P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.We remember Celia Cruz....with Fernando Hernandez, author......she was born in Havana on this day in 1925........
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
We remember Celia Cruz (1925-2003)
We remember Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993)
We remember today one of the giants of US jazz.
Dizzy Gillespie was born on this day in 1917. He died in 1993.
He left us a tremendous legacy of music and recordings for future generations to enjoy.
Dizzy Gillespie also pioneered the fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz music in the 1940's.
October 21, 1975: Another year to remember Carlton Fisk and game 6
It seems like the whole country was up watching game 6 of the 1975 World Series. It was about 12:30 ET when Fisk hit the foul pole and ended one of the greatest baseball games ever played.
It took me a while to fall sleep because the post game celebration went on for a while. I don't know if anybody slept that night in New England.
Cincinnati and Boston went back to work the next night to play game 7. It was a pretty good game. Yaz made the last out of the game and the Reds were the champs.
It was the greatest baseball moment of my generation.
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.
President Reagan and Grenada 1983
Back in October 1983, I was in Mexico City visiting some clients.
On the day of the Grenada invasion, I attended a scheduled lunch at a local chamber of commerce. There were several Mexican businessmen and politicians at my table.
We quickly started talking about the news of the day; President Reagan's decision to invade Grenada.
Grenada was a small island where US citizens were attending medical school. Most people had never heard of Grenada or the Cuban efforts to turn the island into a communist beachhead, an important runway for Soviet MIGs.
However, the Reagan administration had their eye on Grenada for some time. They knew the strategic importance of Grenada and its proximity to The Panama Canal.
As I sat down to have lunch, I found their reactions to be surprising, especially given Mexico's criticism of US support of the UK in the Falklands the year before.
I prepared myself for a lot of criticism of President Reagan and "Yankee imperialists." To my pleasant surprise, I heard the exact opposite:
1) One politician directly said: "Carter would have never done this! He would have been afraid";
2) A businessman said: "This is why I love Reagan....the man is "un lider", i.e. a leader;
My favorite one came from one prominent Mexican politician who gave me the thumbs up and said: Reagan 1, Castro 0!
After the lunch meeting, I walked back to my office trying to understand their reactions.
I came to one conclusion: People like to see US leadership and determination. They want a strong president because a weak US president is such a lousy alternative.
Thank you President Reagan for pushing Fidel Castro back and giving communism a major defeat!
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
When the normals say enough is enough
Political outrage seems to be everywhere, from social media to everyday conversations.
------------------
Remember the kid in school who was always negative and complaining about everything? I usually avoided that kid, and maybe voters are starting to turn off all of this political anger, too. I think they call it “fatigue” as Scott McKay points out:
I was at lunch Wednesday with one of my non-political friends, and — as often happens, and I swear I’m not the one driving this — a topic of conversation turned political.
My friend brought up an exhausting pattern which, we agreed, is ramping up in both volume and frequency. Namely, that we as a society are jumping from one unhinged rage to another over things which don’t justify the level of vitriol and over-emotional screeching they’ve produced.
Four of these factored prominently in the conversation, but a fuller picture could include several more. Just this year we had the Renee Good fiasco, the Lindsay Clancy trial, the Cornell 7 orgy controversy, and now the Shane Gillis-gymgirl dustup.
My friend noted that in all of these cases — and, again, there have been several others — it’s generally women who have gotten most torqued up about the topic at hand, and in particular it’s a certain subset of women who are doing it. And TikTok and Instagram are full of rage-bait videos of people going berserk over things which either don’t merit such a reaction or where the truth is a whole lot more complicated than they’d like to make it.
And it was my friend, and not me, who suggested that none of these moral panics are organic, and that this burgeoning rage engine has already exhausted normal folks.
I think my friend is probably right. Outrage fatigue is a real thing. I think outrage fatigue played a role in Donald Trump’s 2024 election — though it was the fatigue normal folks had over the cultural aggressions of the radicals in society.
Whether it was Drag Queen Story Hour or trans kids or Tren de Aragua or the abuse of the FBI or countless other things demoralizing them, the normals had enough — and didn’t care what the aggressors had to say about how horrible a person Trump is.
As a normal guy, who loves politics and to share opinions, I understand that we have reached a point where all of this political rage is not normal. Once upon a time, I would get together with friends for lunch and our rage was about the umpire who missed too many pitches last night. Once in a while, a friend was angry because his girl got upset because he wouldn’t answer her text in 30 seconds. Or another time, a guy was mad because the apartments wouldn’t fix the AC on time. The normal stuff to get angry about.
Today, there is always someone at the table who wants to convince us that Trump is a threat to democracy and will cancel the elections. He becomes obnoxious when he won’t shut up or keeps sending negative texts about Trump. Most of us keep reminding him that our lunch is to talk about real stuff, not just Trump. He can’t let go. Trump is Hitler, you know, and came to power by winning an election.
Where is all of this going? I don’t know for sure, but I do think this fatigue is real. It’s one of the reasons that people are keeping their politics private, not putting political signs in their yard, and not talking to pollsters.
Furthermore, I hear from single guys that they avoid certain women who are just too political no matter how nice they look in jeans. And I hear from young men that they are dating girls from other countries because American college girls are just too political. As one said recently, I don’t go on a date to argue about Roe v. Wade!
Maybe normals like me have had enough with all of this rage! Or maybe some need to go see a psychiatrist and get Trump out of their heads.
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.
Political fatigue, Paris is the October surprise and we remember The Louisiana Purchase 1803.
Political fatigue, Paris is the October surprise and we remember The Louisiana Purchase 1803.......
When the normals say enough is enough
When the normals say enough is enough:
Political outrage seems to be everywhere, from social media to everyday conversations.
We remember Tom Petty (1950-2017)
We remember Tom Petty who was born in Florida on this day in 1950. He passed away in 2017 or a couple of days before he turned 67.
Petty's guitar was the common denominator in all of his songs. And you can still hear his music all over the radio.
It's hard to pick a favorite but "The waiting" from 1981 is great.
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk). If you like our posts, click send, and drop a dime here.
Happy # 88 Juan Marichal
We say happy birthday to Juan Marichal, one of the greatest pitchers in major league history.
Marichal broke with the Giants in 1960 pitching a shutout against the Phillies. He went on to pitch 14 seasons with San Francisco: 238 wins, 2.84 ERA and 244 complete games.
Overall, he won 243 games after finishing with Boston in 1974 and LA in 1975.
In 1963, Marichal and Warren Spahn of the Braves locked into one of the greatest pitching duels in major league. I wrote about it here: The day Marichal and Spahn took work ethic to a higher level.
I finally had a chance to see Marichal when he played for Boston in 1974. He was an old veteran but still had that magical leg kick. it was a real treat to say that I saw him pitch even at the end of his marvelous career.
Marichal was selected to The Hall of Fame in 1983.
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.
1803: US Senate ratified The Louisiana Purchase
On this day in 1803, the US Senate ratified The Louisiana Purchase.
It confirmed President Jefferson's decision. There were many concerns back then about the constitutionality of the purchase.
Nevertheless, it doubled the size of the country and gave the US control of the Mississippi River.
It confirmed President Jefferson's decision. There were many concerns back then about the constitutionality of the purchase.
Nevertheless, it doubled the size of the country and gave the US control of the Mississippi River.
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)