Where the boys are, no one waits for Kamala

Where the boys are, no one waits for Kamala: As the song goes, where the boys are someone waits for me. Maybe that's true for Connie Frances and her friends. It is not true for VP Kamala Harris. Let's check this out about men and VP Harris' candidacy: New polls show…
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 As the song goes, where the boys are someone waits for me. Maybe that’s true for Connie Frances and her friends. It is not true for VP Kamala Harris. Let’s check this out about men and VP Harris’ candidacy:

New polls show Vice President Harris faces a major challenge in winning over male voters and is losing men by a bigger margin than she’s winning women in key states such as Pennsylvania, Nevada, and North Carolina.

The gender gap between Democrats and Republicans isn’t new, but it’s becoming especially pronounced in the toss-up race for president.

Former President Trump’s problems with female voters are well known. New polls show that Harris has just as big of a problem with male voters in some states.

At the Democratic convention in Chicago last month, Harris and her political team largely downplayed her chance of making history by becoming the first woman elected president, and political experts say male voters in some parts of the country remain leery about putting a woman in the Oval Office.

Okay, but it’s not really her gender, in my opinion. We’ve reached a point in our history where men are not worried about a woman serving as President. In other words, men would have voted for Governor Nikki Haley if that was the choice. Why? Because it’s not about gender or race. It’s about the candidate.

What men like me see in VP Harris is a liberal woman from California who did not distinguish herself, from walking out when the prime minister of Israel spoke in Congress, to being the last one in the room with President Biden during the Afghanistan disaster, to refusing to take an active role in the border crisis.

So where are the boys? They are concerned about a candidate who does not look that she is ready for the presidency.

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September 10, 1955: "Gunsmoke" made its debut on CBS in the US



"Gunsmoke" made its debut on CBS on this day in 1955.  
It became a classic TV show and everyone's favorite western.
   
 

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We remember Roger Maris (1934-1985)


 

Roger Maris was born in Minnesota on this day in 1934.  He grew up in South Dakota.   

Roger broke with Cleveland in 1957 (14 HR) but wound up with Kansas City.   


After the 1959 season, Maris was traded to the New York Yankees and won the AL MVP in 1960.   
Then came 61 in 1961, the story that put him on the front pages.   

He finished his career with the Cardinals and played in the 1967 and 1968 World Series.    


Overall, he finished with 275 HR (203 with the Yankees 1960-66).    Sadly, he died in 1985 from cancer.   The asterisk next to his home run record was eventually removed in 1991.    

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Happy # 79 to Jose Feliciano


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Back in the early days of “el exilio,” our family had a used white Ford Galaxie 500. We would go out on Sunday drives in Wisconsin and the AM radio was usually set on the local Top 40 station. My mother would always lower the volume if something too loud came on. She did not turn down the volume when “Light my fire” by Jose Feliciano came on the radio. She loved this song because it was easy to listen and the guitar solo reminded her of something from Guillermo Portabales.

We say happy birthday to Jose Feliciano, one of the best voices of the pop era. He was born José Monserrate Feliciano García in Puerto Rico on this day in 1945.

His song “Feliz Navidad” is also extremely popular at Christmas time.

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The Battle of Lake Erie in 1813





We looked back at The Battle of Erie in 1813.  Barry Casselman discussed it in detail because he is from Erie, PA.  This is the column:

"September 1813, Perry set sail for Put-In Bay to meet the British fleet, which was under the command of Robert Heriot Barclay. Like the Americans, the English had begun constructing a fleet at the war’s beginning to secure control of Lake Erie. The British were anticipating an easy victory over Perry’s force. On September 10, 1813, the Battle of Lake Erie too!

The Americans had nine ships, while the British had six. Early in the battle, the British were taking a heavy toll on the American ships, principally because the British cannons were much more accurate at long distances. When the British destroyed the Lawrence, Perry took the ship’s flag and transferred to the Niagara. After Perry moved to the Niagara, the battle began to turn for the Americans.


 Before Perry’s arrival on the Niagara, this ship had hardly engaged the British fleet. Now, the Niagara and Perry inflicted heavy cannon fire on the British ships. The commander of every British ship was killed or wounded, leaving the British ships under the command of junior officers with limited experience. Perry took advantage of this situation. The Niagara rammed the British lead ship while the sailors fired rifles at the British seamen.


By nightfall, the British had lowered their flag and surrendered to Perry, who was only twenty-seven years old. Perry sent a dispatch to General William Henry Harrison, recounting the details of the battle. In the dispatch, he wrote, “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” The American victory at the Battle of Lake Erie cut off the British supply lines and forced them to abandon Detroit. It also paved the way for General Harrison’s attack on the British and Indian forces at the Battle of the Thames."

