As I witness this ‘thing’ pertaining to Trump’s cohorts colluding with the Russians to hack and release DNC e-mails, I must admit I’m somewhat perplexed this is viewed as some sort of detective drama of sorts. I mean, this in no way is like Columbo connecting the dots on the DaVinci Code.
Here’s ‘our’ president back on July 27, 2016 actually openly encouraging the Russians to hack the DNC and release as many of the Clinton e-mails as possible.
This is not complex. This is Trump on July 27, 2016 pleading for any Russian out there to hack the living shit out of the DNC server. It vexes me to no end that Trump ‘followers’ act as if all of this is some sort of concoction by the far left. No–it is not a concoction. It is crazy, but no concoction.
Let’s do the math again. There are 330 million Americans or so. Sixty-three million voted for Hillary Clinton. Seven million voted for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. Rumors have it, even some voted for John Kasich in of all places locales such as Oklahoma and Alabama. Go figure.
Okay, Sixty-million voted for Caligula Lite. If one is to believe the polls only about 45% of these people are what I call the Trump Trekkies who love to scream “Lock Her Up’, ‘Build the Wall’, or ‘Birthers Rock’. So, this means less than thirty million people in this country out of three-hundred and thirty million people believe his rogue hustler bullshit and will believe it do the bitter end.
How did we get here as a nation? How did this happen? I’m firmly convinced Sarah Palin has something to do with this–which means in essence John McCain is an accomplice in the dumbing down of the American electorate. I actually kind of like McCain, but in historical retrospect, McCain by naming Palin as his VP nominee gave the Trump Trekkies the gas and the spark which puts us where we are today.
Let’s see for ourselves if perhaps this is plausible.
It’s one thing to lose to a struggling Portland Trailblazers team on the road, it’s somethings else to lose to one of the worst teams in the league which is ostensibly in tank mode along with the LA Lakers to garner the worst record in the West. But on this night, this is precisely what the OKC Thunder did in losing to the Phoenix Suns by a count of 118-111 on the second night of a road back to back.
To me, the most symbolic gesture of Thunder ineptitude on this night was the final minute of the game when twice Jerami Grant missed wide open threes which would have given Westbrook an assist and another triple double. It was symbolic of how bad the Thunder were in a game which they never should have lost and additionally cost them a chance to pull into a tie for the sixth seed and stay two games behind Utah for the fourth seed.
Losing to Portland stung, this loss makes you wonder if the Thunder minus Westbrook have progressed any as a team.
Westbrook’s line was 48 points, 17 rebounds, and 9 assists. It should have been a triple double, but wasn’t because there was no one around him hitting threes minus Alex Abrines. Doug McDermott was awful going ofer from beyond the arc. Same with Jerami Grant. But beyond as a team going 9-35 shooting threes, the performance was bad all around as the Thunder couldn’t defend the rim.
For the fifth straight game, Victor Oladipo did not play because of mysterious back spasms. For the second straight game, Steven Adams in no way played like a dude getting payed $25 million to be this team’s second best player. Way back when this started it was clear that for this team to realize its potential both Adams and Oladipo had to consistently play like the team’s second and third best players. But none of that is happening right now as Oladipo isn’t even playing and Adams’ level of play isn’t what this team needs from him.
Plus, there’s the road woes of this team. The Thunder are 12-19 on the road and these young players look like a completely different team on the road versus what they look like at home. The inability of this team to knuckle down and play better on the road is not a positive barometer for the Thunder’s chances in post season play.
The Thunder have another road game in Dallas on Sunday night. It won’t be easy even against the worst Dallas team we’ve seen in quite a while as the Mavs aren’t sure if they’re tanking or have an outside chance of somehow sliding into the 8th seed.
I know it’s the year of Westbrook, but these guys around him need to toughen up mentally and play tougher, smarter ball on the road.
Steven Adams and Victor Oladipo, your team needs you, pretty much now.
I’m as much of a history junkie as I am a basketball fan. I never had any intention of doing this much on Trump on this basketball blog, but then again I never in my wildest dreams imagined 60 million Americans would cast their vote for this con artist. It’s like driving and not being able to take your eyes off a car burning on the shoulder of a road.
The comparisons to Nixon aren’t totally fair. Nixon was extremely qualified to ascend to the presidency with a resume on a par with Bush 41. Nixon was perhaps the most learned contemporary president in regards to foreign policy and completely understood what China was going to become.
In this regard, comparing Trump to Nixon is completely unfair to Nixon in that Trump isn’t qualified to hold any office, let alone the presidency. In all candor, I wouldn’t want Caligula Lite serving on my HOA Board of Directors. Trump’s true political calling would have been perhaps being the President of the Atlantic City Strip Bar Owners Association. This would have been his wheelhouse. But then again, we all should have been alarmed when Sarah Palin garnered the GOP vice-presidential nomination in 2008. That was the engine light going red, we as a nation just didn’t heed the warning. I’ll get to her in a day or two in between Thunder games because I think the Palin experience is completely relevant to Trump. I cannot imagine Richard Nixon’s reaction to Sarah Palin, well, actually, I can, but I’m not in a mood to litter half a dozen F bombs on here this morning.
