Has Eugene Become The New Green Bay?

Is Autzen Stadium a must-visit Football Mecca for any fan’s Bucket List before the Grim Reaper comes a callin’?

Thirty-five years ago, Almost DailyBrett bought his season tickets at Autzen Stadium and made the first of just as many annual contributions to the Duck Athletic Fund.

Considering there were only 12,000 season tickets sold in 1990 for a then-41,000-seat stadium, some questioned why a Portland resident would drive two hours on I-5 and then another two hours north to watch a team that most thought was heading south.

Today, Autzen Stadium’s listed capacity is 54,000 after a major overhaul of the south side of the stadium. Last season, the average attendance was 56,341.

For 2024, 95 percent of season ticket holders renewed and another 10,000 new season tickets were sold for Oregon’s first year in the Big 10.

Is Eugene becoming a town divided by those who possess Oregon Duck season tickets, and those who do not?

The same is true with another medium size football town, Green Bay, Wisconsin. Coincidentally, the Ducks and the Packers sport similar emerald green and lemon yellow uniforms.

Autzen Stadium is the venue in which “It never rains.” Lambeau Field in Green Bay is affectionately known for its “Frozen Tundra.”

Don’t get Almost DailyBrett wrong. Your author is not comparing sports venues with the Vatican or the American Normandy Cemetery, when it comes to must visits before one buys the ranch.

Yours truly is not suggesting that Autzen Stadium and/or Lambeau Field are the only sports stadiums/arenas worth visiting — better yet attending a game –that should be considered for inclusion on a fan’s bucket list (i.e., Monaco Grand Prix, Wimbledon, Augusta Golf Club, Rose Bowl, Churchill Downs, Fenway Park …).

Den Of Intensity

This place has everything I could ever want. There’s a little bit of a problem in society for people looking for what’s next and where there’s an opportunity. The reality is the grass is not always greener. In fact, the grass is damn green in Eugene.” — Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning

The Autzen Stadium field turf too.

Only those who have experienced Autzen know for sure.

Or is it, the Autzen Experience?

There are the historic wins, including “Kenny Wheaton is going to score” against the Dawgs. The legendary quarterbacks. The 127 decibels recorded against USC. The Duck sporting a rose on the back of a Harley. “Coming Home.”

And let’s not forget Troy Dye dancing to the Oregon special rendition of Otis Day and the Knights’ “Shout” from Animal House.

When one walks across the bridge over the Willamette River and through the forest, you instinctively know — you can fill the chills through your body — Autzen is a pilgrimage to Football Mecca.

Has Autzen already become Lambeau West without the Frozen Tundra?

Maybe Lambeau has already become Autzen East in which it never rains?

https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/2024/04/oregon-ducks-football-season-tickets-sold-out-for-2024.html

https://www.si.com/college/oregon/football/Oregon-ducks-football-spring-game-dante-moore-dillon-gabriel-best-qb-room-america

“The Grass Is Damn Green In Eugene”

Oregon Is Without Doubt, Quarterback U

Ode To Autzen

Oregon Geography Matters

One Ducky Dude

A Most Exceptional Nation

Ecclesiastical Wunderland

Rose Bowls Are Precious

From The River To The Sea?

“No one can take pleasure from seeing bayonets in an American community or on a college campus, but the arrival of the (National) Guard with bayonets brought total de-escalation of hand-to-hand fighting and violence.” — California Governor Ronald Reagan on sending in both the California Highway Patrol and the National Guard to quell escalating rioting at UC Berkeley, May 15, 1969

“Today, our university held firm, enforcing our rules while protecting the constitutional right to free speech. Peaceful protests within our rules are acceptable. Breaking our rules and policies and disrupting others’ ability to learn are not allowed. The group that led this protest stated it was going to violate Institutional Rules. Our rules matter, and they will be enforced. Our university will not be occupied.” — University of Texas at Austin President Jay Hartzell, April 24, 2024

Wondering why the word Progressive became synonymous with Antisemitic?

Are some research university presidents finally standing-up and being counted, when it comes to actually defending the teaching of the best and brightest? How long has it taken for coordinated student campus occupiers to meet their match?

Did university leaders learn from the cashiering of former Harvard president Christine Gay and UPenn president Liz Magill, both guilty of not standing up against raging Antisemitism on their respective campuses.

Is there a growing societal response finally taking a stand against permissive counterculture? Do these peaceful occupation/riots help or hurt the campaign of former President Donald Trump?

Hearts and Minds

Almost DailyBrett grew up during the student riots against the Vietnam War. The conflict was not as simple and clear as the response to the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

Vietnam was never adequately explained to the American public. The draft was literally pulling hundreds of thousands out of society and packing them off to Southeast Asia. The student protests questioned American foreign policy in the 1960s and 1970s.

Some of these gatherings (e.g., most notably UC Berkeley) were completely out of control. California Governor Reagan deployed the National Guard. The peaceful protesters, sympathetic faculty and elite media didn’t approve, but the public was overwhelmingly supportive.

