Month: February 2018

You won’t read me ranting these last twenty-three post the NBA All-Star Game Thunder basketball games. I’m done with it. This basketball team has worn me down. There’s no point in over analyzing or over thinking. Just watch the games and try to be that honest adult writing about this Thunder basketball season.

I’ve written multiple times this is a superstar driven league and the player always makes the coach. That will never change in the NBA and it was never more evident than on Thursday night in Sacramento when Russell Westbrook nailed a three from the right side of the key with less than a second remaining to allow the Thunder to escape with a 110-107 win over the youthful yet still hapless Kings.

Just win, baby. Winning is fun. That’s what we always wrote on the chalkboards with our hockey teams. Just win because that’s the stat which matters.

I’m not heavy into stats and never will be. I obviously look at stats, but I look more into a player’s heart and as we all know don’t underestimate Russell Westbrook’s heart PER rating because his is off the chart.

I’m going to surprise you here maybe. Billy Donovan did almost exactly what I would have done with this game as a coach. He started Huestis. He finished with Jerami Grant. He only allowed Alex Abrines to see the floor for 6 minutes. He gave Terrance Ferguson some roll. Perfect. Fuck. I’d be a complete phony to write anything critical about Billy Donovan related to this game.

But what I really liked was even though Westbrook was having a bad shooting night was the fact Billy Donovan looked deep into his star’s eyes… I guess during that last timeout and drew up a play for Westbrook… then said, “You’re my guy, Rickey. Go get him.” Then Carmelo said, “This is the out you’ve been waiting your whole life for.” Pretty simple. No?

And Russell Westbrook nailed it.

So instead of me writing some stat heavy bullshit overthought recap that’s it. If you want the faux millenial slant with shot charts go wear yourself out… there’s always Daily Thunder.

Russell Westbrook summoned his inner Kobe and made the shot.

Ballgame.

Thunder improve to 34-26 and head to Oakland to try and beat the Warriors for the third time in a row. And you know what’s crazy, I’m having to pinch myself to not get overconfident because I know the Warriors have no answer for Steven Adams. None. Other than Draymond Green kicking Kiwi in the balls.

Thunder vs. the Warriors on the ABC national game of the week. Quite frankly, I love the ABC Saturday game because I know Hubie Brown will be there doing his thing. Hubie calms me. He makes me calm.

BTW… I had the volume on with the Fox telecast tonight and I was good with it.

I’ve come to terms with the season. Actually…Leslie and Antonio are very cute together.

LET’S GO THUNDER!

The last two nights I watched some of the Winter Olympics. My two favorite events are the downhill and the hockey tournaments. It was nice to see Lindsey Vonn medal in the downhill in honor of her grandfather. Then last night, the U.S. womens’ team beat Canada 3-2 in an overtime shootout to win gold. Just a great hockey game. Kudos to the U.S. womens’ hockey program. I mean, I’m a hockey fan. That’s a good hockey team. Very skilled. Their power play wasn’t much, but the rest of their team was rock solid. Great win. Hope my Boston Bruins make a deep run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I think they might.

Thirty-eight years to the day, these women did what the men did in 1980 with the miracle win over the Russians at Lake Placid. Like that Russian team, this Canadian team was one win away from winning their fifth Olympic gold medal in a row. A great day for America. Maybe if numbnuts can pull himself away from his love for the NRA and the Russians long enough today…he might want to tweet something for the American womens’ hockey team.

From the movie, Miracle. I still get goosebumps when I see this.

Those kids and parents. My heart aches for them. I’m sure they know the odds stacked against them. I would have spit on Trump today if that had been one of my kids. I’d be in jail.

Again, it’s almost always about the money.

In the election of 2016 the NRA donated around $12.5 million to Donald Trump. The NRA then paid around $19.5 million to run specific negative ads against Hillary Clinton. Do the math, that’s approximately a net + of $32 million to make sure Hillary Clinton didn’t win the presidency. You think there’s any correlation to her husband enacting a ban on military assault rifles and this money? Ya think? Those were rhetorical comments.

My two GOP boys from Oklahoma didn’t require as much coin.

Jim Inhofe got a paltry $66,758. Our oil and gas youth minister James Lankford is on rookie scale and only got $18,955. He’ll do better when he becomes a restricted free agent.

So who were our top GOP-NRA players in the United States Senate?

