September 6-8, 2014
Sep 06 08:59 Ken Martin's voice of victory Sep 06 12:20 Rick Santorum exposes Rand Paul Sep 07 05:13 Questioning Minnesota's economy Sep 07 05:07 Minnesota Chamber endorses Jeff Johnson Sep 07 16:47 Vikings manhandle St. Louis Sep 08 09:59 We The People vs. secretive politicians Sep 08 11:01 Suspend Goodell, Rice Sep 08 12:08 Democrats against free speech Sep 08 14:13 Ray Rice terminated
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Questioning Minnesota's economy
This article highlights the disparity between Gov. Dayton's talking up the economy and reality:
The annual 'Household Food Security in the United States' study, released this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, finds that on average from 2011-13, 10.8 percent of Minnesotans lacked consistent access to food needed to stay healthy (they were 'food insecure,' by the report's definition).
The report also found that 4.4 percent of households had 'very low food security,' in which the 'food intake of one or more members was reduced and eating patterns disrupted because of insufficient money.'
Let's compare those statistics with these statistics for St. Louis County:
According to the most recent Census statistics, 1 in 6 people are living in St. Louis County are living below the Federal Poverty Level compared with 1 in 9 Minnesotans living below the Federal Poverty Level. Let's compare that with the most recent statistics for Anoka County:
According to these statistics, 1 in 14 people living in Anoka County are living below the Federal Poverty level. As good as Anoka County's poverty rate is, Dakota County's poverty rate is better:
The point is that people living in poverty aren't likely to have a high 'food security rating.' It isn't coincidental that metro areas have the lowest poverty rates.
Dayton's 'economy that works' is more accurately described as the 'economy that works in the Twin Cities, St. Cloud and Rochester but stinks everywhere else, especially on the Range.'
The reality is that the Dayton-DFL economy isn't working for the vast majority of Minnesota cities. All too frequently, people with MBAs are working part-time jobs instead of having a career in HR or elsewhere in management. That isn't an economy that's working.
Posted Sunday, September 7, 2014 5:13 AM
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Ken Martin's voice of victory
The highlight of Bill Hanna's article about his interview with DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin is this quote:
'I think we're in a good position to close out the election. But we can't be too cocky. That's how we lose."
Here's a hint for Martin. The DFL doesn't lose when it's too cocky. It's always too cocky. The DFL loses when it pays too much attention to its special interest allies and ignores the people. It loses when it goes hard ideological. That's what happened in 2009-2010. That's when the DFL legislature insisted on passing a budget filled with tax increases that paid for its payoffs to its special interests.
Tom Bakk, the Senate Majority Leader, has said that Minnesotans "don't mind paying a little more in taxes" because they get their money's worth from those taxes. That's the DFL's Achille's Heal this year.
- Minnesotans aren't getting their money's worth from those increased taxes when DFL plutocrats take $90,000,000 to pay for an office building for part-time politicians instead of paying to fix Minnesota's pothole-riddled streets.
- Minnesotans definitely aren't getting their money's worth from those increased taxes to pay for the utter incompetence at MNsure.
- The DFL can't claim that Minnesota's entrepreneurs were helped by raising their taxes. Job creation has virtually stopped since the Dayton-DFL tax increases hit these small businesses.
The only thing that's helping the DFL right now is that the Twin Cities media's coverage has changed since early summer. Back then, they actually talked about the negative effects the DFL's policies were having, especially on the Iron Range. Now they've returned to talking only about the race to the finish.
DFL pundits, from Larry Jacobs to Ember Reichgott-Junge to Mindy Greiling, praise the strength of the Dayton-DFL economy because Minnesota's unemployment rate is artificially low. They don't talk about things like how many people have quit looking for work or how many "Starbucks MBAs" are employed in jobs that they're vastly overqualified for.
The DFL promised jobs during their campaigns. They didn't promise careers, with the exception of a career as a government bureaucrat. During the past 12 months, the Dayton-DFL economy has created 21,523 public sector jobs. That's compared with the Dayton-DFL economy creating 2,900 total jobs in the last 7 months.
Chairman Martin's job is to elect as many Democrats as possible, regardless of how much that'd hurt Minnesota. With outstate Minnesota's unemployment rate high, it's safe to say that the Dayton-DFL economic policies are hurting Minnesotans.
