The Frankish Reich

The Rule by Davos Elite is probably the most compelling reason to vote for an outsider. Like Trump. At least he's not intimately tied in to these scumbags like all the investment bankers and power brokers who want to (continue to) rule the world for their own benefit. Oops. Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, Bridgewater hedge-fund investor Ray Dalio and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner found common ground in an unusual power center: The Hilton Garden Inn. A-Listers flocked to the hotel, a usually less-expensive option among Hilton brands, for its prime location as one of few accommodations inside the security zone of the World Economic Forum. Its 146 rooms were hard to snag. Some top executives settled for a room with two double beds. Blackstone CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman was spotted in a tête-à-tête with Kushner. In past years, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Apple’s Tim Cook have each held court there. https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/travel/bad-hotels-and-not-enough-wine-a-week-with-billionaires-1634c75c?mod=hp_lead_pos7 (Paywalled, but read the whole thing if you can. A funny take on Davos, which has turned into a kind of Shark Tank for all manner of new economy hucksters, etc.) EDIT: Looks like the whole clan is there!

Another example of how non-lawyer Julie Kelly has no idea what she's talking about. As she explains here, Judge Chutkan stayed the normal pre-trial filing deadlines. So normally all pre-trial motions would be due, say, 90 days prior to the scheduled trial date. But because Trump's immunity argument is still the subject of higher court review, she says that deadline doesn't apply for now. That was a decision that was very favorable to Trump. She didn't have to issue a stay; she did. So now Smith files a motion within the normal time frames. There's nothing saying that's forbidden. He could have waited, given the stay, but nothing said he HAS to wait. And that's what the judge decided. Bottom line: a frivolous contempt motion, that Trump's attorney probably should be sanctioned for.

Fat ass states shooting Ozempic like it's hillbilly heroin. But this time driving up insurance costs. https://www.axios.com/2024/01/18/ozempic-wegovy-weight-loss-drugs-states-map For every 1,000 people in Kentucky, roughly 21 were prescribed a drug that belongs to a buzzy class of diabetes and anti-obesity medications last year — the highest rate of any state, according to insurance claims data provided to Axios by health analytics company PurpleLab. The big picture: It's among a few Southern states, including Louisiana and Mississippi, that had some of the highest prescribing rates for drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Why it matters: The data offers a snapshot of where drugs known as GLP-1 agonists, seen as game-changers in the fight against in obesity, are most in demand in the United States. The states with the highest prescribing rates are also among those with greater prevalence of diabetes and obesity, per CDC data, a rough indication that the medicines may be getting to areas where they are in greatest need while shortages, high price tags and insurance restrictions have limited their use. Details: After Kentucky, West Virginia had the next highest prescribing rate, at 18.9 prescriptions dispensed per 1,000. That was followed by Alaska (17.5 per 1,000), Mississippi (16.1) and Louisiana (15.4).

The horseshoe theory again. A lot of bandwagon Trumpies were Bernie supporters first. Bernie, the self-titled "Democratic Socialist." Joe Rogan was one of them if I remember correctly. I'm not about to argue that the World Capitalist Economy is perfect. It's just better than the alternative. And it has kind of brought us unimaginable prosperity, which isn't exactly a bad thing.

When I was a kid it was "the Trilateral Commission." I just watched A Charlie Brown Christmas again, and it had a mocking reference to "A Big Eastern Syndicate" since that's what they called the mega-world conspiracy back then. Now WEF and Davos. Before then, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Or my favorite, the Report from Iron Mountain, which was written by some of these ostensible hidden rulers of the world as a parody, only to find itself taken seriously by a lot of conspiratorial fools.

Thanks for the response. We shall see. But his roughly 20% in the real (not poll) Iowa caucuses is pretty damn poor - looking at the average of the most recent Iowa polls, he was at 15.8%. So maybe he outperformed that by about 5 percentage points. I don't like it because I'm an Anyone But Trump guy now, but it just looks like Trump is putting it away early .... EDIT: I'm kind of amazed when polls these days turn out to be generally accurate. I mean, who answers a call from a pollster? But here, the polls had Trump at 52.4% in Iowa. Pretty damn close ...

Latest poll shows DeSantis with ... 5 PERCENT of the Republican New Hampshire Primary vote. Five percent? I know he hasn't run a good campaign, but really ... I'm starting to feel sorry for the guy. How could it have gone this wrong? I mean, objectively he should be a strong candidate in today's Republican Party. Is it really just a Cult of Trump after all? DeSantis supporters, please chime in!

