Month: April 2024

The conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court, which has been running interference for ex-President Donald Trump during the past several years, is now slowly pondering Trump’s claim of “absolute Presidential immunity” regarding the many Federal crimes that he is alleged to have committed way back in 2020.

The idea of total immunity against prosecution, which is what Trump claims he has, is an absurd concept which the Founding Fathers wisely did not include in the U.S. Constitution. In fact, the lot of them detested the concept of authoritarian rule and took pains to make sure that their new nation would be governed by the “rule of law” that would apply to all citizens.

The idea that a President could commit any crime that he wanted without repercussion was idiotic and repulsive to these esteemed gentlemen 250 years ago. Now, in 2024, we have a politically-charged Supreme Court (three of the nine members were appointed to life terms by Trump) which is trying mightily to find some hidden language or rationale in the Constitution which would permit the nation’s leader to be an authoritarian mob boss accountable to no one.

The idea that total immunity from criminal prosecution would even allow a sitting President to assassinate a political rival was offered by one of Trump’s attorneys during the arguments before SCOTUS.

That is a scary thought, isn’t it?

Particularly if the Court agrees with the dangerous concept. It is reasonable to believe, based on Trump’s recent campaign rhetoric (he’s promised to “get even” with his political opponents if he is elected in November), that he would use this tool to exact revenge and ensure absolute power to the detriment of our Bill of Rights.

If absolute Presidential immunity is ruled to be Constitutional by SCOTUS, then President Biden enjoys it right now. Theoretically, Biden could have Trump assassinated before the election in November.

He could also have the conservative members of the Supreme Court assassinated, as well. In fact, Joe Biden might as well go ahead and have all the Republican Senators and Congressmen put down as well.

It would be like Michael Corleone doing away with all of the Godfather’s enemies in one fell swoop during his son’s baptism. Get rid of the troublemakers.

The idea is ridiculous, of course, because a good man and confirmed believer in democracy, which Biden is, would never countenance such heinous acts.

But Donald Trump?

The man has no moral compass, he thinks only of himself and how he can make more money, and has a reputation for brutal behavior with women, contractors, tenants, lenders, consumers, and business partners. He is presently fighting something like 90 criminal indictments in various courts throughout the land. Trump lost the 2020 election but attempted to engineer a coup to keep himself in the White House.

I believe that “total Presidential immunity” in the hands of someone like Donald Trump would be the death blow to our democratic form of government. The man would be uncontrollable. It would be like giving your 10-year-old child the car keys: what could possibly go wrong?

SCOTUS should take Donald Trump out of the equation. Pretend like he doesn’t exist and examine the idea of “total Presidential immunity” on its face… is it Constitutional, is it democratic, does it apply the “rule of law” to every citizen, including the President?

The idea of total Presidential immunity is preposterous, and the Supreme Court should so rule and do it quickly so that America doesn’t have to spend another minute worrying about such an anti-democratic,  stupid idea.

And, then, SCOTUS should apologize for its part in this obscene charade.

As I noted in a March 10^th blog entitled “A Conspiracy?”, I have long been fascinated about the mysterious origins of the New Testament of the Holy Bible.

I am an atheist now but was once a card-carrying “born again” Christian. I believe that most of the morality promoted by the major religions, including Christianity, is positive stuff. And, as far as any religion being a source of hope and generating a feeling of positivity is concerned, I’m all in favor of that. My wife is a Catholic, came from a family of true believers, attended a convent, and is a model human being. To the extent that her religion has had a positive impact on her life and that of others, I cannot argue.

People who live by the “Golden Rule”, whether they be religious or not, are the kind of folk that I want to associate with. I try to adhere to it as best I can because it’s the right thing, not because I’m trying to curry a god’s favor.

The origins of all religions are shrouded in mystery, and all religions have a mythical backstory. That would include fantastic claims like virginal births, folks conversing directly with God, lots of miracles being performed, holy men prophesying future events, main characters dying but being resurrected from the dead, and such. The Holy Bible, including the Old and New Testaments, is but one religious tome that includes a litany of mythical provenance, if one can call it that.

