The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

In The Mailbox: 05.09.22

Posted on | May 10, 2022 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 05.09.22

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

The state of American public education, 2022

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Where Would We Be Without Researchers?
EBL: Democrats Send Out Antifa, also, Bill Kristol Goes Full Democrat
Twitchy: MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace Blames Ukraine Invasion On January 6, also, WaPo Reporters Applaud Themselves For Award-Winning 1/6 Coverage
Louder With Crowder: Elon Musk Blasts Twitter’s “Obvious” Left-Wing Bias, also, Teacher Put On Leave Following Video Where She Brags About Inappropriate Conversations With Students
Vox Popoli: The Importance Of Bedsheets, Black Doctor Who, and The Revolt Against Big Evangelical

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: The Traditional Man Is Christian
American Conservative: The President Can Terminate Treaties Alone
American Greatness: A Heartland Battle For The GOP’s Soul, also, DOJ Threatens Oath Keepers With Life In Prison
American Power: Will The Roe v. Wade Leak Upend Orange County Midterms? also, Twitter, SCOTUS, & The Progressive Revolution
American Thinker: Why Would Rural Americans Vote For Those Who Hate Them? also, The Roe Demonstrators – Where Did They Get That Idea?
Animal Magnetism: Goodbye, Blue Monday
Babalu Blog: Havana’s Hotel Saratoga Explosion Death Toll Hits 32 With 19 Others Still Missing, also, Cuba Sending 500 More Slave Doctors To Mexico & More Migrants To The U.S.
BattleSwarm: Update – 6.8×51 Yes, TVCM No, also, Anti-CRT Candidates Stomp Leftists In Texas School Board Elections 
Behind The Black: Pushback – Lawsuit Forces RI To Let Oral Surgeon Reopen Practice, Red China Launches Tianzhou Freighter To Space Station, and Curiosity Climbing Out Of Gordon Notch Hollow
Cafe Hayek: Offending A Defender Of The Laughable “1619 Project”, also, No Serious Person Accepts Protectionism’s Implications
CDR Salamander: A Victory Day
Da Tech Guy: No Future For Mothers Day For The Left, The Left Won’t Like The New Rules On Protests & Molotov Cocktails, and Report From Louisiana – Soaring Costs 
Don Surber: MSNBC Chucks Todd, PR Firm Goes From Woke To Nope, and More Proof Abortion Is A Loser For Democrats
First Street Journal: Unhinged Abortion Supporters Protested In Churches Sunday, also, People Who Understand Foreign Policy Say The Administration Needs To Shut Up About Ukraine
Gates Of Vienna: The Anti-Narrative On Ukraine, The Wild One Comes To Duisburg, and Life After The Great Reset
The Geller Report: True The Vote Announces They’re Releasing All The Addresses Of All The Ballot Trafficking Stash Houses, also, Conservatives Sweep Texas School Board Elections – CRT & Mask Mandates Hardest Hit
Hogewash: Sonification Of A Couple Of Black Holes, Team Kimberlin Post of The Day, and Whoda Thunk It?
Hollywood In Toto: Everything Everywhere All At Once Is Worth The Hype, Is Hollywood Reaching The Final Stages Of Cancel Culture? and Full Frontal Gives Thumbs Up to Protest At Justices’ Homes
The Lid: Chuck Todd’s Daily MSNBC Show Exiled To Streaming Service, also, Biden’s DGB More Frightening & Dangerous Than We Originally Thought
Legal Insurrection: Justice Thomas – “We Can’t Be An Institution That Can Be Bullied”, Syracuse U. Students Upset About “Fatphobic” Campus, and The Birth Of Abortion Tourism
Nebraska Energy Observer: Saturday Scribbles, also, A Bit Of American Military History
Outkick: Days After Mask Virtue-Signaling, Warriors Coach Will Miss Game 4 Thanks To Corona-chan, Woke Illustrated Releases WNBA Swimsuit Model Photos, and Chris Paul Yells “I’ll See You Later” After Mavs Fan Messes With His Family
Power Line: Antifa Attacks Wisconsin Pro-Life Office, Liberals Are Evil, and Trust “The Science” They Say
Shark Tank: Webster Campaign Accused Of Dirty Tricks To Knock Loomer Out Of CD-11 Race
Shot In The Dark: Russia & Ukraine, The Drawing Board, and Democracy Dies In Democracy
This Ain’t Hell: Nurses Sentenced After Hidden Camera Showed Vet Gasping For Breath, Crying For Help, Roe v. Wade Hysterics Now Involving The Military, and Illinois Veterans Home COVID Audit Faults IDPH
Transterrestrial Musings: Biden’s Absurd “Cut The Deficit” Claim, also, Statins
Victory Girls: Schmidt Unleashes Bizarre, Spiteful Twitter Rant, also, Media Realizes The Baby Formula Shortage Is Real
Volokh Conspiracy: WaPo Reports On More SCOTUS Leaks
Watts Up With That: The Coldest April In The Satellite Record Over The Pacific Northwest, also, Lights Out – The CLCPA & New York’s Energy Future
Weasel Zippers: A Decade After His Death, NYT Cruelly Outs Mayor Ed Koch As Gay, also, Georgetown Law Prof Endorses Mob Violence Against SCOTUS
The Federalist: Spygate Judge Tries To Protect Hillary With Latest Pre-Trial Rulings, Indiana GOP Pawned Social Conservatism For Economic Growth & Got Neither, and Biden’s New Press Secretary Is A “Stolen Elections” Conspiracy Theorist
Mark Steyn: Love & War – Jimmy Stewart And Strategic Air Command, The Dance Of Time, and “I’ll Never Smile Again”

