Blog

The College Playoffs

The college football playoffs are here. I had three dogs in the hunt: Georgia, Ohio State and Tennessee. When Notre Dame completely outclassed Indiana, the grousing began. Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffen tweeted disparaging comments about the inclusion of Indiana. Kiffen has always been insufferable. Earth to Lane: shut up. Yes you beat Georgia and play in the SEC but you lost to an awful Kentucky team at home no less. If you had beaten Florida in Gainesville you might have gotten in, but you lost. I have no problem with the inclusion of Indiana. They had a great season. I know some will point to no opponent being in the final top 25 but so what? They played in the Big 10. They beat every team by double digits except Michigan (which beat Ohio State in Columbus) and lost only to Ohio State. Indiana crushed Nebraska which barely lost to Ohio State. By those metrics, Indiana deserved to be in the playoffs. But speaking of insufferable, Indiana’s Curt Cignetti is full of himself and whose pregame bravado was not backed up by his team.

The teams without ugly loses were Oregon (undefeated), Texas (which lost twice to Georgia), Georgia (which lost on the road to Alabama and Ole Miss), Penn State (Ohio State and Oregon) and Boise State (which lost to Oregon).  All the rest had ugly loses. Notre Dame had the ugliest lost (to Northern Illinois). My only gripe was the seeding. My beloved Bulldogs are seeded second even though they lost their starting quarterback. No way Boise State should be the number three seed and Arizona State the number four seed. I have no issue with guaranteeing a spot to the conference champions in the Power Four. I have an issue with guaranteeing them a bye. Why not pick the twelve and then seed them with the top four getting a bye. That way the byes this year would be Oregon, Georgia, Texas and Penn State. The first round games would be Clemson at Notre Dame, Arizona State at Ohio State, SMU at Tennessee and Boise State at Indiana.

The first round results showed dominance by the home teams. Indiana, SMU and Tennessee never had a chance. Clemson came from way down to almost getting within a touchdown of Texas but was thoroughly outplayed. Those detractors of the committee who argued against SMC and Indiana have egg on their faces unless they want to argue that Tennessee should not have been there either. Ohio State was completely dominant and beat the Vols by 25, and it wasn’t even that close. The problem goes back to the seeding. Now Oregon which is number one must face Ohio State. Georgia must play Notre Dame. Both will likely be underdogs. Yet lower seeds Texas and Penn State will be heavy favorites against the higher seeded but weaker Arizona State and Boise State. So expect Penn State and Texas to cruise into the semifinals with Texas hosting either Oregon or Ohio State (Go Bucks!) in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Something needs to be changed. Penn State will play the winner of Notre Dame and Georgia (Go Dawgs!). I, of course, am hoping for an Ohio State – Georgia final in my hometown of Atlanta.

The Stupid Party Lives!

Once again the republicans have shown that it is easier to heard cats than to lead their House caucus. The first “continuing resolution” was 1,547 pages long and thankfully failed. Its only chance of passage was for some republican support and all the democrats in favor. This, mind you was from the republican leadership in the House. The MAGA House members said they would vote no. Then Elon Musk tweeted his displeasure soon followed by a message from Trump and Vance to kill the bill, Speaker Johnson withdrew it. Then Johnson submitted a slimmed down bill of 100 pages with Trump’s blessing. Since it stripped out some of the democrats’ goodies, the new CR would get no democrat support and not pass the House because of a technicality that it would need a two-thirds vote. Given the slim republican House majority the bill was destined to fail. But if the government shut down, the blame would fall on the democrats. But no! Instead of a unanimous vote for the CR from the republicans, 38 of them voted no, ensuring the defeat of the bill and showing the public that the republicans were incapable of governing. 

A major bone of contention was that Trump wanted an increase in the debt ceiling and the 38 dissidents wanted no increase in the debt ceiling and spending offsets instead. As Tom Massie said that instead of a CR that contained new provisions, he wanted four things: a vote on a clean CR, a vote on the debt limit, a vote on disaster relief and a separate vote on farm bailouts.

Again, regardless of the language the bill had no chance of getting two thirds of a vote. The insurgents were led by Chip Roy (no surprise) along with our Tim Burchett (again no surprise), Nancy Mace and Bob Good. Of course Good would probably never vote for anything that Trump endorsed since Trump led Good’s defeat because Good backed Ron DeSantis for president. It didn’t matter that Good was head of the Freedom Caucus. In a like manner, Trump has declared war on Chip Roy who agrees with Trump on every issue instead of raising the debt ceiling. Here is some of what Trump said:

“The very unpopular ‘Congressman’ from Texas, Chip Roy, is getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory – All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself. Republican obstructionists have to be done away with.”

