Prayers for Paris, thoughts on muslim refugees

As I write, the death toll in Paris is 128, and likely to rise. Praying for the families of the victims, for the survivors, and for the police and EMTs helping them.

The Guardian's live blog has all sorts of information, including some excellent graphics.

The accounts from the Bataclan, where terrorists took time to reload as they calmly executed people, had me thinking of April 16th.

Glad that Geraldo Rivera's daughter is all right.  She was talked into going to the friendly between the German and French teams. There's some speculation that that attack might have been an assassination attempt on President Hollande. But honestly the terrorists don't need to be so exacting. That's part of what makes fighting them difficult. They can plant their bomb anywhere and create fear. We have to protect everything.

Many outlets are asking what France missed. French intelligence agencies and counter-terrorism units are pretty good. They had actually raised the threat level recently, and foiled an attack at the French naval base at Toulon.  The truth is, it's impossible to stop every attack. And even if you know they're planning multiple attacks, and even if you knew the date of the attacks, Paris is brimming with targets. Are people ready for cities to be shut down BEFORE an attack? At that point, the terrorists have already paralyzed thousands or millions of people, even before they take any lives. We know a Syrian passport was found near one of the scenes in Paris. We don't know if it's authentic. If it is, we don't know if this terrorist traveled among the Syrian refugees, or how long they had been in Europe.

Yesterday Laura Ingraham asked if the EU would  "reexamine the absurd & obscene mass migration it has permitted from Muslim countries". I asked where the refugees should go, which prompted her fans to propose ideas. Apparently they're ok with refugees coming to America, because a lot of them suggested my house, or office, or the White House lawn. Others said Saudi Arabia, and many said "stay in Syria and fight". Those are at least serious suggestions. I'm no open-borders advocate, but we can't ignore that SOMEthing has to be done with the refugees.

First some facts. Here's a chart that provides some data on the refugee movements. Some reports say that most of the refugees are men. Other numbers show more women and children.  It's also unclear how many of the refugees are actually from Syria, many are coming from Afghanistan or Eritrea. Amnesty International says many gulf states have refused to take in ANY refugees. Most reports agree that the vast majority of the refugees are Muslim. In ISIS-dominated areas, many Christians have been killed, but they're somewhat safer in Assad-controlled areas. Indeed, the Archbishop of Aleppo supports Russia backing Assad, whose more secular regime is seen as the safer option for Syrian's various Christian groups. There's no way of knowing how many jihadis are among the refugees, but chances are good that there are some.

So, with all that we know (and don't know), the question remains. Where should the Syrian refugees go? A popular answer is to the Gulf states. Why is Saudi Arabia, for example, not taking all the refugees?  The Saudis probably have more to fear from the instability brought by refugees than most countries. They're worried that they could be the next domino to fall. But perhaps they're a safe location for refugee camps administered by the U.N. But they won't agree to take in a potentially destabilising population without a lot of pressure.

Speaking of which, what has the U.N. done on this crisis? You would think this is one issue that you could get the security council to agree on. So far, they've called for global action. They've raised money But they're basically just shuffling paperwork. Isn't it time for a UN peacekeeping force to set up a safe space for the refugees? If the President Obama isn't willing to lead a war against radical Islam, couldn't he at least spearhead efforts to create a temporary safe space for refugees?

I like the idea of arming the refugees and urging the them to fight ISIS. But our early attempts to arm moderates in Syria was a huge failure. And we've got too much experience in arming people who then drop their weapons on the battlefield for ISIS to use. This seems like an area where leadership could make a difference.

Clearly many fear the prospect of taking in terrorists among legitimate refugees. But the greater threat may be the people already in our countries, being radicalized by youtube videos and tweets. France is a big source of ISIS recruits, and hundreds of those recruits have gone back to France.  France has closed its border, but that seals in a lot of radicals.

Lastly, what happens to all of those young muslim men among the refugees if countries keep turning them away? There's a real danger that scared, moderate muslims fleeing ISIS will be pushed toward radical action. The longer we delay in dealing with the problem, the more danger we're creating.

With Seth Rollins out, will the WWE run back to Cena?

One of the young stars in the WWE, Seth Rollins, wrecked his knee during WWE's tour of Europe. There's video, though I find it hard to watch (having had my own knee issues). First off, kudos to Rollins for completing the powerbomb on his opponent. That had to have been difficult. But what happens next?

First off, this isn't a Daniel Bryan situation. Knee injuries are pretty common, and Dr. James Andrews will repair Seth just fine. Complications can happen with any surgery, but it's highly unlikely.

