Joe Biden, Blamer-in-Chief

Posted on | December 22, 2021 | Comments Off on Joe Biden, Blamer-in-Chief

The important point of His Fraudulency’s Tuesday speech was that he, Joe Biden, is not responsible for anything. Nothing is his fault, ever. Instead, everything that has gone wrong since January 20 is because of you bad people who refused to get vaccinated:

If you are not fully vaccinated, you have good reason to be concerned. You’re at a high risk of getting sick. And if you get sick, you’re likely to spread it to others, including friends and family. And the unvaccinated have a significantly higher risk of ending up in a hospital or even dying.
Almost everyone who has died from COVID-19 in the past many months has been unvaccinated. . . .
Look, the unvaccinated are responsible for their own choices. But those choices have been fueled by dangerous misinformation on cable TV and social media.
You know, these companies and personalities are making money by peddling lies and allowing misinformation that can kill their own customers and their own supporters.
It’s wrong, it’s immoral, and I call on the purveyors of these lies and misinformation to stop it. Stop it now. . . .
If you’re fully vaccinated, and especially if you got your booster shot, you are highly protected. And if you’re unvaccinated, you’re at higher risk of getting severely ill from COVID-19, getting hospitalized, and even dying.
So, the best thing to do is get fully vaccinated and get your booster shot.

Well, I’m vaccinated, but I haven’t gotten a booster shot for the simple reason that I don’t need a booster, at least not yet. What happened with the late-summer surge of infections — the Delta variant wave — was that people who had gotten their shots early in the year had passed the six-month window of effectiveness. But I didn’t get vaccinated until August/September, so I’m OK through February or March.

At the same time, however, I am beginning to suspect that what’s really going on here is that the vaccine manufacturers made so many doses they exceeded the demand, and so they’ve enlisted the Biden administration to promote the idea of “boosters” as a way of unloading excess inventory (and making extra profit). And I realize that in voicing this suspicion, I may be joining the ranks of purveyors of “misinformation,” in the eyes of those who believe everything Joe Biden says, but my suspicion about this “booster” business — i.e., a racket to pad the pockets of Big Pharma — has been growing for a while because, frankly, the only reason I got vaccinated in the first place was because I got tired of being cited as a statistic and threatened with sanctions.

The demonized category of “the unvaccinated” is being employed in Democrat/media rhetoric as a scapegoat and, while I’ve never been an anti-vaxxer of any sort, by late summer I could see where this rhetoric was leading. So rather than being cited as a statistic — another unvaccinated white male Republican! — I was like, “Screw you.” And in another couple of months, if the pandemic is still raging, I reckon I’ll get my booster, too. Nobody can point the finger at me as the scapegoat infecting friends and family. At the same time, however, I’m dubious about the Emergency Health Crisis mode of rhetoric about COVID-19 that has accompanied the arrival of the Omicron variant.

After 20 months of this constant crisis-mongering, I think I’m probably not the only one who’s thinking, well, if it hasn’t killed me yet, it’s probably never going to kill me. Pandemic fatigue, so to speak.

Don’t tell me about The Science. This is really about The Politics, and more specifically The Politics of Blame, because Democrats are trying to distract the public from the catastrophic failure that is the Biden presidency. So they wrote this speech, with its veiled allusion to Fox News (“dangerous misinformation on cable TV”), leaving me to wonder what specific “misinformation” Biden’s speechwriters had in mind. I haven’t been watching Fox News regularly in recent weeks, but if there was some specific misinformation Joe wanted to call out, why didn’t he name names? Tucker Carlson? Sean Hannity? Laura Ingraham? Who was it spreading this “dangerous misinformation”?

No, there’s just this vague accusation, without details, so that the Democratic voters listening to Joe’s speech can imagine that Fox News is 24/7 vaccine “misinformation,” in quite the same way that they imagine who the “unvaccinated” are — it’s those Evil Right-wing Republicans!

Saboteurs! Wreckers! Kulaks!

Totalitarian hate propaganda, is what this is. Commissar Joe is going to protect workers from those evil unvaccinated kulaks:

Last week, the federal court reinstated my administration’s vaccination-or-test — the vaccination-or-test rule for businesses with more than 100 employees.
The rule requires employers with 100 or more employees to protect their workers who are on site and indoors with a requirement that they be vaccinated or tested each week or go home.
These rules are going to keep workers safe.

See? He’s keeping you safe, workers! Commissar Joe is going to hunt down those unvaccinated people and punish them, to keep you safe.

