Avoidance

My wife, an experienced mental health practitioner, thinks that my decision to stop reading the news (see:  A Year Without News?) is a bad idea because it constitutes “avoidance,” and in the world of professional psychology that’s always unhealthy.

I’m sure she’s right about avoidance in the emotional context. Suppressing a feeling is usually a mistake because the source of the conflict will come back and you’re better off doing something about it now rather than later when it will probably be worse.

Dear "Conservative Christian" Family Member

Here’s where I stand on the election.

If you were talking honestly and sincerely to a grandson about what Christian virtues of Donald Trump you would like him to emulate, I’m confident you couldn’t find any. Not one.* But you could find a dozen strongly un-Christian behaviors and traits you’d want an impressionable young man to reject. Of course, if you were talking to a granddaughter, it would be simpler. You’d simply advise her to stay as far away as possible from Trump and men like him.

The stories you and others cited about Hillary Clinton as serial murderer or tool of Iran have been thoroughly debunked as fabrications. These mostly came from a small town in Macedonia where people creating Facebook web ads discovered that American conservatives would click on anything anti-Clinton (and would further prove their gullibility by lingering on the site to buy fake Viagra, magic health pills, etc.). There's also strong evidence that Russia helped in this effort. 

If there was any substance to these phony news stories, Republican legislators would have investigated and Republican prosecutors would have indicted. But that hasn’t and won’t happen. Just like Trump’s unqualified statements that he had “absolute proof” that Obama wasn’t born in the US, the lies have served their purpose and will quickly fade back into the darkness they came from.

Hypocrisy is the common thread connecting conservative Republicans’ past and future.

A Year Without News?

Now seems like a good time to give up on the news. The wackos have won Washington and frankly, I don’t want to read about their campaign to trash American values, not to mention our economy.

I'm not saying the country is going to the dogs, because that would be unfair to dogs. Most canines I’ve encountered are smarter than the people taking over the federal government. More honest, too.

The bottom line is that the experience of continuing to read news wouldn’t be good for either my physical or mental health. So, I’m out. The plan is a year. We’ll see how it goes.

Ezekiel Elliott

Ezekiel Elliott isn’t the fastest back I’ve seen, nor is he the quickest (in the sense of change of direction). And he’s by no means the most powerful runner. He’s excellent in all those categories, but not in the elite group.

In fact, there are a number of active running backs who have the combination of all three of those abilities and are better than Elliott in two or three.

What sets Elliott apart, I’ve decided after watching him as a pro, is his burst. He has an amazing ability to accelerate over about a three stride stretch. He’s better than anyone I’ve seen in this.

Elliott’s burst explains why he often gets through the line untouched. It also explains why he can often turn the corner – an almost impossible task in the pros and even in high level college competition where defenders are simply too fast to outrun if they have an angle.

-->

He has the potential to be a great back over a reasonably long career – if Dallas gives him fewer carries.