QUICKIES….

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Why is the Senate Judiciary Committee unwilling to have GOP mega-donors Leonard Leo and Harlan Crow testify to its current inquiry? These are just two of the individuals who bribed Supreme Court Justices with lavish gifts and trips that were never reported by the justices. Could the GOP-controlled Committee want to avoid placing these two gentlemen in situations where they might need to perjure themselves like the recently Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justices? Any way you view obstruction to the truth–it still stinks and the GOP knows it.

George Santos, the GOP Poster Child for the 2022 Congress, was finally forced from our government. The GOP made a value judgement that his notoriety exceeded his worth as another vote in the House of Representatives. To be clear–this wasn’t an ethics decision. The GOP of today never uses ethics as a standard for behavior or a measure of competence.

List this as a “whyizzit”. Tobacco manufacturers, and opioid makers have been severely fined for the damage their products have done to American citizens. States are still receiving monies from those class action legal decisions. So “whyizzit” gun makers are not held to the same standard? Maybe those who favor gun law controls, banning assault weapons, restrictions on access, and other reasonable measures should consider class actions similar to tobacco and drugs litigation. Forget the Second Amendment. If the courts held that ANY MASS SHOOTING USING AN ASSAULT RIFLE WOULD RESULT IN ASSAULT RIFLE MANUFACTURER LIABILITY we think there would be an immediate downturn in the manufacture and sale of these weapons of mass destruction. Opponents must recognize that tobacco and opioid products were not banned. But indiscriminate promotion and use was culpable legally. “Whyizzit” we don’t apply the same logic to guns?

We are now converting public educational institutions into for-profit organizations. Consider: a proposal is being evaluated that would allow educational facilities to pay athletes directly to come to their schools. This, of course, will lead to investment decisions by school Boards and Trustees as to which individuals they should recruit and how much they should pay them. The next step is that the deeper the schools pockets are the better the quality of athletes they could “buy”. All this evaluation is geared to making the school more profitable by enhancing its game winning reputation. Is that what schools should be about? Do you remember when scholarships were enough inducement to recruiting? And now that a typical university education can cost up to or more than $100,000–even that incentive doesn’t seem to be enough. We think the money angle should be eliminated because it commingles tax dollars and for-profit ventures with a clearly unfair result.

A news flash — Hunter Biden is NOT Joe Biden. Hunter has problems. He’s documented as being an addict, failing to pay taxes (now paid up), womanizing and other distasteful activities. But–to repeat– Hunter is NOT Joe. The GOP–in their continuing efforts to throw as much dirt as possible on the Biden image–is willing to attempt to destroy Hunter and try to find some connection to the President in the process. It’s not a coincidence that the GOP Congress Impeachment Inquiry into Joe Biden is also in full swing at the same time. But even Mitt Romney (R-Utah) says he sees absolutely no evidence of President Biden wrongdoing. It’s clear that the GOP will maximize their attack on Hunter Biden so that Trumpers are satisfied in believing in the “Biden Crime Family”. Watch for the reality as Hunter requests a public hearing before Congress so that revealed facts during the proceedings get fair and unbiased reporting.

And now we turn to climate–or as is now the common term–“the forgotten problem”. This week the Middle East conference concluded that fossil fuels must be reduced and offered a time frame. That’s interesting because the Middle East depends heavily on oil to fund its country’s budget. As the world warms, electric vehicles stall (pun intended) and weather disasters become more frequent it occurs to us that ALL other news can become irrelevant within the next 50 years. If we do not have a livable planet none of the big issues of today or tomorrow matter because no one will be here. When is the next generation on earth also the last generation on earth?

In the world of professional golf, another defection to the Saudi tour. John Rahm, winner of the 2023 Masters tournament, has been “bribed” with a bonus reported to be between $300 and $500 million. That’s before he plays a single round on the Saudi tour. Of course, the US Professional Golf Association is infuriated that a major advertising sponsor draw has been spirited away because it means less network income to provide less ad money for the US tournaments. And worse, it opens the door to even more US pro golfers to jump to the Saudi tour. That will be (not would be) a catastrophe. We know why the golfers go for the big bucks but why is the Saudi group doing this? Golf isn’t a profitable sport in Saudi Arabia and investing all this money isn’t going to increase the number of Arabs who will play golf. So, where’s the return for the Saudi Wealth Fund–the source of the Saudi golf tour prize money? Said plainly, why are the Saudi’s doing this? We see many more defections to the Saudi tour this year and a further downward spiral in all other tours as the top players are siphoned away.