The Frankish Reich

Trump is leaking ("I never told anyone to destroy tapes"), the prosecution is leaking, everyone's leaking. That's life. But this is a leak attributed to a source. A source with first-hand knowledge. Just wait.

I was looking at this Iran prisoner swap thing. Yeah, it is kind of a ransom payment. Whatever. But I got to thinking: in a geopolitical sense, the Persian Gulf/Middle East is irrational. We are cozying up to Saudi Arabia (at least we really did under Trump) and continue to treat Iran as a pariah. Iran makes it easy by calling for the destruction of Israel and death to America. We know that. But ... Iran has a young and entrepreneurial population. There is an established educational system (obviously not available to all), and all the ayatollahs have been unable to extinguish a western orientation in successive generations of Iranians. It looks like the Islamist leaders have a stranglehold on the country, but we've seen organized dissent, and it's not going anywhere. Iran is, of course, Saudi Arabia's #1 geopolitical foe. We have by design (Trump) or by default (what? we're gonna forgive Iran?) tended to side with the Saudis when it matters. Iran is technologically far superior (including unfortunately nuclear technology) and their young people have a far superior work ethic (I've had involvement with both - my opinion is that the Saudis are by far the laziest international students I've ever dealt with, spoiled by years of getting a government stipend for simply breathing). That's a reason to make friends with them to neutralize any threat. PREDICTION: fast forward 10-15 years and Iran will be our #1 geopolitical ally in the region, and Saudi Arabia will be increasingly irrelevant. Iran has potential. Saudi Arabia has oil. Period. Any other out of the box predictions?

Patience, grasshopper. Patience.

But those 6 snaps? Wow, what a 6 snaps. Like the second coming of Deion and Butch Byrd combined.

Exactly what I do! We had a weird wet cool start of the summer here, which means a terrible tomato crop. But I couldn't eat the other stuff fast enough. Hey, want any cucumbers? Eggplants? And after messing around with all kinds of things to get fresh herbs (I said "herbs" not "herb" all you stoners) in the winter, I settled on Click and Grow. Awesome, almost zero maintenance. Not so good for true outdoor vegetables like tomatoes, but fantastic basil, cilantro, thyme, rosemary, etc. All winter long.

Yeah, it's tough to get a read on any QB on a team that messed up. I thought Fields was turning the corner last year. I guess it was the corner right out of town.

I'm worried that the squiggly white/red bitter weed like lettuce found in all upscale salads will soon be completely out of my reach.

And that's what they are.

Got it. I think they really have to keep him in 2024 and thru 2025 unless they want to do a full-on tank with Watson/Garrett contracts and a team of minimum salary scrubs around them. And I'm not sure how Watson's contract is structured, but one of those we-refuse-to-play-him-so-we-don't-trigger-an-injury-guarantee things may be in his near future ...

It's Terrel Bernard vs. his backup Tyrel Dodson that has me all mixed up. I'm not certain that I didn't think they were the same guy until a week and a half ago. (And yes, I had to look up their first names and the spellings)

True. But notice that thing about "negotiating position?" Poor Ron DeSantis can't win for losing. Trump already feels confident enough with the Republican base that he's ready to criticize Ronnie for a 6 week abortion ban and to move on to what he thinks is a more palatable position in the general. And Ron is left twisting in the Florida wind, outflanked by Pence and his religious right fellow travelers on the anti-abortion stance, and by Trump to his left.

By the way, what's the deal with all the references to the rising price of bacon? Like bacon is a staple food or something? If the price of bacon were really up that much, people would probably eat something that's better for them. How much is the price of kale up? Belgian endive?

In ordinary mega contracts - I think Russell Wilson counts - that could be doable. But it's still $100 million per year with Watson! I think retirement triggers the dead cap hit too. Honestly, there's no out. Some DA somewhere (not Houston, they declined) indicting/convicting him of something that happened in another jurisdiction? Exactly. At least I think so. I don't know what they were saying on their fan forums when Haslam made the decision to sign him. If you supported that, you did get what you deserved.

Russell Wilson QB rating: 108.5 this year, 84.4 last year. Watson: 69.1 this year, 79.1 last year. Not even in the same league. It's not that Wilson has been good overall; he hasn't. It's that Watson has been probably the worst starting QB (not counting Zach Wilson!) in the NFL over the course of 8 starts (basically half a season) since coming back from suspension.

Do you ever wonder whether Ol' Tarheel actually marched to THE CAPITOL on January 6? He seems awfully defensive about the whole thing.

True. Russell Wilson's contract is bad, and I think everyone believes Sean Payton wants out of it. But his dead cap hit is $49 million after 2025. Not good, but they may think it's manageable and not a total franchise destroyer. You know Payton was already thinking that through when he took the Broncos job. That's $90 million less than Watson's at the same point. Plus Russell Wilson has been a disappointment, but he hasn't been downright awful in most games. He's actually been pretty decent in 2 games under Payton. Th Watson contract is just unreal awful.

Wow. Even worse than I thought. I looked it up on Spotrac. It actually looks like a joke - Watson's dead cap hit if they cut him this year is $220 million! Yeah, so they won't do that. What about after the season? Move on and rebuild? How about $201 million. OK, then after 2024. I mean, surely that'll work? No. $137 million. Then $73 million after 2025. Then it finally becomes possible to move on for the 2027 season, when his dead cap hit is $9 million. So three more seasons after this one before there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I actually feel sorry for Browns fans, who did nothing to deserve this.

I thought I read here that Trump is the Sworn Enemy of Big Pharma. That he'd put an end to the tyranny of Big Pharma, not to mention their conspiracy to microchip us through the so-called COVID "vaccines?" How is it that Robert Wood Johnson IV of Johnson & Johnson fame supports him? There must be some mistake.

What, like Aaron Rodgers doesn't count?

Right. It's not just the contract in the abstract, giving a guy who was injured/would be suspended for over a year and a half, who would be 27 by the time he got back, and who didn't profile as a guy with longevity. No, you have to add to that the PR hit they took by signing him too. I can't think of a worse contract in professional sports. Ever.

Hang them right next to your He Hate Me Vegas Outlaws game-worn jersey.

But Ray Epps! But Ray Effin Epps!!! Crybaby.

Wow. I knew Edmunds was known for playing back, but that's a huge difference.

Is the NFLPA calling for artificial turf to be installed in Pittsburgh after Nick Chubb's injury?

OK, I try to be a nice guy. Most of the time. But really, I gotta call this one as I see it. You've outdone yourself. The all time stupid comment on the board. And that's saying something. Federal payments to poor people stopped. Which is obviously what you wanted. That caused the child poverty rate to tick back up. So you don't realize it, but you appear to be arguing that we should reinstate federal COVID wealth transfer programs. Congratulations. We found a Biden voter. Think before posting. It's refreshing!