I am disappointed but not surprised by a New York Court of Appeals ruling today in which the former president’s bond for the $450 million judgement against him was reduced to $175 million.
On the bright side, the judge in the former president’s criminal trial in the alleged payoff to hide a sexual encounter with adult film star Stormy Daniels did not grant a delay in the trial as requested by the former president. The trial is scheduled to start April 15.
The former president has been found guilty of sexual assault, found guilty of falsifying financial records, he has been indicted for his actions leading up to January 6, 2021, he has been indicted in Georgia for interfering with an election, and he has been indicted for knowingly removing classified documents from the White House, lying about it, and obstructing their removal from his personal property.
I still cannot comprehend how the Republican Party has chosen this man to be their choice to be the face of the free world in the upcoming presidential election.
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A government shutdown was avoided this weekend, but not without the usual drama. To get the bill passed in the House, Speaker Johnson had to rely on Democrats to secure the votes needed to pass the bill. The majority of House Republicans, led by the MAGA extremists, voted against the bill.
Once again Speaker Johnson is in the crosshair of the MAGA extremists of his party. Per Representative Marjorie Taylor Green, he violated an unwritten rule that says you should never bring legislation forward that is not favored by a majority of the Republican caucus. Greene has filed a motion to vacate the chair. Since Speaker Johnson has recessed the House until mid-April, so who knows what will become of Greene’s motion.
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This weekend I had a friend tell me that the former president was the biggest RINO (Republican in Name Only) in the country. He went on to say that the former president is not a conservative and he does not represent the conservative principles that the Republican Party represented prior to 2016.
Today I came across an article in The Tennessean by conservative columnist Cameron Smith which agrees with my friend. Here are a couple of paragraphs from the column.
U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is the most conservative leader of the House of Representatives since Newt Gingrich. He’s a Christian whose personal life is consistent with the beliefs he espouses. From a character and principle standpoint, Johnson is exactly the kind of leader Republicans have wanted for a generation.
Let me put this gently, Kamikaze Republicans like Greene are deceptive show ponies hell-bent on burning President Ronald Reagan’s “big tent” to the ground.
I love the term Kamikaze Republicans to describe the former president and his MAGA supporters. In the future, you will see more of that term in this blog,
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The Buffalo Wild Wings commercial showing a buffalo with wings, lamenting how basketball players today do not know the fundamentals of boxing out, makes me laugh every time I see it. As the buffalo shows how to box out using his “rearend” by knocking patrons all over the bar, I am reminded of when Dave Clifton and I taught 4th through 8th graders how to use their “rearend” to become a successful rebounder.
For 20 years at our Saturday morning basketball clinic, we told the kids, “if they would stick their “rearends” into the body of the person they were trying to box out, they could be good rebounders even if the person they were guarding was much taller”. We then demonstrated it by having Dave, who was much shorter than I, box me out by keeping his “rearend” on me and preventing me from jumping and grabbing the rebound.
The young kids had the hardest time getting past the disgusting thought of using their “butt” to be a good rebounder. Getting them to stick their butts into someone else, or allowing someone to stick their butts into them was too much for most of them to handle. They couldn’t get past the “butt” factor.
In the commercial, the look on the faces of the patrons of the bar as the buffalo is knocking people all over the bar with his butt is exactly how those kids faces looked when Dave and I demonstrated the art of blocking out.
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It was a joy watching the 14th seeded Oakland University Golden Grizzlies knock of 3rd seeded Kentucky Wildcats in the first round of the men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament on Thursday evening. It was a night Coach Kampe, and his team were introduced to the rest of the country.
Jack Gohlke and his teammates were exceptional in all phases of the game. Gohlke with his 10 three-pointers, became an overnight sensation and Oakland became the talk of the tournament for the next 24 hours. Coach Kampe and Jack Gohlke were in demand all day Saturday for national media attention.
On the national level it may have been a big upset, but for those of us who have followed Oakland and Coach Kampe for the last 40 years, their success was not a surprise. Kampe has always been willing to take on the toughest teams in hostile environments. This year’s non-league schedule was a prime example as they took on MSU, Xavier, The Ohio State, and Illinois all on the road. This is why the Golden Grizzlies did not fold under the spotlight as the game came down to the wire.
Oakland’s season came to an end on Saturday as they lost in overtime to North Carolina State in another hard fought and well-played game. In the meantime, the country now knows about Coach Kampe and the Oakland Golden Grizzlies. They will never be taken for granted again.
See my Video of the Day to see Gohlke’s three-point shooting during the Kentucky game. Note, nearly every one of his shots was contested by Kentucky’s defense. The only one not contested was when he was well away from the three-point line and Kentucky did not think he would shoot from that far away.
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Quote of the Day: “That is not a green light. That is a freeway.” Kenny the Jet Smith talking about Oakland’s Jack Gohlke after he hit 7 three pointers in the first half against Kentucky during the half-time show on CBS in response to Clark Kellogg saying “Gohlke has a green light to shoot anytime.”
Orchid of the Day: Coach Kampe and the Golden Grizzlies
Onion of the Day: The appeals court panel who reduced the former president’s bond. I wanted so much to see him scramble to come up with the bond.
Question of the Day: Is there really a Cinderella story anymore in the NCAA tournament?
Video of the Day: Enjoy
(10) Jack Gohlke SHOCKS EVERYONE with 32 PTS, 10 Threes vs Kentucky 🔥 – YouTube
Good read Biggs…see ya soon….