This is pretty petty stuff, but it's tasty schadenfreude.
In case you missed it, Andrew Tate - a media personality, hustler, and general POS - tweeted at Greta Thunburg on the 27th bragging about his wealth via cars. She roasted him back:
Forty six seconds into the video, he receives two pizza deliveries - stopping to say that the boxes will not be recycled. Well, Andrew and his brother are wanted for various crimes. The boxes had enough evidence on them to locate him in Romania. Thirty minutes later, his house is raided and the two brothers are arrested.
The biggest problem I had with him was that he was ALWAYS a Texas guy, never a Cal(ifornia) guy, and he made no bones about it. His unspoken desire to return to Texas was heard loud and clear I believe by most observers. I think that it was a disservice to the kids who played for him, to the program and the university in general.
Don't forget the Texas Tech job became available almost immediately after his Cal hire was announced (and pretty sure it was before a contract was signed IIRC) and he quickly stated he was committed to Cal and wasnt considering Texas Tech, where he's a legacy and where I assumed he was destined to be, and I even wanted him to go there at the time. It was shit timing for him, but seems to have worked out for him in the end.
I think the reason he soured was more about not wanting to be at Cal than wanting to be in Texas, once he realized this was not a place where he could seriously succeed.. and few could.
I’m glad he’s had success at TCU, was a good guy with a fun system. I don’t wish though that he had stayed here; I think he needed his failures at Cal and a life reset button in order to succeed at TCU.
People love to complain about how inefficient the government is and how it should be run like a business but the truth is no business has as many responsibilities and services to provide as the government. If the government were really ran like a business, many rural and poor people wouldn’t get any services.
there's also the minor detail that the government is in the business of doing things that people don't want: like being arrested or incarcerated. There isn't really a customer service model that applies there.
I don't think there's any evidence that private prisons have added any benefit, which, given the condition of most state penal systems, is a very low bar.
the only thing that the prison system is good at, commercially speaking, is squeezing money out of inmates and their families while paying management handsomely
You know, it’s easy to complain about the government. It’s like the grown up version of complaining about homework. But, my dad was a career civil servant, and he and his co-workers were all very smart, hardworking folks. I think the quality of government employees is actually what sets us apart from most other countries in the world
By and large the government doesn't need to be particularly "good" at anything. They need to be *reliable*. Being "good" is the domain of private enterprise because they can take more risks. Imagine if the government tried to be good by emulating Southwest.
Even as a lefty who is skeptical of military spending, I recognize that it is a pretty effective organization. We're all better off having programs like DARPA and Army Corps of Engineers in an structure that's reliably funded and good with mission critical functions. Plus the alternatives to a loyal, adequately-funded military are very, VERY bad.
Right wingers hardly have a monopoly on patriotism and public service (and military polling data shows a relatively even partisan split). And you do have to be reasonably open-minded to manage a very diverse corps.
I don’t know if military/national security spending is all that effective. The military/national security apparatus waste a ton of money and is never fully audited.
Oh it's wasteful for sure like a lot of government agencies (state, local, federal). And additional money will probably see diminishing returns. But, broadly speaking, our military is functional.
Overpaying for every government project is actually more an American thing than some immutable property of government itself.
something that the government does both well and very badly: buying stuff. DoD is a good example of both: DHA has bulk discounting so good they're not allowed to publish their prices, for example; but at the same time there are still plenty of instances of rank inefficiency (no controls on base commanders to adhere to common standards or vendors. Mind you, some of the inefficiency is by design: the feds could just cut an enormous check to software vendors like Oracle or MSFT (notwithstanding the increasing popularity of cloud subscriptions) but going through resellers is an easy way to boost the socioeconomic targets for spending.
the Social Security Administration - both at the macro level of processing a shitload of payments, on time every time, and at the micro level: when my dad died last year, the SSA was both efficient about immediately adjusting my mother's benefits and informing her that any overpayment could be resolved after the fact, instead of withholding from a recent widow until the numbers balanced out. As it happens, the UK pension authority was very responsive and the individuals decent also. Other entities, well.....
My mom had the same experience. She gets a combination of her own benefits and a portion of his benefit due to survivorship and the fact that he kept working until he was 80, both receiving SS, his military pension, and paying into SS every year. Plus, they knew he was dead within a few days once the certificate of death was filed.
I definitely think the Cheez It is a better bowl since they jettisoned the P12…they bagged it up and shipped it to FLA for ACC/Big12…last year was Clemson v Purdy, I believe…
I checked the MBB score before going to bed. Cal was down at half and was 1-5 in free throws. As bad as they are you can't give away free points. They improved FTs in the second half. Just looked at the final box and it say attendance was a little under 1,500. I can't blame anyone for not going but that is pathetic.
This is pretty petty stuff, but it's tasty schadenfreude.
