It's Harbaugh Time in AnnHarbuagh: Predictions for the 2016 Michigan Football Season

It’s Harbaugh Time; Everyday is Harbaugh Time thanks to Junior, Jed York, who couldn’t tolerate a winning coach on his parents 49ers. Harbaugh’s successor, Jim Tonsula, was canned after the 2015 season as Junior returned the 49ers to their decades of futility, broken only by the Bill Walsh – George Seifert years. James Joseph Harbaugh gets more press time than most college and pro coaches – more press time than seemingly Nick Saban and Les Miles and all the other SEC coaches combined, more press time than Urban Meyer and the other Big coaches combined. However, as Bo said “It’s the Team, the Team, the Team!” No coach, no player is larger than The Team. It’s time for the team, Team in the history of Michigan football. James Joseph Harbaugh knows that. The media doesn’t. All Harbaugh has to do is surpass last year’s 10-3 season. Expectations are high this year. Magazines rank Michigan as high as #5. Fans are salivating over a possible title game. Last year I viewed a 9-3 season as excellent, the most we could hope for, but 8-4 would be more realistic. The possible loses would be Utah, Michigan State, and Ohio State, and that’s how it played out. It should have been 10-2, but the Curse of Sparty pulled out the most unbelievable, unimaginable, bizarre, sickening last second victory. The best way to view the game ender is to watch an incredible Lego 3-D reproduction (Just Google Lego Michigan-Michigan State). Michigan was blown away 42-13 in the final season game by Ohio State, showing both that the Wolverines weren’t quite back yet, and that they lacked sufficient depth on the lines. They were physically beat up by the end of the season, just as in recent years. They recovered to crush Florida n the Citrus Bowl. The last time Michigan was ranked 5th preseason was 2007. They proceeded to lose the opener 34-32 to Appalachian State, followed by a 39-7 shellacking by Oregon. The Appalachian State loss marked the end of 4 decades of football excellence by Bo and his proteges, Mo and Lloyd. Lloyd Carr retired at the end of the season, winning the Citrus Bowl over Florida. Rich Rodrigues, otherwise an excellent coach, lasted three embarrassing years (see John Bacon, “Three and Out”). Brady Hoke started 11-2, winning the Sugar Bowl, and raising expectations. It was not meant to be as the Wolverines descended into mediocrity. Very few Michigan players were drafted by the NFL during this period. From a personal perspective the 8 year descend ended the 10-15 year wait for season tickets. I now have season tickets. 9-3 is the starting point for this year. Harbaugh proved at the University of San Diego, Stanford, and the 49ers that he can turn losers into winners. Every starter has to earn his position. Harbaugh has shown an ability to mold quarterbacks. He wins with smash mouth football, bringing back the fullback and tight ends. He is a tenacious, relentless recruiter, having landed the number one recruit in the nation. He says 15 freshmen may play this season rather than being redshirted. Several players on this team are expected to play on Sundays, unlike recent years. If there is a weakness, it is, as has been the case for 8 years, the offensive line. The running game will not open up without consistent good blocking. The defense was the 4th best nationally in 2015. The defensive coordinator left to coach Maryland. Harbaugh replaced him with Dan Brown, a highly respected defensive coordinator, who coached Boston College last year to the nation’s best defense. Is the title game possible? Both Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer at Ohio State won the national title in their second year. It’s possible, but will take some luck and a lack of major injuries. 10-2 would be excellent this year. Penn State and Wisconsin can be tough games, but they are at home. The three most possible losses are Iowa, Michigan State and Ohio State, all on the road. If Michigan beats all three, it should be in the championship playoffs. Both Michigan State and Ohio state are reloading. 15 Buckeyes were drafted by the NFL. However, Urban Meyer is a great coach and the Buckeyes are always loaded. Mark Dantonio has also proven to be a great coach at Michigan State. He doesn’t get the highest ranked recruits, but he steels the players in his winning image. Iowa has a habit of being the Wolverines in Iowa City. 10-2 or 11-1 regular season.

The Answer to a Donald Trump Victory is in the Bloomberg Poll!

