Save me from daytime talk TV

I avoid  most talk shows as if they were the plague. Yesterday I took a relative to a doctor's office and tried to focus on a crossword puzzle while  the TV blared a Show-host doctor interviewing Mayor Bloomberg. He was questioned on his fight against transfats, not trannies,  big sodas, not big crime, etc. He proudly acknowledged that govt has a role in protecting us from ourselves. That sounds a lot like dogma from the old Soviet Union not words from our founders.

BTW, I was not coerced to watch/listen, but opted to sit in a chair rather than against the wall by the elevator.

I can't recall the songwriter, but the line "save us from the people who would save us from ourselves" chanted through my brain.

Found the song: Gang of Four : muscles for brains

11/3/13

CNN & MSNBC are starting to tell the truth about the Obamacare train wreck. Will Oprah, Dr Phil and others join that chorus

12/29/13

Calorie charts on vending machines another Obamacare reg. Seriously, does anyone go to a vending machine  for good food?

1/31/13

Love the tolerance at MSNBC. They've corner the market on being open-minded.

 "Maybe the rightwing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new #Cheerios ad w/ biracial family.

2/14/13

Nanny update. California proposal :  warning on the front of all beverage containers with added sweeteners that have 75 or more calories in every 12 ounces

Don't soda producers list ingredients? Redundancy!!!

2/21/14

FCC wants to  run newsrooms. If you can't legislate than regulate.

Here's a fair link

3/11/14

Attkisson leaves CBS due to liberal media bias. This woman went hard at both sides of the aisle. CBS , MSNBC, etc still protect BO. Her reporting on Fast & Furious & Benghazi upset her bosses.

3/16/14

Go for it grandnanny Bloomberg- outspend the NRA and you won't change too many minds

4/3/14

Atkisson has landed at Fox or anywhere else. Maybe she writes the book?

5/5/14

New NANNY in town:  DeBlasio

 will continue the battle to ban sodas larger than 16 ounces. The city will appeal a state court ruling that axed the ban last year. 

5/22/14

I noticed that Tesco in the UK is removing candy displays from its checkout lines. Yesterday I heard a man  at a Rite Aid say he wouldn't go to CVS anymore cuz they were going to stop selling cigarettes. Self -policing on legal products is a dangerous business strategy.

6/5/14

Even Mika on Morning Joe (MSNBC) is critical of BO's White house on the Bergdahl swap. Is the world ending?

6/26/14

Hooray NYC loses it's nanny soda appeal  NYC loses it's soda ban appeal

8/4/14

New nanny sheriff in NYC. de Blasio hunts down  sellers of loose cigarettes and a lady who cooked food in front of her house w/o a license.

11/6/14

I've actually enjoyed Morning Joe the last two days. The range of opinions was healthy

12/14/14

DiBlasio wanted to  crack down on sellers of loose cigarettes last summer before the jury didn't punish the cop in the Garner case. I  guess the New NYC nanny is  feeling a little discomfort  plus the cops don't want him at police funerals.

12/23/14

Diblasio blames the press now. Dude look in the mirror-you're the Mayor, not a community activist.

1/2/15

Is he arrogant, tone deaf , clueless etc? Mayor Bill de Blasio reappointed a Brooklyn judge, Laura Johnson, who freed without bail two men who threatened cops just days after the Bed-Stuy double police assassination.

1/26/15

Can DeBlasio  accomplish some snow  removal or is f'n with cops  his sole objective?

1/28/15

Deblowsio shuts down city and subway- He's a bigger nanny than Bloomberg

2/5/15

ok I missed this : 1-cent-an-ounce tax on soft drinks. passed in Berkeley in Nov 2014

2/27/15

Mark Cuban on the FCC "net neutrality" move

: “That will fuck everything up,

4/19/15

The Melitev case in MD has accelerated the use of a  sad and hilarious  term: free range kids . When I was ten or eleven (circa 1970) during the summer, my friends and I were told go play in the park and we'll expect you home for supper. Other kids would notice  and report if an adult we didn't know was talking to one of our peers. We didn't need  the Govt hovering over us because a nosy neighbor called the cops on our non-helicopter parents.

The police have more serious issues to deal with than two kids walking home from the park, and child protective services has plenty of real child abuse cases .