In case you missed it, Andrew Tate - a media personality, hustler, and general POS - tweeted at Greta Thunburg on the 27th bragging about his wealth via cars. She roasted him back:
https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1608056944501178368
The next day he tweet a response back at her via video.
https://twitter.com/Cobratate/status/1608212791009374208
Forty six seconds into the video, he receives two pizza deliveries - stopping to say that the boxes will not be recycled. Well, Andrew and his brother are wanted for various crimes. The boxes had enough evidence on them to locate him in Romania. Thirty minutes later, his house is raided and the two brothers are arrested.
https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1608578309981442051
Greta then has the last laugh
https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1608735970131849217
He can add police cruiser to his list of rides.
the pizza boxes to arrest connection is pretty tenuous, even if it sounds awesome. The only source for that is a twitter account called PopBase
https://twitter.com/thomas_violence/status/1608600135906512896?s=20&t=vaWa5-qbML05X5yHQ0fAMg
apparently the Romanian authorities are saying it's not true, but I feel like it's funny enough that I don't care.
Yeah confirmed by the AP
https://apnews.com/article/romania-crime-bucharest-organized-human-trafficking-0b65ac32442d995e590ab70c221398a1
Totally fair enough game for Greta to dunk on him. Truly a spectacular main character of Twitter arc.
Sunny/Sonny
The biggest problem I had with him was that he was ALWAYS a Texas guy, never a Cal(ifornia) guy, and he made no bones about it. His unspoken desire to return to Texas was heard loud and clear I believe by most observers. I think that it was a disservice to the kids who played for him, to the program and the university in general.
Don't forget the Texas Tech job became available almost immediately after his Cal hire was announced (and pretty sure it was before a contract was signed IIRC) and he quickly stated he was committed to Cal and wasnt considering Texas Tech, where he's a legacy and where I assumed he was destined to be, and I even wanted him to go there at the time. It was shit timing for him, but seems to have worked out for him in the end.
I think the reason he soured was more about not wanting to be at Cal than wanting to be in Texas, once he realized this was not a place where he could seriously succeed.. and few could.
Yeah the annual nonsense of him fishing around for Texas jobs was really lame
Sonny beat Michigan today
In what should not surprise anyone from the Pac-12, it still looked a lot like Sonnyball, but with better players.
The Sonny look-a-like P12 ref is doing the MD/NCSU Mayo bowl.
I’m glad he’s had success at TCU, was a good guy with a fun system. I don’t wish though that he had stayed here; I think he needed his failures at Cal and a life reset button in order to succeed at TCU.
Formula for success in life: failures at Cal and hitting the life reset button.
Haven’t we all done that?:)
Possibly not the best selling point to use on the recruiting trail.
Inheriting a Gary Patterson defense helped, too.
SOMETHING THE US GOVERNMENT IS GOOD AT
People love to complain about how inefficient the government is and how it should be run like a business but the truth is no business has as many responsibilities and services to provide as the government. If the government were really ran like a business, many rural and poor people wouldn’t get any services.
there's also the minor detail that the government is in the business of doing things that people don't want: like being arrested or incarcerated. There isn't really a customer service model that applies there.
I don't think there's any evidence that private prisons have added any benefit, which, given the condition of most state penal systems, is a very low bar.
the only thing that the prison system is good at, commercially speaking, is squeezing money out of inmates and their families while paying management handsomely
Also human rights violations.
You know, it’s easy to complain about the government. It’s like the grown up version of complaining about homework. But, my dad was a career civil servant, and he and his co-workers were all very smart, hardworking folks. I think the quality of government employees is actually what sets us apart from most other countries in the world
By and large the government doesn't need to be particularly "good" at anything. They need to be *reliable*. Being "good" is the domain of private enterprise because they can take more risks. Imagine if the government tried to be good by emulating Southwest.
Generally running the military - my father used to be #4 at the Pentagon for a couple of years when Clinton was president.
Even as a lefty who is skeptical of military spending, I recognize that it is a pretty effective organization. We're all better off having programs like DARPA and Army Corps of Engineers in an structure that's reliably funded and good with mission critical functions. Plus the alternatives to a loyal, adequately-funded military are very, VERY bad.
Cool to be related to top brass.
I did respect him a lot, and he was hardly a conservative - voted Democratic (well as far as I know).
Right wingers hardly have a monopoly on patriotism and public service (and military polling data shows a relatively even partisan split). And you do have to be reasonably open-minded to manage a very diverse corps.
I don’t know if military/national security spending is all that effective. The military/national security apparatus waste a ton of money and is never fully audited.
Oh it's wasteful for sure like a lot of government agencies (state, local, federal). And additional money will probably see diminishing returns. But, broadly speaking, our military is functional.
Overpaying for every government project is actually more an American thing than some immutable property of government itself.
True, good point. I do agree that our military is highly effective. It is even more so impressive compared to what is happening with Russia right now.
Writing checks.
something that the government does both well and very badly: buying stuff. DoD is a good example of both: DHA has bulk discounting so good they're not allowed to publish their prices, for example; but at the same time there are still plenty of instances of rank inefficiency (no controls on base commanders to adhere to common standards or vendors. Mind you, some of the inefficiency is by design: the feds could just cut an enormous check to software vendors like Oracle or MSFT (notwithstanding the increasing popularity of cloud subscriptions) but going through resellers is an easy way to boost the socioeconomic targets for spending.
