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AF vet here. It’s a number of things: 1) most come from the same socio-economic demographics as other Trump supporters. These are mostly working class folks from small towns where jobs are scarce. Easy pickings for a demagogue. 2) lack of education among the enlisted. Again, same demographic as other Trump supporters - working class, no college degree, white folks. 3) decades of brain washing that the Repubs like the military and are patriots and the Dems are filthy commies. Jane Fonda’s legacy still runs strong in the military. 4) flag waving and simplistic displays of patriotism work really well with enlisted folks and their families. Guess who is really good at playing up that angle and who isn’t. 5) critical and analytical thinking isn’t exactly a point of emphasis in many parts of the military. Gung ho guys ready to go kill someone are inherently more susceptible to be motivated by simplistic and jingoistic speech. Guess who is more than happy to give them what they want to hear.

Long post reporting from the hinterlands. I have family in the area, so I attended the Beto Town Halls in Port Lavaca and Edna yesterday. The question and answer section felt like real democracy and was very inspiring. The crowds were pretty diverse mix of old democrats, younger people, plant workers, a few trump voters, and independents. So incredibly civil, honest, and respectful. Watching the Question and Answer portions of his town halls online is worth it. I had a lot of great conversations with small town folks, and that really humanized small town residents that I often pre-judge as trump rubes. I feel Beto's strategy will work. People feel ignored and forgotten. And they are sick of the negativity in politics. There are a lot of votes there. As one of the local Democrat chairs told me: "there are plenty of registered voters here, they just haven't voted in 20 years." And for good reason, there hasn't been a realistic chance of a dem winning in a long time. One plant worker stood up and explained how he lost his job at Alcoa when it closed the plant due to China's policies on aluminum. He admitted, with a tinge of embarrassment, that he and many of his friend took a chance on Trump because he promised to go after China. The guy just wants his job back, and he's angry that China took it. That simple. I think this is the case all over the state. And I can't blame him. Never mind that Alcoa poisoned the entire bay with Mercury, or that its a Superfund site, or that the huge bauxite piles spew red dust over everyone's houses. Good riddance to some of these companies. I know those jobs are likely never coming back. But i feel for him. Beto was empathetic, explained that we need to engage China with the help of our allies in Europe, Canada and Mexico for it work. And we need to so carefully so we don't hurt others in the community like farmers. That goes a long way in communities like Port Lavaca. And word gets around. Two 18 year old, first time voters drove down from Houston. A couple parents pulled there kids from school to attend. A couple progressive local millennials trying to find how they can reach their single issue voter peers. Another guy had a question about tax credit exemptions for homeschooling. Beto heard his point, and admitted he had not consider that angle to the issue, and wanted to think about it more and reach out to the guy later via email. He is the Antithesis of Trump or Cruz. Humble, honest, civil, funny, relatable, empathetic, genuine, and smooth without appearing slick. On a question about ending our perpetual wars, he intimated that there is no sexy or happy answer and that it needs to be up to congress to use all resources and experiences to craft a strategy. He asks the people what they care about and want, and learns from these town halls to improve as a candidate and representative. That's how it is supposed to work. He hasn't taken PAC money in several years and zero on this campaign. He is on the VA Committee in the House because its important and he cares about vets, while his peers rush to committee positions that will bring in that flood of PAC money from the Energy and Big Pharma sector. And he said he would come back to the community as senator and be held accountable. No pre-screening of questions, no hiding in safe spaces with only his supporters. No negativity towards Cruz or Trump. He goes into the Reddest areas of the state because they are still Texans and shouldn't be ignored. Last bit, I went to ask him a question after the Edna Town Halls about Harvey relief, a staffer knocked over her Whataburger iced tea, and spilled it on the floor. He paused, like he was hosting a party in his own kitchen, grabbed napkins and helped her clean it up. Then he apologized for the interruption and finished answering the question. It was the most natural and real thing. His staffer emailed me more information later that night in case I needed better defined talking points.

No matter how good she looks, someone, somewhere, is Soso tired of that.

It's like choosing a new pope. They light a couch on fire. If its smoke is black, Urban stays. If its smoke is white, he goes.

More like a receipt.

It's such bullshit that it can be widely known you're considering two routes for the purpose of managing optics, and yet you're still managing optics. If those are your options and reasons for debating them, the optics should be that you're a morally bankrupt garbage institution, end of story. Oh, sorry, you're THE morally bankrupt garbage institution.

When did the NATIONAL ANTHEM become about honoring military veterans? It is the NATIONAL ANTHEM, not the military anthem or the veteran anthem. It is about our NATION, not military. It is about each and everyone of us, not just the military. It is about being a patriot, not a soldier. It is about all of the freedoms and rights we have in this nation and celebrating our way of life, not about the service of the military. The National Anthem is a celebration of America, including but not limited to the military. When a player kneels, he isnt disrespecting the military, as pointed out above the Anthem has nothing to do with the military specifically, instead he is silently and peacefully protesting that the rights and freedoms enjoyed in our great Nation by some are not enjoyed by all and that needs to change. There is zero disrespect in this form of protest.

