So…as I’m watching the Grammys there at the end they come to the Best Rap Album of the Year Award. Okay. Clearly… rap isn’t my thing for the most part, but I’m a very fair guy at the end of the day and of course I’m Michael Jackson. So former stripper Cardi B becomes the first ever woman solo performer in the 61 year history of the Grammys to win this ‘esteemed’ award. I admit…I didn’t buy the disc. I’ve seen her and you know dealt with it in my own way in a dismissive manner. I’m a First Amendment guy to the core…and at the end of the day if this is what dumbasses want to do with their time and money that’s their call. I would think they’d be better served going to a strip bar. But…whatever.
Trump as the sitting POTUS and Cardi B as a Grammy winner. I wonder if he’ll invite her to the White House?
Maybe.
Maybe Cardi and Kanye could team up to unseat Trump in the 2020 GOP presidential primaries. Maybe the groveling Lindsey Graham will become a rapper.
Don’t laugh.
I feel old. I feel like A Man Named Ove. The world has changed. Beyond recognition at times. Yet Russell Westbrook likes Taylor Swift. Nothing makes sense. Kevin Durant can’t even rap as good as I can. The world is in a crazy flux to be sure.
First off…rapping is not music. It’s some entirely different genre of something which emits noise. The rappers should have a ceremony all off to themselves in a different building on a different date. Rapping is chanting. Diana Ross sings. Lady Gaga sings. Roberta Flack sings. Carrie Underwood sings. Stevie Nicks sings. Aretha Franklin used to sing. Tony Bennett sings. Rappers emit noise.
Rapping is bullshit and it says so much about the overall devolvement of our culture.
And the Dolly Parton thing. I have no problem with her getting up there and singing her songs, but she doesn’t need to be ruining the Neil Young classic After the Goldrush. I was embarrassed for the Grammys right there and then. It would be like having Tobie Keith singing Stairway to Heaven.
Alicia Keys was fine. I enjoyed her dual piano medley. That was music. Alicia Keys is a musician. Rappers are not musicians.
Put the rappers somewhere off to themselves. It’s like the transition of boxing into cage fighting…if that makes any sense. Like going from the elegance of Obama to the trash of Trump.
Say what you want about Trump, but one thing is clear to me—we obviously had serious societal problems before Trump given the status of rap before 2016.
Give me pop, give me rock, give me country, give me jazz, give me hip hop, give Nora Jones…but take that f—king rap and put it in another building walled off to itself.
I know Westbrook likes Taylor Swift—that’s good. I can live with that. I have no idea what music Paul George prefers. Harden probably is a rapper, but I’ll give him a pass. Cup Cake actually used to rap and was an abysmal…virtually feeble rapper at best. Rapping is another thing he should be insecure about because even I know he sucks as a wannabe rapper. I would hope Billy Donovan is not a rapper.
No wonder we’ve become such a shallow society, just listen to this shit the younger people are listening to. I’m embarrassed for them.
Wilt agreed with me and he actually owned a bar in Harlem which had musicians who played jazz and the blues. He hated rapping. Despised it—so don’t think this is racial thing because you already know abut the Michael Jackson thing with me.
This would have been my Song of the Year. But of course you could understand the lyrics and that would be an automatic disqualification. I may not even be able to watch the Oscars this year…although on this one I think my vote be the winning ticket as in count on my for a Green Book vote. What a great movie!
Well… shit. I saw this and it made me feel sad. I love chick flicks and if this is one of those deals where there’s a heart tugging type of ending that would be good. With all this cold weather this week-end other than the Thunder game the only thing I’ve been watching are these old chick flicks my wife and I have seen over the years. Chick flick wise I’ve seen them all with my wife. She’s in Denver this week-end and she pulled out six for me to watch this week-end with the diva lab Pauli. I kid you not, we’ve watched six chick flick this week-end. They never get old. I made a top ten list at one time. It changes from time to time with me. But the top two spots have always remained pretty much the same… 1 Serendipity, and 2 Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Follow your heart, Alex. Stay in Spain and follow your heart, buddy.