1 Thom Tillis North Carolina Tar Heels $1,971.55 ACC
2 Tom Cotton Arkansas Razorbacks $1,968.74 SEC
3 Roy Blount Missouri Tigers $1,488.50 SEC
4 Bob Portman Ohio State Buckeyes $1,472.78 Big Ten
5 Cory Gardner Colorado Buffalos $1,231.75 PAC 12
6 Ron Johnson Wisconsin Badgers $1,015.17 Big Ten
7 Little Marco Rubio Florida Gators $1,012.98 SEC
8 Mitch McConnell Kentucky Wildcats $820,375.00 SEC

That’s the NRA-GOP Power Poll. Same deal as in college football…the SEC is the dominant Bubba in the group. These guys just can’t not cheat.

My two least favorite lawmakers weren’t all that impressive. Lyin’ Ted Cruz a scant $77,450 and Devin Nunes an almost invisible $23,830.

I don’t know if these kids have a PAC, but they might need one. If you know what I mean (rhetorical)?

I’ve read several Trump books, including the Art of the Deal. I’ve yet to see a ‘deal’ for the American people thirteen months into his rogue presidency. As I write, the kids from Parkland, Florida are finishing up their day of speeches and protests to the ‘president’. Good luck with that.

Time will tell if this president, this attorney general, and this ATF has it in them to affect any meaningful change to American gun laws. There is no way this GOP will have the courage to address this issue. They can’t because they’re owned by the NRA pure and simple. Once a whore always a whore. Much like legislators in oil states like Oklahoma will never address any issue which is detrimental to the oil and gas lobby.

This has never been about doing the right thing, it’s always been about following the money. Duh.

Color me skeptical for this reason. In American politics the axiom is simple…follow the money. Money affects change and these kids have this working against their honorable cause, but again if they march in Oklahoma I’ll be with them. At some point the adults in this country have to start behaving like adults.

In no way should this just be a minor change. This should be the complete reinstatement of the automatic rifle ban which Bill Clinton had in effect and then was allowed to expire under Bush 43.

I have absolutely no respect for either Donald Trump or Jeff Sessions. None. In my lifetime they are the weakest most unqualified duo of a President and Attorney General ever assembled. As in ever. It is a disgrace of historical significance. Sessions shouldn’t be the AG in Alabama, let alone the United States of America.

The ban on automatic assault rifles should be the starting move. A no brainer. I’ve already written on here what Scalia wrote in District of Columbia vs. Heller. The precedent opinion is already in place. What is at stake now is if America can assemble a viable collection of lawmakers to deal with this country’s real problems.

We know the answer in Oklahoma. The answer is no. The Oklahoma state government looks like a group of fourth graders trying to run their first lemonade stand on a street corner. No hyperbole…ask David Boren off the record. Ask Burns Hargis off the record. Ask Frank Keating off the record. Know what I mean?

This is very simple if you don’t participate, this is what you get. This is what you get. Again, only 18% of America voted for Donald Trump.

Again, other than the passage of the Robber Barons Gilded Age Tax Reform Act…not one piece of viable legislation has been passed. No healthcare reform. No trade reform. No infrastructure reform. No immigration reform. No educational reform. No serious discussion about the debt. No serious discussion of entitlement reform. Just a sea of nothingness except giving the richest Americans a tax break they didn’t need in that we live in an age when the economic disparity in this country is greater now than it was in the Gilded Age of the Robber Barons.

So I’m sitting here to see if in some fashion if the self-proclaimed Art of the Deal zenmaster can show up at the plate and at least put his bat on the ball.

Here’s Trump spreading his legs for the far right in 2015 at the annual NRA convention. You make the call.

First off, I do consider myself a historian in that I have a history degree and could teach history in this godforsaken place called Oklahoma if I so chose to do so. The thing is though, in a place like Oklahoma…I’m not sure how long I could last given what some of the Deplorables teach their pinheaded offspring at home. I don’t want to be that adult caught on video throwing an eraser at the head of a Deplorable. Even Dave Chapelle wouldn’t do that.

You’d have to change your whole teaching outline to teach history in Oklahoma nowadays. The earth would be flat. Gravity is a fake news myth. Climate change is a hoax because Jim Inhofe said so. Obama was born in Iran. The holocaust never happened. Etc, etc, etc. See my point.

So I guess my blog is my classroom.

So…yesterday, there were three presidential polls conducted rating our presidents from top to bottom. I pretty much nailed it as I knew I would. Know your wheelhouse, baby. My cousin Jan, the Harvard grad, knew never to get near me when I was on the history, sports, or entertainment wedge space when a heated family game of Trivial Pursuit was taking place. Actually, I’ve done some more reading on Laura Graham and her twin Ann Coulter. You have no idea how much I’d like to play the drinking version of Trivial Pursuit with those two. It’s on my Bucket List.