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Category: Linkagery

Fugitive Murder Suspect Caught; Woman Who Helped Him Escape Shoots Herself

Posted on | May 9, 2022 | Comments Off on Fugitive Murder Suspect Caught; Woman Who Helped Him Escape Shoots Herself

Updating last week’s report (“Some Ladies Love the Bad Boys,” May 4) about the case of Alabama murder suspect Casey White, who escaped jail with the assistance of jail administrator Vicky Sue White:

A former Alabama jail official and the murder suspect she is accused of helping escape from custody were apprehended Monday in Indiana after more than a week on the run, law enforcement officials said.
The two fugitives were caught in Evansville, Indiana, after U.S. Marshals pursued their vehicle and then crashed into it, authorities said. Casey White, 38, surrendered and Vicky White, 56, shot herself, and was taken to a hospital, authorities said.
“This has ended a very long and stressful and challenging week and a half. It ended the way that we knew it would. They are in custody,” Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton of Alabama said.
The arrest of the pair, who are not related, ended a nationwide manhunt that began April 29 when Vicky White, the assistant director of corrections for the jail in Lauderdale County, allegedly helped engineer the escape of Casey White, who was awaiting trial in a capital murder case. Vicky White had told co-workers she was taking the inmate from the jail for a mental health evaluation at the courthouse, but the two instead fled the area.
The car they took off in was later found abandoned in Tennessee, but there was no trace of the pair until U.S. Marshals received a tip Sunday that surveillance photos from an Evansville car wash showed a man who closely resembled Casey White exiting a 2006 Ford F-150 pickup truck, the Marshals Service said.
On Monday, officials learned that the pair was spotted near the sheriff’s office, said Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding in Indiana. As officers arrived, the pair fled in a vehicle and led police on a pursuit, he said. U.S. Marshals collided with them “to try to end the pursuit,” he said. Casey White was injured, not too seriously, in the ensuing crash and Vicky White then shot herself, causing “very serious” injuries, he said.

