I have been a football fan for a very long time.
Over the last ten years or so I have watched, dismayed, as the product has deteriorated and the NFL has become ever more greedy and unwatchable. Moving games to the NFL channel was a really bush league move.
Color commentators afflicted with verbal diarrhea and an addiction to superlatives so severe that almost any play or player turns into the greatest ever are extremely annoying.
After enduring this nonsense for far too long I have recently taken to watching the games on mute. Big improvement which has the laudable side effect of tuning out the commercials!
Then there are the head coaches most of whom appear to have become obscenity spewing pseudo generals who think they are commanding troops in an enterprise as noble as war.
Two or three years ago my local team, the Cardinals, were featured in some program that took an in depth look at the team. I turned it off after about thirty seconds of head coach Bruce Ariens' obscenity laced rant about leading his troops into battle. Mr. Ariens, George Patton you are most assuredly not and most of your troops would be deemed unfit characters for military service.
Then there are the players. By and large a group of spoiled, tattooed thugs more interested in stupid demonstrations of personal prowess than the dignity of their teams or the game. Is there anything less compelling than watching some behemoth do his victory dance after sacking a QB in garbage time while losing the game?
Now these spoiled millionaires, mostly black ones, have decided that living in the country that has allowed them to become rich and famous is a racist nightmare.
Good luck to all of you. I will not be watching anymore games. The anti-American demonstrations by players and entire teams today are more than I can stand.
Well, except for watching the Cardinals. I love cheering on their humiliation, their owners having stolen billions here in the Valley of the Sun over the last 29 years.
I hope you will join me in finding something else to do on football season Sundays. These miscreants do not deserve our support in their present incarnation.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Saturday, September 23, 2017
This and That # 6
There has been quite a spat going on in the academic legal community over the last month or so.
Two tenured law professors from two different schools, Pennsylvania and San Diego, co-authored an opinion piece explaining that a lot of our current social problems, kids without families, opioid abuse, and catastrophic urban violence, among others, might be less serious if the basic rules of personal responsibility prevalent in mid twentieth century America were still in place.
"That culture laid out the script we all were supposed to follow: Get married before you have children and strive to stay married for their sake. Get the education you need for gainful employment, work hard, and avoid idleness. Go the extra mile for your employer or client. Be a patriot, ready to serve the country. Be neighborly, civic-minded, and charitable. Avoid coarse language in public. Be respectful of authority. Eschew substance abuse and crime."
Pretty tame stuff. But then they crossed the rubicon.
"All cultures are not equal(italics are mine). Or at least they are not equal in preparing people to be productive in an advanced economy. The culture of the Plains Indians was designed for nomadic hunters, but is not suited to a First World, 21st-century environment. Nor are the single-parent, antisocial habits, prevalent among some working-class whites; the anti-“acting white” rap culture of inner-city blacks; the anti-assimilation ideas gaining ground among some Hispanic immigrants."
That all cultures are not equal is, for most of us, blindingly obvious. Do I really have to explain it? Again? No, I don't.
For any of you who may doubt this obvious statement of incontrovertible fact please look around you. Do you see all those millions and millions of legal and illegal immigrants? Do you have any idea why they might have chosen to leave the countries and cultures of their birth and flee to America, often at great personal peril? I know, I don't get it either. What could possibly explain why they wouldn't have chosen to stay in, in no particular order, Russia, China, The Philippines, Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela, El Salvador, India, Pakistan, etc?
Even as degraded as our culture has become, thanks to the never ending attempts by the left to denigrate anything and everything American, it is still the culture the whole non-western world is fleeing to.
The colleagues and students of the two rogue professors who offered such an heretical analysis of culture are aghast. Fire them, string them up. How dare they!
From Penn Law students;
"While we do not challenge Professor Wax’s right to express her views, we question whether it is appropriate for her to continue to teach a required first-year course. The Penn Law administration has long been aware that her bigoted views inevitably seep into her words and actions in the classroom and in private conversations with students. We call on the administration to consider more deeply the toll that this takes on students, particularly students of color and members of the LGBTQIA community, and to consider whether it is in the best interests of the school and its students for Professor Wax to continue to teach a required first-year class. Exposure to a diversity of viewpoints is an essential and valuable part of any educational experience, but no student should have to be exposed to bigotry or abuse in the classroom (italics are mine)."
These idiots are attending a top tier law school and want to be lawyers?
From the dean of law at University of San Diego comes this;
"I want to thank the student groups, as well as the many individual students, faculty and other members of the USD law school community who have spoken or written to me to express their concerns about the article written by USD School of Law Professor Larry Alexander, along with University of Pennsylvania Professor Amy Wax, and their subsequent interviews about the article.
...We must recognize that, for many students, racial discrimination and cultural subordination (WHAT!) are not academic theories, they reflect the students’ personal experiences.
... The views expressed by Professor Alexander were his personal views. I personally do not agree with those views, nor do I believe that they are representative of the views of our law school community."
Luckily for them and us both professors are tenured. If they were not they would probably both have been fired. For being polite, truthful and honest. That is no longer permitted, unless you have protection.
