Tampa Bay 16 New Orleans Saints 11

The Saint's loss in Tampa assured the team will end the season for the third straight year without a winning record.  It will be the fourth year in the last five the Saints will end the season that way.  The Saints are now 5-8 with three games left, two of which will be on the road.

Drew Brees continued his turnover spree with 3 more interceptions, the last one was fatal and turned the ball over to Tampa who ran the clock.  It was the second straight game Brees was held without a passing touchdown and Tampa kept the Saints offense out of the end zone.

The coaching staff and the team are a basket case and continue to show no improvement.  Bounty gate has written the final chapter on Payton and his coaching staff and it is only a matter of time before the announcement is made by management.  This writer was on record as saying Payton should have been fired for allowing Bounty gate to happen at the time it was made public.  Payton has lost control of the football team and the players are just putting their time in.  And to top it off, when Payton returned the year after Bounty gate he received a large raise.  What a shame.

Drew Brees and his personal stats are no help and he and the players are paid to win games.
They are not being paid for personal records.  The sports writers in New Orleans never understood that and have been less than objective in their reporting ever since bounty gate.  This writer is on the record with a commentary after bounty gate was exposed that expressed the opinion that Payton's best years as the Saints coach had passed.

The results this season and the last four I believe confirm that opinion.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Will The Future Under A Trump Administration Be Like The Failed Past Of Previous Republican Administrations?

The answer is unknown at this time but will start to unfold when Trump takes office next month.  In the mean time there is precedent that would indicate the answer will be "yes."  George W. Bush became President, inherited a great economy with record job creation, full employment, balanced budgets with surpluses, a safe America and so much more and left office 8 years later with the country in a great recession, debt, two wars, one which was unnecessary and built on a lie and lost wages for the average worker.

Enter President Obama when Bush left office and like the Clinton administration brought the economy back, jobs back, lowered the unemployment, reduced the deficit, kept America safe at home and abroad and the average workers wages are on the rise.  Next month Trump will receive the benefit of a country on the move and in good shape economically and financially, contrary to what he has been preaching.  Bush could not duplicate the success of the Clinton administration or come even close.  Clinton reversed the 12 years of Reagan-Bush 41 whose administrations under performed Clinton's 8 years in office.  Those 12 years of Reagan-Bush 41 put the country on the course of record deficit spending and debt.

So now it will fall to Trump and in this writers judgement things do not look as bright.  The President-elect is still the same as Trump the Presidential candidate who lies on a daily basis on a wide range of issues.  The latest being the number of jobs Carrier will keep in Indiana.  Trump's tweets continue to be childish and his behavior is unbecoming a President-elect.

Many of Trump's appointees are anti regulatory, anti labor, anti environment, oppose the minimum wage and are out of touch with American values.  Some also seem happy to spread Trump's lies.  Trump intends to run the country like he runs his business, with corrupt behavior.  Trump has also failed to show he will put the country and its peoples business first before his own business interest.

The truth of the future will be told, but what is unfolding now represents an attack on the Presidency itself and that should be a wake up call for America.  President Obama has kept American great in his time in office.  Trump has only talked about it.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

The Detroit Lions 28 The New Orleans Saints 13

The Saints got drunk on the praise given to them by the New Orleans sports writers after beating the Rams last week.  The writers acted like the Saints beat a top rated team but the Rams were 4-6, a poor team and it showed.  But yesterday in the Dome the Lions outplayed and out coached the Saints and the Saints fell to 5-7.  So far this season the Saints have beaten only one team with a winning record, Seattle.

The Lions ended Brees passing touchdown streak and Brees threw three interceptions which gave him 7 turnovers in the last four games.  After the Ram game sports writers were talking about Brees personal stats as if football is not a team sport.  And now the fans will hear the same excuses this week which have been the staple since "bounty gate."

The Saints are not a well coached team and the players still do not earn their salary, and that includes Brees.  This is a coaching staff and team that has not recovered from "bounty gate" and will not until the Saints change the head coach and his staff as this writer predicted after "bounty gate" was first made known.  The Saints have won only 12 of their last 28 regular season games and have made no progress since "bounty gate" season which was 4 seasons ago.  The coaching staff and players are just hanging on for the ride in this fifth season.

