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  1. A lot of Ukrainian officers who have been around, were trained by or trained with NATO personnel in the years leading up to 2022, and since then, NATO has trained thousands of Ukrainian enlisted as well. The Russians had some basic training and then they'd head to their main units (the larger units had training companies or battalions within them) or a few specialized schools and finish their advanced training. But, early on in the invasion, Russia began pulling all of their training units into the front lines because they had a very short-term view of things, and thought they could win it quickly and then go back and rebuild. Instead, they wrecked their training units and wiped out a shitload of institutional knowledge (which was not on par with the West to begin with), to the point where we are constantly seeing mobilized getting a week or two refresher courses and being sent to the front in fucking golf carts. It's possible Putin is abiding by the Russian Constitution and not sending conscripts into Ukraine (but after they are out for a while, can apparently be mobilized and then sent), in which case that's the only troops easily available to defend. And given how big Russia is, I'd imagine that they have a shitload of troops scattered along various borders/outposts with countries or former republics that they are not the friendliest with (not just China). This whole thing feels like Russia is far below what they claim in terms of manpower though.
  2. Yeah I don't miss the drive in and the first week is nuts with all the panicked new parents dropping kids off. My wife was freaking out thinking I should've driven them in and my oldest wasn't ready to do it. I told her no because she needs to learn how to do this and navigate things like traffic backups, when to let people in or not, or when to go around people who are clueless. I've coached and trained her on driving for half a year to make this same daily drive. I can't always be there for her to make sure she knows what she's doing. Some of it is just going to be blind faith. And we come full circle to the problem I've found in some parenting, a lot of moms just can't let go with always wanting to catch their kids when they fall. It was actually a great point the therapist who lead the dads support group for the place we sent her for a time spelled out as to why he wanted to have sessions with dads about how their kid's treatment was going. Dads are vitally important to our kids because we don't baby them as much. We can be tougher with them, especially girls. We realize they need to stand on their own two feet or they never will. Wives also just love to can't win you on stuff. I love my wife but I've realized this is something I have to just live with, this need to set up an unwinnable situation. I did have a bittersweet moment with the younger one. She texted that she wished I had taken her in today since this is the first time I haven't driven her to school on the first day. In reality, I've just been dropping her off at the bus stop the last few years on the first day. I think she was just really nervous and a bit scared to start high school. She texted me at lunch that she's had fun so far and everything has gone well.
  3. I've been thinking about the future of the US Olympics team, because there's a good chance we won't see this level of talent (three all time top 15 players, plus three more current top ~10 players in the world in Embiid, Ant, and Tatum, and several more top fifteens in Booker, AD, Haliburton, etc, plus Holiday who's been a excellent national team player) again for a very long time I think there are three ways to build this next team out 1) Just put the best and most senior NBA players on the roster, and plan on out-talenting everyone. This team is built around Ant, Tatum, Booker, and Embiid plus other elite shot creators like Brown, Brunson, Kyrie, Mitchell, Fox, Zion, etc. It's not necessarily all iso ball, but it's much more static than we see most of these national teams play. Probably a lot of post-ups, pick and rolls, and 5-out iso dribble drives 2) Prioritize players who can both catch-and-shoot threes at a high level and also defend. This past gold-winning team shot 46% from three across the tournament, and I thought that shooting ability was ultimately the biggest reason for sweeping the tournament. Even if you're a bit of a ball stopper/surveyor but supreme shot creator, if you can catch and shoot at a high level, it's fine. That's past team did have some defensive holes, with the most obvious one being Steph but also Embiid's inability to close out on three point shooters. This team isn't necessarily just taking the best NBA players, but just a bunch of players who don't have weaknesses within FIBA ball. The biggest question is which players can be your offensive hubs in four years? This strategy leaves out Tatum (shooting) and Embiid (defensive switching), small guards who'll get picked on defensively, and any other non-catch and shooters 3) A hybrid of the two, with a couple of primary offensive hubs surrounded by role players. This is the strategy of the recent gold-winning team, but without the three all-timers I prefer option two, but I don't see them going that way, and it'll probably be one or three
  4. In a Facebook group chat we were all challenged to say something nice about our rival, so here it goes: While yes, "OU SUCKS!" and Norman is a shithole and for some reason known only to God they chose to have a paperclip as their logo, the campus is actually very pretty. Also, OU has an outstanding softball program having now won 4 straight national titles(still salty that the last one came at UT's expense, but I digress) and that's not easy to accomplish. They're the Penn State wrestling(they also won 4 straight nattys recently) of softball. The majority of OU folks are genuinely good people. @Constant @ChiTownDoc and @Pdawg88 are good OU dudes, they just like to troll. Unlike aggy, I have never met an OU fan, student or alum that I couldn't get along with or find common ground. Hell, I've got a lot of friends that are from Oklahoma and/or attended OU. Also, unlike the aggys, Sooner fans are well aware of when their team is red hot and when they're dogshit(see 2022). One of my best friends from Oklahoma will gloat whenever they beat us, but will also accept defeat like a man whenever we beat them. In 2022 after the shut out he called me and said, "go ahead and laugh... This is Texas' moment. I know OU is horrible this year..." Last season he was shocked that they won and was speechless, but still wished us luck and hoped we'd rematch in the Big 12 championship. LOL when I asked who he was "rooting" for in last year's CCG he and a few other OU friends of mine said, "hell I'm all Texas today. Would rather see you guys win it over little brother."