If Moses could part the Red Sea with his staff, couldn’t Paul Bunyan plow the Grand Canyon with the help of his blue ox “Babe”? We are entertained but scoff at the latter myth, but Jews and many fundamental Christians believe wholeheartedly in the Moses story. Why? Because they want to believe.

I don’t need to believe in religious myths, but I have always been very interested in where they came from and why.  Luckily, I love to read and there are quite a few scholars who have been investigating these religious back stories ever since the Reformation.

Research into the origins of the New Testament has been prolific in the past few decades. It is a difficult field of study, as most of the literature from the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd centuries no longer exists, including the original Gospels. This absence of source data is not by accident: the Catholic Church oversaw things in Europe for 1,200 years or so and were famous for “disappearing” literature that cast doubt on evolving Christian dogma. What is left of the 1^st through 3^rd century literature for researchers to sift through is mainly copies of copies of copies. And, of course, with every manual copy (by a scribe or monk), there were opportunities to make errors in translation, make modifications, or insert new material that pleased the Church.

In other words, very few “breadcrumbs” were left for modern Christians or biblical scholars to follow. Accordingly, the Church has invented convenient “traditions” to fill in the blanks, which the faithful are expected to believe… as an expression of their faith.

I’ve recently read four books by modern scholars who have put a lot of energy into examining the origins of Christianity and the New Testament. These writers are not theologians, apologists, or even religious scholars but, rather, historians. Thus, they are attempting to take the available factual data and theorize how and why a new religion was created 2,000 years ago.

The books that I’ve been reading are as follows:

          Caesar’s Messiah by Joseph Atwill, published in 2005

          On the Historicity of Jesus by Richard Carrier (2014)

          Creating Christ by James Valliant and Warren Fahy (2018)

          Creating Christianity by Henry Davis (2020)

As any religious scholar will admit, no one knows who wrote the books of the New Testament. In fact, the faceless writers took pains to hide their identities, but inserted “clues” here and there to tease the reader. The Gospel writers gave the impression that the stories and quotes from Jesus were factual even though modern religious scholars concede that the Gospels were written anywhere from 40 to 120 years after the supposed actual events portrayed. Thus, every verbatim quote of Jesus Christ in the Gospels was invented by clever writers who never could have met the man… if he even existed.

On the Historicity of Jesus by Richard Carrier explores this topic in some detail. His conclusion is that the fellow that Christians worship (the one described in the Gospels) probably didn’t actually exist but was an invented man-god. Of course, that begs the question, “Why was he invented?”

The other three books (Caesar’s Messiah, Creating Christ, and Creating Christianity) theorize that the Christian religion was invented out of whole cloth under the auspices of the Roman Empire, specifically at the direction of the Flavian emperors Vespasian and Titus in the late 1^st century.

In those books, the common theme is that the objective was to pacify Roman subjects, particularly zealous Jews, who had been rebelling against the Empire. As the authors point out, in detail, a close reading of the books of the New Testament reveals: (1) Even though the Jesus character is a Jewish rabbi, his main effort seems to be antisemitic, i.e. against the Jewish religious establishment in Palestine; (2) Jesus’ message is one of pacifism, submission, and cooperation with Roman authority rather than the intransigence and militarism of 1^st century Jews; and, (3) Within the New Testament, all stories involving Rome, its leaders, and even Roman soldiers in Palestine reflect positively on the Empire.

It is known that the Gospels were written after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 73 A.D. by Titus’ Roman army. Thus, it was possible for Gospel writers to have their Jesus character prophesying the same catastrophe some 40 years earlier, blaming the zealous Jews for the troubles (starvation, death, slavery) they would have to endure.

During the Vietnam War, there was a famous quote from a U.S. Army officer who noted that, “We had to destroy the village to save it.” This is basically the intent of the New Testament: destroy militant Judaism so it can be replaced by a pacifistic religion acceptable to the Roman Empire. The Messiah (or savior) that the Jewish people had long prayed for, to deliver them from their oppressors, ironically turned out to be the Flavian emperors who rescued the Jews from their zealous, militaristic leaders.

