Could not agree more. I was just saying that all the rules and regulations are about more money for the state. No fishing license? Fine. Fish too small? Fine. Grass too long on your lawn? Fine.
An example that show how little the state cares for its citizens? DUI. Why are cops a half mile down the road from a bar instead of outside with breathalyzers? Because there’s no revenue in stopping someone BEFORE they drive drunk.
SARAH CHRASTINA: Hello. My name is Sarah Chrastina. I live in the Methow Valley. Twisp, it's kind of an hour an a half a way. We live in a little bit of a liberal bubble in our school district—
[laughter from audience]
Even though we are eastern Washington. And we were pretty tolerant. I was very asleep at the beginning of this plandemic. Very tolerant of the masking at the beginning. I mean, it's the least I could do, people are dying all over the world, I will wear my mask to show compassion and err on the side of grace. Right? I didn't see what I didn't see. I was under a spell, was under a trance, really. I can see that now. I can see that in other people now, too.
When I woke up, it was a Saturday morning. I was looking at some stuff with my husband. The headlines were the FDA is calling out people using Ivermectin, it's a sheep dewormer, it's not for people, it's for animals. And as we've learned already today, and some of us learned from a long time ago, but Ivermectin is not just for animals, it's for people. I was dumbfounded that here is the mainstream media telling us don't go to this medicine that could be a lifesaving, that's all I heard about it, that it was a lifesaving treatment for covid that was early. Well, I didn't realize at the time how warped the media was. I was still, I thought they definitely went into hysteria too much, but I didn't see them as the warped, controlled operation that they are. And so I came out of that realizing how much I had been falling for the lies.
I— not long after that, our school district decided to hold a vaccine event because the FDA was going to say it was OK now for the kids now to receive the vaccine in our community. And we were going to have them as young as 5 years old get vaccinated. And I realized, this is harmful. It's not even, there's not a benefit to it. I talked to the nurses, I talked to people at the school, no avail. No one wanted to hear my concerns.
So I decided to go to the event, because I needed to go see this for myself that they were going to give this injection. And what was the paperwork? I needed to see the informed consent. What were they giving to our community, to my neighbors? I'm not going to go to Olympia* and fight it at the government level. I just, I'm going to go to my school and I went and I stood at the outside the gate and asked again and again for the papers. I had doctors come tell me things and I talked to them. Long story short, never got papers. I was bullied. I was shamed. I was yelled at and told to leave and told I was a disruption. I was called in later that week by my school district telling me that they saw my disruptive behavior, reports of it. They weren't there. I was there. They weren't there. They said there was reports of disruptive behavior from me because I was asking questions.
So it's just the classic pattern that I then saw everywhere. When you stand up, you are shamed and bullied and censored. And you don't have a voice. Same with the vaccine injured, that we've heard today, right? It's a pattern. And I, I was in the middle of it and I was still just flabbergasted that this was actually happening.
Now I can— so I got called into the office. I told them my side. They said, Sarah, today we're going to let you know that if you do this again— because I was an employee of the school district, at that time I was coaching volleyball— you do this again, we're going to give you a no trespassing order on the campus. Because they knew they didn't have a law against somebody coming in asking questions. So what could they do? They pull a no trespassing law against me, which they have done many times, I'm sure you've heard many stories of this.
So I went back home. And I was in tears, I was a mess that whole week. I decided to resign. If I resign, I won't be an employee. They can't touch me, I'm a free citizen of the United States of America!
[clapping]
You would think that would be enough.
[clapping]
I said, I resign because I can't do this anymore and be— and I can't wear a mask when it's, to me was a symbol then that I supported the agenda, I supported children's vaccination, I supported all of the things that I saw now were so flawed and harmful. So I went on from there to-- I need to go to my notes, I'm sorry, I'm not supposed to take this long.
My husband meanwhile is the head varsity boy's coach. Dream job. He's amazing at it. We talked about heart injuries with this vaccine. The heart injury I saw in my husband, you can't see it. I can because I know him. It's an emotional devastation. What happened to him in January, 14th, we got an email. It said, you are suspended. We have received an email which will remain anonymous that your mask wearing was abysmal in the weight room today with your team. And he is suspended. And that was the moment his heart was ripped out. And he couldn't be with his team. He was told he couldn't see them, talk to them or be with them. He was a threat to their public, the public safety in our school.
