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I love this video and I need something right now to soothe me because I feel as if Barack Obama and LeBron both took the easy way out on tonight’s CNN national graduation.

They both had a rare opportunity to tell the youth of this country what a complete human disgrace and low life grifter Donald Trump is and will always be on this earth. Trump knows no other template.

I know…I know–Michelle and that bullshit about we go high.

Know this with the human junk bond Trump… there are times a need for a shot below the belt is alright. If one of his tiny little sacs is penetrated…you did the world a favor.

Depending on my mood in the morning—I’ll say what Barack Obama should have said to the high school graduates in this country in relation to the Pussy Grabber. Maybe I’ll do it in conjunction with my Michael Jordan–Last Dance write up.

This is just an epic video. Literally …epic. Even if I were a feckless Daily Thunder white fanboy millennial this video is so good it would make me feel lit….at least for an hour.

I’m back in studio for the only Oklahoma affiliate of the Michael Smerconish Show on CNN. Granted… I live in a state which would vote for a blindfolded chimpanzee if the chimp was in line with the Tea Party and didn’t believe in science—-but I trudge ahead undaunted by it all.

Today’s question is brilliant from a political science standpoint. Does the current partisan divide in America on how to re-open the country either help or hurt Donald Trump in the fifteen battleground states?

Just a great question from historical, political, and economic view points.

The results of the Smerconish’s poll stunned me with over 15,000 votes registered.

64% voted the divide will hurt Trump, while only 36% voted it will help Trump.

For the record–I voted the divide will help Donald Trump. BTW…in a similar CNN poll from earlier this week… 52% agreed with me with 46% taking the opposite view.

Both Smerconish and I were in agreement…division is what got Donald Trump elected in the first place and he will continue to divide the country as the economy struggles. He will shift the blame from his abysmal handling of the pandemic over to the Dems overzealous handling of reopening in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

As James Carville once said, “It’s always about the economy, stupid.”

It’s a fascinating question. A question like this is why I had to have my own blog in the first place.

While I’m pondering this question… the Daily Thunder’s hot topics today will be what color underwear should Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wear on game days versus non-game days? Or does Darius Bazely look better with or without lip gloss? Or when one of the new owners decides to make their move on Shai will it be with a deep French kiss or just a light introductory kiss of sorts?

This is why I have my own modest Thunder blog.

But I’m going to think this Smerconish question through all day and see if my mind changes. But I don’t think it will because division and James Carville’s prescient quote are what will decide this election ultimately.

I’ll be featuring Jewel tonight with my After Dark selection.

Be safe, be smart, and find your own inner peace in this new world in which we all must learn to live in together.

Back to the grind of covering the presidential election. It’s tough work…covering Trump and his base.

Not much happened here at the Deer Creek weather station these past three nights. On Wednesday… we received some fairly decent wind, but only a paltry .25 fell in the rain gauge.

Virtually nothing happened here weather wise last night, although Pauli almost broke my neck leaping over me in bed at four in the morning when a raccoon got into our corn feed can on the back porch.

It took me ten minutes to get her back under control and I have to admit I might have said some harsh things to her in the heat of the moment. The little swine almost broke my neck leaping across my head. She may be an alpha….but we both know who wears the real alpha mantle in this house when push comes to shove. Like Royce Young….she now understands the concept of first team…second team.

She immediately fell back asleep and of course I never went back to sleep.

No weather tonight as well at the DCWS. Everything meandered southeast of Deer Creek along the front lines.

So pretty much a bust weather wise out here.

I need some restful sleep tonight since I’ll be back on track with my award winning Smerconish Saturday customary slot on Saturday. I’ll be interested to see what the national question of the week turns out to be.

It is still very much storm season in Oklahoma so be smart and be safe in calibrating your weather decisions.

I miss Gary England. Truly one of a kind.

Big massive possibly cyclonic storm about twenty-minutes southwest of the Deer Creek weather station. Pauli is out like a light. She ran in front of my Toro zero radius mower for a two mile run this morning with Joe Exotic singing I Saw A Tiger. Duke the Dane is history. We may put her on the Tom Brady plant based diet as part of her training regimen.

Pauli is not a drama queen when it comes to weather. Very stoic. Almost eerily calm unlike so many of those little yapper types who start wailing at the first sound of thunder.

Getting ready for the storm. Too bad once again the Thunder aren’t playing tonight.

I was reading through some predictably pedestrian responses to an article at Daily Thunder on Steve Adams. Lo and behold this jewel was posted under the Stevo article.

It was posted by OKC Jim who BTW is one of the more mature and thoughtful posters on the human rabble message board of nothingness. Kind of like the same concept Seinfeld used on his show. A show about nothing.

But I loved this video. I can’t believe I’d never come across it before.

