ComradeKayAdams

Hondo, Their perceived dominance was partly due to the highly uneven scheduling that took place during the 1920’s NFL. Teams would often not play the same number of games or play the same teams. Strength of schedule varied dramatically. The All-Americans played 5 teams outside the league in 1920, defeating them by a total score of 184-13. They would also blow out very weak teams like the Rochester Jeffersons and Columbus Panhandles. But whenever they played the best teams in the country, the scores were much more modest. To be clear, Buffalo was definitely a great team and on par with the very best! But from 1920-1921, the All-Americans collectively outscored the Akron Pros, Chicago Bears, and Canton Bulldogs by a point total of 42-29 over 8 games. That’s an offense averaging only 5.25 points per game against the best competition. By no means was this awful offensive production by the standards of the 1920’s, but it also wasn’t evidence of an unstoppable juggernaut. In terms of football X’s and O’s, it's hard to say how innovative the Buffalo All-Americans were. There was no real game film back then, so newspaper reports are the best evidence for historians. Fielding Yost’s offense had been around for two decades by the time the NFL began. I’m only GUESSING when I say that his University of Michigan offensive system was already fairly well-known to the players from the Midwest and to the teams from the eastern half of the league (Ohio, Michigan, and Western New York). The Ohio League teams would have probably seen it when Tommy Hughitt played against them as QB of the Youngstown Patricians. Teams from Michigan would also regularly play against Ohio League teams. Did any of this help?? Keep in mind that I’m an AMATEUR INTERNET historian lol…you’ll want to consult the PFRA or other experts for better info. Good conversation, though! Thank you for that! -Kay

Ockie Anderson was probably the better athlete, but Tommy Hughitt had at one point played basically every football position other than OL and DL. You had to have been pretty athletic to be that versatile! Hughitt’s suitability for the Hall of Fame boils down to a question of the Hall’s size. If it’s a place to be reserved for only 1 member, then everyone besides Tom Brady is excluded. If it’s going to hold something like 1,000 members, then Hughitt is absolutely up for debate! But what about, say, 412 members? That would equal 4 members per year times every year of the league’s existence, which is close to the current total of 371. In that case, I am much more inclined to fight for some of our AFL Bills before I am for Hughitt. Three reasons for that: 1. Hughitt and his teams didn’t impact the pro game nearly to the extent that our AFL Bills did. Many fans don’t realize that Cookie’s running prowess and Joe Collier’s defensive dominance did a lot to legitimize (in the eyes of the football-viewing public) the new, wide-open, air-it-out, “gimmicky” AFL style of football. Furthermore, the AFL Bills contributed much to the early schematic blueprints used to counter all those Sid Gillman-esque teams…teams which more closely resembled modern NFL teams, ironically enough, than anything that was seen in the 1960’s NFL. 2. Fair or not, pro football snobbery back then favored anything from the Ohio League and looked down upon anything from places like upstate New York. As you may already know, Tommy Hughitt’s All-Americans were born in the pre-1920’s New York Pro Football League. He will have a steep uphill battle with Hall evaluators and football historians because of this. 3. The All-Americans franchise went downhill quickly after the exodus of the U Penn trio (Lou Little, Heinie Miller, Lud Wray) and after Ockie Anderson’s career-ending knee injury. Hall of Fame evaluators will hold that against Hughitt when determining his greatness. You are correct in thinking that the great tragedy of the 1920-1921 Buffalo All-Americans is what could have been for the city of Buffalo... Instead of a national laughingstock, maybe the world thinks of us as they do Green Bay and Canton? Maybe Hughitt is thought of in a similar way that Lombardi is for the Packers or Jim Thorpe is for the Canton Bulldogs? Maybe the small-market All-Americans franchise goes on to survive the Great Depression like the Bears, Cardinals, and Giants did? Then again, our Bills wouldn’t have ever existed… P.S. Yes, I’m familiar with much of the PFRA’s work! Jeffrey Miller and Ken Crippen are huge names in the Buffalo pro football history world. As a matter of fact, Ken used to post here at TwoBillsDrive as “KRC.”

“It’s the economy, stupid!” - James “Ragin’ Cajun” Carville, circa 1992. “I’ll give you my uterus when you pry it from my cold, clammy birth canal.” - Kay “Sassy Slavic” Adams, circa Friday, May 12, 2023. Christopher, The economy is always an important issue, but it’s not always THE most important. Abortion is a very visceral topic, and the Dobbs ruling has rendered the 2024 election a unique one. You say that young adults are out of touch with the current economic climate. While I very much disagree with that line of thought, doesn’t it work both ways here?? Are not old people (especially old males) out of touch with the psychological AND economic impact of forced childbirth?? For one thing, some sort of public consensus needs to emerge on the causes of inflation and other macroeconomic ailments. I know the conservative/libertarian position on this, and you’ll know mine if you skim through my PPP posting history over the past ~1.5 years. Is there one that would motivate independents, moderates, and apolitical voters? Moreover, Republicans need to present a salable alternative economic plan to the American public in order to get them to override their aversion to the GOP’s abortion stance. Have they done so? Can they do so? Are Trump and DeSantis, for example, proposing different monetary policies from Biden’s in order to cool inflation (that is: raising interest rates, which unfortunately will most likely increase unemployment levels)? We definitely know they’re not proposing more progressive taxation policies or corporate windfall profit taxes. And the Democrats can easily poke holes in a “drill, baby, drill!” plan (I did exactly that in a lengthy PPP post of mine from last year). I also do not care much for your “Republicans:abortion::Democrats:gun control” analogy. In terms of actual legislation being promoted or passed, the GOP is operating at a point far to the right of the American public on abortion (based on policy poll numbers); the Dems, meanwhile, have actually maintained a center-right position on gun control. Sensible restrictions aren’t equivalent to second amendment abolition. A few people shrieking on social media isn’t equivalent to official party policy.

