BALTIMORE, Maryland February 28, 2014 - Even as Russian Strong Man Vladimir Putin continues trying to intimidate the fledgling government in Ukraine, sending heavily armed squads into Crimea, where they occupied at least two government buildings and the area's two large airports, the new government in Kiev has reached out to Turkey in an effort to normalize relations with another key neighbor in this combustible part of Eastern Europe. And the move may have paid instant dividends for Ukraine, as the Turkish Foreign Minister today released a statement that said the Crimean Peninsula is part of Ukraine, and not Russia. Late Friday the BBC reported that Putin had assured England and Germany that he saw no further escalation in Ukraine. Yet at 4:30 pm Eastern Standard Time Fox News reported a massive troop deployment along the Ukrainian-Russian border and a 2,000-man troop landing in Crimea. John Kerry, the USA Secretary of State, was said to be extremely concerned by the news of the Russian build up.
Ahmet Davutoğlu, the Turkish Foreign Minister, said today that his government attaches great importance to the territorial integrity and stability of Ukraine. Davutoglu's statement, reported in the Ankara newspaper "Today's Zaman," came one day after acting Ukrainian leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk sent a message to Ankara urging increased trade between the two nations. In fact, it may have been those quickly warming relations between Turkey and Ukraine's new government that sparked Putin's stunt in Crimea. Heavily armed military squads making only token efforts to hide their Russian military origins have seized control of key government buildings and two airports in Crimea. While these squads continued perimeter and interior patrols of the two airports in Simferopol and Sevastopol, both continued to operate, with aircraft taking off and landing. One of the armed men at Belek, the combined military and civilian airport at Sevastopol, told a reporter for The Guardian (of London) that one purpose of their presence was to prevent "fighters" from outside of Crimea from flying into the region. Representatives of the new Ukraine government were due to arrive in Crimea today, but there is no word whether their plans had changed in view of the armed incursions. Wikipedia has a complete list of the new Ukrainian government Ministers who were introduced in Kiev's Independence Square at a gathering of "tens of thousands" of citizens earlier this week. See the Wikipedia list at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_February_2014_National_Unity_Government. The crowd estimate was provided by the Kiev Post, which corroborated the estimate with pictures of the massive gathering.
Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych appeared at a press conference in the Russian city of Rostov-na-Don on Friday, where he claimed to still be the President. Speaking in Russian and not Ukrainian, Yanukovych said he fled Kiev because of threats of violence against him and his family. As for the warrant that the new government has issued for his arrest, Yanukovych vehemently denied giving orders for the police to shoot at demonstrators. The resulting violence left at least 80 people dead. Yanukovych blamed the leaders of the Euromaidan movement for inciting violence. Though denying giving any order to shoot at demonstrators, Yanukovych commented that the police held back their fire for as long as possible, and only did resort to shooting when they came under direct attack by the demonstrators.
Only demonstrators were killed. There has been no claim of fatalities among the police.
Among the over twenty new government ministers named this week, only three were identified as Euromaidan activists. The Euromaidan movement seeks to align Ukraine with the EU, while ethnic Russian elements seek closer ties with Putin and Russia. Yanukovych initially announced his intention to seek closer ties with the EU but later announced that he would seek much closer ties with Putin and Russia. That announcement touched off three months of increasingly large and agitated demonstrations in Kiev, Ukraine's capital city. Yanukovych initially tried to strong-arm the demonstrators by dispatching riot police, but the move backfired when violence erupted. After the violence, an agreement was reached between Yanukovych and the demonstrators that called for early elections. At his press conference on Friday, Yanukovych said he had no intentions of participating in those elections and if they take place they will be illegitimate. But later in the news conference he suggested that the early election might serve as a referendum on the political viability of Yulia Tymoshenko, the former prime minister who was sent to prison by a judge after she was convicted of malfeasance in office. The charges stemmed from an agreement with Russia concerning natural gas that she signed and which later allegedly led to Ukraine suffering some $20 million in losses. Tymoshenko was freed from prison during the demonstrations and, while said to be ill, is expected to run for office in the upcoming elections, now scheduled in May. Tymoshenko is the head of the Batkivshchyna political party. The other expected candidate for Prime Minister in those elections is Vitali Klitschko, the former heavyweight boxing champion who has been involved in Ukrainian politics for several years. He has run in the past for Mayor of Kiev, but was defeated. Klitschko and his political party, Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform, were heavily involved in the Euromaidan demonstrations and offers were made to him to be part of the new government, but differences between him and Tymoshenko's
A recurring theme in the Yanukovych press conference was what he charged was the role of the West, and in particular the United States, in fomenting problems in Kiev and in Ukraine in general. He praised Russia as a true friend and essential trading partner. He urged Putin to act to stabilize Ukraine, the exact thing that most of the rest of the world does not want. Yanukovych provided no specific examples of what these outside western or American influences are or how they are fomenting unrest. No arrests of western nationals or even locals supposedly working for the west have been announced. Yanukovych said that to date Putin has exhibited uncommon patience. Around the world, government spokespeople urged Putin to refrain from any military response to developments in Ukraine. The United States initially scoffed at the notion that the Ukraine represented another chapter in the Cold War, a war many thought was over. Of late, however, the United States has amplified the tone of its warnings to Putin to stay out of Ukraine. NPR reported today that Kerry spoke with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, and received assurances that Russia will not intervene militarily in Ukraine. But Kerry did not say whether that agreement extended specifically to the autonomous Crimean republic. And, Kerry added to NPR, he will watch events in the coming days to see whether the actions of Russia corroborate Lavrov's assurances.
In Switzerland, meanwhile, it was revealed that government authorities have opened a criminal investigation into alleged money laundering by Yanukovych and his family. and have frozen the Swiss assets of Yanukovych and eleven other former ministers in the Ukrainian government. The allegations were reported by the press in Switzerland and picked up by the Kiev Post and by Bloomberg news. Back in Kiev, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament claims to have possession of documents showing that Yanukovych's top law enforcement official approved of written plans that would have killed far more than the estimated 80 persons reported dead. Calling the expected outcome of these plans a "bloodbath," the lawmaker, Hennadii Moskal, identified the minister, who he said had also fled and was now a fugitive, as Interior Minister Valeriy Zakharchenko. The plans that Moskal says he has documents from called for deployment of up to 22,000 policemen, including 2,000 riot police and over 200 elite anti-terror personnel. The anti-terror group included seven snipers, Moskal told the Kiev Post. The plan also called for over one dozen undercover agents to infiltrate the demonstrators and carryout attacks on residents and property and foment further unrest. Witnesses have said that the violence on February 20 that resulted in most of the casualties resulted in part from snipers firing from protected positions behind police lines.
At the heart of the plan described by Moskal was the creation of a task force made up of representatives of the SSU (Security Services of Ukraine), Interior Ministry, and armed forces. The task force was to be charged with implementing the plans described above. Sources have said that the fact that Ukraine's Army remained in their barracks throughout the Euromaidan demonstrations kept violence from escalating.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Harry Reid: Falling Through a Hole at the Very Bottom of Everything
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 27, 2014 - When it comes to human beings, you can't get much more low-down, sordid, banal and unsavory than Harry Reid. The President of the United States Senate - how sad is that? - is the poster child for what has happened to the Democratic Party, which is my party. What has happened is, amongst the leadership, an irresistable penchant for the bald faced-lie. Harry Reid has the trait down to a despicable science. Was it only yesterday that he allowed his ability to totally disgrace himself to reach a new and seemingly unreachable height? Yes it was.
A group of everyday Americans who had really suffered in the sordid clutches of obamashame (a/k/a Affordable Care Act) took part in television ads financed by the Koch Brothers (the two Kochs are in a heady position on the list of those persons and organizations who fund influential political activity; they are in 59th place. Unions occupy most of the top spots among influential political spenders). These ads paid for by the Koch boys are merely a recounting of how the people in them were done in by obamashame. It's not a debatable point, sadly, because when millions and millions of Americans have their policies cancelled because of obamashame, even when the President promised, over and over again, that it wouldn't happen, when insurance premiums shoot through the roof, when deductables shoot through the same roof, well, it's just not that hard to find the victims who can take part in the ads. And the ads themselves are real humdingers! They are clear and simple and they cut to the bone of this obscene law. And, they are well done. They scare the you know what out of you if you are still waiting your inevitable turn to be done in. And the people who are in the ads are, as I said, everyday Americans. So when sniveling Harry Reid starts that irritating mumble, and ties into the people in the ads, he is tying into everyday believable Americans. Harry says to all Americans - because everybody knows somebody who has been very badly hurt by obamashame - you are liars. Like I say, he should know. He wrote the book.
Look at it another way. Why would such politically savvy people like the Koch Brothers use people who weren't done in when there are so many people who were done in to chose from? Harry, besides being disreputable, dastardly, dishonest, reviling, and what not, is also a liar. Or did I already say that? Have I missed any adjectives or adverbs that describe Harry Reid? Just like the ads that have Harry so agitated, I have so many accurate ones to chose from, I'm bound to get it right. I am a Democrat. I have always been a Democrat. I really really hate it when people like Harry Reid run one of our great American Government bodies. We are a great nation. We have a proud heritage. We used to be a wonderful, noble political party. Remember JFK? Remember FDR? Remember Harry Truman? How about Hubert Humphrey? It is an abomination to even mention Harry Reid in the same book as those heroes. But somewhere along the line we got the idea that the only people who could run our party were ultra-far-left mealy-mouthed people like Harry Reid?
We tell ourselves we are in power now. We like seeing "Democrat" next to obama's name. That's bad enough. obama doesn't even like America. And he has run his organization like he doesn't much like the Democratic party. All his addresses and names, they are his. They don't belong to the party. Maybe he'll give up some of them. Maybe. But look at the other "Democrat" leaders. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Both of them have favorability ratings that make zero look like a lot. Everyday Americans do not like either of them. What happened to our party that people like them got to those places. Real people that we can look up to and be proud of get drummed out. Kwesi Mfume, in Maryland, worked his way up from the bottom, through the Baltimore City Council, the United States Congress, the Executive leader of the NAACP, but when it came to him running for United States Senate, the party wouldn't back him. Instead, it was ol Ben Cardin. Ever the party boot-licker, he went to his first community meeting where obamashame was on the agenda, and his constituents were loaded for bear. They were angry. They had read the bloody mess of a law. When the meeting ended, did he promise to look into the problems with the law and at least try to fix them? Did he sound a note of sympathy for his own constituents? He did not. He is the new Democrat. He is an elitist who already knows what is best. That is the attitude that begets us obamashame. The poeple in power are Democrats in name only. The sad thing is, only a few real Democrats have the courage to stand up and say, this is not what I am about, this kind of stuff cannot happen in my party. My party loves America. My party is devoted to the First Amendment - no matter who is talking - and my party is devoted to being really really honest. My party doesn't believe that being Christian or being Jewish or whatever other religion you want to name, is not equivalent to being stupid. My party doesn't believe that you have to be from a certain neck of the woods or certain college or certain club to be part of our government. We are not elitists. We really believe the stuff Abe Lincoln said. Even if he was a Republican.
A group of everyday Americans who had really suffered in the sordid clutches of obamashame (a/k/a Affordable Care Act) took part in television ads financed by the Koch Brothers (the two Kochs are in a heady position on the list of those persons and organizations who fund influential political activity; they are in 59th place. Unions occupy most of the top spots among influential political spenders). These ads paid for by the Koch boys are merely a recounting of how the people in them were done in by obamashame. It's not a debatable point, sadly, because when millions and millions of Americans have their policies cancelled because of obamashame, even when the President promised, over and over again, that it wouldn't happen, when insurance premiums shoot through the roof, when deductables shoot through the same roof, well, it's just not that hard to find the victims who can take part in the ads. And the ads themselves are real humdingers! They are clear and simple and they cut to the bone of this obscene law. And, they are well done. They scare the you know what out of you if you are still waiting your inevitable turn to be done in. And the people who are in the ads are, as I said, everyday Americans. So when sniveling Harry Reid starts that irritating mumble, and ties into the people in the ads, he is tying into everyday believable Americans. Harry says to all Americans - because everybody knows somebody who has been very badly hurt by obamashame - you are liars. Like I say, he should know. He wrote the book.
Look at it another way. Why would such politically savvy people like the Koch Brothers use people who weren't done in when there are so many people who were done in to chose from? Harry, besides being disreputable, dastardly, dishonest, reviling, and what not, is also a liar. Or did I already say that? Have I missed any adjectives or adverbs that describe Harry Reid? Just like the ads that have Harry so agitated, I have so many accurate ones to chose from, I'm bound to get it right. I am a Democrat. I have always been a Democrat. I really really hate it when people like Harry Reid run one of our great American Government bodies. We are a great nation. We have a proud heritage. We used to be a wonderful, noble political party. Remember JFK? Remember FDR? Remember Harry Truman? How about Hubert Humphrey? It is an abomination to even mention Harry Reid in the same book as those heroes. But somewhere along the line we got the idea that the only people who could run our party were ultra-far-left mealy-mouthed people like Harry Reid?
We tell ourselves we are in power now. We like seeing "Democrat" next to obama's name. That's bad enough. obama doesn't even like America. And he has run his organization like he doesn't much like the Democratic party. All his addresses and names, they are his. They don't belong to the party. Maybe he'll give up some of them. Maybe. But look at the other "Democrat" leaders. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Both of them have favorability ratings that make zero look like a lot. Everyday Americans do not like either of them. What happened to our party that people like them got to those places. Real people that we can look up to and be proud of get drummed out. Kwesi Mfume, in Maryland, worked his way up from the bottom, through the Baltimore City Council, the United States Congress, the Executive leader of the NAACP, but when it came to him running for United States Senate, the party wouldn't back him. Instead, it was ol Ben Cardin. Ever the party boot-licker, he went to his first community meeting where obamashame was on the agenda, and his constituents were loaded for bear. They were angry. They had read the bloody mess of a law. When the meeting ended, did he promise to look into the problems with the law and at least try to fix them? Did he sound a note of sympathy for his own constituents? He did not. He is the new Democrat. He is an elitist who already knows what is best. That is the attitude that begets us obamashame. The poeple in power are Democrats in name only. The sad thing is, only a few real Democrats have the courage to stand up and say, this is not what I am about, this kind of stuff cannot happen in my party. My party loves America. My party is devoted to the First Amendment - no matter who is talking - and my party is devoted to being really really honest. My party doesn't believe that being Christian or being Jewish or whatever other religion you want to name, is not equivalent to being stupid. My party doesn't believe that you have to be from a certain neck of the woods or certain college or certain club to be part of our government. We are not elitists. We really believe the stuff Abe Lincoln said. Even if he was a Republican.
Huge Throng Hears Introduction of New Ukraine Leaders; Some Cheered, Some Jeered; Armed Group of 50-60 Men Seize Crimean Parliament, Raise Russian Flag
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 27, 2014 - Despite the biting cold of a February night, a throng of Ukrainians estimated in the "tens of thousands" listened as a slate of new ministers for their fledgling government was introduced in Kiev. And while some of the new ministers were loudly cheered, some, including the two men expected to lead the government, were conspicuously jeered. Photographs appearing in the Kiev Post illustrated the size of the throng and the steps they had taken to protect themselves against the frigid Eastern European winter temperatures. Meanwhile, an armed squad of 50-60 well-armed men described by witnesses as ethnic Russians took over the Crimean Parliament building in Simferopol, and raised the Russian flag over it.
Governments around the world expressed deep concern over events in Simferopol, with the USA appealing directly to MOscow to avoid military involvement of any kind, The Polish Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, echoed the sentiments of many European leaders, and called the apparent Russian intervention a "very dangerous game". The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, called on Russia to respect Ukrainian independence and territorial integrity.
Introduced as prime minister to the crowd in Kiev was Arseniy Yatseniuk. Mr. Yatseniuk was to be officially introduced in the Parliament today for his position. No other candidates for his post were announced. When he was introduced to the crowd in Independence Square in Kiev, he was jeered. Also jeered was the interim president, Oleksandr Turchynov, who had stepped in after Viktor Yanukovych fled late last week after signing an agreement with heads of the Euromaiden movement that had put thousands of demonstrators in the streets of Kiev every day for months. The Euromaiden Movement advocates close ties for Ukraine with the European Union. Yanukovych had first indicated that he, too, favored closer ties with the EU, but then reversed himself and promised very close ties with Russia. This is what led to large-scale demonstrations in Kiev. The Ukraine Parliament has issued a warrant for Yanukovych, claiming he was the person who issued orders to police to shoot at the demonstrators. Some 80 of them were killed.
The 39-year-old Yatseniuk is believed to have the backing of the United States, the AP reported. Before Yanukovych came to power, Yatseniuk held positions such as economy minister, foreign minister and parliamentary speaker, the AP added.
