Thoughts of a Common Man

Jack Smith was called before the oversight committee because the idiots in charge were sure that they could convict him of perjury because he lied about going to an Atlanta Hawks game. Except he went to an Iowa Hawkeyes game in Maryland. It was a nearly comical exchange, but Smith wasn’t amused by the line of questioning. The reason it wasn’t comical is because Smith was there and was testifying about some very serious stuff. The president of the United States was guilty of treason. Smith laid it all out, and broke down the charges. The members of the oversight committee didn’t respond. They didn’t even seem to hear it. The mainstream media didn’t pick up the story, and it seems that the population of the country simply yawned thinking about it. The president is guilty of treason. They have the evidence. I suppose that a lot of people, upon hearing such news might think: “Of course he did.” We will most certainly learn about all of his crimes, say, 10 years down the road. It’ll be a fa...

The first thing I looked for when the playoff schedule came out was what time the Yankees-Red Sux games were on. 8:15 on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday if needed. Damn!!! It’s kind of miserable for those of us who are up and at ‘em by six in the morning. But off we go. Sam and Kathy were engrossed in the Braves-Phillies game that started at 2:00. I joined them in the 8th inning with the Phillies up 3-2. I caught the huge 3-run homer that the Braves hit. “That’s why baseball is the best,” I said. And I’ll go to my grave putting baseball up against every sport. It’s incredible tension. The Yankees have blessed me throughout my life. They have been a winning team for 33 years in a row, which is incredible. They ruined a lot of October sleep schedules, and have given me 7 world championships. Can they win it this year? For sure. They will pitch their way there. And if they don’t pull it off? I’ll get some sleep.

I had to trim the hedges yesterday, which is a job I hate because I end up getting little slivers - even when I’m wearing my PPE. I also needed something to haul away the debris. I spotted the kid’s wagon. It’s been in the garage since the summer of 1998. I know that for a fact because I dumped the wagon and I saw the inscription. “To Jake…Happy First Birthday! We love you…Grandma and Grandpa Fazzolari” It was Dad’s handwriting. Dad had perfect handwriting. My heart did a little jump, and then it ached. It looked as though he scrawled the inscription yesterday and not 28 years ago. I thought back to those birthday parties when the boys were young. The boys birthdays are within a month of each other so we’d have one party and serve 3 birthday cakes. Those were events and our parents spoiled their grandchildren.  We got a lot of use from that wagon. Kathy would put the boys in it and take them around the neighborhood. Where did that time go? One moment they’re celebrating their first...

I’ve been to Cornell about fifty times through the years. It’s a beautiful campus, and of course, it’s a highly regarded academic institution. But it’s kids at college. We had to lower the boom on the crane because students were climbing up a couple of hundred feet on the weekends. Netting had to installed at the bridges where students were jumping to their deaths when the pressure of their grades was too much. And yet, nothing prepared me for the story of the rape. I hung around the frat houses when I was in college. I pledged at a house and a couple of weeks into the process I dropped out because one of the guys who was going to soon be ‘a brother’ spit tobacco juice into my face. I stepped out of line, walked out the front door and had the pledge master chasing me down the street to try and talk me into coming back. I remember that conversation. “We want you to make it,” the pledge master said. “It’s just what you have to go through. Couple of weeks and you’re in.” “Done,” I said. “...

On the tee box, polling my fellow golfers. “What’s going to happen?” I asked. “Oh, there won’t be an election,” golfer #1 said. “I don’t think so either,” golfer #2 added. I didn’t digest that all that well. If there aren’t mid-term elections there isn’t any more pretending… …it’s over. I don’t see how they can possibly stop the election.  You can’t just declare martial law (or as the MAGA crowd says: ‘Marshall Law’ - as if he were the sheriff on Gunsmoke). “We have the Democrats saying, ‘He can’t do that! Then he does it and no one stops him.” That is a fair point. I mentioned: “He knows if he loses he’s going to jail.” “He’s NEVER going to jail. He does whatever. There won’t be an election.” It was my turn to hit, with that thought ringing in my ears. After my swing I said: “It’s going to be a crazy few weeks.” Chasing the media away is a calculated plan. Trying to challenge ballots and pretend there’s fraud. That’s out of Hitler’s playbook. On Saturday it was noticed that the wa...

