Category: Opinion

Hit Them With Your Wallet

How To Reject Woke Culture With Your Personal Wealth

Very much so!
Photo courtesy of alamy.com

Since the Obama years, this country has been peppered with woke culture left and right. From companies adopting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies to government agencies lowering standards of employment in the name of “equality.”

Companies like Meineke, Safelite, and Vrbo, to name a few, want you to think masculinity is a thing of the past as they continue to feminize males in their television commercials.  

Financial services companies like Chime and SoFi encourage financial irresponsibility by offering their customers the ability to access money they haven’t earned.

Advertising companies continue to use people in their television commercials who are not representative of the overall make up of American society. Omitting those with the purchasing power is not a winning strategy, but companies continue to fall down that rabbit hole. They think this omission is the right thing to do because of their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies.

I decided a long time ago that I was not going to cater to these companies and institutions. They have the right to conduct their business and aimed their advertising to certain segments of the population, but I also have the right to choose who I will give my business to.

During Covid, I refused to patronized businesses who wanted me to wear a mask. Despite the fact our government said masks were useless, these businesses insisted on enforcing it. I have adopted the same approach towards the DEI culture and any company who pushes this nonsense down our throats.

My first victim was XM satellite radio. I got a 3-month freebie from my car dealership after a service, but after those three months I decided XM was not for me.  The service is expensive, and the programming is poor. Any broadcasting service who excludes a race of people should not be allowed to exist.

For example, why do they have to have Black channels only? If any other outlet would offer White only channels that would be deemed racists, but for some reason XM gets away with it. So, when they called me to subscribe to the service, I told them no thanks.

The best part was when the customer service representative asked me why. I told him I was not going to patronize a business who excluded a group of people based on their skin color. I added their programming was not geared towards people like me, and I was not going to pay for a service that was not inclusive.

I have to say that it felt really good, very refreshing knowing the power of my personal purse is a powerful one. Unlike our Congress, I do understand the power my money has over my everyday life decisions.

XM is not the only company I have rejected in my everyday life, but I think you understand where I am coming from.

You do not have to settle for less.  You have the power to tell these companies, no. Money moves the world, and as a consumer you have the power to reject companies who do not share your values.

Your hard-earned money means something, use it wisely.

337 Million People In The United States…

Are Harris And Trump The Best We Got?

Republican Party candidate Donald J. Trump and Democratic Party candidate, Kamala Harris. Photo courtesy of cnn.com

We should be embarrassed!

As Election Day is upon us, I cannot fathom the idea of having to choose between Donald Trump or Kamala Harris to be our next president.

As we only have a two-party system, it seems Americans are happy to accept whatever these two parties have to offer, without question and without a challenge.

It is true that under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris regime the country has fallen into social and financial chaos. Everything is more expensive, and our national security is a disaster as a result of an “Open Borders” policy.

It is also true; under the Trump presidency the country was in great shape. We had an economic and energy revival the country has not seen in decades. But we also witness a president who was a bad judge of character, appointing people to positions who did not have the country’s best interest at heart.

Donald Trump’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic was one of the most un-American episodes in American history. It began with “14 Days” to contain the spread, and the rest is history. Donald Trump left the door open for the Biden administration to impose unconstitutional lockdowns and vaccine mandates. Millions of lives were lost and millions more were destroyed by the government.

Turned brother against brother, and family members were instructed, by the government, to turn on each other. It was a dark period in our nation’s history.

Unfortunately, today, Donald Trump continues to brag about operation Warp Speed.

So, here we are, in another one of our country’s crossroads. We are, in what appears to be, one election cycle away from becoming Venezuela under a Harris administration or survive one more election cycle under a Trump administration.

Yes, I mean when I say survive. A Trump presidency may be able to pause the inevitable, but as long as people continue to vote for the same people into Congress, nothing is going to change. The United States Congress has become a career, instead of the public service the Founding Fathers had in mind.

We are faced with the choice of electing the best of two evils. We have nobody but ourselves to blame for this political travesty. American society has become so morally weak, it has forgotten that it has the power to change the country’s trajectory.