Meanwhile, there have been reports that Russian Strong Man Vladimir Putin today ordered Russian Jets to patrol the Skys over Eastern Ukraine while at the same time revealing that he is harboring Yanukovych in Moscow. On the Crimean Peninsula at Simferopol, armed gunmen stormed the Parliament Building of the autonomous Crimean Republic, but it was unclear who the gunmen, said to be well-armed and carrying grenades, were connected to. Some believe the men are Russian owing to the numerous weapons they display. The Parliament, which yesterday suspended the current Crimean Tatar government and ordered a referendum on a plan to pull away from Ukraine, was stormed by pro-Ukrainian demonstrators. The gunmen now in charge ordered the demonstrators still in the Parliament to leave.
Governments around the world expressed deep concern over events in Simferopol, with the USA appealing directly to MOscow to avoid military involvement of any kind, The Polish Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, echoed the sentiments of many European leaders, and called the apparent Russian intervention a "very dangerous game". The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, called on Russia to respect Ukrainian independence and territorial integrity.
Introduced as prime minister to the crowd in Kiev was Arseniy Yatseniuk. Mr. Yatseniuk was to be officially introduced in the Parliament today for his position. No other candidates for his post were announced. When he was introduced to the crowd in Independence Square in Kiev, he was jeered. Also jeered was the interim president, Oleksandr Turchynov, who had stepped in after Viktor Yanukovych fled late last week after signing an agreement with heads of the Euromaiden movement that had put thousands of demonstrators in the streets of Kiev every day for months. The Euromaiden Movement advocates close ties for Ukraine with the European Union. Yanukovych had first indicated that he, too, favored closer ties with the EU, but then reversed himself and promised very close ties with Russia. This is what led to large-scale demonstrations in Kiev. The Ukraine Parliament has issued a warrant for Yanukovych, claiming he was the person who issued orders to police to shoot at the demonstrators. Some 80 of them were killed.
The 39-year-old Yatseniuk is believed to have the backing of the United States, the AP reported. Before Yanukovych came to power, Yatseniuk held positions such as economy minister, foreign minister and parliamentary speaker, the AP added.
Meanwhile, there have been reports that Russian Strong Man Vladimir Putin today ordered Russian Jets to patrol the Skys over Eastern Ukraine while at the same time revealing that he is harboring Yanukovych in Moscow. On the Crimean Peninsula at Simferopol, armed gunmen stormed the Parliament Building of the autonomous Crimean Republic, but it was unclear who the gunmen, said to be well-armed and carrying grenades, were connected to. Some believe the men are Russian owing to the numerous weapons they display. The Parliament, which yesterday suspended the current Crimean Tatar government and ordered a referendum on a plan to pull away from Ukraine, was stormed by pro-Ukrainian demonstrators. The gunmen now in charge ordered the demonstrators still in the Parliament to leave.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Crimean Tatars Stage Large Pro-Ukrainian Protest
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 26, 2014 - Even as Russian strongman Vladimir Putin ordered military units in Western Russia, including those nearest to Ukraine, to Undergo Emergency Training Exercises, some 5,000 Crimean Tatars in Simferopol staged a protest backing pro-western demonstrators in Ukraine's capital city of Kiev. The Tatar protesters rallied outside of the Crimean Parliament building in Simferopol in the autonomous Crimea Republic. The unexpectedly large outpouring of pro-western support caught police by surprise, and as they struggled to keep them separate from a smaller pro-Russian gathering, the pro-western group stormed into the Parliament building. Fighting broke-out and there is a report that one protester was killed and several others injured.
Inside the Parliament Building the legislative body, said to be controlled by pro-Russian Tatars, was in plenary session debating a proposal for the republic to begin to break away from Ukraine. Yesterday, the speaker of the Parliament, Volodymyr Konstantynov, told a Crimean newspaper in Ankara, Turkey, that events were inevitably spinning toward a break with Ukraine. Today, his organization released a statement that tried to scale that statement back.
Meanwhile, the American Deputy Secretary of State, William Burns, visited today with heads of the new Government in Kiev. And the government announced that it will name a slate of new leaders today. One spokesman for the new government has been Vitali Klitschko, the former heavyweight boxing champ who led the opposition party in Ukraine during months of protests in 2013 and early this year that culminated last week with the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych as president. A current flash point between the new Ukrainian government and Russia was Monday's announcement that the new government had issued an arrest warrant for Yanukovych for allegedly ordering Kiev police to fire on demonstrators in Kiev. Some 80 protesters are said to have been killed and the international group, Amnesty International, has now urged that those responsible for these deaths be prosecuted.
Vitali Klitschko is in favor of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, according to Wikipedia. The online encyclopedia added that Klitschko sees the European Union as Ukraine's "model for our future political and economic development." He believes former President Viktor Yanukovych and his government were "deliberately destroying the integration (into Europe) prospects of Ukraine"[76] and that Ukrainian politicians have no right to let them "rule after 2015". Klitschko is also in favour of NATO-Ukraine cooperation. obama has not publicly favored the integration of Georgia or Ukraine into NATO because he fears such a stand would irritate Putin. President Bush had favored the inclusion of both countries into NATO.
Klitschko, who ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Kiev, is mentioned as a candidate for President.
Inside the Parliament Building the legislative body, said to be controlled by pro-Russian Tatars, was in plenary session debating a proposal for the republic to begin to break away from Ukraine. Yesterday, the speaker of the Parliament, Volodymyr Konstantynov, told a Crimean newspaper in Ankara, Turkey, that events were inevitably spinning toward a break with Ukraine. Today, his organization released a statement that tried to scale that statement back.
Meanwhile, the American Deputy Secretary of State, William Burns, visited today with heads of the new Government in Kiev. And the government announced that it will name a slate of new leaders today. One spokesman for the new government has been Vitali Klitschko, the former heavyweight boxing champ who led the opposition party in Ukraine during months of protests in 2013 and early this year that culminated last week with the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych as president. A current flash point between the new Ukrainian government and Russia was Monday's announcement that the new government had issued an arrest warrant for Yanukovych for allegedly ordering Kiev police to fire on demonstrators in Kiev. Some 80 protesters are said to have been killed and the international group, Amnesty International, has now urged that those responsible for these deaths be prosecuted.
Vitali Klitschko is in favor of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, according to Wikipedia. The online encyclopedia added that Klitschko sees the European Union as Ukraine's "model for our future political and economic development." He believes former President Viktor Yanukovych and his government were "deliberately destroying the integration (into Europe) prospects of Ukraine"[76] and that Ukrainian politicians have no right to let them "rule after 2015". Klitschko is also in favour of NATO-Ukraine cooperation. obama has not publicly favored the integration of Georgia or Ukraine into NATO because he fears such a stand would irritate Putin. President Bush had favored the inclusion of both countries into NATO.
Klitschko, who ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Kiev, is mentioned as a candidate for President.
Monday, February 24, 2014
In Ukraine, Freedom Fighters Learn USA Will Not Stand With Them
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 21, 2014 - Where to start? In the ancient city of Kiev first, and now in other cities in this Eastern European land inhabited from the earliest archaeological records forward by the same folk who live there now, pro-west demonstrators have taken to the street by the thousands to show their profound outrage at their government's announced willingness to gussy up to Russian Strong Man Vladimir Putin. Putin and his functionaries, in the meantime, are dropping hints that sound a lot like bombs - the real kind - indicating that the Russians are going to move into the Ukraine and restore a Putin-loving leader to power. It apparently won't be Viktor Yanukovych, the leader who flew the proverbial coup over the weekend after agreeing to hold early elections. Soon after his departure the Ukrainian Parliment issued orders for his arrest based upon their belief that it was Yanukovych who issued the orders to police and other military sorts to fire on the demonstrators. At least 80 Ukrainians are dead as a direct result.
Yanukovych is said to be holed up somewhere in the eastern part of Ukraine where native Russians are the predominant population. Kiev is the middle of the part of the country populated, chiefly, by native Ukrainians. It is these Ukrainians, or most of them, anyway, who are said to be "pro-west" in their politics. Their outrage was kindled from a flame to a conflagration by an abject reversal of the initial announced intention by Yanukovych to make a pronounced step toward the EU. Then, while that move was pending, and probably after "consultations" with the Kremlin, Yanukovych, went and said, well no, we will not join with the EU, we will join 'tightly' with Putin. Conflagration: oh so fast and oh so volatile. Memories of life under direct rule from the Kremlin are not short-lived, and people subjected to it aren't apt to tolerate it again without a fight.
Once the demonstrators were in the street, Yanukovych decided to first try to strong-arm them. But dispatching riot police and other military contingents had the opposite effect. The number of demonstrators grew exponentially. France, Poland and Germany sent emisaries to Kiev to try to defuse the tensions between the demonstrators and the Yanukovych government. The United States did not, but Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel did put a call in to the Ukrainian Defense Minister. When informed that Hagel was on the phone, the Ukrainian declined to take the call. These days, we are so darn influential.
It was a flash point in these demonstrations that Yanukovych is said to have lived like a king. His government and Yanukovych himself lived in palatial style in a large compound in Kiev replete with a private zoo. Once he fled, Ukrainians were permitted to tour the grounds of this compound, apparently for the first time. (When will heads of state learn to tone down their ostentatiousness, especially when the people they govern are struggling to stay meaningfully above the poverty line? I, for one, am glad that our President has gotten that message. He received it during one of his penny-pinching junkets to Honolulu.)
Once Yanukovych made it out of Kiev - I, for one, am shocked at his allegation that he was shot at while leaving - he took to the television air waves and announced that he was the "victim" of a coup attempt. He also said that the Parliament has no power to do what it is doing, which is govern in his absence. He said he is still president. He said he would visit the southern portion of the Ukraine this week. This last announcement ramped up tensions, which it was apparently intended to do. Sevastopol is in the southern part of the country, on the Black Sea, and contains a large Russian Naval Base and a naval base for the Ukrainian Navy. Many native Russians live there, too. In fact, Sevastopol is not so very far from Sochi.
However, there is some reason to believe that Russia; i.e., Putin, does not now have Yanukovych in its/his future plans for Ukraine. A key supporter of Putin said over the weekend that Yanukovych lost his legitimacy as a leader when he fled Kiev. If, in fact, he took off without getting clearance from Putin, that is probably true. But that does not mean Putin does not intend to act in Ukraine. He has much to lose if it slips out of the Russian Sphere of Influence. I would say it is hard to believe he would not act, and decisively, and fast.
First and foremost, Putin is 100% dedicated to a rapid and planned increase in the Russian Sphere of Influence, and to lose it in a country literally on his doorstep would be a severe setback and an international embarassment. Into this potential conflagration has stepped obama. It was a very gingerly entrance, made on tippy-toes. He and Putin are said to have spoken on the telephone about the Ukraine for about an hour on Friday. A spokesperson for the State Department met with reporters "on background" after the conversation concluded, and said, according to Politico, that the two leaders agreed that the announced deal between Yanukovych and the demonstrators “needs to be implemented quickly” and that there is “a real opportunity here for a peaceful outcome.” Read more at Politico: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/ukraine-obama-vladimir-putin-103779.html#ixzz2uFmFCcXd
obama has said that he believes he has a commitment from Putin not to use force; i.e., Russian Force, to "restore order". But this was before the Ukrainian Parliament issued the arrest order for Yanukovych. Since that time Russian leaders, probably with Putin's permission, have made a number of ominous statements, such as: there is no order in Kiev. Such as: outlaws appear to be running the government. Such as: Putin recalled his ambassador (he has). Do you hear a ticking object in Kiev, or is it coming to Kiev, from points east?
Commentators around the world believe that Putin is clearly destined to fill the leadership and influence void created by obama on the world stage. That is not this writer making this up. Google it. Janet Daley of the London Sunday Telegraph has written a stark and depressing column summing up the situation, not only in Ukraine but around the world. It was reprinted in Melbourne, Austrailia, in their newspaper, "The Age." You can find it at: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/putin-marches-into-the-dark-void-left-by-obama-20140223-33ad0.html
obama is a citizen of the imaginary world of the uber (super ultra) far left. Like any fringe political movement, this world is partly to mostly make-believe. obama and fellow travelers believe, somehow, that removing the one powerfull nation that actually has a conscience from a position of influence on the world stage is a good idea. They pose questions like "what right do we have to impose democracy on people? As if we impose anything, anywhere. We point the way but if people reject it, its rejected. See, for example, Palestine. And to abandon our position of influence - leaving an absolute void - leaves despots like Putin, Castro and Kim Jong-un to fill it up. They aren't waiting around for obama and his functionaries to re-think it. Says Ms. Daley: "So tell me, those of you who have demanded for years that America and the West should end their ''domination'' of geopolitics, and their interference in the affairs of far-flung nations: is this what you wanted? A free-for-all for rogue states, lunatic extremists and long-dead imperial powers, in which the lives and freedoms of populations caught up in the murderous power play would count for nothing?"
Ukraine is a land of beauty, mystery and wonder. From the Black Sea to Kiev and points north, it crosses a large swath of Europe's most eastern areas. It is a buffer land between Russia and the West, with a long history of leaving its neighbors alone and in peace. It would seem that both Russia and Europe should want to see free: a free and independent Ukraine, free from outside influence from east or west. Imagine Ukraine as the Switzerland of Northeast Europe. This is what the Ukrainians want. They know, first hand, what it is like to live under the influcnce of Russia. They don't like it. But in the world of the uber left, which smiles on dictators and fascists like old and very dear friends, the idea of a people rising up against direct orders from their leader is absolutely ghastly.
President Bush, in his second inaugural address, said America would stand with people seeking a democratic government. obama has not and obama will not ever endorse or adopt such a statement. He finds it repugnant. To Kiev's pro-west pro-democracy demonstrators, obama said, incredibly, that they will face "consequences" if their actions persist. It is, in the end, the same thing that Putin said.
Yanukovych is said to be holed up somewhere in the eastern part of Ukraine where native Russians are the predominant population. Kiev is the middle of the part of the country populated, chiefly, by native Ukrainians. It is these Ukrainians, or most of them, anyway, who are said to be "pro-west" in their politics. Their outrage was kindled from a flame to a conflagration by an abject reversal of the initial announced intention by Yanukovych to make a pronounced step toward the EU. Then, while that move was pending, and probably after "consultations" with the Kremlin, Yanukovych, went and said, well no, we will not join with the EU, we will join 'tightly' with Putin. Conflagration: oh so fast and oh so volatile. Memories of life under direct rule from the Kremlin are not short-lived, and people subjected to it aren't apt to tolerate it again without a fight.
Once the demonstrators were in the street, Yanukovych decided to first try to strong-arm them. But dispatching riot police and other military contingents had the opposite effect. The number of demonstrators grew exponentially. France, Poland and Germany sent emisaries to Kiev to try to defuse the tensions between the demonstrators and the Yanukovych government. The United States did not, but Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel did put a call in to the Ukrainian Defense Minister. When informed that Hagel was on the phone, the Ukrainian declined to take the call. These days, we are so darn influential.
It was a flash point in these demonstrations that Yanukovych is said to have lived like a king. His government and Yanukovych himself lived in palatial style in a large compound in Kiev replete with a private zoo. Once he fled, Ukrainians were permitted to tour the grounds of this compound, apparently for the first time. (When will heads of state learn to tone down their ostentatiousness, especially when the people they govern are struggling to stay meaningfully above the poverty line? I, for one, am glad that our President has gotten that message. He received it during one of his penny-pinching junkets to Honolulu.)
Once Yanukovych made it out of Kiev - I, for one, am shocked at his allegation that he was shot at while leaving - he took to the television air waves and announced that he was the "victim" of a coup attempt. He also said that the Parliament has no power to do what it is doing, which is govern in his absence. He said he is still president. He said he would visit the southern portion of the Ukraine this week. This last announcement ramped up tensions, which it was apparently intended to do. Sevastopol is in the southern part of the country, on the Black Sea, and contains a large Russian Naval Base and a naval base for the Ukrainian Navy. Many native Russians live there, too. In fact, Sevastopol is not so very far from Sochi.
However, there is some reason to believe that Russia; i.e., Putin, does not now have Yanukovych in its/his future plans for Ukraine. A key supporter of Putin said over the weekend that Yanukovych lost his legitimacy as a leader when he fled Kiev. If, in fact, he took off without getting clearance from Putin, that is probably true. But that does not mean Putin does not intend to act in Ukraine. He has much to lose if it slips out of the Russian Sphere of Influence. I would say it is hard to believe he would not act, and decisively, and fast.