So this, you know, fast forward, we go, we find help in a common law group. I find out there is a case, County of Butler v. Governor Wolf ,** however, this is the judge's remarks at the end of the case:
[reading document] "However, good intentions towards a laudable end are not alone enough to uphold governmental action against a constitutional challenge. Indeed the greatest threats to our system of constitutional liberties may arise when the ends are laudable and the intent is good, especially in time of emergency. In an emergency even a vigilant public may let down its guard over its constitutional liberties"—
which is what I did, I had let down my guard—
[reading document] "once relinquished they are hard to recoup. And that restrictions, while expedient in the face of an emergency may persist long after immediate danger has passed. Thus, in reviewing emergency measures, the job of the court is made more difficult by the delicate balancing it must take. The court is guided in this balancing by principles of established constitutional jurisprudence. This action seeks declaration of the defendant's right."
They ended up upholding the people that were getting the constitution rights taken away. He said something very important here. He says,
[reading document] "But in an emergency, the authority of government is not unfettered. The liberties protected by the Constitution are not fair weather freedoms, in place when times are good but able to be cast aside in times of trouble. The Constitution cannot accept the concept of a new normal where the basic liberties of the people can be subordinated to open-ended emergency mitigation measures. Rather, the Constitution sets certain lines that may not be crossed, even in an emergency."
And this is the —
[clapping, cheering]
— the paperwork that we ended up filing with the school district. We said,
[reading document] "in regard to any and all covid policy order mandates, such as guidelines for physical distancing, masking, tracking status, or vaccination, there's no actual law that has been passed by the state or federal legislature that requires me to comply or compels me to consent to the violation of my natural, unalienable constitutionally protected rights. The orders or mandates of a governor, mayor, or agent or officer for a city, county, state health department are not law. And public policy cannot violate the rights of liberty of the people." And this —
[clapping]
It was very inspiring me to read these words, and realize, this was all set up before I was ever born. This country was founded on these principles. And they were founded on these principles because our forefathers had a moral compass. Like our doctor friend videoed in earlier. An ethical standard they lived by. That is what it is built on. And so I started to zoom out, and the big picture was, not my ability to go to a game with or without a mask, or my husband's ability to coach, it is a war on humanity and our freedom to live right now. And we, as we understand the values of the Constitution that uphold those rights, they're not giving us rights, they're upholding the rights for us as we have been given them by God as we were born on this earth.
So I just want to encourage all of you as I have been teaching my own children, we have five children at home, and I have been on fire to teach them about the Constitution and the rights that we have been given.
I also had to go head-to-toe with a sheriff's sergeant at my gym because I did not go with a mask. They ended up giving me a criminal trespass with no crime committed. So all of these things are in place. There are loopholes that the law enforcement is trying to use against us and we have to know where we stand and ultimately pray for Divine Providence to guide us.
Thank you.
[2:20:20]
# # #
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
*Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington.
** County of Butler v. Governor of Pennsylvania, No. 20-2926 (3rd Cir. 2021)
I pleaded with people to not play. That their 'well intentioned' consent was going to be interpreted by the state as an opening to abuse power. It's a basic unwritten axiom of power.
Now they're seeing it's easy to give consent but impossible to withdraw it when civil liberties are abused.
As the good guys (the law abiding and God fearing) are being persecuted with more mind-numbing micromanagement nonsense rules, the powers that be are incentivizing chaos and anarchy by criminals. These powers have their reasons and meanwhile they are laughing all the way to the bank.
And on top of that all this authoritarian harassment only applies (white--mostly) citizens, it doesn’t infringe on illegal aliens or BIOPC or sexual deviants (oh, I am so sorry, the other alphabet people)!
I just came back from a 2 week trip to Ghana, where almost all the people I was working with were hoping, planning, trying to get to the US legally. While their economic prospects will undoubtedly be better, I am not so sure that they will be as free as they are in Ghana & unless things change culturally & in the 2024 election-- both needed-- both freedom & economically they may look back & say, we should have stayed in the old country.