6/12/15

Mika Brzezinski, a big Hilary supporter and co-host of Morning Joe, going after Hilary for dodging questions.  Stunned and wondering when more on the Left will realize she was running a parallel Govt at state

6/13/15

Morning Joe may crash due to horrible ratings. ESPN Mike &Mike would rather OD on the NBA than talk NHL playoffs. Boomer & Carton needs to  try to get out the Joisey/Madhattan mind-set just a little. Fox &Friends is amusing for seven minutes.  And that's why I miss Imus the a-hole on FBN

7/6/15

Pondering  this one link   not sure if an ordered boycott is the answer

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has told ministers to boycott a popular talk show on the national broadcaster.The Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) was criticised after a former terror suspect was allowed on live television show Q&A two weeks ago.

7/20/15

I wouldn't eat a deep fried Mars bar , but the save me from myself crew is at it again . The biz brings in tourists but govt knows best? Scotland

A chip shop has been ordered to remove a banner which hails it as the birthplace of the deep fried Mars bar.

9/12/15

repeating  the Gang of Four lyrics cuz it resonates now more than ever. Tune linked in earlier post

 "save us from the people who would save us from ourselves" 

9/18/15

quick snaps: Bergdahl  was a deserter and deserves military prison,  Can The View get much dumber than the "nurse" comments? Does FBN miss Imus? FCC net neutrality is a power grab!

12/3/15

NYC nanny statists attack again but  focusing only on  the "big boys" tells me there's more going on than putting a lid on salt shakers. no salt

Any restaurant operating in New York City with more than 15 franchises nationwide falls under the new rule

12/21/15

Bergdahl could wind up in an American military cell. Hey Prez, what say you?

1/26/16

If Bloomberg runs for President as an independent , he'll hurt the Dems more than the GOP.

2/6/16

The draft Biden camp is active, Hillary is floundering and wasserman schultz is bewildered.
Wasserman Schultz: I think Bloomberg will find he doesn't need to run
Wass

2/28/16

Melissa Harris-Perry, the over-rated spoiled brat, keeps rallying against the white bogeyman.

"I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head. I am not owned by Lack, Griffin, or MSNBC."

Billie Holliday may be sighing from the grave, girl, this ain't a "strange fruit" moment .

3/1/16

Another Northeast mayor is looking for a soda tax. This time it's Kenney of Philly.

3/8/16

"Nanny" Bloomberg shows his true colors: He's a Democrat not an Independent.

The owner of the Bloomberg news organisation said his candidacy would risk letting in Mr Trump or his fellow Republican Ted Cruz.

5/13/16

Nanny statists slowed down a bit.

  Bill to raise Illinois smoking age to 21 snuffed out at Capitol

5/17/16

Diblasio, my favorite limo-liberal, ain't so different: corrupt

 Joseph Dussich secured a multi-million dollar contract with the city after donating $100,000 to the Campaign for One New York, which was Mayor de Blasio's nonprofit fund-raising arm at the time

9/20/16

Former NYC top cop #raykelly  on #Diblasio "de Blasio underplays the terrorist threat.". Kelly is too kind

1/28/17

Leave it to the French to one up the nanny Mayors in the USA , #diblasio #kenney . Restaurants and other spaces catering to the public in France have been banned from offering unlimited sugary drinks 

4/8/17

Nanny statists are cheering . Supreme Court in England ruled that parents should not take their child out of lessons at all without permission. It takes a village to raise a child is now the new Stalinist way in the the Isle of Wight and the rest of England. #jonplatt

After the ruling, Mr Platt warned that every unauthorised absence in future, ‘including being a minute late to school’, would now be deemed a criminal offence

4/30/17

Keep your eyes on the nannies of #santafe new mexico. In 2009 its voters narrowly defeated a tax   on  buyers of homes costing more than $750,000  purported to pay for affordable housing initiatives in the community. Now it wants to tax soda distributors 2-cents-per-ounce  to fund pre-school.

5/11/17

Hypersensive prisoners who opt to not eat feel offended. A #PizzaHut in Israel apologizes for joking about a prisoner hunger strike“ #Barghouti, if you are going to break your strike, isn’t pizza the better choice?” I thought it was amusing and am so tired of everyone being offended 24/7.

6/9/17

I'm late on this: Santa Fe County defeated soda "nanny" tax: 11,533 votes against and only 8,382 votes in favor

7/14/17

#CookCounty (Illinois) Board President #ToniPreckwinkle is blaming court delay of its soda tax for impending layoffs. It's pathetic when you  banked everything on a tax and couldn't or wouldn't find other ways to address your problems.

8/6/17

#deblasio defends cops in the #dunkin snub. Yep, I had to rub my eyes,  too  Here's the dilemma: Store manager claims  a security tape proves cops were in the wrong line, but, of course, won't make the tape available.

