The Frankish Reich

Agreed. I've been saying for months that Hunter should be investigated. And these congressional investigations, even though "political" (hey, it's an elected branch), have yielded some important information. Now here's the dividing line. We can all agree that getting Joe on the line was inappropriate, unbecoming, unsavory. As I understand it though, this was after he was out of office, before he was running again. So "unsavory" is not the same as "illegal." What happened before 2017 is really the key here. We shall see.

So ... why don't DR's fans just post there? They claim to be frustrated, indignant, outraged by things they read here. Or worse, claiming to "ignore" people they disagree with. I understand all of the usual suspects post on that board too. So why not stay there?

President Kamala!

Ron doesn't love the poorly educated, and they don't love him back. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/07/31/us/elections/times-siena-poll-republican-primary-crosstabs.html And proving that the Horseshoe Theory of Politics is correct, percentage of likely Republican primary voters who express a favorable opinion of RFK Jr., a candidate who is to the left of Joe Biden: 53%. Percent who have a favorable opinion of Mike Pence: 44%. EDIT: In a play for the highly sought-after Poorly Educated vote, Ron now thinks he's found the issue: Easy Money!! Calls for the ouster of Jerome Powell. Too much monetary tightening. Bring inflation back, we demand our inflation!! https://www.wsj.com/articles/desantis-calls-for-ending-normal-trade-ties-with-china-26417f12?mod=hp_lead_pos3 The Florida governor also said he would work to oust Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell before his post expires in 2026, adding to his continuing criticism of the Fed, and said he would support rules governing how the central bank sets interest rates.

Kinda like Ol' Tarheel, right? I will continue to amuse myself by pointing out the incredible gayness of the anti-gay agenda.

Too little, too late? DeSantis has fired the idiots who thought a "meme factory" of bizarro so-called anti-LGBT images (which coulda fooled me since they look a lot like the very thing they claim to deny) would propel him into the lead. Courting the incel vote is apparently not a recipe for success. Don't believe me? Watch the video! It's been reposted all over the place. https://www.semafor.com/article/07/31/2023/desantis-meme-factory Senior aides to Ron DeSantis oversaw the campaign’s high-risk strategy of laundering incendiary videos produced by their staff through allied anonymous Twitter accounts, a set of internal campaign communications obtained by Semafor reveals. The videos include two that have created recurring distractions for his campaign in recent weeks: an anti-Trump video that featured a fascist symbol, and another that attacked Donald Trump for past comments supportive of LGBT rights. The meme-filled videos emerged from a Signal channel called “War Room Creative Ideas,” screenshots of which were shared with Semafor and whose authenticity was confirmed by a second source familiar with the campaign. The chat in Signal, an encrypted messaging app, offers the first clear look into the “war room” that has defined the Florida governor’s candidacy, and is presided over by his high-profile and confrontational director of rapid response, Christina Pushaw. The correspondence obtained by Semafor also offers a glimpse of a strategy that mixes digital aggression and (unsuccessful) attempts to keep the campaign’s own activities secret. The messages were set to disappear after one week. Screenshots of the “War Room” chat reviewed by Semafor included staffers praising a widely-derided and since-deleted video — originally posted on an anonymous account, “Ron DeSantis Fancams” — that included a version of the Sonnenrad, a symbol associated with Nazi Germany. “This belongs in the Smithsonian,” wrote Kyle Lamb, the campaign’s director of research and data, before the video blew up in the campaign’s face. He was among the 38 staffers laid off in recent weeks amid a campaign “reset.”

Helluva comeback story if he makes it - out of the NFL for 4 seasons. But still only 30, no leg injuries that I'm aware of, and Friend of Von. I'm pulling for him to make it.

I realize I typed it wrong: think horses, not zebras is the line. But again: Wuhan was filled with pangolins, civet cats, all kind of bizarro mammals. So it isn't exactly "why do we see all these new viral cases clustered around Wegman's meat counter."

Thanks. And that's a fair response. My relatively well informed layman's guess: 60/40 in favor of lab leak. But by no means settled.

Maybe you are a doctor. The kind that's had it drilled into him that when you hear hoofbeats, think zebras, not horses. All well and good. But sometimes you're not in the southeastern USA, you're in China, and there's all kinds of wild animals even more exotic than zebras from all over Asia living in cages to be slaughtered and eaten fresh by willing and superstitious people. Maybe you slept through epidemiology. The chapter on John Snow and cholera in London. Look at the maps of the locations of the first cases, clustered around the wet market. Nothing is conclusive. It is very much an open case.

