Saturday's show: The NFL, Trump & North Korea and the Texas elections

Saturday's video: A couple of words about Texas politics

A word about Texas: https://t.co/VD0XYPCXr9 via @YouTube

— Silvio Canto, Jr. (@SCantojr) May 26, 2018

Throw the flag on the weak owners

My guess is that the NFL Commissioner and owners were hoping to bring this “anthem” story to a conclusion. I don’t think so.

It’s hard to believe that so many successful men of industry would be this tone deaf about their customers. The NFL leadership is missing some key points:

1) They own the teams. They sign the paychecks and approve the players’ contracts. Furthermore, their business brand got killed by players kneeling during the national anthem. So why are they afraid to act like the boss and tell the players to live up to their contract?

2) Fans like me appreciate the anthem and flag pageantry. It’s great to stand up and sing the national anthem before a sporting event. It’s nice to see the players lined up respecting the traditions. It means a lot to the soldiers and their families or the policemen protecting the players.

3) Fans like me don’t want to see politics pushed in our faces during sporting events or shows. Just check out ESPN to see what happens when hosts assume that we care to hear their political beliefs.

The NFL commissioner and owners are out of touch with reality, as Derek Hunter pointed out:

The idea that the NFL is only implementing its new national anthem policy because of falling ratings and public pressure is exactly how businesses work. No business exists to employ people; they exist to make as much money as possible. Hemorrhaging fans, or customers, is the quickest path to failure, so it’s smart for the NFL to do all it can to stop the swirling public relations disaster its players created.

Fining teams whose players kneel during the anthem isn’t “punishing dissent,” it’s the people who sign the front of the players’ sizable checks exerting the authority inherent in any employer/employee relationship.

Players have six other days of the week, and 21 other hours on the day of games, not to mention the months they have off, to protest whatever they want in any matter they choose. They’re celebrities in their towns, they don’t lack access to media willing to report on anything they do. But when they punch the clock, they should leave their personal agendas in the locker room and do their jobs.

President Trump didn’t create the disgust fans felt; he recognized it.

Memo to NFL owners: Listen to President Trump. He has got this one figured out just right.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

Check out a new Mexico website

This morning, I added Mexidata.info to My Favorite Places. 

It features articles about Mexico and it is worth checking from time to time!

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

Ireland said "yes" to abortion

Ireland said "yes" to abortion:   Ireland ends abortion ban as 'quiet revolution' transforms country.

I am amazed by the reaction of some women:   

"“It’s incredible. For all the years and years and years we’ve been trying to look after women and not been able to look after women, this means everything,” said Mary Higgins, obstetrician and Together For Yes campaigner."

In the meantime, who is protecting the little girls who get aborted?  They will never get a chance to celebrate any kind of a vote.   Aborted babies are the ones who never get to "choose".

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

We can't ignore Venezuela any longer

We can't ignore Venezuela any longer:   

Last weekend’s controversial presidential election in Venezuela has reminded Americans of an economic and humanitarian crisis we have ignored for far too long. If we are honest with ourselves, we might not be able to ignore it much longer."
Since global oil prices took a plunge in 2014, the Venezuelan economy has been in a freefall. For decades, the country’s vast oil reserves – the largest in the world – masked the weak economic state of the country and the destructive reality of socialism. Now, Venezuela stands on the brink of a catastrophe on par with the world’s worst refugee crisis – and it’s unfolding in our backyard.
In the past two years, nearly 1 million Venezuelans have fled to surrounding countries, putting pressure on economies in the region. They live in crowded shelters and peddle to buy food and medicine for themselves and relatives back home. But the fate of refugees is arguably better than those who remain behind.
Those still inside Venezuela live in a desperate state.

Yes, a humanitarian crisis that Latin America can not ignore anymore.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

And now another one from Hillary Clinton!

And now from Hillary Clinton:  "Electoral College ‘Needs to Be Eliminated’"

Naturally, it's very convenient.   She lost in 2016 and VP Gore in 2000.  Both times the winner of the popular vote lost the Electoral College and the presidency.

Of course, the Electoral College can be replaced.   All you have to do is amend the US Constitution and call for direct popular vote.    

Is it likely to happen?   No.    It always fails.

In fact, 2016, and also 2000, proved the wisdom of the Electoral College.     

Clinton won the popular vote because of the heavy concentration of Democrat voters in the coasts and large metro areas.  On the other hand, Trump dominated everything between the coasts.    

Hillary Clinton was a regional not a national candidate.   Just look at the map.

One last note:   There is no guarantee that Mrs. Clinton or VP Gore would have won their contests under a popular vote system.    Bush 2000 & Trump 2016 would have run totally different campaigns.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.

CNN's dilemma.......

For several months, I've tuned out the nightly cable news programming.      There are a couple of reasons:

First, I teach at nights these days and don't get home until 9:30 pm.    I try to catch a couple of Fox News podcasts but not much more.

Second, cable news is so predictable.    

MSNBC is a disaster, unless you think that President Trump is going to be arrested in the next 24 hours.   Seriously, you have to be insane to watch that stuff on a regular basis.

FOX is a bit better but I prefer catching selected interviews by podcasts.   It allows me to watch what I want.

CNN is beyond a disaster.   It is boring and so predictable that the network is having trouble reaching an audience:   

CNN struggles to break 1 million viewers on a nightly basis.
There are plenty of reasons for this. 
CNN has to compete with MSNBC for a liberal audience and, unlike MSNBC, its liberal anchors pretend to be unbiased. 
MSNBC’s primetime anchors are more similar to Fox News’s talent, which embraces its distinctive ideological voice.
But so far, it seems, America is turned off by CNN’s panels of pundits yelling at each other about an aggrieved porn star.

And so people are not watching CNN's predictable and boring panels.   Don't you pity the people stuck in airports who have to watch this stuff? 

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.