I didn’t think I could be shocked by anything else I heard in 1/6 testimony. Tuesday I was proved very wrong. Holy mother of God. The Avalanche win the Stanley Cup, then dent it immediately. And Mel Brooks turns 96, always good to appreciate him

I really thought it would be impossible for me to be shocked by anything coming out of the Jan. 6 commission.
I mean, we know how awful that day was, we know about all the planning and cooperation given the rioters from members of Congress, and the upper levels of President Trump’s cabinet. We know that Trump didn’t care that the masses were chanting “Hang Mike Pence,” etc.

But holy mother of God, was the testimony from former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson amazing on Tuesday. I mean, I was following it on Twitter from my one-day job as a poll worker (Tuesday was a Primary Day here in NY, for Governor) and my jaw kept dropping and dropping.

Among the many, many highlights:

— “The president said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the F’ing president, take me up to the Capitol now.'” Hutchinson says she was told Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of the Beast (editor’s note: The Presidential Limo is called the Beast). He then reached toward the throat of a USSS agent.

From Hutchinson’s testimony: “Then, he lunged for the steering wheel, moving Engle to grab the President’s arm. Then, Trump lunged at Engle himself — at his clavicles, Hutchinson recalled Ornato indicating. “Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel,” she said. 

— The President of the United States wanted the metal detectors removed from the Capitol on January 6. So his supporters, who wanted to overthrow the will of the people’s vote, could get their guns inside the building.
“I don’t effing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me. Take the effing mags (Magnometers) away. Let my people in, they can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in, take the effing mags away.”

—  Trump and Mark Meadows knew the Jan. 6 crowd had weapons; Trump said the crowd wasn’t there to hurt him. The White House counsel feared criminal charges if Trump went to the Capitol, saying “they’re going to charge us with every crime imaginable if we go up there.”

— She described an extremely alarmed Pat Cipollone (White House lawyer) telling Meadows something to the effect of, “the rioters have gotten to the Capitol, Mark. We need to go down and see the president now.” 

Meadows was unmoved: “He doesn’t want to do anything, Pat,” Hutchinson recalled him responding. 

Separately, Hutchinson recalled a conversation between Cipollone and Meadows after the pair had had a discussion with Trump about the “Hang Mike Pence!” chants at the Capitol. After Cipollone again told Meadows they needed to do something — he specifically cited the Pence chant — Meadows told Cipollone something to the effect of, “You heard them, Pat, he thinks Pence deserves it. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong,” Hutchinson recalled. 

It’s all just … shocking. That this actually happened.

As someone named @PopeHat said on Twitter yesterday: “I think our frame of reference for what’s normal and what’s extraordinary has been so damaged by the last 7 years that we can’t grasp how grave and astounding all of this is.”

 

It’s all so awful, and disgusting, and disgraceful, and CRIMINAL. I have said previously that nothing will happen as a result of the 1/6 commission, as far as Trump getting charged or convicted of any crimes.

 

Merrick Garland, and the Department of Justice, what more do you need???

10:49 ET — Avs won the #StanleyCup

11:45 ET — Avs dent the Cup

🎥 @DimFilipovicpic.twitter.com/32FRFKx9no

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) June 27, 2022

 

 

**Next up today, the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup Sunday night, a well-deserved honor for the team that has been the best in the NHL for a few years now.

 

And as always, the players skated around with the Cup, celebrating a lifelong dream of hoisting this beautiful silver chalice.

 

And after they’ve all gotten to hold it for a few seconds, tradition dictates they take a team photo with it. And well, winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel had a little trouble skating it over for the picture, and dented the hell out of it.
My favorite part of the avove clip is the look on Nazem Kadri (second row left) when he realized Aube-Kubel dropped it.

First time in more than 100 years it’s been dented on the ice, says the Hockey Hall of Fame.

I’m sure they can fix it 🙂 

 

 

**Finally today, Tuesday was the 96th birthday of the great Mel Brooks, and that’s always worthy of celebration. Dozens and dozens of YouTube clips I could’ve picked of Mel Brooks to illustrate his greatness, but his time on one of my favorite sitcoms “Mad About You” always cracked me up.

The above clip, of Brooks’ character Uncle Phil doing “The Turkey Trot” with some hospital workers, always cracks me up, as does the resulting discussion of the Buchman’s new baby name.

Mel Brooks always,  always entertains. I hope he lives forever.

With the end of Roe v. Wade, and other rulings, we have officially entered minority rule here in America. Thoughts on a very depressing and dark day Friday. And a mesmerizing dance troupe blows away “AGT.”

The first line of Linda Greenhouse’s column Saturday in the New York Times pretty much says it all:

“They did it because they could.”

