Jaylen Brown trade, you have questions? The Athletic has no answers*

*Update: THE SPHINX WILL SPEAK. Brad Stevens, prez of basketball operations, Beans, and Bill Chisholm, owner of Beans, will hold press conference on Debacle Monday (July 7, the date Debacle becomes official) at 4 pm. I have not received my invite yet.

July 3, 7:27 pm:

The quality of the package the Celtics received...

Pause. That would be Paul George John Ringo and four individuals now in high school; The same PGJR who was SUSPENDED FOR TWENTY-FIVE GAMES by the NBA in 2026; the same PGJR who is THIRTY-SIX YEARS OLD; the same PGJR who has played ONE FULL SEASON in the last SEVEN due to multiple injuries; the same PGJR who has played an average of FORTY-NINE GAMES in those last seven. Unpause.

...and the timing of the deal, with three seasons left on Brown’s contract, left some around the league wondering why the team seemed to feel so much urgency to move Brown now.

Why are we going to speculation from "some around the league" about what the "Celtics" "seem" to feel? The "Celtics" are still in the league, right? Did you ask some around "the team" if and why they felt "urgency" to trade Jaylen? Maybe the urgency was to get PGJR before he hurt himself again?

...

[Paul] George [John Ringo] only has two more years left on his contract, one fewer than Brown, but a league source also said the trade was not driven by finances.

(That is going to be contradicted below.) Did you ask Brad Stevens if the trade was "driven by finances"? No, right? Because he's not talking so you have to go secondary sources.

...

In the days leading up to this week’s deal with the Sixers, it is quite telling that two of the reported suitors — Denver and Portland — had shown no interest in meeting the exorbitant asking price that Boston had previously put forth. Front office executives all around the NBA had been talking about the unreasonably high bar they’d set, how the Celtics expressed a strong desire to land as many as four first-round picks. 

...

A Blazers team source said the Blazers were never enamored with Brown, even before Boston made it known he was available on the trade market. Two factors went into the Blazers’ disinterest: Their analytics viewed him as a negative player and the Celtics’ asking price was too high. “We were never aggressively looking to trade for him,” a team source said. “And particularly not at their price.”

The cool market suggested the existence of a significant gap between the general perception of Brown, who finished sixth in MVP voting this season, and the way he is seen within the NBA. 

...advanced analytics never shined too brightly on Brown’s game. Even more pointedly, a current general manager, speaking anonymously to comment on internal team discussions, told The Athletic in the wake of the trade that he doesn’t view Brown as a top-50 player in the NBA.

For all of Brown’s individual accolades, the Celtics over the years consistently saw no dropoff, statistically speaking, when he left the court. Even in the Boston front office, some believed Brown’s impact did not match his reputation.

Over the years, Brown had sometimes voiced that he didn’t believe analytics could capture everything he contributed on the court. He seemed well aware that some of the numbers weren’t favorable to him...

...

Stevens always seemed to place a high value on Brown, making him the highest-paid player in the NBA in 2023 after arguably the most disappointing playoff series of his career. But the market seemed less sold that Brown was worthy of his current contract.

As several front office executives shared with The Athletic, the most significant suppressor to Brown’s market was his massive salary. He is owed a combined $182 million in the next three seasons...

Isn't "massive salary" a component of "finances"? Who gave Brown that massive salary oh that's right Brad Stevens.

In today’s NBA...the prospect of paying more than one player that much money can be disastrous for a team’s depth. 

That is the contradiction mentioned above. The "Heat" trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo is being judged by this view also. I don't buy it in Miami's case. Philadelphia didn't buy it in the case of Brown's trade.

So when it came to Brown’s market, it’s clear rival executives didn’t believe he was valuable enough to justify the contract. Or, more specifically, that what he brought to a team outweighed the fact his presence would make it challenging to provide top-tier supporting talent. What’s more, some rival executives said they believed Stevens was at a negotiating disadvantage because he had never truly shopped Brown to the entire league in the past.

Now, are you Athletics going to get to WHY Stevens had never tested Brown's market value before? There's a lot of filler in this article, Athletic. It's reported elsewhere that Brown's Twitch stream and "this was my favorite season" were the tipping points. I don't buy that either, by the by.

As for the notion that Boston should have waited, and perhaps revisited a deal down the road if they couldn’t mend fences with Brown, the possibility of the star making a formal trade request was seen by rival executives as the sort of thing that would put more duress on the Celtics.

Doesn't make this fire sale reasonable. Stevens gets paid the big bucks to operate rationally under "duress." Hell, he is under so much duress now for having traded Brown that his children have been threatened and he has deleted his social media feed. Fans have compared him to Fire Nico Harrison (he ought to formally change his name to Fire Harrison.)