Start watching men's basketball

BBBBBBBBBBBWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Just got out of aggy misery detox. Ready for more... Yo Santino

His parents tried to warn everyone when they named him.

Speaking of real estate...how’s the wife?

I love the optimism, guy. I really do. But it's misplaced. If I'm a Republican senator--and let's just stipulate for a minute that if I'm a Republican senator, I almost certainly come from a very Republican state--what's my play here? Toss out Trump? Then what? Then let me tell you--Trump isn't going to go back to Yorba Linda and quietly live out the next two decades in self-imposed political exile. He'll go to Trump Tower with a twitter machine in his tiny hands. He'll feel no shame. He'll feel no obligation not to criticize those in the political arena after he's departed. That twitter machine will be on full blast, because it's all Executive Time all the time. And if you were a Republican senator who opposed him, then a lot of that twitter machine time is going to be devoted to you. And who are your Republican voters going to believe (and yeah--you only care about Republican voters in most places in which Republicans hold the Senate seats)--you or their orange god? You think you can reach them and explain yourself before they read Trump's twitter screed against you? You're more likely to get a 12th Century baron to betray his feudal lord than you are to get a Republican senator to betray Donald Trump (for exactly the same reasons).

Throughout his life, Donald Trump has thought that a lawyer's role is to find a way to help you break the law.

As opposed to Cruz, who is full of shit, doesn't speak well, and is from Canada.

It should be illegal for Bill Kristol to use the word "lit."

Analysis/Speculation from an account I follow that always likes to keep the big picture in perspective. First and foremost: Trump/Russia is real. It is not a witch hunt. It is not a conspiracy theory. It is not cooked up by a fraudster on 4Chan. It's real. Trump conspired with Russia. He did. That none of yesterday's 16 guilty pleas directly finger Russia is irrelevant. Anyone who went around yesterday with "But there was no Russia" as a talking point is a desperate Trumpist collaborator, negligently muddying the waters when things should now be clearer. (Looking at you, @LindseyGrahamSC and @mschlapp.) The first two members of Congress to endorse Trump, Chris Collins and @Rep_Hunter, have both been indicted in the past two weeks. Because they are both hateful, greedy scumbags, and birds of a feather dot dot dot. The third member of Congress, and first Senator, to endorse Trump was Jeff Sessions. Despite being reinvented as a bulwark against Mueller's firing, Sessions is deeply complicit in Trump/Russia, meeting w/Kislyak, and perjured himself before Congress on the subject. Sessions is one of the first-tier villains of Trump/Russia, in my view, as I lay out in #DirtyRubles. The others: Mike Flynn, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Jared Kushner, and Donald Trump pere et fils. Mike Flynn, the disgraced former natsec adviser, was given access to eyes-only secrets by Trump despite multiple high-level warnings, which ALONE warrants impeachment. Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and awaits sentencing. Manafort is a terrible human being for a thousand reasons. In addition to his basically stealing money from you and me, as a huge tax cheat, he cavorted with dictators. He is PWNED BY PUTIN. Can't stress that enough. More on that will become evident in the weeks to come. Sidenote: Trump will NOT pardon Manafort. A pardon admits his own guilt, and also, it eliminates Manafort's ability to plead the Fifth. Mueller, or better yet Congress, could immediately summon him to answer questions under oath and he'd HAVE to respond. Michael Cohen is the linchpin, though. He is a longtime Russian mob associate, and a longtime lawyer/fixer for Trump. How many NDAs has he processed? And worse? He's the guy who threatened violence to the reporter who asked questions about Trump raping Ivana. The stuff Cohen knows is more than enough to bring down the House of Trump. And it will. And it ain't Mueller driving that particular train, which makes these charges immune to the Mueller/Witch Hunt charge. Yesterday, in a court of law and under oath, Michael Cohen said that Donald Trump directed him to break the law, to do a felony. This is a HUGE deal, the headline story. This particular felony doesn't directly relate to Russia, it's true. But others do. Recall that Michael Cohen was a deputy finance chair of the RNC. That implicates that entire entity (hi, @Reince). It also explains, perhaps, why Republicans in Congress have been so slow to boot Trump out. So much criminality! Cohen also had meetings with Russians during the campaign, and was involved in the sanctions negotiations with Felix Sater and some pro-Putin Ukrainians. That sounds like Trump/Russia to me. Also, Michael Cohen has three clients, and one of them is @SeanHannity. Sean tried his best to deflect last night, but he must know the gig is up. He is a close adviser to Trump masquerading as an objective journalist. A fraud. Fox should fire him immediately. So, of the key players I identify in #DirtyRubles: three are now convicted of crimes (Flynn, Manafort, Cohen) and will serve prison sentences. One is likely a Mueller mole (Sessions). The others are members of Trump's extended family. Second-tier collaborators include Roger Stone and Julian Assange. I expect both to be indicted before Labor Day. So Stone can wear white to court. On Kushner: back in December, RUMINT was that his indictment was imminent. Kush hired a crisis PR team and a new lawyer. Then: crickets. Word now is that he's been cooperating SINCE then. We'll see if this is true, because the guy is definitely guilty of crimes. Ivanka likes to pretend to be an above-it-all, friend-of-the-working-woman feminist, but she's just as corrupt as the rest of them. She met those Russians in the lobby of Trump Tower. Are we to believe she didn't know why they were there? As for Junior, hey, this looks like the face of a guy who's totally relaxed and not at all preparing himself for a long stint in the hoosegow: We can't forget Mike Pence, as we often do (by design). He was picked by a felon who will likely die in prison. Which means he was approved by Putin. He chaired the Trump Transition Team. He's guilty af and will never be president. As for Donald Trump, um, spoiler alert: he's guilty. He knew about everything, he signed off on everything, he's been kissing Putin's ass for years, he's a puppet, he sold out his country for a jump in Q rating and some debt forgiveness. He is a stain on our democracy. There are many more pieces to this Trump/Russia jigsaw puzzle. How they fit will become more evident from here on out. For example: John Bolton was in deep with Cambridge Analytica #CamAnal ...and in deep in a naughtier way with Mariia Butina. He's the WH National Security Advsr! /end

