Undefeated FSU Football Team Gets Blindsided & Florida GOP Power Couple Caught Up in Rape and Three-Way Sex Allegations
Kareem Wins Best Columnist of the Year Award, Mormon Church Protection Plan Against Sexual Abuse Accusations, Trump's Attacks on Spouses Is an Attack on Women, Mahalia Jackson Sings
What I’m Discussing Today:
Kareem’s Daily Quote: Harry Chapin’s memorable lyrics teach a lesson crucial to a happy life.
Florida State University Football Team Gets Blindsided: Undefeated doesn’t mean what it used to—not when there’s more money to be made with less successful teams.
Mormon Church Protection Plan Against Sexual Abuse Accusations: Every large organization has members who abuse their power. It’s how that organization responds that defines its true character.
Top GOP Power Couple Caught Up in Rape and Three-Way Sex Allegations: She’s a founder of Moms for Liberty and he’s Florida’s GOP Chairman. They are both self-proclaimed champions of conservative morality. For others.
Trump’s Attacks on Enemies’ Spouses Are Attacks on All Women: Trump hates outspoken women with their own opinions and wants his followers to hate them too.
Kareem’s Video Break: Get ready for a tap dancing showdown between a pro and a three-year-old. Amazing!
Mahalia Jackson Sings: Ease back into your chair and listen to one of the most powerful yet tender voices of the twentieth century. She will lift you higher.
A Quick Announcement to My Subscribers: Before you skip the light fandango through today’s newsletter, I want to tell you that this week I received the Columnist of the Year (Online) Award for this Substack newsletter at the Los Angeles Press Club’s National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards ceremony. The judges’ commented: “These columns are filled with insight, wisdom, and feeling.” I want to thank all my subscribers for your continued and enthusiastic support. That’s what keeps me writing.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
It's got to be the going not the getting there that's good.
Harry Chapin, “Greyhound”
One of the most important lessons Coach Wooden taught us when I was at UCLA was that winning was not our ultimate goal. Becoming our best selves—both on and off the court—was the goal. Winning was a by-product of that commitment. To him, winning was a hollow accomplishment if we weren’t good men as well as good players. It wasn’t enough to earn victory, we had to deserve it. That teaching made him a great coach—and it made him a greater man.
Most of what Coach Wooden taught us was meant to be applied to our daily lives as much as it was to our daily practice. For him, sports wasn’t the endgame, it was a training ground to be better people. Because of those lessons, I learned to enjoy the practices, the drills, the bus rides, the plane rides, the hotel rooms, the camaraderie of teammates, and the interaction with fans as much as the competition. The championships were also nice, but when I look back, no nicer than any other part of the journey.
This brings us to Harry Chapin’s song “Greyhound,” about a weary traveler on a Greyhound bus who is lonely and depressed about being stuck on a bus that is like a metal coffin. Mouth bitter from bad coffee and head dizzy from gas fumes, he’s despondent about his lousy trip. He reflects that because he’s not driving, he has no control over his life. But then he has an epiphany that he’s not driving the bus, but he can control his reactions and attitude. That’s when he says, “Looking to tomorrow is the way the loser hides.” Focusing on the long-term goal robs us of enjoying the short-term joys.
There are dozens of famous quotes about life being about the journey, not the destination. But if humans were capable of learning, retaining, and practicing life lessons, we’d have no need for art, religion, and pillows with crocheted sayings like “Life is short. Eat dessert first.”
We need to be constantly reminded of what’s best for us, whether from a church pulpit, a poetry book, or a song on the radio. These are road signs on life’s journey. Some signs are bolder, more articulate, and more memorable than others, so they inspire us to follow the path we want. For me, when I get too caught up in complaining about something interfering with my grandiose goals, I think about Chapin’s song and I readjust my attitude. He’s like a chiropractor for the soul. Here’s the song. Maybe it will be a signpost for you, too.
