The Frankish Reich

Pagan monument. Should be replaced with replica Ten Commandments slabs.

It is, as they say, a binary choice. A second Biden Administration. Not a wonderful thing. But stable. Predictable. How many cabinet secretaries has he fired? I think the answer is zero. Not even Lloyd Austin. We used to have a word for dull, predictable, even keel: Conservative. I don’t really even care if Biden isn’t a hands-on guy. Reagan was a good president in my estimation, and he was famously not a details guy. And he did fine even though we know, in retrospect, that he was in serious mental decline during his second term. A whole new Trump Administration? The first one was chaotic. Firing people left and right. Inner circle people calling him an effing moron. And a pledge this time around to have no more strong personalities to rein him in, just sycophants kissing the ring. Radical policy proposals like 60% tariffs to set off trade wars. Prone to 180 degree turns on any number of issues and policies. Unstable. With no trusted, consistent advisors to temper that instability. And yes, losing it in his own rage prone, dangerous manner. We used to have a word for that: Radical. Two deeply flawed candidates, both in their decline. One becoming more dependent on the circle of trusted hands around him, one lashing out at his former trusted hands and promising to do it all his way, all by himself the second time around. Easy choice.

Lee DaVinci update: He had 8 monthly Spotify listeners when we last checked in on him. He's lost one! Now just 7. They're falling out of love with his dick! B-Man: rescue him before it's too late!

First question: we've gone over it ad nauseam. I do think at a minimum the France parachutist/photo opp video was deceptive. Second: I think he's mentally fit now. I have no way of knowing whether he'll be mentally fit when he's 86, and there is certainly cause for concern. I would have rather seen a younger candidate. I would have also rather seen a younger, more stable opposition candidate. We play the hand we're dealt.

Everyone's an expert. I have no reason to doubt that Biden has the severe arthritis the reports say he has. If you want to talk about memory slips, etc., fine. But the old man has trouble walking, climbing stairs, etc, and that's really not terribly surprising for an 81 year old.

I get the thing about Biden's diminishing mental capacity. I think it's overstated, but I get it. So it's fair game as long as you play it fair (and don't edit videos unfairly, etc). But I don't get why people are so eager to jump on an 81 year old man with (as his own medical reports say) "moderate to severe arthritis." Do we think that someone with mobility issues is not fit to be president? Was FDR not fit to be president?

More grade inflation in Florida? I mean, even more?

Alex Berenson has made a helluva lot more money off fools like this one ^ than he ever did writing for the NYT.

The things that he "lied" about are things like overstating the likely value of mask-wearing. This can be seen as advice to the country that there is something you can do to try to slow the spread rather than cowering in fear at home alone. Really not different than Trump admitting to Woodward that his early overly optimistic proclamations were intended to stop a panic from happening. In retrospect, neither one was a good decision. Although it does appear that people generally did not panic, but rather kept calm and carried on.

Nicely done, Mark Cuban. As for Alex Berenson, anti-vax profiteer? 🤮 Now for Trump: - Release your college transcript. Let's see for ourselves whether you're genius level - Release your actual medical report. Not the Ronnie "Johnson" laughable summary. The real one. Weight, prescription drugs, all that. - Answer the following: did you have sex with that woman, Ms. Daniels? Or that other woman, Ms. McDougal. Or both. - Sit down for a full interview with PBS. No questions barred. No editing. For both candidates: - name the countries bordering Ukraine - name the head of the EU - name the prime minister of Spain - what is the name of the international agreement that governs U.S. treatment of asylum seekers? When did the United States join it?

That was bad enough. Now the Biden Economy threatens the core of America's economic might: the social media influencers. Where will it end?

