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Lincoln’s Second Inaugural March 4, 1865 – YouTube

This is all very surreal to say the least. A lovely ceremony on Tueday to honor the the spirit of the 400,000 to date who’ve lost their lives to the Covid virus. What a unique thought by Joe Biden…to actually display some human decency and empathy the day before being sworn into office.

What a very tough job Joe Biden has in front of him with the nation in essence at war, an unchecked pandemic, an economy in shambles, and race and class division in our country reminiscent of the Civil War.

It is truly stunning to think how far we’ve devolved in slightly less than a century. To the point the exiting president can’t even extend the grace with which the Obama family gave to him four years earlier.

For the first time since Andrew Johnson’s exit from office…a sitting United States president will not attend the inauguration of his successor. I can’t think of any other word other than pathetic.

Not just the worst president in American history, but such an abysmal feckless coward of a human being he should never have held any office at either the municipal, state, or federal level.

Just a punk who inherited $420 million dollars from his daddy and avoided serving his country with some bullshit excuse about bone spurs.

Your brave courageous leader…Captain Bone Spurs.

That’s the person those dumbasses marched for on their attack of our nation’s capitol. If I had the power to close my eyes and throw all of these losers in federal prison it would be done.

This is the human debris Joe Biden has to sift through while rebuilding a country.

Good luck, President Biden. My prayers are with you.(

How far we’ve truly fallen as a nation with any aspirational values. Who’s next on deck for the GOP nomination in 2024?

Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Mike Gundy, Joe Exotic, or maybe Tommy Tuberville? Those are five off the top of my head who would be an immediate upgrade from what just crawled out of the White House.

So much for draining the swamp and the exit of American carnage.

Seventy-four million humans who ostensibly didn’t roll their collective brains in the dirt before voting… voted for this clown after observing this bullshit for four years.

Fourth graders at our worst schools in the country have more common sense.

Grow up and start acting like adults or don’t vote. Good lord.

Every Presidential oath of office (Franklin D. Roosevelt – Donald J. Trump) – YouTube

One of the things I want to do this NBA season is from time to time feature all of our Oklahoma City players who have moved on to other NBA destinations.

Jerami Grant is tearing it up currently with the Detroit Pistons. So I’ll start with him.

I saw a post on the Daily Thunder messageboard by OKC Jim. I don’t think he’d care if I posted the content of his recent post on Jerami so far this young hoops season. Jim’s a good dude and a passionate Thunder fan just like me.

Per OKC Jim…’Just a year ago, his fourth year in the league, he was a 29% 3 point shooter. Crazy how far he’s come. Still a small sample for this year, but he’s had a great start.

Jerami Grant stats this year… 24.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.1 spg, 1.4 blpg, 39.3% from 3 on 7 apg, 85% ft.’

——————————————

Great stuff, Jim. Hope you don’t mind I did this.

The next ex-OKC player I want to feature is Domas Sabonis with the Pacers.

Imagine if you will if Sam Presti hadn’t made the Paul George trade or the Jerami Grant trade to Denver… and stuck with Sabonis, Oladipo, and Jerami as the building block foundations of the franchise.

Of course that means Shai would still a Clipper. But consider what the core could have been in Oklahoma City this season.

The Thunder could have been in theory Jerami Grant, Sabonis, Oladipo, Lu Dort, Darius Bazely, Diallo, Mikey Muscala, Theo Maledon, Isiah Roby, and grinder Kenrich Williams …who you know I just love for the TSN he has in him. I’m not sure I rememeber where the second round pick came from which gave the Thunder the rights to draft Maledon. Jim…could you help me out?

Of course with my scenario… OKC wouldn’t have been able to move up in the draft and use a pick on Operation Poku. But still..it’s food for thought.

Anyway…not a bad young team above. And let’s say you added a three point wing gunner like say a Duncan Robinson type to the mix. It seems to me too much volume of moves in Oklahoma City when in theory Presti’s intial personnel decisons could very well have been the right ones to transition away from Russell Westbrook.