Great post! I’m an amateur internet Bills historian (over at BillsFans.com), so this is a fun topic for me. Regarding Cookie Gilchrist: absolutely! He was the AFL’s most Hall-worthy HB/FB running back, one of that league’s first superstars, and also a 1960’s civil rights icon for the entire sports world. The CFL was considered on par with the NFL and AFL way back then, so Cookie’s 6 years of dominance there should factor in any consideration for the PRO FOOTBALL Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, Cookie is a victim of the Hall’s heavy bias against the AFL. I’ll name 3 other AFL Bills who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame: 1. Tom Sestak, DT: arguably the greatest defensive lineman in AFL history. He was the best player on a legendary 1960’s defense. 2. Mike Stratton, OLB: a rangy do-it-all LB (stopping the run, covering, rushing the QB) and the prototype for the modern era LB. He delivered perhaps the greatest and most impactful single tackle in pro football history (1964 AFL championship game against Keith Lincoln). 3. George Saimes, S: among the very best open-field tacklers in pro football history. Booker Edgerson couldn’t have been the shutdown CB that he was and Butch Byrd couldn’t have been the playmaking CB that he was without Saimes roaming the secondary. Regarding Tasker: yes, definitely! This isn’t even up for debate with anyone who properly respects special teams…i.e. anyone who knows anything about football. Regarding Tommy Hughitt: love the reference! But…he won’t ever make it in and probably doesn’t deserve to be in, either. That inaugural 1920 season has a large asterisk next to it because the All-Americans played half of their 10 games against second-rate opponents outside of the league. So the franchise really only had 1.5 excellent seasons. Also, Hughitt wasn’t obviously the best player on those early teams. They were called the “All-Americans” because they were stacked with elite college talent. I would put teammate, Swede Youngstrom, in the Pro Football Hall of Fame before Hughitt. Having said all that, Hughitt was the undisputed leader of that franchise and someone whom I consider the “Godfather of Buffalo pro football.” I would recommend a spot for him in the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame and possibly also an official retirement of his jersey number, 1. Ralph Wilson doesn’t place the Bills in Buffalo had it not been for the attendance success of the 1946-1949 AAFC Buffalo Bills, and the AAFC Bills don’t exist in Buffalo without Tommy Hughitt’s successful efforts in the first half of the 1920’s.

Pokeyballs, You misunderstood my previous posts in this thread. When I said “blowout,” I wasn’t referring to the 2020 election. I was making a prediction for the 2024 presidential election. You are welcome to challenge that prediction or my definition of an “electoral college blowout.” It’s an opinion over which I am not going to get overly defensive. I suppose a sudden decline in the economy or in Biden’s health could very well change the overall dynamics of the election. I think my main contention here is a long-term one: the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision will lead to the eventual demise of the GOP as we currently know it, necessitating one of those generational political realignments in American history like the Southern strategy of the 1960’s. The GOP alliance between libertarians and Christian nationalists is untenable because their culture war has been lost, and poll numbers from the abortion debate best exemplify this reality. Watching Republicans fumble around with their defense of the various red state abortion trigger laws has been both embarrassing and infuriating to all rational Americans. CHEERS to Bernie rocking! JEERS to thinking he would have lost to Trump. My powerful rebuttal:

OH. EM. GEE. Irv!! We almost forgot…moderator election season is right around the corner!! Do you need my campaign manager services again for round two?! Yes, yes of course you do. I’m writing your initial campaign advertisement in poetic form: We’re doing this again, just like we did it before! Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024. I’m ordering campaign buttons and can always order more! Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024. Is heavy-handed moderation something you abhor? Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024. He treats everyone the same, from neocon to anti-war. Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024. Yet trolls must be identified and brought to the fore… Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024. He will clean up their mess and show them the door. Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024. And he’ll atomize their subversion like…a forum’s…Niels Bohr? Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024. Yeah yeah I know, you can always put the trolls on “ignore.” Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024. But scrolling through their posting residue is still quite a chore. Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024. Plus I want to see who has been calling me a leftist hippy wh*re. Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024. Though my politics are admittedly quite progressive, they have been heretofore. Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024. And I do wear bell sleeve dresses with high hemlines, floral patterns I adore! Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024. But F*CK YOU for your insolence, and yeah yeah I know I just swore. Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024. In Hillary’s proverbial basket you go, reserved for those Irv and I deplore. Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024. Anyway…we’ll wait until election day to settle our score. Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024. Also: our campaign buttons will be available online as well as in store. Vote Irv for PPP Moderator in 2024.

Yeah, it will likely be a lot closer than it needs to be. Biden’s approval numbers are historically low: 36%, the lowest for a first-term president in the post-WW2 era who is 18 months away from the next election cycle. But hey, y’all can’t blame me for Zombie Joe and Cackling Kamala! I was a Sandernista in 2020 and am voting for Marianne Williamson* in the upcoming primaries. Nevertheless, Biden and Harris should still trump Trump and DeSantis and any other Christian nationalist. We are WAY past the days of reasonable GOP alternatives a la the great Jack Kemp. All Joe needs to do is harp on about a federal codification of Roe v. Wade (the 24-week limit) or some type of further left/right compromise like a Euro-style 15-week ban (but with clearly delineated exceptions for the usual: rape, i n c e s t, life of the mother/ectopic pregnancies, psychological health of mother/suicide ideations, fetal abnormalities, D&C/D&E miscarriage procedures, cryptic pregnancies/irregular periods/amenorrhea situations, lengthy abortion waiting lists, etc.). Special emphasis should be placed on exceptions like rape to highlight how unreasonable the GOP stance really is on abortion. Example: talking about how rape victims commonly delay abortion procedures or forego criminal prosecution due to emotional traumatization, intimidation from partners, reticence to deal with all the public slut shaming or prosecutorial red tape, etc. I also want to clarify my “319-219 electoral college blowout” remark (a blowout is relative, but a 100-vote electoral college margin does seem sizable in this modern era of highly polarized politics): 1. I conceded 24 red states for 219 votes and am comfortable with allotting 17 obvious blue states for 212 votes. 2. I’m giving Team Blue a Midwestern-ish edge in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota because the Dem Party machine is expected to churn out huge pro-choice Zoomer numbers in major college towns outside the Bible Belt. So that’s 4 more states with 54 more electoral college votes…266-219 in favor of Team Blue. 3. That means Team Red must secure New Hampshire AND Arizona AND Nevada AND North Carolina AND Georgia (5 states, 53 votes) in order to get to 270+. It’s a very narrow electoral college path to victory, made even narrower when you factor in the apparent post-Dobbs agglutination of the 2020 Bernie diaspora around the Dem Party. * - Make sure you vote for Marianne, Redtail Hawk! Universal healthcare is her flagship policy for 2024!

