No Need To Apologize

You know what has been the best part of the Presidential campaign for me so far?  Never having to come up with an apology or an excuse for the candidate that I'm backing.  I can wake up and not fear what's on my Twitter timeline or having people post to my Facebook page a link to another controversy and "Look what your candidate said now!"

Every day I hear Donald Trump supporters stammer and contort themselves trying to "explain what he really meant to say" after he insults and alienates another large group of prospective voters.  "He was only kidding!" is the most popular excuse.  "You know he didn't actually mean that!" is another.  And then there is "The media is taking everything out of context!"  And if there doesn't seem to be any rational explanation for the latest stream of consciousness moment they always like to fall back on "He's still better than Crooked Hillary!"

As I've mentioned before, there is a certain percentage of people for whom Donald Trump could never do anything heinous enough, could never say anything too offensive and could never tell a big enough lie or flip-flop on an issue in consecutive sentences often enough to get them not to vote for him.  But that is a very, very small minority of Americans.  The size of which could lead to the type of a blowout loss usually reserved for Democrats like Michael Dukakis, Walter Mondale, Adlai Stevenson and George McGovern.  And those were boring guys who went out of their ways not to offend people or say things that would make people hate them.

But don't worry, The Trumpster is already feeding his sycophants all the excuses they need for Wednesday, November 9th: "The elections are rigged", "The media was biased", "Establishment Republicans sabotaged the campaign to protect their power in Washington" and of course "Hillary cheated". 

I stand by my belief that Donald Trump is running his campaign like the reality TV show that made him famous--start out being outrageous and keep trying to be more outrageous every week.  The only problem is that there's a big difference between getting ratings--and getting people to vote for you for the most powerful position in the world.  And I make no apologies or excuses for believing in that.

The Dangerous Event City

I think Oshkosh's tenure as "Wisconsin's Event City" is beginning to wear on people.  I don't mean just the city's public safety and public works staff that are stretched thin all summer long working and patrolling the nearly constant stream of public gatherings, concerts and potential traffic jams which mark our summers now--but rather the general public as well.  Hence the little bit of ugliness that we saw with the Oshkosh Advisory Parks Board and organizers of Sawdust Days last night.

As we've been reporting the last couple of days, some Parks Board members are fed up with incidents taking place in and around Menominee Park during the 4th of July weekend.  The most serious this year was a melee involving dozens of teenagers that required almost twenty police officers to break up.  But Parks Board member Bill Gogolewski came out firing with even more serious allegations last night, claiming Sawdust Days "brings gangs and drugs to the park every year" and that "someone is going to get shot by police someday".  Not exactly the kind of reviews that Sawdust Days is going to put on next year's flyer to attract attendees.

I would have to say that there was a lot of "code talking" going on around the topic yesterday.  In her interview with us on WOSH Monday morning, Sawdust Days Chairperson Ellen Schmidt said it was a "group from Menasha that comes every year just to cause trouble" that started the fight--and that she would be "profiling, if she described the group".  Mr Gogolewski's comments also draw inferences--especially when such allegations are tied to "certain parts of the park during Sawdust Days".  I should add that his comments were made in the context of "I talked to police officers who worked the event and they said....."--so we will definitely be checking with Police Chief Dean Smith as to whether or not the Department believes gangs and drug dealers are taking over Sawdust Days.

This little tiff comes a couple of weeks after Common Council Member Lori Palmeiri asked why the police services fee was so high for the Hmong Festival at Winnebago Community Park on Labor Day weekend--and Chief Smith informed her that it's because the Department keeps a tactical team on site that weekend--just in case.  That is the same festival that was denied a special event permit one year when dueling factions within that community came before the Common Council claiming the other was making threats against them.

Bill Gogolewski wondered why attendees at Sawdust Days "can't be more like those at Lifest"--the Christian music festival held at the Sunnyview Expo Grounds--for which admission is charged and there is a fence around the grounds.  He must have forgotten about the sexual assault case that stemmed from the camping area out there one year, or the girl that was killed on one of the thrill rides.  Of course, Lifest doesn't have an on-site hoosegow like the Winnebago County Sheriff's Department has out at Country USA and Rock USA to deal with all of the drunk and disorderlies.  And the Fire Department doesn't have to sit on edge with heavy equipment ready to roll to Sawdust Days like it does when there are five-thousand takeoffs and landings at Wittman Airport during EAA.

