Fuck, it rains a lot in Dreary Ol’.

On the whole, I’d rather be in my condo in Miami.

today has the potential to tilt the trajectory of my dissipated, nearly ended life more decisively toward the abyss or to dogleg briefly toward happiness and contentment. City at 7:30 a.m., Pitt at noon,  the "Heat" at 8:30 tonight which I may not be following my life's trajectory to the conclusion of that one.

oh fuck good morning

Are You Fucking Kidding Me?

Jerry Falwell University, who have been playing in the top level of professorial tackle football since...2019 play at The University of Ruptures tomorrow...and Ruptures is a 7.5 point DOG!!!!!!! 

No. Sorry.


The "Gay Halloween Party Costumes" are not going to lose by EIGHT to the "Flaming Falwells." Take the "Gay Blades" and their ludicrous mascot and those ridiculous points. 

Settin’ the alarm for 7 am City! Seven! On a Saturday!

University of Miami Gardens head coach Manny Diaz announced today that sophomore N'kosi Perry will be the starting quarterback tomorrow in Pittsburgh. "We feel that N'kosi gives us the best chance to win," said Diaz. That is as unexceptional a story as can be for a game between a 3-4 team and an unranked 5-2 team. Yet, that story leads ESPN's college football section. Why on earth would that be? Because of this here:

You see, N'kosi Perry suffered a separated left shoulder in the Georgia Tech game last week. The left is Perry's non-throwing shoulder. Hey! He's got another one of those, right? So what? He throws with the other shoulder. He gives us the best chance to win shut up. That is Diaz' reasoning.


If this was short pants football, this would not be a story, much less the top story. But this is tackle football, scholarly tackle football, Perry is, what 19 years old?, and Perry is the quarterback. Quarterbacks get tackled in tackle football and they get hit, frigging hard and a lot, when they don't get tackled. It's gonna hurt. What if N'kosi Perry re-injures that shoulder tomorrow? (How can he not get it re-injured?)

A coach who cares more about the well-being of his players than "the best chance to win" would not start N'kosi Perry tomorrow. Even a coach who is on the hot seat and is attuned to the optics of this decision, would not start Perry. But Diaz has a tin ear to go with a hard heart.

Diaz can still do the right thing by young N'kosi and reverse himself. That is the right and the most important thing to do. But the stain of that headline is still going to be there: Manny Diaz put winning over the well-being of a 19 year-old.

Hooo-doggie. Lester beat Southie today 9-0. That is the largest away win in Premier League history. 9-0. Hooo-doggie.

                                                            Look at that shit.

Southie went down a man in the 10th’ and after that... le deluge. (You knew that was coming.)

Manchester City vs Aston Villa, Saturday 7:30 a.m. in the morning Normal Colonial Cop Time

Off a 5-1 facial delivered to The Goddess and a 2-0 win over Child Porn at the Palace God's Righteous Team of Angels in Snooze are home to the Villans, newly promoted and sitting respectably twelfth in the table. Don't fuck around City, just take care of business; you can sleep afterwards.

Frank: Do you think the Pitt football program will ever be good enough to get commitments from 5 star recruits?
John McGonigal: Maybe a one-off, 5-star kid from the area wants to stay home and go to Pitt. But only seven teams signed multiple 5-star prospects in the 2019 cycle: Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, LSU, Texas A&M and Michigan. Four of those teams have made the CFP in the last two years. Pitt has a long, long, long way to go before it’s signing 5-star prospects.
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/Pitt/2019/10/23/John-McGonigal-s-Pitt-football-chat-10-23-19/stories/201910230128

That was a good question and a good answer.

The U.S. deficit hit $984 billion in 2019, soaring during Trump era

The Republican Party is the largest organized crime family in America. Deficits are the most important thing in their universe when they happen under a Democratic president. When under one of their own they just yawn.

Trump Voter

Man’s stomach brews its own beer, a rare condition known as ‘auto-brewery syndrome’

-Syracuse.com

Hunter dies in Arkansas after deer he shot attacks
him

“I don’t know how long he left it there, but he went up to check it to make sure it was dead. And evidently it wasn’t," an official said.

-US News

“Of course, if you’re fighting for your country and you get shot or hurt, it’s a terrible tragedy, of course, of course.

But maybe, 

Maybe if you pick up a gun and go to another country and you get shot, it’s not that weird. Maybe if you get shot by the dude, you were just shooting at, it’s a tiny bit your fault.”

