On paper, Sunday afternoon’s mission was pretty simple for the Milwaukee Bucks: Beat the Cleveland Cavaliers and clinch the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
But things are rarely that simple.
With no worse than the No. 3 seed locked up – the position from which they won the NBA championship last year and the spot Giannis Antetokounmpo joked they should aim for – the Bucks elected to give most of their top rotation players a reprieve at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
“I think most importantly – we’re not completely healthy – but I think we have significantly good health and that’s probably more important than anything,” head coach Mike Budenholzer said before the game. “Feel good about being (the) two or three (seed).”
So with Cleveland still fighting for play-in positioning and Milwaukee playing their bench the Cavaliers rolled to a 133-115 victory.
As a result, with Boston winning their final game the Celtics became the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and the Bucks finished at #3. That meant in the incredibly critical Game 7 Sunday against Boston the Celtics got to play on their home court. The Celtics played out of their minds to an uproarious crowd. It could have been played in Milwaukee. If not for Budenholzer throwing that game in April to Cleveland.
THERE ARE THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF FOOD BLOGS, BUT ONLY ONE CULINARY NO-NO!
A couple of years ago (2019) on National Beer Lover’s Day Milwaukee’s Mitchell International posted a picture of a great deal inside the airport. Take a look. A 12-pack for $28, about $2.33/can
Nothing special like that these days at LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark airports.
Last summer, the company that operates food and beverage concessions at the airports, OTG, got blasted on Twitter by travelers outraged over a $27.85 Sam Adams Summer Ale and a $10.90 order of fries.
“It’s just Sam Adams Summer Ale — that’s insane!” said Cooper Lund, 32, of Brooklyn, who discovered the expensive 23-ounce brew at an airport Biergarten restaurant while flying from LaGuardia to visit family in Minnesota.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey ordered that a full audit be conducted of concession prices.
Here’s how the authority tries to, ahem, toe the line on excessive pricing. A policy was instituted in 2020 that caps what airport concessionaires can charge to 10% over the street price for food and beverages. The new guideline went into effect when the authority increased the minimum wage for airport workers employed by contractors.
“Oh my goodness, I thought it was going to be $2.50,” said Emily Fishman, 75, after paying $4 for a 12-ounce bottle of Minute Maid orange juice at a JFK food court during a layover on a flight to Israel. “They’ve got you, they know you don’t have a choice.”
“I paid $8 for two Fantas, that’s a ripoff,” said Felipe Rodriguez, 61, who flew into JFK from Puerto Rico. “It’s not like this is freshly squeezed juice — it’s Fanta!”
The excuse offered by a spokesperson for the businesses? The prices were “incorrectly posted” and “quickly corrected.”
THE CITY, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, digital news platform in New York, did some comparison shopping. The airports came off looking as gougers in the final results.
At a NYC Aglow by Hudson newsstand/convenience store inside Terminal B at LaGuardia, a five and a half-ounce tin of Pringles potato chips sells for $5.99, while an 11.5 ounce bottle of Simply Lemonade goes for $4.69 and a five-ounce bag of Kettle Corn Popcorners can be had for $5.49.
At the Pronto Lotto and Vape convenience store in Flushing, the Pringles are priced at $2.50, with the Simply Lemonade bottle at $2.75. The Kettle Corn Popcorners, meanwhile, are $2.99 at the Saanvi Food Mart in Flushing.
At the Long Island Express Deli across from the AirTrain station in Jamaica, a 20-ounce bottle of soda sells for $1.75 — compared with $3.89 at a Hudson News in Terminal 1 at JFK. While a bottle of Dasani water is $3.69 at that same airport newsstand, it goes for $1.75 in Jamaica.
BTW, the cost of a beer at Citi Field, home of the NY Mets: $11.75. At Yankee Stadium, it’s $6.
So, what’s being done about the highway robbery at the airports, you ask? Here’s the latest.
