Happy President’s Day to all patriotic, freedom-loving Americans who resoundingly reject a Tyrant’s plan to rule by way by illegal oppressive Mandate, as does the current American Dictator, Joe Biden.
We have had enough of Brandon’s ruse to speak as a competent leader of the country, but who actually practices the tactics of WW2 Nazis to accomplish his sinister objectives, which is to crush individual liberties of the populace.
Joe Biden is not a legitimate President. He does not act for the interests of the People, so he receives no exhortations otherwise reserved for those former leaders of our country who have preserved the rights and privileges enumerated in the American Constitution.
There’s a foul wind that blows off the banks of Lake Erie these days whipping through the city of Cleveland, Ohio, kicking up a thick stale odor , this dark fishy smell working its way across the land as it settles heavily into the crinkled nostrils of patrons of a quickly dying art. Take a deep whiff and you might smell it too. No, it’s not the Browns or the Cavaliers or the city’s baseball team that has a nickname everyone there seems to hate. It’s far more than just a sports franchise stinking up the joint as Cleveland’s professional teams have been known to do for a long time. This offensive aroma emanates from a local institution which oozes glitz and glitter and flowery blowhard palliatives sprayed out onto the public like a can of Fabreze, but, believe me, that’s just a ruse. In downtown Cleveland, there rests an opulent building that pretends to unify and pacify and promises a sparkling all-inclusive high entertainment value to inquisitive visitors. One, that in actuality, is as phoney as an Elvis sighting on Euclid Avenue.
I’m talking about the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
Sure, the Hall has been ridiculed and criticized for many years now as a politically-driven clan of imperious musical Snobarazzi whose decisions about who gets inducted or not are often questionable, mostly befuddling, and always suffused with varying degrees of doubt and controversy, but, today we need to talk about something that goes far beyond the bounds of mere pinprick snubbery.
We need to talk about a brazen crime of epic proportions committed against one of rock and roll’s most iconic bands—–a true ROCK band—and that band is THE “American Band”, Grand Funk Railroad.
As a child of the 60s with a pretty solid grasp on the rock n roll landscape for most of my life, what I’ve always found flabbergasting, and increasingly lamentable about the Hall Of Fame is that each year when the nominees are announced, Grand Funk Railroad is never mentioned. Never. This has been going on for years, of course, since 1994 when GFR first became eligible, but it’s the same thing every single induction nominee period when this so-called knowledgeable “Committee” of musical mavens announces its next class, I find myself muttering, and now often screaming, “What the hell??” To my amazement, Grand Funk doesn’t even get a sniff at the Hall of Fame and there’s something terribly wrong with that image.
But I’ll go into that more in a moment.
First, let’s start with an introduction to GFR in case some of you youngsters are unfamiliar with the band or your musical horizons are, let’s say, limited. Perhaps the Hall of Fame Nomination Committee members should take a peek at this, too:
For the large part of the early 70’s Grand Funk Railroad was the biggest and baddest heavy rock band on the planet. Forget Deep Purple and Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, GFR overshadowed these monsters by miles. Between 1969 and 1974, the power trio of Mark Farner, Don Brewer, and Mel Schacher placed seven albums in the Top 30, four reaching the Top 10. Keyboards became a major force in Grand Funk’s evolving sound, dominating the 1972 single “Footstompin Music”, which helped propel the band’s 1971 album “E Pluribus Funk” to No. 5 on the charts. Eventually, keyboardist Craig Frost was made a full-time member and the hits just kept on coming. In 1973, the album “We’re An American Band” reached No. 2 and the widely-popular title track hit No. 1 on the singles chart. A year later, in May 1974, the band’s cover of “The Loco-Motion” became their second No. 1 song. They followed that up with two Top 5 singles, “Some Kind Of Wonderful” reached No. 3 in February ’75 and “Bad Time” reached No. 4 four months later. This Michigan-based high-energy blues-rock band released a staggering 11 albums between ’69 and ’76, all of which either went Gold or Platinum. The band has sold an estimated total of nearly 40 million albums in its long illustrious history.
Unquestionably, this was truly the People’s Band. Blue collar, meat and potatoes, ass-kicking, in- yo- face- rock and roll that set a generation of young music lovers afire. Millions and millions of fans loved Grand Funk Railroad during the 70s for its blend of hard-rocking energy, superb playing and singing, and its uncompromising respect to its fans who paid hard-earned money for hard- to -come- by tickets. Grand Funk never let down its fans, never backed out of shows or compromised the quality of its electric performances, never disbanded over drugs or exigence for rehab, something that can’t be said for some other famous rock acts which have been admitted with enthusiastic open arms into the Hall Of Fame. Grand Funk rocked like no other band in the late 60s and early 70s. They influenced many up and coming artists like Van Halen and The Red Hot Chili Peppers (both Hall Of Fame inductees) . They released a song, “Closer To Home” a memorable poignant ode to one’s “place of birth” that has stood the test of time as an inspirational anthem that American soldiers of the Viet Nam Era and tempest teens of that time passionately longed for and embraced.
They WERE the ultimate American Band.
It’s hard to believe that a band who once sold out New York’s Shea Stadium faster than the Beatles, and who were the first U.S. rock band to have 10 platinum discs in a row, can’t get themselves inducted into the Hall Of Fame. Now, are you beginning to smell something……..rotten?
So, how is it that a prodigious mega-selling rock band like Grand Funk can’t manage to get a nomination into the hallowed Hall Of Fame, much less inducted?
For me, this excrable exclusion is based on a couple of reasons, none of which have anything to do with the band’s proficiency as superb musical artists or its domination of music charts.