&&&
Speaking of LGBT let's explore a real dilemma. I am working on another post about the tragedy of transgenderism and via Instapundit I came across a story headlined,
"Why Can't My Famous Gender Nonconforming Friends Get Laid". Interesting I thought, so I clicked through and read the piece. Profoundly stupid, extremely long and entirely unnecessary. Why unnecessary, you ask?
Because...
Now you know the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey famously intoned back when boys were boys and girls were girls.
Two tenured law professors from two different schools, Pennsylvania and San Diego, co-authored an opinion piece explaining that a lot of our current social problems, kids without families, opioid abuse, and catastrophic urban violence, among others, might be less serious if the basic rules of personal responsibility prevalent in mid twentieth century America were still in place.
"That culture laid out the script we all were supposed to follow: Get married before you have children and strive to stay married for their sake. Get the education you need for gainful employment, work hard, and avoid idleness. Go the extra mile for your employer or client. Be a patriot, ready to serve the country. Be neighborly, civic-minded, and charitable. Avoid coarse language in public. Be respectful of authority. Eschew substance abuse and crime."
Pretty tame stuff. But then they crossed the rubicon.
"All cultures are not equal(italics are mine). Or at least they are not equal in preparing people to be productive in an advanced economy. The culture of the Plains Indians was designed for nomadic hunters, but is not suited to a First World, 21st-century environment. Nor are the single-parent, antisocial habits, prevalent among some working-class whites; the anti-“acting white” rap culture of inner-city blacks; the anti-assimilation ideas gaining ground among some Hispanic immigrants."
That all cultures are not equal is, for most of us, blindingly obvious. Do I really have to explain it? Again? No, I don't.
For any of you who may doubt this obvious statement of incontrovertible fact please look around you. Do you see all those millions and millions of legal and illegal immigrants? Do you have any idea why they might have chosen to leave the countries and cultures of their birth and flee to America, often at great personal peril? I know, I don't get it either. What could possibly explain why they wouldn't have chosen to stay in, in no particular order, Russia, China, The Philippines, Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela, El Salvador, India, Pakistan, etc?
Even as degraded as our culture has become, thanks to the never ending attempts by the left to denigrate anything and everything American, it is still the culture the whole non-western world is fleeing to.
The colleagues and students of the two rogue professors who offered such an heretical analysis of culture are aghast. Fire them, string them up. How dare they!
From Penn Law students;
"While we do not challenge Professor Wax’s right to express her views, we question whether it is appropriate for her to continue to teach a required first-year course. The Penn Law administration has long been aware that her bigoted views inevitably seep into her words and actions in the classroom and in private conversations with students. We call on the administration to consider more deeply the toll that this takes on students, particularly students of color and members of the LGBTQIA community, and to consider whether it is in the best interests of the school and its students for Professor Wax to continue to teach a required first-year class. Exposure to a diversity of viewpoints is an essential and valuable part of any educational experience, but no student should have to be exposed to bigotry or abuse in the classroom (italics are mine)."
These idiots are attending a top tier law school and want to be lawyers?
From the dean of law at University of San Diego comes this;
"I want to thank the student groups, as well as the many individual students, faculty and other members of the USD law school community who have spoken or written to me to express their concerns about the article written by USD School of Law Professor Larry Alexander, along with University of Pennsylvania Professor Amy Wax, and their subsequent interviews about the article.
...We must recognize that, for many students, racial discrimination and cultural subordination (WHAT!) are not academic theories, they reflect the students’ personal experiences.
... The views expressed by Professor Alexander were his personal views. I personally do not agree with those views, nor do I believe that they are representative of the views of our law school community."
Luckily for them and us both professors are tenured. If they were not they would probably both have been fired. For being polite, truthful and honest. That is no longer permitted, unless you have protection.
&&&
Speaking of LGBT let's explore a real dilemma. I am working on another post about the tragedy of transgenderism and via Instapundit I came across a story headlined,
"Why Can't My Famous Gender Nonconforming Friends Get Laid". Interesting I thought, so I clicked through and read the piece. Profoundly stupid, extremely long and entirely unnecessary. Why unnecessary, you ask?
Because...
Now you know the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey famously intoned back when boys were boys and girls were girls.
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Trump and DACA
You will all have noticed the goings on over the last few weeks regarding DACA, the program undertaken, unconstitutionally, by Barry O a few years back to protect young illegals from the sins of their parents. Most of us are sympathetic to them.
It was announced as a temporary measure as his imperial majesty became impatient with that pesky congress for not doing as it was told. It would disappear as soon as congress did its job, his majesty told us.
DJT announced that it would end in six months and congress had better get to work.
As you know Mr. Trump, and all of his supporters, have been denounced as racists because we disapprove of illegal immigration. So be it.
For reasons too embarrassing to recount Trump ended up negotiating with Pelosi and Schumer on a DACA replacement. Completely brilliant.
For the tiny price of giving some kind of official status to about 800,000 very compelling illegals (details unknown at this time) and working with Democrats to do so, he has immunized himself from the racist anti-immigrant charges the left saddled him and us with. Brilliant. The art of the deal indeed.