Weak and ineffective people like Chip have to be dismissed as being utterly unknowledgeable as to the ways of politics, and as to Making America Great Again. Put ‘America First,’ and go for the Victory, even if it means shutting the Government down for a period of time.”

“Chip Roy is just another ambitious guy, with no talent. By the way, how’s Bob Good doing? I hope some talented challengers are getting ready in the Great State of Texas to go after Chip in the Primary. He won’t have a chance!”

So much for diplomacy. Trump demands that everyone agree with him on every issue and attacks those that do not. Roy, like Good, should be a valuable ally but instead Trump has made him an enemy. Chip Roy is not one to tuck tail and run.

Trump went after all the republicans who voted to impeach him and only one will return to the new Congress. The question is whether he will go after the 38 who voted against his CR? Can you imagine a candidate attacking Roy – or Burchett for that matter – for not raising the debt ceiling?

Finally, in their statements on the failure of the latest CR both Trump and Vance blamed only the democrats, failing to mention the 38 rouge republicans. Vance said “The Democrats just voted to shut down the government, even though we had a clean CR because they didn’t want to give the president negotiating leverage during his first term or during the first year of his new term.”

Earth to JD: What about those 38 republicans who are now more MAGA than you and more MAGA than Trump?

Idaho, Joni Ernst, the “CR” Mess

Idaho just banned DEI on its college campuses. Whoopi. The state is one percent black. I’m curious as to what the DEI initiatives were – move your campus to Mississippi?. Maybe they were to add diversity to the football and basketball teams.

Joni Ernst who heads the Senate’s committee on government efficiency has introduced a bill to move a third of the federal workers out of Washington. Do you think she read my blog piece “Drain the Swamp”? In fact her bill is entitled “Decentralizing and Re-organizing Agency Infrastructure Nationwide To Harness Efficient Services, Workforce Administration, and Management Practices Act,” or DRAIN THE SWAMP. Cute.

I am not wise in the ways of Congress’ legislative morass but I would have thought that Mike Johnson would have run the bill intended to postpone the government shutdown by Donald Trump. Apparently, he didn’t since Trump demanded that the bill not be passed. Johnson withdrew it. 

I am also not up on the nomenclature of bills either. The Affordable Care Act isn’t. The Inflation Reduction Act isn’t either and neither was this Congress’ “Continuing Resolution.” I would think a continuing resolution would be just that, a continuation of a previous budget. In fact, the definition is “A continuing resolution continues the pre-existing appropriations at the same levels as the previous fiscal year (or with minor modifications) for a set amount of time. Continuing resolutions typically provide funding at a rate or formula based on the previous year’s funding.^”

Therefore, a continuing resolution should be at most one paragraph long. So how did this “continuing resolution” get to be 1,547 pages? As Majorie Taylor-Greene said this wasn’t a CR it was an omnibus funding bill. Chip Roy was less diplomatic saying “We get this negotiated crap, and we’re forced to eat this crap sandwich. Why? Because freaking Christmas is right around the corner. It’s the same dang thing every year. Legislate by crisis, legislate by calendar. Not legislate because it’s the right thing to do.” Another House member, Eric Burlison said “It’s a total dumpster fire. I think it’s garbage.”

Surely, Johnson knew that this “continuing resolution” was not going to get pass his conservatives members and had to know that he would get all the democrat votes and enough republican votes to pass. Even though Mike Lee and Rand Paul on the Senate side blasted the resolution it would have passed the Senate since the democrats are still in the majority. Speaking of the Senate, is Kamala Harris back presiding over the chamber?

Well Elon Musk immediately fired off a Tweet condemning the increase in spending and said that any member voting for the bill should be voted out in the next election. To which one democrat member told Musk to mind his own business. Then Trump and Vance issued a statement saying that the bill should be voted down. Mike Johnson withdrew it. Now a new bill has to be introduced 72 hours before it can be enacted. I thought the “shutdown” was supposed to occur at 12:01AM Saturday?