Sep 1, 2023·edited Sep 1, 2023Liked by Bill Rice, Jr.
I stopped watching sports in 2020. I was already annoyed with the trends, especially in football. Soccer and hockey are bad but the NFL may be the worst. Then last year, my daughter who is 18 and just wants to hang out with her dad knowing what kind of a sports junkie I used to be, insisted I watch MNF with her at the very least. She also became an Eagles fan (I've been a fan since 1980). I couldn't break her heart so I watched some games with her throughout the season talking about sports in general along the way. It was nice.
But then came that call against the Eagles late in the Super Bowl. The one where they were flagged for passer interference I think it was. Had the play stood (as it ought to have been upon replay), the Eagles would have gotten the ball back with a good chance to tie or even win the game.
I once again vowed to not watch again. Hopefully, my daughter won't beg me to sit with her. Maybe I'll try and redirect her into something else. Like watching classic reruns of when it was actually fun to watch sports.
Every close game has 3 or 4 referee calls that actually determine the game's outcome. Most of these penalties are dubious or should never have been called. Watch the pass interference calls late in the games in the NFL.
I had the depressing realization last year that the majority of basketball games really are decided by the ref's. If a hoops game is decided by less than 6 points or so, there is really no way you can't find 3 or 4 calls that could have gone the other way. Football always seemed to me to be less influenced, but it does seem to be getting worse.
And this, Bill, is why you're a good writer, entertaining, down-home relatable story that emphasizes a larger societal observation that gets a reader to nod their head in agreement, saying "true, true." Good one, big ups!
Great column....it reminds me of this one referee that we had when I was playing high school rugby...we called him "Colonel Flagg"...he looked and acted exactly like the character from MASH. Anyway, there aren't actually flags in rugby but this guy was power crazed....he would stop the play every two seconds and then glare at us....just daring someone to complain! It became a running joke.
But, more seriously, your column makes such a great point....and during covid it was so clear... the bureaucrats started coming up with all these insane and arbitrary rules...and the enforcement was brutal and unforgiving. Your kid is playing on a slide....you're hauled away. You sneak out of your house on day 13 of your 14 day quarantine...hauled away. You're outside in the the middle of no where not wearing a mask ...and 3 policeman show up! It was completely insane. And I hate to say it ...but my brothers a cop...and if I was hosting a get together with 4 people instead of the allowed 3 people...I'm pretty sure that him and his partners would break down the door ...and as they're all cuffing me...he'd say "Roederer, you're my brother, I love you, but all you had to do was follow the rules....."
Thanks for getting my "bigger" point. These people are different, but they have been given more and more control over the rest of us. And we've all been conditioned to yield to these authority figures.
I agree with your assessment here: I was actually shocked at how FEW flags were thrown during the Minnesota Gophers - Nebraska Huskers football game last night (I confess; I'm a Husker fan...living in MN).
There were very few penalties, and the ones that were called - two especially (a NE player targeting the MN QB and an MN player knocking down the NE kicker) that were clearly justified. This made it an unusual game - but fun to watch (because they weren't constantly flagging for interference, etc.).
Just another manifestation of pervasive legalism and bureaucracy (is there really any other kind?). Your analogy is not a stretch, Bill (but I suspect you know this already). Takes real skill to turn people off to watching sports. At least my wife and three year old daughter don't mind my extra availability on Sundays now...
Bill. Just a heads up. Hope Matt Taibbi sees this also. It appears that US Special Operations Command is setting up an AI driven Program to monitor social media for "disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation to protect the US internet from "Pain Points".
You realize this is an open attempt to censor different opinions not consistent with the "Narrative" by the US military/intelligence bureaucracy.
Most Americans should be terrified...but it is the first weekend of college football, so.........
agreed, it is way way over the top now a days both in the NFL (preseason is unwatchable - flag for touching a QB, WTF) and now we are being told/taxed for breathing!
something has to change - who needs these fools who can barely hold a job if not for office - F them all!