First and foremost, Putin is 100% dedicated to a rapid and planned increase in the Russian Sphere of Influence, and to lose it in a country literally on his doorstep would be a severe setback and an international embarassment. Into this potential conflagration has stepped obama. It was a very gingerly entrance, made on tippy-toes. He and Putin are said to have spoken on the telephone about the Ukraine for about an hour on Friday. A spokesperson for the State Department met with reporters "on background" after the conversation concluded, and said, according to Politico, that the two leaders agreed that the announced deal between Yanukovych and the demonstrators “needs to be implemented quickly” and that there is “a real opportunity here for a peaceful outcome.” Read more at Politico: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/ukraine-obama-vladimir-putin-103779.html#ixzz2uFmFCcXd
obama has said that he believes he has a commitment from Putin not to use force; i.e., Russian Force, to "restore order". But this was before the Ukrainian Parliament issued the arrest order for Yanukovych. Since that time Russian leaders, probably with Putin's permission, have made a number of ominous statements, such as: there is no order in Kiev. Such as: outlaws appear to be running the government. Such as: Putin recalled his ambassador (he has). Do you hear a ticking object in Kiev, or is it coming to Kiev, from points east?
Commentators around the world believe that Putin is clearly destined to fill the leadership and influence void created by obama on the world stage. That is not this writer making this up. Google it. Janet Daley of the London Sunday Telegraph has written a stark and depressing column summing up the situation, not only in Ukraine but around the world. It was reprinted in Melbourne, Austrailia, in their newspaper, "The Age." You can find it at: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/putin-marches-into-the-dark-void-left-by-obama-20140223-33ad0.html
obama is a citizen of the imaginary world of the uber (super ultra) far left. Like any fringe political movement, this world is partly to mostly make-believe. obama and fellow travelers believe, somehow, that removing the one powerfull nation that actually has a conscience from a position of influence on the world stage is a good idea. They pose questions like "what right do we have to impose democracy on people? As if we impose anything, anywhere. We point the way but if people reject it, its rejected. See, for example, Palestine. And to abandon our position of influence - leaving an absolute void - leaves despots like Putin, Castro and Kim Jong-un to fill it up. They aren't waiting around for obama and his functionaries to re-think it. Says Ms. Daley: "So tell me, those of you who have demanded for years that America and the West should end their ''domination'' of geopolitics, and their interference in the affairs of far-flung nations: is this what you wanted? A free-for-all for rogue states, lunatic extremists and long-dead imperial powers, in which the lives and freedoms of populations caught up in the murderous power play would count for nothing?"
Ukraine is a land of beauty, mystery and wonder. From the Black Sea to Kiev and points north, it crosses a large swath of Europe's most eastern areas. It is a buffer land between Russia and the West, with a long history of leaving its neighbors alone and in peace. It would seem that both Russia and Europe should want to see free: a free and independent Ukraine, free from outside influence from east or west. Imagine Ukraine as the Switzerland of Northeast Europe. This is what the Ukrainians want. They know, first hand, what it is like to live under the influcnce of Russia. They don't like it. But in the world of the uber left, which smiles on dictators and fascists like old and very dear friends, the idea of a people rising up against direct orders from their leader is absolutely ghastly.
President Bush, in his second inaugural address, said America would stand with people seeking a democratic government. obama has not and obama will not ever endorse or adopt such a statement. He finds it repugnant. To Kiev's pro-west pro-democracy demonstrators, obama said, incredibly, that they will face "consequences" if their actions persist. It is, in the end, the same thing that Putin said.
Friday, February 21, 2014
In Women's Hockey, the light goes out on America's Brilliant Golden Effort
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 20, 2014 - The United States' Women's Hockey team never trailed in the gold medal game until Canada scored a bit over eight minutes into sudden death overtime. That goal was fiendish, The defeat was stark and so very fast and totally undeserved. The USA led the game deciding which of the two teams would earn the gold medal, 2-0, with just over three minutes left in the game. Until then; that is, for the first 56 minutes of the game, the Americans had played a noble and magnificent game on both ends of the ice. They were aggressive, fast and smart as smart could be. When the Canadians gathered the puck and attempted to break out of their end, they were constantly harassed by the American forwards jumping their passing lanes and playing tough along the boards. The American offense owned the puck enough to keep the Canadians back on their heels throughout. The first period was scoreless. Both teams joined the battle from the outset and never let up. Players on both teams stepped up and played their best games. The USA grabbed the lead with 11:57 left in the second period on a goal by a hard-working Megan Duggan. h each squad getting its chances and many players stepping up, playing their best games. There had been talk in the pre-game that the Canadians intended to out-physical the Americans. Who is to say if they actually tried that. They did not succeed if they did. Both teams exhibited a willingness to whack the other in appropriate moments. Fore-checking, a staple of men's hockey, is forbidden in women's hockey. But contact is not. The officials in this game allowed contact if it was in the context of fighting for possession of the puck. But the officials frowned on plays in which a stick was used to hook an opponent. And they used their whistles when one player intentionally knocked another down. Until the overtime their officiating had been worthy of the importance of the game. But the officials lost control of the game and much of their integrity in the overtime.
If anyone expected either team to change strategies after Duggan broke through, they were disappointed. And then, just two minutes into the final period, Hilary Knight won a battle along the boards to the left of Canadian Goalie Shannon Szabados. Once in control of the puck, she looked up and saw Alex Carpenter near the net just to the right of Szabados. Just that quickly Knight guided a deft pass to Carpenter's stick, Carpenter, like a surgeon, immediately guided the puck home. Now the Americans had what looked like a working lead. Although Team USA became a just a bit defensive-minded, their forwards continued to attack and harass the Canadians at Canada's end of the ice. The clock did continue to run, but ever-so-slowly. Inside of four minutes left in the game, and still behind by two goals, Team Canada pressed the attack with desperation. With 3:26 left, they finally broke through. Now, the game changed dramatically.
Team USA was now just trying to hold on, holding on, in fact, for dear life. The Americans, so technically sound throughout, now looked frazzled. No longer was the defense a stalwart presence in front of the goal. Now, shots were fired at USA Goalie Jessie Vetter without a defenseman in sight. No longer was the offense poised to break out; instead, they joined the defense in a desperate scramble. Jessie Vetter, for the first time, looked tense. And still, nearly two minutes passed after the Canadian goal and Team USA still had the lead. Now the Canadians were the ones taking the desperate tact. The pulled Szabados in favor of an extra attacker. Suddenly, amazingly, the USA appeared to catch a huge break. One of the officials appeared to inadvertently interfere with a Canadian and the puck came onto the stick of the American Forward, Kelli Stack. Given a chance to clear the puck, Stack sent it toward the Canadian end, and - did she intend to? - in the poignant direction of the empty Canadian goal. In those moments, time seemed to stand still. The ice was now rough, bruised, filled with small rivulets and unseemly peaks. The puck bounced haphazardly over these hazards and toward the abandoned Team Canada net. Now it slid into the blue-tinted goal crease, still spinning rapidly. And then, astoundingly, the puck smacked into and then ricocheted off of the red steel goal post. It immediately hopped up into the air, about six inches off of the ice. It was now spinning very rapidly. Would it, could it, land on the ice and still spin into the goal? Every single eye in the arena was glued to the small rubber puck, but when it did land on the ice it spun harmlessly away from the net and toward the corner of the rink. A retreating Canadian picked it up and Team Canada again headed up the ice. Was this an omen? It was as if the Canadians were ordained to succeed. About 35 seconds later, and with less than one minute left, the Canadians scored again to tie the game. In less than three minutes the defending Olympic Champs had scored two goals after not scoring any for the first 56 minutes of the game.
Now the game moved in to a sudden death overtime with a maximum length of 20 minutes. Each team loses a player in such an affair - how does changing the nature of the game at such a pivotal moment prove which is the championship team? - so that now, counting the goalie, the teams play 5 on 5. Despite the devastation of losing their two-goal lead, the United States regrouped and quickly pressed the attack. There was a scramble in front of the goal and shots flew. Suddenly a whistle, correctly blown, and Canadian Catherine Ward headed off the ice for a two minute penalty. She had intentionally knocked an American down very near the front of the goal.
Now with an extra skater, the United States immediately pressed the attack. There was a shot on goal and Szabados was able to block it. Jocelyne Lamoureux, a hard-nosed and very effective American forward, swooped in on Szabados who seemed, in this instant, not to have total control of the puck. Seeing it loose, the American shot at the puck with her stick, something that had happened dozens of times throughout not only this game, but all of thea others also.. But now, unlike the other times, a whistle blew. A nervous and, let us be honest, cowardly official made her decision not to have the game decided during a power play. The only way to accomplish this was by calling a penalty. She decided to send Jocelyne Lamoureux to the penalty box. Now she had to decide what the penalty was. She said she saw Lamoureux slash. Huh? Slash what? Slash who? Said one hockey zealot from Canada: "It was the worse call I have ever seen." There of course had been no slash. While the officials had no choice but to call the penalty on Ward - the Canadian was only too happy to trade her two minute penalty for a good chance at losing - the call on Lamoureux was appalling and embarassing. I was embarassed for them. And instead of ensuring the game was decided with the teams at equal strength, she actually ensured that the game would be decided with Team Canada at an unseemly advantage.
Will there be an apology? Or is there no integrity where it needs to be?
Now the gold medal was to be decided with each team down two players. The ice somehow seemed somewhat deserted. In this strange situation, Stack now erred and a Canadian, Haley Wickenheiser, one of Canada's biggest and most adept skaters, picked up the puck and barreled down the ice toward Vetter on a dreaded breakaway. As she crossed the American blue line, the athletic and speedy Knight caught up with her and moved to pass her, get in front of her, and break up the play. Wickenheiser, for no visible reason, went down - the Americans bristled because there appeared no reason for someone as strong and athletic as Wickenheiser to fall - and a whistle blew. No penalty shot was awarded, but the Canadians were now up on players, 4-3, on Sochi's huge ice. With such an advantage, shots now rained down on Vetter. In seconds it was over.
In the wake of such a wrenching loss, it is difficult to imagine how hard the Americans worked. And yet we all know that they worked extremely hard. They were on a mission. Only once had the USA Women won Olympic Gold. That was in 1998, the first time the women played hockey in the Olympics. This time the American women literally threw themselves to the task. In a pre-Olympic set of games against Canada, the Americans won in a sweep. Yet in a preliminary game in Sochi, the Canadians won. These two teams are very very even. The Americans spent hours glaring at game films after the first Sochi loss,6ttt5 and felt they had recognized all of their faults. For over 56 minutes, it appeared that they had. Now, as the end of the game appeared as a brilliant light at the end of a long and very dark tunnel, a surreal life drama played out. The light dimmed - maybe it had never been there at all, maybe it was just a reflection off of the silver medals waiting for them - and then the light went out.
If anyone expected either team to change strategies after Duggan broke through, they were disappointed. And then, just two minutes into the final period, Hilary Knight won a battle along the boards to the left of Canadian Goalie Shannon Szabados. Once in control of the puck, she looked up and saw Alex Carpenter near the net just to the right of Szabados. Just that quickly Knight guided a deft pass to Carpenter's stick, Carpenter, like a surgeon, immediately guided the puck home. Now the Americans had what looked like a working lead. Although Team USA became a just a bit defensive-minded, their forwards continued to attack and harass the Canadians at Canada's end of the ice. The clock did continue to run, but ever-so-slowly. Inside of four minutes left in the game, and still behind by two goals, Team Canada pressed the attack with desperation. With 3:26 left, they finally broke through. Now, the game changed dramatically.
Team USA was now just trying to hold on, holding on, in fact, for dear life. The Americans, so technically sound throughout, now looked frazzled. No longer was the defense a stalwart presence in front of the goal. Now, shots were fired at USA Goalie Jessie Vetter without a defenseman in sight. No longer was the offense poised to break out; instead, they joined the defense in a desperate scramble. Jessie Vetter, for the first time, looked tense. And still, nearly two minutes passed after the Canadian goal and Team USA still had the lead. Now the Canadians were the ones taking the desperate tact. The pulled Szabados in favor of an extra attacker. Suddenly, amazingly, the USA appeared to catch a huge break. One of the officials appeared to inadvertently interfere with a Canadian and the puck came onto the stick of the American Forward, Kelli Stack. Given a chance to clear the puck, Stack sent it toward the Canadian end, and - did she intend to? - in the poignant direction of the empty Canadian goal. In those moments, time seemed to stand still. The ice was now rough, bruised, filled with small rivulets and unseemly peaks. The puck bounced haphazardly over these hazards and toward the abandoned Team Canada net. Now it slid into the blue-tinted goal crease, still spinning rapidly. And then, astoundingly, the puck smacked into and then ricocheted off of the red steel goal post. It immediately hopped up into the air, about six inches off of the ice. It was now spinning very rapidly. Would it, could it, land on the ice and still spin into the goal? Every single eye in the arena was glued to the small rubber puck, but when it did land on the ice it spun harmlessly away from the net and toward the corner of the rink. A retreating Canadian picked it up and Team Canada again headed up the ice. Was this an omen? It was as if the Canadians were ordained to succeed. About 35 seconds later, and with less than one minute left, the Canadians scored again to tie the game. In less than three minutes the defending Olympic Champs had scored two goals after not scoring any for the first 56 minutes of the game.
Now the game moved in to a sudden death overtime with a maximum length of 20 minutes. Each team loses a player in such an affair - how does changing the nature of the game at such a pivotal moment prove which is the championship team? - so that now, counting the goalie, the teams play 5 on 5. Despite the devastation of losing their two-goal lead, the United States regrouped and quickly pressed the attack. There was a scramble in front of the goal and shots flew. Suddenly a whistle, correctly blown, and Canadian Catherine Ward headed off the ice for a two minute penalty. She had intentionally knocked an American down very near the front of the goal.
Now with an extra skater, the United States immediately pressed the attack. There was a shot on goal and Szabados was able to block it. Jocelyne Lamoureux, a hard-nosed and very effective American forward, swooped in on Szabados who seemed, in this instant, not to have total control of the puck. Seeing it loose, the American shot at the puck with her stick, something that had happened dozens of times throughout not only this game, but all of thea others also.. But now, unlike the other times, a whistle blew. A nervous and, let us be honest, cowardly official made her decision not to have the game decided during a power play. The only way to accomplish this was by calling a penalty. She decided to send Jocelyne Lamoureux to the penalty box. Now she had to decide what the penalty was. She said she saw Lamoureux slash. Huh? Slash what? Slash who? Said one hockey zealot from Canada: "It was the worse call I have ever seen." There of course had been no slash. While the officials had no choice but to call the penalty on Ward - the Canadian was only too happy to trade her two minute penalty for a good chance at losing - the call on Lamoureux was appalling and embarassing. I was embarassed for them. And instead of ensuring the game was decided with the teams at equal strength, she actually ensured that the game would be decided with Team Canada at an unseemly advantage.
Will there be an apology? Or is there no integrity where it needs to be?
Now the gold medal was to be decided with each team down two players. The ice somehow seemed somewhat deserted. In this strange situation, Stack now erred and a Canadian, Haley Wickenheiser, one of Canada's biggest and most adept skaters, picked up the puck and barreled down the ice toward Vetter on a dreaded breakaway. As she crossed the American blue line, the athletic and speedy Knight caught up with her and moved to pass her, get in front of her, and break up the play. Wickenheiser, for no visible reason, went down - the Americans bristled because there appeared no reason for someone as strong and athletic as Wickenheiser to fall - and a whistle blew. No penalty shot was awarded, but the Canadians were now up on players, 4-3, on Sochi's huge ice. With such an advantage, shots now rained down on Vetter. In seconds it was over.
In the wake of such a wrenching loss, it is difficult to imagine how hard the Americans worked. And yet we all know that they worked extremely hard. They were on a mission. Only once had the USA Women won Olympic Gold. That was in 1998, the first time the women played hockey in the Olympics. This time the American women literally threw themselves to the task. In a pre-Olympic set of games against Canada, the Americans won in a sweep. Yet in a preliminary game in Sochi, the Canadians won. These two teams are very very even. The Americans spent hours glaring at game films after the first Sochi loss,6ttt5 and felt they had recognized all of their faults. For over 56 minutes, it appeared that they had. Now, as the end of the game appeared as a brilliant light at the end of a long and very dark tunnel, a surreal life drama played out. The light dimmed - maybe it had never been there at all, maybe it was just a reflection off of the silver medals waiting for them - and then the light went out.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Russians Dumped in Hockey Quarterfinal; Fins silence home crowd, to face Sweden in Semi-Finals. USA to play Canada in other Semi-Final
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 19, 2014 - The Russian Federation hockey team will not medal at the Sochi Olympic Games. That is the reality coming out of the team's defeat this morning at the hands of a determined and surgically powerful Finland Team. The Fins and their outstanding Goal Keeper, Tuukka Rask, kept the Russians frustrated throughout the game after the host team received a first period goal from Ilya Kovalchuk on a power play. The lead didn't last two minutes. Kovalchuk scored with 12:09 left in the first period, assisted by Pavel Datsyuk. But 1:27 later, Juhamatti Aaltonen grabbed the puck in the corner of the Russian end and worked around and quickly past a flat-footed Russian defenseman, Nikita Nikitin, then veered to his right to within three or four feet of the goal, although barely in front of the goal line. He fired a shot at such a hard angle that one could not imagine it going in. But Russian Goal Keeper Semyon Varlamov, who was awarded the start over Sergei Bobrovsky (who had been in goal for the USA game), had somehow left the near post open and the puck dribbled past him and into the net. The packed arena, in loud ecstasy after the Kovalchuk score, turned deathly silent.