• • The five privileged 

    people sitting on the Supreme Court on Friday decided to completely overrule the will of 70 percent of Americans who believe abortion should be legal in the United States. These five people (Chief Justice Roberts voted with the majority in the Dobbs case, but not in overturning Roe v. Wade) decided to throw away a half-century of American settled law and impose their beliefs (and let’s face it, the beliefs of those who put them on the high court) on the millions and upon millions of us, a decision that will have catastrophic consequences for millions of women.

And so I spent most of Friday, and a good deal of Saturday and Sunday, mad at a whole bunch of people and things. Some of it was rational, some if it was irrational, I fully admit.

I was mad at my Democratic Party, for not pushing harder to keep reproductive rights on the front burner of American politics, and for not embracing even the mealy-mouthed but politically savvy Bill Clinton line that abortion should be “rare, safe and legal.”

I was mad, for the 2,423rd time in the last six years, at Hillary Rodham Clinton, for being such a terrible Presidential candidate and losing the 2016 election to the scoundrel scumbag piece of garbage that is Donald Trump, thereby paving the way for this small dirt-clod on a workboot of a human being to unfathomably appoint THREE Supreme Court justices in four years.

I was mad at all the neglect by the Democratic party leaders at the state level, who allowed wholesale, organized takeover of state legislatures the last 20 years, paving the way for draconian state laws that eventually became models for other states and now worked their way up to the Supreme Court.

Hello, I even took a few minutes to be mad at Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for dying six weeks before the election in 2020 and allowing Trump and Mitch McConnell to ramrod a GOP woman named Amy Coney Barrett onto the Court, which sealed the deal when it came to an iron-clad conservative majority on the court.

But beyond all that, I am mostly ,ad that we have become South Africa during apartheid, meaning, the minority rule the majority in this country. On so many issues, from gun control to abortion rights to voting rights to equality for LGBTQ people, the majority of Americans’ views are being overrode by a small minority of governmental leaders.

And it is absolutely infuriating that we are going backwards in this country right now, absolutely in reverse.

As the historian Julian Zelizer said on Twitter this weekend: “The U.S. is watching SCOTUS systematically dismantle social rights that were achieved through the hard-fought struggles of the 20th century. Instead, a legal vision freezing the nation in an era when so many Americans did not have any rights at all is gaining hold.”

One thousand percent true. The current Supreme Court, and their billionaire right-wing backers and interest groups, want to send America back to 1955. When black people had fewer rights, when women mostly didn’t work, when gay people were shunned, and when white males ruled and could do whatever the fuck they want.

That’s the America we’re hurtling toward, while my feckless and helpless Democratic Party watches the ship go by, and sees its leaders freaking sing “God Bless America” on the steps of the Capitol Friday morning, hours before the decision, because a slight, incremental gun control bill got passed (whoopee!).

It is infuriating, and awful, and all I can cling to right now is maybe this DOES finally fire up an apathetic Democratic base to turn the F out and vote in November, and expand a Senate majority and hold the House and get this nation moving in the right direction.

But right now I’m just apoplectic. The minority is ruling the majority. And it stinks to high heaven.

**OK, time for a palatte cleanser, and boy do I need one. Check this incredible performance by a dance troupe from Lebanon called The Mayyas, on last week’s “America’s Got Talent.”

Truly mesmerizing and wonderful, and the judges were rightly blown away. 

The Daddy Chronicles returns! With a 4.5 year old who wants to know the definition of every single word, and a 7.5 year old future ninja warrior

Happy Friday, and happy summer, my people of Earth! We have all survived yet another week, the Stanley Cup may be awarded this weekend (whoo-hoo!) and it’s the end of another academic year here in New York.

Which means it’s time for another edition of the Daddy Chronicles! My boys keep me busy and give me plenty of material, and as always things have changed quite a bit since my last DC missive in April.

With further ado (people always say “without” and I just feel like sometimes we need some ado), I appreciate all the kind comments and remarks I get about these Daddy Chronicles; I see it as a living, breathing document of my children’s lives, and one in future years I hope they cherish.

OK, ado over. Here’s some of what’s been going on at Casa Lewis with the two small humans who live here, rent-free:

— This time we start with the young buck. Mister Theo is now 4.5 years old, and as of two weeks ago a pre-school graduate! There was a whole pomp and circumstance-filled ceremony, complete with his name being called, a “diploma” and a walk across the stage into a waiting hug from his two wonderful teachers this year, Miss Jacklin and Miss Alison. It was a year of a lot of growth, emotionally and mentally, and he really seems ready for the excitement of kindergarten. Getting to ride on a big bus with his big brother is exciting to him, and kindergarten orientation a few months back, and the school carnival last week gave him a taste of what his new school will be like.
Me? I am beyond thrilled, over the moon thrilled, to finally have both boys at the same school. One drop off at the bus stop, one pickup, one set of school policies, pinch me I’m in heaven.

