Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

A very solid show this morning with two scientists from Stanford giving their takes on how to move the U.S. economy into a re-boot mode using the data available.

Again…I will write this—you have to get the U.S. economy going again if you want to continue programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. It will be the lower segments of our economy who now more than ever will need these social safety net programs to get thru this pandemic.

You have to pinpoint and calibrate who’s most at risk and to isolate those specific segments as opposed to cratering the very economy which funds the three programs I mention above.

Like it or not the $23 trillion GDP U.S. economy is based on human consumption of goods and services. Just be smart about it and use the science in a smart way.

The Smerconish question of the week was one which I saw coming earlier this week with my disdainful view of Elizabeth Warren’s trashing of Michael Bloomberg and Al Franken.

Should Joe Biden be required to give full access to his archives at the University of Delaware to search for anything related to Tara Reade?

The results:

55% voted yes

45% voted no

I voted yes and just so we’re clear the NY Times Editorial Board voted yes as well.

You can’t play it both ways. The standard was set when the Elizabeth Warren faction removed Al Franken from the U.S. Senate.

Have a nice week-end as we all explore our new normal.

This song was sent to me from the Daily Thunder zealot who banned me for a seemingly innocent comment. She must be reaching out in a pang of confused guilt and remorse. It’s a beautiful song and when I’m sent a beautiful song… I in good conscience feature it on the After Dark segment of my blog.

My personal growth since the banning at Daily Thunder is almost biblical. It was the best thing which could have happened to me. I now at times even amaze myself with my new found emotional inner peace.

Thanks for the song. I’m flattered you sent it to me instead of Little Nick Gallo or Low Energy Royce Young or one of the dimwits who now run what used to be my iconic blog. Que sera, kid.

As the U.S. attempts to reboot its economy I think we should fairly judge Trump’s dashboard numbers moving forward into November as far as the economy.

I’ll call this Trump’s Economic Dashboard.

Trump’s Dashboard as of May 1, 2020:

Dow 24,345.72

Job loss in the past six weeks 30 million

Approximate unemployment 17%

GDP 1st quarter -4.8%

Debt added to the U.S. Treasury so far 4 trillion coronavirus related-7 trillion overall to date

There won’t be any need for snarky comments. The data will speak for itself in the coming months one way or another. Next week we’ll get into the U.S. ratio of current outstanding debt in relation to 2020 projected GDP. It was at 107% in December 2019.

This selection is in honor of Bill Laimbeer and the iconic Bad Boy Pistons.

Billy Donovan is a really nice guy, but since this isn’t the Daily Thunder here– and I’m not owned by Clay Bennett, Sam Presti, and Little Nick Gallo… I write honestly on my modest blog.

The Thunder are going nowhere with Billy Donovan. He’s too nice. He’s the Ward Cleaver of NBA coaches. He’d be a good HOA president in North Edmond, but I don’t think he’s what the Thunder need.

What the Thunder need is for someone to transform Steven Adams into a stretch five who can shoot threes and can bring some genuine nasty to this Thunder team of guys who are too nice.

Why not hire Bill Laimbeer? He was one of the innovators of the stretch fives who can shoot the three. Laimbeer and Jerry Lucas of the NY Knicks were both ahead of their times.

Sam Presti has to get beyond this bullshit where he puts an NBA team on the floor who all attend the faux evangelical white churches in Edmond. Deep down these make believe Christians in Edmond who all do whatever Trump tells them to do would love to have a team like the Bad Boy Pistons.

Get some shooters and get some brawlers would be my advice and allow Coach Laimbeer to show these white people in Oklahoma how you win championships in the NBA.

Why not?

I have a confession to make. As much as I’m liking the Michael Jordan film—Bill Laimbeer has been the star for me so far. If only Sam Presti had been smart enough to find a tough stretch five enforcer like Bill Laimbeer who could hit threes the Thunder probably would have won two or three championships.

But instead Presti brought in Kendrick Perkins.

Laimbeer would have reeled in Westbrook and would have put an immediate end to all that pussy whining of Kevin Durant. With all due respect to Maurice Cheeks…Bill Laimbeer either as a player or as the Thunder head coach would have toughed those two up instead of baby-sitting them for a decade.

Bill Laimbeer in my view was/is the Piston King…not Isiah. It was Laimbeer with his rough and tumble attitude and penchant for hitting big shots who made the Bad Boys the cult darlings they truly have become over the years.

I play this damn video every morning now to get myself revved up for the day. Bill Laimbeer has taken the place of coffee for me.

If Netflix can make the Mike Gundy-like character in the Tiger King a docu-film star…I have to think to myself surely someone at Netflix has been watching The Last Dance and can clearly visualize a Piston King film in the offing.

Of course…in Oklahoma City in the faux evangelical Christian market with all the phony Christians who tithe the pussy grabber Donald Trump–I realize Presti and Clay Bennett would never make a hire like Bill Laimbeer.

But maybe they should.

What would they have to lose?

Bill Laimbeer…I love you, buddy. You are the TSN (Toughness, Snarl, Nasty) King….and Piston King of all-time.

The Last Dance is a hit and has started multiple conversations across the country on the greatest era of NBA basketball.

Isiah begrudgingly listed Michael Jordan as only the fourth best player he ever played against. His list read: 1 Kareem, 2 Bird, 3 Magic, 4 Jordan and 5 Dr. J. I’ll get to that later in the week when I list my ten greatest players of all-time.

But the film is great. It was such a different time in pro sports. There wasn’t nonsense like Draymond Green and Kevin Durant scripting their next season together as they were opponents in the 2016 Western Conference Finals.

Could you possibly conceive of Michael Jordan texting Isiah Thomas during an Eastern Conference Finals with the thought Michael should join the Pistons because it would make it easier for him to win championship rings?

Anyway, this is a great video. Hope you enjoy it.

Never take for granted the brave men and women who’ve served our country and given all of us the privilege to be free. In this war… on our own soil never take for granted the brave people doing courageous things to save lives in the face of a horrific situation.

In 1975… I was a high school senior seventeen years of age. Before becoming a lawyer–my father was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. That’s why I was born in San Diego.

My Uncle George was a Purple Heart recipient in WWII as he was wounded serving as an expert marksman who was part of a force in Europe which cleaned out enemy snipers.

My Uncle George didn’t have blisters or some other bullshit excuse to avoid serving. In fact, he lied about his age at seventeen to be admitted into the Army.

Obviously–I’m grateful the Vietnam War ended my senior year of high school. But I would have gone if the draft hadn’t ended and my name was selected.

Today… the U.S. passed the 58,000 mark of Americans who were killed in the Vietnam War.

It’s a shame John McCain isn’t still living. Perhaps, he could have at some juncture at the least explained to Donald Trump what it means to serve your country with honor.

We’ll see what serves the political purposes of Elizabeth Warren. She could actually in private be the frontrunner to be the VP pick for Joe Biden as I blog.

I mean, how do you make a big deal of Bernie Sanders, Michael Bloomberg and Al Franken making inappropriate comments and possibly ignore this Tara Reade story?

I have no idea what Joe Biden did or didn’t do. Joe Biden would not have been my choice regardless. None of my choices ever became serious contenders in the Dem presidential primary race.

To date, I’ve never heard Elizabeth Warren say anything related to Hunter Biden so I’m to assume unlike with Michael Bloomberg she’ll be okay with all of this.

I’m curious to see how the moral guardian of the world as we know it handles all of this.