Although they were the People’s Band and beloved around the world, snooty critics from mainstream music publications like Jann Wenner’s “Rolling Stone Magazine” frequently panned Grand Funk, writing them off as crude and unsophisticated. “Neanderthal Rock” some critics called it. Despite the band’s massive following and skyrocketing sales of its music, Rolling Stone repeatedly disparaged the band in virtually every one of its reviews and didn’t have many good things to say about the FANS who loved and followed GFR, either. Rolling Stone’s implicit message to the unsophisticated plebians was clear—–us Grand Funk fans were just too stupid to appreciate what was supposed to pass for good rock and roll. And, Rolling Stone on occasion went out of its way to slam Grand Funk, too, employing writers outside the music world as “hit men” to level a particularly nauseating brand of callous journalism in its reviews. An example of this was during the Summer of 1971 when the band was riding a huge wave of popularity that it played one of its biggest shows ever at Shea Stadium. In a mere 72 hours, GFR sold out the stadium for a two night appearance, breaking the Beatles record at that venue which still stands today. In preparation for the shows, Rolling Stone assigned an astrophysicist , and magazine staff science journalist, Timothy Ferris, to cover the concert for Rolling Stone. Not a music journalist (like Dave Marsh) but a wordy intellectual elitist astrophysicist to write a review for us dumbass fans to try to read and decipher. Ferris wasted no time in launching a preemptive strike against Grand Funk even before the day of the first concert announcing the band in a pejorative way as “The World’s Biggest Transistor Radio”. Without even hearing a note or song of the concert, Ferris mused “Is This Band Terrible?” Ferris went on to dazzle readers with a flurry of bloated multisyllable words, cascading cryptic catchphrases, references to the Pirates of Penzance, drinking wine, and an assortment of turgid “bitchy” quips that made everyone dizzy and scratching their heads wondering what the hell he was talking about. All we could make out of it was that it didn’t sound very positive for Grand Funk Railroad. I remember reading the article three or four times myself trying to make some sense of it, but the damn words were much too big and flatulent for my Neanderthal brain, which is probably why Mr. Ferris wrote it that way in the first place. But this is how Rolling Stone rolled back in the day when it came to Grand Funk Railroad. They didn’t like them and it showed. It wasn’t surprising to anyone who was a devotee of rock music back in the day that Grand Funk never made the precious cover of the Rolling Stone. Wenner, owner of Rolling Stone back in the time GFR was so successful, who went on to serve as Founder and Major Domo of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, pulling strings and influencing minds along the way, hated the Funksters too, and this antipathy, it can be assured, has played an instrumental role in the ongoing exclusion of the band for Hall Of Fame consideration, not to mention compromising their rightful place in their standing as an all-time elite rock band.
Yeah, damn right…it stinks!
But, there’s another reason, too, Grand Funk has been shafted as an iconic rock ensemble worthy of the Hall of Fame, and that can be blamed, in part, on its former Manager, Terry Knight. Knight, GFR’s original Manager, a failed musician and carnival huckster trying hard to suck up the glory of another’s fame and success, enjoyed antagonizing critics, making them furious with rude gestures and comments. He refused to allow band members to do interviews with trade magazines and music journalists. When Rolling Stone published its unflattering 1971 article before the Shea Stadium concerts, Knight later took out a full page ad in newspapers and Cashbox Magazine giving critics a photo of “The Finger”. We all know how this kind of sophomoric behavior resonated with Jann Wenner at Rolling Stone, the big-brained critic, Ferris, and the plenitude of music writers around the world who understood, apparently far more than Knight, that the power of the pen can cripple as much as canonize. Terry Knight failed to realize these are the kind of people who hold a grudge.
And, then, on top of that, Knight methodically and systematically stole Grand Funk’s money and thereafter even had the audacity to sue the band. Knight himself played a critical part in driving a wedge between members of Grand Funk Railroad, creating riffs and ultimately causing the demise of the original band. This sordid little chapter of Grand Funk history has generated nothing but negativity in the minds of many power brokers in the music industry, including those who make decisions on an artist’s place in history.
But, tell me honestly, should members of Grand Funk Railroad suffer the indignity of exclusion from a place in rock and roll royalty because of circumstances beyond their control? To me, this is much like the continuing ridiculousness of keeping Pete Rose out of baseball’s Hall Of Fame except that Grand Funk, unlike Pete, hasn’t done anything improper.
So, as Don Henley might suggest, let’s get to “the heart of the matter”. What’s really keeping Grand Funk out of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame? Really……
Submitted for your consideration:
THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME IS A FLIMFLAM ORGANIZATION CONTROLLED BY AN ELITEST OUT OF TOUCH BUNCH OF RASCALLIONS WHO HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT PREMIER ROCK MUSIC IS.
There, I said it, and I have lots of evidence to back it up. Plus a whole legion of music fans who know their rock n roll every bit as well as Jann Wenner, Timothy Ferris, and the persnickety curmudgeons who make up the various selection committees at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Despite millions of albums sold, the legendary concerts, and being immortalized as the rock band for blue-collar America, Grand Funk still gets no love from those who make nominating decisions at the Hall. Just look at some of the recent inductions made by the Hall of Fame Nominating and Selection Committees and one can understand the exasperation felt by fans. (Quick, name one rock and roll song Madonna ever released). The place isn’t the Hall Of Fame, it’s a Crock of Shame. And, sadly, as Don Brewer and Mark Farner have sagely observed when asked about the ongoing snub, they chalk it up to nothing more than politics.
