Former Socialist, Former Republican, Former Contributor to The American Spectator, Former Resident of Canada, Back in Boston Area After Stints in New York City & Atlanta, Current Mustache Wearer & Aficionado of Baseball, Bowling in All Its Forms, Cats, Music & Healthy Living
During a congressional hearing today, AOC questioned Jessica Kramer, an Assistant Administrator for Water at the EPA. During her questioning, AOC held up a couple of jars of discolored water which she claimed came from Morgan County, Georgia (about 215 miles northwest of Atlanta) where Meta is building a data center. AOC further claims the jars of discolored water is drinking water.
For her part, Kramer said there had been concerns about water availability (i.e. water pressure re: household appliances) but had been unaware of any issues concerning drinking water in the area arising from Meta's construction of the data center. However, Kramer agreed to conduct a review.
From where I sit, I have no way of knowing what AOC is holding is drinking water from Morgan County, Georgia. It's possible that might be the case. But quite frankly just because AOC says she is holding a jar of contaminated drinking water from Morgan County, Georgia, doesn't mean that is true. How do we know that this jar didn't come from the Potomac River?
Any half-decent lawyer would want to know the following:
a) Where was the water obtained?
b) When was it obtained?
c) Who obtained the water and what was the chain of custody which followed?
d) How long before the hearing did AOC's office acquire these jars of water?
e) Where were these jars of water stored between their acquisition and the hearing?
f) Were these jars stored in a secure area?
g) Who in AOC's office had access to these jars?
If there is impartial evidence which substantiates AOC's claims, then fine. Yet somehow, I very much doubt that AOC or her staff would be forthcoming concerning these questions.
Then there are the byproducts of the lawsuit. What jumps out to most people is the $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund. Aside from being an affront to the "Spirit of '76", methinks most of the recipients of this "anti-weaponization" will be people who used actual weapons on Capitol Hill on January 6th and were convicted for their actions. Many of those recipients will be members of militia groups like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. I have a feeling that those receiving compensation from this fund will use these funds to finance acts of terrorism. Those acts of terrorism will be subsidized and underwritten by the Trump Administration.
While President Trump is not formally compensated by this deal, it reinforces his immunity from the law and is now extended to his family. As Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche put it the IRS is "forever barred and precluded" from pursuing any actions against Trump and his businesses. Of course, Blanche is hardly an impartial figure. He was, after all, Trump's personal attorney. Blanche is not a officer of the court, he is part of the King's Court.
If that wasn't enough, the IRS and Treasury Department must make a groveling, formal apology to Trump. For what is there to apologize? Neither governmental entity did anything wrong. They were acting with good faith and within the law. But that is beyond the pale for someone like Trump who does not believe he is subject to the law. The law is only for his enemies.
While Democrats are outraged by these developments, I cannot help but think they will set a precedent. Should Democrats ever return to power with a demagogue of their own in the White House, they will create their own "anti-weaponization" slush funds for their friends who will use the funds to enrich themselves and finance their own acts of terrorism.
The obscenity and offensiveness will not be confined to Trump and the J6ers alone.
The teenagers who opened fire on the Islamic Center of San Diego didn’t care what the imam said about Gaza. They saw Muslims, and they wanted them dead — the same way the Pittsburgh and Poway shooters saw Jews. Our enemies are not making the distinctions we make about each other. Maybe it’s time we stopped making them too.
Let me put it another way. The Imam of the Islamic Center of San Diego might very well have delighted in the murder of Jews on October 7th and would wish grievous harm upon Jews in America. If this is the case, I still don't wish bloodshed to be visited upon the Imam or anyone else associated with the Islamic Center of San Diego or any other Muslim institution in this country.
Needless to say, I was quite anxious about the return trip today.
I spent nearly 2 hours on the phone with Amtrak only to be told that the best they could do is give me a voucher once I got back to Boston. I also tried to talk to someone from Amtrak when I arrived at Penn Station late this morning, but they told me they have no control over the conditions on the train. Of course, when there is a monopoly situation it is a classic case of "He who makes the gold, makes the rules."
Fortunately, when I got on the train early this afternoon, I felt instantaneous relief throughout my whole body with the blast of cold air.
