The NFL And Other Social Justice Fairy Tales

                Not to sound all snowflakey but at the beginning of the week I was pretty sure I might need some therapy and maybe a little play-doh. The NFL and the Denver Broncos in particular have been part of the fabric of my life for almost as long as I can remember.

                As a kid we did church and the Broncos on Sunday. If they had an 11 o’clock away game I went to the early service. As adults we go to the store Sunday mornings now and get chips and beer and then watch the Broncos. Maybe they’re on Sunday night sometimes. Monday night a couple times a year and occasionally on Thursday night. Also as an adult I have paid attention to a lot more teams and the game in general. I had to cut out church to make time for fantasy football.

                That’s how it has always been.

                I don’t want to be overly dramatic but something inside me broke last weekend when across the league there was some sort of formal protest of something I sure don’t understand in every professional football stadium across the country. Guys who should be some of this nation’s role models were kneeling during the national anthem; some offering black power/black panther salutes; all disrespecting our country, it’s flag, it’s military veterans and active servicemen, and yes we get it, all white cops.

                No matter how many times the radio wants to play soundbites of players and coaches saying they weren’t disrespecting the flag or the military, it was just to show team unity, they were disrespecting the flag and the military. The erudite, morally pristine, holier-than-thou liberal pukes who want to feel morally superior to us knuckle-dragging, uneducated, blue collar conservatives who were offended can just add it to the long list of stuff we will probably never agree upon.

                This was Raiders week here in Denver and I didn’t care. I have hated the Raiders since I could tie my own shoes and I live for the two weeks a year the Broncos play them and I can get all worked up and emotionally invested in a stupid game. And I was so heartsick I just didn’t care.

                Last weekend ruined football for me, at least for awhile. It’s been observed a thousand times this week that football is supposed to be a place we can escape from our jobs, troubles, worries and politics. Politics and football were never intended to mix and I should have known better but I never wanted to see the day when a football field was used to make a social statement.

                Right up front let’s be clear that I and everyone I know believes in freedom of speech and in protecting the rights of all Americans to be able to speak what’s on their minds and protest what may be heavy on their hearts. I am not for a moment saying those players didn’t have a right to do what they did.

                But like it or not, we who are mightily offended also have a right not to like it and to say so as loudly and obnoxiously as we care to. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the Lone Ranger on this one (55-61% of Americans disapprove of the current protest according to polls by Fox News, CBS and others).

                This whole NFL kneel down thing was started by a black has-been quarterback in San Francisco, raised by white parents and making $10 million a year, as a protest against police brutality against young, inner-city black men to whom the brave quarterback has a less-than-obvious connection. I don’t know if the media decided they couldn’t actually produce any real statistics documenting a trend in police brutality against young black men (they can’t) and so they upgraded the terminology to a protest against “social injustice,” or if some reporter just thought of bigger words.

                So this year the protest grew to include “inequality” in general, as more millionaire sports stars caught the fever. And last weekend entire teams joined in the protest as a show of team unity, I guess, in response to tweets by Donald Trump that the NFL should just fire the “sons of bitches” that were kneeling during the anthem.

                Defending the President’s tweets is a lost cause, even among the faithful. President Trump is not a career politician but he is a highly opinionated, outspoken guy who sometimes forgets he’s not just another citizen anymore and I agree, he probably would do better if he’d quit forgetting that. But can I join the outrage about what he said?

                Not unless I want to disown at least six friends and family members who have said the exact same thing in my living room and around my dining room table. Add to that another eight to 12 business associates and the guy who bagged my groceries at Krogers. Your President shouldn’t always say out loud what many of us are thinking but it was one of the traits that got him elected and sent what’s-her-name on her march of many sorrows.

                So what is even being protested exactly? Last week Bronco’s Head Coach Vance Joseph said, “Now, this thing has grown. It’s evolving every day. I’m not even sure what it’s about anymore and that’s the issue in my opinion.”

