Thoughts on the ICE Shooting in The Bronx

(Screenshot from CBS News feed on YouTube)

This afternoon, ICE agents shot and wounded a man in his vehicle in an enforcement operation in The Bronx. A 5-year-old child was inside the vehicle during the shooting though he was not injured in the incident.

What is remarkable is this portion of the statement from DHS which reads, "During the incident, an ICE officer discharged his weapon and the criminal illegal alien was injured."

Nothing in the statement indicates that the suspect used his vehicle as a weapon or threatened the ICE officers let alone that the agent who fired the shots was in any danger.

It simply states the ICE officer "discharged his weapon" and wounded the "criminal illegal alien" as if that alone were sufficient justification.

The statement also claims, "ICE officers immediately rendered aid", but this is contradicted by witness testimony indicating it was NYPD who assisted the victim after arriving on the scene.

As usual, ICE conducted itself with reckless disregard for human life with the intent and effect to intimidate the community at large. Instead, ICE's actions only angered the community and rightly so.

Could The Yankees Replace Boone with Mattingly?

 

Last night, the New York Yankees were eliminated from post-season play after being swept in the ALDS by AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays. 

The Yankees did appear to have tied the game with a HR by Anthony Volpe but a fan in fact reached over the outfield railing to catch the ball. Alas, this is not 1996 and Jeffrey Maier wasn't there to save the Yankees. Volpe did get an RBI double, but it is as close as the Yankees would get.

Since taking over the managerial reins in 2018, Aaron Boone has led the Yankees to 8 post-season appearances in 9 years. His 790 managerial wins is 7th best in franchise history. But there have been no World Series titles to show for it. The Bronx Bombers last won it all in 2009 under Boone's predecessor, Joe Girardi.

Of Boone's 8 playoff appearances as Yankees skipper, the team has exited the post-season via the ALDS 4 times including the past two seasons after winning the AL pennant in 2024. 

Boone is under contract to manage the Yankees next season, but his seat is hot. A month ago, Zachary D. Rymer wrote in The Bleacher Report, "Nothing less than a title will make Boone's seat cool again."

While there is blood in the water, there are those who expect nothing to happen because Hal Steinbrenner is nothing like George Steinbrenner. In the first two decades, the elder Steinbrenner owned the Yankees he made 20 managerial changes including hiring and firing Billy Martin five times. However, since 1992, the Yankees have had only four managers - Buck Showalter, Joe Torre, Joe Girardi and Boone.

There is only one scenario under which I see the Yankees parting ways with Boone (and for that matter longtime Yankees GM Brian Cashman) and that is if they were to hire Don Mattingly as their next skipper.

After all, Mattingly played his entire 14-year MLB career in Yankee pinstripes. He is an experienced big-league manager stewarding the Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins while being thrust into becoming the interim manager of the Philadelphia Phillies this season following a 9-19 start. Mattingly promptly turning the team back into a winner and clinching a playoff berth on the last day of the regular season before being shown the door in the NL Wild Card Round by the Atlanta Braves.

The Phillies, however, don't seem eager to bring back Mattingly despite his success and his popularity with the players. With that said, no one seems eager to manage the Phillies. Just ask Alex Cora. Although current Yankees bench coach (and former Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels manager) Brad Ausmus is reportedly being considered.

If this is the case, then the door is open for the Yankees to bring back Mattingly to the Bronx. Imagine if the Yankees traded Boone and Cashman to the Phillies for Mattingly and his son, Preston, who is the team's GM?

Or perhaps, Steinbrenner will continue to bide his time and leave Boone to manage this season and then replace him with Mattingly if they don't win in 2027. The only problem with that plan is that some other team might decide to make Mattingly their next manager.

It Would Have Been Best if Mamdani Had Said Nothing on October 7th

(Barry Williams/New York Daily News)

Here is what New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had to say on the third anniversary of the October 7th attacks:

This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7. On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others. We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss.

The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians—including more than 21,000 children. Even since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed. That suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at a border crossing. Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them—all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes.

Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment.

To honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity.

Under the circumstances, it is well worth remember his initial reaction to the attack on October 8, 2023 when he was obscure member of the New York State Legislature:

Three years ago, Mamdani made no mention of Hamas nor the hostages and cast the blame solely on Benjamin Netanyahu while calling for an end to the occupation and to apartheid.

