The Frankish Reich

Thanks for the honest/non-snarky answer. I don’t know Stephanie Murray. Lee Zeldin, I kind of don’t know enough about him. Haley is at least what I was getting at: not constantly craving attention, seeking to stir up outrage. I would like to see what the policy wonk side of her looks like. DeSantis? Dude, you still have a chance with voters like me. You’re a smart guy. Play that role, not the minor league Trump role.

I see this disintegrated quickly. Let me try to refocus. We have conservatives of various types here. We also have various types of liberals. Who are the serious political leaders you admire today? The serious business or economic leaders? Are we a 100% look at me, troll the other side society?

It's not really about left or right here, at least in this thread. It's about a "look at me" thing taking over politics and governance. And, of course, the financial markets too with the proliferation of get rich quick schemes, meme stocks, poorly thought-out crypto scams, etc., etc. We are in a profoundly silly moment in culture and politics in a time that would seem to call for a seriousness of purpose and approach. I resolve to vote for the most boring electable candidate in every race.

People gave billions of dollars to an unregistered Bahamian bank run by this clown: Who donated millions to a whole lot of (mostly Democratic) candidates, such as this esteemed "first bisexual Senator" fool, seen here wearing her "F*** Off" ring (really): While this "very Presidential" former President launches his latest policy initiative, a series of NFTs in which a fat 76 year old photoshops an old headshot onto muscular bodies in a not-at-all homoerotic manner: While his octogenarian nemesis appoints, then kind of fires, America's "first nonbinary nuclear waste expert/serial luggage carousel pilferer": All of which is now commented on by the (formerly) World's Wealthiest Person, father of approximately 10, including the very specially named X AE A-12.

On that point: we HAD no-fault auto insurance in Colorado. The auto accident trial (plaintiffs) lawyers lobbied like hell to get it repealed. It worked while we had it; now just pray you don’t get in an accident because it will because you’ll spend weeks trying to get a claim sorted out and paid. And that’s if you don’t need a lawyer. Meanwhile: My old dad was driving a rented RV in Canada. He backed it into a car. The Canadian driver went full Canadian on him - no worries, etc. “We have no fault insurance here. I’ll take care of it. Enjoy your vacation.”

Good comment. Thanks. I always appreciate when someone has some special insight to share on an issue. As far as assignment of claims: looking at it from a free market perspective, isn’t this generally a good thing? Example: a hurricane does $300000 damage to my home. I want to just say: enough. I’ve had it. I’m moving back to Buffalo. I assign my claim to some company, they pay me, what, $120000, I pack up what’s left and move on. I can buy a new house in Buffalo and get on with my life instead of sitting in some FEMA housing litigating my claim against the insurance company.

Bart Starr was from Montgomery, Alabama and the University of Alabama. He did ok in Green Bay. Brett Favre is from Mississippi. I think they liked him there too. Same with California boy Aaron Rodgers. Tom Brady is from the San Francisco Bay Area. He did ok in Foxboro. Fran Tarkenton is from Georgia, but still a great Viking. Would the OP like me to go on? Because I can ....

After decades of ingesting every intoxicant known to science and some still as yet unidentified, it also got this guy: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-cramps-frontman-lux-interior-dead-at-62-94546/amp/ A cardiologist friend tells me that the likely only relationship between such behavior and the aortic aneurysm that killed him was smoking good old fashioned cigarettes. On the other hand, Grant Wahl looked like a fitness freak. Sometimes it’s just your time. RIP.

Yes. That is what I am saying. - Twitter was a publicly traded corporation, it had duly appointed officers and a Board, and those persons made a decision as to what kind of speech they would prohibit based on business and other factors that were entirely within their rights to apply. (Just as others were free to criticize those decisions and start their competing forums) - Twitter is now a privately held company that is presumably in compliance with whatever state (Delaware?) authority under which it is registered regarding corporate governance, and if it doesn’t believe that allowing someone to post about the whereabouts of its majority owner’s private plane, that is its decision to make. (And others are free to criticize those decisions or start their own competing services). Not really so hard to understand.