The key to a Trump Victory is in the August 2016 Bloomberg Poll (Study #2142). 68% of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong track. Governor Clinton’s mantra in 1992 was “It’s the economy, stupid.” Governor Ronald Reagan asked in 1980 “Are you better off today than 4 years ago?” The answer was a clear “No!” with mortgage rates at 15.5% Mayor Michael Bloomberg has endorsed Secretary Hillary Clinton for President. Doesn’t matter The poll shows Secretary Clinton leading Donald Trump by 6%, a shrinking margin from other polls. That’s irrelevant. 68% of Americans say America is on the wrong track. Their concerns are economic and employment, or rather, unemployment. Most Americans are worse off than 8 years ago. They recognize that a Clinton Administration will be 4 more years of the same. Stay on Track! Are you better off than 8 years ago? It’s the economy, stupid! Forget the Judge Curiels and the Kahns. Forget the sarcasm and hyperbole! It’s the economy! Forget the urge to punch back. Forget Megyn Kelly and Hugh Hewitt. It’s the economy – not side issues. Forget about the election being rigged or crooked. It will only matter if the election is close, which it isn't now. Are you better off than 8 years ago? Stay on track! 48% blame Democrats for the wrong track versus 22% for Republicans. The 68% is your target. The 48% is your target. Even the 48% will probably win the election for you. All Americans are your target. 17% believe jobs and unemployment is the biggest issue with 13% choosing a real decline in income for the American people. Those are your issues. 14% are worried about terrorism. That will blow up again before the election. Wait until then. China and world trade tie into your message. That should be the winning issue in the Rust Belt. Immigration ties into it because of the resulting unemployment for Americans. Forget Hillary’s emails, for now. Either more will come out, or not! If nothing else emerges, you would have wasted valuable time. If something does emerge, then that’s the time, but always switch back to the economy. Don’t spend time on gun control. You have the gun rights vote. They will turn out to vote for you in the swing states. The press dumps on you? Use it to get back to your arguments about the economy. Don’t sound like a whiner. America wants a leader – not a whiner. Be smart – not stupid. Don’t let them bait you. Stay disciplined, stay on message. The election is still yours to win – not Hillary’s despite the polls. Ignore the Bill Clinton sex scandals unless they attack your personal life. The media will continue to dump on you. Don’t sound like a whiner in confronting them. As long as the media dumps on you, you are the message – a negative message. You have 90 days, an eternity in politics, to hammer home the message. “We will make America better, we will make you better in 4 years.” Be disciplined; stay on track, and you win. Use the “we.” Involve others. It’s the economy. Period!

The Leaning Tower of Frisco

The Leaning Tower of Frisco San Francisco has many distinguished and famous buildings. The City Hall dome towers 43’ over the Capitol’s. President Warren G. Harding died in Room 8064 of the (Sheraton) Palace Hotel on August 2, 1923. The United Nations was founded in San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House on April 25, 1945. There’s the Palace of Fine Arts, the Palace of the Legion of Honor and the Painted Ladies by Alamo Square. The Ferry Building is a classic – much nicer since the Greyhound Busses pulled out decades ago. The City boosts of the iconic Transamerica Pyramid. The beautiful Golden Gate Bridge is associated with The City by the Bay. Now comes a new entry onto the list: The Leaning Tower of Frisco. I grew up in San Francisco. I know you’re not supposed to call it Frisco, but what do you want? “The Leaning Tower of Bagdad by the Bay”? “The Leaning Tower of SOMA”? “The Leaning Tower of South of the Slot”? “The Leaning Tower of 301 Mission Street?” “The Billion Dollar Leaning Tower?” “The Leaning Tower of Broken Glass?” (Not yet, but when the Big One comes) “The Leaning Tower Which Makes Lawyers Rich?” “The Leaning Tower Which is Daring Liquefaction?” “The Sinking Tower of San Francisco?” The Leaning Tower of Frisco is technically the Millennium Tower, a 60 story. 645’ high residential building offering 419 condominiums, which were running between $1.6 million and $10 million. The Millennium Tower is sinking and leaning on fill. Start at the Ferry Building and either walk up Market Street or California Street until you reach Montgomery. You have walked on loose fill. San Francisco Bay went up to Montgomery Street until the 49ers came (the real 49ers, not the expatriate football team). The 49ers disembarked from their sailing ships as soon as they reached San Francisco heading for the gold. They were almost instantly followed by the ships’ crews. About the only thing to do with the abandoned ships was to sink them in the Bay, creating San Francisco’s downtown. It’s all fill with a high risk of liquefaction. The concrete and glass colossus is built on concrete slabs and piles which go down 80.’ That’s 120’ short of bedrock. That’s 120’ of sand and wooden ships. It saved money – then – not now. The construction crews encountered mud holes during construction. Their solution was to pour cement and gravel into the mud holes. That seems to have been as effective as the builders of the ill-fated Teton Dam in Idaho 4 decades ago. They kept finding major cracks in the in the rock formations, the foundation for the dam. Their failed response was to pour a seemingly infinite amount of grout into the cracks. Watch the Millennium Tower go slip-sliding away, down to sea level. In the meantime, It’s sinking, just like the New Orleans levee system built on loose soil. Buildings that massive can cause subsidence. The building’s developers estimated a 6’ subsidence over the building’s lifetime. It has sunk 16 inches in 8 years, while also tilting 2 inches. Slip, sliding away! So too may be many investors in the building’s condos The San Andreas Fault is overdue. Construction began on the Leaning Tower of Pisa in 1173 and was completed in 1372, two centuries later. It started leaning almost immediately, being built on loose sub-soil. One of the mysteries of history is who designed the Leaning Tower of Pisa? No one put their name on it. We know who designed and built the Millennium Tower. Their names are on a ton of documents. We know, and lawyers know. St. Francis of Assisi cannot save this one. Neither can Pope Francis.