Yes! That’s an excellent distillation of my argument! I’ll even whittle it down to a single sentence: “the American economy can be optimized by greatly increasing the size of the middle class and the economic agency of the working class.” This is essentially the “Tao” that undergirds any social democrat’s domestic economic philosophy. This one sentence, of course, invites plenty of vigorous and heated discussion from all political sides. While I don’t have the stomach this morning to type a full-blown “Kay-mmunist Manifesto,” I’ll offer you a small sample of how a productive discussion should play out… * Inquisitive Kay: Why is an optimal economy so important to you, Didactic Kay? * Didactic Kay: Good question, Inquisitive Kay. For one thing, it’s correlated with the best quality of life for the most people. It also implies ideal investment portfolio growth, which the professional/managerial class can appreciate. Furthermore, the greatest pool of financial capital possible can be redirected into technological projects that, in turn, can best help us solve the world’s most difficult problems (don’t ever confuse me for one of them Luddites, Inquisitive Kay!). * Inquisitive Kay: Very well. And why is a large middle class so important to an optimized economy? * Didactic Kay: Um…I guess basically because it’s the most economically dynamic class in terms of its capacity for economic goods/services consumption, its steady investment pool potential, and its reliable tax revenue (which gets directed into public expenditures)…all of which drive further economic growth. * Inquisitive Kay: All right, so how do we know when we’ve reached such a point of economic optimization? * Didactic Kay: We rely on historical and comparative international macroeconomic data. I can sure as sh!t promise you that it’s not anywhere near those laissez-faire capitalistic systems, sista! * Inquisitive Kay: Neat. So how would we go about getting to this optimal macroeconomic point? * Didactic Kay: Various forms of progressive taxation, i.e. the dreaded “redistribution of wealth.” * Inquisitive Kay: Wait a minute…what the f%#k gives you the right to steal my money, b!tch?? * Didactic Kay: Woah! Settle down, Inquisitive Kay. You can find a moral imperative in that ever-so-lovely “social contract.” You can also realize that not all goods and services are inherently on even ground in terms of their impact on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (namely: health care, education, housing). And while I’ll spare you a dry Marxian rant on the labor theory of value and labor-supply demand curves and the like, let’s think about that infamous example of the wealth of Jeff Bezos versus the wealth of a full-time Amazon warehouse employee. Can you honestly tell me that there’s no inherent labor exploitation occurring in this capitalist enterprise?? Simply put, the highly complex and caveat-laden process of government-mandated wealth redistribution is an attempted process of returning stolen wealth. * Inquisitive Kay: All well and good, Didactic Kay, but the road to hell is paved with… * Didactic Kay: Yeah, I know…good intentions. All governments, no matter how big or small, need carefully crafted metrics of accountability and carefully implemented safeguards from corruption and inefficiencies. No one wants their taxed money stolen or wasted. An educated and civically engaged electorate would help greatly in this regard. * Persnickety Kay: Hey, don’t forget to address the Bill Clinton content in Redtail Hawk’s post. * Didactic Kay: Yes, thank you. So bearing in mind that I wasn’t alive for much of the Clinton presidency, I’m opting to steer clear of any meaningful analysis of what was in Bill’s heart or brain during those years (though we do have a pretty good idea of what was going on in his loins…ba-dum-tss…). I have a reputation for being overly cynical of mainstream politicians. All I’ll say is that I remember reading articles discussing Clinton’s longstanding hostility toward unions, dating back to his ascendant days in Arkansas and reaching a crescendo at some point following the NAFTA signing. If unions backed him during his 1992 and 1996 election campaigns, maybe it was a “lesser of two evils” situation? But Bill Clinton was undoubtedly more progressive in his first presidential campaign and very early on in his presidential tenure. Obama followed a similar trajectory. Hmmm…something about progressivism that’s popular with the people?? And something about the American political system that intrinsically corrupts ($$)?? * Supercilious Kay: Wow! Another outstanding post, Didactic Kay! You’ve really raised the bar of enlightenment in this one. Gosh, you’re such an effective communicator. No doubt this will garner multiple positive emoji reactions, even from the usual right-wing a#&holes like Westsnide and Over_29_Years_Of_D!ckheadedness. * Didactic Kay: Thanks! * Persnickety Kay: Hey, can we wrap it up, ladies? We’ve got so many other threads to read this morning. It’s Draft Day!! Yay!! * Inquisitive Kay: Oh, that’s right. Say, do you think Redtail Hawk is creeped out by this split personality literary shtick? * Didactic Kay: Yeah, probably. I’m sure he blocked us already and isn’t even reading this sentence that I’m typing right now. * Supercilious Kay: Nah, we good. We’re the only far-leftist game in town. All of PPP needs our commentary. We’re super special.