How do we know that the Flavians were involved in the creation of the New Testament?

For one thing, a new religion was seemingly created under the noses of Roman officials. This couldn’t happen without the sanction of the Flavian emperors because religious practices were controlled by the political establishment. Secondly, Hellenized Jews (the Herod and Alexander families from the Middle East who had family connections with the Flavians) and captured ex-Pharisee/Flavian historian Jospeh bar Mathias (i.e. Flavius Josephus) were present at the Roman court, providing extensive knowledge of the Jewish religion. Thirdly, the production of literature was costly, something only the wealthy or the government could afford. The idea that common folk, following a wandering, itinerant preacher, could produce such literature for mass consumption in the 1^st through 3^rd centuries, without Roman government help or permission, is preposterous.

Author Henry Davis, in Creating Christianity, postulates that a very influential Roman family, kingmakers of a sort with the last name of Piso, were involved in the scheme to producethe new “Christian” religion. This family had the wealth, the connections with the Flavians, and the motivation (i.e. pacified Roman subjects were good for business and stability throughout the Empire) to orchestrate the production of the New Testament literature.

To me, Davis seems to be overreaching in his identification of the Piso family as the driving force behind the new religion. Also, he matter-of-factly identifies several historical characters (famous 1^st century writers) as participants in developing the mythology of Jesus, his disciples, the Apostle Paul, and so forth. I don’t believe Mr. Davis has enough proof to claim what he does, but his basic premise seems plausible, as good as any I’ve heard.

The fact that Christianity developed in plain sight of the Flavian emperors and likely at their behest is underscored by the fact that many of the earliest Christian leaders had connections with the Empire.

In fact, possibly the first real Pope (excluding the disciple Peter, who was likely mythical) was Titus Flavius Clemens (St. Clement of Rome), who was a cousin of emperors Titus and Domitian. The famous Catacombs of Domatilla in Rome, the earliest burial sites of known Christians, was dug on property owned by 1^st century noblewoman Flavia Domatilla, granddaughter of Emperor Vespasian and wife of St. Clement of Rome. Vespasian’s official court historian, Flavius Josephus, writing at the exact same time as Apostle Paul’s New Testament epistles emerged, reveals in his biography stories that match Paul’s adventures almost to a tee. Epaphroditus, a freedman and later imperial secretary to Emperor Nero, appears to have had the job as Secretary of Letters under Vespasian and Titus at the Roman court. He is possibly the same fellow Epaphroditus who is identified as a friend of the (mythical) Apostle Paul in one of his epistles and is now revered by the Church as St. Epaphroditus. One historian, Robert Eisenman, has argued that a group around the Flavians, possibly led by Epaphroditus, likely produced the Gospel literature itself. Domitian, the last of the Flavian emperors, officially distanced his regime from Christianity and had Epaphroditus executed.

There are many more intriguing connections like this, but I think you get the point: the early Flavian emperors were neck-deep involved in creating the religion that would cooperate with the Roman aristocracy and ensure Pax Romana (the “Roman peace”).

The major impediment to the peace that Rome craved was zealous Judaism. There were an estimated 8 million Jews within the Empire in the 1^st century. Many of those Jews in Palestine were eliminated or driven into slavery by the Romans by 73 A.D., but that still left millions of Jews that represented a problem for Rome.

The psy-ops campaign devised by the Flavians to rejigger militant Jews into compliant Jews (i.e. Christians) was probably the most effective propaganda campaign in world history.

Much credit goes to those Flavian schemers.

My friend and neighbor John Kasberg and I hiked to Observation Point in Zion National Park yesterday.

John is the President of the Desert Fossils Hiking Club here in Mesquite, Nevada. Although he is a tour guide all over the Southwest U.S., and has hiked just about everything worth experiencing within a 100-mile radius of our neighborhood, he had never done Observation Point. So, we needed to check that one off his Bucket List.

