ComradeKayAdams

And for completeness, annual GDP growth under Trump was about 2.5% before 2020. This bar graph can be a bit misleading, however, and for a different reason than the “lagging indicator” that Sherpa and Chef Jim mention. In practice, the economic policies (tax codes, labor regulations, trade agreements, etc.) of the Clinton and Obama administrations had more in common with those of Reagan, the Bushes, and Trump than they did with those of Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter. So I would pay less attention to the blue/red disparity and more to the chronological one. Annualized GDP growth between WW2 and 1980 was about 4%, but only about 2.5% since neoliberalism took effect. Of course, GDP is also a very misleading singular metric if you’re trying to gauge economic health. It tells us nothing about how that growth is distributed among the population. I recommend looking into labor market mobility metrics and data such as real wage growth (i.e. NOT nominal) relative to major costs of living factors (housing, education, health care, etc.).

OMG…thank you for this… Yes, how could ANY self-respecting fan of Buffalo pro football forget any one of the 11 magical games played between our Buffalo All-Americans and their rival Akron Pros??!! In honor of the legendary 12/5/1920 meeting between Buffalo and Akron that ended in a 0-0 tie (and ultimately determined the champion of the league’s first season), I will be donating $0.00 to the charity of your choice.

The Mike and the Will are pretty much indistinguishable in Leslie Frazier’s nickel package. His 4-2-5 is essentially Buffalo’s base defense at this point, and it unfortunately puts a lot of undue stress on Edmunds and Milano during the course of a game. Both are athletic enough to handle their jobs well, but an elite offense like KC’s creates too many additional problems when Buffalo’s defensive unit is already missing Tre White and is not getting enough pass rush and containment at the edges from the DE’s. But the solution is not to get rid of Edmunds! He’s universally regarded among NFL coaches and players as no worse than among the top 20 LB’s throughout the league. With his elite athleticism and his young age (23.5 years old), he has room to grow. He’s a captain of what has been a top-3 statistical NFL defense for 3 of his 4 years in Buffalo. He’s already made 2 Pro Bowls and is a first alternate for this season. Let’s also face reality: we’re stuck with Frazier, McDermott, and therefore Edmunds for at least another season. But that’s okay! The LB’s, DT’s, and safeties on this team are perfectly fine. What is needed is another starting CB opposite a healthy Tre White, a Pro Bowl-caliber DE, and better production from Epenesa/Basham/Rousseau.

He reminds me of the "Son, I Am Disappoint" meme. This fella:

Sorry, Jpsredemption, but I am finding your dismissive attitude toward this particular form of seemingly lowbrow Buffalonian humor to be deeply rooted in misogyny. Historically speaking, marital aids have served as both an incredible symbol of female empowerment and a practical necessity for women trapped in various unhealthy relationships. Moreover, American football has traditionally been viewed as predominantly the leisure purview of men. To go even further, the act of throwing a projectile is one of aggression, and aggressive behavior is often considered to be the more acceptably “masculine” form of gender-based action. And in the long and difficult war for women’s rights in America, women of Western New York have always marched in lockstep with their sister soldiers throughout the rest of the country. So at the center of this Venn diagram intersection of male patriarchy that I have outlined, lies the act of throwing a Bildo onto the field. In a way, to NOT condone the very act of throwing a Bildo onto the field would be to invalidate the 100+ years of cumulative efforts of the women’s rights movement in Western New York, no? MY BILDO, MY CHOICE…correct? So why not support this amazing gesture of solidarity with the lovely ladies of Western New York? Please recite with me the Bildo Thrower’s Creed that all princess warriors and protectors of the Queen City follow: “This is my Bildo. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My Bildo is my best friend. It is my life. I must master throwing it as I must master my loins. Without me, my Bildo is useless. Without my Bildo, I am sexless. I must throw my Bildo far. I must throw farther than the Patriots QB who is trying to defeat us. I must hit their WR before he reaches the end zone. I will… My Bildo and I know that what counts in Patriots football games is not the number of projectiles, the noise of the stadium security officials, nor the internet notoriety we achieve. We know that it is the players we strike. We will strike… My Bildo is human, even as I am human, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a lover. I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its battery accessories, its size, and its base. I will keep my Bildo clean and ready, even as I am filthy and too exhausted after work. We will become part of each other. We will… Before the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo, I swear this creed. My Bildo and I are the defenders of Snow Sparta. We are the masters of the New England Patriots. We are the saviors of our season. So be it, until victory is Buffalo’s and there is no enemy, but the AFC East division crown!” In other words: LIGHTEN UP AND ENJOY THE MANY ABSURDITIES THAT COME WITH BEING A MEMBER OF THE BEST FANBASE IN PRO SPORTS. EDIT: As an FYI, the "Bildo Thrower's Creed" is a most delightful variation of the U.S. Marine Corps "Rifleman's Creed."