  5. I’m so tired of this guy getting angry Biden is out. It’s exhausting. Biden was losing bigly. You wanted him to stay in a race he was going to lose. There was no magic pill that he could swallow that was going to have him make a comeback and win. How Chris Jackson doesn’t comprehend this is beyond me. Is it wrong what media is doing? Yes, of course it is. But to pretend that Biden was pushed out of a winning race is laughable. He was going to lose. We now have a shot at winning, something we couldn’t have said a month ago.
  6. Since the 1990s, the one superpower that Republicans had was a consistent message delivery - delivered from all politicians and right wing talking heads from Rush to Fox. They were really outstanding on message discipline. Now, the GOP is all over the map saying different crazy things and Kamala and Tim and their party are pitching the “won’t go back” and “weird” and “ when we fight we win” mantra to some effectiveness. Having a slightly demented narcissist with no impulse control and a refusal to take advice from anyone that disagrees with his, well, that turns out not to be the best candidate attribute in 2024
  7. No question Obama's was bigger, but his movement grew in spite of, or probably because of its independence from the Democratic party. This did not help the party post-ACA. Harris and Walz are not outsiders or newcomers to the Democratic party. The groundswell of support they are attracting should help the party going forward. Although it doesn't feel as unique and powerful as Obama '08 felt to me, this campaign and the administration that should come in 2025 will likely be far more consequential than Obama's. Harris also didn't have to win a grueling primary to get the nomination, unlike Obama having to go through Hillary. '08 seemed fun at the time but it really left some real damage in the party, if we are being honest with ourselves.
  8. We're down 39-38 in the gold count with one day to go. We're pretty much toast, at least to win outright. China got all 5 that I projected + gold in women's 57kg boxing, an event I didn't include in my summary. So finished the day with 39. US got all 3 that I projected + gold in women's soccer, an event I somehow missed and didn't include in my summary. We also got the women's 100m hurdles. So finished the day with 38. We'll each win 1 gold tomorrow (theirs in women's weightlifting +81kg, ours in women's basketball). That leaves our women's volleyball team needing to upset Italy and a rising sophomore wrestler at Iowa taking the gold medal match in the Women's Freestyle 76kg Final to take the outright gold medal count.
  9. the rest of the world is going to close the gap in that time, and we will not have the three iconic players responsible for these last two wins. 2028 will be the most closely contested men’s basketball tournament since they let nba players in.
  10. I think there's a lot of incompetence involved as well. The Russians consistently demonstrate ossified organizational thinking, which is systemic given the priority of the ruling class to make sure the military can't usurp their power. When you're in an organization that prioritizes following the rules and protocol above all else, shifting priorities due to changing circumstances is a terrible weakness. I'm sure most if not all of us have experienced that within our lifetimes. We don't have to move to Russia. But this is organizational handicaps writ in full. BTW, being in an organization that doesn't do a good job of following rules and protocol has its own problems. If the Russian military is tasked with taking a specific objective, then the organization bends its organizational structure towards that objective. Supply lines shift resources there without thought about the needs of other areas or how they should be prioritized within the context of the objective. The objective becomes all. The future of the organization is not considered. So trainers are sent to the front lines. All available material is sent, regardless of the ability to replace or repair it. No one is making healthy organizational decisions, because the only good organizational decision is to make sure you're not blamed when things go awry. Which also means leadership is promoted and incentivized on the basis of a) not being a threat to superiors, b) the ability to follow orders and parrot the party line, and c) the ability to find scapegoats when things go wrong. Russia is not alone in featuring these dynamics. It's a very human quality. But their whole culture is built around it. I have not understood the military experts who have been perplexed about this operation, nor all the people writing articles featuring this perspective. To me it's seemed brilliant. To quote brilliant military strategist Willie Keeler, "hit the ball where they ain't." Make them shift priorities, resources, and objectives, because for them it's like turning around an aircraft carrier. Not to mention the insane political wins this is creating. Where else in this conflict could this many men and material have had this kind of impact on the conflict? It has seemed like a well run and well thought out operation. This has been much better than what transpired on the left bank of Dnipro trying to create a bridgehead there. Probably in part because Russia completely deprioritized the area thinking their nuclear arsenal would ensure the US and other allies would prevent the Ukrainians from running such an operation. The whole thing has been wonderful from my perspective. I hope the Ukranians continue to enjoy success with this.