— Two big changes in Theo since my last update: First, he’s insanely curious about words now. Almost every time he hears me use a word he doesn’t know, whether to him or when I’m talking to someone else, he says “what does that mean?” It’s always “what does affected mean?” or “what’s worthless mean?”
His mind is particularly sponge-ish lately, which I take as a great sign. Now, I don’t know if he actually retains any of the definitions I give him, and it sometimes can get annoying when he asks about every word, but any interest he shows in words makes me very happy.

— Theo’s obsessions tend to come and go (he quickly forgot about “The Lion King” after a month or two of devouring all things Simba) but I think this one might stick: he’s become completely enamored with painting. Watercolors, big brushes, little brushes, canvases of all sizes and shapes, he’s all about it. He just wants to draw and paint all the time, and it makes our house quite messy but quite happy.
Since he’s shown so little interest in organized after-school classes, I figured if I signed him up for some art and drawing/painting classes this fall, he’d be into it. And he is! This could be a great channeling of his passion for him and who knows, maybe it’ll even make his behavior better. And it’s entirely possible I have the next Picasso on my hands (though I don’t think Picasso made this much mess when he was 4, but I never got to interview his parents).

— Theo is, if possible, even more into costumes than he was before. I’ll often walk downstairs and into his room and see him with his old Elephant costume on, or Captain America, or anything else he can find that’s costume related.

I’m more certain than ever he’ll either be in every school play, or be the costume designer for them.

— And now, Nate. His love for his little brother continues to warm our hearts. When first seeing Theo after school, or before school, he’ll sometimes walk up and just say “Hug? Hug?” and will be disappointed if Theo is not into it.
They’ve also started doing “running hugs” where Theo sprints 10 yards or so across the hallway and jumps into his brother’s arms.
Sure, it sometimes leads immediately to cries of “Oww, oww, oww” from one of them. But it’s still pretty sweet.

— Nate completed his first Little League season last week, as I wrote about on Monday, and it was mostly a success. Going into the year I thought batting would be his strength, since he crushes it in backyard Wiffle Ball, and that he would struggle with fielding, but I had it reversed.
He actually did pretty OK in the field, making a few nice catches and generally following the suggestions of his coaches about backing up bases and throwing it in from the outfield.

But hitting, well, that was a different story. He was afraid of the ball at times when the kid pitchers would throw wildly, and since he did get a few HBP’s, I get that. But even when the coaches soft-tossed it to him, he often struck out. He stepped away from the ball and swung a lot, instead of stepping toward it, and that was frustrating.
I tried not to be harder on him than the other kids,  and I don’t think I did. I know for sure I got WAY more excited when he got a hit than I did for the other kids, though!

There’s always next year. And usually, he took his strikeouts with a good attitude.

— Another cool Nate thing the last few months has seen him really love and prosper in ninja warrior class. It’s a cool thing we learned about last fall; he and other boys and girls go to a fitness gym and train on obstacles, like a climbing wall and gymnast-like rings, to in effect become more like “ninja warriors.” Nate took to it right away, getting stronger and faster, and a few weeks ago there was an end-of-season showcase. It was awesome to watch, as my kid climbed up a 7-foot wall while the coaches and other kids chanted “Beat That Wall!”

Afterwards, his coach, Coach Dustin, told us how hard Nate has been working and that he’s “way more mature than the other kids his age.”
That was nice to hear.

— Finally, camp! Day camp starts for both next Wednesday, and I don’t know who’s more excited, me or them. Theo will get to ride a bus for the first time, go to “real” full-day camp for the first time, and Nate’s already moaning about having to sit next to his little bro on the bus every day. It’s going to be awesome to see them have this bonding experience together.

At least until one of them says the other smacked him on the bus and comes off it crying 🙂

A “This American Life” segment on voting rights in Mississippi showed the impossibly high odds for reformed criminals to vote again. A little boy helps his buddy, adorably. And a town in Sweden has garbage cans that talk to you in a sexy voice.

There has been so much talk in recent years, especially since the 2020 election, over protecting voting rights. The Republican Party, which has long been aware of the indisputable fact that when fewer people vote, they win, and when more people vote, Democrats win, has tried to stifle voting rights, state by state, little by little, for decades.

And they have most certainly stepped up their efforts in the last few years, after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, among other things.

But one thing that doesn’t get talked about enough in these conversations is how many millions of released prisoners never get their right to vote back. Some of these are people who committed crimes decades earlier, in their youth, and are still being punished years after being set free following them paying their debt to society.