Undefeated Florida State Football Rages Over Playoffs Snub (The Daily Beast)
SUMMARY: Florida State University’s 2023 ACC champion football team found itself infuriated on Sunday after being snubbed for the College Football Playoff. “I am disgusted and infuriated,” Seminoles coach Mike Norvell said in a statement after a selection committee made his team the first undefeated Power 5 conference team to not make the playoffs. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips added, according to ESPN: “It’s unfathomable.” While FSU was excluded, reportedly because of injury issues, the committee selected for the playoffs the Big 10 champs Michigan, the Pac-12 winners Washington, Big 12 victors Texas, and SEC champs Alabama. “What happened today goes against everything that is true and right in college football,” Norvell raged.
MY TAKE: What I like about most sports is the clarity of the outcome. There’s a winner and a loser, and that is decided by which team or player scores the most points. There are exceptions: boxing is often frustrating when judges seem to be watching a different bout than everyone else. Referees have been known to unfairly skew the outcome of a game. But generally, the team that plays best wins. It’s the epitome of meritocracy.
Unless money gets in the way.
Having only four teams in the College Football Playoff (CFP) is already a problem, but not the one we’re addressing. FSU, the 13-0 champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), should have joined Michigan (13-0) and Washington (13-0) as one of the Final Four. The next two contenders would have been Texas (12-1) and Alabama (12-1), but since Texas defeated Alabama, they should get the number four slot. Easy peasy. Fairness prevails.
However, the CFP selection committee had other plans. They drop-kicked FSU from the playoffs with the excuse that the Seminoles’ quarterback Jordan Travis is injured and backup quarterback Tate Rodemaker had a concussion. Yet, FSU still won the ACC title game with their third-string quarterback Brock Glenn, and Rodemaker would have been fit to return for the CFP.
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips commented on the travesty: “(The Seminoles’) exclusion calls into question the selection process and whether the Committee’s own guidelines were followed, including the significant importance of being an undefeated Power Five conference champion. My heart breaks for the talented FSU student-athletes and coaches and their passionate and loyal fans. Florida State deserved better. College football deserved better.”
Committee chair Boo Corrigan said by way of an excuse for favoring Alabama: “Florida State is a different team than it was the first 11 weeks.”
So what? The thing about sports is that when you win as a team, it’s the team’s achievement that is acknowledged, not how you think a team will perform without this player or that player. One of the reasons we watch sports is because, on any given day, any team can beat any other team. A team that has lost every game can beat an undefeated team. That kind of underdog spirit is what keeps us watching.
The CFP selection committee flushed that spirit down the toilet in favor of a team they thought would draw more viewers and earn more bucks. Or maybe they were just paying homage to the traditionally more prestigious Alabama. Or maybe they were overcome with their own self-importance. Whatever their weak justifications, they did FSU wrong and they did the ideal of fair play in sports wrong.
Florida GOP chairman under fire as more details emerge in rape inquiry (The Washington Post)
SUMMARY: Leaders of the Florida Republican Party criticized state GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler as details emerged in a rape allegation by a woman with whom he and his wife previously had a three-way sexual encounter.
…On Oct. 2, the woman had agreed to have a sexual encounter with Ziegler that was to include his wife, Bridget, the affidavit says. But when the woman learned that Bridget couldn’t make it, she changed her mind and canceled. When Ziegler told her in one message that his wife was no longer available, she replied, “Sorry I was mostly in for her,” she said in a message, according to the affidavit.
…the woman told Sarasota police that Ziegler then showed up at her apartment uninvited and raped her. The woman reported the alleged assault to police two days later, and a rape kit was done at a Sarasota hospital, the affidavit states.
Christian Ziegler later told detectives that he had consensual sex with the woman, and that he had video-recorded it and uploaded the video to Google Drive, according to the affidavit, but police were not able to locate the video.
MY TAKE: For me, this story isn’t about the rape or the threesome sex, it’s about how quick people are to follow the morally compromised. Bridget Ziegler isn’t an awful human being because she had consensual sex—that’s her business, not ours. She’s an awful human being because she’s made a lucrative career out of preaching hate disguised as morality. She admitted to having three-way sex with another woman while issuing fiery threats against the LGBTQ+ community, which she is now technically a part of.
I don’t know whether or not Christian Ziegler is a rapist (the way we know Trump is), so I can’t condemn him on that. Yet. I do know that he admitted to videoing his sexual encounter, though he doesn’t say if the woman agreed to be recorded. Although, if it was rape, consent doesn’t seem to be an important issue with him.
