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Proud Longhorn Dad moment today! First time at a longhorn game with my son and daughter. My son has been to 2 football games and basketball is his sport. He’s hooked now after today! My daughter is 3 and it was her first longhorn game of any kind!

Heres to a million more clickbait "Will Arch Manning transfer?!?" stories this year

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All the Republicans saying Joe is too old were very quiet when Mitch died multiple times on live TV.

So let see if I have this correct. 1. Saban signs Julian Sayin. Number 2 QB in the class of 2024. 2. Saban retires. 3. Alabama hires Kalen DeBoer from UW. 4. DeBoer brings his OFC.QB coach Ryan Grubb with him. 5. They decide Sayin isn't their type of QB and essentially run him off to Ohio State in about two weeks. 6. Grubb decides to go back to Seattle and become the Seahawks' OFC. 7. Alabama doesn't have a five star QB they did a month ago, doesn't have an OFC, doesn't have a QB coach. 8. Good job on the transition Kalen.

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A serious analysis of Putin's interview from a GWU ph.D professor. He has a good theory that Putin is an increasingly history obsessed boomer who doesn't understand why the rest of the world doesn't see everything the way he does. A few thoughts on the Tucker-Putin interview: Having watched the interview last night, I've been very interested in seeing the reaction here on this site. A lot of people have focused on 'Putin as an autistic history nerd' (good memes here), while others have stuck to variations on 'look how his history is a lie and bizarre and strange' or 'he whiffed the PR opportunity and didn't give MAGA anything.' Ok. The former is funny, the middle is standard signaling and positioning, and the latter is US politics brain. Fine! But there's really tremendous data in here if we want to look seriously. Some points below. First, the most important thing is indeed the half-hour history lesson. Not only did Putin start with this, and refuse to be interrupted, he even made a big show of gifting documents supporting his arguments to Tucker. What this tells us is that the history component to the Russo-Ukrainian War is not just a point of legitimation or a general casus belli, but the motivating factor for VVP personally. That's really big! I've argued for a year now that we should understand the proximate cause of the war to be Vladimir Putin's deepening historical obsessions, his sense of personal grievance, and the unique isolation that allowed this to fester in the runup to 2022. You can find an article making that case here: ridl.io/putin-s-agency…. If you've taken my undergraduate course on Russian Politics, it's there as well. This interview is strong supporting data for that framing. Note how often Putin dismisses NATO expansion as the reason for action, as well as how much he does not care about Ukrainian democracy qua democracy. He doesn't even think it is a democracy (note the coup discussions). Rather, he's clearly motivated - then and now - by historical concerns most of all. And this is important, which some observers may not quite get. He was not always like this! That is, the long rants about history that justify political action have become more and more common in the last ten years, and especially the last four or five. Which fits a model of growing obsession - which, incidentally, also aligns well with Putin's post-2012 sense that only he can stably rule Russia, and that he wants to bequeath a legacy. Tucker wasn't able to get an answer to the core question - why 2022 and not earlier - but this is good material for a obsession interpretation. Second, another element that came out strongly was Putin's sense of personal insult and snubbing. He is butthurt by his world leader colleagues. We have dozens of minutes of him talking about the Bushes, about documents signed by the French and Germans, about negotiations generally - all of which end with Russia not getting what was promised or it expected. That could be read simply as justification for Russia's actions (i.e., the hypocrisy of the West) but what is mostly communicated, verbally and through body language, is that Putin himself feels slighted, and that he does not understand why others do not see the world, and the consequences of events, as clearly as he does. This is also quite interesting. There is very little reason to believe this interview is anything less than the sincere views of Putin himself, as a smarter-than-average Russian boomer who is trying to explain why he's right, why he's been aggrieved, and why the other sides are just so stupid and shortsighted. He's booming really hard, it's very evident. He's not sharing everything, but he's telling you that he's not sharing everything with a knowing, paternalistic smile while he says it. And he really wants to get it through your thick skull what actually matters. Rurik, Yaroslav the Wise, 1654, Bohdan Khmelnitsky, the Soviet Union and the border changes, leaders just not being reasonable, etc etc. Third, I don't think we can understand this interview as some sort of functionalist strategic communication exercise at all. VVP clearly did not care to talk about US political issues, he did not "throw red meat to MAGA" or whatever, he did not rise to the bait several times to get on a cleaner messaging narrative that would sell with an international audience of illiberal or West-skeptical types. At all! It was the above, which means this interview was about what Vladimir Putin himself thought rather than what he thought would sell best. That's incredibly unusual for an interview like this. We didn't get anything about cancel culture, or gender ideology, or Biden being senile, or the US being this evil tentacled hegemon that threatens global peace. He was actually incredibly circumspect on that sort of thing. Much more so than in other venues in the recent past. This was Putin as pedagogue-in-chief, trying to educate Tucker not only about history, but also about how the world actually works. Look to the wandering discussion on the Orange Revolution, Yanukovych, the various negotiations, for that. The personal resentment comes out here in a distinct way, as disappointment and confusion as to why other international partners just don't get it the way VVP does. Truly, the most framed or set-up part of this interview was the point about the spring 2022 negotiations (note his arg that instead of the Battle of Kyiv being lost, it was a part of a negotiation that got cut short by Johnson's intervention - an interesting assertion). And Tucker got him to talk about future potential negotiations as well. That was also enlightening, as it reiterated Putin's world-weary points that the other side doesn't get it and is stubborn, and that there is a 'reasonable' way out if only leaders would be clear-eyed. This is important to keep in mind, especially as Putin seems quite confident the war is going well enough that he can just wait for negotiations to inevitably appear. Also note his regular recourse to proceduralism - negotiations are detailed, complicated, have many moving parts. The bureaucratic KGB and legal background always shines through with Putin at the end of the day. Finally, as I've noted, this interview was pretty strange. Tucker tried to move things in a way that fit his own views (NATO expansion, the 'who runs the US' question, demonic forces on earth (?)), which was pretty cringe. But he actually did a decent job overall (sorry!). He asked about Gershkovich and pushed fairly hard all things considered, he got steamrolled by VVP but managed to barely hold on given the very meandering discussion (Putin's framing of 2004 and 2013-14 is genuinely difficult to understand if you don't already know the events quite well), he didn't crash the interview so bad that it ended early, he figured out he had a unique opportunity to let Putin talk, and in doing so he provided us a unique window into VVP. It turns out that Putin says the same thing to Tucker as he does to Ru journos, with even more Putinsplaining. Which is illuminating! The history thing is the real deal, as is his belief that negotiations (in Russia's favor and in accordance with Putin's own sense of what is reasonable) are possible. Both of these things are really important for us to get at analytically. I'm still thinking about this, but those are some topline takeaways as I process it this morning.

