The Frankish Reich

I would like to see some kind of vaccine passport immediately. I don't know why Biden hasn't done it. He is certainly not my hero. "Not Trump" =/= My Hero. That's it? "Nope?" I just gave you the case citation. "Nope" is not considered an argument. A contrary case citation would be an argument. Get to work ...

The idea of the right to some kind of control over one's own body has already been mentioned here. I pointed out that there is no such overarching "right." The proper example here isn't state-mandated killing of innocent people. It's the whole "right to die" thing. Assisted suicide has generally been against the law. Some think it shouldn't be, that it should be allowed. But that's what elected governments decide. I don't want a court to "find" a right to assisted suicide. I also don't want courts to "find" (somewhere, hidden in all that rightsy language in the constitution, the Declaration of Independence, etc., etc.) a right to not be vaccinated. This U.S. constitution is not some kind of hard libertarian document people make it out to be. It restrains the power of the federal government (and later, through the incorporation doctrine, state governments), but it doesn't create some kind of Ayn Rand fantasyland. The government has the right to make me work one or two days a week for their benefit; that's what taxation does.

Yes, it typically has been a state issue. Under the U.S. Constitution, the federal government has only enumerated powers, not the general "police power" that the states have. But ... yes, vaccines have been mandated! Here's a discussion of a city (cities derive their powers from the states)-mandated smallpox vaccination, upheld by the Supreme Court way, way back in 1905: https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/on-this-day-the-supreme-court-rules-on-vaccines-and-public-health There is no constitutional principle that would preclude a state from mandating vaccines. And I'm not aware of anything that would prevent the federal government from mandating them for matters involving interstate commerce (air/train/bus travel, etc.). People are fond of saying "it's my constitutional right." But you've got to find that right in the constitution, either state or federal, whichever applies. You won't find a right against being vaccinated. Oh, you could ask the Supreme Court to find a right out of the general principles enacted in the Bill of Rights much like the Supreme Court found a right to privacy, but then you've kind of got to accept the whole concept of the Court creating rights out of thin air, which is usually what people who don't like the activist courts rail against ....

Wrong thread for your pro-abortion rights sentiment. Actually, it has long been understood that public health measures may warrant government mandated vaccinations. As for doing what you want with your body: we also tell you you can't collect certain freely growing lifeforms and ingest them. What were historically known as the state's inherent "police powers" - the state's rights to protect the health, safety, and morals of the populace - covers all of this.

Well, let's get 90+ percent vaccinated and then we'll see. You are assuming that if infection/hospitalization rates hit their late May levels and stay there we'll still be stuck with pointless mitigation theater. That's not what I saw. I saw masks come off, crowds return to baseball games and concerts, etc., etc. Which is why I'm annoyed as hell at the vaccine refusers for preventing us from making normal life a permanent thing.

I'm glad you did. If by "mitigation" you mean all those old favorite things like social distancing, mask wearing, online school, etc., etc. - the way out of that (whether a particular mitigation strategy is warranted or not) is to get the vast majority vaccinated. Now. There's really no good excuse anymore. We have about 7 months of experience with mass vaccination with virtually nonexistent significant adverse results.

No. Get your damn vaccine, just like your hero Trump did.

Hunter Biden is many things - out of control drug addict, corrupt influence peddler, etc., etc. Idiot is not one of them. He has parlayed his name into a fortune, including a new-found career as an artist who stands to make millions using his coke straw to blow patterns into paint on a canvas. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/hunter-biden-gallery-show-1979790 Now, I'm no art critic. But I have to say Hunter's artwork is, well, kind of pleasant in a post-psychedelic album cover type way. Not half a million bucks pleasant, but perhaps Hotel Monaco wall hanging pleasant ...

True. What I'm saying is that this is stupid policy. It has encouraged the return of ordinary childhood infectious diseases (mumps, measles). And now it will encourage the spread of COVID-19. There is an open question regarding true religious exemptions (not the generic "personal conscience" or philosophical exemptions that have swallowed the rule), but these ought to be limited to adherents to a religion with an established history of objections to a vaccine for specific doctrinal reasons. And that's a tiny, tiny percentage of the population. [By the way, I believe that critical public health considerations should outweigh even legitimate/established religious exceptions to vaccines.]

Enough already. Guess what? It's constitutional, and it has been for a century: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/07/20/federal-judge-upholds-indiana-universitys-covid-19-vaccine-requirement The Indiana University case cites two early 20th century Supreme Court cases upholding vaccine mandates. Vaccine relucatance - or worse, outright anti-vaxxer sentiment - is about to turn an acute, time-limited problem into a never-ending problem. If the percent vaccinated doesn't uptick considerably in the next couple months, look forward to online education, mask mandates, maxed-out emergency rooms, travel bans, all that fun stuff all over again. We've heard you anti-vaxxers. Six months into mass vaccination and your irrational fears have been dispelled. For the obstinate "I won't get vaccinated just because they want us to" -- why they hell did Trump and Melania and family get vaccinated if it's some kind of radical lefty plot? There's still time. Start with simple things: let private businesses require proof of vaccination status. It's their damn business, it's just a continuation of that old "We Reserve Right to Refuse Service to Anyone" sign that I grew up with. If that isn't working, proceed to the next step: vaccine mandates for various higher-risk activities like colleges, in-person high school attendance, air travel. If that isn't working, then go full-on vaccine mandate. When did we get to be a country of such whiners? It's there, it's free (at least to you, the recipient), it's working, it's the way out of this mess. Do. It. Now.

But ... 1. Christian Wade returning punts! 2. Legal sports betting in my state. Nothing more exciting than a friendly wager on a game that the teams are not really even trying to win. 3. Who will be the 53rd man? Always seems to be worth a 20-page thread here. Seriously, I agree with you. I just can't watch practice.