“In my opinion”, states Brewer, it’s a political thing, controlled by Rolling Stone Magazine. Everyone in the Hall of Fame is a Rolling Stone darling. Thus, we’ll never be in there.” Farner, far more blunt and to the point, tells us that he’s not about to kiss Jann Wenner’s ass to get into the Hall. Grand Funk wasn’t that kind of band in the past, and neither are they now.
High fives to that!
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame insists to this day that Jann Wenner never played any part in who made, or makes, it into the Hall, and never played any active role in the nomination process, including any consideration for Grand Funk, but, to me that’s like Jerry told Kramer in one episode of “Seinfeld”, “That’s Kooky-Talk”. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Wenner pulled copious strings and exerted huge influence on his minions at the Hall of Fame, and this man, who was known in circles to hold a grudge, most assuredly naysayed any favorable mention of Grand Funk Railroad for a possible place in his beloved repository of musical madness.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame years ago released a thumbnail description of the alleged criteria used to nominate and induct potential members. It states that inductees are “{A}rtists who in their careers have created music whose originality, impact, and influence has changed the course of rock and roll.” The statement goes on to read that the “(Goal) is to connect rock and roll fans with music and artists they love and preserve and protect historical artifacts and records.”
Wow, that is some virtuous undertaking there. Certainly a high bar to for one to levitate to. . (Pure sarcasm).
Nevertheless, even if that bushwa was true, you know it and I know it——- Grand Funk checks all the boxes there.
Curiously enough, though, in a bit of slippery semantical tomfoolery, some members of the Nominating Committee have tried to justify its refusal not to nominate Grand Funk by claiming the band never really influenced anyone. I would lay me down and roll around on the floor laughing hysterically if this kind of misdirection wasn’t so pathetically in error. The influence Grand Funk Railroad left on the Music World is profound and undeniable. They left a deep and lasting influence that was inspirational in providing the template of funk mixed with stone cold rock that would allow bands like Hall of Fame inductees VanHalen and the Red Hot Chilis to thrive and reach eventual superstardom. Grand Funk was Zeppelin before Zeppelin. They have an influence on musicians and fans alike that endures far beyond their long list of hit singles and albums. To claim that Grand Funk never influenced anyone is like saying morning sunshine never influenced a pitch black night.
With all the evasive and slippery semantics practiced by its team of pickers, one has to ask “Is the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame even a legitimate entity in today’s world of music? Sadly, I think not. It’s decisions are heavily biased, born of arrogance and shortsightedness. It caters to Woke agendas, bringing down shame and feelings of unworthiness on long-serving rock artists. Its hinky operation has grown into a full blown insult to all true fans of the rock and roll genre.
In short, the place stinks and I wouldn’t spend a penny to tour the premises.
And, while many on the HOF Nominating Committee are clearly clueless as to what constitutes genuine rock music, I can’t help but note that respected musicians like Dave Grohl and Linda Perry are members of the Selection Committee.
Guys, you need to step up your Game.
Now that I’ve thought about it, what they SHOULD do at the Hall is take down the damn sign that abuts the building and put up a new one that simply says “Music Hall Of Fame”. Or “Watered Down Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.” Or “Everybody Gets In But Grand Funk Hall Of Fame.” What started out in 1985 as a wonderful tribute to a specific blissful category of music with amazing powerhouse artists who pranced and strutted and rocked us joyfully has now become a homogenized joke, a stinky charade, and the biggest Joke perhaps of all is the continued exclusion of Grand Funk Railroad.
BUT DID THE TBS ANNOUNCERS REALLY WANT IT THAT WAY?
By David Hopkins
First things first from the Culture Craze Studios on top of Old Smoky. Congratulations Big Time to the National League Champion Atlanta Braves for its poise and resiliency in taking down the mighty, and some said……..invincible….Los Angeles Dodgers which had won 106 games during the 202`1 regular season. Who really would have thunk it?? You can’t see it, but I’m raising my little hand here. Waving it around excitedly. Me. Me. ME. I saw it, and I put the prediction out online for public consumption in a number of places. In late July when Manager Brian Snitker and GM Alex Anthopoulos were able to tactfully maneuver and sign multiple players right before the trade deadline, I knew we had something promising going on and I told this to plenty of people, one in particular, my good longtime Friend, Tommy Thompson, in Manchester who, although a hardcore Braves fan like myself, remained full of pessimism for a playoff run. I urged him to reconsider. When we were able to resign Adam Duvall, one of my favorite players last season’s Braves team, I knew the Braves were serious about not only salvaging the season following Ron Acuna’s devastating injury, we were going to make a realistic hard push for the playoffs. His shrewd moves made me realize that Anthopoulos wasn’t giving up and throwing in the proverbial towel like he did that one year in Toronto; Something told me the Braves were going to make a serious run at the pennant.
And now it feels so good!
Back In The Saddle Again
That out of the way, I think it’s time now to address something that annoyed me greatly during the National League Championship Series with the Dodgers, and it’s something clearly on the minds of fellow Braves fans, too.
Yep, you guessed it. The TBS team of announcers who broadcasted the Braves-Dodgers games. Normally, I don’t get all worked up by the antics of broadcasters in the booth in any sport unless they start badmouthing the Flag and country, but, for some reason this…..Team…..TBS put together for the Dodgers series was just overbearing with all the oozy-boozy bias toward the Dodgers.