The morbid mood would only grow. Still in the first period the Fins put together a gorgeous play that resulted in the go-ahead goal. With about two and one-half minutes remaining in the period Mikael Granlund picked up the pick at center ice and sped toward the net. He was met, naturally, by the Russian defense. At the last, he flipped the puck to his right where the aging, but still nimble and fast Teemu Selanne, 43, took it in stride and fired it past an awestruck Varlamov. The final score of the game came with 14:23 left in the second period while the Fins were on a power play. The Fins' power play is a sight to behold; they spread the ice to magnify their man advantage and quickly rifle passes around a scrambling Russian defense. When the lane presents itself they finally flip the puck into the heart of the defense to a waiting forward, or they wind up and fire a missle from a point while screening the goalie. On this score Granlund was in front of the goal and pounced on a loose puck. His quick flip again beat Varlamov, who soon thereafter headed for the bench in favor of Bobrovsky. It was already way too late for the Russians.
For the game the Russians out-shot the Fins, 38-22, but too many of those shots came from the point without any screener in sight. To many observers the Russians seemed a tad slow, which might well be explained by the fact that they played - and beat - a competent and determined Norwegian team only 24 hours earlier. The Fins had received a bye because of their success in the preliminary round.
Many highly placed Russians had decreed that obtaining a medal in men's hockey was the most important objective of the games for the host country. The Russians have failed to gain an Olympic medal in ice hockey since the 1980 Lake Placid Games. Americans will recall that it was in those games, contested at the height of the Cold War, that the USA stunned the Soviets and won a gold medal, thereby forever changing the hockey fortunes of the two countries. The Soviets did earn a Silver Medal in the games, but it ended a long run of gold medals in men's hockey, broken only by the stunning gold medal win of the United States in the Squaw Valley Olympics of 1960. The hockey rink at those games was only partly indoors.
Today's win puts Finland into the semi-finals against Sweden, a 5-0 winner over upstart Slovenia in the day's first game. Although the final score of that game indicates a decisive win for the Swedes, in fact the score entering the final period was only 1-0. While teams such as Sweden, Finland, Canada, the USA and Russia are loaded up with NHL players, the small country of Slovenia has but one NHL player, Anze kopitar, the high-scoring center and forward for the Los Angeles Kings. In the Olympics, Kopitar has played quite a bit of defense, a ruse designed to increase his ice time for the experienced-strapped Slovenians.
In games started near noon on Wednesday, the United States beat back the Czech Republic, 5-2, behind the sensational goal-keeping of Jonathan Quick and a balanced and swarming offense. Canada won the other quarter-final with a tense 2-1 win over upset-minded Latvia. The Latvian Goal-Keeper, Kristers Gudlevskis, only 21-years-old, kept the hard-charging Canadians at bay until the final minutes of the game. Then, a controversial penalty called against Latvia put Team Canada on the power-play, and Shea Weber, a veteran defenseman for the Nashville Predators of the NHL, blasted home a goal from the point while Gudlevskis was heavily screened by Canadian Players swarming the goal. Even in defeat, the Latvian team crowded around Gudlevskis after the game, ensuring that he understood how proud they were of him.
The morbid mood would only grow. Still in the first period the Fins put together a gorgeous play that resulted in the go-ahead goal. With about two and one-half minutes remaining in the period Mikael Granlund picked up the pick at center ice and sped toward the net. He was met, naturally, by the Russian defense. At the last, he flipped the puck to his right where the aging, but still nimble and fast Teemu Selanne, 43, took it in stride and fired it past an awestruck Varlamov. The final score of the game came with 14:23 left in the second period while the Fins were on a power play. The Fins' power play is a sight to behold; they spread the ice to magnify their man advantage and quickly rifle passes around a scrambling Russian defense. When the lane presents itself they finally flip the puck into the heart of the defense to a waiting forward, or they wind up and fire a missle from a point while screening the goalie. On this score Granlund was in front of the goal and pounced on a loose puck. His quick flip again beat Varlamov, who soon thereafter headed for the bench in favor of Bobrovsky. It was already way too late for the Russians.
For the game the Russians out-shot the Fins, 38-22, but too many of those shots came from the point without any screener in sight. To many observers the Russians seemed a tad slow, which might well be explained by the fact that they played - and beat - a competent and determined Norwegian team only 24 hours earlier. The Fins had received a bye because of their success in the preliminary round.
Many highly placed Russians had decreed that obtaining a medal in men's hockey was the most important objective of the games for the host country. The Russians have failed to gain an Olympic medal in ice hockey since the 1980 Lake Placid Games. Americans will recall that it was in those games, contested at the height of the Cold War, that the USA stunned the Soviets and won a gold medal, thereby forever changing the hockey fortunes of the two countries. The Soviets did earn a Silver Medal in the games, but it ended a long run of gold medals in men's hockey, broken only by the stunning gold medal win of the United States in the Squaw Valley Olympics of 1960. The hockey rink at those games was only partly indoors.
Today's win puts Finland into the semi-finals against Sweden, a 5-0 winner over upstart Slovenia in the day's first game. Although the final score of that game indicates a decisive win for the Swedes, in fact the score entering the final period was only 1-0. While teams such as Sweden, Finland, Canada, the USA and Russia are loaded up with NHL players, the small country of Slovenia has but one NHL player, Anze kopitar, the high-scoring center and forward for the Los Angeles Kings. In the Olympics, Kopitar has played quite a bit of defense, a ruse designed to increase his ice time for the experienced-strapped Slovenians.
In games started near noon on Wednesday, the United States beat back the Czech Republic, 5-2, behind the sensational goal-keeping of Jonathan Quick and a balanced and swarming offense. Canada won the other quarter-final with a tense 2-1 win over upset-minded Latvia. The Latvian Goal-Keeper, Kristers Gudlevskis, only 21-years-old, kept the hard-charging Canadians at bay until the final minutes of the game. Then, a controversial penalty called against Latvia put Team Canada on the power-play, and Shea Weber, a veteran defenseman for the Nashville Predators of the NHL, blasted home a goal from the point while Gudlevskis was heavily screened by Canadian Players swarming the goal. Even in defeat, the Latvian team crowded around Gudlevskis after the game, ensuring that he understood how proud they were of him.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Fallon no pawn to PC police, for now; Maryland's Baseball Home Opener Postponed
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 18, 2014 - The PC police must've been aghast last night when Jimmy Fallon started entertaining the masses. The comedian and new host of the Tonight Show took no prisoners, especially among the LGBT community. Fallon's skit giving high-school yearbook awards to people in the news was hilarious, more hilarious then I expected on opening night when, one figured considering the TV network involved, the only targets of jokes would be Sen. Cruz, President Bush and folk of that type. A real comedian knows, of course, that this would get boring real fast. Apparently Jimmy Fallon doesn't want to be boring. I'll be watching tonight.
To the surprise of no one, Maryland's baseball home opener was postponed due to unplayable field conditions. It snowed again in Maryland overnight, adding to a snow cover that is about one foot in many places. February is a big snow month in Maryland and when one took a look at the Terps' schedule, one wondered if the athletic department remembered anything about that. Now, the home opener and next games are this weekend's series against Bryant College. The first game of that series is Friday at 4 pm. Warmer weather is promised between now and then, but it will take lots of work and lots of luck to get a real baseball field ready to play on by then. Maryland is 1-2 after a weekend series in Gainesville, Florida against No. 21 Florida. The Terps were shut-out on Friday, 4-0, but rebounded for a 9-7 win on Saturday, a game in which they took a 6-0 lead after five and one-half innings behind Mike Shawaryn, a 6' 4", 210 lb. Freshman from Carney's Point, New Jersey. Shawaryn hurled five and two-thirds innings of three-hit baseball to earn the win. On Sunday in a rain-shortened game, Florida hung on to win, 8-5. Sophmore Catcher Kevin Martir had four runs batted in during the series.
To the surprise of no one, Maryland's baseball home opener was postponed due to unplayable field conditions. It snowed again in Maryland overnight, adding to a snow cover that is about one foot in many places. February is a big snow month in Maryland and when one took a look at the Terps' schedule, one wondered if the athletic department remembered anything about that. Now, the home opener and next games are this weekend's series against Bryant College. The first game of that series is Friday at 4 pm. Warmer weather is promised between now and then, but it will take lots of work and lots of luck to get a real baseball field ready to play on by then. Maryland is 1-2 after a weekend series in Gainesville, Florida against No. 21 Florida. The Terps were shut-out on Friday, 4-0, but rebounded for a 9-7 win on Saturday, a game in which they took a 6-0 lead after five and one-half innings behind Mike Shawaryn, a 6' 4", 210 lb. Freshman from Carney's Point, New Jersey. Shawaryn hurled five and two-thirds innings of three-hit baseball to earn the win. On Sunday in a rain-shortened game, Florida hung on to win, 8-5. Sophmore Catcher Kevin Martir had four runs batted in during the series.
Monday, February 17, 2014
When Olympic Judges score the competition, the winners are decided in advance
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 17, 2014 - I don't know that anything could convince me to become a fan of figure skating. It's not that I don't appreciate the athleticism of some of the skaters, because I do. The ability to jump in the air and spin around at incredible rates of speed, then land on your skates while you act as if it was nothing, well, folks, that is nothing short of astonishing. But when you combine a method of scoring that is a total joke with judges who are. if nothing else, a complete and total joke, it absolutely ruins any chance that the sport will be accepted as legitimate. The Men's Figure Skating Competition at these Olympic Games are a quintessential example. As the competition began last week, the dozens of skaters first took part in the short program. The USA sent two quite talented skaters onto the Sochi ice. One lad, Jeremy Abbot, was said to be about to give up the sport after these Olympics. He is 28 years old and the only Olympic Medal he has earned was in the Team Skating Competition that took place for the first time in these Olympics. The United States earned the Bronze in that event. In the midst of his short program Abbot sustained a traumatic crash and fall. He leaped into the air as he executed a spin, but lost his balance as he landed and in the process, bashed into the rink boards. He was clearly hurt and stayed down for a bit. But in a bit he pulled himself back together - athletes often do that - and completed his skate quite competently. Nonetheless, his "score" or award of points by the exalted judges, reflected his fall. and was thus quite low for so accomplished a skater. The actual number, 72.58, means nothing to most of us; suffice to say that the men who are said to be among the best skaters and who didn't fall ended up with scores approaching or even over 100. Fair enough. You fall, your score suffers. Athletes are oftn heard to say that the rules are the rules so long as they are applied equally to all participants. Then came the "long program," or, as it is now officially called, the "free skate." Abbot was sensational. His jumps were wonderful. His performance was artistic. But right from the start the talking heads said he was skating for only for his honor; in other words, he was skating for himself. They said this was his last time in the spotlight and he wanted to go out with a great performance. When it was over they said he had accomplished what he went out to do. His second skate, the great skate, was "awarded" a score of 160.12. Again, it means nothing unless it is compared to others who similarly executed a perfect skate. The Gold Medal was awarded to a 19-year-old from Japan, Yuzuru Hanyu. He had the score of over 100 in the short program. His free skate score was 178.84. No one's score was higher. So? Hanyu took two spectacular falls during his "free skate" and yet his score was higher than everyone else's. Abbot didn't fall during his free skate. He had a spectacular skate. His score was 18 points lower than someone who wiped out twice. Don't bother explaining to me how this is possible. If the sport and its "scoring" are so screwed up that the results above are even possible, then it's not a sport. It is a game of favoring somebody who has tickled the judges' fancy. Behind the scenes bootlicking is heavily in play. But then again, it's always been that way. During the cold war - the war that supposedly is over - Russian Judges routinely scored their athletes very high and USA athletes very low. Now, the nonsense is more "nuanced." Now, the judging group latches on to certain performers and, for a time, the same performers are always at the top of the scoring. It allows them to promote an event as another showdown between A and B. Performer C never breaks through in the big events. There is no chance that a Valparaiso or George Mason will crash the big show, no matter how well they do. The truth for Jeremy Abbot is that he had no chance no matter how well he did. If you showed his last skate to the average person, and then showed Hanyu's, Abbot would prevail every single time. Both skaters set out to be great, one succeeded and one failed miserably. But the powers that be in this version of professional wrestling wanted the flamboyant Japanese skater to win, and darn if he didn't. It really didn't matter what he did, his victory was certain from long before the "competition" started. There is a certain stench in the air when things are like that.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
On ice: Amazing! On the diamond: Solid. On the Court: Painful. In reality: Depressing and Alarming.
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 16, 2014 - What happened in the epic hockey match yesterday between the USA and Russia is something even hockey fanatics probably have never seen. It couldn't happen in the NHL or in the NCAA. But there was Team America's T J Oshie taking a sobering six shootout turns and scoring four goals to give the Americans a hard-fought win. Only in international hockey can a player take as many shots in a shootout as Oshie did. The shootout only occurs if the two teams are still tied after three full periods and an overtime period. In the shootout each team selects three different players, and they shoot alternately. After those three rounds the score in the shootout was 1-1. Oshie scored on the first shootout shot but no one else scored for the USA. The Russians missed their first two shots thanks to outstanding goal-keeping by the American net-minder Jonathan Quick. But on the final shot, Ilya Kovalchuk finally beat Quick - who plays in the NHL for the Los Angles Kings - to tie the shootout and send it to extra rounds. This is where Team USA coach Dan Bylsma continually selected Oshie to shoot for the Americans. Oshie is not a high scorer in the NHL - he has never scored as many as 20 goals over a season - but is an expert in shootouts, owning just about the highest success rate on such shots in the NHL. This ability combined with the International Rule that allows a coach to pick the same player to shoot in each round once the first three rounds are completed, are what convinced Bylsma to put Oshie on the American Squad. Oshie twice rescued Team USA in the extra rounds by scoring goals after Russia had scored to start a round, enabling the USA to play on. In the 8th round of the day it was the Russians turn to shoot first, and Quick stopped Kovalchuk. That made it the Americans' turn, and Bylsma again had Oshie take the shot. For the third time in the shootout he beat Russian Goal Keeper Sergei Bobrovsky by shooting right between his legs, and suddenly the Americans had won. It was Oshie's fourth goal in six shootout attempts. Bobrovsky - an NHL Goalie with the Columbus Blue Jackets - was outstanding throughout the contest. He stopped American Paul Kane on a breakaway during overtime to keep the game tied. His only weakness was Oshie. The USA has already been back in action, smashing outmanned Slovenia, 5-1, behind a hat trick by Phil Kessel. The game started at 7 am Eastern Standard time, and in the first 4:33 Kessel had two goals. The win clinches a quarter-final berth for the United States, who now have two days off.
In Gainesville, Florida on Saturday, the University of Maryland's Baseball Team scored an impressive 9-7 win over No. 21 Florida to even their opening weekend series at a game apiece. Freshman Pitcher Mike Shawaryn earned the win by scattering 3 hits and one earned run over five and two-thirds innings of work, and the Terps built up a 6-0 lead through five and one-half innings in the victory. Center-fielder Charlie White, second-baseman Brandon Lowe and catcher Kevin Martir each drove in two runs for Maryland (1-1). The two teams will play the rubber game of the series tomorrow at noon. The Terps are scheduled to play their home opener Tuesday afternoon against Rider.
Maryland's Basketball team lost a heartbreaking game at Duke, 69-67, despite outstanding games from Dez Wells, Jake Layman, Nick Faust and Charles Mitchell. Mitchell's potential game-winning shot rolled slowly off the rim in the final two seconds and Duke ahead by only one point. Layman led Maryland with 18 points, followed by Wells with 17, all of which were scored in the final 15 minutes of the game. Mitchell had 12 points and Faust had 7. Layman, Mitchell and Faust kept Maryland in the game in the first half when Wells picked up three quick fouls. Terp coach Mark Turgeon also kept Wells out to start the second half, but when he returned with 15 minutes left he had fire in his eyes. Time and again he scored in transition or scored inside on scintillating drives to the basket as Maryland overcame double-digit Blue Devil leads to take their own leads in the final five minutes.
At the end of one of his midweek shows, Rush Limbaugh did a commentary on what he contends are the nearly unbeatable Democratic election plans. He says the Democratic strategy for all future presidential elections will be to continually ramp up federal entitlements - no matter the implications for future generations - so that the growing number of Americans receiving entitlements will make defeating Democrats a statistical impossibility. Along with advocating entitlement increases, Democratic candidates will constantly point to opponents as the ones who want to shut off the entitlement spigots..
Knock away all the non-sense, and it comes down to this: the uber leftists say to the "low informaton voters" who continue to support obama: if you don't vote for us, you won't get nearly as much money from the government as you have been getting.
