Hey, I had baseball to watch. Monday night topical update

 

A busy day turned into a busy night, eventually capped with watching Yu Darvish get bled for four runs before his Texas Rangers teammates rushed in to the rescue, hanging eight on the Mariners on the way to an 11-5 win for the team and for its new ace.  Sweet win.

 

 

THE TULSA TRAGEDIES:   I am as repelled as the next person by the specter of the Tulsa tragedies, a shooting spree that left three people dead and two wounded.  The victims were all black and the suspects are white.  But call it Trayvon syndrome or whatever you like-- attention is already being ladled out in wildly disproportionate fashion.  Imagine some white folks brutally murdered by some black people.  It happens.  Maybe sometimes it’s because they just don’t like white people.  Never in a million years would such a crime get the waves of attention the Tulsa story does.  

The reason is clear:  hate crimes committed by black people do not advance a narrative of an evil America still mired in the morass of the tensions of a half century ago.  There are those who actively seek to portray America in that negative light in order to grease the wheels of their agenda--the suggestion that only an activist, expansionist government can protect minorities from predatory whites.

I do not suggest that white people are done some disservice because hate crimes against them are under-stigmatized.  I do suggest that America is disserved by a poisonous double standard advanced by opportunists seeking to divide America along our shared road of racial reconciliation.

 

JESUS’ CHAMPION..AND HIS BURIAL CLOTH:  There are stories about both as the week begins.  First, Tim Tebow spoke at an Easter service in Texas, drawing 15,000, and sparking another wave of reaction from people who love him, people who can’t figure him out and people who live to insult him.

After hearing a thousand people weigh in on the Tebow phenomenon, we all know why people love him.,  They are people of faith who love seeing that faith lived and unapologetically celebrated by a public figure.  The people who shower disdain on him are intimidated by that faith, because it makes them look bad by comparison.  And for those baffled by him, here's the bottom line:   He actually believes what Jesus said and obeys it.  Christians are called to live an active faith, not merely to file into church submissively on Sunday and stay mute about it for the other six days.  So few Christians actually follow this teaching that the ones who do stand out by comparison.  And when the active Christian is already famous, look for the devout to embrace him, and for religious bigots to criticize him with extra gusto.

Meanwhile, a new book suggests the Shroud of Turin, Jesus’ supposed burial cloth, is genuine.  This follows other books and articles suggesting it is fake, which came after others suggesting it is real.  This will never end.  Readers will always gravitate toward the approaches they agree with, and there are plenty of people in both camps.   I am a thorough believer in the story of the Gospels, but I do not need the Shroud to be real to bolster my faith.   I would love definitive scientific evidence of its authenticity, but we will never have it.

 

WOMEN AT AUGUSTA:  The controversy over whether the country club that hosts the Masters should admit women arises every year.  And every year we see it hijacked by precisely the wrong concept.  It is not Augusta National’s job to make women feel better by admitting them.  It is their job to have whatever rules they wish, and if they wish to have exclusively male membership, they may do so.  If a club down the road seeks to admit only women, they may do so, without a peep of protest from me.

This is nothing like racial exclusion.  The only reason to bar certain races is a disregard based on pigment.  On matters of gender, there is something special and validly desirable about the exclusive company of people of the same gender.  Of course men and women properly co-exist in every walk of life-- but if every once in a while, men want to be around men and women want to be around women, everybody else should just shut up.

 

 

 

Comments

[Jeff Morris]

I've been enjoying the updates! I've listened to your show since 2005 when I moved here from Tampa, Florida to attend seminary. I had the honor of meeting you at a hospital in downtown Fort Worth a couple months ago as your show wrapped up. My mornings haven't been the same without you! THANK YOU for all you do for the Metroplex & may God bless you & your family in whatever lies ahead.

[Smitty]

Thank you, Mr. Davism for satiating my (our) audio vacancy by sharing your thoughts in typecast:) I'm just a regular Soldier out here, way out here in El Paso at Fort Bliss. I listen(ed) to you daily on the WBAP app. Thank you for your service and talent. BTW, I'm a huge Mariner fan so I was hoping for a Darvish spoiler. Sorry!

[Another John Galt]

Appreciate the commentary. Read one story that 1 of shooters in Tulsa was
Cherokee. So I guess Native American = NA/white = white as Hispanic/white.
But you are right on your points. Keep it up, Bruce (my eternal dig against Dan
Rather).

