Perhaps I Gush too Much at the Jazz's Pick

   Perhaps I gush too much, but here goes. 

   Udoka Azubuike -- Nigerian Nightmare II -- somehow remained available for the Jazz all the way down at the 27th pick. The guy's resume is worthy the top pick in the draft. As the top player on the top team in the land, how does that square that he's but the 27th pick? The Kansas Jayhawks boasted the top defense in the nation with him anchoring it. He graduated with the highest career shooting percentage in all of NCAA history (74.9%). At 7-foot-0 and 270 pounds with a 7-foot-8 wingspan and a 9-foot-4 standing reach, this guy is a behemouth physical presence hard to match. There might be 10 bigs in the NBA beefier than him, but how many of them have such a standing reach? 

   Twenty-six picks went by without him being taken. That's almost everyone in the league passing him by. The Jazz simply engineered an unbelievable coup. They hoodwinked everyone. They even traded down and still came away with him, giving away the 23rd pick in exchange for the 27th and 38th. 

   His 75% shooting likely cannot translate into the NBA. But, if it did, he would be a more efficient scorer than Steph Curry. Curry's 3s fall at a 43% clip, so that's a little less than 15 points per 10 shots. Udoka's 75% would put him right at 15 points per 10 shots. 

   Downsides? Only 44 percent from the line, and he's not overly mobile. Only time will tell, they say, and so now though the clock has quit ticking for the Jazz to take their turn in the draft, it begins to tick all over again, ticking as we await the Nigerian Nightmare II, to see how well he can do.

Speech Should be Allowed Its Stage

   Freedom of speech is being challenged. I hear story of how YouTube is refusing to allow certain COVID-19 information from Singapore to be told. We all hear stories about sites being censored and shutdown by social network providers.

   There's a rule -- an old rule -- about when speech is to be curtailed. If you run into a movie theater, crying, "Fire!, Fire!" and everybody pours out of the theater, that's too much. I guess the YouTube, and Facebook, and Twitter owners might think that is all they are doing, protecting people from false information that causes damage.

   But, they are in error. Let these stories run. Let these videos be seen. Yes, tag them if you feel they need to be tagged. Yes, attach disclaimers suggesting the information might be in question. When you can, don't just simply say they might be incorrect, and leave it at that, but rather find experts who will respond with rebuttles. Don't let your website take a personal stand on the truthfulness of the post, if you can avoid it, just say there is concern that it might be inaccurate, and you are seeking out sources that might provide rebuttle.

   Freedom of speech remains important. Censorship remains a vice. Just because it isn't government doing the censoring, doesn't mean it is right. 

   

I Wonder, if Dr. John Littell is Right

    We hear of so many who have no clue of how they got the virus. They are masking, and social-distancing, and following all the rules . . . yet they come down with the virus, anyway.

   So, when I hear a doctor named John Littell on the radio, saying that we shouldn't be wearing facemasks all the time, this time I listen. Dr. Littell suggests virus is spread by being in the presence of someone too long, say 10-15 minutes. He suggests wearing masks all the time is not healthy, that you need to contact some flu or cold or disease germs to build up immunities.

   I hear the herd immunity argument coming in.

   And, I wonder.

   

Civility -- Like Everything -- Needs a Practice Field

    If we would have peace in our land, we should take some steps to achieve it. So, what of all the political infighting? What steps could we take to heal our land from the political division?

   Could we not only call for civility, but have a program to help bring it about? If you don't do anything, nothing will get done. So, where is a plan of action?

   I will offer one suggestion. Create debate forums. Invite all the politically inclined -- all those with strong opinions, all those who suppose the issues of our nation are important -- to participate. 

  But, wait, you are assuming this would be something it is not. I'm actually calling for something pretty much the opposite of what you are thinking. No, you wouldn't come there to argue your positions. You would come there to argue against your own positions. That's right, you would come there, and draw an issue out of a hat, and if that issue were abortion, that is what you and your opponent would debate. Then, you would draw out of the hat which side you would argue. As often as not, you would end up arguing on the side against your own beliefs.

   There might be no better way to foster civility than to ask you to state your opponent's position in a convincing way. If you can become better at stating the opposite side than those who actually believe that way, then you are likely achieving the goal of understanding and respecting how the other person feels. 

  It would also be important to encourage a comradery. Give them points in the debate when they speak well of the other person, and encourage them to like each other before and after the discussion -- I mean debate.

   This might sound silly, but it is not. We are what we practice. Football stars don't become football stars unless they practice to become them. This would provide the practice sessions for us to be civil with each other. 

   We, as a nation, need to be this. We need to be more civil with each other. We are fracturing without it. As with anything, it takes practice to achieve what you want to become. It is not wrong to have a program to get you there. It is not wrong to set practices up. If we really are serious about solving our political divide, we should be thinking in terms of an actual program such as this to bring it about. 

