Looking ahead to 2019-a resolution re: social media When they go low, we go high…words to live by

Social media can be a wonderful thing…can easily keep in touch with lots of people at once and not just people you personally know. With me, I’ve connected with old friends from before social media, people from tailgating, and a lot of people through my work with the Jills and Bandettes. And that’s just Facebook. I’ve lost track of all the people of celebrity status like actors and actresses and pro athletes that I not only follow but follow me back on Twitter and/or Instagram.

Unfortunately, there’s a negative to social media as well…and I’m not talking about the addiction that some people have to it that keeps them from paying attention to the world around them. While you can easily connect and converse with people you want to, you can also get sucked into connecting and conversing with the dregs of society as well….the bigots and the ignorant hateful people. The last few years, with a career con artist and renowned bigoted moron in the White House, those types of people have come out of the woodwork, no longer hiding in the shadows and under sheets like they used to. Scary thing is, with social media, you find out that you know many of those people...it’s an eye opener to find out that the people you thought were great people have some ugly bigoted skeletons in their closets.

Anyway, I’ve become a lot more politically aware the last few years and have weighed in on social media…unfortunately, many of those dregs like to “weigh in” as well…but since they don’t have facts on their side, they generally just hurl insults. Now, while I’m generally bringing facts to the table, I confess I’ve hurled plenty of insults back in addition.

So for my New Year’s resolution, I’m curbing the insults as much as possible. Some will slip out, I know but I’m going to try to follow the mantra of 2018’s most admired woman, Michelle Obama. “When they go low, we go high.” Instead of hurling insults right back, when I’m tempted to, I’ll simply block them. They’re not worth the time to insult.

For example, over the weekend, I paid a compliment to a friend on a photo she posted on Instagram. Then yesterday, some clown with a private account made some stupid and stalkerish comments towards me after that compliment. Rather than point out his obvious issues, I simply blocked him. People whose only goal on social media is to be scumbags are likely just as bad away from social media and they aren’t exactly getting a heavenly reward when all is said and done.

2018 my year in review

2018 has been a big year with some a couple of major changes for me, both of which I wondered if they’d ever happen.

First, after 22 years, I dropped my Bills season tickets…a decision I didn’t make lightly and has been coming for a few years to be honest. Since 2012, going to games has gotten to be less enjoyable for me each year. In 2006, when my season ticket partner bailed on me halfway through the 1^st game, I started sitting alone. For the 1^st 6 years of that, it wasn’t an issue…between people I knew around me and my work with the Jills, I kept busy. In 2012, it got a little less enjoyable and in 2014, it got even less so.

The tailgating was a different story…it stayed fun a little longer but the last few years, all the effort put in with all the prep work on Saturday, getting there early on Sunday to try to save spots for people that take for granted that you can save spots forever, cooking food that started going to waste, trying to get everything put away so we can get into the game on time, and all the clean up the next day…it started taking its toll. Add into that the increased costs between tickets, parking, and gas as well as all the drive time, it just wasn’t worth it to me to continue more than a few games a season. Maybe one day I’ll get them again…though if the Bills move downtown where tailgating will be compromised, the odds will be against it.

Secondly, I bought a house…it’s nothing spectacular but it’s mine and unlike the way my apartment had started falling apart after my original landlord passed, it’s nice. I still have a lot of work I want to do with it but I’m happy when I get home…and not just because I’m getting home to my boys. Speaking of whom, they have their own room though they don’t spend much time there in the winter…the only heating duct upstairs is in the spare bedroom and they like to sleep on or near that lately lol. Beyond that, it’s so nice being able to take my laundry to the basement instead of a Laundromat and having my own driveway is incredible. When I got home from Erie this past Friday, the car has remained parked instead of having to move it at 10am every day. Hell, today was the 1^st day I even went to the car since Friday! There’s a bunch of stuff I want to do next year with it…get the gutters cleaned and guarded and filling the side yard so I can get it planted being the top ones. Right now, it’s all roots through much of the side yard so I’m figuring if I can get an inch or 2 deep of dirt in there, I can plant grass and make it worthwhile.

