Consolidated Break

  The main difference, perhaps, between someone willing to vote for a Republican at the midterm, and someone dead set on putting them out of power, is the willingness to walk in other people's shoes.  In one of Ben Franklin's final essays, he parodied himself. Earlier in his life, he had written a letter in an attempt to reclaim one of his slaves, one that he wrote could not survive on their own. In his later parody, he writes about Muslims not releasing their Christian slaves because they just could not get by on their own. Franklin, as with all the Founding Mothers and Fathers, creates a portrait of modern American Republicans as the most naive people in history, clearly. The right to vote, the right to pursue happiness and yes, diversity, equity and inclusion, are all aspects of the liberty that the colonists fought for. Thomas Paine's Common Sense, an English commentary on life underneath a King and Queen, led the way. So to have an American Republican Party in 2026 que...

  The ATP is sitting on top of an untapped gold mine. There truly aren't minor leagues in tennis. On the men's side, there's the Future's Tour and the Challenger Tour. But these tournaments are full of professionals who bounce back and forth between the ATP tour, and the majors.  So although we might remark that a player came from the Challenger Tour, or is making the jump between tours, these are professionals who's only restraint is their amount of wins. They are not waiting on a franchise to bring them up. They do that themselves.  But on the main ATP website, players aren't even given credit for Challenger Tour wins. You have to contact the National Archives and the CIA to open an investigation into what a player is doing on the Challenger Tour. This despite these tournaments occurring at nicer surroundings than most other tournaments. You may be at a super nice country club or at a college facility on the Challenger Tour.  This kinduv reminds me of the atti...

FO26 is almost over, which means it's summertime now. The transition is almost completed. This year's tournament was heavily married by both global warming and war. But it was till Roland Garros. It still provided the greatest drama of the season, as of yet.  Matteo Arnaldi pulling out at the last second before his semifinal is heartbreaking. As a college player, I don't think I ever completed without being hungover, so I cannot relate to Matteo. I also slept through the quartfinals once, after quarter beers, at a prestigious Alabama clay tournament after upsetting the top seed the day before. So Matteo would probably say he could not relate to me either.  But seriously, Flavio Cobolli was standing there with a full stadium. Just come out of the lockeroon, get your ass kicked and take your check dude. I picked Arnaldi to win the tournament, so maybe I am taking it personally. After being forced to watch Sinner get totally illegal help vs The Spizz and then again vs Cerundol...