Since 2022, when he and the Celtics were able to move past the team’s willingness to trade him for Kevin Durant, he had ascended in his career. It wouldn’t have been as easy for the organization to mend the relationship with Brown this time.

Too much "duress", Brad? Oh bullshit.

Based on how the Celtics operated, they seemed to understand that.

So Stevens did not tell the Athletics that, that's these sports pencils' conclusion. 

With Tatum out for most of last season, Brown took the reins — and something shifted.

“I think this has been my favorite season so far,” Brown said in December, “being able to get an opportunity to lead a group.”

He didn’t get enjoyment just because he took over as the No. 1 option with the team’s star sidelined. He loved seeing his younger teammates succeed alongside him. He took pride in the way the organization exceeded all realistic expectations after losing half of its rotation in the offseason, including three former All-Stars in Al Horford, Kristaps Porziņģis and Jrue Holiday, plus an injured All-Star in Tatum. Brown saw beauty in how quickly the Celtics jelled after going through so many changes.

“It just doesn’t happen,” Brown said late in the regular season. “I’m very proud of this group that we’ve been able to come together and find chemistry and the product looks like it looks. It could have looked completely different.”

So, it WASN'T that statement. Okay, Athletics, you're up.

Only small hints of possible trouble began to emerge. As Brown consistently expressed how much he was savoring the season, what went unsaid was that the Celtics’ formula would need to change significantly again once Tatum came back, 

Pause: Why? The won an NBA title TWO YEARS AGO with the Two Jays; they won 56 games this season with One Jay. So you slip Tatum back in. What the fuck needs "to change significantly"? Unpause.

...and that, after a career of accepting smaller roles than he believed he could handle, Brown could have some reservations about sliding back into one. 

"Could have some reservations": No won told the Athletic Supporters that. That again, is their intuition, not facts.

As much as Boston thrived after Tatum returned in March, going 13-3 with him during the regular season, Brown let it be known that the adjustment wasn’t always easy for him.

“It takes humility and it takes some understanding,” Brown told reporters on March 16. “I think JT is extremely important to us for what we want to do. Obviously, I’m having a great season, but then I have to just think, what’s the big picture? And sometimes that’s not easy, but I always put the team first and what the bigger picture is first.”

You're quoting Brown as if your quote supports your intuition. IT DOES NOT! How much more honest can a player be? OF COURSE it wasn't easy for Brown, "but I always put the team first and what the bigger picture is first.” What, did you expect him to say it was "easy"?

Over the years, Brown had a habit of doing just that. Still, the Celtics began to have questions about whether he would remain fully bought in moving forward, according to league sources. Internally, they wondered whether they could keep everyone on the same page basketball-wise, as they had always managed to do in the past.

Okay, since "league sources" told the Athletics that, yes, it's second-hand, but at least it's not the Athletics' intuition. This then makes me think Stevens got paranoid. All of this article is positive: Brown did not request a trade, never told Stevens privately that he wanted a trade (that we know of), Brown and Stevens had been through this before with the KD trade, they moved on AND WON A FUCKING CHAMPIONSHIP, but "the Celtics began to have questions". (?) That's paranoia, not rationality.

Some around the league believed Boston had a potential problem brewing when Brown spoke so glowingly of the experience he had...when Tatum was sidelined for 66 games. Not helping the external perception of the situation, Tatum’s trainer, Drew Hanlen, posted several times on social media about how well the Celtics played when the ball was in his client’s hands.

See what the Athletic Supporters did? Not able to get ANY intel out of Stevens or the org to make the inexplicable explainable, they are turning to "league sources", to "Some around the league believed" the org. had a "potential problem"--and to Jayson Tatum's TRAINER!

“Last night, (Tatum) had a usage rate of 39.4%,” Hanlen posted on X on March 30. “Celtics are really tough to beat when Tatum’s usage is over 33%.”

...Hanlen didn’t necessarily speak for Tatum, who was less than 100-percent physically and never complained about his touches, but it was the first time since Tatum’s rookie season that he finished with a lower usage rate than Brown.

...

As recently as this week, the Celtics were giving indications they were still willing to bring Brown back if they didn’t find a trade they were willing to accept. If that had happened, they would have needed to confront any lingering issues about the trade negotiations. They would have also needed to make sure everyone was aligned from a basketball perspective.

Contributing to concerns about the situation, the Celtics believed that Brown went off script too often during playoff games as Boston blew a 3-1 first-round lead to Philadelphia, according to a league source. Over the final three games of that series, the Celtics were outscored by 57 points with Brown on the court. Though he scored 33 points in a Game 7 loss, he shot 12 for 27 from the field and finished the series with more turnovers than assists. Afterward, despite the loss, he stated how much he appreciated the style the Celtics played in that game, which was played without Tatum on the court. He thought they had played faster and freer.