Government contracting seems to be a challenge at all levels. Probably the one area that can be improved without negative impact.
I would normally say collecting taxes but...
the Social Security Administration - both at the macro level of processing a shitload of payments, on time every time, and at the micro level: when my dad died last year, the SSA was both efficient about immediately adjusting my mother's benefits and informing her that any overpayment could be resolved after the fact, instead of withholding from a recent widow until the numbers balanced out. As it happens, the UK pension authority was very responsive and the individuals decent also. Other entities, well.....
My mom had the same experience. She gets a combination of her own benefits and a portion of his benefit due to survivorship and the fact that he kept working until he was 80, both receiving SS, his military pension, and paying into SS every year. Plus, they knew he was dead within a few days once the certificate of death was filed.
Fucking the common man
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
AZ Attorney General recount confirms that Kris Mayes (D) defeated Hamadeh by 280 votes. Every. Vote. Counts.
https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-politics-phoenix-arizona-09aee9ff24cd2af5777a6d7ae140782b
Ginni Thomas admits there was no evidence of voter fraud. So she and others of her ilk hate Constitution
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ginni-thomas-january-6-election-b2253662.html
House Ways & Means Committee releases 6 years of Trump taxes returns, including the four when he was supposed to be President
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/30/trump-tax-returns-congress/
Texans stocking up on booze.
https://www.newschannel10.com/2022/12/29/make-sure-they-can-make-it-through-texas-liquor-stores-close-61-consecutive-hours/
PRO
QB Blaine Gabbart 2022 stat line:
2 attempts, zero completions, zero all-purpose yards, 4 helicopter crash victims saved via jet-ski
https://twitter.com/NFLSTROUD/status/1608813949071552524
this is a Shutdown Fullcast discussion
Tell me if you've heard this before. Big fight in Detroit resulting in nearly a dozen players being suspended.
https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1608271456026382337
Needs moar Artest
Breaking news: Grayson Allen is still apparently an a-hole.
https://twitter.com/JimMWeber/status/1608296319369592847
He doesn't just LOOK like Ted Cruz!
ICYMI: Warriors are back to 0.500
Cowboys easily beat the Titans 27-13
https://www.espn.com/nfl/recap/_/gameId/401437932
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
ICYMI: UNC lost possession of the ball because they had an illegal jersey switch
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/north-carolina-punt-returner-jersey-switch-penalty
Sunday: Sonny Dykes vs. Jim Harbaugh in the Mexican Party Bowl. Michigan favored by 7.5.
The new Fiesta Bowl logo isn’t nearly as iconic or nice as the old one.
Minnesota beats Syracuse 28-20
#13 FSU beats Oklahoma 35-32 in the Cheez-It Bowl
I thought it was odd that FSU was in the Cheez It bowl. They had a very good season and ranked 13th so I expected them in a better bowl game.
I definitely think the Cheez It is a better bowl since they jettisoned the P12…they bagged it up and shipped it to FLA for ACC/Big12…last year was Clemson v Purdy, I believe…
#12 Washington defeats #20 Texas 27-20 in the Alamo Bowl
the good news was that one of them had to lose
So, is Texas back?
CAL
Ashton Hayes in the portal
https://twitter.com/farrellportal/status/1608949704699830274?t=snNGMATrRDnvt6hAHKvG1w&s=19
Go Bears!!!
Women's basketball team in action at Haas this weekend. Arizona at 7:00 on New Year's Eve and ASU on Monday at noon.
I checked the MBB score before going to bed. Cal was down at half and was 1-5 in free throws. As bad as they are you can't give away free points. They improved FTs in the second half. Just looked at the final box and it say attendance was a little under 1,500. I can't blame anyone for not going but that is pathetic.
From the Front Page: Cal loses 58-43 to Utah
https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/cal-utah-utes-basketball-recap-2022
Utah wasn't super crisp and still won
Utah had more steals (6) than Cal had assists (4)
Cal shot 16.7% from 3
Cal sank 55% of its 20 free throws
They hold Utah to <40% from the field, 3-19 from 3, and get blown out.
How does this team win another game? What’s the scenario?
Luck or covid.
Or Colorado! The Buffs have to be the most inconsistent team in MBB.
That assist stat is maddening.
Late December games have always been sparsely attended...but yes, quality is a factor.
Police have made an arrest in the University of Idaho murders. The suspect is 25 and was arrested in Pennsylvania.
I bet he is a white male and an incel.
Caucasian ✅
Male ✅
Incel [TBD]
Age: 28
Occupation: grad student @ Wazzu
Oof. He's a doctorate student of criminology. I guess this means he fails.
https://crmj.wsu.edu/graduate-students/
WSU scrubbed that page and it no longer exist.
Here's an archive. Dude certainly has the requisite creepy eyes in the two photos I've seen (not that it means anything).
https://archive.vn/20221230181115/https://crmj.wsu.edu/graduate-students/
Sounds like he developed a lot of aggression, exactly the type of guy we want in law enforcement. /s
https://www.thedailybeast.com/idaho-murders-person-of-interest-reportedly-arrested-in-student-slayings