And You Thought You Were Having A Bad Day

The George Zimmerman Murder Case In A Nutshell

It's in the eyes!

AMERICA

Major League Baseball - Halfway Home

Here we are on the last day of June and most of the teams in Major League Baseball have played at least 81 games this season, which is the official halfway point of the season.
So far (as in ALL baseball seasons) there have been surprises and expectations as the season unfolds. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the Boston Red Sox leading the American League Eastern division at this point in the season.
The Bosox were a mess last year, losing 93 games and finishing in the basement of baseball's best division.
Currently, they own the best record in the AL and have a 2 1/2 game lead over the second place Baltimore Orioles.
On the other end in the American League, the Los Angeles Angels have been perhaps the biggest disappointment in baseball, floundering around in third place in the AL West and being closer to the basement than first place.
In the National League, the Atlanta Braves lead the Eastern division with a 6 1/2 game cushion over the disappointing Washington Nationals, who are at .500 (40-40) and hoping to reignite the fire from a year ago when they rolled to the division title.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in all of baseball is the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are atop the NL Central and have baseball's best record to this point at 50-30 and a one-game lead over the mighty St. Louis Cardinals.
Pittsburgh was considered a dark horse playoff contender coming out of spring training after showing promise last season before a late season fold. The Bucs are currently the hottest team in baseball and have an eight game winning streak going.
Individually, Detroit's Miguel Cabrera (last season's MVP and triple crown winner) has been torrid once again, slugging 24 home runs and 81 RBI with a league best .375 batting average.
However, Baltimore's Chris Davis has been every bit as good as Cabrera halfway through the season, slugging out a MLB best 30 home runs to this point with 79 RBI and batting at a .333 clip.
On the pitcher's mound, nobody has been better than Detroit hurler Max Scherzer, who is 12-0 as well as being second in the American League with 131 strikeouts. In the NL, St. Louis has two 11-game winners so far with Adam Wainwright and Lance Lynn doing their duty along with Jordan Zimmerman of Washington, who also has won eleven games.

Here is a capsule breakdown of the league at the midway point of the season . . .

AL EAST

Boston (49-34) - The biggest surprise in the American League without a doubt.
Baltimore (46-36) - The Orioles are working their magic once again this summer. Chris Davis dominating.
NY Yankees (42-38) - This team is old and injury riddled. Not looking good in the Bronx.
Tampa Bay (42-39) - The Rays have been treading water with a rash of injuries this summer.
Toronto (40-40) - Finding out that money may not buy a division title.

AL CENTRAL 

Detroit (43-36) - Cabrera and company in a struggle in division race so far. Max Schurzer dominating.
Cleveland (43-38) - Who are these guys? Hot and cold so far this summer, but in contention.
Kansas City (37-41) - About where they were expected to be at this point of season.
Minnesota (36-41) - See above comment.
Chicago White Sox (32-46) - One of the worst teams in baseball to this point.

AL WEST

Texas (47-34) - The Rangers just keep humming along.
Oakland (47-35) - Like the Orioles, the Athletics are weaving their own magic once again.
LA Angels (38-43) - Ouch!
Seattle (35-46) - This team should be doing better than they have been so far.
Houston (30-51) - Maybe, just maybe, the Astros can avoid 100 losses this year.

NL EAST 

Atlanta (47-34) - The Braves are looking good so far.
Washington (40-40) - Hoping injuries to stars Harper and Strasburg are over with.
Philadelphia (39-43) - The Phillies are just happy to be where they are at this point.
NY Mets (33-44) - Right where they were expected to be.
Miami (28-51) - Baseball's worst team, but they are showing improvement.

NL CENTRAL

Pittsburgh (50-30) - Baseball's BIGGEST surprise no doubt... The Bucs look like the real deal.
St. Louis (49-31) - The Cardinals will be right there come October.
Cincinnati (46-35) - Will the real Cincinnati Reds please stand up?
Chicago Cubs (34-45) - The Cubs are playing decent and may avoid the basement this year.
Milwaukee (32-47) - Scrap this season and just hope Ryan Braun can rebound next year.

