2022 New Years prayer

 I gave up resolutions years ago since I rarely keep them. I figure setting goals for personal and professional purposes served me better as they were realistic and attainable. 

A friend just posted that she wished people could embrace more kindness in 2022. Kindness is a sentiment I have pushed previously but unfortunately hatred has become rooted into too many souls. People seem incapable of kindness or empathy towards those who are perceived as different from them. 

There is too much anger and not enough dialogue with those who believe different things. We have retreated into our cohorts, into our social media bubbles allowing groupthink to drive our worldview rather than questioning what we hear and see instead of seeking out alternative perspectives and questioning what we all believe. 

People seem unwilling to fight for the common good, peace and tranquility but rather they prefer to be divisive, disruptive driving us apart towards divorce and potentially worse.  I ask you is that what you want?  

Previously I have posted for reconciliation of common American goals that we all can embrace but now I don’t know if that’s possible.  I don’t know what the future holds for this country but now I simply pray for my children to know peace and prosperity within our borders in their lifetime. 

Happy New Years here’s hoping we can figure it out sooner rather than later

Legendary Softball Amateur, Jeff Herz, Announces Long Awaited Retirement

 

Legendary Softball Amateur, Jeff Herz, Announces Long Awaited Retirement 

 

Teammates wonder why it took this long.

 

 

Stamford CT – February 3, 2021 – With a packed room of teammates, members of the Stamford Jewish Community Center, the Stamford Recreation Department and anyone else who had nothing else to do, Jeff Herz announced his retirement from recreational softball. Most recently playing for the Chicos and Casey’s Tavern, Herz’s career spanned 22 years of solid below average mediocrity on the field. The Friday night beer will be a little more plentiful and Sunday mornings will be a little brighter without Herz on the bench.

Herz broke onto the Stamford softball scene in 1998, playing, fittingly, with the Rookies. Over the course of his career, Herz moved from team to team, the only time he really showed fast movement on the field. In addition to the Rookies, Herz spent time with The Gamblers (rebel league), Orange, Blue, Purple/Vikings, Chicos, Loose Nuts, Fiddler’s Green and Casey’s Tavern.

“I remember the first time he took the field with the Rookies,” said former Rookies player & Gamblers manager Marc Leferman. “Jeff was a lot younger back then, but it was clear he would never be a breakout player. I’m honestly shocked to find out that he was still playing.”

While Herz never broke team or league records, he is proud of his many accomplishments on the field. In addition to turning some impressive double plays for a short, stocky man, Jeff never hit into a triple play and in his final year, he turned a bunt into a homerun. He once ran himself into a double play when he was on second base and Matthew Lipson hitting a shot into the gap, that was miraculously caught. Not waiting for the ball to drop, Herz took off for home with the speed of a rocket, only to arrive at 3^rd with the base coach furiously waving him back to 2nd, after attempting to retreat, he was easily thrown out at 2^nd to end the rally and the inning.

Known more for his fielding capabilities than his bat, Herz was a decent utility man, who was willing to play anywhere on the field but often played left out.

“When I think of Jeff playing the infield I picture a handheld vacuum, or as some call it a Dustbuster, not a lot of range but if it’s hit right at him that ball is getting pulled into his glove every time,” said Mo Concepcion, JCC league commissioner.

When asked about his best play, nothing came to mind, but Herz commented on his worst play, noting “I blew out my hamstring running to first base.” Clearly stretching was not something Herz was known for either. While abilities were limited, Herz was known for giving it his all on the field.

“The first thing that comes to mind thinking of your softball prowess would be that you were the 'Charlie Hustle' of the JCC Softball League,” said Lindsay Rosenberg, Orange Team Captain (2006-2008).  Jeff was always there giving his best, was an unselfish and supportive teammate - and one of the nicest guys I know! It was friends like him that kept me playing for a few decades.”

Teammates from throughout the years agree that what Herz lacked in talent, he tried to make up for in effort.

“As I come to the end of my softball career, I look forward to spending more time with my family, but I want to thank all my teammates and captains from my more than 20 years of playing,” said Herz.  While I may not have broken any records on the field, the friendships I have made off the field are unbreakable.”

When the time comes, Herz has been asked to be buried at the JCC field, next to his wife’s grandfather

My Ted Talk on false equivalence and sedition bordering on treason

For those of you think what happened on Wednesday is fine or no laws were broken compared to the events of the summer welcome to my Ted Talk.

Claim - Ten of thousands didn’t break any laws. So my question back is who were the tens of thousands who didn’t break the law? Anyone who stood on the capitol steps holding or hanging flags ( trump, confederate or nazi) is at least guilty of trespassing as that is not a place where the public can congregate unlike the Lincoln memorial which is open to the public and happens to be my favorite place in DC. So if I cannot just hang out there then i can only assume it’s illegal for you to be there and deface the façade with flags of our historically defeated enemies.

If you are talking about people who hung back and did not breach the capitol ground at all then great we are in complete agreement and they are law abiding citizens who successfully and legally utilized their 1st amendment rights. I would certainly like to commend those people for having self restraint to not get caught up in the frenzy. Kudos to them for not not breaking the law. If there were ten thousand of them then great.

However Anyone who actually broached the capitol grounds and even worse who actually occupied the capitol are guilty as hell as there are no excuses for this under any circumstances regardless if you are supporter of the POTUS Or BLM or any other group. This is not how our form of government works. If you don’t like the result you work for change in the next election or you peacefully protest to make your voice heard.

