Journeyed to 9th Ward

BY JOE GENCO

• Journeyed to 9th Ward at Babeville for Davey O’s Food Bank of WNY fundraiser. Paul Lamont reminds me of John Prine. I never put my finger on it until last night. Tina Marie Williams has a wicked emotional register. I pushed my button but I still think she’s going to choose Blake as her coach. Davey is Davey, the leader in the middle, a good-hearted raconteur with a guitar who always seems to leave us in a better place.
• In the latest episode of the lying liars and the lies that lay, former Trump consigliere Michael Cohen admitted he was in negotiations well into the 2016 campaign over Trump Tower Moscow. Of course our fork-tongued hate yam offered a caveat in his denials: “There would be nothing wrong if I did do it.”
• Meanwhile, with that evidence from Cohen, and undoubtedly other corroboration because no one can keep their facts straight, it appears increasingly that when our President says he can’t remember things involving his interaction with Russian, he is suffering from the mental decline of aging. Either that or he is lying. Pick one.
• “We needed Reagan and we got PT Barnum” Ann Coulter laments the wall that will never be built and regrets supporting a con man. “Without a wall, he will only be remembered as a small cartoon figure who briefly inflamed and amused the rabble.” Who turns next? Hannity?
• Volkswagen has announced it is scouting North America for locations to build electric vehicles. The first ones should hit the market for 2020 and will cost $30,000 to $40,000.
• If Democrats gaining Congressional power hurt President Trump’s feelings anymore, he is threatening to declassify documents used to harass him. I hope he does. Sunshine is a disinfectant.
• Boyd Curiosity: Credit Friedrich Nietzsche with this observation: “It is not lack of love but lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.”
• Lame duck Sen. Jeff Flake is standing fast against Trump judicial nominees until he gets a vote on a bill he sponsored to protect Special Investigator Robert Mueller from undue harassment.
• WNY Weather: High of 3 (37) with some snow around. Edging up to 5 (42) Saturday with rain and sleet. The annual REI garage sale is Saturday in Rochester. Thinking of taking a ride out.
• I didn’t read the fine print when I won free Goodrich Coffee through Discover Main Street’s Small Business Saturday promotion. I figured I would just get a free cup every time I stopped by. Instead, they gave me a preloaded gift card. So if you want to meet for coffee, to talk about Short Take, life insurance, financial planning or anything else, give me a shout. I’m buying.
• It’s one thing when someone pretends to be a billionaire and sets up a foundation that serves as a family piggy bank. It’s an entirely different thing when someone is a billionaire and provides drinking water to the schools in Flint, where there haven’t been fountains since 2015.
• First, there were Little Libraries. Now, in Depew, there is a Little Free Pantry.
• Two years post-Standing Rock, North Dakota’s oil business is booming.
• The State DOT is holding a hearing on the redesign of Sheridan Drive. Bike paths here we come.
• A witness with a radically altered face (he did it to conceal his identity) testified against El Chapo. Imagine being so wealthy you could forfeit $1 billion to avoid arrest.
• Emerging Bills’ start Robert Foster, seeing a 14-year-old, who convinced his mom to buy him new $200 sneakers at the mall, picked up the tab because he’s a nice guy.
• The Sabres streak is over, but it was a close game, back and forth, and the Lightning might be the best team in the league.
• ESPN left Tre White off its list of top 25 players under 25.