I had an hour to kill at lunchtime in Fort Edward, a small city on the eastern shore of the Hudson River, and I thought to give an Irish pub a try. Burgoyne Avenue is named for the British general who passed through in October 1777 on his way to eventual defeat at the “Turning Point” Battle of Saratoga.
The atmosphere was subdued, with Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, and Cream music playing at a modest volume, and muted screens showing hockey. Along the bar was a trucker, who chatted with the bar owner about the six point buck he’d bagged in just twenty minutes, an old couple, he with a cap festooned with American flag buttons, and a ruddy faced middle aged attorney.
It was the lawyer who issued the salvo, first by stating he’d lived in NYC for 24 years. His pronouncements were cheerfully acknowledged and supported by the others.
– The recently elected mayor of NYC should (and will eventually) crawl back in his hole.
– The best thing that ever happened to the city was Rudolph Giuliani, who put a cop on every corner and established the NYPD’s Stop-And-Frisk policy. Any protests and- crack, crack, crack (heads being clubbed). Ha ha!
– That poor 17 year old kid in Wisconsin…
– Nobody’ safe because of the new bail reform laws, and, what’s more, six facilities in the NY prison system will close. The governor and those jackasses…
– He and the homeowners on his street in Kingsbury are well prepared. The stock pile of ammo they have, the number of rounds, was in the thousands.
The beer and sandwich were good, but left unfinished.
I don’t blame you for leaving. Guns might have come out at any moment with a word of disagreement. I hope the rest of your day went better.
Thanks, friend. I felt exhausted afterward and had to nap.
Sigh.
so, you’re basically a snowflake?
I am opposed to the racism inherent in all of this. Call me what you will.
“The atmosphere was subdued, with Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, and Cream music playing at a modest volume…” throwback!
On a positive note…I was expecting the candidates for town council and town supervisor supported by independent and Democratic folks here in the Town of Greenwich (historically a Republican stronghold) to be soundly defeated this past Election Day. After the opening of the absentee ballots yesterday they were all victorious. Still…there is now a regular weekly demonstration in what was the old KMart parking lot. Anti-maskers, Anti-vaxers, Anti-immigration, Anti-intelligence, Anti-human decency, pro-trump. Most days I feel like it’s 1938 in Germany and the forces of evil, with the support of the fascists (Republicans) are gathering strength.
That’s good news about the elections. I share your sense of foreboding.
It was a throwback to a time when war and violence was challenged by those musicians, Jimi Hendrix with “Machine Gun” and Neil Young with “Ohio.” If Young’s “Southern Man” had come on, the irony would have been perfect.