The Frankish Reich

I have no idea what Musk actually posted/retweeted, so I have no idea whether his companies ought to suffer any consequences. Was it so offensive that no one dares to repeat it?

Ahh, some logic out of Logic. With a win we're back to a 27% chance of making the playoffs (the Jets would drop to 4%), which is a whole lot better than where we were at this time when we ended the drought in 2017. Reminder: November 19, 2017: Nathan Peterman gets the start and throws 5 INTs. The tank was on, but it didn't work. If it had worked we probably would've drafted Sam Darnold. Believe!!!

So a guy who stormed the Capitol on January 6 and has not yet been arrested would have had "no idea" he was being investigated. After 1000+ of his comrades have already been arrested and convicted. That's what this lawyer is claiming. "No idea!" "The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion."

No! Say it ain't so!! Congress just got a whole lot less amusing. Now we only have Groper Boebert, that Senator who wants to pick a fight with the Teamsters boss (watch your back, dude), Serial Elbower Kevin McCarthy and his accusers, Matt the Frat Gaetz ...

I was gonna go with Clyde Drexler. Or maybe Karl Malone. But hey, I like this one! Maybe Joe Brady is Tex Winter. Or maybe these analogies have run their course.

I see from my local listings in Colorado that this will be our network late game on Sunday. Back in the day this no doubt seemed like a winner: Aaron Rodgers vs. Josh Allen! Both teams in the thick of the playoff hunt! Now? I'll be watching, but for my fellow Colorado NFL fans it's kind of like getting Bucs-Falcons.

I think we need a new defensive coordinator too. Someone who knows how to avoid the big play. Someone like … Leslie Frazier. I hear he’s available!

And he's only 76! A mere child in comparison to our main party candidates. Seriously, though: I would have guessed he was around 68 with that Manchin hair and demeanor. The path is clear for you Joe! The path toward zero electoral votes since your state is obviously going Trump.

I don't agree with a lot of what you've said here about the Israel-Hamas war. But I appreciated having your perspective.

Kevin McCarthy just budged me in the lunch line! I'm gonna got tell the Principal right now. Get that Matty Gaetz kid to file a formal complaint!

And now that Paul Pelosi hammer attacker David DePape is on trial, we get to see how preposterous those manufactured "theories" were about Pelosi and DePape being gay lovers, or DePape being the world's most flabby gay hooker. David DePape planned to wear an inflatable unicorn costume and broke into Nancy Pelosi’s home to speak to her about Russian involvement in the 2016 election, he testified in San Francisco Federal Court Tuesday. A tearful DePape said his plan was to get the former House Speaker and his other famous “targets” to admit to their corruption and eventually get President Joe Biden to pardon the group. That's right. An "inflatable unicorn costume." Are we sure it wasn't going to be an inflatable deranged rhino costume? To all the Elon Musks who were "just asking questions," well, we have your answers: “He was never my target and I’m sorry he got hurt,” DePape, 43, said of Paul Pelosi. “I reacted because my plan was basically ruined,” adding he wanted to ask Biden to pardon his targets “so we can move forward as a country.” DePape said he would listen to political podcasts that supported right-wing conspiracies as he played video games six hours a day. He's starting to sound like some of our PPP contributors. On one of those podcasts, he heard conservative commentator James Lindsay talk about Bay Area scholar Dr. Gayle Rubin, a leading academic in feminist theory and ***** studies. “The takeaway I got is that she wants to turn our schools into pedophile molestation factories,” he said of Rubin, who has been referred to as “Target 1” in federal court documents. Rubin also testified on Tuesday and said her writings were misconstrued to fit a narrative against the gay movement. When asked by DePape’s defense attorney if she supported child abuse, Rubin replied, “Absolutely not.” In his blog posts that have since been taken down, DePape often wrote about QAnon and unfounded theories that former President Donald Trump was at war with a cabal of Satan-worshiping Democrat elites who run a global pedophile sex ring. Correction: he's starting to sound exactly like one of our esteemed former PPP contributors, and that contributor's self-identified "Ghost." https://nypost.com/2023/11/14/news/david-depape-man-accused-of-attacking-nancy-pelosis-husband-with-a-hammer-in-their-home-apologizes/ Maybe Elon will post a big "never mind" on Twitter X today. Definitely someone else will post a tone deaf comment about how I always seem to find a QAnon link. That may be because there is a QAnon link.

