The Frankish Reich

Ahh, Ace Ventura. I googled it. Man, that's a long time ago ... I see that "the guy" was making the same allegations as early as 2008 (trying to derail Obama's candidacy). That's when he said he'd even take a polygraph, which he proceeded to fail. So it's old news, Obama ignored it then, it didn't gain traction then, I imagine the same thing will happen now.

Here's what I learned a long time ago. I believe it still holds true today. 1. In the modern world, democracies don't got to war with democracies. Really. Try to find a counterexample. At least one side is some type of authoritarian government. This is called "the democratic peace." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_peace_theory#:~:text=The democratic peace theory posits,better than democratic peace theory. 2. Wars are therefore explained by two factors: (a) the existence of an aggressive dictatorship or other undemocratic regime; and (b) the lack of effective deterrence. We can easily see that with Russia and Ukraine. Factor (a) is self-evident. Factor (b) is seen in the weak - in reality, nonexistent - consequences of Putin's invasion/annexation of Crimea, and in the tepid expressions of support for Ukraine in the international community, including the United States. With respect to the USA, this is not a Republican/Democrat or Obama/Trump/Biden issue. The support for the independence of an intact Ukraine was tepid under all administrations. There was likewise a lack of clear support from Europe; imagine something formal from Finland and Sweden saying that they are beginning negotiations to join NATO with an eye toward doing so if Russia does not respect the territorial integrity of the (non-Crimea) Ukraine. Sometimes the theory does explain everything, but we only recognize that in the rear view mirror.

This is a caricature of "liberal politicians." Yes, there are some of the defund the police sort who probably believe every police shooting is an outrage. But unfortunately we live in a gun-crazy society where many police shootings are justified as self-defense or in the interest of saving the lives of others. And I haven't heard any outrage from the liberal politicians in my area in response to several high-profile shootings.

Helluva way to "end" a war. And yeah, that won't embolden Putin at all. As I understand it, Musk isn't saying he's doing it to favor Russia or disfavor Ukraine or any such thing. He simply doesn't want his company to get involved in the hostilities at all. If he provides Starlink access to Ukraine to facilitate civil communications, and continues to do so, that's still a good thing.

Yes, it is. But I thought Donald's main attraction (other than that superhero bod) was that he is a straight shooter and not a politician.

Who? I have no idea what you're talking about. It's called the Streisand Effect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect Right now it's just that little corner of social media (don't kid yourself; most Americans probably don't even know who Tucker Carlson is) that's obsessed with the story. He sues, suddenly it's mainstream.

True. Believe it or not, I have posted likes and agrees for lots of posts coming from people ostensibly on the other side of the political spectrum. Read the post before responding!

I've gotten the eye roll when I post something I'm quite sure he agrees with. It's knee jerk. Poster = A; Response = B (eye roll) There's a thread here about "why are you here?" I was nice and said sometimes I learn something. People have different experiences and knowledge, and believe it or not, sometimes I do learn something. More often, though, it's like a window into people who are just impervious to logic or reason. People who keep posting the same things even when I've pointed out how they are objectively wrong. Example: I've now seen the "Vanguard and Black Rock own a huge percentage of Apple/Microsoft/Netflix/Whatever." I've pointed out that this "ownership" represents the mutual funds/ETFs that individual investors and things like pension funds own. Vanguard/Black Rock do not own them in their own portfolios. Instead of saying, "thanks for the clarification" or at a minimum simply not repeating that misunderstanding, they continue on as if nothing has changed. So I'm not here to change anyone's mind. But I have learned a lot about how some people are so dug in to their beliefs, even if those are based on misinformation, that those beliefs will never change. That's real insight ...

Profoundly stupid. In political science, statism or etatism (from French language état, "state") is the doctrine that the political authority of the state is legitimate to some degree.[1][2][3] This may include economic and social policy, especially in regard to taxation and the means of production.[4] While in use since the 1850s, the term statism gained significant usage in American political discourse throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Opposition to statism is termed anti-statism or anarchism. The latter is characterized by a complete rejection of all hierarchical rulership.[5] Yes, I reject anarchy. Go ahead and play your childish revolution of the masses games while you call other people "commies."

Woke --> Commie --> "Statist" Someday you guys will come up with a term that actually sticks with the general (non-cult) electorate. Actually, "statist" is a label I'd wear proudly. At least with respect to what it actually means in political science, not in twitter monkey world https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statism

This is the poll that finally convinced me that it is a cult. A cult of personality, or whatever you want to call it, but a cult. It doesn't have anything to do with policy or ability to get things done, and it certainly has nothing to do with stability and having a steady hand at the wheels of power. It is simply a cult. This is why Ron DeSantis, who believed he could get traction by outflanking Trump on the right on culture war issues, has gained no traction at all. He didn't understand that nature of the almost sexual attraction people (mostly men) have to Trump.

