The Final Stretch to the Midterms

Well, My Friends. We are coming down the homestretch to the 2026 Midterm Elections. Thank God!

However, as with all good things, this, too, comes with a huge negative. Over the next fifteen days, our eyes and ears will be inundated, no, bombarded with ads from all political candidates telling us how awful his or her opponent is, while championing themselves with platitudes even the Lord Almighty would consider obscene.

And then, what about the ads to vote for ideas which are so complicated to read that forces your brain to freeze and the eyes glaze over because all the legal jargon confuses the purpose spelled out in the idea?

Not everyone received a Political Science degree from an Ivy League university, or a Juris Doctor of Jurisprudence from a premier law school to completely understand the real meaning of the amendments or bond issues you are expected to vote on.

In Lake County, Florida, early voting will commence for the next thirteen days starting tomorrow and end on Halloween. Perhaps, your county and state has already begun this process. And it will be all said and done by 9 PM, November 3 in your state.

By then, the ads will have stopped, the dust will clear and we will finally find out which candidate made the best argument to claim victory.

And we will spend the following sixty days or so to see if we made the right choices, as the victor is flooded with media attention even before he or she takes office. Then, the performance of a lifetime will follow.

So, buckle up and stay safe as we take that unknown train ride and watch as our representatives continue riding the great experiment we love to call the American government and our way of life to greater success.

Remember to vote, as we are the Land of the Free Because of the Brave.

Looking to Change the Game

Well, the one “big market” team was eliminated last night. Yes, the Milwaukee Brewers beat the LA Dodgers in four games, punching their ticket to the World Series.

Soon enough, either the Cleveland Guardians or the Tampa Bay Rays will  join the Brewers.

It brings an interesting argument to the fore. All “small market” teams with much smaller payrolls than the Yankees, Mets and Dodgers will be in the Big Show.

Coincidentally, this years collective bargaining agreement  of the MLB and its millionaire union players will expire. Effective December 1, the owners have threatened to lock out the players over a salary cap controversy.

The players argue that there is no need for a cap, since small market teams, with minimal salaries, have proven they can win. At least for this year, they are right.

But the wealthier owners claim a cap would prevent teams from acquiring the best talent money can buy.

The problem which no one recognizes, is that the fan, whether in LA or Kansas City, is left out in the cold. He will be charged more money to watch his team, whether in person or on TV, because ticket prices and TV/Cable/Streaming costs will increase.

The MLB has agreed for years to allow higher rates for cable and streaming services, shutting out more “free” broadcasts over the air, in its quest to make more of the Almighty Dollar for the benefit of of the owners.

And while there is a revenue sharing scheme to share the bonanza, there is no enforcement to require teams like the Pirates or the Athletics to spend it to get better players. 

Ultimately, corporations like AT&T, Live Nation-Ticketmaster and Google AdTech have felt the wrath of monopolistic antitrust lawsuits, resulting in unintended consequences, for each monopoly. Perhaps, it is time for both the MLB AND the Players Association to feel that same wrath, since each entity acts like a monopoly, leaving the fans in the lurch.

Maybe it is time for the Department of Justice to look into the entire matter and step up to the plate.

Play Ball!

Vote For Sanity In New Jersey

There is a candidate running in New Jersey who is quite the antithesis to its current Senator, Corey Booker. He could easily run rings around the sly Socialist dressed up in Democrat clothing if you would give him a listen.

His name is Justin Murphy, Republican, Deputy Mayor of Tabernacle, NJ, and US Navy veteran.

Here are just a few concepts from his website:

Taxes

Abolish the IRS and Internal Revenue Code and implement a Flat Income Tax.

Home ownership

American families need to own their homes; if they do not, American’s are nothing more than serfs that pay rent to a landlord. 

Education and Parental Rights

Parental Rights are the civil rights issues of our time. Given the attempt by the left to sexualize children through public school curriculum, the Republican Party has an extraordinary opportunity to establish itself as the ‘Party-of-Parents.’ 

National Security

America’s military should remain second-to-none. As we were made painfully aware on October 7th, 2023, radical islamic terrorism is still a threat to civilized nations. America faces an array of hostile foreign threats: Communist government of China, Iran, and North Korea. 

Immigration

Legal immigration and assimilation by immigrants has been a Blessing for America. Thankfully, President Trump has secured America’s southern border. There was no greater crisis threatening America than the Biden administration’s open border policies. 