Just another weekend in "Wisconsin's (Dangerous) Event City"!

More Gold For the Rich

You know who must really hate the Olympics?  Bernie Sanders and all of his followers.  It's not really the those who can soar the highest, run the fastest or jump the farthest that win the gold--it's those who can afford to play the game that win.

The addition of professional athletes to the Olympics forever changed the course of many sports.  Men's basketball is now the sole domain of multi-millionaires--as is men's hockey in the Winter Games.  All of the tennis and golf competitors are pros with huge career earnings.  Track stars and swimmers can also make a pretty good living on the pro circuits.

But being rich is a big advantage in the so-called "collegiate sports" as well.  The difference between making the Olympics and being just good enough to make amateur squads is often high-priced coaching, training methods and equipment.  Wouldn't you like to know how much the parents of Michael Phelps spent on renting pool time, traveling to swim with top-level trainers and to compete in the types of competitions that get you noticed by national federations?  Or how much was spent to get Simone Biles to the point where she can be considered one of the greatest gymnasts of all time?  Maybe we can just ask the parents of all those kids that didn't have the talent to go along with mom and dad's deep pockets (or huge debts) to get to Rio.

And then some sports still exist simply to give the well-to-do a chance to achieve Olympic glory due almost exclusively to their means.  In watching the opening ceremonies on Friday night, you may have noticed some older folks walking amongst the athletes.  You may have assumed they were Olympic federation officials or maybe coaches.  But many of them are "athletes" in sports like equestrian and sailing (I've always thought that the equestrian "athletes" should have to ride their horses into the stadium).  Not a lot of "going from the streets to the Olympic team" stories for NBC to warm your heart with while showing tape-delayed, prime time coverage in those sports.  "For Tamika Lewis, her love of horses came from watching mounted police try to break up riots in her Baltimore neighborhood....."

Those feeling the Bern could start their own "Socialist Olympics" where the rich kids who win medals are forced to give them to the athletes that couldn't buy the best training in the world.  Or to those who didn't even bother to get off the couch and try.

Why We Can't Have THAT Conversation

We certainly stepped in it on our sister station yesterday.  The morning show host mentioned a tidbit on the air about how the average American man is 5'9" tall.  He remarked that he was surprised that the average is that "short" and he wondered why it has stagnated over the past few decades.  I pointed out that America's racial diversity is actually the reason that our height numbers aren't growing like other countries--as a the percentage of the population from European descent is declines and non-European ancestry increases.

Not surprisingly, several calls came in from listeners angry that we would suggest that non-European-descent immigrants are shorter than those of us with European heritage.  The term "stereotype" was tossed around a few times as was "there are tall Hispanics (or Asians) too, you know".  The morning show host fumbled through a pseudo-apology but I offered no such concession.  Instead, I listed the tallest average nations in the world--as compiled by the World Health Organization:

10--Australia
9--United States
8--Greece
7--Germany
6--Finland
5--Estonia
4--Norway
3--Denmark
2--Sweden
1--Netherlands (where men are an average of six-feet tall)

What can we deduce from that list?  That the US is the most racially-diverse out of all of them?  That taller nations tend to be in Europe with very homogenous populations?

Being just a shade over 6'2", I enjoy being tall.  Because I've been involved in sports my whole life, most of my friends are tall too.  But there are advantages to being short as well.  You should have seen me trying to get through the doorways and hatches of the Martin Mars aircraft during EAA or trying to fit into seats at Wrigley Field--both of which were built at a time when the average American man was about 5'6".

Besides, when someone is defensive about their stature and acts like they are all big and tough we say they have a "Napoleon Complex"--and he was a tiny little French guy.

One Sure Thing

There are no sure things in sports--the term "upset" comes from the name of the only horse to ever beat the Triple Crown winner Man O' War in a race--but there are a couple of sure things in the upcoming Olympics.  One is that US Men's Basketball team will win the gold medal.  The other is that the US Women's Basketball team will win gold as well.

Despite not having LeBron James or Steph Curry, the men's team is far and away the most-talented team in the competition.  They blew out everyone in their exhibition games leading up to Rio and there is no real time zone change to adapt to--as Brazil is in the same hemisphere.

It wasn't that long ago that USA Men's Basketball wasn't an automatic gold medal winner.  The team that went to Athens in 2004--just 12-years ago--lost three games and came home with only bronze.  I remember at the time that experts were saying that the US was no longer the "undisputed superpower of the sport".  That Europeans had surpassed us in terms of fundamentals and team play--and that sending an all-star team was not going to be good enough anymore.  (In a way it reminds me every foreign policy speech that President Obama has ever given.)