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Easy ones today... Wordle 966 3/6 ⬛⬛⬛🟨🟨 ⬛🟨⬛🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Daily Quordle 747 4️⃣6️⃣ 5️⃣7️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ 🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜ 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

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My ex told me she was sorry that she married me

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now of course i realize that the initial tweet is truncated. here it is: you're welcome.

Fox News will go down in history as one of the worst things to ever happen to this country, and that is no exaggeration.

BAMA 247: MOOD

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Wordle 966 5/6* [emoji834][emoji834][emoji834]🟨[emoji834] [emoji834]🟨🟨[emoji834][emoji834] [emoji834][emoji834]🟩🟩[emoji834] [emoji834]🟩🟩🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #244 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦 Pulling a Shelly West last night leads to a rough start…

Yup. “Socialized medicine” has always been here, just the stupidist and most expensive kind imaginable. When I was a medical resident at a county hospital I had a patient who would show up every evening complaining of “10/10 chest radiadiating down my arm”. You can’t dismiss it so you do the 10k work up each time but after he gets a snack he gets up and leaves AMA. Rinse and repeat. I finally asked him why he does this every night and he says because he is hungry and its how he gets something to eat. I finally got him to agree to stop till my month rotation was over in exchange for $50 and a sack of sandwiches I stole from the cafeteria. I did it cause I was sick of being woken up every midnight to do a fake chest pain workup, but probably saved the county tax payers 100k that month.

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Anyone who still claims the media is biased towards democrats should be kneed in the balls

It's really mind bottling. I remember hearing how horrible socialized medicine was and how the Canadians and Europeans got shitty care. Then I moved to Prague and the reality was totally different. Sure the facilities a little drab...no fountains in the lobby or receptionists to greet you, but I had to go to the ER once when I threw out my back and it cost $3. That was inclusive of an MRI, and 3 weeks of rehab which included massages, PT and specialized whirlpool treatments. My national health insurance was about $120/month. Here I pay $700 a month with $60 specialist co-pays. Americans have been so duped.

