Alabama Was Robbed

I am no particular fan of the Crimson Tide but recognize a theft when I see it. Georgia did not beat Alabama last night, but the officials sure did. As a lifelong Tennessean, I will be rooting for my Vols this coming Saturday, and therefore, sure hope the same referee who handed the Bulldogs victory is there to help my Big Orange win over the team from Tuscaloosa. 

A Real Chance

My hometown Titans have a real shot at a victory Sunday. It is sadly not as if Tennessee has become a good football team. It is because the visiting team, our Division rival Houston, is not any good either. At 0 and four, the Texans are in the race to the bottom with our boys in blue. I would say someone is finally going to emerge from this game with a win, but justice or irony might find the contest knotted up at the end in a tie ballgame. 

Past His Prime?

King James remains a mighty good forward but even he can't defeat Father Time. LeBron is not as quick as he once was, but he is likely more savvy than he ever was, as he has accumulated more on-court experience than any other player. Does Philadelphia automatically become a championship contender because the King has arrived? I would say not necessarily, but if Embiid can stay healthy the entire season, he and James make a formidable tandem, surrounded by what should be a very solid team. 

The Winning Hand

Let us assume that figures touted by Muslims are correct or nearly so. Two billion Muslims can't be wrong or stopped or even resisted very long. The true face of Islam is not that bend over backwards cab driver who helped you navigate New York City (but also gladly voted for his fellow Muslim to be Mayor). The face of Islam is the terrorist who strangled the Bibas baby. The face is the Iranian prison guard who participated in raping the nineteen year old street demonstrator he is going to hang from a crane in the morning, because he believes he is taking away her chance to enter heaven by robbing her of virginity before he takes her life. Islam is no "religion of peace" but a death and murder cult that is trying to capture the entire world and seems to be winning in that effort. 

Three Years Hence

On this anniversary marking three years since the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, Israel, the alleged power in the region, has NOT been able to vanquish Hamas or take full control of Gaza, even though the Jewish State is backed by the superpower of the world, the United States. Sure, the IDF has martyred many terrorists, but for each the Jews kill, ten rise up to resist in the name of the shahid. There was no question at the end of 1945 who had won the war in Europe with German cities flattened, the country divided in occupation, and every woman who was not hideous to look at in the Soviet Zone raped by Russian soldiers. Payback for the crimes of Nazism bore a heavy price. Revenge on Hamas for their atrocities has not ended their ruthless rule and control over much of Gaza. Israel has undeniably failed. 

The Good France

Students and schools are only a pretext for the rioting rending France. Yes, some school age people are indeed participating in the violence, but for every schoolchild, there are young Muslim men, and then there are Africans who are primarily though not necessarily Muslims, and finally there are whites, largely in their twenties who are Communists and/or ANTIFA, or anarchists. Some "kids" are indeed a part of it, but the vast majority of thugs on the street are not protesting for better education and environments to learn in, but to bring down France. 

Not Quite There

My hometown Tennessee Titans made a game of it in the end on the scoreboard at least, but still chalked up another loss. Our defense did manage to knock Lamar Jackson, one of the most dynamic quarterbacks, out of the game, but his backup went eight for nine passes against the Titan defense that seemed especially porous throughout the contest.  Zay Flowers, who is a solid receiver, looked like an all-time great with the Titans allowing catch after catch, and face it, Zay is a feisty competitor who plays his heart out despite being undersized, but he should not be able to put up Randy Moss numbers against an NFL opponent. Baltimore is a contender for the playoffs, while our boys seem now to be a lock to earn a very early draft pick. 

My Titans Take

Tennessee will be pecked to death by the Ravens today. Lamar Jackson is better than Cam Ward, more athletic and with vast experience. Tony Pollard is a solid NFL starting running back, but Derrick Henry is arguably the best at that position in a generation, well above the ability that the Titan rusher possesses. I would say the only place in the starting offense or defense where Tennessee has the edge is Jeffery Simmons will be the best lineman on the field on either side of the ball for either team, but that will not stop Baltimore from a dominant victory over my hometown pro football franchise, that is sadly among the worst in the League.  

Our Evil Tinkerbell

It would be hard to argue that at points in her life Christa Pike was not bad beyond redemption, as when she participated in the murder of another young woman also in her late teens, and when she and a fellow inmate tried to kill another offender imprisoned with them. That being said, I do not think the moral compass of my home state should be guided by vengeance alone, but also must be tempered with mercy. I think Governor Lee, if he has any decency at all, should now commute Pike's sentence to spare her any future second attempt at execution. If she survives the effects of the two lethal doses she was administered (that in my mind became cruel and unusual punishment), she should be left to live out the course of her natural life without fear of further torture. Pike, if she lives through this at all, will likely face profound and lifelong damage and disability from what was already done to her, with cognitive and motor impairment almost certain. She has been made to suffer too much already, and our term-limited Governor must take this into account and not keep a sword of Damocles over her head, if she somehow emerges alive from hospitalization and rehabilitation from the State's clumsy attempt at killing her. 

