Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Cover

In this day and age, I'm not sure why it's still a thing, but . . .



For the sports fan here's Ronda Rousey, for the politically correct crowd here's Ashley Graham.

2016 Presidential Field Update

Jim Gilmore finally came to his senses and ended his 2016 Presidential run.  That leaves us with 8 candidates still in the running, 6 Republicans and 2 Democrats.

Here's how the remaining candidates rank in my opinion (as far as their chances):

Democrats: 

1. Hillary Clinton
2. Bernie Sanders

Republicans: 

1. Donald Trump
2. Ted Cruz
3. John Kasich
4. Marco Rubio
5. Jeb Bush
6. Ben Carson

I have no idea why Jim Gilmore decided to run in the first place, he sure didn't put much effort into running.  I can only suspect that he was trying to build his brand in hopes of capitalizing on the run down the road.  If that was the case though, he even did a terrible job of doing that.  He won't be missed this election cycle.

If I had to pick the next to drop out, it would be Ben Carson.  He has not been connecting with people on the campaign trail, his debate performances have been abysmal and his support has been dropping precipitously.   Donald Trump and Ted Cruz seem to have taken over all of the anti-establishment momentum from him.

Seth Meyers on Pharma Bro

I think I may need to watch "Late Night with Seth Meyers" more often.

2016 Presidential Field Update

Chris Christie & Carly Fiorina have ended their Presidential runs.  That leaves us with 9 candidates still in the running, 7 Republicans and 2 Democrats, although I'm not quite sure why I'm still counting Jim Gilmore.

Here's how the remaining candidates rank in my opinion (as far as their chances):

Democrats: 

1. Hillary Clinton
2. Bernie Sanders

Republicans: 

1. Donald Trump
2. Ted Cruz
3. John Kasich
4. Marco Rubio
5. Jeb Bush
6. Ben Carson
7. Jim Gilmore

Chris Christie's chances of winning the Republican nomination for all intent and purposes ended with the Bridgegate Scandal, I'm really not quite sure why he ran after that to be honest with you.  Carly Fiorina may have been the most unqualified candidate of anyone running for President this year, that saying a lot too because it hasn't been the cream of the crop running this year.  Neither will be missed.

Samantha Bee

I think I'm going to enjoy Samantha Bee's new late night show "Full Frontal".

POTpourri

• Is American democracy doomed?   
• Can someone explain why Iowa votes first?   
• Shouldn't Marco Rubio be concerned with climate change? 
• I look forward to more Karl-Anthony Towns vs Anthony Davis battles. 
• RIP Maurcie White, Dave Mirra, Crackhead Bob & Katie May.  
• I should probably be more familiar with Inbal Lev. 
• It's long past time that Republicans re-think their love of fossil fuels. 
• The lack of regulations in Texas could kill you. 
• Kat Torres is remarkable.  That is all.  
• Please don't vote for someone just because they are a woman. 
• Dark money is streaming in to help Marco Rubio.  
• Should Wall Street really be regulated by industry insiders? 
• 2016 NFL Hall of Fame class announced.  
• Bernie Sanders is absolutely correct about the Nordic Model. 
• Watch out for the leopards if you ever travel to India. 
• Do yourself a favor and visit the Russian Selfies tumblr page. 
• Even Ted Cruz's former roommate doesn't like him. 
• With the NFL season over, it's time to focus on the NFL Draft!
• Most people agree with Bernie Sanders more than they know. 
• Best foods for erectile dysfunction?  

Bernie Sanders on SNL

Bernie has now officially arrived.

Super Bowl 50

Broncos 24, Panthers 10

The Broncos once again proved that defense wins championship as their defense completely dominated this game and the Broncos were clearly the better team today.  It was a surprising turn of events too given the way the Panthers had played year and heading up to this game.  Nice job Broncos, job well done!