You and @Brisketexan are extremely far apart; you are concern trolling about imaginary future consequences. Brisket is legitimately concerned about preventing more of these extremely real consequences: That is what cessation of hostilities means for Ukrainians. You don’t give a shit about anything but hopefully being proven right about how bad America is. Which is exactly what @Dahobbs has explained.

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Fuck yes.

It’s pretty obvious you have no idea what you’re talking about. Why don’t you sit this one out chief.

I know she does.

I've been getting a lot of hate mail and threatening calls of late, so I want to be crystal clear when I say that I am in no way related to Robert Hur.

Then let me ask the questions that follow that: Do you think the Ukrainians would choose some version of the map has Russia excluded from Ukraine either in whole or in large part (i.e., no more territory than it already holds)? And, do you think the Ukrainians should receive western support, including weapons, to help them achieve/get closer to that goal? I’ll even give you my answers first: they want Russia gone completely. But they will likely settle for something less, eventually. And we should continue to supply them the ammo and weapons they request, at similar levels to what we’ve done the past two years (it has varied, I’d prefer towards the higher end). Because your answer of “I just want hostilities to end” is hot garbage, and you know it. Hostilities would end tomorrow if Ukraine surrendered unconditionally (although in truth, they wouldn’t…the parade of horrors and reprisals a Russian occupation force would inflict on Ukrainians would make anyone do any conscience puke). “The absence of war” is not peace, yet you seem to miss that point. Purposefully. That the audience reaches that conclusion about your position is not their fault - it’s yours. I just stated my answers and goals, as plain as day above. Why don’t you do the same?

I’m deeply suspicious of the global industrial military industry myself. But one thing is more true than their desire to sell bombs which require the use of bombs - humans fight each other. when you recognize the fight will not stop, then it’s inevitable that you must have a winner and a loser. And if there is a winner and a loser then the only question becomes which side do you want to be on and what can you do to get there? I would much rather have the United States the victor. All enemies should be defeated or at least held in check. We can argue the merits this or that conflict or skirmish in far reaches of the globe. It is not arguable and it is clear and unequivocal that Russia is a pariah state in our eyes and should be soundly defeated. the fact that we have a willing ally to conduct a proxy war - because of the consequences to them if they choose not to - is a god send. light ‘em up. Fuck Putin and fuck Russia.

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Not trying to take away from the show, but his service seems noting for the thread and site... Left UT after one semester to follow in his brother's footsteps of being a B17 pilot (brother lost ferrying his B17 to England somewhere in the North Atlantic around Iceland/never found) 30 missions in the 8th AF as a B17 co-pilot from November 44-April 45 with a crash landing in Belgium due to loss of fuel Returned to UT after the war, playing football as a full back and defensive back. Degree and T Ring in 1949. Did some cool things as a player and Coach in the NFL after. Longhorn Legend 🤘 Tom Landry