There they were, Brian Anderson, the play-by-play guy, former MLB pitcher Ron Darling, and JEFF FRANCOEUR, an ex- Brave no less, acting at times like they had stock in the Hollywood Dodgers Production. Night after night, inning after inning, pitch after pitch, all we heard were lavish platitudes cast upon the Dodgers organization mixed in with plenty of excuses for its shortcomings against the “inferior” Braves. They continually reminded the listening audience how depleted the poor Dodgers were for the series, how tough it was for the Blue Boys to scrape together a team that could compete. I was beginning to wonder sometimes how the Dodgers even managed to find enough players to put on the field. And then there was always the barely-restrained expressions of hope that the Dodgers would rally and fulfill their Destiny. We heard it repeatedly that a team of this caliber is “Never out of it”. Darling continuously expressed excitement when the Dodgers started a rally (YES! YES!) but I never heard him or Anderson jumping up and down when the Braves put some runs on the board. He seemed so excited about the possibility that Dead Arm Max Scherzer was going to heroically crawl from the dugout and start Game 6 that I actually thought he might march down to the field and escort Max to the mound himself. To me, hearing all this ceaseless unctuous praise—– the echoes of hope and redundant excuses—— the tacit message to the audience was clear: If the Dodgers had all their players for the series, the Braves would be going home.
What? ME biased?
And, truthfully, I think that’s exactly what the TBS Team wanted.
I’ve followed Dandy Darling’s career for years, on the mound and in the booth, and I know the guy is prone to a lot of hype. Some notable emotional outbursts in the past for Ron. Darling’s ballast wasn’t completely unexpected. But Jeff Francoeur should know better. You would think he would anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I realize he’s not working for the Braves now, but, I tell you, he didn’t sound overly excited about the Braves good play throughout the series. If we were going to have a Bad Cop in the booth, it would have been nice to have a Good Cop, too. You know, just to balance it out.
If the TBS Team had actually wanted to sound less biased, less in the corner of the Blue Meanies, they probably should have said from time time that the BRAVES were also a little depleted on the roster, too. “Depleted”, though, doesn’t even begin to accurately describe what the BRAVES were missing for this series with the Dodgers or the whole playoffs for that matter. The Braves were missing arguably baseball’s best player in Ronald Acuna. No roster moves are going to completely assuage the loss of a player like Acuna, irrespective if Eddie Rosario went crazy in the playoffs or Joc was slinging big lumber around like his string of pearls. It hurt to lose a player of Acuna’s stature, and I feel sorry for the guy because I’m sure he wanted to be a part of taking down the Dodgers. Losing Acuna is like the Twins losing Kirby Puckett in 1991 or the Yankees losing Reggie Jackson in 1977. The TBS Team could have reminded home viewers that the Braves had also lost who it considered the “Ace” of the pitching staff, Mike Soroka, and was also without slugger Marcel Ozuna. But TBS didn’t make much of a deal about these key loses for the Braves. Not as much as they should have, anyway.
He Wasn’t Bad, But……….
So, we’re done with the Dodgers, thank goodness, and now it’s on to the World Series where we haven’t been since 1999. Me? I like our chances against the Astros. It’s pitching staff is reeling more than the Dodgers. Remember what the George Steinbrenner character said to Constanza in one episode of “Seinfeld”?
“I smell a pennant!!!!”
Broadcasting of the World Series will now shift to FOX, and maybe we’ll get a Team who’ll give the Braves some genuine love for a change. Joe Buck, who’ll be doing play-by-play, doesn’t much care for the Astros. (I know this by some past interviews following the 2017 cheating scandal.). And then there’s John Smoltz, who while great as a color man and sure to sound impartial, we all know which team he really wants to win the Series so I don’t expect any goofy commentary from him.
THE UPCOMING COURT-MARTIAL OF MARINE LT.-COLONEL STUART SCHELLER IS WRONG AND UNJUST AND PREDICATED ON RETALIATION FOR EXERCISING CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
By David Hopkins
They are our most legendary soldiers, the United States Marines. Proud and brave, these men and women of uncommon valor exude courage and honor and stand as a bulwark to our freedom. From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, the Marines are our protectors, worthy to be celebrated and honored for what they do for us as much as being feared by our enemies.
But they made a mistake. A HUGE one. They messed up big time. They have taken the principles of honor and duty and twisted it into something ugly and unholy.
The upcoming military Court-Martial of Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller is one of the sorriest examples of wayward prosecution and disrespect for a noble American soldier I have witnessed in years. Lt.-Colonel Scheller is a Marine Infantry Officer with an exemplary career of five deployments and multiple senior awards, including a Bronze Star, Army Commendation for Valor, 3 Meritorious Service Medals, 3 Navy Commendations, and years of illustrious combat duty. The man is a hero. In the wake of the recent debacle in Afghanistan which, thanks to Joe Biden’s reckless leadership blunders, cost numerous American lives, Colonel Scheller took to social media and recorded a video titled: “To The American Leadership” which encouraged high-ranking Pentagon Officers and a few other political pundits to take responsibility for their mistakes regarding Afghanistan. You’ve probably seen the video where Colonel Scheller speaks about the importance of being accountable for bad decisions taken in reference to the timing of the ill-fated Afghan pull out which subsequently led to deaths of several innocent Americans, among those children. . I listened to it it and I thought his comments were spot on. And so did millions of other Americans who already understood the gist of the Colonel’s message. Colonel Scheller didn’t unveil the contents of some secret High Security document or sensitive intel which necessitated concealment from the public. He was simply speaking from the heart out of obvious sadness and frustration over the Afghan mess. It was a sentiment felt by all Americans who experienced a feeling of sadness over the untimely demise of other Americans on foreign soil. But for this —–this supposed inalienable right under the Constitution for all to speak freely and express personal opinions—— the Marines decided to PROSECUTE the Colonel for a laundry list of offenses by way of a Court Martial, which, if successful, will certainly have profound deleterious repercussions on his job, his retirement, and the general quality of his life in the months and years ahead. Scheller is being charged, among other things, with disrespecting superior officers and conduct unbecoming an Officer. It is a sickening spectacle to behold for anyone who believes in the First Amendment, and, Brother, I’m one who does.