This is a politically ambitious couple hungry for power and influence. He’s the GOP Chairman of Florida’s Republican Party. She’s the co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a racist and bigoted organization deemed an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. She was also on the Sarasota County School Board and is currently on the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District that Ron DeSantis established to interfere with Disney because they rejected his “Don’t Say Gay” legislation (which Bridget Ziegler says she wrote). She was also a member of the conservative Leadership Institute, which has since removed her name from its website.
It’s clear the Zielgers saw themselves as leadership material, probably with their eyes on the governor’s mansion. For starters. Hopefully, that will all be over for them now. But history tells us that hypocrisy isn’t enough to dissuade some followers. Trump committing sexual assault, business fraud and election fraud isn’t enough for Republicans to reject him as their leader. Neither is his complete failure to do anything substantial that helped the country while he was president. That’s what the Zieglers are counting on—the lack of critical thinking and the flexible morality of the people who support such banal evil.
Kareem’s Video Break
You know that I love tap dancing and I love kids dancing. This combines the two in a fun and entertaining respite.
You don’t have to tap dance, just tap the Share and Gift Subscription buttons below.
Recordings show how the Mormon church protects itself from child sex abuse claims (AP News)
SUMMARY: Paul Rytting listened as a woman, voice quavering, told him her story.
When she was a child, her father, a former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had routinely slipped into bed with her while he was aroused, she said.
It was March 2017 and Rytting offered his sympathies as 31-year-old Chelsea Goodrich spoke. A Utah attorney and head of the church’s Risk Management Division, Rytting had spent about 15 years protecting the organization, widely known as the Mormon church, from costly claims, including sexual abuse lawsuits.
…Chelsea and Lorraine had come to the meeting with one clear request: Would the church allow a local Idaho bishop, which in the Mormon church is akin to a Catholic priest, to testify at John Goodrich’s trial? Bishop Michael Miller, who accompanied Rytting to the meeting, had heard a spiritual confession from Chelsea’s father shortly before John Goodrich was arrested on charges of sexually abusing her.
While the details of his confession remain private, the church swiftly excommunicated Goodrich.
Audio recordings of the meetings over the next four months, obtained by The Associated Press, show how Rytting, despite expressing concern for what he called John’s “significant sexual transgression,” would employ the risk management playbook that has helped the church keep child sexual abuse cases secret. In particular, the church would discourage Miller from testifying, citing a law that exempts clergy from having to divulge information about child sex abuse that is gleaned in a confession. Without Miller’s testimony, prosecutors dropped the charges, telling Lorraine that her impending divorce and the years that had passed since Chelsea’s alleged abuse might prejudice jurors.
Rytting would also offer hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for a confidentiality agreement and a pledge by Chelsea and Lorraine to destroy their recordings of the meetings, which they had made at the recommendation of an attorney and with Rytting’s knowledge.
MY TAKE: This story is not so much about the Mormon Church as it is about how religious organizations put profit before prophets to the detriment of their followers and the integrity of their organizations. I’m pretty sure that there is not a religious body anywhere on Earth that has not had members in powerful positions sexually exploit those in subordinate positions. That is an inevitability of power dynamics whether in politics, businesses, schools, or religions.
However, we hold religious organizations to a higher standard of behavior (though we should hold them all to the highest standard). When religious leaders proclaim themselves the guardians of human morality—and they charge their followers a fee to do so (tithing in the Mormon Church is usually 10% of their income)—their duty is not to protect the Church hierarchy, but to uphold the principles of their teachings.
This particular approach to suppressing sexual assault not only diminishes women’s status, but it silently encourages sexual assault because the perpetrator doesn’t fear legal consequences. I’m sure Church officials rationalize their immoral behavior with the age-old defense of all CEOs, dictators, and scoundrels: “the greater good.” They excuse their sketchy behavior by claiming that protecting the Church’s reputation is a greater good. That kind of thinking shows contempt for their followers who would probably appreciate honesty and protection over lying by omission. How can they expect moral guidance from those who act without morality?