The people of the state of Florida several years ago voted to re-store the voting rights of felons, but of course the GOP-led government threw up a ton of roadblocks.

The amazing radio program “This American Life” tackled this issue in its latest episode and I was stunned by what ex-felons have to do to get their voting rights restored in Mississippi.

Thanks to a law passed in 1890, someone with a criminal record of certain crimes needs to have a bill passed in their name by the state’s legislature.

That’s right, an actual bill has to be passed by the state house, state Senate and then signed by the Governor, just to get back the right to vote. The show follows one man, Gerald Laird, whose crime was decades ago, who has lived a straight and narrow path since then, trying to get his rights back.

It’s unbelievably difficult, as this story shows, and it’s a fascinating tale of one man’s efforts to do it.

So, so maddening, but so important to listen to stories like this to fully understand how many impediments are in people’s way when they just want to vote, and have their voice heard.

“You’ve got a friend in me.” pic.twitter.com/ArcrAb0LZT

— Danny Deraney (@DannyDeraney) June 18, 2022

**Next up today, an adorable 20-second video that’s been viewed more than 16 million times in the past week. Two little boys, one struggling to stay awake, and his little buddy No. 68 helping his friend out.

Small kindnesses make the world a better place.

**And finally, this is one of those strange ideas that come into being from a foreign country that I’m both excited and terrified about.

As heard on NPR’s “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” podcast, the Swedish city of Malmo has programmed a few of its city-placed trash cans to talk and say sexy, slightly provocative things to people who open the lid and throw things away.

According to this story, people who toss litter into the re-programmed bins will hear phrases like “Ooh, yeah, right there,” “Come back quickly and do that again,” and “Ahh, that was crazy good,” all spoken in a sexy, come-hither voice, according to The Local.

Check out this cool demo video (above).

I love this concept. Is it a little sexist? Sure. But if it gets people to open up garbage cans and throw away some of their crap, instead of leaving it on the ground and making the city’s streets dirtier, I’m all for it.

Bring these cans to New York, Chicago, Philly, L.A. everywhere! It would be creepy at first but I could totally see lonely men flirting with them after a while.

I just finished my first season as Little League coach, and it was a wonderful experience. And a pretty spectacular wedding bridesmaid toast.

I have worn many hats (literally and figuratively) in my life: I have been a son, a father, a husband, a journalist, a brother, an uncle, a nephew, and many many other names.

One thing I had never been called until a few months ago was Coach. I had never been a leader of men on the athletic fields of glory, never blown the whistle or yelled at people to “hustle up!” or argued with an official.

But now, I have.

A few days after finding out my wife and I were expecting our first child, I swear one of the excited thoughts I had was “I get to coach my kid in Little League!”
It took almost eight years since my original son was born, but this spring we joined an organized baseball league, with uniforms and 7 and 8-year-olds pitching and running the bases and Moms and Dads cheering every grounder or putout.

This spring I was the assistant coach for Clemson, one of six college-named teams in our local Little League (that’s not our league in the photo above, just some random one I found on the Web).

We had 11 boys on the roster, only two of whom were previously friends of Nate’s, and we were scheduled for two games a week, Monday nights and Saturday mornings.

Saturday was our last game, and it was super-fun. A bunch of our players didn’t show up (not sure why) but we made do with who we had, Nate got one of his only hits of the season, and I know winning and losing doesn’t  really matter at the stage but by GOD, we won!

After a few months of my rookie season coaching, you might imagine I have some thoughts and memories to share. So get out those fungo bats and shag some flies while I empty the brain of assistant Coach Mike:

— OK first of all, let’s get this out of the way right now: I bloodied one of our players’ noses.

I swear it wasn’t my fault. It was early in the season and a lot of our kids hadn’t played baseball before, or anything past T-ball. And well, Tommy wasn’t so great at catching yet, and I threw the ball softly back to him when he was doing pitching practice, and it bounced off his glove and smacked him in the nose.

Blood, as they say, flowed like water. As did the tears. Poor Tommy walked back to the dugout with the crimson stain on his nose, while his Mom ran to apply tissues to his probiscus.

“I’m so sorry!” I said over and over. They didn’t press charges against me, thankfully.

— Some of our kids were really into baseball, like Andrew and Zach. A few others, well, let’s just say their concentration waned a bit. More than a few times I had to say to our players in the dugout “Hey guys, the field is the other way!” as I stared at them all looking out the fence in the opposite direction.

Then there was Dylan. Ah, Dylan. He had a big moon-face and a great smile and could run like the wind but let’s just say he didn’t exactly have Zen-like focus.
Dylan spent 90 percent of his time in the field this spring playing with the dirt. He’d pick it up, throw it in the air, draw shapes with sticks, you name it, our man D was like an unofficial groundskeeper at the field.