                The technical definition of social justice is “the fair and proper administration of laws so that all persons, irrespective of ethnicity, gender, possessions, race or religion are to be treated equally.”  I’m not sure who NFL players think disagrees with that. Maybe KKK members, Neo-Nazis, #BLM members and Anti-Fa hoodlums, but who else?

                What would Aaron Rodgers or Von Miller like me to do this week to end social injustice in my world? Or maybe I should just focus on inequality. Maybe I’ll end that on Tuesday if I see some. Or should I just shoot a cop? Does it have to be a white one?

                In the post-game press conference after the Buffalo Bills had crushed the socially enlightened Broncos, Denver linebacker Von Miller said in response to a question about the anthem kneel-down, “Hey, I had to stand up (sic?) for my brothers who are being beaten.”

                I am willing to place a sizable bet that unless Von was talking about Brandon Marshall in pass coverage or Denver’s offensive tackles, he does not know a single person being beaten.

                I realize social injustice and inequality exist. Good grief, we’ve taken huge steps backwards in race relations since 2008 when we first put Barack Obama in the presidency and he began to make sure we all knew how racist white people were by virtue of being white and how victimized black people were by virtue of being black. I haven’t seen it this bad since the 60’s when I was really too young to realize what was going on.

                Am I supposed to apologize for being white? Am I supposed to apologize because other people are black? My awareness is raised, what next?

                Hey, I know, why don’t we take the reins of trying to fix the scale of social justice away from the democrats who have been running on that platform since 1964 when republicans pushed through the Civil Rights Act? I think over 50 years of not fixing a damn thing is enough, don’t you?

                It’ll never happen but what if you let conservatives have a swing at the piñata? Maybe making welfare harder to get and jobs easier to get would be a good place to start. Maybe a program to encourage grass roots leadership aimed at reknitting the nuclear African-American family in inner cities.

                Maybe harsher penalties are in order for domestic violence, having as many as a dozen children by nearly that many women out of wedlock, drunken driving, shooting incidents and illegal drug violations. Well, that might clean up the NFL but I think the issue is bigger than that.

                How dare an organization trying to protect its star running back in Dallas from a six-week suspension for beating his girlfriend try and tell the rest of the nation about social injustice.

                How dare an organization that fines a player for wearing cleats printed with, “9/11,” and “Never Forget,” endorse a bunch of hooligans who think they need to tell this nation how justice works.

                How dare you.

                On Thursday the Broncos announce they were going to resume standing as a team for the national anthem and immediately the media began making it sound like they were doing us a favor.

                Whatever.

                I’ll probably forgive them because they’re my Broncos after all and I’ve even been mad at God and forgiven him before too. And in all honesty, I probably will watch the Broncos-Raiders game but something tells me I’m not going to care how it comes out as much as I used to. And it will probably be the only game I watch this week until the rest of the NFL starts standing again.

                I’ll forgive them too.  But I won’t forget.

                Red Miller, former Broncos head coach and the first coach to take them to a Super Bowl, died this past Wednesday at age 89. I am convinced it was from a broken heart.

Good Enough

                In the wee hours of the night on January 16, 2016, pallets of shrink wrapped cash were filmed being loaded into the cargo hold of a plane in Geneva (I think, Geneva, you wouldn’t believe how elusive that one detail is). It peaked a little interest because that’s just not the kind of thing you see every day unless you live in a Latin clime where drug cartels are a big deal.

                Turns out it was $400 million in Swiss Francs and Euros being secretly (like the entire Iran nuclear deal) sent to our pals in Iran by the Obama administration as part of a three-installment payment totaling $1.7 billion. Barack forgot to tell Congress about it. Oops.

                The administration maintained it was a settlement, including interest, from a 1979 arms payment made by the Shah of Iran for which Iran received no guns or ordinance after the Ayatollah Go Crazy ran the Shah out in February of 1979. Even President Carter knew it was a bad idea to send guns and stuff to a new regime whose primary goals were to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth and bring “death to America” as they are so fond of chanting.