Another crime solved by video surveillance. What do you think caused the complaints about “mass incarceration” that inspired the demand for “criminal justice reform” in recent years? Don’t you suppose that a major factor is because technology — including widespread video surveillance — has made it more difficult for perpetrators to get away with their crimes? Back in the day, fugitive criminals might evade capture for years, but now video cameras are everywhere, and the same technology that helped authorities apprehend Casey White also helps police solve robberies and murders. And let’s face it, criminals can’t expect a jury to acquit them on the basis of some phony alibi when there is surveillance video proving their guilt. Nowadays, when a store gets robbed, police don’t just offer a description of the robbers, but instead give the media video of the crime as it happened, and next thing you know there’s a call to the Crime Stoppers hotline identifying the perps — whoosh! — a one-way ticket to state prison. Arresting and convicting criminals is so much easier now that the Party of Crime (i.e., Democrats) had to cook up some kind of excuse to help keep their voters out of prison, so “criminal justice reform” became a slogan, and George Soros poured millions of dollars into electing pro-crime politicians like Chesa Boudin, George Gascón, Kim Foxx and Larry Krasner as district attorneys, enacting turn-’em-loose policies to ensure that Democrat voters (i.e., criminals) don’t go to jail.

Excuse that long digression, but it’s not often I get such a perfect occasion to explain what’s actually happening to our criminal justice system.




 

Category: Alabama, Crime, Indiana

Rule 5 Sunday: Maid In Latex

Posted on | May 9, 2022 | Comments Off on Rule 5 Sunday: Maid In Latex

— compiled by Wombat-socho

No, honey, I think the kitchen looks just fine. Just kick back and relax…

I have no idea who the young lady is or who she’s cosplaying. If she’s cosplaying.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

NINETY MILES FROM TYRANNY: Hot Pick of the Late Night, The 90 Miles Mystery Box, Episode #1708, Morning Mistress, and Girls With Guns

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: Rule 5 Gas Prices Friday, and the Saturday Gingermageddon. 

EBL: MAGA Candidates Win, Stock Show Newsreader Babes, Cinco de Mayo, May The 4th Be With You, Erika Pryer, Minx, The Offer, The Survivor, and Biden’s DGB Czarina

A VIEW FROM THE BEACH: Krista Allen, Another Plan to Rebuild Striper Population, There Once Was a Maid of Nantucket, Fish Pic Friday, Menn in the Box, Vance Advances, Ortagus Out, Recession Looms, Your Wednesday Wetness, Retired Race Car Driver Lightens Load, Biden Divin’, Inflation Continues and So On, Tuesday Tanlines, The Monday Morning Stimulus, In Case You Hadn’t Heard and Palm Sunday

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious links!

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Category: Rule 5

FMJRA 2.0: Silhouettes

Posted on | May 8, 2022 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: Silhouettes

— compiled by Wombat-socho

The draft is underway in Pete’s league for the 1970 season, and so far things are going well for the Senators: we picked up outfielder Del Unser, pitcher Juan Marichal, and closer Moe Drabowsky, among other good players, so I think we’re going to actually have a better team than last year.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

Rule Five Sunday: Lisa Gerrard
Animal Magnetism
Proof Positive
Ninety Miles From Tyranny
A View From The Beach
EBL

SJW Tumblrinas: The Root of All Evil
The Pirate’s Cove
EBL

Back Where She Belongs
The DaleyGator
The First Street Journal
EBL
357 Magnum

FMJRA 2.0: RIP Klaus Schulze
A View From The Beach
EBL

Russian Generals Keep Getting Killed
The DaleyGator
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 05.02.22
Proof Positive
EBL
357 Magnum

Worst Twitter ‘Hot Take’ Ever?
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 05.04.22 (Morning Edition)
Proof Positive
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Some Ladies Love the Bad Boys
EBL

The Endless Grift of ‘Literally Who?’
BattleSwarm Blog
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 05.04.22 (Evening Edition)
Proof Positive
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Who Is Charlie Warzel and Why Do I Feel This Urge to Give Him a Brutal Fisking?
EBL
357 Magnum

In The Mailbox: 05.05.22
Proof Positive
A View From The Beach
EBL
357 Magnum

Aspiring Rapper Update: Misdemeanor Charges for Homeless Lunatic in L.A.
EBL

“If You Lack a Uterus, You Cannot Speak”
EBL

An Administrative Note
EBL

Top linkers for the week ending May 6:

  1.  EBL (16)
  2.  357 Magnum (9)
  3.  Proof Positive (5)
  4.  A View From The Beach (5)

Thanks to everyone for all the links!

