The Frankish Reich

And I sat next to a guy with "Moorman" on his luggage tags on my flight to Buffalo yesterday.

So even Julie Kelly agrees that here "headline" - one judge issued a dissenting opinion about why the decision favoring Jack Smith should be reconsidered - was not the real story. Real story: Smith wins, Twitter (and yes, by having their interests aligned here, Trump) loses. She cites a Fox News headline to try to show that the mainstream media's reporting is bad. Yes, that headline is technically incorrect. It says the DC Circuit Court rejected "Trump's" petition; it was really Twitter's petition. But let's see what the Court actually decided (in Jack Smith's favor). From that same article: Smith plans to use data from the cell phone former President Trump used in his final weeks in office — including data revealing when Trump’s phone was "unlocked and the Twitter application was open" on Jan. 6, 2021. Unsealed court filings in August showed that Smith's team obtained location data and draft tweets in addition to the former president's messages. Attorneys for the company, now named X Corp., attempted to block and delay the effort in January and February, leading one federal judge to speculate that X owner and one-time CEO Elon Musk was attempting to ally himself with Trump. The social media giant ultimately lost the struggle, however, and was forced to hand over an extensive list of data related to the "@realdonaldtrump" account, including all tweets "created, drafted, favorited/liked, or retweeted." Good legal work by Smith and his team. They are foreclosing any argument that "someone hacked my account" or "I didn't post that myself" by getting records showing that Trump tweets (and, importantly, deleted tweets) came from devices under his custody and control. This is critical to the "what did the President know about the riot/insurrection and when did he know it, and what did he do to encourage/discourage it" issue. So yes, this is a major loss for Twitter and Trump. Unless the Supreme Court intervenes now (which is very unlikely), the Twitter account evidence will be used at trial.

True. It's almost as if he never said he hates Trump. All is forgiven. He feeds them what they want to hear.

Scaramucci the Second.

Yep. I get it, typing fast on a phone, etc. But those would be the ones to spell/grammar check ...

So, in other words ... the court decided in Jack Smith's favor. Talk about burying the lede.

Short Answer: Yes. Longer Answer: Maybe not "just" poverty, but overwhelmingly poverty over any other factor.

Davos hooker story: Just do a find-and-replace and the NY Post can use this story again next month! Instructions: - for "Davos," substitute "Las Vegas" - for "WEF," substitute "Super Bowl" Shock journalism is easy!

The map by county shows the poorest counties in the 50 states are in 4 main areas: - Indian reservations (Dakotas, NM, AZ) - the heart of Appalachia (WV, E KY, the mountain part of VA - the old plantation belts (lower Mississippi Valley arcing NE through the Carolinas) - lower Rio Grande Valley https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-county-rankings/poorest-counties-in-the-us So ... one almost all Native American, one largely non-hispanic white, one largely black, one largely white hispanic.

I suppose you could say the same thing of Al Gore ... the Iraq War was obviously a personal thing for Bush 43, and in retrospect I can't see that it would have gotten any traction under any other President.

No. Vivek Ron Paul'd himself. He started to believe his own bs - or at least believe that Iowa voters would buy his own bs - and he's now marginalized himself even in the Party of Trump. All for what? $100 million??

He sounds almost giddy for a guy who "hates Trump passionately." It's almost as if he knows what side his bread is buttered on ...

And so we are right back where we were in 2016, except ever more so. Trump, despite the power of "incumbency" ("I've won twice already!") still hovers at around 50% support in his own party, yet that party seems powerless to coalesce around a candidate more acceptable to the majority of Americans. Ron DeSantis, meet Scott Walker. Nikki Haley, have a cup of coffee with Carly Fiorina.

The strongest correlation is obviously to poverty. Or perhaps even more to median educational attainment, which of course in turn correlates to percent of vote for Republicans

And guarantee all of it for injury. Tropical Tua.

It's hard for a QB to learn a new system in a couple practices. It's hard for an O lineman to learn a team-specific blocking scheme, or a WR to learn a team-specific route tree, or a DB to learn team-specific coverages. But every NFL team does exactly the same thing on punts and FG attempts. Not that big a deal for an experienced hand (err, foot)

That, plus Murray and Fournette are about as similar as RBs come as far as rushing/receiving. Murray is older, but Fournette seems to have more mileage on him. They are both very useful players, and it was a good idea to sign Fournette for depth. But I don't see any compelling reason to choose one over the other, except of course the pass blocking.

And why not Murray over Fournette? Murray played that limited role effectively all year. Fournette hasn't shown anything to separate himself. Strikes me as kind of a toss-up.

True. Back when Norwood went wide right from 47, that was a difficult kick for kickers of his time. It really isn't (or shouldn't be) anymore, simply because the quality of kickers in general is so much better now. Good article on exactly how good NFL kickers are now: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/12/09/nfl-kickers/ "What’s unique about kickers’ success this season is how frequently coaches have trusted them — with justification — from length. NFL teams have attempted 177 field goals of at least 50 yards, already the third most ever and on pace to break the record set last year. Kickers have made 67.2 percent. Jan Stenerud, the first kicker elected to the Hall of Fame, made 66.8 percent of his field goals — from all distances. Jake Elliott delivered one of the signature moments of the season when he drilled a 59-yard field goal off wet turf, through wind and driving rain to push the Philadelphia Eagles into overtime against the Buffalo Bills on Nov. 26. The circumstances heightened Elliott’s kick, but he is hardly alone. Four kickers this season have made a field goal of at least 60 yards, and 11 have drilled at least one from at least 57."

FG kickers 30 years ago were not on the same level as FG kickers today. Gary Anderson was thought of as the best back then. In 1990 he went 8 of 13 from 40+. That's ... 61 percent. And his longest FG was 48.

Bad for the NFL: Cowboys, Eagles out. Good for the NFL: Lions, Bills, Packers still in. Good for the NFL: Mahomes vs. Allen. Again. People can find a reason for why it is "fixed" regardless of who wins. The NFL wants viewers and attention. They're getting it regardless of who wins what game.

No. But I'm pretty sure some of our mock draft experts scout those players.

I don't want to jinx it, but ... ahh, what the hell: if this patched-together defense continues to play well against KC next weekend, it'll be one of the best coaching jobs I've seen. There's just no way any other team loses so many key players and continues to play at this level.

You want a guy who: - won't fumble a snap - will get the kick off on time - will be generally adequate: sufficient hang time to prevent a big return, etc. Anything else is a bonus. Sometimes "just good enough" is good enough. There are guys out there who've punted a lot in the NFL, who've stayed in punting shape, who are waiting by the phone .... Sam Martin was one of those guys when the Araiza thing blew up.

And you weren't listening. The extreme poverty measure is set at $2.15 a day. Not an hour. A day. These are people who are largely disconnected from the world economy at large. A little bit more of a connection, a lot more ability to make the journey to the U.S.-Mexico border. That is consistent (not inconsistent) with the fact that more and more people are being brought into the international economy, even though that also brings with it such things as increased illegal immigration.