Juggling With The End Of An Era

At The Greatest Show On Earth:2010

I wasn't one of those children who were frequently taken to the circus. Growing up, my parents took me to museums, the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, zoos and libraries in and around Canarsie. I remember going to an Easter parade and school trips usually included a visit to a theatre to see some type of play or musical that got our young creative juices flowing.

It wasn't until I began working for the Canarsie Courier that received tickets to see Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey's "Greatest Show on Earth," which will finally close its curtains at the end of May.  

I can't even begin to document the problems and adversities faced by circus performers. Animal cruelty, punishment, unfair treatment of tigers, cats, elephants...all which have reportedly led to the decline in ticket sales.

While many animal rights' groups coined this the "cruelest show on earth," I still think it's a sad day when you can no longer take your child to see a show where humans are performing some of the craziest physical challenges. They're taking exciting looking risks most of us wouldn't even try. A fire-eater? A tightrope walker? Acrobats who spend weeks - if not months - honing their balancing skills? Where else can you watch a show that makes you say, "Wow! How did they do that?"

Feld Entertainment has had an announcement posted on their web site that states the "high costs" of performances, along with the decline in ticket sales, has made the show unsustainable to the company. Of course, we all know that it's not just about "times they are a'changing." The more people who protest against the way animals are trained/tortured, the less people are likely to buy tickets to see the circus.

I do question the timing of all this protesting. Let's get real! Many circus companies survived for centuries. Why didn't animal cruelty come to light in the 1950s through the 2000s? Where were all the animal rights activists when the shows began?

Nowadays, with help from social media, videos of cruel treatment is constantly leaked to the public so that we finally get a "behind the scenes" look at how elephants, lions and horses are trained under unfair conditions.
What about the humans? How are those clowns treated? Any allergic reactions to all that paint they have wear on their face? Is the fire-eating man getting compensation for the horrid acid reflux he's probably developed years ago?
While circus performers have their own unions that enforce their rights and provide legal backing, animals don't have the same protection in that capacity. So why don't we just keep the circus about humans and NOT animals?

The handful of times I went to see the circus as an adult, I admired the time, effort, energy and training that went into the show. Even if it seemed unnecessary to whip an elephant in such a way that it would jump on its hindlegs, I was still amazed at the show overall!
Where else can you see so many colors, hear so many sounds, and smell so many foods only served at the circus? Closing the circus not only means the memories that can be made for many children no longer exist, it means the next generation will never know the value of watching a LIVE show performed by individuals who challenged their physical abilities.
They're only gonna be able to view those shows on YouTube. Watching clips of the circus will be tantamount to witnessing a duel from the gladiator days - when REAL brawn and battles to the death existed throughout the Roman Empire! Well, not that barbaric - but challenging performances that once took ultimate skill and practice will be a distant memory and future generations will never see that type of energy again!

Our Brooklyn community saw the beginning of the end when former digraced State Senator Carl Kruger protested a segment of the Cole Bros. Circus which included acrobatic cats being thrown around like rag dolls. The Democrat said it was cruel for an animal to risk its life for the sole purpose of entertainment. Following that wave of awakening about the circus, the negative attention just kept on growing.

No more acrobatics to challenge the masses!

But can a circus survive and draw crowds without any animals in the show? Trapeze artists and magicians perform acts that the average person may never master. I still think a tiny bicycle steered into a circle of flames by a fat clown is hilarious! I know it's "outside the "box" to state this, but the existence of a circus also gives children hope that maybe some day they can be part of a show that travels all over the world. When a kid isn't cut out for college or aiming to obtain a highfalutin degree, what's wrong with the appeal of joining the circus? 

There are plenty of human circus acts - including Cirque du Soleil - that enlighten and inspire the masses. It's sad that the Ringing Bros. performances are now associated with animal cruelty and is no longer the greatest show on earth. Nothing will ever replace it, but then again, that's show biz!

Curse That Which Destroyed Cursive Writing!