 

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Category: FMJRA Award

‘Democrats Like to Pretend …’

Posted on | May 7, 2022 | Comments Off on ‘Democrats Like to Pretend …’

“. . . that it’s always 1963, because that’s the last time they can remember being the good guys,” says Professor Glenn Reynolds.

It’s not just black Republicans like Wesley Hunt who are dunking on the idiot Swalwell, who apparently has not considered the irony that the most conservative justice on the Supreme Court is Clarence Thomas, a black South Carolina native whose wife is white. Swalwell represents the 15th District of California, which is only 6.1% black, whereas South Carolina — represented in the Senate by two Republicans and in the House by six Republicans and two Democrats — is 24.8% black. The prejudices upon which the Democratic Party operates have somewhat changed since 1963, but one thing has not changed, namely the common belief of Democrats that they are The Party of Moral Virtue, engaged in a life-or-death struggle for the survival of “Our Democracy.”

My point is that, contrary to what is commonly said, there never was really a Good Old Days in which Democrats were the party of common sense, before they went drifting leftward. Go back and consider the idiocy of William Jennings Bryant’s quixotic crusade for “free coinage of silver,” or the various “progressive” whims of Woodrow Wilson, including his own quixotic crusade for the League of Nations. Even if Republicans of that era had some bad policy ideas, were Democrats a bastion of “common sense”? And then you dogtrot forward through history, with the various failed schemes of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and on through the unfortunate presidency of Harry Truman (who is ridiculously overrated by historians), the futile liberalism of Adlai Stevenson, the endless crises of JFK’s presidency and utter catstrophe of LBJ — where do we locate the Good Old Days of “common sense” Democrats?

Trust me, I’m the guy who wrote the book — well, I co-wrote it, anyway — demonstrating that the Democratic Party was rotten from the start, when Jefferson struck his deal with Aaron Burr and Tammany Hall to form the national party in opposition to John Adams, Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists. Despite my own sympathies for the Jeffersonian ideal, and my opposition to the Adams/Hamilton axis representing northeastern hegemony and centralization of power in the early Union, nevertheless the seeds of corruption were present from the conception of what eventually became the Democratic Party.

The reason why most people are unaware of this history is simply because Democrats have such overwhelming control of the education system and the media, so that from their earliest school lessons onward, most Americans are steeped in Democratic Party propaganda that celebrates the Great Myth of The Party of Moral Virtue. Some of the worst disasters inflicted on America by the Democrats came at the very apex of their power and prestige (and “common sense” reputation), as anyone who has studied the 1960s must understand. Go read David Halberstam’s The Best and the Brightest, if you want to get a glimpse of what went wrong with “The New Frontier” and “The Great Society.” It must be understood that the JFK/LBJ debacles, including failure in Vietnam, were a delayed consequence of mistakes made during the FDR/Truman era. And we had minor sequels to that episode in the presidencies of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. The Great Myth that inspires the hubris of Democrats is apparent in so many things, of which Eric Swalwell’s ridiculous tweet is just one tiny star in a vast constellation of moral arrogance.

It is easy to laugh at a clown like Eric Swalwell, until you pause to consider that we may be on the brink of nuclear war with Russia, while the presidency is occupied by a notorious fool who wasn’t qualified for the office even before he began his descent into incoherent senility.




 

Category: Democrats

In The Mailbox: 05.07.22 Special Weekend Edition

Posted on | May 7, 2022 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 05.07.22 Special Weekend Edition

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Not going to lie, the main reason I’m doing this is so my Feedly doesn’t get jammed up with almost a week’s worth of posts when I get around to doing Monday’s posts…
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