@Anastasis I'm just getting caught up and would prefer not to get into a back-and-forth pissing match because I don't really have that in me today. I'm just tired, is all, so can we engage on a civil conversational level? To your earlier point, yes, many predicted there'd be blowback for NATO expansion back in 1999 and later again in the mid-2000s. And, to be honest, I had some hesitant/mixed feelings about it at the time. At that point, my mindset was much more gunshy about pissing off Russia and bringing back the Cold War, as I'd spent a significant amount of time during the early part of that decade studying and living with and among locals in France and the former East Germany just after reunification. I kind of felt we were taking advantage of Russia's weakness to expand our military footprint, and I'd seen what was left of the Russian army from my time in eastern Germany when it still had a few bases, and it was a spent, decrepit force who couldn't even keep their old Ural trucks running. But still, it was a large country that I felt would somehow get its shit together eventually, and I knew that it was unhappy about it. So, believe me. I'm no hawk, and I certainly understand your point of view regarding NATO expansion. I had zero qualms about the EU expanding toward the east, though. Even though I didn't look favorably on Putin, especially because of his bombing of an apartment building and his bitching about the Color revolutions, I still didn't see him as a huge threat to the West, that is, until his invasion of Georgia. Yes, I understand that Georgia's desire to align with the West, including NATO and the EU, along with minority groups who had some autonomy but sought independence, were precipitating factors. But the outright invasion of Georgia, I thought, was unacceptable. Then, I had a close friend who joined the State Department in the late aughts and was assigned to the US Embassy in Moscow. She's by no means a hawk (super liberal librarian type), and she told me about constantly being followed and having been sure someone had gotten into her flat at some point. She also talked about how "scary" Putin seemed in everything she'd seen. All of this smacked of serious backsliding and showed a desire not to join the ranks of free nations. Yes, I understand Putin wants to have some degree of control over its sphere of influence for security reasons. That's all quite natural. But recall what really pissed off Russia about Ukraine: they wanted to position themselves to join the EU. That was what triggered the initial invasion under the pretense of a secession movement in Donbas that was backed by the Kremlin. And, then, there was no pretense for the capture and annexation of Crimea. That was just a land grab, pure and simple. Moreover, in Russia's world, there began a discussion of Novorossiya, which so happens to be almost exactly the same territory that Russia is occupying right now. Since then, we've had Putin talk about taking over all of Ukraine, declaring it an illegitimate country. We've also seen plans for the eventual unification of Belarus with Russia. Basically, what seems to be the plan is the recreation of the Russian Empire, uniting all Eastern Slavic-speaking peoples against their will. That would be akin to Germany saying that Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands should all be part of Germany since they speak languages/dialects from the same branch of German. I dunno, man. That sounds all too familiar. So, let's say we're scared of World War 3 and to let Putin have what he wants: a greater Russia that has swallowed up Belarus and Ukraine. How does that improve the situation? There's still a long militarized border with NATO on one side from Finland down to Romania and Greater Russia on the other, with no buffer in between. If Putin were really worried about NATO aggression, wouldn't he prefer to have some buffers in between? I mean, to be quite honest, I could live in a world where Sweden, Finland, the Baltics, Belarus, and Ukraine were all neutral but with rock-solid guarantees of never being invaded. Sure, okay, that makes sense, I guess. But that's not the world Putin wants to live in. He's made claims on Ukraine. He's made Belarus a puppet. There are threats against the Baltics because they have Russian minority populations, which would give him the same rationale to invade as he had in Ukraine. If those tiny little nations weren't already in NATO, I'd bet he'd have been on the warpath there too. So, thinking back to the 1990s and 2000s when I was a little more gunshy and maybe didn't fully appreciate the feelings of insecurity people felt living in those countries, I can see why Poland, Czechia, Hungary, and the Baltics wanted the security of NATO. Poland had been invaded by Russia in 1939. The Baltics were invaded by Russia in 1940. Hungary had been invaded by Russia in 1958. Czechoslovakia had been invaded by Russia in 1968 (31 years prior to joining NATO). These small countries all had a fairly recent history with their much bigger, aggressive neighbor to the east, and it wasn't all that pleasant. I mean, from their perspective, it made all the sense in the world to seek shelter under the Western umbrella for security (NATO) and prosperity (EU). Well, here we are. The past can't be changed, and it's 2024. How do we move forward? I don't think we can unilaterally kick out countries that have joined NATO (though I've given some consideration to Hungary), and the EU stuff isn't really our thing. Ukraine, at this point, probably wouldn't accept neutrality because who'd guarantee their security? They certainly don't feel they can trust Russia on that. And is it in our interest to let fall under Putin's boot being part of an enlarged and strengthened empire? I can't think of an argument where that would be to our advantage, so why not support them? They certainly seem like they want to be one of us (the "West"). So, anyway, that's pretty much my perspective on this whole matter. In light of all that blah blah blah, cool story bro, what do you think, specifically, we should do?

You engage You receive

Vladimir Putin just gave a two hour long interview about how he was always going to invade Ukraine because of 1654 and you’re still here shitting out this tired bullshit. You won’t even let him tell you that you’re wrong. Because your brain is broken.

Wordle 966 4/6 ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #Worldle #750 1/6 (100%) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉 🧭⭐🚩🔤👫🪙 https://worldle.teuteuf.fr Daily Quordle 747 3️⃣6️⃣ 4️⃣5️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ 🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜🟨⬜🟨 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #travle #423 (4/7) ✅✅🟧✅ https://travle.earth Connections Puzzle #244 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟪🟪🟦 🟦🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟪🟪

Bag O‘ Glass

In a thread about the Ukraine war, in which annie is defending the position that trump did NOT torpedo the recent border and Ukraine bill and that such an argument is mere propaganda:

It's goddamn amazing anyone with 2 functioning brain cells is still running the two decade old look-what-happened-at-this-one-place-one-time flag up the flag pole and then spiking the football in the end zone. It's like Alzheimers and TexAgs had a crack baby.

Sebastian and my daughter’s Chihuahua Tinkabell snoozing while I watch Halo