The Democrats are still excellent on civil rights issues, but they have largely abandoned unions and the working class since the early tenure of President Bill Clinton. Maybe Bill looked at three straight decisive presidential GOP victories preceding him (1980 + 1984 + 1988), along with the GOP takeover of Congress in 1994, and simply decided that he needed corporate billionaire campaign money to survive. Or more likely, he was always motivated by power and not political economic philosophies. Either way, Obama and Biden have largely continued what Clinton started economically, even if they’re less transparent about their motives than the Republicans. It is both sad and amusing, though, to witness how differently the VOTERS at each side of the political spectrum view economics. Taking this example of child labor laws: right-wingers see it as a moral lesson on the virtues of the quintessential Protestant work ethic. “Here’s a golden opportunity to help those lazy kids not turn out like those super lazy Millennials!” exclaim liver-spotted Boomery right-wingers like Chris Farley*. Meanwhile, left-wingers CORRECTLY view these laws as obvious political scheming from businesses to suppress already pathetic labor wages via control of the labor supply. A quick perusal of the details in these laws shows that the intentions go well beyond innocent summertime jobs for a little extra fun cash. Another notable example: left-wingers CORRECTLY see our prolonged inflation as a legacy consequence of corporations running historically unprecedented profit margins well beyond the period of supply shock inflation. This is aptly called “greedflation,” and its best solution would be political pressure in the form of threats of windfall profit taxes or price controls. Right-wingers, meanwhile, dust off their Murray Rothbard books to desperately cite the problem of too much government spending put into the economy (even though we were trying to exit a f#*@%$g giant deflationary cycle during the early COVID era…ugh). And so how exactly do these valiant right-wing crusaders advise us to fight the corporate oligarchy?? “Um…let’s try cutting Social Security and Medicare,” nobly suggest doddering overripe right-wing economic “populists” like Chris Farley**. I guess it comes down to those who understand data-driven macroeconomics and those who intransigently choose to be Austrian school poopfaces. * - can’t wait for Chris Farley’s trademark eyeroll emoji reaction to my every post. I love it! It excites me… ** - actually, I’m not 100% familiar with the details of Chris Farley’s politics. All I know is that he is not nearly as jovial and uplifting as his late 20th century comedian namesake.

Yup. The 2024 election became a fait accompli as soon as the Dobbs v. JWHO decision was announced. I don’t see how Trump can avoid the stain of Christian nationalism as he escapes the primaries and enters the generals (same goes for Meatball Ron and any other GOP’er). I’m predicting a 319-219 electoral college blowout. That would be only 24 red states: Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana. My reasoning: 1. The 2022 mid-term red wave turned out to be a trickle. 2. National polls show a large majority support for Roe v. Wade, with the support continuing to grow. 3. The Wisconsin Supreme Court election victory for Janet Protasiewicz highlighted the potency of Democratic campaign machine efforts in college towns. 4. Third-party (Greens + DSA) leftist enthusiasm has collapsed since 2020. And regarding policy details, why the GOP is having a hard time persuading independent voters: 1. 6-week abortion bans are laughably absurd, especially when its advocates don’t understand the concept of irregular periods or the reality of how women often don’t even know they’re pregnant up to that point. 2. Contraception is now under attack, which violates the implicit constitutional right to (sexual) privacy found within the ninth and fourteenth amendments. 3. Everything about the mifepristone case’s dissenting opinion from Alito (and Thomas) was ridiculous. 4. People are seeing through the blatant lies of “supporting abortion up to the point of birth.” There’s no statistical evidence for sociopathic mothers having abortions right up to (or beyond) the point of birth. Abortions rarely even occur in the third trimester. When they do occur, it is because of fetal abnormalities or for protecting the mother’s life. These types of abortions are also incredibly expensive and difficult to arrange. The intention of late-term abortion allowance clauses is to eliminate the red tape that gets in the way of exemption cases like rape, i n c e s t, health of the mother, or incredibly long abortion waiting lists. This is the same reason why verification guidelines for abortion exemptions are extremely lax in most European countries. 5. Pro-lifers can’t seem to articulate their arguments without invoking superstitious justifications. 6. Women are just plain uncomfortable with government controlling their sexual autonomy and their medical decisions. We be strange like that… EDIT: I hate how Two Bills Drive censors the "i n c e s t" word.

