Election Day

vic fortezza
3 min readNov 5, 2024

Conscience got the better of me. I decided to swing by the local polling place on my morning walk. It was just past six AM and there weren’t many people there. It didn’t go smoothly. A woman insisted I return to a spot to check my address and be guided to the correct district. I resisted the temptation to walk out. I exercised the futility of voting for Republicans in NYC despite my belief that the left has won the battle for America and even Trump is highly unlikely to change that. When it came to a judgeship, all the candidates were Dems, so I wrote in Rudy Giuliani. Good luck, DT — great campaign. As usual, I’m not optimistic when it comes to politics. The polls are within the margin of error, so it will go either way — duh! The main question will be whether DT will have the votes to overcome the Dems shrewd harvesting. By the way, I do not feel ennobled in having done my civic duty.

The old bromide “Politics makes strange bedfellows” exists because it is so often true. Headline from nypost.com: “Megyn’s for MAGA: Megyn Kelly reveals why she’s voting for Trump as she stumps for ex-prez at rally on Election Day eve.” They’ve said nasty things about each other… In the same vein, headline from foxnews.com: “BLM leader plans to vote for Trump: ‘Been blindly loyal to the Dem Party — for no reason’.” Amen. May that be the case nationwide.

A new book has dropped about the great bipartisan jokester, whose ridicule was not one-sided, unlike the late-night hosts of today. Photo from amazon.com:

From NYP: “State legislative pay raises should NOT be in the works.” Amen. How ‘bout a 50% cut?

From NYP: “Ukraine fires at North Korean troops deployed near Russian border in first skirmish with new foreign fighters.”

World gone mad, from NYP: “Outrage over P’nut the squirrel’s death continues with bomb threats called in at 10 NY state offices.” Granted, the Feds again look like jerks, sending a heavily armed squad to confiscate a rodent, but…

RIP Jonathan Haze, 95. His name might not be familiar but his work in a particular cult classic has been seen by millions, generations. He was the star of Little Shop of Horrors (1960). He first worked in stage production for his cousin, legendary drummer Buddy Rich, and also for Josephine Baker. He moved to Hollywood and worked behind the scenes and eventually caught the eye of shlockmeister Roger Corman. He’d amassed 31 credits before he starred as Seymour in the role that will live long after his death. There are 41 titles under his name at IMDb. He had roles in East of Eden (1955), Dementia (1955), Not of the Earth (1957), X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963) and The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967), and he made guest appearances on popular prime time fare. In effect he gave up acting, although he did make four appearances from ‘82–2010. He returned to film production, then found great success as CEO of a commercial production company, creating ads for United Airlines, Kool-Aid and Schlitz. Married once for twelve years, he was a father of one. Well done, Sir. Thank you. Photo from Google Images:

If the balmy weather is a result of global warming, I’m all in. My thanks to the two women who bombarded me with cook and health books, and to those who bought music, movies and books. I left two bags of Russian books hidden in the garden, put about ten at the free kiosk, and had to do a back and forth to get the rest home, too much work for a man my age.

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vic fortezza
vic fortezza

Written by vic fortezza

I was born in Brooklyn in 1950 to Sicilian immigrants. I’ve had more than 50 short stories published world wide. I have 13 books in print.

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