November 2017 -

Exercise Principles on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. Great food; family gets together. For most it’s a long weekend, so it affords opportunity to meet up with friends for a drink or 10.

For those of us who don’t cook the meal there is little to no fuss. It’s just a good traditional American holiday.

Football has become synonymous with Thanksgiving also. I have said in prior articles that I have gradually lost interest in the sport, especially the NFL over the years.

However, on Thanksgiving I liked having the traditional games on even though I only paid half attention recently. By traditional games I mean the Detroit Lions hosting the early game and the Dallas Cowboys hosting the late afternoon game against various opponents.

I never cared for the extra money-grab primetime game featuring rotating teams. Leave it to today’s sports leagues to oversaturate for a dollar.

Now that a significant number of players refuse to pay respect to our flag and National Anthem I will simply never allow the NFL to be on my television for the foreseeable future.

This topic is low on my personal list of national priorities, but it has continued to be a hot-button issue and has become unavoidable. Now if the players’ latest display of “hey look at me” behavior does not bother you, please by all means enjoy the games along with your turkey.

However, if it does bother you what will you do about it? Many people are boycotting the NFL these days; there are even bars advertising that the NFL will not be shown in their establishment.

If you are in that camp, the most important times to boycott are the league’s biggest days. Super Sunday followed by the playoffs are obviously the biggest.

But the biggest regular season day for the NFL is arguably Thanksgiving. This American holiday is where your message is heard the loudest.

So, if you are hosting Thanksgiving (I admit I am not) in your home and are offended by today’s NFL, simply don’t put the games on. Send a message to the league and your guests that your principles are not a slave to the norm.

Your family, like mine may be very divided politically. You may feel pressure to want to please your guests and be respectful to them. Your heart is in the right place and is a big part of what makes you a traditional American rather than an intolerant progressive.

But shouldn’t your guests have the same respect for you? It’s your home, not theirs.

You purchased, prepared and cooked the meal; not them. I said last year that the requisite to America becoming great again is doing the small things in small situations. It can be your little contribution to the culture war.

If you are not hosting maybe your sacrifice can be compromising your comfort level by showing loyalty to your gracious host by encouraging others to respect his/her stance. Life often tests us in small ways day-to-day.

How we react in small situations is usually a good indication of how we will handle bigger tests. Talk soon.

-Marksman

PS: To my Italian readers, you have by far the best cuisine in the world. However, even as a partial Italian I will never understand how manicotti goes with turkey, stuffing, potatoes and gravy (actual gravy from the bird’s drippings, not sauce called gravy).

I’m pretty sure the Pilgrims and Indians did have an antipasto. Anyway….God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Can Jeff Sessions Do His Job?

While Robert Mueller continues his witch hunt of President Donald J. Trump, the smoke keeps getting thicker regarding foul play and possible/probable crimes by Trump’s enemies. Mike Cernovich (https://twitter.com/Cernovich) broke the story in April that Susan Rice and therefore, the Obama administration unmasked incoming Trump officials.

This appears to substantiate the President’s belief that he and his campaign/transition team were wiretapped. Ms. Rice has since refused to testify before congress regarding Russian hacking. What does she have to hide?

Brooke Singman (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/26/trump-doj-settles-lawsuits-over-tea-party-targeting-by-obama-irs.html) reported on 10/26/17 that the IRS admitted to wrongfully targeting the Tea Party and other conservative groups during the Obama administration.

A lawsuit was apparently settled and the IRS apologized. It’s very nice that they now apologize, but no arrests? Where is Lois Lerner?

While the left and establishment right go digging for that Russian explanation for their worst nightmare: a Trump victory, Donna Brazile (former chair of the Democratic National Committee) has confirmed that the 2016 Democratic Primary was rigged for Crooked Hillary Clinton. Well, what’s the consequence?

The Clinton scandals are endless. You have Uranium sold to the Russians, those same boogiemen who stole the presidency from Crooked Hillary. You know, the Russians who the left and warmonger establishment right has been trying to provoke a war with?

Then there are the 30,000+ whipped (“with a cloth”) emails containing classified information from a personal server. You have the questionable foreign money to the Clinton Foundation. Of course all the skimming from the foundation for busted Chelsea’s wedding still couldn’t turn her into a beautiful bride.

How is the search for the Seth Rich killer coming? I suspect about as well as the hunt for Nicole Brown Simpson’s real killer. I won’t even go into all those close to the Clintons who “committed suicide” the last three decades.

Kristina Wong published a story (http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/11/02/rep-matt-gaetz-says-jeff-sessions-recused-uranium-one-deal/) that our quiet attorney general told a small group of lawmakers in late September that he was recused from appointing a special counsel to look into potential corruption regarding the sale of Uranium to Russia along with Fusion GPS’ work on the fake Trump dossier.

Matt Gaetz (R-FL) told Breitbart that Sessions feels anything related to the 2016 election, Russia or the candidates falls under his recusal leading to the appointment of Mueller to investigate possible Trump/Russia collusion. So, how can he execute what he was appointed to do?

The Justice Dept. is not supposed to just go out and act as henchmen for the President (though Sessions’ predecessors seemed to do just that without repercussions). However, there seems to be an awful lot of blatant corrupt activity involving high level Democrats to investigate and prosecute.

Jeff Sessions has been tough when it comes to taking on MS-13 and other criminal illegal aliens; he has also reportedly gone after leakers inside the administration (http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-sessions-polygraph-national-security-council-2017-9). He was an early Trump supporter.

