Speed-Walked 3/4 of Today's Depot Parkrun 5K

Early this morning just before sunrise, the temperature was a cool 55 degrees with a high 94% humidity.  Such were the conditions for today's Depot Parkrun 5K, held there just south of downtown Gainesville.  My focused intention for today's event was clear: walk briskly for the distance, no matter what my finishing time is.  I got down there, and for the first two laps I gave it an honest, good effort...but my "halfway" time was only 22:17 and I was starting to feel a little tired.  Still, I stuck it out walking the whole third lap. It was that final .7 mile for the last lap when I broke into a moderate run, picking up the pace as I approached the race's end.  I finished with a time of 43:09...you can view today's results by clicking HERE. Later on this morning, starting at ten, some local political malcontents are going to stage another anti-Trump protest rally, which I've heard erroneously equated with "democracy in action": the fools! I'm not going there, choosing instead to take a little break at my nearby Dunkin' store before heading back home to rest a little bit.  And then begins the rest of the day. As for today's Depot Parkrun, there were a lot of participants, and it all went pretty smooth.  The main thing is that I showed up and gave it a strong effort.  I wonder how many people attended today's West End Community Park Run: it's usually a lot fewer (and was, at 60)..

News, Media Manipulation and Protests

It's all-too easy in recent days to get overly wrought about the news hitting the airwaves...the political extremism that's sadly becoming mainstream, and the intensifying international division that includes several areas of armed conflict across the world.  I wrote last Sunday about the nationwide protests being organized against Trump for his perceived overreach with executive orders and his lavish self-indulgence at taxpayers' expense, exemplified by his heavily-hyped birthday/military parade to take place tomorrow.  In Gainesville, as in many locations spread across the land, there will be a protest meeting called "No Kings" tomorrow morning from 9 to noon, taking place at Roberson Park on 600 SW 6th Street.  I've expressed interest in attending it, but we'll just have to see how I feel about it all after my Depot Parkrun 5K race that's just a few blocks down the road.  Melissa thoughtfully reminded me to not get so caught up in the news, and she's right: there's only just so much I can do about what's going down around me.  So I'm keeping my peace and serenity in the face of the confusion, chaos, anger and fear, some of which I suspect is deliberately being pushed in the media to manipulate us...

Nationwide Protests Against Trump This Saturday During His Military Show

So it looks as if the duly-elected president is determined to hold his grand, hyper-expensive (at taxpayers' expense) military celebration on Saturday, June 14...which "coincidentally" exactly coincides with his birthday.  In response to this kind of egomaniacal display that one would normally expect from North Korea's puffy dictator, a nationwide counter-protest is being scheduled for the same day. In Gainesville there's a protest called "No Kings", endorsed by the Democratic Party, that's taking place Saturday morning from 9 to noon at Cora P. Roberson Park, 600 SW 6th Street.  I pass by it most Saturday mornings on my way to the Depot Parkrun.  Looks as if my little weekly race is in for some serious competition with parking this weekend, sad to say.  But then again, I have shown up to vote against Trump every chance I could...four times...one of them after I deliberately changed my voter affiliation to Republican just to vote against him in 2024's Florida Primary.  So I might just drop by Roberson Park to check out the scene...but I'm certainly NOT going to fill out and submit any sign-up forms that the websites promoting it provide: what's that all about unless they're planning to hit on me later?  I expect die-hard, delusional Trump MAGA demonstrators to show up as well, and possibly some opportunistic left-wing agitators who might try to put on a media show in front of the cameras.  I've never been at a demonstration meeting or protest, and I still remember (with contempt) Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren once calling these things "Democracy in action".  No, Senator, democracy in action is getting off your ass on Election Day and voting!  Nevertheless, attending a protest demonstration may be in the cards for me.  I do know that the Internet and social media are full of lies and misdirection about both Trump and his former flunky Elon Musk.  Apparently, the Republican's "Big, Beautiful" bill doesn't specifically grant the president election-canceling powers as I had earlier read, and Musk isn't...as was also erroneously reported...about to buy off ABC/Disney.  Should be an interesting Saturday, this June 14th.  Bottom line on all this protesting: Trump was indeed duly elected, and if it's anybody I should be demonstrating against it's the fools who put him back into office.  Still, I'd like to observe what goes down this coming Saturday morning (after my run, of course)...