“Tonight, I wish we played that style and trusted that style more, even throughout the playoffs, even through wins and through losses,” Brown said. “Obviously it’s not always the easiest decision, but I wish that style for our team was how we empowered the rest of our group, and you saw tonight how everybody came out and they played their tail off. I wish we trusted that more.”

Though far from unforgivable, those comments could have been viewed as a criticism of head coach Joe Mazzulla. They could have been taken as a hint that Brown preferred how the Celtics played without Tatum. Regardless of what Brown intended, as he ended the best season of his career, some around the NBA wondered whether his words suggested the possibility of future friction between him and his organization.

"Could have been", "could have been", "some around the NBA WONDERED...POSSIBILITY...FUTURE FRICTION...[Brown] and his org.": Do you see what bullshit this is? "Regardless of what Brown intended": DID BRAD STEVENS EVER ASK JAYLEN BROWN WHAT HE "INTENDED"? It is as if Brad Stevens is dead and there is no way to get answers to that question and all of this speculation.

One week before the trade, Stevens emphasized how much the organization had always appreciated Brown.

“I think the one thing that I want to make very clear is how valued he’s always been,” Stevens said after the first round of the NBA Draft. “He’s been amazing. He’s been an amazing teammate. Great person to be around. Whether that run ends 10 years from now when he retires or before, there’s a lot to celebrate.”

Ironically, Brown might have foreshadowed the end of his Celtics tenure eight years ago.

Oh my God, now we're going back eight years to look for clues to answers to questions from an event that happened TWO DAYS AGO!

While speaking at Harvard, he spoke about a paper he had read in college at Cal about the difference between identities players see for themselves and the identities a coach — or in this case, an organization — gives to them. Brown said friction begins when those identities clash.

Oh, you've found the Rosetta Stone, Athletic Supporters. Did Jaylen have his palm read too? Maybe a Ouija board?

A terrible article

Glory to Ukraine. May God Grant Her Everlasting Life.

Public Occurrences July 3, 2026

How the Heat Is Upending Plans for America's 250th Birthday
nyt

Giannis

Nearly half of Americans surveyed don't know what America 250 commemorates

npr, Cato Institute Poll

10:05 pm:

Hell Arrives in Washington

The Atlantic


8:20 pm:

Great American State Fail Shut Down for Heat, Trump Cools it in South Dakota

Oh my God, poor thing lolol

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are Married in Madison Square Garden

 

Epic

Hunter Biden
@HunterBiden

I am officially nominating Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) for the Nobel Peace Prize.

No President in History has ended the same war so many times.

Our Dear Leader has ended the war with Iran at least 38 times by CNN’s count.

No President has ever done this before.

And he is nowhere near finished ending it.

It’s a record worthy of the Nobel committee’s recognition. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

5:43 PM · Jul 2, 2026

5.3M Views

Great American State Fail

Dancers Barely Avoid Death as Great American Stage Fails

Great American Trumphal Arch Oozes Fat

Donald Trump's Great American State Fair Features a Cow Named Melania

President Donald Trump's Great American State Fair has so far gathered some unfavorable reactions, from inclement weather forcing cancellations to music artists dropping out of their headlining slots.

However, the president might be pleased to hear about one particular attendee: a cow named after his wife, first lady Melania Trump.

He might be.

                                                            Melania Trump; a cow.

                                                                          (Caption by People Magazine)

Speaking with The Washington Post about her specially-named animal, Piper Stolipher explained how she and her fellow students in the National FFA Organization (formerly known as Future Farmers of America) decided to pay tribute to the first lady in their livestock exhibition.

"We were trying to come up with patriotic names for the 250th year of America, and we thought Melania would be a good idea because it's the first lady's name and the hair colors kind of match," the student explained. "It just fit."

It was a good idea. Thank you Piper.

People

Public Occurrences July 2, 2026

TRUMP TRIES TO BUY HIS WAY OUT!😂

U.S. Dangles Rewards for Opening the Strait of Hormuz. Iran Isn’t Budging.

Washington offers a cash release but Tehran insists on charging tolls to pass through the waterway

Wally

I have not seen a trade panned this widely since...

Brown was a great fit for the Celtics, on the court, off the court. 

Jaylen never did anything to tatter those Celtics uniforms. ...As Celtics go, he was one of the really great ones.

...with one last phone call, Stevens pulled off the (literally) mean trick of making the 76ers better and the Celtics worse.

...February 1, 2025.

 

What the Hell Is This Jaylen Brown Trade?

Boston has some explaining to do. The Celtics-76ers blockbuster just doesn’t add up.

Ringer

BEANS JETTISON JAYLEN BROWN TO PHILA. FOR PAUL GEORGE JOHN RINGO

Phil. hands over two first round draft picks and two seconds to get the 2024 Finals MVP.