All these people who have not been vaccinated, you have an obligation to yourselves, to your family, and, quite frankly — I know I’ll get criticized for this — to your country.
Get vaccinated now. It’s free. It’s convenient. I promise you, it saves lives. And I, honest to God, believe it’s your patriotic duty.
Another question folks are asking is: What can you do to make yourself and your family feel safer and be safer? The answer is simple: Get your booster shot. Wear a mask.

It’s your obligation, your patriotic duty to obey Commissar Joe.

Get your booster — it’s “free,” because Pfizer’s got unlimuited access to U.S. taxpayer dollars — and wear your mask, because The Science.

What bothers me most about this is the fact that tens of millions of Americans actually believe all this stuff Biden keeps saying. Despite all the “breakthrough” cases, despite the apparently endless parade of new variants, despite the obvious fact that the survival rate for COVID-19 is somewhere near 99%, and despite the fact that nearly all the most vulnerable people (i.e., the elderly) have been obedient to every command of the Pandemic Police, the administration and its media allies won’t abandon their project of endlessly hectoring the rest of us to do our “patriotic duty,” as if we are too stupid to tie our own shoelaces without their instructions. And yet there are still these millions of people who listen to these insulting lectures and say, “Yeah! You tell ’em, Joe!”

Some people just have low self-esteem, I reckon. But as for me, the day has not yet arrived in which I need lectures about morality from Joe Biden, and I don’t think that day will arrive anytime soon.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

Category: Joe Biden

In The Mailbox: 12.21.21

Posted on | December 22, 2021 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 12.21.21

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

Consort Yu getting dressed up to discover Christmas with Xiang Yu.

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: The Breakdown Of Order In Chicago
EBL: Asshats Of The Day, also, Scrooge Was A Woke Progressive
Twitchy: “Are You Really This Stupid?”, also, Glenn Greenwald Reacts To Retired Generals Writing “Borderline Fascist” Op-Ed
Louder With Crowder: Kyle Rittenhouse – “Media Accountability Is Coming”, also, Henry Winkler Wants The Lincoln Project To Attack Joe Manchin
Vox Popoli: Hospitals As Hit Men, CIPS+SPFS, and Sauron’s Mouth Speaks

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Conservative: “Hugging It Out” With Russia
American Greatness: Trump To Hold Press Conference On 1/6 To Discuss “Rigged” 2020 Elections, also, Pentagon Issues New Guidance On “Extremist Behavior” In The Ranks
American Thinker: Three Retired Generals Loudly Demand Military Coup In 2024, also, The Role Of Churches During COVID
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Enough Is Enough News
Babalu Blog: Where Is Cuba Headed?
Baldilocks: Expecting The Good
BattleSwarm: Ron DeSantis Unloads On Critical Race Theory
Behind The Black: Pushback Against Blacklists, SpaceX Launches Cargo Dragon To ISS Using New First Stage, and FAA Approves Application For Launchpad In Camden, GA
Cafe Hayek: Phil Magness On Collins’ & Fauci’s Assault On Science, also, Compared To Lockdowns
CDR Salamander: Germany’s Coming Cold, Expensive & Dangerous Experiment
Da Tech Guy: My Third Law Of Media Outrage Waukesha Wannabe Edition, also, Why Are Dems Losing Hispanics? Ask Maria
Don Surber: Manchin Shows Biden’s Dangerous, Monkeys Kill Puppies – Libs Side With Monkeys, and Democrats Blame Inflation On Stores, Not Government Policies
First Street Journal: Another Capitol Kerfluffler Sentenced, also, 97% Of NBA Players Got The Jab, But League Is Losing Players To Positive Tests
Fred On Everything: Another Bright Idea From The Yankee Capital, also, Tales About an LGBTQ Legal Landmark & Other DC Porn
Gates Of Vienna: Stop Zemmour – Postpone The Election!, Radio Gaga Teaches You To Love Your Slavery, and The Slow March Of Amorality
The Geller Report: DeSantis Says No, also, The Lancet Skewers “Pandemic Of The Unvaxxed” Narrative As Noxious Propaganda
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of The Day, Just A Thought, and His Lips Will be Moving
Hollywood In Toto: Lost Daughter Lets Beautiful Performances Guide Us Through An Ugly Story, HiT’s Best Movies Of 2021, and Why The Federalist Went Hollywood With Meet The Parents
The Lid: Meaner Than Any Of Trump’s “Mean Tweets”
Legal Insurrection: Alex Berenson Sues Twitter For Suspending Him, California’s Legal Pot Industry Warns It’s “Collapsing”, and Season’s Greetings From The White House – “You’re Looking At A Winter Of Severe Illness & Death”
Michelle Malkin: Say His Name – Lee Keltner
Nebraska Energy Observer: Deck The Halls, also, Tis The Season!
Outkick: Stephen A. Smith Admits He Has The Coof, Before Hosting Arizona, Tennessee’s Rick Barnes Has Stern Message For Memphis, and Cincinnati Has The Right Idea For Alabama
Power Line: Big Grocery? Seriously?, The Collins Crock, and Inside The Democrats’ Circular Firing Squad
Shark Tank: DeSantis Accused Of Promoting “State-Sponsored” Attacks On Women In Politics
Shot In The Dark: The Wrong Side Of “Right”, I Needed A Cool Symbol, and Loss Of Focus
STUMP: I Come To Bury Build Back Better, And To Dance On Its Grave
The Political Hat: Twelve Posts Of Christmas (Day 9)
This Ain’t Hell: Don’t Invade Ukraine, Build Back Better Instead, Bernie’s Home Town Realizes They Do Need Police After Defunding Them, and Fearmongering Retired Generals Warn Of Civil War, Coup
Transterrestrial Musings: When The Feds Won’t Do Their Job, also, Inside The Omicron Fear Factory
Victory Girls: Erasing Girls In The Name Of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
Volokh Conspiracy: Things Get Worse At The University Of Illinois In Chicago
Weasel Zippers: CNN – Biden’s Economy Worse Than Carter’s, Border Patrol Busts “Potential Terrorist” Illegally Crossing Into U.S., and Leftist Disinvited From Family Christmas After Demanding Everyone Wear Masks & Get Tested
The Federalist: Democrats Prepare To Dump Joe Biden Now That He’s Served His Purpose, Can The U.S. Military Still Protect Americans?, and New Videos Capture Pennsylvania Officials Hiding Evidence Of Alleged Election Fraud
Mark Steyn: No Wind Beneath His Wings, also, Fang Fang Says Vax Vax