His wife's lawyer contacted me yesterday to inform me that she is the new owner of that real estate in my head.

McMurphy's Twitter right now.

Ha Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

It really is quite an accomplishment to behold, playing in the same conference as teams who achieve such great success. I can understand why they feel they have nothing to prove, what with playing against, (and losing to) teams that go on to achieve important things. Just a few years ago they were playing against (and also losing to) teams from an entirely different conference. I really admire how they've grown up and reinvented themselves.

Another thing is that Hamm didn't have to go. He was a reporter, not a recruiting analyst. All he needed was an interview with Ossai, which he could have gotten on the phone or at his school later. But Hamm considers himself part of the recruiting process and wanted to recruit for aggie... so he left his crying kid when he didn't have to. He's a fucked up, disgusting person with fucked up, disgusting values. That poor kid deserves a dad who gives a fuck about him more than some damn high school football game.

That sounds like serious grounds for another Benghazi probe.

you are a huge reason why the public is convinced that the country is going to hell, and by you, I mean the average American who sees current news stories that while completely independent of each other, do result in a quick confirmation bias in regards to news. Specifically because you said, "A lot of these type of crimes are commited by white males" Earlier this year, in Galveston, : a hispanic woman shot her whole family and then herself: 4 dead , but since he wasnt a crazy white male with a pregnant wife, almost no one heard of it. In Nov in Dallas, a white woman shot her 2 kids and then tried to choke herself to death 2 dead, and a crazy white woman. but those are just 2 stories in Texas in the last year. and they actually happened within 7 weeks of each other. So if we were talking about this in Jan, your post could have been titled, "why do women always seem to kill their families" but that would be us just emphasizing the temporary bias. The end result is the person committing the crime is almost always mentally unstable, male, female, white, black, brown or yellow.

That is 100% the best Trump tweet off all time. Actually funny for once.

It’s going to feel really good to vote FOR someone, as opposed to just against someone else.

And yet nobody wants to rush to ban white dudes because of the guy that killed his pregnant wife and 2 kids in Colorado. Shouldn't every single murder be a rush to blame large groups of people?

csb: I met Ray Lewis at an airport a while back and got to talk to him for a bit. Asked him why he retired when it looked like he had at least a couple more good years in him.. I was just being nice. He says Chris Ogbonnaya laid a hit on him that convinced him it was just about time to call it quits. I was wearing my Texas hat.

Check the Hamm thread for his take. the tldr version, "I have to be careful because I know the Marchiols very well for years, but they're all liars who set this up with Mazzone and Sumlin. Why would a coach like Prevete leave Ole Miss to come here and cheat? Why would the world class training staff that almost got Koda Martin killed not treat Marchiol's injuries correctly? Why haven't any other players complained about getting paid cash on the side? This is just secondhand accounts and rumors of Marchiol's first hand accounts. Basically, NON-STORY"

So what exactly is the protocol for vacating a national championship without a date on it?

Just, you know, so I could say I told you so. I'll leave the reasoning to finer and wordier minds, like CTJ. But bet the house, it's a stone cold lock. OK just one short word on why. The rest of the league is down. TCU, OU, WVU, need I say more? Go look it up. Now, I'm not predicting anything crazy, like an NC. Just a return to the natural order. Look I know you may disagree with this hot take. I'm sorry your mother didn't hug you enough when you were small. I'm sorry your balls never descended. I'm sorry the shadows are so scary and you need Viagra to get a boner. Really I am. But you know, facts and shit. A haiku: Longhorns are the shit. Offense. Defense. Special Teams. We are going to win. Texas today. Texas always. Texas forever. Let's roll. Amen and OU sucks.

"Thank god Mark Mangino is not on staff."

Find a new slant

He must've gotten sideways with the asian pussy. Happens to everyone.

jumbo— I used to break NCAA regulations. I still do but I used to too.

I tweeted screenshots to the mom.

I’m sure you guys already posted this, but DAMN Hope FL an find a Beto