Trump attacks wife of New York judge after gag order reinstated by court (The Guardian)
SUMMARY: Donald Trump renewed attacks on the wife of the judge in the New York civil fraud trial of his business empire, before and almost immediately after an appellate court on Thursday reinstated a gag order against him in the case.
The New York appellate court decided to reapply the gag order that barred the former US president and his lawyers from making public statements about court staff in his civil fraud trial, court records showed.
Trump on Wednesday attacked Dawn Engoron, the wife of the judge, Arthur Engoron, and the judge’s clerk, on his social media platform Truth Social.
He called Dawn Engoron a “Trump hating wife” and said that she and Arthur Engoron’s law clerk had “taken over control of the New York State Witch Hunt Trial aimed at me, my family, and the Republican Party”.
On Thursday, the gag order against him, which had been paused two weeks ago, was reinstated, but it did not stop Trump lashing out further. The order only specifies comments about members of Judge Engoron’s staff, not his family.
MY TAKE: There’s nothing new or newsworthy about Trump’s unhinged attacks on his enemies. Ho hum. What I’m interested in is Trump’s attack on spouses, what message that conveys to our society, and what it says about the Republican Party that indulges and even embraces it.
What is disturbing is that these attacks are mostly focused on women, especially women who have any power or a voice of their own. As if sexually assaulting 26 women (and having a judge confirm he committed rape) isn’t a clear message of what he thinks about women, he must berate men who he thinks might value their wives’ opinions. Oddly, he seems to believe that anyone married to an outspoken woman is himself under her control. He can’t imagine a partnership of mutual intellectual respect. This is clear by how he treats his wife: allegedly committing adultery with a porn star soon after Melania gave birth and keeping her mostly a silent figurehead while she was First Lady.
Trump has also attacked the spouses of Sen. Ted Cruz, Barack Obama, Gold Star father Khizr Khan, former FBI Director Andrew McCabe, and Sen. Mitch McConnell. Most people with any kind of moral compass would find attacking the spouse of an enemy a cowardly and despicable act. Especially since this isn’t merely political gamesmanship. Trump’s deranged followers take any of his criticisms as a secret code to target those individuals with death threats.
Trump’s message is clear: Women are either complacent arm-candy (his preference) or controlling bitches (the enemies of his vision of America). Yes, he’s supported female clones of himself like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kari Lake, but that’s because they are fawning fangirls who accessorize him. The fact that they are willing to prostrate themselves in exchange for his paternalistic approval tells us everything.
It makes me angry that a man who has no respect for women other than demure and obedient objects is the GOP pick—but it makes me sad that any woman would be so self-destructive as to support him.
Kareem’s Jukebox Playlist
Mahalia Jackson: “Trees”
Although Mahalia Jackson is known for her gospel songs, she is one of the greatest singers of the twentieth century no matter what genre. She was the granddaughter of slaves and grew up in poverty, finding escape by singing gospel in church. That dedication to gospel music stayed with her throughout her 40-year career, though many tried to persuade her to move into a more secular career. You don’t have to be a Christian or even believe in a god to appreciate the sheer power of her voice and the beauty of her style. She was heavily influenced by blues and jazz, sometimes performing with her friend Louis Armstrong at jazz festivals.
Jackson sold over 22 million records and was internationally known and beloved. Her first big hit was “Move On Up a Little Higher” in 1947, which went on to break records for gospel music by landing the number two slot on the Billboard charts and selling eight million copies nationwide.
There are more videos of Jackson singing on YouTube than of any other singer I’ve featured. But the sound quality didn’t convey the Mahalia Jackson experience as well as “Trees,” her interpretation of a Joyce Kilmer poem (Joyce is a guy, by the way). The poem is a meditation on why human attempts at art will never equal the majesty of God’s creations in nature. Not an original sentiment, but when sung by Mahalia Jackson, I wonder whether her art doesn’t rival the tree.
Kareem please do coverage on Polands turn to Democratic rule again and the engaged young people who went to theatres to watch parliaments ouster of the fascist regime.NPR did a spot on it! Uplifting news for a change!
I am not even a little surprised that you won the Columnist of the Year Award, Kareem. Yours is the best current events newsletter that I've read yet. I look forward to it every week and feel a little wiser and better informed because of your thoughtful words. Congratulations!