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Category: Linkagery

Joe Manchin Wrecks ‘Build Back Better,’ Ruins Christmas for Democrats

Posted on | December 21, 2021 | Comments Off on Joe Manchin Wrecks ‘Build Back Better,’ Ruins Christmas for Democrats

Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) are wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth in impotent fury at the West Virginia senator who refused to let them join in any reindeer games:

The White House accused Sen. Joe Manchin III of a double-cross on President Biden’s mammoth social welfare and climate change legislation.
In a fiery statement, White House press secretary Jennifer Psaki rebuked the West Virginia Democrat for making an “inexplicable reversal” days after pledging support for the $1.75 trillion social welfare bill.
“On Tuesday of this week, Senator Manchin came to the White House and submitted — to the president, in person, directly — a written outline for a Build Back Better bill that was the same size and scope as the President’s framework, and covered many of the same priorities,” Ms. Psaki said. “While that framework was missing key priorities, we believed it could lead to a compromise acceptable to all.”
The statement was released to the public shortly after Mr. Manchin told “Fox News Sunday” he had struggled for months over whether to support the bill but ultimately could not.
“I’ve always said this, but if I can’t go home and explain to the people of West Virginia, I can’t vote for it,” said Mr. Manchin. “And I cannot vote to continue this piece of legislation. I just can’t. I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there … This is a no.” . . .
“Senator Manchin pledged repeatedly to negotiate on finalizing that framework ‘in good faith,’” Ms. Psaki said. “If his comments on Fox and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the president and the senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate.”

Oh, he breached his “commitments,” did he? What about Joe Biden’s “commitments”? Wasn’t the basic thrust of his election campaign that he was a moderate? And yet Biden has (or rather, his handlers have) spent most of the past year attempting to ram through a radical policy agenda dictated by the AOC/Bernie Sanders wing of the party.

Like spoiled children denied a treat, Democrats are now stomping their feet and screeching uncontrollably as they vent their rage at Manchin.

Rep. @AOC (D-NY) on Sen. Manchin's no on BBB Act:
“The idea that Joe Manchin says he can’t explain this back home to his people is a farce … I represent just as many or more people than Joe Manchin does.” pic.twitter.com/F9W1Ex8epU

— The Recount (@therecount) December 20, 2021

AOC said she thought her district had as many residents as West Virginia, on “Morning Joe” today.

