Old & Opinionated

January 31, 2025- Friday On Wednesday evening, a small American Airlines plane was on final approach to land at Washington D.C.'s Reagan Airport.  It was just a few miles away from the airport when it was struck by a military Blackhawk helicopter.  The plane broke into three sections at an altitude of about 800 feet.  There were 67 people who died around 8:20 p.m. It will be a while before we know what caused the tragedy.  A lot of conversation is focused on why the helicopter was at such a high altitude for that area.  Like an idiot, President Donald Trump tried to make it a political issue by saying it could have been a diversity, equity, and inclusion problem with the air traffic controllers hired under the Biden Administration. Stupid comments on his part. There are many grieving family and friends today and they don't need to play politics with this tragedy.  It also is another reminder we are not guaranteed our next hour or any more than that.  W...

January 29, 2025- Wednesday Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is facing the Senate confirmation committee today for his nomination to head the Health and Human Services Department.  This guy is totally unqualified for the job.  He is an environmental lawyer and want-to-be politician.  He is pro-abortion.  He is pro-universal health care.  This is a political payback appointee for his endorsement of Donald Trump. This is the kind of thing that causes the media to really go after Trump.   This appointee needs to be someone who knows healthcare, know proven science, and knows what needs to be improved in our healthcare system. That is not Robert F. Kennedy. As much as I don't like the idea of universal healthcare, the cost of healthcare is getting to the point where insurance companies cannot afford to deliver what they are obligated to provide. There needs to be new thinking but limiting vaccines is irresponsible and that is what Kennedy proposes.   The R...

  January 28, 2025- Tuesday   Yesterday, Jerry Jones, owner and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys, hired Brian Schottenheimer as the next head coach of the team.  There are several things involved with this.  First, I hope Schottenheimer is very successful.  I hope he becomes a Hall of Fame cali ber coach with multiple Super Bowl wins.  I hope he is that capable of a person and is a hidden gem of a coach Jerry Jones has stumbled into.   The next point is not nearly as positive.  We have 29 years of history that tells us Jerry Jones will not allow Brian Schottenheimer to be the real coach he is capable of being.  Jerry Jones is the self- proclaimed expert of National Football League talent and how a team should be coached.  We have the last 29 years that tells us that is not the case.     In the press conference announcing Schottenheimer as the coach, Jones also revealed the root of the problem with the Dallas Cowboys. ...

  January  12, 2025- Sunday   I read an article this morning written by Robert McGreevey of the Daily Caller.  The article was entitled “Journalists Getting Axed Left and Right at Several Major Outlets”.   Because I am so interested in what is happening in the media industry I was drawn by the title to the article and what I might find.  This shows how important a good title can be so don’t ever take lightly a good, well thought out title.   The focus of the article was described in the title, but it gave a little more definition to a topic that has been talked about in the media for the last couple of months if not the last few years in some form.  Media organization such as the Washington Post, The New York Time, The Huffington Post, and Vox Media are laying off journalists at a high rate.  Readership is down which for these organiz ations means influence is down.  The industry is beginning to face the reality of their choices over th...

  January 11, 2025- Saturday   It will be Ohio State against Notre Dame for the college football National Championship.  Ohio State broke away from Texas late in the fourth quarter.  I think this game came down to play calling.  Texas offensive play calling by Steve Sarkisian was a bad.  He repeatedly called plays that did not previously work in the game.  He made obvious calls in obvious situations and Ohio State snuffed out those plays.  Defensively, it was no different.  The wrong defense in obvious situations were used repeatedly in the game and Ohio State took full advantage of those situations. One fourth and two situation had Ohio State in an offensive formation that was screaming a quarterback run and Texas was in position for a totally different type of play.  The quarterback run worked to perfection.  If I can recognize so many of these situations in a game, why can’t the educ ated, experienced coaches see those situat...