For now, for the next few years, two years, whatever many years, until the federal government is entirely broke, they will keep saying this and doing this, and then it will be over. Over? Over. At some point in the future the government will have to stop the money giveaway. It's true that the feds can merely print money and then give it away. But even that stunt has a limit. In other countries where such things happened, they eventually are hit with hyper-inflation. What used to cost one dollar will start to cost $10,000, and then $100,000, and then one million dollars, and you get the picture. Will it be years? Nobody knows.
The point Limbaugh was making is that if the uber leftists stay in control, and know that to stay in control going forward they have to keep the money flowing, the path outlined above is inevitable. There are two ways to stop it, at least in theory. One way is for the GOP to win back the White House and the Congress. Limbaugh thinks that it is getting less and less likely to happen because more and more people are on the federal "dole;" i.e., more and more people are getting entitlement money. And when a majority of voters are getting federal money and don't want to stop getting federal money, they will only vote for the candidate who promises to keep increasing entitlement spending.
Ever the radical leftist, obama has seized on this depressing reality to gain re-election despite one of the worst White House tenures in the nation's history. The people who voted him back in apparently care little about the country's well-being or the security of the country in the very near future. For them, the future is at the end of the month when the federal check arrives. They vote to continue the checks. If the country cannot come to grips with this narcissism, it is doomed to go bankrupt and worse a lot sooner than people think. Without discussing, in depth, the implications of such a huge national debt, one of the most immediate implications is a quick and painful end to the country's military superiority. If you think Iran and China are menacing now, think how awful things wouldbe if we had to do what they wanted us to do. What will happen to the people who live in Israel if the United States can't back them up? None of this matters one bit to obama and his functionaries on the very far left, including Mrs. Clinton. While we wait for the outcome of the next two national elections, count on obama to continue to vilify the successful and turn our democracy into a soft dictatorship.
In Gainesville, Florida on Saturday, the University of Maryland's Baseball Team scored an impressive 9-7 win over No. 21 Florida to even their opening weekend series at a game apiece. Freshman Pitcher Mike Shawaryn earned the win by scattering 3 hits and one earned run over five and two-thirds innings of work, and the Terps built up a 6-0 lead through five and one-half innings in the victory. Center-fielder Charlie White, second-baseman Brandon Lowe and catcher Kevin Martir each drove in two runs for Maryland (1-1). The two teams will play the rubber game of the series tomorrow at noon. The Terps are scheduled to play their home opener Tuesday afternoon against Rider.
Maryland's Basketball team lost a heartbreaking game at Duke, 69-67, despite outstanding games from Dez Wells, Jake Layman, Nick Faust and Charles Mitchell. Mitchell's potential game-winning shot rolled slowly off the rim in the final two seconds and Duke ahead by only one point. Layman led Maryland with 18 points, followed by Wells with 17, all of which were scored in the final 15 minutes of the game. Mitchell had 12 points and Faust had 7. Layman, Mitchell and Faust kept Maryland in the game in the first half when Wells picked up three quick fouls. Terp coach Mark Turgeon also kept Wells out to start the second half, but when he returned with 15 minutes left he had fire in his eyes. Time and again he scored in transition or scored inside on scintillating drives to the basket as Maryland overcame double-digit Blue Devil leads to take their own leads in the final five minutes.
At the end of one of his midweek shows, Rush Limbaugh did a commentary on what he contends are the nearly unbeatable Democratic election plans. He says the Democratic strategy for all future presidential elections will be to continually ramp up federal entitlements - no matter the implications for future generations - so that the growing number of Americans receiving entitlements will make defeating Democrats a statistical impossibility. Along with advocating entitlement increases, Democratic candidates will constantly point to opponents as the ones who want to shut off the entitlement spigots..
Knock away all the non-sense, and it comes down to this: the uber leftists say to the "low informaton voters" who continue to support obama: if you don't vote for us, you won't get nearly as much money from the government as you have been getting.
For now, for the next few years, two years, whatever many years, until the federal government is entirely broke, they will keep saying this and doing this, and then it will be over. Over? Over. At some point in the future the government will have to stop the money giveaway. It's true that the feds can merely print money and then give it away. But even that stunt has a limit. In other countries where such things happened, they eventually are hit with hyper-inflation. What used to cost one dollar will start to cost $10,000, and then $100,000, and then one million dollars, and you get the picture. Will it be years? Nobody knows.
The point Limbaugh was making is that if the uber leftists stay in control, and know that to stay in control going forward they have to keep the money flowing, the path outlined above is inevitable. There are two ways to stop it, at least in theory. One way is for the GOP to win back the White House and the Congress. Limbaugh thinks that it is getting less and less likely to happen because more and more people are on the federal "dole;" i.e., more and more people are getting entitlement money. And when a majority of voters are getting federal money and don't want to stop getting federal money, they will only vote for the candidate who promises to keep increasing entitlement spending.
Ever the radical leftist, obama has seized on this depressing reality to gain re-election despite one of the worst White House tenures in the nation's history. The people who voted him back in apparently care little about the country's well-being or the security of the country in the very near future. For them, the future is at the end of the month when the federal check arrives. They vote to continue the checks. If the country cannot come to grips with this narcissism, it is doomed to go bankrupt and worse a lot sooner than people think. Without discussing, in depth, the implications of such a huge national debt, one of the most immediate implications is a quick and painful end to the country's military superiority. If you think Iran and China are menacing now, think how awful things wouldbe if we had to do what they wanted us to do. What will happen to the people who live in Israel if the United States can't back them up? None of this matters one bit to obama and his functionaries on the very far left, including Mrs. Clinton. While we wait for the outcome of the next two national elections, count on obama to continue to vilify the successful and turn our democracy into a soft dictatorship.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
After 24 Year Drought, Derby Whacks QPR to Close-In on Championship Leaders; Terps take tough loss at Virginia; Baseball Terps open season Friday at No. 20 Florida
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 10, 2014 - The last time Derby County defeated the Queens Park Rangers, George H. W. Bush (the father) was President of the United States and outer space research - and the results gained from it - was about to explode with the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope. The year was 1990. Last night, John Eustace scored in the 20th minute and Derby County made it stand up for a 1-0 victory over Queen's Park before over 23,000 fans at iPro Stadium.
The win allowed the Rams to further tighten the Championship Division Race. This morning, Leicester holds firmly to the top spot with 67 points, while Burnley has 56 points for a leading share of second place. Queens Park also has 56 points. Derby is now breathing down the neck of the Rangers and the Claret. The win last evening leaves them with 55 points. In fifth place is Nottingham Forest with 51 points. In sixth is Reading, with 47 points. For review purposes, recall that the first and second place teams are automatically promoted to the Premier League at the end of the season in May. A third team will be promoted at the completion of a single elimination tournament involving the third, fourth, fifth and sixth place finishers. Burnley is said to be in second place right now, even though both they and Queens Park have 56 points, because the Claret have the better goal differential number (21-15). It is interesting to note that Nottingham Forest, in fifth place, has the second fewest number of losses in the entire league: four. Only Burnley has fewer losses: three. And, there is this: six teams have lost two or fewer games at home. Three of these teams have exactly two losses: Wigan Athletic, in 11th place with 40 points; Middlesbrough, in 12th place, with 39 points, and Nottingham Forest, in fifth place, with 51 points. Two teams have one home loss: league-leading Leicester City, with 67 points and third-place Queens Park with 56 points. The only team that is undefeated at home on this tenth day of February is Burnley, in second place and also with 56 points.
In a game Maryland's Basketball team desperately needed to win, they lost last night at Virginia, 61-53. Maryland held a one-point lead at halftime, but lost Jake Layman to an eye injury. Virginia, winners of eight straight games, had three players in double figures led by Joe Harris with 19. Maryland was led by Seth Allen with 15 points and Dez Wells with 12. Nick Faust had nine points, but seven of them were crammed into the final minutes as the Terps rallied from a 52-41 deficit with just under five minutes left to pull within 54-50 with 2:11 to play. The final basket in the surge was a Faust jam. The Terps continued to claw back after the Faust dunk. Charles Mitchell grabbed a defensive rebound with 1:34 to go, and the Terps worked the ball to Evan Smotrycz, who launched a three-point shot with 1:19 to go, a shot that, if good, would've cut the homestanding Cavalier lead to one point. One fan said he had never seen a shot go that far down inside the basket without going all of the way in, but, in fact, the shot did not go in altogether and Virginia held on to win.
Here in Maryland, we are preparing for another large winter storm, coming, as it does, in the middle of another prolonged period of arctic cold that has left temperatures far below normal and well below freezing. And yet, opening night for the Terrapin Baseball team is Friday at the University of Florida. The Gators are ranked 20th in the preseason poll. The Terps are expected to start California native Jake Stinnet a 6' 4", 202-pound senior. While losing number one starter Jake Reed, a sixth-round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals, they return the hurlers who covered about 90% of last year's innings. If you're thinking that it's a good thing they're playing down south, you're right, but they are there only briefly. The Terps play three in Gainesville before returning to College Park to open their home season Tuesday against Rider. That is Tuesday, February 18, 2014. This writer lives about 40 miles north of Maryland's campus. It is maybe two or three degrees cooler here, than at College Park. We haven't been far above freezing for weeks - save for maybe a day or two - and my yard is covered, mostly, in snow. I went to a doubleheader last season on March 1 and what I chiefly recall is that it was bloody cold and that it snowed, off and on, throughout the games. The Terps were playing Princeton, and the handful of Tiger fans at the game were all covered in blankets. This is Terrapin Coach John Szefc's second season and he seems to have a team capable of bettering last year's 30-25 record. The big "if" of course is the pitching. The Terps had 11 ACC wins last season, the most since they won the conference title in 1971. That is 42 years ago if you forgot your calculator or can't find it on your computer or other device. And Maryland was so close to being so much better. A case in point was the first ACC series of the year at Virginia, the same Virginia that is ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the two major polls this season. Maryland won one of three in that series but were so close to winning on opening night that it made your head swim. All season long they had chances to bust through and win an ACC series. The won at least one game in every series except the one at North Carolina. And yet the only series they won was the last one at home against Boston College.
There is profound parity in college baseball, as evidenced by last season's NCAA tournament. Towson University - which won its biggest battle when it fought off a misguided effort to cut the program before the season - made it into the tournament and promptly beat powerful North Carolina. Valparaiso eliminated Florida. And in a nationally televised game, Columbia, which had never won an NCAA tournament game (despite having former players of the caliber of Lou Gehrig), eliminated powerful New Mexico. Maryland will be in its last season in the ACC. They will be trying, first, to qualify for the ACC tournament. Only the top eight teams in the standings do so. Last year, they ended the season at No. 29 in the RPI but didn't get in their own conference tournament. Almost every ACC team that qualified for the conference tournament also were named to NCAA tournament.
The win allowed the Rams to further tighten the Championship Division Race. This morning, Leicester holds firmly to the top spot with 67 points, while Burnley has 56 points for a leading share of second place. Queens Park also has 56 points. Derby is now breathing down the neck of the Rangers and the Claret. The win last evening leaves them with 55 points. In fifth place is Nottingham Forest with 51 points. In sixth is Reading, with 47 points. For review purposes, recall that the first and second place teams are automatically promoted to the Premier League at the end of the season in May. A third team will be promoted at the completion of a single elimination tournament involving the third, fourth, fifth and sixth place finishers. Burnley is said to be in second place right now, even though both they and Queens Park have 56 points, because the Claret have the better goal differential number (21-15). It is interesting to note that Nottingham Forest, in fifth place, has the second fewest number of losses in the entire league: four. Only Burnley has fewer losses: three. And, there is this: six teams have lost two or fewer games at home. Three of these teams have exactly two losses: Wigan Athletic, in 11th place with 40 points; Middlesbrough, in 12th place, with 39 points, and Nottingham Forest, in fifth place, with 51 points. Two teams have one home loss: league-leading Leicester City, with 67 points and third-place Queens Park with 56 points. The only team that is undefeated at home on this tenth day of February is Burnley, in second place and also with 56 points.
In a game Maryland's Basketball team desperately needed to win, they lost last night at Virginia, 61-53. Maryland held a one-point lead at halftime, but lost Jake Layman to an eye injury. Virginia, winners of eight straight games, had three players in double figures led by Joe Harris with 19. Maryland was led by Seth Allen with 15 points and Dez Wells with 12. Nick Faust had nine points, but seven of them were crammed into the final minutes as the Terps rallied from a 52-41 deficit with just under five minutes left to pull within 54-50 with 2:11 to play. The final basket in the surge was a Faust jam. The Terps continued to claw back after the Faust dunk. Charles Mitchell grabbed a defensive rebound with 1:34 to go, and the Terps worked the ball to Evan Smotrycz, who launched a three-point shot with 1:19 to go, a shot that, if good, would've cut the homestanding Cavalier lead to one point. One fan said he had never seen a shot go that far down inside the basket without going all of the way in, but, in fact, the shot did not go in altogether and Virginia held on to win.
Here in Maryland, we are preparing for another large winter storm, coming, as it does, in the middle of another prolonged period of arctic cold that has left temperatures far below normal and well below freezing. And yet, opening night for the Terrapin Baseball team is Friday at the University of Florida. The Gators are ranked 20th in the preseason poll. The Terps are expected to start California native Jake Stinnet a 6' 4", 202-pound senior. While losing number one starter Jake Reed, a sixth-round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals, they return the hurlers who covered about 90% of last year's innings. If you're thinking that it's a good thing they're playing down south, you're right, but they are there only briefly. The Terps play three in Gainesville before returning to College Park to open their home season Tuesday against Rider. That is Tuesday, February 18, 2014. This writer lives about 40 miles north of Maryland's campus. It is maybe two or three degrees cooler here, than at College Park. We haven't been far above freezing for weeks - save for maybe a day or two - and my yard is covered, mostly, in snow. I went to a doubleheader last season on March 1 and what I chiefly recall is that it was bloody cold and that it snowed, off and on, throughout the games. The Terps were playing Princeton, and the handful of Tiger fans at the game were all covered in blankets. This is Terrapin Coach John Szefc's second season and he seems to have a team capable of bettering last year's 30-25 record. The big "if" of course is the pitching. The Terps had 11 ACC wins last season, the most since they won the conference title in 1971. That is 42 years ago if you forgot your calculator or can't find it on your computer or other device. And Maryland was so close to being so much better. A case in point was the first ACC series of the year at Virginia, the same Virginia that is ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the two major polls this season. Maryland won one of three in that series but were so close to winning on opening night that it made your head swim. All season long they had chances to bust through and win an ACC series. The won at least one game in every series except the one at North Carolina. And yet the only series they won was the last one at home against Boston College.
There is profound parity in college baseball, as evidenced by last season's NCAA tournament. Towson University - which won its biggest battle when it fought off a misguided effort to cut the program before the season - made it into the tournament and promptly beat powerful North Carolina. Valparaiso eliminated Florida. And in a nationally televised game, Columbia, which had never won an NCAA tournament game (despite having former players of the caliber of Lou Gehrig), eliminated powerful New Mexico. Maryland will be in its last season in the ACC. They will be trying, first, to qualify for the ACC tournament. Only the top eight teams in the standings do so. Last year, they ended the season at No. 29 in the RPI but didn't get in their own conference tournament. Almost every ACC team that qualified for the conference tournament also were named to NCAA tournament.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Notes and Comments: Holder "the most lawless attorney general since John Mitchell" says President Carter's former pollster; U.S. Congressman predicts terrorist strike at (or near) Olympics
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 9, 2014 - If you listen only to obama and his Attorney General, Eric Holder, it was only their profound care for lesbian, gay, transgendered and all other manner of folk subject to discrimination because of their sexuality that led them to announce - by executive fiat - that henceforth the federal government will recognize spouses in gay marraiges the exact same way as they recognize spouses in traditional marraiges. The new "rule" applies in bankruptcies, health care decision making and a few other situations. The headline grabbing part of the new "rule" is that the federal government will do such "recognizing" even in states that do not permit gay marraige. They were correct in predicting it would grab headlines. The trouble is, according to Patrick Caddell, the former top pollster for President Jimmy Carter, that was the entire reason for the new "rule."
Appearing on Fox News on the 7 pm newscast on Sunday night, Caddell asked those who doubted him to look where the announcement, by Eric Holder, was made. It was announced at a conference for Lesbian, Gay and Transgendered people in Washington. Both Holder and obama understand the dollar value of making such an announcement, said Caddell, even though in the big scheme of things, it means little to the rights of folk affected by the announcement. And, Caddell added, "Eric Holder is the most lawless attorney general since John Mitchell." Mitchell, of course, was the Attorney General who was convicted for his activities in covering up the Watergate Scandal during the Nixon Administration.