                1979? Really? It took 37 years for us to get around to deciding we needed to pay a debt after telling Iran to go pound sand (pun totally intended) back when Gilligan’s Island reruns were still on the air? Allegedly Barry O did the good citizens of the US of A a huge favor by avoiding a settlement before a Hague Tribunal that could have come to 10’s of billions of dollars.

                Man, those Hague guys have got a really full docket if it took them 37 years to get around to hearing that case. Call me skeptical. What’s the statute of limitations on an arms deal rip off? Anybody?

                But that hard to swallow wheelbarrow load full of manure is only one of the bothersome details of that whole transaction.

                It turns out the flight o’ cash was delayed until we knew four American citizens being held in Iran as spies had been released and were on a plane of their own. Barry claimed though, that the money was absolutely, unequivocally not ransom money. No way. That would be against U.S. law. It was a coincidental separate negotiation that was part of the new and improved Iran path to a nuclear weapon deal that Barry and that Rhodes (roads) Scholar John Kerry whipped up.

                In other words, we didn’t start saying “no” to anything Iran asked for until they got further down their wish list than 37 years ago. I’m almost surprised they remembered a payment made by a guy whose entire government was overthrown in a somewhat more than bloodless coup where the new government assumed none of the debt of the Shah’s but apparently felt entitled to all of the restitution. Whatever.

                That “separate negotiation” thing was a little thin, even for that chronic, pathological liar Barry Hussein Obama. As I recall, even CNN was having a little trouble swallowing that whopper. So the administration later released a statement that said the release of the prisoners at the exact same moment as the exchange of $400 million in cash might not have been entirely coincidental.

                But it still wasn’t ransom. It was “leverage.”

                Oh, ok. Good enough for the mainstream media.

                Except that days later two more Americans were arrested in Iran for looking like spies. Being under the microscope and all, we didn’t pay a ransom for them and they are enjoying their stay in a fine Iranian dungeon in the bowels of Tehran thanks to a spineless President who had an alarming soft spot for all things Muslim.

                So here’s another thing that kind of makes my head spin, the entire $1.7 billion toilet flush was made in cash. Cash. In 2016 when almost every transaction larger than a pack of gum is made electronically.

                There are $60 trillion in use by the world at the moment. (Those of you as good at math as this liberal arts major may have just realized your government owes one third of all the money in the world. Sleep well.) Only $6 trillion of that is actual currency. No joke. Everything else is done electronically.

                World historian Yuval Harari observed that over $50 trillion of the world’s wealth only exists on computer servers and money is moved from account to account almost exclusively electronically. “Only a criminal,” Harari writes, “buys a house, for example, by handing over a suitcase full of banknotes.”

                Hmmm.

                Barry O said we couldn’t transfer the money electronically because the very sanctions we put in place prevented any such financial transaction with Iran. Again, good enough for your mainstream media. But a cash transaction was OK?

                Oh no. That was illegal too. But taking 400 million American taxpayer dollars and exchanging them for Swiss Francs, Euros and whatever other currencies may have been on those pallets, that was fine. As long as they weren’t American dollars we’re just fine.

                It begs the question, how stupid did Barry O think the American public was? And apparently we were because there are no Robert Mueller’s pursuing this particular concrete, filmed illegal action by a sitting American president. Nope we’re busy trying to figure out if the Russians had a vested interest in whether or not Donald Trump gets two scoops of ice cream or not.

                Good enough for the mainstream media.

                Except that now Americans traveling to Iran (I know, hardly anybody would be stupid enough to do that) are extremely vulnerable to being kidnapped/arrested and held for precedented ransom--$100 million per head. Plus interest.

                Except that it is against U.S. policy and law, to pay ransom.

                Except that only the dim-witted would actually believe we were obligated to pay a 37-year-old debt to the government that replaced the government that was owed the debt and has been clamoring for an end to our country and way of life ever since.

                Except that no matter how much lipstick you put on it, paying another country $1.7 billion in shrink-wrapped, untraceable bank notes seems so, so wrong. How could any of that money go to anything corrupt? Oh, yeah, and the administration forgot to tell Congress about it because there was nothing shady going on.