West Virginia pop: 1.79M residents
NY-14 pop: 750,000 residents

— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) December 20, 2021

AOC is as ignorant of geography and demographics as is she is of everything else, and it apparently has not occurred to her that whatever the relative size of their constituencies, she and Joe Manchin represent very different kinds of people with very different interests. Like, how many bisexual cat ladies are there in West Virginia, compared to NY-14? And I’m pretty sure there are very few coal miners in the Bronx.

And then there was this pleasant celebrity emission:

Unlike AOC, at least Bette Midler got some facts right: The population of Brooklyn (2.6 million) is larger than West Virginia, but does anyone really believe there is less illiteracy, poverty and drug addiction in Brooklyn than in West Virginia? Last time I checked, Bette Midler had sold her $50 million Fifth Avenue penthouse and was living in bucolic Dutchess County, so I don’t why she’s choosing Brooklyn as her reference point, except that a lot of liberals live there. She later apologized for insulting West Virginians, but not for hating Manchin, who has become a Trump-like scapegoat figure in the minds of liberals who can’t seem to understand why they couldn’t ram their $2 trillion scam through the Senate. Political failure always leads to this kind of hunt for scapegoats; whenever Republicans lose an election, the party establishment starts lashing out at “evangelicals” and other right-wing “extremists” whom they blame for the defeat. Democrats never blame their own “extremists,” however, because that would be racist. So instead Democrats now explain their failure by turning Manchin into a demonized representative of all those STUPID REDNECK HILLBILLIES they hate so much.

Merry Freaking Christmas, losers.

Category: Democrats, West Virginia

In The Mailbox: 12.20.21

Posted on | December 21, 2021 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 12.20.21

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Today, Senator Joe Manchin dances the dance of victory.

Silicon Valley delenda est.

Not quite how the Christmas events in Fate/Grand Order work…*

OVER THE TRANSOM
357 Magnum: Illinois CCW Holder Stops Rottweiler Attack
EBL: 50 Cognitive Biases In The Modern World, also, Station Eleven
Twitchy: Mollie Hemingway Drops Marc Elias For Smearing GOP & Trying To Make It Easier For Democrats To Cheat, also, Kurt Schlichter Has A Hallmark Christmas Movie Pitch That MUST Be Made
Louder With Crowder: Elon Musk Hammers Critics With How Much He’s Paying In Taxes This Year (Hint: More Than Fauxcahontas)
Vox Popoli: Conversating About Conversations, The Supply Chain Crisis, and A Message For The American People
Gab News: Against The Modern Judaizers