“Sanity” is not to be found in the lexicon of Western New York warriors who seek gridiron immortality. An alleged defender of Snow Sparta who expects the glory and the sundry spoils of war, yet who is also unwilling to shed one’s own figurative blood (or frozen extremities, in this literal instance)?? Like…seriously, brah?! The Pro Football Gods of Buffalo have no use for such football freeloaders. This subtly hijacked pro-dome thread is an affront to their very EXISTENCE. Pray tell, BillsFanInSB: are you a spiritual soldier of the winter? When the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo divinely whisper their commands to you as you await your lithium prescription renewal, do you not listen? Understand that I myself am but a simple warrior princess of the Queen City, a deeply traumatized child of The Drought Era, a scholar of Buffalo Bills history, and an acolyte of the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo. I am incapable of much discernment beyond the fact that I love my Bills and that my hatred of all things New England Patriots flows naturally through my bloodied veins like a beau fleuve into a great lake. For the life and death of me, I cannot perceive a situation where I would dare question attending the first full-house home playoff game in 25 years within the palatial confines of Highmark Stadium, no matter the temperature or wind speed or precipitation, IF in fact this is what the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo decree. Oh, and decree they do! While the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo do not normally request much from the caretakers of their homeland, they do politely ask that the 1963 AFL Divisional playoff game and the 46-77-1 lifetime record against the Patriots (and 4-34 from 2001-2019, mind you…mostly due to their cheating) be avenged. No no…scratch that…they DEMAND approximately 3 to 4 hours tomorrow night of unadulterated, unapologetic, poetically cathartic, and borderline erotic violence inflicted onto the invaders from the Eastern Lands who annoyingly pronounce “er” and “ar” with “ah.” So drop the pie-in-the-sky dome drivel and go purchase a playoff ticket. Help the team win! Be loud and start talkin’ proud, talkin’ proud. Kick up your heels! Throw back your hands! Shout! Get dangerously drunk in the parking lot. Jump through a folding table. Smuggle a giant Billdo projectile past security. Physically assault a Patriots fan innocently seated nearby. Push back any concerns of extremity necrosis to the following afternoon. Break off your blackened toe and hurl it onto the field if the otherwise well-intentioned security folks managed to abscond your smuggled Billdo. In other words, BE A REAL FAN OF BUFFALO BILLS FOOTBALL because this ain’t no mother@*king jaunt to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and this sure as sh!t ain’t no sojourn in a Wegmans grocery store. Oh…what’s that you say? You are now among the more seasoned Bills Mafia warriors with greater priorities beyond watching pro football in situ?? Ha! Sports and career, work and play, family and bachelorhood/cat lady status, life and death…artificial distinctions to the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo. False constructs from mortals who can only hopelessly endeavor to attain ethereal gridiron omniscience. Is a folding table not a structure over which to studiously peruse Buffalo Bills history books, as much as it can also be a landing spot for a fiery drunken dive at a tailgating lot? Is a King Kong-sized vibrating marital aid device not a dependable bookend for said Buffalo Bills history books, as much as it can also be a sophomorically hilarious projectile aimed at Coach Belichick’s stupid head tomorrow night? FACTS: There can be no more honorable ending for a veteran Bills Mafia warrior than to freeze to death at a Bills game, with you and yours locked together in icy harmony. “Thank you so much for your football fan service,” might declare the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo, “but this brisk night of January 15, 2022 is appropriate time for your brisk retirement to eternity.” Hallmark Stadium: the idyllically frigid wintry Logan’s Run Carousel of Western NY. For the greater good of Snow Sparta! Praise be to the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo! Woohoo!!! Sooooo…..um….yeah. Buy or buy not. The Pro Football Gods of Buffalo impatiently await your final decision on tomorrow’s playoff tickets. They do not need the particulars of your excuses. They do not care about your stance on vaccination policies. They do not seek a signed medical note explaining why you’re too physically disgraceful/old to be out in cold weather. But do remember that Buffalo pro football immortality is on the line! You shall have plenty of time later to stay warm during the cremation process that your dear family members have planned for your corporeal remnants. And yes, I am bathing in a tub filled with ice cubes as I condescendingly type this. Such is the proper way for a true soldato of Bills Mafia to purify one’s body and mentally prepare for the treacherous NFL playoff road ahead. Go Bills!!! Is it Saturday night yet??!! Summary for the TLDR ADHD crowd, in meme form:

