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.