There was a time when it was said that the University of Wisconsin could never contend for a national championship in football. Couldn't get the athletes it was said. Competition would never be good enough. Too slow, too boring, too this too that. Well, after knocking on the door last year, the Badgers have known been placed in the #3 slot in the USA Today pre-season football poll. Yeah, I know, pre-season polls don't mean anything. But it does send a message that at least some of the college football pundits recognize that this isn't your grandfathers “Wisconsin” team anymore. With the entire offensive line returning to open holes for Jonathan Taylor…with Alex Hornibrook looking to build on his break-out season and spectacular Orange Bowl throwin to a deep and speedy bunch of wide-outs, the Badgers should have their best offense in some time. And, despite some losses on the defensive side of the ball , they have enough coming back to compete…plus one of the best young defensive minds in Jim Leonhard. And, while the schedule is relatively “easy” it doent do them much good in the “schedule strength” department. Dates at Michigan October 13th and at Penn State November 10th look to be the only potential stumbling blocks to whaqt could be a special season indeed.
Clemson and Alabama are ranked ahead of Wisconsin. The other Big Ten teams ranked include Ohio State at #5, Penn State at #9, Michigan at #13, and Michigan State at #15.
The Phoenix Suns are making NBA history. They have named Igor Kokoskov as their next head coach. He currently is an assistant with Utah. The Serbian born Kokoskov will be the first NBA head coach born and raised outside the US.
Milwaukee Brewers catcher Stephen Vogt began a re-hab assignment in Biloxi last night with a home-run.
Elections have consequences…great piece this week by Jonathan Chait in New York Magazine. It deals with a Paul Ryan speech at a financial conference where he inadvertently admitted that the Congressional body he runs has been covering up for Trumps malfeasance. Ryan said that if Democrats win control of the House or Senate in November it will mean “gridlock” and “subpeonas”. Well, as Chait writes, we have “gridlock now as both Ryan and McConnell can't get much done. But the “subpeona” is more interesting. What Ryan is implying and basically confessing is that what would really change under Democratic control is that the coverups of Trump would end. Chait writes “Ryan's House has been run essentially as a subordinate arm of the Trump administration. Ryan and his party have quashed votes to compel release of Trump's tax returns, and they have used thier investigative power not to oversee the presidency but to harass and intimidate the Department of Justice into falling into line behind the presidents whims, to the point where the acting attorney general had to bluntly accuse House Republicans of trying to “extort” him. Trump and his family have used their power to enrich themselves personally, with no hearings or oversight whatsoever from the House. His cabinet members have likewise misspent funds and abused their authority without any accountability from the committees that are putatively tasked with the job.” Chait also writes “Ryan has played an invaluable role covering up and enabling Trump administration scandals. When he says his party needs to keep control of the House to prevent subpeonas, he is both promising the cover-ups will continue if his party keeps its control of the goverment, and expressing his clear belief that he opposes any level of independent oversight of the Executive Branch.” It's clear what has to happen in November if we want the criminals who are pillaging the government to be brought to heel. The Blue Wave needs to wash over the country. You can't stay home…you can't vote 3rd party…you can't let someone else do it. Trump's BS has brought out a stable of young, vibrant, and committed Democratic candidates, many of them female, for offices all over the country. If you don't do what you can to get as many of them elected as possible, you will play a part in the continuing destruction of this country. It really is as simple as that…………………………..Scott Pruitt's EPA has granted a “financial hardship” waiver to an Oklahoma oil refinery owned by billionaire and friend of Trump, Carl Ichan. And yet, people STILL can't drink the water in Flint Michigan. The priorities of this administration are clear…………………….Giuliani's interview on Fox last night was incredible. It'a amazing that every attorney that Trump hires is worse than the last. As one pundit put it, “as of tonight Giuliani has so far done more damage to Trump than Mueller has” and “thinking Trump might have been better off with LegalZoom”.
Quotes of The Day
“The peace of the free world are in hands you wouldn't trust with your beer money.”-David Frum
“Science literacy empowers you to know when someone else is full of shit.”-Neil DeGrasse Tyson
“They knew that sabotaging the ACA would raise costs for regular folks. They knew the tax cut would benefit the wealthy and not normal folks. They knew their tax cuts would blow up the deficit. Telling the truth now is not a profile in courage; it a confession.”-Brian Schatz
“I feel like at this point it would be more newsworthy if Scott Pruitt did something that seemed ethical and generally unproblematic.”-Alexandra Petri
“If your goal is to truly insult Kanye, ignore him.”-Astead Wesley
“Why are we asking people who said invading Iraq was smart how they feel about the Iran deal?”-Media Matters
“Trump's EPA chief Scott Pruitt has become a one-man public health risk to the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. From day one, he has worked to gut the EPA and hamstring it's ability to protect the envrionment and public health. He works on behalf of the fossil-fuel industry and other industrial polluters, not the American People. He's GOT to go.”-Robert Redford
“No, Trump was NOT first in his class at Wharton. His name isn't listed among any summa, magna or even just cum laude graduates at Penn. If he'd been first in his class, he'd have been valedictorian…You know, like Hillary Clinton.”-Victoria Brownworth.
Songs Of The Day (alot of other artists love recording Bob Dylan songs. Here are a couple recent one's from two of my favorite voices)
