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.