The Frankish Reich

Just poke around Zillow in NW DC. Took me a minute.

Depends what your name is. I worked with a guy named Shannon. Now predominantly a girl's/women's name, but not always so. Let's call him Shannon Smith. He'd email people and they'd respond: "Ms. Smith ..." So he took to signing off on his email: "Mr. Shannon Smith." Which looked really stupid. Then he did that pronoun thing (he/him/his), not because he was woke (he really wasn't at all), but because then he'd get back "Dear Mr. Smith." So there.

You need to get out more. Here's what nearly 3 million bucks gets you in a "leafy" (why do they always use that term? I've seen a lot of trailer parks in "leafy" areas) DC neighborhood. "Mansion" to you.

Trump negotiated (well, had negotiated at his bidding) NAFTA 2.0. Now he is brazenly violating his own agreement. Negotiating does not include unilateral changes to the agreement that haven't been agreed upon.

As you well know, Democrats tend to resist privatization. (Not always that way; it was Jimmy Carter's primary domestic achievement.) But it ought to be - and traditionally was - the knee-jerk reaction of Republicans when something related to a government function failed. Will it still be? Depends on if the Musk wing or the Bannon wing wins I guess.

Seems like a sensible time for Trump/Vance to push for FAA privatization, no? Or are we going to waste the crisis by talking about DEI? https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-05-10/it-s-time-to-privatize-air-traffic-control

Not to mention the war in Ukraine. Both "very easy" problems to fix.

Hey, you do know that Kale will grow really well starting in March even in climates like WNY? Get on it! Victory Garden!! Who needs your damn avocados and limes and tequila anyway ... Kale chips, kale dip, charred cabbage, go local!

I hate to say it, particular around here, but ... ... maybe Josh Allen is an All Time Great in the same way Lamar Jackson is an All Time Great? Or Donovan McNabb? I mean, they're all HOFers, but Joe Montana and John Elway are usually thought of as being in a higher tier of greatness than Jim Kelly and Dan Fouts ...

Oh, that was advice for the hoi polloi. Nothing but freshly make guac for my tortilla chips. And they sell avocadoes so damn unripe that they actually keep well for longer than you realize. For you and your ilk: may I suggest what I will call All-(North) American "Freedom Guac" https://cookieandkate.com/kale-guacamole-recipe/

Depends what you call "elite." I would consider that term to apply to the top 5 (QBs, RBs) or top 10 (WRs, CBs, etc.) at his position. So Josh is a no doubter. I think Benford stepped up into that category this year. The others? Very good players, but you gotta leave room for the Saquons before you put a guy like Cook in there.

Kelce's been pretty clear that his life ambition is to become the next Dwayne "The Rock." Or maybe John Cena or whatever. Those guys aren't getting any younger. If they win this Super Bowl, the timing is perfect for him to make his big push.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-tariffs-25-percent-mexico-canada-trade-economy-84476fb2?mod=hp_opin_pos_0 President Trump will fire his first tariff salvo on Saturday against those notorious American adversaries . . . Mexico and Canada. They’ll get hit with a 25% border tax, while China, a real adversary, will endure 10%. This reminds us of the old Bernard Lewis joke that it’s risky to be America’s enemy but it can be fatal to be its friend. I'm going to Costco to buy a metric ton of avocados and tomatoes. Maybe some maple syrup too and a 50 lb bag of peat moss. I hope I'm not too late.

Got it. I’m the racist for questioning why Trump baselessly asserts that the crash had something to do with hiring minorities or disabled people.

Good for you! Now let's come up with a term for people who have real serious money. I mean, with inflation - and particularly home values and 401k's going up almost exponentially - there's a bunch of millionaires everywhere you look. Billionaire is a whole different league. It's very serious money. But what about the comfortably rich, don't really need to work a day in their life if they don't want to? Even "multi-millionaire" is no good anymore. What, that's 1 ... 2 ... multi. That's not f-you money. Ten million? Maybe that should be the new million. But what's the term for ten-millionaire? We need one. Now.

A little logic. The type of thing every company/agency should do when something goes horribly wrong. PROXIMATE CAUSE - FIRST ORDER ANALYSIS What was the proximate (lawyer word meaning "immediate") cause of the accident? - Human error: Military helicopter flying too low, off course, erroneously confirming visual avoidance of CRJ FUTURE SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS - SECOND ORDER ANALYSIS What lessons should we learn going forward? - change helicopter paths between Key Bridge and Wilson Bridge ------already suspended by FAA this morning; will likely be changed permanently - improve military/civilian/Tower communications ----- nothing so far? - improve military helicopter training/certification plans -----nothing so far? - better staff ATC to allow more aggressive tracking/warnings ----- improve recruitment and retention FUTURE SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS - THIRD ORDER ANALYSIS Subset of "improve recruitment and retention" ---------- streamline hiring process ---------- better pay/benefits to retain experienced ATCs ---------- investigate whether DEI initiatives actually assist with recruitment ---------- investigate whether DEI hires perform more poorly than non-DEI hires In other words, Trump first posted about the First Order Analysis ("not complicated ... helicopter too low"), then weirdly jumped right past everything else to one particular explanation/remedial course that is far, far distant from the proximate cause. Why did he do that? I suspect to deflect attention from "a bad thing happened on my watch." Or to cynically use a tragedy to advance a policy goal that is very far removed from the actual bad thing that happened. Or to reinforce his belief (attractive to some of his supporters) that white non-disable people are best at the job - a job that was apparently performed in a by-the-book manner by this particular Tower controller.

Every once in a while your humor hits. Congrats. Going edgy is the key.

The waiting was the hardest part, wasn't it Tarheel ...

Nice try. No really, at least you came up with something tangentially tied to what actually happened, unlike Trump himself.

I just got a look at one of the Blackhawk pilots. White guy (RIP). I don't know the race of the air traffic controller in the DCA tower, but sounds like a white standard American English male voice. DEI "may" have something to do with the horrible accident says President Trump. He cited all the disabilities one may have and still be eligible to serve as an air traffic controller. Hell, even dwarfism! When pressed about any connection to DEI, he says it's just "common sense." How so? He didn't even go to the classic fallback: "the focus on DEI caused the FAA to lose sight of it's critical mission." So no fair giving me that. Can any Trump supporter provide an explanation? Are they furiously looking for a black dwarf to be the fall guy?

Whoah ... I just noticed the last name on the list: STEPHEN A. SMITH at a robust 2% WE'VE FINALLY FOUND OUR VERY OWN TRUMP!

Well that's fine then. Maybe Adam Schiff's voice causes your sphincter to tighten the way RFK Jr's voice makes me want to cut myself.

Oh my. We're getting testy. I will make sure to be the thread police when you post one of your many "but Biden" missives all over the place.

On the other hand, RFK Jr's mellifluous tones are an audio babe magnet. Or maybe it was his constant supply of coke.

Amigo!