Just thoughts. You can do that on a blog when you don’t sell your soul to the Thunder.You just write the truth.

OKC is at Denver tonight as an uber tough stretch of road games begin.

Enjoy the Inauguration tomorrow as the United States transitions back to the quaint notion of reverting back to the last standing example of democracy in the world.

Michael Cohen: N.Y. PROSECUTORS WILL BE THE “FIRST ON LINE” TO BRING “TRUMP AND FAMILY TO JUSTICE” – YouTube

It’s the Tuesday after MLK Day and I’m to assume this will be Donald Trump Super Pardon Day. A mere thirty-four hours or so and Donald Trump will no longer be the sitting Grifter in Chief.

Who could possibly know how much each pardon will be paid to Trump for each pardon granted.

Will he pardon himself?

Will he pardon the clueless dumbasses who listened to him and committed sedition at our nation’s capitol?

The last in office poll by Gallup was released and Trump has a 34% approval rating. Never once in his four years in office did Trump have a Gallup approval rating of 50% or above.

Trump will go down with James Buchanon and Andrew Johnson as one of the worst if not the worst president in American history.

His Slovenian escort first lady who prioritized internet bullying on the internet as her national cause gets an F as well. She should go back home with father Vichtor and finish her Melania’s FLOTUS Secret Diary. I’d love to read that prenup.

Will at some point alpha daughter Ivanka cut ties with her toxic father?

So many questions, but unfortunately there’s that 30-35% of the GOP which makes up the Trump base who are still out there…especially in places like Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi…but quite frankly everywhere in America.

Did Donald Trump originate the race card in American politics?

No…there were clearly others before him. But what he did was politically monetize hate on a Twitter account on a daily basis. What Trump did was give oxygen to hate and bigotry every single day during his four years in office. Otherwise please explain to me what Donald Trump has in common with dudes in Oklahoma and Alabama who own shotgun, a deer stand, and a lab.

Trump doesn’t have a lab. Doesn’t hunt and doesn’t to my knowledge spends most of his time cheating at golf than hunting a deer.

So what was it which drew all thse rural white whites to Donald Trump?

Could it have been when fellow Birther Jeff Sessions became the first office-holder to give Trump the first hint of any political legitimacy by standing on the same stage with Trump at a political rally?

Truth hurts.

Donald Trump and his base will go down as perhaps the most pathetic/tragic footnote in American history to date bar none.

My advice to the Party of Lincoln moving forward would be trying something new circa 2021…like telling your members the truth every now and again.

Just try telling the truth.

★ Ray Charles ★ America the Beautiful ★ 2001 World Series ★ – YouTube

This will be very short. We’re all in this together as Americans. In these extrodinarily difficult times we find ouselves in we need to aspire collectively to help one another in our joint quest to experience the American Dream from each unique prism.

If we could each remove ourselves from the hate and look for the best in one other that would be a nice starting point.

Have an introspective MLK Day and rememeber what it is to be American.

The breaks of the game. Sometimes a team overcomes a tough break, sometimes they don’t. It’s that intangible you can’t forecast.

You can’t forecast a bad call by a zebra on a missed targeting hit which cost the Browns a late first half touchdown. Nor can you forecast Patrick Mahomes being knocked out of the game early in the second half due to concussion protocol.

It was there to be had by the Browns late in this game, but to the credit of Andy Reid and his team they made just enough plays at the end to hold on and beat the Cleveland Browns by a 22-17 count to advance to the American Conference Champion Game for the third consectutive year.

I vaguely rememeber Chad Henne from his Michigan days. I think Floyd Carr was his Wolverine coach, but I’m not sure. I didn’t even know he was still in the league to be honest. I never imagined Superman Patrick Mahomes would have to leave a game.