From my perspective, the Marine Corps made a dubious and unreasonable decision to seek formal charges for expressing personal views in a public forum, but, it’s actually much more than just that. The issue at stake here is far more insidious than just the prosecution of a fellow Marine who may have shamed and embarrassed higher-ranking officials with talk about who ordered The Code Red and then bypassing a chain of command to lend some friendly advice to those who did. No, it’s far worse than that. What is being perpetrated on Colonel Scheller by the Marine Corps amounts to nothing short of blatant retaliation for exercising a core Constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression. That right, in my humble opinion, supersedes some questionable “Gag Order” conjured up by military brass intended to keep Scheller quiet from demanding accountability for an incident that was already well-known by the public and was receiving growing attention (and criticism) by Americans everywhere. This is simply a case of prior restraint imposed on a citizen who decided to speak his mind. It is a sorry spectacle to witness this kind of deplorable retaliatory treatment administered to a brave and honorable man like Lt-Colonel Scheller.
And today, scary as the thought may be, there’s a good chance this sort of thing can happen to anyone, whether military or civilian.
And, let’s not be coy here. The retaliation against Scheller didn’t come exclusively from his superiors at the Pentagon. No way. This was generated somewhere else, somewhere (I’m thinking) a few blocks away. With a fair dab of criticism directed also at the White House by Scheller, I’ll bet you my bottom dollar the decision to put the Colonel in the brig and then prosecute him had a lot to do with the fragile ego of the doddering Dictator that inhabits 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Military court martials are different than prosecutions in regular civilian courts. The standard of evidence is far less to gain a conviction. They play loosey-goosey on the hearsay rule for instance. Military courts are governed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) which provides the foundation for military law in the USA. Civilian trials, of course, are governed by rights and laws established in the Constitution. In civilian criminal courts a unanimous jury verdict is required for conviction whereas in a military court only two-thirds of jury is required to convict. What that means—-to me anyway—–is that Scheller will eventually be convicted of the charges, especially the BAD ones, and he will be drummed out of the Corps on a Dishonorable Discharge thereby causing him to forfeit most of the rights and benefits he had accrued over nearly 20 years of service as a valiant and honorable soldier fighting bravely for MY freedom and for YOUR freedom, too.
Exactly as the Pentagon planned it.
Does this sound like something that is kosher under the laws of Military Justice, the American Constitution, or just plain old common sense? It doesn’t to me.
I was reading an online article just this week written by imminent attorney and Harvard Law School Professor, Alan Dershowitz, in which he was bemoaning the instances of American’s free speech and expression being suppressed more and more under the Biden Administration. (We all know this is happening in alarming heaping helpings). But, within the article I noticed that Dershowitz made the comment that, to paraphrase, he would go to tireless lengths to represent Americans whose free speech had been censored or suppressed. Maybe Professor Dershowitz should think about lending his amazing First Amendment skills of representation to Lt.-Colonel Scheller’s ridiculous court-martial because that is exactly what happened to him.
Call your Congressman and tell him or her to stop this nonsense!!!
THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE’S CANCELATION OF ITS SCHEDULED 2022 FOOTBALL GAME WITH ARMY IS INEXCUSABLE AND STEEPED IN COWARDICE
By David Hopkins
I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news told to me last month by an old Cincinnati Bearcat buddy who was yucking it up hilariously on the phone.
He laughed aloud when he told me that the University of Tennessee had canceled its 2022 home football game with Army and replaced it with the Mighty Zips of Akron. Yeah right, I replied, thinking my buddy was just full of brio and bluster (and other unmentionable stuff too) because the Bearcats were now ranked in college football’s Top 10. No way the renown Tennessee Vols from the powerful SEC, college football’s best conference, would duck Army or any other team for that matter. It had to be a joke, right?
Ooops. As College Game Day’s veteran analyst, Lee Corso, might say: “Not so fast, my Friend.”
I discovered, to my dismay, it IS true. The joke is no joke at all. The University of Tennessee HAS dropped Army from its 2022 schedule, and honestly, I can’t think of a more embarrassing and utterly dishonorable move by this university.
Is This Big Orange or Just A Little Yellow?
This game had all the earmarkings of a nationally-prominent contest that very well could have restored some badly-needed prestige and notoriety to Tennessee’s lackluster football program. The Army Black Knights were, and are, a perfect opponent, a foe of resplendent honor and valor with FIVE former National Championships, especially when considering that the 2022 Congressional Medal of Honor Society Convention will be held in Knoxville that week. Keep in mind that the Medal of Honor for gallantry is the highest military award of our country. The recipients of the award are bonafide American heroes. These Medal of Honor recipients would have been recognized at the Army-Tennessee game at Neyland Stadium, and it would have been a proud and inspiring ceremony, and certainly a huge national TV draw. There is a good likelihood ESPN would have held its “College Game Day” telecast on campus.
And……..it’s ARMY!!
Now , I have to say, that might not hold much cache for the increasingly Woke confluence of students and “teachers” on campus who seem to be lacking the perspicacity and good common sense to recognize the importance of military service in this country, but it sure still means something special to the the legions of older Vol fans along with its many Veterans who love the Vols and attend its games.
Tennessee, which hasn’t produced a winning season since 2016, generally welcomes the opportunity to embrace red-white-and blue patriotism at its games. Army Black Hawk helicopters perform spectacular shows over Neyland Stadium, thrilling and inspiring its huge crowds. Patriotism and support for our military are keystone components of life around Knoxville.
