Muda69
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https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39738379/rams-aaron-donald-3-dpoy-retiring-nfl-age-32
QuoteLOS ANGELES -- Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald announced his retirement on Friday after 10 dominant seasons.
In those 10 seasons, Donald was a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, an eight-time first team All-Pro, a 10-time Pro Bowl selection and the 2014 Defensive Rookie of the Year.
He finished his career with 111 sacks, the second-most among primary defensive tackles in a career behind John Randle (137.5) since individual sacks became official in 1982. He holds the Rams' franchise record for career sacks.
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According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Donald is one of two defensive players since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to earn a Pro Bowl selection in each of their first 10 NFL seasons, alongside Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor (10).
Donald, 32, and Barry Sanders are the only players in NFL history to play 10 seasons and get selected to the Pro Bowl in each season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Sanders also played exactly 10 seasons, retiring in 1998.
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First ballot Hall of Famer? -
Chargers trade WR Keenan Allen to Bears for 4th-round pick: https://sports.yahoo.com/bears-trade-for-pro-bowl-wr-keenan-allen-from-chargers-022102113.html
QuoteThe Los Angeles Chargers traded star wide receiver Keenan Allen to the Chicago Bears in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick, the team announced Thursday.
The deal ends an era for the Chargers. Allen's tenure with the team predated its move to Los Angeles, as he was originally drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft.
Allen went on to become the Chargers' all-time leader in receiving yards among wide receivers (Antonio Gates remains ahead of him on the overall list), starring for the team as it transitioned from Philip Rivers to Justin Herbert at quarterback and from Mike McCoy to Anthony Lynn to Brandon Staley at head coach.
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Bears add a big WR for ... whichever QB they'll have in 2024
It remains unclear who will be starting under center for the Bears next season, but whomever it is, he'll have a respectable arsenal around him.
The Bears had already landed a new starting running back with former Philadelphia Eagles starter D'Andre Swift and will be returning Pro Bowl wide receiver DJ Moore, who had a career-high 1,364 receiving yards last year.
Moore and Allen would form a pairing of perennial 1,000-yard receivers, which the former seems to have thoughts on:
As for who is throwing the passes, Justin Fields remains on the roster. The trade market appears to not be materializing, but that isn't exactly a good argument for keeping him as starter next season.
The Bears have the No. 1 pick in the draft this season and could very well use it on a quarterback, the most notable option being USC's Caleb Williams. Chicago could very well be building a friendly offense for an incoming rookie quarterback, or it could be trying to give Fields all the support he can get in a make-or-break season.
A 4th round pick for a rapidly aging WR?
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https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/sanders-introduces-bill-reduce-standard-workweek-32-hours
QuoteSocialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced legislation this week which would standardize a 32-hour workweek for the same pay.
"Today, American workers are over 400 percent more productive than they were in the 1940s. And yet, millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages than they were decades ago. That has got to change," Sanders said in a Wednesday press release.
"The financial gains from the major advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, and new technology must benefit the working class, not just corporate CEOs and wealthy stockholders on Wall Street," the statement continues. "It is time to reduce the stress level in our country and allow Americans to enjoy a better quality of life. It is time for a 32-hour workweek with no loss in pay."
Sanders was joined by Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA) in introducing the "Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act."
Companion legislation in the House was introduced by Rep. Mark Tekano (D-CA).
Sanders defended the bill in a Friday op-ed in CounterPunch:
Today in America, 28.5 million Americans – 18% of our workforce – now work over 60 hours a week and 40 percent of employees in America now work at least 50 hours a week. We were talking about a 40-hour workweek 80 years ago, and that is what people today, despite the explosion of technology, are working.
The sad reality is, Americans now work more hours than the people of most other wealthy nations. And we’re going to talk about what that means to the lives of ordinary people.
In 2022, employees in the United States, and I hope people hear this, logged 204 more hours a year than employees in Japan, and they’re hardworking people in Japan. 279 more hours than workers in the United Kingdom, and 470 more hours than workers in Germany.
Despite these long hours, the average worker in America makes almost $50 a week less than he or she did 50 years ago, after adjusting for inflation.
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The question that we are asking today is a pretty simple question – do we continue the trend that technology only benefits the people on top, or that we demand that these transformational changes also benefits working people? And one of these benefits must be a 32-hour workweek.
And this is not a radical idea.
France, the seventh-largest economy in the world, has a 35-hour work week and is considering reducing it to 32.
Norway and Denmark, their workweek is about 37 hours and Belgium has already adopted a 4-day workweek.
Yet, as the American Thinker's Olivia Murray notes:
HuffPost reports that while running for a special election senate seat in 1974, Sanders drew unemployment benefits. He would rack up a number of other political office losses until 1981, at which point he became the mayor of Burlington, Vermont. A leftwing “fact-checker” outlet revealed that this was the first time in Sanders’s life that he had ever had a steady paycheck; if that’s true, Sanders would have been 39 years old before he actually had a steady job… but not even in the private sector actually producing anything!
This, this is the man trying to use government to force his manure ideas on all businesses; here are the specifics of the Sanders’s proposal, from The Hill:
The bill, over a four-year period, would lower the threshold required for overtime pay, from 40 hours to 32 hours. It would require overtime pay at a rate of 1.5 times a worker’s regular salary for workdays longer than 8 hours, and it would require overtime pay at double a worker’s regular salary for workdays longer than 12 hours.
I mean, if we’re just throwing our preposterous and pie-in-the-sky ideas, why not eliminate work altogether Bernie? When it’s “government-funded” that means it’s “free” right? Why don’t we all just get on Universal Basic Income, starting at a million dollars a year—or heck, why not a billion? We could all be on the government payroll like you! “Free” healthcare, “free” Peloton memberships, “free” retirement plans, etc. It will be a perfect socialist utopia!
