A Horse Named Stranger

Part of me would find a Bayern - Barca final amusing, with one of the two lame duck coaches winning the CL on their way out.

I just explained what those conservatives like about Putin and Orban. So ofc it's their version of Christianity. That the orange buffoon is probably pretty indifferent to most culture war items (except for white supremacy, which he seems to firmly believe in) is one of those ironies. Imperfect vessel, I guess.

Bizarre or not. I can tell you what those right wingers find so appealing about him. It's pretty much the same they like about Orban. It's those silly culture wars conservatives are waging. Putin is their most anti-woke warrior avatar. Anti-LGBTQ, Christian state with a (primarily) white population (at least where it counts). Anything else takes a backseat. I wish that culture war nonsense was safely contained in the US, but they are actively exporting that nonsense.

Going back to yesterday's discussion of worst transfers in history. I think Lukaku from Inter to Chelsea deserves a special mention there. How that one played out, it's right up there with the Mudryk, Sancho, and Anthony transfers.

That might be the most United post you've ever made. And here I thought you learnt the transfer basics. 1. Identify need/position. 2. Identify target(s) that address(es) problem(s). 3.Evaluate target(s) 4.Sign player.

Internal politics/optics. Scholz has reaffirmed his Nyet! to Taurus following the Bundeswehr/Luftwaffe leak (which in itself is rather embarassing, using unsecrued hotel w-lan for crying out loud and not realizing you have one more participant in that call). He has faced a lot of domestic scrutiny over it. CDU being the most vocal critic making some hay out of it (also some regional elections coming up), but it's also driving the FDP and the Greens to extreme lengths of frustration (one issue those parties can agree on!). So Foreignminister Baerbock openly floating/endorsing this idea in a Press Conference with David "Piggy" Cameron within days after Scholz publicly declared this deabte to be over, let's just say Sunak is not the only country leader with an authority problem. So Scholz has managed to box himself in between a rock and hard place. Accepting that his non-existent authority is further undermined, or take a firm stand and piss off allies and annoy his partners in the coalition further. There were no good options for him personlaly. So Scholz being Scholz he doubled down on his position. This is no longer a mere policy issue, this is to some degree now a personal thing for Shcolz and his ego. Edit: factor in the image of the careful/thoughtful leader he tries (and fails) to convey.

They get fired from the strip club.

Well, tbf to him. Mudryk is now on his third permanent manager (and still counting, as I am not 100% convinced that Poch will still be charge next season) in less than two years. If there had been one gameplan in place, with a clearly defined role for him, then he might've looked somewhat better tactically, with this permanent transition it's hard to develop automatisms and partnerships with a changing cast of partners. As for his technical limitations, Poch seemed to think a lot of it had to do with confidence, with a lot of stuff not coming naturally. But he believed there was still a player in there. No idea if this has changed, or if just says it to not damage Mudryk any further. Anyway, bigger point remains, Chelsea is not a happy place to be for young players.

Mudryk is not horrible. He was gifted young player, when he arrived. Chelsea massively overpayed for him (Boehly's bluechip strategy/gamble in action). Leverkusen was willing to pay about 1/3 of what Chelsea ultimately paid, that talk pretty much broke down the moment Shaktar told them their asking price. Enter Boehly and his chequebook. Even if you factor in, that Leverkusen are sorta cheapskates and the EPL premiums the fee was just cray. Then Mudryk arrived in an enviroment that is not ideal for young talents to flourish. Chelsea is simply one huge mess.

State of the German Arm's Industry and why Europe is screwed without the US basically. German defense capabilities if Trump wins the election (for those who think I am being too negative on that front).

The Winds of Winter.

That''d be an interesting question, could you make up more evidence than they could cover up with their money?

Thought PSG wanted move away from the big star signings towards a younger and hungry (and presmuably more local/French) team with Mbappe buggering off to Real. Rashford isn't bad or horrible by any means, but that signing is not really in line with that new strategy. But not being bad is not the same as an 80m+ signing. As for worst signing in football history, I think Boehly would like to have a word or two there. One word being Mudryk. Anthony has also not been a stellar success at United, esp. if you factor in the price tag; neither was Sancho. Yes, there have been a lot of dumb signings by clubs with more money than sense. Admittedly the aforementioned United signings did not look that bad at the time.