Read the article. Quammen is not a doctor. He was a Rhodes scholar. He's a pretty smart guy. He sets out evidence and lack thereof for both sides of the argument. Actually three sides: accidental lab leak, deliberate leak, wet market. He's quite clear that because his bias as an investigator is in tracing animal-to-human transmission, which is closest to the wet market theory, he may be inclined to favor that theory. But it's fair, well-written, and ultimately agnostic.

[Responding to rant from Deranged Rhino, QAnoner at Large] ^^^ Yes, Mr. QAnon, whatever you say Mr. QAnon, may I name my first born after you, Mr. QAnon

I break my rule of responding to the Look At Me posters simply because the proposition here is so idiotic. Quammen is "friends" with someone (not shocking in that he has been investigating and reporting on animal-to-human virus transmission for over a decade, and wrote a well received 600 page book on it in 2012) and he needs to "disclose" that? Not a financial relationship, not a family relationship, not what we today call an "intimate" relationship. But they've got to go digging for something to undermine a sound article.

Starting to be convinced by the Fake Doc theory. Honestly, if you are a physician, read it!

Very good article about the competing theories on the origins of COVID-19 by David Quammen. Quammen wrote a fascinating, well researched book back in 2012 called Spillover, about diseases that have jumped from animal to human populations. I read it shortly after COVID broke. Yes, it is in the NYT so I expect some here to dismiss it before reading it. For those that do make the effort, you'll find the arguments and evidence for and against the various theories are presented fairly. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/25/magazine/covid-start.html

This is from a Breitbart writer named John Nolte, who is definitely not the only writer/analyst who has recognized the death spiral of cable/satellite television. One of dozens of easily accessible articles, this one from 2013: https://www.businessinsider.com/cord-cutters-and-the-death-of-tv-2013-11 Is he that oblivious, or is it his readers? Both??

Ouch. Our interior line play has often been so bad that Brown's bad play has kind of gotten a pass. He's Beane/McD's project, and yes, he has incredible size and athleticism, but like a lot of projects he still may be a couple years away from becoming a good RT. That would fit really well with some teams. Not so well with a team with a win-now roster.

I was once on a hiring committee where I voted “no” because an applicant mixed up “discrete” and “discreet.”

Just go away already. someone please quote this so he can’t deny he’s reading it. what an obnoxious poster.

Well said. I voted for Mitt Romney. I would have voted for Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush or Chris Christie. But now? There's a few mild-mannered candidates making gestures toward normalcy (Tim Scott?), but even if they could get through the primaries, the Republican Party is bereft of ideas at the congressional and think tank level. Trump killed it. It or some other successor will have to be rebuilt from the ground up, like an NFL team tanking and trading their entire starting lineup for draft picks.

I am old enough to remember 1992. Bush 41: the economy is improving! Clinton: to hell with your statistics. "I feel your pain." Fast forward to 2023. Republicans are now the feminized party of "but we don't FEEL like it's getting better." Democrats: but look at the data!

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-u-s-economy-is-sticking-the-soft-landing-cf140c04?mod=hp_lead_pos1 From the very Republican Wall Street Journal: To see what an economic soft landing looks like, search no further than business hiring. Parts of the economy are cooling, just as the Federal Reserve would like to see to combat inflation. Freight railroads, for instance, are seeing shipping volumes decline. Construction firms are cutting back on equipment purchases. A vending-machine company’s customers are negotiating prices downward. Yet the key to a measured, inflation-busting slowdown that doesn’t sink the economy lies in whether companies hold on to workers or lay them off. And the answer, in an economy that otherwise can send repeated mixed signals, is clear: They are making a priority of keeping workers. Apple, for one, is avoiding layoffs despite economic uncertainty. All those retained workers, in turn, are spending their paychecks, albeit more slowly. So the economy appears to be steadily cooling, while averting the long-anticipated recession.

It is. And as Deek schooled me, "surprisingly affordable." 😀

Yes. It's a rule of politics. Let the news cycle run. It would come back later (Tim Scott for one will try to keep it alive), but at least DeSantis could get back on track talking about transgenderism and wokism, the #1 issue on 1% of the country's mind according to a recent poll. Smart guy, stupid campaign.

I'm not comparing Allen to Ohtani. I'm saying the Bills have been very public about their desire to see Allen run less. And I'm saying this is rational IF they think running is going to cause him to wear down earlier than he otherwise would. And that's because they've hitched their wagon to him up through his Age 32 season. Before the long term contract, the incentives were different. Again: there's a reason the Bills are urging this. My original post goes to why they may be thinking along these lines.