His statement today does acknowledge Hamas' killed Israelis and held hostages, but it is mentioned only in passing. It is incidental to what to the message he wanted to convey. Mamdani's agenda now as it was three years ago is to defame Israel and by extension the Jewish people. 

And by virtue of the office he holds, Mamdani will again succeed in willfully promoting hatred against Jews. It won't be long before Jews are publicly attacked in the streets of NYC. Lest we forget, this is exactly what happened after he singled out Netanyahu as the only world leader not welcome in NYC during the UN General Assembly.

Let us be clear. Mamdani is lying when he claims there is occupation, apartheid and genocide. 

There is no occupation. Gaza has been Judenrein since September 2005 when Mamdani was a boy of 13.

There is no apartheid. If Israel were an apartheid state, then you would not have a Palestinian as a leading member of the Knesset or a Muslim on its Supreme Court let alone serve in the IDF.

There is no genocide. As with many others, Mamdani makes no distinction between Hamas fighters and civilians. While one can lament the civilian death toll, it would be nice if Mamdani told Hamas not to operate in civilian areas effectively using its populace as human shields. 

If Mamdani is truly appalled by genocide, it is peculiar that he has not used his office to defend Uyghur Muslims and Rohingya Muslims who are experiencing genocides at the hands of China and Myanmar, respectively. Of course, Mamdani is uninterested in speaking out on their behalf because he cannot blame Israel or Jews for their misery. Let me put it another way. Would Mamdani ever say Chinese Premier Xi or the Myanmar military junta is unwelcome in NYC?

Frankly, it would have been better had Mamdani not said anything at all today. But for Mamdani discretion is not the better part of valor. For he is man without valor or virtue. Mamdani simply cannot unequivocally condemn Hamas for its actions against Jewish civilians on October 7th. He was a Hamas apologist three years ago and he remains one today.

Sam McDowell is Suddenly Gone

Former MLB pitcher "Sudden" Sam McDowell, who spent the bulk of his career with the Cleveland Indians during the 1960s and early 1970s, passed away yesterday at the age of 84.

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, McDowell was a standout athlete in baseball, football, basketball and track & field. To give you an idea of how good McDowell was as a pitcher in high school, nearly all MLB teams in existence at the time wanted to sign him. In 1960, McDowell would sign with the Cleveland Indians who gave him a signing bonus of $75,000 (roughly $850,000 in 2026). 

On September 15, 1961, just six days shy of his 19th birthday, McDowell made his big-league debut throwing 6.1 of shutout baseball against the Minnesota Twins but would end up with a no decision.

However, it was not until 1964 when McDowell became a full-fledged starting pitcher in an Indians' rotation which also featured Luis Tiant and Tommy John, the latter of whom passed away in August. 

The peak of McDowell's career was between 1965 and 1971. Over this seven-year stretch, McDowell was named to six AL All-Star Teams and led the AL in strikeouts five times twice topping 300 strikeouts on the strength of his overpowering fastball. The flip side of this was that he walked over 100 batters in each of these seven seasons leading the Junior Circuit in bases on balls five times. 

Had there been an AL Cy Young Award in 1965, McDowell would have surely won it. That season he went 17-11 with a league leading 2.18 ERA posting a career high 325 strikeouts against 132 walks. At the time, there was only one Cy Young for both leagues and Sandy Koufax was the hands down winner. While McDowell fanned 325 batters, Koufax set a then MLB record with 382 strikeouts. Nolan Ryan would eclipse it by a single strikeout while with the California Angels eight years later, but Koufax stills holds the NL record. McDowell was pitching in very tough company.

The closest McDowell came to winning a Cy Young was in 1970 when he finished third in AL Cy Young balloting behind Baltimore Orioles pitcher Dave McNally and the winner, Minnesota Twins pitcher Jim Perry. It was McDowell's only 20-win season. 

Following the 1971 season, the Tribe traded McDowell to the San Francisco Giants for Gaylord Perry, Jim's younger brother, along with infielder Frank Duffy. The younger Perry would win the AL Cy Young with the Indians in 1972 while McDowell struggled going 10-8 with a 4.33 ERA fanning only 122 batters. 

