According to “sources”, the NY Jets have fired general manager Joe Douglas. ESPN.
Under Douglas, the Jets have a 30-64 record, no winning seasons and no playoff appearances.
The Charlotte 49ers have fired football coach Biff Poggi.
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The good news is, former coach Biff is going to have more time to drink white wine spritzers at the club with Muffy, Buffy, and Brock.
There’s been a lot going on. I’m sorry to be linking so much to ESPN, but I’m having trouble finding local coverage for some of these.
Tom Herman out at Florida Atlantic. 6-16 in two seasons, and 0-6 in the AAC this season.
Don Brown out at the University of Massachusetts. 6-28 over “two plus seasons”, and they’re 2-8 so far.
Phil Longo out as offensive coordinator of the Wisconsin Badgers. I have not heard anything about mushrooms or the snake.
Stan Drayton out at Temple. 9-25 in “two plus” seasons, 4-18 in the AAC, and 0-15 on the road. But they actually won (in overtime) Saturday.
Noted: “Temple’s firing of Stan Drayton should open the door to dropping the football program“.
Bela Karolyi, gymnastics coach.
You may remember him from such hits as Nadia Comaneci:
Mary Lou Retton:
And Dr. Larry Nassar:
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In fact, a reckoning was already underway. That August, accounts emerged that Dr. Nassar had regularly molested young female athletes at the Karolyis’ ranch and at Michigan State University, where he was a faculty member and sports doctor. Gymnasts began discussing publicly how, while training with the Karolyis, they had practiced with fractured bones, suffered ridicule of their developing bodies, faced food restrictions and felt discouraged from complaining about hunger or pain.
Many former gymnasts said they had dreaded going to the Karolyis’ ranch. One testified that she once purposefully hit her head against a bathtub to avoid the abuse.
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Theodore B. Olson, noted lawyer. I sort of vaguely remember him from the Reagan administration:
Later on, he became involved in the effort to overturn California’s gay marriage ban, and opposed the first Trump administration’s efforts to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
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Mr. Olson worked on the White House’s behalf during the initial stages of the Iran-contra affair, Congress’s investigation into the illegal arms sales to Iran to support right-wing rebels in Nicaragua. He was also accused of committing perjury during a congressional investigation into the White House’s withholding of environmental records.
That investigation, which lasted five years and personally cost Mr. Olson $1.5 million, ended without charges. It made him a darling among conservative commentators, but left many Democrats convinced that he was dangerously partisan.
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His third wife, the conservative commentator Barbara (Bracher) Olson, was aboard American Airlines Flight 77 to Los Angeles from Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, when Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked it, crashing it into the Pentagon and killing everyone aboard.
She had planned to leave the day before, but had stayed an extra day to be with Mr. Olson on the morning of his birthday. As the plane veered back toward Northern Virginia, where they lived, she called him from a bathroom, and Mr. Olson was able to record some of the call. His telephone is now in the collection of the National Museum of American History.
Gerry Faust, former coach at Notre Dame.
John Robinson, former coach at the Universty of Southern California and of the Rams.
…Attending Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, he met a fellow fifth-grader, John Madden, the future Hall of Fame coach and broadcaster, and they became lifelong friends.
“Just two doofuses from Daly City,” Robinson told The Los Angeles Times in 2021.
Timothy West, noted British actor. Other credits include “EastEnders”, “Nicholas and Alexandra”, “Crime and Punishment” (the 1979 TV miniseries)…
…and what was, according to the obit, a disastrous production of “Macbeth” with Peter O’Toole.
Mr. O’Toole, who had not appeared on the London stage for 15 years, had insisted on complete artistic control over the production, Mr. West wrote in a memoir — “a sure recipe for dissent if not disaster” — and refused to make any suggested changes.
The first night was a critical failure (“Not so much downright bad as heroically ludicrous,” The Daily Mail wrote), and ignited a public war of words (“West Disowns MacBeth,” one headline blared). But the play drew so many curious theatergoers that it became a box office hit.
He was also married to Prunella “Sybil Fawlty” Scales, who I did not know (until I read the obit) has Alzheimer’s. Damn.
Playing catch-up here:
Tony Todd, actor. NYT (archived). Other credits include “Crossing Jordan” (the “Quincy” of the 2000s except it sucked), “Homicide: Life on the Street”, “Cop Rock”, “Jake and the Fatman”, and multiple spinoffs of a minor SF TV series from the 1960s.
This is a little old, but as I recall, it came up while Mike the Musicologist and I were wandering around: Jonathan Haze, actor. Other credits include OG “Dragnet”, “Highway Patrol”, “The Fast and the Furious” (1954), and “The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent”.
Finally, Baltazar Ushca has passed away at 80. He is believed to have been the last of the Andean ice harvesters.
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I apologize. I have been more than a little distracted, with recovery from the previous eye surgery and planning for the next eye surgery (which is tomorrow). So I haven’t really had a chance to write anything special for Armistice Day.