Every once in a while me or Coach Paul (the head coach) would yell “Dillon, the ball could be coming to you, pay attention!” and he’d glance toward the batter.

Then he’d go back to playing in the dirt.

–We had some characters on the team. Joo-Wan liked to swing at pitches way over his head, and sometimes would even hit them. He loved to dance “The Gritty” which an NFL player named Justin Jefferson made famous, and when Joo-Wan got a hit he’d dance on first base with sheer, unadulterated joy.
We had a boy named Andrew who loved playing catcher so much he actually seemed bummed when he pitched or played the infield.
And we had some adventurous games as well; one contest saw us score all of our runs on walks in two innings, which resulted in us scoring eight times.

— There were some bummer moments, sure: When coaches would come in to pitch (after a kid has thrown four balls to a batter, our league rules say coaches can come in and soft-toss pitches to the batter) sometimes a batter would still strike out, and occasionally would come back to the dugout really upset.
A few of the boys on our team unfortunately got hit with pitches early in the season, and basically were afraid of the ball and didn’t want to bat the rest of the season.

This brought up some childhood memories for me; I too was afraid of the ball for long stretches of my career because as a really short kid, pitchers would would have trouble pitching to me.

But overall, coaching was a wonderful experience. I loved the camaraderie with the other coaches, the laughs we shared when one of our players would do something clueless or cute or just plain strange, and the joy of knowing the lessons we were imparting may hopefully stay with them forever.

I will definitely coach again if Nate wants me to: It was a true joy.

**Finally today, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a wedding toast this fantastic, hitting all the right notes. But the little sister of a woman named Claire gave a speech that went a little viral last week and it was beautiful, funny and moving.

It’s nine minutes but really worth it.

Good News Friday: Wrestler John Cena makes another incredible “Make A Wish” come true. A little girl and her cat best friend hang out. And a boy asks his stepdad to legally adopt him, and it’s beautiful.

Good morning, world! It’s Friday, it’s Father’s Day Weekend, and finally my wife and children show me the respect and love on one day that I never get the rest of the year (Kidding! They love and appreciate me at least 2/3 of the year 🙂 To all the hard-working Dads out there, who put their kids first, I salute you. It’s our day to shine.

Lots of great stuff today for Good News Friday, and we start with maybe the athlete who’s been in this space more than any other (non-LeBron James division). John Cena has been one of the top pro wrestlers in the WWE for more than a decade, but his life will be remembered far more for all the incredible charitable work he’s done, especially with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Cena has blown away all records of the foundation in terms of numbers of wishes granted, and he is always going above and beyond to make kids (and adults happy).

This week I learned of yet another mitzvah Cena did; Misha is a non-verbal teen with Down’s Syndrome, who is an enormous fan of Cena’s. Misha and his family fled Ukraine at the start of the war, and to make Misha feel better about leaving their home and life, she told him they were going on a trip to visit Cena.

Misha and family ended up in Amsterdam, and somehow Cena heard their story. He was in Europe at the time.

Having three days off of work and being an hour away by air it turned immediately into, ‘We’re going,'” he said.

Watch what happened when Misha met Cena. Just extraordinary kindness and love shown by a true hero here.

Misha, a non-verbal teen with Down’s Syndrome, didn’t understand why his family had to flee Mariupol this year.

To placate him, his mother told him they were travelling to meet John Cena.

Cena heard… and went to Amsterdam to oblige.

Just brilliant. pic.twitter.com/vix2OhkXZs

— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) June 11, 2022

**Next up today, a very short video of a cat and best friend/little girl, hanging out at home. Sometimes these animal videos hit me in the exact right spot, and this one did.

Just adorable.

https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1537383807703306240

https://twitter.com/WUTangKids/status/1537144607485706245

**And finally today, these videos always get to me, too. Especially this close to Father’s Day.

A young man who loves and adores his stepfather asks him to legally adopt him. Watch the father’s reaction, the boy’s reaction, and oh it’s getting dusty in here.

Have a great weekend! 

A brief moment of optimism on gun control, as an actual bipartisan bill gets crafted. R.I.P. Philip Baker Hall, an absolutely sensational actor in everything. And a college track starblows by the field in a relay, astonishingly easily.

It is dangerous to have any kind of optimism about gun control legislation. Because it almost always, always fails.

Some politicians talk a good game after a major gun tragedy, Lord knows we’ve had no shortage of those lately, and then nothing gets done.

So I am very, very cautiously optimistic about what I heard from Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, and nineteen other Senators the other day about a new bipartisan bill that finally does, well, something about the awful scourge of guns and mass shootings here in America.