Not my point. (And yes, if you know my name and state you can find my address for free in about 20 seconds.) My point is every site will have some kind of rule for what is allowed on it. As I said, this is public information. That flight tracker guy is just making it easier to access. So it’s not “free speech vs censorship.” Its “my brand of censorship vs yours.” Which is fair if you own the damn site. Which is exactly what those of us who defended pre-Elon Twitter were saying.

So let’s say I have a Twitter account that republishes public information on private jet activity, including that of a private jet owned by a certain Mr Musk. A free speech proponent would never ban that account. Right?

So far, good for you, Ron DeSantis. Socialization of risk must be undertaken very carefully. If insurance rates are really high in hurricane prone areas, then people won’t overbuild hurricane prone areas. Maybe they’ll move back to WNY. (Nah. But they could, right?)

Remember when McD benched Tyrod in favor of Nathan Peterman when we were in the middle of the playoff hunt?

One of those old school canister vacuums with the metal pipe? Or just the new hollow plastic? I need to know before I decide what I think about this.

Contract negotiations/team demands: 1. No man bun. Ever. 2. No rapping. 3. No tweeting about vaccines.

Agreed. I think he makes the team better at the margin. He had a fantastic season in 2020, and was still generally effective last year. He probably doesn't have a lot left in the tank, but I'd be surprised if he's fallen off a cliff by simply sitting around most of the time (avoiding hits, etc.) and spending a very little amount of time with Tommy B. in Tampa. I thought he'd burned bridges here, but when you're trying to win a title a lot is forgiven.

"I know a guy who knows him" and "I sat next to him on a flight to Buffalo" is actually pretty good intel. I'm certainly not disparaging it. Then again, there was that guy who sat next to Mitch Morse's dad last year and was told he's definitely retiring ...

So we get DK AND Justin Jefferson? You're right ... senseless to go through all the counterfactuals. On the "Cody Ford was a big miss" thing? Well, that one's easy. I posted his PFF scores on the MNF thread - truly astonishingly awful, and still trending down somehow.

His PFF scores, by year; low 60s is generally replacement level. High 60s and lower 70s is kind of average starter. 2019: 52.4 2020: 53.8 2021: 46.7 2022: 35.4 - and that's in 243 snaps, so it's not like it's just one bad game. And of course it doesn't include tonight's putrid performance. You can make a case for him being the single worst player in the NFL. And the trend line is sharply in the wrong direction. So it is a mystery as to why he has a job. All I can say is relatively high draft pick + college pedigree = some NFL coach somewhere always thinks he's fixable.

Yep, that's a real area of strength for the Pats. They strike me as a team that's just missing playmakers on offense. But getting those playmakers - particularly at QB - is easier said than done.

Agreed. We haven't seen a lot of late season losing teams dogging it in recent years in the NFL. Even the Texans and Broncos showed a lot of fight yesterday. This Cards team is the exception. I know there's some gaping holes in the talent, but this is a really flat effort too. Uche abusing McCoy and nobody on the O line stepping up to get in his face. They've completely given up.

I don't get this thing about the refs giving the Pats all the calls anymore. The NFL loved featuring Brady. But now that he's gone, would they want the Pats in the playoffs instead of the big market Jets or their new golden boy Justin Herbert Chargers? I don't think so.

What a deflating, listless performance by the Cards. Murray or not, this team is a mess.

Oh, I think he's definitely out for a week or two. But it's telling that they relegated Wilson to 3rd on the depth chart. They didn't want to be forced to go to him even if White got hurt. I think Flacco starts next week. Can't blame Cody on that one. They just plain suck.

They have to say that, and they will go back to Wilson if they fall out of playoff contention or if Mike White is injured. Otherwise, no way.