On a different topic - yeah - our evil, too powerful Federal government wants to run - and ruin - our lives. Here's an excellent example: the Bureau of ATF goes rogue on a LEGALLY LICENSED Oklahoma gun dealer! This is BS!!! Sadly, they'll never have to answer for this:
I think this article is correct, but in the NFL you know it goes both ways. Do you remember that play - I think New Orleans was on offense a few years ago, the game before the Super Bowl, when the most flagrant pass interference penalty (an "offense" on the field flag-demanding for sure for which there could be no doubt even to a pee-wee ref) by a defensive player was NOT called - I mean truly it is so obvious. The game is rigged in the NFL both ways. I can prove it. Ever heard about the K-Ball? It is nothing but effing entertainment nowadays in the big leagues where the player's are overpaid and the owners one and all are disconnected jerks who could give a flip about the game. I'm sick of the NFL - eff em.
~
Still, if in high-school ball, the refs are getting in front of the playing, I think there is easy remedy for this. Just like it is easy to make changes local - let the large scale changes happen after the local folks choose to keep these overstuffed effing referees from ruining the game that some of us love.
This is the beauty (and the bane perhaps) of living in the "modern world" - here is the play I referenced - it was obvious what the call should have been and mistakes happen, but in the freaking NFL - top league of the world supposedly - and the refs miss this call?
EDIT - and now since I can't help myself after watching that pathetic play again - I couldn't believe it when I was watching it real time - but all these folks that ascribe to the idea of "reviewing" the play are TOTALLY missing the point - the point is this?
~
What is the point of having referees who can't call the obvious flag and who seem to not understand the joy of the game?
Could not agree more. I was just saying that all the rules and regulations are about more money for the state. No fishing license? Fine. Fish too small? Fine. Grass too long on your lawn? Fine.
An example that show how little the state cares for its citizens? DUI. Why are cops a half mile down the road from a bar instead of outside with breathalyzers? Because there’s no revenue in stopping someone BEFORE they drive drunk.
I think you're onto something here.
Relatedly-- it includes testimony about her husband, a head varsity boy's coach who was suspended for not wearing his mask properly:
Pandemic Harms Listening Session - Wenatchee, WA - 28Jan23
Informed Choice WA, Posted February 12, 2023
https://rumble.com/v297djc-pandemic-harms-listening-session-wenatchee-wa-28jan23.html
TRANSCRIPT
2:10:23
SARAH CHRASTINA: Hello. My name is Sarah Chrastina. I live in the Methow Valley. Twisp, it's kind of an hour an a half a way. We live in a little bit of a liberal bubble in our school district—
[laughter from audience]
Even though we are eastern Washington. And we were pretty tolerant. I was very asleep at the beginning of this plandemic. Very tolerant of the masking at the beginning. I mean, it's the least I could do, people are dying all over the world, I will wear my mask to show compassion and err on the side of grace. Right? I didn't see what I didn't see. I was under a spell, was under a trance, really. I can see that now. I can see that in other people now, too.
When I woke up, it was a Saturday morning. I was looking at some stuff with my husband. The headlines were the FDA is calling out people using Ivermectin, it's a sheep dewormer, it's not for people, it's for animals. And as we've learned already today, and some of us learned from a long time ago, but Ivermectin is not just for animals, it's for people. I was dumbfounded that here is the mainstream media telling us don't go to this medicine that could be a lifesaving, that's all I heard about it, that it was a lifesaving treatment for covid that was early. Well, I didn't realize at the time how warped the media was. I was still, I thought they definitely went into hysteria too much, but I didn't see them as the warped, controlled operation that they are. And so I came out of that realizing how much I had been falling for the lies.
I— not long after that, our school district decided to hold a vaccine event because the FDA was going to say it was OK now for the kids now to receive the vaccine in our community. And we were going to have them as young as 5 years old get vaccinated. And I realized, this is harmful. It's not even, there's not a benefit to it. I talked to the nurses, I talked to people at the school, no avail. No one wanted to hear my concerns.