I went to school at Gannon University. I had a lot of friends on the golf team, and they decided to play in a memorial tournament at Whispering Woods in Erie. Three all-American golfers and me! Now, I’ve played in this foursome before, and it’s a lot of fun watching great golf up close. This year, I wanted to participate. I set up at the tee on a par 3 that was 178 yards away. A hole in one would win me free steak for a year. I can eat a lot of steak. I hit a great shot… …that was about 6’ from all that steak. The next golfer… …put it within 3’. “I couldn’t let you have that,” he said. On the very next hole we were about 40 yards off the green following our drive. I went first, and as I set up, my longtime buddy who routinely golfs around par said, ‘Hang on a second.’ Then he told me where to put the ball in my stance, and aimed at the spot on the green I needed to hit to put it close. I hit the spot. Holed it for an eagle. And man, we laughed all day. Four guys who’ve known one anothe...

So, a judge ruled that the Pedo Pig couldn’t ban the press, but when the media tried to access the White House in the morning they were denied. However, right around noon, just a half an hour before they’d have to show up in court, the White House lifted the ban. And the press stayed away in droves. They allowed the pug to meet with President Xi without any coverage. And then the orange mouth complained that the press wasn’t there! Good. Stay away! We’ve heard all his bits. We know he’s going to lie and tell us everything is going great. It ain’t. It was learned this week that his approval rating is now at 29%. Nixon got bounced when he was at 24%. It’s widely believed that there is a blue wave coming, and Pedo Pig knows that if they lose the senate and the house that he may wind up in Federal prison. What are his options? 1). They will try to cancel the elections. This doesn’t seem plausible, but a run at martial law is on the table. Make up an emergency and declare that the election ...

It’s funny how we salute one another. “How’s it going?” Is usually answered with: “It’s going?” “How are you?” Often gets: “Same shit, different day.” We all have stock answers. When someone asks me how I am I usually answer: “Lovely.” I see different people each day, which is good. I can’t imagine working in an office where you run into the same people every day. That’s dangerous because you get invested! At the same time, there was a plumber that I ran into the day after Kathy had her surgery. About a month later I saw him again, and the first thing he asked was: “How’s your bride?” Which was very thoughtful given that I’m not sure I even know his first name. There is one good day for greeting people. “How’s it going?” “It’s Friday.” That’s always the response on Friday morning, and yeah, it puts a little pep in the step. That’s followed by: “Have a great weekend.” And then on Monday we have to deal with the: “How was your weekend?” question. “I played all right,” is my response to t...

This is the final week of the baseball season. It hurts me to write that sentence, but of course, we have the playoffs coming up, and baseball playoffs are incredible. It’s been a weird year, as the Yankees have had a lot of major injuries. Aaron Judge hasn’t played much at all since May, and Stanton checked out in late April. That’s about 75 homers missing from the lineup, and still, they won 90+ games, but not the division. Which means they will be seeded behind teams that won considerably less than the Yankees. Just stupid. The Yankees will face Boston and then the winner of the series will face Tampa while the other 3 teams with way worse records will battle it out. One of those lesser teams will be in the championship series. Ridiculous. Teams should be seeded by the number of wins. Period. The Yankees should be the 2nd seed. Boston should be the 3rd seed. Whatever. Beat the best to win it all. And for the first time in decades, the Yankees will win a title if they pitch as they’r...

Finally. The media decided to work together. Instead of cowering, they decided to band together in solidarity with the entities that were banned. White House events went off without audio. Which was close to heaven… …he couldn’t be heard! No talk of windmills causing cancer, or the fact that no one ever knew there was a ‘b’ in dumb until he figured it out. Just silence. And why I say it was ‘almost heaven’ is because he could still be seen. The accordion playing hands as he tries to reason his way through his lies. And I mention all this because it brought to mind the glorious day, off in the hopefully near future, when he won’t be part of the daily conversation. Do you remember the days when we hardly ever thought of politics? Someone asked me about 9/11/01.  How’d I feel about America leading into it? “I was clueless,” I said. “I barely knew Bin Laden from Saddam Hussein.” And that was the truth. There was far less drama, and we trusted that those in charge had the best interest ...