OVER THE TRANSOM
EBL: Stock News May Suck, But At Least Stock Shows Have Hot Newsreaders, also, MAGA Primary Candidates Win 
Twitchy: Your Daily Reminder That Eric Swalwell Is A Gigantic D!ck, also, WaPo Gets Shredded For Defending Biden’s DGB
Louder With Crowder: Elon Musk’s Mom Defends Him Against NYT Hit Piece, also, Kevin Hart Celebrates Chappelle’s Attacker Getting Stomped – “It Needed To Happen”
Vox Popoli: Australia Threatens Invasion, Not An Option, and Foreign Legion Fail
According To Hoyt: What If We’ve Been Profoundly Wrong? also, Tulkon AAR
Monster Hunter Nation: WriterDojo S2E18 – Urban Fantasy, also, We Dare 4 – My Daughter Has A Story In This Anthology

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: A Guide For Traditional Men In Difficult Times
American Conservative: Pope Francis Could Help End The Ukraine War
American Greatness: Roe Ruling – Making Protest Lawful Again, also, The World Does Not Run On Magic
American Power:  NYT Reporter – Studies Show School Closings Seriously Harmed Children, And Were Driven By Partisan Democrat Politics
American Thinker: What Do We Know About COVID So Far? also, Is The American Postmodern Left A Fascist Movement?
Animal Magnetism: Rule Five Gas Prices Friday
Babalu Blog: Elon Musk’s Purchase Of Twitter Could Spell The End Of Havana’s Bot Army, also, Death Toll From Explosion At Havana’s Saratoga Hotel Hits 22 
BattleSwarm: LinkSwarm For May 6
Behind The Black: Today’s Blacklisted Americans, SLS Launch Delayed Until August (At Least), and Ingenuity In Trouble?
Cafe Hayek: Yet More Evidence Against The “1619 Project”
CDR Salamander: Fullbore Friday
Chicago Boyz: Worthwhile Reading & Viewing
Da Tech Guy: Five Thoughts Under My Fedora Today, I’m Going To Defend Biden On This One, and Starry Perks & Suicide
Don Surber: Pence To Kamala – How Dare You?, Ending Roe Helps Republicans, and 41% Of Republicans Hate Dr. Oz
First Street Journal: Biden Now Blames “MAGA Crowd” For Everything Going Wrong, also, Baby-Killing Democrats Schedule Vote On Making Abortion Legal
Gates Of Vienna: Send ‘Em Back!, Conspiracy Fact, and “Sweden Will Become A Muslim Country”
The Geller Report: Democrat Lunacy In Oregon, also, Biden Taps Anti-Semitic Activist & CNN Spouse As Press Secretary
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of The Day, also, Did A Black Hole Flip Its Magnetic Field?
Hollywood In Toto: Joe Rogan Slams LA DA Gascon For Goeing Easy On Chappelle’s Attacker
The Lid: Stock Market “Nowhere Near The Bottom”, Says Expert
Legal Insurrection: Former College Dean Gets Year In Jail For Embezzling $650k From Student Group, Survey – College Students Have Unrealistic Expectations About Earnings After College, and Gaslighting – CNN Warns Of Violence From “Far Right” If SCOTUS Overturns Roe v. Wade
Nebraska Energy Observer: Scattershot Friday
Outkick: Antonio Brown On Kaepernick’s NFL comeback – “F*** Outta Here”,  Shawne Merriman – Antonio Brown Makes Some Valid Points About Kaepernick, and Mets Bounce Back Against Phillies 8-7 In Comeback Game Of The Year
Power Line: Silence Of The WH(ams), Thoughts From The Ammo Line, and The Left’s Mother’s Day Spectacle
Shark Tank: DeSantis Signs Biggest Tax Relief In Florida History
Shot In The Dark: Apples & Chainsaws, also, The Hill To Die On
The Political Hat: Firing Line Friday – Radical Chic
This Ain’t Hell: Valor Friday, Fake Serviceman Gets 14 Years, and Liberty Call With Fat Leonard
Transterrestrial Musings: Heinlein’s Crazy Years, Conservatives, and Putin’s Anniversary
Victory Girls: Amanda Marcotte Has The Vapors Over Abortion Again
Volokh Conspiracy: Federal Statute Bans Picketing Judges’ Houses “With The Intent Of Influencing [The] Judge”, also, Reversing Roe v. Wade Wouldn’t Be The First Time SCOTUS Has Gutted Precedents That Protect Individual Rights 
Watts Up With That: The Role of Journals & Their Editors In Preserving False Research Findings, also, John Kerry v. Natural Gas
Weasel Zippers: Bread Prices Due To Rise 35% Soon, Notorious MTG Celebrates Court Win, Will Remain On Ballot, and Biden Economy So Awful Retirees Being Forced Back To Work
The Federalist: If The U.S. Is Giving Ukraine Realtime Battlefield Intel, Congress Needs To Vote On It, Five Ways American Corporations Can Avoid Becoming The Next Disney, and GOP Senators Slam Schumer For “Slandering” Justices And Enabling Left’s “Authoritarian” Tactics
Mark Steyn: Non-Live Around The Planet