2018 movies---the year in review and the year ahead

It started off with Black Panther on Feb 16…outstanding from beginning to end and in all honesty, probably deserves a few Academy Awards

Avengers Infinity War was next up on May 4 and it really lived up to the hype

Solo on May 25 filled in some gaps from before A New Hope and while I thought it was better than The Last Jedi, it didn’t live up to the franchise

Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom DID live up to the franchise and I eagerly await the next film in the franchise

Ant-Man and The Wasp built on the success of the 1^st movie very well, I thought…and the tie-in with Infinity War was well done, I thought.

Sharknado 6 wrapped up the series nicely and I’m going to be disappointed not seeing Fin, April, and Nova kicking ass next summer. The scenes with the young Nova, played by Cassie Scerbo’s niece were incredible. I do wish more of the Shepard family had had bigger roles to play in the movie. They could’ve made the movie to fit in a 3-hour block instead of a 2-hour block and it would’ve felt less rushed. Now I just want to find the box set…with deleted scenes…not in a Blu Ray format. So far, I’ve only seen Blu-Ray available and I’m not buying a new machine for 1 set of discs.

Aquaman was the final film I saw in the theater and out of the DCEU films, the only one I would say was better was Wonder Woman and even then, by a small margin…easily blows away Justice League, Man of Steel, and Batman vs Superman. There was a little continuity issue seeing as how this was set after Justice League but it was a great flick, IMO…the cinematography might have even been better than Black Panther’s.

I saw a few others on TV that I passed on in the theaters…Rampage was great…Jumanji surprised me somewhat…lacked the gravitas of the original but The Rock and Kevin Hart together is a great pair…Game Night was funny…Deadpool 2 was funny but far inferior to the original...Blockers was pretty funny--Kathryn Newton is going to be big someday, mark my words

Looking ahead to 2019

March 8 Captain Marvel…I’m not incredibly familiar with the character other than the fact that in the comics, Rogue took her powers before going straight and joining the X-Men but it’s going to be a big movie in the Marvel Universe

April 5 Shazam…this one is kind of iffy…looks more campy and goofy than most superhero films but if it’s tied in with the DCEU, I may have to go see it

April 26 Avengers Endgame…obviously a must-see especially after what happened in Infinity War

June 7 Dark Phoenix…definitely seeing this X-Men movie but am hoping it’s better than Apocolypse. While I enjoyed Apocolypse overall, it had severe flaws…Magneto, Storm, and Psylocke as Horsemen? Hopefully Marvel gets the X-Men back soon and they can do some justice to the characters.

June 14 Men In Black International. No way can Hemsworth and Thompson replace Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, but they had great chemistry in Thor Ragnarok and this movie does fit into the MiB continuity

July 5 Spider-Man Far From Home…The 1^st movie in the next phase of Marvel movies. I enjoyed the 1^st one but it definitely had its flaws…still not a fan of Spidey being so close to Stark…he should stand on his own…and Zendaya’s character just doesn’t seem right. Plus, Flash Thompson was never an academic whiz in the comics.

August 2 New Mutants…delayed from 2018 and to be honest, I may end up skipping it. When it was first announced, it looked like an X-Men tie-in but it doesn’t seem to be much of one and it’s more in the horror genre than a superhero film

October 4 Joker…looks to be an origin story for the Clown Prince of Crime…I’ll have to wait for trailers and more info before I look into seeing it

December 20 Star Wars Episode IX…hopefully it’s more like The Force Awakens or Rogue One than like The Last Jedi or Solo. I’m sure some love everything Star Wars no matter what, even Jar Jar Binks, but the original trilogy was a masterpiece and a lot of what’s released since then just doesn’t measure up. Out of the 7 films in the series released since Return Of The Jedi, Rogue One was the best, IMO

There’s a few more I wanna see but nothing that grabs me enough for the theater…The Upside with Kevin Hart, Godzilla King Of The Monsters, Jumanji 2, and Masters Of The Universe

LGBT Pride and homophobia, Roseanne and racism, and Samantha Bee and disgusting comments