Observations:

• Von Miller or Luke Kuechly?   Give me Von Miller.  
• Cam Newton didn't go after the fumble too hard did he? 
• Jonathan Stewart really caught some air on that touchdown run. 
• Josh Norman really took Demaryious Thomas out of the game. 
• That didn't look like the Panthers offense that destroyed the Cardinals.
• Wade Phillips is a much better Defensive Coordinator than Head Coach. 
• That was an impressive interception by Kony Ealy.  
• Aqib Talib was playing out of control early in this one.  
• That non-reversal of the Jerricho Crotchery catch was costly. 
• Turnovers:  Panthers 4, Broncos 2
• Cam Newton was running for his life all game.  
• Take the best defense over the best offense any day of the week. 
• Forget DisneyWorld, Peyton Manning is going to drink a lot of Budweiser. 
• Lady Gaga did a great job on the National Anthem.
• Cold Play & Company were okay on the halftime show.   
• Seth Curry really looked into this game. 
• I'm guessing we've seen the last of Peyton Manning on the football field. 
• Christopher Walken's KIA commercial was my favorite commercial.
• Bring on the 2016 NFL Draft already.  
• I already can't wait for Super Bowl 51 in Houston. 

Marco Rubio Debate Performance

As if the water break wasn't bad enough.

AZ Tidbits

• Phoenix Suns fire head coach Jeff Hornacek.  
• Arizona Diamondbacks acquire infielder Jean Segura.  
• Do you really want partisans drawing congressional district lines? 
• Charles Barkley is no fan of the Phoenix Suns ownership. 
• Wandering Horse Buffet named one of the nations best buffets.  
• Arizona wants out of the Ninth Court of Appeals. 
• Record crowds at the 2016 Waste Management Phoenix Open. 
• The Arizona Coyotes are on track to have an arena deal completed soon. 
• Markieff Morris is still on the trade block.  Everyone should be on the table.
• How did Don Harris get to where he is?  Weird. 
• Nine things that you probably don't know about Phoenix? 
• Arizona wants to speed up it's death penalties because it's drugs are expiring. 
• "Durant's Never Closes" finally hit the theaters.  
• The Arizona State football coaching staff is in a shambles. 
• Why would anyone be opposed to dark money in politics being exposed? 
• Rare Jaguar El Jefe filmed in Arizona.  
• Arizona is a hot bed for extremist activity. 
• Conflicts of interests rule the day in Arizona politics. 
• Arizona State & Arizona fared quite well this football recruiting season. 
• Would you really want a U.S. Supreme Court that resembles Arizona's? 
• The Zika Virus is certainly headed for Arizona. 

Carpool Karaoke

James Corden has a winner with his carpool karaoke bit.

About Those Emails

Once again, they are causing an uproar.  My questions on this topic?

• Where was the outrage when George W Bush destroyed millions of emails? 
• Where was the outrage when Colin Powell destroyed his emails?  
• Where was the outrage when Condoleezza Rice destroyed her emails? 
• Where was the outrage when Jeb Bush destroyed his emails? 
• Where was the outrage when Scott Walker used a private email server? 
• Where was the outrage when Chris Christie used a private email account? 
• Where was the outrage when Bobby Jindal used a private email account? 
• Where was the outrage when Rick Perry used a private email server? 
• Where was the outrage when Marco Rubio used a private email server? 
• Where was the outrage when Trey Gowdy used a private email server? 
• Where was the outrage when congress passed a rule excluding congress from saving emails? 
• Where was the outrage when General Petraeus released classified emails?  

2016 Presidential Field Update

Martin O'Malley, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum & Rand Paul have ended their Presidential runs.  That leaves us with 11 candidates still in the running, 9 Republicans and 2 Democrats.