                You know, part of a secret deal that was never approved by Congress in the first place so why should Barry have had to tell them about it?

                No need for a special investigator. Besides, it was close to two years ago. What difference could it possibly make now? Good enough for the mainstream media.

                Therein ends the actual blog. 1100 words.  If you’re interested, I looked up who the four guys were we “leveraged” back from Iran and you may see below.

                All were charged in closed door hearings and while some details of the charges are available Iran’s judicial system does not require disclosure of such information publicly.

                Washington Post Correspondent, Jason Rezaian. It makes me crazy we paid anything to get a journalist back from Iran’s dungeons where they all belong, let alone $100 million ($425 million with interest.)

                Former US Marine, Amir Hekmati. Various charges of espionage which allegedly all came as quite a shock to Hekmati.

                Christian Pastor, Saeed Abedini. As if being a Christian weren’t crime enough to get yourself beheaded in Iran they had thrown him out nine times and told him not to come back. I guess 10 was the magic number. It doesn’t seem like being a Christian should get you arrested but if you’re stupid enough to go back 10 times, I don’t know. Well, it was worth a few hundred million in leverage.

                Former Iranian soldier, Nosratollah Khosrawi-Roodsari. Nosy had run afoul of the Iranian government over some question about information he may or may not have been selling to the CIA in the 80’s so he fled to the U.S.. He thought he could sneak back in to visit Mom in 2003, knowing the only thing Iran keeps track of that long are arms payments by deposed dictators. He probably would have made it back out safely too but Iranian intelligence intercepted a late night drunken text to the FBI in which Nosy claimed to have some information they would be interested in.

                Honest to God, the internet news article described it as a “drunken text,” proving once again that brand new axiom: “Don’t text drunk after midnight.”

Sort of UN-American, If You Ask Me

                On Tuesday, President Trump will address the United Nations for the very first time. (I know, the media would like you to believe he’s been ruining their world for years, but that was somebody else whom they’ll never blame.) It is likely he will need to talk about climate change and North Korea and whether an irrelevant and ineffective organization like the UN is compatible with the America First Agenda we voted into office last November—sorry libs.

                But what the world is really waiting to hear is where President Trump will stand on Obama’s Iranian birthday present and clear path to nuclear armament, I mean nuclear energy.

                The New York Times once again has both leads written:

                “Trump caves in like a girl scout platoon and apologizes weakly to the UN about everything mean that he said without thinking and agrees to give Iran whatever it wants and now we have no credibility with or respect from anybody in the world community and North Korea will probably blow up California.” Is that about how you’d like to see it, Ann Coulter?

                Or “Trump doubles down on tough talk and reiterates why we won’t finance global wealth distribution disguised as climate concern and continues to insist that if North Korea attacks we will annihilate them. Additionally, he told the UN we don’t really need them and that Iran needs to rethink how much they like living above ground, thereby throwing the entire planet into an unstable state that threatens to end life as we know it.”

                I’m kind of hoping for the latter, although I don’t think demonstrating strength in the face of global cowardice will result in an unstable environment but I do hope it ends life as the left would like to know it.

                First of all the U.S. pays 22% of the UN operating budget. That percentage was arrived at through some complicated formula involving size of country population and ability and willingness to pay, which could be described as naivete and willingness to be used like a bar of soap. China is a real close second at paying 10% of the budget because their population is so much smaller and…hey, wait!

                Whatever. Our part amounts to $1.2 billion which seems a trifling amount to a country in debt now over $20,000,000,000,000 (that should be trillion if I counted my zeroes right).

                Then of course there’s the peacekeeping budget, which is separate. It looks like we will pay another $2.2 billion this year for that which brings us to a total of 29% of the UN budget. China is still at 10% overall. There are 193 member nations in the UN. Some of them must be really tiny.

