Good judgment can be an elusive thing

Headline from Drudge Report this Thursday a.m.: "Impeached Texas attorney general used fake UBER name to meet mistress, new filings allege." 

Just another day in paradise, I guess. We'll start getting concerned about Trump when the realization begins setting in about how much he has damaged our lives, our country. I have to keep giving this attention as Trump remains a viable candidate for president. Had the second impeachment effort vs. him succeeded, he would have been sent to the sidelines as more of a curiosity. He might have had to pay but he would not be a viable candidate for president again. 

Let's be frank, if the MAGA movement actually comes on strong to get firm power in government, everyone's well-being is going to be in danger. Trump would be the consummate autocrat, I'm sure with the intention of taking control of the Federal Reserve. Push interest rates back to near zero regardless of the consequences. You think that might be a good thing? Oh my. 

 

Football coming at us

We are entering the home stretch of August now. We might be thinking about football at all levels. It is a boredom-killer for so many of us. An opiate. The price paid is by so many of the young men who play the sport. Many of you will shake your head at the concern I express about this. Any time I share my concerns in a conversation, there's an impulse on the part of the listener to just smile. Football immediately suggests this is a "light" subject. 

Well yes, it is most definitely light for the people who passively consume it as entertainment. My younger self was definitely taken in by football. Football leaped to the top in the USA because of the increased quality of television, the onset of "color" etc. in the mid-1960s. NBC once announced its "color" shows with a brief little display. Color! Walt Disney presented his show as "Wonderful World of Color." 

Years later on the "Police Squad" satirical TV series - satire on cop shows - an announcer at the top proclaimed "in color." By then of course, color was assumed for everything. 

Remember the rise of the AFL as the competitor to the NFL? The AFL really rode the wave of the suddenly-burgeoning interest in football on TV. Were the AFL owners in cahoots with the NFL long before the merger? Ahem. Were a couple of the Super Bowls "rigged" to make the AFL look viable enough to get on the same plane with the NFL - all owners to be immediately rewarded, to be rich as Croesus? 

The Vikings played in a Super Bowl that was a prime candidate for the "rigged" suspicions. Our Bud Grant-coached team lost to the Kansas City Chiefs and coach Hank Stram. Remember Stram talking along the sidelines about how our defense was like "a Chinese fire drill?" Ahem. 

I talk about such things on the assumption that it's "light" subject matter. Merely entertainment in the big picture. If a retired NFL player ends up in horrible shape with his health as a result of the game - stories keep flowing - people rationalize by saying "that's the pros." They say this defensively. That's to allay concerns about our high school kids continuing to play it. 

But there are very serious grounds for feeling concerned about high school kids playing it. How many young lives are acceptable to risk? Maybe you're so attached to football you can effectively countenance "collateral damage." 

And as for the pros, I would like to emphasize that while these grown men of presumed intelligence knew they were beating the crap out of each other, they began playing football when they were too young to be making responsible decisions about it. 

Tommy Nobis

I recently found a documentary about the old AFL. The name of Tommy Nobis was reported. A linebacker. Without any prior knowledge about his background, I did a check on his life. So, we learn that Nobis had the worst kind of CTE toward the end of his life. It can be totally debilitating. It brings on suicide in some cases. I guess these guys can get splitting headaches that do not go away. 

Each of these guys was once an eighth grade boy, a vulnerable and impressionable eighth grade boy. Their communities were ecstatic to see these big and fast boys get out on the football field to win, to bring attention to the community. "We're winners!" And this is America, after all.

Just totally pathetic. We are all parties to this as we sit back in August and relish the new football season. Ask yourself: what does any of this prove? 

I am rather a crusader even though I never played football. So why should I care so much? I guess I just do. So lucky I am at age 68, not having to feel concerned about the health consequences of football catching up to me. Advancing age brings enough challenges anyway. 

So, I don't forget my own name or have to wear an adult diaper. Football suddenly doesn't seem so "macho." 

For sure we'll see fans turn out at our Big Cat Stadium this fall. Everyone will feel a "sugar rush" for the home opener. Community pride! Meanwhile I'll be a Debbie Downer. 

Just as I absolutely resist the MAGA movement which has adherents in our "red" Stevens County. Has our congressperson Michelle Fischbach commented on the charges against Trump in Georgia? I'm guessing she would say "we have a double standard of justice" and that Hillary was spared. I suppose she'll want Hunter Biden's head on a platter. I suppose she'd talk about the "weaponization of the justice system." 

She'd be silent on Trump's pledge to use the DOJ to go after the Bidens. Mostly I would guess she'll say "no comment." 

I have personally struck out trying to get Fischbach to say if she still stands behind her own comments on January 6. She was in league with Trump, Ted Cruz and the whole flock. That's our congressperson now. That kind of attitude belongs in the states of the old Confederacy. We're not really like that here in the Upper Midwest. It's not our essence. 

 

Let's go micro

I hit on some local subjects in an email I sent to a friend yesterday (Wednesday). I quote from it:

 

OK, so fishwrap has new editor. My spell-check does not like "fishwrap." So what do I make of this, besides a hat or a brooch? The paper has such a happy outlook on everything. It's so opposite from the late '70s when I started there full-time. Back then we expected the worst outcome for everything. Remember that the Stevens County Fair was kind of a dump then, just hanging on - people made comments about it, like Bob Reese. We never could have predicted that there would be a new age where optimism would explode. So the new editor reflects the new outlook. 

Things will only get tougher for the print media. It's baked into the cake.

Interesting: These days I have so much energy and focus and feel like I can write a blog post every morning. I am coming to the conclusion that losing weight and eating better is the reason. Absolutely no soda pop. No true meal in the evening, ever.

Following up on the 4-H foodstand and the little kids not being so active any more, a new theory: Look how long the honor roll lists are for school, and how teachers are really just caretakers, and consider also the longstanding culture of "everyone gets a trophy." I think all of this leads to a lack of sharpness and self-discipline with the kids.

So I looked at Morris fishwrap. I saw a full page ad for the Swift County Fair featuring Taylor Swift I presume. Now, did the Swift County Fair pay for that full page? Might it have been a "freebie" or space-filler? The paper owners have discretion with this. Anfinsons are from Benson of course. Space fillers maybe helped get the paper up to 18 pages.

I see Mr. Lackey has another submission. Last week I sent a link to him of a post I wrote in 2018 all about Martin Luther with quotes from him. Actually I think he was already familiar with the subject matter. We are acquainted in a couple of ways. Now I think he should bring up how Donald Main's church of St. Paul's is in a synod that considers the Pope to be the Antichrist.

You know, I just don't think I can bring myself to go to Faith Luth. on Sunday. I have thought a lot about it. I have remembered the scene in the Godfather when the "hitman" got alienated and decided to offer his services to a rival family - he was killed on the spot of course.

But I am worried if, like I said, I show up at our church and only 5-6 human beings are in the building. I really think that could happen. Everyone will be "gone."

Do you think the building's design is really starting to work against us? I told Ward Voorhees that I didn't think a "dynamic" pastor would make a difference. Pastor Dan was good but he was so pro-Palestinian and that is very "liberal."

 

Addendum: St. Paul's Church of the Wiscconsin Synod is the church of the Martin family of Morris, the grocery store family.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com