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FTP!
Underwear Olympics are going on, but I am not paying attention. Have at it in the comments if there were any amazing times in some running in a straight line thing.
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At the risk of sounding like a broken record, many of you might enjoy Mark Levin’s opening monologue tonight on the Ukrainian situation and what happened the other day.
Y’all have a good week. Love the weekend discussions.
Have a good one.
Chat at you again soon.
When you screw up sometimes best to just take a step back and pause for a bit.
See where Zelensky has run to the European Leaders and THEY are going to put together a deal to present to the US/Trump.
What do you think the chances of that flying are?
If the ‘Deal’ ends the war and is good for the US I can see Trump going for it.
1st priority, end the war.
2nd priority stop us from throwing money at it.
I assume that if they are going to ‘present the deal’ to DJT then he/we will have a role to play in it. If the Euros are going to guarantee Ukraine security and then we do the mineral deal that would be decent.
Just personality wise, i can’t see Trump liking THEIR deal better than HIS, but maybe he would.
Also not sure Euros can guarantee Ukraine’s security against Russia without us. They don’t have the might, but maybe this is more form over substance.
And just heard on the news, his new Euro buddies spent more money buying Russian oil last year than providing resources to the Ukrainians. Without us or our help, Ukraine is up the creek.
They have to have oil or their economies collapse. That will be an issue as well. Do they get more from the middle east? Russia? the US? Maybe Canada or Venezuela?
Oh it is complicated.
Russia says no NATO troops in Ukraine, how will they guarantee security without troops? It would be a partial NATO alliance with Ukraine and Russia does not want Ukraine is NATO.
US Mineral Deal would be part of it I assume, plus only DJT can get Putin to the table to discuss it all.
Lots and lots of moving parts. Once step at a time it is a long road to peace.
Devante Adams to be available.
Those poor NY Jet fans.
My Brother was one due to that old Joe Namath poster in his room while growing up.
Our older brother got it and left it behind.
That poster is probably worth something.
My mom probably tossed awhile ago.
Or my brothers widow since neither is into that whole ‘sports thing’.
Wolves suck, Wild suck. Combine as exciting as a still picture.
Welcome to Minnesota sports!!
As you can probably tell I like Mark Levin and many of his thoughts.
Last night he had an interesting monologue concerning Trump trying to get rid go government waste/fraud etc.
A summary. The ‘fourth branch’ of the government is the federal bureaucracy which is under the President. Now, everyone agrees about the waste/fraud inherit in this and in fact Trump ran on cleaning it up. And to do this, just like any business or even a household, you need to start looking at where the money is going – look at the books and exposing absurd events. Yet, groups are going to courts stopping these probes and actions. Some judges are going along with this and the Executive whose job is to control all of this is not allowed to. If not him, who is going to do it – the Judiciary?
Hardly, if the President is not allowed to clean it up, no one can or has the authority to do so.
The Judiciary can only “pass judgement” if Trump breaks the law, or violates the Constitution. The liberal judges are stretching interpretations of law, and legislating from the bench to stop Trump. That is exactly what the Dem’s want, and why they placed so many liberal judges on the bench over the years.
According to Levin, and I totally agree, they are not “legislating per se”, they are saying the President doesn’t have the authority to control the amount of resources it takes to get the job done in executive agencies. In a simple example, if some area are has 25 employees doing a job, and he believes he can do it with 15, he can’t fire the unnecessary 10. Or, he can’t just cancel a contract that he doesn’t deem appropriate.
Levin’s point – if he doesn’t do this, who does have the authority to do it.
Correct.
Asked a different way.
Who has the authority to hire them in the first place?
Well saying the President doesn’t have the authority to do something, vs he broke a law, is legislating from the bench in my opinion, but I guess it’s a matter of interpretation. The President’s authority regarding the Federal Government is spelled out in Article 2. In my opinion, he is operating well within his Article 2 authority, but we have judges saying he isn’t.
I’m just saying if the President, our Chief Executive, is examining for waste/fraud/excess so the government can be run more effeciently to the benefit of all citizens, what would even make a Judge at the District level think he has the power to stop such an action. .
We just have to wait until the cases make it to the Supreme Court.
Once they sort it out DJT can compete the job.
Pretty much agree SoCal. It’s sad we have to go through all this though. The Dem’s keep beating the drum that Trump is a lawless President, convicted felon, and dictator in chief. I would say at this point though, the court of public opinion disagrees.
Dimocrats have learned nothing after last 4 years. History is tomorrow for them.