The Ongoing NFL Kneeling-at-the-National Anthem Controversy

I wrote early on in the 2016 National Football League season that I strongly disagreed with the tactics taken by then-San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick as he remained seated during the pregame playing of the National Anthem as a protest against how he perceived blacks and other minorities were being treated in this country.  Several players on his team and others joined him in this silent but ostentatious action, and at the time I stated that since the league was not going to take any disciplinary action against them then I would boycott the season.  And I did, until I noticed that that same league was making sure that the police and our brave soldiers were being honored during different halftime shows and decided that in an imperfect world, they were probably doing the best they thought they could.  Still, I objected to the protests...and multimillionaire Kaepernick, a sympathizer of brutal communist totalitarian dictator Fidel Castro, should have been the last person to emulate or be called "courageous" for taking his stand...or should I say "seat".   But it seemed that the furor over all this had finally died down until it looked as if all of the teams were blacklisting Kaepernick, a capable pro quarterback who was an available free agent but not being considered...and believe me, some teams desperately need a quarterback who doesn't totally suck.  As this 2017 season has begun and progressed, more and more players were seen kneeling during the anthem, and the league offices once again averted their eyes.  Then President Trump went off on one of his spontaneous rants the other day at a rally aimed at his whopping 35% base of supporters and angrily urged fans to walk out of stadiums and for the teams to fire players who refuse to honor our national symbols.  I thought it was interesting that during the Charlottesville incident when white supremacist racists demonstrated against the removal of a Confederate statue, his off-the-cuff reaction was that they had a legal permit to do so and then equated their actions with the counter-demonstrators.  But with these NFL protestors Trump decided to make a "moral statement" instead and come down harshly against them.  So let me see...when it's white racists protesting, our prez says there are some very good people among them and takes great pains to emphasize that it's their legal right...when it's blacks protesting against white racism, he says "Fire them!"  H-m-m, I think I'm beginning to understand where Mr. Trump stands on race...

In spite of disliking the protests at the playing of the National Anthem, I do respect and agree to a great extent with the reasons for them...blacks and other minorities really don't get a fair shake in this society, especially with regard to their treatment by police and how the justice system more severely prosecutes them.  But I'm standing back and watching how it's all being spun on TV and I have to wonder whether I'm the only one who discerns that the issue is being twisted around a bit.  To disrupt an assembly through protest is in of itself a deliberate act of disunity...to stand together at the playing of the anthem would have been the act of unity.  Instead, different teams are all pretending to be "united" by holding arms and doing other sorts of symbolic acts...but the unity is among themselves only, not with the fans or the people at large.  And Trump is consequently being portrayed as a "divider"...which I agree he most assuredly is, but not for the reason they're all giving over the air...and it's a shame, because I find myself at times agreeing with the president's positions on different issues: if he only didn't act as a wrecking ball in promoting his viewpoint.  The protesters most certainly are ALSO dividers, not unifiers, and it might be argued that their divisiveness is for a good cause...you're not going to hear me disagree on that one.  But I think that all of this symbolic stuff going on isn't going to make anyone's life better...if anything it will just entrench those whose mindsets need the most change.  In any event, our bumbling, blustering president has turned the protests from a social statement into a political one: if you're against Trump, then kneel, if you support him, stand...never mind how you feel about the honor and privilege of being an American anymore...

NFL Shows Double Standard with "Free Speech"

The National Football League's double standard concerning the issue of free speech as it pertains to player protests during the national anthem and one team's attempt to honor its slain law enforcement officers is too much for me to bear.  Following the refusal of the league to allow Dallas Cowboys players to display a small memorial to the recent murdered policemen from their city on their helmets, the same organization is bending over backwards to appease players who refuse to honor our national anthem, either by remaining seated, kneeling, or pumping their fists in the air.  Now if you are going to side with the players who protested in this manner before yesterday's games because you agree with their agenda but oppose what the Dallas players want to do, then perhaps you are one who believes in freedom of speech only as long as whoever is speaking "freely" agrees with you.  On the other hand, you may agree with some of the reasons for the protests...as I do and am also concerned about civil rights violations of minorities by police...but think that this form of expression is unacceptable.  I know that our Constitution's First Amendment, which protects us from being persecuted or censored by our government for what we say or express, does not extend to private employees who are expected by their employers to abide by a certain standard of demeanor for the sake of the company's public image...or go seek employment elsewhere.  No doubt this also includes playing for professional sports teams as well.  And the National Football League is quick to apply free speech restrictions in the case of the Dallas Cowboys players wanting to honor their fallen police heroes.  But they then turn around and say it is these other players' "rights" to openly show their contempt for this country while publicly on the field, wearing their teams' uniforms, and getting paid their millions.  Something is seriously amiss here.  I followed the first weekend of the 2016 regular season to see what would come of all this after second-rate 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick started it all by refusing to stand for the anthem before an exhibition game. Sad to say, I am very disappointed at the outcome and plan to boycott the National Football League henceforth...