KC Confidential

Last week I met an old friend for lunch downtown… 

I got there a few minutes early so I walked around the block, both to kill time and to see the old office building where I’d worked for many years. Now vacant, as I passed by I thought of all of the people I’d worked with there, where my former law firm had its offices for 60 years – especially those who had gone to the Great Bar Association meeting in the sky.

I thought specifically of the late William T. Smith, my law partner and KU Law School classmate. Bill used to joke about the phrase “pleading in the alternative.” That’s a legal phrase which means setting out multiple claims or defenses in a lawsuit, either hypothetically or alternatively, such that if one of the claims or defenses is held invalid or insufficient, the others would still have to be answered. The example he gave was that in a lawsuit alleging that I stole your bicycle, I could say; 1) I didn’t take it, and 2) If I did, it was broken!

I’m reminded of that kind of legal chicanery when I consider the lame arguments Planned Parenthood put forward  the past two month after a series of videos were released by a pro-life group, the Center for Medical Progress:

A) The first category of arguments falls under the general heading; “We didn’t say what you heard or saw us say in those videos. Specifically, the videos were spliced and edited to make us seem to be saying certain things.”

Maybe when the Planned Parenthood executive in Los Angeles “joked” about getting “a Lamborghini” from selling body parts from aborted fetuses, she was actually saying something else. Maybe she really said, “I want a Bucatini,” while ordering lunch at an Italian restaurant where the videoed meeting took place.

B) The second argument is that; “You tricked us into saying those things!” We weren’t haggling over the price of organs with would-be purchasers, we were just discussing how we could best “pass along the costs” when making these “donations.” (If the costs are fixed and based on long experience, why do they have to be re-negotiated each time a new “donee” comes along?) Continue reading →

As of today if the election for President of The United States were held: DONALD TRUMP OVER HILLARY CLINTON 44% to 42%.

Trump would beat Biden and Sanders as well. This according to Fox News polls which now have Trump at 34% in the lead in Republican race as well. Wow!

To make it even more clear that the Demo’s feel it’s gonna be Trump, Hillary has only been attacking Trump lately in her campaign speeches.

“He’s got no respect for women,” she says.

You don’t do that unless you believe he’s the No. 1 guy to beat. Never before has an outsider like Trump come this far, this fast.

Folks, he’s more than for real.  Continue reading →

The final score; KC 24-17 over the St. Louis Rams on the road…

You’ve probably heard by now that the last two times KC went undefeated in preseason they went to the Super Bowl (1966 and 1969). Most will say the preseason means little. Me, I disagree. I think in this team’s case it means quite a bit.

First off, the mere fact this team won all four games matters because it makes them a confident bunch. Kinda like when the Royals won seven in a row to start the season. True, that was regular season but winning becomes a habit.

And look at the way the Chiefs won. They were dominant, omnipotent with a strong defense and man do they now have weapons.

The big guns were just that, Jeremy Maclin and Chris Conley looked awesome.

They are real deals. Continue reading →

Think of it as a struggle between free speech and good taste…

Word that students at Kansas State University are being forced to sign a “sportsmanship pledge” – whatever the heck that is – before being allowed to pick up tickets to sporting events at the school sets the stage for any number of civil skirmishes.

The so-called pledge requires students to refrain from using profanity and “inappropriate chants” and to be respectful towards athletes, coaches, fans and officials.

The $64 million question: What are the odds of this standing up in the court of public opinion, let alone an actual court, which is where it will be headed lest it spread to other schools and sporting events around the country.

Think about it…

Can you imagine the infamous Antlers student swearword section at Mizzou having its hoofs held to the fire by the school’s athletic officials? And trying to make it stick.

Speaking of which, how in the world does K-State intend to enforce these pledges?

I suppose they could video the student sections and attempt to pick out the bad apples using bad words or singing along to some of the silly stuff that passes for cheering these days.

Case in point, the student kickoff chant at KU football games, “Rip his fucking head off!” That despite the fact that KU doesn’t even have a halfway decent football team. Go figure.

So where do you draw the line? Continue reading →