Indeed.
They have slowed down with Congress people showing up and protesting at Federal Agencies. (Thankfully they have stopped singing as they were terrible at it)
Once polls showed that the Dems approval rating dropped into the 20s they got the message, well some of them did.
Joy Reid says the Jews caused Covid.
Are there many Jews in China?
Logic isn’t an option with JoyReid.
Just embrace the Joy??
Yuck ewww.
Byron Murphy at $19M a year?
I could be talked into it if Coach Flo said he was worth it.
https://thevikingage.com/optimistic-report-shared-about-byron-murphy-jr-re-signing-minnesota-vikings-2025
I like Murphy, but not at $19M.
Would prefer him cheaper of course.
But he is young and excelled in Flo’s system.
Are replacements going to be better? You can find cheaper of course but can you find cheaper that will be as good?
NLNVF.
Was curious about your take on the Zelinski-Trump-Vance dustup.
Although I feel for the Ukraine vis-a-vis Russia and admire the fight that they have been putting up these last 3 years I don’t believe that obligates the US to continue to throw money we can’t afford at that war.
Trump is trying to end the war, Russia wants it to end as it is costing them people/treasure that they can’t afford. Zelinski wants to keep fighting perhaps believing that he can grind Putin down.
No good answers as we don’t want to push Russia into a corner were they feel nukes are their only answer.
I will hang up and listen to your answer.
Zelensky has said on three separate occasions, he was going to sign the rare earth minerals agreement, only to back out every time, asking for something more out of the agreement. He went to Munich to sign it, but instead said, he wanted to meet with Trump before he signed. Trump granted him an audience, and set up a ceremony to sign the agreement. Instead, once again Zelensky decided to turn it into a media circus (featuring him as the star) to demand security assurances. This meeting was not about that. It was to sign the minerals agreement, period. Zelensky was presenting himself as a victim to the American people, and intoning the President wasn’t protecting Ukraine from Russia. He went so far as to say Trump was taking Putin’s side.
This was ridiculous in the extreme. Zelensky had a deal before him that would have done a number of things. It would have seriously improved the prosperity of Ukraine for decades to come. It would have put American business interests in his country, setting up a de facto security situation from Russian aggression, and it would have put Trump in a better negotiating position with Putin, to demand an immediate ceasefire. Instead, Putin sees Zelensky pushing America away from him, and now there’s no American President standing in his way.
What a total dumbass.
Story floating out there that Obama and the dems told Zelensky to do this. Europe is happy. Why, I don’t know.
They want war and money I guess.
Trump has curb stomped NATO, and Europe in general. He is telling them tariffs are coming for their goods if they don’t stop taxing American goods unfairly. He called out their censorship of free speech too. He has reasserted American dominance, and LOTS of European politicians hate him. Zelensky going to the Oval office and trying to kick sand in Trump’s face, is playing well in Europe. Of course anyone who does that to Trump is a hero in the Dem’s minds.
Isn’t it true NATO would be little more than a paper Tiger without us.
Totally.
‘to demand an immediate ceasefire’
Zelenski does not seem to want a ceasefire. He seems to want to keep fighting until they get everything back from Russia.
I think he overplayed the situation hence reports that he wanted to stay and sign the deal after the argument.
Now he is in ‘timeout’ with Trump and trying to see what he can salvage by working the Euros.
Following last week’s suggestion, I would suggest Mark Levin will be talking about this tonight on his show. And if Victor David Hansen is a guest, he has already put out a list of things where Zelensky missed the boat.
Also, one of Hansen’s points as DE mentions, is perhaps Zelensky was getting talking points from Obama/ Biden people.
He was getting everything that he wanted for FJB/Obumma so he no doubt prefers working with them. Of course they are not in power now and can’t do much for him other than offer bad advice.
He’s really dumb then. He lost Crimea during the Obama administration with Obama doing nothing (but talk). Biden is just as weak and he knows it. If he signed this agreement no way Trump would have just set by and let Putin jump in and destroy American interests.
He is getting his country destroyed. And playing up to people who wish only harm to Trump will only make it happen faster.
‘Biden is just as weak and he knows it’
But he gave them Billions in Aid and weapons and ammo.
Instead of making Putin stop. Trump told Putin in his first term that Ukraine was off limits, and Putin knew he meant it. Biden talked tough, but he was scared to death of Putin.
He decided it was better to let Ukraine fight Russia.
Zelensky is a Punk, and likely a stole from the Ukranian people.
That is all there is to say.