So I decided to go to the event, because I needed to go see this for myself that they were going to give this injection. And what was the paperwork? I needed to see the informed consent. What were they giving to our community, to my neighbors? I'm not going to go to Olympia* and fight it at the government level. I just, I'm going to go to my school and I went and I stood at the outside the gate and asked again and again for the papers. I had doctors come tell me things and I talked to them. Long story short, never got papers. I was bullied. I was shamed. I was yelled at and told to leave and told I was a disruption. I was called in later that week by my school district telling me that they saw my disruptive behavior, reports of it. They weren't there. I was there. They weren't there. They said there was reports of disruptive behavior from me because I was asking questions.
So it's just the classic pattern that I then saw everywhere. When you stand up, you are shamed and bullied and censored. And you don't have a voice. Same with the vaccine injured, that we've heard today, right? It's a pattern. And I, I was in the middle of it and I was still just flabbergasted that this was actually happening.
Now I can— so I got called into the office. I told them my side. They said, Sarah, today we're going to let you know that if you do this again— because I was an employee of the school district, at that time I was coaching volleyball— you do this again, we're going to give you a no trespassing order on the campus. Because they knew they didn't have a law against somebody coming in asking questions. So what could they do? They pull a no trespassing law against me, which they have done many times, I'm sure you've heard many stories of this.
So I went back home. And I was in tears, I was a mess that whole week. I decided to resign. If I resign, I won't be an employee. They can't touch me, I'm a free citizen of the United States of America!
[clapping]
You would think that would be enough.
[clapping]
I said, I resign because I can't do this anymore and be— and I can't wear a mask when it's, to me was a symbol then that I supported the agenda, I supported children's vaccination, I supported all of the things that I saw now were so flawed and harmful. So I went on from there to-- I need to go to my notes, I'm sorry, I'm not supposed to take this long.
My husband meanwhile is the head varsity boy's coach. Dream job. He's amazing at it. We talked about heart injuries with this vaccine. The heart injury I saw in my husband, you can't see it. I can because I know him. It's an emotional devastation. What happened to him in January, 14th, we got an email. It said, you are suspended. We have received an email which will remain anonymous that your mask wearing was abysmal in the weight room today with your team. And he is suspended. And that was the moment his heart was ripped out. And he couldn't be with his team. He was told he couldn't see them, talk to them or be with them. He was a threat to their public, the public safety in our school.
So this, you know, fast forward, we go, we find help in a common law group. I find out there is a case, County of Butler v. Governor Wolf ,** however, this is the judge's remarks at the end of the case:
[reading document] "However, good intentions towards a laudable end are not alone enough to uphold governmental action against a constitutional challenge. Indeed the greatest threats to our system of constitutional liberties may arise when the ends are laudable and the intent is good, especially in time of emergency. In an emergency even a vigilant public may let down its guard over its constitutional liberties"—
which is what I did, I had let down my guard—
[reading document] "once relinquished they are hard to recoup. And that restrictions, while expedient in the face of an emergency may persist long after immediate danger has passed. Thus, in reviewing emergency measures, the job of the court is made more difficult by the delicate balancing it must take. The court is guided in this balancing by principles of established constitutional jurisprudence. This action seeks declaration of the defendant's right."
They ended up upholding the people that were getting the constitution rights taken away. He said something very important here. He says,
[reading document] "But in an emergency, the authority of government is not unfettered. The liberties protected by the Constitution are not fair weather freedoms, in place when times are good but able to be cast aside in times of trouble. The Constitution cannot accept the concept of a new normal where the basic liberties of the people can be subordinated to open-ended emergency mitigation measures. Rather, the Constitution sets certain lines that may not be crossed, even in an emergency."
And this is the —
[clapping, cheering]
— the paperwork that we ended up filing with the school district. We said,
[reading document] "in regard to any and all covid policy order mandates, such as guidelines for physical distancing, masking, tracking status, or vaccination, there's no actual law that has been passed by the state or federal legislature that requires me to comply or compels me to consent to the violation of my natural, unalienable constitutionally protected rights. The orders or mandates of a governor, mayor, or agent or officer for a city, county, state health department are not law. And public policy cannot violate the rights of liberty of the people." And this —
[clapping]
It was very inspiring me to read these words, and realize, this was all set up before I was ever born. This country was founded on these principles. And they were founded on these principles because our forefathers had a moral compass. Like our doctor friend videoed in earlier. An ethical standard they lived by. That is what it is built on. And so I started to zoom out, and the big picture was, not my ability to go to a game with or without a mask, or my husband's ability to coach, it is a war on humanity and our freedom to live right now. And we, as we understand the values of the Constitution that uphold those rights, they're not giving us rights, they're upholding the rights for us as we have been given them by God as we were born on this earth.