Shit for Brains, aka Donald Trump, was last in the poll conducted by Democratic historians, next to last in the poll by Independent historians, and third from the bottom up in the poll conducted by Republican historians. I have to admit, I was surprised the Republican historians were as honest as they were with their poll. Maybe, as time passes, they’ll claim Caligula actually held Reince Priebus at gunpoint and really wasn’t the GOP candidate. I can assure you, that’s the only defense left for a good trial lawyer moving forward for a GOP history rewrite. The toady little bitch Sean Hannity should read my blog and learn something. He really should. He’s such a predictable fuckstick bore. He’s not worthy of Laura and Ann.

Anyway, I’m throwing out the gauntlet to Laura and Ann. Let’s get together with our vodka shot glasses and tee it up.

Why not?

I promise Durant and LeBron won’t be there.

Best wishes, Mikey

You know, even if the FBI had gone to visit the Snead home, nothing would have happened because of 4th Amendment considerations. These two adults were housing this young man and didn’t have a clue. So how could the FBI have done much in a perfunctory meeting when these two adults would have been telling them the automatic assault weapon was locked up and the young man was being taken to therapy. The FBI at that point would have had no legal grounds to do anything except leave their card.

But as adults how do you take a depressed minor to a therapist, consider using anti-depressants, and even have this weapon or any guns in your home? Are you kidding?

These two adults aren’t dummies. They should have known better. Here’s an analogy. You have a kid who’s had three DUI’s in a three month period and yet you still allow the kid to own a parked car in front of your home. Are you kidding? You sell the car.

I will write this though, I think the Sneads’ hearts were in the right place. They were doing something compassionate by allowing Nick Cruz to live with them. But common adult sense would hopefully tell you no guns in the house if for no other reason than you might fear Nicholas Cruz would kill himself.

What a perfect example of the dysfunctional gun culture in the United States. Ask yourself these questions, why is it the United States stands alone as the one nation in the world with all these mass shootings? It’s not just the physical presence of the guns, but the culture which has been fostered in this country in regards to the 2nd Amendment and the possession of guns. Why is it every other free democracy in the world isn’t going through this?

The kids in Florida know. They know. The adults have let them down and the culture in this country has to change. It doesn’t mean you can’t hunt. It doesn’t mean you can’t carry. It means you have to use pragmatic adult common sense and be the adult in the room. Good lord.

Dear Caligula:

It’s President’s Day and I’ve witnessed your presidency for thirteen months, although it feels more like twenty years. Since this is the day we honor our presidents I thought I might drop you a note with a thought or two included.

There are 330 million people in this country and 270 million of them didn’t vote for you. Which means 82% of the country did not buy into your Elmer Gantry grifter bullshit. Even with the Russians trolling their asses off to our dimmest and dumbest white people you lost the popular vote by just under three million votes to Hillary Clinton.

Granted, Mike Pence once compared you to Teddy Roosevelt, and that old GOP rascal Orrin Hatch claimed you might turn out to be one of our greatest presidents–I’d put as much stock in what those two say as what Devin Nunes, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, or Long-Headed Laura Ingraham say to our white mentally challenged in this country.

Anyway, enough of that, let’s get down to business.

Unlike you, I actually read and have a passion for history. I was a double major in college…history/business. So what I’m trying to setup here is that I think know more about this subject than you as far U.S. presidential history. Not for a second would I claim to field superior expertise in furniture store sport fucking or bankruptcy nuance, but U.S presidential history and sports trivia, yes.

So putting Pence and Hatch aside, here’s where you stand after thirteen months on the job. You stand as the worst president in U.S. history to date minus Andrew Johnson. I assume somewhere in the National Enquirer they maybe once mentioned Andrew Johnson… so I’ll assume you know about Lincoln, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and your boy Andrew Johnson. That’s where you stand right now and in a race to overtake Johnson as the worst president in our country’s history if you don’t pull your head out of your ass and ignore the rogue far right.

You’ll notice Jefferson Davis is never mentioned as one of our greatest presidents. You know why? Because he lost the Civil War, dumbass. Put your Sean Hannity Sippy Cup away and at least consider what I’m saying to you.

So…who are our five greatest presidents? I would probably go 1 Washington (he set the executive branch template), 2 Lincoln (he preserved the Union), 3 FDR (he beat the Axis powers), 4 Teddy Roosevelt (he eased us out of the Gilded Age), and 5 maybe Dwight Eisenhower (he kept us out of war in shaky times). Those would be my five.

What each great president must bring to the table is the ability to lead the entire country with vision and courage, not just line the pockets of the white billionaires club. Tell your buddy Mike Pence that Teddy Roosevelt was the original trust buster. I’m not sure he read that part of history. He must have been on the floor rolling around blathering shit doing tongues when that was being taught in high school. Just a hunch.