1) Empty shelves show a shortage of baby formula at a CVS store in San Antonio, Texas. Photo: REUTERS/Kaylee Greenlee Beal
2) A man watches a drone video of an attack to a Russian tank at an exhibition of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, in the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, as Russia celebrates Victory Day marking the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo: Reuters
5) Natalya Suhotsha, 24, looks at her two-day-old twin girls, Zlata and Sophia, at the perinatal centre in Lviv. She had fled Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, in the earliest days of the war when the Russians began to bombard a nearby airport. Her husband gave her five minutes to gather things and go. At the hospital she has met other displaced new mothers. ‘We just talk about pretty babies,’ Suhotsha said. ‘We don’t talk about the war. Every time you talk about the war, you stress.’ Photograph: Nariman El-Mofty/AP
6) Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreev reacts after being covered with red paint during a protest prior a ceremony at the Soviet soldier war mausoleum in Warsaw, Poland, on the day of the 77th anniversary of the 1945 Soviet victory against Nazi Germany. Photo: AFP
8) Israeli police confront mourners as they carry the casket of slain Al Jazeera veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during her funeral in east Jerusalem. Photo: AP
9) WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner leaves a courtroom after a hearing, in Khimki just outside Moscow, Russia. Griner was detained at the Moscow airport in February after vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis were allegedly found in her luggage, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Photo: AP
10) A Palestinian beekeeper uses smoke to calm bees in the process of collecting honey at a farm in the central Gaza Strip. Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
11) Our Lady of Fatima (the Virgin Mary) statue is seen during an event marking the 105th anniversary of the reported appearance of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children, at the Catholic shrine of Fatima, in Fatima, Portugal. Photo: Reuters
12) One of the ”Las Doncellas” (maidens), holds a basket covered with white cloth transporting a loaf of bread on her head, during the ”Bread Procession of the Saint”, the ceremony in honor of Saint Domingo de La Calzada (1019-1109) who helped poor people and pilgrimage, in Santo Domingo de La Calzada, northern Spain. Photo: AP
13) Sonny Leon aboard Rich Strike celebrates winning the 148th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, May 7, 2022. Photo: Reuters
14) Participant Olivia Locking, 11, walks her horse, Lucky, together with June Trotter and her horse, Merry Legs, beside the River Thames after competing on day one of the Royal Windsor Horse Show in Windsor, Britain. Photo: Reuters
On this Sunday today’s read is from Oliver L. North and David Goetsch. North is a combat-decorated U.S. Marine, founder and CEO of Fidelis Publishing and Fidelis Media. Goetsch is a Marine Corps veteran, member of the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame, professor of business, and Christian counselor.
Here’s an excerpt:
The actions of the secular left in pushing God out of the culture have resulted in tragic consequences. The cultural degradation wrought by the left includes rampant abortion, gun violence, mass shootings, human trafficking, child abuse, mob violence, pornography, censorship, drug and alcohol abuse, corruption, road rage, gutter politics, teen suicide, sideline rage, demise of the traditional family, and the list goes on.
The tragedies you see on the nightly news and read about in your morning newspaper are what happens in a country that rejects God. What you see all around you every day is what a Godless culture looks like.
I think this blog is perfect for this Sunday (albeit a couple days late).
Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children–Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their cousin Lucia dos Santos–received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners, and for the conversion of Russia.
In 1915 an Angel appeared to four little girls, among them Lucia de Jesus dos Santos. While saying the Rosary they saw what looked like a cloud that was whiter than snow, slightly transparent, with a human outline. This same apparition took place on two more occasions, leaving the girls in a state of amazement.
One year later Lucia was tending sheep with her two cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto. This time the Angel came with very distinguishable features. He said to them: “Don’t be afraid. I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me.” He then knelt and, bowing with his forehead to the ground, prayed three times: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love Thee! I beg pardon of Thee for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee!” Then He said to the children: “Pray thus. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications.” With these words the Angel left them. The children felt so enveloped by God’s Presence that they remained bowed to the ground for a long time repeating this prayer. This special atmosphere which they felt then gradually left them. Soon the three children were back to spending their days playing games together.