But to Henne’s credit after throwing a horrific interception —he steadied and got the Chiefs out of Dodge by doing just enough so Baker Mayfield couldn’t get one last possesion. Eveyone is talking about the fourth down gamble. Nonsense. The play which saved Kansas City was the 3rd and 14 when Henne scrambled to get within a foot of the first down marker. That was the play of the game from my view.

Win, survive, and advance…hope Patrick Mahomes gets out of concussion protocol. Vegas has already said with Mahomes the Chiefs are a home field 2.5 favorite. Without Mahomes the visiting Buffalo Bills are a 4.5 favorite. We’ll see what happens this week with the five steps of concussion protocol. Google it…it’s fairly interesting.

In the nightcap…Tom Brady and his Tampa Bay Bucs got through a shaky first period then steadily took control of this game as their offensive line physically beat down the Saints as the game moved along in the second half.

Plus…it was an opportunistic Tampa defense which picked Dree Brees three times and recoverd a fumble as well. It’s very rare you lose when you can run the ball and you’re +4 on the turnover sheet. Very rare.

It wasn’t vintage Tom Brady, but it was enough given the Bucs’ defense and ability to control the line of scrimmage running the football.

So on to Lambeau Field these Bucs advance for a rematch of earlier this season when Tampa mauled the Packers 38-10. But the Packers of late don’t resemble the team which got smoked early in the season.

The Packers like the Bucs are running the football with physicality and playing some of the better defense we’ve seen in Green Bay in a while.

My Vegas line on this game would be Green Bay at home maybe -3.5. It’s supposed to be cold, but what better quarterback in the NFL to play in cold weather than King Tom Brady of Foxboro. Dude can play in cold weather.

How uncanny this year’s Super Bowl will be played in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay. You think this guy has so much confidence he picked the team beyond Belichick based on where he could have home field in the Super Field?

We now have the three best quarterbacks in the league in Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, and Josh Allen plus the greatest QB who’s ever played in our Final Four. You think the quarterback position is important…ask Chad Henne?

Speaking of Bill Belichick…thank god the Patriot organization didn’t allow him to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor from Fuhrer von Trump. If Belichcik had done so he would have tarnished his legacy by doing something worse then friending O.J. Simpson on Facebook.

On to concussion protocol and our conference championship games.

Bills Mafia: A look behind the rabid fan base of the Buffalo Bills | NBC Sports – YouTube

First off congratulations to the Buffalo Bills and Green Bay Packers for advancing to their respective conference championship games. Both teams with the better quarterback play advanced. Pretty simple.

Two of the best fan bases in the NFL with Buffalo and Green Bay.. The Packers have been my favorite team since the Lombardi days. So like Tim Russert …I have a smile on my face today.

Everyone going in knew Aaron Rodgers vs. Jared Goff was a complete mismatch. So no real surprise that the Packers rolled to a 32-18 win while covering the Vegas spread.

In the nightcap—we really didn’t know going in with a Josh Allen vs. Lamar Jackson QB matchup. But we now know somewhat as Lamar Jackson’s inability to throw the ball into the tighest windows in post season play wasn’t there for the second straight post season.

The Bills win 17-3 after Jackson not only threw a red zone pick, but a red zone pick six with his team only trailing 10-3. That cannot happen. Period.

The feel good Bills advance to the AFC Championship Game versus the winner of today’s matchup of the Cleveland Browns at the Kansas City Chiefs. Last spread I saw was Kansas City at -10…which is probably about right.

However I would think Cleveland has a puncher’s chance because they have one of the better run games in the NFL, plus they get two key pieces back to their secondary in this game. One being their best cornerback in Denzel Ward. Plus, I don’t think there’s anything special about the Chiefs’ defense.

It’s all about Patrick Mahomes. His season stats….4,740 passing yards, 38 TD passes, a mere six interceptions.

By the same token Baker Mayfield hasn’t been throwing picks the second half of the season. Baker actually became more efficent after Odell Beckham was lost for the season due to a knee injury.