The Pro Football Gods of Buffalo look favorably upon your humility, HamptonBillsFan. Your execution at the makeshift celebratory Super Bowl gallows of Niagara Square will be relatively swift and painless. Like maybe 10 to 20 minutes, tops, of squirming? In accordance with tradition, know that upon your termination, your descendants shall be granted one tenth of a quarter acre of land at Love Canal. But the land is to remain undomed, so I suppose your posterity will just have to learn to deal with the WNY elements. And thank you for acknowledging me as one of Snow Sparta’s finest warrior princesses! Legend has it that my real father was actually a polar bear, HIS father was an even larger polar bear, and my father’s father’s father was a civil engineer who emigrated from Poznan. Possibly true supplemental story: famed Buffalo Bills 2000 round 6 draft pick, Leif Larsen, once wrestled my alleged grandfather polar bear on an iceberg. A much younger Coach Sean McDermott (with hair!) happened to be in attendance on that iceberg venue and diligently took notes on my grandpa’s wrestling technique. Anywho…on first glance, I do admittedly look like the runt of the warrior litter. But what I lack in physical intimidation, I more than make up for in sartorial judgmentalism and general psychological warfare skills. All week long I intend to trigger eating disorders in any Masshole, New Hampjerk, Connectic*nt, Rhode Vile-ander, Vermin-tite, or native to Meane who dares to disrespect the Bills franchise and/or the Queen City herself. But alas, it was not my preordained destiny to be at Highmark Stadium this Saturday night! I am to be positioned at the southern defensive flank of Upstate NY that is more commonly known among New Jersey Jests fans as “Manhattan.” One of my brothers is going to the game, though! He will be properly prepared for the outdoor battle, assuming he doesn’t change plans at the last minute and go to the Buffalo Bandits indoor pro lax game that is scheduled at the same time. I find it so ridiculous that the Bills, Bandits, and Sabres games are all scheduled at the same time. Actually, none of us brave warriors of Snow Sparta intend to watch the Sabres game…we’re all quite brave but certainly not THAT brave. EDIT: This week’s Bandits home game was moved a day earlier to this Friday 7:30pm. Yay!

The members of Bills Mafia attending Saturday night’s game will be among the very best warriors chosen to defend Snow Sparta. They understand the difficult task at hand and accept the challenge. They are well-acquainted with all of the cutting-edge winter warfare technology known as “coats,” “beanies,” “mittens,” and “scarves.” They are not pathetic weaklings like yourself who will, in due time, be appropriately culled from the fanbase herd. But this is Patriots Playoff Week, so let’s all stay focused and positive. Cheers! -Commie Kay

Yeah, probably, as long as the Bills and Patriots continue playing in the same division. Western New Yorkers and Massholes have value systems that are simply too divergent. Western New Yorkers believe in the rule of law and notions of fair play. Sociopathic Massholes believe in the ends justifying the means and in validating bad behavior because “everyone else is probably doing it, so…like…whatevs.” See: Spygate, Deflategate, Josh McDaniels’ own scandal, Spygate 2.0, etc. Western New Yorkers view all children as precious, innocent, and incapable of sexual consent. Deviant Massholes try to normalize pedophilia because their former starting QB liked to kiss his young son passionately on the lips. These are only two examples, but I could list many more. Basically, Patriots fans are sick and disgusting freaks. Please seek help, Ghost_002. You are not well, and the children around you are unsafe.

Sure, notwoz! I’ll give it a shot. The context: Tom Curran is a Patriots journalist, resident Masshole, probable registered sex offender, and professional clown. Like all Massholes, he defends habitual cheating and does so in an extremely obnoxious way. After the first Bills-Patriots game, Mr. Curran made a remark about the Buffalo D needing to “suck on it” because disgusting pedophiles like him often make such Freudian slips. Whenever discussing our beloved Bills, he puts on oversized shoes, wears oversized clothing from the local Salvation Army, applies garish makeup like an inebriated drag queen, covers his nose with a large red spherical foam, and gets out of an absurdly small car minutes beforehand with a bunch of fellow Massholes/Patriots fans/registered sex offenders dressed just like him. There’s your context, notwoz. I hope this info helped you?? Best, -Commie Kay

UGH…aren’t we all beyond done with Matt “I’m A Total” Haack?? As a child of The Drought Era, I grew up on Brian “Um I’m Actually Agnostic And Not A Practicing” Moorman. So I suppose that I have come to expect a high degree of excellence from any Buffalo Bills punter. Oh hey! Guess what?? We happen to have a RIDICULOUSLY sexy punter languishing on the practice squad right now! But Brandon Beane didn’t sign Jamie “The Scottish Hammer” Gillan so that Coach McDermott can ogle his v-shaped torso and striated triceps from afar. This gorgeous hunk of a soldier was brought to Snow Sparta for one reason and one reason only: so that his powerful leg can cut through the high Highmark Stadium winds, plow through any Lake Erie lake effect snowfall, and deliver the dubs. What say you, McBeane? Are you ready to make the bold gameday decisions needed to protect the Queen City from the invading horde of Cheatriots? Are you ready to silence the Masshole fanbase? I.e., are you ready to sit Matt and activate Jamie from the practice squad? Because I guarantee you that Snow Sparta is ready. Orchard Park will be rocking. The alcohol in the parking lots will be flowing. The folding tables will be plenty pliant. All we need now are 48 players ready for the battle of their lives, one of whom needs to be a perfectly (and bizarrely) sculpted physical specimen of a punter. Mafia, mount up!!! Bills Mafia: “Our d i l d o projectiles will blot out the sun.” Roger Goodell: “Then you shall play at the Saturday night time slot.” McBeane: “Fine. Then we are elevating Jamie Gillan to the active roster.” Bill Bellicheat: “Oh…snap.” EDIT: Why can't I type d i l d o? Stop censoring me!!!

