I CAN BARELY SUMMON THE WORDS

I feel lucky that I am a sane and flexible humanitarian--otherwise my head might have exploded at some point in the last two weeks.  Where to start?  How about in one of my favorite places--the South:

--Let's start with Mr. Huckabee who, as a born again, has the "right" to tell us members of the tribe what the impact of the Iran deal means for Israel.  He believes it brings Israelis to the door of the ovens.  A not so subtle message regarding the Holocaust.  Why isn't he back in bum fuck Arkansas chewing tobacco and drinking moonshine?  Let's be clear that when the Huckabees of the world join up with the Sheldon Adelson's of the world, they are dangerous.
--Then we have the fine folks of Pensacola and their NASCAR relatives who refuse to put away their confederate flags because it is part of their heritage.  Yup, that racist heritage symbolized by the flag.  That's why given them great praise for removing the flag from state buildings is misguided.  It did not change attitudes.  And with leaders like Cruz, Perry, Huckabee, Graham, and all the rest, we can expect nothing in the way of enlightened leadership.
--Rick Perry would like laws allowing guns to be taken into movie theatres--this in response to the recent murders in Lafayette, Louisiana.  That is a leader telling us his solution.  Even Jindal did not go there.
--Florida, wouldn't you know, leads the country in the incidence of leprosy.  Maybe if the migrant camps in Belle Glade were sanitary and folks there (mainly immigrants, Donald) made a living wage, this could have been avoided.
--Cincinnati being on the border qualifies in my geography as a Southern border town.  No surprise then that the latest in a too long list of white police men killing African American citizens occurred there.  And he lied but ooops he was wearing a video cam which captured the truth.
--One of former Governor Perry's finest (yes a white policeman) arrested an African American who protested a tad too much for him and he sent her off to jail where she committed suicide.  He lied but he also had a video of the incident proving the truth.
--And the Donald may be from New York but he might as well be from the south what with his racist and downright nasty views on immigration.
--Enough--one can only hope that these Republicans will destroy each other.  I secretly hope one of the crazies gets nominated and then we shall see what we are made of.

A right to the belly and a left to the nose--the Hub of the Universe (that would be Boston) got hit twice this week.  First our Olympic bid blew up and fell apart (and this is not about sports).  It is about the vision of what a city can be.  I honestly did not care but I heard one too many whines about "ooh the traffic will be so bad" or "ooh, it will be so disruptive".  I will let Shirley Leung from the Globe summarize this:  "If New York City is the city that never sleeps, Boston has become the city that never lets anything happen".  Right along with that we have our Mayor suing to stop the one casino approved for Eastern Massachusetts.  My take on him is this:  Be careful of anyone who has "reformed" and wants the rest of us to jump on his or her
bandwagon. Mr Brady got the second punch--and again I honestly do not care.  However, I am berserk that some of his fellow NFLers who possess/use drugs, abuse women/children, and drive while impaired get smaller suspensions than he gets for playing with a football (maybe).  Greg Hardy got convicted in a court for god's sake of domestic assault and had his suspension reduced from 10 games to 4.  and don't tell me they are different.  It is the optics, baby--the optics and the values.  And finally this about our fine city.  Saw Trainwreck with Amy Shumer which I loved.  Filmed mainly in NYC which apparently has no problem with offering tax breaks to the film industry.  We have a BIG problem with it and may not continue it.  My response is to refer you to Shirley.

Ends and Odds:
--A kid in a stroller wheeled by the other day (and not an infant--a kid who could clearly walk) with two parents.  Had a helmet on.  Can you please give me a break?
--Braintree, a suburb south of here, had a celebration to say hip hip hooray about the arrival of new wheels for a cannon displayed on its common.  Seriously?
--Globe Metro section this week.  Three articles in order of size.  Smallest about a murder in the city.  Mid size about a cop verbally abusing a driver.  Largest about a "crisis" in the honey bee industry.  Care to discuss priorities?