Bustgate!

Good move. Your basic veteran punter. No reason to expect him to be anything other than adequate, which is all you can hope for.

Well ... on offense, yes. The O line starting 5 were intact all year. The only significant injuries were Knox and then Davis, and their injuries didn't overlap. But we paid the price on defense, and the injuries are stacking up at the worst time.

A reminder: Senile Man Confuses Accuser and Ex-Wife; Jury Decides Against Him

Last time Murray was actually good: 2022. Last time Fournette was actually good: 2021. So ... whatever. They stuck with the guy that was there all season.

And I sat next to a guy with "Moorman" on his luggage tags on my flight to Buffalo yesterday.

So even Julie Kelly agrees that here "headline" - one judge issued a dissenting opinion about why the decision favoring Jack Smith should be reconsidered - was not the real story. Real story: Smith wins, Twitter (and yes, by having their interests aligned here, Trump) loses. She cites a Fox News headline to try to show that the mainstream media's reporting is bad. Yes, that headline is technically incorrect. It says the DC Circuit Court rejected "Trump's" petition; it was really Twitter's petition. But let's see what the Court actually decided (in Jack Smith's favor). From that same article: Smith plans to use data from the cell phone former President Trump used in his final weeks in office — including data revealing when Trump’s phone was "unlocked and the Twitter application was open" on Jan. 6, 2021. Unsealed court filings in August showed that Smith's team obtained location data and draft tweets in addition to the former president's messages. Attorneys for the company, now named X Corp., attempted to block and delay the effort in January and February, leading one federal judge to speculate that X owner and one-time CEO Elon Musk was attempting to ally himself with Trump. The social media giant ultimately lost the struggle, however, and was forced to hand over an extensive list of data related to the "@realdonaldtrump" account, including all tweets "created, drafted, favorited/liked, or retweeted." Good legal work by Smith and his team. They are foreclosing any argument that "someone hacked my account" or "I didn't post that myself" by getting records showing that Trump tweets (and, importantly, deleted tweets) came from devices under his custody and control. This is critical to the "what did the President know about the riot/insurrection and when did he know it, and what did he do to encourage/discourage it" issue. So yes, this is a major loss for Twitter and Trump. Unless the Supreme Court intervenes now (which is very unlikely), the Twitter account evidence will be used at trial.

True. It's almost as if he never said he hates Trump. All is forgiven. He feeds them what they want to hear.

Scaramucci the Second.

Yep. I get it, typing fast on a phone, etc. But those would be the ones to spell/grammar check ...

So, in other words ... the court decided in Jack Smith's favor. Talk about burying the lede.

Short Answer: Yes. Longer Answer: Maybe not "just" poverty, but overwhelmingly poverty over any other factor.

Davos hooker story: Just do a find-and-replace and the NY Post can use this story again next month! Instructions: - for "Davos," substitute "Las Vegas" - for "WEF," substitute "Super Bowl" Shock journalism is easy!

The map by county shows the poorest counties in the 50 states are in 4 main areas: - Indian reservations (Dakotas, NM, AZ) - the heart of Appalachia (WV, E KY, the mountain part of VA - the old plantation belts (lower Mississippi Valley arcing NE through the Carolinas) - lower Rio Grande Valley https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-county-rankings/poorest-counties-in-the-us So ... one almost all Native American, one largely non-hispanic white, one largely black, one largely white hispanic.

I suppose you could say the same thing of Al Gore ... the Iraq War was obviously a personal thing for Bush 43, and in retrospect I can't see that it would have gotten any traction under any other President.

No. Vivek Ron Paul'd himself. He started to believe his own bs - or at least believe that Iowa voters would buy his own bs - and he's now marginalized himself even in the Party of Trump. All for what? $100 million??

He sounds almost giddy for a guy who "hates Trump passionately." It's almost as if he knows what side his bread is buttered on ...

And so we are right back where we were in 2016, except ever more so. Trump, despite the power of "incumbency" ("I've won twice already!") still hovers at around 50% support in his own party, yet that party seems powerless to coalesce around a candidate more acceptable to the majority of Americans. Ron DeSantis, meet Scott Walker. Nikki Haley, have a cup of coffee with Carly Fiorina.