In the end, America is not ready for a woman as president

 We have seen women become heads of state in England, India, Israel, Germany, and, most recently, Mexico.

Unfortunately, here in the US, a vast majority of voters decided to overlook the bigotry, misogyny, and, most importantly, 34 felony convictions, and decided to send Donald Trump back to the White House. They fell for the relentless attack ads manipulated to make Vice President Kamala Harris look bad that were in heavy rotation the last month of the campaign.

Trump ran to avoid full accountability for his crimes, and those convictions, handed down in May, will almost certainly be vacated, and his remaining criminal and civil trials will be cancelled. The voters bought into the lies about Harris being a "border czar", which wasn't true. To Harris' credit, she crammed 12-18 months worth of campaigning into 3 1/2 months, and we thought she had momentum on her side, including an appearance on Saturday Night Live alongside Maya Rudolph last weekend. NBC gave Trump a 90 second spot that aired Sunday, filled with the usual rhetoric.

In the end, America decided to again go with a familiar name, despite a younger, energetic opponent. Voters were willing to put aside the clown show 10 days ago at Madison Square Garden, filled with racist "jokes" and speeches. They gave in to fear. Some, we can argue, offered sympathy after a bullet grazed Trump's ear in a rally in Pennsylvania 4 months ago.

Eight years ago, Trump supporters chanted, "Lock her up!", in reference to Hillary Clinton, who never saw a second in jail after all. The fear the media has now is that Trump will surround himself with sycophants willing to do what he wants without question. It's been rumored that Trump's pet judge in Florida, Aileen Cannon, could be Attorney General, replacing Merrick Garland, as a reward for her bias in one of his cases. Cannon isn't even qualified to be a law clerk.

More than a century ago, Grover Cleveland was re-elected after losing his first bid for a second term. Today, he has some rather dubious company in Trump.

To the voters who finally gave Trump the popular vote, which he lost in 2016 & 2020, on his 3rd & final try, pray that the worst doesn't come to pass after all. But, due to your collective ignorance of facts & common sense, plus the fact that Trump was the worst president ever the first time around, you deserve this:

Quincy Jones (1933-2024)

 You know his iconic themes from Ironside and Sanford & Son. You know the hits he produced for George Benson ("Give Me The Night"), Michael Jackson ("Thriller"), USA For Africa ("We Are The World"), as well as Lesley Gore, Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, and much, much more. To his friends and fans, he was simply "Q".

On Sunday, Quincy Jones passed away at 91. The Chicago native was one of a select group to win entertainment's Grand Slam (Emmy, Oscar, Grammy, Tony) in the course of his career. Jones also composed the music for the Roots miniseries, and his 1962 composition, "Soul Bossa Nova", became the theme of Mike Myers' "Austin Powers" movies (1997-2002).

"Soul Bossa Nova" was released on Mercury. Jones then released "The Streetbeater" (the Sanford theme) on A & M in 1973. His final run on the charts came in 1989 when his album, "Back on The Block", produced the hit single, "I'll Be Good To You", sung by Ray Charles & Chaka Khan.

I thought about using a more recent rendition of "Soul Bossa Nova" from The Late Show With David Letterman, but opted for the 1962 recording.....

Jones was one of several celebrity guests who appeared in Jamie Foxx's video for "Blame It" in 2009.

Rest in peace.

On The Air: News, Views, & Interviews (1950's-present)

 News, Views, & Interviews is the longest running public affairs program on local commercial radio, launching sometime in the 50's, and hosted by Art Mitchell. Today, Aaron Mair is the solo host, working without a moderator, and, as we've documented in this space previously, the half hour show is reduced to 20 minutes or so when it airs Sunday mornings on WROW, which edits out the commercials.

Mair records the show in mid-week, and although he's been flying solo as host for 2 years now, Mair is still a wee bit nervous in the studio, even though he's the one conducting the interviews, not the interviewee.

Local activist Nell Stokes has not only been a guest in recent years, but, during the 90's, she hosted the show. Veteran DJ Joe Condon was the moderator until his retirement in 2022, but Albany/Pamal Broadcasting is too cheap to find a new moderator to help Mair along. Conversely, weekend DJ Bill Williams has taken over Albany Street after Brian Cady was bounced in February, and is rolling along nicely.

Ms. Stokes has her own YouTube channel, from which we get this 1995 episode, clocking in at 46 minutes, and, based on Condon's intro, aired at night. The guest is then-WNYT anchor Elaine Houston, who retired in December 2023.

I think Interviews also airs on other Albany Broadcasting channels with commercials in place (i.e.JAMZ 96.3). Today's episode with state assemblyman John McDonald, the former mayor of Cohoes, was set for 2 commercial breaks, but WROW bounced out at 6:20 am (ET) for Albany Street.

Rating: B.

Sports this 'n' that

 Hot stove league season has begun, with three prominent pitchers entering free agency.

The Mets' Sean Manaea opted out of his contract. So did Blake Snell in San Francisco, and Gerrit Cole with the Yankees.

World Series Dunce Gerrit Cole.

However, the Yankees, per Yahoo!, could retain Cole by adding another year to his deal, which had four more years to run.