  11. Ever since pros started going to the Olympics its been about sacrifice and figuring out your role to fit in for these Olympic situations and now we have people whining about someone not getting mins while they are winning. I could almost see it if they were losing. Almost. Further, are these people really thinking he should be playing over LBJ and KD?!?? No team goes 12 deep in 48 min NBA gms but they are expecting everyone to get mins in a 40 min gm?
  12. Through the morning events, it's gone...worse...than I projected. China 3, USA 0 and they have another one they are about to wrap up. 2:00am Women’s golf: Final round. Closest Chinese golfer is 5 shots back of the leader (same as Nelly Korda). But only two shots back of the leader is Rose Zhang (she’s ours…her parents migrated to the US from, you guessed it, China 2 years before she was born, but after her older brother was born. I’m going to speculate that the reason they moved to the US was China’s one-child policy. If that’s true and she can take gold, that’ll be a helluva f you to China if we end up taking the gold medal count by 1. Rose and Nelly had terrible days, each shooting 3 over. Chinese golfer made a run but will get bronze. 4:30am Weightlifting Men’s 102kg: China’s Liu Huanhua one of the strong favorites for gold. Projected China gold; China took gold 5:35am Sport climbing Women's Boulder & Lead: we have one finalist (from Boulder, CO so that’s got to count for something) who finished 3rd in the prelims/semis. China has no finalist. But looks like it will take an upset to knock Slovenian Janja Garnbret from the top (pun intended) our girl from Boulder grabbed silver behind the Slovenian 5:40am Canoe sprint Women's Kayak Single 500m; 32 competitors left. They have 2. We have 0. No idea. 6:40am Canoe sprint Women's Canoe Single 200m Finals; we each have 1 competitor left. No idea. Our gold medalist from Tokyo, Nevin Harrison, finished 0.01 out of first 7:00am Rhythmic Gymnastics Group all-around final: China was 5th in the qualification round (out of 8). We are not one of the 8. China took gold; first ever for them in this event 8:00am Diving Men’s 10M platform final: China has the defending Olympic gold medal holder, who was also the leader in points in the prelims. Projected China gold; China's Cao Yuan took gold as projected becoming the first diver since Louganis to win consecutive Olympic golds in this event 8:00am Table Tennis Women’s team gold medal match: China vs Japan. Projected China gold; China about to take another gold. Up 2-0 (need 3 out of 5)
  13. Gold medal leader talk. USA vs China. With two days of competition remaining, the gold medal count is all tied at 33. I am absolutely no expert in any Olympic event...(but I did wear my Kornacki khakis today). So with that said, here’s what’s going to happen. tl;dr we’ll have our hands full taking the overall gold medal count. I’m giving us 4 and China 6 over the weekend. But those are what I believe to be the heavy favorites. We have more events where I think a minor ‘upset’ is more likely (women’s golf, women’s volleyball, Men’s 800m, Men’s 5000m, women’s 100m hurdles, boy’s breakdancing, men’s wrestling 97kg). I'm not really sure the Chinese have any. Those of you that are individual sport experts, ( @Braff Zacklin looking at you for T&F) all yours for correcting comments below. Times are Central Saturday, August 10th 1:00am Men’s marathon: we each have 3 competing, but none ranked within the top 71 of the world. 2:00am Women’s golf: Final round. Closest Chinese golfer is 5 shots back of the leader (same as Nelly Korda). But only two shots back of the leader is Rose Zhang (she’s ours…her parents migrated to the US from, you guessed it, China 2 years before she was born, but after her older brother was born. I’m going to speculate that the reason they moved to the US was China’s one-child policy. If that’s true and she can take gold, that’ll be a helluva f you to China if we end up taking the gold medal count by 1. 4:30am Weightlifting Men’s 102kg: China’s Liu Huanhua one of the strong favorites for gold. Projected China gold 5:35am Sport climbing Women's Boulder & Lead: we have one finalist (from Boulder, CO so that’s got to count for something) who finished 3rd in the prelims/semis. China has no finalist. But looks like it will take an upset to knock Slovenian Janja Garnbret from the top (pun intended) 5:40am Canoe sprint Women's Kayak Single 500m; 32 competitors left. They have 2. We have 0. No idea. 6:40am Canoe sprint Women's Canoe Single 200m Finals; we each have 1 competitor left. No idea. 7:00am Rhythmic Gymnastics Group all-around final: China was 5th in the qualification round (out of 8). We are not one of the 8. 