A Ruse and NFL Week 7

 

Last week an Ohio Representative's staffer went on a zoom call with a Nazi/American flag mashup pinned to his bulletin board behind him.  This being something one doesn't expect to see being projected from an elected official's office, it garnered some attention.  To me, the most interesting thing about this incident isn't that a Congressman's office has an American Nazi flag on display in their office (which is certainly eye opening) but the ham handed public relations handling of this afterwards.  To those of you unaware of this story, let me bring you up to speed...

Rep. Dave Taylor is from one of those gerrymandered districts east of Cincinnati, made up of Pickaway, Ross, Hocking, Pike, Scioto, Jackson, Meigs, Vinton, Gallia, Lawrence, Clinton, Highland, Brown, Adams and Clermont counties and the southern part of Fayette County.  This is what we refer to as the "I hope my car doesn't break down here" part of Ohio.  His platform appears to be based on the boilerplate "we gotta be tough on crime so let's all have guns/I love me some Jesus/MAGA greatest hits" parroting party line stuff.  His campaign photo was of him being a hard ass holding an assault rifle.  While you might be led to believe that Dave must be some kind of green beret, it looks like Dave took over his Dad's cement company and went to school at Dayton.  We aren't talking Kennedy Dynasty stuff here.

The guy in the photo above is Dave's worker bee Angelo Elia.  Angelo is a legislative correspondent, which means he is a go-between from the office and the public/press.  He got a poly sci degree from Youngstown State and just got a master's degree from George Washington in Legislative Affairs.  He had worked for a bunch of Democratic based initiatives while in school, and then some political consultant firms before somehow hooking up with Dave Taylor's office.  I read some quotes from his former co-workers along the lines of "I don't know what happened to Angelo that made him turn into a Nazi".  It probably paid more.  Now, I don't think Angelo is a Nazi.  I think Angelo is a dumb fuck.  I think he put that flag on his bulletin board as some kind of ironic gag and forgot about it.  The problem is you're at work as the face of Representative Dave Taylor, so all the people you interact with on Zoom might not get "the joke" and might think "Why does Rep Dave Taylor have American Nazi stuff up in his office?", which is a valid question.  I would probably not hire Angelo Elia in this kind of position in the future because I'd be a bit concerned about Angelo's judgement.  I see Angelo as more of a "back of house guy" moving forward.

I used to think that I could say "I think we can all agree that having a Nazi/American flag up in the office is fucking crazy", but in today's climate I think I can say "Most of us agree that having Nazi shit up in your office is super fucked up".  I don't know where you work, but if I put up Nazi stuff in my cubicle, I would have expected some blowback from HR.  This is because organizations like the Klan, the Nazi Party, Proud Boys, etc were understood to be hate fueled monsters and everyone was together with the idea that you can't walk around the office in an SS uniform.  The country has now somehow transitioned into mild acceptance of these groups. Some of our neighbors might say "Well, I don't agree with EVERYTHING they say, but they do have a point with blah blah blah" which I find both terrifying and sad.  "Say what you will about Mussolini, but at least the trains ran on time!" 

After this Nazi flag thing blew up, my expectation was that Dave Taylor would handle this in a professional manner.  It's not tough.  There is a tried and true strategy out there.  Here's what I would do.  "I was shocked to see that symbol displayed in our office.  That has nothing to do with the beliefs of my office or the people I represent in Ohio.  I want to assure all Ohio residents that we take this violation of your trust seriously and we have taken appropriate action.  I have removed the staffer from his position, and we will move ahead focused on the needs of all Ohio citizens.  Go Bucks.  OH-IO.  Etc.".  I'd do the press conference in an Ohio State sweatshirt and maybe mention Jesus.

That's not what Dave did.

That office huddled all day and came out with the idea that they would "launch an investigation".  They said that they called in the DC police and the House Committee on Something Or Other to "uncover additional details".  That must have been a real puzzle to figure out what happened.  To try and get to the bottom of something like that needed real manpower.  "Angelo, did you have that flag on your bulletin board?"  Yes.  "Where did you get it?"  Someone mailed it to our office.  "I see.  What did you do?"  Hung it up in my cubicle.  

His office then takes another day, undoubtedly meeting for hours behind closed doors with phone calls flying all over the place, and comes out with this.  “Numerous Republican offices have confirmed that they were targeted by an unidentified group or individual who distributed American flags bearing a similar symbol, which were initially indistinguishable from an ordinary American flag to the naked eye,” he said. “My office was among those that were subjected to this ruse.”  To be clear, Dave Taylor walked out at a press conference and suggested that no one in the office saw a swastika on that flag because it was "an optical illusion", and not only was Angelo unaware of the swastika but so were all of the other people in the office.  His office was, in fact, the victim in this situation.

