Hello faithful readers – Today is Tuesday, September 5, 2023, and here are the topics I am writing about today:
- Assault on the U.S. Capitol
- The Politics Of Religion
- The National Football League
- College Football
ASSAULT ON THE U.S. CAPITOL:
Reuters is reporting that Enrique Tarrio, the former chairman of the right-wing Proud Boys group, is set to be sentenced on Tuesday (today) for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump trying to overturn his election defeat. Federal prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly to impose a 33-year prison sentence on Tarrio, who was not present at the Capitol on the day of the violence because another judge had ordered him to stay out of Washington. Prosecutors said he helped direct the attack from Baltimore.
Reuters is also reporting that more than 1,100 people have been arrested on charges related to the Capitol assault, and of those at least 630 have pleaded guilty and at least 110 have been convicted at trial. Five people, including a police officer, died during or shortly after the riot and more than 140 police officers were injured. The Capitol suffered millions of dollars in damage.
I believe the longest sentences given have been 18 years each for two Proud Boys members. (Source)
I hope that these sentences are a deterrent for other MAGA nutjobs out there, but I doubt it. I think they should have received much harsher sentences.
THE POLITICS OF RELIGION:
Gallup has an interesting report that I wanted to share about politics and religion. Gallup finds that with everything else being equal, the more religious the individual in the U.S. today, the higher the probability that the individual identifies with or leans toward the Republican party.
Gallup found that an aggregate of five recent Gallup surveys conducted from May 2021 through May 2023 confirms the extent to which Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to be nones (no religious preference). Twenty-six percent of nones identify with or lean toward the Democratic party, compared with just 11% of nones who identify with or lean toward the Republican Party.
I don’t think religious leaders should be promoting one candidate over the other. Religious leaders should encourage their members to vote and pray for all elected leaders.
Check out the report HERE.
THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE:
As you may know, YouTube has bought the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket. They recently announced a payment plan for subscribers who don’t want to pay $300-$400 at one time.
Some of the plans are as low as $74.75 per month, but some of them require you to sign up for YouTube TV, too.
There are two plans I am looking at. One is just NFL Sunday Ticket for 4 payments of $99.75, and the other is NFL Sunday Ticket and NFL Red Zone for 4 payments of $109.75. I have DirecTV and can get NFL Red Zone on it but may have to change my subscription.
The NFL season begins this Thursday in Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium. My Super Bowl champions Chiefs host the Detroit Lions. The game will be broadcast nationally on NBC.
Check out the NFL Sunday Ticket plans HERE.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL:
College football season kicked into high gear this weekend, and I was watching!
One of the more exciting games was Colorado at TCU. TCU was in the National Championship game last year, where they were badly beaten 65-7 by Georgia. Colorado has a new coach, Deon Sanders (or Coach Prime). His team beat TCU 45-42.
This is the time of the season when some teams play smaller schools. For example, Georgia beat UT Martin 48-7. Alabama beat Middle Tennessee 56-7. Notre Dame beat Tennessee State 56-3. The biggest slaughter might be Oklahoma beating Arkansas State 73-0.
I have never been a fan of this. Playing smaller schools or schools in a different division might make the smaller schools some money, but I don’t see how getting beat by 73 points helps anyone.
Sure, these wins don’t do much for the FBS, (Football Bowl Subdivision) schools when trying to make the playoffs, but maybe they should not count as a win or loss for either school.
The Western Word 
C.T.E. chronic traumatic encephalopathy is real. Pay money to watch superb athletes acutely or chronically destroy or alter their brain function? Don’t believe me? Read the science. The N.F.L. has. This is Filthy lucre at its finest. You wonder what is wrong with our society? If your love of football has clouded your reasoning then maybe a little Platonic self-examination (300 b.c.) could set one straight . But I doubt it.
Your comments about religion and politics are very interesting. I am currently reading a scholarly book entitled American idolatry by Andrew Whitehead. It has helped me to clarify the difference between Christian patriotism and Christian nationalism. The latter is very dangerous for our country, and is becoming more prevalent. We all need to be vigilant, but not vigilantes.
James takes Elsie and Knudey to the woodshed for telling whoppers. If you’re telling whoppers as an elected public official, you’re either incompetent or unfit for office. Unfortunately, ya get what you elect. And we got a couple of MAGAs for sure. Their “truths” are trumpian in nature! Kitty litter in schools is laughable, but denying legitimate elections is not, especially when people like Merchant brings in nationally known agitators in incite and promote violence. That’s not funny at all.
https://dailymontanan.com/2023/09/05/what-stays-in-the-litterbox/
Unfortunately telling whoppers as elected public officials is par for the course in MAGA world, starting from the top and on down. They know nobody in the right wing media echo chamber is ever going to fact check them and no one listening to them is ever going to read or hear different. It doesn’t matter if what they claim is true or not, as long as it keeps the MAGA base angry. Sad commentary on what these elected officials think of their audience’s intelligence.