Zion is probably my favorite National Park, with spectacular sheer cliffs reaching well over 1,000 feet, lots of red and white sandstone, the Virgin River running through the valley, and plenty of wonderful sights to enjoy. It is one of the most visited and beloved National Parks in America. To me, it is Yosemite without the waterfalls.

The three “must do” hikes in Zion are: (1) the Narrows; (2) Angel’s Landing; and, (3) Observation Point.

The Narrows is a spectacular slot canyon that is world famous for it’s beauty.

Angel’s Landing is considered by many to be the most dangerous hike in the United States, due to some ledges one must traverse with 1,000 foot drop-offs.

Observation Point is high above most everything else (it is 700 feet above Angel’s Landing), giving the hiker a commanding view of the Zion Valley.

I had previously done all three before yesterday.

It used to be that Observation Point could be reached via a very steep trail with lots of switchbacks carved into a 1,500 escarpment. This is the way I’d hiked it about 8 years ago. However, a large rock slide in 2021 wiped out that trail (below rust-colored rock across the canyon– see photo)

Therefore, the only way to access Observation Point nowadays is to exit Zion National Park on the east, head up to a mountain resort called Zion Ponderosa, and pick up a trail a couple of miles away that leads west into the National Park. The hike to Observation Point is about 3-1/2 miles one-way from the trailhead.

The Zion Ponderosa shuttle bus dropped us off about ½ mile from the trailhead, and we hiked overland through Juniper and scrub oak forests to the Point, probably taking us 1-1/2 hours. The views were spectacular, as usual, and John was overwhelmed by the beauty. We ate some bagged lunch there and chilled for maybe 30 minutes.

On the return trip, we decided to go down the old route marked “Trail closed ahead” so that John could see the traditional trail up the steep sandstone cliffs. We went about a half-mile or so down that trail where we encountered the steep switchbacks and could see (across the canyon) the trail areas that had been wiped out by the rockfalls. It is likely, due to the great expense, that the old/standard way of accessing Observation Point from the valley below is lost forever.

It is a shame, but serious hikers can still do the hike the way we did it yesterday. It’s a longer hike (we probably did around 9 miles total), but the “payoff” was wonderful, as we got birds-eye views of several spectacular canyons within the park.

John and I are planning to hike The Narrows in the Fall, when tourist season abates and the Zion River is running at low volume. I’ve done the hike before (John hasn’t) and it is probably the prettiest hike in America.

We’re a bit sore today but, hey, “No pain, no gain!”

(BTW, I lost two pounds yesterday, which brings my total weight lost since December 1st to 22 pounds!)

I’m old and cranky like most 76-year-old guys: lots of things annoy me.

Today, I had to send to “Spam” 261 comments to my blog site. None of the comments had anything to do with my blog. Instead, they were phishing attempts to click on websites purveying porn, sales advice for my company (which I do not have!), and ads for computer geeks who can improve my website. I spent about a half-hour cleaning up my website mail. I know, I’m retired and have plenty of time on my hands, but this is an invasion of my privacy… I protest!

Cake in the face! This odd behavior at fancy wedding receptions (that are videoed and disseminated via the Web) bugs me. Who came up with the idea that this bad behavior belongs in a wedding? It is disrespectful of the occasion and disrespectful of the newlyweds. Respect is probably the most important ingredient in a successful marriage. So, why would anyone want to start off a holy union with such a low-class stunt? And people wonder why marriages fail so often these days!!

Disgraced/retired Army General Michael Flynn, sucking up to an audience of right-wing Christian televangelists and their dupes, made the statement that “prayer” is the most powerful weapon that a country possesses. That’s right: when a terrorist organization rains down holy hell on your country, forget the military response and… start praying! Yeah, that worked out really well for the Jews when the Nazis came a callin’! To my knowledge, there has never been any evidence (you know, fact-based stuff) that demonstrates that prayer accomplishes anything other than giving hope to the true-believer. As some wag once said, “Religion is the opium of the masses.”