The bill, which is just an agreement among the 20 Senators at the moment, does the following:
—  Major funding to help states pass and implement crisis intervention orders (red flag laws) that will allow law enforcement to temporarily take dangerous weapons away from people who pose a danger to others or themselves.

— Billions in new funding for mental health and school safety, including money for the national build out of community mental health clinics.

— Close the “boyfriend loophole”, so that no domestic abuser – a spouse OR a serious dating partner – can buy a gun if they are convicted of abuse against their partner.

— Enhanced background check for under 21 gun buyers and a short pause to conduct the check. Young buyers can get the gun only after the enhanced check is completed.

Those are the major points of the proposed bill. Does it ban the buying of assault rifles by people under 21? No, and that’s a big problem. But it does provide lots of money in school security and mental health services, and at least requires stricter background checks for people under 21.

Look, it’s far from perfect. But it’s something, and 20 Senators are on board supporting it, and some of them are even (gasp!) Republicans. It would be a step, it would be something, and I really hope it actually gets passed.

It’s far from what truly is needed, but finally it’s at least a step in the right direction.

**Next up today, there are some actors who have one great role, and that’s what they’re remembered for when they die.
But for others, every SINGLE role they play is memorable, because they’re just so good in everything they’re in.
The latter category most certainly applies to Philip Baker Hall, who died on Monday after an amazing career in TV, movies and theater. His IMDB page lists 185 credits, and I bet there’s someone out there who remembers him in every piece of work he did.

Maybe you saw him in “Boogie Nights” or “Magnolia” where he was mesmerizing on screen, or in “Enemy of the State,” or “Midnight Run,” or any of the dozens of guest-starring appearances on TV shows, like “Curb Your Enthusiasm” or “Cagney and Lacey.”

He was such a terrific actor, it’s hard to choose just one thing from his career to highlight. But I think for a lot of people of my generation, his hilarious turn as Bookman, the library cop who confronts Jerry on “Seinfeld” is how he’ll be remembered. In the scenes above, he’s hilarious, intense and just about forces Seinfeld to crack up during his monologue.

So funny and so damn great. R.I.P. to a legend of the screen.

Incredible 3rd leg by Abby Steiner in the womens 4×400 relay for @KentuckyTrack in the NCAA. She must have made up about 25 metres! #NCAATF #TrackandField pic.twitter.com/pPIJxUXWcn

— Ade Adedoyin (@ade_adedoyin) June 12, 2022

**And finally today, this was one amazing piece of running video. Watch Abby Steiner, of the Kentucky women’s track team, absolutely blow away her competitors in the 4×800 relay at the NCAA Track championships last weekend.

Watch the runner in blue at the bottom of the screen, and how easily she catches up and passes the other runners, who look like they’re standing still.

What a performance! Oh yeah, Kentucky’s anchor leg held the lead and the Wildcats won the race.

The 1/6 hearings in primetime are great theater, but don’t expect much to come of them. Biden on Kimmel was excellent. And the Stanley Cup Final should be a beaut, but a few thoughts on the end of the Rangers’ marvelous season.

Last Thursday night was the first televised, prime time hearing for the 1/6 commission. It was reported on breathlessly by the media (well, most of it, anyway: Fox News farmed coverage out to its Fox Business Network), there were lots of new revelations at the hearing, Liz Cheney gave a strong message, and some graphic videos of the attack and attempted coup in our nation’s capital that day were shown.

It was all compelling, riveting television, and left a lot of people fired up and hopeful that finally, 18 months after it happened, there may be some accountability for the actions of those in power that day.

I am not one of them. After so long waiting for Donald Trump and his merry men to be investigated and charged with the many, many crimes they committed that day and in the four years prior, I have just about given up hope in that area.

Why? First, because the committee doesn’t have anywhere near the prosecutorial power you would need to truly get Trump and Co. in trouble. Oh, they can show graphic videos and present loads of evidence showing how Trump conspired to overturn the will of the people, who voted him out of office. But unless they can convince Attorney General Merrick Garland to prosecute Trump for his crimes, I don’t know what will come of it. And Garland, both when he was nominated and now, seems far too timid and mild-mannered to ever go after Trump in a court of law.

Second, with so much of the country’s mind made up that the election was crooked, that Trump really won, etc., I don’t see what some hearings on TV in summertime are going to do. They’ll spark headlines and get Democrats like me fired up, but are minds going to be changed? I’m dubious. Especially considering there are almost no GOP politicians on the committee, and so many of Trump’s inner circle refused to cooperate with the investigation.

