The map below shows the most hated college football team in each state, according to a recent poll. I am a little puzzled by a few of these. Obviously it makes sense that Alabama is hated in Tennessee and Louisiana, but why is Alabama the most hated in Alaska, South Dakota, and Nevada? Well maybe because Bama screws up the betting lines in Nevada, but South Dakota?
By the way, Alabama was not the most hated team in college football, they came in second. First place belongs to Ohio State--go bucketheads, oops I mean buckeyes.
I was asked today when was the last time the U.S. Supreme Court had a liberal majority? I would claim the Burger led SCOTUS that ended in 1986 (even though Burger was appointed by Nixon, he was never very conservative). So for most of my student's lives there has been a conservatively led SCOTUS that held in check the sway of populist sympathy, liberal empathy, and Republican neo-conservativism. An important icon in that time span was Antonin Scalia. My heartfelt condolences are given to his surviving family.
Agree with him or not, Scalia held that words meant something at the time they were written down and we could not simply change what words meant because we wanted to at any point in time. Scalia did not hold back from scolding any other Justices on SCOTUS. Scalia did not hold back from scolding any parties to any dispute before the Supreme Court. His was a principled stand held firm in an age where relevancy and emotion were often allowed to overcome logic and fact. Scalia will be missed by all of us who held firm to the belief that the U.S. Constitution meant exactly what its words meant when it was written.
I am no legal scholar, nor even a student of judicial politics in the U.S. For my two cents, however, I am looking forward to the passionate, stupid, intelligent, deleterious process that will be the confirmation of a new member of SCOTUS. I believe we will see a process that makes the hearings that confirmed the nomination of Justice Thomas with the sort of acrimony before the fact that killed any chance of a Bork confirmation hearing pale by comparison. I believe that statements that the current president should not nominate a candidate and that no hearing will be held as long as the current leadership of the U.S. Senate is in place are dangerous to the process of democracy in this country--just as dangerous as the allowance of 9 unelected individuals determining what the law means for the population. I also believe that the current president of the U.S. will nominate an individual who will in their ideological position threaten the general good of the population of the U.S. with their decision-making (see my statement about 9 unelected individuals). Hey, if we do not want to have 9 individuals decide the law, then make sure the congress makes few laws and that the make laws that follow the meaning of the Constitution and do not cause harm to the general welfare of the population--it really is that simple. Do not blame SCOTUS for doing stupid things when the Legislature and the President first approved the stupid thing that SCOTUS must debate.
The Super Bowl is over. If you like defensive football, it was a pretty good game. If you came to see offensive fireworks, the game stunk. Come to think of it, the great defense last night on both sides made the offenses look bad, not just in execution of plays but in the number of pre-snap infractions. For my two cents here are a few thoughts on the game, commercials, etc.
One, still not impressed by Gaga. As far as I am concerned not many performers impress me with the singing of the national anthem, probably because they perform it rather than just singing the anthem. But, hey, as my father noted, at least Gaga kept her clothes on for the anthem.
Two, I do watch the game partly for the commercials and this year's commercials left almost as much to be desired as last year's commercials. The best, in my opinion:
Sorry Helen Miren, but any commercial for Bu@#-wiper Beer does not rate highly with me.
Three, I rooted for an earthquake--this was close to the San Andreas Fault, right? No way I was rooting for a Manning, particularly for the creamsicle orange wearing Peyton. Do not even get me started on Scam Newton--ok, maybe get me started a little.
Four, Roll Tide Roll. Even though Roman Harper did not get the win, Evan Mathis did. One of my favorite DBs at Alabama and one of my favorite linemen from Alabama were both in the game. Congrats guys, thanks for your time at Alabama.
Five, a former SEC player Von Miller from Texas A&M was awarded the MVP. I can live with that because he is from the SEC and played well last night. Do you know who else is from the SEC and did not play well last night--yep, you got it, Scam Newton.
Five, by the way, I can care less about Scam walking out on the interview. Pitch a fit in the endzone, cry when it does not go your way. Smile, dance, do charity work when the cameras are on you and you are winning. Whatever, I do not watch the game for the post game interviews, I watch the game to watch the game, so if Scam wants to cry let him, if he wants to pout let him, if he wants to Dab so what. We all know that Scam is all about Scam and could care less about the reputation of his team or the game, who cares.
Ya'll take care now, time to start reading about baseball and off season workouts for the Crimson Tide.
A Cold War relic is on the auction block in Northern Ireland. All I can say is at least you will know you are safe from a nuclear blast if you shut the doors.
Quick what do a former KGB/FSB agent turned exile assassinated in London and the Unabomber have in common? Not much at all, except they are filling up my time in the last 10 days. I was happily reading away in the 329 page document that is the judge's report on the Litvinenko assassination inquiry and wham...a series of articles released based on the prison correspondence of Ted Kaczynski. I am always fascinated with the mind of geniuses--which is Kaczynski. I am always fascinated by trying to understand lone-wolf perpetrators of terrorist actions--which is also Kacynski. And I am equally fascinated by conspiracy theories and potential exposure of government agents perpetrating criminal actions--which is the Litvinenko inquiry document.
For my two cents, no way to absolve the Unabomber of the guilt of his actions. But I find it fascinating how he talks about love for his fellow man being not out of character with great hatred toward some of mankind. The letters written by Kaczynski and publicly released as part of these articles released recently are some of the more interesting reading I have done in months. Go check it out here.
Tomorrow a British judge will release the report of his findings regarding the radioactive poisoning death of Alexander Litvinenko, according to a report on the AP news service. For my two cents, it should be interesting reading and highly speculative as none of the accused Russians have testified. So, I look forward to reading the report and will remain skeptical of any conclusions that are reached.
Nearly as soon as sanctions against Iran stemming from the nuclear program issues lapsed, the U.S. government announced new sanctions against Iran for ballistic missile testing. Of course the Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif decried the coercive effort of the U.S. government. Of course Zarif is right, it was a coercive act. Welcome to big boy power politics Zarif.
The use of power is best for any state when coercion is used. Even better for any state is when they can get an ally or two to engage in coercive action against the targeted state (spreading the cost is a good thing). For my two cents, we gave up too easy on the nuclear deal and will probably give up too easy on sanctions against Iran over their ballistic missile test program. By the way, I agree with Zarif, Iran has a right to defend itself, Iran has the same sovereignty as every other recognized state. But guess what, the U.S. also has a right to say we do not condone your testing and will try to stop you from testing. The only question is whether or not enough real interest exists for the U.S. to exercise power in this particular situation. Does an Iranian intermediate range missile system represent a threat to U.S. interests? If the answer is yes, then we have cause to exercise power.