I am SHOCKED by Brad Stevens. Beans is worse off now than they were at end of 2025/26 season when they won 56 games and were eliminate by Seven Foot Sixers. Horrible trade by Stevens.

...swapping Brown for George makes the Celtics worse. It clearly makes them worse. Crucially, it lowers their playoff ceiling...

It's utterly strange that the Celtics would willingly take such a giant step back. This is the most successful franchise of the decade: In the 2020s, Boston ranks first in regular-season wins and playoff wins, and it's the only team to both win a championship and make another Finals.

...

Clearly, the Celtics decided that their relationship with Brown had soured past the point of no return, following various small mishaps and the rumors that he'd be included in an Antetokounmpo trade. But even in a deal-him-at-all-costs scenario, this return is mighty underwhelming.

...

Half a decade ago, George would have been a solid cornerstone in a Brown trade, but at 36 years old, he has declined significantly from his peak. 

...

Brad Stevens has nailed almost every move -- big and small -- since becoming the Celtics' president of basketball operations. It almost feels wrong to question his expertise. But if this was the best return the Celtics could find for Brown, then it's difficult not to think that they should have tried to patch up that relationship, rather than drastically reduce their 2026-27 title odds and not even save much money in the deal.

The entire process of this trade, from its impetus to its ultimate execution, is baffling.

ESPN

I agree 100%.

Melat Kiros

I don't know why Lefties cannot adopt my reasonable, "nuanced" (a Jewish friend's characterization) stance on This Israel, viz, Netanyahoo has committed genocide and war crimes; no Palestinian state; end all Toilet Nation funding and arming of This Israel; intervene only to save This Israel from extermination. See? Simple lol.

It is pathognomonic of Toilet Nation politics that once one moves off dead center and leans either left or right, the lean sometimes leads to complete loss of balance and the turd falls with a splat onto the floor as if it were obeying Newton's law that a body in motion stays in motion. This interesting political phenomenon is captured by the maxim, "Scratch a liberal, find a communist; scratch a conservative, find a fascist."

I don't know why lawyers (my friend above and Ms. Kiros are lawyers), both those who are pro-Israel and those who are pro-Palestine, can't address their disagreements as they are trained to in an individual criminal case where the relevant facts are delimited by the four corners of the complaint; where prior bad acts evidence of the accused or the complainant for explanatory "context" is exceedingly rare; where a reductio argument is thereby prohibited and an endless trial avoided. Just the facts, ma'am.

The charging document at bar is confined to the actions of defendant Hamas on one date only, October 7, 2023.

Now, to the lawyer for defendant Hamas. 

Melat Kiros was a lawyer at a New York law firm. She was fired in November, 2023 for refusing to take down her blog post that was in response to an open letter written by 100 top law firms (including her own) to the deans of elite law schools. The law firms' letter was 283 words long. Eleven of those words were enough to tip Ms. Kiros over:  

"Over the last several weeks, we have been alarmed at reports of anti-Semitic harassment, vandalism and assaults on college campuses, including rallies calling for the death of Jews and the elimination of the State of Israel. Such anti-Semitic activities..."

Ms. Kiros wrote a 1,999 word response, the opening paragraph of which contains the sixteen words bolded below:

"This letter rightfully rebukes the anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and bigotry of all kinds that has spiked in recent weeks, but then goes on (to my confusion) to cite “calls for the elimination of the Israeli state” as anti-Semitism."

She's confused. Ms. Kiros is confused that calls for the elimination of the only Jewish state in existence are deemed anti-Jewish.

Blink.

The entire sentence is 39 words long, leaving Ms. Kiros only 1,960 to write about...what? Second paragraph:

"Anti-semitism has fittingly been called “the longest hatred.” It has been so for thousands of years and has led to the death and suffering of millions of Jewish people around the world. To conflate such bigotry with the geo-political question of Israel’s legitimacy is one of the greatest travesties in this conflict."

I'm confused: How did we get from "elimination" to "legitimacy"?  Is she using those terms synonymously? There are absolutely not synonyms, they are not even close. An "illegitimate" child is not "eliminated": euthanized, put to death, exterminated. And the other way around, to question Israel's "legitimacy" (if you would define a nation-state's "legitimacy" Congresswoman-to-be, that would be he'pful) is not ipso facto to call for its elimination. So I don't know what she's talking about.

Be that as it may, that's another 52 words. She has only 1,908 left!

This is how she begins her third paragraph:

"Take, for example, the accusation of apartheid."

OBJECTION!

Sustained.

Paragraph fo':

"There are deep, historical, and religious wounds that plague this conflict and cloud our ability to judge it clearly..."

Objection.

Sustained.

"Historic Palestine was promised by a brutalizing imperial power..."

Come sidebar. 