On May 13th, 1917 the children were again playing their games, this time building castles out of rock in the field. Suddenly they saw a flash of light. Believing it to be lightning, even though the sky was clear, the children gathered the sheep and started for home. They took refuge under a tree about a hundred yards away. They saw a flash of light again. They began running, going about a hundred yards further when suddenly they saw, standing over a small holmoak tree, a Lady dressed in white more brilliant than the sun. She said, “Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you! I am from Heaven. I come to ask you to come here for six months in succession, on the thirteenth day at this same hour. Then I will tell you who I am, and what I want. And afterwards I will return here a seventh time.” (Our Lady appeared at the holmoak a total of six times. To this day there are only conjectures about when the seventh apparition took or will take place.) Lucia asked if the three of them would go to Heaven. The Lady said they would except that Francisco would have to say many Rosaries first. Lucia asked about two of her friends who had died. The Lady responded that one was in Heaven but the other would be in Purgatory until the end of the world. The Lady went on to say, “Do you wish to offer yourselves to God, to endure all the sufferings that He may please to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended and to ask for the conversion of sinners?” Lucia responded, “Yes” for all three of them. Then the Lady said, “Then you will have much to suffer. But the grace of God will be your comfort.” With this the Lady opened Her Hands and enveloped the children in light. Moved by an inward impulse, they fell to their knees praying, “O most Holy Trinity, I adore Thee! My God, my God, I love Thee in the Most Blessed Sacrament.” Again the Lady spoke saying, “Say the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war” [World War I].
Up to this point the visions of the children remained secret. This time Jacinta told her mother about her experience. News spread quickly around the village exposing the children to ridicule and disbelief. On June 13th Our Lady appeared again at the same spot, known as the Cova da Iria, and said to the children, “I want you to come here on the thirteenth day of the coming month and to recite five decades of the Rosary every day.” Lucia asked if the Lady would take them to Heaven. The Lady responded that Jacinta and Francisco would be taken soon. But Lucia would have to remain to help establish in the world devotion to Her Immaculate Heart. Lucia began to cry thinking she would be left all alone. Our Lady comforted her by saying She would not forsake her. Then the children saw a Heart in Our Lady’s right hand with thorns encircling It. They understood that this was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, outraged by the sins of humanity, for which reparation had to be made.
On July 13th crowds began to gather for the apparition. This time Our Lady said, “I want you to come here on the thirteenth day of the coming month, and to continue to say five decades of the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary to obtain the peace of the world and the end of the war. For She alone will be able to help.” Lucia asked for a miracle to prove Her appearances to people who doubted. The Lady responded, “Continue to come here every month. In October I will tell you who I am and what I wish, and will perform a miracle that everyone will have to believe. . . Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: `O Jesus, it is for Thy love, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.'”
With these words light streamed from the Lady penetrating the earth. The children saw demons and people immersed in a sea of fire. From them came shrieks and groans of despair. Our Lady then said, “You see Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If they do what I will tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace. The war is going to end. But if they do not stop offending God, another and worse one will begin in the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that is the great sign God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, of hunger, and of persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this I come to ask the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart and the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays. If they listen to my requests, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not she will scatter her errors through the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and it will be converted and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be kept. Do not tell this to anyone. Francisco, yes, you may tell. When you say the Rosary, say after each Mystery, `O my Jesus, pardon us and deliver us from the fire of Hell. Draw all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need.'”
May is the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Catholic Church. We and many others will pray to her today and all this month.
Stunningly, Hollywood thought enough of our Lady to highlight her on the big screen, twice.
“@JoeBiden is unwell. He’s unfit for office. He’s incoherent, incapacitated & confused. If Biden wants to actually fix the inflation crisis he created, he should resign.” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.)