I’ve been a humanitarian this past week, trying to help out my elderly (she’s as old as Biden) socialize her new puppy. I take the dog on morning walks with one of my dogs. “William” is a 7-month-old miniature sheep dog of some sort and is a handful. He’s got an urge to chase cars and has slipped his collar and run into the street a few times. I am getting old (almost as old as Biden) and I refuse to chase a dog 100 yards down a street, dodging cars. The little asshole has broken his leash twice under my watch, and I’m getting annoyed. His latest leash, which Sharon bought two days ago, has been half-chewed up by the little devil (Is she storing in on the ground?), so we’re about one good pull from another chase down a busy thoroughfare. As my former boss used to remind me, “No good deed goes unpunished!”

If our disgraced ex-President has done nothing else beneficial in the past couple of years or so, he has at least demonstrated to every American that the old saw about two tiers of justice in our country (one for the rich, and another for the poor) is, sadly, one thousand percent correct. Poor folks get indicted (too often for crimes that they did not commit), frog-marched through the courts, and sentenced to harsh punishment… often because they cannot afford qualified counsel. Rich people have armies of lawyers and use every device available to get the charges thrown out, confuse the jury, delay justice, and appeal judicial rulings or convictions ad infinitum, so that justice seemingly never happens. It is almost like the Founding Fathers intended it to work this way. Why?

There was a solar eclipse yesterday. Big whoopee, these things happen every so often. I don’t understand why some folks get so excited about naturally occurring events like this. And, of course, odd happenings like this bring out the conspiracy nutjobs and the self-annointed spokespeople for God, who proclaim that the event is a message from The Boss that He’s pissed off at… lesbians, liberals, teachers, non-Christians, pencil-necked geeks, Democrats, etc. Remember the catastrophic predictions when the year 2000 was approaching: “Repent, the End is Near!” There was a minor earthquake last week in New York: predictably, some Bible-thumper declared that it was a message from God who is angry as Hell about illegal immigration or something. (Hey, someone tell God about the Republicans in Congress who recently torpedoed a bi-partisan bill that would have addressed the immigration problem!)

Speaking of natural stuff, I’ve got an issue with Spring… particularly here in the desert. We go most of the year with fairly sparse vegetation, given the sparsity of water and the Summer heat. It gets cold in the Winter and every living thing hunkers down to survive. Then, Spring arrives, things start to thaw out, and plants begin to put out flowers. Hooray for that!!

Unfortunately, though, those blooms are fleeting, only lasting a couple of days. What a tease that is, God! Why can’t those beautiful blooms last awhile? What did we do to offend Thee?

“Shrinkflation” sucks. Smaller portions for the same or higher price. There ought to be a law against this travesty. I think it is a conspiracy of the business elites who have joined together to enact punishment on society for the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic had on their enterprises. Many businesses failed, lots of folks lost their jobs, mucho downsizing happened, we all suffered. The companies that survived, but whose bottom line was savaged, are now wreaking revenge: the public is going to pay for this travesty through shrinkflation. It seems like every trip to the supermarket costs me $100 no matter what I purchase. I can recall filling my shopping cart with goods for $100. Now, it’s one bag featuring shrunk packages, like a “Family-sized” Kellogg’s Special K cereal box that, when opened, contains a plastic bag half-filled with cereal. The “per ounce” cost of everything has doubled in the past few years. How did this happen, as inflation hasn’t increased that much? “Stick it to ‘em!”, seems to be the corporate party line.

What in the fuck is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. up to? He is theoretically running for President in 2024 on some bullshit “American Values” ticket.

The guy has no chance of being elected or even winning one electoral vote, as he is a conspiracy nut who his own famous family has disowned. A few days ago, a Kennedy campaign official declared that their goal was to deny Joe Biden a victory. In other words, a “spoiler” campaign that would help Donald Trump regain the White House. Gee, I’ve got to believe that JFK and his brother RFK are turning over in their graves. I liked JFK and RFK, but “Junior” has evidently been smoking too much weed lately. He’s making himself look like a narcissistic fool, pissed off because he can’t get the Democratic nomination.