These ABC matinee games are awesome. In three successive week-ends we as Thunder fans have witnessed the Divine Miracle in Philly, the Cataclysmic Choke in Boston, and then last night the Comeback in Houston. Great stuff and for an NBA old timer like myself you have no idea how much more I enjoy the games with Jeff van Gundy, Doris Burke, or Hubie Brown doing the color instead of the homer broadcasts on Fox Southwest. To date, according to Michael Cage, the Thunder have not committed a foul 55 games into the season. It wasn’t just Brian Davis.
Last night in Houston was one of those games where you enjoyed it for what it was… a great game. I think Mark Jackson as part of the ABC call had it right. He claimed and I agree that these two teams are the two teams which should be the last two standing in the West for the right to play Golden State in the Western Conference Finals. One would think Denver will eventually either be at No. 4 or No. 5 with Utah in the mix as well for one of those spots. Portland, to me, is playing above their heads just a bit so far this season.
This game was rightfully billed as a matchup of the leading MVP contender in James Harden and in Paul George someone I now have on my list as No. 2 in the MVP race. But on this night inside the Toyota Center in Houston…Paul George was the best basketball player on the floor and in the league in a setting which should put him on everybody’s top three ballot heading into the All-Star break.
James Harden was good scoring 42 points on 28 shots, but Paul George was the guy who in the end carried his team all the way back from a 26 point deficit to a clutch road win over the same team you figure the Thunder will have to beat in post season play if they want to get to Cupcake and the Warriors.
It’s hard to say this game was all that different from what we’ve been seeing from Paul George of late in that he’s been routinely spectacular on both ends of the floor. As someone with no bias whatsoever attached and who witnessed Durant’s 40-50-90 MVP season and Westbrook’s Oscar Robertson MVP season…I’d have to say this Paul George season is the one which has displayed the best overall basketball play on both ends of the floor. Not really even close from a defensive standpoint.
PG scored 45 points on a 12-22 night, but more than anything he continually is that calming balm for Sam Presti’s peacock point guard when he’s going thru one of those spurts of his when you have your hands over your eyes and refuse to watch. It’s like when you were a little kid and the know it all down the street would always remind you not to stare into the sun. That’s what it’s like for me when Westbrook goes into one of his Wild Thing trances. I pretend I’m not seeing what I’m actually seeing because at some point Paul George and Dennis Schroder will gently start taking the ball away from him on as many possessions as possible.
I think Billy Donovan, Paul George, and Dennis Schroder now realize Russell Westbrook isn’t going to change, so instead of making a big deal out of it they’re just taking the ball away from Russell unless there’s a situation where you need Westbrook at the rim…. pretty much like in the 2012 Western Conference Playoffs when the Thunder made their run to the Finals.
And lo and behold that’s exactly what Bill Donovan drew up as Westbrook scored on a late layup which turned out to be the eventual game winner. Then–Westbrook did a very nice job of defending James Harden on the ensuing Houston possession. Ball game.
Westbrook tripled doubled for the 9th straight game which ties him with Wilt Chamberlain for most trip dubs in a row.
I’ve read two Wilt books this winter, ‘Wilt-1962’ and ‘The View From Above’…and my guess is, Wilt Chamberlain would have admired Westbrook’s rebounding and passing skills, but would have told him to stop chucking stupid threes.
Beyond Paul George and Russell—the rest of the Thunder team was excellent in the second half playing great up tempo defense. Schroder, Ferguson and Grant were especially effective. To Billy Donovan’s credit, he rolled out Deonte Burton in the second half and got a +18 from him in 9:33 of play….which I thought in sense helped energize the Thunder.
On a humanitarian note, the Thunder finally and mercifully waived Alex Abrines yesterday. I’m sorry, but this had to be done. I know the millennial writers like Royce Young and Erik Horne envisioned Alex Abrines as something on a grand scale, but the kid never really looked all that enamored playing basketball in the United States. He did get better last season and to his credit I give him that. But from a human standpoint this just seems like the human way to go from an adult perspective. I wish Alex Abrines well. One of my aunts lived in Spain for awhile and it was lovely. May Alex Abrines find inner peace and enjoy playing ball in Europe. I still think he would be a great folk singer.