Give DMC a break here. Haven't you watched Gremlins? Don't you know what happens to them when you grade a Florida student after midnight? I have no idea either. In absence of an alternative theory (and since it's Florida), I just assume grading a Florida student after midnight turns those benign a young Floridians into Trump employees number x, y, z in a federal indictment. Clearly nobody wants or needs that. So let this man grade. See, I have your back here, bro.

Luton are sorta stupid aren't they?

Being friendly to Iran is atm not an option. Iran is linked to Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis (not a talking point, but they actually are). And they are also one of Russia's suppliers of weapons. Had that orange Bozo not pulled out of the nuclear deal, we might or might not be in a different place now, with Iran having some incentive for Iran to play nicely and them having made different choices. But we're where we are.

I don't think this is about embarassing Putin during his sleepwalk to another election victory. I'd guess this is about to disrupting Russia's momentum by having them divert men and resources to deal with those incursions. Would be great if it works and takes some pressure off the Ukrainian defenders. But no, RLF are not gonna hold any cities. It's about disruption and causing as much damage as possible with their partisan warfare.

Apparently not that big a deal. She can re-file the charges she lost, or can appeal it. What I gathered is, it's about solicitating officials to violate their oath of office. And the indictment did not specify which (parts) of the oath of offices. Indictment as a whole stays intact, and Willis could walk back to a grandjury with a fixed indictment and get those six counts back in. At least my understanding. Not great but not a disaster either.

Well, TikTok is sorta complicated. The US are not alone with their scepticism. I'll just give a broad description of the criticism regarding TikTok, whether you think Diabeteshill's site is any better is a question you can answer for yourselves. TikTok... ...is Chinese social media, that is taking user data and uses it to its own ends. The troubling thing is the closeness of any Chinese firm to the Chinese goverment. ...'s other issue lies with the algorithm and what's being pushed/promoted. I know it's all fun and games to watch cat videos, or DMC doing the harlem shuffle while posting Pics of his...food (ofc food get your mind out of the gutter, just because he is in Florida (you didn't think, I'd make it thru a post without getting at least one Florida reference in, did you?)). However, when the next Video that is being pushed by recommendation/autoplay on kids (in particular) after DMC doing the Harlem shuffle, is some QAnon weirdo spreading his QAnon weirdness and election denials, then it gets problematic. The weirdness of DMC doing the Harlem shuffle is one thing, a bit dated and weird but basically harmless fun (I guess). But some rando spreading conspiracy theories being giving a large platform is distinctively less so, and can influence elections (and policies) in the US.

So he has ty's vote nailed down in a swing state.

Ofc the big game/event yesterday was Gladbach's exit in the German cup QF against third tiers Saarbrücken. That was the game, that was post poned due to rain/lack of drainage at the pitch. Game can be summarized as follows. Gladbach with a lot of possession, took the early lead (8') and instead of going for the kill decided trying to sit on the lead was the way to go - it wasn't. The lead lasted for about 3 minutes and Saarbrücken equalized with their first real chance - a volley from 18m (11'). Gladbach then had a couple of very good chances to make it 2-1 or 3-1 before half-time, but they went into the locker rooms with a 1-1. Second half. Saarbrücken went back to defend deep, giving Gladbach a lot of the ball, who in turn were unable to do very much with it. (90+3) Gladbach with one sloppy pass, Saarbrücken with a textbook counter 2-1. And that's all she wrote. Gladbach players got an earful from their travelling fans. Leverkusen remain the last top tier in the competition with the semi-finals already been drawn, they have very good odds to at least win the domestic double (they are also still in the EL). Anyway... Leverkusen will host Düsseldorf in a local derby (it's virtually walking distance). Düsseldorf are sitting on 4th in Bundesliga 2 one spot and point below the promotion play-off spot. Saarbrücken will host Kaiserslautern in another regional derby Kaiserslautern (65km drive on the Autobahn) in the south west. Kaiserslautern are stuck in Bundesliga 2 relegation battle, three points and 9 goals clear of the relegation play-off spot. Saarbrücken find themselves in the middle of nowhere in the third tier; 9th spot, 10 points away from the promotion play-off spot (with a game in hand). Their cup run has been really impressive however, with claiming the scalps of Karlsruhe, Bayern, Frankfurt and now Gladbach.

So glad you can finally release all those pent up politics posts and fill those threads like...

If Doku has a bit more luck with shot, the ball drops in the back of the net from post, and you walk away with zero points.

Yep, good game. Fair result all things considered I'd say. Neither team deserved to lose this.

Draw would be the most interesting result for the table. Let's see who manages to make the final error.