Ghost of LL

They're not a bad team, and they didn't backdoor their way into the playoffs. They earned their way in by winning their (very mediocre) conference over (good, but definitely not great) SMU in what was essentially a home game for Clemson. They're essentially aggy. They have similar records. They both got kicked around in their opener against superior out-of-conference opponents. They both lost at home to their in-state rival in their last game. And they both get undue credit for beating overrated conference opponents (SMU, Mizzou). But they're not bad teams. They're good teams, but good teams don't have any business beating this Texas team in Austin. And if Texas were to lose, it would involve a catastrophic failure by Texas of a scale that really hasn't happened in the past two years.

Yeah: high-minded principles like "all men are created equal," . . . written by a slaver. Principles to "secure the Blessings of Liberty," but only "for Ourselves and our Posterity." But let's just be real honest about those documents in which those principles are stated: they're not documents written for the purpose of stating principles. They're political documents stated to accomplish political goals. The Declaration of Independence was written (1) to state the bases for independence to a divided domestic audience and (2) to obtain foreign support. And the Constitution . . . well, the Constitution is a damned mess lacking any principled backing but full of political expedients that we've never been able to get past. And that's really the other thing that, if one can get over it, the Trump years will go down a whole lot easier--the realization that the Constitution is and always was something of a joke. These people running around with a copy of the Constitution in their pockets and treating it as though it's some holy scripture . . . and it's a fucking joke. They're treating it as a joke. And it always was a joke. It was an expediency aimed to allow the slavers to keep slaving, keep the powerful in power, and to facilitate commerce. And anything beyond that could be massaged. And it has been and will continue to be. So if you don't worry your pretty little head about "but the Constitution" and realize that the only real purpose of the Constitution is to create a structure to keep the powerful in their rightful position and the poor in theirs, then your blood pressure will go down significantly and your GI doc won't have to talk to you about ulcers.

Once you figure out that the United States of America has no inherent "national dignity," this all becomes a lot easier to take. The concept of "national dignity" derives from an era in which all countries were monarchies. So an insult to an officer in the Royal Navy was an insult to His Majesty. And since His Majesty derived from his sovereignty over the nation, His Majesty's dignity was coterminous with the concept of national dignity. Somehow in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries that concept made the leap from monarchies to constitutional monarchies and republics. French national dignity was supposedly insulted by Wilhelm's treatment of the French envoy at Spa, causing France disastrously to declare war in 1870. British national dignity--famously wrapped up in "a scrap of paper"--required it to declare war in 1914 after Prussia violated Belgian sovereignty. But here's the thing: a nation has no inherent dignity. We're proving that today. There's nothing particularly dignified about the United States, its government, or its people. Insult the United States or its head of state, and should I really give a shit? No--I'd probably agree. Look--real talk here: this is a country peopled by a stupid and wicked populace. It is a country founded and fostered on conquest, murder, and slavery. It has no "dignity;" it never did. And once you realize that simple fact, this whole thing loses its seriousness and just becomes a bit funny.

Yeah--I will never understand why you have to re-clear security on a connection. I guess it's because LHR has plenty of flights from places that have less-stringent security regimes than the UK/US? But still--one would think they could figure that out so as not to inconvenience connecting travelers from the US. I'll say that if you're flying Business or have status, the connecting-flight security line at LHR is a breeze. But if you're in economy, it's an absolute shitshow. And it is something to consider if you're weighing whether to connect at LHR vis-a-vis someplace like DFW, CLT, or ORD

So apparently the Austin flight now arrives and departs out of Terminal 3 at LHR. I think that's perfect fine if you're going to/from London. But it may impact whether you want to use LHR as a connection if you're going elsewhere in Europe as most of BA's flights will go out of T5 and changing terminals is a bitch.

Ok, I mean . . . yeah. But in complete fairness, we all know he doesn't listen to them.

This guy had three Alma maters playing next Saturday: 11:00: Highland Park for a state championship 11:00: SMU in the CFP 3:00: Texas in the CFP Add in Westlake (for my kids) at 7:00 for a state championship and I have a very full day of football.

Goddamn, this is an entertaining match.

I don’t think there’s any “may” about it.

Which is why I edited. I can't tell with the tail. It could be bobbed. But it could be curled toward the camera. The coloring and the hind legs look like a bobcat. But the ears look like a puma. They're making coywolves now, maybe this is a buma. Or a pumacat. Or a bobgar.

I can't really tell. The ears look awfully rounded when you zoom in.

Eight scheduled conference games, but with a flex week on Championship Saturday. Top 2 teams go to the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta. Both teams get an automatic bid to the playoffs. Then the 3rd place team plays at home against the 6th place team; the 4th place team plays at home against the 5th place team--winner gets an auto bid. This structure may already be in the works. And then for funsies--have all the other teams play. The 8th team at the 7th team, and so on. The 16 at 15 game is to avoid relegation to the ACC.

And as it turns out, UCLA would've been a pretty easy game that would've provided (perhaps misplaced) credit for beating a B1G team on the road.

He's using it ironically. As in "huh--that doesn't sound like they're treating illegal drugs as very haram after all."

So we get Clemson at home in two weeks?

Looks like we’re going to get Clemson in two weeks.

I honestly don’t know how you put that in Quinn. Unless you think he was calling the plays. That play calling disaster inside the red zone was 100% on Sark, and looked exactly like 2023.

Fuck you, Bert Auburn.

This isn’t in Quinn—when he throws, he’s been right on. This shitshow is entirely on Sark.

How we can be The University of motherfucking Texas and have a kicker who wouldn’t start for most 6A high school teams in this state is fucking beyond me.

Carson Beck’s eyes look like they’re put on upside down.

That’s just a pretty poor effort by Bond.

So since we are the higher seed, I assume we opted to wear the Stormtroopers?

I have no idea. But a guy like Mike Gundy . . . in a town like Stillwater? You know there are several skeletons in that particular closet. Probably drunk pregnant skeletons, if I had to guess.

That's not true at all. You just grab the bottle by the neck and sling it overhand, letting the centrifugal force keep the liquid in the bottle as it spins. Uhhh, or so I would infer based on my vast knowledge of physics. Yeah. That's it.