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Good Excrement & Bad Excrement
American Conservative: Democrats’ Democracy Delusions, also, The Astonishing Late Bloom Of The Weak Joe Biden
American Greatness: Why Would Hispanics Drop The Left? also, Adam Schiff’s Delusion
American Power: NFL Grapples With COVID Outbreaks & Postponed Games, also, “Dark Winter” At The White House
American Thinker: Judging Fauci, also, How Did The FBI End Up In This Mess?
Animal Magnetism: Goodbye, Blue Monday
Babalu Blog: Cuban Dictatorship Runs Out Of Paper, Can’t Print New Ration Books For 2022, also, Leftist Gabriel Boric Elected President Of Chile
Baldilocks: Remembering Philip Ochieng
BattleSwarm: Texas & Florida Added Over Half The Nation’s New Jobs In November, also, No Exit
Behind The Black: Today’s Blacklisted Americans, SLS Likely Facing Another Launch Delay, and SpaceX Completes Second Launch In Less Than Sixteen Hours
Cafe Hayek: A Christmas Carol
CDR Salamander: Fullbore Friday, also, Here’s Your Worrisome Military Culture
Da Tech Guy: Kyrie Gets The Last Laugh, Ask Yourself These Questions, and Report From Louisiana – The Pre-Christmas Roundup
Don Surber: COVID Is Boring, Target Stops Cops From Buying Toys For Poor Kids, and Defund Police – And Watch Hispanics Vote Republican
First Street Journal: What Could Have Happened If The School District Did Otherwise? also, He Feels Like A Woman
Fred On Everything: Stop Lawlessness & Looting Before It’s Too Late…For Blacks
Gates Of Vienna: The Party Is Always Right, Different Rules For Different Fools, and Fudging The Numbers
The Geller Report: CNN Host Puzzled By Biden’s Unpopularity, also, El Salvador’s President Accuses Biden Administration Of Corruption – And Has The Texts To Prove It
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post Of The Day, A View From The Moon, and Cosmic Cavities
Hollywood In Toto: How Eric Roberts Became The Lou Gehrig Of Independent Films, also, Louis C.K. Takes Cancel Culture Baton From Dave Chappelle In Sorry
The Lid: Joe Biden’s Top 10 Lies Of 2021
Legal Insurrection: 2000 Rabbis Call For Suspension Of DEI Programs, SDSU Spent $250,000 On A “Healing Garden” Nobody Uses, and Left Flips Out After George Will Assails 1619 Project As “Historical Illiteracy” and “Not Innocent Ignorance”
Nebraska Energy Observer: Random Observations, also, The Fourth Sunday Of Advent
Outkick: Jags Don’t Want To Pay Urban Meyer The Rest Of His Contract, Red Wings GM Yzerman Wants To Know Why We’re Testing Nonsymptomatic Athletes, and Tom Brady Whined Like Baby During Saints’ 9-0 Dismantling Of Bucs
Power Line: Anthony Fauci, Political Thug, Deep Meaning Of “Expodentially”, and The Manchin Manifestation
Shark Tank: Stephanie Murphy Won’t Run For Re-Election
Shot In The Dark: Lit, The Older Joe Biden Gets, and How Can You Tell The Democrats Are Polling Really Badly?
The Political Hat: Twelve Posts Of Christmas, Day 6, Day 7, and Day 8
This Ain’t Hell: Antifa Goes To Federal Prison, Another Four Are Known, and Proposed NJ Bill To Toughen Stolen Valor Penalties
Transterrestrial Musings: “No Evidence”, also, Another Blue Origin Employee Jumping Ship
Victory Girls: Jake Sullivan Is Pleased With The Afghan Bugout, also, Manchin Tells White House – This Is Your Fault
Volokh Conspiracy: Thoughts On Sixth Circuit’s OSHA Mandate Stay Decision & What Comes Next
Weasel Zippers: Occasional Cortex Calls Senate “Fundamentally Undemocratic”, U.S. Now Facing Candy Cane Shortage One Week Before Christmas, and Joe Manchin Officially Kills Build Back Better
The Federalist: Damning Emails Prove Fauci & Collins Colluded To Nuke Herd Immunity Strategies, Yellowstone Origin Story 1883 Is The Western We Need Right Now, and New Tax Returns Further Reveal How Zuckbucks Swayed 2020 Election
Mark Steyn: John Wayne Must Die, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, and Always Winter, Never Christmas

*In case this is too obscure, during the parody Carnival Phantasm, various characters complain to Sehai-kun, the personification of the Grail, about one thing or another. Sehai-kun’s reply is invariably “Oh, $character, you’re so useless. What you need is a $tool!” after which he drops a butcher knife in front of the character.

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Category: Linkagery

‘No Stranger to Law Enforcement’

Posted on | December 20, 2021 | Comments Off on ‘No Stranger to Law Enforcement’

Say hello to 32-year-old Davis Howard Jr., who was behind the wheel of a speeding Maserati in Bunnell, Florida, when a Flagler County deputy blue-lighted him and Howard took off — because, really, what’s the point of driving a Maserati if you can’t try to outrun cops once in a while?

The high-speed chase ended only after “stop sticks” were deployed:

During that high-speed chase, Howard called his mother and she was the one who eventually got him to stop the car, according to deputies.
A woman in the car with him also tried to get him to stop, she told deputies.

So nice of him to call his mom. More from the sheriff’s office:

It was determined that Howard had a suspended license since 4/4/2016.
A probable cause search of the vehicle was conducted and multiple illegal drugs were found. Deputies recovered 44 white pills, identified as Oxycodone, in the driver’s door compartment, along with 12g of marijuana. In the center cup holder, deputies recovered 8.2g marijuana and on the rear right passenger seat was a small black bag containing two small baggies with an additional 200 Oxycodone pills. A total of 44g of Oxycodone was recovered and $5,651 was seized.
Howard is no stranger to law enforcement and has been charged 43 times in Florida, with nine felony convictions. He’s previously been charged for Grand Theft of a Motor Vehicle, Carrying a Concealed Weapon, Tampering with Physical Evidence, Destroying Evidence, Flee and Elude Law Enforcement, Use or Display of Firearm During Felony, Possession of Weapon/Ammo by Convicted Felon, Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Sell, Possession of Cocaine, Possession of a Controlled Substance, Possession of Synthetic Cannabinoids, Possession of a Controlled Substance without Prescription, Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Sell, Possession of Cocaine with Intent to Sell, Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Aggravated Battery on Law Enforcement Officer with Motor Vehicle, Use Under 18 Years Old to Sell/Deliver Meth, Trafficking Opium, Trafficking Controlled Substances, and Trafficking Phenethylamines. He’s also been charged in Illinois on multiple felony drug charges.

