NEW YORKERS AT THEIR MOST CANDID: IMAGINARY EVERYDAY COMMENTS OVERHEARD ON THE STREETS OF MANHATTAN

---"I wish my labor union would protect my legal right to obtain a 401-K retirement plan through my employer that does NOT involve me with investment in the tobacco or hard-liquor alcohol or marijuana or medical marijuana or tattoo-parlor or gambling or race-car-driving industries. But I don't believe that my labor union is willing to do that for me."

--"I've already told my daughter that I will NOT agree to attend her wedding if she ever gets engaged to a professional race-car driver. I don't want to get a phone call in the middle of the night in which my grief-stricken daughter while sobbing from her end of the phone line tells me her husband has been paralyzed for life from a race-car event he competed in that weekend."

---" I don't know of anyone in New York who doesn't seek to file a lawsuit against Donald Trump. This is probably the biggest contribution he has made to our country. He has reminded all of us that whenever anyone significantly wrongs us, we each have the legal right and moral imperative to file a lawsuit against the perpetrator in a court of law here in New York."

--"The type of feature story or feature series I would like to see in 'The Times' would be focused on how the clergy of the United States are responding to the Global Warming Effect. Is the Global Warming Effect being mentioned frequently in sermons these days? Is the Global Warming Effect being described in sermons as compelling evidence that Armageddon is approaching? If so, are American clergy maintaining that an Armageddon of that type can be averted through responsible conduct by American society and other nations? Are any members of the clergy urging all persons to stop smoking tobacco cigarettes or marijuana cigarettes, as one way to help reverse the Global Warming Effect? Is the response to the Global Warming Effect by members of the American clergy significantly different from that of clergy members in nations such as Canada, Great Britain, 
Australia, Ireland, France, and Germany? Does the dire warning from the religion of ancient Greece about the danger of flying too close to the sun proving to be pertinent for modern religions, with the focus today being on excessive exposure to the sun from being right here on this planet?"

--"I am outraged by Canada's legalization of marijuana! What's happening is that farmers in Canada are switching from growing crops that are actually nutritious and good for human health, to growing weed! Whoever came up with this idea for a perverse switch in Canadian farmers' priorities is someone so diabolical that it's obvious he is deliberately seeking to ruin Canada's integrity as a major producer of agricultural crops!"

---"If I ever do invest in Canadian real estate, I would prefer to put my money in the Canadian province where per-capita consumption of marijuana and other illicit drugs and tobacco is the lowest. I would have to contact the Canadian government in order to find out from officials in Ottawa which Canadian province fits that description. That's the place where I would be most likely to invest financially in Canadian real estate."

--"On the subject of Canada, I wonder why I don't own a Maple Cookbook that highlights each of the dishes I can make that use maple syrup as a leading ingredient. The fact that I've never seen a Maple Syrup Cookbook here in New York proves once again that Canadians could do a much better job at marketing their own country, it seems to me. Canada is the Maple Leaf country, yet they haven't even produced a maple-motif recipes book that I can recall having seen in the local bookstores here in Manhattan. In fact, if you asked me where the best Canadian restaurant is here in New York, I would be completely stumped by that question. It's another example of a nice business opportunity for promoters of Canada that they have apparently failed to take advantage of!"