I remember the first time I ever went online. I had received a floppy disc from AOL, and I had a PC, so, I put the disc in and man… …it made an awful sound! I was online! Now what? I remember telling Kathy that it was awesome because I can talk to anyone in the world. I went in a chat room and was in a conversation with someone in Colorado. “You don’t even like talking to someone you know who is in the same room as you. Why do you want to talk to a stranger?” A couple of months after that we ordered a movie and it was sent to our television! Amazing!! We watched ‘Waterworld’ with Kevin Costner. The movie wasn’t great, but watching it from my couch? That was outstanding! Fast forward 28 years. We have screens at the gas pump because God help us if we just stand there filling our tank without looking at a screen. There are 40 screens in every sports bar. People drive and look at their screens, and they argue with strangers, from all over the world, everywhere. I found that: I hate talkin...

Getting a little closer to making the old constitution obsolete. There was an announcement that free press won’t be allowed to cover the White House because the news doesn’t favor the president. And America collectively shrugs. Now there’s a reason why this sudden announcement hit yesterday just hours after it was decided that the missing 37 pages from the Epstein files will see the light of day. The details of those missing 37 pages? It’s all about the rape of a 13-year old child at the hands of the man who just banned the press from asking questions. And of course there are the polls. It is forecasted that Democrats will clean up in the midterms, and the poll numbers are a disaster for Republicans because their crimes will be investigated. The GOP midterm message is that people don’t mind paying a fortune for gasoline because they don’t want to be nuked. Healthcare? Doesn’t matter - we have gold in the oval. Lost your job? Not to worry!  There will be a huge ballroom! Can’t find ...

At the Bills Stadium opening game, the Bare Naked Ladies sang Canada’s National Anthem. I’m not sure about the choice of singers as they kinda’ hurt my ears, but I love the Canadian anthem. I know every word because the Sabres have opened every game with it for nearly 60 years! Didn’t think anything of it until I saw MAGA going off on social media because the fat, orange pedophile has declared Canada our mortal enemies. “That’s it! I’m never watching another NFL game ever!” One of the MAGA cult members declared. Oh no? Didn’t you stop watching when Colin Kaepernick knelt for the anthem because men were being shot all over the country because they were black? How about the Miller Lite protest? Or because Kendrick Lamar or Bad Bunny played the halftime shows? Didn’t you quit the NFL then? You’ll watch 7 games next week. The fake outrage over the anthem will be your talking point as you try to decide where Lake America is on your map. Go eat some Canadian bacon, slip on a hockey jersey, a...

There were a lot of: “Go Bills!” all day long on Thursday. I asked almost everyone if they were going to the game. Some talked about being priced out. A few others mentioned that the game started at 8:15 and that it wouldn’t be over until late, and there is work on Friday. Those who were going were excited, and they should be. We spent a lot of years thinking that they were going to move. They’re here to stay for another generation, and the Bills are good. I knew that I wouldn’t be staying up late to watch it. I go to bed the same time every night unless the Yankees are in the playoffs. “Easy enough, I took tomorrow off,” one guy mentioned. So, I’m imagining that I might be the only guy out and about tomorrow. A win brings a lot of happy people. When they lose a game, everyone is pissed and quiet. A brand new $2 billion palace. A happy community… …and one rested safety guy!

We have a wooded area and a ravine directly behind our fenced in backyard. Every now and again the deer will hang out in the space between the fence and the ravine. Every morning they hang around the side yard and the neighbor’s home across the street. One day, the biggest of the deer was inside our fenced in area and I spotted him laying beside the cat! Neither the deer nor my cat cared the other one was there. And of course, the deer will hang out and watch as Oliver soars through the air catching the football. Sounds like a Disney movie! Yet, on Sunday morning, on the way to play golf, my heart skipped a beat when I saw a deer, on the side of the road. The big deer had been struck by a car! “No!” I yelled out. Now, I’m not sure that it was OUR deer, but it bugged me nonetheless. I’m hoping that in the next few days we see our deer with his little ones… …just hanging out with my cat.