Evidently, he’s been a full-time criminal his entire life, but for some reason was not behind bars, and was instead driving around Florida in a Maserati. Here’s video of the pursuit and arrest:

Some of my libertarian friends are against “The War on Drugs,” but if drugs were legal, how would someone like Davis Howard Jr. be able to afford a Maserati? Making drugs illegal creates lucrative opportunities for, uh . . . Well, people who wouldn’t be obeying the laws no matter what the laws were. I mean, it’s not illegal to own a Maserati, but it is illegal to drive with a suspended license. Criminals don’t obey traffic laws the same way they don’t obey drug laws or gun laws or just about any other law you’d care to name. What’s the point of having any laws at all, if you think it’s social injustice to put criminals in jail? Because that’s what really inspires the notion that we shouldn’t be locking up drug dealers, i.e., the “disparate impact” argument. When I think back on my own youthful career in freelance pharmaceutical distribution, the fact that I was a suburban white boy didn’t make me exempt from law-enforcement scrutiny. I didn’t have “white privilege,” but I also wasn’t driving around in a Maserati — a spectacularly stupid thing to do, when you’re hauling contraband. While I don’t want to turn this blog into a how-to guide for drug dealers, permit me to observe that a used Volkswagen is a lot less conspicuous than a late-model sports car. Just sayin’ . . .

There are two kinds of drug dealers:

Smart guys who keep a low profile;
and
Idiots who drive around in flashy cars and go to prison.

We know which category Davis Howard Jr. belongs to:

Howard was arrested for Trafficking Oxycodone 25g or More, Fleeing with Disregard of Safety to Persons/Property, Driving While License Suspended with Knowledge, Selling of Oxycodone, and Possession of Marijuana 20g or more. He was transported to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility and is being held on $160,500 bond.

On the advice of my attorney, Bert the Samoan Lawyer, I’ll note that anything written here about my own youthful behavior is fiction, as far as you know. But I damned sure wasn’t driving a Maserati.

Category: Crime, Florida

Rule Five Sunday: Nadezhda Zhukova

Posted on | December 20, 2021 | Comments Off on Rule Five Sunday: Nadezhda Zhukova

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Remember that Russian nurse who showed up for work at the mens’ ward of a hospital in Tula wearing almost nothing under her transparent PPE? The New York Post remembered, God bless them, and followed up with a story about how she not only kept her nursing job (despite angry noises from her bosses) but picked up a modeling gig with Zasport, a Russian sportswear company whose gear is worn by Russian Olympians. Here’s a shot of her demonstrating some of their gear.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.

Miss Zhukova doing the modeling thing (h/t EBL)

Ninety Miles From Tyranny: Hot Pick of the Late Night, The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #1568, Morning Mistress, and Girls With Guns.

Animal Magnetism: Rule Five Populism Friday, and the Saturday Gingermageddon.

EBL: Banned By YouTube, NYC Covid Explosion (featuring our gal Zhukova), The Deep Dark Woods, Barbara Eden, Swan Song, Westworld Season 4 Preview, Miracle On 34th Street, Christmas Holiday, Inger Støjberg, Julie Michaels, Mazzy Star, Blast Of Silence, Rie Sinclair, Janice Dean, and Julie London.

A View From The Beach: Hanna Montazami, Fish Pic Friday – Renee Waddick, Warp Nine, Scotty!, It’s Tattoo Thursday, Some Wednesday Wetness, Do It Like, The Monday Morning Stimulus, Sunday Sunrise, and Just Shake It Off, Taylor.

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious links!

