Welcome! Here are the topics for today’s common-sense commentary: 

• Political Rhetoric/Violence
• Hegseth’s Signalgate
• College Football
• One More Thing

POLITICAL RHETORIC/VIOLENCE: 

Gallup polling is reporting that larger majorities of Americans than in the past believe that both the Democratic and Republican parties and their supporters have gone too far in using inflammatory language to criticize their opponents. Sixty-nine percent now say this about the Republican Party and Republicans, a 16-percentage-point increase from 2011, and 60% currently believe this applies to the Democratic Party and Democrats, which is nine points higher than 14 years ago.

Gallup also asked Americans how much they blame each of seven possible factors for recent political violence in the U.S. 

Slightly less than two-thirds, 64%, assign “a great deal” of blame to prominent politicians’ or political commentators’ inflammatory language. That ranks second to the 71% blaming the spread of extremist viewpoints on the internet for the recent violence. A slim majority of 52% say failures by the mental health system deserve considerable blame. Forty-five percent of U.S. adults believe easy access to guns is highly blameworthy, while less than one-third say the same of drug use, insufficient security in public buildings, or violence in video games, movies or music lyrics.

It is very nasty in the political world these days. I have said many times that politics is a contact sport. Political rhetoric took a turn for the worse around the time Donald Trump came down the escalator in June 2015. It’s not getting any better, either. 

Check out the full report from Gallup HERE. 

HEGSETH’S SIGNALGATE: 

The week is about to get worse for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The Washington Post is reporting that the Pentagon’s top independent watchdog has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated security protocols and endangered U.S. troops and objectives by using a personal device to share sensitive operational details on the unclassified messaging app Signal, according to people familiar with the findings in a forthcoming report.

The report is supposed to be released today (Thursday). 

From what I am seeing, Hegseth is hanging on to his job by a thread. If two or three prominent Republicans come out against him and talk to President Trump, then he will be fired. Hegseth is in over his head as Secretary. He is not qualified to lead the Department of Defense. 

COLLEGE FOOTBALL:

This weekend is an exciting time in college football! 

In the NAIA quarterfinals Saturday,  #3 Montana Tech (Butte) will host #8 College of Idaho at 1:00 p.m.  How to watch, and more information can be found HERE.

FCS powerhouses Montana State and Montana both have home games that start at noon (Montana time) on Saturday. Montana State hosts Yale. Montana hosts South Dakota State.  As of now, they are scheduled to be telecast on ESPN+, which might make it harder for people to watch. More information can be found HERE. 

The FBS (Major) college conference championships begin Friday with four games. There are another five conference championship games on Saturday, which include #1 Ohio State playing #2 Indiana. (Schedule)

On Sunday (Dec. 7), the College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection Show will air at noon ET on ESPN. The show will reveal the full 12-team bracket, seeding, and first-round matchups. (Source)

ONE MORE THING:

People can’t drive you crazy if you don’t give them the keys. 

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