Clearly, as every layer of the Russian thing peels off like an onion, it’s hard not to think of Nixon and Watergate.
Nixon was always a fascinating interview. Always articulate and the complete polar opposite of the rogue idiot Trump.
Here’s a bit of Nixon on Cross Fire in 1982 talking about a myriad of topics. I find the latter part of this to be most interesting as Nixon discusses Eisenhower and the chain of command and falling on the sword.
For those who think I might be going a little too tough on Trump, it’s real simple–he needs to show his tax returns as a starting point since every president since Gerald Ford has done as much. Not a complex thing if you have nothing to hide.
You live by the Russell Westbrook sword and you die by the Russell Westbrook sword–and the latter was the storyline in this one as Westbrook couldn’t carry the starting unit on his back this night in Portland. OKC led by seven points with 5:41 left in the game, but then went cold and allowed a 16-0 run by the Trailblazers which turned the game. The Thunder did fight back and Westbrook had a good look on a three to tie the game late, but the shot went in and out and OKC’s four game win streak came to an end.
A weird night for Westbrook with a line of 45 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists on a 12-36 shooting night. I usually don’t say much about Westbrook’s shots, but 36 is too many. He took 36 of OKC’s team total 86 shots and I love the Kobe butterfly visual and everything, but 36 shots in a game which didn’t go to overtime is too much.
Victor Oladipo missed his fourth straight game with back spasms and the other Thunder starters just weren’t very good in this game. Combined, Sabonis, Roberson, Adams, and Abrines had 12 points. That’s simply not going to get it done. Steven Adams was horrible with 2 points and a -23 on the night. Sabonis only played 11 minutes and it’s debatable whether he should have played that many minutes. It’s time for Taj Gibson to start. Billy Donovan needs to pull that trigger and find developmental minutes for Sabonis with the second unit. This is big boy ball, this isn’t the North Edmond Youth Soccer League, playing time isn’t a guarantee. Over zealous mothers charting playing time aren’t part of the equation.
OKC’s bench was pretty good in this game as they garnered 52 points and were on the plus side. Both Gibson and Kanter had bright spots and need to absorb those 11 minutes from Sabonis for the time being. Again, the Big Boy Ball thing.
Doug McDermott had a tough night going 1-6 shooting threes.
On a bright spot, I thought Norris Cole looked pretty good as the backup point guard. He’s a significant upgrade from Semaj Christon and Presti gets a thumbs up on this move as well.
But in the end, it’s about making shots and in this one OKC didn’t make shots in the fourth period on the road and got beat by a team ten games under .500.
OKC drops to 35-26 on the season and plays in Phoenix tomorrow night on the second night of a road back to back.
This isn’t enough. He’s the top lawyer in the U.S. Justice Department and he openly perjured himself six weeks in as relating to a very serious matter with the Russians hacking the election. If he wants to do this type of bullshit in Alabama, Oklahoma, Louisiana, or Mississippi—then that’s where ne needs to keep his ass. He’s not qualified to be the head of the U.S. Justice Department overseeing 330 million people of diversity. Not even close.
Know your wheelhouse, Jefferson Davis—know your wheelhouse.
It took Nixon a full term to get in trouble with the Watergate cover up. It took Clinton about the same period of time before he got into trouble with the whole Monica Lewinsky yarn. Yet, here we are not even two months into Caligula Lite’s governance and we have all this. Usually, it’s the perjury and obstruction of justice which gets politicians into trouble. Michael Flynn got canned not as much for the calls he made with the Russians, but more for the impression that he duped Mike Pence about the calls.
But now all hell has broken loose per the New York Times and Washington Post investigations into the whole Trump Russian thing. It turns out Trump’s Sec of Commerce Wilber Ross actually was an officer of a Cypriot bank which laundered money for Russian oligarchs. Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, has his prints everywhere amidst much of this, and then of course, now we have Jeff Sessions perjuring himself as to his contacts with a Russian ambassador during the campaign.
Here’s the thing, putting aside these Russian entanglements, Sessions, Ross, Scott Pruitt at EPA, Price at Health, and Devos at Education never should have been confirmed because they’re simply not up to the task of running their various departments. Add to the fact Steven Bannon and Stephen Miller shouldn’t be a part of any president’s inner core unless of course he’s Caligula Lite.
With the Times and the Post in a contest for each new revelation I’m pretty sure we’re no where near the end of all this. As ultimately–it will be Trump himself with direct conflict of interests with Russian interests which comes to light. All he would have to do primarily to end much of this is simply show his tax returns.