To be honest, the 2004 team sent to Athens was a disaster.  It was a bunch of ballhogs, guys that couldn't shoot and totally devoid of any defensive effort.  It was the era of "AND1" basketball--streetball ruled the game and it was all about getting your shots, looking at flashy as possible doing it--and who cares about everybody else on the court.  It didn't help that the incredibly over-rated Larry Brown was the coach--who hated the style of play and the young guys that were playing it.

But now, just 12-years later, here is the US standing head and shoulders above the rest of the world again.  While he may be portrayed as this bad guy, LeBron James should get plenty of the credit.  He was on the 2004 team--but Brown hardly played him--and since then his style of play has returned some credibility to the NBA game.  LeBron shares the ball and sets up his teammates.  He rebounds, he defends and he works within a team system to win.  And the guys that grew up wanting to be him--and not Alan Iverson or Stephon Marbury--make up the team that will stomp everyone in Rio.

And if you think the gap between the US and the rest is big in the men's game--the Team USA Ladies will likely find even less competition in their tournament.  They are currently on a 41-game Olympic winning streak--and few of those games have even been close.  This year's NCAA Champion UConn Huskies could probably have come to the Olympics and won the gold.  But we should give credit to the WNBA for this one thing--keeping US players involved in the game stateside--so that international competition like this is more interesting for them.

So go ahead, put the mortgage payment down on a double gold for the USA on the hardwoods this month.  It's one of the few "five-star, sure-fire, solid-gold lock of the week" that you will ever find.

Another Lost Election

We are just a week away from heading to the polls again here in Wisconsin.  Oh, you weren't aware of the Fall Primary on August 9th?  Don't feel bad--most of your fellow Wisconsinites weren't either.  And that's unfortunate, because there are some pretty big races on the ballot.  You've got Democratic primaries in the 6th and 8th Congressional Districts.  A Republican primary in the 8th.  Republican and Democratic primaries in the 18th State Senate District race.  And an outrageous four-way GOP primary for Winnebago County Register of Deeds--a position that should be appointed at best and eliminated at worst (but that's a subject of another My Two Cents somewhere down the road).

Unfortunately, people are giving very little thought to politics and elections in early August.  Instead, they are thinking about last-minute summer road trips, back-to-school shopping, getting college kids ready to head back to campus, spending time at the cottage and golf.  They aren't thinking about where Congressional candidates stand on the issues or what makes a "good Republican" Register of Deeds.

This primary used to be held in September--when people are less distracted by the trappings of summer--and lives fall into a more mundane routine.  It would be like Labor Day Weekend passed and folks would get 'serious" about things again--including politics.  But the push to have more people "vote early" necessitated moving the primary into early August so that general election ballots would be printed and available for absentee voting in October.

It's ironic that an effort to "get more people to vote" actually ends up reducing turnout for at least one election--as clerks are expecting just 20-percent turnout next Tuesday.  And again, there are some very important races on the ballot here (and the Register of Deeds race, too).  I guess we should be encouraged that turnout would be better than the February primary for non-partisan local races where poll workers take turns sleeping and waking each other up when people actually come through the doors.  That's why school districts like holding referenda on those dates.

So try to make it to the polls next Tuesday, if you're not too busy at the beach, or the pool, or the ball diamond, or at the lake, or on the course, or in the Dells.........

Is Gerald Ford Running Again?

For those of you old enough to remember, the 1976 campaign of President Gerald Ford was derailed during a debate with Jimmy Carter in which Ford claimed Eastern Europe was not under the control of the Soviet Union:

The gaffe made it appear that Ford had no idea what was going on in the geo-political world.  That, coupled with his pardon of Richard Nixon shortly after taking office, threw a close election to Jimmy Carter (and we all know what a disaster that turned out to be).

On Sunday, I thought Gerald Ford had risen from the grave to join George Stephanapoulos on ABC's "This Week" program to discuss the situation in Ukraine with the invasion of that country by "forces wanting to return to Russian control".  It just turned out to be Donald Trump:

This gaffe took place on a lightly-watched Sunday morning news program--and not a debate televised on all TV networks.  But it shows just how little Reality Show Candidate knows about what is going on around him--and the situation that celebrity-obsessed voters may place him into next year.