I haven’t done one of these in a few weeks because I’ve been so busy trying to get set to move. Now I’m in a holding pattern on that because, despite having a closing date on May 31st and ensuring I had everything prepared on time, the title company is dragging its feet and it’s looking like I’ll have a few more days to wait…which I might be grateful for only because others have waited much longer. That being said, all parties should abide by the terms of the contract.
June is LGBT Pride month and I’m sure there are plenty of homophobes fuming over it…same way racists hate Black History Month. Why do I make that correlation? Because like race and heritage, sexuality isn’t a choice. I’ve known plenty of LGBT people over the years and even had a bisexual man as a roommate once. None of them simply chose it nor could they…it’s feelings, it’s chemical. I’m straight myself…but I never chose to be…I just am because I’m only attracted to women. Some people try to point to the Bible as their reason for being homophobic. Well, besides the fact that the people who wrote and translated and retranslated that book didn’t have the knowledge that we have today, like the proven fact that dinosaurs were around long before man, homophobes are ignoring one main fact. Jesus never said anything about homosexuality. In fact, his overlying message was acceptance and love for all. Sorry, but homophobes don’t seem to have much respect for Jesus Christ. Some will say in response “love the sinner, hate the sin” but how’s it a sin to be how your Creator made you? In all honesty, it’s more than bigoted to be homophobic, it’s kind of conceited as well when it really gets down to it. Too often, people think that if people think a certain way different than them, they have to be wrong or damaged somehow. Personally,  I understand that some people are homosexual or bisexual and I get that it’s chemical and emotional. When it comes to transsexuals though, I don’t understand it. Here’s where I differ from homophobes…I don’t understand transsexuals but I don’t fear what I don’t understand either…homophobes fear what they don’t understand. Also, when it comes to marriage rights, marriage is a legal contract and depriving someone of legal age of the right to enter into a contract is unconstitutional and well, bigoted and reprehensible. Religious groups have a right to not perform the ceremonies but LGBT are and should be legally allowed to enter into a contract of marriage. To want to deny them that right is a show of non-support for the Constitution of the United States.
Roseanne Barr got her show cancelled the other day after making a reference to apes when talking about a woman of color. Personally, I never thought much of her show but it’s sad that a couple hundred people are out of work because of this. There is talk, at least, of bringing back the show without her…a move I applaud. In the 80s, Valerie Harper was written off her self-named show and it was successful for a few years afterwards…it can be done. Regarding Roseanne herself, her ex-husband and others that know her seem to feel she needs psychiatric help and I hope she gets it. She’s obnoxious and inappropriate, but I don’t believe she’s truly racist…though her support of Trump can certainly make her look like she is. I’m not saying that supporting Trump makes a person racist, but it does show that racism doesn’t bother them much at all.
Finally, Samantha Bee called Ivanka Trump a feckless C U Next Tuesday and the same people defending Roseanne’s racist tweet are vilifying her for it….even though, none, if any of them, vilified draft-dodging coward Ted Nugent for saying the same thing about Hillary Clinton. If one disgusts you and not the other, you’re a hypocrite and aren’t upset about the word being used at all. Both instances disgust me but I will say I’m less upset with Samantha Bee for saying it…not because I think Ivanka deserves it, but because Samantha Bee apologized for it…still waiting on Nugent but he’s not man enough to apologize. Regarding the White House calling for Samantha Bee to be fired, the fact they hosted Nugent in the Oval Office, an affront to those of us weren’t too cowardly to serve our country, makes them hypocritical…as well as criminal…since apparently politicians aren’t permitted to influence private companies into making employment decisions…but we saw last week that Trump doesn’t care about that law.

Sunday thoughts…home buying, liberals vs conservatives, generalizations, and the Bills