Relax: There's Still 96 Days Till Election Day

The media, having excoriated Donald Trump for weeks, now says the Republican Party is panicking. The media is hyperventilating; they’re writing an intervention will occur. They’re now saying he’s crazy. They’re highlighting the defectors from the Republican Camp. They're practically dancing on Trump's political grave. Warren Buffett was campaigning in Nebraska with Hillary Clinton. Where’s the news in that? He’s been a long time Clinton supporter who argues we need to raise taxes (His are sheltered). Jeffrey Inmelt, Chair of GE, is reported to be a Republican, but GE is highly dependent on government contracts in some of its products such that he has been a shill for the Obama Administration. It’s called “crony capitalism.” Meg Whitman, a Silicon Valley billionaire, ran for Governor of California as a Republican. She now says she is not only endorsing Hillary Clinton, but will contribute to her campaign. Meg Whitman, whatever her many accomplishments, ran a mediocre campaign for Governor. The latest polls show the Democrat up by 10%. Trump’s statements about Judge Curiel and the Khans have been damaging. They have diverted attention from his primary arguments: Clinton’s untruthfulness, the economy, trade, and immigration. Much of the mainstream media is now totally in the Clinton camp, but that’s no surprise. The New York Times is increasingly trivializing itself. Yesterday it ran a front page article, essentially saying Donald trump was a draft dodger during Vietnam. Here’s yesterday’s headline: “Seemingly Fit, Trump Avoided Vietnam Draft.” He received 4 student deferments, and then a 1-S (a medical classification short of the IV-F) for heel spurs, apparently based on a doctor’s notes. I received a IV-F, which meant I was physically not qualified for the draft. The IV-F was due to asthma. I am a chronic asthmatic. I received the classification based up the doctors’ files. Selective Service could have required me to undergo a physical, but didn’t.. Selective Service could have required the young Donald Trump to go through a physical, but they apparently didn’t. That’s not the problem with the New York Times. Let’s go back to the 1992 New Hampshire primary when Governor Bill Clinton was accused of being a draft dodger. The record showed he was. He had 4 student deferments, but would have been subject to the draft after graduating. No deferment would be issued for a Rhodes Scholar. He was reclassified I-A, which meant he was due to be inducted fairly soon. Instead, he signed up for the ROTC. Then he got lucky. The Selective Service lottery system was adopted. His number was 311, which meant he was fairly immune form induction. His response was to kiss ROTC goodbye He reneged on his signed agreement. This is what the New York Times wrote in 1992: “Bill Clinton, who despised the Vietnam War ‘with a depth of feeling I had reserved solely for racism,’ may or may not have exposed himself to actual risks of induction. But to single him out as some sort of devious draft-dodger does him, and the anguish of Vietnam, an injustice.” The New York Times had no problem with Vice President Joe Biden’s 5 student deferments and even begrudgingly with Vice President Dick Cheney’s 5 student deferments. Donald Trump must understand the Media will flyspect every second of his life and every word he utters while giving Hillary Clinton a pass. He has to know that. He needs to show some discipline. No more winging it! No more flippant remarks! Keep to his 3-4 main points: Change, Change, Change, and Change. Stop being a New York street fighter through November. His fight is with Clinton-Obama, not fellow Republicans. Relax. There’s 96 days till the election. Polls go up and down. There’s ebbs and tides in a campaign. The Clinton Campaign is trying to keep her muzzled except for trashing Trump. She can’t run on President Obama’s record. She can’t run on her accomplishments. She can’t run on her personality. She, and they, have to demonize Trump. Sometime in the next 96 days she will say something so arrogant, so stupid, so insulting to the American people that the media will have to cover it. Sometime in the next 96 days she will tell so monstrous a lie, so offensive a lie, that even the bury will not be able to ignore it. Let Hillary be Hillary. She will resurrect the Trump Campaign even if he can’t. Sometime in the next 96 days more bad news about the economy will emerge. Most of all, sometime in the next 96 days an external event will occur, such as a terrorist attack in the United States, that the American people will turn to Trump.