The same scenario is being played out for Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The decision to send in the National Guard is never easy, but it’s part of the job. The primary responsibility of government is to provide protection and to ensure safety for its citizens.

Remember the peaceful protesters four years ago? Will campuses likewise burn, if the adults in society don’t or won’t intercede?

Today’s campus riots … err protests from Columbia University on the east coast to your author’s undergraduate alma mater, USC, on the west coast — and many universities in between — concern the actions of a long-time ally beyond America’s borders, 10-time-zones away.

USC has now canceled its university graduation ceremony. Who won? How about student storm troopers, practicing horrific Antisemitism?

Students Supporting Hamas?

“College life today is a day spa, combined with a North Korean re-education camp. It’s a daycare center with a meal plan, except the toddlers can fire the adults. The fact that college presidents, who like to speak out about anything, couldn’t find their voice to condemn the worst attacks since the Holocaust says a lot about who really controls colleges.” — Bill Maher, “Real Time With Bill Maher,” host

Almost DailyBrett attending a football game last November was greeted by dozens of student agitators chanting “From the River to the Sea” as in from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Translated: Israel will cease to exist.

Aren’t the termination of Israel and by extension, America, the stated goals of terrorist Hamas (Hezbollah, Iran)? Didn’t they all start the conflagration last October?

Are these Antisemitic students familiar with the Teutonic compound noun, Sturmabteilung? These illiberal campus Braunhemden are knowingly or unknowingly calling for the extermination of Jews, and many of them just don’t understand the evil meaning behind these benign sounding words.

As a former tenure track professor of public relations, marketing, corporate communications and investor relations, Almost DailyBrett clearly comprehends the mission of Research 1 universities: Educate Z-Gens (born 1997 to 2012) and provide them with the skill sets and credentials to succeed in the marketplace and life.

If campuses become unsafe for particular students (e.g., Jewish) and the learning experience is severely diminished/curtailed because of narrow-minded political agendas, society must intercede to restore the beautiful purpose of our university environments.

Ronald Reagan was severely criticized back in the 1960s for sending in the National Guard. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is the target of media elites today.

Guess that goes with the job.

https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/state/2024/04/25/free-speech-ut-austin-protest-greg-abbott-tweet-response-protests-contrast-2019-stance/73447192007/

https://www.foxnews.com/us/ut-austin-president-defends-shutting-down-anti-israel-protests-our-rules-matter-enforced

https://www.thejc.com/news/usa/us-university-students-do-not-understand-full-meaning-of-from-the-river-to-the-sea-chant-survey-reveals-bq5o3sz7

‘Writing About The Jews Again’?

Bi-Coastal Elites Abandon Israel

“Journalists” Telling Their Truth, Not The Truth

When Was It Past-Time For The National Guard?

Permissible Plagiarism? Acceptable Anti Semitism?

Kicking Elite Universities In The Endowment?

Bi-Coastal Elites Abandon Israel

Who Started It?

Never Acknowledge, Admit Or Concede

“The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he be cynic, or fop, or voluptuary. There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of the great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder.” — President Teddy Roosevelt, ‘The Man in the Arena,’ The Sorbonne, April 23, 1910

There are no critics on Mt. Rushmore.

Every time a tepid soul journalist would ask Almost DailyBrett to acknowledge, admit or concede, the answer was an automatic, ‘no.’

The reason is simple: There was and still is a 99 percent chance that anything and everything acknowledged, admitted or conceded will be immediately seized by a carnivorous partisan reporter, correspondent, editor or anchor.

It’s the beastly nature of the nattering nabobs of negativism.

Ever wonder why Donald Trump refuses to apologize, and never will? Acknowledging, admitting or conceding — let alone apologizing — demonstrates sniveling weakness to be immediately devoured by predatory cat-nip journalists.

Would you rather be seen in the vain of Teddy Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” or appeasing Neville Chamberlain?

What about the truth? A Man or a Woman in the Arena should always tell the truth. That does not mean allowing reporters with prescribed political agendas to put incendiary words into your mouth. Part of the 1st Amendment Rights to Free Speech is the prerogative to disagree and to actually displease the Fourth Estate.

As Almost DailyBrett has repeatedly lamented about political reporters taking sides. They will advance stories that work against you, and ignore those that advance your cause. If they can put words in your mouth that coincide with their litmus-test, they will happily do so.

As a former Republican press secretary for eight years, your author knows the vast majority of journalists wanted us to fail big time. The undeniable fact that California is now a one-party basket case is partially attributable to the loss of objectivity in the Sacramento Press Corps. That has not always been the case, but it’s true right now.

Almost DailyBrett pointed out the journalists of yesteryear (e.g., 1980s and earlier) were better, fairer and open to both sides. They gathered the facts and reported the news.

Analysis, Commentary and Interpretation

“I’m certain that the truth exists for you and probably for the person sitting next to you. But this may not be the same truth. This is because the truth of the matter is very often, for many people, what happens when we merge facts about the world with our beliefs about the world. So we all have different truths.” — NPR chief executive officer Katherine Maher

Different truths?

