Clearing the clutter off my desk, off the floorboard of my car and out of my mind …
The opening ceremonies for the Paris Games certainly attracted a lot of attention — good and bad. Parading the athletes into the city on 85 boats along the Seine was genius. Celine Dion’s performance will be a standard for future Olympic Games. But the skit portraying drag queens in Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” was unsettling and disturbing. Olympic organizers said they meant "no disrespect” and were trying to “celebrate community tolerance.” The point is the Olympic Games isn’t a forum for political and social statements. The Israeli team wasn’t allowed to wear pins demanding hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 be returned. The Olympics is when the world celebrates comradery and athleticism, not political discord …
Presumptive Democrat candidate Kamala Harris is now pushing back on the claims that she was put in charge of the southern border when she and President Joe Biden took office in 2021. If so, why did the White House and the mainstream media wait three-and-a-years until she was selected to run against Donald Trump to correct that narrative? ...
By the time Biden leaves office, he will have served as a U.S. Senator, Vice President and President for 48 of the last 52 years. It’s hypocritical that he now wants term limits of 18 years for the Supreme Court. It also shows he’s not cognitively fit to complete his term because his three plans proposed last Monday didn’t pass Constitutional muster. First, the Constitution gives all federal judges lifetime tenure. The Executive or Representative branches can do nothing about that without a constitutional amendment. Maybe the President should re-enroll in a Clay County seventh-grade civics grade class to learn the basic rules of law. He also called for Congress to pass a constitutional amendment reversing the Supreme Court’s ruling that presidents have immunity for official acts. Biden forgot his former boss’ covert strategy to launch 542 drone attacks in the Middle East in and around Afghanistan that killed at least 3,797 people, including at least 324 civilians, were decisions made as official acts in office. Biden’s blather against the Supreme Court in the Trump decision was an attempt to gain political favor for his vice president.
By the way, making a new amendment takes two-thirds of the consent of the U.S. House and Senate. Then, it must be ratified by three-quarters of the nation’s state legislatures or conventions. That won’t happen, especially since Donald Trump won 26 states in the 2020 presidential election. Biden also wants Congress to establish a code of ethics for the Supreme Court. Our Constitution established three equal yet separate branches of government. It doesn’t have real authority to affect the Court. The Supreme Court established its code of ethics. Congress is supposed to stay in its own lane …
Here’s a thought: why don’t we change diversity, equality and inclusion to be character, integrity and wisdom? …
I’ve watched, know, been around, and am close to some of the most notable people in sports for a big part of my life, Darryl Dawkins. Shaquille O’Neal. Michael Jordan. Payne Stewart. Jimmie Johnson. Walter Peyton. Bobbie Allison. Donnie Allison. Rick Hendrick. Richard Childress. Tiger Woods. Jimmy Spencer. Pete Rose. Greg Biffle. Morten Anderson. Larry Bird. Hurley Haywood. Chipper Jones. Frank Viola. Bobby Cox. Shawn Jefferson. Kirby Puckett.
But I’ve never been overwhelmed like this by two athletes I’ve never met. My inner child senses forced me to block my 50-year-plus experience in international sports reporting. The Paris Games changed that, particularly in men’s swimming and women’s gymnastics. I have reported on neither, but I instantly became a fan of Green Cove Springs’ swimmer Caeleb Dressel and gymnast Simone Biles. They were the personification of grace and skill. I haven’t interviewed or met either, yet I feel blessed to witness their greatness.
I’m just thankful I lived long enough to see it.