                It’s not like it’s the first time we’ve ignored our own laws, especially when it comes to wanting the rest of the world to like us, but in 1997 Bill Clinton signed a law limiting our participation in the United Nations to a maximum of 25% of their total expenditure. Oops. And that’s not just this year. Last year we were 28% and change. We’ve been as high as 30% and never under 25%.  (Check Politifact, Wikipedia, any number of internet sources.)

                And don’t even get me started on who sends the most men and women into harm’s way when the UN decides to launch a peacekeeping mission (read, “We will have the US of A kick your ass if you don’t listen to us”).

 

                They’ve never even let us be in charge of the stupid clubhouse, although we built it and house it on our shore cuz we may be the least likely place to be bombed, temporarily forgetting the World Trade Center. Since 1946 when the UN was formed the Secretaries-General have all been from smaller countries—Norway, Sweden, Burma, Austria, Peru, Egypt, Ghana, South Korea and currently some fellow named Antonio Guterres from Portugal. Portugal?

                I know, I know, if they let an American be Sec-Gen, Russia would probably drop out, in spite of how hard they worked to make Donald Trump president.

                It’s not like the UN doesn’t do some good stuff—food and refugee aid during disasters; peacekeeping when it’s needed and sure, who better to do that then us; helping children; war crimes prosecution; reproductive health and population management (?????); fighting AIDS; and bossing the US around like they have more to say about our stuff than we do.

                If they want to deliver food and aid to earthquake or genocide victims, then may whoever’s God a particular country subscribes to bless them and the US will probably happily overpay. I’m ok with that.

                But if we need to tell North Korea we’re going to turn them into a grease spot if they don’t be careful, or if we need to tell Iran, “Nope. Not a real treaty. Just another BS wet dream Barack Obama had,” then the UN should shut up and be happy we let them play on our shore.

                Here are six reasons I borrowed from the Washington Times (that’s the little paper democrats in Washington don’t read) that President Trump should tell Iran and the UN to take their deal and shove it:

1.       The agreement and super-comforting pinky swear promise that Iran made to not develop anything that will blow up with their now unrestricted ability to purchase plutonium expires in 15 years. There is no plan for after that. My grandson will be 15 years old. It will matter to him.

2.       The agreement calls for the UN to give Iran 24-DAY NOTICE before any outside inspectors can be sent in to check out nuclear sites. You could move or hide just about anything in 24 days even if you aren’t David Copperfield.

3.       All economic sanctions were removed under the agreement before Iran’s abandonment of nuclear weapons manufacture could be verified.  It is still not verified, but sleep well.

4.       There are absolutely no consequences in the agreement for violation of said agreement by the Iranians. There is some vague language about the possible reinstatement of some of the previous economic sanctions but no other penalty.

5.       US and Canadian inspectors are NOT allowed to participate in any inspections of Iranian nuclear sites. “Inspectors will be from countries that have approved diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran.” In other words, folks dependent on Iran for oil.

6.       And nothing in the agreement actually matters anyway because the UN agency that would normally carry out the inspections cut a “secret and separate” deal with Iran that would allow Iran to use it’s own inspectors, which pretty much neutered any kind of watchdog oversight to make sure Iran is playing by even the loose and lenient rules to which they agreed.

That is so comforting, considering that Kim Jong Un is the only guy on the planet that keeps anyone from saying Iran is the craziest, most unstable, untrustworthy nation currently on the in existence. And they love America. Ask Maxine or Nancy.

Can’t wait til Tuesday. I’m always excited to hear what the New York Times thinks. Right now I have to go get ready to hopefully watch the Denver Broncos do Trump-like things to the Dallas Cowboys.

Let's Do The Twist, Shall We?

                So this will get an bipartisan eye roll, but I am going to ignore 3 pages of notes on the DACA hysteria and what President Trump actually said and did as opposed to what was reported in the lame stream media. Instead I need a break and I’d like to share a personal story with those of you who’d care to read along.