I’m the latter, though not all heroes wear capes…or white metallic armor. A select few SLAY with cute-as-sh!t blazer dresses and color matching heels. So you’re basically opining that the observed decline in American socioeconomic mobility is largely a function of poor work ethic among the working class, Millennials, and Gen Z’ers…correct? A riveting thesis, truly, though it seems like you’ve overlooked all the well-known data showing how American worker productivity has actually INCREASED while wages have stagnated. And did you factor in the collapse in labor union power, the outsourcing of jobs overseas, market distortions due to corporate deregulatory policies, and all the market distortions due to extreme wealth disparity between the professional/managerial class and the victims of neoliberalism that I’ve delineated?? Furthermore, you mentioned how these alleged victims are simply not availing themselves of all the wonderful public welfare programs in America. But did you know that these programs are way better funded, more comprehensive, more robust, and not constantly under political attack in countries with healthier socioeconomic mobility metrics? Nowadays, the so-called “American Dream” is somehow better implemented in many of the countries that our ancestors rushed to leave! The fundamental problem with your line of thinking is one of overlooked temporal constraints. No matter one’s work ethic, there are only 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year, and roughly 4 viable decades in the work force. If a given capitalistic (or rather: mixed economy) system contains enough inherent barriers to socioeconomic advancement, large enough subsets of the population will simply run out of time to overcome the numerous costs and obstacles that life typically presents which inhibit wealth building. Sure, just “@” my name if you think I can help push forward a conversation! I usually visit TBD a few times a week. You probably know my politics pretty well by now: standard Sandernista stuff, more or less. My favorite topics are macroeconomics, foreign policy, energy, and the environment. Definitely “@” my name if you see anyone discussing Marianne Williamson’s 2024 presidential run. Hi redtail hawk, Hmmm…well that’s a bit of a loaded question! I’d rather limit my polemical scope to this: “the right-wing posters of PPP are generally not very thoughtful or analytical; they only happen to be predominantly over the age of 40.” You ask how we can make things better while avoiding civil war. The first step would be overturning Citizens United v. FEC. This will require grassroots movements and most likely the unification of the white working class with minorities, Millennials, Gen Z, and Latinos. These groups can only unify with open dialogue via independent media. A few steps down the line, American imperialism must end so that money can be redirected away from the military-industrial complex and toward domestic projects. A few steps after that would be socializing all aspects of health care. Nothing would improve socioeconomic mobility more than that…not even free college/trade school. The first step I outlined will be the hardest. It’s hard enough building legislative momentum; I suspect the Supreme Court, in its current structure, is going to be an even bigger problem. We’re going to need a president in place to bully the SC like FDR did to the Lochner era court. For the record: “enlarged prostate” was my insult, not L Ron Burgundy’s. If making fun of the medical conditions of older men is verboten, does that mean you guys will stop attacking Biden’s dementia?? I can work on my heartfelt apology to PPP’s male right-wing Boomer crowd as soon as all you wizened weirdos outline what you plan to do to stop the abortion red state trigger laws. Capiche?

Hi, L Ron! Yes, PPP is totally infested with male right-wing Boomers. It’s like a nursing home clique, with Fox News blaring in the background. It can feel quite lonely here if you have neither age-related cognitive decline nor an enlarged prostate with which to relate. I don’t post much here anymore because the topics are too boring and many of the posters have truly despicable viewpoints. Commies and trannies, trannies and commies, commies conspiring with trannies at the behest of those (((dirty rapacious Jews)))…eeek!!! It’s all anyone at PPP discusses nowadays. Plus it’s hard having civil and productive conversations with posters whom you know are okay with states forcing rape victims to give birth to the child of their rapists….among all the other nonsensical and deeply immoral repercussions of Dobbs v. Jackson… Having said all that, I’ll reconsider posting more as we move closer to the start of the Bills’ season. At the moment, I split my time between here and BillsFans.com (come join!), lurking and reading about draft prospects, following the Sabres and Bandits, celebrating every day like it’s Dyngus Day…as is the way of Commie Kay, her predilections she shall NEVER betray. 1. Your first paragraph: You are welcome to deny the existence of victims (working class, under-40 people) due to perpetrators (corporate oligarchs, corrupt politicians) working within broken institutions (America’s particular version of capitalism since Reagan, America’s two-party political system). However, keep in mind that in fields like macroeconomics and sociology, the presence of exceptions to rules (i.e., anecdotal stories of people pulling themselves up by their figurative bootstraps) don’t discount statistical aggregate rules. There is a notoriously strong inverse relationship between wealth disparity and socioeconomic mobility. If you want to make a correlation without causation argument here, then you are being willfully ignorant of all sorts of economic phenomena like Boomer wealth distortions to the housing market, reduced consumer spending trends based on student loan debt levels, and American medical debt/bankruptcy data in poorer red states. Furthermore, American worker productivity has gone up during these past four decades while wage growth (relative to inflation) has stagnated. So can we talk about the VICTIMS of labor exploitation here?? Why is Jeff Bezos, to use an infamous example, worth more than the GDP of two-thirds of the world’s countries while many of his full-time warehouse workers still qualify for food stamps? 2. Your second paragraph: You provided no context for your assertion that LGBT in schools poll poorly. How were the polling questions worded? What was the nature of the scenarios presented? In the absence of these details, I can personally say that I do support very basic and very brief education of LGBT in public primary schools. What I mean by that is simply the acknowledgment of their existence in this world and the fact that their minority status in no way justifies hatred and discrimination directed at them. Secondary school is the more appropriate time to present the science behind sexual orientation as well as gender identity (see: oldmanfan’s excellent post in page 3 of the “Transurrection” thread; also: DrW’s excellent post in page 5 of that same thread). 3. Your third paragraph: You correctly labeled the major culture war topics as political wedge issues. Hopefully you also understand the motives and the masterminds behind them? Simply put, they are tools that corporate oligarchs use to distract the victims of neoliberalism. They keep the populist left and the populist right from uniting against the corporate oligarchs. The Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) bailout is a good recent example of what I mean. Instead of attacking the absence of common-sense bank regulations, right-wing media immediately jumped to DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs and left-wing media immediately responded with accusations of bigotry…for a long enough period of time until some other topic replaced SVB in the news cycle. My solution to wedge issues? Well, I certainly think campaign finance reform and ranked choice voting would help mitigate their impact.