Counsel for the defendant admonished.

"Colonialism, as we so intimately know, cannot take place without violence against its indigenous people."

Pause for contempt hearing. 

"Instead of acknowledging their plight as a direct result of Israel’s occupation..."

Found in contempt of court.

"Corruption that led to the slaughter of 15,000 Palestinians, the ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians, and the capture of 78% of Palestinian land in 1948."

Sentenced to seven days incarceration.

"Corruption that uses the excuse of “security concerns” to justify Israel’s apartheid..."

"Violence corrupts the soul, and it does so by breeding more violence. There has never been, in the history of the entire human race, a people whose land was violently taken from them, whose freedoms and rights were relegated to second-class citizenship, and whose very existence was systematically threatened by its occupier, who did not resist with violence in kind."

Jail sentence increased to 10 days.

"The most shameful chapters in our global history have always resulted from one group’s inability to separate another group’s identities and experiences from our shared humanity."

Huh?

"There is no justification for the attacks on Israel on October 7th, just as there is no justification for the disproportionate and collective punishment being waged on the Palestinian people by the Israeli government in retaliation, but it cannot be forgotten that violence does not occur in a vacuum."

Jury excused. Defendant Hamas asks leave of Court to make ore tenus pro se motion.

Permission granted.

Defendant Hamas avers that Melat Kiros has just "shot me in the head", argues that she is per se ineffective and asks Court to discharge Ms. Kiros, declare a mistrial and appoint new counsel.

Granted. Granted. Granted. 

Judge modifies original contempt sentence to an increased 30 day minimum commitment to mental health facility.

Legitimates and Illegitimates of Denver, we give you YOUR NEXT CONGRESSWOMAN, MELAT KIROS!

Public Occurrences July 2, 2026

Trump made over $1B last year from crypto currency, real estate, and watches

NEW YORK (AP) — The real estate mogul has become the billion-dollar crypto man.

President Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosure report showed he took in about $1.2 billion last year from various crypto holdings, overshadowing a real estate business that brought him fame and helped propel him to the nation’s top office. 

Whereas it took decades for Trump to amass his various properties, the rise of crypto in his portfolio was done in just over a year, a stunning development sped along by his own friendly policies toward the industry and help from billionaires and other actors with important business before the presidency.

Running over 900 pages, the mandatory annual report showed Trump struck several other new veins of wealth last year, raising questions about whether he is profiting from his high office.

He took in tens of millions from new property holdings in foreign countries eager to please a man with power over where to deploy the U.S. military and how much to charge in tariffs. And he got tens of million more suing media companies worried they could lose their broadcast licenses or not get deals approved by his regulators. 

Ever the salesman, Trump even made big money off the smallest of things, pulling in millions by slapping his name on Bibles, guitars and watches — the latter alone bringing in $4.7 million.

As the Pentagon stays quiet, AP reconstructs a US strike that killed over 100 Iranian children

JERUSALEM (AP) — It was the deadliest reported strike in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, and most of the victims were children. In almost any other conflict, these haunting truths would be seared into national memory. Yet more than 120 days since at least one U.S. missile struck an Iranian primary school, there remains no final accounting of what happened.

Because the victors write history and the Toilet Nation has the power, the will, and amorality to coverup, to lie,

to deny, to write their own false narrative of history. And because the 100 children were barely human to them, only Muslims and Iranians.

Norman Powell Gone

A free agent, he signed with Male Cows today, two years, $45M, double what Miami could offer.

REDS!!!😂👏

Democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeats 15-term incumbent in Colorado House primary

Twenty-nine-year-old beat representative Diana DeGette in deep-blue Denver district

Guardian

29!!!

Kiros, 29, was born in Ethiopia in 1997 – the year DeGette arrived in Congress – and graduated from law school at the University of Notre Dame in 2022. The following year, she wrote a blogpost rejecting accusations that law students who protested against Israel’s counterattack after 7 October were antisemitic. The New York law firm where Kiros was working fired her after she refused to take the post down, and she then went into politics.

OR...

...think of the little Ukrainian girl on the header and this, in Rus:

Good night Poot-Poot.

Whenever you feel a little...

 

...you know, overworked, have too much on your shoulders, think of this Depression Era song. Can't be blue with this song.

LeBron James will not return to La-La Lake-Lake

"Heat" Sign Tim Hardaway, Jr. to one-year deal

He got "skeels".

Public Occurrences June 30, 2026

 BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP UPHELD

lede as original in AP

When I first got this...

...from my (second) ex-wife about an hour ago, I thought she had been spammed (again). Everybody with a political brain knows who that is, so why "GOP Senate Candidate"? And Iceland? Are you fucking kidding me, Iceland? I thought that it was deliberately preposterous to be funny, a spoof that the Onion would put out. And yet, with the teeniest bit of plausibility given that it's Ken Paxton. So, as I have done before as a service to my (2nd) ex, I Googled it.

