Tigers & Monkeys & Blue Tick Hounds – Oh My!!

Once again, we find ourselves inundated with progressive, non-sensical idiocy that defies all rational belief. Everyday it seems as though the progressive, oh heck, let's just call them what they are, socialists hell-bent on becoming communist, never fail to come up with new ways of demonstrating their brain decay. I honestly believe a lot of these people are crazy. I cannot necessarily say stupid, but certainly crazy. And I do not mean it in any kind of nice way. Perfect example of the insanity is Zina Bash, former White House special assistant for regulatory reform, legal and immigration policy who was sitting behind Judge Brett Kavanaugh during the first day of his confirmation hearings. As she sat there, here hand was positioned in such a way that the lame-stream hacks and others insisted she was shooting a "White Power/ White Supremacy" like gang sign. The trouble? Uuuuuhh, she is half Mexican and half Jewish. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors. White Power signs? Really? How about a hot steaming cup of "shut up and go away." But it just gets worse. Follow me here, folks.

1. Tiger Woods: Yeah, he messed up. Big time. Lost both his family and his "mojo" but is nevertheless fighting his way back in 2018. I still have hopes that he and his wife will somehow restore their marriage and he will become the father and husband he is supposed to be. I do earnestly want and pray for that. But following the recent Northern Trust Golf Tournament in New Jersey, Tiger was asked a series of stupid and quite out of bounds questions having nothing to do with golf. Following this tournament, according to USA Today Sports writer, Christine Brennan, (a.k.a. editorial hack destined to disappear into the world of journalistic mediocrity), Tiger was asked, in her clouded mind, appropriate and reasonable questions. Sorry but they were not and she is dead wrong in her ignorance. Since when did it become appropriate to ask political/personal questions in a post golf tournament interview?

Instead of focusing on his much-improved play over the past several months and a second-place finish at the last PGA tournament, Tiger was asked both about his relationship with and how he felt about President Trump. (https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/christinebrennan/2018/08/28/tiger-woods-successfully-straddles-fence-president-trump/1127549002/) Sorry folks, but I feel this line of questioning was way out of line. But for the sake of argument, let's say the questions posed to Tiger were indeed acceptable, what can we say about Tiger's answers? Tiger responded with, "Well, I've known Donald for a number of years. We've played golf together. We've had dinner together. I've known him pre-presidency and obviously during his presidency." Not satisfied with this answer well-reasoned answer and trying to pin Tiger down and force a damning media sound-bite, the most out from left field question one could imagine flew out of the reporters gob. "At a time, especially 2018, I think a lot of people, especially people of color, immigrants, feel threatened by him, by his policies, he's thrown himself into sports debates in terms of race with LeBron James, with the anthem - what do you say to people who might find it interesting that you, I guess, have a friendly relationship with him? Do you have anything more broadly to say about the state and I guess the discourse of race relations?" Tiger's answers clearly did not pass muster with the brainless leftist press and many a brain-dead Twitter types.

To the first question Tiger responded with, "He's the president of the United States and you have to respect the office. No matter who's in the office, you may like, dislike the personality or the politics, but we all must respect the office." Heads explode! Then after the second question, clearly not in the mood for the press' special brand of race baiting and social engineering constructs, Tiger fended off the question with, "No. I just finished 72 holes and I'm really hungry." In other words, "Bugger off, loser." More heads explode! Tigers do tend to fight back.

I love, not really, but I love how the social engineering experts term Tiger's answers as "straddling the fence." No, he answered with a well-thought out, reverent and cogent answer that these cretins simply do not want to hear. How dare he not bash Trump! Once again we have a man of color, who in their myopic world view has stepped off the plantation and is now an enemy of their fascist state. ESPN, for what it is worth arguably the most ridiculously biased "non-political," yet in reality very political outlet on television has seen fit, of course, to add their worthless two cents by two of their more popular commentators, Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman. Kellerman who history will also soon forget stated, "It really bothers me. I'm angry at what Tiger Woods said. It is a thoughtless statement held up as a thoughtful statement and it either holds in contempt the intelligence of the people who hear it or else it's just a stupid thing to say." Really, Kellerman? I actually looked up the definition of "stupid" and saw his picture there.