A Marxist has absolutely no clue how wealth is actually produced, because they don’t produce anything beneficial for anyone (that’s not hyperbole), and they seem incapable of realizing the obvious: the more the government intervenes in the market, the more expensive everything becomes.
It’s a philosophy from the deadbeat of deadbeats; here’s this, from FEE:
On some days, Marx could not even leave his house because his wife Jenny had to pawn his pants to buy food. His friend and collaborator, Friedrich Engels, frequently sent Marx money (between 1865 and 1869 alone Engels gave Marx the equivalent of $36,000). In a letter written on his fiftieth birthday to Engels, Marx recalled his mother’s words: ‘if only Karl made capital instead of just writing about it.’
LOSER. (I mean, this man walked around pantsless instead of getting a job and feeding his family.)
If only Bernie stuck to stealing our capital, instead of trying to legislate it out of existence.I'm sure this isn't first time Bernie has tried this?
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From a newsletter:
The Political Death of Nex Benedict:
QuoteYesterday, President Biden issued a public statement about the suicide of Nex Benedict, a non-binary Oklahoma girl who committed suicide by overdose the day after going to the hospital for treatment following a school fight. The statement begins:
Jill and I are heartbroken by the recent loss of Nex Benedict. Every young person deserves to have the fundamental right and freedom to be who they are, and feel safe and supported at school and in their communities. Nex Benedict, a kid who just wanted to be accepted, should still be here with us today.
Meaning no disrespect to this dead girl, what Biden says is a political statement not fully in line with the facts. This troubled child’s death is politically useful for the president and for progressive causes, but people should know the actual story is more complicated.
Take a look at the police body cam footage of Officer Thompson’s interview with Nex (real name: Dagny), at the hospital after the fight in the school bathroom. Nex is accompanied by her grandmother Sue, who refers to Nex repeatedly as “she,” and as her daughter. Nex/Dagny does not object or even flinch:
This Officer Thompson is very friendly, open, and supportive. Nex tells him that three younger girls made critical remarks about the way she dressed. In response, Nex threw water on them. Then they physically attacked her.
After hearing this, the police officer advises Nex and her granny on the next possible courses of action. Near the eight-minute mark, he says, “Both parties are victims, and both parties are suspect. You are an offender as well” — this, because she tossed the water on the girls, elevating a verbal confrontation to physical, and accelerating the conflict.
“She’s the one who initiated it,” the cop says. “It doesn’t make it right, but they are the one who defended themselves.”
He hastens to say that he’s not defending the actions of the other girls, but rather trying to give Nex/Dagny and her guardian an idea of how the courts would likely approach the matter if they file criminal charges. “She essentially started it,” he says — and again, watch for yourself, but the cop is not trying to discourage Nex from filing charges, only explaining that if you do this, it won’t necessarily go as you hope. The other girls could file charges against you too.
At the 10:16 point, the officer says that throwing the water on the other girls is meaningful, in a criminal sense. “If you hadn’t done that, you would have been a victim all day long,” he says, meaning that her status regarding criminal law would have been uncomplicated. Later, to Nex’s guardian: “She [Nex] is the one who started the domino effect. [Then, to Nex] If you had not done that, we might not even be here.”
He goes on to explain that the other girls are “just as guilty as you are, 100 percent,” for the fight, but that in the eyes of criminal law, the fact that those girls were allegedly making fun of the way Nex was dressed is not considered adequate grounds for reacting physically.
On the video, we next hear audio of the 911 call Sue Benedict made after finding Nex in physical distress. As the dispatcher questions her about Nex, Sue Benedict tells her that Nex takes seroquel, a prescription antipsychotic given for treatment of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. The autopsy found that Nex did not die because of head trauma, but because she overdosed on Prozac and Benadryl. Sue Benedict did not mention to the 911 operator that Nex was on Prozac. It is possible, I guess, that Nex had a stash of Prozac hidden away somewhere from when she had been taking it in the past. The point is, Nex was under treatment for mental illness.
So Nex Benedict had very serious mental health issues before she and those girls ever got into a school bathroom fight. Heaven knows I’m not defending the bullies who made fun of this kid, but it’s an important part of the story to know that
a) Nex was under medical treatment for serious mental health problems;
b) according to the police bodycam interview, Nex admitted to accelerating the school conflict, and was advised by the officer that as a criminal matter, this means she is probably just as guilty of assault as the other girls; and
c) Nex’s guardian referred to her repeatedly by feminine pronouns, and Nex did not object, meaning that she was capable of bearing up under so-called “misgendering”
None of this makes the child’s suicide any less painful. But it does make it far less political than activists and the Democratic president are making it out to be. Democrats and activists are angry that Oklahoma is passing conservative laws regarding transgenderism (see here for more). It seems clear that they’re trying to capitalize on this kid’s suicide to get what they want. Oklahoma trans activists accuse the state’s school superintendent of creating a “hostile environment” for trans and non-binary students, because he won’t recognize them for what they claim to be.
This is the bog-standard form of emotional bullying LGBT activists use: give us what we want or you will have the blood of dead kids on your hands.
In the past, I’ve written about how LGBT activist lists of the “epidemic” of transgender murders are purely political documents, nothing but. For one thing, there aren’t large numbers of trans people murdered. For another, when you look into the cases activists cite, there is rarely evidence that the person died because of bias. Many of them died because they are streetwalking prostitutes, which puts them in great danger. Again, it doesn’t mean they deserved to die, but it does put their death in a meaningful context.
