Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Phyllis Inserillo | Chief of Staff for Councilwoman Joann Ariola | 07-15-26

Transcript

Phyllis Inserillo | Chief of Staff for Councilwoman Joann Ariola | 07-15-26 · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Another issue in this city is happening in the neighborhood
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: very close to where me and luwar You go from
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  Speaker 1: our neighborhood to broad Channel. We love Marty Penny and
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  Speaker 1: Adrians to Howard Beach, I love Joe, Lenny's love them.
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  Speaker 1: I love Benny and Joe at Devino's. A bunch of
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  Speaker 1: restaurants there. And it turns out in Howard Beach, Jen
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  Speaker 1: dolanzo best Botox in New York City, turns out there's
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  Speaker 1: stealing statues, religious statues off the lawns. How is that possible?
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  Speaker 1: So we played a cut yesterday from Phyllis in Sirillo.
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  Speaker 1: She happens to be the chief of staff for our
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  Speaker 1: councilwoman Joanne Ariola. Maybe she'll be next, that's the rumor.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know, but Phyllis reached out and she's on
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  Speaker 1: right now from Howard Beach. Our friend Phyllis Phyllis, good morning,
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  Speaker 1: how are.
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  Speaker 2: You, good morning? Said thanks so much for having me.
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  Speaker 1: Nice to have you. We did play your cut yesterday.
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  Speaker 1: At first I thought it was Joanne Ariola, then I
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  Speaker 1: realized it was you. But it seems like that's a
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  Speaker 1: big issue in Howard Beach. People stealing religious statues of
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  Speaker 1: the lawns. Have you made any progress in finding these scumbags.
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  Speaker 2: So there is a person of interest for these statues
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  Speaker 2: in Herold Beach as well as in our neighboring community
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  Speaker 2: of Ozone Park. The police are seeking out this person,
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  Speaker 2: so hope we're hopefully going to have an arrest on
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  Speaker 2: that soon. But more importantly, I think is the fact
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  Speaker 2: that people have no problems stealing, you know, Catholic statues
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  Speaker 2: and symbols of Christianity. Throughout New York City. We're seeing
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  Speaker 2: an uptick in attacks on churches. We just had an
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  Speaker 2: attack on a church, a Molotov cocktail bombing on a
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  Speaker 2: church in Ozone Park, and then at Jehovah Witness Church
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  Speaker 2: and what Haven. And we're seeing statues being stolen from
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  Speaker 2: churches in Rockaway and now right in front of our
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  Speaker 2: own homes. So, you know, we'd like to see a
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  Speaker 2: bigger voice coming from the diocese on this. We haven't
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  Speaker 2: seen any you know, show of force within the communities
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  Speaker 2: where it's happening from the bishop. And I'm just wondering
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  Speaker 2: where he is.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I guess and I don't know this, but
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  Speaker 1: Cardinal Dolan, he would have been all over this. But
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  Speaker 1: the new guy, Ronald Hicks, he's given you nothing.
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  Speaker 2: Right, nothing, Nothing from the Art Diocese, nothing from the
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  Speaker 2: Brooklyn's Diocese. And you know, it's concerning when you have,
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  Speaker 2: especially in the community like Howard Beach. I am the
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  Speaker 2: Howard Beach Fwen, the Wood Civic President here in Howard Beach,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, we are a large Catholic community here
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  Speaker 2: and we're not seeing anything from our leadership of the church.
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  Speaker 3: Terrible.
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  Speaker 1: See in the good old days, and I know you're
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  Speaker 1: gonna be uncomfortable with this, but tough. In the good
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  Speaker 1: old days, we wouldn't leave it up to the church.
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  Speaker 1: There was a guy named Gotti. There's still guys there
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  Speaker 1: who live there right now. I know some that they
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  Speaker 1: would do the job we need to be done. I
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  Speaker 1: know that we all try to sell the mob doesn't
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  Speaker 1: exist anymore.
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  Speaker 3: Nonsense. It does.
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  Speaker 1: But in the good old days in Howard Beach, you
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  Speaker 1: know this would have been over already, right, The statues
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  Speaker 1: would be right back on the lawn and somebody would
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  Speaker 1: be home or that.
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  Speaker 3: That's a fact, you know that right fellas well.
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  Speaker 2: The thing is that we do have great leadership here,
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  Speaker 2: Thank god, we have Council membor Aiola. Our civic is
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  Speaker 2: very strong in the area and when you come through
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  Speaker 2: Howard Beach, you know that it's a strong patriotic community.