Yup…pretty much! The Great Recession was particularly devastating to the early career trajectories of Millennials. Along with the working class, Millennials (and now also Gen Z) have been the biggest victims of late-stage neoliberalism and its collection of supply-side policies that have decimated American socioeconomic mobility over the past four decades. You correctly cited the skyrocketing costs of housing, education, and health care as major reasons for them falling behind economically, relative to previous generations. I’d also add COVID-era inflation on basic goods and services like food, utility costs, and transportation. These obviously hit people just starting out in life (in addition to the working class) disproportionately harder than people with large nest eggs and mature investment portfolios (i.e. the professional/managerial classes plus Gen X’ers/Boomers). Declining religiosity is another notable reason for Millennials bucking the trend of growing more politically conservative with age. Unsurprisingly, the GOP’s dramatic shift toward Christian nationalism is repellent to the under-40 crowd. Since Gen Z’ers are even less religious than Millennials, conservatives badly need to come up with new ways to hold power beyond campaign superspending, voter suppression, and gerrymandering. Historically speaking, religiosity tends to ebb and flow across eras in various cultures. But 21st century America lies in the ages of science and of mass communication, which bring along degrees of irreversible enlightenment. So…speaking of political strategy…in my opinion, the GOP’s best bet for the future would be to cede certain culture war issues that poll below the 35% threshold (example: Roe v. Wade red state trigger laws) and focus exclusively on taxation and political corruption issues. Leaning too stridently into their anti-woke narrative is killing them with far more than the Millennial and Gen Z demographics. In the coming years, there will be a large potential outflux of center-left neoliberals abandoning the Democratic Party as the social democrats continue to rise in power among the party ranks. Republicans would be wise to learn more about this massive voting bloc and try to capture them. They have only won the popular vote in a presidential election ONCE since 1988…that would be 1 for 8…12.5%...sad. With their electoral college pathways to victory dwindling as Boomers die and Gen Z’ers rise, the GOP should be in a race to carve out a favorable political realignment before progressives achieve a mid-century critical mass in electoral popularity.

Pretty sure that you are an imperialist, silverite, and scoundrel of the highest order.

Yes, Sanders definitely needs to be in the conversation! Several online scouting reports make direct comparisons between him and Tremaine Edmunds. He probably has the highest ceiling of all the LB’s in this draft and would be a nice chess piece who can also effectively rush the passer. Campbell, meanwhile, seems to have the highest floor of them all. His scouting reports scream “PROCESS.” If Coach McDermott was a linebacker in his early 20’s, he would be Jack Campbell. Simpson could work as an ILB, too, if the Bills make a few schematic changes to Frazier’s defense. He seems to compare more with Milano in skillset than Edmunds. I don’t know if any of the other LB draft prospects represent much of a physical talent upgrade over Dodson and Bernard. It also doesn’t look like there is a mutual interest between Beane and Bobby Wagner. If the Bills do choose to go with a rookie MLB starter, I would at least prepare Hyde (or Milano or Poyer) to wear the green dot and let the rookie focus on adjusting to the NFL and to McDermott’s defense.

It’s nothing more than political gamesmanship and posturing. The GOP is virtue signaling to its base so to keep them energized and active for the upcoming primaries. They’re also virtue signaling to undecided independents and economic libertarians alike, reminding them that the GOP is the purported party of fiscal responsibility and personal accountability while the Dems are the party of reckless spending and freeloading. Now do I think this is an effective political strategy? No, absolutely not, because it will probably do more to energize the Dem base and because polling data indicates that Americans are strongly unreceptive to a 30% national sales tax replacement. Moreover, economists will inevitably make their rounds in the media to obliterate the merit of this tax policy. And rightfully so…you can’t switch to a highly regressive taxation system in the midst of high inflation and low levels of personal/family unit savings. It will crush the working class, the poor, the retired, and significant portions of the middle class. We have an economy driven mostly by consumer spending, so this will halt/reverse economic growth and destroy investment portfolios. If all this national sales tax talk somehow persists beyond the primaries and - even worse – actually gains traction in Congress, then our country needs to hold some earnest public debates on some very fundamental concepts, namely the diminishing marginal utility of wealth and the philosophy of “fair share” with regards to labor. Oh and throw in as much fiscal policy and monetary policy as possible, really, since we’re talking about taxes and inflation. Basically just a lot less drag queen story hour in the news and a lot more macroeconomics discussion. EDIT: silly spelling mistake.

But is it an ethnic slur or not? And if so, which ethnicity? Fine. But now I’m retracting my apology, so now you’ve just declined NOTHING. Ha! Specious reasoning, Mr. Skin-erd. You’re deliberately narrowing the scope of the debate so that the orange-colored apple of your political eye can shirk blame. For the sake of the argument, let’s suppose that the NTSB review reaches an indisputable conclusion that no additional regulations would have prevented or mitigated the East Palestine train disaster…no ECP brakes, no extra mandatory train workers, etc… The next question that naturally follows is more general and far more important: do the railway regulations that were fully overturned during the Trump administration still have merit? Answer: yes, of course! All of the extensive inquiries that led up to the mid-2010’s Congressional push for ECP/other railway regulation are still there! On one side was a very large conglomerate of engineering consultants, safety analysts, and labor experts with no conflicting interests. On the other were a small handful of hired lobbyists from a few railway companies. Regulation advocates, pro-labor groups, and environmentalists still have many hundreds of damning case studies compiled on railway accidents (almost all of lesser impact than the East Palestine one, sure…though you should read about the 2013 one in Lac-Megantic…yikes…). These case studies also parallel the number of environmental disasters that can be directly traced back to the Trump administration’s castration of the EPA. Summary: even if all your little deregulatory neoliberal zealot friends were to somehow “win” this round in East Palestine, dear Leh-nerd, you’ve still lost the war. The leftist revolution is coming. Join Commie Kay now or perish. Stop right there! Leh-ny, you’re out of your element. We both know that ethical fashion is comfortably situated in my wheelhouse and flotsam far away from yours. Whenever you’re ready to drop the omnivorous haughtiness and open your eyes and expand your heart, we can begin a more proper (i.e. unidirectionally didactic) conversation on your tragic sartorial choices. LOL! Oh, I can believe it. B!tches be cray-cray in the modern day-day. But to be called a “d!ck” in the hallowed genteel confines of an internet pro football message board?? Woah!! You must have done something particularly egregious, like suggesting the fraudulence of anthropogenic climate change based on an easily debunked blog article from “Watts Up With That?” and a barely-passing-grade command of middle school science. Something like that would be grounds for a swift slap to the pen!s and (not one but TWO) firm smacks on EACH buttock, IMO. Count your blessings, Leh-nerd. What a delicious metaphor! One might say that this thread has been the Moroccan chickpea soup in our conversational history recipe book.