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Category: Linkagery

Ukraine’s Kharkiv Counter-Offensive Could Threaten Russians in Izyum

Posted on | May 7, 2022 | Comments Off on Ukraine’s Kharkiv Counter-Offensive Could Threaten Russians in Izyum

On the one hand, the past week has been good for Russia in that they seem to have gone the past six days without having another general killed, but on the other hand, the Ukrainians have scored crucial victories around Kharkiv. The invaders have been pushed back north and east of the city, which has endured weeks of shelling from Russian artillery. The Ukrainian push eastward from Kharkiv is especially promising, as they have advanced about 40 miles, all the way to Pechenihy on their left (north) and past the MO3/P07 highway crossroads of Chuhuiv as far as Malynivka on their right (south). While the Russians have retreated behind the Donets east of Pechenihy, with the river as an obstacle to further Ukrainian advances there, the prospect for Ukraine pushing southeast from Malynivka could be crucial. They are now roughly 45 miles from Kupiansk, a crossroads on the supply line of the Russian forces at Izyum, who thus now face a threat to their flank and rear.

You can click that map to enlarge it. Having no information about the forces involved on either side, whether the Russians or Ukrainians have reserves they can throw into this action, etc., it is impossible for me to assess the likelihood of Ukraine making rapid progress toward Kupiansk. Obviously, the Russian commanders can look at a map and see this threat to their supply line as clearly as I can, so you’ve got to figure that shoring up their defenses in that area will be a major priority. Still, even if Russia is able to hold off a Ukrainian threat to Kupiansk, doing so will require a diversion of men and materiel from elsewhere, so that the mere threat has strategic value for Ukraine in terms of the disposition of forces.

The importance of this development is that Izyum represents the northern pincer of Russia’s attempt to encircle Ukrainian forces in the east. If Ukraine can force Russia to withdraw from Izyum, this will effectively prevent the Russians from achieving that strategic objective. So over the coming week, pay attention to what’s happening in this theater, which may ultimately decide the outcome of the entire war.




 

Category: Military, Russia, Ukraine

‘A Poor Man’s Mac Jones’? (And Other Thoughts on the Patriots’ Draft Picks)

Posted on | May 7, 2022 | Comments Off on ‘A Poor Man’s Mac Jones’? (And Other Thoughts on the Patriots’ Draft Picks)

Following up on last week’s post (“Belichick’s Strange Choice Confounds Critics Who Don’t Understand 4D Chess”) about the New England Patriots in the NFL Draft, there was a widespread consensus among football commentators that the Patriots had a lousy 2022 draft class overall. Among the choices by Belichick that had pundits scratching their heads this year was choosing Western Kentucky quarterback Bailey Zappe in the fourth round. Why, after taking Mac Jones in the first round last year — and after a rookie season that made clear Jones is the future of the franchise — would Belichick draft another QB this year?

