The Frankish Reich

@Orlando Tim What should those innocent 6th graders do when the news reports come on: “Donald Trump paid off pr0n star?” I guess he’s setting a fine example regarding the film making arts.

I mean: it’s preposterous. They apparently follow something called the Hillsdale College Classical Curriculum, which includes Renaissance Art as part of the 6th grade curriculum. So, what are the Top 5 best known pieces of Renaissance art? Off the top of my head: 1-2 (tie): Mona Lisa, The Last Supper 3-4 tie): David, the Sistine Chapel ceiling. EDIT: proud of myself. The experts agree: https://www.britannica.com/question/What-are-some-famous-Renaissance-artworks And then we can moved on to Donatello’s David (more boyish, still buck naked), Titian (Rape of Europa, anyone?) and on and on. Yes, there was nudity on display in Renaissance Art! Shocking!! So we’re gonna skip over certain ones because they show nudity. Parents: check a book out of the library on the History of Art. Go to the chapter “The Italian Renaissance.” If you’re not ok with your kid looking at what’s displayed there, don’t send your kid to a “Classical Academy.” These parents are literally anti-knowledge. They might as well send their kids to a sharia law school. So yes…well-played, Ms. Principal.

I value people who call out small minded politicians and bureaucrats on their b.s. You run a “Classical Academy?” Well, let’s take a look at the classics of Western Civilization. Oh? Not that one? Never mind.

DeSantis risks getting way out over his skis with his Florida culture war stuff. I know you need to win a primary, but: Don’t Say Gay has now reached absurd low points on the local level. The Tallahassee Classical Academy fired a teacher (a trolling teacher, but a good troll!) for showing her 6th graders a photo of famously small-weinered Michelangelo’s David. In a “Classical” academy. Let that sink in.

I’m on record here as saying that the hush money prosecution is a bad idea. BUT … Harwood’s tweet makes a good point. Things I have never done in my life: - used business funds (or any funds) to pay off a hooker, err, “adult film performer” - taken classified documents to a hotel suite I live in - called a state’s top election official to try to get him to change a vote count - egged people on to “fight” and “go to THE CAPITOL” to demand that I be declared President - kept two sets of books for property I own: one to entice the bank to lend me money, another to reduce my taxes - called my own daughter a piece of @ss Oh, and to head off the obvious responses: - been referred to as “The Big Guy” getting a cut of shady deals brokered by my adult drug addict, influence-peddling son. We really do elect the best people in this country, don’t we.

I think baseball is finally (finally!) starting to get it, with the pitch clock and other rule changes. Something the WBC gave us: players looking like they are having fun. Coming out of the dugouts to celebrate HRs (not just walk-off HRs), etc. Let's let some of that carry over into the regular season.

This is a good point. Perhaps we shouldn't allow banks to get so large as to pose a systemic risk to our economy? This discussion should be happening. It isn't. Instead we're talking about the government intervening to protect depositors (and, in turn, the banks themselves) that weren't previously considered large enough to pose a systemic risk.

Very manly of Tucker, cowering in fear that Trump may cut him off and destroy his livelihood. “I hate him passionately” - how dare my employer release my texts! I meant it in the nicest possible way. Tucker fans: he continues to play you for the fools you are.

Yes, the left too has a propensity to get carried away with conspiracy theories going way beyond what the actual evidence supports. But there was one absolutely real conspiracy afoot from December 2020 to January 6, 2021: the conspiracy to put forward slates of fake electors from 7 states, to intimidate Mike Pence into saying, “Geez, I dunno … seems we have competing slates of electors so I can’t verify the electoral votes,” and then to cynically pronounce Donald Trump the victor. It was a conspiracy. It is documented. It was real. It almost worked. And guess what? Someone will try it again. And next time it won’t necessarily be to install a nominal Republican as President.

Holy crap, Ohtani is good. 100 mph fastballs and an absolutely sick slider to get Trout swinging. Could MLB please find a way to play this tournament in the summer. I mean, it's every 3 years and it is absolutely the best baseball - even in spring training - that I've seen in years. Japan sent its best pitchers. We didn't. And that was the difference. USA batting order is probably the best ever assembled in the game of baseball, but it still wasn't enough.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastman_memos scroll down to the summary of Eastman’s 6-point plan. The rioters caused delay. No one cares about them. Trump himself was embarrassed by their “low class” appearance. He was using them. And but for Mike Pence (a religious man who apparently took his oath seriously; imagine that) refusing to do Trump’s bidding, we would have had a true constitutional crisis with Trump illegitimately declared President. It came way too close to succeeding.

That’s the straw man argument. Of course these fools weren’t going to occupy the Capitol, install Trump, and then commandeer our armed forces to enforce the coup. The Plan was more subtle. More cynically clever. Delay the certification of the election. Intimidate Mike Pence into rejecting the certified results. Give time for corrupt fake electoral slates to be certified. Throw the “no majority of electoral votes” election to the House. Let those Republican controlled state delegations vote for Trump. A coup with the veneer of legality, helped along by a mob slowing down the operation of the proper process. Read Eastman’s memo. It’s all right there.