He took the high road and stayed loyal when Trump publicly embarrassed him over the Summer. But the DOJ owes it to the American people to go after lawbreakers at the highest level.

I just don’t see this man having the same sense of urgency and aggressiveness that Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch had. I am not advocating their corruption, but you have to admire their fight and determination.

Roger Stone (who was banned from communist Twitter) has predicted that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be out by December. Maybe Sessions is more suited to be top diplomat than top prosecutor.

The one thing I don’t want to see is Trump publicly ridiculing Sessions again. That sends a terrible message that loyalty is not valued.

Maybe they can work out a reassignment; maybe Sessions has a plan and is going no place. However, if he cannot investigate blatant criminal acts by those connected to the 2016 election he can’t do the job he was appointed to. Talk soon.

-Marksman

PS: Just to piggyback on http://thestraightshot.com/is-the-heavyweight-division-waking-up/, Deontay Wilder looks by the eye test to me to be the most dangerous heavyweight in boxing right now; not Anthony Joshua.

Is the Heavyweight Division Waking Up?

June 21, 2003 was the last waking hour of the heavyweight division in boxing for the next decade and a half. On that night an underappreciated champion named Lennox Lewis escaped with his title stopping Vitali Klitschko on cuts in a bout he was losing.

The British champ was 38 and had established himself as the best heavyweight in a very underrated era. The 1970s are rightfully regarded as the best time in heavyweight boxing history.

The brand names of the 70s are well-known. But after the Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Holmes tier you had terrific contenders who would have been champions in a lesser era; guys like Ron Lyle, Jerry Quarry, George Chuvalo, Ernie Shavers, Jimmy Young just to scratch the surface.

But after that golden age, the next best post-WWII heavyweight era was the 1990s into the early 2000s. Lewis emerged as the king of a span that included Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, George Foreman 2.0, Michael Moorer, Larry Holmes 3.0, Andrew Golota, Ray Mercer, Tommy Morrison and several more quality badasses.

Lewis, with his gentleman’s disposition and British accent made him have to earn every drop of respect. Those qualities kept him from ever being truly embraced States-side.

The audience on our side of the pond warmed up more to Tyson’s thug image or Holyfield’s noble warrior image. However, when Lewis beat Holyfield then dropped Tyson into his boxing grave there was no denying his greatness.

And boy did we learn to miss him. After the Klitschko fight the writing was on the wall that Vitali and his brother Wladimir were on their way to stamping their own era.

Rather than stick around for a lucrative but dangerous rematch with Vitali, the champ took his titles, money and faculties home calling it a hall-of-fame career. The Klitschkos were really good fighters who would have been a handful for anyone in any era with their size, power and underrated defense but the American audience warmed up to them even less.

The competition to make their talent shine just wasn’t there and they were boring. The Ukrainian brothers ran through other less talented Eastern Europeans and third tier American tough guys (as the top tier athletes went for the NFL and NBA) for over a decade.

It became clear that the only competition they could find was with each other. This was something they understandably refused to entertain.

They were stars in Europe, especially Germany. However, they caused the lure of the Heavyweight Championship of the World (once the standard of manhood) to become folklore in the United States. There are simple reasons for that.

Poverty, desperation and hunger make for championship fighters. The poor in this country are no longer hungry and desperate. Everyone has cable, internet, full stomachs and brand name clothes.

Then there is the recruitment of athletes at younger and younger ages. What is a kid in the inner city or some rural nowhere going to chose between free sneakers and a major university versus a busted nose in a sweltering, smelly hell-hole?

Father Time has ended the Klitschko era. Vitali is long retired and Wladimir went out on his shield this past Summer passing the torch to a new Brit named Anthony Joshua.

Joshua is a 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist carved out of stone. He is strong, athletic and powerful. He showed championship heart getting off the deck to finish Wladimir.

On top of that he is intelligent and has the looks to be a crossover star. He is already packing 80-90,000 into stadiums in the UK.

At 20-0, 20 KOs he holds the IBF and WBA titles. The only knock I have on him so far is that he is not busy enough with his punches, especially the jab.

Joshua’s overly muscular physique chokes his punch output and fatigues him. I would like to see him drop 10-20 lbs. of that bulk; the extra flexibility may actually increase his punching power by putting more snap on his punches.

The other thing he needs is exposure to the biggest market in the world here in the USA. Coincidentally, he has the perfect dance partner here to do just that.

Deontay Wilder from Tuscaloosa, AL holds the WBC strap. The 2008 Olympic Bronze Medalist is 38-0 with 37 KOs heading into this weekend’s rematch with Bermane Stiverne in Brooklyn (aired on Showtime).

Joshua-Wilder can grab the public’s attention and bring some of the charm back to the greatest title in the world. If Wilder takes care of business tomorrow night it would behoove both men to get it on next.

Heavyweights are always fragile because one punch can completely upset the applecart. There are other good heavyweights on the scene like Joseph Parker who holds the WBO strap. Daniel Dubois is only 5 fights into his career but his power has put all five opponents out in under two minutes.

If the NFL continues to turn off the public the financial repercussions will trickle down from the owners to the players. Could that bring just a tiny bit of that talent pool back?

We are unlikely to ever see another heavyweight golden age like the 1970s or even the 1990s again. But maybe, just maybe the division is on it’s way back from its 15-year slumber. Talk soon.

-Marksman

PS: I will be subjectively ranking the top-10 heavyweights of all time in the near future. Just a little tidbit: Mike Tyson doesn’t make the list.