This was a big win for the Thunder last night for ranking purposes in the West. They have another big one on Monday night at home against overachieving Portland. If the Thunder can take care of business they’ll be in a fairly nice spot heading into the All-Star break.
I love Wilt Chamberlain. He played on two of the greatest NBA teams of all-time. The ’66-’67 Sixers and the ’72-’73 Lakers. He led the league in scoring seven times. He led the league in rebounding eight times. And as a seven foot-one center he even led the league once in assists. To see Wilt and Westbrook together would have been a hoot because when Wilt was still in his prime he could run the floor as could Bill Russell. I think both of them would have loved Westbrook as long as he quit chucking bad threes.
To this point I haven’t written anything on Anthony Davis and his demand to be traded before the trade deadline. I think now is the time for me to comment after watching last night’s debacle in New Orleans in which he played in the first three quarters then stayed on the bench the entire fourth period in a close game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Pels did eventually win the game in what was an entertaining game, but one would hope this isn’t the template in New Orleans moving forward for the rest of this season.
This isn’t fair to the fans in New Orleans or to any fans in any small markets looking forward. The NBA front office has said it will fine the Pelicans $22,000 per game for every game Davis doesn’t play moving forward till the conclusion of this season in New Orleans. This is bullshit and I can’t believe this would hold water in a civil court of law.
The New Orleans Pelicans are currently worth around $1.1 billion dollars. They are the No. 30th ranked NBA franchise by Forbes as far as franchise valuation. Anthony Davis is by far the most valuable asset of the franchise. Imagine the Thunder mishandling Russell Westbrook’s contract extension and that would be the small market comparison. By the way the OKC Thunder currently rank 18th on Forbes with a valuation of $1.25 billion dollars. Not a bad rate of return on investment capital by Clay Bennett and his ownership group.
The Pelicans by the current NBA collective bargaining agreement can resign Anthony Davis to a five year deal worth $239 million dollars. If Davis leaves he can ‘only’ sign a four year deal with any other team worth a $154 million. So, obviously, this isn’t about NBA contractual money. It’s about Davis wanting to join a super team and expanding his own brand even more per winning. His Pelicans were one the better post season stories last season as unlike the Thunder who flamed versus Utah in the first round. Davis and the Pels swept Portland in the first round before being eliminated by Golden State.
To me, this is simple, the Pelicans did the right thing by not trading Davis to the Lakers. They made the right play. What LA offered to me wasn’t enough for one of the league’s best five players. If I’m New Orleans—the play is to finish the season. Get the highest lottery place possible and then get the most they can in return to team along with Holiday and Randle.
I would not risk injury to Davis in any way. He’s been an injury prone player during his career and this is one New Orleans cannot get wrong even if they owner Gayle Benson has to file a lawsuit. Her franchise cannot misplay this hand.
Davis and his agent demanded the trade, not the other way around. Kevin Durant did not do this. He complied fully with his contractual obligation to the Thunder.
It was a tale of two cities last night on NBA trade deadline night.
Literally.
The Memphis Grizzlies came to Oklahoma City to face the Thunder with the news that three of their better players had been traded earlier in the day including franchise face Marc Gasol. Fortunately for the Grizzlies they were facing the attention deficit disorder challenged Oklahoma City Thunder and somehow found themselves leading 53-51 at halftime.
It was the worst half of any NBA game I’ve witnessed so far this season. In fact I gonged it and didn’t watch the second half. For Billy Donovan’s Thunder which has now won nine of it last ten games this was rock bottom with me even though they won the game easily in the second half.
Memphis ran some hinky dink zone which a JV high school girls team might employ and the Thunder promptly fired off 28 first half three point shots despite the fact Memphis has no rim protector whatsoever. Plus, the fact the Grizzlies were despondent losing their teammates earlier in the day and they weren’t any good with them on the team before the trade deadline anyway.
I stopped, clicked over to TNT and watched what turned out to be rousing second half between the Lakers in Boston Celtics.