This is not the kind of context activists — including advocacy journalists — wish to acknowledge.
It would be useful to know Nex Benedict’s history of psychiatric treatment. Normally this would be nobody’s business but her family’s, but inasmuch as activists — including the US President — have appropriated her and her story in the culture war, the public is entitled to know just how mentally ill the girl was prior to the bathroom incident. After all, by Nex’s own statement to Officer Thompson, the girls she fought with made fun of her for the way she dressed, not because of her sexual identity. Of course the way Nex and her friends dress could certainly be tied to their sexual identity, but then too, teenagers picking on each other over the way they dress, wear their hair, etc., is hardly unique.
I have a certain sympathy for the Benedicts here. Back when I was in eighth grade, which I guess would have been around 1980, a bigger, older boy in my class who had serious mental health issues grabbed me from behind in the classroom and began punching me uncontrollably. The kid, who had been transferred to our class after literally picking up a smaller boy in his previous class and throwing him across the room, knocked me unconscious. The school didn’t call my parents, or seek medical help for me. My mom found me after school on the couch at home, babbling nonsense. She took me to the hospital, and they diagnosed concussion. The kid who assaulted me was removed from school. Later, he was placed into a state home for violent, mentally ill juveniles after police found him masturbating in the bushes while watching a barn he set on fire burn.
So yeah, I am especially sensitive to schools not taking bullying seriously. What my school did forty years ago, and what Nex Benedict’s school did, aren’t the same thing, but they might be the same kind of thing. I don’t know, though, how we can reasonably expect any school to prevent teenagers from trash-talking each other over the way they dress, wear their hear, the music they listen to, and so forth. Mocking other kids for their race, their sex, and so forth, is more serious. But teens picking on each other over their clothes is a federal case? Really?
Why do I bring this up? Because I resent the hell out of the POTUS and activists (including journalists) unfairly using this tragedy to advocate for their political causes. Here’s the ABC News White House correspondent all but boasting on Twitter about how she laid into the Oklahoma school superintendent over his supposed lack of concern about bullying. Has ABC devoted much time this week to writing about how the British government’s National Health Service has decided to stop prescribing puberty blockers to minors over concerns about safety and effectiveness? Have ABC or any other networks reported on the bombshell WPATH files?
Even The Guardian, the gold standard of mainstream British leftism, reported on the damaging information in the leaked files, talking about why it really matters to the trans discussion. Yet I found no mention of these files in The New York Times, and the only place I found it in the Washington Post is in a (very good and balanced) op-ed piece by Megan McArdle. McArdle notes in her piece:
In a large-scale Dutch study, trans patients were found to have almost four times the suicide risk of the general population. The researchers saw 49 suicides among more than 8,000 patients, many of which occurred during or after transition. A nationwide study of suicide rates among trans people in Denmark similarly found 12 suicides in a population of 3,759.
One implication of this is that being “gender-affirming” via medical transition and the other panoply of solutions proffered by LGBT activists and their political and media allies may still not be enough to save trans lives. Could it be that the main problem is not with society rejecting transness, but with a lack of inner psychological stability that leads people to identify as trans in the first place? Shouldn’t we at least be able to ask the question?
All school bullying is wrong, but in this Nex Benedict case, we have a girl who overheard other girls making fun of the way she and her friends dressed — and then reacting by throwing water on the teasers. Had this gone to court, both parties — Nex and the three other girls — would have likely been found guilty of criminal assault. Nex, who looked and acted normal and calm in the hospital interview, had some kind of mental health episode at home, and decided to overdose on prescription and non-prescription medications. Again: a tragedy, but not a national political issue — until Joe Biden decided to make it one.
Pay attention to how this story is being manipulated! Most media will not give you the context — namely, that Nex Benedict was already taking anti-psychotic drugs for her mental condition, and that she admitted to the police officer that she accelerated the fight by being the first to respond with physical violence.
You know who Biden is not talking about? Kaylee Gain, a teenage girl still hospitalized in critical condition after being beaten up outside a high school by another girl. Gain is now in a coma, fighting for her life. She has a fractured skull, brain bleeding, and damage to the frontal lobe of her brain, but doctors won’t know how badly her brain was damaged until she emerges from her coma.
The video of Gain’s assault went viral. You can watch it here, but it’s brutal, especially the part where the assailant repeatedly slams Gain’s head against the pavement. Here’s a still shot:
Notice something? Gain is white; the girl who beat her into a coma is black. Was this simply two girls fighting, or was race a part of the conflict? We don’t know yet. But I think we all know perfectly well that if things were reversed, and a white teenager had put a black one in a coma by slamming her head repeatedly on the concrete, Joe Biden would have issued a statement, and the media would have been going crazy reporting out What It All Means About Race In America.
In official America today, it’s all “who-whom,” you know. The meaning of an act of violence depends on who is abusing whom. We will hear no White House statements of support for Kaylee Gain, any more than we heard them for Laken Riley, the white Georgia student murdered by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela. Republicans have tried to capitalize on Riley’s death to blame the Biden administration’s open borders policy, but theirs was not a political stunt; it is actually true. From the NYPost:
The Venezuelan migrant charged with murdering Laken Riley has been identified as member of a deadly gang, but was still waved through the US border, sources have revealed.
Jose Ibarra, 26, is listed as part of the deadly Tren de Aragua gang on internal Department of Homeland Security documents seen by The Post.
He was first arrested for illegally crossing into the US in September 2022 at El Paso, Texas. However, after less than 24 hours in custody, he was released on parole and given free rein in the US until October 2024, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement insiders.
Ibarra made his way to New York City, where he appeared carefree, living in a shelter provided by the city and posting pictures of himself smiling at Big Apple landmarks.