The first take I heard on Zappe was from Evan Lazar who called him “a poor man’s Mac Jones.” At Western Kentucky, Zappe broke every passing record — just incredible numbers — and if he’d have done that at a first-tier football school, he would have been drafted much earlier than the fourth round. A classic dropback QB, like Jones, Zappe is also super-smart, scoring the highest among this year’s quarterback prospects on the Wonderlic IQ test. Given the complexity of New England’s offensive scheme, Zappe’s brainpower will be advantageous if he is to be ready to play as a rookie. The Patriots already have two backup QBs on their roster, veteran Bryan Hoyer and 2019 fourth-round pick Jarrett Stidham. Hoyer, 36, is for all intents and purposes now an assistant coach, acting as mentor to Jones, and Stidham hasn’t lived up to expectations, so the likely scenarios is that Zappe will displace Stidham on the Patriots’ roster.

And then what? There is the possibility, of course, that Zappe could prove to be a quarterback worthy of a starting role, in which case he could provide the Patriots with trade capital. Your team’s starter isn’t getting the job done? Let’s make a deal for, say, that Pro Bowl-caliber linebacker on your roster. Even if the Patriots are certain that Mac Jones is the quarterback of their future, Zappe could add value besides being able to step in if, God forbid, Jones should get hurt. So while I have no problem with the choice of Zappe in the fourth round, I’ve got to admit some of their other choices strike me as questionable.

Two running backs? You’ve already got a tremendous one-two punch with Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson, who combined for over 1,500 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns last season, so why add two running backs? It does not matter, from my perspective, how good these rookies are. Pierre Strong has blazing speed (4.37 in the 40-yard dash) and Kevin Harris was a real workhorse at South Carolina, so it’s nothing against them as individual players, it’s just that I didn’t see this position as a priority for the Patriots. The real need in New England — after they got Strange to fill their opening at offensive guard — was on defense, particularly at cornerback and linebacker.

The Patriots got two quality cornerbacks in the third round (85th pick overall) and fourth round (121st pick). But was there not a single linebacker on the board they liked with the 127th pick (4th round) or 183rd pick (6th round) they used to get Strong and Harris? Let’s grant that they added veteran linebacker Mack Wilson from the Cleveland Browns in an off-season trade, and that New England also has younger players (e.g., Cameron McGrone and Anfernee Jennings) who could step up this year. Still, it looks like the Patriots are about to lose both Jamie Collins and Dont’a Hightower from their linebacker corps in free agency, and many analysts expected them to draft a linebacker in the first round this year. Not to draft any linebackers? It doesn’t make sense.

There was a more general complaint — both among fans and among league analysts — that New England “reached” with its first two draft picks, as Strange wasn’t projected as a first-round pick (some projected him going in the third round) and not many thought wide receiver Tyquan Thornton would go in the second round. However, for a team in need of a deep threat at receiver, the Patriots certainly scored big with Thornton, whose 40-yard dash time was the best of any WR at the NFL combine. And maybe those “reaches” weren’t really reaches at all:

NFL Network’s Mike Giardi suggests Bill Belichick and his staff’s insistence that neither player would’ve lasted much longer on the board might have been well-founded.
“On Cole Strange, I’ve learned, per source, there was a team in the 40s that had their eyes on Strange,” Giardi tweeted. “Would they have traded up had he began Day 2 still on the board? That part is unclear. Strange definitely was getting picked in round 2 regardless.”
Some teams, like the Los Angeles Rams, did homework on Strange as a possible third or fourth-round pick, adding fuel to the fire that the Patriots way over-drafted him.
However, it’s notable that several teams picking in the top 40 — the Vikings, Buccaneers and Seahawks — had Strange in for top-30 prospect visits before the draft.
Interestingly, the Bucs, who took defensive tackle Logan Hall with the 33rd pick, took tackle Luke Goedeke later in the second round. The Vikings, who grabbed safety Lewis Cine just after the Patriots picked Strange and also took cornerback Andrew Booth early in the second round, took offensive guard Ed Ingram later in the second as well.
Take this for what you will: Strange was a more highly graded player on NFL.com than either Goedeke or Ingram. Though we don’t know what the teams’ grades for them are, it’s conceivable the Patriots were right about Strange not lasting long (putting aside the actual value of the pick).
The Thornton pick feels harder to figure out.
Most projections suggested Thornton would still be around on Day 3 of the draft, leading to shock when he was selected ahead of seemingly better receiver prospects on Day 2.
But Giardi’s report casts doubt on that as well.
“And while we’re at it, on the Tyquan Thornton pick, league source believes there was a team lurking on the Baylor WR and perhaps a fear from the Patriots that the Steelers (at 52) were ready to pounce. So they move up 4 spots and get the speed merchant,” he wrote.
One theory: the Steelers, who grabbed Pickens at No. 52 overall, thought another team (including the Patriots) might take the Georgia product instead and had Thornton in mind as a backup option. Whether the Steelers, Colts or Chiefs, who all took receivers shortly after the Patriots got Thornton, would’ve actually taken him over the prospects they got is debatable, though.