Is Ms. Maher saying that all truths are not created the same or that some are more equal than others? Are elite media beliefs and infallible truths the same? At least they don’t cause a distraction to getting things done.

Isn’t the job of fair, objective, both sides, professional journalists to separate truths from beliefs and report on the real truths whatever they may be? It’s used to be called, fact-based Journalism.

Ever heard of editorials in drag? They’re all around you, particularly in this age of digital/social media.

Who decides? Increasing it’s those who arrogantly craft analysis, prepare commentaries and offer interpretations as in their own analysis, their own commentary and their own interpretations. Who elected these journalists? Where are their statues?

At their best they are Devil’s advocates posing questions to elicit quotable responses. That’s fair game.

When they are trying to infuse incendiary language on to the lips of message developers/spokesperson to advance their self-serving analysis, commentary and interpretation that practice is further contributing to the record loss of American trust in today’s so-called journalists.

https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-Encyclopedia/Culture-and-Society/Man-in-the-Arena.aspx

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/npr-ceo-calls-first-amendment-the-number-one-challenge-in-america/ar-BB1lOi3s

Were Yesteryear’s Journalists, Better People?

“Dirty Debutantes”?

“Independent Journalism for Independent Thinking”

Defund Police? Yes! Defund NPR? No!!

MSNBC Knows Best

Collapse in Public Trust In America’s Media

Defund Police? Yes! Defund NPR? No!!

“National Public Radio has every right to operate as a left-wing propaganda outlet masquerading as a legitimate news organization. But it is not entitled to pursue this goal with taxpayer money. The latest revelations about the ideological rot at NPR have only made this case stronger.” — National Review editors, April 18, 2024

“Last year, on a long car trip, I was listening to Rush Limbaugh shout. I usually agree with Rush Limbaugh; therefore I usually don’t listen to him. I listen to NPR: ‘World to end − poor and minorities hardest hit.’ I like to argue with the radio.” — Humorist P.J. O’Rourke, 1947-2022

What is the main difference between the late syndicated conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh and always progressive NPR? The government supports the latter with hard-earned taxpayer dollars.

In the past week in an open essay by resigned/suspended NPR senior editor Uri Berliner, we learned there are 87 registered Democrats and zero Republicans serving as journalists at NPR. Almost DailyBrett didn’t realize the number of NPR conservative reporters was that high.

The WhatAboutism Crowd will instantly bring up Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, NBC News, New York Times, Washington Post, correctly asserting they all demonstrate their obvious political bias, so why shouldn’t NPR be permitted to do the same?

The easy Almost DailyBrett response is that only NPR is publicly funded. The network deliberately does not serve one-half of the nation, even though it takes tax dollars from every corner across the fruited plain.

The others previously mentioned are publicly traded corporations, receiving their seed money in open markets. They also Buy Low Sell High.

The very same progressives, who called for defunding the police in the summer of 2020, are rejecting any and all calls to withhold public funding of sacred cow, NPR.

Whether it was his intent or not, deposed whistle blower 25-year NPR senior editor Uri Berliner exposed the unprecedented depths of illiberal bias at the non-profit media outlet.

Spending Taxpayer Dollars on Woefully Biased Media?

“We don’t think that it is the role of the federal government to fund public broadcasting. But if the government is going to be subsidizing a news organization, that organization should at least be balanced with a mix of perspectives more representative of the country. When it fails to do this, any justification for continuing to support it out of the common treasury falls apart.” — National Review, Defund NPR, April 18, 2024

“If NPR wants to run a journalist enterprise that is dedicated to advancing progressive ideology, it should do so with income from sponsorships, donations, subscriptions, or other avenues — just like every other media organization. It should not benefit from subsidies from U.S. taxpayers.” — National Review, April 18, 2024

Almost DailyBrett remembers vividly his boss California Governor George Deukmejian vetoing all the funding for California Public Radio in 1983. The action stunned the entire Sacramento Press Corps, but the governor’s decision was sound from a public policy standpoint. The government should not be funding media that covers that very same government.

Your author recently noted the unusual advertising campaign by The Economist, stating the nearly two-centuries old publication is a respected source of “Independent Journalism for Independent Thinking.” Can journalism based upon professionalism, objectivity, fairness and a search for both sides of the story be a meaningful differentiator in our divisive society?

If NPR continues to accept public dollars (don’t bet on anything meaningly changing) , maybe the arrogant network should consider embracing a similar concept: Instead of Indoctrination Journalism, public radio could actually enlighten the body politic with facts and information, making for more intelligent choices.

Would NPR lose some of its entrenched ideological listeners? Certainly. Could it gain new generations of fans, desperate for real journalism? Could this new/old approach bring back respect to a profession that has hit the depths of despair and a near total loss of public trust?