The world is going to hell and I’m sick and tired of it.

So… what’s for dinner?

I watched a YouTube video awhile back of a mixed-4×400 meter relay in a recent track and field championship where the difference between male and female athletes was demonstrated.

A “mixed” event means that the four-person team is half men and half women. Each competitor runs 400 meters (once around a track). In this race, one team used two of their men and one of their women on the first three legs of the race and built up an enormous lead on the other seven teams. They finished the race with a woman, a very good 400-meter runner, who inherited a 40-meter lead over the nearest competitor and perhaps a 60-meter lead over the other runners.

The other 7 teams finished with male runners… who all eventually passed the woman runner in those final 400 meters. She gave it all she had but came in dead last.

The moral of the story: the men runners were bigger and stronger.

Nothing new here. With everything else being equal (ability, training, drive), a championship-level female runner will be about 10 percent slower than her male counterpart. It’s biology, having to do with size and muscle mass.

I’ve recently seen some YouTube videos concerning the WNBA, which is the women’s professional basketball league in the United States. The league has been in existence for 27 seasons and showcases the best 144 women players on 12 teams. Each team plays a 40-game schedule.

I played varsity basketball in high school, so I know the game a bit. I used to follow the NBA (the men’s professional league) to some degree; I was/am a Laker fan. However, I’ve only attended a couple of NBA games in my life, and I watch very little basketball on TV anymore. Why? Because the men’s professional game has morphed from pure basketball into “entertainment”. Fundamentals (like passing, setting screens, getting position for rebounds, playing defense, involving all five players in the offense, etc.) have been replaced by flashy entertainment, including palming the ball, traveling, half-assed defense, and ball-hogging. More often than not, the modern half-court offense consists of four teammates getting out of the way so that the fifth guy can put on a one-man show concluding with a 30’ shot or a slam dunk.

In my opinion, what was once a highly competitive sport has become boring entertainment. Players get paid huge dollars to put out minimum effort, and they get paid whether they play or not. Even still, NBA teams draw big crowds (average 18,000 per game) and draw large TV audiences.

It’s kind of like “professional” wrestling, where there’s not much wrestling going on, the opponents set each other up for impressive body slams, folding chairs are used as weapons, and the big stars wear costumes and make up. It’s a theatrical performance, not an athletic event… which is popular in redneck country.

As the saying goes, “The customer is always right!”

The male chauvinist that I suppose I am, I’ve always looked down my nose at women’s professional basketball. The players are smaller than their NBA counterparts, not as athletic, and physically can’t dunk the ball. My impression (gained a couple of decades ago), was that a good high school boys’ team could beat an WNBA team.

That may still be the case. However, I will have to admit that women’s basketball has made great strides in the past decade. There are now some pretty good players in the WNBA, and the women put on a fundamentally better game than their male NBA counterparts. And some of the WNBA stars are very good. For example, in a recent NBA All-Star Game exhibition, a WNBA star (Sabrina Ionescu) competed in a 3-point shooting contest (timed but undefended) with NBA legend Steph Curry and almost beat him.

That was an eye-opener, for sure. Of course, Curry can make 30+’ shots all day long with 6’6” guys hanging all over him. Ionescu is 5’11” tall, so Ionescu would be hard-pressed to get open and score against an NBA defender who would be bigger, stronger, quicker, taller, and have a longer reach.

Most WNBA players can’t make 3-point shots like Ionescu. In fact, of the games that I’ve seen, most of the scoring involves lay-ups or tip-ins when there is a scrum around the basket. Slam dunks are as rare as hen’s teeth: only a dozen in 27 years.

The WNBA has been subsidized by the NBA ever since its beginning in 1997. In other words, the WNBA loses money. However, its revenues have been increasing in recent years. Attendance is rising and sponsorship is, as well. There is hope that this business model will ultimately succeed; after all, online business started off slowly, but is now a worldwide juggernaut.

