The Frankish Reich

I just saw this Doug Burgum/Governor of North Dakota/Republican candidate guy. He's making the right kind of noises about tax policy, so maybe there's hope that at least someone will get a debate going.

I'll have to look at that. Thanks for pointing that out. In general, "flat tax" sounds good, but the devil is in the details. How do you compute income for that flat rate? It becomes very complex, and you sometimes wind up with something just as cumbersome as the current tax code. That's why consumption taxes are generally preferable.

"Early morning raid" (read: service of arrest/search warrant) is normal practice. Anyone making a threat against the President is going to get a visit from federal law enforcement. You should expect that. If you don't, you are a fool.

The last (semi) serious attempt to actually rethink how the USA raises tax revenue was Herman Cain's 9-9-9 thing. It wouldn't have worked as he proposed it, but at least it showed some outside the box thinking. Good luck finding that anywhere in the 14 presidential candidates for 2024.

Right. I've always been one of those "the importance of good special teams is underrated" fans. Neglect them at your own risk.

Right. In a no salary cap/owner will spend whatever it takes world, sure, I'd lock him up. But every extra million spent on him is a million less to spend on the secondary (Poyer and Hyde aren't getting any younger), LB, and of course O line.

What's the over/under on the number of games Tua is able to finish? If by some magic they could be assured that Tua will stay healthy all year, I would be scared of these Dolphins. But the backups are Mike White* and Skylar Thompson. Almost as incredible as them not shoring up the O line to protect a particularly fragile QB is them failing to bring in a competent backup. This will not end well. *And I kind of like Mike White, at least theoretically on an offense that can protect him. That was not the Jets, and it is not the Dolphins.

Yeah, but they also brought in Vlad Ducasse.

WWG1WGA I think that was the code Mike "Flynndicated" Flynn used.

Exactly. There are now two camps of the QAnon adherents. Those who still believe the same nonsense but act like it's ridiculous that others label those beliefs as "QAnon." See Rhino, Deranged and Rhino, Ghost. And those who no longer believe but pretend that they'd never have believed such nonsense in the first place. See Everyone Else. Hmm, you seem to know an awful lot about Q branding ...

Well played. 😀

That's the definition of "pandering." Compromising a core principle because it helps you to win an election.

Kind of what I mean. He found himself an election issued and dived in head first.

Does he? Because he's getting involved in culture wars all over the place to try to boost his brand. As I've pointed out, he's even violating core Republican principles to get his name attached to anything "anti-woke." Why would I believe that he'd change course if he were in charge of the federal Department of Education?

Every state is different on the devolution of the State's so-called "police powers" (a term that doesn't have anything directly to do with law enforcement, but encompasses the state's authority to regulate the health, safety, and morals of its populace) to local authorities. So you'd have to look at the state at issue. But that's not the question. Whether the state has the authority to get deep into the weeds of what a school library may or may not carry in its collection is a different one than whether a state should do that (rather than leaving the decision to the local parents/board). Imagine the tables are turned. (Which they often are!) A liberal state legislature/governor passes a law mandating that school libraries include all sorts of books about LGBT identities and choosing your own gender and all of that, and says that these books should be accessible to children starting in the 2nd grade (let's call that the Vivek Age). In my state, the People's Republic of Boulder says, "great, but we've already been doing that." Colorado Springs (until recently one of the most conservative cities in the USA) says "who are you to tell us what books our school librarian should order!" And they'd have a point. My point.

Not even close to the same thing. The idea - the American conservative idea - is this: not every community is the same. Not all of them share the same values or ideas about what may/may not be appropriate. Remember the old Supreme Court obscenity case? (A rather quaint notion in today's world.) The idea was the something was obscene if it appealed to the prurient interest and violated community standards. Community standards. Not every community is the same. So old X rated movies might be o.k. in NYC, but not o.k. in Lake Placid. Things like border control involve division of federal and state authorities, and there's no tie to community standards since the migrants are clearly not planning to stay put in McAllen TX.

A circular argument. The State of Florida creates the law and the regulations, and is now saying certain local school library collections are in violation of that law. Again: leave local issues to local control.

That's probably correct. But my point is a different one: should the State legislature and the Governor be involved in what a local school wants to carry in its library collection? Traditionally, the answer - and particularly the Republican/conservative answer - would be that these are issues to be decided by the local community since they know what's best for themselves.

I know this guy is a lawyer, or I guess a retired lawyer. But maybe not a criminal lawyer, since part of this is just flat-out "I failed the Bar Exam" wrong." He says that of all the "overt acts" charged, only two were actually criminal acts. THAT'S NOT WHAT "OVERT ACTS" MEANS. Here's a pretty standard definition: An overt act is some type of action by any of the co-conspirators to further the overall goal of the conspiracy. This is what prosecutors must prove in order to show that the alleged conspiracy was more than just some discussion or a scheme that mostly existed in the co-conspirator’s minds. The overt act itself does not need to be unlawful in any way. The act only needs to be a concrete step towards carrying out the scheme, the act does not need to actually accomplish the goal of the alleged conspiracy. It is also important to note that all alleged co-conspirators are legally accountable for any overt acts by any of the parties that are reasonably foreseeable. For example, if two people have a discussion and agreement about printing counterfeit money, then one conspirator buying a printing press can qualify as an overt act of the conspiracy. The actions of one conspirator buying a printing press will place criminal liability on everyone involved in the conspiracy. A conspirator can also be held accountable for any actions that were made by others before the conspirator entered the conspiracy if they were late to the party.

My issue with the Florida law: local control used to be a core Republican issue. Miami Beach public schools are no doubt different than Naples public schools. If Miami Beach parents, through their school board and parent organizations, have no issue with certain books being in their school libraries, why is the Governor in Tallahassee telling them they must remove them?

Hiding in plain sight: Dawson Knox. He's looked ready to break out into the top tier of NFL TEs for a couple years now. I think it happens this season.

Week 1 vs. Bills: "Rodgers is back! The Jets are a real contender." Week 11 at Bills: "And the 39 year old hobbled Rodgers is no match for the 34 year old rejuvenated Von."

I like the cryin' in my beer old stuff. So maybe he's onto something. (I do appreciate the implied insight of Gotta Get Sober. Kind of the Margaritaville ending where it changes to "but I know, it's my own damn fault.") What I can't stand is the new slick pop country that looks like one of those refrigerator magnet poem-making kits: Workin' With My Hands. Gettin' Dirty. Truck. Small Town. Date Night. Five O'Clock. Rinse, Repeat.

Other than what I see here, I have no idea who this guy is. But his song list here tells a story of self pity: All the Rich Men in DC have the Gold. Meanwhile, I Ain't Gotta a Dollar. I Want to Go Home to Virginia and need to Get Sober. Sounds like a plan.

Wasn’t that Micheal (sic) Ray Richardson? He of the famously misspelled first name? Tremendous talent, never got his act together.