Hillary Clinton and Al Gore: Two Peas in a Pod?

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Cleveland and Philadelphia: A Tale of Two Conventions; A Tale of Two Americas

We just watched the two national conventions. History was made in the Democratic Convention – the nomination of a woman for the Presidency of the United States – a moment as significant as the nomination of an African American 8 years ago. We also had Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton delivering perhaps the best speech of her life, but why would you believe anything she says? How good was her speech? Forget the commentators and the polls! Her husband fell asleep, snoring the speech! Let's see if that end up in some political ads. We end up with a Tale of Two Americas. The Republican Convention represented the traditional America – an America of hard working Americans who believe in the American Dream and see it disappearing – an America of what was once referred to as “lunch bucket Democrats.” The Democratic Convention presented a Rainbow representing the Democratic coalition. It also represented today’s version of the McGovern Democrats of 1972 – a fringe out of touch with reality. The Rainbow included every group Donald trump has supposedly offended. The Democratic Party has historically represented the working class of America. Not now, unless they are in the public employee unions. Hundreds of teachers from their unions are normally delegates to the DNC. Political conventions usually feature the main speakers surrounded by scores of American flags and at appropriate times police officers. The Democratic Convention on the first night had a dearth of American flags, but plenty of Russian and Palestinian flags. An Israeli flag was set afire outside the convention hall. The DNC the first three nights featured Black Life Matters and the mothers of young African Americans killed by police officers. The only police present were for security. Secretary Clinton tonight brought the American flags and police officers, but the real message was the first three nights. To combat inequality, the Democrats paraded a host of overpaid celebrities. The DNC delegates represent the fictional Julia of President Obama’s 2012 campaign. They believe they need the federal government to provide for them, whether it be jobs, healthcare, free college tuition, student loan forgiveness, justice and equality, or whatever. Yes, you can get everything you want from this week’s Democratic Party, except police protection and national security. Words like terror, ISIS, and national security were absent the first three nights from the speakers, except last night when former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Leon Panetta, spoke of fighting terror and ISIS. He was roundly booed by the delegates. Tonight though Secretary Clinton mentioned fighting terror and ISIS. She had to, but look at the first three nights for the true feeling of the delegates. “Judge them by not what they say, but by what they do!” Two words missing from the DNC and the nominee's speech: "Inner City." The Democrats have no solution or hope for America's inner cities. The once, and hopefully never future, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi earlier this week explained Secretary Clinton’s problem with white males being “Guns, gays, and God.” She was echoing Senator Obama’s April 2008 comments at a San Francisco fundraiser about the workers in Pennsylvania clinging to their guns and religion. The Democrats have arrogance for the working people, who they profess to represent. Secretary Clinton’s speech had two pieces of plagiarism in one sentence, but the media won’t pick it up. Willie Sutton, the fabled bank robber, was once asked why he robbed banks. He responded because “That’s where the money is.” The 1976 movie “All the President’s Men” about Watergate popularized the famous line “Follow the money.” Secretary Clinton said she would pay for her programs by taxing Wall Street, corporations, and the super rich: “That’s where the money is, and we are going to follow the money.” It’s as much plagiarism as Melania Trump’s. Translated, Secretary Clinton's economic program is to increase government spending and raise taxes; in other words, to double down on President Obama's failing ecomomic rec0overy. Michelle, Barack, and Hillary all tell us how great America is, but the American people feel it slipping away. The Republicans recognize that not only the middle class is slipping away, but Americans in general know it. Their convention was of the real America. The DNC’s is one blind to reality. Secretary Clinton in normal years would be cleaning Donald Trump’s clock in this election. He has offended so many groups in America, many of them in the Democrats Rainbow Coalition. The Democrats offered not stay the course, but more of it. The Republicans offered a reversal in course. Which America will it be November 5?

