Category: News

  • Post-Debate: This is bad…

    This is bad folks. Really bad. Such as, I am very nervous that the United States might not survive this election.

    It wasn’t just one moment of Trump’s shit show. And there were some really awful moments. The interrupting, the conspiracy theories, the environment forest management thing, the doubting of a fair election. Then Trump told his supporters that they should go to the polls and intimidate voters, and that the Proud Boys should stand by to be called into action. It is just horrifying that. I never thought that an American politician would behave like that, in public.

    But taken as a whole, what I was left feeling is that Trump doesn’t care who he has to hurt, or what he has to destroy, to win. For Trump, it’s win or nothing. And even if he does win, I don’t think that will be enough. I think he will go after his political opponents, and try to put them in jail.

    I joked after the Republican convention that I left feeling like I was a hunted creature for being liberal. After last night, I think Trump will call on his supporters and white supremacists to go and riot in the streets. That open conflict will follow on November 3rd.

    Even if Trump comes to his senses, and agrees to a peaceful transfer, he has already put the thought out there, and you cannot take it back.

  • Trump v Biden: The Debate Battle Royale!

    Maybe I should talk about Trump’s income taxes? That seems to be a big deal right now.

    The debate between Biden and Trump is tonight. I will be watching it alone, as anything that comes out of Trump’s mouth makes my wife very angry, and pretty much puts her in a bad mood for the rest of the night…

    And into the morning…

    And all the next day…

    And for the whole week…

    So, I will be watching the debate on my computer with headphones, while also live tweeting (@mlgroff) my reactions to whatever crazy shit that is said. My goal is to make my friends laugh, but it is also to keep my sanity.

    I was extremely nervous four years ago when Clinton and Trump met for their debates. Hilary won all the face offs, as Trump come across as disrespectful and unprepared, but we all know that in the end, it didn’t really mean anything.

    There is a good chance again, that these debates won’t mean anything. And honestly, I agree with that conclusion. Trump and Biden’s polling numbers really haven’t changed that much in two months, which for me says that most people are locked in on who they are voting for.

    But honestly, who is that 3-5% of the voting population that are still undecided? With everything that has happened in this year alone, how has that not influenced you to make a decision?

    I need to laugh, and I need to laugh and the big orange bully in the room.

  • First Day of School

    Here we are t the first day of school in New York City!

    Look, I know that this is not ideal for anyone, and the teachers at our school are doing their best, and from what I have seen today, they are taking it seriously, and, from my kid’s reaction, they are making it fun.

    We have opted to do the remote learning from home, and supporting the kid in all of this, is one of my primary jobs as “stay at home dad.” I was hoping that we would get a schedule today, so I could at least start planning what our days are going to be like. Sadly, schedules are still being created, being made available later today, and that is disappointing. But I keep trying to remind myself that these teachers are doing their best with a really bad hand. They showed up, and are committed to make the best out of this.

    I like our school, staff and teachers, and for all of this to work, I know I have to be more involved, and be supportive of the school. This issues I am have are policy really, which is coming from the DOE, mayor, and the governor, and not the teachers and staff that I am interacting with. I have to remind myself of that.

    When I walk about NYC, it seems like every neighborhood has one old school that between built between 1890 to 1920. These schools are red bricked, some built in a Dutch Revival style, detailed, and dominating the block they are on. To me, they look like temples to public education, which says to me says that there was a time in this City when public education was taken seriously; something to be shown off, and honored.

    I have many friends that are teachers, all of this country, and for something that is so vital for a strong and equatable nation, why do we scorn public education? How did we get to a place where paying for something that has a benefit for everyone become a bad thing?

    I will go on the record and say, raise my taxes to pay teachers, staff and administrators what they are worth. And I will also go on the record to say that we, the public, have to get involved, vote in school board elections, show up to events, and push for policies that improve our communities.

    If we don’t, then no one’s education will be guaranteed.

  • Sports and Covid: Update

    I had written about my two sports teams which I follow were starting their season this weekend. Sunday to be precise. It was Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, and the Dallas Cowboys in the NLF.

    As luck would have it, both teams lost. And sort of in the same way; their defenses were lacking.

    Clearly, it would have been an even more enjoyable Sunday if they would have won, but I had a good time, sitting in front of the tv, talking to the TV, and supporting my teams.

    The wife did ask me if it felt good to have sports back, and I said that it felt good to do something rather normal. Normal in the sense that I was texting with my circle of college friends while the Cowboys played, and none of that conversation had to do with Covid. It was nice to look on social media and see friends posting about how awful the team played and that the season was over. It was nice to complain about something rather than the end of the world.

    It’s normal to take a break. It’s normal to talk about other things. It’s normal to have hopes that someone will put a ball through a goal.

    I have enough Covid issues to deal with; the kid going back to school, health insurance, social distancing, unemployment, eviction, and the election. It can really feel like too much, just about every day.

    But for a little while, I got to worry and hope that Kane would score in stoppage time, or that the defense would sack Goff.

    I’m not a huge sports fan, but I did enjoy about five hours of normal yesterday.

  • Reading Challenge for Fall

    The one thing that I am really sucking at right now is reading books. I mean, I do read, but with everything going on, I have not been consistent. And what I am reading right now is the news, and news related publications. I used to read before I would go to bed, but now, I’m exhausted and overwhelmed at the end of the day, and I just zone out with stupid TV, and fall asleep.

    I know that is no excuse, as reading needs to be a habit. Or at least that’s what I tell the kid. Yeah, I’ve turned into a “Do what I say, not what I do” parent.

    Then the other day, a writer friend posted that she was going to use the Fall to immerse herself in the work of a writer that she should have read, but for whatever reason never got around to. I thought that was a very intriguing challenge, being that there are so many great writers that, for whatever reason, I never get around to as well. The first name that popped into my head was John Cheever. I know a good deal about Cheever, but I have never read a word of him, not even a short story.

    I think for my mental well being, I have to have a goal attached to my actions, no matter what the action. This will be the Fall of John Cheever. I want to see how much of his work I can read. It’s like I am trying to make 2020 the year of accomplishing. It just might be the only control I can exude over my life right now.