9/23/17

"save us from the people who would save us from ourselves" chanted through my brain.

Band: #GangofFour , song:muscles for brains

10/24/17

New York= #nanny #cuomo  In 30 days #Vaping will be banned in indoor public spaces in #newyork

1/2/18

Why did Vermont Senator #berniesanders  swear in  NYC Mayor #Diblasio,  Is this the 2020 Dem Presidential ticket?

1/18/18

Nanny statists on the rampage : The #SPD party in Germany is  pushing for a binding time plan for implementing the sweet, salty and fatty reductions, as well as a law to enforce the plan if companies do not comply. Why not both :so called healthier food and comfort food.   #ChristophMinhoff, a German food industry rep, gets the to heart of the issue:

" The food industry must remain responsible for the recipes, otherwise party platforms will turn into cookbooks,"

5/1/18

Nannies never rest. Is #Prohibition lurking  ?  #Scotland became the first nation in the world to introduce a minimum price per unit of pure alcohol on Tuesday claiming it's aim is to curb the sale of cheaper white ciders, extra-strength beers, and spirits.
10/17/18

Now the nannies want a 'meat tax' to fight climate change

11/13/18

Here come the nannies: Action on Sugar is demanding a ban on #freakshakes (Australia  and the UK)  and all milkshakes with more than 300 calories.

5/9/19

Here's a break from  the nannies such as NYC Mayor #DeBlasio. Norway's Health Minister
#SylviListhaug  "Let people smoke, drink and eat red meat" ----- "governments are to do is to provide information so that people can make informed choices "

6/28/19

  #deBlasio  quoted #CheGuevara “hasta la victoria siempre” (“to victory, always”) in a Miami address to striking Miami airport workers and had to apologize later

12/28/19

Circling back to #Imus , RIP. His termination at #MSNBC led eventually to Morning Joe. The I-Man was  as  nasty to the Dems as he was to the GOP. I enjoyed the musical acts, Levon Helm, Delbert McLinton, etc ,  who performed on his morning show.

3/23/20

Maybe Diblasio  should try to resolve this issue instead of the Wuhan flu?  Charles Oakley and  Knicks owner James Dolan were ordered by Court of Appeals, Second Circuit to resolve their dispute via a phone call.

07/09/20

Mayor de Blasio would lose authority over NYPD under Letitia James, the NY AG’s plan. An independent panel would appoint the city’s police commissioner and oversee the NYPD under a state plan. Those Dems stick together!

1/16/21

 State of New York AG Letitia James is coming with a lawsuit for NYC again, claiming the NYPD used excessive force and violating demonstrators’ civil rights in the summer of 2020.

Maybe she should take a minute and consider these words stated by NYPD Police Commissioner #DermotShea in May, 2020: 

“We practice de-escalation but it is very difficult to practice de-escalation when you’re having a brick thrown at you.”

1/31/21

If Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan DA doesn’t run for a 4th term , how would that affect the investigation of  Trump and his business?  Karen Friedman Agnifilo, his second in command, stepped down before Christmas 2020.

april 27,2021

King Cuomo signed an executive order that pushed back the curfew for bars and restaurants to midnight from 11 p.m., starting on April 19 and effective until May 19, but  businesses will still be required to sell food along with drinks. It appears the when NY Dems voted to amend a March 2020 law that gave Mr. Cuomo the power to issue unilateral, it was a fake rollback.

Meanwhile #cyrusvance is nearly ending any enforcement of prostitution laws in Manhattan.

May 3, 2021

 New York politicians are preparing for a contentious redistricting process since the state’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives will decrease by a seat based on the census results.  No sitting state legislators will have a role in drawing the maps

 

Babe Ruth, bloomers & Scallios

 The latest food police actions by NYC Mayor Bloomberg jump-started my fat pen into an enormous what if.

What if Babe Ruth, the Bronx Bomber, has sent his latest gal-pal. attired in bloomers,  down to the corner bar window with a pail or three, and the beertender had said "miss, I can only only pour 15 ounces at a time."

Laws varied from locality to locality but for a long time, women weren't allowed in bars, but they could go to a split- side door at a bar and get  their pail filled with beer.

I recall Scallios , a one-time bar on Hollins St in southwest Baltimore, had a front split-  door, a few feet from their entrance door. The co-owners Frank & Sonny Scallio would casually relate some of those pail-door stories from their childhoods.