                Last night we went with long-time friends to a little night club in Louisville, CO, called Nissi’s to listen to a group called The Jerseys.  They are definitely not to be confused with The Jersey Boys, in fact I think they’re from Pueblo, but they knew all of Frankie Valli’s songs as well as the requisite supplements by The Isley Brothers, Roy Orbison, The Beach Boys, Rickie Valens, others and they brought a smile to my face from Sherry Baby to Margaritaville.

                (I bought my first Jimmy Buffet album in 1972 so yes, youngsters, he has been around as the undisputed champ on my playlist since almost the 60’s.)

                Almost all the music they performed though was about 10 years prior to what I would call “my era.”  We sadly came of age to disco tunes (yuck), as well as Led Zepplin, Hendrix, Van Halen and the like. Somewhere in there Bob Seeger and Neil Diamond came along with The Rolling Stones and, I don’t know who else, it’s been so long.

                So how is it I know all the words to almost every single Frankie Valli song and a bunch of others from that genre? It’s a little scary and I don’t normally listen to them on Pandora but every time I hear them I like it. That music makes me smile.

                We thought there might be dancing and since Nissi’s is really close to Boulder and we knew they would come so we weren’t worried that anything we might do on the dance floor would be weird.

                And show up those Boulderites did.  I chose not to crash the Prius-fest in the main parking lot with my SUV so we parked on the perimeter at a slight angle with the F-150’s there from Niwot.

                From the very first note the dance floor was full. I was even out there before the first song was over and, in fact, probably danced more last night than I have in years. Sang along with everything too. So was everyone else so it wasn’t as embarrassing as say, karaoke would have been.

                I am newly minted into my sixth decade and my wife Barb, younger still, and we were probably in the low end of the sweet spot age-wise for that crowd.  I am telling you, I have never seen so many 55-75-year-olds kick it like it was 1999 before in my life.

                I remember thinking, “My kids would puke if they could see this,” and then those Jerseys sang the lyric “If I should call you up, invest a dime…” and I thought, “My kids wouldn’t even know what that meant.”

                There were so many happy faces on that dance floor.  You could almost literally see 40 years peel off the crowd as we all slipped back to a time when our moves were the ones to copy.  Almost literally. You kind of had to close your eyes and mostly imagine it but that’s what it felt like.

                For three and a half hours we were kids again and it was great. Ronald Reagan hadn’t been president yet so our best days were still ahead of us. I don’t know what happened but my arthritis didn’t bother me. I wailed like I actually had a singing voice and moved my feet like I didn’t have two prosthetic hips and a fake knee.

                It was a miracle.

                And watching the crowd I could tell I wasn’t alone at all. Everybody was smiling, jiving and singing at the tops of their lungs. I haven’t seen that many old people on a dance floor since an anniversary dance at a midwestern wedding and it was beautiful.

                They say 60 is the new 40 but I’m pretty sure we say that because it’s a lot more hopeful than saying, “Oh my God, my life is ¾’s over and I’m going to die soon.” I sure don’t feel 40 but I at least don’t feel like I’m going to die soon either. We say lots of things to cheer ourselves up, I guess.

                And we do things like go listen to Frankie Valli tunes and cut a rug with a bunch of other old farts to recapture a few moments of our youth while we can still remember we were us.

                Frankie Valli is still performing by the way. Not at Nissi’s but, you know…   He’s 83.

                So today the world kind of still has a golden glow around it for me. Our grandson is coming over to visit later this afternoon and that is one of life’s best rewards for no longer being a kid.

                And tomorrow morning I will wake up and move to my favorite chair in my bedroom. The world’s greatest wife will bring me a cup of coffee with the perfect amount of creamer in it like she always does and with it I will wash down a handful of ibuprofen so that I will be able to eventually pull on a pair of pants.

                And then I’ll go to the office and the carriage will turn back into a pumpkin. As I sit there in my 7,873^rd sales meeting I am likely to be quietly humming “Walk Like A Man,” or “Big Girls Don’t Cry.” The younger folks will undoubtedly think, “Silly old man, we’re busy building an empire here.”

                I’ll probably smile.