So I guess it is stupid now, according to these socialist pigs, that disrespecting our flag and all that entails is the new moral high ground. And to say something so unimaginable as for people to respect the office of the presidency is the lowest of the low. Wow. Even a paragon within the black community, Hall of Fame football star Jim Brown has come under attack, by our own peeps no less, for not slamming the President. I would love to see any snowflake get in Jim Brown's face and call him a sellout. I would pay good money to see an 82-year-old man beat the snot out of some 21-year-old pansy.

But it has to stop. Enough of this. The supposed most "tolerant" among us, the socialist-progressive left demonstrates daily why in fact they continue to be the least tolerant and more violent. Disagree with them and their goal is to shut you down, shame you or cry like little babies until they get their way. Don't believe it, just go back and watch the first two days of the Judge Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. Three words; Harris, Booker, Feinstein. Let's move on.

2. Monkey Business: (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election/florida-governor-race-a-clash-between-liberal-democrat-and-trump-backed-republican-idUSKCN1LE1YH) No I am not talking about the 1931, 1952, 1998, 2007 or 2013 movies of the same name. Yeah, I am afraid so but this is among the latest, leftist insanity. No, Virginia, this is not made up. You cannot possibly make this stuff up. Republican U.S. Congressman Ron DeSantis was recently roasted when interviewed on Fox news after Democratic Mayor Andrew Gillum won his parties primary for the Florida governor's seat in November. Gillum, by the way is Black. DeSantis said, "The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases." DeSantis also referred to Gillum as "an articulate" spokesman for far-left views which he does happen to be. But I guess the term "articulate" is another one of those racist, micro-aggressive terms.

Here's the rub folks. The left is hell-bent on making this a racial issue when none exists. Yeah, I get it. Words "monkey" and "ape" have been used to debase Blacks for centuries. But the point here is that in America, the terms "money with," "monkey around with," "throwing a monkey wrench" and "monkey up" have all been used to describe something as being done sloppily, incorrectly, carelessly, without much thought or just plain wrong. The left clearly knows this to be true yet Gillum told Fox News that DeSantis' "monkey remark" was "not lost on" him. He further ignorantly stated, "It's very clear that Mr. DeSantis is taking a page directly from the campaign manual of Donald Trump." Of course, he did. Of course he was going to go there. He has nothing else but his terrible track record, blatant ignorance and his socialist anti-American views to fall back on. Never squander a BS sound bite. Leftist playbook page 5.

So I guess when Barack Obama mentioned "monkeying around with elections" back in 2008 or when the always tiresome Diane Feinstein cackled, "No one has ever been allowed to Monkey around with our electoral system" while the perennially stupid Chuck Schumer pontificated, "Donald Trump threw a monkey wrench with the wall," all that was okay. (https://kprcradio.iheart.com/

featured/the-pursuit-of-happiness/content/2018-08-30-according-to-merriam-websters-dictionary-desantis-is-not-a-racist/) I guess I should now go back through the history books and national archives and write what a rabid racist Manfred von Richthofen, Germany's Red Baron of WW1 fame clearly was because he said his Fokker Triplane "climbed like a monkey." But now, in the limited minds of the leftist hooligans, in the year 2018, whenever a conservative uses a term with the word "monkey," it is of course racist and a shame to whomever uses such a derogatory word. I suppose the next time I go to the zoo and want to see the monkey house, I will have to ask to see, "The, you know house, thing, where them hairy critters fling pooh."

3. University of Tennessee: Yeah, I went there and am a proud graduate. I loved my time there and will say it was among the happiest eight years of my life. Okay, I'm kidding, it only took me three and one-half years to graduate but here in 2018, let me say some of why I am getting fed up with my alma matter.