Here's how the remaining rank in my opinion (as far as their chances):

Democrats: 

1. Hillary Clinton
2. Bernie Sanders

Republicans: 

1. Donald Trump
2. Ted Cruz
3. Marco Rubio
4. Ben Carson
5. John Kasich
6. Chris Christie
7. Jeb Bush
8. Carly Fiorina 
9. Jim Gilmore

I like Martin O'Malley, he was a very good Governor and is a strong progressive voice.  It was a bad year for him to run though.  If a Republican somehow manages to win in 2016, I could see O'Malley running again in 2020.  Huckabee on the other hand I'm guessing is done with politics, his only base seems to be far right Evangelicals and that's not enough these days.  I'm guessing he's back on Fox News pronto.  There's really no room for Rand Paul's type of conservatism in today's Republican Party, I fully expect that he will be running again in the future though.  Santorum had his shot 4 years ago.  

Bernie Sanders in Iowa

Bernie Sanders did quite well in Iowa.  He gives a heckuva speech too.

Republican Presidential Primary

I opined about the Democratic Presidential primary a few days ago, so I think it only fair that I also opine a bit about the Republican Presidential primary.  First off, a disclaimer, and it should be pretty obvious if you have ever read my blog, I'm a lifelong registered Democrat, I have pretty low regard for most Republicans and the policies that they espouse, I just don't feel they benefit most Americans and further that they are the primary cause for many of the problems that the country now faces.  Republican voters are not happy with the Republican establishment either, they have been voting in Republican candidates for years now and they have accomplished very little of what they promised they'd do (granted, the far right wing media may have set some unrealistic expectations for them) and the anti-establishment furvor in the country right now is at a fever pitch.  That has led to the rise of anti-establishment candidates like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.  Unfortunately, Trump and Cruz and the other anti-establishment candidates prescription to fix the country would just take us further to the right and that's a bad prescription for America.  It's really too bad some of these voters don't give Bernie Sanders a closer look, as IMO he's the only candidate outside of the establishment on either party that is proposing realistic solutions to our most glaring issues (inequality, campaign fiance, healthcare, climate change, sentencing reform, etc).

Back to the candidates, if I as a Democrat had to pick one to vote for, I'd probably go with Rand Paul, only because he would be the lesser of the other evils that are running.   He would at least push for sentencing reform, fight against the Patriot Act and not rush us into WWIII like some of the other candidates would.  That being said, the rest of his policies are pretty much to the far right and would not benefit most Americans.

I can see some of the appeal to Donald Trump to many on the right, they don't want to admit that the right wing policies have been the problem with their party, they just want to believe the issue is with the establishment.  I'm guessing they would be very underwhelmed by a Trump Presidency though if he were to be elected as his policies would no doubt be a disaster.

As a Democrat, best case scenario would be Ted Cruz winning the Republican Primary as he would no doubt be the easiest of all the Republican candidates for Hilary Clinton or Bernie Sanders to beat.  Outside of the far right wing base, his popularity is abysmal, not too many people like him or think that he would be able to break through the gridlock that has crippled Washington.

Marco Rubio is probably the best chance for the remaining establishment candidates, but the far right still hold his fight for immigration reform against him, they also see his path to Presidency as too similar to that of the much hated and despised Barack Obama rise (i.e. young and charismatic but lacking in experience and accomplishments).    

Jeb Bush has got a ton of establishment support and donor money but I don't see him overcoming the fact that nobody seems to want a third Bush Presidency.  Add in his lack of charisma and uninspiring demeanor and you've got a loser of a candidate.  The anti-establishment furvor is also working against him.

For some reason, some people still like Chris Christie, they see him as a tough talking take no prisoners fighter for their ideals.  He's very unpopular in New Jersey though and you just should not be able to overlook the "bridgegate" scandal, it was really that deplorable.

If Republicans were smart, they'd throw their support behind John Kasich, he's really the only candidate with at least some track record of political success, he could technically be considered an outsider and he's pretty popular in what is considered a swing state.  Republicans are not that smart though so don't look for it to happen.

It's long past time that the likes of Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Jim Gilmore to set aside their Presidential ambitions and clear the path for the eventual nominee.  I suspect all will drop out shortly after the New Hampshire primary.  

For the record, I suspect that Donald Trump will easily win the Iowa Caucus.