A great president uses the Bully Pulpit to steer legislation. A great president displays wisdom and sagacity in making pivotal decisions. Somehow…all five of the great presidents never tweeted once, or shared with Billy Bush what it means to be a primo furniture sport fucker, or how it was he came to pay Stormy Daniels $130,000 to not have sex with him.

Every one of the great presidents had their personal secrets. Lincoln’s wife Mary Todd was crazy. FDR had a mistress. So did Eisenhower. Teddy Roosevelt worshipped his wife Edith until her death. So…every president has a secret human side of sorts. But they all didn’t tweet to the world every time their dick twitched or they got their feelings hurt. They had thick skin. They rolled with it.

This would be my suggestion to you. Tell the country you’ve decided to not seek a second term…like LBJ. Tell the rogue right to go straight to hell because you won’t be needing their vote in 2020. Tell Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and Mike Pence the rest of your presidency will be yours, not theirs. They could care less about you.

I’d then try and build a bipartisan coalition of sorts with say Chuck Schumer, Chris Coons, Lindsey Graham, and maybe John Kasich. I’d replace John Kelly with Dave Chappelle. I’d send your dumbass children and your putz son-in-law back to NYC. I’d huddle with pragmatic middle of the road adults rather than the far right and far left and see if you could get a few things done other than passing the Robber Baron’s Return to the Gilded Ages Tax Reform Act.

You have nothing to lose. You’ve been a terrible president. You’ve been used is what has happened. You were used by Bannon and Breitbart. You were used by the Mercers. You were used by McConnell and Ryan. And you’ve been used by the worst John Birch instincts which still exist in segments of white America.

Dude…you’ve been played. Pure and simple.

That’s it. That’s my note to you.

Have a happy President’s Day, Caligula.

You know, I’ve now watched the aftermath of Florida and the GOP’s Usual Suspects take is predictable. They will do nothing. They can’t because they’re tethered whores. Charles and David Koch own them. The NRA owns them. They can’t do anything because they signed the Grover Norquist pledge once they took office. If you don’t know what the Grover Norquist Pledge is then you need to google it and smarten up.

They won’t do anything because if they do the right thing their asses will be primaried next time they run for re-election and they won’t be the GOP nominee in Oklahoma, in West Virginia, in Alabama, anywhere…it’s a national network and contrary to what some might think it’s not just in New Confederacy states where as we all know the level of education leaves something to be desired.

Nothing will happen. When you’re a paid for whore if you take the money you spread your legs. Pretty simple. Unless you’re a Trump escort and I guess he still pays $130,000 to not get fucked. What a dealmaker, eh? Oh…I just dropped an F bomb. I hope Laura Ingraham doesn’t ever read my blog. I might be in trouble. Bring it on, bitch, I speak a little better than LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Let’s go. Bring your University of Virginia law degree with you and let’s see what you’ve got when you’re not pandering to the idiots who watch you on Fox. Let’s go. Seriously. But know this…I’m a much sharper dude than Keith Olbermann. She actually had a relationship with the gooberfuck Olbermann and that tells me all I really need to know.

So…these kids in Florida are going to start a national movement and demand the grownups actually behave like grownups. I’m with them for sure. I’d march with them. But from what I’ve observed from my peer adult grownups I’m not sure they’ve got what it takes to do the right things. Weak motherfuckers for the most part the parents. Oops.. another F bomb, sorry Laura. Soft and lazy…the parents, I mean… not Olbermann’s dick. But I’m with the kids. They’re doing the right thing and they give me hope for the future. While you’re marching the gun issue go ahead and bring up the 20 trillion dollar debt your parents seem to have no problem with either.

But I’m with you. Your generation is going to have to do this and I must say I’m incredibly impressed by the students at Parkland.

Leadership requires courage. Show your parents what courage and doing the right thing looks like.

Go for it!

In my lifetime I have never experienced this putrid level of both federal and state government simultaneously. Never. ‘My’ president is Donald Trump. In Oklahoma, ‘my’ governor is Mary Fallin. ‘My’ two U.S. Senators are James Lankford and Jim Inhofe. One is an Elmer Gantry grifter. The other three are complete oil and gas puppets of the Koch Brothers/Grover Norquist holding pen order for bought and owned GOP lawmakers. Color me completely unimpressed.

Then amid this tragedy in Florida, I see this young man Cameron Kasky do this interview and I was floored–in a good way.

I was just so impressed. So taken by his responsible pragmatic manner. If either Donald Trump, Rick Nelson, or Little Marco Rubio had half the grit and smarts this kid had I’d feel so much better about the immediate future.

Cameron Kasky… I hope to see in a position of authority sometime in the future. I really do. You made me feel good. Thank you.

Might need to have this video ready to go at some point down the road. Even though Nixon was a criminal, I still had some empathy for him. I have none for Donald Trump.