Brutally Honest

If only Tebow were gay

Maybe then he'd play again in the NFL... or at least get some favorable press.

Right?

What is becoming clearer is that the man is being blackballed.

So sez Michael Silver, Yahoo Expert (whatever that is):

As a journalist who has consistently experienced the wrath of Tebow Nation — mostly for passing along the slings and arrows voiced by various NFL players, coaches and talent-evaluators — I'm well aware that many devotees of the world's most celebrated unemployed quarterback carry a heavy persecution complex.

Yet as Tim Tebow's career wheezes to an underwhelming halt, with less apparent interest in his services than Massachusetts funeral parlors have in Tamerlan Tsarnaev's remains, something strange is happening. Against all odds, I'm starting to wonder whether the man who helped the Denver Broncos become one of the league's most stunning success stories in 2011 is getting unjustly blackballed.

Nine days after Tebow was released by the New York Jets, it has become increasingly clear that the ultra-popular quarterback who has hijacked many a news cycle has no viable landing spot. No NFL team seems to want him — as a starter, backup, converted H-back or fake-punt decoy — and it's not like he's fending off big-money offers from Canada, either.

...

Tebow, by all accounts, is a hard worker who radiates a relentlessly positive attitude. He has obvious leadership qualities and, as Broncos fans, 2011 opponents and "Saturday Night Live" aficionadosalike can attest, an uncanny knack for getting the stars to align in his favor. (Or, perhaps, his deep Christian faith really does translate into things like Marion Barber inexplicably running out of boundsin high altitude. After the weirdness I witnessed that season, I'm not ruling anything out.)

Clearly, even after shredding what was then the NFL's top-ranked defense for 316 passing yards in that Jan. 2012 playoff triumph, Tebow still has some serious refinement to do in order to bring his game to NFL-starter standards. That was evident in his final game with the Broncos, a lopsided playoff defeat to the New England Patriots.

What I can't understand is why no NFL team has enough faith in Tebow's upside to see if he's capable of pulling it off.

...

Since that defeat to the Patriots, the guy has been treated as dismissively as Kent Dorfman in the opening scene of "Animal House".

Which is why I believe Tebow ought to consider becoming a homosexual.

Or perhaps converting to Islam.

But not both.

That could be problematic.

Yet another Benghazi victim may turn out to be CBS News' Sharyl Attkisson

The news is wide and seriously damaging to the Obama administration and particularly Hillary Clinton.

There was this from The Guardian about Obama's recent treatment of whistleblowers.

Not really surprising to those who've been paying attention.

Then there's this must see video of Trey Gowdy's promise to the American people.

Mr. Gowdy's gained a new fan.

I doubt seriously I'm the only newbie.

Then there's this testimony from Greg Hicks describing how he was ordered not to talk to Congressional investigators.

In Watergate, when Nixon obfuscated and lied, nobody died.

Then there's the news that a request for Special Ops to come to Benghazi was denied.

It's clear that a travesty has occurred, one that cannot, must not be covered up.

And for those not paying attention, there's this lie that is arguably the first of many told since 9/11/12.

I finish with what I started with in the title of this catch-all post on a very news heavy day.

This from Politico is par for the course:

The Washington Post's Paul Farhi has written a glowing profile of Sharyl Attkisson, the Emmy award-winning CBS correspondent who has been the mainstream media's most persistent investigator of the events surrounding last year's attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Farhi's piece places Attkisson in a David-vs.-Goliath narrative, wherein the Obama administration is Goliath: "Attkisson, who holds a third-degree black belt in taekwondo, takes a fighting stance when she feels she’s being stonewalled. Which is exactly what she thinks the White House has done to her on Benghazi," Farhi writes.

But from where Attkisson is sitting, there are actually two Goliaths, one of which is almost entirely absent from the Post profile.

The second Goliath is CBS News, which has grown increasingly frustrated with Attkisson's Benghazi campaign. CBS News executives see Attkisson wading dangerously close to advocacy on the issue, network sources have told POLITICO. Attkisson can't get some of her stories on the air, and is thus left feeling marginalized and underutilized. That, in part, is why Attkisson is in talks to leave CBS ahead of contract, as POLITICO reported in April.

