Coffeesforclosers

Interesting point regarding roster building philosophies. I went back and did a quick dig on the Raven's post season record in the Lamar Jackson Era, along with the number of Ravens selected to go All Pro and/or Pro Bowl 2018-Lost in the Wildcard to the Chargers, 3 All Pro, 4 Pro Bowl selections. 2019-Lost in the Divisional round to the Titans, Lamar's first MVP year. 6 All Pro, 13 Pro Bowl selections. 2020-Lost to us in the Divisional round, 2 All Pro, 7 Pro Bowl selections. 2021-Missed the playoffs. 3 All Pro, 5 Pro Bowl selections. 2022-Lost to Cinci in the Wildcard, 3 All Pro, 7 Pro Bowl selections. 2023-Lost to the Chiefs in the AFCG, Lamar's second MVP year, 6 All Pro, 8 Pro Bowl selections. 2024-Lost to us in the Divisional round, 6 All Pro, 11 Pro Bowl selections. In the Lamar Jackson era, the Ravens have missed the playoffs once, been one-and-done'd twice, and made it to 1 AFCG. With a roster that usually has more than it's fair share of Very Good to Elite players. So long as you have an MVP level franchise QB, "Solid and Deep" seems to beat "Stars and JAGs" in consistency over time. At least in a Bills/Ravens comparison.

Seems like the ideal game for Kromer to take a sledgehammer to a crummy run defense. And let Joe Cool seethe on the sidelines.

Gentleman's disagreement then. The only team I'm worried about in the playoffs is the team we can never beat in the playoffs. Otherwise, I can live with "Any Given Sunday", but *****in A we should win it all.

Sounds like the typical Bar S experience.

Don't overthink the KC game. The sooner they're mathematically eliminated, the happier we'll be. Agreed.

Pointing out doomerism means you're a mcclappy homer, don't you know that?

Great, shitcan Syrsky next.

What we'll actually get: 1. Some Florida Georgia Line knockoff from the Nashville Factory of Country Pop. 2. Billy Joel. 3. More Mr. Brightside because the players like it and some accountant at the NFL knows its the unofficial anthem of the UK.

I've got to read more on the English Civil War's effect on the founders. If for no other reason than what began as a war to establish the relative power of King and Parliament, ended with 12sh years of puritan military dictatorship.

Thanks! The only historical interpretations of America I tend to dismiss out of hand are the Progressive ones. Charles Beard and his "Everything boils down to economics" pap is the definition of reduction to absurdity.

May as well throw in Rousseau and see what comes out! I put Trumpy's thoughts on Calvinism and its influence on the Revolution into ChatGpt. It laid out about a dozen different historians from four or five different schools of thought on the subject, and their books. Best use of Chatgpt I've ever come across

Are you sure about Calvin's influence specifically? I'm curious, since the 13 Colonies were a haven for Protestant non- conformers and Calvinists weren't really known for their pluralism (but then again, no one really was at the time). What parts did they like?

The documentary starts by stating the Iroqouian Confederacy may have influenced Ben Franklin's ideas on the Albany Plan of Union. That's pretty much it.

I thought they were talking about the Albany Plan of Union.

I hope you're right, that seems like a workable set of compromises. ...but it'd be great if this could have happened without all the fumbling, ham-ham handed nonsense that Marco Rubio managed to patch up.

How Rubio Tried to Bring a Pro-Russia Peace Plan to Middle Ground: While President Trump attacked the Ukrainians, Secretary of State Marco Rubio flew to Geneva to seize control of negotiations that were going off the rails.

Grenier is a very good book on colonial war making, specifically vs. Indians. He's taking on Russel Weigley of The American Way of War fame, and Guy Chet's Conquering the American Wildness: The Triumph of European Warfare in the Colonial Northeast. Gnaddenhutten is one of many, many massacres we perpetrated while practicing "extirpative war". Grenier's actually got the balls to say the first American Way of War was a-ok with torturing and killing noncombatants, burning their homes and fields, and paying people for scalps in order to win. He's also got the signed documents and letters from the Continental Congress, Founding Fathers and state legislatures to prove it, which is the important bit.

Reading books. I'm working through Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy's The Men Who Lost America. Dean Snow's 1777 is very good. Just re-read Jonathan Grenier's The First Way of War...actually does Burns cover the Gnaddenhutten Massacre at all?

This can't be repeated enough.

...again.

Sounds like a really strong, humanitarian argument for ending the war as soon as possible. Should be pretty easy to do with skilled diplomacy and a fresh set of eyes. Especially now that Sleepy Joe is gone. It's not like we're sleepwalking through a bloodbath that Biden couldn't prevent and Trump can't end.

Translation: All those world leaders and US Allies think the proposal is a bag of *****. But so long as you take some time to fluff the President's ego, he'll change his mind or lose interest and do whatever. We'll just have to wait and see, this will probably take about two weeks to sort out.

Here's the actual proposal, so people can read it.

So since he's apparently a great guy, can we get a "MAMDANI-MAIN STREAM ANTI- COMMUNIST" thread? Or something like it? We can stuff it full of tweets where Jack Posobiec stands there looking ######ed and the President sings his praises?

She said it's because Trump is a pedophile with the cash and influence to make her life a living hell. She doesn't want to fight a fight she can't win. Nothing dumb about that, but we can definitely talk about her courage and convictions...