But, instead of honoring its contract to play a service academy in a high-profile game, Tennessee broke weak and dropped Army like a fizzling hand-grenade.
The Bag Won’t Come Off Anytime Soon
Why would the Volunteer Athletic Department do this, you ask?
Anyone who genuinely knows college football can name THAT tune in about one note.
The Tennessee Vols are SCARED to play Army.
The Army football team, unlike Akron, isn’t a cupcake by any stretch. In fact, they’re a beast. A tough, potent triple-option team that racks up around 300 yards on the ground every game and executes the type of hardcore blocking that punishes defenses and takes the steam out of many opposing players by the the fourth quarter. I’ve watched Army play at this level for a few years now, and obviously, so has Tennessee. Combine that with the fact that the Vols have Florida on the schedule the week following the now-canceled Army game and you begin to see the picture more clearly………
Since the Tennessee Athletic Department never offered a specific reason for dropping Army, there has been talk around Knoxville and my little burg of Loudon that maybe the Vols canceled the game because the campus is so Woke and so overrun with social justice Kneelers and burgeoning Socialists that hosting a famous military academy like Army is a tad unpopular on Rocky Top , but, that’s not it at all. I prefer to take the Howard Cossell approach and just “Tell it like it is”………..
Simply put, the Vols are scared to play Army. No two ways about it. They are scared they might get roughed up and get their feelings hurt. They don’t want to limp into the Florida game all tired and beat up and dispirited and get blown out any worse than they will otherwise. The Orange has faded into a kind of chickendoody yellow. They are weak and cowardly.
Army? HELL No!!!
Dishonorable? Disgusting? Ignoble? You bet.
It’s the kind of classless move that would make General Robert Neyland roll over in his grave.
Army would have been a great game to watch, a spectacular clash of two legendary programs , and from my reading they’re not too happy about Tennessee’s panicky move over at West Point because, for one thing, the Black Knights program was going to get 1.4 million for that game. I’d be a little perturbed, too, to get hosed out of a cool 1.4 mil for the pleasure of marching over to Knoxville and to beat up on the Vols for a couple of hours. But, for Army, it shouldn’t be any biggie. The following season they have LSU on the schedule, and if you think the Tigers are going to chicken out, well, I’ve got some beautiful prime property on the bayou to sell you really cheap.
ROGER GOODALL ELECTS TO DIVIDE AMERICA FURTHER BY INCORPORATINGA BLACK NATIONAL ANTHEM AT ITS GAMES
By David Hopkins
Leave It To The NFL To Practice The Politics Of Division
Just when you thought it was safe to slip back into the tranquility of sports fandom, here comes the NFL with yet another screwy way to mess with the country and divide Americans of all colors. After a long torturous 2020 season which saw rampant social justice displays by players, noxious kneelers aplenty, and a couple of half-intoxicated broadcasters who disparaged our military for routine stadium flyovers, you might think the NFL had run out of ways to alienate fans and would be more enlightened stewards of the entertainment industry.
But NO. Not this NFL. Not in the world of Roger the Dodger Goodall, the Commish with the Wish for the most Woke Utopia on the planet. Why on Earth would we expect anything less in 2021?
What have they done now? you ask. What is Goodall and his underlings up to this time?
Beginning with last Thursday’s game between the Bucs and Cowboys, the NFL has announced that there will be TWO national anthems played before the start of every game, one the old familiar “Star Spangled Banner” and the other “Lift Every Voice And Sing”, referred to as “the black national anthem”.
Huh?
Yes, you heard right. The USA, now has a “Black National Anthem” and thanks to the priggish powers of Commissioner Goodall, it has been decreed it shall be played before all NFL games.
You gotta give them credit—- there’s nothing like the NFL to drive a wedge between its fans.
At first brush, one can’t help but wonder why the NFL would resort to something so….controversial…..so bloated with unpopularity, and not just among White fans. A whole lot of people are scratching their heads over this one. My own scalp is pretty raw at the moment. Commissioner Goodall explains it by saying, “We, the National Football League, believe black lives matter….Without black players there would be no National Football League.” That’s only partially true. Without black players there would still be an NFL, it just wouldn’t be as good. In reality, though, the move is more of an effort to expand its political goals under the banner of “social justice”. It’s really just another form of kneeling, just with music. While workforce equality is always a good thing, I have a difficult time understanding the adoption of two National Anthems, one for White America (supposedly) and one for Black America, as a unifying force consistent with the principles of “one nation under God indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
The long and short of it is that there is nothing remotely unifying about two national anthems played at sporting venues. It is a clear message to the world that we as a nation are divided, not unified. The NFL can’t seem to understand that concept so they march stubbornly onward to their own strange and discordant drumbeat.
Evidently, proponents of a black national anthem, including the NFL, believe this is important as a reminder of the past unfortunate struggles faced by Black Americans in a country which often denied them basic human rights. “Lift Up Every Voice And Sing” was a poem written in 1899 by James Weldon Johnson, a school principal and Republican civil rights activist in Florida. It was set to music in 1905 by his brother, John R. Johnson. Without question, it is a beautiful inspiring song that recounts the suffering of slavery and urges the listener to persevere and hope for a better future. It is also a protest song quite popular among black protest movements on college campuses. I heard it myself many times during my college days in the 70s and thought it was quite moving and relevant to evolving standards of equality in America.