It's fucking true. The bimbo with Paxton is a MAGA "influencer", Tracy Duhon. I texted my ex- back confirmation.

I then started thinking about this. This is the kind of thing that happens in one-party states. Democrats haven't won a statewide, much less a United States Senate, race in Texas since 1994. The fucking Agricultural Commissioner is a statewide elected position. Not that, not one, not any statewide race. 

When there is no effective competition, in nation-states and in Toilet Nation states, the one party thinks they can run a "yellow dog" and win against the opposition. The saying is that "unless you get caught with a live boy or a dead girl, you're a shoe-in." Well, Paxton got caught with (another) live girl. Close is not cigar. Scandal magnet Paxton, the Texas Attorney General by the way, leads his challenger, Democrat James Talarico, albeit by a single point in early polling. 

Toilet Nation Premier Trump, who has been caught with many live girls, endorsed Paxton in the GOP primary, partly because he saw that incumbent Senator John Cornyn was trailing badly in the polls, partly as another stop on his revenge tour (Cornyn's sin: not endorsing Trump in 2024 until after the New Hampshire primary). The most corrupt president in Toilet Nation history endorsed the most corrupt politician in Texas for many, many years (which is saying something). Seems perversely reasonable. Paxton thrashed Cornyn in the primary and now has the Texas Republican machine, including Cornyn's support, in the race against Talarico.

Democrats have died on this hill many times before. See, e.g., Beto O'Rourke. Texas is our biggest wet dream. Some day, maybe even before I die, Democrats will win a Texas statewide race, maybe even the State House, or a U.S. Senate seat. Maybe that someday will come this November. Paxton is a uniquely corrupt opponent. The last time southern Republican voters chose so corrupt a candidate, Roy Moore lost a Senate seat to a Democrat in Alabama. (Judge Roy got caught with underage girls). Doug Jones lasted three years in the Senate and was cashiered by 20 points. Who knows, maybe Jim Paxton is Texas' Roy Moore but I'm not putting money into the race. Yellow dogs still have their day.

I did Eleven a grave disservice

Updated at post time. Originally posted June 26, 12:27 am. 

Oh my goodness. She was NOT being a princess when I stood at the toilet, requiring me to manually hand her down. She understood me better than I understood. Just now I was in that stepladder position again. Again, she hopped onto the toilet back and immediately onto shower stall railing. Immediately she began meowing, I thought, as I had previously, to handle her down. I stepped away and motioned to her to jump onto my shoulders three or four times. She was tempted, but hesitated and refused. Then the 💡went on in my head. I was standing in my undershirt; I shoo her away from jumping on my shoulders unless I have my special Eleven claws body armor on, a thick cotton long-sleeve shirt that my daughter bought me. I hurried to the bed where I had left the body armor shirt, hurried back, buttoning it. "Click-click," I noised and patted my shoulder. She jumped. 🫶😻We got a special thing, we do.

You know how when you are so in love, just saying the other person's name gives you butterflies in your stomach?

"Eleven" "Eleven" "Eleven"

It's a beautiful name. It rolls off the tongue easily. No hard consonants, it sounds almost French it's so mellifluous. 

Eleven is the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. Soft as her name, tiny, completely feminine. When she's trying to look her best to impress me, she will sit with perfect posture and her tail curled demurely around her fore paws, as proper as a sixteen-year old debutante. She is the only creature who has lived with me 24/7 for over 20 years, and we've been exclusive roommates now for over two and one-half years. 

We know each other now. I understand her cat language; she understands my person language. We have our routines, whisker-alarms at day break, soft plaintive meows when she is appealing to me for food. She understands "Where my kitty?" and eagerly greets me at the kitchen window and front door. We have our games, like "I'm gonna get that kitty" as I hide behind the wall separating the kitchen from the living room and then spring out on her. She goes into spasms of excitement. She understands the game and play-fights back, but knows that she can't bite my hand too hard. I let her nibble and gently claw at my hand. 

She knows not to use me as a scratching post when I'm wearing my linen pants. Jeans, no problem. She can nest on my chest except when I'm wearing an Uniqlo tee-shirt, it's too thin.

She has her games. When I'm standing at the toilet with my arms against the wall I'm her step ladder. She jumps up onto the toilet tank, springs up onto my left shoulder and then up onto the shower stall top railing. She used to jump back onto my shoulders when she was ready and I was finished. Now she plays forlorn-cat-stuck-in-a-tree and pretends she's scared and can't get down. She then moves to the furthest place on the shower top from where I am so that I have to strain to squeeze between the toilet to reach up to grab her. Meanwhile, she backs away from me in faux fright and I have to stretch to my right to get a gentle grip on her belly and bring her down...to my shoulders, where she then alights, afraid no longer, having gotten me to indulge her, and onto the floor.