Cory Booker absolutely went off on FBI Director Kash Patel at a congressional hearing. There’s no doubt about it. Patel would not answer any questions. It was also noted that every FBI agent who was involved in the missing documents case has been dismissed. So, Booker explained that the hearing, and the entire Patel tenure has been a ‘mockery and a sham.’ I’d go further. This entire government is a mockery and a sham. Just this week: 1). Russian oligarchs paid for Don Jr.’s lavish wedding. They were worried about Hunter Biden selling paintings, but the entire GOP is good with Putin buying his way into the government (that he seems to be running). 2). There was a trip to Ireland - important trip - to watch golf. The cost estimate for the romantic getaway ran to about $50 million, 3). Mitch showed up for work. He has absolutely no idea where he is, who he is, or why he’s here. Doesn’t the man have a family that cares? It’s a mockery. And a sham. 4). The Kennedy Center is closing its door...

So, after taking 92 paid days off of work, it appears that Mitch McConnell isn’t completely dead. The 84-year old man was wheeled into the Senate. Reporters were shouting questions that he didn’t appear to hear, and even if he heard them, he wouldn’t be able to respond because last we saw of him, he was staring blankly into the camera. Term limits anyone? Diane Feinstein was completely around the bend as she occupied her seat, and Thurmond was pushing a hundred, They aren’t doing any work, Sleepy Joe???? The sitting president was sound asleep at the 9/11 memorial. It’s a story that’s received a lot of ink through the years. I think that citizens who are republicans or democrats would agree one this one thing: Being elected should not be a lifetime gig. Going into office as a private citizen and coming out as a multimillionaire because you’ve sold your votes shouldn’t be a thing. As for Mitch? He was/is a nasty man. He voted against family leave time and was certainly not a fan of healt...

Football is back which means baseball season is winding down. I have to accept the lull between November and April. “Halfway through September,” I thought when I felt the chill in the air. I wondered how many more rounds left in WNY. I was about 5’ away from an ace yesterday. Was just 58 degrees at 7 AM. I’m not putting that damn hoodie on until 10/01. Speaking of October, I’ll be eligible to collect social security until they steal the rest of that to wrap themselves in gold. But I’ll hold a proof copy of the new book today which is exciting, and I booked a long Florida weekend for more golf in early November. So I got that going for me. Speaking in Vegas in January too… …Kathy likes that one. Yankees are playoff bound. City is Bills crazy. But that chill in the air scares me.

Chris Johnson was a great running back not too long ago. His career was to be celebrated this weekend, but the ceremony was cancelled because, as a young man, he was discovered to have ALS and his body is rapidly deteriorating. Another Bears player from the 1985 Super Bowl team died young. A whole bunch of members of that team died early. Who’s ready for some football????? Not me. It’s a barbaric game, and the people who have chosen to cut decades off their lives, need someone to sound off on their behalf. I’ve been a safety guy for 35 years. That’s not a safe game. There will be about 50 lost time injuries on Sunday. Construction companies have their insurance cancelled if they have 3 lost time injuries in a year. Bills fever???? This was the conversation I had with Kathy yesterday. “Do the Bills play tomorrow?” I asked. “Yes!” She exclaimed. “Here?” “No. In Houston. They play here on Thursday.” “Ahh.” “Come on, you knew they are opening the season tomorrow,” she said. “I truly lost t...

So, there has always been a law against trying to buy votes in our Democracy. You knew that law had zero chance once you saw the poll numbers. The GOP has seen the numbers, and there has been talk of a massive blue tidal wave. Pedo Pig will claim they were cheated after the loss, but before votes are cast, he decided to try and cheat right out in the open. If the Republicans retain control of the House and Senate he will give every adult $5,000. It’s criminal to even try, but you think he’s afraid of breaking a law? What’s sad is that so many people out there are excited. They believe that the check is on the way. Don’t make plans, people… …it ain’t happening. $5 grand apiece amounts to $1.3 trillion dollars. There’s no way. And remember the Doge check you didn’t get? This is the third or fourth time that he has mentioned sending money for nothing to people. Now, I don’t know how to break this to everyone, but… …HE LIES! About everything. I laughed when I heard it because it’s an absol...

