it.

Finally they hit a bullseye when they got novelist Ace Atkins to pen the new Spenser novels. He is right on the mark. He captures Parkers voice without slavishly copying him. The latest Spenser novel is called "Kickback" and is about the for-profit prison systems that have sprung up to house juveniles in the Northeast. I just bought it and will read it today. Nothing is better than getting one of your favorite authors new books to read. It is not actually Robert B. Parker but it is close enough to top off my jones for hard boiled detective fiction for a while.

Now I have to wait until September for the next SM Stirling book. Waiting sucks.

Rereading Francis....we just don't read the same thing.

Tim who is a great commenter and a fan of Pope Francis directed me to a blog post from a site called "Ethika Politika" which I had not heard of before. In this post the author makes light of those Catholics like me who have their doubts about this Pope and his penchant for proclamations and interviews that have to be reinterpreted because the media always twists and changes his plain meaning.

Here is the meat of her post:

"One line used to criticize Francis, which I saw in emails as soon as the subject of the encyclical was announced, has been to lament his failing to write on the persecution of Christians. “While the Holy Father has spoken eloquently about the present genocide of Christians in the Middle East,” writes Fr. George Rutler in his inevitably elegant way, “those who calculate priorities would have hoped for an encyclical about this fierce persecution, surpassing that of the emperor Decius. Pictures of martyrs being beheaded, gingerly filed away by the media, give the impression that their last concern on earth was not climate fluctuations.”

I normally read Fr. Rutler with pleasure, but this, I’m afraid, is a cheap shot. None of us, should we be blessed to be awake as we’re dying, will be thinking about the weather, but those we love and leave behind will care about it a great deal—especially if it gets worse, as the majority of scientists seem to say."

Talk about dismissing a legitimate issue. Climate change might be a very important issue. Or it might not. Scientists differ. Some want to blame everything on the free enterprise system that is the best thing that ever happened to the poor that should be the concern of the Holy Father. It is the surplus that our Western Industrialized society provides that serves to succor the poor and impoverished of the world. Not the failed socialist states like Cuba that seem to be the apple of the Pontiff's eyes.

Be that as it may I would think that the persecution of Christians and others by forces of Muslim extremism should be the focus of the Pope and all the resources of moral suasion he can wield. He must beat the drum each and every day and put pressure on Catholic politicians and people in power to do something to intervene and protect the innocent. You can't tell me that if he was on TV every day he would not marshal world opinion in some way. These are murders and persecutions not seen since the days of the Romans for crying out loud! How is this not the focus of the Church and it's leaders. Each and every day. Nonstop. Pushing and pushing until something is done to stop this genocide against Christians and other non Muslims. Why do people who are apologists for the Pope just shrug and say it is a "cheap shot" to mention this? Would it have been a cheap shot to call out Pope Pius for being silent about the fate of the Jews during World War 2?  Is the Pope immune to criticism and doubt? Should we just shut up and put our money in the collection basket so they can build a bigger cathedral?

It comes down to reading the Pope and listening to what he says. And what he doesn't say. Where he chooses to put his emphasis. His teaching. His moral suasion. He seems to want to talk about climate change and green house gases and curtailing industrialization and prosperity and the free  enterprise system. Instead of Christians who are being beheaded or made into sex slaves or throw off a boat on the way to Italy. I don't think you have to reread him. It is becoming pretty clear where his priorities lie.

I always aced the reading comprehension test. 

A great new book for Yankee Fans

As usual I am reading about four books this week. One is the latest from Eric Flint and the 1631 universe "The Cardinal Virtues." Another is a scifi book about an alternative universe with World War One era troops in another dimension called "The Grasslands." The new biography of Ty Cobb which posits that he wasn't the monster that he is portrayed in most other accounts. And a great new book about the Yankees: Strangers in the Bronx: DiMaggio, Mantle, and the Changing of the Yankee Guard.

It is about the 1951 season which is the only one that the two Yankee Icons played together. DiMaggio was at the end of the string although he was still pretty close to the top of his game. He retired before he became a pitiful joke like Willie Mays in his last years with the Mets. It is tough for athletes. Very few retire on top like Jeter and DiMaggio. Their skills might not be at the top of their game but they were still very good players. It is a very interesting book.

There is a changing of the guard right now with the Yankees. The problem is that we do not have any home grown talent that the fans can latch on to as True Yankees. Bret Gardner just does not cut it. Robbie Cano had a chance to be that guy but he sold out for top dollar and is having a miserable season out in Seattle. So we are going to have to wait a while for the next great Yankee.

I was privildeged to see several All Time Yankee greats play in person.  Yogi in his last year. Mickey and Roger. Thurman. Posada. Pettite. Bernie. Jeter. It will be a long time to someone of that caliber comes up in our system. But I can still revel in our history and remember the good times.

I just wish that I could afford a ticket.