Sports writers in New Orleans who cover the Saints care only about one thing, apple polishing stories with no objectivity.  In fact after the Rams game one writer said no team could cover Saints receiver Michael Thomas but Detroit did and actually took him out of the game.  He was not even a factor for the Saints.  Saint fans should tune them out.  Tom Benson and Mickey Loomis has been silent for the last 4 years and just maybe after this season is over they might have some thing to say.  They have been just as bad as the Saints and the sports writers.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

LSU Hands Off Its Football Future To Ed Orgeron

Interim LSU football coach Ed Orgeron was officially named head coach of the football program.  Orgeron was not the choice of this writer and in a previous commentary expressed the opinion that LSU should clean house with the present coaching staff, hire a proven head coach with a winning record and let him pick his assistants.

Orgeron has no record of being a winning head coach and failed the test against Alabama and Florida this season with a foolish offensive game plan and play calling that gave the impression Les Miles was still on the side lines coaching. This writer also thinks those at LSU who are involved in firing or hiring a new coach failed the test last season when Miles was supposed to go and then stayed only to be fired after the fourth game of the season.  Did those people really think Miles was going to change when he had 10 years to do so?  Give me a break.

I believe Orgeron has the right idea with bringing in a new offensive co-ordinator, resigning LSU's defensive co-ordinator, hiring a new special teams coach and I wish he and LSU success as Ihave followed LSU for over 50 years.   However, in the back of my mind I have a feeling that none of the head coaches named as a possible choice for the LSU head coaching job wanted to come to LSU.  And if that is the case that should be troubling to all LSU fans.

Will Orgeron put an end to LSU's on again off again play of the last 11 seasons?  Time will answer that question and the question if Orgeron has the ability to become a winning head coach.  He had the opportunity in the past and never made it, but now takes over an LSU team with talent.  So the ball is back in his court.  It is an opportunity he may never have again.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Another Big First For PolitiDose

In a previous commentary this writer pointed out Trump's double talk about the "establishment" when he said he was running against and tried to sell himself as an outsider.  He later described the "establishment" as the "swamp" and said he would drain it.  In the commentary this writer demonstrated that Trump himself was part of the "establishment" also, the establishment of corporate America who give millions to elected officials in the form of campaign contributions.

Trump during the republican debates admitted with his own mouth he gives campaign contributions to elected officials because he expects favors and when he calls them for help they help him.  Now as President elect, Trump has nominated as Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, a former executive with Goldman Sachs, a wall street bank.  Trump has also appointed at least two other Goldman Sachs executives.  An ethics attorney speaking on one of the cable news shows said appointing Mnuchin Treasury Secretary is like putting an alligator in charge of the swamp.  That is a great description and just another reminder the lies told by Trump during the campaign about draining the swamp just to get votes.

The Swamp will not be drained after all and now the country and its people will have to deal with Trump's establishment.  There will be much more to come out of Trump which will completely destroy what he promised the voting public.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

November, Another Good Month For The Economy, Job Creation, Unemployment and The Country.

The Labor Department reported the economy created 178,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 4.6% from the 4.9% in October.  Wages rose 2.5% and continued their upward trend.  The good news for the country and its people continue unabated on top of the recent GDP report for the third quarter that showed the economy grew 3.2% for the third quarter.

President Obama's policies have accomplished much for the country and the people and will leave office in less than 60 days with the second best job creation record next only to President Clinton's record job creation.  Obama's stimulus package early in his first term passed by the democratic controlled congress worked because the money was granted to the states so they could invest in infrastructure and other projects that would create jobs and lower the unemployment.  The republicans in congress opposed the stimulus and their ideology is the reason republican administrations have been a disaster for the economy and job creation.

And the news media has done a disservice to the country and the people for the past 8 years.  Instead of reporting on the positive things that have happened, they took up with the republicans and Trump and spread their lies and falsehoods about the economy, jobs, the unemployment and the war on terror.  Instead of being an informed news media, the media became an ignorant show place of deplorables.

History will serve President Obama and his administration well and his accomplishments will be written down in that history never to be erased by a news media that has gone completely out of control.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Another Good Economic Report On The Economy That Reveal Donald Trump's Scare Tactics During The Presidential Campaign

The Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy grew 3.2% in the third quarter ending September 30.  It was the best quarter of growth in two years and was driven by U.S. exports and solid consumer spending.  The Federal Reserve of Atlanta said that 4th quarter growth should be around 3.6%.  The economy continues to move forward, create jobs and lower the unemployment rate on President Obama's watch.

The economic report is a sharp contradiction to the economic fear preached by Trump during the campaign who told his supporters the economy grew only 1% in the third quarter and that the economy was a disaster.  Trump and his party are so chapped that it is a democratic administration once again who is moving the country forward after the economic disaster brought about by the previous republican administration.  It is just more evidence of Trump's lack of honesty and life style of being a fraud.