We were more than 30 minutes behind schedule in departing and there would be another delay of about 15-20 minutes after departing New London, Connecticut due to "police activity." But so long as there was air conditioning, I could handle those annoyances and inconveniences.
Nevertheless, I remained concerned because I will very likely be taking another business trip to New York come mid-August. It will be surely every bit as hot.
Amtrak's Acela service has air conditioning on all its cars but I'm not sure if my employer would be prepared to foot the bill. And even then, there's no guarantee of avoiding a mishap.
At this point, we'll cross that bridge later this summer.
In the meantime, on the subject of air conditioning, I have some happy news where it concerns my apartment. Since returning to Boston nearly five years ago, there has been an annual ritual of my friend DonHammontree helping me to install my air conditioner. To be accurate, he installs the AC while I prevent it from falling out of the window.
However, earlier this year, my landlady had HVAC pumps installed throughout the house. Yesterday, she sent me a text notifying me that she had changed the pumps from heat to AC due to the heat wave.
Yet for all his indecency, Massie didn't lose his seat because of Israel, but because he ran afoul of Trump. That is all you need to know. Had Massie been a pro-Israel stalwart, his political career would have been over. Just ask soon to be former Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy. Trump wanted Cassidy gone because of his impeachment vote. Trump wanted Massie gone because of his position on the Epstein files. Trump cares not about the issues, but of his own interests. Like Bill Cassidy, Thomas Massie got in Trump's way. Now he is out of Trump's way.
Mattingly, of course, previously managed both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Miami Marlins and then served two seasons as the Toronto Blue Jays bench coach before joining the Phillies this season.
At the time, the Phillies were 9-19 which was tied for the worst record in MLB along with the New York Mets, their NL East rival.
As a result, the Phillies now have a winning record of 24-23.
Now the Phillies still have their work cut out for them. They are 8 games back of the Atlanta Braves in the NL East, but they are now in the NL Wild Card hunt tied with the Pirates and Cincinnati Reds at 3½ games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the third NL Wild Card berth.
The 2026 season is not yet a third of the way through, but Mattingly has to be considered an early favorite to be NL Manager of the Year. If nothing else, Donnie Baseball has righted the Phillies ship this season.
Son of Sen. Rand Paul apologizes for antisemitic comments made to congressman
Yet if one takes the time to read the article, the headline is demonstrably untrue:
William Paul, son of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, has apologized for antisemitic remarks made to a New York congressman at a bar in Washington, D.C. earlier this week.
William Paul “drunkenly hurled antisemitic insults at Rep. Mike Lawler, R-New York, at a Capitol Hill bar and restaurant,” according to NOTUS reporter Reese Gorman, who witnessed the interaction.
William Paul introduced himself as Rand Paul’s son and confronted Lawler about Rep. Thomas Massie’s Republican primary election in Kentucky on May 19. If Massie loses against President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate Ed Gallrein, William Paul told Lawler it would be because of “your people,” according to the report.
“My people?” Lawler asked.
“Yeah, you Jews,” William Paul said.
Lawler clarified he wasn’t Jewish, and William Paul apologized for “calling (him) a Jew,” according to the NOTUS report. William Paul continued and said Jewish people were “anti-American,” and Lawler and his “Jewish supporters” served Israel more than America.
Lawler told William Paul he was being antisemitic and defended his support of Israel.
Yes, William Paul made an apology. But his apology wasn't for making anti-Semitic remarks.
Paul apologized for calling Rep. Lawler a Jew.
To be clear, William Paul harbors hatred towards Jews and confronted Lawler on the basis of that hatred.
Over the next two seasons, Capra would shuttle between the Mets and their Triple-AAA affiliate in Tidewater although he would be part of the You Gotta Believe Mets which won the NL pennant under Yogi Berra in 1973.
Over his next four starts, Capra would generate a buzz tossing complete game shutouts in three of those starts - one against the Houston Astros and back-to-backshutouts against the Montreal Expos. Between May 15th and June 6th, Capra pitched 51 innings allowing only 3 earned runs. During this period, Capra lowered his ERA from 3.06 to a miniscule 1.18 ERA. To put that number in perspective, Bob Gibson posted an MLB record 1.12 ERA with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1968.
