So look, no promises, but I'm going to make an attempt to write again. Lord knows there is no shortage of material, what with the 2016 Presidential Election already heating up, (albeit over a year before the actual election) other various news items and of course the wacky world of sports.
POLTICS: The people vs. Donald Trump
There are a lot of things that I like about Donald Trump and his run for the Republican Nomination. He's self made, so he's not beholden to special interests to raise money, He's also not beholden to the party line, as his plan to raise taxes on the wealthy have his fellow Repulicans breaking out in hives, and although I realize he has had his share of business failures, he's also had some very huge successes.
The main problem I have with Trump is that for all the success he has had, for all the good fortune and blessings in his lafe, he is incredibly thin skinned. I'll get to the Fox News debate in a minute, but look at some of the people he has feuded with over the years, Rosie O'Donnell? I mean, most people find Rosie O Donnell annoying, but the spat he got into with her was
embarrassing.
Another time I was watching an ESPN 30 for 30 about the USFL, and when someone suggested to Trump that Charlie Steiner took a shot at Trump, Trump was all set to go bananas on Steiner. I mean, who the hell would get worked up over something Steiner has to say? Only someone who can't take a punch. And if Charlie Steiner and Rosie O'Donnell can get under Trump's skin, how can he handle the likes of Vladimir Putin? And if he thinks Megyn Kelly was unfair, what's going to happen when he gets grilled by the folks at CNN (which the joke goes stands for Clinton News Network) or George Stephanopolis (former Clinton administration employee-now working for ABC News)?
The other thing that drives me nuts about Trump is that many of the good points he makes gets lost in the blathering rhetoric that he spouts out. His spat with John McCain is a perfect example.
As big of a John McCain fan as I was, he has lost a lot of luster in my eyes since his loss in 2008. I don't know if he is sore because he lost or what, but he has become so partisan and so anti-Obama, that most of the reasons I thought he was going to make a great President have gone by the wayside. Where once he was an energetic deal maker, not afraid to reach across the aisle to get a deal done, now he's a crotchety old man similar to Bob Dole. I never thought I'd say this, but it maybe time for the old maverick to pack it in.
Having said that, there is still the one thing about McCain that I will always respect and admire, the one thing that NOBODY can take away from him. He was a war hero plain and simple. Held as a POW at the Hanoi Hilton (and other prisons) for nearly 7 years, he rejected several opportunities to be released as per military protocol, and was severely beaten and tortured for that reason. For Donald Trump, who decided not to bother with Vietnam, to knock McCain for what he went through while a POW is unconscionable.
What brought on Trump's attack on McCain was actually McCain's shameful record on veteran's benefits. Trump pointed out that time and time again, McCain has voted to cut benefits for military veterans. How a man who went through what he did and can still consider veterans benefits pork barrel just blows my mind.
It's the same thing with the immigration issue. Anyone with half a brain knows we need to keep our borders secure, and that we need to have documentation for anyone who enters the country. But when Trump goes on to blast McCain for his service and imply that every Mexican who crosses the Rio Grande is a serial killer, how are you supposed to take him seriously? It's the stupid stuff he says that garners the headlines, not the good points he makes underneath.
The other issue is, how serious is he about running? Is he going to be another Ross Perot, staying in it till it looks like he might win,and then dropping out? Or is he in for the long haul? If the answer is the latter, he's going to have to toughen up and batten down. Otherwise, he should stop wasting everybody's time.
SPORTS: Are you ready for some football? Because I'm NOT!
The 2014 football season should go down in infamy as one of the worst seasons. It started with the video of Ray Rice clobbering his fiancee on an Atlantic City elevator, continued with Adrian Peterson beating the crap out of his son, and ended with the Patriots winning the Super Bowl after being accused of tampering with the footballs. That on top of all the usual DWI's, drug suspensions, and the fact that dog killer Michael Vick could get a job, and Jesus lover Tim Tebow couldn't, and one has to wonder why should we bother with this sport?
In an article he wrote for the Post, Mike Vaccaro wrote of America's addiction to the NFL,
( http://nypost.com/2015/01/30/the-nfls-not-so-secret-weapon-that-will-never-let-it-die/)
He's right. Even in a spring where the Rangers and Islanders both made the playoffs, in a summer where both the Mets and the Yankees are at the top of their divisions, it still seems like it's all football all the time. Am I just as guilty? Am I going to watch? I can tell you this, I'm not going to watch as much, even if my Jets defy expectations and actually have a decent year, I'm not going to be as into it. Last season left a real bad taste. And I have better things to do, than waste my time watching a sport that rewards its lowest common denominator.
So let me know what y'all are thinking. Thanks for reading, and have a great week.
So let me know what y'all are thinking. Thanks for reading, and have a great week.
Football:
ReplyDeleteHe passed it on the 1. He didn't run it with Lynch.
Still hurts...and I don't even like the sea hawks