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Category: Rule 5

Colts Beat Patriots 27-17; Taylor Rushes for 170 Yards; Playoff Race Tightens

Posted on | December 19, 2021 | Comments Off on Colts Beat Patriots 27-17; Taylor Rushes for 170 Yards; Playoff Race Tightens

What happened Saturday night to the Patriots in Indianapolis was a brutal reminder that every winning streak must ultimately end. Not only did the Colts break New England’s seven-game winning streak, but it was the first time Indianpolis had beaten the Patriots since 2009, when Peyton Manning was the Colts’ quarterback — a game remembered by every New England fan as the 4th-and-2. Indianapolis running back Jonathan Taylor looked very much like the league MVP Saturday, rushing for 170 yards on 29 carries, including the 67-yard TD run in the fourth quarter that capped the 27-17 victory for the Colts.

Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald:

Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones overcame a pair of interceptions to lead three straight scoring drives in the fourth quarter. He went 26-of-45 for 299 yards, two touchdowns and the two picks. Tight end Hunter Henry caught both scores.
The Pats’ special teams proved disastrous all night, starting with a blocked punt returned for a touchdown in the first quarter. All together, they gifted 10 points to the Colts, who produced just 105 yards of offense outside of Taylor.

The blocked punt near the end of the first quarter followed a perfect third-down pass from Jones to Jakobi Meyers that would have been a first down if Meyers hadn’t dropped it. People who didn’t follow Mac Jones as closely as I did during his championship season with Alabama can’t imagine how frustrating it is for Crimson Tide fans to see dropped passes like that. I mean, Devonta Smith never dropped a ball that I can remember, and he certainly never had a drop that hurt the Tide as bad as Meyers’ drop Saturday hurt the Patriots. After the blocked punt (the third time that’s happened to New England this season), the Colts had a 14-0 lead, and the Indianapolis game plan — shut down the Patriots’ running game and force Jones to throw — was already a success, but that one dropped pass made all the difference. Catch the damned ball.

Mac Jones with a DIME by Meyers drops it… pic.twitter.com/s71y6XhZ0o

— ????? (@FTB_Vids_YT) December 19, 2021

Excuse me if I seem to be over-emphasizing this, but my dad played end in high school — earning All-Valley honors — and he couldn’t stand to see a dropped pass. The idea of a professional wide receiver dropping a perfectly thrown ball the way Jakobi Meyers did? Man, I hate to imagine what the old man would have said about that play. On the other hand, because I was watching the game with my brother Kirby (it was on NFL Network, so we went to a restaurant and had dinner while watching it on the big screen), I didn’t really have to imagine it. Anyway . . .

Mistakes cost the Patriots the game, pure and simple. For example, with less than five minutes left in the first half, the Patriots went driving down the field — Jones hit Kendrick Bourne for 15 yards, Rhamondre Stevenson ran for 13 yards, and then Jones hit Hunter Henry for 25 yards to give New England a first down at the Indianapolis 22. On first down, Meyer gains nine yards on an end-around, so it’s second-and-1 at the Colts’ 13 at the two-minute warning. Everybody watching the game had to figure that, at a minimum, the Patriots would get a field goal out of it, and go into the locker room trailing 14-3, but the way they were moving the ball, it seemed likely the drive would end in a touchdown. So, we return from the two-minute warning and tight end Jonnu Smith jumps before the snap, a five-yard penalty that turned it into second-and-6. One play later, on 3rd-and-3, Jones tries to throw to Hunter Henry in the middle of coverage — picked off. Mac took the blame for that:

“I just threw it right to him. It was a good play, but unacceptable. You can’t win until you stop from losing. I mean, I handed the ball to the guy. I did that twice, and that hurt us. I thought the defense played pretty well, and I just shot them in the foot myself by giving them the short field and giving them the ball. That’s just my fault and I’ll learn from it, but I’m not going to be gun-shy or anything. (I’ll) just learn from it and move on.”

Well, yeah, but that false start penalty hurt. How the hell do you get all the way to the NFL and you can’t remember the snap count? The QB can’t say that in a press conference, of course, but from 2nd-and-1, you almost always get the first down, and that five-yard penalty was crucial to why that drive ended in failure. But as bad as it was — and there are no “moral victories” in the NFL — there were a few bright lights in the darkness.

This Jones pass to N’Keal Harry, for example:

N’Keal Harry got ? pic.twitter.com/ixkbUmPWwF

— PFF (@PFF) December 19, 2021

Third-and-6 from his own 42-yard line, Jones drops back all the way to the 31 and then launches a rocket, with Harry making a leaping grab at the Indianapolis 15. A deep pass like that is the perfect rebuttal to the various analysts who keep saying Mac has a “weak arm.”