It’s an intriguing matchup. Can Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt keep Mahomes off the field and score enough points to score with the high octane Chiefs?

Two Hall of Famers in the nightcap in Tom Brady and Drew Brees. Hopefully a classic which isn’t a letdown. I can’t wait.

Now the Michael Smerconish’s National Question of the Week from yesterday:

Should the Democrats proceed with an impeachment trial even if they don’t have enough Republican votes in the Senate?

40,000 votes were cast with 90% of those voting yes. Keep in mind, Michael is a former Republican like me who became an Independent so his following isn’t comprised of the fringe elements of either party.

I easily voted yes. I’ll explain why I voted yes tomorrow on Martin Luther King Day. No politics on NFL Divisonal week-end for me. It’s all football today.

Hope your favorite team plays well today.

A career high 33 points for Gilgeous-Alexander with six Thunder players in all scoring in double figures. The young guys are fun to watch when they’re playing against bottom half teams in the league. Top half teams…not as much.

In my mind I’m trying to visualize what they would look like without Hill and Horford, but with maybe Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley in their rotational spots.

Of the six Thunder wins so far I would guess beating Durant’s Nets is their best win to date. So now they’ve beaten Durant and Billy Donovan in two of their six wins.

Again, kudos to Kenrich Williams, Diallo, and Isiah Roby for the manner in which they’ve been performing on the big stage given this opportunity.

Shai Gilgeous Alexander 33 points highlights vs Chicago bulls nba 2020-2021 regular season game – YouTube

Hard to tell what the Thunder are doing right now in what should be an obvious season of not winning too many games.

It was a magnificent setup for this game as Billy Donovan who never won a playoff series in Oklahoma City without Kevin Durant brought his underacheiving Bulls into Chesapeake Energy Arena with the chance of doing something first year Coach D had failed to do so far in his first season at the helm. That being…win a game inside of Chesapeake Energy Arena.

But leave it to Billy Donovan to find a way to have his current team choke on what was a 22 point lead and allow the youthful yet gritty Thunder their first home win of the season. The final score read 127-125 as it marked an inspiring win for the Thunder even though they should be losing.

Big Al Horford didn’t play and George Hill who doesn’t much believe Covid is a deal didn’t do all that much, but you have to tip your hat to the rest of the Thunder players for their heart and grit.

These kids and Mikey Muscala play their hearts out and stand 6-6 twelve games into a 72 game schedule. It’s frustrating to see them fall this far behind the streaking Minnesota Timberwolves who currently stand at 3-8. But in Oklahoma City where they at one time volunteered to be the narional guinea pig to test the effects of sonic booms in Operation Bongo…maybe there’s a geographical disconnect we on the outside aren’t of aware of just yet unless you are in the inner circle of the Oklahoma shakers and movers.

This year is supposed to be Operation Tank, but instead it appears so far Sam Presti and Coach D haven’t come to terms with what Oklahoma City needs to achieve in this coming summer’s NBA draft.

It’s just so Oklahoma is what it is. It’s everything and more which Sam Anderson wrote about in his epic book Boom Town.

In a state which needs federal aid from the hated blue states on an annual basis to keep afloat they boast of being an example of Milton Freidman free market creative thinkers. Trickle down they think they call it. Never mind its welfare from the blue states who create 68% of GDP and about the same rate in federal contributions to our U.S. Treasury.

Just so Oklahoma like Mike Gundy wearing a racist T-shirt when his very economic being has been created by young black athletes along the way.

Like becoming the self-induced earthquake capitol of the world at one time.

Like Joe Exotic being able to actually garner significant votes as a GOP presidential candidate in the 2016 Oklahoma presidential primary.

Sigh.

But in the end… I love sports and I admire athletes and coaches who compete their asses off. But this is the one singular time in my life I wish Coach D and these improving youngsters would start losing with more frequency.

Give these kids credit though…guys like Diallo, Kenrich Williams, Isiah Roby, Theo Maledon and maybe even Poku at times are inspiring. Veteran Mike Muscala has been an inspiration as well.