Facebook, Tik-Tok, Instagram, X, and the likes, are the equivalent of what the Roman poet Juvenal referred to as “Bread and circuses.” Keep the population superficially appeased instead of giving them honest public service or legislation. The Romans knew how to do it, but even the Roman Empire could not stop their demise.

Why do we have to settle for garbage? That is a question that will haunt me.

McIlroy’s Nightmare Continues

Whoop! Whoop!

Rory is “Fighting Something” Photo courtesy of msn.com

Rory McIlroy is definitely fighting something: A weak state of mind.

I am all for technology and taking advantage of every piece of information available. But to allow technology to dictate how I am supposed to play or live my life, that is a whole different thing.

It seems Rory McIlroy is doing that. Golf.com is quoting him saying after his first round at the 2023 PGA Championship, “I’m fighting something.”

“I thought I got a great night’s sleep last night, and I look at my WHOOP, and I was 22% recovery, and my skin temperature was 3.5 degrees higher than what it’s been, I’m fighting something.”

Say what? My WHOOP? Oh brother! Calling McIlroy a basket case is an understatement.

Honestly? I do not know what to make of Rory McIlroy. But if you thought for a minute I would give him a pass, you are highly mistaken. McIlroy made his own cozy bed, running his mouth about things he did not know anything about, and disrespecting lots of people in the process.

Sleep well on that bed Rory. Whoop! Whoop!

Rory McIlroy Chose To Be The Leader Of The Pack

His Woes Are All On Him

It was funny to see the triumvirate of Rory apologists at the Golf Channel making all kind of excuses as to why Rory McIlroy shot a 76 today in the first round at the Players Championship.

Rich Lerner, Brandel Chamblee, and Paul McGinley, were commenting on how McIlroy looked tired, his swing was out of sorts, and how he seemed not to be in the moment. I do agree with their assessment, and I will add, McIlroy even looks old.

Unfortunately, the reasons for their assessment are completely misleading. Since the inception of LIV Golf into the picture, McIlroy chose to be the face of the PGA Tour. In addition, as the Player’s Advisory Council Chairman and one of the Player Directors at the PGA Tour Policy Board, he took upon the responsibilities, and it is his job to defend the “product.”

The Zoom calls and meetings are part of his duties, and he is not the first one on tour history to deal with those duties and responsibilities.

Perhaps he is having a problem dealing with it and it has creeped into his own game.

For Paul McGinley to say McIlroy has taken “more bullets than other players” and use it as an excuse to justify his lackluster performance, is a joke. McIlroy chose to be the “lead player voice” on the PGA Tour.

Unlike Jon Rahm, and some of the other top players, who have chosen to just play golf and let the suits at PGA HQ deal with LIV Golf, McIlroy chose to take the fight to LIV Golf on his own. He has berated Greg Norman, LIV Golf players, and has flipped flopped his positions about LIV Golf from week to week.

One week he hates LIV Golf and this week he thanks LIV Golf for making the PGA Tour a better product.  Perhaps he is indeed tired and cannot keep his convictions or lack thereof together.

At the end of the day, Rory McIlroy has nobody to blame but himself for his failures on the golf course. Jay Monahan is the commissioner of the PGA Tour; he is the man in charge of all the administrative issues and grievances concerning the tour.

McIlroy is a professional golfer and that is where all his energy should be concentrated on.

For him to think that he can carry the torch for the tour all by himself, it is silly and detrimental to his game and psyche. PGA Tour players want to do one thing and one thing only, play golf. All that other mumbo-jumbo they cannot control is unnecessary noise they do not wish to deal with.

Rory McIlroy is his own man, and he is responsible for his own decisions, plain and simple.

Rory McIlroy owns his woes and they are all in his head.

PGA Tour “Elevated” Events

Elevated or Just Hot Air

Elevated or Good Old Hot Air? Photo courtesy of gigsalad.com

As we all know, the PGA Tour, and its commissioner, Jay Monahan, are trying everything they can do to diminish the impact LIV Golf has had in professional golf.

From using their cheerleaders at the Golf Channel, the lame golf media, and the United States court system, the PGA Tour wants to totally erase LIV Golf from the face of the earth. Of course, that is not going to happen.