I am totally pussy-cat whipped. 

I am totally in love with "E-lev-en"..."E-lev-en."

Andrew Wiggins Opts In, Norman Powell Likely Out

The "Heat" extended Wigs two years in the deal announced today. Because of the player opt-in, ($30M cap hit) the org has only $12.5 underneath the first apron, too little to meet Powell's market value unless he agrees to stay at that discount.

"Our enemies now are...

 

Netanyahoo and Dershowitz

Netanyahoo and Turchin (AIPAC)

Greenblatt (ADL)

Six Million

Pageviews since mid-2010. Thank you pageviewers!

Ira Winderman has made oblique criticism of Erik Spoelstra before, referring to the need for "better coaching" in addition to a litany of other necessary improvements. Here, his readers take up the theme. 

Q: Ira, don’t you think Kel’el Ware was some kind of test for Erik Spoelstra and Bam Adebayo and they failed this test? Ware could’ve been the Heat’s main center and Bam could’ve adjusted as power forward. Ware exposed Spo’s and Bam’s lack of flexibility, depth, integrity. –Vip.

A: Or the Heat simply were able to get Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kel’el Ware was part of the cost. Not to constantly reiterate, but from the outside, only a scant portion of Kel’el’s Heat work was visible. There is so much more to the equation, from practices to shootarounds to strategy sessions. And even with all that, it’s not as if the Heat simply couldn’t wait to dump Kel’el, or else he previously would have been dealt for Kevin Durant. So it also can be viewed as building Kel’el up enough to make him a desired trade component. 

Q: I’ve long criticized Erik Spoelstra for his inability to get consistent results from a two-big lineup (Chris Bosh/Hassan Whiteside, Bam Adebayo/Kel’el Ware). With Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bam and Bobby Portis, his hand is now forced. If these rotations fail to get results, will Spo take the blame or will fans forget his history and fault the player who is underperforming? – Rodney, Davie.

A: If a mix with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo doesn’t work, blame will transcend not just Erik Spoelstra, but also what would turn into a miscalculation from ownership to management to the coaching staff.

Ira

I agree with both readers, although I don't know where Spoelstra's and Bam's "integrity" come in (Vip's question). Spo does not like traditional Bigs. They don't fit his positionless system. Hassan Whiteside is a sore point with me as it is with Rodney. All the guy did was lead the entire Association in rebounds one year, and the entire Association in blocks the next year. If you can't find a place for him in your positionless then maybe your coaching needs to improve. And to state the obvious, as Ira does, the Giannis-Bam partnership has to work. Period there.

Public Occurrences June 28, 2026

The shooting from Iran and the Toilet Nation, ostensibly, is because of a new transit route through the Strait of Hormuz that is entirely in Omani waters. From the excellent nytimes article by Erika Solomon linked below:

Iran’s rulers see the newly devised routes through Omani waters as directly contradicting the fifth article of what Washington signed onto in its memorandum of understanding with Tehran.

In their reading of the vaguely worded document, this article granted Iran oversight of the waterway because it charges Iran with ensuring safe passage through the strait.

That is a not unreasonable, but overly broad, reading. The MoU does not say Iran and Oman will guarantee the Strait is kept open--because Oman had not shut it with shoot-'em-ups, only Iran did. 

It also says that Iran is to conduct dialogue with Oman, the other nation bordering the strait, “to define the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz.”

From Iran’s perspective, analysts said, the route Oman organized with the U.N. maritime organization — and without consulting Tehran — violated that, and had to be challenged.

"Ostensibly", because Iran saw itself as losing control of the Strait in the fairest reading. Also, because it does not trust the Florida Criminal---completely understandably! Iran thinks, reasonably enough, that it is the Criminal-in-Chief who is buying time--before the midterm elections--after which he will attack Iran again, the mirror image of the Criminal Regime's mistrust of Iran, also reasonable, that it is buying time to replenish its stocks of drones and munitions in the 60-day window of the MoU. 

The MoU sets the terms for a ceasefire: abide by it, both sides, and the shooting stops. But if there is a misunderstanding, the agreement does not say, go to mediation, for example; it does not say in the event of a breach by one party, "pick up the phone", as veep JD Vance said Iran should have done. That is, Iran was not violating the letter of the MoU by shooting first and agreeing to talks later (Tuesday in Doha, Qatar). 

But: if Iran sincerely had been animated by the spirit of the MoU, if it had sincerely wanted a ceasefire, then it would not have started this tit-for-tat. 

I don't trust Iran. After Olympic-level mental gymnastics I came out against the 2015 5+1 JCPOA. No reasonable person could believe that Iran's nuclear program was for energy production only. You don't enrich uranium far, far in excess of peaceful levels if you don't intend to build an A-bomb.

