The Frankish Reich

So maybe Argentina isn't a new economic powerhouse of unbridled freedom and prosperity yet. Krugman's Substack provides the best explanation of where we are. And yes, I am hoping Milei succeeds. But what to make of the U.S. essentially handing him a $20 billion unsecured loan to bridge the gap, if indeed it is bridgeable? Is that "America First," or is it billionaire bond traders first? https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/talking-with-maurice-obstfeld Bessent can come in with $20 billion or $40 billion, and that might delay the day of reckoning, but if you look at what Argentina owes, they owe about $8 billion just until January. They owe the IMF almost $50 billion. They have other foreign obligations. They need to earn foreign exchange reserves and just to do that, they have to convince private markets to lend their money, which is going to be very hard. So at some level, it’s sort of a slow drip to insolvency and maybe the US can delay it, but to really put them on a firm footing, I think the US really has to be willing to do whatever it takes for an extended period and just pay their bills. I don’t think the political process in the US can tolerate that. We can talk about what the politics are in the U.S, but even if you look at the statement President Trump made standing with Milei in the Oval Office the other day, he said, “well, we’ll support you as long as you’re doing well,” and Bessent tried to walk that back very quickly. But that’s not the kind of thing that will convince markets that the US is “in it till they win it.” Bessent justifies the extraordinary deal by referring to Argentina as a "systemically important ally." The Financial Times deadpan response: this is "news to many." And how does slapping a tariff on Argentina and then kicking them back $20 billion fit in with that? Answer: it doesn't. It is incoherent and counterproductive. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Donald Trump 2.0. https://abovethelaw.com/2025/10/us-taxpayers-bail-out-argentinas-bank-as-trumps-tariffs-help-it-steal-american-farmers-largest-market/

I don't think I've ever seen an older looking player than Aaron Rodgers with his helmet on. Maybe George Blanda when I was a kid?

Leadership! "Closely tracking" Thank you!

Already posted. ZVA (Zero Value Added)

Pittsburgh kind of scares me with Rodgers looking like the 39 year old Rodgers. So ... go Bengals?

You need to learn. A well-placed Clappy emoji or an emphatic "Me too" adds rhetorical oomph. How will I know whether you approve or disapprove of our gerontocracy? Someone was just celebrating Clarence Thomas's birthday. Is that good or bad?

/ / / / / / / / / / Still got his Old Man Crush on Svetlana! https://inteltoday.org/2017/04/02/flynngate-the-mysterious-svetlana-lokhova/ Natasha Fatale lives!

Is he in VA? I thought it was Asheville. Maybe I'll stop in Rehoboth Beach too to see the Real Joe. Can I build in the Research Triangle too? I will wave to the passing biological supply salesman on his route.

You've been ratio'd!

https://www.wineenthusiast.com/culture/wine/virginia-wine-petit-verdot-petit-manseng/?srsltid=AfmBOorHPRbVx7fqjgRbjiWyepinnCUKpqwVb6w0IaJSzRw7ES1-2YxY

I don't think I've ever had a 100% Petit Verdot. Is that what it is? I will have to visit Central Virginia and check on this whole naval aviator/winemaker thing.

I would like to compliment you on that insightful comment to your cut-and-paste in the Fetterman 2.0 thread: "Me too." Original thought, where are you hiding?

Before the obsession with "narrative control" here, there was another similar obsession. As a grown-up, I didn't even know what it meant: Ratio'd. I looked it up. It means the ratio between likes:unlikes (or whatever they call it on Twitter; I don't have a Twitter account) to a post. So the same people were all excited when, say, a Kamala campaign post had 3:1 negative reaction. The rest of us were perplexed. I mean, does that tell me anything other than "new" Twitter/X has 3 times more right-wing than left wing subscribers? Or more accurately, 3 times more politics obsessed right-wingers than regular people? No. It doesn't tell me anything other than that. Why would a grown man (and they are all nominally men) care about this nothing statistic? Do the same people care if a poll shows the Dallas Cowboys have 3 times more self-identified "fans" than the Buffalo Bills? Are these the people who scream their heads off when some pathetic old nostalgia act says "Now right side only ... who's ready to rock and roll tonight!" Are they thrilled if their side is a touch louder? Yes. Yes they are. But such is the immaturity of the Trumpist. And it flows straight from the immaturity of that 79 year old who reposts ret@rded (he said that word is now in vogue again!) internet memes. Ratio me!! Use that little pukey emoji. I'll be crushed.

Now that's some narrative control at work.

REMINDER (isn't that how B-Man Bot personalized his twitter feed?):

YOU ARE NOW UNDER MY NARRATIVE CONTROL. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.

Hey, buddy, I just did a little public demonstration of how stupid this "narrative control" thing is. You are not likely to see me competing with the more frenetic posters, not here and not on the football side. In fact, I'm a very reluctant OP creator. What I was trying to point out is the utter pointlessness of simply cutting and pasting someone else's tweet. Really, if I want that Twitter feed, Twitter's algorithm is really good at providing that. If it's actual breaking news, well, fine. That's kind of the Yolo role over on the football side. But I see zero value (actually negative annoyance value) in reposting a tweet or blog commentary by some other (generally unknown) person, without any meaningful additional comment (i don't mean a clappy hands emoji) of one's own.

I now have complete narrative control. haha

Not about to let you guys reassume Narrative Control. My Bot is bigger than your Bot! (Clappy hands emoji)

The Clappy Hands emoji is adding value! By the way, I am sooooo burned up about that image of an old grandfather bragging about himself while driving his granddaughter around a golf course. Wow. If only my people could do that.

I think she meant Dupont. Kinda like how Trump mixed up Azerbaijan and Armenia. And somewhere in there was Albania too. Whatever. But I will commend the B-Man Bot for adding a presumably original thought about the No Kings rally this weekend. Then again, indistinguishable from AI "write a comment on the government shutdown from the perspective of a Trump supporter." So still NVA.

B-Man Bot needs to be reprogrammed to check what's already been posted on PPP. Zero. Value. Added.

It's a B-Man Bot trifecta! One auto-generated line in the last 3 posts.

Oops, the B-Man Bot is Back! Cleverly trying to pose as a human by inserting the language like "how did he lose his legs" in one out of 3 posts. Not fooling me anymore.