It’s literally exhausting following the Trump presidency.
In steady pursuit of the American capitalists in Russia. The hunt for the truth continues.
Man, this is sad. I knew the site lost most of its swagger and mojo, but I had no idea things were this bleak. Hopefully, they can turn it around and do something different before too long. I can’t even post on Disqus, I won’t. I worked too hard on the dr el prez brand to tarnish it with a substandard posting forum. They should just close the message board and do Facebook among themselves for communal Thunder chat. Have some dignity. Remember the good times when there was a creative flow, but don’t end it like this. Even if I win the contest this season—I can’t even claim it. My detractors would call it bullying. What next? Jenni writing the recaps?
At some point, I think I’ll do my Ten Favorite Daily Thunder posters of all-time, or at least from the point I began reading it.
It’s a great day in Oklahoma. Fabulous weather, our basketball team is peaking at just the right time, and the fishing pretty is good as well. I worked so hard on that recap I thought I’d play one of my favorite music song scenes of all-time to get rid of the bad feeling of that very mediocre movie Moonlight winning Best Picture. This should get me out of that mood. For some reason, that’s really bothering me still.
With each passing game, Russell Westbrook’s impact on not only the Thunder, but to the state of Oklahoma as a whole is growing to mythical proportions. Tuesday night inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena was just another night in the process for Westbrook as he once again put his team on his back and just basically said, “We’re not losing this game.”
The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Utah Jazz 109-106 in a wonderful playoff-like game which makes one hope maybe these two teams could do battle in a first round No. 4 vs. No. 5 matchup. It was a great game between two teams on the rise who should only get better heading down the stretch.
Westbrook was Westbrook as he notched his 30th triple double of the season and now is only one behind Wilt and eleven behind Oscar with 22 games remaining. It was vintage Westbrook as with each passing game what we see is a mixture of Michael and Kobe emerging as Westbrook no longer has to make sure Kevin Durant and his handlers are happy with ball distribution issues.
Triple Double # 30 reads…43 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. But what makes this even more impressive is once again Westbrook revved up his game in the final four minutes of the game and made the shots his team had to have as he scored 14 of the Thunder’s last 15 points.
At one point, OKC led by as many as 13 points, but Utah is a good basketball team and did not go away. More to the point, they battled back and led by four heading down the stretch until Westbrook said enough and took matters into his own hands. As a kid in LA, Westbrook grew up watching Kobe. With the departure of Durant to the Warriors, in essence — Westbrook has now become Kobe and amidst all the angst Durant’s weak departure created in Oklahoma City, there is no longer sadness in looking back to what might have been. Because if Durant had stayed, we would never have fully seen Westbrook turn into his own Kobe butterfly.
But it isn’t just Westbrook which gives this city hope heading into March. It’s the fact piece by piece Sam Presti has crafted a basketball team to fit Russell Westbrook’s skill set, not Kevin Durant’s. First it was the trade which brought Oladipo, Sabonis, and Ilyasova to the Thunder. Then it was the trade which sent Ilyasova to Philadelphia for do everything player Jerami Grant. Last Thursday on the trading deadline, Presti sent Anthony Morrow, Joff Lauvergne, and Cam Payne to the Chicago Bulls for tough guy Taj Gibson and scoring savant Doug McDermott. And, if you haven’t been paying attention Sam Presti made one last move in acquiring veteran Norris Cole to man the backup point guard position early this week. It’s been amazing to watch, but piece by piece, Sam Presti has kept his word to Russell Westbrook and put a good basketball team around him.
Two things were evident on Tuesday night, Taj Gibson has supplanted rookie Domas Sabonis as the team’s go to power forward moving forward. Not a knock on Sabonis, but this isn’t a time for a rookie, it’s a time this team needs a hardened vet on the floor with Westbrook for as many minutes as possible. Same with McDermott as on Tuesday night he showed his immediate worth by scoring 16 points and giving the Thunder a 4-4 night from behind the arc on a night when the Thunder as a team went 15-22 shooting threes.
But here’s what’s truly amazing about this game–Victor Oladipo missed his third straight game due to back spasms and fellow starters Steven Adams, Andre Roberson, and Sabonis scored a combined 7 points in this basketball game. Translated–this means four of OKC’s starters scored a combined 7 points and yet Oklahoma City won perhaps their biggest game of the season to date.
Enes Kanter, Alex Abrines, and Jerami Grant were all excellent on Tuesday night as OKC’s bench along with McDermott and Gibson scored 48 points as a unit.
I haven’t mentioned Kevin Durant’s knee injury and I won’t until the final word comes out today regarding his MRI. But know this, if that MRI comes out the wrong way for the Super Team from Oakland all the sudden the Western Conference becomes very interesting heading into March.