Got hit hard in the heart. Saw a photo of a Dad and his sons at Yankee Stadium on the night of 09/10/01. The game was rained out, but Dad made sure he got a great photo with his boys. The next day, Dad died in the Tower. I stared at that photo for a long while. His life ended mere hours after that photo was snapped. Thought of his boys… …now men. Grew up without their Dad. His boys were about the same age as my boys. Thousands of people lost their lives that day. As Americans we all lost something that day. A quarter of a century already. That time flew by for a lot of us… … but it went a lot slower and a lot more painful for thousands of others. “Don’t Return Hatred” was the letter I wrote that was published in the USA Today and at least 5 other major newspapers on 09/12/01. I say the same thing now. The Land of Hate and Rage isn’t what we’ve needed since that horrible day… …but somehow that’s where we ended up. Those poor families would’ve been a lot better off had we ended up in a L...

So, you want to write a book. I received the layout and cover art for the new book - “Perfect World” and I knew that I had one more task. I needed to read the freaking thing again! To make sure that there weren’t any errors. It’s likely the twentieth time I have read it, and is likely to happen when you read something so many times, you start thinking: “Does this suck?” I truly don’t believe that it does - I said what I wanted to say, and the plot tips along with interesting characters in place. But it’s a lot of work. I did my job, and sent it back. Now I wait, but I should have a couple of copies in hand fairly soon. And I thought, “Man, twenty books!” And then I thought: “Wait! This is only 19.” I tested myself. Could I remember them all? The first 5 were easy to recall: ‘Money Changes Everything’, Eye in the Sky’, Waldorf & Juli’, ‘Desperation’ and ‘In Real Life’. Then what? ‘Nobody’s Home and ‘Blind Spot’ before three non-fiction efforts, ‘Counting On A Miracle’, ‘House of Mir...

The playbook of a narcissist is to keep their name in the news. Every day there is a fresh pile of crap to deal with. September 11, 2001 was a day that none of us who were here will ever forget. I remember the entire morning, and the feelings of dread. I recall the drive home, and keeping the kids away from the television. Every minute of that day is unforgettable. The huge, orange pile of lies doesn’t seem to have quite my sense of recall because yesterday, for the first time ever, he told the world that he was down at ground zero on that day… …just to see if he could help. (Such a great guy, right?) While he was down there a dramatic shift happened and two big, burly, handsome firemen had to lift him up and carry him through the rubble, saying, “Sir, it’s not safe.” I listened to him say it. Because I really wanted to grasp how someone could make up such a story. He is trying to insert himself as a hero and a victim in the center of the country’s most horrific day. It’s flat-out disg...

There’s a lot of chatter about Melanoma and Pedo Pig splitting up. Yep. Hard to believe because they’ve always looked so lovey-dovey, and they battled through that typical marriage problem where the man gets caught having an encounter with a porn star whilst the woman is home nursing the next family tragedy. They battled through that, and now? Pedo Pig was out on the golf course with his constant companion, Natalie, clapping when he miraculously found his ball in the middle of the fairway after he hit it in the woods. Hilarious. His golf cart is faster than everyone else’s and he races down the fairway and puts his ball wherever he wants to on his way to another club championship. Yet, I’m getting off the topic here. The Internets are alive with speculation about the fact that Melanoma is done and will no longer stand there with a sour look on her puss as he tries to hold her hand. There are so many out there who compare Melanoma to Jackie O. “She’s the classiest First Lady ever!” MAGA...

At the 8th hole, as we waited for the annoying guys ahead of us leave the fairway (every golfer hates the group playing in front of them). I turned and asked: “What’s going to happen with the election?” Everyone had a response. “They’re trying to rig it.” “They lose and they’ll call it rigged.” “It’s already being rigged.” We’ve had free and fair elections for 250 years. There was no proof that 2020 wasn’t free and fair. It appears that 2024 was manipulated by Musk because it was a mathematical impossibility that it turned out as it did. Yet, not wanting to appear to be whiny assholes, the results were accepted. If the results are questioned again - without any proof - just a fat, orange dude bitching: Timeout: Did you see that he’s now a brunette??? Looks absolutely ridiculous. Anywhoha… …more than 60% of the country is truly hanging their hats on the fact that the Oompa Loompa agenda will be destroyed. “They refuse to accept the results we are going to have to do something,” one of t...