I picked out a place and even got a price agreed on. The inspection went well…a few minor issues to address early on and some odds and ends that can be addressed over the course of the next few years. I gotta say the whole process is stressful as hell…and expensive! I knew closing costs would be pricy but they’re exceeding my expectations. Looking at a closing date of May 31 and I’ll have to get a few things bought for it before then…so the savings account is going to dip a few grand.
Politics is no less ugly now than it was during the Presidential campaign two years ago and quite frankly, there’s a lot of fucking idiots out there. Not every conservative voted for Trump nor did every liberal vote against him. Also, not every conservative is against gun control nor is every liberal for it. If we want proof how ugly it’s gotten, look to NRA member Ted Nugent. The draft-dodging pedophile called for the murders of Democrats yesterday. Hopefully, he’ll be locked away one day soon.
Here’s an undeniable fact…you need both liberalism and conservatism to have a productive and positive society…extremism is the real problem, not liberals and not conservatives.
A lot of people like to generalize people who disagree with them….but they’d throw a fit if they got generalized in a similar way. There are young adults and teenagers who have been into this Tide Pod challenge or condom challenge and because of that, people are unwilling to listen to anyone of that age. Their reasoning seems to be that all teenagers and young adults are doing the same thing that a few of them have done. Now, we know the KKK endorsed Trump for President and that the bulk of white supremacists groups still support him…if we can judge all teens because a few have eaten Tide Pods, can’t we also judge all Trump supporters as white supremacists? See how that works? Personally, I know a number of people who support Trump, as insane as it sounds…but there are only a handful that I can think of that could be seen as bigots, let alone white supremacists. I can only think of one who proved himself to be completely racist, and I immediately deleted him from my friend list. The point is, generalizing a large group based on the actions and words of a few is beyond stupid.
The drop-dead date on renewing my Bills seasons is past…my seat is officially released and I know it’s going to be kinda weird not going to the Ralph 10 times a year anymore. 22 years, since Kelly’s final season and Moulds’ 1st, is a long time but between cost, the lower amount of enjoyment I’ve gotten out of it the last few years, it just had to end. To be honest, the last season I really enjoyed was 2011. Add into that the home-buying and the passion isn’t as strong as it used to be. I’m still tuned into what’s happening with the team but my focus hasn’t been as strong on it as it used to be. I like McDermott and the future of the team and I’ll be tuned into every game this fall…but going to all the games…isn’t worth the cost to my wallet and my body anymore. I’ll still try to make a game or two each season though. The 11th game of the season is a target for me this year…Pinto Ron’s 400th.

Sunday thoughts—the Bills, the Bandits and the NLL, and home buying

Trust the Process…that’s the phrase that head coach Sean McDermott got trending in Buffalo last season and it paid off for the most part when we made the playoffs for the 1st time this century. So far this offseason, there have been a flurry of moves, most of which would be silly to question. That being said, I don’t blindly trust anyone or anything. Two moves concerned me when they happened. Our DB corps was totally brand-new last season but performed like a unit that had been together for years…firing the DB coach to bring in someone else seems risky to say the least. Trading away Tyrod was also a risky move but it seems less so now with the addition of AJ McCarron.
I had seasons for 22 years but 2018 won’t see me in Orchard Park more than a few times…the cost being the primary reason…the return on spending about 10% of my take-home isn’t worth it to me. Game days are more work than fun and I’m exhausted for an entire day afterwards. Funny thing is, when I was actually doing work on gamedays, it didn’t feel like work. Since 2012, the gameday experience just hasn’t been as enjoyable to me…and took an even bigger downturn in 2014. The product on the field is a positive…in 2017, it was the best part of the gameday experience…but without the blackout rule, I’m not worried I won’t be able to see the game if I don’t go. I’ll try to make a few games but all ten…not happening.
When I dropped my Bandits seasons 2 years ago, I didn’t lose interest in the team and kept watching games on the NLLTV app last season…but between the terrible job NLLTV did and the realization that the Bandits organization, not a rogue security guard, is the reason I had to drop my seasons, I haven’t watched any this season since the opener.
Another reason I haven’t been paying attention to the Bandits and have distanced myself from talking about the Bills so much is the fact I’m trying to buy a home. Between my landlord not doing much in regards to repairs and the desire to not have to deal with the issues of renting…neighbors who let their dogs unload anywhere and a more controlled, and hopefully smaller, expense, I’ve been focused on that a lot…just a case of getting to see a few homes before someone else snatches them up. I already missed out on one because my last realtor decided to ignore my emails while another realtor sold a house I wanted to see.