So I just want to encourage all of you as I have been teaching my own children, we have five children at home, and I have been on fire to teach them about the Constitution and the rights that we have been given.
I also had to go head-to-toe with a sheriff's sergeant at my gym because I did not go with a mask. They ended up giving me a criminal trespass with no crime committed. So all of these things are in place. There are loopholes that the law enforcement is trying to use against us and we have to know where we stand and ultimately pray for Divine Providence to guide us.
Thank you.
[2:20:20]
# # #
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
*Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington.
** County of Butler v. Governor of Pennsylvania, No. 20-2926 (3rd Cir. 2021)
See https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca3/20-2936/20-2936-2021-08-10.html
Madness.
It was Alice in Wonderland-y
Thanks for sharing.
I pleaded with people to not play. That their 'well intentioned' consent was going to be interpreted by the state as an opening to abuse power. It's a basic unwritten axiom of power.
Now they're seeing it's easy to give consent but impossible to withdraw it when civil liberties are abused.
As the good guys (the law abiding and God fearing) are being persecuted with more mind-numbing micromanagement nonsense rules, the powers that be are incentivizing chaos and anarchy by criminals. These powers have their reasons and meanwhile they are laughing all the way to the bank.
Wish I could give this comment 10 likes!!! 100% and SO TRUE!!!
You are absolutely right, Bill & Sarah.
And on top of that all this authoritarian harassment only applies (white--mostly) citizens, it doesn’t infringe on illegal aliens or BIOPC or sexual deviants (oh, I am so sorry, the other alphabet people)!
I just came back from a 2 week trip to Ghana, where almost all the people I was working with were hoping, planning, trying to get to the US legally. While their economic prospects will undoubtedly be better, I am not so sure that they will be as free as they are in Ghana & unless things change culturally & in the 2024 election-- both needed-- both freedom & economically they may look back & say, we should have stayed in the old country.
I stopped watching sports in 2020. I was already annoyed with the trends, especially in football. Soccer and hockey are bad but the NFL may be the worst. Then last year, my daughter who is 18 and just wants to hang out with her dad knowing what kind of a sports junkie I used to be, insisted I watch MNF with her at the very least. She also became an Eagles fan (I've been a fan since 1980). I couldn't break her heart so I watched some games with her throughout the season talking about sports in general along the way. It was nice.
But then came that call against the Eagles late in the Super Bowl. The one where they were flagged for passer interference I think it was. Had the play stood (as it ought to have been upon replay), the Eagles would have gotten the ball back with a good chance to tie or even win the game.
I once again vowed to not watch again. Hopefully, my daughter won't beg me to sit with her. Maybe I'll try and redirect her into something else. Like watching classic reruns of when it was actually fun to watch sports.
Every close game has 3 or 4 referee calls that actually determine the game's outcome. Most of these penalties are dubious or should never have been called. Watch the pass interference calls late in the games in the NFL.
I had the depressing realization last year that the majority of basketball games really are decided by the ref's. If a hoops game is decided by less than 6 points or so, there is really no way you can't find 3 or 4 calls that could have gone the other way. Football always seemed to me to be less influenced, but it does seem to be getting worse.
And this, Bill, is why you're a good writer, entertaining, down-home relatable story that emphasizes a larger societal observation that gets a reader to nod their head in agreement, saying "true, true." Good one, big ups!
Great column....it reminds me of this one referee that we had when I was playing high school rugby...we called him "Colonel Flagg"...he looked and acted exactly like the character from MASH. Anyway, there aren't actually flags in rugby but this guy was power crazed....he would stop the play every two seconds and then glare at us....just daring someone to complain! It became a running joke.