BTW, Scallios was not too far from the bar/house where Babe Ruth was raised, and it's the wall across from the bar was lined with black & white photos from local and national boxers.

Reporting live from nanny-free, sugar- happy Baltimore.

7/14/13

Time for a  photo Chris (Crush) Davis in front of the Babe Ruth Museum

8/12/13

Anyone  from southwest Bmore recall Medusa, the after-hours dive around the corner from Scallios?

9/25/13

I wonder if Babe Ruth ever met Dashiell Hammett while in Baltimore.

10/27/13

Has Bloomberg had his Big Gulp today?

10/29/13

San Francisco wants to levy a 2-cent-per-ounce tax on all sugar-sweetened beverages sold in the city.  A can of soda, for example, would cost 24 cents more. Big city nannies  can't help themselves.

11/13/13

The Trans Fat cops are it. And I'm not talking about catching fast Pontiacs (Trans-Ams) or fat trannie hookers

1/25/14

Did Dashiell Hammett and Babe Ruth ever meet?

2/1/14

I bought many double shots of Jameson at Scallios and one night Sonny Scallio suddenly slid a fifth of  Jameson  with about 4oz remaining along  the bar top toward me, and it felt like something from a movie as I grabbed the bottle with my left hand and in what seemed like one motion guzzled the contents. 

3/7/14

I read a column in the Baltimore Sun print edition about Fayetteville NC celebrating itself as the place where Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run  for the minor league Baltimore Orioles  during an intrasquad game. A bit of a stretch.

3/8/14

Ruth’s first major league home run came against the Yankees at the Polo Grounds on May 6, 1915.

3/17/14

The 2/1/14 St Paddy post is a catalyst  for these memories:  political debates vs Warren at Max's. 
Doing the irish Jig in the parking lot with Kevin and the rest of the "pearl" kitchen crew as a Sowebo Festival (Memorial Day weekend ) was winding down.

10/7/14

Chris Davis was suspended for using an amphetamine. Is the lesson: hot dogs and beer work better?

2/6/15

Babe Ruth 's birthday- he'd be a 120

6/28/15

Back to Scallios memories:When Sonny or Frank Scallio turned on their satellite TV, the menu could vary from the Rush Limbaugh's half hour TV show to Sunday Night,  David Sanborn's eclectic music show.

10/2/15

Babe Ruth's called shot was hit in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the 1932 WS held on October 1, 1932. my take away: In 2015   the MLB regular season isn't over

4/23/16

A short walk from Sowebo to the then new OPACY for an O's and the cartoonist and I  started the walk  discussing the derivation of the word hipster from opium smokers who laid on their hip to smoke. As we were entering the stadium he waxed ecstatic on his lifelong ardor for the St Louis Cardinals  and we found our way to how the St Louis Browns became the Baltimore Orioles.

6/13/16

Everyone is talking about the Orlando shooting so I'm suggesting the O's put Chris Davis into the pitching  rotation. What a lame weekend for the O's pitching staff!

10/1/16

#dashielhammett was a regular at the Enoch Pratt Free Library/Hollins Street Branch,  formerly at 1401 Hollins Street, in the early 1900s. #sowebo , a southwest section of Baltimore city.

12/18/16

While  looking at birthdays today  I discovered this quote from Ty Cobb born 12/18/1886

"When I began playing the game, baseball was about as gentlemanly as a kick in the crotch."

 #baberuth and #tycobb didn't get along well while playing baseball but did play a few amiable rounds of golf together in retirement .

2/4/17

Looking back to the late 80s and early 90s when I would take the paleocon, a less popular side,  in semi-organized debates in various bars in Sowebo, a bohemian section in SW Baltimore. And lived to tell about it. Seriously, I don't recall any of the visceral hatred I see brewing in Berkley and elsewhere. If you want your friends and associates to think exactly as you do, you're going to miss a lot of good experiences.

6/6/17

#rennerthotel mentioned in Hammet's Glass Key and other novels was located on the corner of Liberty & Saratoga in Baltimore City.

11/22/17

When I heard that #charliemanson died, I recall a bartender (circa 1990) playing a bootleg of Manson's "when I'm hungry I go to the dump" to clear out the Cultured Pearl, a Sowebo bar, at 2AM.

1/1/18

Last night I was asleep before midnight. About 30 years ago, I fell asleep drunk on the cold tile floor of the #telltalehearth bar in #Sowebo in Baltimore ,  woke up around 5AM, nodded at the Edgar Allan Poe mannequin sitting on a barstool, entered the alarm code, and drove home.