-Louis CK

MH270

The electoral votes to dump Trump will go missing, never to be found. Putin and Trump will steal them just as they did in 2016.

The Tragedy of Bill Kristol

Bill Kristol is a politically principled man. He is courageous. Highly intelligent. Articulate in speech and writing. Yet, he is almost always wrong. His predictions and vision of the future have made him a political comedic foil. Such a waste.

FT Miami 120 Memphis 101

A marvelous win for the "Heat" without Jimmy Butler. Justice Winslow is the unquestioned star of the game and was from the beginning Justice' final line 27 (10/21), 7, and 7. Dead eye Kendrick Nunn 24 (10/18), Tyler Herro 14 (6/14) and 8 boards. Bam got his double double with 14 and 11.Most encouraging to me was the "Heat's" incandescent 4Q where they outscored the "Grizz" 37-17. My goodness, what a year makes. Last year Miami's then team went to Orlando on opening night and dropped to 0-1 104-101. None of that bullshit this year on opening night. 

HEAT! HEAT! HEAT!

Good night to all and to the ships at sea.

20

107-87, 4:57 left. El Rotundo is advancing toward the curtains. Justise is the star. He has done everything, 27 points (9/19),7 boards, 7 assists, a steal and a block. Kendrick Nunn is designated assassin in this game with 20 points on 8/15. Herro trails his fellow rook badly in points with 9 but has made an impact with 8 rebounds and 8 assists. A poor man's triple double in his first game. Not bad.  

Oh my, 102-87 and the wheels are coming off the Memphis chariot. 21-3 now Miami in the 4Q. 5:36 left.Still time for Memphis but, where they gonna get the offense to  go 15-0 in the last 5 1/2 minutes. An obese female is getting dressed back state.

"Heat" starting to put some distance. They have outscored Memphis 12-3 in the 4Q and and are a 6-0 run to lead 98-87 with 6:36 left to play. Justice Winslow is carrying the Miami scoring. He has 23 (8/16). Bam has 14/11. The two rooks have disappeared in the 2H, Herro has 9 points and 7 boards; Kendrick has 13 but is not doing anything other than shoot. "Grizz" have taken two timeouts in the last few minutes as this one is in danger of getting away from them. Miami 16-3 in the 4th Q. You like to see that.

We are end 3Q at AAA in Miami and the "Grizz" cling to a one point lead 84-83. "Grizz" supposed to be dreadful this season, Miami a playoff time but Memphis has led the vast majority of the time, albeit close. I don't see an energy injection for Miami in the final quarter and Memphis is supposed to be offense-challenged. It will go down to the wire if I am not mistaken. Uber weirdly, Miami's best player, Jimmy Butler, has not entered the game. He is not a scratch that I can see. He is the one "Heat" player counted on to win games like this. Oh, I just saw, he was a scratch for "personal reasons." Jeez, hope it's not serious, but hope it's serious enough to make missing this game reasonable. "Heat" are probably going to lose this game. There's no go-to guy with Butler out. 86-86 10:20 4Q.

Very excited to have the NBA season start. The “Heat” and Pitt, to a lesser extent City, help take my mind off Trump. The lights are going out all over America but the band plays on.

Nineteen year-old rookie Tyler Herro had the game's first points and Miami jumped out to quick 6-0 and 8-2 leads. But the grizzled veterans of Memphis came back to lead by eight end 1Q and by six, 60-54 now at the half. Jaren Jackson, Jr. leads Memphis with 11 points, Ja Morant has 10. Justise Winslow is game high with 12, Bam Adebayo almost has a halftime double double with 9 and 9. Herro's first half of NBA ball ended with five point (2/7) and four boards in 16'. Miami's other promising first-year player, Kendrick Nunn, finished the half with eight points (3/6) in only 10' played.

Republican lawmakers disrupt Democratic-led Trump impeachment inquiry

(Reuters)

If you substituted Duma for Congress this would be par for the course. Oh wait.

This is an example of what I have been talking about: Trump dog whistles violence to his criminal supporters, including his criminal supporters in Congress, and they follow his orders. It has happened repeatedly. And this is also an example of what I have been saying in the thought bubble on the header. Putin would not let the Duma remove him, are you kidding? So Putin is not going to let Congress remove his puppet.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers, encouraged by President Donald Trump to get tougher in fighting Democrats’ attempts to impeach him, on Wednesday disrupted the U.S. House of Representatives impeachment inquiry and prevented a Pentagon official from testifying.