But, more seriously, your column makes such a great point....and during covid it was so clear... the bureaucrats started coming up with all these insane and arbitrary rules...and the enforcement was brutal and unforgiving. Your kid is playing on a slide....you're hauled away. You sneak out of your house on day 13 of your 14 day quarantine...hauled away. You're outside in the the middle of no where not wearing a mask ...and 3 policeman show up! It was completely insane. And I hate to say it ...but my brothers a cop...and if I was hosting a get together with 4 people instead of the allowed 3 people...I'm pretty sure that him and his partners would break down the door ...and as they're all cuffing me...he'd say "Roederer, you're my brother, I love you, but all you had to do was follow the rules....."
Thanks for getting my "bigger" point. These people are different, but they have been given more and more control over the rest of us. And we've all been conditioned to yield to these authority figures.
I agree with your assessment here: I was actually shocked at how FEW flags were thrown during the Minnesota Gophers - Nebraska Huskers football game last night (I confess; I'm a Husker fan...living in MN).
There were very few penalties, and the ones that were called - two especially (a NE player targeting the MN QB and an MN player knocking down the NE kicker) that were clearly justified. This made it an unusual game - but fun to watch (because they weren't constantly flagging for interference, etc.).
Just another manifestation of pervasive legalism and bureaucracy (is there really any other kind?). Your analogy is not a stretch, Bill (but I suspect you know this already). Takes real skill to turn people off to watching sports. At least my wife and three year old daughter don't mind my extra availability on Sundays now...
Bill. Just a heads up. Hope Matt Taibbi sees this also. It appears that US Special Operations Command is setting up an AI driven Program to monitor social media for "disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation to protect the US internet from "Pain Points".
You realize this is an open attempt to censor different opinions not consistent with the "Narrative" by the US military/intelligence bureaucracy.
Most Americans should be terrified...but it is the first weekend of college football, so.........
Well done!
agreed, it is way way over the top now a days both in the NFL (preseason is unwatchable - flag for touching a QB, WTF) and now we are being told/taxed for breathing!
something has to change - who needs these fools who can barely hold a job if not for office - F them all!
Here is another seemingly happy a coach was fired for not getting vaxxed.
https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/john_canzano/2021/10/canzano-no-winners-at-washington-state-in-the-nick-rolovich-saga.html
On a different topic - yeah - our evil, too powerful Federal government wants to run - and ruin - our lives. Here's an excellent example: the Bureau of ATF goes rogue on a LEGALLY LICENSED Oklahoma gun dealer! This is BS!!! Sadly, they'll never have to answer for this:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/state-rep-demands-investigation-after-seven-vehicles-carrying/
I think this article is correct, but in the NFL you know it goes both ways. Do you remember that play - I think New Orleans was on offense a few years ago, the game before the Super Bowl, when the most flagrant pass interference penalty (an "offense" on the field flag-demanding for sure for which there could be no doubt even to a pee-wee ref) by a defensive player was NOT called - I mean truly it is so obvious. The game is rigged in the NFL both ways. I can prove it. Ever heard about the K-Ball? It is nothing but effing entertainment nowadays in the big leagues where the player's are overpaid and the owners one and all are disconnected jerks who could give a flip about the game. I'm sick of the NFL - eff em.
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Still, if in high-school ball, the refs are getting in front of the playing, I think there is easy remedy for this. Just like it is easy to make changes local - let the large scale changes happen after the local folks choose to keep these overstuffed effing referees from ruining the game that some of us love.
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Great Article.
Thanks,
BK
This is the beauty (and the bane perhaps) of living in the "modern world" - here is the play I referenced - it was obvious what the call should have been and mistakes happen, but in the freaking NFL - top league of the world supposedly - and the refs miss this call?
Something is amiss no doubt.
Here is the video - you decide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIrGoy4CC5Q
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EDIT - and now since I can't help myself after watching that pathetic play again - I couldn't believe it when I was watching it real time - but all these folks that ascribe to the idea of "reviewing" the play are TOTALLY missing the point - the point is this?
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What is the point of having referees who can't call the obvious flag and who seem to not understand the joy of the game?