‘stole from the Ukranian people’
Well duh! He is a politician after all, that is what they do.
Slow day, a little sports trivia I found interesting.
Was listening to a former coach, Eric Mangini. on one of the. daily sports shows last week. And he related a comment from his coaching days with the Patriots and how they started each season.
They knew Brady was a pocket passer, didn’t really like to mover laterally, but would move up in the pocket to avoid pressure. Thus, as they started every season, they made absolutely certain that they were solid in the interior offensive line. Number one priority.
Seemed really smart to me.
I heard Belichick only drafted left tackles for years, so he always had plenty of guys who could protect Brady’s blind side. He had a whole bunch of guys playing on the line who could play left tackle.
It seems logical to fix/mitigate your weaknesses.
Don’t know enough about JJ to know what he needs. Logic dictates less pressure in the pocket = good.
Saw KOC talking about reducing/eliminating plays that the QB is not comfortable with. Short, quick plays seemed to be the way to go with our line issues but they seldom, if ever, went with that.
KOCs offense often puzzles me, but it seems to work more often that not. “If it is stupid and it works then it is not stupid”.
NLV will probably know more about this than I do, but can’t believe any QB will do his best with a defensive lineman about to steam roll him from right up the middle.
Well much like Brady was not a ‘lateral mover’ but could step up in the pocket, if JJ (QB) was more comfortable moving to the outside to avoid the rush it might mitigate somewhat the need for a strong IOL.
Heck, we would probably settle for an average IOL at this point.
For sure, average is really good when your poor.
McCarthy did great at Michigan because he had a strong O-line and great running game to lean on. Michigan mostly threw the ball when they wanted to, rather than having to.
‘strong O-line and great running game’
Those could make just about any QB a Pro Bowler.
Throw in a good-great defense and the sky is the limit.
Yes. I did not mean to intone McCarthy doesn’t have a good arm. He does. But throwing the ball when the defense has to play the run, is a lot easier than throwing the ball when the defense knows you have to pass.
McCarthy is lucky though. KOC is in his fourth year now with this offense. He made a lot of mistakes in his first year, made fewer his second year, and with Darnold, was smart enough to simplify the system for him. The whole rest of the offense was in synch last year, and now, in its fourth year, should be fully gelled.
Interesting.
In his first year 2022 when you said he make ‘lots of mistakes’ they won 13 games.
In his 2nd year 2023 when you said he made ‘fewer mistakes’ they won 7 games.
Hopefully you are right about a fully developed offense in 2025 for JJ (QB).
They lost Cousins after 8 games in 2023, when he was leading the league in TD’s and was second in yardage. He was on track to throw for 5,000 yards and over 36 TD’s, when he went down. Then who did they have to run the offense? Dobbs? Yeah. Mullens? OK. That’s why the offense statistically was not as good as it should have been.
They were 4-4 when the lost KC, counting game 8.
With KC heathy they could have logically been 8-9 or 9-8.
Just interesting to hear you say that KOC was coaching better that year. Especially when you consider the upgrade at DC.
I felt like at that point, with Cousins at the helm, they might not have lost another game that year. They were somewhat singularly unlucky in their four losses.
Didn’t Mullins throw for over 800 yards against Detroit, but with 6 interceptions. Had Cousins still been playing we would have beaten Detroit twice ( I believe) and won the division.
He did throw for over 800 yards in the two games against Detroit, with 6 interceptions. I think Cousins wins both of those games.
Unless of course the fumbles reared their ugly heads again.
Vikings interviewed QB Cam Ward… uh oh… McCarthy already on the chopping block?
Grin.
KOC has ‘a thing’ for QBs.
No Kink Shaming.
Well, I think the Vikings have less chances of getting Ward than I have winning the Masters… so. Although I have been hitting the ball extremely solid the last few weeks.
‘Although I have been hitting the ball extremely solid the last few weeks’
TMI!
Laughing
How’d you do in that tournament you played in.
Just got back from Palm Beach Gardens where the big boys are playing at PGA National. Great weather and conditions for golf.
We finished 3rd. The team we were 1 shot back of after the first round, finished 4th. There were two teams who carded 59’s yesterday, and we shot a 63. I wonder if those scores were legit though. We played really good golf to shoot that score. The green complex’s were very difficult. They weren’t flat at all. Lots of mounding. If you missed on the wrong side of the hole, the ball was rolling 30 feet away most of the time. One of our guys was a member where we played, and he was really vital to telling us where to hit approaches, based on the flag positions. I hit the ball pretty well. Not as great as I played the first round, but still hit some very good shots. Made a 30 foot birdie putt too.