Now let’s talk about your false equivalence here. Everyone I know condemned the violence, looting, and rioting that occurred with the BLM and other protests. Some of those events were actually started by white supremacists and that had been down played but that is story for another day.

So now let’s review looting and rioting are both bad and illegal with fines and possibly jail for destruction of property. Storming the capitol to overturn a free and fair election is sedition bordering on treason. Big difference and I am sorry if you cannot see the difference. And again it does not matter who you are or what group you represent. Storming the capitol cannot be tolerated under any circumstances by any group.

Thank you for attending my Ted talk. Herz out

What I want moving forward

I want all people to be treated equally and fairly. 

I want the police to treat all citizens equally regardless of the color of their skin. 

I want all of us to agree storming the capitol is a gross immoral and illegal activity bordering on sedition. 

I want us all to agree on right and wrong regardless of who is doing it.  Something cannot be right for one person or party and then wrong for the opposing person or party

I want one standard of justice for all class of people. Politicians (left or right) are not above the law anymore than any other citizen. 

I want a return of empathy for my fellow man (and woman), with less selfish righteousness

I want to have a community that cares for all of its citizens and not my immediate pack or cohort  

Will the Democrats achieve my agenda now that they control Congress and the White House? I doubt it.   I assume the Republican party will work to block everything they can because there is no incentive to negotiate.  Supporters on both sides have been conditioned to believe negotiating or conceding is unacceptable and only full victory including the full and total humiliation of your opponent is worthy in the political spectrum (so ridiculous that we treat politics like sport) 

Will the media continue to sow dissent because that drives ratings and media dollars? Absolutely? 

The real question is how do we get out of this viscous circle before this turns into a hot war? A large percentage of the right has already said they will not accept Biden similarly to how they perceive the left receiving Trump. 

From my perspective the right has been told for 30 years that the left is their enemy, they are socialists, that liberalism is a disease, that they hate our country. Hell I have been accused by a friend of hating the country and I absolutely lost my shit on him.  So please don't ever question my patriotism, I don't need to attend rallies or boat parades to prove I love my country. Nobody has the right to question anyone’s loyalty unless they are defecting to another country. 

My question is how do we overcome the bias that has developed (sure on both sides) to avoid that conflict? 

How do we go back to conversation and negotiations over what is best for the country which has largely been absent since Gingrich and McConnell took over the Republican Party because when you have an open dialogue you can find common ground. Right now there is no desire to search for that  peacefully. 

So is the Democratic control of the WH and Congress going to change that? Not at all. What will change that is people coming together to demand Citizens United be revoked and the fair reporting doctrines that force media to accurately report both sides. Right now we live in a dangerous world with parallel information sources providing grossly different information. The first thing we need to do is go back and agree upon right and wrong and hold all elected officials to that same standard 

Until then we are all just whistling Dixie

Reflections the day after an insurrection

 

Today, a day after the US Capitol was stormed by seditious traitors, I am seeing posts from friends on the right saying there is no way these domestic terrorists were from the right in spite of the facts;  https://www.bbc.com/news/55572805

To paraphrase and satirize what I am seeing:

We all know this was antifa dressed up as MAGA and QAnon supporters. The fine upstanding citizens who support the president would never do anything like this. Look they’ve had millions of people attend rallies with no violence and after all rallies and boat parades which are the best way to determine support of a candidate so there is no way anyone voted for Biden as he had no rallies and no boat parades.

 

These are all lies!! And antifa and BLM have experience burning and looting putting small business out of business and getting in the way of wayward bullets shot by out of state 17 year olds who believes he was deputized. Let’s remember they acted very civilized once the capitol police removed those barriers and only took that letter from that wicked decrepit lady for SF CA. Also the president, his children, his advisors, and his enablers in Congress no way incited them to these actions. It’s Biden Pelosi and Schumer’s fault for getting 80+M votes and not condemning the riots last summer. 

 Here are some fact by Heather Cox Richardson

 “Trump had urged his supporters for weeks to descend on Washington, D.C., to stop what he insisted was the stealing of the election. They did so and, this morning, began to congregate near the Capitol, where the counting would take place. As he passed them on the east side of the Capitol, Hawley raised a power fist.

 

In the middle of the day, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani spoke to the crowd, telling them: “Let’s have trial by combat.” Trump followed, lying that he had won the election and saying “we are going to have to fight much harder.” He warned that Pence had better “come through for us, and if he doesn’t, that will be a sad day for our country.” He warned that Chinese-driven socialists are taking over the country. And he told them to march on Congress to “save our democracy.”

 Although this group of terrorist, hooligans or seditious traitors did not cause much harm to the capitol, they did not burn or loot, they did seem prepared to take hostages and they did storm our seat of government in order to overthrow the duly elected government from completing their constitutional duty to certify the states electoral votes.

  Had the protested (violently or not) outside of the capitol, as a means to express their anger and frustration that would have been wholly acceptable and permissible under the 1^st amendment, but once you attempt to take over the building where the government is meeting, regardless if it is clueless followers stumbling along carrying confederate and nazi flags  or organized planners with zip ties, you have committed sedition and quite possibly treason.

Here is a quote from the woman who died after being shot by police in the Capitol.  Certainly sounds like a MAGA/QAnon supporter to me, but what do I know I’m just a lowly centrist trying to figure out how to hold this country together