Tea and Vitriol

Tomorrow is Memorial Day in the USA. It is the unofficial start of summer, after which fashionistas can wear white shoes and white slacks until Labor Day without attracting the criticism from self-appointed arbiters of taste. It is a federal holiday, so all schools, government offices, courts and banks will be closed, and bully for all those employed in such fields. Most other businesses remain open, as are retail establishments, albeit with slightly shortened hours to "celebrate" the holiday. In my youth, when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth, EVERYTHING was closed on Memorial Day to honor our fallen war dead, to give Americans the time to ponder its meaning and perhaps spare a thought or two about them. Yes, there will be parades tomorrow, attended by politicians seeking re-election, accompanied by their fan clubs wearing "Vote for so-and-so" t-shirts with which to indoctrinate the crowds of people watching and proving their "connection" to their constit...

 Michael Scott Jr, 22, was sentenced on Tuesday in NY State Supreme Court in Rochester to 30 years in prison for two separate deadly shootings, occurring a year apart. Scott pleaded guilty to manslaughter in both cases, not homicide, though I never knew a corpse that asked about the difference between the two. This was obviously a plea deal, which is how most of our justice system in the US functions, sparing everyone the time, stress and expense of an actual trial. This is supposed to make everyone happy, except maybe the families and friends of the victims. If they complain, they are looked at as spoilsports and told that the courts have provided them with that meaningless word "closure" and that they should get on with their lives. After all, justice WAS done, wasn't it? Without plea deals, our already overbooked courts would grind to a halt. That's because our legal system allows for a multitude of frivolous lawsuits to clog our courts. "Sue 'em" has...

When dinosaurs still roamed the Earth, I was born in Rochester, New York's "Beer Belt." It is an older part of the city and not a toney one, inhabited by the working poor. In my day, most of the residents were either immigrants or refugees from Eastern Europe and English was a foreign language there. You needed to have a working knowledge of five different languages just to go shopping on Clifford, Clinton and Joseph Avenues. And the beat cops spoke them as well. Yes, we had beat cops back then, visible in the neighborhood, and a deterrent to crime and violence. Most residents there respected the authority of the police and wanted to have no trouble with them, since they or their parents came from countries with repressive regimes and feared to be sent back there for committing crimes her in the US. Most of the homes there were built before the turn of the twentieth century, so many did not have driveways for automobiles, since they didn't exist at that time. The stre...

Pope Francis is dead. Long live Pope Leo XIV!  Elected on the fourth ballot during Conclave, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost has chosen to take as his regnal name Pope Leo XIV and has thus become the spiritual leader of the 1.4 billion Roman Catholics worldwide. The process of Conclave has been made much of in the media the last two days and was the subject of at least two recent films: "Angels and Demons" and "Conclave." I therefore will not bore you further with the process. However, I will point out that Conclave began yesterday and was concluded at noon today, making it one of the shortest in history. Perhaps the Cardinals hoped to avoid the diet of bread and water if the Conclave got to be too lengthy, as has happened in the past. Notably, the African and Filipino cardinals who were considered frontrunners for the Papal throne didn't get it. Instead, American born Chicago native Robert Prevost will step into the shoes of the Fisherman. Prevost has theref...

Anthony Hall needs no introduction to anyone who has been following the ongoing clown show that is Rochester's City Government for the last fifteen years. An arrogant anti-cop bully and a self-proclaimed "Youth Intervention Gang Specialist" who exhibited the same sort of behavior City Government hired him to eliminate, Hall has been described by Rochester's Democrat and Chronicle as being known for his "community advocacy work," as well as being the director of the perpetually failing antiviolence Pathways to Peace" program. Hall was a part of that program twice. And fired from that program twice Because he was so successful and inspirational in promoting antiviolence? Hall also ran for Rochester's School Board. And lost. And for Rochester City Council. And lost. The Democrat and Chronicle carefully avoided recollecting Hall's checkered past, which is typical of Rochester's daily newspaper, having been infected by woke progressivism and is u...

Pope Francis, the Bishop of Rome and spiritual leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics around the world, died on Monday. He was 88 years old and in poor health for some time. Pope Francis died shortly after meeting with US Vice President JD Vance, himself a covert to Roman Catholicism. What effect that might have had on the Pope's health is anyone's guess. But as soon as the Pope was dead, the Vatican's PR team immediately sprang into action to sing his praises. As a lapsed Catholic who had been subjected to the rigors of a Catholic primary school education, I have long disregarded the importance of anything the Popes said or did. It's quite apparent that most "devout" Roman Catholics do the same but haven't got the courage of their convictions to say so. It is true that I have had the good fortune to meet a few good, interesting and intelligent Roman Catholic clergymen, as well as similar type clergymen of different faiths. My relations with them we...

A.E.I.O.U. Amerika est imperare orbi universo! "America will rule the world!" Those are President Trump's sentiments exactly regarding his vision of a new world order. Only he hasn't been able to pull it off. Not yet. The New World Order consists of three superpowers: China, Russia and the United States of America. Their political, economic, social, military and territorial ambitions cover the entire globe. More importantly, the rest of the world doesn't trust them. Not that they really care. Unfortunately for President Trump, Russia and China are actively defying his claims to global dominance, with China giving America as good as they are getting in the global trade war. Russia, despite President Trump's bromance with Vladimir Putin, continues to pursue her own agenda, which is bugging The Donald more than somewhat. India, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf State comprise the world's Great Powers, with ambitions far more limited in scope when compared to t...