Oh wow! Good afternoon, SoCal Deek, and thank you for the very surprising compliment! Yes, I wrote that poem early this morning. I personally don’t think the poetic meter came out so well, but I did the best I could, given my morning time constraints. Look! You see? The two us can be civil to each other! There is hope. I’ve always appreciated your architecture expertise and your career business executive experience. Sometimes I wish you would appreciate more the effort I take to convey leftist perspectives on complex subjects. But no biggie. It’s all water under the bridge, as they say. I hope you and yours have a great weekend, SoCal Deek. Where do I even begin with this… Ethnic slurs?! If you are referring to “jabroni,” know that the literal definition of that word is a “foolish or contemptible person.” If there is an ethnic connotation to the word, then that is unpleasant news to me. Race baiting?? The “suspicious of blacks” remark was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. Really, I just needed something that rhymed with “facts.” No, I don’t think the PPP regulars specifically here are racist. So yes, I will kindly apologize to everyone for that remark. Broad generalizations?? Are you getting into anything substantive here, concerning the East Palestine train crash? Shallow?? Okay, now I’m starting to get pissed. If you’re in the business now of policing my posts, then let’s delve into the “hate LGBTQ” remark because, yes, I do fully stand by that one. A number of people here are openly homophobic and most are very much openly transphobic…insinuations of groomers and pedophiles, castigations of mental illness and freakdom, etc… Why don’t I ever see you policing THEIR posts? Unless you agree with them there, in which case would you like me to carefully explain once more the science behind sexual orientation and gender identity? What’s your deal today, Leh-nerd? Normally you’re so jovial and open to repartee. All the perks that come with your subscription to the CKA newsletter (the incisive Buffalo pro sports analyses, the titillatingly subversive far-left political commentary, the vegan dietary counseling, the cosmopolitan fashion advice, etc.) also come with a fair amount of irreverence and potty humor. You KNOW this. It’s all part of the full Commie Kay experience. So why all the hypersensitivity today? Anyway…whatevs. Have a good weekend, Leh-nerd! Where do you think I went wrong in my commentary? I’ve been following this news event very closely.

Oh my Gawd…seriously?! I am surrounded by F*&^$%# JABRONIS… So then why didn’t Trump just push for stronger regulations than Obama’s?? Federal mandates for ECP brakes and additional railway workers on watch would have easily prevented the disaster in East Palestine, regardless of the train’s cargo status as “high hazard flammable freight” or “mixed freight.” Ugh…my third and final post in this thread…I’ll try explaining it YET AGAIN, though this time in a somewhat acerbic poetic form: Jabronis up above, jabronis down below. Jabroni political hacks, jabronis cognitively slow. Jabronis in the “center,” jabronis on the right. Jabronis kept in dark, jabronis can’t see light. Kay does not like green eggs and ham. Not a fan of her poetry?? KAY DON’T GIVE A DAMN. Go grab a cup o’ Joe. Please try to stay awake. Not referring to President Biden; think unions and an ECP brake! The East Palestine disaster is corruption of the bipartisan kind. Blame Democrats or Republicans while corporate media pays it no mind. The railway industry owns the government, yes unfortunately, By throwing around “campaign donations” (a.k.a. bribes to you and me). This happened under Barack and is happening under Joe. And Buttigieg is an utter failure, as his response was too slow. But let’s not forget The Donald’s culpability in this horrific mess! His presidential legacy and moral compass we must reassess: A culture of deregulation and union-busting, with corporate profits galore! A classic tale of American corruption, neoliberalism at the core. Donald’s ego in the middle, humans and the environment at the fringe. With a campaign stunt stop at McDonald’s, on water bottles/MAGA hats they did binge. Jabronis don’t learn, jabronis don’t read. Jabronis don’t think, jabronis I hope won’t breed. Jabronis hate logic, jabronis hate facts. Jabronis hate LGBTQ, jabronis are probably also suspicious of blacks. Oh jabronis, jabronis, everywhere. Oh jabronis, jabronis, over there. Oh jabronis, jabronis, posting without fear. Oh jabronis, jabronis, STOP POSTING YOUR TRASHY UNVETTED RIGHT-WING SOURCES AND INANE SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS HERE!!!

I would go with his 1993 season: he led the league in scoring, was the MVP in the championship final, and was the most important player on arguably the best and most historically significant team in pro lacrosse history. That 1993 Bandits team was the one that went undefeated and featured so many future Hall of Famers and future head coaches/GM's that went on to shape the entire NLL. Many consider John Tavares (who is the uncle of the Maple Leafs hockey player with the same name) to be the greatest lacrosse player ever. By the way, keep an eye on Buffalo's "Great" Dhane Smith this season! With 10 of 18 games completed, Dhane is currently on pace to break the NLL's points and assists records for the regular season....records that Dhane himself currently holds: 137 points in his first MVP season (2016) and 94 assists in his second MVP season (2022). When all is said and done, Dhane Smith is the Bandit who may very well become known as the greatest pro lacrosse player ever!

Taxpayers “OTHER THAN” me? So you’re calling me a freeloader? I’m in the fourth federal income bracket and live in the middle of NYC. Sure, I would happily pay more taxes if it means M4A. Even on a selfish level, it would save me a lot of hassle and money on health care costs over the course of my lifetime. But yes, like you said, why squabble over trivial matters…such as any productive political conversation with you. I’ve patiently and politely explained multiple times to you concepts in macroeconomics like flat taxes and why they don’t work and why no one in the modern industrialized world implements them. Unfortunately, your reading comprehension and attention span are far too poor for anything to process. So please stop responding to my posts ever again and please block me now if you think you’ll be unable to resist stalking me again in the future. I find you obnoxious and incapable of anything beyond childish personal attacks. You can go stick to your apparent raison d’etre here, which is insulting Tibsy and BillStime and bragging how wealthy and therefore how much better you are than everyone else here…like the fake little Christian that you are.