In lieu of something from me, I’m going to point you to this recent article/book review from American Handgunner: “Fearless: The Adam Brown Story“.
I had not heard of Adam Brown before reading this, but cheese louise, what a guy.
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Since there’s not a link in the article, if you want to read Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown, you can find it at the above affiliate link.
Winter is coming, if it hasn’t showed up already in your neck of the woods. We need something to keep us warm, and what better than flaming hyenas?
The mayor of Jacksonville, Mississippi, Antar Lumumba, has been indicted on federal bribery charges.
Also indicted: Aaron Banks, who is a councilman, and Jody Owens, the county DA.
I missed this, but another city council member, Angelique Lee, pled guilty to “conspiracy to commit bribery” charges in August. I get the impression she hasn’t been sentenced yet, and I’m wondering if she’s now a “cooperating witness”.
Owens is facing eight felony counts; Lumumba is facing five felony counts and Banks is facing two felony counts.
Owens faces one count of conspiracy, three counts of federal program bribery, one count of use of an interstate facility in aid of racketeering, one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering and one count of making a false statement.
Lumumba faces one count of conspiracy, one count of federal program bribery, one count of use of an interstate facility in aid of racketeering, one count of wire fraud and one count money laundering.
Banks faces one count of conspiracy and three counts of federal program bribery.
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According to the recently unsealed indictment, Owens facilitated over $80,000 in bribe payments to Lumumba, Lee and Banks in exchange for their agreement to take official action on the city’s long-sought after hotel development project across the street from the Jackson Convention Complex. It is a project the city has been trying to build since the mid-2000s. The city released a statement of qualifications, or SOQ, for the project on Jan. 31.
Owens accepted at least $115,000 in cash and “promises of future financial benefits” from two developers from Nashville who turned out to be undercover FBI agents. The agents used Owens’ relationships with the elected officials “to act as an intermediary” for the bribes. Smith helped Owens facilitate the bribes.
“Owens, Banks, Lumumba, Lee and Smith were not aware that, in reality, the Developers were working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” the indictment states.
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On Jan. 11, Banks allegedly requested $50,000 in exchange for his future vote in favor of the “developers” bogus real estate company that was bidding on the city’s SOQ. In February, Banks allegedly accepted an “initial payment” of $10,000 from the undercover agents through Owens, along with a promise of an employment opportunity for a family member. Additionally, Lee accepted nearly $20,000 in February and March also in exchange for her vote in favor of the undercover agents’ company.
During the meeting, Owens dismissed Banks then told the agents:
“We never give them the asking price. I buy [expletive for women’s genitalia], I buy cars, I buy cows, I buy drugs, whatever. My point is like [Banks] need 50, you get 30. He gets installments. That’s my game,” according to the indictment.
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Owens then allegedly stated:
“I don’t give a [expletive] where the money comes from. It can come from blood diamonds in Africa, I don’t give a [expletive]. I’m a whole DA. [Expletive] that [expletive]. My job, as I understand it, with a little paperwork, is to get this deal done, and get it done most effectively … We can take dope boy money, I don’t give a [expletive]. But I need to clean it and spread it. I can do it in here. That’s why we have businesses. To clean the money. Right? I don’t give a [expletive]. You give us cash, we deposit it and give it back that way. That’s easy.”
NYT coverage. I think this is better organized for non-locals, but it lacks a lot of the more colorful quotes from DA Owens.
A few food related things Mike the Musicologist and I saw while running around:
The New Braunfels Rotary Club has gone up to $16! for the sausage and potato pancakes plate. Thanks, Joe Biden!
(Seriously, I think it was $12 the last time I went to Wurstfest.)
Because it just isn’t charcuterie unless it is on a stick. Also, that raclette sounds really good.
(We’ve driven past that cheese shop when we’ve been in New Braunfels, but I’ve never been in. May have to fix that.)
They’re not just pork rinds. They’re “small batch” pork rinds. I don’t think they are “artisanal”, however.
Part of me thinks I should apologize for not posting yesterday. The other part of me doesn’t.
I got about 3.5 hours of sleep Tuesday night, though I did nap some on Lawrence’s dog couch. So I was pretty worn out yesterday and still had to put in a full day at work. Plus, as I’ve said before, I am not a politics or geo-politics person. I have some things I could say about politics and gun politics, like what I’m hoping for out of the new boss (same as the old boss) but I’d just be stirring the metaphorical pot with a metaphorical stick.
There are plenty of other people who are smarter about politics than I am. I’d suggest Lawrence and Borepatch to start with. I’d also recommend the folks on Lawrence’s sidebar.
At least I can stop muting political ads, and continue muting Medicare supplement ads and lawyer ads.
In other news, I wanted to bookmark this article from American Handgunner, “Sixguns To The Rescue: The M1917 In World War One” about the M1917 revolvers. (Previously on WCD.)