This cannot be covered up.

This will not be covered up.

People died.

For their sake, and the sake of their loved ones, we need to get to the bottom of it.

Carry on.

No Mo Tebow

At least in New York.

Stand by for ridicule and hatred as this fine man leaves town:

Tim Tebow couldn't get any playing time last season when the New York Jets had three quarterbacks on the roster. Following the selection of Geno Smith last week, they had six.

Well, now they have five.

Tebow was informed Monday morning when he arrived at the team's facility he'll be waived, and the team put out a statement:

"We have a great deal of respect for Tim Tebow," said Jets head coach Rex Ryan. "Unfortunately, things did not work out the way we all had hoped. Tim is an extremely hard worker, evident by the shape he came back in this offseason (losing weight). We wish him the best moving forward."

Tebow will now have to pass through waivers. Teams will have until 4 p.m. ET Tuesday to put in claims for him.

Tebow's NFL career is now in major jeopardy, unless of course he accepts a role as anything other than a quarterback. 

I think in the end leaving New York is a good thing for Mr. Tebow.  He's not the kind of guy that would get decent press coming from the country's cultural capitol and they've pretty much lived up to that reputation since his arrival.

And I find it interesting that on the day we find out Tebow is cut, another sports figure has stepped into the limelight.

Any bets on what kind of press he'll be getting?

“He had an anger inside. … I can’t explain what was in his mind.”

Interesting side note about the older Boston bomber:

The 26-year-old suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings who was killed Friday was kicked out of a Cambridge, Mass., mosque prayer service three months ago for an outburst against the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., two worshippers told the Los Angeles Times Saturday.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was thrown out of the Islamic Society of Boston after he stood up and shouted at the imam during a Friday service, they said. The imam had held up King as an example of a man to emulate.

One worshipper, who gave his name only as Muhammad, told the Los Angeles Times that Tamerlan stood up and began shouting.

“You cannot mention this guy because he’s not a Muslim!” Muhammad said Tamerlan shouted.

“He’s crazy to me,” Muhammad said, adding that the suspect had no further outbursts after that incident. “He had an anger inside. … I can’t explain what was in his mind.”

How about just, plainly and simply, evil?

Carry on.

One bomber killed, second still on the loose in Watertown

Sadly, a police officer has also been killed, another wounded after tangling with the terrorists:

One suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing was killed during a shootout with police and a massive manhunt was underway for the second suspect in the Boston suburb of Watertown, officials said on Friday.

Police were searching for the bombing suspect who was photographed wearing a white hat just before the explosions that killed three people and wounded 176. The blasts triggered security scares across the United States and evoked memories of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

"We believe this to be a terrorist," said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis of the bombing suspect still at large. "We believe this to be a man who has come here to kill people. We need to get him in custody."

The massive police operation was under way in Watertown after the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Thursday released pictures and video of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, enlisting the public's help in identifying two men wearing backpacks and baseball caps in the crowd minutes before bombs exploded near the finish line.

Massachusetts State Police warned people in Watertown not to open their doors while police conducting a door-to-door, street-by-street search.

HOW THE NIGHT BEGAN

About five hours after the FBI released the pictures of the bombing suspects, a police officer was shot and killed on the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Middlesex County District Attorney said in a statement.

A short time later, police received reports of a carjacking by two men who kept their victim inside the car for about half an hour, the statement said.

Police pursued that car to Watertown, where explosives were thrown from the car at police and gunfire was exchanged, the statement said.

"During the exchange of the gunfire, we believe that one of the suspects was struck and ultimately taken into custody. A second suspect was able to flee from that car and there is an active search going on at this point in time," Colonel Timothy Alben, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, told a news conference.

The report of the second officer being wounded comes from Fox News:

The Middlesex district attorney said the two men are suspected of killing the MIT police officer on campus late Thursday, then stealing a car at gunpoint and later releasing its driver unharmed. Hours earlier, police had released photos of the marathon bombing suspects and asked for the public's help finding them.

The suspects threw explosives from the car as police followed it into Watertown, according to the district attorney's news release. The suspects and police exchanged gunfire, and one of the suspects was critically injured and later died while the other escaped.

