Let's Pick Some College Football Games, Sep 17 2016

I killed it last week, 6-1  I'm 10-7 on the season.

WMich -2.5 Ill   win
CMich -12.5 UNLV  win
LA Tech +10.5 TTech loss
NIll +10.5 SD St loss
Oklahoma +1.5 Ohio St. loss
Navy -5.5 Tulane win
Utah -12.5 SJ St. win
UTEP +3.5 Army  loss
Fresno +20.5 Toledo  loss
Sflorida -14 Syracuse  win

5-5
15-12

2016 Emmy Award Predictions

Emmys are Sunday, I watch a lot of television.

Comedy
Will Win: Veep
Should Win: Veep

Drama
Will Win: Game of Thrones
Should Win: The Americans

Actor Drama
Will Win: Kevin Spacey
Should Win: Matthew Rhys

Actress Drama
Will Win: Viola Davis
Should Win: Keri Russell

Actress Comedy
Will Win: Julia Louis Dreyfus
Should Win: Julia Louis Dreyfus

Actor Comedy
Will Win: Jeffrey Tambor
Should Win: Jeffrey Tambor

Supporting Actress Comedy
Will Win: Allison Janney
Should Win: Judith Light

Supporting Actor Comedy
Will Win: Tony Hale
Should Win: Louie Anderson

Supporting Actor Drama
Will Win: Kit Harrington
Should Win: Jonathan Banks

Supporting Actress Drama
Will Win: Lena Headley
Should Win: Constance Zimmer

Limited Series
Will Win: People v. OJ
Should Win: Fargo

TV Movie:
Will Win: All the Way
Should Win: All the Way

Movie Actress
Will Win: Sarah Paulson
Should Win: Kirsten Dunst

Movie Actor
Will Win: Courtney B Vance
Should Win: Courtney B Vance

Movie Supporting Actress
Will Win: Jean Smart
Should Win: Jean Smart

Movie Supporting Actor
Will Win: Sterling K Brown
Should Win: Bokeem Woodbine

Reality Comp
Will Win: The Voice
Should Win: Top Chef

Variety Talk
Will Win: Last Week Tonight
Should Win: Last Week Tonight

Variety Sketch
Will Win: Inside Amy Schumer
Should Win: Portlandia

Variety Special
Will Win: Adele
Should Win: Lemonade

Tendown September 11, 2016

240 is here.  This is Tendown 241. It's a HalfDown.

1. Let's Talk About Ailes

“Fox News masquerades as a defender of traditional family values,” claimed the lawsuit of Fox anchor Andrea Tantaros, who says she was demoted and smeared in the press after she rebuffed sexual advances from Ailes, “but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-­fueled, Playboy Mansion–like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency and misogyny.”

2. The First Ever College Faculty Lock Out

3. You Aren't Allowed to Criticize Clinton Anymore

That Donald Trump is an uber-nationalist, bigotry-exploiting demagogue and unstable extremist does not remotely entitle Hillary Clinton to waltz into the Oval Office free of aggressive journalistic scrutiny. Nor does Trump’s extremism constitute a defense to anything that she’s done. It is absolutely true that Trump has at least as many troublesome financial transactions and entangling relationships as the Clintons do: These donations to the Florida attorney general are among the most corrupt-appearing transactions yet documented. Even worse, Trump has shielded himself from much needed scrutiny by inexcusably refusing to release his tax returns, while much of the reporting about the Clintons is possible only because they have released theirs. All of that is important and should be highlighted.

But none of it suggests that anything other than a bright journalistic light is appropriate for examining the Clintons’ conduct. Yet there are prominent pundits and journalists who literally denounce every critical report about Clinton as unfair and deceitful, and band together to malign the reporters who scrutinize the Clintons’ financial transactions. Those prominent voices combine with the million-dollar online army that supreme sleaze merchant David Brock has assembled to attack Clinton critics; as the Los Angeles Times reported in May: “Clinton’s well-heeled backers have opened a new frontier in digital campaigning, one that seems to have been inspired by some of the internet’s worst instincts. Correct the Record, a Super PAC coordinating with Clinton’s campaign, is spending some $1 million to find and confront social media users who post unflattering messages about the Democratic front-runner.”

4. Long Live the Estate Tax

The estate tax has historically raised substantial revenue from those with the greatest capacity to pay. Even in its weakened condition today, it will raise over $270 billion in the next decade entirely from households in the top 1 tenth of one percent. But revenue has always been a secondary consideration with the estate tax. Its primary purpose historically has been to put a brake on the build-up of concentrated wealth and the threat that poses to our democratic institutions

5. Look At this Terrible Thing Hillary Clinton Said.

Hillary Clinton suggested in a television interview in Israel, broadcast on Thursday, that the Islamic State is “rooting for Donald Trump’s victory” and that terrorists are praying, “Please, Allah, make Trump president of America.”

Had Trump said it, Maddow would have added an extra hour just to talk about how terrible it was.  Zero from MSNBC, Zero from your favorite liberals.  They'd rather talk about Larry King being the Red Menace.

And one more...

That's all for this time.  I'll be back next time...if there is a next time...

Your pal,

Jim

Let's Pick Some College Football Games, Sep 10 2016

I was 4-6 last week.

Ark +7.5 TCU win
Ohio +2.5 Kansas win
Miss St -6.5 SCarolina win
ECU +4.5 NC St win
SD St -7.5 Cal loss
BYU +3.5 Utah win

6-1
10-7

2016 NFL Super Contest Picks, Week 1

Each year I post my picks for the NFL Super Contest (5 picks ATS each week). Here's Week 1.

Titans +1.5 Minn loss
Browns +4 Eagles loss
Chargers +6.5 KC win
Jags +5.5 GB win
Dolphins +10.5 Sea win

3-2