Capital Punishment Reform

If the state is going to kill someone, they should do it quickly, efficiently, and with as little pain as possible inflicted on the offender. I knew one of the wardens who electrocuted murderers at our state prison. Warden Neal said the process was not torturous, and he believed the inmate felt little if any pain because the current moved faster than the neurons that convey pain signals to the brain. We still have a functioning electric chair in Nashville. I do not think firing squads are necessary to terminate those sentenced to die. The Communist Chinese use a single shot to the base of the skull where it connects to the neck, and is almost always quickly fatal. That is messy to the condemned and those who witness it, but there is a speed and certainty to it. I do not think Christa Pike is among the worst of the worst, just a woman who was under the influence of drugs and at only eighteen when she participated in a brutal murder, too young to have her cerebral cortex fully developed to make fully rational decisions that an older person likely might have. I am not saying Pike is an exemplary or even decent person, but she did NOT deserve to be tortured relentlessly by my homestate acting in my name, but against my conscience. 

Sanctions Against Israel?

The tiny beleaguered nation whose intelligence services help keep the world safe from terrorism is being sanctioned by numerous countries that have let in and loosed a raping foreign horde on the women who live those places benighted by Jew-hate going back to the Holocaust or even before the Nazis attacked their countries. Not only do these Jew-haters not defend those vulnerable to Muslim rape gangs, they threaten people who bring in goods from certain parts of Israel with prison, when it is the Israelis who have often put them on alert and saved them from jihadist violence. 

Double the Shame

If the stakes of torture in an attempt at killing were not so consequential, I would say my home state of Tennessee just beclowned itself, They could have had a street thug with an aluminum bat do a better job of finishing off poor Christa Pike than a so-called "doctor" and "highly-trained" execution team did. I do not know how this "physician" is allowed to remain in his metier after two botched attempts to kill inmates this year, that this fool was so incompetent at that his efforts bear the hallmarks of sadism, Beyond that, is deliberately participating in the taking of the life of a "patient" not a violation of the Hippocratic Oath, even if one is so clumsy that the effort fails and the agonized "victim" survives?  

For Shame Tennessee

My home state is scheduled to execute Christa Pike later today who participated in killing another girl over three decades back. Pike was raped and abused as a child with no access to counseling after these horrific events warped her. She by definition had ineffective lawyers, or she would never have had a death sentence imposed. I will not feel any more safe in my Nashville home after the authorities terminate a mentally ill middle aged woman for what she did in the 1990's while under the influence of drugs and with PTSD from her hellish childhood few could even imagine. If it becomes a jejune concept to want to protect womanhood in a society, then we need to start anew where men are protectors of women and girls and not their executioners.  

Eagles Not Powerhouse

While I will give Philadelphia their props for being the most obnoxious and confrontational fans in American sports, I have to say their football team is overrated this season. Yes, while they did defeat my hometown's woeful Titans (in a game I suffered through in the scorching stadium), they had their heads handed to them by the Bears being led by a career backup quarterback, who was not even drafted when he signed as a free agent over a decade back. Philadelphia does not look like a Super Bowl contender, but Chicago continues to shine even without their superstar starting QB in the mix. 

Edge of Victory

My hometown Tennessee Titans played up in the Garden State yesterday. Their offense in the first half was anemic against a solid New York Giant defense, but came to life in the second half and just as they did against the mighty Eagles, made a game of it. The problem with coming close is that "only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades" as the old saying goes. Losing by a few points is still a loss, with tougher parts of the schedule looming for the winless Titans future. 

Manning Is Simms

I watched Arch Manning more or less stymied by the Tennessee Volunteer defense yesterday. My hot take is that Manning, unless he improves greatly or has the fortunate situation of having pro teammates who are superstars at all the other skill positions, will be a career backup quarterback in the National Football League. He completed some relatively deep passes on what seemed to be deliberate under-throws, but they were also passes that might have been longer gains or even touchdowns if Arch had led the receivers a little. Honestly, it looked like the Vols' freshman quarterback had the livelier arm and actually threw for a TD, when Manning, who despite winning the game could not manage a touchdown throw. Manning also looked the farthest thing in the world from a Heisman candidate. In fact, his performance did not even look like he is secure in the role of starter- where is Quinn Ewers when the Longhorns need him. Manning has all the tools to be another Chris Simms iteration of second teamer at the professional level. 

Dabo Is Back

Coach Swinney did not forget how to win football games, and the times did NOT pass him by, as he proved once again last night versus Cal-Berkeley. To me, Dabo is still a very good coach who can be victorious at Clemson. Was there a bad stretch? Undeniably yes, but it took some time for many programs to sort out NIL. Swinney is great at the strategic aspects of football and at motivating young men. I expect to see the Tigers in a bowl at the conclusion of this season. 

Last Best Hope

Trump was it- our knight rising to turn back the invading horde. Yet our courts, the not loyal opposition party, and tragically even many fellow Republicans have done everything possible to thwart the President at every turn. You will only recognize how great the Donald was when the country falls apart under his successors. 

The Summit Summit

The leaders of the two most powerful nations on earth are meeting. The monstrous murderer who enslaves China is dining with the enormous ego who governs America. I do not like despots, so I hope Trump achieves his goals in regard to Red China.  

Sweet September Semiconductor

We had an issue with our modem, and our cable company was kind enough to replace it. Instead of having a donkey turning the wheel speed, our Internet is now so speedy that I fear it will soar into the stratosphere, but then we would have to revert to the abacus and smoke signals.