Monday
One year ago today. Long live Israel. May the remaining hostages be released unharmed.
Here comes Milton. Geez. Blessings to those in the storm’s path.
Although I hate beer, I love this picture. End of Oktoberfest, Munich. Reuters photo by Michaela Stache:
Steve, a retired salesman, takes a walk along the Coney Island Boardwalk most mornings. Old folks were being mugged by creeps on bikes. Russians, who dominate the area, laid a trap and administered a bit of frontier justice, beating the crap out of the slimes, confiscating the bikes, taking pictures and warning the criminals they would face worse if they were ever again spotted in the area. Kudos.
RIP Cissy Houston, 91. Born in Newark as Emily Drinkard, she began by singing gospel. As part of The Drinkard Singers, she performed at Carnegie Hall and the Newport Jazz Festival. In 1963 she formed The Sweet Inspirations. The group did backup vocals for Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Lou Rawls, The Drifters, Dusty Springfield and her niece Dionne Warwick. They appeared on Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl and The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Burning of the Midnight Lamp. In ’69 the group sang backup for Elvis in Vegas. Houston had released two modestly successful albums as Cecily Blair. She recorded another two under the name that would become famous. She was among artists who backed up Paul Simon, Bette Midler, Linda Ronstadt, Burt Bachrach, Herbie Mann and many others. She did duets with Aretha Franklin. Of course, she sang with Whitney. She staged several interventions to help her daughter get clean, on one occasion obtaining a court order. Alas… Her Wiki page lists more than 20 albums on which she was a principal artist. She won two Grammys for Gospel recordings. For more than 50 years she was the Minister of Music at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark. She was a driving force behind McDonald’s Gospelfest, at which she performed regularly. Married twice, she was a mom of three. A beautiful long run. Awesome, Madam. Thank you. Photo from Google Images:
Headline from nypost.com: “Hillary Clinton warns that allowing free speech on social media means ‘we lose control’.” Who ‘s we— the elites?
Another reason why I believe DT will be defeated, despite the internal polls having him comfortably ahead. Excerpt from NYP editorial: “Americans received $3.8 trillion in government transfers in 2022, accounting for 18% of all personal income, a share that’s more than doubled since 1970.” It’s a form of vote-buying that RINOs also use. Sorry, I’m just pessimistic when it comes to politics.
Headline from foxnews.com: “Harris says wealthy Americans, corporations will pay higher taxes to fund economic plan.” And guess who the companies will pass the costs on to?
Gotta love this headline from FN: “Kathy Bates’ mother had surprising reaction to her Oscar win: ‘You didn’t discover the cure for cancer’.”
The day evolved into a gorgeous one. My thanks to Lynn, who donated four marketable titles, and to the woman who bought four magazines on beading; and to Romania-born artist Andu, who took home Noble House and King Rat by James Clavell, The Last King: Rome’s Greatest Enemy by Michael Curtis Ford, and Sandman, a beautifully illustrated graphic novel by Neil Gaiman; and to the woman who purchased Bobbi Brown Beauty: The Ultimate Beauty Resource; and to the one who chose a paperback in Russian. The free book kiosk seems a big hit, although I have no idea if they’re being taken by readers or mischief makers. There were none left this morning. I’ve cleared a lot of space in the apartment. Yay!
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