What a mess. Since Trump somehow lambasted the bill without criticizing Johnson, I would assume that Johnson’s status a majority leader is secure unless our Tim Burchett and his buds decide to stage another palace coup. Why didn’t Johnson introduce a clean CR? The House would pass it and the Senate would not. Then the government shutdown would fall on the democrats instead of the republicans. Apparently a clean CR would not have passed the House. Some republicans demanded that the CR be augmented to satisfy their constituents. Those from farm states wanted $10 billion for additional farm aid. Then there was $100 billion for hurricane and disaster relief. Moreover, two members demanded that ethanol be sold year round rather than banned in hot weather and on and on. Of course, the democrats wanted their goodies as well and the “continuing resolution” became anything but.

A friend of mine asked me if we were ever going to see the return of statesmen instead of what passes for politicians these days. I seriously doubt it because a statesman would have to consider the welfare of the country over his or her own personal welfare.

Some more Random Thoughts

Trump has nominated Kimberly Guilfoyle to be ambassador to Greece. Guilfoyle was once married to Gavin Newsom and then was engaged to Don Jr. Some wags said that Trump nominated her to get her out of the country since Don Jr is now dating some Florida socialite. Guilfoyle was once a regular on The Five. She always sat on the end – in the seat now occupied by Judge Jeanine Piro – and wore very short dresses and low cut tops. I actually once wrote Fox asking if it was a company policy that all their women (except Dana Perino) were instructed to wear short dresses. Thankfully those days are over. But going back to Guilfoyle, I guess it wasn’t Fox’s dictates after all. Long after she left the network she was still obviously proud of her looks and proudly displayed them. I am sure she will do a great job as ambassador – whatever ambassadors do.

So now Trump has nominated four from Fox to positions in his administration: Pete Hegseth, Sean Duffy, Megyn Kelly and now Guilfoyle. I once jokingly asked if Trump was going to nominate Greg Gutfield. But on a serious note, a nomination of Harold Ford, Jr to one of the top cabinet positions would have been a home run.

Trump also nominated Herschel Walker to be ambassador to the Bahamas. Walker, who came back to graduate from the University of Georgia after being gone 42 years, is probably more fondly remembered for running over Tennessee’s Bill Bates than his run for the Senate in 2022.

Is a recession coming? Some of the women on the networks are now wearing long dresses. The so-called Hemline Index, attributed to Wharton economist George Taylor in 1926, states that the length of women’s dresses forecast changes in the economy. If times are going to be good, hemlines go up and if bad hemlines go down. There has actually been some serious econometric research on the issue with one study finding no predictive power in the length of women’s dresses. It looked at the correlation between hem length and the stock market. However, there was an indicator that fashion actually follows the economy with a lag. That is after good times come in, dresses get shorter and after bad times they get longer. So is this a chicken or the egg issue?

What’s up with all these pardons?

Will Biden pardon himself?

Will Biden pardon his brother? James Comer, chair of the House’s Oversight Committee is convinced that Hunter, Joe and brother Jim constitute a crime family. His committee is investigating the Bidens and with the pardon of Hunter for crimes real and imagined, Comer will probably go after Joe’s brother Jim. Comer has said “Joe Biden obstructed my and (Jim) Jordan’s investigations. He lied multiple times. He lied about his knowledge and involvement.” Stay tuned.

Apple is going to introduce a foldable iphone. Why don’t they just call it a flip phone?

France’s government has fallen after a no confidence vote. I thought that it meant that Macron was ousted but no, it was Macron’s prime minister Michel Barnier who only served three months must leave. Macron doesn’t have to stand for re-election until 2027. I am confused and don’t have the energy – or the interest – to try to figure out the French form of government.

Britain’s Liz Truss lasted only 44 days as prime minister and the country has had 30 governments since WW II.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz has also lost a no confidence vote triggering early elections in February. Scholz actually called for the vote knowing that he would lose it. Go figure.

Both Germany and France have multiple parties and must cobble together coalitions to form a government. Those coalitions tend to be fragile giving rise to no confidence votes. The poster child for change in governments is Italy. Its prime minister is Giorgia Meloni heads the 68th government since World War II. That is a new prime minister and a new cabinet every 13 months! But Meloni has actually been prime minister since 2022 which must be a post-war record.

I have mused that it would be logical for the democrats to split into two parties, the progressives and the liberals. The republicans could also split into two, the MAGAs and the traditional conservatives. Then a newly elected president – from one of the four parties – would have to cobble together a coalition in both the House and the Senate in order to govern. Would this mean better or worse governance for the United States or just the chaos of European governments? Likely worse governance because the smaller more radical parties would have outsized influence – see the Greens of Germany or closer to home the eight disgruntled republicans who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy.