1. Rise in anti-Semitism. I do not get it. I don't. I hate it. Where I grew up in New Jersey, about half of my high school was Jewish. My first girlfriends were mostly Jewish and I have always loved my Jewish friends and the Jewish people. My best friend growing up was Jewish and yes, I went to more than my fair share of Bar-Mitzvahs. But over the last several years, there has been an ugly specter of anti-Semitism brewing on my old campus. UT has been called a "cesspool of anti-Semitic and racist behavior." (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

news/article-3730310/University-Tennessee-cesspool-anti-Semitic-racist-behavior-anonymous-watchdog-group-alleges.html) Yes when I went there all fraternities and sororities were still segregated (may still be but I do not know nor really care) but when I heard from several of my UT pals, all white btw, that former QB T. Martin, the same T. Martin who brought us our national championship in1998, was not seriously considered for the head football coaching job for as they say, he is not the right skin tone. I have to ask myself, "Do I believe it?" Unfortunately, yeah, I do. Perceptions become reality and it bothers me that numbers 2 and 3 below are embraced at UT whereas the thought of having a Black head coach is a foreign an idea as Klingons landing on the White House lawn.

2. Sex Week: (https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/04/11/university-of-tennessee-at-knoxville-hosts-anal-sex-workshop-during-sex-week/) Anal sex workshop at the annual sex week. Really? Is this a real thing? Everything I have uncovered thus far points to yes. So sad, disturbing and disappointing. (https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/rev-graham-u-tennessees-sex-week-promoting-sin-sodom-gomorrah) Worse than it sounds if that is possible. More to come later.

3. The Push for Gender Neutral Pronouns: Yes, the University, to some degree actually supports this insanity. Here is a link to a 2015 article. (https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2015/08/30/university-tennessee-gender-neutral-pronouns/71416632/) Sheesh. Again, more to come.

4. Finally, UT Football: Yeah, we pretty much stink. Closing in on 20 years now. Pathetic. I tried to sum it up for a friend of mine why over my 23 years here in Alabama I have come to be a fan of the tide and to a degree Auburn as well. When I watch Bama enter the field there is a definite swagger. A confidence. An attitude of "we will not be beaten." Every year, rightfully so or not, every single Alabama fan EXPECTS their team to win the National Championship. It is expected and when it doesn't happen, for it cannot happen every year, there is disappointment (except in Auburn) throughout the state. Enter stage left, Tennessee. Whereas Bama enters the fray saying beat me if you dare, Tennessee enters much like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. "Oh me, oh my. I sure hope we don't lose today. Maybe if we do, it won't be so bad. Maybe we might even score once. Perhaps even a touchdown by our offense. Won't that be great!" Bama's measure of merit (MOM) as we say in military operations is a national championship. EVERY SINGLE YEAR. You have to love that. Tennessee's MOM? A winning season or perhaps if light shines upon Neyland Stadium, a Bowl Game. Oh my! If we can only dream of such a thing. A spirit of losing is a terrible thing and something that is hard to overcome. Accepting mediocrity on the football field when coupled with items 1-3 above has really soured and tainted my view of my old school. Perhaps if we clean up the rot festering at the heart of a great university, then maybe Tennessee will once again return to football prominence. In fact, if all I have read is indeed true, I really don't care if Tennessee ever wins another football game. Yes, Virginia, there are some things more important than football. Although I have not yet burned my UT gear, neither am I holding my breath.

This being the Alabama Gazette's Anniversary Issue, I just want to thank Mrs. Grant for affording me the opportunity to write for her and for all of you who may enjoy my column. I realize some out there may not but please understand that I always write what I believe. This is my 98th column for the Alabama Gazette and I hope to pen at least 98 more. But without our readers, this would all be for naught, so I thank each of you for lending your support to Mrs. Grant, Marie, her entire staff, her writers and her paper. She is a magnificent woman and each of us here at the Gazette love her dearly. Thanks again. T8er