Capra would come back down to Earth in July but was 10-5 with a 2.08 ERA at the All-Star Break and would be named to the NL All-Star Team by his former skipper Yogi Berra although he would not pitch in the game. He would finish the 1974 season with a 16-8 record with a league leading 2.28 ERA along with 11 complete games. This was good enough to finish 9th in NL Cy Young balloting and 20th in NL MVP balloting.
Unfortunately, Capra could not sustain his success beyond 1974. Capra would injure his pitching shoulder, and a biceps tendon transfer did little to help matters. Over the next three seasons, Capra would only win 10 more big league games before the Braves released him during spring training in 1978. In 7 MLB seasons, Capra appeared in 142 games (61 as a starting pitcher) and went 31-37 with a 3.87 ERA over 544.1 innings pitched. Capra recorded 362 strikeouts against 258 walks. More than half of his big-league wins would come during that magical 1974 season with the Braves.
I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, "I'm different." If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand.
As such, I suspect that male professional athletes who are gay will not be forthcoming with that information until after their career is over, if at all.
Yet I also wonder if the passing of Jason Collins might inspire one of these male professional athletes to raise his hand. R.I.P.
What I find absolutely remarkable about the near mass shooting which took place in Cambridge yesterday afternoon is how little conversation I've heard on the subject.
I did not learn about what had happened until right before I retired for the evening nearly 12 hours after the event had occurred. This was not discussed during work today at all. The first time it was brought up with me was when my mother sent me a text after work this evening.
As someone who has walked that stretch of Memorial Drive hundreds of times over the two decades plus, I can tell you that a man brandishing a high-powered rifle on a busy day in broad daylight wantonly shooting at people in Cambridge, Massachusetts is quite out of the ordinary.
While I understand that anything can happen anywhere at any time, there isn't a city in the world where I feel safer than Cambridge. Yet the fact that I have not heard this discussed within my own daily universe tells me how desensitized we are to gun violence.
What is clear is that this man must spend the rest of his life in confinement in a correctional institution or in a high security mental hospital. Unfortunately, there are some people who simply cannot be part of a free society due to their reckless disregard for human life.
Memorial Drive overlooks the Charles River which divides Boston and Cambridge. The assailant could have fired his rifle from Cambridge and shot someone walking in Boston. Fortunately, this did not come to pass. However, if not for the state trooper and ex-Marine, this could have very well come to pass with tragic results. At the very minimum, more people would have been shot.
For many years (usually on a Sunday) I would walk on Memorial Drive while listening to the Red Sox game on the radio. I have also attended various festivals and other gatherings such as the Head of the Charles Regatta which takes place each October. So, I can easily picture myself at the scene just as I could picture myself standing on Boylston Street during the terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon in 2013.
In this particular case, I would have been on foot and would have very tried to flee to safety without attracting attention to myself while negotiating panicked vehicular traffic. I can only hope I never have to experience something so horrifying.
Of course, I cannot permit this event to stop me from living my life on my terms. However, it does serve as a reminder that I must keep my wits about me at all times yet do so with the knowledge that nothing is full proof.
The Mayor's words will only encourage more of these sorts of actions against other synagogues in New York City. In which case, it is only a matter of time before these rioters will overpower police, breach the barriers and kill Jews inside our houses of worship. As I have previously stated, I truly fear that there will be an October 7th-style attack against Jews in New York City before the end of the decade.
Born in Oklahoma and raised in California's San Joaquin Valley, Cox signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1959. He would toil in the minor leagues as an infielder for nearly a decade with the Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees before he reached the majors with the Bronx Bombers in 1968 where he played parts of two seasons.
Cox would remain with the Yankees as a minor league manager from 1971 to 1976 leading the Syracuse Chiefs to an International League championship. He would be back in Yankee pinstripes in 1977 earning his first World Series ring as Billy Martin's first base coach.
His tenure with the Braves would begin in 1978 when Ted Turner hired him to be the team manager. At the time, Cox was 36 and was the youngest manager in all of MLB. His first tenure in Atlanta saw limited success. The Braves would finish in last place in the NL West in 1978 and 1979 as they had in 1976 and 1977 under his predecessor Dave Bristol (and Ted Turner for a single game).
In 1980, Cox would guide the Braves to their first winning record since 1974 but would take a step back during the strike-shortened 1981 season. After Turner dismissed Cox in favor of Joe Torre (who in 1982 would lead the Braves to their first NL West title since 1969), Cox would take over the managerial reins of the Toronto Blue Jays.