Elsewhere on Sunday, Texas Congressman Michael McCaul, a Republican, predicted that Terrorists will strike the on-going Winter Olympics before they end, and "blow something up." McCaul told Chris Wallace, of Fox, that the strike would most likely come outside of the "ring of steel" established by the Russian military and police around Olympic Venues and the Olympic village. McCaul has been briefed by United States' intelligence sources on the threat facing the Olympic Games. He and other persons in a position to be aware of the threat say that prospective terrorists are determined to shame Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has led what some call an iron-fisted policy toward the breakaway area. in the first Chechen War, beginning in 1991, Chechnya gained a kind of de facto independence, but Russia, under Putin, reasserted Russian Sovereignty in the Second Chechen War beginning in 1999. Today, most fighting has ended but sporadic violence continues, and Muslim Terrorists remain a profound and determined threat.
In the games themselves, Canada, Norway and the Netherlands lead the medal count as this is posted with seven each. Russia has moved into second place with six. The United States is close behind with five, including gold medals in the new sport of snow boarding in the men and women's division. The sport has been covered extensively on NBC and is something akin to skateboarding, but without the wheels. The athletes comedown a steep hill, but must stay on the board as it slides down various railings and hazards, then make three increasingly higher jumps. During the jumps they must perform a variety of gymnastic flips, spins and other stunts. Their score depends on the athleticism of their jumps, how far they sail down the hill on the jumps, and other tests. It's such a new sport that the judges seem to reward whatever it is that impresses them that day. Sage Kotsenburg, 20, from Park City, Utah, won the gold medal in the men's "Slopestyle Competition" by trying a stunt he had never even praticed. American Jamie Anderson, from California won the Gold in the women's Slopestyle. The Russian figure skating team gained the home country's first gold medal in the team ice skating competition. On Monday, Julie Mancuso of the United States won a Bronze Medal in the Women's Super Combined Ski event.
Appearing on Fox News on the 7 pm newscast on Sunday night, Caddell asked those who doubted him to look where the announcement, by Eric Holder, was made. It was announced at a conference for Lesbian, Gay and Transgendered people in Washington. Both Holder and obama understand the dollar value of making such an announcement, said Caddell, even though in the big scheme of things, it means little to the rights of folk affected by the announcement. And, Caddell added, "Eric Holder is the most lawless attorney general since John Mitchell." Mitchell, of course, was the Attorney General who was convicted for his activities in covering up the Watergate Scandal during the Nixon Administration.
Elsewhere on Sunday, Texas Congressman Michael McCaul, a Republican, predicted that Terrorists will strike the on-going Winter Olympics before they end, and "blow something up." McCaul told Chris Wallace, of Fox, that the strike would most likely come outside of the "ring of steel" established by the Russian military and police around Olympic Venues and the Olympic village. McCaul has been briefed by United States' intelligence sources on the threat facing the Olympic Games. He and other persons in a position to be aware of the threat say that prospective terrorists are determined to shame Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has led what some call an iron-fisted policy toward the breakaway area. in the first Chechen War, beginning in 1991, Chechnya gained a kind of de facto independence, but Russia, under Putin, reasserted Russian Sovereignty in the Second Chechen War beginning in 1999. Today, most fighting has ended but sporadic violence continues, and Muslim Terrorists remain a profound and determined threat.
In the games themselves, Canada, Norway and the Netherlands lead the medal count as this is posted with seven each. Russia has moved into second place with six. The United States is close behind with five, including gold medals in the new sport of snow boarding in the men and women's division. The sport has been covered extensively on NBC and is something akin to skateboarding, but without the wheels. The athletes comedown a steep hill, but must stay on the board as it slides down various railings and hazards, then make three increasingly higher jumps. During the jumps they must perform a variety of gymnastic flips, spins and other stunts. Their score depends on the athleticism of their jumps, how far they sail down the hill on the jumps, and other tests. It's such a new sport that the judges seem to reward whatever it is that impresses them that day. Sage Kotsenburg, 20, from Park City, Utah, won the gold medal in the men's "Slopestyle Competition" by trying a stunt he had never even praticed. American Jamie Anderson, from California won the Gold in the women's Slopestyle. The Russian figure skating team gained the home country's first gold medal in the team ice skating competition. On Monday, Julie Mancuso of the United States won a Bronze Medal in the Women's Super Combined Ski event.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
First, Holder's Own Lawyers Engage in Public Revolt. Now, his own FBI Agents are in Open Revolt. Think, perhaps, it's time for him to go?
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 8, 2014 - If any of you out there were seriously willing to argue that obama was anything other than an uber leftist, the developments of these past two weeks over at the Justice Department should forever sober you up. First, Eric Holder's own attorneys rebelled against him, and did so publicly, putting their own employment at risk. I cannot recall anything like that ever happening. Now, the lads (and ladies) in the FBI are also in open, public revolt.
The answer as to why is simple and obvious. Both groups - made up of career professionals who have made loyalty a basic tenant of their employment - can no longer stomach the openly far left, pro-criminal attitudes of the person in charge: Eric Holder. And Eric Holder, the subject of a firestorm of criticism before for many of his uber-far-left activities, serves merely and only because he has the continued support of obama. If obama doesn't support Holder's "activities" he would be gone. If you are following this simple logic, it leads to the conclusion that obama supports all of the "stuff" that Holder does.
The outstanding folk over at Powerline Blog are once again all over the story. Go here for the news about the FBI agents: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/02/fbi-agents-revolt-against-eric-holder.php
Not long before these brave and patriotic souls stepped forward at the nation's top crime-fighting venue, the men and women at the Justice Department also staged an open revolt. There is a link to Powerline's outstanding piece on that incident in the FBI article cited above. Or, to go directly to the piece concerning the Justice Department, go here: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/01/hundreds-of-career-prosecutors-revolt-against-holder.php
The Justice Department attorneys cannot stand by while Holder and obama go all out to repeal mandatory sentences for the most deplorable drug traffikers. The bill they are opposed to does not only apply to those selling pot. No indeed. The bill the people who work for Holder can't stomach will repeal mandatory prison sentences for those despicable folk who import and distribute the deadly drug heroin. And Holder and obama are opposed to these kinds of sentences for the very worst offenders despite crime statistics that clearly show that such mandatory periods of incarceration are a very effective tool for fighting against these awful criminals. With all of the problems confronting Holder and obama, the very idea that they would spend one second working in favor of such scum is impossible to understand.
At the FBI, the open revolt is over Holder's (and obama's) appointment of the anti-American attorney, Debo Adegbile, as head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Adegbile defended the convicted police killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. The problem is not with Adegbile's decision to defend Abu-Jamal; in America, even the most deplorable criminal is entitled to a criminal defense under our long-held belief that every person is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The problem, the really big problem, is the kind of openly anti-American behavior that Adegbile sunk to as part of his defense tactics. His "plan" to defend Abu-Jamal was to trash the victim and every other police officer on the Philadelphia police force. According to Adegbile, the police force of Philadelphia, including the murdered officer, Daniel Faulkner, was an "occupying fascist army" and not a force for justice and for fighting crime.
With the FBI agents and Justice Department attorneys in open and public revolt, it should seem probable that obama would back away from such a deplorable nomination as Adegbile. It seems likely and it seems probable that any real "public servant" (like the elected folk on the Senate Judiciary Committee) would want pay heed to such an unprecedented action.
If you thought that the action by the FBI agents and Justice Department Attorneys mattered even a little bit to either obama or the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, you would be wrong. On a straight party-line vote on Friday, Adegbile was confirmed, 10-8, and only after refusing to allow Officer Faulkner's widow to testify.
The nomination now moves to the entire Senate.
The answer as to why is simple and obvious. Both groups - made up of career professionals who have made loyalty a basic tenant of their employment - can no longer stomach the openly far left, pro-criminal attitudes of the person in charge: Eric Holder. And Eric Holder, the subject of a firestorm of criticism before for many of his uber-far-left activities, serves merely and only because he has the continued support of obama. If obama doesn't support Holder's "activities" he would be gone. If you are following this simple logic, it leads to the conclusion that obama supports all of the "stuff" that Holder does.
The outstanding folk over at Powerline Blog are once again all over the story. Go here for the news about the FBI agents: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/02/fbi-agents-revolt-against-eric-holder.php
Not long before these brave and patriotic souls stepped forward at the nation's top crime-fighting venue, the men and women at the Justice Department also staged an open revolt. There is a link to Powerline's outstanding piece on that incident in the FBI article cited above. Or, to go directly to the piece concerning the Justice Department, go here: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/01/hundreds-of-career-prosecutors-revolt-against-holder.php
The Justice Department attorneys cannot stand by while Holder and obama go all out to repeal mandatory sentences for the most deplorable drug traffikers. The bill they are opposed to does not only apply to those selling pot. No indeed. The bill the people who work for Holder can't stomach will repeal mandatory prison sentences for those despicable folk who import and distribute the deadly drug heroin. And Holder and obama are opposed to these kinds of sentences for the very worst offenders despite crime statistics that clearly show that such mandatory periods of incarceration are a very effective tool for fighting against these awful criminals. With all of the problems confronting Holder and obama, the very idea that they would spend one second working in favor of such scum is impossible to understand.
At the FBI, the open revolt is over Holder's (and obama's) appointment of the anti-American attorney, Debo Adegbile, as head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Adegbile defended the convicted police killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. The problem is not with Adegbile's decision to defend Abu-Jamal; in America, even the most deplorable criminal is entitled to a criminal defense under our long-held belief that every person is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The problem, the really big problem, is the kind of openly anti-American behavior that Adegbile sunk to as part of his defense tactics. His "plan" to defend Abu-Jamal was to trash the victim and every other police officer on the Philadelphia police force. According to Adegbile, the police force of Philadelphia, including the murdered officer, Daniel Faulkner, was an "occupying fascist army" and not a force for justice and for fighting crime.
With the FBI agents and Justice Department attorneys in open and public revolt, it should seem probable that obama would back away from such a deplorable nomination as Adegbile. It seems likely and it seems probable that any real "public servant" (like the elected folk on the Senate Judiciary Committee) would want pay heed to such an unprecedented action.
If you thought that the action by the FBI agents and Justice Department Attorneys mattered even a little bit to either obama or the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, you would be wrong. On a straight party-line vote on Friday, Adegbile was confirmed, 10-8, and only after refusing to allow Officer Faulkner's widow to testify.
The nomination now moves to the entire Senate.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Sports and Weather are Next
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 6, 2014 - Many of us remember the 11 o'clock news on local television (10 o'clock on Fox, even way back when). Each broadcast was 30 minutes long, counting all of the bloody commercials. You could not forget the commercials because the local stations made a high percentage of their income selling ads on the eleven o'clock news. When I was very young, some of the stations didn't do a full-length newscast at eleven o'clock on Saturday, instead having a station announcer simply rea the headlines like they do on the radio.
The "news," of course, wasn't just news. The national and international news was given a brief reading, often times no more than a minute. Local events, on the other hand, were covered with camera crews, live feeds and on-the-scene reporters. Sometimes the local news was a neighborhood festival. All of the "news" was crammed into the first 15-18 minutes, before the broadcast shifted to weather and sports. Approximately 5 minutes of a 30 minute newscast was given over to weather. After the weather came the sports. Being a gym rat in every sense of the phrase, I looked forward to the sports. I analyzed the sports. Then, I analyzed my analysis. I remember many of the people who brought the news, weather and sports to us in Baltimore. They were part of my world every day and there wasn't a one of us who didn't develop opinions about each one of them. Channel 13 had Jerry Turner and Al Sanders doing the news (actually, Turner started in 1962 and had a number of co-anchors before being paired with Sanders. One of his co-anchors was Oprah Winfrey, who was brought to Baltimore to be paired with Turner in the mid-1970's. It didn't work out and everybody had an opinion as to why. Winfrey then became a reporter and I specifically recall covering a story or two at the same time she was. I was a reporter for a weekly newspaper at this time, having just graduated from the University of Maryland School of Journalism). Turner and Sanders became Baltimore icons and dominated the ratings for many years. When Turner disappeared from the news and Baltimore learned their newsman had cancer in his esophagus, it was a state-wide tragedy. Turner died of esophagal cancer in 1987. Sanders continued on, alone for a year, then as co-anchor with Denise Koch. Then "Al" got sick; his cancer was in his lungs. The news of his illness was also a huge tragedy. Sanders died in 1995 of lung cancer. Koch continues as anchor, paired with various co-anchors. Channel 11 had Rolf Hertsgaard (who, after leaving that job, became a member of the Church I attend. He sang in the choir. He was a very good person. He died in 2004). After Hertsgaard, the station hired Ron Smith and other co-anchors. Later, Rod Daniels took over with various co-anchors. Daniels is still a co-anchor. Channel 2 had George Rogers as a primary anchor when I was a teenager. He had various co-anchors. Stan Stoval was an anchor there. Channel 45 was a late-comer to the local news stage. For a long time a man named Ernie Boston did brief newscasts without even one mobile camera crew at his disposal. The folks doing the news now, and, as local news goes, doing it quite well, are Jeff Barnd and Jennifer Gilbert. Both have been at the station for a long time.
Anyway, after the news came the weather. Here, I'll just name the folk I took a liking to. The weather reporter who I watch or listen to, even now, is a gentleman by the name of Tom Tasslemyer. He is on Channel 11 TV and WBAL Radio. He does the late newscast on Channel 11 and the early weather on WBAL, although I believe he does the morning duties from his home. His peer at the same stations, John Collins, is very similar in his approach, combining actual scientific knowledge with good humor. I recall a lady by the name of Rhea Perlman doing the weather at Channel 11 along with a puppet named JP. JP always cried out the anchor's name, Rolf, when Rhea and JP were done.
On to sports. We've had some very good sports reporters in Baltimore. Vince Bagli was the primary one. Everybody loved him, including me. I never met him in person, but I was incredibly fond of him. And I don't mean to make this in the past tense, because, while fully retired, he is alive and active as far as I know. He knew everything about Baltimore sports and even though he delivered his broadcast in a very off-the-cuff folksy way, his words were loaded with facts and background that told an accurate story. I am sure that Bagli had a lot to do with Sam Lacy being a sportscaster at Channel 11 on weekends. The long-time Afro-American Sports Editor was another wonderful person to listen to. He oozed knowledge and came across as somebody who was very noble and always spoke the truth. Lacy, a reporter first and foremost, followed Jackie Robinson around during the season he broke the race barrier in Major League Baseball. And yet I never knew that while watching him during those years. He was just that humble. Channel 11 also had Chris Thomas, and it has Gerry Sandusky. Anybody who lives in Baltimore has very fond memories of listening to Chuck Thompson and Vince Bagli doing the Colts games on the radio. Chuck did telecasts of the NFL for CBS, and he was superb. But you had to hear him on the radio to appreciate how good he was. Many radio play-by-play people who do football more or less take their time and don't finish describing a play until long after it is over. With Chuck, he described the action as it happened, and he did it with eloquence and accuracy. Anyway, Channel 13 had a lot of very decent sports people. Nick Charles was here for many years until leaving for network TV. The station also had a fine reporter named Randy Blair, who, sadly, died of a heart-attack at a very young age. Channel 2 had Jack Dawson, who was another walking encyclopedia of Baltimore sports. Also at Channel 2 was Keith Mills. Mills is at WBAL radio these days and is greatly appreciated. He's almost as down-to-earth as Vince Bagli.
As TV becomes more and more diversified, local stations are losing viewers and its an open question how long these local newscasts will continue. The more I think about it, the bigger the loss that Baltimore and its citizens will suffer if in fact the local news goes away. As newspapers shrink and fold-up, the monitoring of local government will become lighter and, well, less. The shrinking fourth estate at the local level is a huge problem. There are blogs that cover local government. I intend to find them and keep track of them. A government that is not watched is a government that will stop working for the people.
The "news," of course, wasn't just news. The national and international news was given a brief reading, often times no more than a minute. Local events, on the other hand, were covered with camera crews, live feeds and on-the-scene reporters. Sometimes the local news was a neighborhood festival. All of the "news" was crammed into the first 15-18 minutes, before the broadcast shifted to weather and sports. Approximately 5 minutes of a 30 minute newscast was given over to weather. After the weather came the sports. Being a gym rat in every sense of the phrase, I looked forward to the sports. I analyzed the sports. Then, I analyzed my analysis. I remember many of the people who brought the news, weather and sports to us in Baltimore. They were part of my world every day and there wasn't a one of us who didn't develop opinions about each one of them. Channel 13 had Jerry Turner and Al Sanders doing the news (actually, Turner started in 1962 and had a number of co-anchors before being paired with Sanders. One of his co-anchors was Oprah Winfrey, who was brought to Baltimore to be paired with Turner in the mid-1970's. It didn't work out and everybody had an opinion as to why. Winfrey then became a reporter and I specifically recall covering a story or two at the same time she was. I was a reporter for a weekly newspaper at this time, having just graduated from the University of Maryland School of Journalism). Turner and Sanders became Baltimore icons and dominated the ratings for many years. When Turner disappeared from the news and Baltimore learned their newsman had cancer in his esophagus, it was a state-wide tragedy. Turner died of esophagal cancer in 1987. Sanders continued on, alone for a year, then as co-anchor with Denise Koch. Then "Al" got sick; his cancer was in his lungs. The news of his illness was also a huge tragedy. Sanders died in 1995 of lung cancer. Koch continues as anchor, paired with various co-anchors. Channel 11 had Rolf Hertsgaard (who, after leaving that job, became a member of the Church I attend. He sang in the choir. He was a very good person. He died in 2004). After Hertsgaard, the station hired Ron Smith and other co-anchors. Later, Rod Daniels took over with various co-anchors. Daniels is still a co-anchor. Channel 2 had George Rogers as a primary anchor when I was a teenager. He had various co-anchors. Stan Stoval was an anchor there. Channel 45 was a late-comer to the local news stage. For a long time a man named Ernie Boston did brief newscasts without even one mobile camera crew at his disposal. The folks doing the news now, and, as local news goes, doing it quite well, are Jeff Barnd and Jennifer Gilbert. Both have been at the station for a long time.