He was even arrested by police in the city but let go, before fleeing to Georgia to meet his allegedly violent brother, who had also been allowed into the country but who cut off an ankle monitor to evade authorities.
Three months later he would go on to kill innocent 22-year-old nursing student Riley, as she jogged near her campus.
The case also highlights how violent and dangerous people have easily slipped under the radar by taking advantage of the Biden administration’s border policies.
After Biden mentioned Riley in his State of the Union (though he misnamed her), he apologized for referring to dear Jose Ibarra as “illegal.” Media and other liberals had faulted the president for being so insensitive as to describe this gang member who crossed illegally into the US as “illegal.”
This is the class of people who runs our country these days. Is America politically polarized? Oh, absolutely. We are so in large part because the POTUS, the Democratic Party, and the media go into paroxysms of activist emoting over a mentally ill teenage girl who committed suicide after girls she threw water on attacked her in the school bathroom … but the savage beating of a white high school girl by a black high school girl gets little to no attention from the president or the media, who seem to be particularly incurious about the racial dynamics here. (There may actually be no racial element to the conflict, and I am not eager to insert one where it doesn’t belong. The point is that our media would not have hesitated to explore than angle were the races reversed.) And we are polarized because the POTUS’s border policies let into the country a violent gang member who allegedly murdered an innocent American, and the POTUS is shamed into apologizing for calling this animal “illegal”.
If polarization is the result of refusing to live by the lying narratives that the Democrats, the White House, and the media expect us to accept, then fine, let’s be polarized. I cannot for the life of me understand why it’s not clear to the Democrats that most Americans have no real way to register their disgust with the current state of affairs, other than to vote. And they will vote Trump, not necessarily because they have much hope that he will fix things, but at least to send a message of no confidence in the Ruling Class.
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I hope the residents of Brownsburg and Westfield push for the opening of at least one additional high school within their districts if the enrollment projections are that high. If they are willing to pay for it.
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3 hours ago, LCKathleticsupporter said:
Great hire for Wabash! Happy for Jake and his family, Westfield will be in good hands. Also it would appear many folks are waaaay too concerned at how much money is being paid to someone. I wish I had the time to be that concerned about other folks! Carry on.....
If it a private sector salary then it is really nobody's business. But if that salary comes from taxpayer funds then it behooves the public to be vigilant and questioning.
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Colts sign Comeback Player of the Year Joe Flacco as backup quarterback
QuoteThe Colts have found a quarterback to replace Gardner Minshew as Anthony Richardson’s backup.
Another quarterback who ended up surprising everybody when he was thrown into the lineup in place of an injured starter last season.
Indianapolis has signed Joe Flacco, the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year, to a one-year deal worth $4.5 million in guaranteed money and up to $8.2 million in incentives, a league source told Indy Star on Wednesday night, handing head coach Shane Steichen a backup quarterback he already knows he can trust.
Flacco spent half a season with Steichen in Philadelphia in 2021, serving as the backup to Jalen Hurts until the Eagles traded Flacco to the New York Jets halfway through the season. A starter In Baltimore for a decade and a Super Bowl MVP for the Ravens in 2012, Flacco has spent the past six seasons as a sometime starter and a mentor in a backup role for the Broncos, Jets, Eagles and Browns.
Interesting signing.
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36 minutes ago, BTF said:
Do athletic revenues justify these salaries or is it more of a tax burden? And I don't mean "burden" in a bad way. I don't think you can put a price tag on the development of young people.
For something labeled as an extra-curricular actively I think you can.
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6 minutes ago, Coach Nowlin said:
Buy your Potato farm for retirement yet in Idaho ? 😃
Still saving $.
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More ugly, expensive urban sprawl. No thanks.
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Quote
March Madness is upon us. Although the focus will be on the heroics of players, the event is no longer just an athletic spectacle, it is big business: both for the NCAA, which sponsors the tournament, and now for the athletes, who can earn big bucks trading in on their name, image, and likeness.
As they ink their NIL deals, many athletes will go from being college students to being among the top 1% of taxpayers, which means they must pay income taxes on their earnings like the rest of us. Meanwhile, the NCAA will pocket upwards of $1.2 billion in TV revenues, ticket sales, and sponsorship deals — and pay zero taxes on that income.
If student athletes are taxed on their earnings, it’s time the NCAA should be taxed on theirs.
Prior to the NCAA allowing NILs, the rap against March Madness (and college sports in general) was that the universities and organizing conferences were getting rich off lucrative TV contracts and corporate sponsorships. Meanwhile, the athletes — who are the show — weren’t paid and shared in none of the spoils.
To some degree, NILs have taken steam out of that argument. For example, USC guard Bronny James is said to have endorsement deals worth $5.9 million, and Iowa Hawkeye Caitlin Clark’s total deals are nearing $1 million. No one can begrudge their ability to cash in on their notoriety while they can. But there is still a major inequity in this multibillion-dollar business.
Unlike professional leagues like the NBA, which must pay income taxes on the revenues they earn from TV contracts, ticket sales, and licensing merchandise, universities and athletic conferences including the NCAA can pocket the same income tax-free because of their tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Charities and nonprofits are required to pay tax on income unrelated to their core mission to prevent them from engaging in business activities as a nonprofit. But lawmakers have carved college sports out of these laws under the theory that “the broadcasting of these events promotes various amateur sports, fosters widespread public interest ... and encourages public participation.” Therefore, TV revenues and licensing fees are related to their core mission.