Did you see where the North Koreans mistakenly killed Russian soldiers in the Ukraine’s Kursk region? I guess they all looked alike.

Caitlyn Clark’s “privilege”

I am not a basketball fan – not college or pro, not men’s or women’s (or is it now womyn’s?). But I saw that Caitlyn Clark won Time’s Athlete of the Year. I didn’t know Time had an Athlete of the Year Award. I knew it had a Man of the year (now Person of the Year) – likely that they will eliminate the “son” from “person” in the never ending quest for gender neutrality. But lo and behold, they have been making the athlete’s award since 2019. The previous winners are 2019 – United States Women’s National Team (soccer), 2020 – LeBron James, 2021 – Simone Biles, 2022 – Aaron Judge and 2023 – Lionel Messi. 

Clark felt it necessary to apologize for being white (and straight). She said “I want to say I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege. A lot of those players in the league that have been really good have been black players. This league has kind of been built on them. The more we can appreciate that, highlight that, talk about that, and then continue to have brands and companies invest in those players that have made this league incredible, I think it’s very important. I have to continue to try to change that, the more we can elevate black women, that’s going to be a beautiful thing.”

What about other great white players like Rebecca Lobo, Sue Bird, Diana Taurausi and Breanna Stewart? I think Clark may be the only great white WNBA player other than Becky Hammon that did not go to UConn and I think that is part of Clark’s fame. If she had gone to UConn and was setting records, it would have been ho-hum. But because she was at Iowa and elevated that team to the NCAA finals was what was historic. I recall that the starting five on her Iowa team was all white. But that seems consistent with the composition of both the Iowa and Iowa State football teams. Yes there are a few black players on those squads but the majority of the players are white. Going from Iowa to the WNBA was likely a culture shock for Clark.

But Clark’s so-called “white privilege” doesn’t stem from Time Magazine’s award. It shows itself in the endorsements she has received in contrast to those of other (black) WNBA players. That Clark is perceived as more marketable than say Angel Reese is a reflection of who buys the tickets and who purchases the merchandise. But Clark is now in a league that is majority black and has to deal – perhaps for the first time in her life – with black players who may be jealous of her fame. But Clark does have game. She is very gifted and created excitement while in college and raised the profile of the women’s game. Recall after losing to South Carolina in the finals, Dawn Staley at the trophy ceremony praised Clark. If Clark were a very good player she would have not received such accolades. She reminds me of Pete Maravich. She also has the benefit of a photoshop make over by Time. Look at the cover and compare it with how Clark actually looks.

Sixty three percent of the WNBA players are black while 19 percent are white. In the NBA 70 percent of the players are black and 17 percent are white. Of course it seems that most of the white players in the NBA are from Eastern European countries with names that sound like two boxcars colliding. However, I don’t recall that Nikola Jokic who has won three out of the four past MVP awards in the NBA has apologized for his “white privilege”.  I do remember him saying of the 2023-24 award that it should have gone to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander instead. However, the voters disagreed giving the award to Jokic in a landslide 926 points to 640. Kendrick Perkins claimed it was because 80 percent of the MVP voters were white. Actually it is 63 percent and indeed, Jokic got 60 percent of the vote for MVP. Hmm.

Hear no drone, see no drone, speak no drone

I don’t think Trump likes Canada. It is true that prime minister Trudeau is a dumpster fire. Trudeau is a weak ineffectual leader whose unpopularity is likely to lead to a regime change in Canada. What he did to the truckers who protested his shutdowns during Covid was criminal. Trump is threatening Canada with 25% tariffs for lax enforcement of its borders allowing illegal entry and fentanyl. Yet neither is nowhere as serious as the southern border. I think Trump just likes being a bully. When he imposed tariffs in his first administration, Canada retaliated. It will retaliate this time as well. The government of Ontario has threatened to cut off the flow of oil into the states. Since 60 percent of the crude we import is from Canada, Trump will certainly take notice. I think this is called “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face” – or something like that.

Now what about the drones? We can dismiss that the drones are a security risk because they are flying over New Jersey. What are they spying on? Commuters to New York? Commuters to Philly? Maybe it is Kansas State spying on Rutgers’ practices in preparation for the highly anticipated Rate Bowl in Phoenix. What is most disturbing is the total lack of information coming from the Biden Administration. Early on I had respect for John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman. He is a retired navy admiral and seemed like a straight shooter. He was one of the few people in the administration willing to talk to Fox. Kirby unlike Karine Jean-Pierre seemed to be sincere and competent. But Kirby has lost all credibility in this dronegate. 