If Cole Strange was the best offensive guard in the draft, and the Patriots staff believed other teams might have their eye on him in the second round, taking him in the first round makes sense. Of all the wide receivers in the draft, Thornton was the fastest and New England had the need for that speed. So if there was any chance that Pittsburgh (or some other team) would take Thornton before the Patriots got their third-round pick (85th overall), then drafting Thornton in the second round makes perfect sense. Of course, objectively, I realize that I’m rationalizing here — engaged in a defensive justification of questionable behavior.

Rationalization is a universal trait, not just for football fans. Every prison is full of guys who either claim they were really innocent or else have some story to explain how they would have gotten away with it, had not this, that or the other thing gone wrong. After-the-fact explanations to defend our choices, especially when our choices are criticized or when the consequences are objectively bad, are just how the human mind operates as a default setting. So if you’re a Patriots fan, you tell yourself that Bill Belichick must know what he’s doing, even if all the commentators on ESPN are saying his draft picks were bad this year. In defending the questionable picks, you must have the self-awareness that you’re acting like a “homer,” and that your justifications are not objective, even while you marshal facts and logic to make arguments against critics.

Honestly, it’s like Jen Psaki standing at the lectern in the White House briefing room, saying everything Biden does is just awesome.

Do you see why football is a great hobby for a politics junkie? Hunter S. Thompson always thought so, and I share his belief that being a football fan is kind of a methadone treatment, a substitute for the heroin-like addiction of politics. You need something to focus your mental energies on, some obsession that distracts you from the madness of politics, or else you’ll turn into one of those deranged dingbats who think it’s cool to go protest at a Supreme Court justice’s home.

For most of us, our ability to influence politics is nearly as limited as our ability to persuade Belichick to pick a linebacker in the first round. Our inability to change events — our sense of powerlessness, because the important decisions are being made for us, contrary to our own inclinations or opinions — produces a sense of frustration. This frustration is intensified because we are dreadfully impatient. Inside each of us is a bit of Veruca Salt: “I want it now!” Football season doesn’t start until September, and the election is not until November, and we’re enduring the agony of the off-season — a lot of talk, talk, talk from the pundits on TV, when what we crave is the thrill of victory. Triumph over our foes, complete vindication: “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.”

When my brother Kirby talks about anything — politics, football, the war in Ukraine, whatever — he always annoys me by discussing speculative contingencies: “If X happens, then either Y or Z.” This annoys me, as I say, because there is no way to know if X will happen or not. Will Putin go nuclear in Ukraine? Lots of smart people say it’s a real possibility, even though I can’t imagine such a nightmare scenario. Why even bother discussing it? If it happens, it happens, and all the choices are beyond my control, so what is to be gained by a moot court deliberation of the possible consequences of a madman dictator’s actions?

So let’s talk about football instead, but the same problem arises: Kirby always wants to talk about what Alabama should do — as if Coach Saban were going to heed our advice, which is always, “Run the damn ball!” — but exploring the limitless field of imaginative speculation frustrates me. There’s no point to it, and such discussions intensify my feelings of powerlessness. Ultimately, as fans and spectators, we just have to wait until they kick off and then watch what happens.

National Championship for ’Bama, Mac Jones takes the Patriots to the Super Bowl and Republicans win a landslide in the November midterms. And then we’ll enjoy listening to the lamentations of their women.




 

Category: Football
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