The Frankish Reich

Uncomfortable truth: ICE is staffed with two types of agents. There are the professional (primarily criminal) investigators. They have long been embarrassed by being associated with the rest of ICE, so they've tried to rebrand themselves as Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). But organizationally they are still ICE, and Trump is increasingly pulling them away from criminal investigations to assist with mass deportations efforts. And then there is Enforcement and Removal, which is staffed with some smart and professional officers, and a lot of, well, men and women who couldn't qualify to get a proper federal law enforcement job. Some are goons, plain and simple. Some are lazy. There are a lot of military veterans, and again, some use that experience to adjust rapidly to a civilian chain of command, and others just think they ought to be able to do to American citizens or even illegal aliens residing in the United States what they thought they could do to Iraqis. These are the vast majority of Trump's urban strike force. Bad, bad sh!t is gonna happen. They are actively being encouraged to go rogue, and they lack the professionalism to reject that encouragement. Unfortunately, this won't end until something really bad does happen.

Thanks - fantastic report! Question: is it fair to say that none of our receivers can consistently gain separation vs. good CBs? You note that Palmer seems to be the most effective at good old fashioned route running, but was he open more than we thought? Shakir and Kincaid operate effectively against zones or when faced with a mismatch (LB/S), but that's kind of limiting ...

I never thought I'd say it, but I miss Diggs. He just reminded us what it means to have a true elite receiver.

Yep. Another exhibit in the sad disappearance of he "maverick Senator."

"But instead of charging Margolin, the Marine Corps moved him to an air base in Miramar, California—referred to as a “coveted gig” by Marine attorneys. At the time of his transfer, in August 2014, Ewers served as the staff judge advocate to the commandant and was directly involved with what duty stations his judge advocates were assigned to, attorneys said. “When [Margolin] didn’t get processed for separation, you could have knocked me over with a feather,” said a retired judge advocate who served with Margolin. “If you think people didn’t notice the clear and abundant favoritism, in the words of the immortal Judas Priest, ‘you got another thing coming.’ But it was par for the course with that group: You were either in their little tribe, or you were sucking eggs.” Margolin retired two years later with full benefits. “I’ve seen enlisted Marines court-martialed for less,” said a retired senior defense attorney. Margolin is currently serving as a supervisory immigration judge in Santa Ana, California. He did not respond to interview requests." https://thewarhorse.org/sharkys-and-the-golden-boy-military-justice-abandons-the-vulnerable-to-protect-the-powerful/

The lol emoji is for that last sentence.

Thanks. This is actually a very thoughtful essay on the whole tragedy.

If the divas fight will it be in burkas?

Off topic: Chad Kelly made $583,000 (I think Canadian) last year. Not bad. I hope he is saving some ...

I looked it up ... the AFL's minimum salary was 9K for rookies, 10K for vets. But that didn't come until a CBA was ratified in 1968. Yes, even 9K was a very handsome salary back then, but it wasn't that way in the early 1960s.

This is what I mean. It starts small (some evil group of people is secretly running something behind the scenes), and we've seen that once someone takes that step it's not that difficult to convince them that Charile Kirk was wearing an exploding mic and that Mossad did it.

My dad worked at the airport back in those early days. He'd have stories about the Bills player loading bags back then. The exception was Cookie Gilchrist, who always acted 100% The Star.

Mossad is slipping. All those 3rd Base Coach signals are pretty bush league.

Yeah, it's ever-shifting. I need to send a progressive poster to Hawaii to keep the overnight advantage. Because it is important.

I kind of miss COVID lockdowns. Everything is so damn crowded again.

Whew. That was a close one. Thanks to Big Blitz for calling in the code blue. When I last checked, the Top 10 threads were dominated by those started by MAGA types. I can now breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Maybe Tucker will spot Ray Epps in the crowd at Utah Valley University. Just admit that you loved Tucker until he went in too deep on the conspiracy theories for your taste.

Oh, and that happened just now. Some of us mistakenly thought he was a fringe kook ever since he left The Weekly Standard.

This thread has gone strangely quiet. We used to get weekly gushing updates about Tucker's latest gem. I hear Laura Loomer is now considered the slightly more sane (less insane?) one in MAGA world. Takes some doing.

Flacco has 9 lives, and he's only used 8 of them. I predict a few big games before he finally rides off into the sunset.

Let's say you're a government official. You are accused of accepting $50,000 in a takeout restaurant bag. Your response: A. "I don't even know what you're talking about. Of course I've never done such a thing" B. "There was an investigation and I've done nothing wrong." Only people who have actually taken $50,000 in a takeout bag answer B.

Well, no. Not yet. Both sides think they can make public opinion think the other side is at fault. Too soon to tell.

There are multiple factors in gold's rise. A quick look at the value of gold in Swiss francs suggests that about 1/3 of the rise in the price in USD is due to excess inflationary expectations in the US. Gold is up YTD about 30% in USD, about 20% in CHF. I have long had about 10% of my retirement portfolio in gold, so I'm (personally) happy, but generally concerned. Laddered TIPS are also great, and I've shifted to about a 60/40 domestic US to international equities mix over the course of the year. Some International equities are seeing a boost from the dollar's depreciation.

(((They))) took out Charlie! Isn't that the way QAnon used to do it?

Some things don't go away. It takes them a while to bubble up in public consciousness, but they don't go away. We understand there's a video of him taking the cash. That video will surface. Note that Homan himself did not repeat the Leavitt talking point that he didn't take the money ...