Check out the trailer for next months “The Post”. If you
loved “All The Presidents Men’ you should dig this…the story of the Washington
Post deciding whether or not to publish the Pentagon Papers which detailed the
years of lies told to the American people about the Viet Nam war. It was one of
those watershed moments in the countrys history that has led us to today. Why
do many of us view government with a jaundiced eye? This. It was this time in
history that made being a journalist meaningful and important. It was the
Democrats who ordered the study of the war and realized that everything they
were doing was just making the Viet Nam situation worse but continued to
escalate. But it was Nixon and the Republicans that continued the charade and
pre-shadowing Watergate decided to break the law numerous times to go after not
only the folks who leaked the Papers but the press who published them. The next
time Trump and his minions try and marginalize the real press and others
claiming to be “real press” ignore stuff like this remember the journalists who
stood up to tyrannical behavior from our leaders. The film stars Meryl Streep as publisher Katherine
Graham, Tom Hanks as editor Ben Bradlee and directed by Steven Spielberg. Back
when real journalism was being practiced and hopefully can be again. This may
even get me in a theater.
The Packers released Martellus Bennett on Wednesday citing a
pre-existing shoulder injury. Methinks the real reason is his lack of
production and his tweet last week about retiring at the end of the season. Its
pretty clear he had no interest in playing for the Packers after the injury to
Aaron Rodgers.
It seems that Cowboy owner Jerry Jones is going to sue some
of his fellow owners and the league to block Commisioner Roger Goodells
contract extension. Who do you root for in this argument??
Happy Birthday to one of the best pitchers of my childhood.
Bob Gibson turns 82 today.
This is also the birthday of Rolling Stone magazine which
published its first issue on this date in 1967. While it may have lost its
cachet in the 80’s it was the most important musical and political magazine for
over 20 years.
Several members of the Wisconsin state legislature are
submitting a bill that would lower the drinking age in Wisconsin to 19. I’ll
write more on why this is a good idea in a later blog. It probably won’t go
anywhere but it should.
It was signing day for many area high school athletes on
Wednesday. Just some of those I saw included Wausau West baseball players
Chandler Fochs to Western Illinois and Grant Hill to Minot State, Stratford
wrestler Jeremy Schoenherr to Wisconsin, SPASH hoops standout Joey Hauser to
Marquette, DC Everest’s Taylor Petit to Youngstown State for hoops, Natalie Mohring to North Dakota for track & field & John Breske to Winona State for baseball, Wausau Newman’s
Riley Vaughn to UW-Milwaukee for volleyball & Maddy Pietz of Witt/Birn to Winona State for track & field. Congrats to all!
Elections have consequences…..pretty sweet irony in New
Jersey on Tuesday. A Republican official in Atlantic County who had posted an
insulting meme after the the Womens March last November was beaten by a woman
who was inspired to run by the meme. John Carman posted the meme which featured
a woman in a kitchen and the message “Will
the womens protest be over in time for them to cook me dinner”. Ashley Bennett
rightly took offense to this troglodyte viewpoint from her elected official and
decided to run for the post herself……..Just in case you think that your elected
official represents you remember these words from Republican congressman Chris
Collins. Many of his constituents stand to lose under the House tax reform plan
and yet Collins voted for it. He later said “my donors are basically saying ‘get
it done or don’t ever call me again’.” Saying out loud what many of us already
know. The Republican donor class from wealthy and corporate America expect
Republican lawmakers to pass a Republican tax bill that favors them……….Fox News
reportedly just hired former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka. Of course they did………For
those of you who still believe there was no collusion between the Russians and
the Trump campaign I advise you to read the Carter Page testimony before the
Intelligence Committee. If you still believe no collusion after that, you are
too obtuse for any more serious discussion.
Quotes Of The Day
“Shouldn’t Fox News be required to adhere to some kind of
truth/fact standard in order to have “News” in its name?”-Jamie O’Grady
“Democrats were able to flip seats without colluding with
Russia, without fake news, without gerrymandering, without voter suppression
and without dirty tricks”- Christopher Bouzy
“Trump White House staff will study election results, shake
heads ruefully & conclude ‘time to get serious about voter suppression’”.-
David Frum
“ A new poll says 91% of Trump voters would support him
again. Seems terrible until you realize that this means he’d lose re-election
by 135 Electoral votes”-Keith Olbermann
“The Texas church gunman carried out his attack while under
mind control by the deep state”-Alex Jones (one of Trumps trusted news sources)
Songs Of The Day
Thinking Of You-Loggins & Messina (1973) a Messina song that was released as a single from their 2nd Lp “Loggins & Messina”. I've always like this one