“The truth is, President Biden won the nomination because he promised not to be Bernie Sanders. Who has he tried to emulate? Bernie Sanders. After 14 months, we know that President Biden believes in bigger government, higher taxes, more spending, more debt, more regulation, a weaker military, open borders, taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand, and turning cops into social workers. His energy policy — here’s his energy policy: wind, solar, and wishful thinking. He thinks he can run the greatest economy, the most powerful economy in all of human history, without fossil fuels. And that’s one of the main reasons why the prices at the pump are so high. And the American people see this. They see that after 14 months, nothing is built, nothing is back, and nothing is better — and that’s why when you poll it, the American people say, ‘Well, the country is headed in the wrong direction.’ And the president, he has no self-awareness, or at least the people around him won’t allow him to have self-awareness about the real problem.” Senator John Kennedy
“Remember those long lines you’d see on the television? People lining up in all kinds of vehicles just to get a box of food in their trunk. How quickly we forget! People were hurting. And what did the MAGA crowd want to do? Forget it. Forget it. God, this is the United States of America. The idea that people would have to wait in line an hour, an hour and a half to get a box of food in their trunk. It’s just unbelievable.” Joe Biden
“In Joe Biden’s America, it seems like it’s easier to get a crack pipe in a government-funded smoking kit than it is to find baby formula.” Congressman Mike Waltz
“Here’s my feeling about the [Dobbs v. Jackson] leaker. I would like to find out who the leaker is so I could make sweet love to that person, because that person is a hero to me. … If the leaker is a Republican, and if I get pregnant during our lovemaking, I will joyfully abort our fetus and let them know.” “Comedian” Laurie Kilmartin
“I understand the frustration that many are feeling. I feel it too. Roe has been the law of the land for 49 years, nearly my entire lifetime. But it may not be the law of the land for my daughters. … If we do not use every lever of power we have right now, or if we succumb to complacency, Americans will suffer and may die.” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer
“Real hard to take people seriously about Jan 6 when their political allies are vandalizing churches, firebombing pro-life centers, and harassing families in their private residences all because they don’t like a Supreme Court opinion.” Erick Erickson
“This whole … argument about, ‘Well, it’s settled law.’ So was segregation…. So that’s a bulls*** argument.” Bill Maher
“Over the course of my time in politics, the far left has called me a ‘prop,’ a ‘token,’ the N-word, ‘Uncle Tim,’ and worse all because I am a Black Republican. This type of divisive behavior is not what America is all about — and it will not stop me from speaking the truth.” Senator Tim Scott
“Our educational system may not teach students much math or science, but students learn from gutless academic administrators that mob rule is the way to get what you want — and to silence those who disagree with you.” Thomas Sowell
“The NBA, which pulled its All Star Game out of Charlotte over a transgender bathroom bill, is playing games next year in the United Arab Emirates where homosexuality is punishable by death.” Clay Travis
The Barking Lot is a regular weekly feature of This Just In…Originally written by both my lovely wife, Jennifer and me, this blog brings you the latest news about our furry friends including articles, columns, photos and videos. Enjoy!
THE WEEKEND DOG-WALKING FORECAST: We grade the weather outlook for taking your pet outdoors.
TODAY: Mostly sunny. High of 86. “A”
SUNDAY: Cloudy. High of 68. “C”
Time now for DOGS IN THE NEWS, canines that made headlines the past week.
We’d really appreciate it if you forward this on to other dog lovers you know. Let them have some fun!
See ya, BARK, next Saturday!
A final note. Our daughter Kyla has a dear friend in the neighborhood, Joey. The two girls attend Franklin Middle School and are both active in the Glencastle Irish Dancers.
Joey’s pet yellow lab Logan is pictured below with a halo from Kyla’s Halloween costume from last year. Logan was 17 when he was put to rest on Thursday. An absolutely terrific dog. Goodbye Logan.
This Just In... From Franklin, WI 
