The Frankish Reich

Let's just say I'm really glad on clicked on that tweet from Jason Whitlock. Spoiler Alert: it's kind of a rambling version of this. Trashification. Idiocracy. Trump.

Of course it makes a difference! That's why we give doses based on human tests. The point is that neither Trump nor RFK Jr. has any basis for suggesting that current approved doses are wrong.

WTF, changed my mind. Bring on the Full Idiocracy Convention! Dana White has taken this wimpy interim step of Face Slapping when he should've gone straight to Ow! My Balls!

I wasn't aware of Babydog. I'll be looking forward to that. https://doitforbabydog.wv.gov/ Still, the return of old style cornball Republicans will be reassuring to my aging psyche. I don't think I can handle any more normalization of porn stars and face-slapper promoters.

The perfect opportunity for Biden to show he has the cojones (ouch! the mental image that conjures) to actually fire someone. But Jill loves her so ... no.

Is that for real? "Small doses" says the expert on immunology? Like he's tested what dose is safe and effective? But in today's world, everybody's an authority. In other words, here's one for @phypon I wonder how roofers manage to do it? Maybe they should ask!

Let's say some court voids all NFL player contracts tomorrow. Everyone is an unrestricted free agent. My guess, biggest contract to lowest (this of course takes age into account): 1. Mahomes (clear first) 2. Allen (fairly close second) [big gap] 3 - 6: some relatively close ordering of Burrow, Herbert, Stroud, Jackson [another big gap] 7-8: Goff/Prescott or Prescott/Goff

Good points. We also need to remember that a government that dispenses benefits incentivizes people to stay put, even if there are no decent jobs where they live. Check out Kevin Williamson's article, which predated JD Vance's Hillbilly Elegy. I'm rarely shocked by reporting these days, but this one kind of shocked me: “The draw,” the monthly welfare checks that supplement dependents’ earnings in the black-market Pepsi economy, is poison. It’s a potent enough poison to catch the attention even of such people as those who write for the New York Times. Nicholas Kristof, visiting nearby Jackson, Ky., last year, was shocked by parents who were taking their children out of literacy classes because the possibility of improved academic performance would threaten $700-a-month Social Security disability benefits, which increasingly are paid out for nebulous afflictions such as loosely defined learning disorders. “This is painful for a liberal to admit,” Kristof wrote, “but conservatives have a point when they suggest that America’s safety net can sometimes entangle people in a soul-crushing dependency.” https://www.nationalreview.com/2013/12/white-ghetto-kevin-d-williamson/

Abstract rankings mean nothing. I go with what economists would call revealed preferences. If Josh Allen plays out his contract, how much is he offered in a bidding war? Is it more or less than Kirk Cousins? Than Lamar Jackson?

It is a human tendency to try to find some sense - even some corrupt, evil sense, like a bargain basement coup attempt - in any tragedy. But we need to remember that very often the simplest answer is the correct one.

Yes. But how can you embarrass a man who consorts with porn stars?

There's a tough love message there that is important. Reagan decried the "welfare queens," which was primarily aimed at black America. Clinton followed with the welfare reform bill that does seem to have had a small effect on breaking the cycle of poor incentives that perpetuated the underclass. Nobody is really proposing the same thing for white rural/small town middle America, although that is an underlying theme of JD Vance's Hillbilly Elegy - government handouts (huge percentages of people on disability and food stamps, for example) seem to perpetuate a culture that is work-averse. But Trump/Vance are unlikely to address that because, after all, those are the new Republican Party's core voters. Kevin Williamson at National Review did a fantastic (and kind of shocking) series of stories - later turned into a book - about the cycle of poverty in this part of white America. For example, he follows food stamps recipients who every month buy cases of soft drinks with their food stamps (Coke and Mountain Dew are SNAP eligible, thanks to the soft drink lobby) and then turn around and sell those products for cash from the local convenience stores. It happens like clockwork on the day SNAP cards are refilled. What can we do when a culture becomes so dependent on benefits that it saps all desire to work your way out of poverty? I am disappointed that politics means that JD Vance will likely not advance the kind of tough love policies that may be needed.