Kirby has said that the administration does not know what is going on with the drones but knows that they do not present a danger. He said “We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus.” What? How would they know that if they do not know anything about the drones? The “foreign nexus” was, I guess, in response to New Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew’s remark that there was an Iranian mothership off the coast piloting the drones. I didn’t think Van Drew was serious – maybe he was thinking about the Led Zeppelin album of the same name –  but obviously the Pentagon thought him serious when they trotted out another spokesman to categorically deny the assertion. Kirby then said that many if not most of the sightings were of small piloted aircraft and not drones.  Kirby said “Using very sophisticated electronic detection technologies provided by federal authorities, we have not been able to, and neither have state or local law enforcement authorities, corroborate any of the reported visual sightings. To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully.” Again this comment was met with derision by New Jersey state and local officials who said that Kirby was calling all of them liars for saying that the sightings were off drones. Me thinks he thinks that we are all fools. Kirby is the one looking like a liar.

Trump of course had a very different response saying “Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge. I (don’t) think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, (shoot) them down!” Leave it to Trump to say what is on the minds of the people not associated with the Biden Administration. What I don’t understand is why New Jersey is whining to the federal government. I bet that if the sightings were over Oak Ridge, that if the feds did not take action, the state would. If it happened in Georgia, we would call our wildlife rangers and say that hunters were using drones to spot deer. They would immediately shoot them down. So why does New Jersey keep whining? Is whining part of the democrats DNA? Why doesn’t it have its helicopters or planes follow the drones until they come down and confiscate one of them? Or, following Trump’s suggestion, have its air national guard just shoot one down? If it indeed is a civilian drone piloted by kids in their backyards, then we will know that they are not a threat. 

This is all too reminiscent of the stonewalling about the Chinese spy balloon. Remember when the first Biden spokeswoman, Jean Psaki, said that in contrast to the Trump administration that Biden’s administration would share “accurate information with the American people” and “bring transparency and truth back to the government to share the truth, even when it’s hard to hear.” So where are the “truth and transparency” now, Jen?

Of course, there are two issues here. First, if the administration knows what is going on, then why don’t they tell us? Second, if the administration does not know what is going on, then we are all in deep do-do – at least until January 20,

The Department of Education, Jamaal Bowman and Elizabeth Warren

How do you stop the despicable treatment of Jews on some college campuses? How about the Department of Education cutting off all federal funds? That threat would get their attention. Just tell the schools to imagine that instead of Jewish students being targeted and harassed that LBGTQ students are the victims. I would bet that the protests will come to a screeching halt.

Although Trump has pledged to abolish the Department of Education, I don’t think he can do that without congressional approval. The department basically does two things. It funnels money from the federal coffers to the education establishment – something that can be done through block grants to the states. It also uses its civil rights division to cater to the woke leftists in its dictates on LGBTQ like changing the language in Title IX. Look for that to change. Trump’s education department could also take a crack at DEI. The accreditation agencies for the colleges and universities have included DEI in the accreditation process. Although the Department of Education has no sway of the accreditation agencies, they could determine that colleges’ DEI practices could violate the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action with its racial preferences and force the accreditation agencies to alter their criteria.

Again, show me where DEI lessens discrimination and bigotry. It doesn’t. Rather it fosters resentment, animosity and increased racial divisions. DEI has been nothing more than a honey pot for racial grifters. Universities and corporations are mostly run by white people who obviously must hate themselves or else they would not impose this nonsense on their students and/or employees.

Did you see the Jamaal Bowman quote after the Penny verdict?  Here it is:

“Dear White People, I don’t know why I feel the need to keep talking to you. I don’t know why part of me still has hope for you and for us. Some of you are too far gone. But maybe enough of you aren’t and will join us in fighting to end white supremacy.” So Bowman is asking white people to help him end white supremacy?

Penny, as you know, was acquitted for subduing a mentally challenged homeless subway rider that was terrorizing passengers. Bowman and his BLM cohorts are protesting this as a racial crime since Penny is white and Neely was black. I wonder if they would have the same outrage if the races were reversed. I doubt if Penny would have even been arrested in jurisdictions that do not have woke progressive DAs.

I am glad that Bowman lost his re-election bid and soon will be out of the Congress. He was an embarrassment.

