by John Walters
Jet Downer
There have been no major domestic airline catastrophes in more than a decade… with the exception of the New York Jets.
How did the Jets manage to lose last night on Monday Night Football? When we tuned in there were fewer than seven minutes remaining and New York (0-8 entering) led the putrid Patriots (2-5) 27-17.
Then New England kicked a field goal.
Then Joe Flacco (now a Jet) threw an ill-advised bomb on first down (a tight end was WIDE OPEN 10 yards downfield) that was picked. Then New England got 19 yards on 3rd-and-19. Then New England scored a TD. Then the Jets, getting the ball back with under 2 minutes, took a sack and threw an INC and, again, 0-8, decided to punt on 4th-and-3 from their 41 with the score tied.
New England then threw about a 20-yard completion with just a few ticks left, which put former Jet Nick Folk in position to kick a 51-yard field goal, and, yes, never even a question.
Pats 30, Jets 27.
The misery continues for football’s worst team.
White Supremacy’s Last Gasp
In the past 24 hours alone:
*Lame-duck president Donald Trump fires Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. This is his replacement below, in his first day on the job.
*Lamer still Attorney General William Barr orders prosecutors to look into voter fraud during the election with absolutely no evidence to sustain why he is doing so. While you’re at it, Bill, let’s investigate whether Matt Gaetz is a serial-killer. I mean, he could be, right?
*In response to Barr’s order, Richard Pilger, director of the elections crimes branch in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, resigned. Perhaps Pilger is smart enough to realize he’ll have his job back in less than three months.*
*This, by the way, must be the strategy to counterattack Trump and Barr and the rest of them. Trump will attempt to rid the top levels of government resistance (see: Sally Yates, James Comey, etc.) and is rumored to be considering firing FBI director Chris Wray. But even if he installs henchmen such as Barr atop key agencies (including the military), those people still need underlings to carry out their orders. And as long as people refuse to do so, there’s absolutely no way Trump’s nefarious plan will work. It’s kind of bizarre to see “Hamilton” in real time, but here we are.
*Georgia’s two Republican senators, Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Klansman, have told the state’s Secretary of State, who happens to be Republican but apparently did not give the ball a favorable spot, to resign. He oversees the election results in Georgia. He is refusing to do so.
*Lindsey Graham went on Fox News and said, and I quote, “Republicans win because of our ideas and we lose elections because [Democrats] cheat.” Sadly, there are plenty of Republicans who’d rather buy this logic than face the truth.
I keep returning to what Dave Chappelle said near the end of his SNL monologue the other night. Referring to how Trump got himself A-plus health care while letting friends/sycophants Chris Christie (wither in ICU) and Herman Cain (die) suffer, not to mention one million-plus Americans, Chappelle said: “That’s your leader. For four years…THAT’S your leader. What kind of man does that? What kind of man makes sure he’s okay while his friends fight for their lives? Die?
“A white man. And I don’t mean to put this on the whites, but I’ve been black a long time, I’ve noticed a pattern.“
Stop The Count!
Meanwhile, the coronavirus rages out of control even after Pfizer announced that it has produced a vaccine (without government assistance) that is 90% effective. Yesterday the U.S. had yet another new record of coronavirus cases (125,000-plus) while leading epidemiologists are predicting the next few months will be “coronavirus hell.”
One went on TV this morning and predicted at least 100,000 more deaths before inauguration day.
And your president? He has not sat in on a coronavirus briefing in 12 weeks. Frankly, they’re boring to him. Hey, if you didn’t want to die from the ‘rona, you should’ve gotten your ass elected president, no?
When The Witch of November Comes Stealin‘
Forty-five years ago today (November 10, 1975), the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a massive gale on Lake Superior. The freighter, 790-feet long, took down 29 men and 26 short tons of iron ore with it shortly after 7 p.m.
One year later Canadian musician Gordon Lightfoot (still living, by the way) wrote his classic ballad, “The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald.” Lightfoot has said he was inspired to pen the tune after seeing a story about the disaster in Newsweek and noting that the ship’s name had been misspelled “Edmond” (where were the fact-checkers??? Or even Micah Sage?). He felt that the typo dishonored the 29 lost souls and wanted to correct the error.
Unfortunately, I was not yet born to have worked at Newsweek in the 1970s. My mom was a loyal subscriber for decades. I enjoyed flipping through the old issues laying around the house (I was not a normal kid – though I’m really not a normal adult).
What are your thoughts on the apparent exodus of conservatives from Facebook and Twitter to Parler and other alternatives? It all seems silly to me. The whole thought that the first amendment gives you the right to say anything on Facebook/Twitter without being “censored” is ridiculous. The first amendment does not prevent these platforms from monitoring and exercising consequences to people who don’t conform to their predetermined “community standards.”
I also don’t understand why there’s a perception that Facebook is for liberals and hates conservatives. From a commerce standpoint, it’s NOT in Facebook’s best interest to alienate conservatives (or liberals). The people are the product. Without the users, there’s nothing to sell to advertisers. Ads being the company’s biggest revenue stream, the more diverse a userbase, the better the platform is seen as a go-to for spending ad dollars. And, FB is a publicly traded company, so there are stakeholders beyond just Mark Z. to satisfy with higher revenues.
I don’t go on Facebook. It’s probably the most patriotic thing I do.
Christie did get a similar treatment to Trump.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/10/chris-christie-released-from-hospital-after-treatment-for-coronavirus.html
FWIW…
26,116 long tons (29,250 short tons; 26,535 t) according to the wikipedia.
26 tons (short or long) didn’t quite make sense. 52,000 pounds vs 5.2 million pounds roughly.
I love Lake Superior. The North Shore of Minnesota is simply majestic. Apostle Islands in Wisconsin are incredible. One could spend weeks with Superior and never ceased to be amazed.