The Frankish Reich

So presumably the Fed doesn’t see a downturn warranting a lowering of rates. So presumably they think Trump isn’t tanking the economy. So presumably you should be happy.

The other subtext: Iran and Saudi Arabia are the ringleaders of the Islamic states in the Middle East. I am more than a little concerned about the Saudi influence over Trump. Take away the counterweight of Iran and its anyone's guess as to what happens next.

I did not blame Netanyahu for taking action against Iran's nuclear program and it's leadership. Iran has long pledged to destroy the "Zionist Entity" and it is not a great stretch to say that this is an anticipatory defensive action. I do not blame the United States for standing aside as it happened. Rubio's initial statement was perfect. The change in language as Trump jumps in now is troubling. We have "unconditional surrender" demands, which suggests: (1) U.S. involvement (surrender to whom?); (2) a demand for "regime change" and toppling of the Iranian theocracy. That gets us right back to Bush 43, which is presumably the type of hubris that Trump has campaigned against. Neutralize the nuclear threat, or at least delay it indefinitely. Let the Iranian people decide when the time has come to overthrow their corrupt leadership. You beat me to it.

"Iran should surrender." Where have I heard this before? Oh, I remember now: "The policy of the United States is regime change."

https://the.ink/p/essay-a-bad-parade-is-a-good-sign A rather silly article, but the headline is absolutely correct. We just didn't have it in us to do a Dear Leader Birthday Parade after all. Good on America.

Oh, what's that? Another court loss for bogus election fraud claims.

As I noted a few times here, Trump's ICE people told him the "hospitality/agriculture" exception to mass deportations is utterly unworkable. So, again ... a reversal.

Really, it’s not so hard to just admit you jumped the gun on this one. Just like Senator Mike Lee. This is getting embarrassing

Well, there’s 2 different scenarios here. A. Tour starting QB goes down for the season in the first series. Aaron Rodgers. The offense is, at least in theory, built around his skill set. And he occupies a ton of salary space so your backup isn’t a really good backup. Disaster. B. Your GM decides it’s just not worth paying Kirk Cousins that kind of money. So you bring in a first rounder and take a flyer on a once highly-regarded and still youngish QB. Sam Darnold does just fine thank you because Cousins wasn’t that good after all, and because Darnold had something in him after all.

I noticed that, and particularly the sign for “panic.” I had a deaf coworker who explained some of this to me. When signing, you don’t have access to the hundreds of different voice tones/inflections that allow for shades of meaning. So the signer’s face takes on a much larger role in communication.

So Americans "just won't do" those hotel/restaurant/agricultural jobs? Or those types of jobs shouldn't pay the minimum wage? What is it that made Trump back off on enforcement actions at those worksites?

Are you sure it isn't the Trumpist position? No enforcement actions on restaurants (dishwashers), hotels (maids), farms (pickers)

Bloomberg, who was a Republican then, but more sensible than political.

No! Not THE Eduardo Vilchis-Ocampo!! This calls for a press release!

If I lived in NYC I’d hold my nose and put Cuomo first.

And note the difference between what I’m saying and what the Trumpy wingnuts are saying. Me: unbalanced/unsuccessful in life but with an elevated sense of his own abilities and importance. Has a late middle aged crisis. Lashes out at perceived enemies who thwarted his stupid plans by not supporting him. Them: Deep State operative! Lefty who went to (gasp!) AFRICA to try to set up an NGO!! Killed a moderate Democrat, therefore is obviously a radical lefty Democrat! Are you connecting the dots yet?? The difference between a rational assessment of the facts as we know them vs wild conspiratorial shift-the-blame to the “Marxists” thinking. See Sen Mike Lee.

For a Christian you are weirdly ignorant of the idea of the Christian missionary. I guess Tim Tebow is a radical lefty.

The correct response would be this: Sorry, guys, I got caught up in some wild rumors."

This girl actually BROUGHT THE FAKE TIME MAG COVER to her interview. And still got hired.

Tell me when you've connected those dots 🤣 This aged well. Failed the famous Liz Truss Head of Lettuce Test. By about 2 weeks. Didn't even last 48 hours.

It's not hard to do a WOWY ("with or without you") for QB records based on injury games/backup starting. I did it a few years ago and didn't save my results. But the common wisdom seems right. For teams with really good QBs and playoff hopes, it's usually "let's find a backup who can play roughly .500 ball while the starter is out." Of course a lot depends on the quality of the backup, but for most journeyman backups the .500 goal is reasonable. The interesting thing when I dug into this: true "replacement level QBs" aren't nearly as bad as you'd expect. You sign a guy off the street because your starter and backup are hurt. Think Thad Lewis with the Bills in the Tyrod days. Or maybe Joshua Dobbs or Josh Johnson. Those guys aren't useless - they probably win about 1/3 of their games. So that's the baseline. Which is why it amazes me when a team's QB (or QBs) are so awful that they play less than .333 ball (6-11 or so) over an extended time. Think Jets.

Acting U.S. Attorney - Trump's chief law enforcement officer in MN - announces charges. "Hiding" the "manifesto." Notes guy was targeting all Democrats. @Big Blitz will have to amend some comments.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/senior-trump-official-embellished-resume-had-face-fake-time-cover-n1080356 From the first Trump admin. At some point it has to be "it sure looks fake but we don't care."

Because embellishment becomes a habit that's hard to break. Particularly for politicians: you say it once, it's on the record, it's awfully hard to back down with the old "I misspoke." It's also hard to tell what worked and what didn't work in getting you elected in the first place. If we disqualify everyone who b.s.'d their credentials there wouldn't be anyone left.

Looks like a Winner to me!