“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”
Isaiah 55: 6-7
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Concussion Revisited: Corruption in the DOJ and the FBI
I saw the movie Concussion shortly after it came out about 7 years ago. I was on a trip from New York to Tel Aviv. It’s a 14-hour flight. During that time, I watch lots of movies.
I remember enjoying the movie, but the screens on airplanes are not large. That affects my viewing enjoyment. Over the years, I have become accustomed to large-screen televisions. I can put up with small screens for a short while, but I think I miss a lot when I watch anything on a small screen. That’s why I don’t like watching anything on a smartphone. At home, I have a large-screen 4K television about 5 feet from a La-Z-Boy recliner. It’s connected to my computer with a very fast cable. That’s the way I watch television and movies, work on my computer, and write SnyderTalk.
Concussion is currently playing on one of the movie channels that I get, so I watched it again. I enjoyed it again, and I recorded it on my DVR so I can watch it slowly and replay important parts. So far, I have noticed two things in the movie to which I want to draw your attention: Settled science and the FBI.
Settled Science?
To begin, there is no such thing as “settled science.” Real science progresses every day. If that doesn’t happen, scientists are not doing their jobs.
Concussion is about the discovery of a new disease called Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist with the Allegheny County, Pennsylvania coroner’s office made the discovery during an autopsy. He was trying to figure out why Mike Webster who played center for the Pittsburgh Steelers died at age 50 with a neurological disorder that resembled Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, except it was much worse. Webster didn’t just lose his memory. He went crazy and had a heart attack that was brought on by an addiction to prescription drugs.
The movie makes clear that the NFL knew about the concussion problem, and leaders in the NFL did everything they could do to downplay the problem. They believed that the game of football was too important to Americans to allow a few cases of what is now called CTE to interfere with their viewing pleasure.
According to statistics, about 28% of professional football players will get CTE. Before they die, the football players’ families’ lives will be destroyed, and the disease can wipe out their families financially. That’s a high price to pay to protect the viewing pleasure of people who enjoy watching football.
Because of Dr. Omalu’s groundbreaking work, football at all levels developed what is commonly known today as “the concussion protocol.” You see evidence of it every week during high school, college, and professional football games. If a player gets a concussion or loses his senses temporarily after a violent play, he is removed from the game, and his recovery is closely monitored. He is not allowed to play again until he has recovered.
But that’s not the part of the story that I want you to understand. I want you to understand that Dr. Omalu was attacked personally for discovering the disease and drawing attention to it. He encountered the wrath of the NFL, the medical community that works closely with professional football, irate football fan, and the FBI. I’ll say more about that later, but for now, I just want you to know that Dr. Omalu lost his job and was forced to move from his home in Pittsburgh to Lodi, California.
For correctly diagnosing a hitherto fore unknown disease that is killing people, Omalu paid a very high price. Instead of being congratulated for a job well done, he was castigated, ostracized, and marginalized. The powers that be attempted to destroy him for doing great work.
Enter the FBI
Several times over the past few years, I have made the point that the Department of Justice and the FBI have become corrupt. A few days ago, an FBI agent in California was convicted of taking bribes from a man who specialized in identity theft. I don’t know how much the FBI agent was paid over the years, but it was enough for him to buy lots of luxury items including a vacation home on Lake Tahoe. The rogue FBI agent received a 15-year prison sentence, but he was allowed to keep his vacation home on Lake Tahoe. Go figure.
The fact that the FBI has been corrupted became abundantly apparent during President Trump’s administration. People at the top of the DOJ including higher-ups in the FBI worked together to try to prevent him from being elected, and after he was elected, they worked tirelessly to prevent him from succeeding as president. Those facts are undeniable, but the American people didn’t take the facts seriously. Law enforcement at the highest level in the land isn’t pursuing justice. It’s pushing an agenda with lots of political spin. In the end, that will hurt all of us more than we can imagine.
Turns out that the NFL and the medical community that works closely with professional football pulled some strings in the DOJ and the FBI and brought law enforcement powers to bear on Dr. Omalu and his boss, Allegheny County coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht. The FBI charged Wecht with committing more than 80 federal crimes in an attempt to get at Omalu. After a gut-wrenching experience with our “Justice Department,” all the charges against Wecht were dropped, but it took some time for that to happen. For protecting his employee who was doing great work, Wecht was put through relentless torment.
Why? It was because people like watching professional football, and leaders in the FBI decided that no one should be allowed to interrupt people’s viewing pleasure for any reason, especially if the NFL comes knocking at the FBI’s door. The FBI regarded as irrelevant the fact that NFL players were dying. That’s cowardice in the 1st degree. In wartime, people are shot for that offense.
Concussion is a very good movie. I’m glad I watched it again. I hope you will take the time to watch it, too. If you do, please pay attention to what the powers that be put two doctors through for doing their jobs.
Dr. Omalu’s findings threatened the status quo in football, and for making important discoveries, he was punished by our “Justice Department.” So was his boss, Dr. Wecht. Things like that can’t be allowed to happen. If they happen, the guilty parties need to be held accountable. They should suffer at least as much as the people they tried to destroy.
That’s justice. That’s what needs to happen.
For What It’s Worth
Roger Goodell was the NFL Commissioner while all of these things were taking place, and he’s still the NFL Commissioner today. I would love to know exactly what part he played in all of these shenanigans.
Goodell is paid about $64 million dollars a year by the NFL. That’s not chump change, and his job is to protect the NFL, not the players in the NFL. I think he must have believed that denying reality where CTE is concerned was part of his job. He didn’t change his tune until the pressure on the NFL was so great that the problem couldn’t be ignored any longer.
If I am right, Goodell has blood on his hands and should be held accountable. That’s justice, because people suffered and many died.
Maybe we should learn a lesson from the government of Singapore and introduce public caning as a form of punishment for people who abuse the trust we place in them. It works as a deterrent in Singapore. There is no reason to believe that I wouldn’t work in the United States, too.
I can imagine what it would be like for Justice Department officials and others to be tied to posts on the street and caned in front of live audiences. Yes, indeed. Caning would change the attitudes of people in the DOJ, the FBI, the IRS, and other government agencies who have abused our system of justice. It would change others’ attitudes, too.
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“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”
John 10: 14-18