3/18/18

I heard some baseball pundits mentioning #baberuth would have a great #WAR stat ( Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is an attempt by the sabermetric baseball community to summarize a player’s total contributions to their team in one statistic) , and can envision his response: give me a pail of beer and some hot dogs.

07/26/18

Hey #MLB don't outlaw the shift ! It's time for the players to do what #weewilliekeeler, a member of the Hall of Fame,  stated " hit 'em where they ain't,” 

8/18/18

Looking back 10/7/14: #ChrisDavis was suspended for using an amphetamine. Is it time to put some benzedrine in Mr Davis Ovaltine ?

1/14/19

#frankrobinson signed the first 100K contract in Orioles history on 1.14.67.  check out his comment at the time about possibly  getting a few bucks more: " I didn't think it was worth haggling over."

1/20/19

Did President  #herberthoover ,  serve hot dogs to the 1932 World Series champs, the  Babe Ruth Yankees on their visit to the White House?  Pretty sure  the tradition of WS champs visiting the White House started in 1924 when Cooldge was President.

1/26/19

#adamottavino is catching some flack for saying this: "Look, #BabeRuth with that swing, swinging that bat, I got him hitting a buck-40 with eight homers.". It took him a day or two to state the obvious:  "and it's not even something that can be proven anyway"

4/9/19

I recommend #baberuth 's diet of beer and hot dogs for #chrisdavis with 47 consecutive hitless at-bats.

6/16/19

   #BabeRuth road jersey dating to 1928-30 sold at auction for $5.64 million. That's nuts!

 6/30/19

  Two of Babe Ruth 's former MLB teams, Red Sox and Yankees, are playing  regular season games in #london this weekend.  If Ruth would've played in London in the 1920's, he would've given the local press some amusing quotes.
7/6/19: Maybe #ChrisDavis had a pre-game Babe Ruth diet, hot dog and beer, last night. He had a solo homer and two run single.
9/4/19:  Michael Lorenzen of the Cincinnati Reds  pulled off a feat last accomplished by the Babe Ruth by hitting a homer, earning a win, and making an appearance in the outfield.
2/21/20- Ok I missed this: #baberuth would've been 125 on 2/6/20. And, repeating a post from 2013

6/9/20: Thirty years ago:  #EddieMurray, a Dodger and a former Oriole, hit homers from each side of the plate for the tenth time in his career.

5/29/21: Biden relaxed Cuban policy and a Cuban baseball player, César Prieto, jumps off the Cuban team bus into a waiting car in a rapid defection  during trip to Florida. I started thinking about some great Cuban- born players, Tony Oliva, Luis Tiant, etc.

2/6/2022: Here's your 2022 funny from Sad Max Scherzer: "We don’t need mediation because what we are offering to MLB is fair for both sides" 

2/7/22: Half of a T206 Honus Wagner baseball card sells at auction for $475,960. 

May 30, 2022

Sowebo Festival memory from thirty plus years ago. Kitchen Kevin demanding I do the Irish jig in the parking lot near a music stage. I did a one-legged "jig" and Kevin did his version while a small contingent dug the scene.

June 9, 2022

 I'm unsure if you saw this from Nina's post. Parke Green, bartender at the Cultured Pearl in the early 1990's, died from an allergic reaction to a wasp sting while walking with his wife Nina.  Last time I saw him was when he visited Baltimore on business about five years ago. My last phone call with him was a year or so ago when he called to talk about the death of Poodles, a former waitress at CP. He was a great friend and a he!! of late night partymate in Sowebo. 

June 22, 2022

and now Michele H, a barkeeper who I often chatted with late night in the early 1990s at "The Pearl", Max's, and Scallios passed away a few days ago.

Oct 18, 2022

The Pfister Hotel, 424 E. Wisconsin Ave in Milwaukee, WI houses a vast collection of Victorian pieces and is also famous for spooking a lot of MLB players. When the Pirates were in town in 2016, Pirates MGR Clint Hurdle explained to a player who phoned him because a ghost had turned on his TV twice in one night. I bet Babe Ruth would have slept through someone turning on his radio.

Sept 28, 2024

While reading a book on the St Louis Browns- Baltimore Orioles history I stopped on this name. Buster Mills, an outfielder for the Browns, Bosox , etc and  the Redlegs MGR for 12 games in 1953.

 Elvis and Lucy Mills gave  Buster, their fourth child the first name of Colonel, after the rank of either dad's best friend or a Civil War great-uncle. During WW2, as a soldier, he introduced himself to officers as "Colonel Mills".