So much to discuss

The pace of news would be exhilarating if many of the stories were not so unsettling. Today’s opine amounts to a lightning round so buckle up. (Hang in there, the column has a happy ending.)

For starters, has anyone informed South Carolina MAGA Sen. Tim Tom Scott and Florida MAGA Rep. Byron Tom Donalds the ship appears to have sailed regarding Trump cabinet positions? Guys, I don’t think Trump is even looking for a chauffeur or doorman at this point. (Note: at the suggestion of a good friend, I will occasionally refer to Republican congressional tools as MAGA or (M) rather than the customary Republican (R). This feels appropriate given the takeover of the Republican Party by MAGAs.)

These four murderers were all acquitted. There were no witnesses to murders committed by (L-R) Roy Bryant, O.J. Simpson and George Zimmerman. There were witnesses and conclusive video evidence in the case of Daniel Penny (far right) yet Penny walked free. Photos credit Hollywood vs. History, CBS News, Wikipedia, UPI)

I hate to bring up O.J., but the holiday gift acquittal granted to Daniel Penny – despite plain evidence Penny is guilty of murdering Jordan Neely – has the Black community understandably outraged, again! You see, unlike the O.J. murders, witnesses watched Penny kill Neely and there is also video evidence of Penny choking Neely to death. The Penny not guilty verdict is a reminder why many Black folks celebrated O.J.’s acquittal. Because, for centuries, we’ve watched as the pendulum of justice swings against us, even in slam-dunk cases. (Not saying two wrongs make right but after two centuries, this crap is far beyond worn out.)

As I used to tell my mother, sometimes the only way to get someone to understand what the sting of being pinched feels like is to pinch them back. O.J. Simpson was surely guilty, and no disrespect meant toward his victims or their families, but society needed to experience the anger Black folks feel each time people like Roy Bryant, George Zimmerman and Daniel Penny go free after murdering Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin, and Jordan Neely.

The 250-year parade of the murders of Black folks in this country, often with no accompanying justice, is a twin stain along with the original sin of slavery. So long as Black folks are murdered with impunity by White folks, America will never ascend to “more perfect union” status. And the “shining city upon a hill” becomes dimmer each time Blacks are denied rightful justice. And Black folks will not trust law enforcement or the U.S. justice system.

Shifting gears to the Middle East, it feels like a time bomb is ticking. While it is good news the Bashar Assad regime has been run out of Syria one wonders, what portends? If nothing else, it should be a reminder for Trump of what can happen when authoritarians push citizens to their limit. (Same thing happened to Mussolini but Trump appears to know very little history and may be unaware of Mussolini’s fate).

As the world seemingly turns toward disaster, the U.S. turns toward a re-do of the most inept presidential administration in American history. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

The toxicity in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia likely will persist. And with the most ignorant president in U.S. history about to become president again (still hard to fathom Democrats could not beat the fool) things could, as the Scarecrow proclaimed entering the forest, get darker before they get lighter. Ukraine, Russia, Gaza, Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, South Korea, China, Taiwan and Syria amount to a once simmering, now boiling pot. Add to the mix America’s deadbeat president-elect and his band of incompetent, corrupt fraudsters, and the notion of living on Mars sounds pretty good.

Over here, America’s descent into all-out savagery was on full display following the murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO. On social media, accused murderer Luigi Mangione’s X/Twitter profile grew by 100,000 followers as his beef against the healthcare industry resonates across the land. Not surprisingly these days, Mangione’s decision to allegedly kill CEO Brian Thompson unleashed January 6 insurrection-like social media barbarism.

As has become a rite of passage in the United States, unhinged Americans are now threatening violence against the residents of Altoona, Pennsylvania. Particularly under siege are the police department that captured Mangione and the McDonald’s restaurant and its employee who spotted the suspect and alerted police.

This is happening in the wealthiest, yet most violent, industrialized nation on Earth. It is true America’s health system is overly complicated and sometimes devious, forcing its citizens to spend more on insurance than other wealthy nations. America has the worst health-related outcomes of any developed western civilization, in part because so many of the insured’s claims are denied, forcing many people to skip important medical care. However, that does not justify murdering a man in cold blood. What’s next, killing your broker when the stock market turns negative?

Daniel Penny and Luigi Mangione are examples of the unraveling of America. In more and more situations, unfit vigilantes feel emboldened to intervene with deadly force. The combination of easily obtained firearms and proliferation of hotheads has turned America into a bizarre land of perpetual violence.

Sports are traditionally a distraction from what ails humanity. The college football playoff cannot begin soon enough. (Photo credit ESPN screenshot)

Shall we end on a high note? The College Football Playoff 12-team tournament was announced last Sunday. The committee, for the most part, got it right. The 12 teams all deserve to be in the playoff, including the choice of SMU instead of Alabama. (Sorry, ‘Bama fans, but the Crimson Tide did not deserve to make the field.)

My alma mater, the Indiana Hoosiers, is the biggest story in college football this year and earned the right to play at Notre Dame, next Friday in the first round. The game is dubbed the Championship of the state of Indiana.

A glaring error by the CFP Committee is saddling top-seed Oregon with a tougher path to the championship game than the paths faced by 5th-seed Texas and 6th-seed Penn State. In fact, if Ohio State beats Tennessee, then Oregon will play conference rival Ohio State for the second time this season. In hindsight, teams should get to the Final Four before having to meet an opponent they’ve already played during their conference schedule.

Still, the college football postseason will be an exciting distraction from what awaits us come late-January.

Hoo, hoo, hoo, Hoosiers!

LIGHTNING ROUND