The Long Road Out

What an uninspiring concept:  international mens' soccer in the U.S.   And lest some one think the dismantling by Messi and Argentina in the Copa Americano quarter final is unusual, I ask you to remember this:  even at its best, our team has always performed marginally worse than one hoped for. In that regard, last night was normal, and there was no drama about it after a silly goal three minutes into the game.   Did you notice how Messi kept looking at the ground and biting his lip to avoid giggling?  I respect him for that.   Yep, these are our guys. The United States did not outperform Argentina in a single part of the game.   Some of the more typical falling-short-of-best-outcome highlights: Defense--any one who's watched football since the Germans dominated in the 70's knows what the field looks like--even on breakaways, somehow there are always at least 10 defenders between the ball and the opposing goal.  But not when the US men are ...

We're all in shock over Orlando.   Even Adele. And even Donald Trump, who, true to form, has claimed pre-knowledge (I thought we were supposed to dislike it when arrogant bullies say "I told you so")--and then blamed Muslims. Muslims aren't contributing a lot to the safety of our small planet these days.   But neither are Christians or Jews.  Couldn't we at least start taxing church, synagogue, and mosque real estate as a way to get these feckless institutions to pay some of the social costs they create?   I wouldn't dislike religion so much if a few of them started carrying their weight.  Even a small part of their negative footprints.  Please! To make it clear:   I'm sick of paying the social and economic and tragic costs of your imaginary friends (and infantile readings of one or two mediocre over-read books).   That doesn't excuse Donald Trump.   First, he blames only Muslims for our world of violence.   Second, he's intent...