What a second half!
The Lakers with LeBron finally back in action and somewhat back in shape came back from 18 points down and beat the Celtics on a Rajon Rondo game winner at the buzzer.
Just a great second half of NBA hoops. This was a Lakers team which thought half of their team was possibly going to be traded earlier in the day to New Orleans for Anthony Davis. This was a Lakers team which was eviscerated earlier in the week by the Warriors. This is a Lakers team which has some work to do just to make the playoffs and played like a desperate team. Just a great game.
When I watch Boston and Oklahoma City play something is missing with both of these talented teams. I look at other coaches this year like Malone in Denver, Joerger in Sacramento, and Budenholzer in Milwaukee and I see teams having fun and playing with a chip on their collective shoulders. Young teams playing like they have a goal in mind.
I honestly don’t know what the goal is in Oklahoma City or Boston. At some point you pay and play to win a championship, right?
The season is two thirds over and neither team seems all that committed emotionally. I know its 82 games and you have to calibrate your energy, but both of these teams are young and deep with experienced point guards even though one is a peacock point guard Wild Thing. But still. Are these nice college coaches just too nice to elicit the talent out of their rosters?
Eddie Sutton used to have a great saying. It went something like this…”You know you’re watching a very good coaching job when you see a coach extract the maximum amount of juice out of a limited amount of pulp”. Much more juice needs to be extracted in Boston and Oklahoma City this basketball season from the two pleasant clean shaven college coaches.
I wonder if Sam Presti and Danny Ainge are threatened by overt strong willed head coaches who possess a strong outward personality? That’s always been my one knock on Presti…in that it appears he doesn’t want to hire the head coach who could handle his peacock point guard and take ‘his’ team at this point back to being championship relevant in the West.
Sam Presti didn’t make a move at the deadline and I agree with him. He did shed $7 million of payroll and tax when he traded TLC last week to the Bulls for a second round draft choice…which brings the luxury tax ‘down’ to $66 million or so for this season. To me, I see the Thunder much like I see Boston. Presti did enough this summer as did Danny Ainge. He dotted every i and crossed every t. It seems obvious we don’t know all of what is the Alex Abrines situation and I would think a roster spot is being held open for Andre Roberson in the event he gets healthy. So–that will require patience on both fronts.
I hate to be on Billy Donovan and Russell Westbrook’s collective asses, but the best thing Presti could acquire at the deadline would be a union of sorts between Westbrook and Donovan to become a smarter team as the season rolls into March.
Dumb teams which chronically make low reward decisions rarely if ever advance. And to be blunt, I’m pretty happy with the Thunder except for the dumb decision making which still haunts this team at times.
This isn’t on Presti, this is on his head coach and his peacock point guard Wild Thing.
Does even the trekkiest of the Daily Thunder Trekkies really think Wayne Ellington or some other buyout player like last year’s Corey Brewer puts OKC over the hump? I think not. Oh…the Trekkies and the tradeline… it’s like watching The March of the Penguins every February. What gets the Thunder on the hump and maybe over it is for Russell Westbrook to exorcise his worst inner demons in the last four minutes of games against good teams in pressure situations. Can you use a mid level exception for something like this? It seems apparent to me Billy Donovan isn’t going to step out of the part playing the role of a submissive enabling NBA head coach and wring this out of his point guard. So this is on Westbrook and possibly some form of a Bricktown voodoo exorcist.
The Rockets got better by acquiring Iman Schumpert from the Kings and are now clearly my pick as Golden State’s primary hurdle in the West. Add Schumpert with Kenneth Faried and Austin Rivers along with a healthy Eric Gordon, a healthy Chris Paul, and a healthy Clint Capela and all the sudden you could possibly make the argument this Houston roster now is every bit as good the one which pushed the Warriors to seven games last season.
The Sacramento Kings made themselves even more of a playoff contender as they acquired Harrison Barnes from Dallas. Dave Joerger is currently third on my list for NBA Coach of the Year and the Kings have truly been one of the positive stories this season in the league. Good for them and for the good fans in Sacramento. They deserve some loving kindness from the basketball gods.