8:00am Diving Men’s 10M platform final: China has the defending Olympic gold medal holder, who was also the leader in points in the prelims. Projected China gold 8:00am Table Tennis Women’s team gold medal match: China vs Japan. Projected China gold 12:00pm Track and Field Men’s high jump: Shelby McEwen competing for Uncle Sam. No one from China. But Italian or Qatari are favorites 12:15pm Track and Field Men’s 800m: USA Bryce Hoppel 2nd fastest time in qualifying, 1/10th of a second behind Kenyan. No Chinese in the final 12:30pm Artistic Swimming duet: Chinese are favorite. Projected China gold 12:35pm Track and Field Women’s 100m hurdles: We have the best (and 3 of the top 4) qualifying times but going to need a perfect race from Alaysha Johnson to knock off Olympic recordholder and defending gold medal champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico. (no Chinese in the final) 12:50pm Track and Field Men’s 5000m: We have two in the final (0 for China). Grant Fisher is our best shot at gold and should be in it at the end. We’ll see if Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigsten bonks at the end again like he did the 1500m. 1:15pm Track and Field Women’s 1500m: We have 2 in the final (0 for China) but it’s Ethiopia or Kenya’s to lose. 2:00pm Track and Field Men’s 4x400m relay: don’t fuck up the baton handoff (China not competing). Projected USA gold 2:14pm Track and Field Women’s 4x400m relay: don’t fuck up the baton handoff (China not competing). Projected USA gold 2:19pm Breaking B-boys finals: We got Jeffro as the overall 3 seed as our best chance. China’s one entry is the worst seed (16) and in the same pool as the overall #1 seed from Japan. 2:19pm Taekwondo Men +80kg: only participants from USA and China face each other in the first round (as the 8 and 9 seeds, out of 16) 2:30pm Men’s basketball gold medal game: USA (-16.5) vs France. Go get that 4th gold, KD. Projected USA gold 2:37pm Taekwondo Women +67kg: No USA representative. Chinese have the 7 seed (out of 16) 3:34pm Boxing Women’s 75kg: China’s Li Qian won bronze in 2016 and silver in 2020 and is the favorite over Panama’s Atheyna Bylon who will become Panama’s first female Olympic medalist regardless of the outcome. Projected China gold Sunday, August 11th 1:00am Women’s marathon: we each have 3 competing, but none ranked within the top 44 of the world. 4:00am Wrestling Men’s freestyle 65kg: we have the 10 seed (out of 16). No China competitor 4:00am Wrestling Men’s freestyle 97kg: we have the 3 seed (out of 16). No China competitor 4:00am Wrestling Women’s freestyle 76kg: we each have one competing in the final 16 but neither are expected to win 4:00am Modern Pentathlon Women’s individual final: we have one competitor but neither ranked within the top 38 in the world. 4:30am Weightlifting Women’s +81kg: China’s Li Wenwen has the gold from Tokyo 2021, is the current world champion and holds the world record in the clean & jerk and snatch.. No comment. Projected China gold 6:00am Volleyball Women’s: USA (+184) vs Italy (-240). Gonna be tough. 6:23am Cycling track Men’s keirin: They have 2 competitors out of 30. I have no idea what keirin means. 6:56am Cycling track Women’s omnium: Each have 1 competitor out of 22. I have no idea what omnium means. 8:30am Basketball Women’s: USA (-15.5) vs France. Let’s take the final gold heading to LA. Projected USA gold
  14. ISU beat OSU last year and both squads return everyone. I think Utah is better (and we play them in Salt Lake) but a whole lot of people have just slotted 2 teams we beat last year ahead of us in OK State and KSU. And it wasn't like we beat OSU when they were doing their stupid 3 man QB rotation. We beat them with Bowman going the whole way. ISU also played UT much closer than OK State did. I'd take that bet on the ISU/Iowa game too. Iowa will win, but it will be by less than a score. 13-10. 