As part of their strategy, and in order to bring the “best” players in the world together, one of the tools they implemented was the designation of “elevated” events in order to have the top players in the world on the field to battle it out.

It sounds great, but let us be honest, without the likes of Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, and Cameron Smith, a PGA Tour event does not have the “best” players in the world on the field. But that is a whole different conversation.

The following is the 2023 schedule of designated “elevated” events, in addition to the Major Championships, and the winners so far. (OWGR at the start of the tournament week.)

Jan. 5-8: Sentry Tournament of Champions $15,00,000  (Jon Rahm) OWGR Ranking: 5

Feb. 9-12: Waste Management Phoenix Open $20,00,000 (Scottie Scheffler) OWGR: 2

Feb. 16-19: The Genesis Invitational $20,00,000 (Jon Rahm) OWGR: 3

March 2-5: Arnold Palmer Invitational $20,00,000 (Kurt Kitiyama) OWGR: 46

March 9-12: The Players Championship $25,00,000

March 23-26: WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play $20,00,000

April 6-9: Masters Tournament $15,00,000

April 13-16: RBC Heritage $20,00,000

May 4-7: Wells Fargo Championship $20,00,000

May 19-22: PGA Championship $15,00,000

June 1-4: The Memorial Tournament $20,00,000

June 15-18: U.S. Open $17,50,000

June 22-25: Travelers Championship $20,00,000

July 20-23: The Open Championship $14,00,000

Aug. 10-13: FedEx St. Jude Championship $20,00,000

Aug. 17-20: BMW Championship $20,00,000

Aug. 24-27: Tour Championship $75,00,000(includes bonus)

In a nutshell, the top 20 players will have to play in all the 13 designated “elevated” events with the option of only being able to skip one during the season. For example, Rory McIlroy chose to skip the SENTRY Tournament of Champions; therefore, he has to play the remaining 12 events for the season.

But, hold on a minute, hypocrisy is fixing to kick-in. As reported this week at the Players Championship, moving forward into the 2024 season, the Tour Policy Board voted to make the designated “elevated” events, limited field events with “no cut” format.

This is highly hypocritical from a tour who has mocked LIV Golf for not having cuts as part of their tournament’s format and a limited field.  Now, it is all good because it is the PGA Tour doing it.

Even the biggest hypocrite, Rory McIlroy, stated this week “The emergence of LIV has benefited everyone who plays professional golf.” He went on to say, “this has caused a ton of innovation at the PGA Tour, and what was an antiquated system has been revamped to mirror where we’re in the world.”

Innovation, meaning they are going to steal LIV Golf ideas and make them their own. The PGA Tour is such a sad joke. An organization that lacks integrity and principles is not worth anybody’s time or effort.

As to McIlroy, I never thought he was the most intelligent person in the world, so to hear him say theses things after two years of criticizing LIV Golf, LIV Golf players, and LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, it’s not only expected, but predictable.

In my opinion, McIlroy is a clown, and his flip-flopping regarding LIV Golf shows that he is not the best at handling a juggling act. He is the designated PGA Tour “useful idiot”, and he has done an excellent job at it, while Monahan sits and watches on the sidelines.

So far, the designated “elevated” events for the 2023 season have delivered some level of competition.

Having said that, I think in order for this to work, you cannot have the #46 ranked player in the world, whooping the top 20 ranked players in the world on these “elevated” events. If this were to become the norm, I do not think it would bode well for the tour or the sponsors.

With all due respect to Kurt Kitayama, but sponsors do not want the #46 ranked player in the world winning a tournament with the likes of Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy in them. Kitayama moved to #19 in the official world golf rankings after his victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

So, as The Players Championship is on its on its way, a little known PGA Tour player by the name of Chad Ramey who is ranked as the #225th player in the world by the official world golf rankings, is leading the way after shooting a 64.

Is that is going to be the “product” the PGA Tour is going to sell as “elevated”, they may have to come up with a better plan. Hot air is not going to sell.

As a side note, after shooting an opening round 76, I would suggest McIlroy concentrates on his game and leave the adults in the room and administrative types deal with the tour shenanigans.