Von: dead cap hit of $32 million if released after this season. $15 million after 2024. Best decision: keep him one more season, see if he can become at least productive again. Honest assessment: on offense, Allen is the only untouchable. Diggs has trade value (not much though, given his contract) if he really wants out and becomes a distraction. He can try another team that underperforms in the playoffs, the Cowboys. Knox has a bad contract given his performance. $7.8 million dead cap hit if released after 2024, so like Von, your best bet is to keep him around and hope he gets healthy. Dawkins is a keeper because of his contract, plus he's still performing at a high level. Nobody else. You'd want to keep Cook because of his rookie contract unless you trade him. Torrence too. On defense: No untouchables. Von, because of the contract, is a keeper for at least another year. The guys still on their first contracts obviously too, like Rousseau. I'd have said Milano pre-injury is close to untouchable, but now he's a keeper because of his contract. Dead cap hit is unmanageable until after 2025, so you keep him and hope he makes it back. Tre has a $10 million dead cap hit after this season, and I'd be really surprised if he comes back with the Bills at least - they'll have to eat that and work the cap in other places. And I agree on the safeties. So this is a rebuild period. Rebuilds can be done really quickly these days after the bad contracts start to be shed and younger players step in. Having a top QB (and yes, I still consider him as one) like Allen is still the key. Everything else is manageable. But you've got to be willing to accept one, and probably two, down seasons. That means wait until 2026, with a new coach, and given their seemingly inseparable bond, probably a new GM. Having Allen makes the Bills an attractive position for both. Might as well get on with it starting on Black Monday 2024.

I hope you're wrong. But I fear you may be right. The big thing for Dorsey and Josh to keep in mind is that the Broncos will struggle mightily to score in the twenties. In other words, the 24 points I predicted for the Bills will be enough. There's no need to take big chances. On offense, something I forgot to mention: take Russ's well established hesitancy to throw in the middle of the field. Add in Courtland Sutton's inability (fear?) of going over the middle and the lack of a decent tight end, and basically the middle of the field is still a wasteland for the Broncos passing game. Jeudy has made a some catches over the middle, but it's still a big hole. The screen game - a Payton favorite - is getting a little better for the Broncos, so they'll use that to try to negate a big pass rush. But I still believe that even our beat up defense can hold them under 20 if we avoid turnovers/big special teams plays.

Scouting report from a Colorado guy who's watched way too much Broncos football: - Bye week, so Sean Payton was hitting the video hard? Umm, no. I hear he went to Cabo last week. So one solid week of prep ... - Offense: Payton does have the run game working now. Javonte Williams will hurt us up the middle. He's tough to bring down and is finally back in pre-ACL form. Perine is also a load to bring down up the middle. I hope Linval Joseph is in mid season form and can play a lot of snaps. Jaleel McLaughlin is their Deonte Harty but younger, with better instincts, and an outside threat. The Broncos passing game is still a work in progress. Russell Wilson still holds the ball too long and lacks the escapability he had in Seattle. He can still throw with authority if he has a lane; he's more susceptible than ever to batted down passes. So a pass rush is key, even more than in most games. Receivers: horrible TE situation, but Jeudy is finally playing well and Sutton's length makes him a great red zone target. Mims is a rookie flyer who can hurt you deep or on an end run but not really integrated into the passing game. Broncos main issue has been finishing drives, and while I think they can move the ball I'm not confident they can convert drives into more than a couple TDs max. - Defense: let's be honest, they gave up in that game where Miami put up 70. It's to their credit that they pulled it back together. Yes, they were lucky vs. KC, but they also do have playmakers: Simmons is as good as they get at safety. Pat Surtain Jr. is as good a CB as there is - not many QBs challenge him. Josey Jewell and now Nick Bonitto are also playmakers. I'm not so concerned about the pass rush, unless of course Vance Joseph dials up more blitzes than he usually does and the Bills once again fail to pick them up. It sounds stupid to say that a team that gave up 70 has a good defense, but I'm gonna say it: it's a good defense ... when reasonably healthy, which they are now. Strategy: on defense, find some way to plug the middle and stop the run game. The Broncos pass game is still pretty rudimentary and Russ will turn it over/take drive killing sacks/cause his line to hold as he hangs on too long. On offense, take what they give you! They have the playmakers to make Allen pay for trying to force things. Other than Surtain the CBs aren't very good, so just throw to the side opposite him and watch out for Simmons. Gabe Davis, this is your chance to shine. I think we can run the ball up the middle, less so to the outside, so let's see some Fournette and Murray. Special teams: Don't give Mims a chance to burn you; easier said than done. He has special return talent. The Bills, even with a beat up defense, are the better team, but this could be a close one and could really go either way. Bills 24, Broncos 20.