The Republicans stormed into a hearing room where Laura Cooper, the U.S. defense official who oversees Ukraine and Russia matters, was due to testify behind closed doors and began yelling, lawmakers and aides said.

...

In a dramatic confrontation during an escalating probe that threatens Trump’s presidency even as he seeks re-election next year, Capitol police were called in to clear the room and bring order, a Republican congressional aide said.

...

The witness who saw the events said the Republican lawmakers pushed past Capitol Police personnel and started yelling, voicing their objections to decisions made by the Democratic leaders of the House to hold depositions in closed sessions and not release transcripts of the testimony.

Republican Representative Matt Gaetz, an outspoken Trump supporter who led Wednesday’s action, had tried to enter the committee room last week but was turned away because he was not a member of any of the three committees leading the investigation.

Democratic Representative Stephen Lynch, who is allowed to attend depositions as a member of House Oversight Committee, said Cooper did not testify. A House aide said the day’s impeachment-related proceedings were suspended for the time being.

[And see? They did prevent Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper from testifying and the impeachment proceeding was suspended for the day. Both for the day. Cooper will testify if she is not assassinated and impeachment will proceed.]

Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell told reporters that the Republicans had compromised a secure area of the Capitol, obstructing the impeachment inquiry and sought to intimidate a witness, but would not delay the impeachment probe overall.

“We see this a an effort not only to intimidate this witness but also to intimidate future witnesses from coming forward. It’s not going to work,” Swalwell added. “We’re not going to be deterred,” Swalwell added.

[Could have saved my breath if I had read on two paragraphs.]

The Los Angeles Derby headlined the NBA's opening act last night. A battle of Kawhi and the "Clips" agin' LBJ, AD and LAL. Technically this was an LAC home game although both teams play in the same place. Kawhi and the "Clips" won their home game 112-102. About as weird a box score as I have seen. Kawhi led all scorers on both teams with 30; none of his four fellow starters were in double digits, yet all four of LAC's reserves were in doubles (?). Tres weird. Danny Green led the "Lakers" with 28, Bron had 18, 9, and 8, Brow 25 and 10.

Oh! City played Atalanta BC in the Champs League yesterday. I thought that was today.

"The Goddess" was subjected to humiliation which no Goddess should ever suffer,

5-1, twice by Kun Aguero and three times by Raheem Sterling. Eww.

I give respectful, serious weight to what my fellow sporting investors do with the point spread that
the Desert Wall Street stock exchanges set. After all, half of them will lose their money! And the bettors really like Pitt in the Miami game. Told Vegas it was wrong, wrong, wrong! to set the "Panthers" as only a 3.5 point favorite. Sheet, Peet is gonna win by more'n that! By at least a touchdown. The line on the game is now up to Pitt -5.5. So if you bet Pitt and they win by five you lose money; if you bet Pitt and they win by four you lose money; Pitt wins by a field goal you lose money; two, lose; one, lose. Miami wins, you lose. Pitt has to beat Miami by a touchdown for you to make money with that line. Half the bettors will win money; half will lose.

Pitt will win its final five games to end the regular season with a 10-2 record and its second consecutive ACC Coastal division title.
Good. We're taking names!

The New York Times has had bigger ledes but that beats probably 90% of them.

From the article by Michael D. Shear and Nicholas Fandos:


WASHINGTON — The top American diplomat in Ukraine on Tuesday gave impeachment investigators a vivid and impassioned account of how multiple senior administration officials told him that President Trump blocked security aid to Ukraine and refused to meet the country’s leader until he agreed to publicly pledge to investigate Mr. Trump’s political rivals.

In testimony to impeachment investigators delivered in defiance of State Department orders, the diplomat, William B. Taylor Jr., sketched out in remarkable detail a quid pro quo pressure campaign on Ukraine that Mr. Trump and his allies have long denied. He said the president sought to condition the entire United States relationship with Ukraine — including a $391 million aid package whose delay put Ukrainian lives in danger — on a promise that the country would publicly investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his family, along with other Democrats, in an effort to incriminate his adversaries.

His account implicated Mr. Trump personally in the effort, citing multiple sources inside the government. Those include a budget official who said during a secure National Security Council conference call in July that she had been instructed not to approve the security assistance for Ukraine, and that, Mr. Taylor said, “the directive had come from the president.”

