Common Sense: Killing fields

Last week’s shooting on an Alexandria ballfield brought to the surface both the worst and best of America.  The shooter — who clearly targeted Republican members of Congress solely because they were Republicans — is further evidence of how divisive politics has become in our nation.

The heroic actions of the two Capitol police officers as well as the two members of Congress who were on the scene and who as doctors went to the aid of the victims is inspiring. The way most Americans came together in the hours and days after is a reminder that in tragedy America often unites in a manner that displays our strength.

In fact, over 24,000 people attended the charity baseball game at Nationals Field that the Republican team was practicing to play in. This was several times more than expected and as such an important statement that America will not allow itself to be taken down by a domestic terrorist.

I am not one to blame the media for the polarization of America into hostile extremes. You could equally argue social media as well as the political officials themselves have contributed. I do believe the media and certainly not just the mainstream media has contributed and on occasion fueled the flames of hate.

There have been many wake-up calls over the past few years. I hope that this terrible incident is the last one and America begins to turn back to a civil society.

On any given day, I think both the Democratic and Republican Congressional ball teams could beat the Mets. When the Mets are good they are great, but when they are bad they are very bad.

Overall, recently the usually streaky Mets have been better, but when they lose, it is usually by extremely lopsided numbers. In addition, they need more than a team physician.

The Mets could use a whole triage  team, they have so many injuries.  

Yet they are only four or five games under 500. Therefore, I have not yet begun hoping for next year. Just next month.

The landmarked Gingerbread House in Bay Ridge is the site of a garden party fundraiser for mayoral candidate Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis on the evening of Thursday, June 29. The owners, Diane and Jerry Fishman, are hosting the event for Nicole.

Nicole continues to run an aggressive campaign picking up a number of endorsements in the past few weeks and receiving a significant amount of media attention.

She has hundreds of Republican and Conservative party volunteers ringing doorbells throughout the city in order that she obtain the necessary number of signatures to put her on the ballot.  Oddly, during this time her Republican primary opponent Paul Massey took a 10-day vacation in France.

If anyone is interested in attending the Gingerbread House event, tickets are $175 a person and can be obtained by going to Nicole’s website, Nicolemalliotakis.com.