The underpaid Augusta Greenjackets take the field against the Fireflies in Columbia Monday night. The home team won, 7-4.
Wrapping up the week:
- A top French court overturns the burkini ban — Good for them. So maybe France can now rejoin the ranks of liberal democracies.
- The shadowy corner of pro baseball, where minor leaguers live below the poverty line — Interesting piece by Kent Babb, formerly of The State. It features salary info about the team in Augusta, which I saw play the Fireflies just the other night. The Fireflies’ salaries are not mentioned.
- First case of Zika reported near Myrtle Beach — OK, you’ve got me worried now.
- Guess How Many Zika Cases Showed Up At The Olympics? — Hint: Fewer than in the Myrtle Beach area. This was the Y2K of health scares.
- Multi-million grant to fund cutting-edge brain research at Clemson — Sorry. I couldn’t resist being reminded of the classic Ariail cartoon below.
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3. Whatever became of Ebola? Seems like we have the huge scares every so often that don’t really pan out to be much. Then again sometimes they do. I still remember when AIDS first came onto the scene. It started out as a “gay” disease but about the time Arthur Ashe died that changed to something that could affect anyone.
There are still outbreaks of Ebola in Africa, but they have the training and equipment to contain it. Meanwhile, we’re not treating Zika nearly as seriously as we should. The mosquitoes that carry it can be found over a large portion of the US. Adults often have few symptoms or none, but they can still infect the surrounding mosquito population with the virus. It can also, in a few cases, cause Guillain-Barre syndrome in infected adults which can lead to death or permanent disability.
I’m glad the French came to their senses. Personally I have no desire to swim in a sea anchor, but it’s their choice. I won’t say you couldn’t, but I think you’d have a hard time hiding a bomb under there.
I see that Sen. Graham has joined the “system is rigged” chorus by calling for a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton’s emails, saying, “If you’re waiting for this Justice Department to hold anybody in the Obama-Clinton world accountable, you’ll die of old age.” The senator seems to be campaigning for Trump in spirit if not in deed.
and Trey Gowdy, not satisfied with how HRC pwned his Benghazi witch hunt, wants to open a special prosecution on the emails….I guess if you’re a hammer….
“NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton leads her Republican rival Donald Trump by 5 percentage points among likely voters, down from a peak this month of 12 points, according to the Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll released on Friday.
The Aug. 22-25 opinion poll found that 41 percent of likely voters supported Clinton ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election, while 36 percent supported Trump. Some 23 percent would not pick either candidate and answered “refused,” “other” or “wouldn’t vote.””
Clint Eastwood’s interview in the latest Esquire has this interesting take on the election (trigger warning: some profanity):
ESQ: Your characters have become touchstones in the culture, whether it’s Reagan invoking “Make my day” or now Trump … I swear he’s even practiced your scowl.
CE: Maybe. But he’s onto something, because secretly everybody’s getting tired of political correctness, kissing up. That’s the kiss-ass generation we’re in right now. We’re really in a pussy generation. Everybody’s walking on eggshells. We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren’t called racist. And then when I did Gran Torino, even my associate said, “This is a really good script, but it’s politically incorrect.” And I said, “Good. Let me read it tonight.” The next morning, I came in and I threw it on his desk and I said, “We’re starting this immediately.”
Terry Richardson
ESQ: What is the “pussy generation”?
CE: All these people that say, “Oh, you can’t do that, and you can’t do this, and you can’t say that.” I guess it’s just the times.
ESQ: What do you think Trump is onto?
CE: What Trump is onto is he’s just saying what’s on his mind. And sometimes it’s not so good. And sometimes it’s … I mean, I can understand where he’s coming from, but I don’t always agree with it.
ESQ: So you’re not endorsing him?
CE: I haven’t endorsed anybody. I haven’t talked to Trump. I haven’t talked to anybody. You know, he’s a racist now because he’s talked about this judge. And yeah, it’s a dumb thing to say. I mean, to predicate your opinion on the fact that the guy was born to Mexican parents or something. He’s said a lot of dumb things. So have all of them. Both sides. But everybody—the press and everybody’s going, “Oh, well, that’s racist,” and they’re making a big hoodoo out of it. Just fucking get over it. It’s a sad time in history.
ESQ: What troubles you the most?
CE: We’re not really … what troubles me is … I guess when I did that silly thing at the Republican convention, talking to the chair …
ESQ: I didn’t say it was silly.
