The Frankish Reich

So those of you who are octogenarians (or very close to it): which is worse? Needing help tying your shoes? Or having your belly block your view of your own weiner? You know, like that guy at the urinal who always undoes his belt and zipper and drops his pants down a foot ...

I agree. We are in a pardoning frenzy. I agree here with Mitch McConnell (!) - this is a perversion of the laws we enacted in a Democratic process. Given the current and future abuses of the pardon/commutation process, I would support a constitutional amendment eliminating it.

Elon is the personification of Peter Thiel's wet dream of Government by Intellectual Elite. He jumped in to support Trump knowing that deep down Trump doubts his own intellect and that he would be able to manipulate him in whatever direction he chooses. And it's working. It'll end when Trump gets tired of Elon taking credit for whatever "accomplishments" the new administration wants to tout. I give it till summer.

A groomer to you. The Nation's Top Law Enforcement Officer to Trump!

Oh, we know who's in charge. Pardoning, commuting, doing all those fun last-days of a presidency thing.

Rodgers' second half so far has actually been kinda good.

I doubt it.

Thank God they had the foresight to give up on Baker, trade 3 first rounders, and sign Deshaun to the worst contract in NFL history. In some alternative universe they are competing with us and the Chiefs for a first-round bye.

Are the sports books taking bets on Deion/Shadeur both going to the Giants?

Penix already looks like a keeper. Not showing any fear (but it is the Giants) and an arm way, way beyond what Cousins has.

Much as we hate to admit it: add Tom Brady.

Mahomes: acts like he's dying, comes back 6 days later with his best game of the season. Josh: breaks a hand in Game 1, acts like nothing's wrong, has his best season ever. Two different ways of getting to the same place, the AFC championship game. Only this year Josh has got it.

He was fun to watch. Imagine if Tebow had a rocket arm.

An, umm, well-seasoned fan's perspective: - 1970s: Roman Gabriel (peaked before my time, in the 60s), Bert Jones. Watch the tape! - 1980s - 90s: Elway, Randall Cunningham, Steve Young, Steve McNair, Favre - 2000s - now: Culpepper, Luck, Rodgers, Mahomes All big (or big enough), athletic running threats (Luck would surprise you), big arms, big cojones

Sliding scale, JDHillFan. Graded on a curve.

E-Mace-iated Ozempic Queen always ready with the sound bite!

And as usual, we are learning about the shooter's chaotic home life. Hard to imagine, but it seems that the parents married each other three times, then divorced each other three times ...

For a long time I've believed that what the child psychologists and sociologists tell us is 180 degrees wrong. We keep hearing about the crisis of low self-esteem, etc. What I've seen is far too much self-esteem. This was apparently a girl (I think genetic girl, but who knows) who thought she was better, smarter, all around superior to her stupid Stepford-student peers. That seems to be true of almost all these school shooters - they have a messianic complex that goes way beyond the idea of being depressed or disaffected. Maybe we've pounded into them that they're special and uniquely gifted. Mostly (not Luigi, but he was older although child-like in our delayed adulthood modern world) they're ordinary kids with social problems and a ridiculously inflated sense of self-worth.

That's perfectly sane. Hey, I always hold a little gold as a hedge against inflation. But I know people - young people (at least to me) - who are basically putting their entire nest eggs in crypto. And I've heard stories of other people doing things like taking loans from their 401k in order to buy Bitcoin. That kind of thing usually doesn't end well. The case for Bitcoin itself (which is better than the case for crypto in general) is still remarkably weak. After those 13 years it still does not function as a medium for transactions other than shady/criminal transactions, which is more of a statement about it's ability to avoid regulation than it is about intrinsic worth as a medium for transactions. And wild price fluctuations vs. other world currencies are a bug, not a feature. There should be no need for a Tether in a world that is actually using Bitcoin for its intended purpose. The fact that Tether exists tells us that crypto has not crossed the threshold into being a useful mechanism for exchange. Maybe it will; I doubt it.

Mass hysteria.

School shooter today was extreme feminist who wants to destroy the patriarchy, your side also. Well, maybe it's both. Hard for either side to disavow her. The truth: She is one of ours, a product of a sick culture. The horseshoe theory, now reaching a high school near you.

Good for you! No, really. I don't begrudge people making money on highly speculative investments trades. I do hope they understand the risks. It sounds like you do, in a way at least. At some point all of this is like the meme stock thing. The "greater fool" theory of investing. My prediction: I just saw a guy on CNBC saying he can't see what stops Bitcoin. I may have better vision. Here's what I see: something really, really bad will happen. We already saw it with the almost-collapse of Tether the first time around. Or there will be something like a terrorist attack on U.S. soil (or even European soil; sadly, nobody seems to care much about the soil of other continents) that was funded through big Bitcoin transfers. And then crypto will become subject to the same rules it has skirted so far - the rules that apply to all other money exchanges. So be careful out there!

Still relevant, 177 years later. Bitcoin as the newest, fanciest tulip bulb? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds The first volume begins with a discussion of three economic bubbles, or financial manias: the South Sea Company bubble of 1711–1720, the Mississippi Company bubble of 1719–1720, and the Dutch tulip mania of the early seventeenth century. According to Mackay, during this bubble, speculators from all walks of life bought and sold tulip bulbs and had even declared futures contracts on them. Allegedly, some tulip bulb varieties briefly became the most expensive objects in the world during 1637.