While Cox is nearly synonymous with the Braves, he is also pivotal figure in Blue Jays history. During his four seasons in Toronto, Cox turned the team from a perpetual cellar dweller into a potent force in the AL with an outfield which consisted of George Bell, Lloyd Moseby and Jesse Barfield. Cox would lead the Jays to their first post-season appearance in franchise history when they won the AL East in 1985. Although the Jays would fall short in the ALCS against the eventual World Series champion Kansas City Royals after leading the series 3-1, Cox would win AL Manager of the Year.
Based on his success in Toronto, Turner would give Cox a second chance and bring him back into the fold in the 1986, this time as the team's GM. The Braves' struggles would continue as the team would finish in the last in the NL West for four of the next five seasons. Amid these struggles, Cox would acquire the likes of Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Steve Avery, Ron Gant and David Justice while drafting Chipper Jones. During the 1990 season, Cox would return to the Braves dugout serving as both manager and GM.
In 1991, the Braves would go from worst to first winning the first of 14 consecutive divisional titles - 2 in the NL West and a dozen more after moving to the NL East where they should have been all along. During the 1990s, Cox would lead the Braves to 5 NL pennants - 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996 & 1999. Alas, the Braves would prevail only in the 1995 World Series against the Cleveland Indians. Cox would become a three-time NL Manager of the Year in 1991 as well as in 2004 & 2005. Of further note, his 158 ejections are the most of any skipper in MLB history.
From there, the Cubs would lose 3 games in a row (twice to the defending back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and once to the San Diego Padres) before embarking on their latest double-digit win streak. Four of those victories came at the expense of the Cincinnati Reds who are now on an 8-game losing streak of their own. The Reds are winless in the month of May and have gone from first to worst in the NL Central. To add insult to injury, three of the four Cub wins against the Reds were walk-off victories.
At 27-12, the Cubs own the best record in MLB having won 20 of their last 23 games with a 3½ game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central. They have an 18-5 record at Wrigley Field with 15 consecutive wins at home.
All things come to an end. The Cubs will eventually lose a game or two.
But don't be surprised if Craig Counsell's crew puts together another 10-game winning streak.
People in the U.K. who hate Jews seem quite comfortable with associating with the Green Party, running under its banner and sharing these noxious views.
This is a consequence of the rise of anti-Semitism in the U.K. The Green Party has tapped into it and is now making electoral gains because of it. All of which means life is going to get worse for British Jews for the foreseeable future.
Today, I would like to give some thoughts on some remarks he made in 2002 about the Israelis and the Palestinians followed by his reconsideration of those remarks.
Aren't the Israelis and the Palestinians both terrorising each other?"
The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers, that's all they have. The Israelis ... they've got one of the most powerful military machines in the world. The Palestinians have nothing. So who are the terrorists? I would make a case that both sides are involved in terrorism.
I regret any implication that believe the actions taken by Israel to protect its people are equal to terrorism. In that interview I condemned that violence on whatever side it may come. But I want to make it absolutely clear that my view was, and is, that there is a fundamental distinction between the acts of the Israeli government and the Palestinians. I believe the Israeli government has used excessive force to defend itself, but that is not the same as intentionally targeting and killing civilians with suicide bombers.
This is a nuanced view. Turner still maintained the Israeli government was using excessive force against the Palestinians. Yet Turner also recognized the difference between governmental excess and the actions of Palestinians who deliberately and wantonly murdered Jewish civilians and were rewarded for their actions by the Palestinian Authority. Turner's understanding might have come belatedly, but he did come to an understanding.
Nearly a quarter century has passed, and these facts have not changed. The Palestinians deliberately kill Jewish civilians and are rewarded for it by their government while the Israeli government defends its populace. But what has changed is our collective common sense over the matter.
Had Turner made this statement in 2026, he would have been lauded for it by a significant segment of the Democratic Party as well as elements of MAGA (i.e. Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Candace Owens). Any attempt to provide sober second thought would be perceived as 'bending the knee to the Zionists.' For Democrats, accusing Israel of committing "genocide" is fast becoming a litmus test while turning a blind eye to the acts of Hamas, Hezbollah and their sponsors including Iran.