The Clippers to me were the big story in the West as they unloaded Tobias Harris to the Sixers along with some other payroll and now look ready to sign two starfree agents this summer. One would think Jerry West would covet Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant at the head of that list. It will be time for West to call Durant again this summer and explain to him why he was really only kidding about winning all those rings with Steph and Klay for the rest of his career.
Watching the Clippers this summer reloading their ball club should be fun. They picked up the nice rookie point guard from the Sixers and they still have Jerry West lurking in the shadows.
Dallas picked up Porzingis and he’ll be back in good health by next season as the Mavs once again become respectable in the West.
In the East the Sixers picked up Harris. The Raptors picked up Marc Gasol. The Bucks picked up Mirotic… and the Boston Celtics still have the best roster in the East by standing pat.
So…isn’t it odd…in the West we have OKC’s Thunder with the third best roster in the West underachieving with the college coach from Florida, while we have the Boston Celtics underachieving with the college coach from Butler in the East. Is it just me or is it odd that Sam Presti and Danny Ainge neither one made a move today. In my view the only move both of these GMs need to make is to get their two college coaches to get more out of two of the best four rosters in the NBA currently. At some point in OKC and Boston… we in the basketball world need to see something in return for the leap of faith both GMs made in hiring college coaches.
Maybe Little Nick Gallo could actually do something useful and do this with Westbrook. Why not? This is so Oklahoma.
Tonight the Thunder play the Memphis Grizzlies at home on the night of the NBA’s trade deadline and for the second straight season I have the Thunder circled in red as the league’s most underachieving team at this juncture in an NBA season.
The Thunder stand at 34-19 with one of the league’s highest payrolls and should easily with any focus whatsoever be 40-13 and tied with the Milwaukee Bucks for the most wins in the NBA.
Again, I’m tired and bored with the local college media which attempts to cover the Thunder. The two brief paragraphs above aren’t all that radical, but you never read or hear any of this except from maybe Jim Traber. The level of coverage on the Thunder is appallingly weak if you’re a real NBA fan and you’ve been watching the league for five decades or so.
The Thunder are never challenged or taken to task for every season since 2012 for basically underachieving. Maybe in 2017 when they won 47 games following Durant’s departure I might give them a break. But not a huge one.
This Thunder in 2018-19 should be a strong contender. They should be at the 40 win plateau already if Billy Donovan had the coaching personality to ‘somewhat’ drive a team. This team has been relatively healthy unless you ever considered Alex Abrines an integral part of the team. This isn’t a team which has missed a lot of man games due to injury. Both Westbrook and Paul George have been healthy since the 0-4 start without Westbrook.
But it goes deeper because if you really look at this team everyone in the rotation has gotten better and performed at a high level individually. Steven Adams is having a career year and is now a borderline all-star type of player. Jerami Grant has evolved into one of the league’s most versatile players. Terrance Ferguson proved us all wrong and is the best two way player the Thunder has had at the shooting guard position since probably Thabo’s 2012 season or maybe Kevin Martin in 2013.
Paul George is having the best season in his NBA career and is a legitimate top four MVP candidate.
Dennis Schroder in my view is in the top three contenders for Sixth Man of the Year.
Nerlens Noel is one of the league’s best defensive specialists coming off the bench.
Patrick Patterson has been solid after getting off to a slow start and Abdel Nader has been fine taking over the Abrines minutes and Hamidou Diallo has been a pleasant surprise as a second round rookie making his way through his first NBA season.
So why the underachievement for this team with Carmelo Anthony gone and Billy Donovan already given his option year despite the fact the Thunder haven’t done anything of any note whatsoever these past two seasons so far.
I guess it’s just Sam Presti’s way is all I can assume at this point. If you’re an objective person you have to take notice that since Durant’s departure this franchise hasn’t done anything from a team standpoint except help Russell Westbrook pad his triple double numbers.