That's especially true for the Range, where the region-wide unemployment rate is 8.02% compared with a statewide unemployment rate of 4.88%. Doing nothing while a major region of the state stagnates isn't doing what's best for the state. That's the result of the DFL telling the Range that they'll pay attention to the environmental activist-elitist wing of the DFL while ignoring the blue collar wing of the DFL represented by the Range.
It's time for the Range to wake up and realize that the DFL is playing them for fools. It's time they realized that Ken Martin's DFL isn't the Iron Range's friend. It's its enemy.
If the Iron Range realizes that, it'll result in a happy ending for the Range because it'll mean an end to DFL reign in St. Paul.
Posted Saturday, September 6, 2014 8:59 AM
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Rick Santorum exposes Rand Paul
Rick Santorum's op-ed totally demolishes Rand Paul's credibility on national security:
In a radio interview in 2007, while helping his father, isolationist Rep. Ron Paul, run for president, Rand actually denied that Iran is a threat to the United States or Israel. He did so despite the fact that the U.S. government designated Iran a 'state sponsor of terrorism' as far back as 1984. 'Even our own intelligence community consensus opinion now is that they [Iran] are not a threat,' Rand said. 'Like my dad says, [the Iranians] don't have an Air Force, they don't have a Navy. You know, it's ridiculous to think they're a threat to our national security: . It's not even that viable to say they're a national threat to Israel.'
Simply put, Rand Paul, like his nutty father, couldn't identify a state sponsor or terrorism if they launched a ship with a flag saying "State sponsor of terrorism." People who can't identify terrorists aren't qualified to be commander-in-chief. It's that simple.
It hasn't dawned on either Paul that Iran's funding of terrorists pose a mortal threat to western Europe and the United States. Neither has figured out that the nuclear bombs they're working on creating will be used to destabilize Arab nations to the point that oil prices will spike and throw the world economy into a turmoil that will make the Great Recession look relatively mild in comparison.
This paragraph is mind-boggling:
In January 2014, Senator Paul sided with President Obama in opposing the passage of new economic sanctions on Iran, further evidence he would rather appease the mullahs in Tehran than ratchet up pressure on them to give up their illegal and dangerous nuclear program. 'I think while they [the Iranians] are negotiating, and if we can see they're negotiating in good faith, I don't think it's a good idea to pass sanctions,' Paul told CNN.
What idiot thinks that the Iranians will negotiate in good faith? It's exceptionally and frighteningly naive to think that that's a possibility.
As frightening as Paul's beliefs are about Iran, they're worse about ISIL. Here's what he said in an interview :
When asked by CongressWatch if he views ISIL and the deteriorating situation in Iraq as a direct threat to the United States, Paul was characteristically candid in sticking to his worldview.
'The vast amount of Americans disagree with that assessment,' Paul said when asked if ISIL poses a direct threat to the US.
'I think that would be conjecture,' Paul said when asked about the view of ISIL put forth by Obama and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. 'We know that there's a civil war going on there. And we know that they want to claim a big chunk of Iraq - as much as they can get. But, I mean, anything else is complete conjecture.
'Are they a potential threat to the US? Sometime,' Paul said. 'Maybe even at the present. But...is there a US interest in sending US troops into Iraq? Absolutely no.'
There most certainly is a US interest in obliterating ISIL. While they don't pose a threat to the US homeland in the next couple of weeks, they're consolidating the things they'll need to conduct terrorist operations throughout the world. We can't afford a commander-in-chief that reacts after a terrorist attack. We need a commander-in-chief who obliterates them before they can attack.
Paul's dovishness is wrong for America because we need a commander-in-chief who will work with allies like the Kurdish Peshmerga to decimate threats like ISIL before they can kill Americans.
Now that ISIL has beheaded journalists and taken over a huge chunk of Iraq, Sen. Paul is suddenly hawkish:
Yet now, with American journalists being beheaded and even President Obama taking reluctant half-measures to slow ISIL through air strikes, Senator Paul is suddenly changing his tune. 'If I were president, I would call a joint session of Congress,' he now says. 'I would lay out the reasoning of why ISIS is a threat to our national security and seek Congressional authorization to destroy ISIS militarily.' (ISIS is another acronym used to refer to the Islamic State.)
It's here that Sen. Santorum thrusts in the proverbial knife and gives it a sharp twist:
Did Senator Paul just hire John Kerry's speechwriter?
At one point, I thought Rand Paul wouldn't be the nujob that his father is. I still think he isn't as nutty as his father. I just don't think that there's a big difference between him and his father as I first thought.
