Neil A. Carousso produces NewsNation original “Kurt’s Country” – a celebration of country music and a slice of Americana with host Kurt Bardella.
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Maria Menounos Opens Up on Brain Surgery: Sylvester Stallone Helped Me Get Through It
By , Radio.com
Maria Menounos has been through quite a roller coaster of trauma, between being diagnosed with brain cancer and undergoing surgery, and coping with her mother’s own brain cancer diagnosis and treatments. In an exclusive interview with “Mooch and the Mrs.,“ Menounos opens up about how her friend, Sylvester Stallone, helped her to cope.
“Going into surgery, I was playing ‘Rocky’ music as my theme song,” the former “E! News” host told Anthony Scaramucci and his wife, Deidre, for their RADIO.COM podcast. “Rocky’s quote gets me through so much: ‘It ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward,'” Menounous revealed she would say to herself through her struggles.
“He’s a dear friend, and then when I came out of surgery, I was quoting ‘Rocky,’” Menounos said of her 2017 procedure.
Menounos said that a quote Scaramucci once told her about fear — “Everything you want is on the other side of fear” — also stuck with her through her 2017 procedure.
On top of coping with her own diagnoses, had her mother’s illness to think about, too. After various treatment methods left her mom weakened and ill, Menounos got her involved in alternative therapies. The therapies had their side effects, though, and when Menounos went under the knife to get her own brain tumor taken care of, her mother admitted some time later that she really didn’t remember it much.
“Between the cognitive deficits, the radiation, inflammation, she doesn’t remember anything,” she said. However, that’s really not such a bad thing. “To me, that was another silver lining because she didn’t have to feel that. To someone who has cancer, the last thing they need is stress,” she said.
Despite the gravity of her struggles, Menounos has been able to gain a new sense of hope and understanding. “My life had to change, and it has, drastically. Anybody else would be kind of freaking out … and I’m really loving the moments of uncomfortableness,” she said. “I feel like if I’m gonna go to the next dimension, this is kind of that place where I’m really working on [the] next level.”
To listen to “Mooch and the Mrs.,” download the RADIO.COM app now.
Neil A. Carousso produces and manages “Mooch and the Mrs.” for RADIO.COM, including all video and audio production.
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Christie: Biden Could Give Trump A ‘Hard Time’ In 2020
LAS VEGAS (WCBS 880) — With more than 20 Democrats vying for the White House, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says there’s one candidate in particular President Donald Trump should be careful of in 2020: Joe Biden.
In an exclusive interview on RADIO.COM’s “Mooch and the Mrs.” podcast, Christie says the former vice president is the only person who could potentially give Trump a hard time.
“Biden can appeal to those blue-collar white workers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin where the president won the presidency by tens of thousands of votes in those four states,” Christie said. “If he were to peel those voters off, the president would lose. But I don’t think anybody else like Bernie Sanders, or Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris – they’re too far left. And I think middle America will just say, ‘Yea, we’re not thrilled with Trump but we’re not moving to this’ and that’s why I think Biden’s the only chance they have.”
But Christie, who was a GOP contender in the 2016 presidential election and later removed from Trump’s transitional team following his upset victory, says he believes Trump will be re-elected.
“I really think since the Bush v. Gore election I think it has been building towards what’s happening now in the country for the last 20 years. The one thing I’ve said to people is if the president is reelected, which if you ask me today to guess I’d say he’s going to be, that the one good thing about it amongst other things will be that after eight years of Donald Trump the country will be exhausted,” the former governor said. “Those who aren’t will be by the end of eight years of him and it’s going to force us to reassess it. It’s going to be a time to hit a reset button because no one can take it to the level that he’s taken it to.”
Christie says that while President Trump has created significant changes to the Republican Party, he doesn’t believe those changes are permanent.
“I don’t think he’s changed the Republican Party forever and I don’t think he’s changed the Republic forever,” he said. “And he would love that, that it’s unique to him. Most people would want to change it forever and want a legacy, I don’t think he’s the least bit interested in that. He wants to look back and say he’s the only one that could’ve done that.”
The former governor reflected on the currently political climate and notes that the tension between the Democratic and Republican parties have grown significantly because of President Trump. However, when looking back on the 2016 Presidential Election, he says there was no way to stop the momentum that have built up, simply because no candidate had the funding to push back against Trump.
“It was very hard to run against him because, except for Jeb, none of us had the money to go after him. I had all kinds of things that I wanted to use that were factually hits on Donald Trump that I knew from my time in New Jersey because his business career in New Jersey was checkered. But, who had the money to do it? Only Jeb did, and Jeb wasted all that money,” Christie says. “If people really look back on that race, the candidates in particular, if you want to quote-unquote blame someone for Donald Trump, it’s Jeb Bush because he had $150 million and he never laid a glove on Donald Trump, ever. In fact, became a punching bag for him.”
The question that remained was whether or not Christie himself would ever consider facing off against the president again, to which he says, “There would be no way I would do it unless I thought I had a legitimate chance to win.”
Neil A. Carousso produces the “Mooch and the Mrs.” podcast for RADIO.COM. Follow @MoochandtheMrs on Twitter and Instagram for EXCLUSIVE behind-the-scenes content via RADIO.COM from the SALT Conference in Las Vegas.
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Let’s Go Mets! Breuer, Rose And More Share Their Favorite Opening Day Memories
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — For more than 50 years the New York Mets have provided fans with a lifetime of memories.
From Gary Carter’s dramatic 1985 debut to Mets baseball in Tokyo, we asked some of the team’s biggest fans to share their favorite Opening Day memories as The Amazin’s get ready to host their 2019 home opener at Citi Field.
