I will never regret getting old. I know too many people who never had that privilege. – Unknown

Today’s independent commentary deals with these people/issues:

• Largest Spending Measure
• Martial Law
• College Football
• One More Thing

LARGEST SPENDING MEASURE:

Buried deep down in the Associated Press (AP) story titled, “Congress seals agreement on $900 billion COVID relief bill” was this piece of information:

The final agreement would be the largest spending measure yet. It combined $900 billion for COVID-19 relief with a $1.4 trillion government-wide funding plan and lots of other unrelated measures on taxes, health, infrastructure and education. The government-wide funding would keep the government open through September. 

Looks like everyone in DC got a little something-something in this bill.

According to the AP, the COVID-19 relief would establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses and money for schools, health care providers, and renters facing eviction.

Remember, the folks who approved the measly $300 jobless benefit and the $600 direct stimulus payments make $174,000 per year, rain or shine, in session or out. Many are millionaires. It just seems kind of cheap of them to not at least provide $1,200 stimulus payments. They really should have done this six months ago and again today. People and the economy needed it.

I actually thought that two senators, Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Josh Hawley (R-MO), were fighting for the $1,200. I guess they failed.

Some people believe we should be thankful for what they approved for us. I guess we should be grateful that our elected leaders got something done. In the next few weeks, we can start learning about what was exactly in the “largest spending measure” because nobody will have read the bill text before they voted for it.

Look for your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative to start sending out press releases announcing that they obtained all types of wonderful goodies.

Next year we can start worrying about the debt and out-of-control spending and all that mundane stuff.

MARTIAL LAW:

Trump lost the popular vote. Trump lost the Electoral College votes. Trump appealed the losses in state courts. He lost. Trump took his case to the Federal district and Federal appeals courts. He lost. Trump took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court and lost.

Now there’s talk that Trump is being advised to declare martial law by former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The New York Times reported this weekend:

During an appearance on the conservative Newsmax channel this week, Mr. Flynn pushed for Mr. Trump to impose martial law and deploy the military to “rerun” the election. At one point in the (Oval Office) meeting on Friday, Mr. Trump asked about that idea.

That seems like treason to me.

The same Times report told about Trump wanting to appoint Sidney Powell, who as a lawyer for his campaign team unleashed conspiracy theories about a Venezuelan plot to rig voting machines in the United States, to be a special counsel overseeing an investigation of voter fraud, according to two people briefed on the discussion.

Things are going to be interesting in the next 30 days. Strange things may happen. One thing for sure, our Republic has been weakened by Trump and his supporters.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL:

ESPN reported that No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Notre Dame will meet in The Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One on Jan. 1 at 4 p.m. ET, followed by No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Ohio State in the Allstate Sugar Bowl at 8 p.m. Both games will air on ESPN.

Alabama is undefeated at 11-0. Ohio State is also undefeated, but they only played six games. Somehow the playoff folks thought that 9-0 Cincinnati did not play a tough enough schedule to be ranked ahead of Ohio State. Coastal Carolina is 11-0. In the final rankings, Cincinnati was #8, and Coastal Carolina was ranked #12.

There’s something wrong with the College Football playoff system. Since they can schedule on the fly during the pandemic, I’m sure they can expand the playoffs to include eight teams or ten teams and include the “Power Five” conference champs and the “Group of Five” conference champs.

No matter what they do, I’ll still be watching.

Check out the College Football Bowl schedule HERE. The first bowl game is today (Dec. 21).

ONE MORE THING:

As we approach the end of 2020, I would like to apologize to anyone I have not yet offended. Please be patient I will get to you shortly. –From Pinterest

## WEAR A MASK ##