The Frankish Reich

QB Class of 2018 is looking awfully good right now.

I've been watching this one kind of half-heartedly, not having a rooting or betting interest, but this 4th quarter may demand my undivided attention!

I had missed the part where he endorsed Trump. I guess he would for his own selfish motivations: Even if Trump wins, he can only serve one more term. So Ron 2028 stays alive! (He will have to contend with Trump's VP if Trump wins, and I don't see how Ron could do it since the President and VP can't be from the same state. If Trump moves back to NYC and switches his registration to NY we'll know what's coming next ....)

You mean it's time to give up and take the loss on that 50 acres of land I bought near the new Darien Lake area stadium?

Vivek got the usual Ron Paul crackpot vote. It is amazing that someone who says that many stupid and childish things even gets 5%. After all that storm and fury, he is once again irrelevant. Always a conspiracy. Yeah, various prosecutors brought tons of charges because they wanted Trump to get a publicity boost and win the nomination. Don't overthink this. The "It's a Cult" posters have a far simpler explanation. Because ... It's a Cult.

I always look forward to the part of the campaign where old white guys pretend to have their finger of the collective pulse of young(er) black America.

Reaching back to the Greatest Hits to distract from the point that both of these presumptive nominees are seriously compromised individuals?

I'm no Ron fan. But even I'm a little confused (dare I say disturbed?) by how he got zero traction. Why? Well, because he has been an effective governor of a big state. I don't agree with a lot (most) of his policy agenda. But he's pushed it through, and he's been generally a forceful and accomplished practitioner of the modern post-Trump agenda. Scott Walker was pretty similar in 2015: he reoriented Wisconsin politics in a more pre-Trump Republican direction, despite having a fairly slim margin in the state house and in the voters as a whole. So here's what I glean from that: at least in the (post-modern/post-Trump) Republican Party, accomplishment in government really counts for nothing. Zero. No one cares. No one wants to hear about your record. It is irrelevant. It may even be worse than irrelevant - that is, an actual negative - because it shows that you've been a part of the government before. We dismiss you, Scott, Ron, probably Nikki starting next week. All that "Governor is the best experience for a Presidential candidate" stuff we heard since Reagan, through Bush 43? Over. Eff your resume. We like the septuagenarian insult comic.

Calling it now ... this is the only suspense left in the race. Allow me to lead with the ass-kissingest competitor: NY's own Elise Stefanik. Trump rather famously confused Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley earlier this week, saying "Nikki, Nikki, Nikki" refused to call in the troops to defend the Capitol on January 6 even though she was in charge at the time. Here's Elise's brown-nosing "explanation" of why it wasn't a Senior Moment. https://dailycaller.com/2024/01/20/elise-stefanik-spins-donald-trump-nancy-pelosi-nikki-haley-gaffe/

Bumping this one. For obvious reasons.

Can you imagine the uproar if Biden was caught blaming Ron DeSantis for January 6? “You know, Ron was in charge that day and he did nothing to stop the riot.” Two candidates who started out as not the brightest bulbs, now both solidly in rambling old man phase.

Other long run winners: The Carolina Panthers. The Detroit Pistons. The Colorado Rockies. The San Jose Sharks.

We are doomed.

The Rule by Davos Elite is probably the most compelling reason to vote for an outsider. Like Trump. At least he's not intimately tied in to these scumbags like all the investment bankers and power brokers who want to (continue to) rule the world for their own benefit. Oops. Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, Bridgewater hedge-fund investor Ray Dalio and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner found common ground in an unusual power center: The Hilton Garden Inn. A-Listers flocked to the hotel, a usually less-expensive option among Hilton brands, for its prime location as one of few accommodations inside the security zone of the World Economic Forum. Its 146 rooms were hard to snag. Some top executives settled for a room with two double beds. Blackstone CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman was spotted in a tête-à-tête with Kushner. In past years, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Apple’s Tim Cook have each held court there. https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/travel/bad-hotels-and-not-enough-wine-a-week-with-billionaires-1634c75c?mod=hp_lead_pos7 (Paywalled, but read the whole thing if you can. A funny take on Davos, which has turned into a kind of Shark Tank for all manner of new economy hucksters, etc.) EDIT: Looks like the whole clan is there!