You replied to an Ohio train crash article and stated that leftists are bad with solutions to problems??!! Clearly you are not following this news event closely, nor did you read my previous post in the thread… Leftists already came up with two good solutions a decade ago that could have prevented train crashes like this one: 1. Laws mandating electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes installed on all freight trains carrying hazardous materials. 2. A series of pro-railway worker labor laws that would have mandated more workers and better work conditions at better pay. Guess who fully repealed these laws? The Trump administration. Guess which party is typically more anti-regulation and anti-labor union? The GOP. “Woke” culture has nothing to do with any of this! While it’s perfectly reasonable to criticize Buttigieg’s handling of the situation, federal administrative incompetence has always transcended sexual orientation identifiers in American politics. This is WAAAY bigger than “woke” politics. This is about the one-party corporate oligarchy that has fully ensnared the United States. This is about way-too-powerful lobbyists and a corrupt Fourth Estate. This is about supply-side macroeconomics models failing American citizens. And if you boys really want to get super serious with your political talk here at PPP…this is about deep existential questions regarding the American populist movement. Big hint: there is no such thing as right-wing populism. “Wokeness” has been a colossal distraction, and yet sadly it works on the bigots, simpletons, dullards, Bandito (or is he now Banned-ito? hehehe), provincials, and FU*KIN’ JABRONIS of America. Transgender people aren’t your problem. Rich powerful people who game the system are your problem…and hopefully their violent delights at our expense shall have violent ends, so help me Jeebus. Time to soak the rich…in their own blood. Vote for vengeance. Vote for murder. Vote for Glasgow smiles. Vote Marianne Williamson/Nina Turner in 2024.* * - note: not their actual campaign slogan.** ** - note: I’m not even sure if they’ll be running in the primaries this time??*** *** - note: if they don’t run, any other progressive candidate will do. Only candidates who don’t accept corporate campaign donations, basically. So not Biden. It’s the only way you can stop the corporate oligarchy!

The silence is bipartisan, actually, because the blame is bipartisan. The Trump administration overturned ECP brake requirements for freight trains, while both the Obama and Biden/Buttigieg administrations have allowed rail industry lobbyists to relax safety limits way beyond what engineering common sense would ever deem safe. Both political sides open themselves up to great weakness if they attack the other, and so the corporate media for each side will just follow suit because they are complicit propaganda machines. Call the widespread silence a perverse Nash equilibrium, I guess… More than anything, I’d say that these recent train disasters are an indictment of American-style capitalism. It’s the neoliberal culture of deregulation that has been en vogue since the 1980’s. Corporate profits are funneled into stock buybacks instead of increased practical safety measures. Sociopathic CEO’s exercise poor risk assessments, corporate oligarchs hijack our government, average Americans in average towns suffer, the environment is trashed, and crazy-as-f*ck progressives like Commie Kay begin fantasizing about the nationalization of entire industries…

Yes, it’s just about what we’d expect from GOP mouths. Economic libertarianism is their underlying philosophy. The New Deal and the Great Society are what they hope to eventually dismantle, if afforded the right political circumstances. The trouble for them is that American society in the 2020’s is no longer the same as it was during the era of Goldwater and Reagan. Voters will not forgive the GOP if they ever push too hard for Medicare and Social Security “reform.” I agree with you on the irrationality of habitual 5-year sunset legislation. It would make governance overly chaotic and turn our government into something as unstable as Italy’s. Regarding Social Security: on an academic level, I’d be very much open to adjustments and alterations that would include private/public hybrids. The original motivation for SS, however, must remain honored. On a practical level, I can’t trust Republican politicians to operate in good faith here. The overturning of Roe v. Wade was that “crossing the Rubicon” moment, at least for me personally, when it comes to trusting anyone politically conservative ever again. Regarding Medicare: I’ve lived in France before and have traveled throughout Europe, so naturally I’m in favor of just scrapping Obamacare altogether and opting for a single-payer healthcare system. Pramila Jayapal’s Medicare for All Act of 2021 (H.R. 1976) is my preferred version, which includes primary care plus long-term care, mental health, vision, dental, and prescription drugs. I’d also throw in certain portions of the biomedical industry (assuming they were not already in her bill). We are WAY overdue for universal healthcare. It should have been done 75 years ago, though better late than never! I would consider following Australia’s early 1980’s model for transitioning to a new healthcare system. I’d also pay for M4A with Wall Street speculation taxes, a ~25-33% reduction of our horrifically bloated military budget, and a more progressive federal income tax code beyond the current 10-12-22-24-32-35-37% version.

Yup. Pretty much. The policy platform of the GOP is firmly rooted in Reaganomics and Christian nationalism, both of which have become deeply unpopular in America and particularly among Gen Z’ers and Millenials. It’s what polling data confirms and what the 2022 election results indicate. I assume the GOP is banking on the idea that Americans typically become more politically conservative as they age. Millenials, however, are strongly bucking any supposed historical trend to that effect. Such is life in late-stage neoliberalism, with a little bit of Dobbs v Jackson sprinkled in for good measure. In order to remain electorally viable, the GOP now focuses almost exclusively on Democratic Party corruption, real or imagined. That and some good old-fashioned LGBTQ bigotry for the angry Fox News viewership. Anything, basically, to avoid having to articulate palatable solutions to well-defined problems that are of any practical relevance to Americans.