From the obit front: Geoff Capes. I’d never heard of him, but he was hugely popular in the United Kingdom. He was a multiple time winner of the World’s Strongest Man competition, a six-time winner of the Highland Games, and won the “U.K. Truck-Pulling Championship” in 1986.
At 6-foot-6 and 365 pounds, Mr. Capes was a crushing Adonis whose daily diet consisted of seven pints of milk, two loaves of bread, a dozen eggs, two steaks, a jar of baked beans, two tins of sardines, a pound of butter and a leg of lamb.
His gargantuan caloric intake powered his extraordinary feats in strongman competitions: pulling 12-ton trucks uphill, flipping cars, tearing London phone books in half and tossing five-pound bricks as if they were Kleenex boxes. He could run 200 meters — nearly the length of two American football fields — in under 25 seconds.
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He was also a world-class breeder of budgies.
He competed in budgerigar shows throughout Europe, winning a world championship in 1995. He was named president of the Budgerigar Society in 2008 and frequently judged competitions.
“There’s something about their color and beauty that fascinates me,” Mr. Capes told The Sunday People. “They bring out my gentler side.”
This is one that I’ve been a little behind on: Richard A. Cash, big damn hero.
One of the things that people don’t understand until they’ve read at least a little bit about medicine is: dehydration will kill you. And there are lots of diseases, such as cholera and dysentery, that trigger fatal dehydration.
Patients could go “from a grape to a raisin” within hours, Dr. Cash often said.
Dr. Cash and Dr. David Nalin were working in Pakistan in 1967, and together developed an experimental oral rehydration therapy. It worked exceptionally well in trials.
Their approach was put to the test in 1971, when Bangladesh’s war of independence drove tens of thousands of refugees into camps across the border in India. Cholera and other diseases soon spread rapidly.
An Indian pediatrician helping with the response, Dilip Mahalanabis, made oral rehydration a cornerstone of his strategy, with astounding success — proof for all the world that a simple solution could be brought to bear against one of the world’s greatest killers.
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Happy Guy Fawkes Day to all my peeps everywhere!
(Still busy as all get out running around with Mike the Musicologist. I did accomplish something yesterday, though: I managed to get one of the Lipsey’s/S&W Ultimate Carry guns. Mine is a 442 in .38 Special: Cabela’s, it turns out, had a few and I think I got the last non-display one. They had no .32 Magnums. I hope to be able to post at least a brief range report, maybe even with chronograph data, once my eye doctor clears me to shoot.)
Alan Rachins, actor. I watched enough “L.A. Law” that I remember him. THR.
Other credits include “Stargate SG-1”, “Showgirls”, and the “Fear on Trial” TV movie, which some of us had to watch in high school.
I had scheduled today and tomorrow off, and am running around with Mike the Musicologist. I had no idea how busy it was going to get, so I am blogging by phone.
Dennis Allen out in New Orleans. 18-25 in more or less three seasons, and the Saints have lost seven games in a row.
The Raiders fired Luke Getsy as offensive coordinator. Also offensive line coach James Cregg and QB coach Rich Scangarello. The team is 2-7, and all three were in their first season with the Raiders. (Hattip: Lawrence.)
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Other credits include “One from the Heart”, “Honky Tonk Freeway”, “McCloud”, “Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood”, and an episode of a minor SF TV series from the 1960s.
John Gierach, author and fly fisherman. I recognized the name, probably because I’ve seen some of his books around. (Half-Price Books puts the fishing books right above the firearms books.)
Charles Brandt, former prosecutor and author.
But [“The Irishman”] was fiercely criticized by journalists and Mafia experts, who said Mr. Sheeran had exaggerated (at best) or fabricated (at worst) his role in Mr. Hoffa’s death.
“Frank Sheeran never killed a fly,” John Carlyle Berkery, an Irish mob figure in Philadelphia, was quoted as saying in a 2019 Slate article with the headline “The Lies of the Irishman.” “The only things he ever killed were countless jugs of red wine.”
Selwyn Raab, who wrote about the Mafia for The Times for more than two decades, told Slate: “I know Sheeran didn’t kill Hoffa. I’m as confident about that as you can be. There are 14 people who claim to have killed Hoffa. There’s an inexhaustible supply of them.”
I read I Heard You Paint Houses and I think Frank Sheeran’s claim that he killed Hoffa is B.S. Sheeran even admitted to the author at one point that he’d lied about an easily checkable point: if he lied about that, why should we believe the rest of what he said?
No, it isn’t. It’s just stupid.
So Lawrence has already observed that blogging on his side is going to be light this week for reasons.
This would be a good chance to get people flocking over here like a bunch of temporarily orphaned baby ducks…
…except, as previously noted, I’m having cataract surgery on my right eye tomorrow, and I’m not sure how well I’m going to be able to see, much less blog, afterwards.
Plus, you know, they say you shouldn’t drive or operate heavy machinery after surgery. I’m not sure if blogging counts as operating heavy machinery, but, as a great philosopher once said:
See you all as and when I can.