But there is one big similarity with Daniel's situation - a title belt is involved. WWE has already announced its intention to hold a tournament for Seth's title and that opens up all sorts of possibilities. Does the Authority put its money behind someone like Rusev?  Does an anti-authority upstart like Dolph Ziggler overcome the odds to win? There are lots of good storyline possibilities, as Jim Ross points out in one of the links above.

Roman Reigns probably figures strongly in these plans. WWE seems determined to ignore the uneven crowd sentiment around Reigns and force-feed him to us as a hero. I really feel bad for him, because the crowd's reaction is more about perceived WWE preferences than his talent, energy, or mic skills. Hopefully, if he is pushed into the title, it'll include a heel turn. He could work with the Authority now, and eventually "see the light" and go back to being a face. But Reigns already gets plenty of air time. How about moving someone else to the spotlight?

Seth's injury is a perfect opportunity for the young stars who feel they aren't getting a push. The Triple H should encourage them to seize that brass ring. My preference would be to wait a couple weeks to start the tournament, allowing the talent to do some promos that could help prove their worth. Or some of them could seek council, maybe bringing in a Daniel Bryan to help them train for the tournament.

One thing WWE should NOT do is rush John Cena back onto the stage. He's just started taking some well-earned time off to do a fitness show. Their first inclination may be to go back to a sure thing - Cena brings attention, whether it's "Let's Go Cena" or "Cena Sucks". But time off can only help audiences connect more with Cena when he does come back. So WWE should avoid going back to the well.

How Daniel Bryan can become a Hall of Famer

Man, do I miss Daniel Bryan. The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion (can we shorten this at some point, PLEASE?) is apparently done as an active wrestler, according to Bret Hart. Bryan himself has said that he will be able to get in the ring eventually, once he gets enough okays from enough doctors. But he's come back from injury before, only to be quickly shelved again. Nobody wants Bryan to suffer further injury, especially to a critical area like his neck. But we don't want him to be relegated to a role as extra on Total Divas, either. So, what to do with Daniel Bryan?

He still have a lot of positives to bring to the WWE. Crowds still love him. He has a certain charm on camera, and an oddball goofiness at times, as evidenced by his Table for 3 and Tough Enough appearances. He's not huge, but fans remember his technical prowess, toughness, and intensity. Lastly, he has underdog qualities that are easy to root for.

For me, those qualities add up to a brilliant future as a manager. Bobby Heenan spent much of his career finding and training monsters to face Hulk Hogan. Guys like Andre the Giant,  Big John Studd, King Kong Bundy, Hercules and the Barbarian.  Heenan wasn't muscle. He was a master planner and motivator, driven as much by a desire to beat Hulk Hogan as to make his client successful.

Heenan was also an amazing entertainer. He once had a fight with a phone.  Heenan also had a recurring show on WWE's Prime Time Wrestling, His speaking ability and quick wit, (as well as neck injuries...) eventually lead Vince McMahon to move him into a commentator role, where he and Gorilla Monsoon became one of the classic announce teams.

Many people don't realize that Heenan wrestled often early in his career. One of his first major neck injuries occurred in a match in Japan for All-Japan Pro Wrestling.  He's not the only wrestler to move into managing; J.J. Dillon was a successful wrestler who held several titles before becoming the manager of the Four Horsemen. Daniel Bryan could make the same transition.

Heenan and Dillan both managed heels, but a manager doesn't have to work solely for the bad guys. In fact, Bryan's crowd reaction would be a huge help in putting over young faces. Remember how over Bryan and Kane were? Crowds enjoy cheering Bryan, and some of that will rub off on his clients. Imagine Bryan giving a motivational speech to a despondent Adam Rose, with the crowd chanting 'YES! YES! YES!' to each point. He could even make a good story out of a Bella split, convincing Brie that she deserves a shot at Nikki's title. Not that I'm rooting for more Bella screen time. The point is, he could help put wrestlers over, and tip the scales so that fans believe a young underdog would have a chance.

Here are a few other clients he might consider.
Jack Swagger - he was almost over as a face by accident with his 'We The People' bit.  A trainer would fit him better than a politician, though.

Cesaro - Clearly the WWE feels he needs SOMEthing. Maybe this could be it. They've worked together before, so they'd probably have some chemistry.

Natalya- you've got a Total Divas angle, and he can empathize with a skilled wrestler having a hard time getting into the spotlight.

Ryback - Please don't make us listen to Ryback talk. He can say "Feed Me More", and leave the rest to Bryan.