I watched a clip of a game between the Rays and Padres. The game itself was crazy as the Rays were down to their final out in a 3-1 game with a runner on first.  The Padres have the best closer in the game, but he gave up a long fly to left that the outfielder made a fine running catch on… .,.except he hit the wall and dropped the ball on the other side - a 2-run homer to tie it. That was dramatic enough, but the camera stayed out there and the man who retrieved the ball on the other side of the wall went absolutely bat shit crazy. I can tell you, I have never been that excited about anything in my life. I watched children being born and I wasn’t as fired up as the guy out there who was celebrating in the Tampa night. He jumped and screamed and ran and then leapt onto a table out there. All the while raising his arms and absolutely screaming. I once got a ball at a Blue Jays-Yankees game. I must confess that it was a rush even though it was hit by Dave Berg, a journeyman infielder ...

The Buffalo Bills new stadium opened up about a month ago. They’ve had a practice and a couple of games, and are currently replacing the grass field because it didn’t go so well, Clumps of grass were coming up. There’s a risk of injury. How does that happen? Now, I don’t know a whole hell of a lot about grass given how my backyard looks. I spent a lot of money on grass seed. I can’t imagine how much money the new field is costing the Bills. Of course, there are a lot of people who are offering their opinion about the situation. Telling the world what they’d do different if they were in charge of the world. It’ll work out eventually, and we won’t ever know the full price tag. The thing that can’t happen is that people start tearing up their knees. If Josh Allen goes down for the year because the grass gave way we are going to hear a lot more about it. As it is now, the home opener is less than two weeks away. Took me a hell of a lot longer than that to cover up the patch of grass in my ...

It’s always weird to me how the entire tide seems to shift once we get past the Labor Day weekend. The air is crisper. School buses are slowing down the daily commute, and I start getting antsy about: The end of baseball season, and the end of golf for the year. I don’t want to shovel anything ever again so I’m keeping an eye on the weather forecasts that show: “It’s going to be a mild winter.” Seriously, that’s what I’ve heard. I pray that’s true, but September is a transition month regardless. And of course, we have to get beyond September 11th. Each year that memory steps up and smacks us all between the eyes. Hard to believe it’s been 25 years.  I was just 36 years old! Hardly seems possible, but on such a date, the memory is vivid. Work wise I was doing exactly what I do now. Sites and reports, with the same clients that I have now. I recall the news reports and making sure that the young kids running around here didn’t see much of the devastation. Seems silly now. As crazy as...

There was a panel of talking heads speaking about the ‘booming’ economy on Fox News (which is not a news show by any stretch). Basically one of them stated that anyone not making bank in this ‘booming economy’ is just a malcontent and an under-earner. Ridiculous. “People need to pull themselves up by the bootstraps,” is a wonderful thought, but it no longer applies as the deck is stacked. Jay Thomas had a great talk show (may he rest in peace) and he mentioned: “We used to take care of the less fortunate. There will always be lazy people. When they were building the pyramids there were people sitting on the sidelines saying, ‘What the hell are they doing?’ We still have those people but we also have a lot of people who are working their asses off to try and make ends meet. Working a few jobs, and side jobs, and not having much of a life at all. Malcontent? Under-earner? I’m sure the people busting their ass to keep their heads above water enjoy being made fun of, or looked down upon. T...

Apparently, Mitch McConnell is still dead and drawing a paycheck. Pedo Pig dropped more bombs on Iran even though the mission was accomplished. This was in response to Iran bombing U.S. embassies. Yeah.  Sounds like the war is over. The new bombings that Pete Kegbreath is overseeing is just a little bit of bombing before they drop the nukes. Our food supply is contaminated. Measles are back. And the project 2025 end game talks about thinning of the population. But at let we have artificial intelligence so we can look at fake photos that sell their idiotic agenda. I saw a photo that Fat Hitler put out that showed soldiers eating great meals because he was trying to counter the fact that they aren’t being fed properly. The soldier in the photo, eating a huge hamburger, (Argentina spoiled meat?), had six fingers. But football season is starting soon and America’s attentions will go in that direction. We may not even notice when they cancel the elections, or use that creepy bastard Mus...