It's obvious that Rick Santorum is gearing up for another presidential run. While I think he's more qualified than Rand Paul, that doesn't mean I think he's a top tier candidate. Quite the contrary. I think he's a niche candidate who appeals to a tiny slice of the GOP, nothing more.
Posted Saturday, September 6, 2014 12:20 PM
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Minnesota Chamber endorses Jeff Johnson
Friday, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce endorsed Jeff Johnson in the Minnesota governor's race :
In announcing the endorsement, the chamber's interim president Bill Blazar said Johnson best represents the chamber's "pro-business, pro-jobs agenda." He said Dayton has enacted some of the highest tax rates in the country and increased labor regulations on employers that "seriously inhibits their ability to succeed and compete regionally and globally."
Naturally, the Dayton campaign issued a statement on the Chamber's endorsement:
Dayton campaign manager Katharine Tinucci said the governor wasn't counting on the chamber's backing despite participating in the screening.
"We're going to continue to make the case that the progress that we've made the past four years has been good for workers, for working people, for families and for businesses," she said.
TRANSLATION: We didn't expect to get this endorsement because Gov. Dayton has waged a nonstop war against Minnesota's small businesses :
After Teresa Bohnen pointed out concern by the business community on the impact of Governor Dayton's 4th tier income tax on S-Corps I felt his response was disrespectful. He implied that businesses are 'OK' with disparities in tax rates of businesses compared to middle income earners. He called the Minnesota Chamber destructive. Then he implied that Teresa and other businesses were unrealistic about the facts.
The fact that Gov. Dayton attempted to get the Chamber's endorsement indicates he's either delusional or desperate. When a former member of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce board of directors says that Gov. Dayton called the Minnesota Chamber "destructive", that's a pretty good sign that he doesn't stand a chance of getting the Chamber's endorsement.
As for Ms. Tinucci's statement that they've made progress the last 4 years that've "been good for workers, for working people, for families and for businesses," she must be either a topnotch spinmeister or she's using some expensive drugs. Gov. Dayton has fought the Chamber every step of the way. He's raised taxes on the vast majority of the Chamber's members. He signed, then repealed, some business-to-business sales taxes that would've caused iconic Minnesota companies like Red Wing Shoes, Polaris and DigiKey to move out of Minnesota.
That Gov. Dayton and his apologists in the DFL punditry have the audacity to say that they've passed bills that've made Minnesota's economy better says that they're willing to lie if that's what's needed to win this election.
Rural Minnesota's economy isn't great. It's far from it. It's worth noting that when the DFL insists that Minnesota's economy is doing well, what they really mean is that the Twin Cities is doing ok. The dominant wing of the DFL is the Twin Cities Metrocrat. If they're doing well, everything's fantastic because, in their eyes, the Twin Cities, St. Cloud and Rochester are the only cities that matter.
There's no doubt that the DFL/ABM/Team Dayton axis of spin will attack the Chamber's endorsement of Jeff Johnson. ABM will undoubtedly characterize the Chamber as a bunch of rich, out-of-touch, white guys. While that's likely to be their mantra, that isn't reality.
The Chamber represents small businesses and entrepreneurs. What's good for big corporations is entirely different than what's good for small businesses. While both are established to make profits, that's pretty much where the similarity ends.
Charlie Weaver's Minnesota Business Partnership represents big corporations. Weaver's sold out for his thirty pieces of silver . The Chamber, though, has sided with Jeff Johnson because he'd best represent the small businesses that drive all successful economies.
It'd be nice to have a governor who actually thought our economy extends beyond the Twin Cities. Gov. Dayton has shown he won't pay attention to the economy outside the Metro.
Posted Sunday, September 7, 2014 5:07 AM
Comment 1 by walter hanson at 08-Sep-14 08:00 AM
Gary:
Did I read that wrong? The chamber of commerce is a destructive organization.
Um if you want a good business climate that is being destructive.
Um if you want the tax rate to be set at something that if you work your butt off that you can fair return that is destructive.
Somebody should ask the governor let alone the spokes person exactly what isn't destructive?
And if you had already known they were a destructive organization to begin with you shouldn't ask for the endorsement in the first place like you pointed out.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Vikings manhandle St. Louis
Going into this season, lots of experts thought of them as one known quantity (Adrian Peterson) and lots of unknowns. While it's foolish to make bold predications based on just one game, there are some things that've clearly changed for the Vikings, starting with their defense.