By the middle of the following season, the Giants sold McDowell's contract to the New York Yankees. McDowell would finish his big-league career with his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates in 1975. In 15 MLB seasons, McDowell went 141-133 with a 3.17 ERA in 425 appearances including 346 starts. In 2492.1 innings pitched, McDowell struck out 2453 batters against 1312 walks. 

McDowell's 2453 strikeouts remain 46th best in MLB history while ranking 16th in strikeouts among left-handed pitchers. Of his 2453 Ks, 2159 came in a Cleveland uniform. Only Bob Feller struck out more batters as a member of the Tribe with 2581.

At the time, McDowell retired he was 8th on MLB's all-time strikeout list. Yet McDowell did not receive a single vote in his only year on the BBWAA ballot in 1981.

Why was this so?

Was it because he walked too many batters? Was it because he pitched on mediocre teams? Or was it because of his alcoholism? It is worth remembering that the Sam Malone character played by Ted Danson on Cheers was inspired by McDowell.

While McDowell may have not necessarily warranted a plaque in Cooperstown, he did warrant a few votes.

Fortunately, McDowell managed to overcome his alcoholism and would help others including future MLB ballplayers overcome their own alcohol and drug addictions. I am sure he would take that over a Hall of Fame plaque and not be able to stop drinking. R.I.P.

While Christa Pike Has Survived Her Execution, Colleen Slemmer is Still Dead

(Screenshot of Colleen Slemmer via Facebook)

I have been trying to get my mind around the botched execution of Christa Pike, the woman responsible for murdering Colleen Slemmer in 1995.

Pike's attorneys warned the state of Tennessee that execution by lethal injection due to her veins. And, lo and behold, they were right.

Given that Pike committed murder prior to the end of 1998, she was eligible to be electrocuted under Tennessee law. In view of these facts, why this method of execution was not chosen reflects on the state's incompetence. 

It is worth noting that Pike's legal team moved to have her executed by hanging. I have little doubt they did this knowing full well that hanging is not a legally approved method of execution in Tennessee. But in light of the fact that Pike is still alive Republicans in the state are now considering legislating other such methods.

On a personal note, there are some people that just don't take needles well and I am one of them. Drawing blood was a near impossible task when I had my kidney stone ordeal at the end of 2023. They called me a hard stick.

With that said, the similarities between Christa Pike and I end right there. Notwithstanding the incompetence which surrounded her attempted execution, none of it changes that fact that Christa Pike is a murderer who paraded part of her victim's skull and carved a pentagram into her chest. 

That Pike feels a "kinship" with Lindsay Clancy, a woman who murdered her three children, should serve as a reminder that she is not a good person. As such, I cannot muster much sympathy for her.

I prefer to reserve my sympathy for May Martinez, the mother of Colleen Slemmer. What this woman has endured over the past three decades I cannot begin to imagine. She has spent decades waiting to bury her daughter because the state would not release the portion of her skull which Pike kept as a trophy for evidence until after Pike's execution.

When I learned that Pike had regained consciousness, I wondered what May Martinez thought of it all. Well, she did not keep us in suspense. Martinez said, “It doesn’t matter what I think. They’re going to do what they’re going to do.”

Martinez also said she was not surprised that Pike survived the execution and does not believe they will try to execute her again. Perhaps Martinez has come to a point where all of this has become a cruel joke and that she has become the butt of it as Christa Pike has become a cause célèbre. 

And while Christa Pike has become a cause célèbre, Colleen Slemmer is still dead because Christa Pike took her life away from her.

Parti Quebecois Elected to Minority Government; Coalition de Avenir Quebec Loses All Seats

(Snapshot from CBC coverage of YouTube ofQuebec Premier-elect Paul St-Pierre Plamondon's victory speech)

I have been watching Quebec election results, and the Parti Quebecois has been elected to a minority government. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon (a.k.a. PSPP) will become Quebec's new Premier. As of this writing, here the seat and popular vote distributions:

Parti Quebecois                    59    28.1%

Liberals                                40    24.1%

Progressive Conservatives   19    21.3%

Quebec Solidaire                   9     11.9%

The PQ finished 5 seats short of a majority and won less than 30% of the popular vote. While Plamondon might be Quebec's next Premier, he will be on a short leash.

What is most notable is that the governing Coalition de Avenir Quebec (CAQ) lost all of their seats. Originally elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022 with a greater margin with 90 seats under Francois Legeault, he left office earlier this year and was succeeded by Christine Frechette.

