Bill de Blasio takes a lot of vacations, maybe he should take more

September 1, 2016 JERRY KASSAR

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I long for the old days of Major League Baseball. I long for a time when a team playing no better then .500 ball could not be only two or three games back from being in a position to go to the post-season. I am a forever Mets fan. I am also someone who likes to watch good baseball. The Mets for the most part after the first month of the season have been playing anything but good baseball. Yet, with barely a .500 record, they are only two or three games out of the second wild card playoff position. It just does not seem right.

I also do not like the replay rule. The trade-off for possibly more accurate calls is a slow-up in the game that I think hurts the team at bat and frustrates the fans. I had always believed in the pre-replay days that, for the most part, bad calls evened out. And today, with the replay rule, umpires are less stressed to get it right. That is not a good thing.

And with a 162-game season resulting in 10 out of 30 teams making it to the post-season, baseball runs from April to the very beginning of November. That is too long and too late a season, especially if, like last year, two teams from the northeast or midwest are in the World Series.

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A hearty congratulations to the U.S. Olympic Team which once again came away with the most medals in all three categories. I enjoyed watching many of the events and was so very much impressed not only with the ability of the athletes but also with their sportsmanship and patriotism.

I think many Americans were surprised to hear that the federal and state governments tax the estimated intrinsic value of the medals and the prize award the athletes receive for winning a medal. Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis on a state level and U.S. Senator Charles Schumer on a federal level want to exempt these relatively minor amounts of income from federal and state taxes for the handful of Americans skilled enough to win a medal. They believe it would be an appropriate show of respect from a nation that is proud of their accomplishments.

And although a few athletics will sign promotional deal, the overwhelming majority will not. In fact, many have financially sacrificed in order to find the time to train and compete.

Senator Schumer has introduced legislation in Congress and Assemblymember Malliotakis plans to introduce legislation in the upcoming session in Albany.

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Bill de Blasio takes a lot of vacations. Maybe he should take more. Andrew Cuomo never leaves the state, arguing what if he were away and something happened. Too much happens that he causes when he is in town. You too should go away more.

These two guys deserve each other and I am so happy that they have such a warm and fuzzy relationship.

Actually we should all be concerned about how poorly they get along. There seems to be more then a little evidence that decisions are made in Albany and to a lesser degree at City Hall based solely on how it would affect one or the other negatively in their sour relationship. From a public policy perspective, this is not the way to run a government.

Next year, when the mayor come up for re-election, this should all be placed under a microscope by the voting public. Both the mayor and governor need to explain why any of us should continue to tolerate this bad behavior.