I'm Not Sure You Understand the Concept of Free Speech

One of my interests is free speech, particularly on college campuses, so when I found a Washington Post editorial titled Trigger warnings, colleges, and the ‘Swaddled Generation’, I took interest.  The editorials premise was that leftists everywhere are suppressing speech on college campuses.  It has been about nine years since I have studied on a college campus, so maybe I am out of touch with what is going on, and I certainly believe that there are attempts by the left to suppress free speech and silence unpopular ideas.  Largely, people only really believe in free speech when it's not something that personally offends them.  The problem I have with the editorial is that the examples of this suppression they give are unconvincing.  The first example given is trigger warnings, a concept that I find rather bizarre, but not exactly stifling either.

This was the case recently at Georgetown University when Christina Hoff Sommers , resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and author of “Who Stole Feminism?,” was greeted by sign-carriers warning: “Anti-Feminism,” with the room number of a “safe space.”

The Least Important Story That I Find Absolutely Infuriating

It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I am an unrepentant Patriots fan.  My bias is well documented.  Even taking this bias into consideration, if you believe that a four game suspension for playing with and "likely knew" about and was "generally aware" about slightly deflated below regulation PSI footballs, is somehow warranted, I want to thank you, because now I can disregard your opinion completely on all matters of consequence.

This story is not important.  Brady will still have millions of dollars and a supermodel wife and there are a billion greater injustices in the world, but this is complete bullshit.  The NFL is run by hypocritical billionaires and Roger Goodell changes his mind as the winds of public perception change.

It's not that I don't think Tom Brady cheated, I think by the ultra-high standard of "probably", "likely knew", and "generally aware" he probably did.  So what?  All teams break the rules.  Players on every team in the league use PEDs, teams routinely tamper with each others free agent signings, the entire league has engaged in collusion, every offensive line in the league holds every game, and up until a couple weeks ago the league didn't even pay taxes.

So I say fine.  You know what? If the rules are that important suspend Brady but hold the rest of the league to the same standard.  Jerry Rice admitted to applying stick-um illegally to his gloves throughout his career in order to catch passes better.  As of right now, Rice should have to surrender his records and the 49ers should have to surrender their Super Bowl victories.  Ben Rothlesberger "likely knew" that he sexually assaulted at least two women and was "generally aware" that it was wrong.  Kick Rapistberger out of the league and remove two titles from the Steelers.  In fact, remove all Terry Bradshaw's titles too, he admitted to steroid use and implicated his teammates in it as well.  Ray Lewis covered up a murder, please Baltimore, return your trophies.  The Colts and Falcons pumped noise into their stadiums they should lose their stadiums for a season.  The list goes on.

Given the history of Goodell dishing out punishment I wouldn't be surprised if much of it is overturned on appeal.  I say give Brady a $25k fine and be done with it, but instead the NFL continues to conduct itself as if it strives for the level of integrity of professional wrestling.  If the Patriots alleged cheating was so terrible, then maybe the NFL should return all the revenue from those games.  That's dirty money and the league should have no part in it.

Vote in Your Primaries

 

There are choices in the next presidential election and better choices in the primaries.  There is the possibility (albeit unlikely), that radically different candidates in either party could secure the nomination for president.  This requires however, that voters actually show up for something other than the presidential election.  If you want choice, you must vote in your primary.

De-fund the D.E.A.

Hey fiscal conservatives, are you looking for a government agency to de-fund?  Why don't you start with the Drug Enforcement Administration?  It seems like the DEA would fit the very definition of a useless government agency.  Even assuming we need law enforcement to enforce criminal drug laws (I'm not particularly convinced of this), why do we need a unique agency to investigate this particular brand of crime?  Isn't the FBI capable of investigating drug crimes?  They can't walk into any bar in America and find some coke?  If they can't, then they're too stupid to be cops in the first place.

Springtime in Vermont

Wrightsville Reservoir, Montpelier Vermont, 4/21/2015

Hoarders: Chip Kelly

Chip Kelly needs an intervention, he has a problem hoarding bad quarterbacks. Currently on the Eagles roster, Kelly has 4 QBs with NFL experience:  Matt Barclay, Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford, and Tim Tebow.  Add all these QBs together and you get a whopping 57% completion percentage, 158 touchdowns, 131 interceptions, and 55 fumbles.   Out of this group the best QB by far is Bradford completing 59% of his passes and actually scoring more touchdowns than turnovers.  Unfortunately, Bradford has only been able to stay healthy about 75% of the time and if there is one thing that usually doesn't get better with age in the NFL, it's injuries.

It's Tax Time!

 

It's time to do your civic duty and pay your taxes or rather for most of us, fill out a form to verify what the government already knows. It really is silly when you think about it, the IRS actually does your taxes exactly like you and if you make a mistake, they will correct it.  Hell, they'll even correct it if you made a mistake in their favor and then refund you for the correct amount.  So this begs the question, why do we need to file a return at all?  Can't they just send us what they think our income was and ask us to either verify it or dispute the amount?  Why all the extra confusing paperwork?  I don't know with certainty, but I would venture to guess that it has a lot to do with why our government often does silly nonsensical things: lobbyists.  Intuit Inc., the company that brings us TurboTax, ranks 702 of 16,793 in terms on campaign contributions according to Opensecrets.org.  Tax preparers like H&R Block also contribute substantial donations.