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.

Disgust and disappointment in people

I hate to say it but a lot of people that I've known over the years have really shown me a bad side the last few years...bigotry, a lack of respect for veterans, dishonesty. Usually social media is a great thing but sometimes, it can really shatter your view of a person. There are people who I would've  loved getting to see in the past who I would be happy never seeing again. Not that I want anything to happen to them but seeing them, knowing they aren't as good of people as I used to think they were...I wouldn't feel comfortable around them. Add to that the anxiety I've dealt with much of my whole life, and spending time alone at home is a lot easier than anything else.

The facts on Paterno and the Sandusky case

People keep forgetting facts about the case...or else are as lazy as Trump supporters when it comes to paying attention  to the facts.
Mike McQueary witnessed what happened  in the showers involving a boy and an adult male who was no longer employed  by the university  but given permission to be there for his charity work by the athletic director and did nothing to stop it. He went to his father instead and they went to Joe the next day. He gave Joe a vague account of what he saw, which Paterno took to Tim Curley, the athletic director, Graham Spanier, the University  President, and Tim Schultz, the head of the police department. In addition to relaying what he was told, he referred them to the witness for more details. Little to nothing was done after it left Paterno's hands.
Could he have done more? Sure...he could have pressed for more details on what McQueary saw...he could have asked his superiors if anything came of the investigation. He could have and should have done more and Paterno was the 1st to say so but at the same time, he did what he was required to with the little information  he was given.
What about McQueary? Why didn't  he step in to stop what was happening? McQueary  wasn't a weakling...he was a former football player and he could have easily stopped a retiree from molesting a child. Also, considering  he knew what happened  from witnessing it, why did he not call another police department  if he saw Sandusky after he reported what he saw?
Gary Schultz, the head of the police department didn't  have Sandusky arrested even after talking to Paterno and McQueary.
Tim Curley told McQueary that Sandusky would be banned from using Penn State facilities  for his Second Mile charity...yet McQueary saw him there afterwards. Sandusky hadn't  been employed there in 2 years so he had no business  there.
Graham Spanier didn't  talk to McQueary about what Paterno told him.
Paterno, McQueary, Schultz, Curley, and Spanier all could have and should have done more...but out of the 5, Paterno is the only one who did do what he was required to do. He's not a hero for that...there are no heroes in this...but he's  no villain either. The only reason he gets painted as one is his fame.
Few people outside  of Penn State fans had ever heard of any of the other 4 before this case and even fewer know anything about their involvement  to this day.
These are proven facts in this case, according to investigative reporting, the results of criminal cases against Sandusky, Schultz, Spanier, and Curley. The Freeh Report was commissioned  by the Board of Trustees to convince the public they were doing something  about it but no interviews  were conducted in putting it together  and the results of that report were debunked by the State Attorney General.
Many people actually  think Paterno was the witness...that he was McQueary. Some actually  think Paterno was the perpetrator...that he was Sandusky. A lot think that he should have fired Sandusky...even though Sandusky retired over a year before the shower incident.
People are fucking ignorant and don't  care enough about things to actually learn the truth.

Confederate flags and monuments coming down

Recently, cities across the US have begun taking down Confederate flags and monuments from places of honor and here's what I have to say about it...It's about damn time.
Now it's true that the Civil War wasn't strictly fought over slavery but slavery was a huge reason for secession. Southern leaders were afraid that Lincoln would abolish slavery and they couldn't handle that they couldn't keep him out of office. Yeah, they and their apologists claim it was about state's rights but outside of the right to enslave people of a different skin color, what rights were they worried about losing?
The war itself was a different story...slavery was a factor but people in the North owned slaves as well but didn't leave the country. The war started when Confederates fired upon a Union fort, Fort Sumter. That's treason. Even if you buy into the idea that they were acting as agents of a different country instead of firing upon their countrymen, they attacked the United States.
No one is talking about taking mentions of their deeds out of history books and, to my knowledge, they aren't destroying the statues. They're taking them down from places of honor...period. Does it make sense to honor traitors to the United States? Are there statues of Benedict Arnold up all over the place? Critics are blowing things out of proportion by saying it's removing history. Those statues simply belong in museums and at historical sites...not in places of honor in a country they fought against. Learning history is a must and museum trips are a must for a child's upbringing but giving reverence and honor to people who attacked the United States is not only stupid, it's unpatriotic.
If you really wanna get down to it, if not for Lincoln's compassion and desire to heal the nation, they could've all been charged with treason and hanged. I don't think we have monuments up to celebrate other criminals. Is there a Timothy McVeigh monument in Oklahoma City?

Trump following Hitler's model

Saw this on Facebook and it couldn't be more accurate.
Step one for Hitler was to discredit the media.• Step two was to silence scientists and government employees.• Hate crimes against minorities grew to the highest in their country’s history. Clashes between parties became so extensive that Hitler ended civil liberties (Step three), giving “law and order” as the cause. Those who opposed Hitler were ridiculed and threatened.• In Step Four wealthy supporters purchased media outlets, employing only those faithful to the ruling party.• In his final step (Step Five) Hitler declared that the only way the country could be unified was to restore traditional values. Minorities including gays, the disabled, Jews, Roma, and people of color were considered “inferior” and sent to death camps for slaughter.We're between Step 2-4.This is in case you were always confused by how so many people could go along with Hitler's Final Solution, this is exactly how it happened. And in case you were confused or bothered by people comparing Trump to Hitler. This is why!