When I was 8 years old and attending P.S. 115 in Canarsie, Brooklyn, my teacher appeared to be in her 60s or 70s (as was the style at the time - no young hipster-looking teachers back then). She wore those horrid loose-fitting multi-colored sweaters with tight necklines and bland dress pants. If it wasn't bad enough, she smelled like centuries-old perfume. A short woman, she sported gaudy necklaces that accentuated her tacky attire, she had those strings attached to her granny glasses, which she kept near the tip of her nose while peering down at us in disapproval.

I remember cursive writing...HBU???

How do I remember all of these details from my 3rd grade experience? 

As soon as the Department of Education (DOE) and Chancellor Carmen Farina announced that cursive writing is returning to our schools, it brought me back to my childhood and a time when something that was as simple as learning script seemed so frustrating and useless.

There's something regal about cursive writing - something classy and old fashioned about signing one's name or writing a personal letter in script instead of print. The question is - are children these days ever really going to use cursive writing in their adult years?

Sadly, I can say with confidence that I have no use for cursive writing at this point in my life. Other than signing my name on a check or to approve a credit card purchase in a store, when does one actually need to use cursive writing?

The renewal of cursive lessons isn't mandated and it will be up to individual school administrators to decide if and how the lessons are executed. One official said learning script would improve reading and spelling among students. They can also be better tuned in to reading historical documents like the Declaration of Independence.

Let's get real! Our writing culture is now an embarrassment to the amazing expressions/communications and evolution of Egyptian and Chinese writings - even though some were harsh, others were eloquent in style.

Hey - I never learned cursive writing so that I could head to a museum and decode scrolls of ancient script written in verbose styles never to be used again! Did I miss something? The only thing I remember about learning cursive writing was standing in line behind my classmates so that our ugly-sweater wearing teacher could yell at me for not fluidly forming my "r's" so that they didn't look like "n's". UGH!

After middle school in the 1990s, penmanship and technology changed the way students submitted their assignments. By the late 1990s and early 2000s, you weren't allowed to print OR use cursive writing in your book reports or for any academic submissions! Maybe it was because teachers, overall, found it so hard to read students' handwriting or maybe they wanted students to get a handle on technology and use word processors/computers to complete 10-page papers? 

At some point in the last two decades, the DOE and teachers mandated that handwritten academic submissions weren't just unacceptable - and abolished - they became reasons to penalize a student and give them a poor grade. Teachers would throw ANY and ALL handwritten assignments/homework back to you as if you'd passed them a snotty rag or the plague! How's that for creative encouragement and teaching students the art of writing! 

By the middle of high school, just about all handwritten assignments were banned. When I was enrolled at South Shore High School in 1994-1995, they cast us off to typing classes where our grades were based on how fast we could peck at the right keys on a keyboard without making mistakes!  This was a skill needed more than any other in the workforce - if you're not typing more than a certain amount of words per minute, you're useless to a company!

Good bye cursive, hello speed typing!

Go ahead, teach our children how to sign their names away - when they're adults it'll be their signature on a mortgage they probably can't afford - or on a check they won't use because as adults they'll pay their bills online. Yes, it's distinguishing to learn cursive writing and novel to revive its authentic style. But grading students for penmanship that isn't going to exist in their adult years serves no purpose.

"LOL" and "LMAO" all you want and say "WTF" when it comes to reading someone's atrocious handwriting! Children are growing up in a world where technology/ acronyms rule and a pen is just a silly and ancient writing tool...

Get A Hygienic Handle On Paying For Plastic

Every now and then I carry a canvas tote bag with me when I go shopping. I've collected a few free canvas bags over the years that are sturdy, somewhat spacious and have comfortable handles that don't give my arms or hands rope burn. How safe and savvy! 

Get your fill of juicy bacteria! Stop using plastic bags!

What if I had to make a habit of using those economically-friendly tote bags for every-day food shopping? Well, in the words of former American Idol judge Simon Cowell: "That's a no from me..."