Roman Reigns - Ditto. Instead of giving him 10 minutes of mic time on Mondays, give Daniel Bryan time to cut a Heyman-style promo FOR him, while Reigns looks dangerous in the background. A few months on screen with Bryan would do wonders to make fans remember how much they used to LOVE it when Reigns came out and beat people up. You know, when he was the muscle of The Shield.

The Wyatt family - The mid-card monsters are stuck in a rut. Bryan could be just the thing to push them to a more serious, more dangerous level.

Any upcoming NXT superstar - Bryan + Neville? CHAMPIONSHIP.  Bryan + Blake and Murphy? CHAMPIONSHIP.  Bryan + Sasha Banks = YES + We Want SASHA.

Bryan could still take the occasional bump, could become a white-hot heel manager if he wanted, and would be a credible, entertaining motivator for any Superstar.

How do you process things like this?

I work in media in Roanoke, Virginia.  Today two young reporters were killed in our area. I didn't work with them, had met them only briefly. But they were nice to me, and by most accounts were kind, caring, wonderful people. A former employee at WDBJ, who had been dismissed more than a year ago, shot them, and a wonderful lady from the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce,  during a live newscast. How can something like this happen? As a Christian, how do I make sense of a world in which senseless acts of violence can take place?

First off, God created a perfect world, free from pain. Then He gave His creation (us) free will. Free will is a dangerous tool. Some of our choices lead to evil and suffering.  But free will also allows us to experience God's love, and express our love for Him. In order to experience joy, you also have to be able to experience sorrow.

I have to remember how much bigger God's viewpoint is. An ant isn't able to ask me how to drive a car - and I'm just as incapable of understanding God's explanation for any given event. God existed before time. Imagine being able to see all of reality at once, and having the ability to make sense of all of it! God's understanding far surpasses ours. The Bible says that our view of the world is as through a mirror darkly, but that someday it will be made clear. Until then, we won't be able to understand why things happen. I can't comprehend how the world works, or what unforseen positive consequences could come from today's tragedy. Maybe a teenager watching this tragedy unfold will decide to become a police officer, and prevent an even greater tragedy. Who knows? The depths of God's understanding, and his ability to turn life's pain toward good, is beyond our ability to process.

I can't understand everything, but I do know that God loves every one of us. Period. Full stop. He doesn't just love "the good ones", and he doesn't stop loving us because we disobey him. More importantly, he actively works to help us deal with suffering. Several times, the Bible tells us, give our burdens to the Lord. God knows all of our needs. In the Book of Matthew, Jesus said "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?". We're promised that God will give us strength to deal with whatever problems come our way, as long as we're willing to let him help. Psalm 55: Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. The 23rd Psalm also tells us - no matter how troubling your situation, God has the tools to protect you.

Lastly, and perhaps most difficult, is that tragedy builds our faith, preparing us for the future. Faith is a belief in things hoped for and not seen.  In times of tragedy our faith is tested. And just as lifting a weight can strengthen your muscles, tragedy can lead to a stronger faith. As much as the sudden loss of loved ones hurts, dealing with that loss equips us better for whatever life brings us next. 

The family, friends and co-workers of Alison Parker and Adam Ward at WDBJ7 will be in my prayers in the coming days.

“The Lord bless you
    and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you
    and give you peace.”

- Amen

It's time for Cena to prove he never gives up

So, @JohnCena lost the U.S. title last night. He and Seth Rollins put on a great match, and Cena has had a ton of great matches in 2015. The ending included a run-in by Jon Stewart, who attacked Cena with a chair.

So, Cena didn't have to lose clean. Which is a shame, because nobody expects Cena to lose clean these days.  In fact, I believe that's why so many fans have gotten annoyed with Cena. It's not that he never changes. It's that rarely loses, and never seems to lose big matches or feuds. And if he DOES lose, there's always an excuse. You see, a comedian hit him with a chair. Or he passed out, but never gave up. Or he lost, but he had to fight 27 members of the authority. Anyone who's watched followed Cena for a year can write every a Cena match, because the same things always happen. Good TV is caused by suspense, and Cena doesn't provide suspense. But he could.

Simply put, Cena needs to lose.

For a wrestler who likes to say "Never Give Up", life has been pretty easy. It's easy to persevere when you never go through a losing streak. So put Cena through a losing streak. Fans would never expect it. After every loss, they'd assume he'll definitely win the next match.

I'm not talking about losing for a week. Or a month. I'm talking about month after month of seeming hopelessness. I'm talking about losing to Bo Dallas, and Zach Ryder, and all the other whose push ended with a "good effort" against Cena.