And finally:  Jon Stewart has only 4 shows left and, if you have seen him this week, you know how much he will be missed.  No sports section since I have said too much and what I did say kicks sports to the curb. I am off to the great towns of Western Massachusetts so you won't hear from me again until school is back in session.  Enjoy your summers. Thanks to A, a reader from the Rockies, I will close with this quote from Fidel in 1973: "The world will talk to us when America has a black president and there is a pope from Latin America".  Nuff said?

Sayonara.

THERE IS A REASON THEY CALL IT DIPLOMACY, YOU FOOLS

Yup, the deal with Iran is neither ideal nor perfect--but it is a deal and it is better than no deal.  And who cares if the heads of every Republican candidate explode anyhow--there is nothing inside their heads except air.  They have no new ideas and increasingly are marginalizing themselves and I don't care about polls in NH showing how well the Donald is doing--him with the hair and his despicable comments about Mexican immigrants.  Jon Stewart tore him a new one right after that and it was terrific. A great satirical piece by Andy Borowitz (not sure where it got posted) about how Obama is eliminating our enemies (Iran, Cuba) with this diplomacy thing and how awful it will be if we have no one to fight with.  Benny Netanyahu is messing with our politics again and hates this deal but does love all the financial and military support we provide.  He should just shut the fuck up and make some sort of deal himself--with the Palestinians.  He is like the Republicans--a head empty of ideas and a mouth full of negative comments about Obama.

ITEMS:

--No one should applaud or praise the Governor or be thankful for the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse.  Nine Black people died and that fucking flag should have been removed by enlightened politicians a long time ago.  Nine people died and they had to have a debate over the flag's removal.  Nine people died.
--Speaking of that medieval area, the Governor of Alabama is a M.D.--a dermatologist.  But he refuses to allow any expansion of medicaid because he does not like the Affordable Care Act even though the feds pick up the lion's share of any expansion.  Just cannot stand those poor folks who do not know how to live healthy lives.
--On to North Carolina.  Three Muslim students were murdered seemingly over a parking space dispute but really about a crazed neighbor deciding they were Muslims and deserved to die.  Great article about these bright young people in a recent New Yorker.
--Unemployment is down to the lowest it has been in 7 years--not a peep from the Republicans about this success since clearly Obama had something to do with it..
--We all KNEW the Cos did something and that he was lying through his teeth.  He needs a good kick to the curb and maybe a bit of prison time.
--If it were not so pathetic, it would be funny.  Those bright lights senators Cruz and Rubio do not like the deal with Cuba (and now we are up to 5 Southern states) and will block any attempts to establish an embassy in Havana.  Saw an article some place that basically says demographics are not on the side of these weird Republicans.  People of color are slowly but surely becoming the majority in some of these southern states.
--Greece is so screwed up, I can barely understand the situation there.  I do understand they hate Merkel who is one tough customer.
--Chris Christie for President!!  If you have a bridge in your state, you may want to think twice about electing him.
--As a transition, two semi-sports items.  First, did everyone see Abby Wambach plant a big fat kiss on the lips of her wife after the U.S. victory.  It was amazing that Fox let it be shown and further amazing that it was no big deal.  Would not have happened in 1999.  Then there is the NFL which daily has players arrested for DUI, weapons charges, domestic abuse, child abuse and, in our state, murder.  Greg Hardy, convicted in a court of domestic violence, got his suspension reduced to 4 games.  That is the same suspension Brady got for squeezing footballs.  It really is beyond words.


SPORTS TALK
--The U.S. women were wonderful.  Plus that whole tournament and the play of the athletes makes me like women's soccer better than men's.  Much fewer phony falls and players writhing on the grass only to be up and going after 2 minutes.  I feel the same way about women's ice hockey.
--Anyone go to Vegas last January and put money down on the Yanks being in first place on July 4th?  If you did, you are far brighter than me.  Now I am not sure they can take it all the way (I kind of like Toronto and Baltimore) but they sure do have the best bullpen in the AL.

Sayonara