Same reason why parasites harm their hosts. Answer: it is in their primal nature to do so. I think we all yearn for collegiality and a sense of family atmosphere around here, but we can’t have such wondrous things so long as Patriots fans exist. FACTS: most Massholes can check off every single one of the boxes in the panoply of social behavioral degeneracy. Strident defenders of cheating? Check. Shameless bandwagoners with no sense of loyalty or knowledge of their franchise’s twentieth century history? Check. Devout apologists for lame noodle-armed rookie NFL QB play? Check. Jack Eichel-esque rapport with friends and neighbors? Check. Thieves, murderers, spouse-beaters, rapists, bedwetters, usurers, tax evaders, and child diddlers? Check, check, check, check, check, check, check, aaaaaaaaaaaand check. There is just something fundamentally wrong with these “people,” and I put that word in quotations because I’m not 100% sure they can be classified as ***** sapiens like you and I. Like, scientifically. I’ll spare you all an advanced and highly nuanced discussion of craniometry and what not, but take my word: fanbases and message board moderators of every other NFL team despise these sub-humans for good, sound, scientific reason. But alas, us message board denizens have it comparatively easy. Whenever our Massholometer readings rise to CODE RED during Patriots Week, we at least have the option of using the “ignore” feature or staying offline. Please direct all thoughts and prayers toward the faithful Bills Mafia warriors attending Sunday’s game in Foxboro. Can you imagine having to sit for multiple hours next to a congregation of these innately arrogant Patriots fans, listening to them impudently prattle on in their annoying accent about how New England’s culture/food/economy/weather/sports are just sooooooo much better than Buffalo’s? Or being forced to use the same restroom as one of them?? Or share the same water fountain??? And think you won’t see a few stray Bills fans decadently canoodling at the game with others in Patriots gear?! Think again. Vile. One silver lining is that these sub-human Patriots fans so willingly wear their team’s apparel in public, which makes it easier to avoid them in one’s daily life or to round them up when the time is right. Need another silver lining? Okay, here’s one: Bills Week ends up being a full seven-day respite for the innocent children of typically pedophilic Patriots fans. Their parents become so preoccupied with bragging to Bills fans online that they forget to indulge in their cravenly carnal desires. Also, Patriots fans will at least tend to leave their child victims alone once their victims advance through puberty. Too bad that same grace is unfortunately not granted to us Bills fans…their harassment towards us unfortunately persists throughout our adulthoods. I constructed a meme this morning that will hopefully generate thoughtful discussion and shed light on the very dark subject that is Patriots fandom. Cheers!