Watching the Los Angeles Lakers compared to the USC Trojans may spark different emotions, but one would be hard-pressed to identify the differences in the presentation of the broadcast. As forensic accountant Serena Mornes reported, in 2022, more than 93% of the NCAA’s income came from March Madness ticket sales, merchandise, and TV broadcast rights. The NCAA received zero charitable donations.
So, she observed, “if one were to define the modern NCAA by its revenue sources, it would be described as a basketball tournament organization.”
One could go even further and say that the NCAA has become a sports and entertainment company. After operating expenses, the NCAA distributes about half of its income to member schools and other conferences, but this is no different than the revenue-sharing plans the NFL, NBA, and MLB have with their league members. The only difference is that the NCAA’s members are also 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations.
The NCAA is a small fish in a bigger tax-exempt sports pond. After digging through nonprofit form 990 tax returns, Mornes estimated that college athletics earned upwards of $13.6 billion in total revenue in 2022 through various channels and entities, more than any professional sports league other than the NFL.
Indeed, the College Football Playoff organization just signed a six-year $7.8 billion extension to their TV deal (worth $1.2 billion annually) to the 10 college conferences, plus Notre Dame, which own the CFP. The CFP is a limited liability corporation jointly owned by the members, an arrangement that conveniently hides the organization’s finances from public scrutiny. The legal entity passes any profits through to the universities tax-free who, in turn, pay no taxes on the profits.
The big professional sports leagues were once nonprofit organizations, but gave up their tax-exempt status after years of criticism. Parity suggests that the major college sports leagues do the same.
NIL income has turned student athletes into paid athletes; the line between college sports leagues and professional sports leagues is thinning. If student athletes are taxed on their earnings, the NCAA and its brethren should be taxed on theirs.
Agreed. The NCAA and it's member institutions should all be taxed.
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The White House Claims Borrowing $16 Trillion Over the Next Decade Is Fiscally Responsible: https://reason.com/2024/03/12/the-white-house-claims-borrowing-16-trillion-over-the-next-decade-is-fiscally-responsible/
QuoteThe budget plan President Joe Biden unveiled on Monday would hike taxes, increase federal spending to unprecedented levels, and lock in budget deficits that average nearly $2 trillion annually for the next decade.
But possibly the craziest detail is the fact that the White House is trying to frame all of that as being an exercise in fiscal restraint.
No, really. In a "fact sheet" released alongside the budget, the White House touted how the proposal would cut the deficit by $3 trillion over the next 10 years. "Strong and shared growth that benefits all Americans isn't just good for working families and the economy; it will also lead to better fiscal outcomes," the administration claims, adding that Biden believes "long-term investments in our nation and its people should be paid for."
Someone in the White House might want to Google what the phrase "paid for" actually means, because Biden's budget assumes the federal government will keep borrowing at near-record levels for the next decade.
For fiscal year 2025, which begins on October 1 of this year, Biden is asking Congress to spend $7.3 trillion while the federal government will collect just $5.5 trillion in taxes. That will necessitate borrowing $1.8 trillion to make ends meet. Over the 10-year window covered by the president's budget plan, federal revenues would exceed $70 trillion, but Biden is proposing to spend $86.6 trillion.
This is what "paid for" looks like, apparently.
So what about that $3 trillion reduction in deficits that the White House is promising? That number is the result of comparing Biden's 10-year budget plan against the current baseline projections for deficits. It doesn't mean the debt will fall, or even stop rising—we'd have to run a surplus for that to happen. It only means that, if enacted, Biden's plan would result in the national debt being $3 trillion lower in a decade than what's currently projected.
But simply piling up debt at a slightly slower rate shouldn't pass for fiscal responsibility—not when the government is already $34.5 trillion in debt, and when Biden is proposing to borrow more than $16 trillion over the next 10 years. (And keep in mind that those figures don't account for any unexpected crisis—a recession, a war, etc.—that might push the government to borrow even more heavily.)
"The level of borrowing under the President's budget would be unprecedented outside a war or national emergency," notes the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonprofit that advocates for lower deficits.
Running annual budget deficits well in excess of $1 trillion makes even less sense when you consider the current economic environment. The unemployment rate in the United States has been under 4 percent for more than two years. America's economy grew faster than any of the world's other major economies over the past year. We are relatively at peace. Tax revenue is hitting levels not seen since the 1960s, and Biden is proposing to raise taxes on corporations and wealthier Americans.
Put simply: If you can't even get close to balancing the budget under those conditions, when can you do it?
The White House should have the intellectual honesty to tell the American people that it expects them to continue financing an unstable pile of debt that will burden their children and sap long-term economic growth. To claim that this budget is fiscally responsibility merely adds insult to injury.
Yep, this kind of spending will cripple this country for our children and grandchildren. But Boomers don't care.
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Indianapolis Star publishes commentary calling for Mike Woodson to step down: https://www.indystar.com/story/opinion/columnists/2024/03/12/bob-knights-legacy-fails-iu-as-mike-woodson-keeps-coaching/72929876007/
Quote“In 49 states, it’s just basketball.”
That may be a cliché, but there is truth to it. As I write this, there are 19,575 messages in the Indiana Hoosiers thread on “The Burner,” a national online forum of college basketball fans. The next-biggest thread? Kansas, with 3,231 messages. The general ACC thread has 854. Fans from Providence University to the Mountain West Conference are shocked and making jokes about how passionate IU fans are.
However, it isn’t just crazed internet users that define what IU basketball means. For those who grew up with IU basketball, it is more than just a sport. Growing up a Hoosier, IU b-ball is a spiritual center and a touch point of culture. Anywhere you go, you are surrounded by framed photos of Bob Knight and hand-drawn posters of Assembly Hall. It doesn’t have UNESCO heritage status yet, but someone should nominate it. It is one of the most important cultural assets for the citizens of Indiana.