Pro-Life policies

I am pro-life; I believe life begins at conception, and there is inherent value in each individual life. My exceptions are the life of the mother, and the rape/incest exception.

Crime

American cities should be centers of vibrant commerce, culture, and social life. However, Urban America is deteriorating with business and citizen flight, crime, homelessness, drugs, and filth.

Health Care

I agree with those who want universal health coverage for Americans, however, I adamantly oppose government-run healthcare. I believe the principles of privacy, quality, accessibility, and affordability should be the basis for any healthcare policy.

Advocacy for Second Amendment Rights

I will oppose any attempt by the government that threatens to take away our Constitutional right to bear arms and protect ourselves, our families, and our property.

Energy independence

Our priority should be development of the almost limitless sources of energy known to be located here in America. 

Advocacy for fiscal discipline

DOGE should become a permanent federal endeavor. I also support a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

As Americanss and as residents of New Jersey, Mr Murphy has laid out cogent, reasonable positions to be considered. Certainly, his opponent has preached the same old, failed, tired Democrat Socialist tripe, which has proven only to advance the position and condition of a selected few.

In his recent debate with the Senator, he proved his mettle with this response:

https://youtu.be/H1KIv_6EYck?si=cu0Xgt3aFVYv29n5

Even Booker, who has opposed Trump at every turn, was at a loss for words.  

November 3 is just nineteen days away. Take the time to do your research as I did, and if you vote in New Jersey, vote for Justin Murphy as your next sane Senator.

The Big SSA Announcement

The Social Security Administration made its annual gratis announcement this morning, giving us our COLA raise for 2027 of 3.6%. Yippee!

However, the Medicare Part B premium which is automatically deducted from your SSA payment is projected to be around $210 per month, which is an increase of about $8 per month over 2026. This will affect all recipients who sign up for Part B.

So, the average payment is expected to be around $75 more each month for each recipient. But then, we lose $8 for our health insurance, leaving a whopping $67 a month to live. That, friends, is a cool $16.75 a week, not even the cost of one large cheese pizza, with nothing else on it. Or one Wendy’s Dave Double with fries and a coke.

Yum! Something to not look forward to after all those years of paying into the Federal Insurance Compensation Act Program for forty years or more.

Think about this for a moment. This is the greatest Ponzi scheme ever devised and it is legal. Why?

When when you consider all the funds deposited to the “trust” fund on your behalf by you and all your employers over those forty years, you will never recoup even a small part of it.

Assuming you were fortunate to make $100,000 for those forty years, the total contribution between you and your employers would be $496,000 plus accrued interest. Then, if you retired at your normal retirement age of 65 to 67 years old, depending on your date of birth, and you live until eighty, you would never recover the funds paid on your behalf.

But there are a few concepts to consider, as well. Most people did not make anywhere near $100,000 a year for forty years. Instead, the average monthly payment is $2,088 less the $202 for Medicare, leaving net monthly income of $1,886 for 2026.

When you add the net increase of $67 ($75 - 8), you end up with a net monthly payment of $1,953 or $488 week. Not enough to pay the rent, utilities and food for one person. Plus inflation. And if you have to use a car?  You are done. For sure

And why is it a Ponzi scheme? First, when you die, your beneficiary will get a death benefit of $255. Any remaining funds will be kept by the “trust” fund. And then, there is the ongoing threat which claims the funds will be exhausted theoretically by late 2032.

Finally, the funds were also drained due to our government’s “compassion” by paying benefits to those who were not entitled to them. Hence, unregulated and mismanaged fraud.

All so that American seniors can celebrate and enjoy a big 3.6% increase to their meager Social Security “benefit”, while still struggling to get by each month.

 Oh, Happy Day!

Why Columbus Day

In honor of Columbus Day, we should explore some the reasons we honor this day.

The Knights of Columbus

The  Knights of Columbus was founded on March 29, 1882 by Blessed Father Michael J. McGivney in New Haven, Connecticut, to provide financial aid for Catholic families and unite men against anti-Catholic prejudice of the time.