Balderdash! The Pro Football Gods of Buffalo do not deign to reveal their desires to the likes of mortals like you, Dan. But mortals gonna mortal, I suppose…especially mortals with a career 30.4 QB rating from 1968-1970… I know for a FACT that the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo absolutely LOVED the Patulski pick. An elite Polish-American athlete who grew up in Upstate NY? Yes, please! What could possibly be more Buffalo than that?! Perhaps a giant anthropomorphic 6’5” 250 lb pierogi, with outstanding combine stats and hard-hat lunch-pail intangibles, who was created in a Cheektowaga delicatessen…on Dyngus Day…over a collapsed folding table…with a Zubaz-patterned table skirt…with Goo Goo Dolls playing in the background?? Sometimes it’s not about the shots you take and missed but rather the shots you didn’t bother to take. The Pro Football Gods of Buffalo never forgave the franchise for passing on Ron “Jaws” Jaworski in 1973 and Rob “D!ckface Who Maimed Tre White” Gronkowski in 2010. But let us now discuss the true origins of The Curse. Contrary to Buffalo sports lore, it did not begin with William McKinley’s 1901 assassination in our fair city. The Pro Football Gods of Buffalo do not care much for esoteric turn-of-century politics. Surprisingly enough, the somewhat provincial Pro Football Gods of Buffalo do not care about pretty much anything other than pro football played within Western NY. My goodness…they don’t even follow the Sabres, Bandits, or college football! The birth of The Curse, as the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo tried to explain to me, takes us back to the 1910 Championship game of the New York Pro Football League (one of several predecessors to the NFL). The Buffalo Oakdales took on the Buffalo Cazenovias in an epic Thanksgiving weekend clash between two working-class South Buffalo athletic club powerhouses. For whatever unconscionable reason, they never finished the game. A mysterious on-field dispute was the given explanation. The Ancient Scrolls of Buffalo Pro Football (i.e. the Wikipedia entry for “New York Pro Football League”) are incomplete, but I can only presume the dispute was over an attempt at a forward pass. And the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo, being the cold-weather football traditionalists that they are, never did care for such “voodoo football” tactics as the forward pass. So the only proper way to reverse The Curse, as I see it, is obvious: stop throwing the football. Like…completely stop. Josh Allen is not to attempt another pass for the rest of this season. Just keep handing the ball off to Zach Moss up the middle for his patented 2-yard gains. EVERY. SINGLE. PLAY. Between now and February. Substitute Diggs, Beasley, and Davis for Doyle, Bates, and Ford. Leave Knox in as a passing decoy. Problem solved! Curse reversed! Yay! IMPORTANT FRIDAY MORNING UPDATE: Wow! The Pro Football Gods of Buffalo are still quite irate! They still want the referees from the Bucs game doxed, kidnapped, and restrained. But now they also want us to place them in a deep well, administer a water hose for behavioral modification, and transport basic toiletries using only a bucket tied to a rope. The Pro Football Gods of Buffalo also happen to masochistically watch Fox Sports’ First Things First with Nick “Pen!s Nose” Wright, and so they also want us to throw the show’s entire cast down into the well. I was already leaning in that direction, anyway, but especially now that I know the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo desire it too! Furthermore, remember that winter is coming! The Pro Football Gods of Buffalo want me to flay our well-dwelling enemies and to sew their skin into coats so that the beloved Buffalo tailgating wildlings of the North Country can keep warm during Sunday’s big game. Meanwhile, the muscles and organs of both the compromised Tampa Bay refs and also the First Things First cast are to be cooked at the tailgate and consumed for both nourishment and for obtainment of their skills of d-baggery. Really disturbing stuff, I realize, but don’t blame me! It is what the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo have decreed. They chose me as their vessel of vengeance because of my competent sewing and cooking skills (vegan cooking, actually, but whatever…extenuating circumstances and all…). Later this afternoon… “This is madness!” cries out the rope-bounded Nick “Wrong” Wright in his trademark high-pitched girly voice. “No, Nick. This is Snow Sparta,” affirms Comrade Kay Adams impassively as she kicks Nick down into the well like she’s Coach Urban Meyer and he’s Josh Lambo. Buffalo’s patriotic but cannibalistic Coco Chanel-wannabe anti-hero then proceeds to exit the room to retrieve her sewing machine and cooking utensils. <<< Cue the outro scene >>> “Would the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo f*#k me? I’d f*#k me. I’d f*#k me so hard,” Kay assures herself in her cheval mirror as she tries on her fashionable new referee skin coat, with the “Goodbye Horses” song playing in the background. <<< Video fades out from Kay’s room, shifts to a bird’s eye view of Highmark Stadium, and zooms in on a bunch of flayed and slightly twitching corpses lining Abbott Road. Upon closer inspection, the desecrated corpses appear to be those of the referees from the Tampa Bay game! Eek!!! OMG the horror! Cue the dramatic screeching sounds! >>> Steve Tasker’s narrating voice: “So we’ll see you in Buffalo this Sunday against Carolina. Be ready. Need a referee skin coat? It might be chilly.” P.S. Mr. Darragh, I cannot get over the terrible officiating from the Bucs game. Can you tell??

It is not up to mortals to adjudicate what is or is not mentally healthy behavior, Dan. The Pro Football Gods of Buffalo have resolutely spoken to me in my sleep last night. They are angry. You could even sense their rage in the WNY winds over the weekend. You could see their fury in the Lake Erie waves that crashed onto the city’s shoreline. They demand sacrifices to be made in their name to atone for the sins that were committed yesterday afternoon. Those referees besmirched the Queen City, and so henceforth they must be confronted with their acts of treason. With myself as their vessel of vengeance, the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo have ordained that these referees be doxed online, kidnapped, tied up, and forced to watch footage of each egregious call from the Bucs game. They must confront The Truth. Afterward, I shall take off my clothes, turn around, and reveal to them my full body tattoo of Carlton Davis molesting Stefon Diggs on that receiver route, and cry out, “Do you see?! DO YOU SEE??!!” I will then pull out a large feather and proceed to tickle the feet of each referee. I will continue to tickle them until they cannot take any more tickling. It is at that very breaking point when I will then break out an even larger feather. More tickling will ensue. This is what the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo have decreed. The 1921 Staley Swindle. The 1949 AAFC Bills franchise rejection. The 1967 New Year’s Day AFL Championship loss. Wide Right. OJ’s bad day. Homerun Throwback. The 17-year playoff drought. Last Monday’s game against Belichick’s Patriots. And now this 33rd defeat to Brady. “Enough is enough!” the Pro Football Gods of Buffalo have exclaimed. Romania had Vlad the Impaler. Buffalo has Kay the Featherer. Dox away, I say! Find these referees and let’s give ‘em a tickling hell! Welcome to Buffalo. City of Good Neighbors? No more. City of Vengeful Ticklers? Yes, please. P.S. I have no earthly idea what got into me this morning…writing is my trauma coping mechanism…