Speaking of embarrassments, did you see what Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders said about the murder of the United Healthcare CEO? Warren: “The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the health care system.” Her comrade in arms Bernie Sanders echoed that sentiment by saying “I think what the outpouring of anger at the health care industry tells us is that millions of people understand that health care is a human right and that you cannot have people in the insurance industry rejecting needed health care for people while they make billions of dollars in profit.”

To me this sounds like the two senators are excusing murder instead of criticizing the system they helped to create with Obamacare. I presume that they are talking about claims being rejected by private insurers. What about doctors dropping Medicare patients due to low reimbursement rates? Will they condemn the doctors or Medicare? Sanders and Warren know that under a single payer system – which they both so badly want to impose on us – care gets denied and there are long waiting lines for services. Who then would patients that are denied care shoot in that type of system? My mother had seven bypass surgery at 85. I remarked that if she were in Canada that they would have denied her the operation and she would have died rather than living to 101.

Contrast Warren’s and Sanders’ reaction to that of John Fetterman whom I am slowly warming up to. “The public execution of an innocent man and father of two is indefensible, not ‘inevitable.’ Condoning and cheering this on says more about YOU than the situation of health insurance.” Fetterman also said regarding the killer “He’s the a–hole that’s going to die in prison. Congratulations if you want to celebrate that. A sewer is going to sewer.” Some of the libs are now attacking Fetterman saying that he is going to flip to the republicans. Nonsense. Fetterman is still a progressive but perhaps a more moderate one. 

My civil rights are not your civil rights?

Trump nominated Hameet Dhillon to head the civil rights division of the Justice Department. She is the fourth Indian-American nominated by Trump. Do you think JD Vance has anything to do with this? Biden’s Department of “Justice” has gone after right to lifers, pushed an LBGTQ agenda and DEI. Remember when DOJ sent a SWAT team to raid the home of a Catholic father who had protested at an abortion clinic? Biden’s “Justice” Department has targeted other pro-lifers while ignoring attacks on Catholic churches and pro-life pregnancy centers. The department has aggressively embraced LGBTQ  and is suing states that have enacted laws passed by states on underage puberty blockers and trans surgeries. Consider that the case before the Supreme Court is US vs Skrmetti where the lawyers for the “Justice” Department are challenging Tennessee’s law regarding puberty blockers for children with the solicitor general arguing the case for the government. Mind you, the majority of Americans are opposed to minors being transitioned. Why doesn’t the left say that the actions of the “Justice” department is a threat to democracy?

A Trump Justice Department would be supporting, not opposing, Tennessee’s (and 26 other states’ laws). Hameet Dhillon is a civil rights lawyer who has argued for the civil rights of those targeted by Biden’s administration. She has been a steadfast voice in opposing the abuse of citizens by Biden’s Department of “Justice” and is a brilliant pick. To illustrate what a good choice she is, just look at the left losing its mind. MSNBC calls her a “far right, conspiratorial lawyer” who “would make a mockery of the concept of civil rights.” MSNBC then says this “leaves little doubt about (Trump’s) intent to use the department to undermine democracy during his second term.” Again, who has been undermining democracy over the past four years? 

Dhillon has sued the government for shutting down churches during Covid while leaving open large retail stores. She said “One of the most egregious violations of our First Amendment freedoms was the treatment of religious Americans as second-class citizens, as vectors of disease. From the very beginning of the pandemic, governors across the country discriminately labeled houses of worship, and by extension the First Amendment, as ‘non-essential,’ while at the same time leaving their secular counterparts open for business. In my state, California, marijuana, liquor, and big-box retailers were deemed essential, but God was banned.” She has also sued on behalf of “detransitioners” – trans people who want to regain their original gender identity. Does all this indicate a person who is a threat to our civil rights? Not in my book. Bravo Trump.

Some other thoughts

I can’t wait for the current bunch of clowns in the White House to be evicted. They tried to deny the existence of the Chinese spy balloon and then let it float over the country before finally shooting it down. Now we have the drones over New Jersey. The White House says it knows nothing and is doing nothing. They say that no laws are being broken so they are going to let them continue to fly. Want to bet that Trump will have a different reaction? I wonder why New Jersey just doesn’t take matters into its own hands and have its air national guard shoot one of them down?