He learned from the master, Donald J. Trump. Never admit anything. Never say you made a mistake, or that upon reflection and new information you changed your position. Just act like your prior statements never even happened, even when they're right there on video for everyone to see.

Perhaps someone out there remembers this guy, who bears a striking resemblance to Obama's alleged coke associate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kimberlin You guys need to spend some quality time with drug dealers. Hint: they're typically not the most honest and reliable people.

Rypien and Dilfer were not similar. Rypien had a relatively short peak, but when he was at his peak he was very good. Dilfer was never good. He was just lucky to be the QB on a team with a great defense. As for Wilson: he's also not in Rypien's class. He's far, far better. We are all Josh Allen fans. Wilson in his prime was an XS version of Josh Allen. 2014: 849 rushing yards. 2015: 68% completion percentage, 34 TD, 8 INT. He was elite.

That's great news. I think like pretty much everyone else here, I had a lot of fun with the Caveman Mike thing and the up in smoke videos he posted. But 10 years have passed and he's still only 36. I need to remind myself of how young a lot of these kids are when they're at their peaks and in the public eye. I wouldn't have wanted the world to know everything I did when I was in my early 20s. Yes, hang in there Mike ...

That's easy: - Ashlii Babbitt, moronic crusader, was deeply into all things Q Anon - Fat amphetamine head who was trampled also left us a nice trail of Q Anon social media posts - Heart attack guy called for Obama to be put to death (why? well, for various conspiratorial fantasy reasons) and aired support for the Proud Boys All I know about the stroke guy is that he started a business making Trump themed kangaroo stuffies. Which is more pathetic than evil.

Yes, twice in a row. Old joke: Kid walks in on his parents having sex. He asks, "what are you doing, mom and dad." Dad says, "playing poker." Next day kid walks in on his brother waxing the carrot. Kid says, "what are you doing?" Brother says, "playing poker." Kid protests: "I thought you needed two people to play poker." Brother responds: "Not if you have a good hand!" Ol' Tarheel has a good hand. He can performatively "ignore" everyone else and respond to his own comments.

In other shocking news, I have it on good information that books about Michael Jackson sold a lot more copies than books about Huey Lewis. And that books about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sold a lot more than a biography of the Queen Mother. (So this is where B-Man is going. Scandal sells, Trump's behavior has been scandalous, Biden's has been comparatively dull, therefore he must have beaten Biden. Is B-Man a pseudonym for Rudy Giuliani?)

I remember James Carville's line about Clinton's so-called bimbo eruptions: "You drag a hundred dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know who might turn up."

There was the damn fool who tried to break a window into an inner secured area protected by an armed officer who got shot and died. There was a fat woman who got trampled by her exuberant fellow rioters. Her death was later ruled as caused by accidental amphetamine intoxication. There was a man who was so excited/out of shape that he had a heart attack before he could barge into the Capitol; early reports, sadly apparently erroneous, were that he tased himself in the gonads. There was another man who had a stroke and died. Both he and the heart attack guy were found to have cardiovascular disease. Here's to these winners, martyrs for Donald John Trump. RIP.

This Larry Sinclair sure sounds like a reputable fellow: Carlson, 54, speaking on the popular Adam Carolla Show last week, said: 'In 2008, it became really clear that Barack Obama had been having sex with men and smoking crack.' 'A guy came forward, Larry Sinclair, and said 'I'll sign an affidavit' and he did, 'I'll do a lie detector' and he did,' he added, calling Sinclair's claims 'obviously true.' In fact, Sinclair notoriously failed the lie detector test in 2008, and then publicly accused Obama adviser David Axelrod of bribing the examiners to rig the results *** Sinclair's history of sworn statements is also dubious. In 2004, he signed an affidavit claiming to be 'terminally ill' as he sought to have a warrant dismissed, although nearly two decades later he appears to still be alive. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12484515/Tucker-Carlson-Larry-Sinclair-Obama.html Nicely done, Tucker. You are the new darling of the imbecilic right.

Wasn't there also some guy a few hours up the road from Parcells' former location who ran it all as head coach and GM and who won a couple or six Super Bowl rings? (Nice to see people forgetting that!)

Ciara happened.

It's good! Wouldn't we all love to have Rousseau turn into prime Von, or Cook turn into prime, umm, CJ Spiller (sorry). But you start off with a mile long lead if you draft a franchise QB, and lots of other guys are big to significant contributors.

I hope he sticks. We really have been missing a better than adequate blocking TE. It was fun to pile on Lee Smith, but he did his job and made the team just a little bit better.