AT: I would have never thought to put Muhammad Ali (aka Cassius Clay) and Donald Trump in the same sentence, no less the same argument. Nonetheless, the other day, ABC did it for me. When Ali died, Donald Trump had some very gracious remarks about the boxer’s passing. Michael Falcone at ABC used the occasion to trot out some written remarks attributed to Ali that Falcone interpreted to be a defense of Islam against Trump. Trump, of course, is never mentioned in the Ali communiqué on Islam. Indeed, the suggestion that Muhammad Ali was writing about anything on his deathbed is an unlikely fantasy.
Ali was probably being used then as he has been used for most of his career; first by fight hucksters, then by anti-war activists, then by a Nation of Islam cult, and finally by any special pleader that could get him to sit and sell his persona or signature for a $100 dollars a pop.
Still the big networks never seem to miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Alas, exploiting a palooka’s death to bash a political candidate already under fire is what you might expect from press partisans in an election year.
You read that correctly. I said “palooka,” archaic sports jargon used to describe a chump who has one too many fights and taken one too many shots to the head.
In another time and place, such a prizefighter would have had an industry diagnosis such as “punch drunk,” not Parkinson’s. This is not to blame Ali; he like many athletes probably wasn’t smart enough to anticipate the consequences of not knowing when to quit.
“And one more quick thing. His name was Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. He was a baptized Christian and sexually promiscuous coward who APOSTASIZED from Christianity and joined up with the truly depraved racketeering organization, The Nation of Islam, in order to get out of being drafted in the Vietnam era. He wasn’t wise. He was an egomaniac that was good at “beating people up”, as he himself put it. Prayers for the Champ? Yeah, but odds are it is too late for him, and those prayers will be applied to a poor, forgotten soul in Purgatory. But yes, by all means, pray for the dead, even though it is pretty much impossible to refer to Cassius Clay as “the faithful departed”. But if you really believe in any of it, you should, at the very least, use the man’s real name – the name that God calls him: Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. Not his bullshit Nation of Islam stage name.”
-Ann Barnhardt
It is appointed once to die and, after this, judgment.
One’s fate is fixed at death, if he dies rejecting the Good News of the grace of God. There’s no hope left.
Prayers for the dead avail no more than prayers to the dead.
As God is not bound by time, our prayers could indeed result in God extending mercy to someone in an instant of time just before their death. If true contrition is expressed, then that person could be saved. Of course once they are in Hell, no escape. But none of us can say with certainty that a particular person is in Hell.
The same year Muhammed Ali refused military service, my brother Frank volunteered. While Frank trudged through jungles, Ali lived like a cowardly millionaire. He was no “conscientious objector” to war based on his islamic faith. Islam has waged perpetual war since its inception. No, Ali was just another loud-mouthed spoiled jock who got away treason.
Loudmouth,draft dodging, Muslim.
If Ali spends eternity in Hell, he still won’t realize it.
A white, Christian star athlete’s death would have gotten one 15 second blurb on one newscast.
Yep, Cassius Clay was Punch Drunk. He didn’t have Parkinsons. I saw him up close back in 1983 and even then he was shaking badly and literally getting led around by the hand like a child. Sad and pathetic.
The draft-dodging sonofabitch allowed himself to get screwed over repeatedly in business deals by that racist felon piece of shit Don King.
IMO, Clay wasn’t so much a coward for draft-dodging but more of a selfish greedy bastard. He knew damn well that the Army’s usual MO with celebrity draftees was to pamper them and have them do morale tours among the troops. He would have been traveling around the US or at the most, doing tours over in Germany for two years until his service ended. BUT NO, submitting to the draft would have meant two years not living the high life and getting fat stacks from boxing matches.
If the roles were reversed this guy would be demonized by the MSM forever. He was a racist…..period!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqiWFLsgVi4