On LV Raiders receiver Henry Ruggs, Congressional gridlock, and Virginia's electoral aftermath
The Friday Flashpoints
Nobody asked me but...
***I was truly saddened to learn that former Alabama standout (and recent Las Vegas Raiders) star receiver Henry Ruggs made the horrific decision to drink and drive and cause an accident that killed Tina Tintor and her dog earlier this week.
Sadly, two lives that had only just begun, Tintor, 23, and Ruggs, 22, ended or forever altered simply because Ruggs didn't make the wiser choice to get an Uber or cab after tying one too many drinks on during an evening on the town with his girlfriend.
As with most things these days, the brushback against Ruggs has been swift and, if you peruse the comments sections on ESPN and social media, quite often racist, which makes little sense to me as one who has witnessed people of ALL races appear in court for DUI's that caused serious injury—or death.
And while I do not know young Ruggs personally, I was not only fond of his talents on the field, but I understood a relatively unknown struggle that he had faced off the field ever since he was in high school. If you ever noticed how Ruggs would throw up three fingers to the sky after each touchdown in college and the pros, you may not have known that he did so to honor his best friend, classmate, and teammate Rod Scott, one who, ironically, was killed in a car accident en route to a basketball tournament their junior year. Ruggs avoided death or serious injury that day because he was home sick with the flu and unable to play and, in the years since, has felt a heavy burden that very well led him to drink in excess to drown out the pain.
I understand such feelings of guilt because as I write about occasionally, one of my own childhood best friends, Chris Henry, died two months shy of his 20th birthday in 1992. After helping to carry his casket to his final resting place that October, I dove deep into a bottle of Jack Daniels to drown out my sorrow and, while inebriated as I watched football at the house, was told by mother: "that bottle isn't going to bring Chris back, and the pain you're feeling is still going to be there tomorrow."
Mom was right, and a 20-year old Hobbs turned to his Bible and mid-week Chapel services at Morehouse to deal with all sorrows. This is not to say that I stopped drinking—I did not. But I was fortunate—while Ruggs was not—and now, he is facing up to 20 years in prison, as well as a lifetime's worth of guilt, for what transpired this past week.
Thus, my sincere and most fervent prayers are with the Tintor family on the loss of their daughter, and the Ruggs family for the legal ordeal—and aftermath—that they will endure.
***The Biden administration made the right call by terminating its affiliation with Emergent, a company that has contracted with the Federal government for over a decade to provide pandemic relief, in general, and signed a $600 million dollar contract with the Trump administration in 2020 to help with Coronavirus vaccine distribution.
In all fairness, neither former President Donald Trump nor President Joe Biden could have predicted that Emergent's Maryland plant would ruin millions of doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by mistakenly contaminating it with the Astra Zeneca vaccine, but that's what happened and due to this negligence, the Biden administration had no choice but to throw up the peace sign and bid Emergent farewell!
***As Hobbstradamus predicted, I just knew that Republican Glenn Youngkin's decisive win in the Virginia governor's race would either inspire Congressional Democrats to get their acts together on the budget and infrastructure deals—or it would be the iceberg that would slowly lead to the "SS Democratic" sinking to the bottom of the Potomac.
Well, The Hill is reporting this morning that: "House Democrats believe they are on track after a flurry of meetings and last-minute adjustments to bring President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda to a vote, which would allow them to turn to a bipartisan infrastructure bill before a week-long recess. Democratic leaders late Thursday prepared for separate floor votes today on both a $1.75 trillion spending bill and a $1 trillion infrastructure package. Text of a modified Democratic spending wish list cleared the House Rules Committee and the House convenes this morning, sprinting toward passage of an agenda that lawmakers have debated for half a year."
As I wrote earlier this week, politics is all about "what have you done for me, lately" and, if Americans can find Democrats getting things done regarding bridges, roads, jobs, climate control, and relief for middle class families, such will place the Party back in good shape as we head into the 2022 mid-term election season.
***While he has no Twitter or Facebook pages to write about it all day, former President Donald Trump was not very happy that Virginia Republican Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin kept him at arm's distance during the race—or offered little homage to Trump during his victory speech.
I find this interesting because while Trump remains popular among Republicans, perhaps his sway over Republican voters is not as strong as he tends to believe? There have been times this year when the former president has openly suggested that his supporters sit out elections altogether in races where Republicans were not kissing his ring, but such proved inconsequential in Virginia and, could become the blueprint for other Republican candidates who wish to cut ties with a leader who is either loved or loathed depending on one's personal political predilections.
I also found it interesting that Democrat Terry McAuliffe, the former Virginia governor, painted the Commonwealth's statewide races and his own against Youngkin as a referendum on the Trump era—and struck out looking, not swinging. This, too, is a signal to Democratic candidates to come with fresh ideas and a list of what the Ancient Romans called "Rebus Gestis," translated as "Things Accomplished," or prepare to lose many a race come next November…
***CBS News has done some online polling seeking feedback on the question: "What's the appropriate age for children to discuss race." To each his own, but, my mom and dad started telling me their experiences during the Jim Crow era when I was about eight years old. And when I say telling, they told it honest, raw, and true, much in the same way that I've passed their stories—and my own brushes with racism—down to my daughter since she was in first grade.
My perspective is this: the earlier that children learn real lessons about the good, bad, and ugly about America, her history, and her present, the easier it will be for them to forge a reality that is more equitable and just then the one that we all inherited.
What say you? Drop me a comment below or an email and let me know your thoughts!
Thank you for subscribing to the Hobbservation Point--have a great weekend!
This piece on Henry Riggs is one of the best you have written. When my beautiful grandson passed over to the Golden Shores last year, his Kappa brothers and rugby brothers were distraught and some will never get over it, nor will I, so I know Riggs' sorrow, and the sorrow of the lives he cost as well. As far as the last, on educating children, it should begin in kindergarten.