Sunday thoughts...affairs, tariffs, North Korea, Parkland, and Tyrod

Trump’s affair with a porn star…shouldn’t be surprising to anyone…though her standards must have been pretty low at the time. The fact that he’s a serial adulterer is well-known…but “conservatives” like to think of themselves as moral. Sorry, but supporting someone like Trump is immoral but that’s not a conservative vs liberal thing. When people make it about political parties or ideologies instead of simply about the people involved, they keep things from improving.

Trump’s tariffs…I honestly don’t have an issue with tariffs being imposed…but to the rates of 25 and 50% are beyond insane. Tariffs should be in the single digits so as to help make it more financially sound to utilize American suppliers but without crippling companies that don’t.

The meeting with North Korea…I’ve always been more for diplomacy than violence. That being said, I don’t know if Trump is the right man for the job. He's not known for his diplomacy.

This week, Wednesday, marks the 1-month anniversary of the Parkland shooting and as such, it’s been chosen as a date for protest to improve gun laws. Some have pointed out that people like Cruz could’ve been stopped had he felt more included among his peers and that students should work to end bullying and make others feel more welcome in social circles. That may very well be true and I’d be surprised if that’s not something that many student groups around the country will address as well. One of Parkland’s most famous alums, actress Cassie Scerbo, is the Vice-President of Boo2Bullying and she plans to visit her alma mater next week. The walkout is far more than just a protest, though…it’s also a way of honoring the victims of the Parkland shooting…which is why it’s to be 17 minutes along.

Trading away Tyrod…I’ve never been convinced he was the answer at QB but outside of the salary cap benefits, it seems risky to have traded him already. Could we get someone a lot better? Definitely…but there are no guarantees. Hopefully this gamble works out but as the saying goes, a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush.

Saturday Thoughts—celebs and politics

A lot of people seem to like to attack celebrities for expressing political views the last few years and honestly, that’s wrong to do on many levels.
First and foremost, everyone has the same Constitutional rights regardless of celebrity status and to claim that celebs don’t deserve to have the same rights as the rest of us is a slap in the face to those of us who swore oaths, fought, or died to defend the Constitution.
Secondly, it’s hypocritical in many ways.
I’ve seen several claim that the only thing they should speak about is their job…are these people restricted to the same rules? I doubt it since it’s doubtful that they’re being paid to insult celebrities.
If they take issue with celebs making a political statement, do they take the same issue with a celeb having the opposite viewpoint? I doubt it…Alyssa Milano and Don Cheadle are a pair of celebs I follow who get attacked for their views almost non-stop. Alyssa rarely acknowledges the attacks while Don likes to return fire on occasion. I don’t see conservative celebs getting attacked nearly as much, let alone by the same people who attack Milano claiming that celebs shouldn’t share political opinions. You know what that tells me? It’s not that people are upset that celebs share their opinions…it’s that their opinions differ from those of their attackers. That shows weakness of character on the part of the attacker. They’re either too fragile to handle the fact that there are famous people who don’t share their views…or else the celebs speaking up are making the attackers doubt their own views.
The people attacking celebs for expressing political opinions…who did they vote for? The majority seem to have voted for a reality TV star…again…hypocritical and hard to take seriously.
I recall years ago that people were upset that celebs didn’t utilize their fame to make a difference…now they’re trying to and they’re still upset…people just have to complain.

Saturday Thoughts

Yet another mass shooting happened this week and predictably, right-wing extremists are trying to deflect away the blame from where it belongs…gun violence. There are restrictions on fertilizer and you have to take off your shoes for TSA because of murders and attempted murders involving those two things…but people really can’t handle restrictions on guns? Here’s why…the NRA…the most corrupt and dishonest lobbyist group in America. They fill the pockets of hundreds of politicians with the sole goal of selling more guns from the gun manufacturers that fund them, They use those bought politicians as sales people and con the gullible public into thinking that the politicians that won’t take their blood money want to take away their guns…when that’s not even remotely the case. Gun sales soared during the Obama Presidency...because gullible schmucks were conned into thinking he was going to try to take them away.


Now, I’m as pro-2nd Amendment as anyone but many people who love that amendment don’t understand it. Nowhere does it state that there can’t be regulations on gun ownership. People need a vocabulary lesson on the meaning of the word “infringed.” It doesn’t mean regulated or restricted…it means that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be taken away.