That’s it as far as I can see. They’ve finished no higher than fourth in the West in the regular season since Durant joined the Warriors. They haven’t sniffed winning a first round playoff series. They’re a collective 3-8 versus the Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz in those post season games.
So what is it a fan should take away from all of this?
To me, it says either one of two things:
1 Russell Westbrook as a high usage point guard doesn’t have an overall game which can advance in NBA post season play when the competition is good every game and the opposing coach doesn’t miss obvious things.
2 Or Billy Donovan is in a bit over his head. Or maybe it’s calibrated combination of both of these factors rolled into one.
I don’t know, but I know this is a roster which should be headed for a 52-54 win regular season and at the minimum a team which should advance to the semi-final round in the West. To me, if I were Sam Presti these would have been my minimum benchmark requirements for this team.
But I guess I’m to assume in little college market Oklahoma City no one at the top thinks that way or rolls that way. I guess just having a team which is good enough to sell tickets is the line of achievement threshold.
So at the trade deadline for the second straight season the Thunder are one of the league’s underachievers from my point of view.
If you were paying attention to the speech and watching the room last night—you would have noticed the GOP senators were not nearly as enthused by Donald Trump as the GOP house members. That of course is because quite a few Republican senators are up for re-election in 2020 and they know those who aren’t Trump zombies are watching them closely right now. Put Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell at the head of that list. Oh, to be a GOP patrician in the age of the Orange Puffer Fish Prez.
It was a speech which had some Nixon. It had some Reagan in his second term trying to survive Iran-Contra. Not much George Wallace. But at its core it was Nixonian. Two presidents who never could come to terms with their own insecurities.
Think back to last night…did you ever see McConnell or Graham display outward joy at Caligula’s eighty minutes of Trump trying to appear as a somewhat normal POTUS? I didn’t notice any joy from any of the GOP senators. I did notice Mitt Romney and Melania had the best tans in the room. The beach must be a calming balm for Trump survivors.
Think about what you just witnessed last night. It was Trump extolling the virtue of American courage on the beaches of France at D-Day and then in the next breath boasting about his collection margins with NATO members. We assume or at least hope Trump 45 and his followers understand what would have happened if D Day had gone the wrong way for FDR and Churchill on that fateful day. You Trump followers do know who FDR and Churchill were, right? Hannity doesn’t have you believing that all that was fake news to keep the top marginal tax rate in place.
One thing Trump didn’t mention was the December jobs report when the new jobs tally was around 130,000 jobs, which of course was far less than the 200,000 or so new jobs Obama’s last year in the White House was producing with regularity.
Hopefully, you noticed he never once took on the NRA or mentioned the students at Parkland or students anywhere in America who’ve been massacred under his watch. Or mention that his new Doctrine in the Middle East is eerily similar to Obama’s Doctrine in that he wants to bring Americans home and compared to everyone else in his own party seem like a pacifist.
You also noticed he never did a price comparison of health care for the average family in America under his watch despite boasting about ending the Obamacare mandates. I wouldn’t be holding my breath either for a cut on drug prices…given in what we saw from his first Sec of Health Tom Price. We probably would need to know what was in his cabinet members’ various portfolios before crossing that bridge.
He never mentioned climate change. He never mentioned General Mattis or General Kelly. He never mentioned that Carrier plant in Indiana where he was going to save all those jobs. He never mentioned Harley Davidson and how his approval rating in Wisconsin is now 42% in a state where Scott Walker used to be governor.
He also never patted himself on the back for anything accomplished in the realm of infrastructure because the Great Orange Builder hasn’t in twenty-three months in office built anything.
It was heartwarming to see Trump greet Neil Gorsuch and Brett Cavanaugh since both of their votes on the Supreme Court may be needed at some juncture in the next two years for the Orange Glow President. That was a touching moment which I’m sure made Merritt Garland ill if he was watching last night by chance.