Maybe NPR could actually hire a Republican or two? Better yet, maybe the inmates of the asylum could actually listen to what they have to say.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/04/17/uri-berliner-npr-free-press-bari-weiss

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/04/17/npr-liberal-bias-media-uri-berliner/73345296007

https://www.foxnews.com/media/5-things-veteran-npr-editor-exposed-stunning-criticism-own-employers-liberal-bias

“Independent Journalism for Independent Thinking”

“Republican Journalists:” An Extinct Species?

“Journalists” Telling Their Truth, Not The Truth

‘Writing About The Jews Again’?

Under The Influence Of NPR?

MSNBC Knows Best

Bi-Coastal Elites Abandon Israel

Can CNN Ever Regain America’s Trust?

The Death of Objective Journalism?

Could JFK Be Nominated By Today’s Democratic Party?

Who Started It?

“I’d rather have bad press and no eulogies, better a bad press than a good eulogy.” — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to PBS host Charlie Rose, October 2, 2013 

“If you start it, I’ll finish it.” — Oft heard declaration of adolescent males

Nazi Germany invaded Poland, September 1, 1939.

Imperial Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.

Iran-Hamas-Hezbollah started the latest war with Israel, October 7, 2023.

There is zero doubt about who initiated these conflagrations (e.g., Putin-Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine, February, 2022).

The question in each case: How come there is more — much more — legacy and social media pontificating and bloviating about justified retaliations, particular two dropped atomic bombs nearly 80-years ago?

Almost DailyBrett would be very wealthy, if he was paid for every time a team was penalized 15-yards for a personal foul, every time flagrant 1’s are called, and every time a trip to the penalty box is signaled all because of … retaliation.

Quite possibly the most noteworthy retribution were the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki three days apart, August 1945. The Pearl Harbor debt was paid back, and then some.

The 2024 Oscar for Best Picture went to “Oppenheimer.” The epic film about “The Bomb,” generated $950 million worldwide and counting.

Besides winning a total of seven Oscars including director (e.g., Christopher Nolan) best actor (e.g., Cillian Murphy played nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer), best supporting actor (Robert Downey, Jr.) and awards for cinematography, film editing and original score, the film re-triggered an intense nationwide debate about the ethics of America dropping “The Bomb” on Japan.

Certainly Oppenheimer was not the first Hollywood flick about The Manhattan Project, Paul Newman’s 1989 “Fat Man and Little Boy” comes immediately to mind. Almost DailyBrett vividly remembers being required to read John Hersey’s “Hiroshima” in high school.

Many social media rocket scientists (no pun intended) take a 21st Century virtue signaling stance against the very concept of retribution or worse, revenge. One should simply turn the other cheek.

Wasn’t Pearl Harbor just a big misunderstanding? Israel just shot down all the Iranian missiles, rockets and drones. Shouldn’t Israelis just accept their collective fate? If not, are there bridges to shutdown and freeways to be blocked?

Was Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) just proven to be technologically sound?

Slaughterhouse Five?

Almost DailyBrett is heading next month to Dresden, Germany, a restored beautiful imperial city that was fire bombed in February 1945. The awful story was vividly recounted in Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five.”

Should Americans be sheepish touring this now thriving metropolis?

Should present day Germans refrain from visiting Warsaw, Rotterdam, Conventry and in particular, London. They were all blitzed by the Luftwaffe with little concern for collateral damage of civilian populations.

Almost DailyBrett understands nuances and not everything is necessarily white hats vs. black hats in real life. For your author the questions always comes back to the following: Who ended the peace? Who started the war?

The perpetrators then and now need to clearly understand a terrible price that undoubtedly will be a paid for their hateful hubris. The retribution and retaliation will never be pretty.

“Who Started It” may not be universally accepted to justify a military response. To mere mortal Almost DailyBrett the specific question provides clarity about who is right and who is not. History is never on the side of those who engage in conspiracy to wage aggressive war.

If there are any doubts, there is a tribunal in Nürnberg that tells a story about what happened to those, ‘Who Started It.’

https://www.nbcuniversal.com/article/universal-talent-shines-8-wins-academy-awards-oppenheimer-and-holdovers

https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-1000882864

Ending War With A Sudden Flash Of Light

Putin Judgment At Nürnberg?

Amerika’s Vergangenheitsbewältigung?

Roosevelt and Reagan for Rushmore

Tell ‘Em To ‘Pound Sand,’ Harry

Did Personal PR Save Albert Speer From The Hangman’s Noose?

Is Sacramento, The Enemy?

“Every few years it becomes fashionable to declare it is a failed state, or that the California dream is turning into a nightmare.” — The Economist, “Future imperfect, California is gripped by interlocking economic problems, with no easy solution” April 6, 2024

“I went from the southern border of California to see what was actually happening there, and then I went to the homeless encampments in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. And I was stunned.” — Former baseball great and U.S. Senate candidate Steve Garvey

California is a failed one party state. Who’s responsible?

Almost DailyBrett was one of the Golden State’s lead cheerleaders (1982-1989). Today, your California Diaspora author is downright ashamed by how one Sacramento social engineering scheme after another has ended in abject failure with zero accountability.