Hurricanes and Unicorns

                It feels a little callous to see very many positives in a tragedy the scope of Hurricane Harvey, but I can’t help but have some faith restored in humanity and our ability to come together again in what unites us as Americans.

                The very fact something as loosely organized as the “Cajun Navy”—named in 2005 during Katrina--materializes whenever there are hurricane or flood victims in need of rescue and aid speaks volumes about the human instinct to help his fellow man. No officers, no rank no orders, no real game plan. Just good ol’ boys and girls in their bass boats rescuing people off rooftops in a scenario that is next to impossible for most of us to even imagine.

                White people rescuing black people. Hispanics rescuing white people. Blacks rescuing Hispanics. Whites rescuing Hispanics. Hispanics rescuing blacks. Blacks rescuing whites and nobody seeming to notice what color anybody is or where they stand on the preservation or destruction of Confederate monuments.

                So many heartwarming and heart-wrenching stories, from mothers being reunited with their children, people in the midst of drowning being saved and resuscitated, to those who didn’t make it or whose whereabouts may have to wait for the waters to recede.

                One man said he met more of his neighbors in 24 hours than he had in the previous 20 years.

                There is nothing quite like a tragedy to make Americans shine like the proverbial beacon on a hill.

                Social media—for once—became a positive force, being used to communicate needs, locations, resources, desperation and salvation. We stopped listening to the mainstream media long enough to remember at a level that goes so much deeper than (D) or (R), the common bond that links us all together and responding with compassion and courage to help fellow human beings simply because they needed it.

                “…We have to come together as Americans with love for our nation and true affection for each other…Above all else we must remember this truth: No matter our color, creed, religion or political party we are all Americans first.”

                C’mon, you know who said it.

                “…Our citizens must restore the bonds of trust and loyalty between each other. We must love each other, respect each other and cherish our history and our future together.”

                C’mon, same guy.

                That’s right, that horrible racist pig, President Donald Trump, the Saturday of the violence in Charlottesville. The President who showed up in Houston waving a Texas flag, offering assistance, encouragement and reassurance. The one who gave $1 million of his own money and was criticized by the media for not showing enough empathy in the opinion of one really hard news CNN reporter whose insignificant name I have forgotten and hope that I never have cause to ever remember.

                At least it gave the media something to “report” during the worst national tragedy of the year other than Melania Trump’s choice of footwear. (What is proper fashion to attend devastation and mayhem, anyway?) Good grief.

                It leaves one to wonder where are the donations from the Clintons (What the hell did happen, Hillary?), the Obama’s, Al “Is It Hot In Here” Gore, or that roly-poly blob of mirth, Michael Moore. What did happen to all that money in the Clinton Foundation when they dismantled it anyway? I’m guessing it didn’t go to any Haitian families. How’s your Uranium One stock doing, Hilly?

                In fairness, Sandra Bullock and Leo DiCaprio stepped up and each gave $1 million to the Houston relief effort. I like to think they were following our President’s example although Leo would probably take his back if he knew anyone really thought that.

                I like Sandra because I don’t know her politics which either means she keeps her mouth shut or I just missed it. I hate Leo’s politics but I have to give credit where credit is due and my hat is off in deference to his generosity and contribution to this tragedy when most of the loudmouths in Hollywood remain merely loudmouths. ‘Sup Whoopi?

                One thing in all this seems crystal clear to me: When we can stop listening to the media for a minute it isn’t nearly as hard to remember that we are all Americans.

                When CNN isn’t in our ear wanting us to believe that the President really needs to court the votes of all 200,000 registered KKK members like 2020 depended on it and when Breitbart isn’t doing the same thing making us wonder where the #onlyblacklivesmatter pontoon boat is in the wake of Harvey, we seem to get along just fine.

                I wonder what might happen if CNN just tried reporting some facts (you know, not stuff about empathy) about the economy or international crises. I wonder if we might pull together and row the boat, so to speak, in the same general direction for awhile.

                The human response to the devastation of Hurricane Harvey might indicate that at least it’s a possibility.