Anyway, after the news came the weather. Here, I'll just name the folk I took a liking to. The weather reporter who I watch or listen to, even now, is a gentleman by the name of Tom Tasslemyer. He is on Channel 11 TV and WBAL Radio. He does the late newscast on Channel 11 and the early weather on WBAL, although I believe he does the morning duties from his home. His peer at the same stations, John Collins, is very similar in his approach, combining actual scientific knowledge with good humor. I recall a lady by the name of Rhea Perlman doing the weather at Channel 11 along with a puppet named JP. JP always cried out the anchor's name, Rolf, when Rhea and JP were done.
On to sports. We've had some very good sports reporters in Baltimore. Vince Bagli was the primary one. Everybody loved him, including me. I never met him in person, but I was incredibly fond of him. And I don't mean to make this in the past tense, because, while fully retired, he is alive and active as far as I know. He knew everything about Baltimore sports and even though he delivered his broadcast in a very off-the-cuff folksy way, his words were loaded with facts and background that told an accurate story. I am sure that Bagli had a lot to do with Sam Lacy being a sportscaster at Channel 11 on weekends. The long-time Afro-American Sports Editor was another wonderful person to listen to. He oozed knowledge and came across as somebody who was very noble and always spoke the truth. Lacy, a reporter first and foremost, followed Jackie Robinson around during the season he broke the race barrier in Major League Baseball. And yet I never knew that while watching him during those years. He was just that humble. Channel 11 also had Chris Thomas, and it has Gerry Sandusky. Anybody who lives in Baltimore has very fond memories of listening to Chuck Thompson and Vince Bagli doing the Colts games on the radio. Chuck did telecasts of the NFL for CBS, and he was superb. But you had to hear him on the radio to appreciate how good he was. Many radio play-by-play people who do football more or less take their time and don't finish describing a play until long after it is over. With Chuck, he described the action as it happened, and he did it with eloquence and accuracy. Anyway, Channel 13 had a lot of very decent sports people. Nick Charles was here for many years until leaving for network TV. The station also had a fine reporter named Randy Blair, who, sadly, died of a heart-attack at a very young age. Channel 2 had Jack Dawson, who was another walking encyclopedia of Baltimore sports. Also at Channel 2 was Keith Mills. Mills is at WBAL radio these days and is greatly appreciated. He's almost as down-to-earth as Vince Bagli.
As TV becomes more and more diversified, local stations are losing viewers and its an open question how long these local newscasts will continue. The more I think about it, the bigger the loss that Baltimore and its citizens will suffer if in fact the local news goes away. As newspapers shrink and fold-up, the monitoring of local government will become lighter and, well, less. The shrinking fourth estate at the local level is a huge problem. There are blogs that cover local government. I intend to find them and keep track of them. A government that is not watched is a government that will stop working for the people.
Beware: Opinion Only: Mid-terms are coming and Tens of Millions of Americans are heading to the voting booth with the ACA on their minds.
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 6, 2014 - The Congressional Budget Office is non-partisan. They say that ernestly and want you to believe it perpetually. Some think that the majority party has greater influence there. But even if you believe that, you would be hard-pressed to explain its most recent rendering and the firestorm it has created. The CBO says that obamashame (a/k/a Affordable Care Act) will cost the USA some 2.3 million jobs in the next two or three years. They arrived at that figure by crunching generally accepted numbers. Many think that number will be much higher. I am one of them. The trend will be poison in the economic world. And more than that, another deadline in obamashame is right around the corner, and this one is guaranteed to cost thousands and more probably hundreds of thousands or millions of jobs. The deadline of which I speak is the one that will affect the millions of Americans whose health insurance is provided by their employers. Before or on this deadline a large portion of these employers will unceremoniously dump their employer-sponsored insurance plans, thereby dumping their employees onto the same crippled ship as the rest of America's population, struggling to pay the ridiculously high prices for obamashame health insurance, those policies with the built-in deductibles that are so high as to fall into the category of the obscene, or they will join the ranks of the uninsured and be subject to the same super-progressive fines built into the act, or they might struggle to stay below the radar and out of sight of the fining authorities. Under obamashame, the fining authorities are the warm and decent folk at the IRS. See what our warm and congenial President has wrought upon us? And you thought the charge that he put his flunkies in charge of the IRS was outrageous.
When certified leftists like obama, Harry Reid or Pelosi get to the head of the naional party, one certain result is an absolute fear of debating the policies they have put in place. That is one sure sign that the "leaders" of the party are not real Democrats, but instead are hardcore Leftists. Had the Congress actually debated obamashame, it would no more have passed than a bill doubling George Bush's pension. But obama and Pelosi and Reid, being the Leftists they are, started hammering those in the party who could see, plainly, what an absolute disaster this awful legislation was. They dove into their bag of trash, er, ah, tricks, and started strong-arming the weak-spined. Only a very few kept their spines stiff and voted against obamashame. The rest capitulated. Some allowed themselves to be shamelessly bribed. How often does the GOP as a group stand that firm? No one in the GOP crossed the line to vote for obamashame. There were a few who trembled at the thought of voting against obama back in the days when only folk like Rush Limbaugh had the chutzpah to call obama out. But they did, and every one of them is thankful that they held the line. Yesterday Fox played a tape of Pelosi saying that obamashame would create hundreds of thousands of jobs. That and similar expressions of wild-eyed ridiculousness are reasons why the mere thought of her back in power in the House is enough to sway thousands - actually tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions - of votes toward the GOP.
The day is rapidly approaching when the pressure on old dingy Harry to allow some kind of anti-obamashame vote in the Senate will be irresistable. When the dingy one realizes his hold on power is in jeopardy, he will damn well allow that vote. He sees that the mid-term elections are imminent and his hold on power precarious. obamashame has every chance of putting him out of power, never to return. Many Democrats realize what an embarassment he is. Once the Dems are out of power in the Senate, the dingy one is done. When they rise again to power in what? 16 years? Reid will not be the one leading them. All of which means that any idea of him walking the plank to save this rancid piece of legislation is ridiculous. The Dems passed the bloody thing even though none of them had even read it. Do you know that they didn't even have the decency of breaking up the study of it among the various Senate and House members so that at least the worst parts could be edited out? Didn't they realize that when thousands of Americans were screaming about Death panels that there had to be something in the thing that was at the core of the objections. Or didn't they know that trouble was afoot when obama himself gave that utterly ridiculous answer to the question about the senior citizen who was in great health but needed by-pass surgery, and obama said no, we will give her a pain pill. He said that. I've seen the replay a thousand times. And yet they passed the thing sight unseen, with Pelosi saying - I've seen this replay a thousand times, too - "we have to pass the bill to find out what is in it." Well, lads and lassies, you passed it and now you know some of the real bombs in it. There will be more revelations leaking out, slowly, like sharks circling and taking big bites out of the Dems, one mouth-full at a time. Just think: Mid-Terms! Mid-Terms! Mid-Terms! And tens of millions of voters with obamashame on their minds!
When certified leftists like obama, Harry Reid or Pelosi get to the head of the naional party, one certain result is an absolute fear of debating the policies they have put in place. That is one sure sign that the "leaders" of the party are not real Democrats, but instead are hardcore Leftists. Had the Congress actually debated obamashame, it would no more have passed than a bill doubling George Bush's pension. But obama and Pelosi and Reid, being the Leftists they are, started hammering those in the party who could see, plainly, what an absolute disaster this awful legislation was. They dove into their bag of trash, er, ah, tricks, and started strong-arming the weak-spined. Only a very few kept their spines stiff and voted against obamashame. The rest capitulated. Some allowed themselves to be shamelessly bribed. How often does the GOP as a group stand that firm? No one in the GOP crossed the line to vote for obamashame. There were a few who trembled at the thought of voting against obama back in the days when only folk like Rush Limbaugh had the chutzpah to call obama out. But they did, and every one of them is thankful that they held the line. Yesterday Fox played a tape of Pelosi saying that obamashame would create hundreds of thousands of jobs. That and similar expressions of wild-eyed ridiculousness are reasons why the mere thought of her back in power in the House is enough to sway thousands - actually tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions - of votes toward the GOP.
The day is rapidly approaching when the pressure on old dingy Harry to allow some kind of anti-obamashame vote in the Senate will be irresistable. When the dingy one realizes his hold on power is in jeopardy, he will damn well allow that vote. He sees that the mid-term elections are imminent and his hold on power precarious. obamashame has every chance of putting him out of power, never to return. Many Democrats realize what an embarassment he is. Once the Dems are out of power in the Senate, the dingy one is done. When they rise again to power in what? 16 years? Reid will not be the one leading them. All of which means that any idea of him walking the plank to save this rancid piece of legislation is ridiculous. The Dems passed the bloody thing even though none of them had even read it. Do you know that they didn't even have the decency of breaking up the study of it among the various Senate and House members so that at least the worst parts could be edited out? Didn't they realize that when thousands of Americans were screaming about Death panels that there had to be something in the thing that was at the core of the objections. Or didn't they know that trouble was afoot when obama himself gave that utterly ridiculous answer to the question about the senior citizen who was in great health but needed by-pass surgery, and obama said no, we will give her a pain pill. He said that. I've seen the replay a thousand times. And yet they passed the thing sight unseen, with Pelosi saying - I've seen this replay a thousand times, too - "we have to pass the bill to find out what is in it." Well, lads and lassies, you passed it and now you know some of the real bombs in it. There will be more revelations leaking out, slowly, like sharks circling and taking big bites out of the Dems, one mouth-full at a time. Just think: Mid-Terms! Mid-Terms! Mid-Terms! And tens of millions of voters with obamashame on their minds!
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Bolton says news that 50 Americans have joined Al Qaeda points out why using metadata may be critical to domestic security
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 4, 2014 - No one would accuse John Bolton of being a supporter of obama and his administration. And no one who reads this blog would accuse this writer of endorsing obama or his policies. And yet here I am writing about Mr. Bolton's appearance on Fox earlier today, stating clearly that recent revelations about Al Qaeda's penetration of the United States and its coaxing of some 50 United States' Citizens into their ranks stands as a clarion call for the use of so-called metadata.
The President has continued to support the culling of metadata as a necessary means for protecting the United States, even in the face of ramped up criticism of the controversial security programs. The NSA has been culling billions of domestic phone calls, e-mails and other electronic methods of communication, usually looking for patterns that are signatures of terrorists. In other instances, the security and intelligence agencies have used technology to actually penetrate specific communications between suspected terrorists and their contacts here in the United States. Revelations that every American has had their phone calls and emails "sifted" by the NSA and other agencies have created an uproar. And to be clear, Mr. Bolton did not give any kind of blanket endorsement to these forms of gathering information. The former cyber expert, Edward Snowden, has alleged that the use of metadata compromises the privacy interests of every American. Snowden's defection and his alleged transfer of information and secrets to countries that do not have the best interests of the United States in mind - and here I speak of China and Russia - has been at the center of the metadata firestorm. The use of metadata started under President Bush, but allegedly on a far more limited basis. obama, while not ignoring the firestorm of criticism, some of it from the left, has not given any indication that he intends to limit its use in any way. Instead, the President's attitude has been that the use of such techniques is here to stay and a necessary evil in today's increasingly high tech world.
Now, news that up to 50 Americans have joined Al Qaeda has sent ripples of fear through the nation, as even everyday citizens apparently re-evaluate their positions. Bolton appeared on Fox in the last few hours to state that this news is the very reason why so-called cyber spying has become a critical element in the constant effort to protect the United States from terrorist attacks. According to Bolton - one of the foremost authorities on all things in the foreign policy field, and a possible Republican Presidential Hopeful - the NSA, CIA and even the FBI have to be on top of any communication between these 50 American members of Al Qaeda, and the people in these United States whom they communicate with. He said that those who support the use of metadata, including the President, should be using this latest revelation as a touchstone of their defense of the use of such security measures.
It stands to reason that security agencies have to know how these 50 came to be members of a terrorist group dedicated to the destruction of all things American. Bolton said he would want to know who it is that they talk to here in these United States. The idea that such communications would be beyond the reach of security agencies is not a comforting one, and for the President and his supporters, the revelation that 50 citizens have joined Al Qaeda could not have come at a better time in the defense of these security ideas.
The President has continued to support the culling of metadata as a necessary means for protecting the United States, even in the face of ramped up criticism of the controversial security programs. The NSA has been culling billions of domestic phone calls, e-mails and other electronic methods of communication, usually looking for patterns that are signatures of terrorists. In other instances, the security and intelligence agencies have used technology to actually penetrate specific communications between suspected terrorists and their contacts here in the United States. Revelations that every American has had their phone calls and emails "sifted" by the NSA and other agencies have created an uproar. And to be clear, Mr. Bolton did not give any kind of blanket endorsement to these forms of gathering information. The former cyber expert, Edward Snowden, has alleged that the use of metadata compromises the privacy interests of every American. Snowden's defection and his alleged transfer of information and secrets to countries that do not have the best interests of the United States in mind - and here I speak of China and Russia - has been at the center of the metadata firestorm. The use of metadata started under President Bush, but allegedly on a far more limited basis. obama, while not ignoring the firestorm of criticism, some of it from the left, has not given any indication that he intends to limit its use in any way. Instead, the President's attitude has been that the use of such techniques is here to stay and a necessary evil in today's increasingly high tech world.
Now, news that up to 50 Americans have joined Al Qaeda has sent ripples of fear through the nation, as even everyday citizens apparently re-evaluate their positions. Bolton appeared on Fox in the last few hours to state that this news is the very reason why so-called cyber spying has become a critical element in the constant effort to protect the United States from terrorist attacks. According to Bolton - one of the foremost authorities on all things in the foreign policy field, and a possible Republican Presidential Hopeful - the NSA, CIA and even the FBI have to be on top of any communication between these 50 American members of Al Qaeda, and the people in these United States whom they communicate with. He said that those who support the use of metadata, including the President, should be using this latest revelation as a touchstone of their defense of the use of such security measures.
It stands to reason that security agencies have to know how these 50 came to be members of a terrorist group dedicated to the destruction of all things American. Bolton said he would want to know who it is that they talk to here in these United States. The idea that such communications would be beyond the reach of security agencies is not a comforting one, and for the President and his supporters, the revelation that 50 citizens have joined Al Qaeda could not have come at a better time in the defense of these security ideas.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Hilary and obama had man on inside at CIA during Benghazzi coverup; O'Reilly tough on obama, but also fair
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 3, 2014 - Turns out Hilary Clinton and obama have had an inside man at the CIA, and this "agent" has been instrumental in allowing the two of them to shape the defense of their actions in the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi Massacrre. The President and the former Secretary of State blame a little-known video movie for sparking a protest, and they allege that this protest then spun out of control and lead to an attack on the consolate the United States operated in Benghazi. In that attack, four Americans, including America's ambassador to Libya, were brutally murdered. At the time of the sinister attack, the video was languishing on You Tube with fewer than 100 "hits."
Michael Morrell is the CIA officer who worked for Hilary's and obama's interests in shaping the official account of the four murders in the critical days immediately after they occurred on September 11, 2012. Morrell has since left the CIA and is said to be about to join Hilary's presidential campaign. He also is said to have signed a book deal. All of this information was reported by Fox's outstanding national security reporter, Catherine Herridge. Ms. Herridge is a real "reporter's reporter."