And it will only get worse before it gets better. Ted Turner has left this world while those of us who remain must deal with the malevolence of anti-Semitism but those who excuse, justify and rationalize it. R.I.P.
Yet when I think of Turner, I think of sports - the Americas' Cup, World Championship Wrestling, the Atlanta Hawks and, especially, the Atlanta Braves.
Turner purchased the Braves in 1976 as a means to place programming on his TV station, WTBS. In the early days of Turner's ownership, there wasn't much worth watching.
Turner thought there was nothing to managing a ballclub claiming, "Managing isn't that difficult; you just have to score more runs than the other guy."
Well, runs proved hard to come by on May 11, 1977 (almost 49 years to the day) when Turner suited up to manage the team against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium. Turner did have future Hall of Famer Phil Niekro on the mound. The knuckleballer gave up only 2 runs over 8 innings pitched. However, one of those runs was a HR by Dave Parker, another future Hall of Famer.
However, John Candelaria pitched better. The Candy Man gave up a single run over 8.2 innings pitched before future Hall of Famer Goose Gossage got the final out. This was Candelaria's career year when he won a career high 20 games and led the NL with a 2.34 ERA. The only run the Braves managed to get off the Candy Man was a RBI single by Barry Bonnell in the top of the 2nd inning. The Braves lost 2-1 and extended their losing streak to 17 games.
National League President Chub Feeney issued an edict against Turner continuing to manage due to a rule not allowing persons with a financial stake in their clubs to work in an on-field capacity. Turner appealed to MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, but to no avail. Turner was livid:
They must have put that rule in yesterday. If I'm smart enough to save $11 million to buy the team, I ought to be smart enough to manage it.
Bristol would return to the club, and the Braves would lose 100 plus games for the first time since 1935. Turner would fire Bristol after the season and replace him with Bobby Cox. However, it wasn't until the second time that Turner hired Cox that things started to turn in the Braves favor. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was around the time Turner decided to let baseball people run the Atlanta Braves.
After the Braves won the World Series in 1995, Turner stated, "For the 10 years I ran [the team], it was a disaster.... As I relinquished control of the Braves and gave somebody else the responsibility, it did well."
At least Ted Turner learned from his mistakes. Some people never do. R.I.P.
Skinner is the third member of the 1960 Bucs to die this year with both Elroy Face and Bill Mazeroski passing away in February.
Born and raised in and around San Diego, Skinner signed with the Pirates in 1951. He would miss the next two seasons due to military service before making his MLB debut in the 1954 season joining a Pirates club that would endure its third consecutive 100 plus loss season. Skinner would spend all of 1955 back in the minor leagues.
Splitting his time between the outfield and first base, it took a while before Skinner learned how to hit big league pitching. But the Bucs' patience paid off as he would hit .305 in 1957 following by a career best .321 in 1958 with his first NL All-Star Team selection. That .321 average was good enough for 5th in the NL that season ahead of future Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Orlando Cepeda and behind future Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, Willie Mays and Richie Ashburn, who would his second NL batting title.
Skinner would regress during the 1961 season see his RBI cut by more than half (86 to 42) while hitting only 3 HR as compared to the 15 HR he hit during the glorious 1960 season. In 1962, Skinner would rebound hitting .302 while belting a career best 20 HR along with 75 RBI.
In May 1963, Skinner's tenure as a Pirates player came to an end when he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for outfielder and pinch-hitting specialist Jerry Lynch. Ironically, Lynch began his big-league career with the Bucs and was teammates with Skinner in 1954 & 1956.
While with the Reds, Skinner was relegated to the bench. In June 1964, the Reds sent Skinner to the St. Louis Cardinals for a minor leaguer and cash. While Skinner continued to ride the pine with the Redbirds, his stay in St. Louis was considerably more pleasant as he would earn yet another World Series ring and another 7-game triumph over the Yankees. Used mainly as a pinch hitter, Skinner would get an RBI single off Yankees reliever Steve Hamilton in the 9th inning of Game 6 in an 8-3 Yankees win. Skinner would share in his World Series glory with Dick Groat who was his teammate with the 1960 Pirates as well as the NL MVP.
