Month: March 2025

Insubordination no longer seems like a politically correct label for interpersonal behavior.  Let’s go back to the definition: willfully disobeying a lawful order of one’s superior. It is generally a punishable offense in hierarchical organizations which depend on people lower in the chain of command obeying orders.

We have a democracy that elects our leaders, and the assumption is that they have our best interests at heart.  When we no longer believe that we have legal methods of examining and proving their mistakes and removing them from the office.  But, until and unless that is true, we are expected to support them, especially when we report directly to them in our jobs.

The recent presidential address to Congress illustrates how far we have moved into political insubordination. It seems on the brink of mutiny, which in the military is still punishable by death.  The reasons should be clear: the insubordinate act of one person can threaten the well-being of many.

I am seeing an unprecedented level of outrage over the recent presidential address.  Yes, just like the leader General Patton, the interpersonal antics can seem over the top, but this moves way past decorum on the part of the troops.  The behavior exhibited in the chamber and afterward by the media’s coverage are unacceptable and must be called out. The mission is always at risk, and the actions of even one can matter … a lot.

Please consider the recent events where leadership is being second-guessed.  We have the Ukraine-Russia negotiations, the Palestinian-Israel negotiations, and a country that must be set on a path out of extreme indebtedness.  Oh, and there is that pesky problem of people who are not here legally who are doing nefarious things like killing people.  Clinton, Obama, and Biden all said they needed to go, but did little to block or remove them, and it is a fact that many countries emptied their prisons and asylums at the same time to come to the United States.

The country elected Trump because most people believe he will deal with the issues other leaders have turned a blind eye to.  Doesn’t that seem like a lot on anyone’s plate? Add to that trying to regain world peace and get the Biden Administration’s rampant inflation under control.   Do you really think you could or would do better?

I don’t!  Plus, I really don’t want to work that hard or receive the crap so evident when you try.  I think it was President Lincoln who said, “you can only please half the people half the time.”  Seems like a pretty good summary of where we are as a country.  I am reminded of one of our key generals in World War II … Patton.  He was not a nice guy, but our troops and our country needed that kind of leadership … it was an ugly war.

Do you remember how close we were to destroying our country from within over slavery?  Does anyone now want to run on reinstating that?  Well, if not, why were we at war with ourselves over who the country elected as its leader?  You do, of course, remember that our President who tried to right this wrong was assassinated. Yet, there are still a few who resent him for freeing slaves. Seems silly in comparison, doesn’t it?

OK, so if you agree with me, tell me why our news media is on an all-out tear to demean, discredit, and dishonor the office of the POTUS?  I thought they were just supposed to report the news, not decide what we should think about it.  The press briefing after the next day was telling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD-25ENOie4

You can’t please all the people all the time, but what the mainstream media is feeding viewers is propaganda and it is pouring fuel on the flames dividing and weakening our country.  The world is watching and if what they see is an internal war against the president we elected, Lincoln again said it best regarding the threat of slavery, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Your call.  Stop the insanity by turning off your media that tries to second guess the POTUS.

And, if you still can’t get over the fact that Trump is the POTUS watch this therapeutic answer: https://newzy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Dont-Cry-Cryo.mp4?_=1

 Watch it all the way to the end!

I am no athlete, but I did run track in high school, so I do have some curiosity about the running elite.  These are genetic winners of course, coupled with training, careful attention to diet, and a level of internal focus certainly deserving of praise.

However, when the sport changes the game through technology to let these elites break previous records, I find we have gone too far.  My best events were distance running so cross country was my favorite.  Part of the reason I did better at this was my sense of pace … not going out too fast, taking hills at the right pace, and reserving enough but not too much energy for the final few hundred yards. 

Now technology makes all that unnecessary … track lights tell you precisely what your pace should be!  Look for yourself and read very carefully:

 https://www.wsj.com/sports/olympics/indoor-mile-world-record-yared-nuguse-jakob-ingebrigtsen-7a67dfce?st=RZvBQR&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

The track of course favors all athletes equally if it is improved, but how fair is that to the athletes whose previous records are now smashed?  Why are bathing suits for swimmers being optimized?  Sure, you wouldn’t want to have one swimmer with faster suits.

No, there is something more subtle going on here: we are being teased with technology that makes it appear that the latest athletes can break historical records more frequently.  The pure and simple reason for this is commercial interest … not sportsmanship.

I am a very serious fisherman and of course have always had a great fish finder for my boat.  Over the years, they have improved to now include side-scanning and forward-looking.  It is therefore easier to spot fish and even detect bigger ones over smaller ones.  When I was a young, the bass tournaments relied more on intuition and insight if you were to consistently catch large bass. 

I do understand the trend to make some sports more interesting by picking up the pace, but I wonder where this all leads for running in particular.  High tech sneakers that recapture the energy of the ground strike to propel you forward seems to be something that should not be allowed … yet it has crept into the sport.

We used to worry about doping … athletes taking performance enhancing substances. We all heard of the international incidents of this.  I guess this is all human nature at its worst.  Perhaps it is more about commercial interests at their worst.

My basic question is why this form of cheating has not triggered outrage from the athletes, past and current, and the spectators … except for me .