Watch the video above to see comedian Jim Breuer, Mets radio hosts Howie Rose and Wayne Randazzo, former Mets Manager Bobby Valentine, sportscaster Kevin Burkhardt, Mets minority owner Anthony Scaramucci, WCBS 880 traffic reporter Tom Kaminski, WCBS 880 meteorologist Craig Allen, sportscaster Mike Breen and Reps. Eliot Engel and Peter King share their stories.
Share your favorite Opening Day memories with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! And don’t forget you can hear every Met game on 880AM!
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Neil A. Carousso produced and edited this special New York Mets content for WCBS Newsradio 880, the flagship station of Mets baseball.
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More To Love: Citi Field Unveils What’s New Ahead Of 2019 Season
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — There’s more than just baseball to look forward to this season at Citi Field.
In addition to the 50th anniversary of the Miracle Mets, the stadium also has a new food lineup that Mets fans aren’t going to want to miss out on.
WCBS 880’s traffic reporter Tom Kaminski, an avid Mets fan, got a sneak peek Thursday at some of the newcomers to Citi Field including the brand new pizza partner, Emmy Squared.
The pizza spot, which began as Emily Restaurant – also known as Pizza Loves Emily – was founded in 2014 in Clinton Hill and eventually grew into Emmy Squared in Williamsburg in 2015.
Now, Emmy Squared has partnered with the Mets and offers a variety of specialty pizzas, including “The Emmy,” served with mozzarella cheese, banana peppers, red onions and ranch dressing.
“We just could never have imagine that we would be here, but we’re happy to be,” said shop owner Emily Hyland.
She notes that there are three locations throughout the stadium, including a field-level location that offers burgers.
Other newcomers included Destination Dumplings, Dulcinea, Pizza Cupcake, Stuf’d, Sliders & Sinkers and La Newyorkina.
Fan favorites, including Wowfulls, which serves waffle cones stuffed with ice cream, and DŌ, which serves edible cookie dough, are also expected to draw large crowds.
(Photo Credit: Neil A. Carousso, WCBS 880) But it’s not just burgers and hotdogs you can find throughout the stadium. Citi Field is also planning to introduce new vendors for all dietary options, including a vegan spot: Marty’s V Burger.
“Everything that we serve is 100 percent vegan,” said owner Marty Krutolow, who offered Kaminski the shop’s signature Shroom Steakhouse Burger.
The dish is served with the restaurant’s vegan burger patty, vegan mozzarella cheese, steakhouse sauce, sautéed mushrooms and chipotle lime dressing – and has Kaminski’s seal of approval.
“That is excellent,” Kaminski noted after taking his first bite.
And while the food is usually a crowd pleaser, it’s not the only thing that’s new this season.
In fact, upon arrival fans will be greeted by an entirely new 1969 display case which features artifacts from the season, including Ron Swoboda’s game-used glove, Gil Hodge’s manager contract and more.
(Photo Credit: Neil A. Carousso, WCBS 880) The artifacts were added as the Mets plan to host a weekend-long celebration to honor the 1969 World Series Championship team on Friday, June 28 through Sunday, June 30.
Mets fans will also be pleased to hear that the team is planning to honor Tom Seaver – who was recently diagnosed with dementia and will unfortunately miss the Miracle Mets celebrations – by renaming 126th Street, which lies adjacent to the ballpark, after the legendary pitcher.
And of course, there’s always new merchandise to look forward to.
We recommend checking out the new shirts, including the one based on Howie Rose’s famous line: “Put It In the Books!”
(Photo Credit: Neil A. Carousso, WCBS 880) Neil A. Carousso produced multi-media content of the “What’s New at Citi Field” event ahead of Opening Day for WCBS Newsradio 880 – the flagship station of the New York Mets.
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Marine Veteran Rob Riggle addresses Thousand Oaks shooting
By Neil A. Carousso, ConnectingVets.com
“Freedom is not free.”
That was the resounding theme of Rob Riggle’s speech at the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Heroes Gala.
“There is nothing free about freedom and our men and women today sacrifice life and limb to protect those freedoms,” said Riggle to a room filled with veterans and service members from all branches.
Riggle retired as a lieutenant colonel after 23 years of service in the Marines Corps Reserve. He served in Afghanistan, earning two Meritorious Service Medals, National Defense Service Medals, the Humanitarian Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, among other decorations.
He is known for his comedic roles on The Daily Show and films such as 21 Jump Street and The Hangover. His former Daily Show colleague Stephen Colbert was a guest speaker at the gala.
Stephen Colbert, host of CBS’ “Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” speaks at the IAVA Heroes Gala. Riggle spoke of his priorities for veterans while praising the IAVA for their unrelenting support of our heroes through education and legislative pursuits. He also emphasized the need for a modernization of an “antiquated” Department of Veterans Affairs system, exclaiming that in this day and age, no veteran should be unaware of the benefits they earned.
Sporting a full beard for a role in an unspecified project, Riggle addressed the Thousand Oaks, California shooting in which the alleged gunman Ian David Long was a veteran of the Marine Corps.
Riggle said it’s imperative to emphasize that a veteran carrying out a mass shooting is the exception and that vets are more likely to harm themselves than anyone else. He called on more mental health awareness and resources to reduce the average of 22 veteran suicides a day.
“There’s a reason I get teary-eyed when I hear the National Anthem. It’s my home. I love my home,” said Riggle. He called for unity around core values at a time when partisans use events to fit their agendas.
“Our Constitutional rights – be it freedom of religion or speech or due process – we all still enjoy it today hundreds of years later because of what those brave Americans did in their time and what millions of brave Americans are doing right now in their time,” Riggle said.