Everson Griffen replaced Jared Allen at right defensive end. Anthony Barr starts at the strongside linebacker, which allowed rookie head coach to move Chad Greenway to middle linebacker. Perhaps the most glaring difference compared with last year's defense is the secondary.
Captain Munnerlyn was all over the field. Most impressive was his sure-handed tackling in the open field, although his coverage was pretty impressive, too. Josh Robinson had a difficult pre-season, missing time with injuries. Today, he got the Vikings' first takeaway just before the half. Norv Turner's offense quickly turned that interception into a spirit-killing touchdown with seconds left in the first half.
With a 13-0 halftime lead, the Vikings defense pinned their ears back and pressured the QB. For the game, the Vikings finished with 5 sacks, with Griffen leading the way with 2, and 2 interceptions. Harrison Smith picked off a pass that never should've been thrown, returning it for an 81-yard pick-six touchdown.
It's hard telling whether the Vikings shut down a great offense of if St. Louis is mediocre offensively. I suspect it's a little of both.
The Rams offense hasn't produced during the Jeff Fisher era. Still, the Vikings did a bunch of things right today that they have a right to feel good about. They essentially shut down Tavon Austin, the 8th overall pick in the 2013 draft.
Speaking of the 2013 draft, the Vikings got major contributions from 2 of their picks from that draft. Cordarrelle Patterson broke the game open with an electric 67-yard broken-field run. Turner lined CP up in the backfield on the play. After taking a pitch, he cut up field, breaking free 10 yards down the field. Once in the open field, he deployed the skills that make him the most feared kickoff returner in the game.
Going into the 2013 draft, the buzz was all about Tavon Austin. Cordarrelle Patterson was essentially an afterthought. Today, Patterson showed why that was a huge mistake.
Sharrif Floyd, the 23rd pick in the draft that year, also played well. He was an integral part of the Vikings dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
Matt Cassel was an efficient 17-for-25 for 170 yards with 2 touchdown passes, the first to Greg Jennings, the other to Kyle Rudolph.
It'd be a mistake not to credit the Vikings offensive line for playing a solid game. The Rams entered the game with one of the best defensive lines in football. Still, they weren't much of a factor. When a journeyman QB finishes with a QB rating of 113.8 and the Rams give up 180+ yards rushing, that's getting manhandled.
One last thing to talk about is how fundamentally sound the Vikings defense played. The Vikings' tackling was solid. They pressured the Rams' QBs all day. The Vikings secondary was opportunistic at times, but solid throughout.
Today's game is a great start to Mike Zimmer's head coaching career. Next week, though, they get to face the Patriots, who are coming off a stunning 33-20 defeat in Miami. Brady and the Patriots aren't likely to be in a good mood so that'll be a good test for the Vikings.
UPDATE: I went back to the Vikings-Rams stat sheet because I got to thinking about how little I noticed Robert Quinn. My memory served me well this time. Quinn finished with just 2 tackles and no sacks. This ties into how well the Vikings O-line played. Jeff Davidson, the Vikings' O-line coach, must be pleased with their play.
For the game, the Rams much-celebrated defensive line got a grand total of 1 sack while giving up over 180 yards rushing.
Posted Sunday, September 7, 2014 5:32 PM
Comment 1 by walter hanson at 08-Sep-14 07:54 AM
Gary:
Keep in mind in just a couple of weeks with the teams we're playing we should exactly how this rebuilt defense works. Hopefully we will be considered a playoff threat.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 2 by Rex Newman at 09-Sep-14 06:01 PM
Sid Hartman is already planning the parade routes...
Comment 3 by Gary Gross at 09-Sep-14 07:42 PM
Naturally.
We The People vs. secretive politicians
Over the weekend, Gov. Dayton's apologists twisted themselves into virtual pretzels in their attempt to justify Gov. Dayton's not doing any high profile debates. Chief amongst those apologists was Ember Reichgott-Junge, who virtually twisted herself into a pretzel while attempting to justify Gov. Dayton's unwillingness to agree to any high profile debates.