I dunno, maybe I’m just beaten down by the hopes I had that Trump would be prosecuted in Manhattan, or in Georgia, for his crimes there, and nothing seems to be happening in either case. I have long predicted he would be in jail and unable to run for President in 2024, but I’ve lost faith in that belief.

It’s good that these hearings are taking place, and on TV, and maybe some of the 20 million people who watched the first ones had their minds changed.

I’m just very dubious that this is anything more than a dog and pony show that will fire up the Democratic base, and do little else.

I hope I’m wrong.

**Jimmy Kimmel had President Biden on the other night, and among other things it reminded me of our President’s humanity and decency, not just in comparison to the former guy but in general.

A lot of stories have been circulating in the media the last few weeks, in the N.Y. Times, New York magazine, and others, about Democratic voters’ unease about Biden running again in 2024, given his low popularity and his age. I have been saying for years that there’s no way, at age 82 in ’24, that Biden would run for a second term, while the President has steadfastly maintained he’s running.

I completely understand Democrats’ worries; I have lots of them myself. But watching this Kimmel interview, I dunno, I saw a decent man who truly thinks he can help solve some of our many problems.

I enjoyed this Biden visit to Kimmel, and wish he’d do more direct speaking to voters.

**Finally today, the Stanley Cup Finals matchup is set, and it’s going to be a beauty: the mighty Colorado Avalanche, who have been the overwhelming favorites all year, against the two-time defending champ Tampa Bay Lightning.

But of course, I must say a few words about my beloved New York Rangers, who were just eliminated about 24 hours ago as I write this.
This has been such a marvelous, unexpectedly-joyous Rangers season: 52 wins, a battle down to the wire for first place, two dramatic Game 7 wins in the first two series, and somehow leading 2-0 in this conference final against the Lightning.

Right now it hurts, seeing my team run out of gas, exhausted by the end from those two epic series earlier, and losing four straight to Tampa to see the season end.

But there was so much great stuff this season: Artemiy Panarin’s brilliance, Adam Fox’s magnificence, Chris Kreider scoring 50 goals, K’Andre Miller and Alexis Lafreniere emerging as future stars, and oh yeah, the best goalie in the world this season, Igor Shesterkin, was pretty spectacular to watch.

I was gutted after the loss Saturday night, because you never know the next time your team will be this close to the Cup. But man, what a terrific ride the last nine months have been as a fan.

Sigh. So damn close. But the Rangers’ future’s so bright I gotta wear shades.

Good News Friday: The LeBron James Foundation is doing more amazing work in Akron. A 50-year teacher finally retires, and gets a wonderful sendoff. And a woman finds $36,000 in something she bought on Craigslist, then gives it back.

Not gonna lie to you: I could use a big dose of good right now. I’m typing this about a half hour after my beloved New York Rangers lost Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, on a nothing shot from the point with two minutes left that broke a 1-1 tie. Ugh. Now they’re down 3-2 in the series and facing a must-win Saturday night in Tampa. Sports, they’ll break your heart.

OK, hoping writing about all this goodness will cheer me up (spoiler alert: It usually does!)

Want to start this week’s GNF with yet more wonderful work being down by the LeBron James Foundation. We’ve talked numerous times in this space over the great work the best basketball player of all time and his foundation have done, and here is an example of another one.

The Foundation announced this week they’re opening a multi-million dollar medical facility in Akron, LeBron’s hometown.

The medical center will have facilities for medical, dental, mental health and optometry services as well as an on-site pharmacy and lab. It will reportedly open in 2023 and is within walking distance of James’ school.

“It takes a village to help raise a kid and make a difference! Love my kids and their families,” LeBron said in a Tweet.

Another in a long series of great moves by the King. Man, are the people in Northeast Ohio lucky he was born there.

 

Retiring after 50 years of teaching. On her last day working at the school, this teacher gets a beautiful send off by her appreciative students.👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 😭😭(🎥:Katherineinmanhattan)

pic.twitter.com/tMRVRDBSPm

— GoodNewsCorrespondent (@GoodNewsCorres1) June 6, 2022

**Next up today, these videos always get me choked up. A woman named Sheridan Steelman started teaching English at Northview High School in Grand Rapids, Mich. in 1972, when she was 22.

Fifty years later, she’s still at the school, teaching literature and helping shape young minds. A few weeks ago Steelman finally retired, and the entire administration and student body came out to salute her.

Just beautiful. Teachers are SO freaking important.

**And finally today, from the category of “you never know what you’ll find when you buy something” comes this story sent to me by my sister, in The Washington Post.

A woman named Vicky Umodu had just moved into a new house in Southern California to be near her daughter and help care for her grandchildren. She was looking for furniture since she had given away all of hers before the move.