During the pursuit, a MBTA transit police officer was seriously injured and transported to the hospital, the news release states. Details on the officer's condition were not immediately available Friday morning.

Lots of unanswered questions in the wake of all this happening, to include where these two men came from, who trained them, whether there are others with them, etc.

I trust that law enforcement officials and others will get to the bottom of it all.

Pray for God's justice for the remaining perp (and anyone he's partnering with), God's peace and comfort and rest for all victims and their loved ones.

Boston bombing suspects at large, FBI releases photos and videos (UPDATED)

Listened to portions of the FBI news conference today as I drove home from the office.  The realization that those the FBI believes responsible are still at large was sobering.

The Feds have posted pictures and videos at their site and I'll do my small part of disseminating the same here.

What seems clear to me, though I'll allow that my conclusions are presumptive at this point, is that David Sirota must be pretty upset that his hopes seem to have been dashed.

 

I pray for God's complete and perfect justice for these men, whatever that might turn out to be.

Carry on.

UPDATE: Rusty's grabbed all photos in case the FBI's site is swamped.

Obama administration offers missile defense concessions to China...

... this in the hope of gaining China's help with the North Korean situation:

In a news conference after meetings with China’s top leaders, [Secretary of State John] Kerry said the United States would reduce its missile defenses in Asia if North Korea abandoned its nuclear weapons program.

Kerry’s overture appeared aimed at addressing Chinese concerns that North Korea’s provocative actions were leading the United States to build up military strength in the region as China is boosting its own influence there.

‘‘On missile defense, we discussed absolutely why we have taken the steps that we have taken,’’ Kerry said, referring to efforts the United States is taking to defend Guam, Hawaii, and the United States’ allies in Asia against a potential North Korean missile attack. The United States has dispatched two ships capable of missile defense and said it would speed up land-based missile defenses for Guam.

‘‘Now obviously if the threat disappears — i.e. North Korea denuclearizes — the same imperative does not exist at that point of time for us to have that kind of robust forward leaning posture of defense,’’ he added. ‘‘It would be our hope in the long run, or better yet in short run, that we can address that.’’

...

China remains a linchpin to the Obama administration’s policy of holding a tough line on Pyongyang, a reversal from the past. Previous administrations used aid to mollify the North and gain concessions on its nuclear program, only to see the North’s promises evaporate once the aid had been delivered.

Kerry said the Chinese shared the US goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, although he declined to say what steps China said it would take to accomplish it.

Even if China were to take a harsher stance, North Korea might not fall into line. Under the new leader, Kim Jong Un, the North has snubbed China several times, including refusing Chinese entreaties to cancel its recent nuclear test that set off tensions on the Peninsula.

Kerry’s remarks are likely to stir concern among staunch advocates of missile defense in the United States, who also see antimissile systems as a means of responding to China’s growing military might.

It's not just Kerry's remarks in this instance but Obama's past showing of weakness that ought to stir concern from coast to coast and across this fruited plain.

Instead, it's likely not to garner any attention at all as too many Americans are more focused on American Idol, Dancing With The Stars and what the Kardashians are wearing.

George Zimmerman's attorneys press prosecution on ethics

This whole thing has been a charade from the beginning, a tragic farce:

George Zimmerman's attorneys on Monday formally accused prosecutors of being unethical, saying that for seven months, they hid a pair of lies by their most important witness, and that they should be punished for it.

The allegations, spelled out in a new court pleading, mark a new low in the case.

Defense attorneys Mark O'Mara and Don West have complained for months about Assistant State Attorneys Bernie de la Rionda and John Guy, saying they have refused repeated requests to turn over key pieces of evidence. This time, they've asked Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson to fine and admonish them.

Prosecutors are required to release in a timely fashion information to a suspect if it might help prove his innocence. In this case, according to paperwork filed by O'Mara, de la Rionda and Guy have flouted that rule.

For seven months, they knew that the state's most important witness, a young Miami woman who was on the phone with TrayvonMartin just moments before he was shot, had lied about going to a hospital a few days later, according to the new paperwork.

De la Rionda learned the truth during an August 2 interview with her, O'Mara wrote, but although defense attorneys had asked de la Rionda and Guy's office for months about that fact and for records to support her claim, they did not disclose it until March 4.