Account it as Coincidence, if You Will, but There's an Ominousness in it

  If the Russians did gain access to election equipment in 2016, and did program them so that when the votes were tallied at the end of the day, Trump would win, what if that programming was never changed? What if the pattern the Russians set for the computers was still in the computers?

  You'd get the same results.

  I am not an expert. I do not know enough to know that election fraud did take place. But, I do know that 2020's election-night results mirrored 2016's so much that it was freaky. The same states that voted for Trump in 2016 voted for him again in 2020. If there was an exception of a state or two, it was no more than that, just a state or two. Even the same key swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania existed. 

   Who knows why this happened. Maybe it is simply that all the Trump supporters that existed in 2016 were the same in 2020. No more dynamics than that. Still, it remains: If the computers were programmed in 2016, and they had not been changed, they would then produce the same results. And, that is what happened. 

If the Nation has Learned to Care about Injustice, Why None for Reid?

    In a day when justice is all the rage in the land, where the concern for Eric Reid? In a day when discrimination draws crowds of outrage and protest, where the concern for this football star known as Eric Reid? You know him, don't you? The good buddy of Colin Kaepernick, who knelt alongside him all those years ago in San Francisco. While Colin never did get back in the league, Eric did.

   For the past two years, he has been the star safety for the Carolina Panthers, I say "star safety," and there should be no doubt. He came into the league in 2013 riding a storm, earning a spot in the Pro Bowl as a rookie that year, and he's never let up. Last year, he set two franchise records for the Panthers as he enjoyed his best year in the league, statistically.

   In March, Reid was released by the Panthers, and has hardly since been touched again by the NFL. No one will sign him, large as his talents may be. You might point to the Washington Football Team, and how it invited him to the practice squad. Being invited to a practice squad is not the same as being invited to the active roster. It is understandable that a star in the league would reject such an affront. Yes, it is way beneath what his credentials suggest.

   In an age of justice, what is this? In an age when injustice surely results in a protest, where is the demand for justice for Eric Reid? All the protests across our land and not a whimper or whisper or word for Reid, as far as a protest for him? In a nation that has learned to care about injustice, what is this?

(Note: Added to 11/15/20 when I learned he had been invited to a practice squad.)

Who Knows if This is What Happened

   Would seem the chances of presidential recounts are fading. I'm disappointed. I would have liked to seen them -- hand counts of the paper ballots.

   I wonder if there is interference. I'll verbalize it: I wonder if there is interference by the Russians.

   Election night, every state was coming back just as it did in 2016. The states that were for Trump in 2016 were mirroring that in 2020. And, obviously, then, the states that were for Hillary in 2016, just happened to be the same ones this year that decided to vote for Biden. If there was any deviation, it was but a state or two. At that point, one wondered if ever any two back-to-back presidential elections had so closely resembled each other. Even the key swing states were the same, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

   In a way, it made sense. Americans are religious to their party these days. They don't waver as much as in the past. If you are for Trump, there is nothing that is going to change your mind. While that might have led to a lot of the mirror image of 2016, consider also another possible factor: If the Russians had changed votes in 2016, they would have had to have done it by infiltrating the vote-counting machinery. And, if they had control of certain computers in 2016 -- if they were infected then -- could it be that they are still infected. Because, if so, the two elections could understandably mirror each other.

  Early election morning, there was an ominous development. President Trump was saying we shouldn't count any votes that came in after that day. Cut off the voting. He said this before it turned out that that days votes would mirror 2016. Now, supposing the Russians were only able or interested in placing Trump on top in the votes counted that day -- and Trump knew that -- then it would make sense for him to be saying, Cut it off with the votes cast this day. From there, who knows where it goes. Maybe the Russians wanted Trump to lose. You create more chaos if he loses than if he wins, and it seems that is what the Russians are all about -- just wanting to disrupt and cause chaos. So, if they know the votes coming in after election day are going to swing things to Biden, they might like that.

  But, what if the voting was so tight and indecisive that recounts were necessary? What if hand recounts of the actual paper ballots became required? If there had been manipulation, the hand counts are going to uncover the fraud. So, if you are the Russians and you are manipulating, you don't want that. You'd steer the election away from that so you are not caught. 

   No. I'm not saying all this is what happened. Who knows. But, it is not an unreasonable thing to consider. 

   Another thing fits into this possibility. Trump's golfing on Saturday. That was the day Biden was assumed as the winner. It seemed incredulous, to me, that he was out golfing that day. Not saying this is why, but it would fit in with what we've considered above. If you want to avoid being bugged, get out of your office. If the President wants to go somewhere where no one can eavesdrop on his, one of the best places would be out on the golf course.

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