“Sofas, tables, chairs, beds — I needed everything,” she said of her new house in San Bernardino County’s Colton, where she lives with her adult son.

When Umodu spotted a Craigslist post advertising free furniture, she said, she felt as though she’d won a jackpot.

 

It was May 18, and she and her son, Oly Umodu, 29, had collected the free furniture and moved the pieces into their living room. Vicky Umodu said she felt something unusual as she was placing the upholstered cushion on an oversize, cream-colored armchair. The seat cushion seemed off.

Turns out there was $36,000 buried in various envelopes in the cushions.

Ninety-nine percent of us probably would’ve kept the money, especially if we were Umodu, who said she doesn’t have much money.

But Vicky didn’t keep the money. She called the Craigslist poster who gave her the furniture, and returned the money. He gave her $2,200 as a thank you.

Umodu said she learned the importance of honesty and kindness while growing up in Nigeria.

“All my life, God has been good to me,” she said. “Even in hard times, I have felt blessed. It’s important to do the right thing in life.”

Good on you, Vicky! Have a great weekend.

 

A completely ridiculous story about a missing movie star chimp, to take your mind off life. The son of a Buffalo shooting victim pleads with the Senate to do SOMETHING. And a pretty fantastic tribute to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins

Sometimes we just need a ridiculous story that makes us laugh in its absurdity.

I’ve decided today is one of those days for you and me, dear reader.

The headline of this Rolling Stone story, in which every word is golden, reads as follows: “Alan Cumming’s Missing Co-Star chimp found alive after owner faked his death.”

I mean, come on, how are you NOT going to keep reading after that!

So here’s some more:

“Last May, Tonka the chimpanzee, an elderly ape who starred in George of the Jungle and Buddy alongside actor Alan Cumming in 1997, died, according to court records.

“The chimp had recently suffered a stroke and died from heart failure, his owner Tonia Haddix claimed, submitting a declaration and court documents to a Missouri judge that detailed how the animal’s body was burned in a fire pit. (My note: Ouch, that doesn’t sound like fun).”

“But this week, Tonka was found alive, secretly hidden away for the past year in Haddix’s Sunrise Beach, Missouri home where he reportedly had a 60-inch TV (My note: Wait, the chimp had a 60-inch TV? That’s bigger than any of my TV’s!), an interactive iPad-like touch device, and had celebrated St. Patrick’s Day among a few of Haddix’s close friends, according to Haddix. (How DOES a chimpanzee celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Does he drink green beer and sing lots of sad Irish love songs?)”

On Thursday, authorities searched her home as part of an emergency court order obtained by PETA, whom Haddix has been locked in a legal battle with since 2018. Faking Tonka’s death was a last-ditch effort by Haddix to keep her beloved chimp after a judge ordered her to turn over Tonka and six other chimpanzees to the Center for Great Apes sanctuary in Wauchula, Florida.”

I have, as always, SO many questions. Was Tonka named after the old Tonka toy trucks I had as a kid? If Tonka’s death was faked, when Haddix got visitors did Tonka have to hide so he wouldn’t be discovered?

And most importantly, what were Tonka’s favorite shows to watch on that 60-inch TV? Was he partial to the Marcel episodes of “Friends” or was he more of an “Animal Planet” binge-watcher?

Ah, in these times of chaos and crisis and despair, this story made me laugh pretty hard.

Son of Buffalo shooting victim asks Senate: "Is there nothing that you personally are willing to do to stop the cancer of white supremacy and the domestic terrorism it inspires? Because if there is nothing, then…you should yield your positions." https://t.co/pWMOabbzGz pic.twitter.com/dLzoVWZHK9

— ABC News (@ABC) June 7, 2022

Garnell Whitfield Jr. lost his 86-year-old mother, Ruth, to the racist mass shooting in Buffalo on May 14, when a white gunman murdered 10 African-Americans in a supermarket.

Listen to Whitfield’s powerful words, and then realize it doesn’t matter what any of us say, nothing will move the needle on this issue.

Because there are still way too many white people who DO believe in bullshit like Replacement Theory, and white supremacy, and those people vote in elected officials who will do their bidding for them.

“You expect us to continue to just forgive and forget over and over again. And what are you doing?” Garnell Whitfield Jr., the oldest son of Ruth Whitfield, a victim of the Buffalo shooting, asked the Senate panel. “You’re elected to protect us, to protect our way of life.”

Watch this video and see man in anguish, asking for the people who are supposed to make laws to protect Americans, to do their jobs.

**Finally today, this was a pretty sensational tribute to the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who passed away this year of a drug overdose.

A group of 1,000 musicians in Paris performing one of Hawkins’ most fantastic songs, “My Hero,” and it sounds absolutely fantastic.