Father Michael J. McGivney: A 29-year-old assistant pastor at St. Mary's Church in New Haven, Connecticut, who gathered a small group of Catholic men on October 2, 1881, to establish the mutual benefit society.
Christopher Columbus: Chosen as the organization's patron to emphasize that Catholics were not only part of American society, but also instrumental in its historical foundation.
Core Principles: Formed with the founding principles of charity and unity, with fraternity added in 1885 and patriotism added in 1900.
Early Expansion: Grew rapidly across New England and expanded internationally to Canada by 1897.

Official Reasons for the Holiday

We celebrate Columbus Day to commemorate Christopher Columbus' landing in the Americas on October 12, 1492, while also serving as a celebration of Italian-American heritage and a point of deep historical controversy. 

Historical Anniversary: It marks the 1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus arriving in the Bahamas and establishing early European contact.
Italian-American Pride: 
In the late 19th and 20th centuries, Italian-American communities, facing intense discrimination, embraced Columbus (who was from Genoa, Italy) as a symbol of cultural pride and contribution to the United States.
 
Federal Recognition: President Benjamin Harrison first promoted a national observance in 1892, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared it an annual federal holiday in 1937.

The Controversy and Shift 

• Legacy of Colonization: Critics and Indigenous activists point out that Columbus's arrival triggered centuries of forced labor, enslavement, displacement, and deadly diseases that devastated Native populations. 

Alternative Observances: Many US states, cities, and institutions have replaced or paired the day with Indigenous Peoples' Day to honor Native American history and culture instead.

For me, as a Patriotic American Fourth Degree Knight, as an Irish Catholic and as a proud Sicilian-Italian-American, I will always celebrate this day as Columbus Day. 

I realize that certain atrocities happened hundreds of years ago, but I also will not submit the sins of the past to presentism. Instead, we should recognize that they happened and learn from them.

That is a huge lesson which should be taught concerning Christopher Columbus. And why it is an important day in America.

Cheering For a Cinderella Team

It is do-or-die for this year’s Cinderella team, the Chicago White Sox. They need to beat the Cleveland Guardians tonight in this year’s ALDS. Or they can join the Yankees, the Braves and the Padres on the couch to watch the Finalists vie for the ticket to the World Series.

The Dodgers, the Brewers and the Rays will be attending their respective Championship Series to go on to the Big Show. It behooves the Sox to make a point, considering how awful they were just two years ago.

It would be fun to watch the White Sox pummel the mighty Rays, especially since they humiliated the Yankees in three straight, As a Mets fan, I was shocked how quickly the Yankees were sent to the showers. 

And of course, the Dodgers once again, made mince meat of their opponent, this time the Braves. It seems the Dodgers are regularly in the post-season, something they rarely did when they played in Brooklyn.

As a baseball fan, I can sympathize with the White Sox fan. Much like the Mets play to the Yankees in New York, the Sox seem to play second fiddle to the Cubs In Chicago. Even the Bulls, the Bears and the Black Hawks seem to get better coverage in the Tribune and Sun-Times.

So, to paraphrase my team’s long-held  chant to help motivate the enthusiasm felt by Mets fans, I want to be the first to say, Let’s Go Sox!

Baseball In October

The White Sox are on the precipice to be in the ALCS, should they continue their drive to win the ALDS. This is a team which captured the all-time loss record of 121 losses, previously held by the New York Mets with 120 since 1962.

That is quite a turn-around!

At the point this is written, Chicago beat Cleveland and the White Sox go home to try to win the series in front of Chicago’s home crowd. They are a passionate fan base, which has waited for twenty-one years to get this chance to reach the ALCS.

They have won their division or won the wild card, and  made it to the Division series several times since then but but not to the ALCS since 2005.

This would be a Cinderella miracle if they win the ALCS, considering only two years were removed from their disastrous season. 

They were the third place wild card team, which beat Houston, the Western Division Champs in two games, and have beaten the Guardians, the Central Division Champs two games to none. They have won four straight thus far with no losses.

If the White Sox’ luck holds out, they will cash in their ticket to the League Championship Series against either the Rays or the Yankees on Monday, October 12. Both teams are power houses and will be tough to beat.

But, we have seen this play out before, since the playoffs have been expanded. So, it would not be a complete surprise if the White Sox moved on.

That’s why it is a whole new season where all teams start even and any team can hit the lightening in that  magical bottle. With the champagne  on ice to pour.

So, good luck to the White Sox as they try to win the Division Series and make it through the LCS.