This passion is turning sour, though. In year three, coach Mike Woodson has IU hovering around 100 in most computer rankings, such as kenpom.com and barttorvik.com. This is a low water mark not seen since the dark days of Tom Crean’s rebuild in 2008-2010.
Recruiting is not going well, either, and the future looks dark. IU announced last week Woodson would be back for the 2024-25 season. About 24 hours later, Woodson's only 2024 recruit — Florida standout Liam McNeeley — decommitted.
Jeff Rabjohns of peegs.com reports that Woodson’s lack of effort in recruiting has cost IU. “It’s March of year three. It took until February for Woodson to go see Trent Sisley and Braylon Mullins, two of the top in-state prospects, this season, and he didn’t see Mullins in a game until the sectional semifinals on March 1.”
The national media are piling on by mocking Woodson’s outdated style of play and his public comments. There are also rumors of player unhappiness, including some people close to the players who did not like Woodson calling certain players “awful.” There is a less-than-zero chance we will see a mass exodus and full rebuild.
The mismanagement of the program and lack of effort on the recruiting trail is understandable for someone with no college head coaching experience, but it's unacceptable for someone making more than $4 million a year, especially since Woodson has advantages no previous IU coach has had: most notably, the ability to recruit athletes who are openly receiving money via NIL funds.
Woodson should step down for the good of the program.
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lol, the line "Anywhere you go, you are surrounded by framed photos of Bob Knight and hand-drawn posters of Assembly Hall." is a bit much. It's obvious Mr. Shaw has never spent any time in West Lafayette or Tippecanoe county and it's surrounding environs. Any photos of Bob Knight in these areas are probably attached to a dart board.................
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Colts sign Pittman and Franklin to 3-year extensions:
QuoteMichael Pittman Jr. will be sticking around Indianapolis for a few more years.
The Colts have reached an agreement on a new deal with their star wide receiver, which Pittman confirmed with an Instagram post captained "HOME."
The deal is for three years and $70 million with $46 million guaranteed, a source confirmed to IndyStar. The $23.3 million average annual salary ranks eighth at the wide receiver position, sandwiched between the 49ers' Deebo Samuel and the Commanders' Terry McLaurin.
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QuoteThe first move the Colts made in free agency this offseason was one they did not have to make.
But it was a chance to reward a player who has outplayed the last deal he signed by leaps and bounds.
Indianapolis signed middle linebacker Zaire Franklin to a three-year extension, a source confirmed to IndyStar on Monday morning, that is worth up to $31.3 million, although full details of the contract have not been reported yet.
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Let's get the QB carousel going:
QuoteFree agency hasn't even started yet and Russell Wilson has already found his new team. The former Denver Broncos quarterback announced Sunday night that he'll be signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
According to ESPN.com, Wilson has agreed to a one-year deal that will pay him somewhere around the league minimum of $1.21 million. Wilson was willing to sign a cheap deal because he'll be making $39 million during the 2024 season no matter what. The Broncos will be paying him nearly $38 million while the Steelers will be on the hook for the rest.
https://deadspin.com/agent-congratulates-qb-kirk-cousins-on-4-year-deal-with-1851326108
QuoteQuarterback Kirk Cousins agreed to a four-year contract with the Atlanta Falcons, his agent announced on X on Monday afternoon.
Cousins joins a third team in his career, leaving the Minnesota Vikings to join Atlanta while recovering from a torn Achilles that ended his 2023 season.Agent Mike McCartney congratulated Cousins for "agreeing to a 4-year deal" with the Falcons. ESPN reported it was a four-year, $180 million deal — $45 million per season — with $100 million guaranteed. -
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39704677/source-bears-planning-new-stadium-south-soldier-field
QuoteThe Bears are shifting their focus to remain in the city of Chicago with plans to build a new stadium south of Soldier Field, a source familiar with the team's plan told ESPN.
The news comes nearly 13 months after the Bears closed on the 326-acre property that formerly housed Arlington International Racecourse in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The team signed an agreement in 2021 to purchase the property for $197.2 million but has not begun developing the site, which was expected to feature a multibillion-dollar stadium project and include restaurants, retail space and real estate.
The Bears are planning to invest more than $2 billion in private money into a publicly owned domed stadium and park space that would feature year-round community amenities, a source said. Although the team has not released renderings of its proposed lakefront stadium, a source confirmed the location would be immediately south of the current site of Soldier Field and would maintain parking in the south lot.
"The Chicago Bears are proud to contribute over $2 billion to build a stadium and improve open spaces for all families, fans and the general public to enjoy in the City of Chicago," Bears team president and CEO Kevin Warren said in a statement to ESPN. "The future stadium of the Chicago Bears will bring a transformative opportunity to our region -- boosting the economy, creating jobs, facilitating mega events and generating millions in tax revenue. We look forward to sharing more information when our plans are finalized."
Soldier Field is currently the smallest stadium in the NFL, with a capacity of 61,500. The Bears' plan is to remain there until a new stadium is built, a source said, at which time the current site would be torn down aside from the building's colonnades. The plan, then, would be to construct parks and athletic fields for public use on the site.
The Bears' current lease at Soldier Field is set to expire in 2033.
A source said the stadium project will create 20% more space on the museum campus (which encompasses Soldier Field as well as three notable museums) for the public to use year-round, as opposed to solely during Bears home games.
A recent independent poll conducted by McGuire Research surveyed 500 registered voters living in the city of Chicago on several topics related to the construction of a new Bears stadium.
According to results obtained by ESPN, 80% of those polled supported a domed stadium that would host major events throughout the year on the museum campus, while 77% supported the proposed location due to the efforts to keep the Bears in the city of Chicago. The results concluded that more than 6 in 10 Chicagoans support using public money for a publicly owned stadium.