They also hid for six months that she had lied when she claimed to be 16, something she told Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Trayvon's family, in a recorded interview March 19, 2012.

She was 18 at the time and is 19 now.

In the new paperwork, defense attorneys also complained that de la Rionda and Guy mislead the judge and them at an Oct. 26 hearing when they claimed they had turned over all reports generated by the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Two weeks later, they surrendered 45 more, according to the pleading.

Those things were That was unethical and cost defense attorneys an enormous amount of time, as they tried to track down the truth, O'Mara wrote.

He asked the judge to order prosecutors to pay for all the hours defense attorneys have spent trying to prove what they should have disclosed. O'Mara did not offer that dollar figure but said he'd have it ready for an April 2 hearing.

De la Rionda's and Guy's office did not have an immediate response Monday evening.

Someone needs to kick this circus out of town and George Zimmerman allowed to resume what's left of his life.

Meet NY Governor, Andrew Cuomo; idiot extraordinaire

Guest posted by tim, The Godless Heathen (and NY State resident)

From Gateway Pundit (where there's video if you can stomach it) - 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo dismissed the latest lawsuit against the state’s new gun control law, the SAFE Act, as “propaganda” that the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association is using to keep its members in line.

(…)

“What the extremists do is spread fear and unrealistic theories of conspiracies and the citizenry that needs to be armed because the government is possibly tyrannical, and they need their arms to defend themselves against the tyrannical government,” Cuomo continued. This is true: at gun rallies, I’ve heard this “slippery slope” line of argument from multiple attendees. They view the right to bear arms as a kind of check against government power. 

Here reads the "slippery slope", the "a kind of check", brought to us by "extremists" -

'A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.'

Hey Andy, google 'District of Columbia v. Heller' for some more “propaganda”.

 

"Pray!"

No, this isn't another post about the Pope, about wisdom from my priest, or a personal request for divine intervention.

It's actually about the response given when NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr. was asked yesterday at a House Committee hearing what America should do if a meteor similar to the one that wreaked havoc in Russia was on its way to America:

At the moment, we might be lucky to get even three weeks warning. The United States and the rest of the world simply do not have the ability to detect many "small" meteors like the one that exploded over Russia, which has been estimated at roughly 55 feet long. Donald Yeomans, Manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office and the author of "Near-Earth Objects: Finding Them Before They Find Us," told CBSNews.com that there are a lot of these small meteors in orbit, and little early warning system in place to detect them.

...

If such an object is discovered to be approaching Earth, the leading contender to address the problem would be to crash a spacecraft into it in order to slow it down and alter its course. "If you find it early enough, and you smack it early enough, you've got enough time," said Yeomans. The technology already exists to track and hit a space object: In 2005, NASA deliberately struck the Tempel 1 comet and photographed the impact. Still, for a large object, you'd need billions of dollars and, Yeomans estimates, at least a 10-year head start.

"The technology is there, the question is do we have enough time to plan, build, launch and intercept these objects prior to an impact," he said. The good news is that, in the case of a large object approaching Earth, we would be expected to have decades of advanced warning.

Bolden's response to pray was likely meant as a joke or perhaps, more cynically, as a means to seek more funding for the agency he leads, but I find it revealing nevertheless.

I've been in situations, particularly recently, where my suggestion to seek prayer, especially from a priest, was responded to by a word of caution that doing so might evoke fear because it could be seen to be a last resort before something terrible happens and no one wanted to communicate that the situation was that serious.

Think on that a minute.

We've reached a point culturally where a call to a priest for prayer is seen to be something that ought to be done only as a last resort and, in essence, avoided because no one wants to invoke fear.

It highlights for me how... well... weird I guess... I've become.

I go to a priest for prayer because I believe I need the help.  I go because I need to deal with the fear I already have.  I go because I've come to know and trust that it helps.

I go because I have a need and going meets that need.

We need to figure out, and I don't sadly have an answer, how to convey that going to priests for prayer isn't just for the dying.

It's particularly for the living.

I appreciate Mr. Bolden giving me the opportunity to air this out.

Carry on.