There have to be regulations and the ones that are in place are a joke, apparently. The shooter in Florida had red flags aplenty but still passed a background check? Those background checks are clearly not working. The fact that the FBI didn’t do their jobs and investigate and confiscate his gun after he made terroristic threats on the Internet could’ve saved lives but he shouldn’t have had that type of gun in the 1st place. One of those regulations that should be in place that isn’t would be to put people with mental issues on a list that would keep them away from guns like those. Sadly, that is a regulation that was undone by Trump. This isn’t to say this week’s shooting is on Trump…the gun was bought before he undid that restriction and Cruz’s mental issues weren’t covered under the restrictions that had been in place. Instead of undoing those regulations, a responsible President would make them tougher.


People in general aren’t advocating for taking away guns…just ensuring that people who aren’t sane, that are shown to have criminal intentions, shouldn’t be allowed to get them. People like to claim that someone who wants a gun will get it, legally or not…but by that reasoning, why have laws at all? When you remove the legality of something, you make it harder to get…that does deter some people. While that won’t prevent all murders, it WILL save lives. There is no fool-proof way of saving everyone as much as we’d like there to be but if you think that a mentally disturbed individual having a gun is more important than saving the lives of innocent children, you might be mentally disturbed yourself.


Again, this is NOT about taking away guns…if you believe I’m saying anything of the sort, take a remedial reading class. If you believe politicians are trying to take guns away from law-abiding sane citizens, you’re gullible and I have some oceanfront property in Kansas to sell you. If you’re against strong background checks, then maybe the police should keep an eye on you.


Regarding the AR-15 and other guns that are commonly called assault weapons, some have said to ban those. Personally, while I think that no normal citizen has ANY need for them, my solution is to make the background checks more thorough than background checks for the basic shotgun or rifle used for hunting or the pistol used for personal home protection. You need a license to drive a car but you can’t use that license to drive a tractor trailer…and a CDL is a lot harder to get than a basic license…same principle.

Saturday Thoughts

Chick Fil-A is coming to Buffalo soon…it’s a controversial restaurant


People say their food is far better than that of other restaurants that serve chicken sandwiches. I had it once and yes, it was very good…but I don’t get the hype. They stay closed on Sundays for religious reasons as dictated by their founder…their choice. Not the best business idea but again, their choice. Their founder has a backwards view on gay marriage and can be categorized as a homophobic bigot. Sexuality is no more a choice than skin color. Maybe it’s even less so if that’s possible…lol…Michael Jackson ring a bell? To be in favor of depriving the legal rights of a person because of something that isn’t a choice isn’t Christian, it’s bigoted. Now, some are against Chick Fil-A because of those views of the founder. Me, while it’s nothing I’d go out of my way for, I don’t think it’s fair to punish employees who may not share those views.


People are lacking some facts where it comes to military pay. Currently, an E-2 makes $21,520.80 per year. I used E-2 as a baseline because when I was in the Air Force, I was only an E-1 for 6 months…while in Basic and in Tech School. Current NYS minimum wage is $10.40/hr, which adds up to $21,632 a year for 40 hour weeks. On the outset, that looks bad…that someone flipping burgers makes more than an E-2 in the military. However, that analysis is completely false and here’s why. In the military, housing and meals are completely covered when you live on base. If you’re making minimum wage in the private sector, you have to pay for meals, rent, and utilities that you don’t have to pay for if you’re in the military. Even if you get off-base housing, you get allowances to help cover housing and food costs. Also, if a military member is deployed into a hostile area, they get combat pay. This all isn’t to say the military is overpaid by any means, but to compare their pay to private citizens without all the facts is ignorant and/or dishonest. Put it this way…a few months before joining the service, I bought a new car with payments of about $270 a month…which I could never afford at my current pay. When I was in the service, I was not only able to afford that car payment, but I was frequently making double payments.