During a community meeting in September 2022 when the team revealed its plan for the Arlington Park site, chairman George McCaskey said the Bears would "seek no public funding for direct stadium structure construction" but would need assistance to complete the rest of the multibillion-dollar project.
The public component for the proposed lakefront stadium is not yet known.
The Bears began exploring options for a new stadium beyond Arlington Heights last summer when they announced that those plans were "at risk" as negotiations over property taxes reached a $100 million impasse.
"The property's original assessment at five times the 2021 tax value, and the recent settlement with Churchill Downs [the property's former owner] for 2022 being three times higher, fails to reflect the property is not operational and not commercially viable in its current state," the Bears said in a statement in June 2023.
The Bears met with mayors from Naperville and Chicago to explore alternative stadium sites, while Waukegan, a northern Illinois suburb, and Aurora, a suburb 40-plus miles west of Chicago, also pitched the team on building a stadium there.
"I have said all along that meaningful private investment and a strong emphasis on public benefit are my requirements for public-private partnerships in our city," Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement posted to social media Monday, "The Chicago Bears' plans are a welcome step in that direction and a testament to Chicago's economic vitality."
Should the Bears succeed in their plan to build a new lakefront stadium, a source indicated the team likely will put the Arlington Park property up for sale.
Hmm, who thinks this new stadium will actually be built, now that it appears the Arlington Heights plan is a bust?
And just say NO to a dome.
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Upcoming semistate matchups:
Class A
At Michigan City
Liberty Christian (17-9) vs. Marquette Catholic (12-15), 10 a.m.
Elkhart Christian (17-9) vs. Fort Wayne Canterbury (16-9), Noon
Championship, 7:30 p.m.
Class A
At Washington
Greenwood Christian (18-7) vs. Bethesda Christian (21-7), 10 a.m.
Evansville Christian (24-2) vs. Barr-Reeve (24-2), 11:45 a.m.
Championship, 7:30 p.m.
Seven out of the eight schools are p/p's, with only Barr-Reeve representing the government schools. The takeover is complete, and probably won't be relinquished anytime soon.
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1 hour ago, temptation said:
What an embarrassment that was last night. Should have known it was doomed when dude took the podium 20 minutes late.
Dude ran on “unity” 4 years ago and just squinted and yelled at the camera for over an hour while ostracizing half of the country’s voters who dare to challenge his views.
I'm glad I didn't watch. Had better things to do.
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https://titancasket.com/pages/burydaylightsavings
Be part of the solution. Contact your duly elected representatives in the U.S. Congress.
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Quote
The medical director at the Grossman Burn Center at Research Medical Center says 70% of patients referred for frostbite injuries suffered during the bitter cold in January are now being advised to schedule amputations.
Majority of them are Chiefs fans who attended the team’s frigid playoff game.
...
Garcia told FOX4 in January she’d already seen dozens of frostbite patients. Many of those were Chiefs fans who attended the playoff game against the Miami Dolphins where it was -4 degrees with a wind chill of -27 degrees at kickoff.
It was the fourth-coldest game in NFL history and coldest in Chiefs franchise history.
HCA Midwest Health shared images of the hand of one fan who took his gloves off for just five minutes in order to put up a tent in the parking lot outside Arrowhead Stadium.
...
“The patients who had their frostbite injuries along with the Chiefs game, they are just getting to the point now we are starting to discuss their amputations that might be necessary,” Garcia said.
The estimated 30% lucky enough to avoid amputation after undergoing treatment the past few weeks in hyperbaric oxygen tanks will have plenty of reminders of their frostbite injuries.
“It’s still a lifelong process. They’ll have sensitivity and pain for the rest of their lives and always will be more susceptible to frostbite in the future. So we are also educating them to make sure they stay warm for the years and months to come,” Garcia said.
So, loyal fans or sad idiots?
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https://reason.com/2024/03/07/scotus-takes-on-federal-regulators/
QuoteSeparation of powers is a core concept of America's Constitution. In the Founders' scheme, Congress, the courts, and the executive are independent branches of government, with their own roles and duties, intended to check one another.
But since 1984, the Supreme Court has hamstrung its own ability to act independently in the face of executive power. In Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, the high court adopted a blanket presumption of deference to statutory interpretations put forth by regulatory agencies in any case where the statute was ambiguous, so long as the interpretation was reasonable.
If there is ambiguity about what the text of a law says, the Supreme Court decided in that case, then the courts should defer to the government's experts. This became known as the Chevron deference.
In practice, the Chevron deference undermined the Court's independence, since it forced courts to just accept executive branch interpretations in many tough cases.
The doctrine also creates perverse incentives for the other two branches. For example, by giving deference to agencies in ambiguous cases, it gave executive branch regulators incentive to hunt for ambiguities in order to expand their own power. This led to decades of executive overreach, as administrations used convoluted readings of statutes to pursue agendas Congress never imagined.
By the same token, Chevron deference shifted the burden of making well-written and fully thought-out laws away from Congress. Empowering regulators meant that, at the margins, Congress had less reason to write clear, consensus-based legislation.
The result, over 40 years, has been a shift away from the intended constitutional order, in which Congress writes laws, the executive branch implements them, and the courts rule independently on matters of dispute. We now live under an often dysfunctional system in which Congress is less inclined to compromise and legislate on tough issues, regulators are more inclined to take matters into their own hands, and courts have less power to tell executive branch officials when they have overreached.
The system lends itself to politicized regulatory pingponging, as courts are generally required to defer to the differing and even dramatically opposed interpretations put forth by shifting Democratic and Republican administrations.