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  Speaker 2: We have people like Eddie Earle, who's our neighborhood flagman,
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  Speaker 2: you know, hanging hundreds of flags. He's in the seventies,
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  Speaker 2: climbing up on a ladder, you know, every spring to
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  Speaker 2: make sure the community is full of flags. And our
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  Speaker 2: civic does so many events to promote Patriotsis and we
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  Speaker 2: actually have a Columbus Day festival as well right by
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  Speaker 2: Saint Helen's Church. We host the local feast here in
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  Speaker 2: Howard Beach at Saint Helens. So there are people that
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  Speaker 2: are pushing back. We have advocates here and we're going
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  Speaker 2: to make sure that we hold them accountable. And we
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  Speaker 2: have a great captain at the one oh six Priescinct,
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  Speaker 2: Captain Dearris, and our community affairs officers Detective Jaffe and
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  Speaker 2: Office a Car who are in constant contact with us
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  Speaker 2: about this and making sure that they are going to
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  Speaker 2: hold this guy accountable when they find him.
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  Speaker 1: Now, this guy, white guy, black guy, it matters what
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  Speaker 1: does he look like.
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  Speaker 2: So from the images that I saw from cameras. It
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  Speaker 2: seems like it's a white guy. But I have no
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  Speaker 2: idea of his background or you know what he's about.
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  Speaker 1: Let me get into our neighborhoods. When I was growing
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  Speaker 1: up Bay Ridge, strong Italian. I guess it kind of
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  Speaker 1: still is.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I don't know. There's a lot of Muslims there,
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  Speaker 3: I'm being honest.
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  Speaker 1: Bensonhurst, same thing, a lot of Koreans and Asians there
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  Speaker 1: now O Zone Park, Arthur Revenue and the Bronx and
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  Speaker 1: Howard Beach. I mean, you guys an Italian stronghold. And
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  Speaker 1: I've got restaurant owners who say to me, sid they're
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  Speaker 1: about to build mosques in Howard Beach. Are go, Come on,
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  Speaker 1: I know, O Zone Park, but Howard Beach. Is there
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  Speaker 1: any truth to that?
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  Speaker 3: No?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I know that you and I discussed that yesterday.
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  Speaker 2: There's no moss being built on Cross Stolevard and Howard Beach.
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  Speaker 2: But what I can tell you is that we are
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  Speaker 2: still a strong Italian community. We have lots of neighbors
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  Speaker 2: from all different facets of life, and we all live
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  Speaker 2: together in harmony. Here. There are no issues throughout our community.
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  Speaker 2: And this particular person doesn't even live in Howard Beach
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  Speaker 2: that came to fight to steal the statues.
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  Speaker 3: That's hugely the case. Yeah, that's hugely the case.
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  Speaker 1: So I would imagine, you guys, if there're still a
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  Speaker 1: very strong Italian community, and I know a lot of
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  Speaker 1: Italians that live there, from Delango to Johnny Marino to
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  Speaker 1: you to join, I would imagine that when this mayor,
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  Speaker 1: this repulsive, disgusting racist mayor left Little Italy and author
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  Speaker 1: revenue in the bronx of the immigration on played map,
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  Speaker 1: I would hope at least and Howard Beats was furious.
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  Speaker 2: Everybody here was furious, you know, everybody was posting online
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  Speaker 2: about it. And what we did was we took action
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  Speaker 2: right away with the council member's office and council Member Morano,
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  Speaker 2: who we love. They are the two chairs of the
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  Speaker 2: Italian Caucus. They put up a post. Immediately we contacted
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  Speaker 2: the mayor's office and immediately he backtracked and said, oh wait, wait, wait,
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  Speaker 2: this is from the prior administration. We're going to put
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  Speaker 2: Little Italy back on the map. But more so than that,
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  Speaker 2: we are going to be pending a letter to the
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  Speaker 2: mayor adding other communities besides just a little ly I
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  Speaker 2: understand that there is in you know, a large group
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  Speaker 2: of Italian immigrants living in Little Italy at the time,
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  Speaker 2: but we can't erase the fact that it was a
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  Speaker 2: backbone of the city in its time. And now we
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  Speaker 2: do have areas where there are large groups of Italians
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  Speaker 2: still living together. And we want to make sure that
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  Speaker 2: our history is not a race and our culture is
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  Speaker 2: not a race. And with the Italian Caucus, we're doing
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  Speaker 2: a lot of different events and different things that you'll
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  Speaker 2: say that you haven't seen before. With this caucus, we've
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  Speaker 2: included all of the Italian organizations throughout New York City
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  Speaker 2: to be included, so that we are one strong voice
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  Speaker 2: together working towards the same goals.
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  Speaker 1: Somebody put on Twitter yesterday, they said, you know what
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  Speaker 1: we love. You said, no one's ever going to argue
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  Speaker 1: your love for Israel, and the Jewish people can't argue that.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going back to Israel again in October. It'll be
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  Speaker 1: the sixth time since the war. They said, But man,
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  Speaker 1: you show such respect to christ to Christians, and I do.