Oh, I see...  You expect us to suspend all logic to give you a pass on this.  We have to pretend to be stupid so you don't have to say "That was wrong".  To be clear, Rep. Dave Taylor is more concerned about upsetting the white power crowd by distancing his Congressional office from being fucking Nazis than taking a stand against the folks that brought you the Holocaust and were our enemies in World War II.  Got it. 

This brings many troubling concepts to the table.  1.  An Ohio Congressman's office doesn't think it's a big deal to display Nazi imagery in their workspace.  I get it that maybe Angelo is the office fun guy, and people in the office might be like "Oh, that Angelo is a crazy fucker!  Anything for a laugh!", but his SEC Frat Bro haircut and Establishment clothes point directly to the idea that he is a career minded young man.  Clearly that office doesn't see anything that bad with Nazi shit and this follows that Angelo didn't see any real problem advancing his career while allowing people to come to their own conclusions on his association with the beliefs of Nazism.  "He's a good kid.  He's our kind of people!"  

2.  That response from their office of "we didn't even notice a Nazi symbol because it's such a mind bending illusion" is the dumbest fucking response I can think of, and points directly to that office being not up to the task.  If a serious real world problem comes up, do you want the people that came up with "we were the victims of a ruse" to be the ones on the front line to handle that?  "We might have to deploy troops, but if we do we aren't sure what China could do, so World War 3 will start and tens of millions will die".  Well, we better ask Dave Taylor what to do.  Dave Taylor knows how to handle shit! 

3.  The Cincinnati Enquirer then re-printed that response while never questioning the validity of the world's dumbest answer effectively cooling down the fire on Taylor's ass in his district.  The local press, again failing to hold anyone to account, took a press release and framed it up as their investigative journalism of "we looked into it, and it's a helluva thing" which will lead God knows how many people to conclude that poor old Cement Dave was the victim of a terrible "ruse" at the hands of some nefarious group of anti-Americans that most likely speak Spanish and deal drugs to kids.  Way to go Cincinnati Enquirer.  Way to hold power to task.  Great job.  

Is this story the end of the world?  No, but it does show you how comfortable people in power are not hiding their idolization of fascism, white power, racial cleansing, and police state rule.  The mainstreaming of values and ideas that were agreed by the previous generations as being reprehensible is something I didn't see coming.  This is the country we live in now.  When history looks back after this falls apart, and it will fall apart, we will all be The Bad Guys in that movie.  For all of those people that abandoned common decency because they thought they could get cheaper eggs by voting in the current government, enjoy your omelettes.  They are going to cost you more than you bargained for.

Fuck this.  Let's talk NFL...

I think, but I don't know for sure, that the Rams might be good.  They are 4-2 with a division loss to SF before the rest of the Niners got hurt and a loss to the Eagles that was sheer dumb bad luck.  They are playing Jacksonville in London on Sunday morning, a game that usually becomes more about which organization can be trusted to deal with the short prep window.  The Rams appear to be down Nacua, but he's one of those "shoot me up, I'll play" guys so we will see.  The Jags are down the AFC Player of the Month in Sept, their LB Devin Lloyd, which is a big loss.  I think the Rams feed the ball to their tight ends and run like crazy.  Until proven otherwise, I can't back the Jags against an elite team.  Rams -3              

I can't believe I am typing this, but I think the Colts are good.  They look like the team you get each season that's good but it takes awhile for most people to wrap their heads around it.  They have a Top 5 defense and the best running game in the league.  I think we will look back on this in a couple months and say "Can you believe the Colts got points playing the Chargers?".  The Chargers are down both of their offensive tackles, a guard, starting RB, and starting receiver.  The Colts are catching these guys are the right time.  Indianapolis +1.5

Gimme the Lions -6 at home.  Tampa has been great this year, pulling games out of their ass on the way to a 5-1 record.  Egbuka, Godwin, the starting right tackle and guard, and RB Bucky Irving are all out though.  Next man up is all fine, but that's more "next MEN up".  Tampa looks like an exciting playoff level team, but you're gonna lose a few games in a season and at Detroit after the Lions got hammered by the Chiefs on MNF seems like a good place to lose.  I like the Lions in a track meet.

Current record:  8-12