But the song has all the trappings of a political statement and that is the most disturbing aspect of it as an alternative “national anthem” to be played on par with the “Star Spangled Banner” and to be showcased at NFL games or any other sporting event. The “Star Spangled Banner” is not a political or social justice statement. It is a poem recounting a time in history when the issue of the existence of this country as a whole was in grave jeopardy. It could well be true that if at “the dawn’s early light” our flag would NOT have been there, we would now be playing “God Save The Queen” at all our sporting events. Francis Scott Key penned “The Star Spangled Banner” for the benefit and inspiration of ALL citizenry of the burgeoning and imperiled United States, black and white, which unlike the song “Lift Every Voice And Sing” evokes a message of separatism.
Timothy Askew, a black professor at a historically black school, Clark Atlanta University, believes that “Lift Every Voice And Sing” should not be labeled as a black national anthem but better described as a “hymn”. Dr. Askew believes that by referring to the song as a black national anthem it suggests that Blacks are separatists and want to have their own nation, meaning that everything Martin Luther King, Jr. believed and spoke of gets tossed out the window.
The National Football League, however, doesn’t seem to get this. Roger Goodall fails to grasp how two national anthems played within the context of a single sporting event attended by a melange of ethnicities presents a convoluted and certainly divisive message to the public. Based on some of his past antics, one has to wonder if Goodall is doing this deliberately, maybe trying to stir up more discord among those of us who love football and just want to be fans rather than have racial controversies rammed down our throats.
American Blacks aren’t a Nation to themselves. They are one of many demographic groups within our nation. If Blacks are to have their own national anthem, why shouldn’t other ethnic groups have a national anthem, too? After all, suffering and oppression isn’t exclusive to American Blacks. Let’s think about getting the Irish, America’s first slaves shipped in chains to the colonies in 1619, a National Anthem. The Irish are rowdy hardcore sports fans, love football (not futball), and what a festive Anthem THAT would be. From most historical accounts, Irish slaves in America were treated every bit as brutal or worse than African slaves. How about a Japanese national anthem? Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Japanese Americans were detained and relocated to interment camps( and some say military brothels) where they remained until 1944 and in some cases longer. Why wouldn’t the Jews be deserving of their own anthem? I mean, the degradation and antisemitism American Jews have endured in the United States and around the world is legendary. And then, there’s the Native American. If there has ever been a group of people who deserve a National Anthem in consideration for maltreatment in this country it is the Native American. In this Woke American Culture, stringent efforts have been undertaken to erode the memory of the Native American by redacting the various identifying names and images. Heck, Goodall even stripped the Washington DC franchise from the longstanding name of its former NFL team, the Redskins. The Cancel Culture is now working on other college and professional sports franchises, too, targeting Native American team identities. Soon all references to Native American-oriented teams will be gone. I would say our Native Americans could definitely use an anthem.
Here’s an idea: Let’s give every historically downtrodden ethnic group in the USA their own national anthem and play them all before every sporting event, pro or college. Make it a pre-game concert. If the game is scheduled for 8:00 pm the “National Anthem Concert” could start at around 4:00 and maybe be finished by game time. Maybe. Who knows? Once the Irish or Greeks get cranked up it could go on for hours. But the entertainment value would be priceless.
A national anthem shouldn’t divide us. It should be all inclusive, a song for us all. There should be ONE Anthem, one mellifluous voice for us all. In its frenzied efforts to foster its own brand of Wokeness and social correctness on Americans by plying us with dual national anthems, Roger Goodall has once again fumbled the ball, and on this occasion, I’m throwing the Flag.
On this day, many of our Congressional Representatives are busy giving remembrance for the horrid attack on the World Trade Center Towers and Pentagon by el-Qaeda on 9/11/2001.
But where is this one?
Where is Ocasio-Cortez?
And where are the members of “The Squad”?
Have these typically loquacious members of Congress forgotten what this day represents? Hardly.
You won’t be seeing Omar or Ocasio-Cortez or any member of The Squad offering any commiseration or sorrowful gesture about the infamous 9/11 terrorist attack because they are in reality America-hating terrorist sympathizers who would love to see the destruction of the USA. Omar is probably crafting some insane little piece of propaganda even as we speak in an attempt to justify the 9/11 terrorist attack as she has done in the past.
No, you won’t see Ilhan Omar and the Squad giving condolences or paying tribute to first responders and firefighters who put their lives on the line during the attack. Their sympathies lie with the terrorists.
Soon The Sanctity Of Life May Win Out Over Selfishness
Thanks to the unremitting courage and compassion of the State of Texas combined with fervent pro-life advocacy by certain Mississippi residents there is reason to believe that a baby’s life is about to finally gain the intrinsic value which has been otherwise denied for nearly fifty years in the USA. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 not to block the new Texas law that bans abortion past six weeks of pregnancy. Referred to as the “Heartbeat Act”, the Texas law will protect an unborn baby from being murdered once the heartbeat has been heard. The ruling is a key step in establishing a baby’s right to life that was crushed in 1973 by Roe v Wade. And while this is a most encouraging decision for pro-Life advocates—-and I am definitely one—– the High Court will hear an even bigger and more far-reaching case this Fall, Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which if decided properly could well put an end to the scourge of abortion altogether in this country. The news of the Texas decision hit with all the explosiveness of Thor’s Hammer sending bolts of lightening crashing to Earth causing stunned pro-abortion advocates to recoil in horror and launch into loud angry protests over what they realize is a ominous sign of things to come for Murder Inc.
No two ways about it, Roe v Wade is hanging by a thread.
Rather than delving today into the maze of nuanced legal arguments which will certainly form the eventual decision in the Dobbs case, I’ll leave those matters for the qualified and far more capable lawyers who will do their best to make the Court see things their way in the Fall. I can only write from the position of ethics and morality, which I think, more than anything, should play a key factor here, and what I earnestly hope the Supreme Court will rely heavily when the anticipated day of reckoning comes.