Also, the critics say, Jones is “not athletic,” but look at him scramble for 12 yards and a first down early in the game:

Mac Jones does a great job of holding onto the ball before scrambling for the first down.

Indy's gonna be swiping at that ball all night pic.twitter.com/jTqIka0kSJ

— Ben Brown (@BenBrownPL) December 19, 2021

OK, so that’s not a Lamar Jackson-level run, but the way critics talk about Mac’s alleged lack of “mobility” (translation: he’s white), you wouldn’t think he was capable of running that far or even escaping pressure in the pocket. But now look at this third-down pass to Meyers:

Mac Jones…

? Climbs the pocket
? Keeps eyes downfield
? Completes the pass
? Gets first down#ForeverNE | #NEvsIND pic.twitter.com/fOZ14zTsld

— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) December 19, 2021

That is an excellent example of football IQ. Jones displayed that eyes-in-the-back-off-his-head sense of the pressure that great quarterbacks have, stepping up away from the pressure and making a tough throw into the middle of the field. As much as Meyers hurt the team with his later drop, he’s usually an excellent receiver — Mac’s favorite target, in fact.

Because Jones is a rookie, and stepping into the gigantic shoes of the GOAT, Tom Brady — “Saint Thomas of Foxboro,” in the eyes of New England fans — the aftermath of Saturday’s loss is going to involve a lot of criticism focused on Mac. This is a week where it will be painful to watch any of the ESPN/Fox News panel shows, as they endlessly discuss whether or not Jones is an “elite quarterback” (a phrase overused by NFL analysts the way “suburban swing voter” is overused by political pundits).

Football is a team sport, and the media obsession with star players — especially quarterbacks — is annoying to me. Whatever anybody says on ESPN, the simple fact is, Mac Jones didn’t lose that game.

Yeah, he threw two interceptions, and his QBR was just 54, but there was plenty of blame to go around. Penalties — dear God, the penalties! The first-quarter drive on which Jones hit that third-down pass to Meyers might have gone all the way, but on 2nd-and-nine, when Jones hit Jonnu Smith for 14 yards, which should have given New England a first down at the Indianapolis 33, Patriots tackle Shaq Mason was called for ineligible receiver downfield. That made it 2nd-and-14, then there was a delay-of-game penalty (Mac’s fault, ultimately), so instead of first-and-10 in Colts’ territory, now the Patriots have it 2nd-and-19 at their own 43. Then on third down, Jones got sacked for a 15-yard loss, so the once-promising drive turned to crap because of mistakes by the offensive line, first Mason’s penalty, and then tackle Isaiah Wynn missing the block that allowed the sack. New England finished the night with eight penalties for 50 yards, which is just unacceptable for a team in the playoff hunt this late in the season. You can’t play sloppy football like that in a crucial game against a team like Indianapolis, which was hungry for a win to keep their own playoff hopes alive. Nevertheless, at 9-5, the Patriots are still very much a contender, leading the AFC East as they get ready for next week’s home game against the second-place Buffalo Bills. Win that game, and the shame of losing to the Colts will be forgotten.

Remember, the only reason I’ve become obsessed with New England this season is because they drafted Mac Jones in the first round, so I now refer to the Patriots with first-person plural pronouns — “we,” “us,” “ours” — the same as I do the Crimson Tide. Jones could become the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to make it to the Super Bowl, and I don’t care what any ESPN “experts” say, I think the kid has what it takes to do it. Oh, he’s not athletic, he’s not mobile, he’s got a weak arm, all the experts say, but look at this clutch pass to Hunter Henry:

Mac Jones throw across the field while being hit to Hunter Henry for the first down!! ? pic.twitter.com/qhGqVNXzwm

— ????? (@FTB_Vids_YT) December 19, 2021

Late in the third quarter, trailing 20-0, third-and-four, under pressure and — BOOM! — he makes an incredible throw across the field for a first down. That drive ended in a touchdown, and the Patriots very nearly came back to win. But OK, it’s football, and sometimes you lose. The test of character is whether you can shake it off and bounce back.

Super Bowl LXVI, baby — I still believe in the dream.

Category: Football

FMJRA 2.0: Thousand Dollar Car

Posted on | December 19, 2021 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: Thousand Dollar Car

— compiled by Wombat-socho

It was a better week for the Senators, as they went on the road to Cincinnati and split two with the Reds and then went to Seattle and split two with the Pilots. Teddy Baseball is taking the weekend off to go fishing in Lake Washington, so things are quieter around the clubhouse.
Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley esse delendam.