According to Herridge's report, the CIA station chief - the top CIA officer in Libya - reported to Morrell and other CIA officers in Langley, Virginia (where the CIA Headquarters is located) that there was no protest at the United States' facilities in Benghazzi in the hours before the attack. The station chief apparently also placed information in his report that indicated that Al Qaeda had a role in the violent assault. He also wrote that the attack on the United States' consolate was not a haphazard affair but instead gave every indication of having been planned in advance. Morrell is said to have edited out all references to Al Qaeda and went out of his way to leave in the fact that the attack was caused by the video. On September 11, 2012, obama was in the middle of his last presidential campaign and a key tenant of the campaign was that obama was responsible for virtually eliminating Al Qaeda's world-wide ability to create terror by his ordering of the assasination of Osama bin Laden. He and Hilary are alleged to have headed off any effort by other State Department and military officials to upgrade security in Benghazzi because it would have been contrary to obama's campaign point that Al Qaeda was no longer a threat. The President and Hilary Clinton instructed the US Ambassador to the United Nations (and current National Security Advisor) Susan Rice to tell Television Interviewers on the Sunday morning after the murders that a protest over the video spun out of control and led to the attack of the embassy and the four murders. State Department personnel on the ground in Libya expressed incredulity at Rice's statements when they viewed them or heard about them that Sunday morning. Morrell is the CIA official who changed the CIA report directly from the agency's top on-the-ground Libyan official and instead inserted language suggesting that the video had sparked a protest and the protest sparked the attacks. As videos from the badly damaged US buildings in Benghazzi prove, there were no protests, a fact Mr. Morrell, Hilary and obama surely knew when the latter two were telling grieving family members that the video caused the fatal attacks.
The video was produced by an all-but-unknown California man who was arrested with great fanfare on relatively minor charges unconnected to the film. The video, said to be anti-Muslim, had been posted on You Tube at least several months prior to the the September, 2012 murders. The video had less than 100 "hits" or views prior to the murders. There is widespread speculation that obama and hilary spoke to each other by phone shortly after it became known that four Americans had been killed during a time when they had resisted increasing security in and around the U.S. facilities in Benghazzi. The speculation is that they agreed to go with a defense based on saying there was a protest outside the Almerican facilities in Benghazzi on September 12, 2012, and that these protests then spun out of control and sparked the attack. What is known for certain is that a few short days after the murders both obama and hilary appeared on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D. C. when the coffins bearing the four murdered Americans were brought home from Libya. Both spoke to family members and promised to bring the maker of the video "to justice."
O'Reilly does himself, Fox proud in grilling obama: I did not know that Benghazzi, the IRA mistreatment of Conservative Groups, and other scandals haunting obama and his functionaries were, afterall, the fault of Fox News. I did not realize that Fox even played an active role in the massacre of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012. Would never have guessed it. Don't understand why obama waited until his Superbowl Sunday, 2014 interview with Bill O'Reilly of Fox to make these breathtaking revelations. And yet that was the bread and butter of the responses obama gave in the 'No Spin Zone.'
According to obama, it is only Fox that finds anything wrong with the treatment the conservative groups applying for Tax Free Status in the year leading up to the 2012 election. Never mind that no such delays and harassing treatment were set upon liberal groups seeking the same tax-exempt status. Never mind that the head of the IRS took the fifth amendment when asked about the discrepancies in treatment at a Congressional hearing. Never mind that obama officials originally blamed workers in a Cincinnati IRS office when reports of the criminal actions first surfaced. Never mind that the "few bad people" in cincinnatti who were blamed by obama admitted to what they did but said they were only following orders from Washington. Never mind any of that. According to obama, the only people who think anything untoward happened work for Fox. You see, he said, it is all the fault of Fox. All the fault of Fox.
That being said, kudos to Bill O'Reilly for a hard-hitting and fair interview with the President. The taped part of that interview was played tonight by O'Reilly on his 8 pm Fox News show. In this segment obama and O'Reilly have a chatty exchange about the role O'Reilly has in the way his administration is presented to the world. obama thinks fox is a bad thing, the heavy amongst the media sources which come to the Whitehouse. And he is right. These days, sadly, only Fox is willing to actually ask obama hard questions. Steve Croft of 60 minutes has actually said that when he interviews obama he has no intention of trying to ask the kind of tough but fair questions that filled O'Reilly's interview. It is a disgrace that Croft can publicly say that and keep his job. Not that many years ago, he would've been gone five minutes after he said it. Walter Cronkite, we know now, was extremely liberal. But you didn't get that when he was working for CBS. He'd ask any President very tough questions. That was what journalists did. That was what was meant by saying the press was the fourth estate of government, along with the executive, legislative and judicial branches. These days the national press plays a role similar - very similar - to the role TASS played during the Cold War. When TASS printed news, it was news as seen by and spun by the Soviet government.
Michael Morrell is the CIA officer who worked for Hilary's and obama's interests in shaping the official account of the four murders in the critical days immediately after they occurred on September 11, 2012. Morrell has since left the CIA and is said to be about to join Hilary's presidential campaign. He also is said to have signed a book deal. All of this information was reported by Fox's outstanding national security reporter, Catherine Herridge. Ms. Herridge is a real "reporter's reporter."
According to Herridge's report, the CIA station chief - the top CIA officer in Libya - reported to Morrell and other CIA officers in Langley, Virginia (where the CIA Headquarters is located) that there was no protest at the United States' facilities in Benghazzi in the hours before the attack. The station chief apparently also placed information in his report that indicated that Al Qaeda had a role in the violent assault. He also wrote that the attack on the United States' consolate was not a haphazard affair but instead gave every indication of having been planned in advance. Morrell is said to have edited out all references to Al Qaeda and went out of his way to leave in the fact that the attack was caused by the video. On September 11, 2012, obama was in the middle of his last presidential campaign and a key tenant of the campaign was that obama was responsible for virtually eliminating Al Qaeda's world-wide ability to create terror by his ordering of the assasination of Osama bin Laden. He and Hilary are alleged to have headed off any effort by other State Department and military officials to upgrade security in Benghazzi because it would have been contrary to obama's campaign point that Al Qaeda was no longer a threat. The President and Hilary Clinton instructed the US Ambassador to the United Nations (and current National Security Advisor) Susan Rice to tell Television Interviewers on the Sunday morning after the murders that a protest over the video spun out of control and led to the attack of the embassy and the four murders. State Department personnel on the ground in Libya expressed incredulity at Rice's statements when they viewed them or heard about them that Sunday morning. Morrell is the CIA official who changed the CIA report directly from the agency's top on-the-ground Libyan official and instead inserted language suggesting that the video had sparked a protest and the protest sparked the attacks. As videos from the badly damaged US buildings in Benghazzi prove, there were no protests, a fact Mr. Morrell, Hilary and obama surely knew when the latter two were telling grieving family members that the video caused the fatal attacks.
The video was produced by an all-but-unknown California man who was arrested with great fanfare on relatively minor charges unconnected to the film. The video, said to be anti-Muslim, had been posted on You Tube at least several months prior to the the September, 2012 murders. The video had less than 100 "hits" or views prior to the murders. There is widespread speculation that obama and hilary spoke to each other by phone shortly after it became known that four Americans had been killed during a time when they had resisted increasing security in and around the U.S. facilities in Benghazzi. The speculation is that they agreed to go with a defense based on saying there was a protest outside the Almerican facilities in Benghazzi on September 12, 2012, and that these protests then spun out of control and sparked the attack. What is known for certain is that a few short days after the murders both obama and hilary appeared on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D. C. when the coffins bearing the four murdered Americans were brought home from Libya. Both spoke to family members and promised to bring the maker of the video "to justice."
O'Reilly does himself, Fox proud in grilling obama: I did not know that Benghazzi, the IRA mistreatment of Conservative Groups, and other scandals haunting obama and his functionaries were, afterall, the fault of Fox News. I did not realize that Fox even played an active role in the massacre of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012. Would never have guessed it. Don't understand why obama waited until his Superbowl Sunday, 2014 interview with Bill O'Reilly of Fox to make these breathtaking revelations. And yet that was the bread and butter of the responses obama gave in the 'No Spin Zone.'
According to obama, it is only Fox that finds anything wrong with the treatment the conservative groups applying for Tax Free Status in the year leading up to the 2012 election. Never mind that no such delays and harassing treatment were set upon liberal groups seeking the same tax-exempt status. Never mind that the head of the IRS took the fifth amendment when asked about the discrepancies in treatment at a Congressional hearing. Never mind that obama officials originally blamed workers in a Cincinnati IRS office when reports of the criminal actions first surfaced. Never mind that the "few bad people" in cincinnatti who were blamed by obama admitted to what they did but said they were only following orders from Washington. Never mind any of that. According to obama, the only people who think anything untoward happened work for Fox. You see, he said, it is all the fault of Fox. All the fault of Fox.
That being said, kudos to Bill O'Reilly for a hard-hitting and fair interview with the President. The taped part of that interview was played tonight by O'Reilly on his 8 pm Fox News show. In this segment obama and O'Reilly have a chatty exchange about the role O'Reilly has in the way his administration is presented to the world. obama thinks fox is a bad thing, the heavy amongst the media sources which come to the Whitehouse. And he is right. These days, sadly, only Fox is willing to actually ask obama hard questions. Steve Croft of 60 minutes has actually said that when he interviews obama he has no intention of trying to ask the kind of tough but fair questions that filled O'Reilly's interview. It is a disgrace that Croft can publicly say that and keep his job. Not that many years ago, he would've been gone five minutes after he said it. Walter Cronkite, we know now, was extremely liberal. But you didn't get that when he was working for CBS. He'd ask any President very tough questions. That was what journalists did. That was what was meant by saying the press was the fourth estate of government, along with the executive, legislative and judicial branches. These days the national press plays a role similar - very similar - to the role TASS played during the Cold War. When TASS printed news, it was news as seen by and spun by the Soviet government.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Embarrassing no-call mars end of ACC thriller in Carrier Dome; Maryland gets decisive road win
BALTIMORE, Maryland February 1, 2014 - Duke and Syracuse did battle tonight in the Carrier Dome, and the final score will show the Orange with a two-point win. It was a tremendous game. Two great college coaches at the helm of two really fine teams, the biggest crowd for a regular season game in NCAA history, and a contest that went down to the final buzzer in overtime. What mars the final score and indeed the outcome is a totally embarrassing no-call by the three game officials. The play-by-play dude on ESPN tried to say the call was debatable. But the elder statesman of college basketball announcers, Dick Vitale, would have nothing of it. "It was a foul," said Dickie V. It certainly was. It came in the final seconds of overtime with the homestanding Orange clinging to a one-point lead, and as the Blue Devils' fine redshirt sophmore forward, 6' 8" Donald Hood, exploded down the lane and right through the Orange zone. In an instant he elevated high into the air and began to slam the ball downward toward the basket. Jeremi Grant, the 6' 8" Syracuse forward leaped to challenge, but Hood had caught Syracuse by surprise and Grant's effort succeeded only in hacking Hood hard on the arm, the arm with the ball. Oh, it stopped the ball from going in. A foul that hard almost always will. Instead of going through the hoop, Hood's slam hit the back or heel of the rim and richocheted away. It was out in the open for all to see. It was extremely obvious. It wasn't called despite immediate incredulous reactions by everyone connected to Duke. As for Hood, the instant that he landed he spun and threw his arms out in a plaintive gesture that said the obvious, "how could you not call that?"
The entire Duke coaching staff jumped out of their seats. A game so magnificently played wasn't going to be decided by such an outlandish screw-up, was it? In the next second, thousands of eyes shot to the other two game officials, who in that instant looked like deer caught in the headlights of an on-coming car. There was no call coming. In the next few seconds, the tremendous advantage given to Syracuse by the non-call was not wasted. The Orange survived.
There is this sad idea in sports, among those who cover the games, that events such as the non-call are ignored in the final analysis, as if the incidents didn't occurred. There is also a belief that a great game should not be decided by an official's call. If the call in question is close, or if it was off the ball, that is a belief that has merit. But when the incident in question is in the wide open court, is obvious, and favors a team that doesn't deserve the break, it is a travesty. Duke had a win stolen from them.
Maryland rides another Dez Wells Masterpiece to Decisive ACC Road Win: For the second time since Dez Wells arrived at Maryland in 2012, he didn't start. He was late for a team breakfast meeting, apparently by only a minute or so, and coach Mark Turgeon made a point of it. Wells checked into the Terp attack after 55 seconds. He went on to lead Maryland to a second straight ACC victory, an 80-60 cake walk win at Virginia Tech. Wells poured in 19 points, including 6 for 9 from the floor and 7 for 8 from the foul line as the Terps improved to 5-4 in the conference and 13-9 overall.
At the Duke-Syracuse game Saturday night, ESPN flashed up the top-of-the-conference standings, and gosh darnit, there were the Terps, in sixth place in the 15-team conference. Here are the standings :
1. Syracuse 8-0, 21-0
2. Virginia 7-1, 16-5
3. Pittsburgh 6-2, 18-3
4. Duke 6-3, 17-5
5. Clemson 5-3, 14-6
6. Maryland 5-4, 13-9
7. North Carolina 4-4, 14-7
8. North Carolina State 4-5, 14-8
9. Wake Forest 4-5, 14-8
10. Florida State 4-5, 13-8
11. Georgia Tech 3-6, 12-10
12. Notre Dame 3-6, 12-10
13. Miami 2-6, 11-10
14. Boston College 2-6, 6-15
15. Virginia Tech 1-8, 8-13
In other scores Saturday, Notre Dame, playing at home, beat back Boston College, 76-73, in overtime, Georgia Tech surprised Wake Forest, 79-70 at Winston-Salem, North Carolina downed North Carolina State, 84-70 at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, Clemson went to Tallahassee and beat Florida State, 53-49, and Miami broke a three-game losing streak by beating Norfolk State in a non-conference game in Miami. On Sunday, Virginia plays at Pittsburgh. The game starts at 12:30 pm Eastern Standard Time. It will be televised on ESPNU. On Monday, Notre Dame is at Syracuse, a game to be televised by ESPN at 7 pm. Maryland swings back into action on Tuesday when they invade North Carolina, the last time these two teams will play in-season in the ACC. The ACC network will televise at 8 pm. Also at 8 pm, Georgia Tech goes to Clemson, also on the ACC network. At 9 pm Tuesday, Wake Forest goes to Duke, a game to be televised on ESPNU.
The entire Duke coaching staff jumped out of their seats. A game so magnificently played wasn't going to be decided by such an outlandish screw-up, was it? In the next second, thousands of eyes shot to the other two game officials, who in that instant looked like deer caught in the headlights of an on-coming car. There was no call coming. In the next few seconds, the tremendous advantage given to Syracuse by the non-call was not wasted. The Orange survived.
There is this sad idea in sports, among those who cover the games, that events such as the non-call are ignored in the final analysis, as if the incidents didn't occurred. There is also a belief that a great game should not be decided by an official's call. If the call in question is close, or if it was off the ball, that is a belief that has merit. But when the incident in question is in the wide open court, is obvious, and favors a team that doesn't deserve the break, it is a travesty. Duke had a win stolen from them.
Maryland rides another Dez Wells Masterpiece to Decisive ACC Road Win: For the second time since Dez Wells arrived at Maryland in 2012, he didn't start. He was late for a team breakfast meeting, apparently by only a minute or so, and coach Mark Turgeon made a point of it. Wells checked into the Terp attack after 55 seconds. He went on to lead Maryland to a second straight ACC victory, an 80-60 cake walk win at Virginia Tech. Wells poured in 19 points, including 6 for 9 from the floor and 7 for 8 from the foul line as the Terps improved to 5-4 in the conference and 13-9 overall.
At the Duke-Syracuse game Saturday night, ESPN flashed up the top-of-the-conference standings, and gosh darnit, there were the Terps, in sixth place in the 15-team conference. Here are the standings :
1. Syracuse 8-0, 21-0
2. Virginia 7-1, 16-5
3. Pittsburgh 6-2, 18-3
4. Duke 6-3, 17-5
5. Clemson 5-3, 14-6
6. Maryland 5-4, 13-9
7. North Carolina 4-4, 14-7
8. North Carolina State 4-5, 14-8
9. Wake Forest 4-5, 14-8
10. Florida State 4-5, 13-8
11. Georgia Tech 3-6, 12-10
12. Notre Dame 3-6, 12-10
13. Miami 2-6, 11-10
14. Boston College 2-6, 6-15
15. Virginia Tech 1-8, 8-13
In other scores Saturday, Notre Dame, playing at home, beat back Boston College, 76-73, in overtime, Georgia Tech surprised Wake Forest, 79-70 at Winston-Salem, North Carolina downed North Carolina State, 84-70 at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, Clemson went to Tallahassee and beat Florida State, 53-49, and Miami broke a three-game losing streak by beating Norfolk State in a non-conference game in Miami. On Sunday, Virginia plays at Pittsburgh. The game starts at 12:30 pm Eastern Standard Time. It will be televised on ESPNU. On Monday, Notre Dame is at Syracuse, a game to be televised by ESPN at 7 pm. Maryland swings back into action on Tuesday when they invade North Carolina, the last time these two teams will play in-season in the ACC. The ACC network will televise at 8 pm. Also at 8 pm, Georgia Tech goes to Clemson, also on the ACC network. At 9 pm Tuesday, Wake Forest goes to Duke, a game to be televised on ESPNU.
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