NL WEST 

Arizona (42-38) - The Diamondbacks lead baseball's most exciting division race at the halfway point.
Colorado (41-41) - Can the Rockies keep it going in the second half?
San Diego (40-41) - Looking like the team was expected to be so far.
San Francisco (38-42) - The 2012 World Series title is a distant memory, but team still in it.
LA Dodgers (37-43) - Can get hot in second half and win this crazy division.

It's A Republican Crazy Train

Based on the republican charged "Big Five" Supreme Court justices of Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy,

Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and John Roberts, the republican crazy train is off the rails and out of control.
Throw in Texas governor Rick Perry and his BIG GOVERNMENT policies regarding women's rights and the monsters who call themselves state legislatures in states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida (ALL GOP CONTROLLED) among others in the deep South applauding the SCOTUS decision on the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and it's obvious these people do not give a shit about the United States of America.
It's their way or the highway and that is NOT how it is.
They don't seem to realize that BUT there is hope people ... VOTE these morons out of office at the soonest opportunity, provided they and their draconian law proposals even allow you to get to the polling place next election.
These republicans are OUT OF CONTROL and must be stopped in their efforts to take the USA back to the 1850's with all of the bullshit they are attempting to ram down people's throats.
CALL your local congressional person if you live in one of these GOP controlled states and give 'em hell!

Blackhawks Win Stanley Cup Title

The Chicago Blackhawks capped off a miraculous finish by scoring twice in the final 1:16 of regulation time

Playoffs MVP Patrick Kane hoists the Stanley Cup.

(actually the goals were scored 17 seconds apart) and beat down the Boston Bruins, 3-2 to win their second Stanley Cup title in four years with a four games to two triumph.
Patrick Kane was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the Most Valuable Player for the NHL Playoffs.

Congratulations to the CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS 

         2013 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!

What A Week

The week that just passed was indeed full of activities both politically speaking and in the sports world.

The Chicago Blackhawks are now just one win away from a second Stanley Cup title in the last four years

after beating the Boston Bruins, 3-1 in Game Five of the finals series.
                             
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Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs blew a chance to wrap up the NBA Finals in Game Six when their Head Coach Gregg Popovich (for whatever reasons) took Tim Duncan out of the game TWICE in the closing moments and his team ahead by five points. Go figure.
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As it turned out, the Miami Heat lucked out and won that game in overtime and then was able to pull off another stunning finish in Game Seven to win the championship... rather the Spurs' coach helped to gift wrap it for them ... maybe Heat GM Pat Riley should consider sizing Popovich up for a team championship ring as a thank you for the gift his team was given.

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Politically speaking, the NSA spying scandal continues to churn along as "leaker" Edward Snowden continues to hide in exile in Hong Kong. This should get real interesting as time goes by.

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The murder trial of George Zimmerman (remember him?) in Florida began this week and should be intense as time goes by. Zimmerman claimed self defense under the bogus "stand your ground" law in Florida when he shot teenager Trayvon Martin to death in February of 2012. Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch activist and claimed Martin attacked him with a bag of candy and a bottle of iced tea. This one should be interesting.

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How about that Paula Deen? WOW!

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The United States Supreme Court started to roll out the decisions on cases they took on and will wrap things up this coming week ... stay tuned on this one.

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U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (Republican) continues to face a mounting mutiny of sorts from fellow Republicans in Congress, most of them "teabaggers" as the Farm Bill failed to pass out of the House and Immigration Reform appears to be DOA in the House as well.

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Gas prices actually started to come down (even in Chicago where they have been the nation's highest) as refineries around the Midwest finish up their turnarounds and maintenance work that has been ongoing for quite some time... Whew!

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And finally, Summer is officially here.   Enjoy!