7:36 pm:

This is what it is. It is power that the Toilet Nation gave them, the Strait had never been tolled before 

      |              the war. But it is also true that Iran has flexed its newfound muscle after signing a                      |             "Memorandum of Understanding saying that they would not---for only 60 days. They                |              couldn't wait 60 days. That's bad faith. That's a bad actor. Iran cannot be trusted.

      |

      |

Iran Risks Peace Talks With U.S. to Maintain Leverage Over Strait

Iran sees its control over the Strait of Hormuz as critical leverage in peace talks with the United States. It seems willing to risk the cease-fire to maintain that power.

NYT

Israeli strikes and shelling in Gaza kill at least 4 Palestinians, health workers say

AP

Iran attacks Bahrain and Kuwait following US strikes and threatens to halt talks

AP

11:15 am:

Iran Titted Again (Bahrain, Kuwait); Fourth Day in a Row of Titting for Tatting; Florida Felon's Turn

Public Occurrences June 27, 2026

“This is not a violation of the ceasefire; it is ceasefire management.”-Ebrahim Azizi, Iranian Parliament
AP

 

Who? Ebrahim Azizi "heads the Iranian parliament’s national security commission." Iran, you need to sideline Ebbie. This is no time for your B-list spokesmen. That is the most inane statement. What, did Ebbie go the the iDJiT Orwellian School of Communications?

Iran has a fractured leadership problem. The people with the power are the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Ayatollah and those close to him, not the parliament's fucking national security commission. 

Now listen, Iran: You signed the MoU. All you had to do is keep the Strait open for 60 days. You couldn't even wait 60 days? Iran, serious as a heart attack now: Do. NOT. Fuck. Around.

Iran Tits, Toilet Nation Tats, iDJiT. If Iran Tits Again...

"...the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist! President DJT"

5:48 pm:

More Than 1,430 Now Dead in Venezuelan Earthquakes

Venezuela was hit by two very large earthquakes less than one minute apart on Wednesday, June 24. The first measured 7.2 on the Richter scale, the second 7.5

And then today, just a couple of hours ago, the country was hit by a 4.8 shock.

Third Day of strikes-counterstrikes by Iran and U.S. One Week After Memorandum of Misunderstanding

Thursday, June 24, Iran fired on a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. Yesterday, the U.S. bombed Iran in retaliation. Today, Iran attacked Bahrain with drones.

Pregnancy Today

A pink heart balloon floats up, up, up in a brilliant blue Miami sky. Pink or blue, little one, your granddad will 🫶 you.

Dr. Ana and my son are having a baby!

For all the world to see, this is who the Ukrainian people are

 

Fucked Beans

...the reason both franchises had pursued Antetokounmpo so doggedly in the first place: They simply weren't championship contenders, or even close.

Both team presidents had said as much after their seasons ended in disappointment.

"I am not going to tank. We are not going to lose. We are not going into the lottery and do that insanity because I will quit -- if I ever get ordered to go down that road. I am always thinking of ways to win," Heat president Pat Riley said after his team lost in the play-in tournament. "Now, all I can give you is a bunch of excuses. And I don't want to do that. We are just not good enough. ..."

The Celtics had lost in the first round to the Philadelphia 76ers, sparking a series of organizational discussions that led to the conclusion that the current roster simply "wasn't good enough," as one Celtics source put it.

"If you would have told me last summer that we would have won 56 games in the regular season, that the young guys would all become contributors, that people would have great impact all up and down our roster, that we would get [Jayson] Tatum back for 20 games or whatever it was, I would have been thrilled with those results," Celtics president Brad Stevens said.

"But the reality is, we came up short. And so now, the job is to do an honest assessment."--Boston prez Brad Stevens.

Ramona Shelburne, Jamal Collier ESPN

You would think it's Boston who had gone an average 44-38 for the last twelve seasons. Stevens did not say the "Celtics" Roster "wasn't good enough." A "Celtics source" did. But Stevens did say they had come up short and that the org. was going to do "an honest assessment." And Stevens acted as if he too believed his roster wasn't good enough, trying to trade Jaylen Brown to Beer.

I parse this so because Boston is just two seasons removed from their last NBA title, in a Finals series in which Brown won MVP, coming off a 56-win season that Jason Tatum missed three-quarters of, a  season in which head coach Joe Mazzulla won COTY, in which Brown finished sixth in league MVP voting. If Beans had gotten Giannis, Joe Mazzulla would have had to change the way he likes his team to play. Stevens failed to get Giannis but Mazzulla still has to change his team's style of play entirely...because  Stevens has now estranged Brown from the "Celtics". I parse this so because, in short: Stevens, why the fuck did you do that?