CE: It was silly at the time, but I was standing backstage and I’m hearing everybody say the same thing: “Oh, this guy’s a great guy.” Great, he’s a great guy. I’ve got to say something more. And so I’m listening to an old Neil Diamond thing and he’s going, “And no one heard at all / Not even the chair.” And I’m thinking, That’s Obama. He doesn’t go to work. He doesn’t go down to Congress and make a deal. What the hell’s he doing sitting in the White House? If I were in that job, I’d get down there and make a deal. Sure, Congress are lazy bastards, but so what? You’re the top guy. You’re the president of the company. It’s your responsibility to make sure everybody does well. It’s the same with every company in this country, whether it’s a two-man company or a two-hundred-man company… . And that’s the pussy generation—nobody wants to work.
ESQ: You’ve campaigned for office. If you were going to write a stump speech for this election, what would you say?
CE: “Knock it off. Knock everything off.” All these people out there rattling around the streets and stuff, shit. They’re boring everybody. Chesty Puller, a great Marine general, once said, “You can run me, and you can starve me, and you can beat me, and you can kill me, but don’t bore me.” And that’s exactly what’s happening now: Everybody is boring everybody. It’s boring to listen to all this shit. It’s boring to listen to these candidates.
ESQ: What would you like to see change?
CE: I’d say get to work and start being more understanding of everybody—instead of calling everybody names, start being more understanding. But get in there and get it done. Kick ass and take names. And this may be my dad talking, but don’t spend what you don’t have. That’s why we’re in the position we are in right now. That’s why people are saying, “Why should I work? I’ll get something for nothing, maybe.” And going around and talking about going to college for free. I didn’t go to college for free. I mean, it was cheap, because I went to L. A. City College—it wasn’t like going to a major university. But it was okay. And then, you know, I didn’t finish, because I decided to become an actor, ruin my whole life. [Everyone laughs.]
ESQ: What do you think of Hillary?
CE: What about her? I mean, it’s a tough voice to listen to for four years. It could be a tough one. If she’s just gonna follow what we’ve been doing, then I wouldn’t be for her.
ESQ: But if the choice is between her and Trump, what do you do?
CE: That’s a tough one, isn’t it? I’d have to go for Trump … you know, ’cause she’s declared that she’s gonna follow in Obama’s footsteps. There’s been just too much funny business on both sides of the aisle. She’s made a lot of dough out of being a politician. I gave up dough to be a politician. I’m sure that Ronald Reagan gave up dough to be a politician.
The fascinating thing about Eastwood is that his films SEEM to have a detachment from these characters — although an understanding, even sympathetic, detachment.
From the start of “Gran Torino,” we are made to understand that the protagonist is at best an irascible, difficult person, and an unapologetic bigot.
As we come to care about him and root for him, he becomes a bigger person, going from hostility to the Hmong family next door to being their steadfast protector.
You read these interviews, and you realize that while Eastwood is able to take a critical view of these characters, and sometimes be amused by them and their throwback attitudes, in fact he identifies with them and in many ways is LIKE them.
Which I suppose in the end works out as a great reinforcement of his brand…
Here’s why we shouldn’t increase the gas tax or implement dumb ideas like the Penny Tax for roads —
in the past couple weeks, paving has been started on I77 between exit 24 and exit 19. Before that started,
someone in their infinite wisdom decided to cut down a couple acres of trees in the gap between I77 and the Exit 24 on ramp to use as what appears to be a staging area for trucks. Why that was required is beyond me. But let’s move on from there. Significant work is being done to repave that stretch when it wasn’t really a problem. Three lanes of a couple miles. But meanwhile, right up the road, at Exit 27, the overpass that crosses the highway is in terrible shape — it is literally one of those mythical “crumbling” roads that pro-tax people put into every description of the roads in SC. Why wouldn’t an actual CRUMBLING bridge be prioritized over three lanes of highway? And don’t get me started on another actual crumbling road – Marthan Rd that links U.S. 21 to Farrow Rd. and crosses right over I77 several hundred yards from Exit 24. That road is a minefield of potholes that have been patched, re-patched, patched again, and then ignored over the past year. Rather than repave it ONCE the right way, a quick “fix” is applied because, really, who cares if it is done right? Doing it right isn’t in the job description.
There is no common sense in any of the government agencies that are responsible for the roads. Or maybe they ARE smart – if you fix the actual problem roads first, how can you justify tax increases?
Not to add fuel to your fire, but did you see Cindi’s piece Sunday about the mentality of the state DOT board?
I had not but thanks for the link.
The D.O.T. is a perfect example of corrupt people leading incompetent people. Zero accountability, zero transparency, poor execution. A monopoly of ineptitude. But, no, pleasem
take more of our money! I’m SURE they’ll get it right if we do that.
Wasn’t Monopoly of Ineptitude Guns N Roses’ disappointing follow-up album to Appetite for Destruction?
🙂