9-6. Far from anything resembling an ass kicking. Other than Campbell's first season, and the 2021 debacle, that game has been stupid close. Iowa is an above average squad that has benefitted from an extremely weak conference schedule, and utter incompetence from their premiere non-con opponent. Look at how they fare against anyone that's willing to put the ball in the air against them. It's not pretty. Campbell's a fucking idiot when it comes to that game and routinely tries to beat Ferentz at Ferentzball, and the only time it ever worked was with the shittiest team that he had assembled in Ames and Spencer Petras at QB for Iowa. Iowa has been blessed with shitty opponents that literally hand them the game, unforced (watch the end of last year's Iowa/Nebraska game if you don't believe me), on a regular basis for year after year and it's continuing again this year. They have a lower SOS than much of the Big 12 despite playing in the vaunted Big 10. Iowa's going to win 10 games again this year, but if they get into the playoffs, they will once again be exposed as existing on the spoils of a conference that's really mostly mediocre but just has a lot of eyeballs. I've had to wait to use a portajohn at an ISU tailgate for this exact reason.
  15. France is coming...... Wemby will probably be the best player or top 3 in the world. They have 4-5 dudes under 25, their lottery pick isn't on this team and they have 3 more dudes expected to go top 20 next year.... The gold medal game could be the start of a sweet 8-9 year rivalry between France and the USA. We should win in a couple of days, but by 28'..... shit, France is gonna be legit with health.
  16. That was still insanely cool though. The three best players of their generation, and they all came through when it mattered, and we needed all of it to win. Steph with a patented Curry flurry to keep it close early, and some sneaky good rebounding and defense late. LeBron with a triple double and getting downhill with his crazy soft touch at the rim. KD, despite early struggles and the superstars on the court with him, he's still the dude that gets the ball when you just need a bucket. Unstoppable. Going to remember this one for a long time. Easily the best international game I've ever seen.
  17. We told her to ignore the volleyball program and focus on the location of the school and the quality of the academics. She chose a smaller D1 as well. If you aren't at one of about 10 schools you aren't winning the national championship anyway. The school she is at is a private college and solid academically. She will be in the NE, so she will have to get used to cold weather, but the kid is looking to get her doctorate so she is on the right path. Good luck to you guys. I know she is going to be announcing here soon. It's been a frustrating journey at times but seeing her face when the coach offered was worth all the trouble.
  18. If anything, if Harris/Walz wins, can we PLEASE start seriously exploring how to condense our presidential primaries into 8 month affairs. RNC/DNC in August. 5 primaries (10 states each) in March, April, May, June, July. Uh, that's because Joe Biden is going to CRASH the DNC and TAKE BACK HIS NOMINATION! All so he can debate Trump again. Everyone is saying it.
  19. "Believe me when I say I know Donald Trump's type." "If you got something to say, say it to my face." "We're not going back." "When we fight, we win." "They're weird." "I can't wait to debate that guy. That is, if he'll get off the couch and show up." "Mind your own damn business." Holy FUCK, this new democratic ticket has me so fucking fired up. What energy, THIS is how you fight Trump!
  20. One thing we should keep in mind is that as the polls begin to swing more toward a Harris win, the stakes for Trump and his supporters increase. A Harris win wouldn't just be yet another electoral loss for Trump; it would mean the chances of Trump going to jail also go up. Given those stakes, we should naturally expect the risk of violent and/or psychotic behavior by his supporters to concomitantly increase.
  21. This is the stuff. This is how we fight. This is how we win. My daughter just blasted on her social media to all her American friends abroad: she knows the drill for getting your absentee ballot, she'll help you do it. She's going to work with teams in the UK to help out there too. Every vote counts, every vote matters.
  22. Which is a real fear, considering the judges he appointed, not to mention SCOTUS. Any state he doesn't win is going to be one where shenanigans will ensure. I have hope that none of it will matter, but we know what's happened the last few years. This needs to be a landslide.
