The Frankish Reich

The walls aren't closing on the Biden Impeachment Inquiry. No. The door to the hearing room is closing. Comer: we demand testimony from Hunter right now! Hunter: bring it on. Comer: oops. We're not ready.

Yes, it will fail. But it's telling that libertarians like the Kochs (or is there really only one of them now?) have put their money behind Haley. I think her instincts are sound, and if the Republican Party is ever going to return to something other than a cult of personality, she would be a good person to start that.

Comer subpoenad Hunter. If he wasn't ready for Hunter's testimony, then he needed to get statements from all the other witnesses - "Hunter's financial manager" - first. I don't know if Comer is a lawyer (if he is, he's a bad one), but the committee staff has plenty of them, and they just got schooled.

You beat me to it. Steelers 3rd stringers beat us all over again.

It's over. The Biden Impeachment thing. I was in favor of the so-called impeachment inquiry. I thought there was enough smoke to investigate. Hunter and his attorney just called Comer's bluff. I can think of no reason why Comer's investigators wouldn't be salivating at the thought of grilling Hunter live on TV unless they simply don't have any true damning evidence to to confront him with. The Republicans will stall and let the clock run out on this so Trump will still be able to riff on the "Biden Crime Family" in his rallies without actually having to show that what they've got is ... nuthin.

Ouch. The truth, it hurts!

Yeah the Bears have been Uber Bearsy tonite.

Bring in Belichick! He's only 71.

So maybe Justin Fields isn't the next Josh Allen. But I still think the Bears will get one of the 2 top college QBs. And Fields will get his chance in another organization. He'll spend the offseason getting the footwork up to speed with Jordan Palmer. He'll get a competent OC. He'll get a competent O line. He'll get a weapon or two to throw to. And he'll be good.

I love the guy. But I have a feeling he's about to turn into a pumpkin. Aikman: "not having his best season" haha

And, after all, what's the matter with a tie? I mean, in regular season? 1970 Chargers notwithstanding, "no overtime" may incentivize teams to play for the win during regulation - things like more 2 point conversion attempts, more likely to go for it on 4th down rather than kicking a FG to tie it, etc.

Conversation starter: Justin Fields is the next Josh Allen. Fix his offensive line and get him a Diggs and you've got yourself a franchise QB. Discuss. Or maybe don't.

https://futurism.com/sports-illustrated-ai-generated-writers

Other than Jason Kelce false starting. Which he didn't do on those plays.

That I'd pay to see.

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.