Excercise

Watching all these tournament basketball games has gotten me fired up to get off the couch and into the gym.

Relive my youth.

I guess my Medicare coverage will foot the membership costs, so why not?  Have to pay out-of-pocket and request reimbursement.  Okay, why not?

Okay, I'll have to get off my ass.  Why not?

I'm talking myself into it.  I'll have to start off slowly...very slowly, and why not?

I do the same thing when I see a great movie.  I tell myself I'll become an actor...why not?

There is no end to my delusions. Dare I ask, why not?

Nah, I think the gym thing is doable.  Signing up soon.


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Damn!

I'm trying to watch basketball but my WiFi is working like my liver--that is, barely.

I have the senior deal via Xfinity. Bad timing.

I might have to make the big X my Ex.


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1--16

This weekend's basketball upsets and humdingers are almost too much for my little brain and central nervous system to comprehend.

This might be the best tourney ever, what with the 1 and 16 upset of Virginia by a school in Baltimore called University of Maryland Baltimore County.

The school's website crashed today after millions tried to log on and figure out who the suspicious victors really are. (Could it be a Russian plot?)

I watched the game.  It was unbelievable.


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Kids Being the Adults

The kids walked out today.  Good on them.


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Slip Sliding Away

Implicit in the First Amendment is a fundamental belief that the governed are far more capable than the government of distinguishing truth from falsehood and that the government’s role is not to regulate the content of the marketplace but to ensure it remains open to all ideas; those true and not… radical or conventional.

That these legislators, their constituents or lobbyists are offended by the content of various stories, opinion pieces or documentaries published or aired by Al Jazeera is of no constitutional moment.  To the contrary, information deemed by some to be offensive propaganda is to others relevant and probative of issues to be contested and resolved in an open and free society.

To be sure, it is the friction between conflicting narratives and opinion that furthers the reach of freedom not dampens it. It is the conflict between voices that not only empowers those who partake in the debate or listen to it but ultimately strengthens society as a whole.

Under the First Amendment, people may elect to embrace or promote “radical” anti-American, anti-Israeli or even anti-Semitic commentary or opinion; it is a choice left to them and them alone.  Neither the government nor any of its minions have the constitutional authority to limit access to information not in itself otherwise prohibited by law.--SLC

This is a first-rate overview of some of the historical First Amendment battles in the U.S.  During our time, when a lunatic president and his uneducated followers, an acquiescent Congress and a nation hypnotized by anti-Russian propaganda are working overtime to silence dissent--well, we must come to grips with the idea that important freedoms are slipping away.


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No Rain, No Rain!

Man, we had a few incredibly nice days here in the great Pacific Northwest.  The weekend and yesterday were terrific.  Plenty of blue sky and mild temps, just like Spring.

Alas, normalcy has returned.  It's raining.  The sky is as grey as my mood. 

Which came first?

(pictured, my home office)


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Norman's Books

Surrounded by books.


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Chaos

I think the NCAA basketball selection committee has gone the way of the CFP--that is, into the Stupid Zone.

Hacks are in charge.  Math freaks are in charge, toting their "metrics."

Political characters are in charge.

March Madness, like a 7-foot phenom, is for sale.

Start with the ACC, where 9 teams "earned" tourney berths.  Why?  USC is as good as half of those teams. USC of the PAC-12 was robbed.

There were many robberies, muggings, skulduggery everywhere.

Okie State was spurned after beating darlings Kansas (twice) and Trae Young's OU (twice).  Okie State also beat Florida State, one of the too many SEC teams anointed.

East coast bias has never been more profound than today.

Disgusting.  I've watched a lot of b-ball the last several days.  The March Madness Committee is fucked.

As I type this, the NIT is being announced. That's the tourney to watch this year.


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Shooters

After the usual shock and horror, my reaction after hearing about the latest United States mass shooting perpetrated by a demented white male with an assault weapon was, sad to say, “Here we go again.” I waited for the standard cycle to run its depressing course.--PS

You're obliged to read this.


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Spare Me

The things that will bug me, or otherwise infuriate me, between now and the end of March Madness.

1) Dick Vitale's motormouth and utter shamelessness, his habitual hype.

2) Jennifer Garner's Capital One commercials, which collectively are the worst in advertising history.

3) Joe Lunardi's faux expertise and ignorant bracketology.


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Schedule

Uh oh, I have time management issues popping up again these days.

Need to arrange my schedule around assembling another book of my writings, the basketball tourneys that are in full bloom, reading/research projects, and watching the movies I've checked out of the library.

My computer's ROM drive collapsed a couple of years ago.  I put it off for a long time, but I finally broke down and purchased an external DVD player.

Now there aren't enough hours in the day to do all the things that need be done.  All the things I need to do to feel good about existence, such as it is.

O, woe!


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The Real State of the Union

President Trump ordered the Pentagon to start planning a military parade on Veteran’s Day this November. Trump wants to outdo the military parade he attended in France on Bastille Day. Estimates are it could cost up to $50 million. The last military parade was after the Gulf War in 1991.

A coalition of groups is organizing to oppose the parade.--KZ--MF

Sign the petition.


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Sad Story

They met on a rainy morning several years ago, at the base of the Helmsley Building in Midtown Manhattan. As others hurried to work, Pamela J. Dearden, an executive with JPMorgan Chase, noticed a woman, unperturbed by the rain or her surroundings, standing on a 36-square-foot sidewalk grate she had chosen as her home.

Ms. Dearden, known to everyone as P.J., offered her umbrella to the woman, who took it and thanked her.--BW

There are literally thousands of untold stories like this one spread across our land.  In fact, this is a big reason why our country is not so "exceptional" as certain types would claim it to be.

Unless they mean exceptionally neglectful, which they do not.


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Hoop Dreams Redux

With a handful of conference champions already picked for March Madness, more are set to be determined this week.

The Big Ten Conference held its tournament championship a week early this year, giving that conference's teams an instant advantage when preparing for the national tourney next week.  Teams such as Michigan and Purdue will have extra days of rest in preparation, as will the teams from the mid-majors who have historically produced their champions a week earlier than the majors.

Oregon had an abysmally inconsistent year, so my Ducks won't be in the national picture after making it to the Final Four last season.

That is, unless the Ducks do the improbable and win the PAC championship by winning four more beginning on Wed.

Whatever, despite the obvious corruption that rules college ball these days, I'll take in as many games as I can until boredom blocks me.

I'm as ready as I can be, with a slate of games starting tonight and running through Sunday's Selection Day announcements.

Meanwhile, the Oregon women's team has nailed the PAC championship by routing perennial power Stanford.

There are a handful of teams nationally that are better than Oregon, including U Conn, but maybe the women can get to the final?



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Rachel Maddow is Stupid--and Dangerous

The evidence is damning. And the silence underscores the arrogance.

More than seven weeks after a devastating report from the media watch group FAIR, top executives and prime-time anchors at MSNBC still refuse to discuss how the network’s obsession with Russia has thrown minimal journalistic standards out the window.--NS

Norman Solomon undresses Maddow and MSNBC.


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