Play ball!

I see that we have gotten another comment from Titanium Bracelets... What do you guys think?

As a lark, I copied the first line of the comment and pasted into Mr. Google to see what would come up.  Well, well, what do you know?  Lots of hits linking to legitimate sites with the same text appearing in the comments section, but not for titanium bracelets.  It could be for blenders, wedding photography, or almost anything.

There were many similar comments that had a few things in common.  First of all, they are all very flattering.  Second, they give no reference to the original article or post and were very generic in nature.  This tells me that it is the product of a bot, likely dealing with search engine optimization (SEO) or other efforts to drive traffic to a particular site.  It's probably harmless, but annoying.  Personally, I would delete such blemishes on an otherwise unsullied blog site.  It would be different if the comments stated that "the Old Dog is a poopy head and talks like a sausage."  At least then we could embark on further discourse.

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That list of presidents was nice, but those are just the guys at the top who are ultimately responsible.  But where did they get the information for their decisions?  There are a lot of shady players in any administration and they may not always have the best intentions.  I'm thinking of Allen Dulles in particular, who cut a wide swath during the Cold War era but there are many others.  We don't know who is whispering in the president's ear, or if they are telling the truth.  It's a high stakes game that is being played.

And it's seeming more like a game to me everyday.  North Korea has already shot down US military planes, but that was long ago, and nothing came of it.  Maybe this time it will be different, but I think the end goal will be for China to come in and slap some sense into the Fat Boy's head.  Nothing good will come of a nuclear exchange, we don't have the troops available for a ground assault, and neither the South Koreans nor Japanese see keen on engaging in a ground war.  Whose turn is it to roll the dice?

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Funny thing about that kneeling business; kneeling is usually an act of submission, like kneeling before God in church or kneeling before royalty.  I don't recall it ever being considered an act of defiance or disrespect.

It's also curious that the beef with the NFL is Trump's big priority.  Is that because the NFL refused to sell him a team when that offshoot league collapsed back in the day?  Some of the pundits have taken him to task for putting his petty argument with sports figures ahead of the plight of Puerto Rico, which he has barely mentioned.

Here's a goofy thought: Since PR was already in sad financial shape and is now a "fixer upper" the banks are going to settle for pennies on the dollar and Russian oligarchs will be lining up to invest their ill gotten gains in prime, semi-tropical, real estate.  They already have the necessary business connections in Washington, from what I've read.

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A little National Anthem trivia for you guys.  Although the anthem was occasionally played at athletic events, it really took off after it was played  during the 7th inning stretch during a World Series game in 1918.  Yes, Uncle Ken, the Cubs were involved.  I can't make this stuff up.