  23. SIAP Met Tim Walz on my first day in Congress, sat next to him on Veterans Affairs committee for the following six years. No one fought harder for veterans. And he did it by bringing Democrats and Republicans together to get the job done. As Governor of Minnesota he codified abortion rights, implemented background checks, legalized marijuana, passed paid family leave, restored voting rights and invested more than $1 billion in affordable housing. Not bad. And before any of this, he was a high school teacher, football coach and a 24-year veteran of the army national guard. He also happens to be a terrific dad and husband — there isn’t a conversation I’ve had with him where he doesn’t bring up his kids, always with the biggest smile on his face. We became friends in Congress, going on early morning runs (in the dead of DC winter, I’m bundled in layers and he’s wearing a t-shirt and shorts), talking Minnesota music, the Replacements (Tim!), Prince, Dylan, Husker Du, and sharing stories about our families and hometowns. In a business that prioritizes transactional relationships, he’s always been good to me, reaching out when I’m up, reaching out when I’m down, just being a good friend. And in a profession that encourages poll-testing and focus groups and political corporate speak, he’s always himself, the real deal. Common sense, kindness and empathy. I couldn’t be more excited that he’s on the ticket, couldn’t be more energized to do everything I can to help Vice President Harris and Governor Walz win the most important election of our lives. Let’s go!
  24. So damned excited to hear this news today. Walz to me represents something that, on the surface, seems lost in today's politics -- public service. That's not entirely true, of course, but it's felt that way. Walz embodies public service. A military vet, a teacher, a football coach, a congressman, a governor. There's something very American about his story. And while it may be a cliche, he epitomizes everything about "the guy you want to have a beer with." Comfortable in his own skin and authentic. We need more of that. Good luck to MAGA trying to demonize that. The juxtaposition between the Dem and Rep tickets could not be more stark. Now let's go win this thing!
  25. A quick comparison of these maps gives us a rough idea of how far we must go to flip Texas. These seven counties represent a tiny bit over half of Texas's population: Harris, Dallas, Bexar, Tarrant, Travis, Collin, and Denton. Texas would flip if turn-out were equal across every county and every voter in each county voted according to its color. Of course, it doesn't work that way because the vote in Texas's rural counties is so lopsided that it's common to see 80% Republican vs. 20% Democratic, whereas the largest counties are in the 55-75% range for Democrats (plus Collin and Denton haven't flipped yet). Below is the 2020 presidential race. The blue counties are where Biden got over 50%. The lavender ones are where Biden got the plurality (more than Trump but a smidgeon less than 50%). It goes without saying, but the Democrats need to solidify their gains in Tarrant and Williamson counties and continue to chip away votes in Collin and Denton counties. My gut tells me Tarrant will continue to be tight because the northeastern part of that county is like ground zero for a lot of the worst of MAGA. On the other hand, I do want to believe that Collin is gettable with the population surge it's experienced in the last few years from a very racially and ethnically diverse population: lots of new East and South Asians. I don't know about Denton. It's getting closer, plus it has a large college student population, but I feel that it probably needs another election cycle or two. Then, there's the problem of eroding support among Hispanics in South Texas, where they've been trending more Republican. I think part of that in 2020 can be attributed to an increase in oil and gas jobs, especially in the upper parts of the Valley, and the fear-mongering Republicans do to tell that industry's workers the Democrats are coming for their jobs. There are also the likely contributing factors of folks wanting to pull the ladder up behind them as it relates to border issues, along with some machismo support for Trump and traditional Catholic opposition to abortion. Democrats have to figure out a message that can blunt those concerns/issues in South Texas. Maybe after four years of Biden, the O&G guys aren't so fearful of their jobs being taken away. Maybe Trump's bullshit he-man act has worn off. Maybe people are questioning the more draconian effects of losing their right to choose. Maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about, and they're getting more dug in on those issues. I just don't know. I'll end with one final map. This one shows where TWO-THIRDS of Texas's population lives. Win these, and Texas will be blue for the foreseeable future. As others have said, Montgomery is a fool's errand. Brazoria likely is, too, but Bell County is closer than most realize. The path is clear but not easy: Hold South Texas and the Valley. Solidify gains in the booming burbs, especially in North Texas. Somehow, offset the votes you'll never get in Montgomery. Jefferson (Beaumont/Pt. Arthur) and Nueces (Corpus Christi) were close: 49% for Biden in the former and 48% in the latter. A strong labor message to those county's throngs of unionized industrial workers might do the trick, which could also happen to help make gains in Brazoria and Galveston. If you squint, you can see it.
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