The Frankish Reich

Easy to ridicule, but the Biden Administrations War on Junk Fees is a small but important step in consumer protection and basic fairness. I just ate at a restaurant that added a 2.9% "surcharge" that I didn't notice till it turned up on my check. No explanation for it. I just stayed at a hotel with a $35 per night "resort fee" that included access to the pool. Which was closed. There is no way to tell the hotel, "that's o.k., I didn't plan on using the pool/fitness room anyway, so take that off my bill." That is the essence of a junk fee. You have to pay it, you have no ability to opt out, it ought to be factored into the list price. I don't know what to do about out-of-control solicitation (demands?) for tips, but let's figure that one out next.

Well, some recent success. But like all coaches, his fate rested on the quality of his quarterbacks. - 2017: Colts go 4-12 (under Chuck Pagano) with Jacoby Brissett at QB - 2018: Reich takes over, they go 10-6 and make the playoffs with Andrew Luck returning from injury - 2019: Andrew Luck jumps ship, Reich goes 7-9 with Brissett again - 2020: Colts bring in Rivers, Reich goes 11-5 - 2021: Rivers retires, they bring in Wentz, go 9-8 - 2022: elderly Matt Ryan is not elderly Philip Rivers; Reich fired - 2023: rookie QB in Carolina, one win, fired I'm not so sure this is anything different than McDermott. - 2017: 9-7 with Tyrod - 2018: 6-10 with rookie Josh - 2019 -2022: no worse than 10-6 with peak Josh The QB really is that important. Much more important than who's coaching. See Belichick, Bill.

It certainly didn't look like a swing and miss until he ripped up his knee. It was a "future is now" gamble. It worked for the Rams the year before, and it almost worked for the Bills last year. Until it didn't ...

You're right about that steinsman1981 - classic bot posts! On the other hand: Most of the posters on PPP are so out there that no bot could replicate their content ....

These posts are all over the place. Just skimming the pages, I get: - Individual officials or even players may be gambling on the NFL and deliberately impacting outcomes - There may be a conspiracy among the NFL and/or officials to favor certain teams and/or results of certain games. This may be to keep records bunched closely together to keep fans involved, or it may be to elevate certain teams to the playoffs and/or the Super Bowl - NFL leaders may be talking to officials during the course of the game to encourage them to call more/fewer penalties against certain teams. There is no evidence for any of this. All I see is that officiating is supposed to be bound by strict rules, but that the application of those rules in individual games is always subjective and plagued by apparent errors. I'm not even seeing something like this from the NBA: https://theathletic.com/5084943/2023/11/22/chris-paul-scott-foster-ejection/ Namely: NBA ref Scott Foster obviously has something against Chris Paul.

SHOCK: Russian dictator manipulates AI in anti-American propaganda effort.

Well, I don't know about that. But what I do know: whether it's Biden, whether it's his advisers/staff, the United States so far is managing this terrible situation about as well as could ever be expected from anyone. Not bad for a senile idiot who doesn't know whether to exit stage left or stage right.

There is nothing "concerning" about this ChatGPT response. It takes a ridiculous hypothetical and then spits out how any Philosophy 101 student should begin his or her essay answer. And then doesn't reach a conclusion other than "think outside the box." It reveals just one thing: Elon Musk is worried about losing the AI race.

Absolutely true. It was during COVID, and was meant to protect US oil producers, so you can argue about whether or not it was a good idea, but you can't argue about the fact that it happened. From the NYT at the time: But a complete free fall of oil prices into the single digits — something not seen in two decades — appears to have been avoided. President Trump’s recent public lobbying of Russia and Saudi Arabia to lower production helped raise prices several dollars a barrel, allowing many American companies to limit their losses. Energy experts acknowledged Mr. Trump’s role in the deal. “President Trump, who spent the last three years criticizing OPEC, became the de facto president of the producer group,” said Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets.

Sounds like you had a lot more people than I did (4 lbs of green beans, etc.). You also added some special things (cookies). I didn't count things I ordinarily have (butter, spices), but I will note that my roughly 6-8 bucks a person fits with what the American Farm Bureau estimated: $62 for 10 people, or six bucks each. https://www.fb.org/news-release/cost-of-thanksgiving-dinner-down-slightly-from-record-high-in-2022 That's not a White House or lefty site - it basically is a lobbying group for American farmers, so I don't really see any reason for them to falsify the tally.

What really bothers me about McD: no sense of urgency or of any need to adjust strategy/tactics to the situation. A little game theory approach: The Bills desperately needed a win. Not a tie. A win. Philly? Of course they wanted a win. But a tie would be very useful to them, given that they'd still be a one-loss NFC team and everyone else has at least 3 losses. So the Bills absolutely needed a TD in overtime. What I saw suggested that a TD would be great - game over! - but a FG would also be o.k. The play calling up till the final play suggested that. Allen has that killer instinct. Does McD?

You will be walking away with the assistance of a walker at this rate.

The idiotic "ice the kicker" thing. Which has zero support in past results. Plus that timeout would've been the difference between trying to pull a 13 seconds thing and taking a knee.

Tua fell properly a third time! Avoids hitting his head on the turf.

So: - Less than a minute left in the half, McDaniel has Tua throwing it up 10-0 even though the Jets have shown absolutely no offense. Pick 6 for the Jets. - Even less time yet, McDaniel has Tua trying again to score, and Tua thrown nothing but idiotic 10 yard throws with zero chance of getting in FG range in time - Two seconds left, and Saleh tries for a hail Mary for whatever reason, instead of congratulating his guys for being just 4 points behind at the half. Stupidest game ever is true.

He will never, ever live that down

And that's why you just run it.

Amazing. Usually you have to have shown something at some level. He's 29. And he's still getting an NFL paycheck.

Siemien is kind of like having Kyle Allen as your backup. Nothing inspiring for sure, but a perfectly competent backup NFL QB. I don't know what to even call Boyle.

Right. Kind of astounding that this Tim Boyle guy is in the NFL. We just heard the announcers say he admits he was terrible in college. In the NFL? 50.9 QB rating over the course of 18 regular season games, including 3 starts. It is hard for any QB to be that bad. Example: Thad Lewis, journeyman signed off the street a couple times, including by the Bills. Career QB rating? 81.4. I guess he's just good at being Rodgers' wingman.

Tua fell beautifully again.

I think it's pretty hard to maintain any kind of intensity or focus on defense when you know your offense can't do anything.

I think Bryce Petty was better. I'm not sure but maybe even Christian Hackenburg.

Ouch. At least you're able to stream it at work.

I disagree. If Rodgers was the 2022 Rodgers - not anywhere near MVP status or even Pro Bowl status - that would have been a huge upgrade from what Wilson and now Boyle have given them at QB.