Saturday Thoughts

Regarding ignorance, it’s not a crime or a character flaw to be uneducated about a subject. No one knows everything. However, what does look bad is to comment on something we don’t know much of anything about. I see it happen every day and we all do it, myself included. It happens with virtually every topic imaginable, including history, politics, TV shows and movies, and definitely in regards to cheerleading. Any of us with any experience in the realm of pro cheerleading knows that the biggest aspect isn’t what you see on the sidelines, but with community involvement and the next generation. I started up my website in the summer of 2001 and it wasn’t until I started working closely with the Buffalo Jills in 2005 that I understood that so people not understanding it is to be expected. However, ignorance becomes more severe when one ignores the experts on a topic, whether it be pro cheerleading or science. We can’t eliminate ignorance nor can we expect to always avoid commenting on a topic we’re not educated on. However, we can attempt to get better.


Regarding the State of The Union address this past week, I’ve done a good job on following the advice of my previous paragraph. I didn’t watch more than small snippets of it because Trump is like country music to me…I can only handle listening to his lies in small doses. That being said, what I did see showed his speech to be more of the same that we’ve seen…lies in and about the speech from a pathological liar and con artist….taking credit for things started under Obama and claiming it was the most watched SOTU Speech ever to name a few examples. How people can believe anything he says when he’s a proven liar through and through is beyond me.

Saturday thoughts

Trump paying a porn star to keep quiet about an affair shortly after Melania gave birth to his son should be the last straw for evangelicals if they actually believe the stuff they preach…a big IF. I’m not religious but evangelicals seem to be as far from following the teaching of Jesus Christ as can be.

Eric Wood’s retirement at such a young age is sad for him, bad for the Bills, and further proof that safety in pro football isn’t where it needs to be. Goodplayers shouldn’t be forced out of the game they love by injury. John Urschel, a lineman for the Ravens, retired after 3 seasons despite an outstanding Penn State career and a promising pro career. He was penciled in as the team’s starting center but gave it up. The 2 big reasons: The issues with CTE in the NFL and his desire to pursue his PhD.

Next weekend looks like the 1st time I’ll skip watching the Super Bowl since before I became an NFL fan. The officiating in the league is an embarrassment. The bias towards the Pats is ridiculous and while I won’t go so far as to say that the league is fixed, it’s becoming more and more obvious that there is something fishy going on. A team called the Patriots winning after 9/11 and the Saints winning after Katrina seem like big coincidences.

Trump wanting to fire Mueller and his lawyers trying to keep him from talking to Mueller are YUGE smoking guns. It’s not a matter of if he’ll be impeached, it’s a matter of when.

It’s really lucky that we have the Internet and all these apps to watch TV shows these days. I have more shows I watch religiously than ever before and with some on competing with each other, watching online is the only way to see some. Plus with work forcing me to bed early and up early, I’m just not able to stay awake for some shows live.

Sunday thoughts...

Trump's comments about certain countries aren't surprising...he's shown for decades that he's a racist and he showed throughout the campaign that he has no skill in diplomacy, a crucial skill for a world leader.
The integrity of the NFL is on life support...I've yet to decide whether I'll renew for a 23rd season but I'm leaning against it...the expense is the biggest reason but the integrity of the league is a huge factor as well.
One problem I've noticed with social media is how ready people can be to share an opinion on a topic they have no clue about. The #MeToo movement has encouraged countless victims of sexual assault and harassment to come forward. Yesterday, one of my favorite actresses, Eliza Dushku, came forward and said that she was molested while working on True Lies...when she was 12! I'm not sure which is sicker...what happened to her or all the people accusing her of making it up...because she didn't come forward sooner. What they refuse to understand is that victims of sexual assault and harassment are frequently made to feel responsible for what happened to them. That only makes it harder for them to come forward. While it's true that some of those who come forward may be lying, that number has to be very small and it's our responsibility not to attack victims who come forward. The reason so many have come forward is because they're seeing they're far from alone...not because they want on a bandwagon or want some fame...those ideas don't even make any sense.
Minimum wage going up is both good and bad. It helps those who were having trouble making ends meet. However, when wages rise, so do prices so the help they get isn't as great as they may like. Also, there are people who have been working for years to make a little above minimum wage who are all of a sudden making close to the same wage as the newbies. Their buying power goes down because prices are going up but their wages aren't.