In 1967, Skinner returned to his hometown of San Diego to manage the San Diego Padres who were at this this time part of the Pacific Coast League as the Triple-AAA affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. Skinner would lead the Padres to the PCL championship.
In June 1968, Skinner would replace Gene Mauch as manager of the Phillies. Unfortunately, Skinner did not replicate his success in San Diego and would resign in August 1969. Aside from managing a single game for the Padres during the 1977 season after the team fired John McNamara and before hiring Alvin Dark, Skinner would not manage another big-league game.
In 1970, Skinner joined the coaching staff of the Padres who were by this time a big-league club. After serving two seasons as the team's hitting and third base coach, he would concentrate exclusively on batting instruction from 1972 to 1973.
In 1974, Skinner would reunite with the Pirates as their hitting coach where he would spend the next three seasons. Skinner would join the Bucs in the post-season in 1974, but they would fall short to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. In 1977, Skinner returned to the Padres for his second stint as hitting coach before performing the same duties with the California Angels in 1978. Skinner returned to the Pirates for the third time in 1979 where he would serve as hitting coach for the next seven seasons. In his inaugural year with the Bucs, Skinner would earn his third World Series ring as part of the "We Are Fam-a-Lee" Pirates.
In 1986, Skinner would join longtime Pirates skipper Chuck Tanner in Atlanta serving as the Braves hitting coach. He would also become the team's first base coach under being relieved of his duties early in the 1988 season.
In 1989, Skinner would return to managing at the minor league level for the first time in over two decades when he managed the Tucson Toros, the Triple-AAA affiliate of the Houston Astros. Skinner would serve in this role for four seasons before joining the Astros scouting department before retiring after the 2009 season.
Naturally, Sterling is remembered for his personalized home run calls. To name but a few:
Alex Rodriguez ("An A-Bomb for A-Rod!!!")
Curtis Granderson ("The Grandy Man Can!!! Oh, The Grandy Man Can!!!)
Melky Cabrera ("The Melk Man delivers!!!)
Gleyber Torres ("It's Gleyber Day!!!)
Aaron Judge (All rise!!! Here comes The Judge!!!)
He is also remembered for his emphatic declaration after every Yankees victory, "Yankees win!!! Theeee Yankees win!!!"
Alas, this didn't go over very well in Boston especially when the Yankees beat the Red Sox.
But John Sterling's calls were, well, sterling.
Yet when I think of John Sterling, I think of his time with the Atlanta Braves during the early to mid 1980's.
To be precise, I think of one game in particular. It took place on the Fourth of July 1985 between the Braves and the New York Mets. The Mets were leading 11-10 in the bottom of the 18th inning with the Braves one out away from defeat that appeared all but certain. Because coming to bat was relief pitcher Rick Camp, a career .074 hitter.
John Sterling: Now two outs and no one on, the Mets are waving their outfielders in. The whole Met team waving their outfielders in.
Here's Rick Camp the game on the line, two outs and no one on base.
And at least he took a good cut and followed it off.
Ernie, if he hits a home run to tie this game....
Ernie Johnson: Laughter!!!
John Sterling: This game will be certified as absolutely the nuttiest in the history of baseball.
Ernie Johnson: Well, they could go to another pitcher but after 18 innings they've used just about everybody.
John Sterling: Well, the only three guys left are Bedrosian, Perez, and Zane Smith.
There's a strike 0 and 2.
Ernie Johnson: So they've researched that and they figure that Camp is the best hitter of the three left.
John Sterling: Right! It'll be an 0-2 pitch.
And he hits it to deep left!!! Heep goes back!!! And it's gone!!!
Holy cow!!! Oh, my goodness!!!
I don't believe it!!! I don't believe it!!!
Rick Camp!!! Rick Camp!!!
I don't believe it!!!
Remember what I just said. If he hits a home run. That certifies this game as the wackiest, wildest, most improbable game in history.
On an 0-2 pitch, Rick Camp hit it over the left centerfield wall. I don't believe it!!!
If you only knew on the Braves, we kid Rick Camp about his hitting more than anything.
Ernie!!!
Ernie Johnson: Nobody can believe it!!!
John Sterling: Camp makes it 11-11!!! His first major league homer!!!
I mean that is the most improbable act!!! Let's see it again!!! Ernie!!!