The following are the five debates Johnson and Dayton have agreed to participate in:
Coalition of Greater MN Cities/Rochester Post-Bulletin/Rochester Chamber of Commerce, Wednesday, October 1, 3:30-4:30 p.m., Rochester
Forum News Service/WDAY TV Wednesday, October 8, 7:00-8:30 p.m., Moorhead
Duluth News Tribune/Duluth Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, October 14, Duluth, 8:00 a.m., Duluth
KMSP/FOX 9, Hamline University Sunday, October 19, 9:00-10:00 a.m., St. Paul
TPT/Almanac Friday, October 31, 7:00-8:00 p.m., St. Paul
There isn't a high profile debate in the bunch. Normally, the Duluth debate would grab the biggest audience. It won't this time because it's scheduled for 8am on a Tuesday morning.
KSTP, KMSP, KARE11 and WCCO should announce that they're taping these debates, then replaying them that evening. We The People should demand that candidates that want our vote participate in high profile debates that are a) broadcast statewide and b) held in the evening to attract the biggest audiences possible.
Further, we should demand that journalists who aren't afraid to ask the candidates tough questions be the panelists. That eliminates DFL apologists like Esme Murphy, Cathy Wurzer and Eric Eskola. (I'm sure Mitch can think of others that fit that description.) I'd also recommend that thoughtful bloggers like Ed Morrissey, Scott Johnson and John Hinderaker be panelists. Throw in traditional journalists like Bill Hanna, Don Davis and Tom Hauser and we'd have some fine debates.
Minnesotans have always prided themselves on the level of civic participation by its citizens. When career politicians refuse to answer tough questions from serious journalists, We The People don't just have the right to question what that politician is afraid of. We The People have the obligation to question what that politician is afraid of.
I strongly suspect that Gov. Dayton will have a difficult time answering questions about his economic policies, the MNsure disaster and how incompetent his Department of Human Services have been in administering the MinnesotaCare program and manually changing health insurance policies to "life events" like having children, changes of addresses or marital status and others.
Gov. Dayton's handlers/apologists want to limit Gov. Dayton's exposure. They want to limit the damage that would come from high profile scrutiny versus an intelligent adversary. It's easy to picture Jeff Johnson questioning Gov. Dayton's statements on the health of Minnesota's economy or what a great thing MNsure is. It's easy picturing Jeff Johnson's sharp pictures of how Minnesota's economy isn't nearly as good as Gov. Dayton and his apologists claim.
It's natural for Gov. Dayton's apologists to do everything to hide his weaknesses. That's their job. It's the people's job, though, to demand a series of high profile debates.
Finally, it's time to tell Gov. Dayton's apologists that watching Gov. Dayton give a scripted speech to a group limited to top partisans isn't the same as seeing 2 candidates go toe-to-toe, challenging each other. A scripted speech requires a speechwriter and a teleprompter. To win a lively debate between adversaries requires a candidate with a strong grasp of the issues and the ability to think on their feet.
Gov. Dayton is missing both of those attributes.
Posted Monday, September 8, 2014 9:59 AM
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Suspend Goodell, Rice
Now that this video has been released, it's hard to justify Roger Goodell's 2-game suspension of Ravens running back Ray Rice:
ProFootballTalk is reporting of players' reactions to the newly published video:
NFL players and prominent former players are beginning to speak out, with the same kind of outrage others have.
'That man should be thrown out the the nfl and thrown into jail,' Broncos defensive tackle Terrance Knighton tweeted a few moments ago. 'Shame on those deciding his punishment. Smh.' Knighton continued, calling his fellow players to action.
'As players we must speak up,' he wrote. 'Stand up for what's right. I don't give a damn who u are or how much money you make. No place for this.
Longtime linebacker Scott Fujita, a former vice president of the NFLPA's executive committee, had equally harsh words. 'I'm glad no one this morning seems to care about yesterday's games,' Fujita wrote. 'This piece of s - needs to be out of the league. Period.'
It's impossible to support Commissioner Goodell's 2-game suspension of Ray Rice. From the outside, it looks like he was protecting a star player from a recent Super Bowl championship franchise. The NFL is nothing if not the most PR-concious pro sports league in history.
It's insulting that the NFL claims that they didn't see this new video until this morning :
'We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator. That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today,' the league said in its statement.
The NFL's statement won't help them. In that statement, the NFL admitted that they knew about the video. Further, they apparently didn't put pressure on law enforcement or the hotel for the footage. Finally, it says that they didn't wait to see all of the damning evidence before slapping Ray Rice's hand.
First, Commissioner Goodell should be suspended for his misconduct in the matter. He's suspending players for smoking pot or using performance enhancing drugs, aka PEDs, or suspending owners for getting DWI tickets to clean up the NFL's beahvior. Should Commissioner Goodell be immune from suspension without pay when he harms the NFL? I don't think so.