I felt a bit relieved when the 5-cent fee proposed for plastic shopping bags in New York City was nixed. With yammering coming from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio and State Department of Environmental Conservation's Commissioner Basil Seggos, the public is being convinced that sooner or later, they're going to have to dig into their pockets for change to buy plastic bags. For at least another year, legislation on the plastic ban is on the back burner. 

On a personal note, I would be hygienically disgusted if the ban/fee resulted in consumers having no choice but to use - and reuse -  their own material packaging. I don't want to be petty - but, hey, I'm going to be petty with this issue!

The first thing that comes to mind about having to food shop with a reusable material bag is the amount of germs that that thing is going to collect and spread.

You're going to place dozens of groceries that came out of a possibly dirty transporting truck - and packaged raw meat with hundreds of bacteria particles like salmonella and e coli - in your canvas bags to take home? Without disposable plastic shopping bags to create a barrier between leaks, germs and post-delivery dirt, you're directly placing all of those gross and raw items together in tote bags and into an impure environment.

Assuming that you're going to take about a dozen of those material bags with you when you have a massive amount of shopping to do, you're also going to be sitting those "environmentally-safe" canvas bags down on supermarket counters and floors in order to fill them with purchased groceries. Sounds simple enough right? 

Consider this - those canvas bags will touch dozens of nasty surfaces and then you will place those bags in your home while you're unpacking, subsequently transferring the bacteria and dirt to your living space. Hey - that's what you'll get for not paying 5-cents for plastic bags (if there are any available in stores by the time our Mayor is done!) 

Imagine having to be extra careful how you place those packages of raw chicken and beef in your material bags? That'll show those environmentalists that you're willing to risk your health to save the earth!

When you go to the supermarket now, the cashier probably separates raw meat/fish from the rest of your groceries in plastic bags.  Hygienically speaking, this is a safe way to transport food - especially if you don't want the package of meat to get punctured by other groceries. You know you're safe when contaminated, raw chicken juice doesn't wind up all over the place! As a matter of fact, if you Google "Preventing Cross Contamination" web sites across the board will advise consumers to use separate plastic bags for raw food.

You'll also waste more time cleaning those material bags - whether you want to or not. Those of us who are skeeved out by bacteria (and I hope that refers to the masses) will have to wash and disinfect canvas bags out immediately after heavy duty food shopping! If you're not grossed out by transferring dirt, raw food liquid and bacteria from the supermarket to your house..well, you should be!

As "toxic" as plastic bags are for the environment, they are easily disposable/reusable and safely help consumers transport raw food to their home in separate spaces. If poultry or fish comes out of its packaging for any reason and there's slimy goop at the bottom of the plastic bag, you can throw it out! No stains, no odors, no cross-contamination!  

It strikes me as odd that in a world where scientists are telling us about the "dangers" of raw... everything...and how cross-contamination is a serious issue - the State is more concerned about shop owners imposing a fee and telling us how plastic is our enemy! I don't think anything should change - and instead, our leaders should be focusing on more important environmental issues that will make us healthier.

If Mayor de Blasio wants to ban the use of plastic bags altogether, get ready for the biggest germfest of all time! If I had to choose between being political over plastic or looking out for my risk of exposure to harmful bacteria and contracting food poisoning...I think the answer is in the bag!

Our Mayor Derailed His Chances Of A "New" Year!

Many of us make New Year's resolutions based on things we need to do more of in the coming year or habits we need to kick. The list of "resolutions" usually includes healthier life styles, being the "best version of ourselves we can be," and conquering those financial demons that left us flooded with debt.

When a Mayor's reputation crashes...

Of course, somewhere in the midst of trying to accomplish our "resolutions," some of us lose sight of what matters and we lose the motivation needed to follow through with our commitments to "self-improvement."

Whether you're sticking to your self-fulfilling promises for 2017 so far, there's always living proof that you don't even need to bother making resolutions in the first place. Bill de Blasio is approaching his final weeks and months as Mayor of New York City. If there's anyone who needs to be "the best version of himself" it's de Blasio! The Mayor, who rarely shows up on time -if he shows up at all to an important event/catastrophe - needs to look at his reputation and how he's been prioritizing his time. If you ask me, 2016 wasn't a good year for the Lurch-looking Mayor and he couldn't even start 2017 off on the right foot!