Trump will benefit from the strong U.S. economy upon taking office in January and no doubt will try and take credit but he and the republicans in congress are on record as the party who talk tough but no record of accomplishments to back up the rhetoric.  In the mean time the country and its people will be in a merry holiday mood and thankful to share the Christmas season with family and friends and not having to live in fear.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

The Popular Vote In The 2016 Presidential Election Does Indeed Matter.

The latest report in the Huffington Post of 11/23 by senior editor Nick Wing points out that Hillary Clinton's popular vote lead over Donald Trump is now more than 2 million votes and still growing with approximately 2 million votes left to count.  He reported Clinton with 64,225,863 million votes and Trump with 62,210,612 votes.

The vote is a good indication that the last three Presidential elections contradicts the republican claim that the country is conservative.  Hillary's popular vote win also puts the democrats in congress in good position to block any extreme legislation that Trump and the republicans try to pass. It also shoots down what the news media is trying to sell as the democratic party in retreat.  The democrats picked up two seats in the U.S. Senate and 6 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives while Trump's election could not save those seats for his own party.

Clinton's popular vote win has already had an affect on Trump and his party.  They are making up excuses why he lost that vote.  They also understand, even though they will not admit it, the country will not support any over reach by Trump and his party because of the popular vote.  Trump and his party have to deal with the fact the majority of America's voters prefer Hillary Clinton's plans, policy and means of dealing with problems facing the country and not Trumps.  And the popular vote gives legitimacy to the democratic position.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Mark Halperin and Donny Deutsch: Mouthpiece For Donald Trump and The Republican Party.

Bloomberg's television show, "With All Due Respect" of 11/17 with Halperin and Deutsch was the typical election propaganda trying to make the democratic party obsolete with Clinton's loss in the general election.  But nothing could be farther from the truth.  These are the same guys who can not articulate any accomplishments by former republican Presidents Bush 41 and Bush 43 and are now trying to convince their audience that another republican named Trump will accomplishment much.

The democrats lost the election but the popular vote is on their side and will be in future elections.  They just have to do a better job in certain states.  H and D won't talk about past republican administrations anemic job creation record and how Trump will turn that around or how he will balance the federal budget which no republican administration has done since Ike in 1960.  H and D also loved the Bush tax cuts and said it would propel the economy and create jobs.  The record has already been written in History, it did neither one.  But that does not stop them from pushing failed republican policies.

Both share the same problem.  They are chapped because President Obama will be leaving office on a high note and the country and its people are so much better off now than when Bush 43 left office and left the country in the worst recession since the great depression.  And now another republican  by the name of Trump will enter the White House as a tainted President.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

We Now Know Who Was The Real Crooked Candidate In The Presidential Campaign.

New York's attorney general who filed a fraud law suit against Trump University that was ready to go to trial, said 11/l8 the suit was settled out of court for $25 million in favor of the accusers.  The issue came up during the campaign and Trump not only denied the charges but also criticized the judge who ruled the suit could go to trial.  Trump also made racial remarks about the judge.

Despite saying he would not settle the law suite out  of court, this is one he settled.  Trump knew going to trial and having testimony under oath would be damaging to him and would cost a lot more money.  Plus, when settled out of court, the person being sued does not have to admit guilt.  However, fair minded people know the fraud suit and the settlement speak for itself.

A few weeks ago a well known attorney appeared on MSNBC and said he was representing a woman free of charge who alleges that Trump sexually assaulted her and would file suit and that there were others who will do the same.  If that comes about it will be interested to see how Trump reacts.  Trump actually said he would sue his accusers after the campaign was over.  Well; its over and no suit has been reported.

New York's attorney general, Eric Schneiderman in a Huffington Post commentary of 11/18 said the following about the fraud law suit:  "MY OFFICE SUED DONALD TRUMP FOR SWINDLING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT AMERICANS OUT OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS THROUGH A SCHEME KNOWN AS TRUMP UNIVERSITY AND SAID DONALD TRUMP FOUGHT US EVERY STEP OF THE WAY AND HE CALLED THE UNIVERSITY PHONY'  What a statement from the attorney general who had all the evidence and facts.  The facts in the suit and the settlement indicate that Donald Trump was indeed the crooked candidate in the Presidential campaign.  Can one become any more deplorable than that?

This generation will witness a "tainted" President elect when he enters the White House.  What a shame for America, our children, our grandchildren and for American history.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio