The Frankish Reich

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10270625/Michigan-school-shooter-15-gun-bag-meeting-teachers-parents.html Michigan gunman Ethan Crumbley, who killed four students in a high school shooting, likely had a weapon on him during a behavioral meeting with his parents and school officials just hours before the rampage, a prosecutor said Thursday. Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said there was 'very strong possibility' that Crumbley, 15, was carrying the weapon during that Tuesday meeting with his parents school officials earlier in the day and just prior the deadly rampage. 'I think that it's already been public that he did have the weapon. During COVID, they don't use lockers, so they just have backpacks,' McDonald told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday. They had just bought him the gun as an early Christmas present. They were summoned to school to deal with his weird behavior and his open searches for ammo during school. The mom thought it was all a big joke, wouldn't take him home and follow the immediate counseling recommendation, texting him "LOL" - get better at not getting caught. They never wondered where the gun was. It was probably right there in the backpack, at least until he took it out to start shooting his classmates. And this was completely on brand for the mother, who had something of a history of blaming any and everyone else for the fact that she was an aging loser: https://nypost.com/2021/12/02/accused-michigan-gunmans-mom-wrote-letter-praising-trump/ “My son struggles daily, and my teachers tell me they hate teaching it but the [sic] HAVE to,” Jennifer wrote. “I have to pay for a Tutor, why? Because I can’t figure out 4th grade math. I used to be good at math. I can’t afford a Tutor, in fact I sacrifice car insurance to make sure my son gets a good education and hopefully succeeds in life.” "I can't figure out 4th grade math." Blame the schools, mom. Have you been IQ tested? https://www.the-sun.com/news/4190727/ethan-crumbley-mom-letter-trump-school-shooting/ Mom wrote an open letter to Trump and posted it on her public blog in 2016: She continued: "Mr. Trump, I actually love that you are a bad public speaker because that showed sincerity, and humility. You changed your mind, and you said 'so what'. "You made the famous 'grab them in the p**sy” comment, did it offend me? No. I say things all the time that people take the wrong way, do I mean them, not always. Do I agree that you should have shown your tax returns? No. I don’t care what you do or maybe don’t pay in taxes." Jennifer went on to tell the then-president-in-waiting that she hoped he would "really uncover the politicians for what I believe they really are,” and that he might “shut down Big Pharma, make health care affordable for me and my MIDDLE CLASS family again.” Illegal immigrants were apparently responsible for her inability to understand 4th grade math (even though her own mother is a teacher, presumably including of math) - an inability that appears to have been passed along to her son: "You see Mr. Trump, I need you to stop common core. My son struggles daily, and my teachers tell me they hate teaching it but the [sic] HAVE to. Their pay depends on these stupid f**king test scores. "I have to pay for a Tutor, why? Because I can’t figure out 4th-grade math. I used to be good at math. I can’t afford a Tutor, in fact I sacrifice car insurance to make sure my son gets a good education and hopefully succeeds in life." She then complained about "illegal immigrant parents" and their kids from a school where her parents taught. "Most of their parents are locked up. They don’t care about learning and threaten to kill my mom for caring about their grades," she wrote. And this sums it up: "As a female and a Realtor, thank you for allowing my right to bear arms. Allowing me to be protected if I show a home to someone with bad intentions" Congratulations, Mrs. Crumbley. You have done more to advance the cause of the gun control advocates than any politician ever could.

You do realize that parents are legally and morally obligated to control the behavior of 15 year olds? That it would be good if they could also control the behavior of violent 39 year olds, but that there's something essentially different about the situations? I watch this crap and I begin to think that Hillary had a point - these loser families are clinging to their gun culture, but it's even worse - it's now guns without religion. What kind of mother publicly posts what this kid's mother posted? In about 2016, when he was 10 years old? (scroll above if you haven't seen it). What kind of parents buy their 15 year old not a hunting rifle but Sig Sauer pistol and give him access to it whenever, wherever? What is wrong with people?

When they start arresting parents of wayward 39 year olds, I suspect. Maybe they'll send a truancy officer. Really, stop searching for "yeah, but what about" talking points here. The DA in the Brooks case should've fought for no bond or at least a high bond with stringent conditions and maybe a bunch of people would still be alive. The parents in the Michigan case should never have bought a troubled 15 year old a Sig Sauer pistol and should have yanked him out of school and immediately into counseling when they were informed of his behavior. Instead they literally "LOL'd" it off ...

Good that it’s getting picked up by major media. The parents getting charged with manslaughter is quite a stretch (no doubt there’s reckless endangerment type charges it may be pled to), but right now we don’t know the full circumstances. In Sandy Hook the desperate mom of the troubled/autistic shooter thought it would be a good idea to get the kid involved with guns as a hobby ….

The “burying the backstory” thing works for both sides. Example: the latest Michigan school shooter. Major media outlets have somehow not gotten around to reporting this: https://www.thedailybeast.com/ethan-crumbley-identified-as-oxford-high-school-michigan-mass-shooter An “open letter” to Trump on the public blog of the shooter’s mother. That letter was signed: “A hard working Middle Class Law Abiding Citizen who is sick of getting f****d in the a** and would rather be grabbed by the p***y” Stay classy, Michigan. And so the dad (stepdad?) buys a gun and leaves it lying around for disturbed 15 year olds son, who proceeds to shoot up his school. Who talks/writes like this in plain view of their kids? Who blames the Democrats and illegal immigrants (read the rest of the story) for their own failures in life? Sadly, most of America blames someone other than themselves. Some think their savior may be found in Democratic Socialism. Some think it may be in know-nothing National Populism. This is why I worry about the fate of my country.

I like how people are reviving these Deranged blasts from the past. Oh, and how are Conservatives just a tad different from the way they were in the Reagan years, or even the McCain and Romney years? -they now love restraints on free trade. Tariffs everywhere! (And yes, Biden is keeping most of them in place, but then again the Dems typically weren’t the free traders) - they now love restrictions on free speech … as long as they’re aimed at the social media giants that don’t support them - they now have a special and not-so-secret admiration for various dictators and strong men. If only we could be mor like Hungary! Or even Russia. - they now adore deficit spending and say to hell with fiscal restraint! enough for ya?

The specific language used in the Right to Privacy cases that gave rise to Roe - primarily Griswold, a case about laws banning contraceptives - was always kind of an object of ridicule in law school. Justice Douglas "found" that right in "penumbras, formed by emanations from those guarantees [i.e., those found in the Bill of Rights] that help give them life and substance." Well, when you put it that way you're gonna be ridiculed. And rightly so. That flowery language really didn't help Griswold (and later Roe, based on Griswold) stand the test of time. Having said that, I have always wound up thinking that the Supreme Court got it just about right on substance. There is something that makes state intrusion on the body of a pregnant woman, including when only she really even suspects she's pregnant, downright creepy. After all, it's not a whole lot different in the immediate post-conception days than Connecticut outlawing contraception (the exact thing that sent Douglas off on his "penumbras" and "emanations" tangent). And there is also something very disturbing, bordering on infanticide, about aborting a fetus that could live as a baby independent of its mother. So the Supreme Court drew lines. Nobody's been particularly pleased with the way they drew them. And the viability line, before which the state really has no business outlawing abortion, is an unclear one that changes with science and medicine and that still ought to give people pause as the "right place" to draw the line. So I have no issue with states tinkering - just a bit! - at the margins. But I do have an issue with upsetting the core principle of Roe, even if it was right for the wrong (or poorly elucidated) reasons.

Off topic, but whatever: We got one of those generic happy holidays messages from my HQ yesterday. This one should win a prize. It honored those who celebrate Hannukah. It honored those who celebrate Christmas. It honored those who celebrate Bodhi Day. It honored those who celebrate Kwanzaa. It honored those Zoroastrians who celebrate Shabe Yalda Mobarak. And it honored the many, many Wiccans in our ranks who celebrate something called Yule. (I think they might have just made this one up. Who would know?) Happy Solstice, Wiccans! Honestly, everything but Festivus. Oh, and boy do I have some grievances to air. I was tempted to do the "reply all" thing noting the Northern Hemisphere-ism inherent in such messages. Not to mention the lack of anything for the atheists. So with that I say, Happy Winter Solstice to all those who honor the astronomers of old who determined that the Earth is tilted 22.5% on its axis!

I was about to click "like" but then I thought wait a minute, I think he's being serious but sometimes you just don't know anymore, do you ...

The internet makes you stupid. Honestly, I don't know when or how we get out of this crazed misinformation/conspiracy loop. I know that people who post conspiracy theories on football forums are just a tiny sliver of America, but even that tiny sliver is big enough to cause serious problems.

Here's the part I have trouble wrapping my brain around regarding all these Vax Conspiracists. - Our Intrepid Osteopath (she apparently lives in the Dominican Republic out of fear of being "suicided" like her 100 friends) actually attended the January 6 Trump Rally that resulted in the assault on the Capitol. So somehow her Vaccine Conspiracy thing caused her to ally with Trump because, well, I guess he's gonna stop all that "inject 'em with nanobots so we can control 'em" COVID vaccine crap. - This morning I flipped on Fox News. (Sometimes I do that. I also sometimes watch MSNBC. I think this makes me a unicorn.) Trump was a guest by phone. They asked him how he thinks Biden is handling COVID. He went off for a couple minutes about how his Administration got it right and Biden is botching it. HIS Administration pushed for vaccine development, saved lives through Operation Warp Speed, etc., etc. He was, in other words, a very vocal vaccine proponent. How is it that the same people who find the Nutcase Osteopath compelling can also support the Angel of Death Vaccine Peddler Trump?? I mean, it's one or the other, people. I don't know what Jesus meant by all that, but I'm pretty sure the "rich man passing through the needle's eye" was a warning to his followers two millennia later to not inject those transhumanizing nanobots into their bodies.

Oh and I guess I should've "done my own research" before commenting: https://www.vice.com/en/article/88avy5/a-qanon-doctor-who-spoke-at-the-capitol-riots-said-the-covid-vaccine-is-a-witches-brew Yup. You guessed it. QAnon adherent. Rhino, is that you posting from the Borax Bath House?

Pulling this back to the point -- -- I watched the video, at least up until the 15:00 mark, and then fast forwarding. You guys are being far too charitable. This is utter nonsense. It starts off with a lot of wild speculation, including misinformation about how COVID vaccines are altering your genetic code. Around about 40:00 it gets truly unhinged from reality. She thinks the vaccines basically make you part of "the internet of things." After some series of vaccines (maybe 2 shots, maybe just 1!) you become something other than human. Really. Listen to it if you haven't. And in there is all kinds of conspiratorial talk, including how 100 of her friends/associates were (her word) "suicided," presumably because she was the Osteopath Who Knew Too Much. I see a childless woman nearing the end of her childbearing years feeling very left out in her child-centric Christian community (by the way, no guarantees, but prayer may help reverse the devastating dehumanizing effect of the vaccine!) and searching for something that just isn't there. But I'm glad I watched (most of) it. Now I understand what we're dealing with here.

You are ignoring the clear insanity of the Q adherents. This is not “the Clintons tried to manufacture a false narrative about Trump; Trump tried to manufacture one on Hillary; It’s all the same type of political dirty trick.” Maybe that’s what you believe. I disagree, but that’s not insane. The baby eating thing is really what at least one former frequent commenter (and presumably some of his fellow travelers) really believed. I mean, really, really thought he had unearthed through his own “research” and the “research” of his confederates. If you won’t admit that it is unhinged, well, there’s really no point in arguing here.

Yes. Believing your political opponent engages in satanic ritual killings of babies to harvest their bodily fluids to consume and thereby imbue themselves with special powers is JUST THE SAME as believing your opponents are trying to get foreign governments to help you get elected. I think I’ve just outed a couple more Q enthusiasts!

There’s something just a wee bit different about “The Trump-Putin Mutual Admiration Society may go so far as to involve Russian attempts to influence our election” and “The world is run by a baby-eating cabal involving the Clintons and certainly various Jewish financiers and possibly the Pope.” I mean, just a teensy bit different in the way that one might be considered “unproven speculation” and the other should be considered “crazy batshit nonsense.”

Who else does either side got? Right now it looks like both sides have extraordinarily weak benches, the least insofar as candidates who could potentially make it through the primaries goes. Joe v. Donny II, the thrilla in Manila? I don’t think so.

No, I’m just regretful that I can’t LAUGH OUT LOUD at the fools who fell for the most preposterous conspiracy theory ever. Now we all know some others did too, but they’ve tried to maintain plausible deniability. Life is more fun with avowed conspiracy nuts around! (COVID conspiracists coming on strong though, so there is hope)

His 10,000 hours of “Q Analysis” appears to have been for nought, but hey, there’s always the UFO research to fall back on!

https://www.thebulwark.com/dr-oz-quacks-the-code-of-republican-politics/ And with their 15th selection in the 2022 candidate draft, the Republicans select ….…. Dr. Oz! Their prior #1 Trump Family anointed PA pick flamed out after allegations of spousal abuse, which he denied, noting (I am not making this up) that women used to appreciate his type of manly man that would keep them safe from the dinosaurs. EDIT: This is, of course, ridiculous. There were no such things as dinosaurs! They were never mentioned in the Bible!!

Cracky MacRib after Monday trademark THAT

I’ll only give you one warning, and then it’s game on: I am old enough to have seen Gary Marangi in (in)action.

Davis Webb is 26 and was highly regarded enough to go in the 3rd round in 2017. Jake Fromm is 23, but lasted until the 5th round. Neither has done anything of note in the NFL. I don't see any reason why anyone would expect Fromm to be better than Webb. I do know that the Bills coaching staff has watched both, and that they saw no reason to try to protect Fromm. In other words, there's just nothing to see here.

A good laugh, but I gotta admit it - you've hit on something here. "Act like you want the ball even if you're scared as hell if you get it."

I wouldn’t want to call out individual players without evidence. Suffice to say there are many examples of small framed or otherwise undersized guys who bulk up and then seem to suffer from chronic injuries. This is probably more obvious in baseball than in football if only because baseball doesn’t involve the types of repeated violent collisions that may explain repeated (and sometimes unusual) injuries.