After more than 100 commuters were injured on the LIRR train derailment at the Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn on January 4th, the slow-witted Mayor - who's been known to oversleep and skip attending important events all over the city - decided he didn't "need" to be at the scene of the horrific rush-hour disaster. For a politician who has one of the worst approval ratings in the city's recent history, he's the last person who should be absent from an accident of this magnitude simply because it doesn't "fall under his jurisdiction" and because the injuries sustained by passengers "wasn't serious enough."

Come on de Blasio! Do you know how many of those riders - carried out of the train station on gurneys by paramedics - voted for YOU? What's your real excuse? Are you tired of carrying out the responsibilities that comes with being the Mayor?

According to reports, our sorry excuse for a Mayor left the responsibility of the derailment to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Why? Because he's impatient for someone else to take over? There's no excuse for de Blasio's absence other than his laziness and poor personal choices. To say you're not going to the scene of an accident that's the center of scrutiny because "no one died" is the coldest response I've heard from a politician following a tragedy. If only ONE person died, would he say, "I didn't need to go - one death doesn't warrant an appearance"?

I have a challenge for New Yorkers when it comes to making New Years resolutions. Be more vigilant and selective when choosing a Mayor! Don't re-elect de Blasio and his poor ethics! New Yorkers should resolve to support a leader who attends all the events they possibly can - especially accident scenes and locations of mass chaos.
Stop picking a leader solely based on their party affiliation and whether or not you think they will "help minorities." Bitter Bill hasn't shown much compassion for his city in the past year - and right about now, ANYONE who runs against him seems like a better pick!

Okay, so our lanky city leader skipped an important hearing with state lawmakers last year that focused on the renewal of HIS control over city schools. Big deal!...
Okay, so he didn't think attending Goundhog Day 2016 was a big deal even though it's commonplace for mayors to be part of this annual tradition. No big whoop!


However, he was more than happy to help unveil the city's LinkNYC internet kiosks at the beginning of 2016. Did he think that public launch/appearance to reveal flimsy technology was enough to cover him for the rest of the year?

How many more events will Bozo Bill skip before his last day as Mayor? Not only does his absence echo a leader who doesn't care, it echoes an individual whose priorities aren't well thought out.

I did meet the Mayor informally a few times - once at a press conference in Canarsie where he thanked the janitorial staff at I.S. 211 for getting the building back in order after the basement was flooded from Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Sure, he sat down with custodians and maintenance workers - treated them all to sandwiches and tried to be like "one of the locals". But there's something about a guy who's constantly late or absent that can't be fixed by minor appearances.

Please, if there are any resolutions New Yorkers should make, it's to improve our quality of life by being more involved in the political process and choosing a Mayor with a strong set of values who has a vested interest in being there for citizens - no matter how small or big the event may be.

De Blasio's ratings aren't going to get back on track. Perhaps he's better off retiring to the yard so a new fleet of leaders can emerge out of the tunnel...

We're "Oversaturated" With Ignorance - Not Group Homes!

At every civic meeting I've covered for the Canarsie Courier over the years, there's been no shortage of protests against group homes and private residences made into legitimate living spaces for the developmentally disabled. Before I get into the reasons why I think people in our community are ignorant about who their potential neighbors will be, let's consider the fact that this is a liberal society in which we live! New York is a state made up of Democrats and politicians who legalized gay marriage and "banned the box" so that "former" criminals are not discriminated against on job applications. In a community where Democrats rule and there is acceptance of all different kinds of people and life styles - and helping those less fortunate - it's a shock and shame that residents are so adamant about turning away the mentally disabled.