It was announced as a temporary measure as his imperial majesty became impatient with that pesky congress for not doing as it was told. It would disappear as soon as congress did its job, his majesty told us.
DJT announced that it would end in six months and congress had better get to work.
As you know Mr. Trump, and all of his supporters, have been denounced as racists because we disapprove of illegal immigration. So be it.
For reasons too embarrassing to recount Trump ended up negotiating with Pelosi and Schumer on a DACA replacement. Completely brilliant.
For the tiny price of giving some kind of official status to about 800,000 very compelling illegals (details unknown at this time) and working with Democrats to do so, he has immunized himself from the racist anti-immigrant charges the left saddled him and us with. Brilliant. The art of the deal indeed.
Thanks Again Mr. President
I thought President Trump's UN speech Tuesday was great. I hope you were able to watch it, hear it or read it. A breath of fresh air. Devoid of diplomatic double speak. Entirely.
A few of my favorite moments.
“The United States of America has been among the greatest forces for good in the history of the world, and the greatest defenders of sovereignty, security, and prosperity for all."
Indeed. Well, a bit humble in my opinion. Has there ever been a greater force for good in the history of the world? In a word, no. Will there ever be one? Look around the world. The answer is clearly no. We are it and hopefully DJT's election will have helped prevent our destruction and the extinguishing of the only real beacon of liberty in the world.
As I watch more and more of my fellow citizens seeming to embrace socialist notions I was very pleased that the President put the case clearly.
"The problem in Venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented, but that socialism has been faithfully implemented. (italics are mine) (Applause.) From the Soviet Union to Cuba to Venezuela, wherever true socialism or communism has been adopted, it has delivered anguish and devastation and failure. Those who preach the tenets of these discredited ideologies only contribute to the continued suffering of the people who live under these cruel systems."
On North Korea.
"The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary. That’s what the United Nations is all about; that’s what the United Nations is for. Let’s see how they do."
The no BS network* is a beautiful thing. Notice the last sentence. I was surprised but delighted he did not say "we".
On Iran,
"We cannot let a murderous regime continue these destabilizing activities while building dangerous missiles, and we cannot abide by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program. (Applause.) The Iran Deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into. Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don’t think you’ve heard the last of it -- believe me." The no BS network on display again!
A very important phrase banished by Barry O and his cadre is back.
"We will stop radical Islamic terrorism (italics are mine) because we cannot allow it to tear up our nation, and indeed to tear up the entire world.
Last, but by no means least.
"As President of the United States, I will always put America first, just like you, as the leaders of your countries will always, and should always, put your countries first. (Applause.)"
Shortly after the speech concluded a headline appeared on Yahoo "News" noting that some diplomats were offended by the speech. Who were they? The ambassadors from Iran, North Korea, Syria (I didn't mention them but he did) and Venezuela. As though that was some unintended consequence. It was the whole point for goodness sake.
*Pop culture 1970's style reference to "Tunnelvision", the no bullshit network.
A few of my favorite moments.
“The United States of America has been among the greatest forces for good in the history of the world, and the greatest defenders of sovereignty, security, and prosperity for all."
Indeed. Well, a bit humble in my opinion. Has there ever been a greater force for good in the history of the world? In a word, no. Will there ever be one? Look around the world. The answer is clearly no. We are it and hopefully DJT's election will have helped prevent our destruction and the extinguishing of the only real beacon of liberty in the world.
As I watch more and more of my fellow citizens seeming to embrace socialist notions I was very pleased that the President put the case clearly.
"The problem in Venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented, but that socialism has been faithfully implemented. (italics are mine) (Applause.) From the Soviet Union to Cuba to Venezuela, wherever true socialism or communism has been adopted, it has delivered anguish and devastation and failure. Those who preach the tenets of these discredited ideologies only contribute to the continued suffering of the people who live under these cruel systems."
On North Korea.
"The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary. That’s what the United Nations is all about; that’s what the United Nations is for. Let’s see how they do."
The no BS network* is a beautiful thing. Notice the last sentence. I was surprised but delighted he did not say "we".
On Iran,
"We cannot let a murderous regime continue these destabilizing activities while building dangerous missiles, and we cannot abide by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program. (Applause.) The Iran Deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into. Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don’t think you’ve heard the last of it -- believe me." The no BS network on display again!
A very important phrase banished by Barry O and his cadre is back.
"We will stop radical Islamic terrorism (italics are mine) because we cannot allow it to tear up our nation, and indeed to tear up the entire world.
Last, but by no means least.
"As President of the United States, I will always put America first, just like you, as the leaders of your countries will always, and should always, put your countries first. (Applause.)"
Shortly after the speech concluded a headline appeared on Yahoo "News" noting that some diplomats were offended by the speech. Who were they? The ambassadors from Iran, North Korea, Syria (I didn't mention them but he did) and Venezuela. As though that was some unintended consequence. It was the whole point for goodness sake.
*Pop culture 1970's style reference to "Tunnelvision", the no bullshit network.
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