This was what was at stake in January, when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments that put the legacy of Chevron on trial. In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, a group of herring fishermen from New Jersey objected to a federal rule requiring them not only to host government monitors on their boats but to pay the cost of those monitors—about $700 a day.
That requirement was based on the 2007 Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), which does require some types of fishing operations to host and pay for government monitors. But the fishermen in this case weren't explicitly covered by that requirement, so when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) decided to expand the purview of the MSA in order to cover a budget shortfall, the fishermen went to court.
The fishermen's cause is important on its own merits. But for larger constitutional purposes, it's something of a red herring. The specifics of their complaint are less important than whether or not the courts had to defer to NOAA's newly stretched interpretation of the MSA.
In oral arguments, the three justices appointed by Democrats seemed inclined to keep Chevron as is, with all three suggesting that experts in regulatory agencies are better equipped than courts are to make tough decisions about difficult-to-parse statutes.
But the rest of the Court seemed skeptical. Justice Neil Gorsuch noted that Chevron deference tends to empower agencies at the expense of less-powerful individuals, such as immigrants, veterans, and Social Security claimants. Addressing the Court, Paul Clement, who defended the fishermen, put it this way: "One of the many problems with the Chevron rule is it basically says that when the statutory question is close, the tie goes to the government."
Outside the Court, news reports and activists warned of the consequences of taking down Chevron, noting that much of the federal government's vast regulatory authority rested on its rule of deference. As a USA Today report on the case noted, "The court's decision could undo decades of rules and procedures involving land use, the stock market, and on-the-job safety."
Loper Bright was not the only Supreme Court case to challenge major parts of the government's regulatory authority this term. Sheetz v. County of El Dorado takes aim at regulatory takings, and Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy revolves around the question of whether the government violates the Seventh Amendment's requirements about jury trials when judging securities claims. Collectively, wrote Cameron Bonnell in The Georgetown Environmental Law Review, these cases "indicate the Court's eagerness to continue shaping the proper scope of government regulatory authority."
For too long, the administrative state has run unchecked over much of American life. That might finally be coming to an end with this year's Supreme Court term. In discussing the problems with Chevron with NPR, Clement said, "I think it's really as simple as this, which is: When the statute is ambiguous, and the tie has to go to someone, we think the tie should go to the citizen and not the government." One can hope.
One can hope indeed. And I wish for all these decades of rules and procedures foisted on the American people by the administrative state do come undone. Then the U.S. Congress will be forced for once to do it's job and legislate.
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Republican Sen. Mike Braun is the frontrunner to become Indiana's next governor. He has name ID, cash and endorsements from Donald Trump and Americans for Prosperity — a winning formula for a Republican primary contender.
Whoever wins the Republican primary will probably win in November, as well. Indiana power players across the political spectrum are apprehensive about the prospects of a Braun administration, but time is running out to stop him.
The Braun freakout is getting real — and the Republican primary is about to turn nuclear with two months to go before Election Day.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle reports IU Health CEO Dennis Murphy has written to 25 of his heavy-hitting industry peers, urging them to donate money to Republican Brad Chambers. Murphy writes that Braun and Eric Doden, another wealthy Republican, "have gone on record to put forward ideas that would be very harmful to our industry and to our individual institutions."
Considering that Doden is a longshot candidate, Murphy is essentially talking about Braun. Murphy’s view seems to be that Braun will force health systems to reduce costs to an unreasonable extent and Chambers will be friendlier. The health care industry is not alone in concerns about Braun’s posture toward businesses.
There’s a debate to be had over nonprofit hospitals and their finances. Nonetheless, many influential Hoosiers, from mayors to business leaders, view an impending Braun administration as a train wreck, likely to be as polarizing as Mike Pence's, yet less competent.
Braun's tenure as a U.S. senator, by his own admission, has been less than inspiring. Despite being a nonfactor in the Senate, Braun for some reason told Politico, "I think I can do more by going back home."
Yeah, probably not.
Braun has lacked any apparent guiding principle while also demonstrating little interest in helping people "back home." In the course of interviewing many people over the past few years, I've heard plenty of examples of how Sen. Todd Young's office has offered assistance in a multitude of ways, but I can't think of a single person who has volunteered a similar anecdote about Braun's office.
....
Murphy clearly intended for his letter to go public, which tells us two things: Braun's legions of detractors are restless and they want to go on the attack. All the health care executives in the world can't help Chambers become more appealing, but they can pool resources to redefine Braun as an amoral failure obsessed with being a career politician.
Is there a market for that message in a state where Trump's word carries immense weight? Maybe.
The Republican primary for Indiana governor mirrors the presidential primary in some ways. Dissatisfaction with Braun runs deep among establishment Republicans, but that doesn't matter if no one else knows how to beat him.
Unlike in the presidential primary, though, Braun's opponents appear poised to at least try to take him down before it's too late.
Could be fun, if you like watching incessant political ads.
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8 hours ago, HoopsCoach said:
Looks like a cross between Field of Dreams and Deliverance.
All of the former, none of the latter. It is a remote, beautiful place.
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2024 NFL Off Season
in The Next Level
Posted
Yet another NFL Franchise tries to hold taxpayers hostage. This time it's the Chiefs: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/chiefs-might-explore-option-of-leaving-kansas-city-if-upcoming-sales-tax-vote-doesnt-go-their-way/
How cheap can the Chief's ownership be? Surely the Hunt family is rolling in dough, what with three Super Bowl wins in five years and from the merchandising coming from having two the of most popular players in the league (Mahomes and Kelse). But one you get used to sucking on that public money teat it can be hard to be weaned off of it.