Can you imagine that since Roe v Wade was decided in 1973, there have been over 62 million abortions carried out in the USA? That’s right, 62 million. A staggering number of murders. More deaths than the Civil War, World War II, and Viet Nam combined. And don’t get it twisted, these ARE murders. Ghastly murders. Messy deaths riddled with horrible pain. Mass murder committed against humanity’s most innocent and vulnerable diminutive darlings. It is incomprehensible to me that humans fail to understand that when they consent to abortion they are violating God’s most sacred law—-the deliberate extinguishment of the life of another human being. In this instance the life of an innocent helpless baby who has done nothing to merit this kind of malicious fate. A tiny human who lies quietly and peacefully alone within the snug confines of the Mother’s womb only wanting to be nurtured, somehow sensing that ahead lies a bright welcoming world of love. In 2020 there were approximately 880,000 aborted babies in America. How can any American be OK with such a prodigious number? The new laws in Texas and in Mississippi were specifically designed to protect the baby’s right to carry on that spark of life he or she was given while growing inside the womb.
The new laws in Texas and Mississippi reflect a fundamental truth of human existence—— life is good and honorable and worthy of legal protection from those who wish to arbitrarily and capriciously end it. That is particularly meaningful when it’s the parent who helped create you that’s plotting to kill you. It’s no different than the protection any one of us adults deserve as we walk down the street or drive to our jobs or relax at some public venue without being assaulted or worse, killed. This truth reflects what is clear in our Declaration of Independence and the words of our Constitution—– that life is sacred FOR ALL and abortion is Unconstitutional as repugnant to the principles of basic decency. Abortion is an assault on God’s holiness, a callous repudiation of moral restraint, a wayward unprincipled plunge into a dark stinky cesspool of an archaic practice born primarily out of selfishness. It is a barbaric ritual that robs society of a life created with intended purpose.
And how do pro-abortionists counter this? Why, with the same tired mantra they’ve been using for decades: “My body. My decision.” How many times have you heard that one? Yet, what these murdering Mothers conveniently overlook is that it’s not their bodies under assault but the bodies and lives of their helpless babies who are unable to cry out for protection from harm. In an attempt to justify the murder of the baby, pro-abortionists generally utilize a two-step approach—–First, they seek to devalue the baby’s life by referring to it in denigrative terms such as a “cluster of cells” or any number of similar demeaning pejorative meant to dehumanize the growing fetus. Then, after feeling they have successfully accomplished the act of devaluation, they feel emboldened to suggest that such a worthless clump of random cells and feckless material growing inside them is worthy to be washed down the drain at an abortion clinic or otherwise harvested for some dubious research project.
In recent years pro-abortion groups have altered their messaging strategy, relaxing the slogan of “free choice”, to claim instead that abortion is simply essential “health care” for women. References to abortion or “abortion services” have been replaced in pro-abortion literature by the more softer euphemism, “abortion care”. This is not only disingenuous, it is an outright lie because abortion is the antithesis of healthcare. By claiming an objective basis in medicine, when there is none, abortion supporters seek to marginalize health care providers around the country who disagree with them, dismissing these Americans as not living up to “the standard of healthcare”. Far from being integral to our health care system, abortion is something vile that supporters seek to impose on that system by the force of law. Abortion proponents can call it any name they’d like, but ultimately it all boils down to nothing but murder.
For me, and for millions of Americans who now stand resolutely for Life, it simply boils down to one essential question: Weighed in the balance, is the right to life of the unborn baby more important, morally and Constitutionally, than a Mother’s choice to randomly terminate that life? In every case the answer is a resounding YES!
Similarly, legalized abortion is an overlooked tragedy for Black Americans. Abortion impacts African Americans at a higher rate than any other population group. In a recent Report released by the Centers For Disease Control (which maintains population figures in the USA), according to the Report, black women make up 14% of the childbearing population but are responsible for 36% of all abortions. At a rate of 474 abortions per 1,000 live births, Black women have the highest abortion rate of any group in the country. This statistic is very peculiar to me and sufficiently disturbing, because of the emphasis placed on the national consciousness by the “Black Lives Matter” organization that ALL Black Lives have meaning and importance. I mean, we’ve heard the loud outcries from every section of the nation backed by a multitude of TV commercials and public service announcements and sports kneelers aplenty that stress Black Lives Matter strives to produce equality among lives of every Black American, and the organization has been extremely ferocious in hammering home that point. One has to wonder why BLM is not so demonstratively alacritous when it comes to protecting the lives of precious Black babies who are senselessly murdered in eye-popping numbers every bit as much as they protest the deaths of Black adults whose lives were taken precipitously. Is there a double standard at work in the case of “Black Lives Matter”? Or are we just being selective as to whose lives matter most? I wonder if out of the 22 million Black babies who have been aborted since the decision in Roe v Wade, how many would have grown to be teachers and scientists and professional athletes and social activists if they would have been allowed to live?
And out of the woodwork comes the angry apparition of our President, Joe Biden, an old doddering relic trumpeting his ignomy over what he calls an “assault on the Constitution” the Supreme Court decision represents. He tells us the Texas law is unconstitutional. Even “Unamerican”. He bristles that the Texas law unleashes “unconstitutional chaos” on America. (His script writers must have worked overtime for that one). Biden, who professes to be a Catholic but willingly endorses wholesale abortion, paints a perfect example of a President steeped in hypocrisy with no moral compass, a charlatan who lacks integrity and fortitude to stand up for true victims of crime. Biden blathers about constitutional rights for pro-abortionists but we need to quickly remind Joe Biden that the Constitution never mentioned anything about slaughtering babies.
CULTURE CRAZE 