I get that idea. And I hope it works. The counter is, of course, “why are the Bills acquiring a bunch of undersized RBs (slash WRs) that compel them to bring in a bigger back because they have no confidence that the little guys can run between the tackles?” But having already embarked on that course, each subsequent move is already dictated.

Disagree with the first part: Cook and Hines can’t motor their way through tacklers like Singletary. They are not similar other than being “not classic power backs.” Agree with the second part, and that’s what they have to be hoping for here. A classic power back. I’m just skeptical that they found one who’ll be a significant upgrade over Motor.

I agree with you. But I think you agree with me too—they are changing it up a bit mostly for the sake of not standing pat. Again, not a big change here, but overall I’ll take Singletary as the better football player.

I don’t think we know for sure, but it seems that everyone is expecting the 2 contracts to be pretty similar.

Well, in his rookie season a Tom Brady led offense saw him sitting in favor of Sony Michel (3.7 YPC) and James White (3.9)

So … to summarize: - the Bills brain trust drafted Singletary in 2019 while Harris was still on the board - Singletary’s performance so far has ratified that judgement. He has been superior to that of Harris, both in terms of health (a lot) and productivity (a little) - 4 years later the same Bills brain trust changes its collective mind, and signs Harris while letting Singletary walk. I’m not terribly worked up about this, but isn’t this just a move for the sake of making a move?

Another Classic game in the WBC - walk-off Japan win over Mexico. If you watch one baseball game before October, it really ought to be USA-Japan tomorrow night. Next time the WBC rolls around I am definitely attending in person.

The timing would be ideal in mid season instead of the All Star break. Let’s face it, that’s what this is: the real All Star tournament, but weirdly held in the middle of spring training.

A little legal analysis of the possible criminal charges, starting with Stormy Daniels: - first, the facts: the claim would be that Trump fraudulently characterized as "legal fees" a hush money payment he made through old lawyer Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels. There doesn't seem to be any dispute that he did this. The new lawyer - Joe Tacopino - is out there saying that Trump was told by Cohen that this payment was actually for some kind of (unspecified) legal fee, and that Trump therefore can't be held responsible for following his lawyer's advice. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-lawyer-puts-forward-stormy-daniels-hush-money-defense-s-not-crim-rcna75082 Is this a good charge? Well, it depends. We already know Cohen has done a 180 and is now ready, willing, and able to thrown Trump under the bus for any and everything they did. So Cohen the witness will say "he knew damn well this was not for my legal fees; I was just the intermediary redirecting the money to Stormy Daniels" (To have some kind of plausible deniability ... to Melania? To the public in case the scandal came out? Because, like his CFO guy Weisselberg, he's just a cheap ass trying to avoid a bit more taxation while paying off hookers? Who knows.) It probably wouldn't be a crime if he'd used his own personal money, but he seems to have used the Trump Company money and (you guessed it) treated it as a legitimate business expense. They don't seem inclined to argue that, so the defense relies on impugning the credibility of Cohen. And he's a pretty easy target ("you did this as part of some kind of cooperation agreement, right? You told him this was a kosher legal expense, right?), but the best witness to rebut Cohen is Trump. And there's no way he's testifying in his own defense. That would be the kind of field day any prosecutor would love. (It doesn't help Trump here that he still officially denies paying a porno actor for sex, which is, well, exactly what he did.) So yeah, it's a good prosecution. By which I mean: the legal theory is sound; the witness is there; there's a good chance of getting a conviction. But ... Should the DA bring such a prosecution? I'd say no. It's not a particularly important issue, and there's no underlying greater purpose (other than exposing the general sleaziness of Trump and to further signal the DA's fundamental dislike of him). For example: if Stormy were plausibly claiming that he sexually harassed her and the bogus payoff was the easiest charge they could bring, there'd be a strong public purpose in doing so. I don't see that here, and it could certainly backfire: Trump could be acquitted, he could benefit from playing the victim card again, etc. After all, his supporters view his scumbaggery as a feature, not as a bug.

USA-Cuba tonight. Winner gets the winner of tomorrow's Mexico-Japan game. Yesterday's USA-Venezuela was a fantastic game. Back and forth, and then former Red Sox/now Rockies close Daniel Bard almost blew it all by himself as the yips that almost ended his career with the Red Sox came back. (Is it a coincidence that this is the most meaningful - actually ONLY meaningful game he's played in since his comeback?) Broke Jose Altuve's thumb with a wild fastball. But then Trea Turner launched a grand slam and USA moves on. Electric environment in Miami, where fans apparently care about baseball, just not about the Marlins. Seriously excellent baseball being played, and as I mentioned before ... this means a lot to fans in most of the baseball-playing world. Japan-S. Korea broke some kind off all time viewing record in those parts of the world. Watch it! Leave the bogus March Madness behind.

Exuberance.

I hope you're right. And I hope TBD is there when it happens. Because I'll make a friendly wager. We win the Super Bowl. What's the over/under on when the first "Can We Repeat" or "Can We Be the Next Dynasty" topic is posted? I say 12 hours.

Couldn't happen to a nicer hedge fund manager. (too bad for Edwin though)