Ernie Johnson: We got to look at this another 50 times!!! Back goes Heep. It's out of here.
John Sterling: And it hit the football bleachers.
I mean if you told me John Sterling's gonna run for President and win that would be any more improbable. And I got to tell you that's improbable.
Unbelievable!!!
Well, John Sterling being President of the United States doesn't sound like a such a bad thing.
But it illustrates the odds of Rick Camp hitting a home run moments after Sterling mused about such a possibility. Such a notion was inconceivable. And yet it happened.
The serendipity and sheer joy in John Sterling's voice is why this is one of my favorite baseball clips which I play several times a year. It never fails to improve my mood even on this sad day. R.I.P.
On Friday evening after work, I ended up walking all the way home from South Station to Cambridge due to prolonged delays on the T.
While walking along Hampshire Street, I saw the S&S Restaurant across the street, a sight I have seen many times in the nearly five years I have been back in this area. I made a note to myself that I needed to check this place out. It has been in business in Cambridge for over a century.
As I was by myself, I was offered a seat at the bar. However, no seats were available at the bar. So, after a few minutes, I was given a table by one of the windows. This was at 2:40 p.m.
It was the last time anyone from the restaurant acknowledged my existence. At 3 p.m., I got up from the table and left the premises.
The place had a crowd but was not busy. Indeed, I heard someone from the restaurant state that things had "died down." Under the circumstances, I think 20 minutes is more than a reasonable amount of time to wait for service. Five minutes into my wait, I had a feeling something was amiss. I'm inclined to think that I was deliberately being ignored. For what reason, I cannot say. But sometimes you just know something is up and it isn't good.
Well, if they don't want my business then that's fine. I'll spend my money elsewhere. I would have liked to have shared my experience about dining at the S&S Restaurant. Perhaps it would have conjured up childhood memories about dining at the Hoito in Thunder Bay. But since I didn't do any dining, this has conjured up other thoughts.
This is not the first time I have been ignored at a restaurant. In recent years, I have been similarly ignored at The Burren in Somerville's Davis Square as well as at the former R.F. O'Sullivan & Sons also in Somerville. When this occurs, I'll just leave quietly like I did today. However, the latter occurrence resulted in a confrontation as I was leaving. When I told the waitress I had been waiting for service for 20 minutes she told me, "We're a busy restaurant." To which I retorted, "Apparently too busy to serve me," and walked out. A short time later, R.F. O'Sullivan & Sons closed their doors.
In most of these instances, I cannot help but think these incidents are more a product of malevolence than incompetence. If this is the case, then it's not the end of the world. I simply won't do any further business with the establishment since they don't seem to want mine in the first place. In most instances, there is a Plan B whether it is finding another establishment or just going back home.
Nevertheless, it is one of the occasional annoyances of life that I come across more often than I would like. It's the sort of thing which makes me lose my appetite for dining out.
The Boston Celtics had the Philadelphia 76ers where they wanted them with a 3-1 lead in the First Round of the NBA playoffs.
Tonight, the Celtics' season is over after the 76ers bested them 109-100 in Game 7. Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey led the 76ers' offense with 34 and 30 points, respectively.
The Celtics owned the second-best record in the NBA Eastern Conference, and it wasn't enough. The Sixers now advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the New York Knicks.
When I arrived in Boston in the spring of 2000, JP was my first home, and the Wake Up The Earth Festival was among the first bit of fun I had living here. After 8 years living in the Fenway, I would move back to JP and call it home for a decade before I left for New York City. Fortunately, my exile was only temporary.
I mention all of this because the Wake Up the Earth Festival is a blend of food, music and a hodge-podge of left-wing causes typically of an environmental nature. However, back in 2024, there were a whole bunch of signs concerning the Palestinians highlighted by a mural called "Palestinian Loss of Land 1947 to Present".
Last year, following the release of the remaining hostages, there were a few small Palestinian flags, but it was far less noticeable. The same could not be said this year. One of the first things I saw was a huge sign which read "JP for Palestine".
There was another sign from Massachusetts Peace Action which read "We All Agree - No Taxes to Starve Palestinian Children". It's the sort of dubious claim which gets Jews stabbed in the U.K.