[Chuck Thompson]

I miss hearing you on the air. My mornings are not the same without you. I appreciate the effort it takes to keep up the blog posts and tweets of your unique perspectives and I guess I'll follow you here until you land at another station - hopefully, a Dallas station. Try KLIF, their new "News & Information" format is a loser out of the gate. Good luck.

[Chuck Thompson]

One more thing. Your links to Home, Archives and Subscribe don't work (I'm using IE8). Profile does.

[Lonnie Thompson]

You've been my voice of reasonable thought for so long, it's difficult to be without it. I keep wishing that wiser heads would prevail. I do appreciate these postings until that happens. It lessens the sting.

[Dr. Bob Sperry]

I love you, man. When i started listening to you, your daughter and my son were toddlers. Now, they're halfway through college. Thanks so much for the updates. They mean so much for all of us. We are all praying and watching for the new Mark Davis show. Where ever it is, we'll be there!

[Dana Huff]

Mark, my mornings are not the same without you! How will I start my Fridays without your "I Feel Good" song?! And Christmas without the bad piano music?! Most importantly, I trust you and your opinions so I feel a little lost politically. Can't wait until you find a new home. I'll be listening for sure! God bless you and your family.

[G. Mayo]

Mark! Tragedy! I had JUST recommended that my best friend (also named Mark) listen to you, since he won't listen to Rush or The Great One (also named Mark...is there a pattern?), because Rush is too "controversial" and Levin is too "shrill". I disagree with him (he's slightly left of center, so that's hardly surprising, I suppose), but I can understand where he's coming from. I recommended you to him because, of all the Conservative talk radio hosts, you come across as the most polite, reasonable, open, and willing to have a civil conversation, even when you vehemently disagree. And now you're gone, and there's no "voice of reason" to send my friend to - and he's SO close to being persuaded! Gah! It's like Greek or Asian drama, where the ending is always tragic! ;)

[Cathe Becker]

KLIF is also owned by Cumulus, so I don't know where to turn. A huge void has been left in my day! Thanks for the updates, at least it's something to hang onto until you have a new show!

[Stacie Forest]

Are you done at WBAP? I don't see your face or name anywhere on their website. If this is true then they are (as my young children used to say) stupid-heads!
My heart is sick. I have listened to you for so many years. You changed they way I think. The practical logic you use to work through issues I have always admired and I find myself trying to emulate so often.
I have recommended your show to so many over the years and have felt a kinship to you not just because of our shared conservatism but even more so because I felt like we raised our kids together since our daughters are the same age and are even now both attending UNT.
I continue to look forward each day to at least reading your opinions but I long to hear your radio voice again.

[Kim Smith]

Dear Mark,
I have listened to you since '93. I have met you three times and on one of those occasions it was just days after 9/11. WBAP and the Red Cross were at Grapevine Mills raising money for the victims. I was on my way to the airport...(I was an American Airlines flight attendant at the time) and heard you on the radio, so I decided to swing by. You noticed me in my uniform and asked me to talk on air with you about what it felt like to return to the friendly skies...you asked me to speak from the heart that morning. It was an emotional few minutes but I just remember how kind you were and reassured me everything was going to go well upon my first flight back after the 9/11 tragedy.
I moved to Phoenix and Los Angeles for a few yrs. and would listen to you daily at work via the internet...there were many good radio guys in my local area but I chose to listen to you. I feel like I've lost a best friend since you've been gone. It bears repeating what others have said...my mornings aren't the same anymore. I was a loyal listener and will be again once you find your new radio home! God Bless you and your family! Kim Smith

[JS Margoni]

Cumulus is driven by advertising dollars. Perhaps those businesses that advertise during 8:30 to 11:00 don't realize how drastically the audience has shrunk. Since Mark has not been on, I have not been listening. However, I did tune in for about 45 minutes this a.m. just to hear the advertisers. Here's the list from 9:15 to 10:00. Contact them. Let them know we are not listening and they are wasting advertising dollars from 8:30 to 11:00am. TX Farm Bureau Insurance, Accurate Foundation Repair, Verizon, Clear Choice Dental Implant, Mutual Fund Store (Plano, Irving), Statewide Remodeling, Diamond Doctor, Keller Williams(Chris Arnold), Lincoln Financial, Ted Cruz campaign,Fordowner.com(tires), strokeassociation.org, sweetjack.com, A#1 Air.

[Todd]

KLIF and WBAP are sister stations, thats why they moved Cris Crock over here... Dont as me why Cris has a lot to learn imho...

and no offense to Ben Ferguson, but he aint no Mark Davis...

Anyone else offended by Tebow stepping in front of Jesus on Easter? I seem to be alone on that one...