LOVE this idea! Tre’Davious White is the quintessential Buffalo Bill and my favorite football player. This is also way classier than my idea of donating $94 to the American Heart Association following Vernon Butler’s performance against the Colts.

Ugh…et tu, ALFe?! I assume this remark is due to progressives’ support for the Build Back Better (BBB) bill and for the renewable energy market, within the context of inflation? Okay, I’ll address it all… But first things first: Steven Rattner, Larry Summers, and their ilk are hot garbage just like this Fox New propaganda article. They say there is too much focus on demand-side stimulus and not enough on investment?! OMG did they not pay attention to the Kay-shaped COVID-19 economic recovery effect?! The PMC (professional/managerial class) already accumulated plenty of money for renewed investing. And if they’re advocating for government raising taxes to cool off inflation, wouldn’t that only reduce precious investment capital as well as hurt the Democrats in the 2022+2024 elections with the PMC demographic, thereby undermining their entire flimsy argument? BBB did have tax-raising provisions on the rich, by the way, but these had long ago been gutted in typical bipartisan neoliberal fashion. To be clear, this “news” article was written with the sole intention of denigrating BBB (which has a lot of social welfare goodies in it that poll with overwhelming majority popularity numbers and that nearly everyone else in Europe and East Asia already has) by inappropriately linking it to a largely unrelated and diversionary problem: inflation. Now let’s discuss the root causes of our inflation predicament. A proper explanation is surely multifaceted, but supply shock inflation is far and away the best explanation for the VERY SPECIFIC market inflationary effects and macroeconomic patterns we observe around the world, not just in the United States. We can talk about shipping containers at ports, the Great Resignation propelled by retiring Boomers, too many world economies dependent on Chinese imports, price-gouging oligopolies like in the American meat industry, not enough Americans returning to their sh!tty underpaid service jobs in any of the horribly exploited industries such as is the case with truckers, etc… the point is that the economic emergence from the pandemic shutdown created a lot of unprecedented logistical chaos. The most significant cost-push inflationary effect, of course, comes from the international fossil fuel market. But not having enough fossil fuel to meet demand isn’t the problem. The full LOGISTICS of moving the supply is the problem. Extraction and shipping operations for this industry were drastically downsized in 2020 in response to the global demand collapse. Returning operations to meet the pre-pandemic market demand is a highly unstable process and cannot happen in an instant. Supposed Biden policies of cancelling new oil drilling permits on American soil and territorial waters, along with the Keystone XL pipeline extension cancellation, is practically irrelevant to the present inflationary dilemma because these actions would have a negligible effect on the overall supply potential. Furthermore, this additional supply could not have ever been extracted and shipped out in time to meet current demands. There are also demand-pull inflationary effects at play, but monetarism zealots ALWAYS overemphasize that aspect because they fundamentally hate all forms of government spending and all perceived expansions of government power. They are dishonest actors in the realm of international macroeconomics and are not interested in objectively monitoring reality. Remember that 2020 presented a massive DEFLATIONARY cycle due to the worldwide collapse in demand. Aggressive monetary supply expansion was 100% the most reasonable and most ethical countervailing policy to take: $2 trillion 2020 CARES + $0.5 trillion 2020 PPP-HEA + $0.9 trillion 2021 CAA + $1.9 trillion 2021 ARP…including all the stimulus checks. Plenty of other Western countries routinely spend proportionately more during NORMAL (non-pandemic) times and don’t experience inflation like this. I know it’s popular these days and especially within this right-wing subforum cesspool to sh!t on progressives for everything wrong in the world, but keep in mind that progressives weren’t the ones who wanted Biden/Harris during the 2020 Dem primaries. Democrats will lose the House and Senate in 2022 partly because that’s what typically happens to incumbent parties in mid-term elections. However, Biden/Harris are also just really terrible and ineffective politicians on their own merit. Biden could be doing a lot more to mitigate inflationary effects in preparation for the holiday and winter season. He has the executive power to regulate (i.e. severely limit) our nation’s fossil fuel exports, open up our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, grease the wheels of the national and international supply chains like at shipping ports, etc… He doesn’t even need to (nor should he) genuflect to OPEC and Russian fossil fuel oligarchs. Final reminder to everyone: far-leftists comprise the only American political faction that takes anthropogenic climate change seriously, i.e. in a manner that is commensurate with our Paris Agreement obligation. If TRUE progressives ever had actual post-LBJ era power in this libertarian crony capitalistic hellhole of a country, they would have initiated serious investments into renewable energy (I include nuclear here) way back during the 1970’s…or at the very least immediately after that famous June 1988 global warming Senate hearing. So whenever the green energy transition process becomes economically turbulent (and I’m sure it will), more people should try redirecting their vitriol away from present-day Squad members and toward the neoliberal a-hole politicians from the previous five decades who took all those corporate fossil fuel bribes. Final final reminder: Joe Biden is NOT a progressive. He accepts corporate campaign donations and rejects universal health care, thus failing the two most basic requirements for being considered a “progressive.” He fails plenty of other far-left litmus tests I could enumerate, but I’ve already typed 8 paragraphs and need to get ready for work. Over and out, - Commie Kay