Come to think of it, I don’t recall us ever using Gilliam on the fly route.

Thanks for the latest season recap! Obviously there’s something seriously wrong with me since I take weird pleasure in reading about how things went horribly wrong (again).

What a beautiful list, 1-3 that is ...

All valid points. But ... I never got the Poz hate. He was a second round pick who lasted 11 years as an NFL starting LB. If only our other 1st and 2nd rounders from that era had performed as well ...

Meanwhile, the muzzled Donald John Trump is given precious Wall St Journal op-ed page space to have his say: https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-j-trump-why-im-suing-big-tech-11625761897?mod=hp_opin_pos_1 And I'm fine with this. Let's start with this whine from his piece: "Perhaps most egregious, in the weeks after the election, Big Tech blocked the social-media accounts of the sitting president." He says "in the weeks after the election ... ." Twitter banned him on January 8, more than two months after the election, and only after he incited a mob to storm the Capitol, and only after ON THAT VERY DAY he used the Twitter platform not to calm the mob, but to egg them on. To the merits of the case: this is a profoundly stupid legal argument that will get zero traction in the courts. It is all symbolic rage. Here's a great law school exam question: Remember the short, inconsequential life of From the Desk of Donald J. Trump? The blog that was to serve as a forum for post-Twitter Trump? Was that a public forum? Should Trump (he is, after all, a former president, still supported by the taxpayers, unlike Twitter) have been required to host a guest post by me entitled "Donald Trump Should Be Indicted for Incitement to Riot?" If not, why not? If Twitter is a public forum/quasi-government actor subject to viewpoint-neutral First Amendment rules, why should the former president's website be considered something different?

So ... we can declare war on them? Bomb Menlo Park? What on earth are you talking about? These are U.S. companies, not "hostile foreign nations." Anyone who wanted to know what Trump has to say could've simply gone to the From the Desk of Donald J. Trump website. Apparently few did.

I hate your product! How dare you preclude me from using it!! I'm gonna sue!!!!!

Are cartels running the U.S. government? Of course not. Are they running the Dutch government? No, not that one either. But when we see journalists getting assassinated in the Netherlands, it's clear that we're getting to a point where they're more brazen, less concerned about getting caught if they intimidate their opponents. In other words, it's a problem, and one that can't be ignored. I tend to be of the Gary Becker (Nobel winning economist) school here: criminals and criminal organizations are rational, and they respond to incentives. The key disincentive here is swift, severe punishment. A confession: I used to be much more of the legalize it and control it mindset. The opioid crisis kind of changed my mind on that.

Unlike some others, I will take your question seriously. Here's a deeply disturbing incident that just happened: Dutch journalist investigating organized crime/international drug trafficking shot in an apparent assassination attempt: https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/07/europe/dutch-reporter-de-vries-fight-shooting-intl-hnk/index.html I don't know the full backdrop of the Haiti assassination (a country rife with corruption, but not necessarily of the drug cartel sort). The power of international criminal syndicates is not something we can ignore anymore as some kind of distant third-worldy problem. And it's not just drugs: it's cybercrime/ransomware, etc. I don't know what the solution is, but I do know that ignoring it isn't working.

Well, the 1990s Braves Clippers did have one winning season, so there's that ....

It is refreshing to hear from a true First Amendment absolutist. I know you supported the right - that's what it is, isn't it? - of various gay rights organizations to march in the NYC St. Patrick's Day parade, even though it was a parade organized and sponsored by a group that really didn't invite them. Your Bills Blitz Super Bowl Parade in February will no doubt welcome the Belichick-Brady GOAT FLOAT too. Just because I own and operate something doesn't mean that I should have the right to exclude anyone. First Amendment all the way, baby!

That's right. OJ only showed us glimpses (based on his usage, and the general incompetence of the offense as a whole) in his first few seasons. The first NFL game I ever saw, at the old Rockpile. I was about 8 years old: Scoring MIA@BUF, 9-26-71 Dolphins Garo Yepremian 15 yard field goal 3-0 Bills Wayne Patrick 1 yard rush (Grant Guthrie kick)3-7 Dolphins Garo Yepremian 46 yard field goal 6-7 Dolphins Garo Yepremian 13 yard field goal 9-7 Dolphins Garo Yepremian 9 yard field goal 12-7 Dolphins Larry Csonka 1 yard rush (Garo Yepremian kick) 19-7 Bills O.J. Simpson 46 yard rush (Grant Guthrie kick)19-14 Dolphins Paul Warfield 23 yard pass from Bob Griese (Garo Yepremian kick) 26-14 Dolphins Garo Yepremian 48 yard field goal 29-14 FINAL I was sitting with my dad in the end zone where OJ scored on the 46 yard run. Me to Dad: Why don't they let OJ run more often?* Dad: (something like this) "Because the coach is an idiot." *he ran the ball 9 times that game. Csonka and Kiick ran it 20 each for the Dolphins, for 100+ yards. Each.

You're about my age then. Reagan went from being a gaffe machine to being seriously addled, at least at times (and those times came more frequently with time) toward the end. You are right, however: there is no comparison at all between the future Bush 41 and Kamala as veep. Bush 41 could make a legitimate claim to being the best qualified VP in history. Kamala, umm, not so much.

Campbell. He had 3 truly great seasons, then injuries, then just one very good season after that. OJ, for a running back, was pretty durable. And I really should have included Barry Sanders as the third Mount Rushmore RB of my time. I think Jim Brown is the other. EDIT: ok, so it occurred to me that I just put OJ on a theoretical Mt. Rushmore. Maybe that was a bad way of putting it ....