Hey you - the one who voted for Councilman Alan Maisel and State Senator Roxanne Persaud!!! Did you know that even though you support this political leader, you're not listening to their beliefs and you're not accepting the reality - that developmentally disabled residents are NOT truly dangerous - nor do they pose any specific threat!!! At a few recent meetings, politicians tried to tell their constituents that new group homes coming to Canarsie - there are nearly a handful in the works - are under the auspices of New York State and the males who will be living in those houses will be monitored. 

Would you rather live next to a crime-ridden drug house?

With all of the facilities that exist in our city for those who are developmentally disabled - and also violent - do you think they'd let these individuals occupy a private space in a residential community? I've yet to attend a meeting where someone - or a group of residents - protests a home that's been up and running for years. I have not seen a report about any home where the occupants are harassing people in the streets or where a rape has taken place and people do not feel safe. If these stories/complaints are going unpublished, whose fault is that? When have the police responded repeatedly to calls of disturbances at group homes?

Let's get real! The complaints that surface at meetings are about mentally "healthy" people who drive cars, own property and bother their neighbors INTENTIONALLY! Someone shady is parked in a common driveway and you're "sure there's a drug deal going down..." Are THOSE hooligans better than the developmentally ill residents who moved into the two-family home down the block?? Probably NOT - those living in the group home have a curfew and they've got state certified officials making sure those people don't leave the house to stir trouble in the community.

And when residents complain that the value of their homes will plummet as a result of the number of group homes here, the ignorance on THAT level seems insurmountable too! Forget about the real estate market, crime rates (due to "normal people" committing crimes) and other quality of life factors - many think a group of safe residents is to blame for the depreciation of their property!

If you truly agree with the Democrats YOU voted for - the ones who are trying to persuade the community that the handful of males living in these private homes are safe - you wouldn't make noise just because you think someone with Down Syndrome is plotting to harass your family or...do what??? How are these individual more dangerous than the neighbor you've been complaining about who hosts illegal parties where guns are allowed to be brought on the premises? C'mon - you had NO say in THOSE shady neighbors moving in and you should consider yourself lucky that it's a required advisory process for the community to know about group homes coming to your block!

Also, if someone told you that a gay couple - who just got married, with their three adopted children - was moving in right next door to you, would you have the same attitude??? Would you fear for your family then? What about Muslim families moving into the community? Are you secretly opposed to them building a life here or do you have reservations about that too? You're not going to bring THAT discriminatory opinion to a community meeting, right???

In my opinion, this community is discriminating against the disabled and fearing the unknown when there are SO MANY OTHER people moving into our community who rouse suspicion and controversy every day! Sometimes, it's the "hard working" homeowners - those who are mentally capable of knowing what's right from wrong -  who move onto our blocks and shake things up for the worst! Sadly, the developmentally disabled who haven't even moved into the community have NO idea that you don't want them here...How must that feel to be unwanted and discriminated against in a "caring and quaint community" you haven't stepped foot in yet?

The only quality of life issue residents should be worried about - if ANY - is sanitary and traffic conditions outside those homes. Will there be extra or private garbage pick up required? Will modes of transportation to and from the homes infringe on neighbors - and how will long-term traffic/parking be impacted on that block? 

So while residents say we're "oversaturated" with group homes and that they should put more of them in "white communities" (hey - there's a racist cocktail for you to drink up!), think about all the "normal functioning" individuals around you - and think about what justifies your opposition. Whether you'd rather live next to a party-hosting, gun-trafficking gang member instead of someone with a developmental problem who is quiet, safe and watched by a caretaker 24/7, good luck accepting people who are different than you and thanks for making our community oversaturated with ignorance!

Violent Times Call For An End To The Carnage Carnival

Imagine that you throw a huge party every year...A special BBQ or an annual family get together that includes months and weeks of preparations. Maybe you feel so good about the event that you decide to invite some of your co-workers - they're like family!! OK, so a few people who were invited gave you a hard time - always stirring problems and arguing over food servings or who should help with the cleanup. 

You ban those few "bad seeds" from the party - inviting some new and exciting revelers to your special function...Those new people wind up practicing some of the same poor social habits thing- and then your regular guests - the ones who are well behaved - are frustrated to the point where they become violent and it's not a celebration of anything... It becomes more of a social experiment, seeing who can make it through your shindig without raising hell! 

After a few years of senseless planning and headaches, you decide not to throw your party any more. Instead, you safely visit your friends and family at their house and lay the hectic "celebration" days to rest...

Unfortunately, the same scenario seems to be playing out when it comes to the West Indian Day Parade - now called the New York  Caribbean Carnival Parade (or as I coined it the Carnage Carnival)- but namely J'Ouvert, the celebration leading up to the colorful parade attended by thousands of New Yorkers.  Nothing will stop the guns from blazing and nothing will stop those few violent bad guys from stirring problems at an event that is supposed to bring people together instead of tearing them apart and sending them to the hospital.

The two teens who were shot and killed during the early morning party on Monday, September 5th, probably didn't surmise that this would be their last parade. As if last year's bloodbath, which resulted in the death of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's aide Carey Gabay, wasn't enough, more violent hoodlums decided to rouse another round of tragedy at this year's festivities. WHY?

I wholeheartedly agree that cancelling J'Ouvert is a MUST for our city. The NYPD will never be prepared adequately - or equipped with enough man power - to handle the violence that precedes the Caribbean Carnage Carnival. 

As I've questioned in prior columns about this parade of bloodshed, have you ever seen a more violent gathering during a celebration in the city? Why is this one of the ONLY events in our city where guns make more appearances than politicians? 

The one question I keep asking - to no one in particular - is how are the events at J'Ouvert different from terror attacks like the ones that took place in France in November 2015? How are these crowd shootings in our city different than the ones that take place in a movie theater, mall or house of worship in a small suburban town? Let's not bring up black-on-black crime when we can also say James Holmes committed white-on-white crime when he killed 12 people and injured 70 during that Colorado movie theater shooting in 2012. Someone opens fire with no mercy and no regard for human life...PERIOD!

Regardless of color, nationality, background or age, someone who carries an illegal weapon with them to a function or meeting place that's supposed to be peaceful, inviting and productive for those in attendance has clear intentions to ruin the day with violence by endangering thousands of innocent people. 

Let's get real - asking those thugs who bring guns to J'Ouvert every year to "please stop"....please "leave your weapons at home"...It's an irrational request being asked of irrational individuals who haven't been stopped - and won't be stopped - by a wall of police officers.

Cancelling J'Ouvert - and possibly the entire parade - would not only eliminate gunmen taking to the streets on this planned day, it would save the city millions of dollars on not just the basic security - but beefed up security the city paid for this year as well. In my opinion, the cost of additional officers at the parade was a waste of tax payers' money and a waste of NYPD deployment. Those officers - reassigned from other precincts to cover parade detail - could have been in their own command keeping those neighborhoods safe.  

Unless someone can cough up enough money and resources to place hundreds of metal detectors in and around the parade, as if it's an airport or city building, the celebration should NOT go on and the open invitation to gangsters should no longer be announced. They're probably going to go bullet crazy in the confines of their own community anyway! Keeping these home-grown terrorists who have irrational vendettas off the streets is impossible. Doesn't the NYPD know this by now?

No one likes when the bad guys rain on their parade - but a hail of bullets storming at revelers every year should be enough of a reason to call it quits.

Some Men Can't Wean Themselves Off Of A Bad Reputation

Okay - enough already with the perverse, tongue-and-cheek headlines about disgraced politico Anthony Weiner and his cockamamie shenanigans! We get it, women all over have seen the likes of him...being testy when it comes to showing off who he really is. Truth be told, Weiner is just another man who can't keep his goods to himself and starves for attention from women other than his wife. On a human level, he's no different than any other man who stray or go to irrational lengths to get a rush through social media.

Former Canarsie Congressman Anthony Weiner at TJ Club/2010.