Um…well in terms of policy, Tulsi isn’t anywhere remotely close to the GOP. She’s basically a Glenn Greenwald progressive, minus her terrible takes on several aspects of the war on Islamic terror.

Seems like a lot of wasted time and effort checking vaccination papers. Just focus on playing the run and the pass, Tremaine.

Cryptkeeper Nancy undermining progressives yet again. Spineless Jayapal caving to Coal Miner Manchin and Effie Trinket Sinema. Squad actresses winning Oscars on the House floor. Demented Biden pooping in his underpants while Rome burns. What a dress!

Us vegans don’t consume honey, Leh-nerd. Thank you for the compliments, but I do think you’re making this a bigger deal than it needs to be. I believe the Governor and I reached a point of mutual understanding over his contentious remarks, and I believe that we would have never reached that point had I not demurred politely. For the past five years, I have been among the most vociferous critics toward the “Trump voter = racist” accusations because they lack nuance and a basic willingness to understand conservative, libertarian, and populist nationalist values. I have done so even as it has been enormously unpopular and alienating within left-leaning social circles in my personal life. So I don’t feel any special added obligation to do the same on a right-wing internet forum read by two or three dozen other right-wing people. You guys are normally pretty good and quick at taking on that responsibility! Is it the “white female” component that has you especially annoyed with me? You are disappointed that I did not exhibit any special solidarity with “my people?” Sure, I suppose the Governor’s sweeping generalization could be construed as offensive to our delicate sensibilities. In the broader spectrum of life’s tribulations, however, it does not pose an existential crisis to our rights and to our dignities as Americans. Us twenty-first century white chicks are going to be okay! We’re gonna make it after all! And perhaps challenges to be a little more self-reflective on how our political choices impact the world around us should be encouraged, no? But if we are now in the business of confronting every instance of condescending commentary and bigotry in this absolute hellhole of a subforum, I have a VERY long list for you guys. Oh wherever shall I begin?? For starters, how about all the verbal abuse here that routinely gets directed at the transgendered community?? Actually…you know what? It’s been a rough few days for all of Bills Mafia. Let us reserve the therapeutic vituperation for Daboll, Bobby Johnson, Sugar High Josh, Cody Ford, etc… Do you need a hug, Leh-nerd? I know I could sure use one. Here, Leh-ny, let me give you a hug…. Narrator (to be read using a Brian “Baldy” Baldinger voice-over…I find his voice very calming): “ComradeKayAdams leans toward her laptop, wraps her arms around the screen, and gives a gentle squeeze. She closes her eyes and smiles, knowing the Jets are next up on the schedule. Kay reasons that a healthy Knox and a greater commitment to the run game out of spread formations should fix a lot of the offense’s problems. Furthermore, Kay knows that Frazier’s cover 3 zone defense has remained sensational all season, aside from that one Derrick Henry run. Kay often tells lies to herself in order to get through the week.” On point #2: No doubt, but prioritizing personal finances over affordable housing issues that disproportionately affect minorities is what I mean by “racial insensitivity.” In various situations, yes, this may instead manifest itself as “socioeconomic class insensitivity” or “elderly insensitivity.” It would be preferable if these suburban Trump-supporting “keeping-up-with-the-Joneses” white women supported candidates who also offered viable alternative housing policies for others less fortunate than them. But alas, the binary American political system normally only offers non-ideal choices. So I understand that people’s motivations behind their voting decisions are complex. I therefore try to temper my judgment a little. EDIT: spelling mistake.