Enjoy this bit of US history and The War of 1812.

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A massacre at Fenway

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(My new American Thinker post)

It was early September, and we got together on Sunday to watch baseball.  I should remind you that the NFL did not start as early back then.  After my mother's Cuban food, we got started.  We didn't realize back then that we'd be watching the 1978 version of the Boston massacre.

Let me give you a little background.  By mid-July 1978, Boston had a 14-game lead over defending World Series champ New York.  In August, the Yankees started to win, and the Red Sox started to lose.  To be fair, Boston was hit with a ton of injuries.  In early September, the Yankees came into Boston four games back.

And the Yankees started hitting and scoring.  It got so bad that my father commented that the Gods of baseball were wearing pinstripes.  My guess is that many were saying the same thing in New England.

This is how Andrew Mearns recalls that weekend 45 years ago today:

The Yankees made up a 10 games in a little over a month, then came to Fenway Park for a four-game showdown from September 7-10. What followed would become known as the "Boston Massacre." New York made a quick statement in the first game by bombarding former teammate Mike Torrez, Andy Hassler, and Dick Drago for 14 singles and 11 runs within the first four innings.

Don Zimmer, Boston's manager, felt his team was ready for the next game on September 8th, taking solace in the fact that the 15-3 beating "still only counts as one game." Two rookies named Jim started against each other, Beattie for the Yanks and Wright for Boston. Only Beattie emerged with a good game, as he shut out the powerful Red Sox lineup for eight innings on three hits. Meanwhile, the Yankees continued to thrash the opposing pitching staff--Wright, Tom Burgmeier, and "Spaceman" Bill Lee surrendered 13 runs and 17 hits. The game was basically over once the Yankees took an 8-0 lead in the second, powered by a three-run homer from Jackson, who battled through a virus to stay in the lineup. Lou Piniella finished a mere single shy of the cycle. A couple of unearned runs against Beattie in the ninth made the final score 13-2.

The Yankees sought to secure the series victory in the third game of the series. The Red Sox appeared as hopeless as ever, and the fact that they had to deal with a pitcher in the middle of one of the greatest seasons in the history of baseball only made matters worse. Ron Guidry carried a sparkling 20-2 record and a 1.84 ERA into the game; he would somehow find a way to make his season look even better. Leadoff hitter Rick Burleson singled to center to begin the game, and after a sacrifice bunt moved him to second base, Jim Rice beat out a slow ground ball to shortstop Bucky Dent (Burleson was forced to stay at second though). That was it for the Red Sox on September 9th. Guidry no-hit them for the remaining 8.2 innings. On the Saturday afternoon broadcast, broadcaster Tony Kubek remarked "This is the first time I've seen a first-place team chasing a second-place team."

In the series finale, the Yankees incredibly had an opportunity to tie for first place, an idea that seemed inconceivable only a few weeks ago. The pitching situation had become so dire for Boston that rookie southpaw Bobby Sprowl took the hill for only his second career start on September 10th. He did not make it out of the first inning, removed after a double play, four walks, and a single. Third baseman Graig Nettles singled home two more runs against reliever Bob Stanley. By the end of the top of the fourth, the Yankees held a 6-0 lead. Starter Ed Figueroa gave up a few runs, but won the game with six innings of three-hit ball. Hall of Fame reliever Goose Gossage saved it with three solid innings of his own. The final score was 7-3, and the Yankees were officially tied for first place. 

New York swept a four-game series, outscoring Boston 67-21.  It was brutal for the home fans, who could not believe what they were watching.  They saw their stars drop fly balls and mess ground balls.

To their credit, Boston won the last 9 and forced a dramatic one-game playoff in Fenway.  The Yankees won it on Bucky Dent's H.R. 

It was a baseball series of the unexplainable.  After all, were the Red Sox that bad or the Yankees that good?  I guess you're never as good as you look when you win or as bad as you look when you lose.

My mother had a great expression to explain the unexplainable.  It was apparently something she had heard from a baseball announcer years before.  Like many young people back in Cuba, she used to listen to baseball on the radio.  This is what Mother used to say: "La pelota es redonda pero viene en caja cuadrada."  It loosely translates to "The ball is round, but it comes in a square box."

I heard that a million times.  Many Boston fans 45 years ago today understood what my mother used to say.  It was her favorite way of reacting to the unexplainable, or exactly what came to be known as baseball's Boston Massacre.

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