Trump was at 38 in June 2020. And yet he almost won (wasn't it 70,000 votes shifted in 3 states?) Or if you listen to him, he did win. Of course that's electoral college dynamics. Biden won the popular by about 5. The weird thing about this election: we have two "incumbents." Two candidates who are as well known collectively as any two candidates in history. Both extraordinarily unpopular candidates in historical terms. And a lot of the national polls still have RFK Jr. at about 9 percent, which will no doubt crater. If I were a betting man, I'd say Trump will win it just because of the electoral college edge. But I still expect Biden to win the popular vote, but maybe by just a point or so less than in 2020. But as they say, this is June ... we have major, major things to come. Debate performance. Trump's VP pick. Trump's sentencing. An October (with the accelerated calendar, I'd say September) surprise from either side. A major change in world affairs - full on Hezbollah war, a Russian "incursion" into Georgia/Armenia, North Korea/Iran doing nasty stuff, a terrorist attack, a stock market/housing/commercial real estate bubble burst ... and obviously the unknown unknowns too.

He said "I made her fall in love with my dick." As his 8 Spotify listeners are well aware. I know, I know. I kid! But really: of what value is it to post and re-post some struggling rapper's desperate attempt to get attention. It tells me nothing about the state of the black electorate. You then revert to polling/stats, which has some value. Why not just start there?

Stevolangelo's competitor? I see that he has 26 followers on TikTok. Correction: 27. B-Man also "likes to watch black women twerk" (that's straight from Lee's insta) 8 monthly Spotify listeners too! Now 9 as B-Man plays Track 2 on an endless loop.

And in the "good news for election geeks" category, I see that Nate Silver will now be doing his presidential forecast on his substack: https://www.natesilver.net/p/pollster-ratings-silver-bulletin Free, at least for now. First one will be out before the debate! One general comment from me: it seems to me that national polling is still (astoundingly, given response rates in the days of cell phone polling) pretty good. On the other hand, state-level polling is pretty bad. Iowa is now one of those no-doubter red states, so I'm not arguing about that. But the key states (Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada) are still really hard to read, perhaps because they depend so much on turnout rates.

Fauci, on the book tour, is 83. Older than both our candidates for president. Just watch one of his many interviews. He is still sharp, direct, and yes, at the top of his game. Maybe not in pure research anymore, but at the top of his game as a communicator. Regardless of your opinion of him. Compare: Biden, Trump. Those two are embarrassing, each in their own special way.

I'm glad someone is publicizing these numbers. They are correct, and they show that the estimates of the number of aliens living in the USA in fully illegal or quasi-legal ("paroled in" or "released pending asylum adjudication") status is far greater than the official estimate of around 11 million - an estimate that hasn't changed even after about 6 years now of huge numbers of illegal entrants.

Look, I'm sure if I take all Registered Democrats, sworn to secrecy, most of them would prefer not being stuck with Biden. And it I took all Registered Republicans, sworn to secrecy, most of them would prefer not being stuck with Trump. Therefore I must conclude that there is something wrong with our nominating process, but it doesn't appear that either party has any interest in changing it. Certainly not the Republicans, who have now installed Trumpkins as party leadership.

Sad, left-behind Kris Kobach thinks he has one final publicity run left in him. No, Kris, you will not be appointed AG if Trump wins. Time to just go away. Fauci on the book publicity tour. A fine man and a fine public servant. We should be thankful for his service.

Personal experience with an old relatives who gets them. It's like a fountain of youth for about 48 hours. High-dose Prednisone does that too.

they did an ill-advised merger with Family Dollar

Again, no need to speculate. 9 days. And now you guys have managed to set such a low bar ("he's dying before our eyes!") that even a doddering old man performance will be viewed as a resurrection. I can't be bothered, but surely you remember all those posts from 4 years ago about how Biden will die or resign within a year to hand the presidency to Kamala?

Have you ever been in a Five Below? Trash merch like big packs of candy for $5. No business plan that I can ascertain. They're probably skipping it for Walmart and the Dollar Store.

Probably. I think you need more experience with the really old (not just us) folks.

So, again ... you don't like that the rich are getting richer. What should we do about that?