Thank you for the article, Mr. Governor. Yes, I’m familiar with the content and you are correct that it’s not earth-shatteringly breaking news. As a Bernie 2016 and Bernie 2020 canvasser in the NYC area, I rarely ventured out to the suburbs so I rarely interacted with the white women demographic that voted for Trump (though the five boroughs certainly have their fair share of gentrified neighborhoods, of course, which is partly the subject of the article). But I still don’t think the article is in opposition to my original stance, which is basically the following: 1. The overall white women demographic is choosing to prioritize personal economics over social justice issues. 2. Accusing them of “racial insensitivity” is fair game, especially regarding the issue of affordable housing options in suburbs. 3. Accusing them of outright “racism” is much more dubious and politically suicidal. Maybe we’re more or less in agreement here? This topic is beginning to feel more tautological than substantive, so I shall retire to another thread on this lovely pre-Bills game afternoon…

Good article, B-Man! I highlighted the question that I want to address because I suspect it’s going to be a hot topic of debate among my fellow comrades this week. I suspect the answers are going to fall into 3 approximate camps: 1. The Marxist-Leninist revolutionary types who insist it was all political theater and that the Squad would have bowed down to their corporate Democratic Party overlords if their 6 votes had been needed. 2. The social democrat reformer types who believe the Squad would have still held the progressive line because they are sincere political agents who want to remain accountable to their constituents. 3. The sh!tlib fauxgressives who don’t care about the question and want to blame the Squad for holding up Democratic Party progress and not helping to deliver infrastructure aid to their respective districts. Let’s quickly review the situation: 1. Nancy Pelosi is one smart Machiavellian cookie and has a reputation for never allowing a bill proposal to be voted on without already knowing she has the required votes to pass it. 2. 218 House votes were needed to pass this bill, 215 Democrats voted in favor, 200 Republicans voted against it, 13 GOP’ers “betrayed” their party, and 6 Squad members (AOC, Omar, Pressley, Tlaib, Bush, Bowman) “betrayed” theirs. 3. 88 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus voted in line with Pelosi. This included Jayapal, Khanna, Porter, Newman, and Pocan. 4. I’m familiar with a few of the 13 GOP betrayers: Andrew Garbarino, Chris Smith, and Nicole Malliotakis. They represent districts that would not have looked favorably upon a vote against infrastructure aid. Nicole in particular is from Staten Island and is absolutely a real headache to us progressives, as the article suggests. So I think Pelosi and the Squad probably already knew how at least some of these 13 people were going to vote. 5. There’s a “rotating villain” theory in democratic politics that is worth mentioning. It suggests that corporate politicians choose scapegoats to kill populist legislation. Their choices are based on who is most likely to handle the political blowback at the time. Regarding the budget reconciliation bill, for example, Manchin and Sinema have been selected to be the Democratic Party villains du jour. Commie Kay’s Conclusion: Hmmm…yes, sadly this reeks of political theater. The 6 Squad members reside in possibly the 6 most far-left districts in the country and had the most to lose from not holding the progressive line that Bernie Sanders implored. However, I’m not so sure about some of those Left Coasters like Jayapal, Khanna, and Porter. Will they get primaried from the left? Will they survive them? Perhaps they were the ones instructed to play the “rotating villain” roles that the 6 Squad members could not afford to play? Hmmm…don’t know. Don’t really care anymore, either. I’m going third-party in the generals if I don’t get my way in the Dem primaries. It’s actually way smaller than it should be, but the political environment in the post-Reagan era United States doesn’t allow for government to solve large-scale problems (unless it’s related to “national defense,” i.e. American imperialism). If you travel to countries in East Asia or Europe, you’ll see firsthand that government gridlock toward civil infrastructure projects isn’t globally ubiquitous. Other societies are able to collaborate like mature adults to solve problems. Most countries in the West, for example, are already way ahead of us with implementing the panoply of cutting-edge twenty-first century “green” infrastructure. Speaking of “green” infrastructure, all of the major infrastructure legislation written to combat anthropogenic climate change is in the budget reconciliation bill that Manchin, Sinema, and the GOP will kill this month. Even if it were to pass, the climate provisions currently in it are a full order of magnitude in cost below our country’s responsibility to the Paris Agreement. Corporatist politicians of both parties who accept campaign donations (a.k.a. legal bribes) from fossil fuel industries moved in to whittle down the climate change components of the bill. This will be Joe Biden’s “green” legacy for future historians to detail: a repeated failure to mediate and lead.

Why are you disappointed in me?? I was just being polite and open-minded and was giving Mr. Governor an opportunity to defend a very bold statement. His supporting evidence for the claim that white women are becoming more racist appears to be that more voted for Trump in 2020 than in 2016. Suffice to say, I remain unconvinced… And even if the claim is true, liberals should know by now that calling everyone a racist isn’t a productive political strategy (see: 2016 presidential election, Hillary campaign, “deplorables” comment). While politicians alone won’t “solve” racism (empathic dialogue and social desegregation are essential components too), my contention is that they can still do a lot to alleviate the problem by delivering on domestic economic policies which have overwhelming support from the electorate (such as most of the stuff that is being gutted from the BBB bill…). Why? Because American history is loaded with examples indicating a strong causal relationship between economic anxiety and racial tension.