National Review made direct reference to California’s “Homeless Industrial Complex,” which has gobbled up $24 billion during the past five years. At the same time, Golden State’s homeless population surged 20 percent from 151,278 in 2019 to 181,399 last year or 30 percent of all the homeless in America.

The Cal ICH — Interagency Council on Homelessness (nine Sacramento agencies and 30 individual programs) — is supposedly charged with the stewardship of $24 billion in hard-earned taxpayer dollars. What happened besides the problem getting even worse?

And if the money is not being spent wisely? Is the Sacramento response: ‘Throw even more money at the problem, and hope it will simply go away’?

Gov. Gavin Newsom wears a pair of safely glasses as he helped custodian Maria Arambula, right, with her janitorial work at American River College on Wednesday, May 1, 2019 in Sacramento.

California Governor Gavin Newsom wants to bring Sacramento thinking to the banks of the Potomac. Besides homelessness, what does he offer to the rest of America?

Here are some of the answers: The highest unemployment rate in the nation (5.3 percent).

A record $73 billion state deficit, even with the highest income taxes, sales taxes and gas taxes in the country. According to the Tax Foundation, Sacramento imposes the largest combined tax burden on its subjects at $7,200 per capita.

The highest high school non-graduation rate in the country — yep California is No. 51 out of 51 — with only 84.45 percent of Golden State high school students actually graduating.

The continual outflow of its best and brightest (e.g., Silicon Valley icons: Oracle, Hewlett Packard and Tesla), resulting in the loss of $30 billion in tax revenues in 2021 alone, about 2 percent of California’s tax base.

The social engineers in Sacramento can’t seem to grasp all that has gone wrong in California. For example, they just passed a law mandating $20 per hour minimum wages for the state’s fast food workers without pondering The Law of Unintended Consequences (i.e., closing restaurants, raising prices, outsourcing to the gig economy, increasing reliance on AI).

Some have suggested raising taxes even more on California entrepreneurs, and even have the state Franchise Tax Board chase them for tax collections once they become bonified residents in other states (i.e., Nevada, Washington, Texas, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Tennessee … ).

California already imposes the largest frothy stew of state and local taxes, and yet there is the insatiable appetite for even more.

Almost DailyBrett cut his teeth politically at a cub reporter covering the 1978 Proposition 13 tax revolt, resulting in California not having the highest property taxes in the nation. Sacramento has schemed and plotted for decades how to overturn the initiative, even though it’s locked in the state’s Constitution.

Is Sacramento, the enemy of the people?

Warm-and-Fuzzy Sacramento?

“If I could paraphrase a well-known statement by Will Rogers that he never met a man he didn’t like. I’m afraid we have some people around here who never met a tax they didn’t hike.” — President and Former California Governor Ronald Reagan

It seems as if permissive Sacramento wants to be liked, particularly by public employee unions and all the special interests, nourished by the highest taxes in the country. Almost DailyBrett suggested one April Fools Day that California would be the first to tax the air (e.g., Rarified Air Tax or RAT Tax).

Upon reflection, your author was genuinely concerned Gavin Newsom would taken him seriously.

Doug Griswold: Woman wearing sunglasses with blinders in the shape of California. San Jose Mercury News 2002

The scheme is raise taxes, spend … invest even more money in voter bribes (e.g., inadvertently luring even more homeless to the state with the nicest weather and the widest variety of free services in the country), secure campaign donations and repeat the process over and over again.

Certainly California benefits from glorious sunshine and the fifth gross domestic product (GDP) in the world, a claim Golden State governors have accurately made for nearly 50 years.

What has changed is the outgo of entrepreneurs, businesses and corresponding tax revenues, even from Silicon Valley. Replacing them are record homeless, migrants, taxes and public debt.

Regardless of how California declines, you can be sure the one-party Sacramento social engineers have an answer. They always have an answer. Will it ever be the right response?

Sacramento has become the enemy of California’s people for way too long.

Facts & Figures 2024: How Does Your State Compare?

https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/03/31/california-is-gripped-by-interlocking-economic-problems-with-no-easy-solution

https://www.foxnews.com/media/former-mlb-star-senate-candidate-steve-garvey-seek-federal-audit-money-spent-cali-homelessness

https://www.usdebtclock.org/state-debt-clocks/state-of-california-debt-clock.html

High School Graduation Rates by State

Are Venice Beach “Homeless,” Really Homeless?

California’s Rarefied Air Tax

Putting California On Public Trial

California Masochism

Blue California In The Red, Again

Texas Winning, California Losing

Paying For The Government You Vote For

Imagine An America Without Republicans

California’s Heat Seeker Taxes

Do “Student” Athletes Need To Go To School?

“He’s (Texas QB Quinn Ewers) got to park where he’s supposed to park. He wasn’t where he was supposed to be parking on gameday.” — Texas Head Coach Steve Sarkisian, September 5, 2022

It’s really a summer bummer having your Aston Martin towed by University of Texas Parking and Transportation Services, especially when you’re making $1.9 million or presumably more in annual NIL contracts.

What’s a student athlete supposed to do?

Almost DailyBrett is still cursing having his own James Bond car towed by USC parking enforcement during his days as the football manager for the Men of Troy. Alas the bespoke vehicle — worthy of Sean Connery — did not include a cardinal and gold leather interior.

The above is more than a tiny fib. Yours truly did not have a car in college, let alone a multi-million-dollar Names Images and Likeness (NIL) deal. Class was required along with tests, papers, reading assignments and presentations.

Let’s back up: Texas’ starting quarterback with reportedly $1.9 million in NIL contracts, includes his burnt-orange leather interior Aston Martin. His backup Arch Manning is pulling down $3.7 million to sit on the bench.

His uncles are named, Peyton and Eli.

Wait! The two Tejas signal callers are collectively receiving $5.6 million to wear the burnt orange and white on Saturdays?

Will Arch eventually enter the transfer portal to secure playing time? How much will that cost? Maybe — just maybe — he’s overvalued and simply not that good. Heck, he may actually make more in college than the NFL, assuming he even has a pro football career.

Almost DailyBrett remembers not-so-fondly being the manager of the office co-ed softball game. We never won a game. It seemed that all of our opponents sported “ringers,” great players, who couldn’t find the men’s room, let alone accounting at the corporate headquarters.

Maybe university athletes should be regarded as “ringers.” Instead of playing in the NFL, they are pretending to be students at SEC schools in particular. They are paid big NIL bucks to represent the university for at least one year on the basketball court or three years on the football field.

Do ringers really need to go to class?

Why go to class, if you are set financially for life? Aren’t your credentials for employment, your TD/Interception ratio or three-pointer percentage? Who cares about grade-point average, while majoring in football or basketball? Your stats are your GPA.

Can you imagine Arch sitting in class with a professor having the audacity to call on him in front of all of the other students (e.g., Socratic Method). Perish the thought about Arch writing papers, taking fill-in the blank exams (sorry no multiple guess) and participating with mere mortal students on assigned team projects.

How pedestrian.

Is the NCAA going to enforce school attendance policies at university football factories? Lack of institutional control has already been lost with NIL contracts, player tampering, transfer portals and conference realignments, spurred by a manipulative evil sports network (Disney’s ESPN).

Is Almost DailyBrett favorable to permitting student athletes to drop the adjective preceding the noun, as in student modifying athlete? Having sweated out two degrees, your author believes strongly that college students should go to class and do the work.

Hook ’em Horns

What happens if the only assignment is beating Alabama on Saturday?

University-paid athletes — the ones with impounded Aston Martins, the ones pulling down seven figures annually (even to ride pine), the ones threatening to enter the transfer portal — are not students (okay maybe at Vanderbilt … but who cares about Vanderbilt football?).

Let’s be real: They’re ringers. To be more precise these university athletes are professionals. The campus football field or basketball court are exclusively for marketing their credentials to Dr. Pepper, Subway Sandwiches and AT&T.

What about the real students on campus? Where are their Aston Martins? Who is paying for their name, image and likeness? Heck, they run the risk of being suspended from school for non-performance.

Almost DailyBrett is saying that real student athletes should take full advantage of their scholarships and pursue a genuine degree from a bona fide university. The vast majority will not make it in the NFL or NBA. It would be more than a good idea for them to attain a college degree, and maybe even go to graduate school.

Having said all that, let’s acknowledge the obvious: We live in an age of student ringers. Some are already monetarily set for life. “College” is just a stepping stone. They don’t care about going to class. Why force them, if they are not student athletes?

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34518846/texas-longhorns-qb-quinn-ewers-car-towed-debut

https://www.law.uchicago.edu/socratic-method

In The Name Of Social Justice

Are ESPN and Fox Sports Guilty of Racketeering?

Be True To Your School?

Why Are ‘Lily’ and ‘Flo’ So Annoying?

“Dirty Debutantes”?

“I’m not going to let you attack young people, and there were some things in this commentary that you should be offended by as women. It was so sexist. It was good versus evil in that game today. Evil? Called us dirty debutantes? Are you kidding me?” — LSU Women’s Basketball Coach Kim Mulkey

“Words matter. As a journalist, no one should know this more than me. Yet I have failed miserably in my choice of words. In my column previewing the LSU-UCLA women’s basketball game, I tried to be clever in my phrasing about one team’s attitude, using alliteration while not understanding the deeply offensive connotation or associations. I also used metaphors that were not appropriate.” — Public apology by Los Angeles Times columnist Ben Bolch

FILE -LSU’s Angel Reese reacts in front of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark during the second half of the NCAA Women’s Final Four championship basketball game April 2, 2023, in Dallas. . (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

Are today’s divisive journalists leading America’s race to the bottom?

Can a columnist be sexist and racist at the same time with just two words? Where are the guardrails? Where are the editors? Who controls the alliterations and metaphors?

How can any elite mass media outlet tolerate publishing or broadcasting, “dirty debutantes” about a women’s basketball team in which the majority of its players are African-American? Is there any wonder why public trust in American journalism continues to plummet regardless of which quantitative research firm conducts the survey?

Almost DailyBrett is not taking aim exclusively at the Los Angeles Times. The publication has already removed the offending references from the online version of Bolch’s column, saying they did not meet Times’ editorial standards.

What happened to these same standards last Friday in publishing: “Commentary: UCLA-LSU is America’s sweethearts vs. its basketball villains?” Is Bolch exclusively at fault or should the blame also apply to everyone in charge, who works under the august masthead of the Los Angles Times?

Have the inmates taken over the asylum?

Sweethearts?

Was society advanced with this particular commentary?

When the “profession” eschews accuracy, debunks news gathering and dismisses old-fashioned objective reporting of both sides, and replaces it with supposed clever interpretation and opinion — Houston, we have a problem.

Why did Ben Bolch apologize (a trait not normally associated with journalists or Donald Trump)? The columnist was clever on Thursday/Friday, and underwent a personal epiphany during the weekend.

Even though Almost DailyBrett is not an attorney, he knows that Mulkey and her team are public persons. Absolving Bolch from charges of actual malice (New York Times v Sullivan) is a hill the lawyers at the Times may not want to climb.

Is there anyone in charge in Romper Room?

Certainly Coach Mulkey and her taunting, brawling and mocking team are difficult to love. They are not paragons of virtue. The Washington Post also published a hit piece against Mulkey at approximately the same time that Ben Bolch’s commentary hit the streets.

Was the timing intentional? Sure. Women’s basketball is gaining strength and viewership. How can you miss Coach Mulkey?

Almost DailyBrett is not advocating a chilling remedy to out-of-control Journalism, thus endangering the First Amendment. What your author is saying is the profession is now despised by even the people it particularly states it’s trying to protect under the auspices of Social Justice: Women and People of Color.

How “dirty debutantes” even made it past the copy desk onto the front of the sports page is beyond this humble reporter. Hopefully it will never happen again.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2024-03-29/ucla-lsu-america-sweethearts-versus-basketball-villains

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39855695/la-s-reporter-apologizes-mulkey-rips-column

https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaunharper/2024/03/31/dirty-debutantes-and-other-racist-mischaracterizations-of-lsu-womens-basketball-team/?sh=2d60f50a1be1

Were Yesteryear’s Journalists, Better People?

The Public Won’t Pay For Journalism

MSNBC Knows Best

“Republican Journalists:” An Extinct Species?

“Journalists” Telling Their Truth, Not The Truth

Journalism’s Blind Faith

A Kinder Gentler Donald Trump

Former President Pivots Toward The General Election, Employs a Dramatic Attitude Adjustment to Retain Straying Republicans, and to Attract Discerning Independent Voters

Mar-a-Lago, Florida — After securing his third GOP presidential nomination, former President Donald J. Trump announced he underwent a personality transplant after weeks of isolation, meditation and self-reflection.

Previously, Trump’s modus operandi has always been: 1. Relentless attack, 2. Mock political opponents, 3. Never apologize. All of these persona characteristics have changed beginning today and will run through election day, Tuesday, November 5.

The former President cited as inspiration former Cal-Berkeley quarterback Aaron Rodgers and former President George H.W. Bush for his 180-degree deportment transformation.

“After spending five days in total darkness in spartan accommodations in Oregon, and reflecting on former President Bush’s ‘1,000 Points of Light’ campaign, we decided to eschew conspicuous consumption and to govern in the first-person plural: we, us and our,” said the former president.

“For example, We are Stronger Together.”

President Trump announced he would no longer employ mocking names for his political adversaries including in alphabetical order: “Sleepy Joe” (Biden), “Crooked Hillary” (Clinton), “Ron Desanctimonious,” “Birdbrain” (Nikki Haley), “Governor Newscum,” “Crazy Nancy” (Pelosi), “Choke Artist” (Mitt Romney), “Little Marco” (Rubio), “Crazy Bernie” (Sanders), and “Pocahontas” (Elizabeth Warren).

Besides personally apologizing to all of these outstanding public citizens the former president mocked with mean-spirited nicknames, Trump also pledged he will be Semper Fi with former First Lady Melania Trump. Always.

There will be no more galivanting with porn stars (e.g., Stormy Daniels).

A Modern Day St. Francis of Assisi Feeding The Doves?

“Integrity is priceless. And in the end, that’s all you have. I plan on keeping mine.” — former President Donald Trump announcing the completion of his personality journey, now identifying as a nice guy.

When it comes to Mar-a-Lago, Trump Tower in Manhattan and all of his other properties, Trump is now embracing: “Mi casa, su casa.”

With an estimated net worth of $6.8 billion, a portion of that coming from the $8.3 billion raised from last week’s IPO of Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT: NASDAQ), Trump announced he is taking a vow of poverty.

He will graciously donate his considerable wealth to charities doing good deeds.

“I like the new me. I hope America finds favor with the new Donald J. Trump as well.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nicknames_used_by_Donald_Trump

Trump Issues Mea Culpa; Suspends Campaign

UO Restores Pioneer Mother

California’s Rarefied Air Tax

UC Berkeley Announces Nation’s First Cannabis Turf Football Field

Has Russia Always Been A Pain In The Backside?

“Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” — President Ronald Reagan speaking before the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall, June 12, 1987

“I will be calm and confident. My children are watching me. I will be next to them. And next to my husband. And with you. I love you! I love Ukraine!” — First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska

Let’s face it, with the exception of brief spell during Mikhail Gorbachev’s reign as the leader of the former USSR, Russia has always been a pain in the butt in the relatively long life of Almost DailyBrett. Nothing has changed. Russia is still a pariah.

Netflix’ relatively new nine-part documentary series — “Turning Point: The Bomb and The Cold War ” — brings back memories spanning a lifetime. Who can forget huddling under our elementary school desks in preparation for incoming radioactive nuclear annihilation?

Wouldn’t the desks be among the first to be incinerated?

Maybe it’s the algorithms. Maybe Netflix is changing it emphasis. Is the Silicon Valley streaming provider becoming a little bit more educational, a little more serious? For Almost DailyBrett, watching a nine-part documentary series on the history of the Cold War is his definition of fun.

The main heroes in alphabetical order: Mikhail Gorbachev, John F. Kennedy, Reagan and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The villain of all villains: Vladimir Putin.

Netflix is bringing back the lifetimes of every Baby Boomer with the exception of Sex, Drugs and Rock n’ Roll. Maybe the former were more hedonistic, but just a few ICBMs can literally ruin your day. We won’t care about climate change, because the climate changed forever.

For Almost DailyBrett the origin of the Cold War starts with Adolf Hitler’s foolish 1941 invasion of Russia. Your author did not serve in the military, but you don’t have to a West Point graduate to understand that frontal attack too late in the year — against the world’s largest geography and coldest nation — with inferior numbers is not going to turn out well.

The Rodina roared back, gained strength, imposed Communism, built the Iron Curtain and set off a nuclear-tipped confrontation with the free world.

Your author will not attempt to recall every highlight (or lowlight) during the course of nearly 80 years, but the building and fall of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Reagan-Gorbachev intermediate nuclear arms elimination treaty and Ukraine’s defiance in the face of Putin’s aggression deserve special recognition.

One of the key recurring questions was whether Russia or its proxies will employ lethal force (Nikita Khrushchev, Hungary and Leonid Brezhnev, Czechoslovakia) or will not (Mikhail Gorbachev, East Germany) against millions of people under its control?

When you live by the gun …

The Mushroom Shaped Cloud

“Their (Reagan and Gorbachev) meetings marked the beginnings of an even brighter period in U.S.-Soviet relations that would be ushered in during the Bush administration, when Gorbachev released the Soviet grip on Eastern Europe and allowed the Germans to tear down the Berlin Wall.” — Washington Post White House correspondent Lou Cannon, ‘President Reagan, The Role of a Lifetime’

“In our obsessions with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien to the universal aspirations of our peoples that war and the threat of war?” — President Ronald Reagan, UN General Assembly, September 21, 1987

The Netflix docuseries begins with the Manhattan Project and ends nine installments later with the remembrance ceremonies at Hiroshima. The backdrop of nuclear annihilation has always been there, it will always be there.

ABC’s “The Day After” riveted the populace of the USA in November, 1983. The very real prospects of a thermo-nuclear exchange was brought home, including President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan watching at the White House.

Many mocked former movie actor Reagan for his infatuation with science fiction, including the 1951 film “The Day The Earth Stood Still” with peace loving aliens coming down and cautioning earthlings about destructive war.

Reagan even brought up this premise in his 1985 first meeting with Gorbachev in Geneva, asking the General Secretary wouldn’t the USA and USSR cooperate, if there was an invasion from outer space? It was not the first time that Reagan went off script, but the exchange illustrated how the prospects of nuclear holocaust was squarely on the mind of Reagan, and as it turned out, Gorbachev as well.

Three years later after some fits and starts, Reagan and Gorbachev signed a comprehensive agreement completely eliminating intermediate nuclear missiles, particularly in Europe.

As we justifiably fret about the third year of Russia’s brazen attack on Ukraine, the prospects of China annexing Taiwan, combatting Middle Eastern terrorists, we should remember that Kennedy stood up to Khrushchev, Reagan reached an historic agreement with Gorbachev, and Zelenskyy continues to this day to defy Putin.

Wonder how the next chapters (to be written) of “Turning Point: The Bomb and The Cold War” will turn out. Almost DailyBrett hopes we have a cool peace, not a continuation of the Cold War or worse yet, a Hot War.

Make Russia Cool Again

Gorbachev-Reagan vs Putin-Biden?

Can Russia Ever Be A Normal Country?

Putin’s Pooch und Merkel’s Dog-O-Phobia

Back to the 1980s

“The World Is Quiet Today, Mr. President”