Biden pardoned his son – after saying over and over again that he would not. Did you ever believe him? I thought he would wait until the last minute. Now he is pardoning 1,500 persons on home confinement. I guess their families needed a break. The question is whether Biden will issue preemptive pardons for some who he had target Trump and Trump’s supporters. As I have previously said, if Trump went after his enemies, he would not have time to do anything else. Some have mentioned that Trump would go after Anthony Fauci. Why? Putting Fauci’s nemesis, Jay Bhattacharya as head of NIH is the ultimate revenge. BTW, since Bhattacharya will now be controlling the $48 billion in grants, I bet that the research funded reaches different conclusions than they did under Fauci. So goes academic integrity. 

Random Thoughts #46

Did you see where HHS posted “Happy Pansexual and Panromantic Pride Day!”? Not being up on wokespeak I looked up the terms. Wikipedia says “pansexuality is a sexual, romantic or emotional attraction towards people of all genders.” All genders? You mean all two of them? Then “panromantic is a type of romantic orientation that describes people as being romantically or emotionally attracted to all genders”. I’m certain there must be a difference but I really don’t care. I do know that this is likely to be the last of such postings by a Federal agency for the next four years. Thank goodness.

BTW, I googled “how many genders are there?” I got a list of 72. Apparently someone had too much time on their hands. 

Trump wants to get rid of birthright citizenship and hints at using an executive order to do so. Trump is well aware that birthright citizenship stems from the 14^th Amendment which states “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

The issue lies in the interpretation of “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof”. Some republicans say that the language implies that the Congress can define the meaning and disallow citizenship to children born in the United States of illegals. However, I think Trump wants to include children of legal noncitizens, in fact he did once say that if one parent were a citizen, then citizenship for the newborn would be granted. Look for Trump to argue that due to the language of the amendment he can void birthright citizenship with an executive order. Whatever he does, expect a spate of lawsuits.

Do you cruise? We don’t. For us a cruise ship looks like one giant petri dish.

I usually like AEI but one of their op-eds from a staff member made no sense to me. It is “Most of the Money in the “Foreign Aid” Bill Would Stay in the U.S.”

https://www.aei.org/op-eds/most-of-the-money-in-the-foreign-aid-bill-would-stay-in-the-u-s/. It contends that, for example, that the $95 billion aid package to the Ukraine mostly stays in the US and benefits the country. It contends that what we do is send them our old stuff and then use the money to replenish our stocks with new stuff. The money is being spent in US defense companies. Needless to say, this is weird. It seems that the author would then say we would also benefit from simply dumping the materiel in the ocean and paying the defense companies to make new armaments. Huh? Franklin Roosevelt would be proud. Didn’t we have to borrow the money (or print it) to get the $95 billion? Didn’t that add to the debt? Didn’t that crowd out private investment? How is this productive? Surely, AEI knows better.

Did you see where Josh Hawley and Bernie Sanders both agree with Trump’s notion about capping consumer credit card rates? You know that if Hawley and Sanders agree then they both are wrong. Trump who despite his economics degree from Penn keeps making truly dumb economic statements. Capping interest rates will result in the poorest credits being shut out from borrowing from lower cost lenders. Yes what they are paying seems high but it reflects their credit riskiness. Capping the rate lower means that they will lose their credit cards and will have to depend on higher cost lenders such as pawn shops and payday lenders. So first we have Trump’s tariffs and now interest rate caps. What’s next rent controls?

Electricity is up 30 percent on Biden’s watch. Gasoline prices are up 63 percent. Housing is up 20 percent. Home furnishings are up 16 percent, food 21 percent and new cars 19 percent. Joe Biden says that Bidenomics was a success. I guess it matters how you define “success”. Just like my friend said about Beyonce’s endorsement of Kamala Harris “Beyonce’ don’t have to worry about paying her bills.” Neither does Joe Biden.

Alexander Hamilton imagined future presidents who might be “vain and ambitious, as well as avaricious,” who, upon reaching the end of their allotted time in the “seat of supreme magistracy,” would be forced to assuage their considerable ego by “wandering among the people like discontented ghosts, and sighing for a place which they were destined never more to possess.”  Did Hamilton know Barack Obama?

Baseball, the College Playoffs and my Dawgs and Bucks

Juan Soto is joining the Mets for $755 million over 15 years. The contract is being cited as the largest in major league history. But isn’t Otani’s contract $700 million for 10 years? Otani’s is rare because he may be one of the few to sign a big deal and then win a World Series. Isn’t that right Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, Manny Machado, Francisco Lindor, Fernando Tatis and Giancarlo Stanton? History is not on the Mets’ side. 