The CAQ collapse is reminiscent of the Tories under Kim Campbell in the 1993 Canadian election although voters' anger was directed at Brian Mulroney. However, the Tories did win 2 seats in that election.

Prior to tonight, there have been three instances in Canadian history in which provincial governments have lost all of their seats. Two of those instances took place in 1935 at the height of The Great Depression. In July 1935, voters in Prince Edward Island ousted the Conservative government with the Liberals winning all 30 seats. A month later, Alberta voters ousted every member of the United Farmers of Alberta government with the insurgent Social Credit Party beginning their 36-year dynasty under "Bible" Bill Aberhart. It would be more than 50 years until it happened again when New Brunswick voters tossed the Progressive Conservative government of Richard Hatfield in favor of Frank McKenna's Liberals who won all 58 seats in the 1987 provincial election.

It should be noted the CAQ actually earned more of the popular vote than the far-left Quebec Solidaire with 13.2% of the vote. But that is cold comfort to the CAQ who will not have seats in the Quebec National Assembly. Frechette did not announce her resignation during her concession speech. But it is only a matter of time before she tenders it.

The PQ only won 3 seats in the 2022 Quebec election. Plamondon moved the PQ to the right with his anti-immigration platform. While this boosted the PQ, they were denied an outright majority with their referendum talk even with the pledge not to hold one as long as Donald Trump remains in the White House. Quebec voters might have elected a separatist government, but they do not want to vote to leave Canada.

Quebec Liberals under Charles Milliard more than doubled their seat total from 18 to 40 while the Conservatives under Eric Duhaime won 19 seats marking the first time the Tories have won seats in the Quebec National Assembly since 1935 before Maurice Duplessis rebranded them as the Union Nationale.

Quebec Solidaire lost three seats resulting the loss of party status although you wouldn't know it if you heard Ruba Ghazal's speech this evening. Yet there is speculation that because the PQ has a minority government, it might give Quebec Solidaire party status as it is only other sovereigntist party in the National Assembly. Of course, Plamondon would have to jettison his anti-immigration platform to gain any measure of support. 

While Quebec might have a PQ government, a minority government will likely guarantee another election come 2028. In which case, Plamondon will still want to hold a referendum even with Donald Trump in the White House.

UK Greens Vote to Declare Zionism as Racism & Support Replacing Israel with a Palestinian State

The UK Greens convened in Brighton yesterday and voted to declare Zionism as racism and to replace Israel with the "establishment of a single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital."

I'm sure Hamas chortled at the notion of a democratic Palestinian state as I am sure Mahmoud Abbas, who is currently serving the 21st year of his four-year term as President of the Palestinian Authority.

Nevertheless, I have no doubt Hamas and the Palestinian Authority welcome any measure by a Western political party that delegitimizes Israel as a nation state.

It should be clear there is nothing racist about Zionism. Indeed, Zionism is at its essence the establishment of a Jewish homeland and Jews have ancestral ties to Israel.

But in declaring Zionism as racism (as the UN did half a century ago), the Greens have taken the first step in dismantling Israel and replacing it with a Palestinian state.

Of course, in order to supplant Israel with a single Palestinian state would involve more October 7th attacks.

Simply put, replacing Israel with a single Palestinian state requires the murder of every single Jew living in Israel.

In other words, an actual genocide.

For this is what Free Palestine truly means.

It should be noted that an amendment stating Green Party members who attend "Zionist synagogues" would not be targeted was defeated.

It is also worth noting that Green Party Leader Zack Polanski was notably absent from the proceedings as he is ostensibly campaigning in a by-election in Holborn and St. Pancras to replace former UK PM Keir Starmer who stepped down from the House of Commons after being ousted as Labour Party leader by new PM Andy Burnham this summer.

Still, it is a copout on Polanski's part. The fact that the Green Party leader who is currently running for the House of Commons skipped his own party's convention demonstrates how little control he has over the party. Polanski couldn't have stopped it even if he so desired and all evidence suggests he had no desire to say stop. Why would he? He has openly tolerated anti-Semitism within his party for months now notwithstanding being Jewish himself. 

The inmates are officially running the asylum that the UK Greens have become. They have traded the green of environmentalism for the green of Islamism as represented by Hamas. The UK Greens are now little more than a Hamas front.