On a parental level, though, he's more than just a "disgrace" for showing an image of his child next to him in a provocative photo that went viral a couple of weeks ago. What kind of man - especially with his status and already maimed reputation - continues to practice unethical behavior and then proceeds to include their child in the act? As if the first batch of inappropriate photos being released a couple of years ago wasn't enough, he was ready for another round of immoral behavior!

From far away, New Yorkers had an admiration for Weiner when he was Congressman. As a strong and community-oriented Democrat, Weiner once represented a large part of southeast Brooklyn, parts of Queens and my small Canarsie community. He visited the Thomas Jefferson (TJ) Democratic Club many times - speaking about improvements and budgets...and, you know, the usual political banter.

I could have formally introduced myself to him - I reported on a town hall meeting in February 2010 at the TJ Club in Canarsie where Weiner simplified the ideas behind President Obama's Affordable Healthcare Act. He tried to make residents feel more at ease with all of those healthcare terms - and proving he can bring his bigshot self to a small neighborhood where constituents and fellow politicians/Democrats were honored to be in his presence. Hell, even I thought - way after the meeting - that maybe I should have asked someone to snap a photo of me with the "prestigious" Congressman, who wound up running for Mayor years later. Oh, only NOW I think about the jokes I would have made if I DID get a photo of myself with Weiner...

While I'm not a Democrat, I thought Weiner was an excellent public speaker. He was lively, engaging and animated when he spoke to his constituents. I remember him pacing the front of the TJ Club room - using his hands and facial expressions to capture the essence of whatever could be plaguing residents at the time.

Weiner was always making appearances in the community - trying to pull through when it came to encouraging the state to allocate funds so Canarsie Pier could be rehabilitated. Yes..he was a good man - an upstanding political figure - and the way he addressed the public was clear that he had a strong set of values, as we want to think many politicians do...

But after this last stint, it's clear that Weiner not only lacks the values it takes to lead a family, he lacks the reasoning and rational thought of a normal-functioning person who makes poor decisions...over and over again!!

The general public may like to think that a political figure's personal life and poor personal decisions have nothing to do with their ability to pass legislation and do what's best for the communities they represent. So, they know the "law"...so, they know how balance budgets and deal with agencies all over the country. Does this plethora of knowledge and experience stop them from ruining their reputation by practicing horrible social practices?

In my opinion, Weiner is just as dirty as a politician who accepted a bribe, laundered money, or enrolled themselves in a scandal without caring that they would some day suffer the consequences and get caught.

On second thought he is WORSE than a dirty politician - he included his innocent child in a perverted photo without ANY thought the this was immoral, mentally and psychologically abnormal.

How can we trust a man to make decisions for us politically if he can't make the right decisions for himself?

Not only should the Administration for Child Services (ACS) investigate to the fullest extent, he shouldn't be given rights to see his son at all. As part of his long-term therapy, he should also be banned, indefinitely, from creating social media accounts which allow him to exercise his unhealthy sexual behavior. It takes a certain - special - type of sicko to include their child in an unfaithful escapade of that nature.

He'll never be able to wean himself off of the reputation he's built. Screw up once...maaaaybe - maaaybe he was just having a little fun that first time. But repeatedly abnormal behavior- and obviously behavior that includes your child - goes beyond "needing some help."

We can also say whatever we want about Huma Abedin - maybe she should have left him the first time he showed the public who he really is. Maybe she thought he learned his lesson by being an embarrassment to his family the first time. She's like many us women who stand by our men after a slip-up and truly believe that the NEXT time will be different! Good for her for showing this indecent pervert that he'll have to fend for himself when he answers to authorities.

Last Friday, the Daily News reported that the ACS would "probe Weiner" about the awful photo he publicized of him and his son. Embarrassingly, the letter from the ACS about the investigation was sent to his mother's house instead. Guess there's no better way to say "Way to go mom for raising a son you thought was a decent human being!!! Joke is on you!!!"

Whatever happens to Weiner and whatever path his life takes, he's deflated any chance of redeeming his reputation. Even after meeting and seeing the great political feats Weiner can accomplish as an elected official, there's not going to be any happy endings for this pol!