However, the allure of a power hitter is that home runs have become more important in the game (chicks love the long ball). Yet Aaron Judge was a bust in this year’s World Series. The Yankees with all that power – Judge, Stanton and Solo – still lost. Consider that the Yankees had more hits, more runs, more home runs, more walks (Solo), a higher batting average and a lower ERA than the Dodgers and still lost! However, the Dodgers were more athletic and more aggressive baserunners. During the season the Dodgers led the majors in taking the extra base. The Yankees were last. I’m no expert but it seemed that the Dodgers were a better team while the Yankees were a bunch of individuals. But I didn’t like either team (except Freddie Freeman) and hoped that they both would lose. Now that the Dodgers have added Blake Snell, they have cemented their status as the evil empire of the west – the Yankees being the evil empire of the east.

I remain a Braves fan although I will never forgive them for not re-signing Freddie. Hank Aaron went to my home church. He was kind, humble and warm. If you didn’t know he was the great immortal Hank Aaron you would have just thought of him as being a wonderful devoted member of the congregation. 

We go camping in St Petersburg every year for a week, mainly to see the Rays. Mind you, we are not Rays fans. I just love baseball and pick the opponent. This year we will see the Orioles – we also saw them last year. The Rays will be playing in the Yankee’s minor league park in Tampa due to the damage to Tropicana Field caused by Hurricane Milton. BTW, the Trop is the worse baseball park in the league by far. Yes even worse than Oakland.

Now for football. Alabama got left out of the new 12 team playoff. Naturally they are whining. Their AD says that they are going to reconsider their out of conference schedule and play a softer schedule. Softer? This year they played Western Kentucky, South Florida, Wisconsin and Mercer out of conference. Mercer? They lost to Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Vanderbilt? How can you get a softer out of conference schedule? Maybe substitute Fort Valley State for Wisconsin (which was 5-7)? What Alabama should do is get out of the SEC and go to the ACC, Big 12 or better yet the Mountain West. Then it can get one of those guaranteed slots in the playoffs. Word to the Alabama AD: shut up.

I think the SEC should have 9 conference games rather than 8. I hate getting rid of the divisions and losing traditional rivalries. Why can’t Texas play Texas A&M and Oklahoma every year? Why can’t Tennessee play Alabama and Vanderbilt or Georgia play Auburn and Florida?

I also don’t like the 12 team playoff. I know it was put in because of money. ESPN is paying $7.8 billion for the playoffs. Each of the 12 teams gets $4 million. The quarterfinalists get an additional $4 million. The semifinalists get $6 million and the finalists also get $6 million. Each team gets $3 million to cover expenses. Hmm. Maybe I will get invited to the Georgia games like in the past. Hopefully, there is a money pool set aside for the players to divide. 

There is a lot of whining that Oregon seeded number one has gotten a tough draw. It gets the winner of the Tennessee Ohio State game. Penn St seeded 6 gets to play SMU at home and then Boise State if it beats SMU. Is this fair? Probably not but that’s the way the proverbial cookie crumbles. What would be better is for there not to be any guaranteed byes by conference. Rather rank the teams and give the byes to the top four regardless of conference.

If we still had the four team playoff, it would be Oregon versus Texas and Georgia versus Penn State. I think that Notre Dame is better than Penn State but that loss to Northern Illinois is inexplicable.

With Georgia’s starting quarterback out, the Dawg haters are saying that the Dawgs should be out of the playoffs. They call it the “Florida State rule.” Last year, Florida State lost its starting quarterback and was not included in the playoffs. They then lost to Georgia in a bowl game 63-3. Clearly they were not a playoff team and if Georgia had not lost to Alabama, it would have likely won its third national championship. However, Georgia has a capable backup. Remember when in 2015, Ohio State lost its starting quarterback and its backup too? The third stringer Cardele Jones led the Buckeyes over Wisconsin in the Big 10 title game 59-0 with Ezekiel Elliott running for 220 yards. Then my other half and I were in New Orleans to see the Bucks beat Alabama and at Jerry’s World where they beat Oregon and Marcus Mariota for the national championship. Look for Georgia to do the same.

Georgia and Ohio State are in opposite brackets so I am hoping for another Georgia Ohio State final. I’ll be there. Maybe this time instead of wearing my Herschel Walker jersey and Woody Hayes t-shirt I will wear my Jack Tatum jersey and a Georgia bulldog cap. Go Dawgs/Bucks!