As they say of the Democratic Republic of Congo: it is neither.

Fetterman, for a guy who has asked for the patience and support of his colleagues as he rehabbed from a stroke and then clinical depression, turns out to be kind of an ass now that he's back in the game. Maybe lay low for a little bit and do some good work behind the scenes instead of grandstanding?

And it's perfectly fair for you to have this opinion. But it isn't an "America First" opinion, since it isn't based on what's best for Americans. Rather, it is based on the idea that we ought to step up to support people who have a religious claim for our support, whether or not it materially benefits America.

"Manifesto?" Some scribbled notebook rants of a disturbed failure-to-launch 28 year old are now elevated to the status of a Manifesto? Ted Kaczynski turns in his grave.

So you would support no aid to Ukraine, and no aid to Israel? That's consistent. I think it's a bad idea, but it is consistently bad. What I'm hearing from the Republicans in DC is inconsistent AND bad policy.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-11-06/israel-hamas-latest-middle-east-wars-spur-us-inflation-and-recession?srnd=undefined&sref=htOHjx5Y Niall Ferguson, a conservative, agrees with me regarding the geopolitical dangers of giving Israel carte blanche and of having the Middle East conflict escalate.

A question for our so-called America First proponents. They take what would be traditionally call a realpolitik approach to the US involvement in world affairs. Democracy and self-determination are laudable goals around the world, but sometimes you gotta make deals with and help out countries that aren't exactly the finest examples of democracy and rule of law if it's in America's interest to do so. So ... I hear, "Ukraine and Zelensky are corrupt too. And this territorial fight between Ukraine and Russia is their thing that's been going on for a century or more. A vital U.S. interest isn't at stake. We shouldn't be sending more money there to prolong what is at best a stalemate. We should also be concerned with the geopolitical effects of further supporting this: Russia is now aligned more closely with Iran and North Korea, making the world a more dangerous place for America. No more aid for Ukraine." But I also hear, "Israel was attacked by a small sliver of land run by a terrorist organization. That is a terrible thing, and they have the right to fight back, and we should help finance them in their righteous fight. To hell with the geopolitical implications: if it brings Iran/Hezbollah into the conflict, or if it destroys the Abraham accords, or if it foments hatred of America throughout the entire Arab and Islamic world, well, then, we'll just have to deal with that. More aid for Israel, please." I don't get it. They seem alike to me. An evil force attacked, without cause, the civilian population of the other, either through bombing of city centers (Kiev, Kharkiv, etc) or through terrorist raids on civilians, killing them and taking hostages. To me, both righteous causes, and we should support the victims, but we should also advance America's interest by making sure that our aid doesn't make the geopolitical environment worse. I see more downside to funding Israel unconditionally. MAGA types seem to see the opposite. Why? Shouldn't they say we don't have a dog in either fight? Let's spend that money on closing the border or whatever?

Waiting for Pizzagate Jack to weigh in?

To open another can of worms: they essentially "traded" Singletary for Harris. Singletary hasn't done much, and Harris has done less. But the major issue now: we're down late in the Cincy game. You'd think Cook would be on the field given his explosive speed/quickness. But ... no. They needed help in pass protection and they have zero faith in him to do that. So grind out the clock/short yardage guy Latavius Murray was out there. Remember: running backs don't just take handoffs. They have other important jobs too.

He was wide, wide open on that deep ball that Allen overthrew a couple weeks ago. Other than that, he hasn't shown anything.

That says it all - "the Saints under Payton." The Broncos under Payton have another undrafted/tiny free agent they're getting a lot of value out of, Jaleel McLaughlin. We'll see him next week. He's good. You really shouldn't spend big for these guys. You find them in late rounds or as undrafted free agents. And then you have to have an idea of how to integrate them into your offense. The Bills kind of did with McKenzie under Daboll, and had no clue with Hines or Harty under Dorsey.