I will say this: Putin and Trump’s use of power to intimidate and bully, “Fear” is what power is about Trump told Bob Woodward, has not been successful on The New York Times and Washington Post. “Enemies of the people,” Trump has called them. Well, the enemies are still enemy-ing. Trump has not tried to shut them down and there have been no murders of Times or Post reporters or editors, no building bombings. It may be that although enraging Trump he and Putin just don’t see them having the power to threaten Trump. The Criminal Trump Supporters do not get their news from the Times or Post, they don’t read much of anything because they can’t read very well, so they get their news on the boob tube from Red Fox 🦊.

To digress for a second on that last point. The Times, the Post, and but especially the Democratic candidates for president, need to drag Trump’s Criminal Supporters front and center in this civil war thing. We need to go after them. I know that it is convenient to write about the Leader but Putin and Trump did not stuff ballot boxes. Theirs was a campaign of  dog whistles and dezinfortmatsiya that was perfect for Trump’s Criminal Supporters. The Catastrophe was the result of Russian-influence. Trump is the tool of Putin and the tool of his Criminal Supporters. Nobody knows that better than Trump. He knows that his power in this country comes from the people, his “base.” He knows that if he loses even a small number of them he is cooked. Democratic candidates need to say that they don’t want the votes of criminals! They need to disown them! They need to hold counter-rallies at Trump rallies and call Trump’s supporters anti-American scum! 

We should name names, publish their names and pictures, their home addresses and employers. Name, shame, publicize, delegitimize, ostracize. They don’t like that! They don’t like being identified. My brother-the-klansman, Dan Ranck, Cary North Carolina, told one neighbor he was going to vote for Trump and she said disgustedly, “I figured as much.” His feelings were hurt. They like to stay undercover. They are embarrassed to be Trump supporters. They are afraid they will lose their jobs or be ostracized by erstwhile friends and neighbors. They talk sotto voce around normal people. They dog whistle each other. I was in court a few weeks ago, standing in line waiting for my case to be called. A lawyer who I know to see and whose first name I know who was behind me and went up to a lawyer (know him to see him, don’t know his name, would probably put name and face together if I heard his name)) who was directly in front of me and started whispering animatedly. It was rude. He then got back in line. A minute later he came back again to the lawyer in front of me. “...And it’s Trump’s fault!...” he animatedly whispered sarcastically to the friend, who smiled thinly. “Sorry Ben,” he resumed in his normal voice to apologize for his rudeness, he didn’t know that I had heard what he had said the second time, we had always been friendly acquaintances, and he again returned to his place. He would not want his name known because he would lose business. In an earlier draft I identified this lawyer by first name, which is all I could remember and described him. On second thought, I have removed those identifying details because, although beyond a reasonable doubt “...And it’s Trump’s fault!...” was what he said and my description of how he said it left no subjective reasonable doubt in my mind that he is Trump Trailer Trash Scum, to be fair, my evidence is not objectively beyond a reasonable doubt proof that he is a Trump Low Life. We need to out these people on sufficient evidence is the point.

Anyway, this post was mainly on the greatness of the NYT and WaPo. As I have said before, “Thank God for The New York Times and Washington Post.

The book, out November 19, is by the same person who wrote the famous I Am Part of the Resistance op-ed article in the New York Times on September 5, 2018. That is so many warnings and resistances ago that I had forgotten about it. None of it has mattered, I doubt that this will be the tipping point. I stand by what I wrote last night on the header image: Putin will not permit Trump to be forced from the presidency in which Putin installed him by legal means of a democracy. Not by impeachment and conviction; not by electoral defeat. Trump will simply not leave. Not by the two term limit or anything else in the Constitution. Putin wants civil war in the U.S. "How many divisions does the Pope have?, his predecessor Stalin said to Churchill. "I have my Second Amendment people," Trump has said. Trump has already spoken about civil war, as he did before the Republican convention. The right to bear arms is the only thing Trump says he needs. It's the only part of the Constitution he will fulfill his oath "to preserve, protect and defend." Putin faced great unrest in Russia in 2011. He responded with a string of assassinations all over the world, including that of Boris Nemtsov, his most prominent critic, within sight of the Kremlin. Everyone knows Trump will win a civil war in the U.S., too. His supporters are criminals and have all the guns. I for one will not fight for this country. This country is not worth it.

That Article Two Sec 4 of the Constitution Crap

“The president of the United States should be allowed to run the country not have to focus on this kind of crap--“

“You people with this phony Emoluments Clause.” (of the Constitution)

Coming soon to a reality show near you:

“You people with this phony 22nd Amendment.” (to the Constitution)