If this was a best ball, usually comes down to who makes the putts.
But then, most of golf comes down to making putts. Glad you had fun and third is pretty good.
It was a good tournament. It was a best ball, and my contribution was hitting the ball in play off the tee, and putting, for the most part. Basically I went first on every shot. They wanted something decent, and in play, so they could go after big drives, and aggressive approaches and putts.
And tight ends.
Well having a thing for ‘tight ends’ is something I can get behind.
In a post I made back at the end of January, I highlighted three players, I thought we should pursue, to strengthen the team. Trey Smith, D.J. Reed, and Osa Odighizuwa.
Trey Smith was informed he will be franchise-tagged by the Chiefs, in a move that will make him the NFL’s highest-paid guard while blocking a path to free agency. So, no go on him.
As far as D. J. Reed goes, he looks to be available in free agency, and the Packers are reportedly very interested in bringing him in. Would we get in a bidding war with them?
Finally, the Cowboys have been working hard to re-sign Osa Odighizuwa, so I doubt he will hit the market.
So far all my hopes are getting dashed.
Do the Cowgirls have the cap space to re-sign anyone not named Parsons?
I hear that they are in ‘cap hell’ and will be in the foreseeable future.
Well, despite having only about $2.5 million in cap space at the moment, the Cowboys could create anywhere from $60-$100 million more with certain releases and restructures.
So, they can still sign guys.
Plus despite the fact that Parsons could sign for $33-34M range, signing him could actually lower their cap hit for ’25.
Signing Osa and Parson to a big deals will leave them even more top heavy than they already are.
The ball will take many bounces between now and September. There will be plenty of opportunities depending on how KAM wants to play his cards.
It will, but the three players I highlighted would have made the team immensely better, immediately. I’m wondering now where those types of players are.
Good morning, SKOL!
FTP!
49ers trade Deebo Samuels to the Redskins.
For a 5th round pick no less.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/49ers-agree-trade-deebo-samuel-commanders-report
Clearing the books for a deal with
Purdy. KirkoHeard that the 49ers are going to eat $30m of Deebo’s contract. No detail if that is ‘cap money’ or salary. No mention of it in the link I posted.
Dead cap.
Looks like void years accelerate to 2025.
So like the Kirko thing that we just went thru?
I believe so.
Deebo Samuel with Jayden Daniels might be interesting. Daniels had a very good rookie year, but defenses know what to expect from him now. C. J. Stroud started his career lighting it up as a rookie. This year, not so much. Jayden already has McLaurin so that’s solid. With Samuel, the Redskins have a potent WR duo that can make life hard on opposing defenses. Good move by the Skins.
Deebo is quite an interesting football player and WR. He is a load for any DB to tackle. making every short pass a chance for a big play.
Been awhile.
FTP!
A question for NoDak on his comment on the previous thread.
If God exists out of time, does that mean the only people that can time travel are people that believe in God?
No, it means that only God can “time travel” because He exists outside of it. Good question though.
But god has always been.
He is everlasting and is time.
Lots of fighting going on out there the last few days.
Fox Reporter and Ian Rappaport
Zelinski and Trump
Ukraine needs to figure shit out. Where is Europe and NATO? It’s the American tax dollar supposed to do it? The left would say yes. I see something eerily equivalent. I lost my older brother in Nam. First it was monetary, then equipment and finally boots on the ground. How did that work out? I’m sure the left would say fine, just like the 4 years under sniffer and cackles. Joke.
Sorry about your Brother.
Zelinsky has been coddled the last four years. Cancels elections. Takes our money. It goes missing. He’s a dictator as well.
But Putin, Putin, Putin !!!
I can feel for Zalinski.
His country as attacked and invaded, they have fought for 3 years were most thought it would be over in weeks.
He wants guarantees for his countries security, that is logical.
It is not logical for the US to guarantee a country in Europe’s security or bankrupt its self to pay for their war.
The reality is that he has to make concessions and try for peace or stand strong a probably lose their country. He does not seem ready to do that yet, he is hoping Trump will cave and continue the support he needs.
No easy answers, going after Russia more than we have risks nuclear war. Have to pick the best of the bad answers.
IMHO of course.
Thanks Surly,
Even if a new thread renders my previous insightful, intelligent, entertaining, comments as moot.
Oh and the mandatory FTP!
Good afternoon, SKOL!
FTP!
My previous insightful, intelligent, entertaining comments are always moot.