Trump of course never talked about the national debt in relation to his tax cut. But how could he? Under his watch the debt of course hits a new high with Trump every year he stays in office. Do you think perhaps this is why Reagan secretly enacted gas taxes and subtle business taxes…which Reagan called ‘revenue enchancers’? Bush 41 to his credit basically sealed his own political fate to being a one termer by going back on his ‘no new taxes pledge’ because he knew it was the right thing to do for the country at the time. Does anyone really think at any point Mike Pence would describe Trump’s fiscal policies as voodoo economics or stand up and do the right thing? Really? Does anyone see that Republican on the horizon?
And, of course, you never heard anything with an adult twist to it address the Russians tampering with the Election of 2016.
Nope.
Most of this SOTU speech was a recital of Trump using his wall promise to his Birther base to leverage the Dems to keep the White House open beyond February 15th.
As far as the Dems reply via Stacy Abrams…it was polite and to the point. It was okay. But why would you have someone who just lost their bid to become governor in Georgia address the nation to respond to Trump? Why not select someone who actually won their own race? Because at the end of the day, virtue probably isn’t going to unseat Donald Trump in 2020 if he survives whatever Robert Mueller finally reveals with his report. And by the same token, the same candidate who couldn’t even beat Ted Cruz in Texas might find beating Donald Trump in the Electoral College tougher than it looks at first glance.
Politics are a rough and tumble occupation in these times, but in reality politics have always been somewhat unseemly. It’s just that not until Trump was it so overt and repetitive on a daily basis.
Another reason I started a blog is that other than OU football coverage the Daily Oklahoman is a completely worthless piece of trash which I do believe in some fashion has contributed to the low literacy and educational rates in our state. Just me thinking out loud, but I’m going to guess the states with the better newspapers over the years have the higher levels of educational achievement. The First Amendment is kind of funny in how that works and all.
Of course, the internet has changed everything with newspapers, but still that’s no excuse for the dismal record of the Daily Oklahoman as a newspaper which should have been the beacon of smart thought instead of the other way around.
So… what is the State of Our Union heading into Caligula’s big night tonight given the government is still open at least until February 15th?
The Dow is around the 25,000 mark. Unemployment is around 4%. On most months this ‘new’ economy is creating around 200,000 new jobs….although 303,000 jobs were created in January. The national debt has expanded with the tax cuts regardless of some modest GDP growth. Health care reform never happened. Coming into tonight immigration reform hasn’t happened. No one, including Trump, has an idea how some of the new trade agreements will effect GDP long term. No one to date has witnessed an infrastructure bill from the Infrastructure President to date.
No one, again including Trump, has any idea what the Trump Doctrine is in relation to the U.S. role as pertaining to the world. No surprise U.S allies are confused with their relationships with what used to be the world leader since WWII. America has pulled out of the Paris Climate Change Accord. Same thing with the Iranian Nuclear Treaty.
We still have the NFL in spite of Trump and Kaepernick. The Supreme Court is now slanted the conservative way with Chief Justice John Roberts looming even larger in the days ahead. Our ten or so dumbest states, Oklahoma included, still adore Caligula despite what he does on his Twitter account. North Korea, Turkey, and Russia have become our closest allies in the new Trump World Order.
The Dems have control of the House, yet have not been able to do much other than restrain Caligula’s worst impulses to a limited degree. Every political hack alive has a written a Donald Trump book. Put Chris Christie and Cliff Sims at the head of that current class. George Will and most other conservative columnists spend more time now on MSNBC than Fox. The First Amendment is still intact despite being assaulted by this White House. Donald Trump dismisses the very intelligence chiefs he personally appointed.
The Republic breathlessly awaits Robert Mueller’s findings with suspended breath. And, in closing, our country has never been more divided and unable to govern itself in my lifetime.
This is the state of our union heading into night.
So…what will Trump 45’s tone be tonight?
My guess is when your approval rating is still around 81% within the realm of GOP voters….nothing much changes with the tone and the tenor. I would guess tonight is another dose of Steven Miller dogma laced with George Wallace and Richard Nixon nuance which will leave a smile on the face of Steve Bannon.
Why would these guys change course now given the fact the state of Virginia has shown the rest of the country it’s not just a GOP thing with old, rich, white guys?
One would think most Americans, at least the ones who can read, aren’t worn out just yet from all this winning from Day 1.