So if youre’ gonna do this then I would suggest trading George Hill right now since he doesn’t believe in Covid and start exploring what you can get for Big Al Horford… and just go with that.

OU at Cade Cunningham’s O State Cowboys tonight. I’m actually going to a modest little watch party of six where unlike George Hill…everyone there will be Covid aware. We think Covid is a deal.

• Well, no I guess I’m not watching the game as it was just postponed due to Covid protocol.

So here we are in the third week in January with Cade Cunnigham as the primary storyline hoopswise in Oklahoma…at least for me.

Next up for the Thunder…the Sixers on a Sunday while the Cleveland Browns play the Kansas City Chiefs and Drew Brees hosts Tom Brady in a matchup of Hall of Famers.

Operation Bongo footnotes in case you didn’t read Sam Anderson’s book.

Oklahoma City sonic boom tests – Wikipedia

Neil Young – Southern Man (Lyrics) – YouTube

Four days left, but who’s counting?

The Trump dashboard reads:

1 400,000 deaths from Covid, 2 more U.S. troops in D.C. than in Iraq and Afghanistan combined 3 multiple innocent blacks slain by white police officers, 4 multiple sectors of U.S. economy decimated to the point of possible extinction, 5 no delievery of additional vaccines to date, 6 no Cabinet in essence the last two weeks of presidency, 7 most economical upheaval since the Great Depression, 8 a complete repudiation of the Marshall Plan following WWII, 9 has lead the U.S. to become the most hated laughingstock in the world, 10 has U.S. more divided than in the Civil War-Reconstruction era etc, etc.

But you know, other than that, Trump has really stepped up and knocked it out of the ball park.

Do we as of this week consider D.C. like Berlin following WWII with an East and West Berlin? Good luck if you’re on the wrong side of the Trump Wall.

40% of Repblicans don’t feel Trump as of today should be impeached.

Ted Cruz’s father is with Elvis on the runway to go get JFK.

Yikes.

Job well done, sir…job well done. As Mike Pence once said before you tried to have him lynched…you are the next Teddy Roosevelt, sir.

If you’re the Trump person with the horns who stole Nancy Pelosi’s lectern and then tried to sell it to an FBI agent on eBay…the Teddy Roosevelt part was sarcasm. Just saying.

Sidney Lumet | The Verdict (1982) | Making Of – Bing video

I want to feature The Verdict again as we head into the week-end with the NFL divsional round plus Bedlam basketball. It will be all sports for me this week-end on the blog.

I will confess–this movie is a part of my heart. My father was the Frank Galvin character until 1982. This movie breaks my heart every time I see it. But in the end it gives me eternal hope because my father like Frank Galvin found redemption in himself. It wasn’t easy. It’s a twelve step process. A continual journey and evolution. But in the end, like Frank Galvin, my father found his own personal redemption. I remember it to the day.

We’re all complicit to varying degrees as to what has happened to our country. Putting all of the bullshit politics on both sides aside–we are all complicit as to what has happened to our country.

This wasn’t just Donald Trump. He was just the match thrown onto the burn pile which lit this collective rabble fire.

As a country, and as a people, I hope we find it within ourselves to start praying for one another and seeking salvation within ourselves to make this country what it should be once again.

We should all treat this week-end as we did the first week-end after 9/11 would be my suggestion and begin to see if we can find common ground on what it means to be American.

Now onto the NFL divisional round….Let’s go Green Bay and Cleveland!

Plus, the tanking Thunder host the equally bad Chicago Bulls with Billy Donovan back at Peake where he never won a playoff series without Kevin Durant. Maybe Sam Presti should ask Scott Brooks and the Wizards to take part in an NBA irrelevance threesome. PLAYER MAKES THE COACH. Ask Steve Kerr and Pop if you doubt me.

Have a nice week-end being an American. It’s really a very special unique thing. Don’t take it for granted.