Making it all worthwhile is Cena's response - he continues to work, continues to say "Never Give Up."  The +Make-A-Wish America  folks will still love him - in fact, they may feel a deeper bond with him, because he's fighting a tough fight.

After several months, Cena comes out and says he needs to start at the bottom. The WWE can make a big deal of his climb, and the Authority can put roadblocks in his path.

By the time he's climbed the mountain, a 16th championship won't leave a sour taste in fans mouth - they might even come together to cheer John Cena.

Country's King and Queen, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert, file for divorce

It's with mixed emotions that I learned of the impending divorce of Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert.

Power couple.

On the one hand, they both seem awesome, fun, genuine people. Miranda is one of the leading female vocalists in country music, a role that's become more important now that the charts are dominated by Country Bros. Blake is one of those country bros, but he's got an authentic country vibe that embraces novelty songs much the way George Jones used to. He's also the face of a whole segment of people via his job on The Voice.  And both of them seem like they know how to party. All in all, sounds like a perfect match, and it's sad that it's over.

On the other hand, maybe this means good things for country music. A lot of the greatest duos of all time had tempestuous, on-again off-again romances. All of the breakups and makeups made for some great country music - like this:

But also this:

For all the talk of Blake and Miranda as a power couple, they didn't do a lot of work together, which is funny, since they basically fell in love doing a classic duet:

I'm sure they're struggling to deal with the change in their life. Let's hope it at least gets channeled into some amazing music.

Kevin Owens, John Cena, and an opportunity

So, I was watching the Battleground PPV on the WWE Network (for just $9.99). A lot of great matches, but the one that really struck me was Owens Vs. Cena.

Owens is really excited about his great (losing) PPV effort.

Kevin Owens and John Cena put together another amazing match. But, unsurprisingly, Cena again came out on top. If recent history is any indication, this means that Owens can go back to mid-card heel status, joining folks like Bray Wyatt and Rusev, who had long-running feuds with John Cena, but ultimately came out as the loser in their feud. And that sucks. It's almost like the WWE is afraid to give anyone a clean win in a feud vs. Cena.  But there are some great things they could do on RAW tonight.

In one twist, have Owens accuse Cena of going into business for himself. Owens opens raw, in the ring, holding some papers. Turns out, it's the outline or script for Battleground. Owens flips to page 37, and points to a line, reading "Owens wins clean over Cena".

The crowd would be STUNNED. I mean, most fans know wrestling is scripted, and outcomes are predetermined. But it's never, ever ever mentioned on air. At the same time, though, Owens is saying that his match DID NOT end according to plan, that he and Cena were legit fighting during the last part of their PPV match.

From here, there are tons of ways to go. Cena can claim that he was going to put Owens over, but Owens kept trying to win with Cena's own moves. Keep the rivalry going, but with an "unsanctioned street fight" or some other sort of gimmick to emphasize that this is a shoot fight, not another scripted Cena win.

Or you could have other victims of Cena's selfishness come out. Rusev claims he was originally booked to win at 'Mania but it was changed at the last minute. Bray Wyatt claims he was supposed to get a win over Cena in their last match. Cesaro says he was told that "a close loss to Cena is all he can ever hope to get from the writers." Even Damien Sandow comes out, asking Cena how it is that the rest of the roster has to put up with losing streaks, ridiculous gimmicks, and being buried for months at a time, while Cena's character stays right at the top, night after night. Randy Orton comes out to second that motion, as does Chris Jericho. Maybe these guys band together to beat Cena, since that's the only way Cena will drop the belt.

Or have Roman Reigns come out and talk to Cena. Romans says that Cena gave him a talk earlier this year, telling him not to worry about having to lose to Rollins at 'Mania. Cena had told Rollins that it was important to lose sometimes, otherwise fans aren't in doubt about the outcome of your match. But now Reigns thinks Cena was just trying to slow down an ascending star, and Reigns is done jobbing for everyone else.

Or have The Authority come out, telling Cena his suspended from in-ring competition, since he can't be trusted to follow orders. Owens, meanwhile, is also suspended , because he's said things that the WWE doesn't like saying on air, even though it's an "entertainment product". They announce a tournament for the vacated U.S. title, but Cena and Owens continually interfere in the matches, making sure the scripted winners are disqualified.

A storyline like this could bring back the element of unpredictability that the "Reality Era" seems to be missing. It gives the talent a reason to be angry with each other, and a reason to fight. For casual fans, they'll start to wonder if matches are really ending the way they're written, or if their favorites really can choose to win if they wish.