Closing a summer of discontent

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President Trump came across more like a guy trying to make up for a bad first impression on a date than he did a strong leader when he made his remarks condemning the racist violence that took place in Charlottesville. Seriously, who writes his words for him when they are more than 140 characters and are not expressed in the middle of the night?

Just like with a woman, Mr. Trump only gets one chance to disavow himself from his fans in hoods or saluting Nazi flags, but unlike with the women he groped, he does not get away with his failed attempt to blame others because he is rich and famous. He is the president and as such, it was his duty to come down both verbally and politically hard on the brown boots who make up the most extreme elements of his fan base.

Nothing says “White Supremacy” like Polynesian Tiki torches. How many Nazis in this photo are wearing clothes made in China or Vietnam?
(YouTube Screenshot)

At least we now know how to make Trump stop tweeting nonsense. Unfortunately, it takes a bunch of goose stepping Nazis joining together for a weekend Stomp Fest over the loss of what they perceive as their nation. I wonder which one of Trump’s resorts will host their next annual convention?

Let’s see, the weekend came and went, the NFL held some pointless preseason games, and a few guys decided to conduct their own protests during the national anthem. Guess what? They still have their jobs. Just goes to show you there is more to the Colin Kaepernick story than some would have you believe. Perhaps if his accuracy was better he’d have a job. Maybe if he were more patient in the pocket or didn’t check down to his running back before allowing a play to develop he’d still have a job.

In other words, he might have some unique skills, but Colin Kaepernick needs to master the NFL basics expected of anyone who has played as long as he has. Otherwise, it is more cost effective to try and coach a rookie and hope he develops what Colin hasn’t.

The Rams just acquired Sammy Watkins from the Buffalo Bills. Will he be the playmaker to break open the passing game? (Claudia Gestro)

Roger Goodell managed to do what fans of the NFL have wanted him to do in the past and that is come down hard on players who are violent towards women. A six-game suspension is more than a fair punishment for Ezekiel Elliott of the Dallas Cowboys, unless of course you are his boss, Jerry Jones. The fact Jones opposes the penalty and is thought to be considering suing the league should be enough to kick his butt out of the Hall of Fame.

Former Cowboy Darren Woodsen said if the Cowboy teams he played on in the 90s were held up to today’s NFL rules, they would have had half the team suspended for what they were doing off the field. He made a point of saying it was not about drug use, but entirely because of the same partying ways that Elliott has embraced which lead to things like bar fights, battered women, and getting arrested. Jones has never done anything to discourage this type of behavior from his teams which is why I recently wrote he should have been voted into a Hall of Shame.

Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts has guided his team to the best record in baseball and could very well set a regular season record. But can they win the World Series? (Claudia Gestro)

The Los Angeles Dodgers are having one of the best regular seasons in Major League Baseball history. However, it won’t mean a thing unless they win the World Series. They have the luxury of resting players and making sure everyone is healthy going into the post season. Still, it just takes facing one post season team that has two hot pitchers to turn their dream season into a nightmare.

Going back to the flag, I recently was grocery shopping when I saw a teenaged kid get out of a car wearing pajama bottoms that were of Old Glory. It made me think back to when I was his age, it was common for teens to use a U.S. Flag patch to cover a hole on the back or front of our jeans. In those days, middle aged men like my dad would get angry over the disrespect kids were showing toward the flag. Today, we don’t mind seeing the flag used as sleep wear that ends up being worn in public.

More than flag protests, or protests from angry whites over losing “their” country, we should really be protesting the perpetual state of war this nation is in. The attacks of 9/11 turned us into a country that now relies on the use of military action far too much. In the 16 years since the attacks, we have raised a generation of young people who now believe our going to war is no big deal. This should concern everyone.

Our military involvement is sucking our limited resources dry and tying the hands of both political parties. When we okay the spending of trillions of dollars to fight wars that cannot be won, we are simultaneously preventing our nation from improving its infrastructure, schools, and communities. We limit our ability to provide affordable health care to citizens, police and fire services to cities, and much needed services to an increasingly aging nation. We are shooting ourselves in the foot more than we are ridding the world of problems and worse yet, our future leaders won’t know how to solve them because all they will know is war.

If a bunch of frustrated racists swooping down on a city and creating violence is wrong, perhaps a frustrated government that swoops down on a nation half way around the world is wrong too. There is a top down affect from us being a war-like nation. A government in perpetual war has to expect violence at the lowest levels of society. Hate crime is up. Cities like Chicago are riddled with murders. Communities large and small want and need more cops to fight crime.

Worse, our law abiding citizens froth at the mouth over violence: football, MMA, video games, Hollywood; the list is endless. In 50 years, we have gone from the “Summer of Love” to the “Summer of Violence.” We have learned nothing from the likes of JFK, MLK, RFK, and Lennon, while we have consumed ourselves with purchasing more guns, more crimes, and more deaths.

If this continues, we will see this nation fall from the Greatest Generation Ever to perhaps our last in less than a lifetime.

Top photo is a YouTube screenshot of the Nazi rally in Charlottesville, VA