The NFL and the Nature of Large Organizations

By now, everyone has seen the horrible video footage of Ray Rice knocking his then fiancee (now wife) out cold in an elevator during an argument. It's an absolutely horrible thing to watch.

The big story now is not the domestic violence itself, but rather, how the NFL handled the issue. Originally, the NFL suspended Rice for two games. Now, after the release of this video, the Ravens have cut (fired) Rice, and his football career is all but over - permanently.

Of course, there are now all sorts of stories with the point of The NFL Knew About Ray Rice....And Did Nothing!

This morning, I was watching knuckle-head Joe Scarborough and company talk about how large organizations (like the NFL) always cover up bad things, and how horrible that is. You're going to see these stories everywhere. People are going to pile on the NFL and condemn the NFL for essentially sweeping this all under the rug, circling the wagons, and trying to cover up a horrible event. You're going to see stories about how private entities are only self-interested! Eleventy! For the most part, all that's true, but you know what?

The NFL covering up a player beating his fiancee pales in comparison to all of the things that the Obama Administration has done over the past six years and covered up...and no one gives a damn about it. Yeah, this is kind of politicizing sports, but who cares? I'm pointing out all the hypocrisies in our country.

Everyone is upset about Ray Rice. You know what I'm still upset about? Susan Rice going on national television and blaming a terror attack on a YouTube video. Do any of these people shrieking about the NFL give a damn about that? Nope. It's just laughable that so many people get worked up about the NFL, but they can't seem to muster any outrage when a government official comes on television and just lies to us like we're stupid little children. But that's what happens in politics. People just overlook things like that nowadays, because they don't want "their team" to look bad.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not sticking up for the NFL or Ray Rice. They both deserve shame, but you know who else does? Your President who covers up everything. How can you care about one and not the other? It's wildly inconsistent.

The IRS was used to target conservative organizations in an effort to squash one side of a political point of view, and then all the e-mails from everyone are just magically gone? Yeah, nothing to see there folks. Zero outrage. No big deal. People who get subpoenaed in a Congressional investigation just happen to delete all the evidence of their conspiracy and....crickets. The VA puts veterans on secret waiting lists and then covers up their own cheating? Eh, just give them some more money.

Once again, leftists see large private organizations like the NFL as self-interested and willing to cover up problems that should see the light of day. And they're not totally wrong. They're right to be skeptical. However, their distrust of skepticism of people's motives completely disappears when applied to government organizations, because apparently, everyone just magically becomes an angel with completely altruistic motives when they work for the government.

Right.

So before you tell me how large organizations like the NFL circle the wagons to avoid bad publicity, and before you tell me how horrible that is, tell me how upset you are about your own government doing the same damn thing.

Otherwise, you're a hypocrite and hack.

Obama Refuses to Apologize for Bergdahl Trade Because It Was Totally Hagel's Decision

The White House has solved it: Apparently, the SecDef did it, in the Situation Room, with the candlestick.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel – not President Obama – executed the administration’s final call to proceed with the prisoner exchange of five ranking Taliban detainees for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, administration officials told Congress today in a classified briefing today.

“They indicated [it was] Secretary Hagel [who made the final call],” House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon, R-California, told reporters following the briefing Monday evening. “It was the president of the United States that came out [in the Rose Garden] with the Bergdahls and took all the credit and now that there’s been a little pushback he’s moving away from it and it’s Secretary Hagel?”

Oh really? That's so strange. The guy in the Rose Garden kept saying that he did it, and that he made no apologies. I guess that's because Obama meant that any apologies should be made by Hagel. Darn that Secretary of Defense, overruling the President!

The decision tree for the White House looks like this:

Does the action reflect well on the President?

NO: It was someone in a lower position, and they acted without any direct authority from the President, who just found out about this bad thing, and he's angrier than anyone.

YES: The President was directly involved at all times, doing all of the right things.

As Usual, Obama is "Madder than hell" About the VA Scandal

So what?

Apparently, he's "madder than hell" about this scandal. Whatever happened to "no drama Obama" by the way? I haven't seen that guy in a long time.

Ever notice how Obama is always mad as a hornet about some scandal that eventually disappears down the memory hole? When the IRS targeting of tea party groups came to light, he was angry about that, too. Until he decided not to be. The failed rollout of his signature domestic policy? Yeah, he was angry about that also. You know, the convenient thing about being angry or "mad as hell" is that you don't have to say that you're sorry. Being mad shifts the blame to someone else - the people you are mad at. It's obviously not your fault - it's the fault of your anger's target.

Scandal Crisis Management from Obama.

Step 1: When confronted with a scandal, show outrage. Demand accountability and punishment.

Step 2: Initiate investigation. During the investigation, no comments are made about the scandal, so as not to prejudice the ongoing investigation.

Step 3: After awhile, respond to all questions about the scandal as "old news".

Crisis solved. Seriously though, has he ever gotten to the bottom of anything that he's madder than hell about? The buck stops nowhere.

If you didn't know any better, it's almost like Obama isn't really participating in his administration, but he's just a detached observer, who comes in after the fact and gets upset that everything is being messed up. Charles Krauthammer made this same point.

“He acts as if––it was the same with the IRS, eavesdropping on the AP, and all the other scandals, the Obamacare launch––he stumbled upon the presidency and discovered all this horrible stuff is happening. He’s in charge of these departments. At some point, you’ve gotta ask, ‘Where has he been, and where is the competence, the elementary competence, he promised when he ran in 2008?’”

OUT: I have competence in governing.
IN: I'm mad as hell about incompetence I had nothing to do with and just found out about in the newspaper.

US Diplomat Calls Obama Administration Liars

Remember Benghazi? Yeah, remember that the Obama Administration/The State Department told all of us  that "No one was told to stand down"? Remember this from Obama?

“I can tell you as I have said over the last couple of months since this happened, that the minute I found out this was going on, I gave three very clear directives. Number one, make sure that we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to. Number two, we’re going to investigate exactly what happened to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Number three, find out who did this so we can bring them to justice.”

Yeah, about that.

Hicks is expected to be the first ground-level eyewitness to speak publicly in the nearly eight months since the terrorist attacks that killed Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans. When Stevens went missing, Hicks became the Chief of Mission for the U.S. in Libya.

According to excerpts released Monday, Hicks told investigators that SOCAFRICA commander Lt. Col. Gibson and his team were on their way to board a C-130 from Tripoli for Benghazi prior to an attack on a second U.S. compound "when [Col. Gibson] got a phone call from SOCAFRICA which said, 'you can't go now, you don't have the authority to go now.' And so they missed the flight ... They were told not to board the flight, so they missed it."

So let's remember what we're dealing with on a basic level:

1. We have an premeditated attack on US people in Libya on 9/11/12.
2. There were warnings that this was going to happen.
3. The intelligence was changed when it was presented to the public to blame a guy who made a YouTube video, which created a spontaneous (and thereby unpredictable attack) so as to fend off criticism that mistakes were made.
4. The guy they arrested in connection with the cover story is still in jail.

Here's the thing. The Benghazi scandal isn't the botched intelligence or the failure to go rescue the guys for whatever reason. That's just run-of-the-mill incompetence. It happens. The real scandal is railroading a guy to jail for political gain in the run-up to an election. That's the real scandal. And it worked. Don't forget about how much Obama was running on the "I'm the guy who kept you safe" meme.