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  Speaker 1: I put on Twitter yesterday I said, listen, I'm a
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  Speaker 1: proud Jew that's never going to change. But I have
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  Speaker 1: a healthy love and respect for Christ and my brothers
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  Speaker 1: and sisters in the Christian community, because I realize that
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  Speaker 1: if we're going to get rid of hate, anti Semitism,
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  Speaker 1: but hate in this world, it can only happen if
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  Speaker 1: Christians and Jews come together. That's why I'm always so
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  Speaker 1: disappointed when Christians turn out to be anti Semitic. It
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  Speaker 1: really bothers me because the truth is, we're built this
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  Speaker 1: country was built on Judeo Christian values. We should be
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  Speaker 1: brothers and sisters in this fight against hate. So I'm
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  Speaker 1: glad you brought up the church buyer bombings, what's going
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  Speaker 1: on in Howard Beach. Course, I'm not just about the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not just about Israel. I know what's going on
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  Speaker 1: with Christians in this country. I know Christians are being
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  Speaker 1: murdered by Muslims in African all over the world. So
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  Speaker 1: it's time for people to pay attention to all the
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  Speaker 1: atrocities going on with Christians.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and thank you for that night. And I know
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  Speaker 2: you are supportive of the Catholic faith and the Christian faith,
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  Speaker 2: and we want to see more of that, right. I
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  Speaker 2: want to see the leaders, the rabbis coming out and
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  Speaker 2: talking out against this. I want to see the emams
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  Speaker 2: coming out and.
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  Speaker 4: Talking out against this, because Catholics are very bad at
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  Speaker 4: advocating for themselves, but they're the first ones out there
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  Speaker 4: to say when something anti Semitic or something that's you know,
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  Speaker 4: considered anti Muslim happened.
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  Speaker 2: First one's out there to say something, and then something
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  Speaker 2: happens to us, and we do not see any of
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  Speaker 2: our leadership of the church.
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  Speaker 3: It really is sad.
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  Speaker 1: Anything else we should know about with this story or
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  Speaker 1: because you are to I think, by the way fellas
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  Speaker 1: anything else with that community and Howard Beach we should
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  Speaker 1: know about.
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  Speaker 2: Well, just know that we're here. We're a great community.
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  Speaker 2: We have great restaurants. You mentioned Joe. I'm very close
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  Speaker 2: with Joe and dooring the Candya from Lenny's clambar. They're
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  Speaker 2: dear friends of mine. They are very giving towards the community.
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  Speaker 2: We did a street renaming for Lenny's two years ago
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  Speaker 2: for their fiftieth anniversary. But come to Howard Beach you'll
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  Speaker 2: see a strong Italian community with lots of faith here
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  Speaker 2: and we're happy to have you and said definitely I'll
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  Speaker 2: meet you with Lenny's for a drink one day.
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  Speaker 3: No I love Joe. He's great back.
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  Speaker 1: One day I was at Lenny's one night, i should say,
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  Speaker 1: and he wasn't there. Joe and I finished dinner with
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  Speaker 1: Daniellengabe my family, and we walked out and I got
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  Speaker 1: a text from Joe and I said, how do you
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  Speaker 1: know I just left? Yes, Tom was inside the place
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  Speaker 1: going to make sure they took care of me and
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  Speaker 1: the other guy. You know, Benny and Joe down when
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  Speaker 1: you first get into Howard Beach, right there by Frankie Russo.
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  Speaker 1: I love Frankie Russo too. You know Vetro's and Russo's
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  Speaker 1: on the bay. They owned the Vinos and on the
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  Speaker 1: walls and Devinos.
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  Speaker 3: You know this Phyllis. They have all these pictures of
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  Speaker 3: very famous people. You're there, yes, yes, right next to
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  Speaker 3: the President.
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  Speaker 2: Trump made it here in Harryvilla.
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  Speaker 1: I know I'm right next to President Trump and Joe
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  Speaker 1: DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe's. Actually President Trump is in a
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  Speaker 1: picture with Sarah Palin.
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  Speaker 3: But there I am on the wall.
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  Speaker 2: That's a big deal, right absolutely, And listen, the next
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  Speaker 2: time you speak to President Trump, please do me a
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  Speaker 2: favor and let them know I need them to fulfill
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  Speaker 2: the campaign promise of bringing all of our city workers
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  Speaker 2: back to work, because I don't know if you know this,
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  Speaker 2: but we still have firefighters, police officers, teachers out of
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  Speaker 2: work because of a vaccine mandate from five years ago.
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  Speaker 1: Son of a bitch, Adams, I will I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: see him Saturday at Bedminster.
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  Speaker 3: I will let him know that. Phyllis, you're terrific.
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  Speaker 1: I actually hope you will play Joanne excellent up here
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  Speaker 1: this morning and keep up the fight. I love all
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  Speaker 1: of you people on Howard Beach. You're going to American Thank.
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  Speaker 2: You so much, Thanks so much, said take care, God.
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  Speaker 3: Bless you, Phyllis and Sorello right therein She's great.
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  Speaker 5: Thanks for listening to Sit and Friends in the Morning.
• 10:14
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• 10:16
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• 10:20
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• 10:36
  Speaker 5: time for a new episode, so you never have to
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: wonder
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: What the heck is going on here.