Another example of how non-lawyer Julie Kelly has no idea what she's talking about. As she explains here, Judge Chutkan stayed the normal pre-trial filing deadlines. So normally all pre-trial motions would be due, say, 90 days prior to the scheduled trial date. But because Trump's immunity argument is still the subject of higher court review, she says that deadline doesn't apply for now. That was a decision that was very favorable to Trump. She didn't have to issue a stay; she did. So now Smith files a motion within the normal time frames. There's nothing saying that's forbidden. He could have waited, given the stay, but nothing said he HAS to wait. And that's what the judge decided. Bottom line: a frivolous contempt motion, that Trump's attorney probably should be sanctioned for.

Fat ass states shooting Ozempic like it's hillbilly heroin. But this time driving up insurance costs. https://www.axios.com/2024/01/18/ozempic-wegovy-weight-loss-drugs-states-map For every 1,000 people in Kentucky, roughly 21 were prescribed a drug that belongs to a buzzy class of diabetes and anti-obesity medications last year — the highest rate of any state, according to insurance claims data provided to Axios by health analytics company PurpleLab. The big picture: It's among a few Southern states, including Louisiana and Mississippi, that had some of the highest prescribing rates for drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Why it matters: The data offers a snapshot of where drugs known as GLP-1 agonists, seen as game-changers in the fight against in obesity, are most in demand in the United States. The states with the highest prescribing rates are also among those with greater prevalence of diabetes and obesity, per CDC data, a rough indication that the medicines may be getting to areas where they are in greatest need while shortages, high price tags and insurance restrictions have limited their use. Details: After Kentucky, West Virginia had the next highest prescribing rate, at 18.9 prescriptions dispensed per 1,000. That was followed by Alaska (17.5 per 1,000), Mississippi (16.1) and Louisiana (15.4).

The horseshoe theory again. A lot of bandwagon Trumpies were Bernie supporters first. Bernie, the self-titled "Democratic Socialist." Joe Rogan was one of them if I remember correctly. I'm not about to argue that the World Capitalist Economy is perfect. It's just better than the alternative. And it has kind of brought us unimaginable prosperity, which isn't exactly a bad thing.

When I was a kid it was "the Trilateral Commission." I just watched A Charlie Brown Christmas again, and it had a mocking reference to "A Big Eastern Syndicate" since that's what they called the mega-world conspiracy back then. Now WEF and Davos. Before then, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Or my favorite, the Report from Iron Mountain, which was written by some of these ostensible hidden rulers of the world as a parody, only to find itself taken seriously by a lot of conspiratorial fools.

Thanks for the response. We shall see. But his roughly 20% in the real (not poll) Iowa caucuses is pretty damn poor - looking at the average of the most recent Iowa polls, he was at 15.8%. So maybe he outperformed that by about 5 percentage points. I don't like it because I'm an Anyone But Trump guy now, but it just looks like Trump is putting it away early .... EDIT: I'm kind of amazed when polls these days turn out to be generally accurate. I mean, who answers a call from a pollster? But here, the polls had Trump at 52.4% in Iowa. Pretty damn close ...

Latest poll shows DeSantis with ... 5 PERCENT of the Republican New Hampshire Primary vote. Five percent? I know he hasn't run a good campaign, but really ... I'm starting to feel sorry for the guy. How could it have gone this wrong? I mean, objectively he should be a strong candidate in today's Republican Party. Is it really just a Cult of Trump after all? DeSantis supporters, please chime in!

Bustgate!

Good move. Your basic veteran punter. No reason to expect him to be anything other than adequate, which is all you can hope for.

Well ... on offense, yes. The O line starting 5 were intact all year. The only significant injuries were Knox and then Davis, and their injuries didn't overlap. But we paid the price on defense, and the injuries are stacking up at the worst time.

A reminder: Senile Man Confuses Accuser and Ex-Wife; Jury Decides Against Him

Last time Murray was actually good: 2022. Last time Fournette was actually good: 2021. So ... whatever. They stuck with the guy that was there all season.