This supplants the stirring Bob Dylan – Tambourine Man video which was featured by Ash. Both of these posters seem more qualified to be writing content that the Usual Suspects over there…but it is what it is. Que sera.

Anyway–OKC Jim…thanks for the great video.

So…my updated Power Poll of 2020 DT Posts now reads:

1 OKC Jim – Shallow, Kevin James

2 Ash – Tambourine Man, Bob Dylan

3 Thunder Chick – The Train Song

Keep up the great work and remember to write as little as possible NBA basketball related.

Probably my favorite Simon and Garfunkel song. Awesome song. A timeless classic.

Pauli is pretty much all in with the Great Dane challenge of Duke. She wishes it was a big cat, but this will have to do given the HOA covenants prohibit live lions and tigers.. She wasn’t all that thrilled with the Rocky training video montage and asked me to change up her training music.

Given some of the shit ESPN is televising right now…I might give them a call and see if they’re interested in this project.

Pauli sat with me watching all seven episodes of the Tiger King. She became acutely aware of the big cats on the screen whenever a tiger, lion, or panther appeared on screen. Literally…the hair on her back stood up and she made this low growling sound just like the one she made the night we walked upon the beast of a mountain lion at the forest line of our property.

She is mesmerized by big jungle cats.

We’ll push Rocky to the side for now and see how this works in her training sessions.

It was a very nice Mother’s Day for me. I didn’t exchange one word of politics with any other human. I had a great dinner with my mom and then went home to watch The Last Dance.

I was not let down by Episodes 7 & 8. In fact—as much as I loved the segments with Michael learning how to overcome the Detroit Pistons…this was the perfect emotional fit for me on a Mother’s Day week-end. This tugged at my heart.

We got to see Michael behind the competitive wall which he built around himself as the player who had to overcome the Detroit Pistons and their Jordan Rule’s doctrine.

Winning at any level is tough. But think about what Michael Jordan did in his last six seasons in the NBA. He won six NBA championships in six seasons which means his team never lost a playoff series.

Kevin Durant without Steph, Klay, Draymond and Iggy by his side never won an NBA championship.

Russell Westbrook without Kevin Durant on the court with him has never won an NBA playoff series and is a collective 4-12 in post season games played.

James Harden has never won a Western Conference Finals. Chris Paul if memory serves me correct has never played in a Western Conference Finals. Paul George did make it to ONE Eastern Conference Finals before LeBron reminded him of the food chain order of NBA life.

The adjective ‘great’ gets thrown around too much in today’s sports lexicon.

But Michael Jordan was truly great and to be great for a sustained period of time you have to be a tough-minded son of a bitch. You have to possess the will to get up every morning with that son of a bitch mindset.

Which brings me to Scottie and his unfortunate handling of the situation in ’94 versus the NY Knicks when Phil drew up the final shot for Tony Kukoc with 1.8 seconds left.

Did this diminish Scottie’s place in my Pantheon?

It did. To me…if you want to be the guy…this is when Scottie instead of not going back in the game….. simply should have said to Phil in front of the team, “I’ll make it. I’ll make the shot.”

That’s the difference between Michael and Scottie. Don’t get me wrong–Scottie Pippen is an easy Hall of Famer and was possibly a better defender than Michael Jordan.

But Michael was that rare and exceptional athlete who never left a doubt in either his teammates’ mind or Phil Jackson’s mind who was running the show.

True… Michael did get the ball to Steve Kerr and John Paxson in clutch situations…but it was Jordan who in his drive to win who initiated the play on the court—instead of staying on the bench.

Pauli is my diva female black lab. She was preceded by Dakota who was a female black lab as well. Two best dogs I’ve ever had in my life. I would never say this within earshot of Pauli in fear of her getting a big head, but hands down—Pauli is the far superior of the two dogs.

In smarts, heart, character, and speed…Pauli has the DNA of a rare champion. She is no ordinary lab.

So it appears my brother David now has a black Great Dane named Duke. Pauli and I were looking at Duke on David’s Facebook account and I somewhat offered a challenge for Duke to come to the ranch in Deer Creek and maybe race Pauli as a learning experience for Duke.

Now…my cousin Jan then interjected Duke would run Pauli ragged. Which of course did not go unnoticed by either me or Pauli.

Pauli has chased off 220 pound mountain lions out here near our forest lines…beating an unschooled Great Dane pup will not be be that big of a deal.

Pauli stands around 22 inches and weighs in at 71 pounds. We were talking and mutually decided she might want to shed about four pounds for this ‘Duke challenge.’

This will be good for Pauli. She’s become a little complacent out here being the alpha with all these lazy Edmond dogs. Acorns and the trees if you know what I mean?

Pauli starts training tomorrow.