<\/p>\n
Ok, I\u2019m a bit relieved today because the French did something we failed to do \u2013 reject white nationalism, or here in America, Trumpism. Still, I\u2019m headed to the Boneyard to digress and clear my muddled mine.<\/p>\n
Thanks to the French, who halted an attempt by, I\u2019m guessing, Putin and his Russian hackers to influence its election and swing it to the white nationalistic candidate, Le Pen. Then Le Pen was soundly beaten in voting by Emmanuel Macron, saving, for now at least, the European Union that can be a solid bulwark against the aggressive expansion policies of Putin and hopefully put a crimp in Trumpism.<\/p>\n
Believe me, I\u2019m very mindful of the horrible things the Rs and Trump are doing to destroy this country and, if the health bill the House passed Thursday (May 4) gets placed into law, to kill off many of us. It\u2019s the most terrifying thing possible as it relates to health care, and I\u2019ll never understand how responsible people could even think of legislating such a vile bill much less pass it.<\/p>\n
In my mind, the passage of the House bill is nothing more than racism. The Rs blocked anything that Obama wanted to do and I don\u2019t think it was because of partisan politics. I firmly believe that because the president was black those House Rs put on their white hoods and were determined to make live as miserable as possible for him, and as a result those of us in the country who don\u2019t see skin color as an impediment to social justice were also negatively affected.<\/p>\n
I will never, never understand how people \u2013 especially those in power \u2013 can do such an evil thing and live with themselves. But, I guess they can because they celebrated like young college students who had just passed their final exams. Well, I\u2019m hoping that we reasonable citizens will get the last laugh, and I can\u2019t wait for the mid-term elections.<\/p>\n
The investigation into alleged collusion by Trump and his campaign are still being conducted and while they are being done far from the public eye, I pray that they are not being influenced for blocked in any way by the president and his cohorts in the administration and that we will get a fair look into what I believe was collusion between the Russian Oligarchy led by Putin and Trump.<\/p>\n
What I\u2019m scared of is that Trump will do something if the investigation gets too close to the truth and divert attention. The thing I fear the most is that he might start a war and if one comes it will probably be North Korea, and if that happens it won\u2019t be pretty. Of course, war is never pretty, but with close to 30,000 U.S. troops in South Korea they could be in serious trouble if the North comes rumbling south with its 1.5-million army (another 8.5 million would be pressed into service), thousands of tanks and thousands of missiles and an unknown quantity of chemical weapons.<\/p>\n
But, hey, we got nuclear bombs, right? And a man with thin skin and the mentality of a five-year-old, so we should be all right, right?<\/p>\n
Now you know why we all should be scared.<\/p>\n
Speaking of the mentality of a child, what is with LaVar Ball, the father of Lonzo Ball, the freshman guard that lit up the Washington Huskies this year on the basketball court and is picked to go either first or second in the NBA draft that is coming up on June 22.<\/p>\n
Lonzo seems to be a fairly reasonable kid, but his old man is P.T. Barnum come- back-to-life again. He\u2019s a huckster in the mold of Don the Con (Trump) and now he is trying to sell us on a signature shoe \u2013 Z02 Prime \u2011 that he has pegged to sell for only $495. Hey, I used to go barefooted all the time in the summer, and sometimes in the winter, and even now when I have to buy a pair of shoes I cringe if I have to pay over $30.<\/p>\n
So step right up and for only $495 you can have a black and gold shoe designed by Lonzo Ball himself.<\/p>\n
Shaquille O\u2019Neal, who is famous for putting his name on shoes that are relatively cheap, blasted LaVar Ball for trying to soak kids. LaVar Ball answered: \u201cIf you can\u2019t afford the Z02\u2019s, you\u2019re NOT A BIG BALLER!\u201d<\/p>\n
I would answer for Shaq that he is definitely big and he definitely was a BIG BALLER. But, Shaq\u2019s point is well taken. Who the heck can afford $495 for a shoe? And why would you want to even think of buying one for that much money?<\/p>\n
For $495, the shoe better come with a guarantee that it would last a lifetime and make you a better BIG BALLER.<\/p>\n
The Mariners are hanging in there, considering all that the team has gone through in just a few days over a month into the season. I can\u2019t remember when the club has made this many transactions in such a short time. Seems like every day another player is placed on the disabled list.<\/p>\n
To start the season, the Mariners put five players on the DL, including left-handed starter Drew Smyly and closer Steve Cishek, and began the Yo-Yo between triple-A Tacoma and Seattle.<\/p>\n
A total of 16 players have been sent to Tacoma (some of them several times) and 12 have been recalled from Tacoma (some of them several times). Eight players have been sent to the DL. Starters James Paxton, Felix Hernandez and Smyly are now on the DL and outfield Mitch Haniger, who had gotten off to the best start on the club, is also on the DL.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s like a train wreck. Just when things get settled somebody gets injured and the Yo-Yo is put back in action between Tacoma and Seattle as general manager Jerry Dipoto tries to find the right combinations or a positive fill in while somebody sits with an injury.<\/p>\n
Paxton was off to a good start and then he strains his forearm. He\u2019s been on the DL four times in his brief career, once each the past three seasons and now this season. He is obviously injury prone and unless he finds a cure for it might one day find himself out of baseball or, at the least, out of Seattle.<\/p>\n
One guy who is getting closer to being a major disappointment is Mike Zunino. He started out the season behind the plate as the No. 1 catching starter, but was sent to Tacoma May 5 in another effort to find his hitting stroke. He was batting.167, which is just slightly worse than his .193 career batting average in four-plus seasons.<\/p>\n
A no-hit, good-defense catcher could be valuable with the right team. But the Mariners need somebody who has a clue once in a while at the plate, and so far Zunino is still searching for that clue.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know what to make of the Seahawks\u2019 draft. Most so-called experts game them a positive rating, but nobody really knows until a year or two how a draft plays out.<\/p>\n
What I would take from their draft is that they have a firm belief in their scouting system and aren\u2019t afraid to trade down to get more picks lower in the draft and go with players who are not the filet mignons but the chicken steaks they believe can be turned into filet mignons.<\/p>\n
That strategy has worked well before with them. Richard Sherman was a fifth-round draft pick and the 23rd<\/sup> cornerback chosen in 2011. Kam Chancellor was taken in the fifth round in 2010. Russell Wilson was chosen in the third round in 2012. Five quarterbacks \u2013Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Ryan Tannehill, Brandon Weeden and Brock Osweiler \u2013 were taken before him.<\/p>\n So we\u2019ll see someday how this all turned out. For now, though, you have to give general manager John Schneider and Peter Carroll credit for the success they have had doing it their way.<\/p>\n I\u2019m going to say the Seahawks will finish 11-5 (5-1 in the division) and make the playoffs. But if Wilson gets hurt and misses some games, all bets are off. He is the guy they can\u2019t afford to lose. But, of course, you already knew that.<\/p>\n Enough of this. I\u2019m going to go pull some weeds in the yard and try to relax. I feel better that Le Pen didn\u2019t win in France and now we have to concentrate on getting Trump out of office.<\/p>\n Be well pal.<\/p>\n Be careful out here.<\/p>\n Have a great day.<\/p>\n You are loved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ok, I\u2019m a bit relieved today because the French did something we failed to do \u2013 reject white nationalism,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-column","category-mosher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2675"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2676,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2675\/revisions\/2676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}