Next, after Goodell is suspended, the acting commissioner should re-open the Rice assault case. The acting commissioner should then suspend Rice indefinitely.
If that ruins Ray Rice's life, I'm ok with that. This winter, he demolished another person's life. In this instance, he destroyed the life of the woman he claims to love.
Posted Monday, September 8, 2014 11:01 AM
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Democrats against free speech
Al Franken and Sherrod Brown are just 2 of the Democratic senators that want to limit political speech. Truthfully, all 55 senators that caucus with the Democrats think that political speech should be regulated by the Senate. Here's Sen. Brown's latest attack on the First Amendment:
Dear ,
Where to start with Citizens United?
It's brought unprecedented outside spending into our elections. It's undercut the public's faith in their elected officials. And it's cowed Congress by putting a target on the back of any member who tries to stand up to special interests -- like they did with me, when special interests spent $40 million against me in 2012.
Corporations are not people. The Declaration of Independence doesn't say that 'all corporations are created equal.' And there's no good reason to pretend that corporations have the same rights as real, flesh-and-blood people.
But that's exactly what Citizens United does, and in the process, it allows corporate cash to flood our elections and distract voters from issues that really matter.
Citizens United has done major damage to our democracy. Today, we start undoing that damage. Add your name to mine and demand an end to Citizens United.
Thank you.
Sherrod
First, I'd love hearing Sen. Brown, or Sen. Franken for that matter, explain where in the text of the First Amendment it says that corporations don't have the right of political speech. Here's the text of the First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The Founding Fathers meant for there to be robust debate of the issues. Notice, too, that they mentioned that "people", not individuals, should have the right to peaceably assemble or petition their government "for a redress of grievances."
Further, I'd love hearing Sens. Franken and Brown explain how a union is a group of individuals but a corporation isn't a group of individuals.
The truth is that the Democrats' attempt to amend the Constitution is all about election year politicking. The Democrats should be forced to explain why pro-Democrat political organizations should have the right to participate in the political process but pro-Republican organizations shouldn't be allowed to participate in the political process. Finally, I'd love hearing Sens. Franken and Brown explain why incumbents should have the right to regulate anti-incumbent political speech. Why should I think incumbents are honest arbiters of what is and isn't acceptable political speech?
Posted Monday, September 8, 2014 12:13 PM
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Ray Rice terminated
The Baltimore Ravens have terminated Ray Rice's contract :
DEVELOPING: The Baltimore Ravens fired running back Ray Rice after new video emerged showing the vicious punch he used to drop his then-fiancee in the elevator of an Atlantic City hotel.
The team confirmed the move in a tweet that came hours after video obtained by TMZ showed the 5-foot, 8-inch, 220-pound athlete delivering a left-handed blow to the face of Janay Palmer, appearing to knock her unconscious. The video was shot from inside the Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, and is the footage shot before the previously circulated video that showed Rice dragging his unconscious wife-to-be out of the elevator on Feb. 15.
I just saw the unedited video of Rice punching his then-fiance. Saying that it's a disturbing, emotion-jarring video is understatement.
This afternoon on ESPN, the entire crew of analysts (Louis Riddick, Adam Schefter and Chris Mortenson) expressed outrage at everyone involved in this disaster. Schefter said that law enforcement messed up by not getting the video to the NFL. He said that the prosecutors screwed up by not charging Rice with a felony, instead letting him off the hook with a slap on the wrist. He criticized the Ravens for letting Rice use their facilities to hold a press conference after the incident.
That press conference included testimonial after testimonial about Rice being "a good man." It included Janay Palmer, now Rice's wife, apologizing for the part she played in Rice's violence. (That, by the way, is still the most bizarre part of this horrific incident.)
Riddick said that the league needs to do a better job of doing what's right rather than doing what it needs to do to promote the sport.
Finally, Mortenson got after Goodell, hinting that it isn't good enough to say that he "got it wrong." He said that, while the NFL didn't have the video, they certainly had the report of what Rice did.
Goodell should be suspended for getting this horrific incident woefully wrong. He should lose a hefty chunk of his alleged $50,000,000 a year salary, too. It looks like he isn't the impartial arbiter that his job requires him to be. Honestly, I wouldn't feel bad if he lost his job over this.
Posted Monday, September 8, 2014 2:13 PM
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