The common thread, of course, is that all three pitchers are represented by reprehensible con man Scott Boras Badenov, who wants his myriad of clients to chase the money in free agency. He's the one to blame for the opt out clause in a lot of contracts. All this grifter is interested in is fattening his wallet even more than it already is.

The Mets, quite honestly, need Manaea back, but Boras instructed him to opt out after the season he had in Flushing. Snell wasn't exactly a Cy Young winner in San Francisco, so what make him & Boras think he'll make more money elsewhere? Cole, if he decides not to return to the Bronx, didn't endear himself to Yankee fans in the World Series with his "traffic cop" gaffe Wednesday night, but it was a sign that his best days are behind him, too.

The Yanks also declined the option on first baseman Anthony Rizzo, perhaps a sign they'd want to lure Pete Alonso away from the Mets. Hmmmmmmm.

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Karma came a'callin' in Happy Valley Saturday morning.

Prior to the Penn State-Ohio State game, which aired on Fox, ESPN's College GameDay was in State College as well, and Jason Kelce, in his first season with ESPN, was confronted by a pea-brained Penn State student.

To make a long story short, this jabroni, with a cell phone in hand, recording the incident for his own amusement, claimed, falsely, of course, that Kelce's brother, Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, was gay for being in a relationship with singer Taylor Swift.

I honestly think this kid either left his brains in his dorm this morning, or had already finished a six pack from the previous night, because he clearly was asking for trouble. Jason Kelce turned, snatched the phone, and spiked it to the ground. What was the student thinking?

As for the karma? Penn State got spanked by Ohio State.

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It's clear Michigan will not repeat as National Champion this year.

The Wolverines were routed at home, 38-17, by the current #1 team in the country, Oregon, this afternoon.

Then again, former coach Jim Harbaugh isn't exactly doing much better in the NFL with the Los Angeles Chargers.......

Dodgers win the World Series after a defensive tank job by the Yankees

 After signs of life in game 4 on Tuesday, the Yankees were looking to take the World Series back to Los Angeles by beating the Dodgers in game 5 on Wednesday night.

For four innings, it looked like mission accomplished. Gerrit Cole looked like an ace. Looked like the Cy Young award winner of a year ago. He held the Dodgers hitless through 4 innings.

But, in the 5th, Cole and the Yankees ran out of gas.

Aaron Judge, who put the Yankees up, 2-0, in the 1st with a homer, had a routine fly ball clank off his glove for an error. On the next play, Anthony Volpe tried a force out at 3rd, but the ball deflected off the glove of Jazz Chisholm, Jr. for another error.

Then, with the bases loaded, Mookie Betts hit a ground ball to 1st baseman Anthony Rizzo, but, instead of covering the bag, Cole directed traffic, and got caught catching flies as a run scored, and Betts sprinted to 1st without a throw. Next, Freddie Freeman locked up Series MVP honors with a double that plated two more runs, and he'd come around to score shortly thereafter, tying the game at 5 going into the home 5th.

Cole came back for the 6th, but he was clearly gassed.

Let's look at the highlights.

Cole and Juan Soto will be free agents, and agent Scott Boras Badenov will want them chasing the money. Cole is opting out of his contract, a Boras tactic, but that 5th inning may have been what wrote his ticket out of town if he does decide to leave.

And, for his gaffe in that 5th inning, Cole gets this:

We'll send one to Yankee manager Aaron Boone, who may have had his last game in the Bronx, as well. His decision making was questionable for much of the post-season.

As for the Dodgers, the passing of 1981 hero Fernando Valenzuela last week, after clinching the NL title, galvanized them even further. Small wonder a lot of people felt that tipped the Series in LA's favor.

Now, can the Dodgers repeat as champs? We'll find out this time next year.

Musical Interlude: It's a Mistake (1983)

 Men at Work's final single from 1983's "Cargo" was the satirical "It's a Mistake", which starts with some stop motion animation, then goes on as a musical anti war anthem.

The Bethlehem swatter's been found-------in Canada

 Last month, Bethlehem High was deluged with phone threats directed at the football team, among other things. One game was cancelled. A men's soccer match vs. the same opponent---Christian Brothers Academy----was postponed twice before it was finally played earlier this month, right before sectionals.

We're now learning that on October 25, an arrest was made-----in Canada. Specifically, Halifax, Nova Scotia. A 14 year old was charged with making the threats, but for now, the charges are only within Canadian confines.

"We're still working with the FBI. I hear they want to send this kid to New York, wherever that is!"

Since this Weasel is a juvenile, his name is not being released. It has been confirmed that this punk was spoofing internet IP's and phone numbers to keep authorities guessing. If you thought this was all a joke, son, it isn't.

Swatting calls can be hazardous, not only to law enforcement, but also innocent citizens targeted for no other reason than someone else's sick amusement. 

If only this dweeb would've done something even simpler, like Bart Simpson for example.

I think The Simpsons ultimately scaled back or retired the phone pranks.

In any case, in this writer's opinion, because of what happened at Bethlehem, based in Delmar, this kid should be extradited to Albany to be held accountable, tried as an adult, and get a few lessons on what real comedy is meant to be. As I've already spoiled, our Canadian John Doe is this week's Weasel of The Week.