It must be said that this matter is front in center due to the War in Iran. There was an exhibit called "Eyes Wide Open - A Place to Reflect on the True Cost(s) of War" sponsored by Veterans for Peace, Massachusetts Peace Action and several other organizations. A basketball court was strewn with shoes and backpacks representing the schoolgirls killed in an U.S. airstrike at the outset of the war. There were signs which read "Remember the Children" and "In memory of the Iranian schoolgirls who were killed in an U.S. airstrike 02-28-2026".
Indeed, those schoolgirls did not nothing to deserve their fate. The same can be said for the 118 children who were killed by the Iranian government during protests in January 2026. But where is the sign for these children? The people responsible for this exhibit are here to pillory the U.S. and Israel while turning a blind eye to the savagery of the Iranian regime not to mention its proxies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
What worries me is the possibility that future gatherings of the Wake Up the Earth Festival could devolve into overt support for Hamas and Hezbollah accompanied by the calling for the murder of Jews (re: Zionists) as we are witnessing in the U.K.
Don't say it can't happen here because it certainly can.
Of course, we protect freedom of speech and peaceful protest in this country. But if you are marching with people wearing pictures of paragliders without calling it out, you are venerating the murder of Jews. If you stand alongside people who say globalize the Intifada, you are calling for terrorism against Jews and people who use that phrase should be prosecuted.
And yet the truth is while we can and we will bring the full power of the state to bear on this, this is about society every bit as much as it is about security. Moments like this we often say, 'This is not Britain,' That these attacks are an affront to British values, to British tolerance, British decency. But they keep happening, don't they?
And so today, instead, I will simply say that our values are not a gift handed generation to generation. They are something we earn each day through action. They come from us.
Anti-Semitism is an old, old hatred. History shows that the roots are deep and, if you turn away, it grows back. Yet far too many people in this country diminish it. They either don't see it or they don't want to see it.
When Starmer visited Golders Green prior to his remarks, he was heckled with some calling him "Starmer, The Jew Harmer!!!"
Of course, the surge in anti-Semitism in the U.K. didn't begin under Starmer's watch. But it has certainly accelerated. Consider this summary by Jonathan Sacerdoti:
This comes after the Yom Kippur terror attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester, where a car was driven at people outside a synagogue and worshippers were stabbed, leaving Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz dead and three others seriously injured. It comes after four Hatzola ambulances, run by a Jewish volunteer emergency service, were set alight in Golders Green, oxygen cylinders exploding and nearby windows shattering. It comes after petrol bottles and a brick were thrown at Finchley Reform Synagogue; after an attempted firebombing at Kenton United Synagogue; after counter-terror police arrested eight people over suspected arson plots against Jewish-linked sites; after a suspected security incident near the Israeli embassy in Kensington Gardens; after an arson attack on a memorial wall in Golders Green; after Jewish schoolboys were assaulted at Belsize Park station; after a Jewish man was attacked by teenagers in Hendon; after a Jewish father was abused on the Northern line; after Israelis were attacked in Leicester Square for speaking Hebrew; after a man in Wembley was asked whether he was Jewish and then punched in the face; after Jews leaving a West London synagogue were abused and assaulted; and after Gail’s in Archway was daubed with red paint and anti-Israel slogans because a bakery had somehow become another acceptable proxy for Jewishness.
The list is ugly because the facts are ugly.
Synagogues. Ambulances. Schoolboys. Restaurants. Shops. Tube stations. Memorial walls. Men in their seventies. Men wearing kippot. People speaking Hebrew in public.
One could make a case that the U.K. is the most dangerous place on Earth to be a Jew. In which case, the U.K. might as well as be Gaza.
In order for Starmer to effectively combat anti-Semitism, he will need to borrow a phrase from one of his predecessors, Tony Blair. Starmer will need to "say what he means and mean what he says" and punish those who support violence against British Jews.
The problem, of course, is that anti-Semitism is now tolerated in the U.K. Which means Starmer would have to stand firm against any pushback up to and including the risk of Labour supporters defecting to the Green Party and their openly anti-Semitic leader Zack Polanski (despite the fact he is Jewish).
So, it remains to be seen if Starmer will have the wherewithal to mean what he says about combatting anti-Semitism in the U.K.
And even if he does, anti-Semitism might be so deeply entrenched in British society that even the full force of the state might be powerless in excising it
