The Frankish Reich

Isn't Venezuela just a bigger Panama c. 1989? It actually surprises me that the US hasn't acted against Venezuela for all these years of their provocations. I'm not saying it's a good idea. I'm just saying that it would be in line with US military actions throughout Cold War and post-Cold War history, and Trump's apparent new love of the Monroe Doctrine.

We need a word like that!

Remember, Trump was about as a big a crypto-skeptic as you could find in politics in his first term. What changed? Well, I guess there's a very slim chance that he saw that crypto was a necessary and useful innovation after all. But in what way? Has he ever explained why he thinks it is useful after all? Meanwhile, what obviously changed is that he and his sons were approached by major crypto advocates with ideas about how they too could make tons of money out of nothing. And so personal gain changed policy. We call that corruption.

Watch. She will quite publicly convert to Catholicism ahead of the 2028 primaries. So much for the tolerance of the masses.

So all of you can be proud that you proved the OP's point. It started off with a general question: hey, you won, why are you still so angry? And withing about 4 posts it turned into something about Somalis is Minneapolis allegedly not assimilating. And so it goes. And goes. And goes ...

Money is fungible, so call it food stamps and it frees up money for whatever else. And there is a significant black market in food stamps, with people buying things like cases of coke and reselling them at a 50% discount.

I don't follow MMA, but I just took a wild guess that maybe it's genetics + a little something extra. Bingo.

Yeah, but that's only 86 octane! (high elevation makes that fine)

Isn't that what you'd expect from the slot guy, who is going to be schemed open a lot more than he's going to flat-out beat his man? Shakir is doing his job, and particularly after the catch. Keon sometimes is called on to beat his man one-on-one, and it just almost never happens. I was a Keon defender last year, since I thought he showed signs of emerging. I've officially given up on him. Well, yeah, but that wasn't the way it was with peak Diggs. So basically you're just saying that Coleman isn't even in the same league as a true #1 receiver. He's not even in the same league as peak Gabe Davis. Which is to say: a disappointment, even at 33.

No offense, but this is what MDs always say. There's a protectionist/limiting competition reason for that. My take: it is better to have access to a primary care provider, even if it is a PA or NP, than it is to have no access at all. And that's kind of where we're heading in a lot of parts of this country. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Should we allow NPs/PAs to practice without onsite physician "supervision" (supervision that exists more on an org chart than in reality) in underserved areas? Absolutely. All those routine physicals, well-baby appointments, taking blood samples and adjusting blood pressure meds, treating strep, etc., etc. We are spending way, way too much on all those things.

Famous Communist Ronald Reagan: "anyone, from any corner of the world, can come to live in America and become an American." No stronger statement of American Exceptionalism has ever been voiced.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / Busy little beaver! Assuming narrative control this morning, out Homelanding Homelander! Congratulations. Now pretend that you aren't seeing this.

Tis the season ... I just saw my first "What will Thanksgiving Dinner Cost this Year" story. And the answer is still: "not much." Oh, a little more than last year for sure, but still, not much. Eating the common family's food at home? Cheap. Eating out at restaurants? Expensive. Wow. What a shock.

I would agree IF there were any reason to believe that the Republicans would negotiate anything. They passed the BBB with only Republican support, using the reconciliation process to jam it through. I doubt this is a good strategy on the part of the Democrats, but I get it. Like the Republicans under the start of Obama, they have leverage only through the budget process, and even worse through the debt ceiling.

We are getting there, but we are getting there really slowly. @Joe Ferguson forever, we don't need you doing primary care in small town Alabama. We do need an NP or a PA and some other less overeducated health professionals there. The American model of training physicians - 4 years of college, 4 years of residency, etc, etc, is just way too expensive and lengthy for what we really need in these non-major cities. I'm in a big city with leading regional healthcare, but when something more than the old "it'll probably resolve by itself in a week or with antibiotics" hits me, I'm referred to a specialist anyway.

This is the polar opposite of the original idea of American Exceptionalism. Call it what you want - I call it true love for my country - but I still try to honor that ideal, that we are a country based on an idea, a common goal, rather than just a common ancestry.

It's that ability to bring in guys who don't "fit the culture" and somehow wind up maintaining the culture.

I have to question the Democrats' strategy here, since they've put themselves in a very difficult position. If they'd signed off on a QR, I think it's obvious that the Republicans would have to 100% own the end of the supplemental Obamacare subsidies. Now? Well, it's kind of a muddle in the eyes of the average low-information voter. I think that's where we're headed, and I still think we'll see very significant blowback from some of the red state members of the House and Senate.

Milei's "dollarization" plan has gone nowhere. I'm glad his party won, because the alternative was worse. But at best it's Two Cheers for Javier.

Hmm, 1865 ... I wonder what happened then. Perhaps more accurate to say we're about 406 years into the experiment to forcibly import African workers for the enrichment of your so-called "Americans?"

We're gonna get some WR. I'm sure of that. No way this team is going into the second half with the WR room we have now.

How about Pets' Rights too! Stop the scourge of Pawtism. I think my dog might be on the spectrum. He's nonverbal and exhibits repetitive "stimming" behaviors. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/briefing/anti-vax-for-dogs.html

Don't sleep on Devaughn Vele. Maybe the Saints want to move one of the starters and give Vele a chance, but right now it looks like they don't value him. He's the one I'd want.

World Series time. A competitive game ...

Too bad there wasn't anything like TBD back then. I was a kid, but I remember some Bills fans saying things like "I think Marangi could be a good one." He really was that bad. The QBR for "good" QBs in that era was much lower, but Fergy had his best (injury-shortened) QBR that same season: 90.0. And Marangi put up a 30.8 with the same offense. Just horrible.