What will it take to take the WNBA business model to the next level?

Probably more “stars” that fans can get excited about. There aren’t many famous WNBA players, to be honest. The player with the most name recognition is probably Brittney Griner, a 6’9” center who plays for the Phoenix Mercury. She’s a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a six-time WNBA All Star. However, she is most famous for being arrested in Russia on drug charges. This is not the kind of notoriety that the WNBA needs.

Griner is also a lesbian, which turns off a gaggle of potential fans. In fact, about 1/3 of WNBA players are publicly acknowledged LBGTQ. The reality is that, in today’s charged political climate, many people refuse to LBGTQ-friendly businesses. It’s unfair, but it is what it is.

There is some light at the end of the WNBA tunnel, so to speak, with the emergence of a very popular college player named Caitlin Clark. She is the all-time college scoring champ and a two-time Player of the Year. Plus she’s White, which could help attract viewers who object to all the Black players in the WNBA (70 percent).

Caitlin Clark has the potential to become the Tiger Woods of the WNBA, i.e. the “face” of women’s professional basketball. It will be interesting to see how the NBA/WNBA partnership capitalizes on Clark’s notoriety.

The other thing that the WNBA needs to do is to make their game more exciting.

As mentioned earlier, very few female basketball professionals have dunked in the league. The dunk is very popular with rabid basketball fans; video of superstars “posterizing” defenders is included in virtually all NBA highlight shows each evening on TV. Conversely, WNBA action is bereft of such excitement, leaving sportscasters to yawn over the multitude of boring lay-ups, tip-ins, and air-balls.

There has been talk for many years about lowering the height of the basket from 10’ (which is the standard in both the WNBA and NBA) to 9’ or 9’6”. This makes a lot of sense, as WNBA players average 6’ in height compared to the 6’6” of NBA players. Not only are the NBA players taller, but they have a reach that is, on the average, more than 3” longer than their women counterparts. And, to add insult to injury, an NBA player’s average vertical jump is something like 4 inches higher. Putting that together, 6 inches more height, 3 inches more reach, and 4 inches more jumping ability… that’s a 13” advantage for the men.

Dropping the height of the basket by 12 inches would equal the playing field, at least in the matter of dunking.  It’s almost a “no brainer”. And, with this change, women’s professional basketball would become, instantaneously, more entertaining.

Hard to believe but… most WNBA players appear to be solidly against this change, as it would (to them) be admitting that their game is inferior to, or less exciting, than the men’s game.

As the saying goes, “Pride cometh before the fall.”

The same WNBA players who are so adamant about the standard 10’ basket height are also the outspoken players who complain that they are not being paid adequately. The pay disparity between NBA and WNBA players is, admittedly enormous, but so is the revenue gap between the leagues. The WNBA loses money, while the NBA is a gold mine. And thank goodness for that, as this allows the NBA to subsidize the women’s league, keeping these WNBA stars from the unemployment lines.

The WNBA, in order to succeed, needs to become more exciting. People don’t pay to attend (or watch on TV) fundamentally sound high school basketball, which is akin to the WNBA product. I think that adding the potential for women to dunk the basketball would be the “shot in the arm” that the league needs to excite fans and grow the sport. Perhaps the WNBA would create its own Michael Jordan… who was famous for his flamboyant dunks.

More excitement equals more fans and more exposure, resulting in higher ticket sales, more merchandise sales, better TV exposure, and increased corporate sponsorship, thus providing better pay for the WNBA players.

Why not?

Our ex-President, who claims to be a billionaire many times over, is on a roll lately peddling cheap merchandise like red ball caps, perfume, and gaudy sneakers.

His latest grift, targeted on his gullible Bible Belt cult followers, involves a personally-autographed Bible that also contains a raft of political messaging. It is my understanding that these holy books are actually leftover merchandise from a several-years-old sales campaign headed by Lee Greenwood, a country singer most famous for the ”God Bless the U.S.A.” ditty many years back.