The Wikileaks DNC Papers, Hillary Clinton, and The Big Lie.

Adolph Hitler in Mein Kampf advanced the idea of The Big Lie. People are used to little lies. It’s the Big Lie with a sense of credibility that they fall for because they can’t believe that anyone could advance such a preposterous statement. Joseph Goebbels followed up in 1941 by saying “When one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it.” Don’t back down. The WikiLeaks dump of 20,000 DNC documents again shows us the predictable Hillary Clinton: the lie and the casting of fault on another through the Big Lie. The DNC papers are damning not just for the proof that the DNC and its Chairperson Debbie Wasserman-Schultz were in cahoots with the Clinton campaign to elect Hillary Clinton, and not just because they illustrate the often incestuous link between the Democrats and the mainstream media, but because of the use of racial, anti-Semitic, and religious slurs. If memos leaked from a Republican operative using the phrase “Taco Bell outreach,” the media would be screaming outrage. Not a peep from the media! If the Republicans wrote about using a candidate’s religion to win Baptist votes in Kentucky or West Virginia, the media would be all over it. Not a peep! If the Trump campaign had been caught planting moles in an opponent’s campaign, the media would cry “Dirty Trick!” Not a peep from the media! Instead, Hillary’s Campaign followed her standard operating practice. First, Hilary denied all knowledge of any of it, just like with her emails. Total ignorance is her defense. She sticks to it. We have the most self-proclaimed ignorant Secretary of State in recent decades. CBS’ Scott Pelley spoke for the media when he said: ”I’ve got to tell you, if I am any reader of body language, I’ve known Secretary Clinton for 25 years, and I was struck, as I was reading the emails to her during the interview, her eyes widened as if to say, what is this all about? What are you talking about? She seemed genuinely surprised.” Reading a known liar’s face is no substitute for investigative reporting. She didn’t stop there. Then came her Big Lie. Robby Mook, campaign manager blamed the leaks on Russia trying to tilt the American election to Donald Trump. The “Russian Connection” also served the purpose of deflecting attention from the specifics of the leaks. Mook said: “Experts are telling us that Russian state actors broke into the DNC…. It’s troubling that some experts are now telling us that this was done for the purpose of helping Donald Trump.” Mook refuses to say whose those “experts” are, which is reminiscent of Senators Richrard Nixon and Joseph McCarthy. Remember, Hillary blamed the Monica Lewinsky scandal on a “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.” The Benghazi attacks were blamed as a response to “The Innocence of Muslims,” an anti-Islamic video nobody had ever watched. Her State Department then spent $70,000 on ads in Pakistan denouncing the video. The media ran with the video theory. The media highlighted the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy and echoed the Clinton’s trashing of the Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr. And now the media is lapping up the Russian Connection, kook, line, and sinker. Many also seem to want to believe Secretary Clinton that no one, not the Russians, not the Chinese, no one, hacked into her private email. The media believes because they want to. They seem to fail to learn from the past. The American people though recognize the DNC leaks compound the Secretary’s credibility issues. Hillary believes in the Marx Brothers: "Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?" Let us remember a famous quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln: “You can fool some of the people all the times, and all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”