Me too. But I honestly don't know how to do that, and I don't think Trump and JD Vance have any idea either. I just saw Billy Joel. (Don't laugh ... he's a guilty pleasure for me. I went to Catholic High School and that "Catholic girls start much too late" song was kind of an anthem. He's in remarkably good voice for a 75 year old who tried his best to destroy his body over the years. Anyway, I digress.) He sang his "Allentown" song. "We're living here in Allentown, and they're closing all the factories down." 1982. I was in high school. 40 some years ago. We all saw the problem back then, and successive administrations have tried to stop it (at first) and then undo it (later). Nothing has really worked. - Reagan thought you should create "enterprise zones" and use the tax code to incentivize businesses to invest in these declining areas. And if that didn't work well enough, maybe we should give people money to help them move to booming regions in the Sunbelt (that part was never enacted). Success was limited at best. - Trump thought (and still thinks) we should use tariffs to make imports more expensive and domestic production cheaper. That has definitely helped big steel and big lumber, but has increased costs for manufacturing/building dependent on those now higher-priced raw materials. So it's kind of shifted the deck chairs on the Titanic. - Biden thinks that the government should be directly involved in industrial policy. The CHIPS Act promises some success in some areas where Intel, etc. got a big chunk of taxpayer money to build assembly plants. But even if that works to some extent, we really can't be doing the same thing for every industry or we'll wind up like the old Soviet Union. In other words, o.k. because chip manufacturing has national security implications (we can't be 100% dependent on vulnerable Taiwan), but not a model for future policy. Your idea of shifting power away from the Unions is economically sound. I appreciate the serious thought. And it probably would lower production costs and incentivize manufacturers to invest in places like Ohio. But those jobs would, of course, be lower paying with poorer benefits, which isn't exactly what the Allentowns of the USA are hoping for. So again, 40+ years and we're still kind of in the same place. Smaller scale manufacturing is doing just fine in the USA, but the big industries are still suffering. I've come around to thinking that nothing will bring those back since other/lower cost producers just have a comparative advantage now that we can't defeat without bankrupting the country and/or the American consumer.

Blitzy, I see you've tacked hard from the "Amber Rose was an inspirational RNC Speaker" spin to the "Yeah, but The Democrats Have Their Own Embarrassments" spin. Which proves my point, doesn't it?

For once Alex Berenson gets it right. And as far as the kid's politics: we know from his classmates that he considered himself a conservative, even to the extent that he was willing to stand alone when kids were asked to group themselves by political orientation.

She literally allows her 10 year old to be on Only Fans. Sexualizing children Isn't THAT what sends you into a tizzy?

Fair assessment. Again, what's missing? Any idea of how "America First" translates into policy that will raise the standing of the American middle and lower classes. Ultimately that is the issue that propelled him into the public sphere. But what would he do about it?

Ladies and gentlemen, we are now fully into the silly season of Battling Terrible Economic Ideas. Tariffs. Rent controls. Massive debt forgiveness. Massive incentive to make jobs Tip-Dependent (Amber Rose will do great with those Only Fans tips!)

True. I have a friend who's a Poli Sci Prof. His line is "coalitions in American politics are never stable." And the last 8 years proves that. Democratic coalition, 2020: highly educated people, blacks of all economic classes (men and women, but more pronounced with women), Hispanics of all classes (same, with of course regional differences) Republican coalition 2020: poorly educated, men of all economic classes, people who identify as very religious. If the Trump-era Republicans make more inroads with one of the Dem-backing groups, the Dems will tack in a different direction to get one of the Rep-backing groups. Coalitions in American politics are never stable. Yes. And that was a legislative priority, and they got it done even with a Republican-controlled House. I am talking about "effective" as in "forwarding your party's policy agenda." Trump was effective in getting Paul Ryan's tax bill passed in the same way, then woefully ineffective on everything else. You can blame Democrats for that, but ultimately you either got it done or you didn't.

81. 81 years old. 82 around election time. Every month matters when you're in your 80s.

Watch Wes Moore. He's where Obama was in 2006.

Yes, she is a role model not just for her own children (Bash and Slash, as the forehead tattoo says), but for all children, including those 10 year olds just embarking on a life on Only Fans. https://people.com/amber-rose-says-son-10-told-her-i-have-an-onlyfans-too-and-doesnt-care-about-moms-page-8402294 Allow me to go to B-Man's bag of tricks here: What would we be saying if the Democrats gave a prime-time speaking role to an "adult content model" who praises her ten year old child's first foray into the world of Only Fans? Wait, wait, I'm thinking ... ... Got it. GROOMER!

Sorry, I took your scare quote "better" to mean "something other than actually better." Because otherwise why put it in quotes. http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/

Joe Biden has demonstrated that he (or o.k., he and his minions) can do the job. There's a political part of the job - all the campaigning (and yes, debating) that he's clearly piss poor at now. That's the "public part" I was talking about. His opponent, on the other hand, is very effective at the public/campaigning part, and very ineffective (look at the firings/resignations/Cabinet officials who've called him an idiot/moron) at the private part of the job. Would be nice to have someone who's good at both as our President, but this is American democracy in action. You can't always get what you want.

In other words: "Only Fans Adult Content Model Now Supports Hooker Banger Trump" I stand corrected. She did give Satanism a forum. So good on her. HAIL SATAN!