These “patriotic” Bibles are being sold for $69.99, of which Trump gets a $10 merchandising fee.

That seems like chickenfeed for a billionaire… if he actually is one. There is some doubt about his alleged fortune, as he has recently been required to put up a couple of court-ordered bonds for cases that he is appealing and… has had difficulty finding any bonding company that will help him out. That is either because Trump isn’t as rich as he claims (i.e. doesn’t really “have $500 million in cash”) or (more likely) that the bulk of his wealth is a property portfolio which is overvalued by him and heavily leveraged by debt.

If he is so rich, why is he selling tennis shoes out of the trunk of his car?

Trump’s latest Bible peddling scam has not escaped the attention of true believers out in the heartland, who have objected to this blatant politicization of God’s word. I think this stunt, while in his mind further ingratiating himself to the Christian right, has actually alienated quite a few Bible-thumping folks. Like many of Donald Trump’s brilliant ideas, this one wasn’t vetted for cost-benefit (he probably thought, “I’ll take all the Alexander Hamiltons I can get!”), and it will be a miracle if this grift doesn’t bite him on the ass politically.

As we all know from our previous experience when Trump was President, the man is basically a salesman who makes all manner of bogus claims to pry money (or votes) from stupid people.

The guy is constantly lying and exaggerating to sell worthless shit, whether it be Trump Steaks, Trump University, Trump bottled water, Trump Airlines, the New Jersey Generals football team, Trump ties, the Trump monopoly game, Trump Ice, Trump Vodka, Trump perfume, Trump sneakers, and the half-baked policies of the disgraced Trump Administration. All of these ventures failed, with the latter establishing Mr. Trump as the hands-down worst President of all time.

Which, in the eyes of Republican politicians, qualifies him to be the G.O.P. Presidential candidate in 2024.

Yes, the best conservative candidate in the United States, to run against a sitting President who beat his opponent in 2020 by 8 million votes, is a man who is currently facing some 91 indictments in courts all over the country.

Go figure.

Ironically, this born-again $69.99 Bible huckster is an alleged Christian who: (1) cheated on two former wives and was sleeping with a porn star when his current wife Melania was delivering their son Barron; (2) violates the Commandment re: “bearing false witness” (i.e. lying) every time he opens his mouth; and, (3) NEVER does unto others as he would have them do unto himself.

I am an atheist, and I have more moral fiber than Donald Trump, who has been endorsed by scores of televangelists who claim to regularly speak to God… when they aren’t gypping their congregations by selling them “miracle healing cloths” for $50 a copy.

If there is a God, how about smiting The Donald with a thunderbolt?

Trump recently gained control of the Republican National Committee, the fund-raising vehicle for G.O.P. candidates nationwide. Although he and his daughter-in-law (who is now the vice chair of the RNC) have denied this, it is likely that a good portion of RNC campaign funds will find their way into Trump’s filthy hands.

There is another seven months to go before the 2024 election, thus plenty of time for our ex-Prez Trump to roll out additional cheesy merchandise for sale. I am anticipating Trump-endorsed guns, Nazi/KKK flags, hearing aids, golf clubs, adult diapers for men, and “peek-a-boo” panties for women. How about Trump beer or more $99.oo N.F.T.’s?

In a few more months, Trump may be able to hawk some autographed prison jumpsuits?

Why the billionaire businessman needs money to run a Presidential campaign is a mystery. The guy doesn’t believe in the electoral process. He publicly announced that the 2016 election was “rigged”… before he won, then he complained about the “stolen” election of 2020, going so far as to incite a riot in Washington D.C. to try to overturn the will of the people.

If “the system” is corrupt, and rigged against him, then why is he wasting hundreds of millions of dollars campaigning?

Maybe it’s because running for President gives the scam artist more opportunities to grift? If he loses the election again, he may actually “win” if he can squeeze another couple hundred million dollars out of his cult following.

Donald Trump makes slimy televangelists Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland look like rank amateurs when it comes to fleecing the flock.

Holy mackerel.