Praying coach gets a payout
Following a Supreme Court victory, coach gets both his job and a settlement
1. Praying coach gets a payout
We reported on his Supreme Court victory before, now high school football coach Joe Kennedy, has settled with his school district for $1.8 million after being fired for leading post-game prayers.
Kennedy began praying on the 50-yard line after football games in 2008 and the ritual later grew to include athletes and students with inspirational talks featuring religious references. Even though the coach stopped his public display, the school’s position was to allow his prayer only in an empty classroom.
In the Court’s 6-3 decision, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote: “Kennedy’s private religious exercise did not come close to crossing any line one might imagine separating protected private expression from impermissible government coercion” He added, “Learning how to tolerate speech or prayer of all kinds is ‘part of learning how to live in a pluralistic society.’”
Kennedy has been reinstated to his job and will be coaching the team for the upcoming season.
2. Polls for primaries are tricky
As the 2024 presidential campaign approaches, brace yourself for a barrage of polls, but don’t take them terribly seriously. In my first career, I worked for many, many political campaigns, and primary polls have routinely been unreliable
Why? I think it’s because only a small number of people actually focus on politics and candidates until right before an election.
By the very nature of reading this newsletter, you’re likely a political junkie but most people aren’t. As an example, Fox News would routinely average just under 3 million people during prime time, leaning heavily Republican but not completely. That dominates the cable news world, but there are nearly 40 million registered Republicans in the country.
So, when a young, eager pollster calls up and rattles off a few names, the average voter will know of Donald Trump, and maybe they've heard of Ron DeSantis, but Nikki Haley or Glenn Youngkin? They’ll say they’ve heard of them to not look stupid, but that's likely the extent of their familiarity.
3. A fifth plane on September 11?
On September 11, 2001, four planes were hijacked by terrorists and crashed into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. But was there a fifth plane that was also intended to be used in the attacks?
A new documentary by TMZ investigates the story of United Flight 23, a jet that was taxiing to the runway at JFK airport for a flight to Los Angeles when all flights were grounded after the second plane hit the World Trade Center.
The pilot and three crew members of United Flight 23 claim that they witnessed suspicious behavior by some passengers on board, including a burka-clad person who they believe was actually a male.
After the plane was evacuated, the FBI investigated and found four open floor hatches which were closed when the crew left. They also discovered a pair of box cutters on an adjacent plane with a similar tail number.
The FBI refused to reveal to the pilot, the crew or the filmmakers whether any of the passengers had ever been traced or arrested after they left the plane. United Flight 23 did not feature in the official report of the 9/11 Commission, and officials decline to comment.
— Ken
Victory Hooray indeed Bravo & Amen
🙏 praying for our great country. May we all live in freedom. God Bless America. Land of the free. Home of the brave. And please God deliver us from evil. Amen