Open Thread

What’s on your mind?

Comments

[Mr. Bumble]

What will the day bring?

[Mr. Bumble]

Waste, fraud and abuse?
"A former Commodity Futures Trading Commission official who led the agency's union said he was working—and collecting his six-figure government salary—from Chicago. He was actually in Mexico City, where he worked less than half of the hours he should have, records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show."
https://freebeacon.com/politics/federal-union-leader-collected-six-figure-us-government-salary-from-mexico-city-where-he-hardly-worked-records-show/

[Kazinski]

Anti-Hamas Gaza activists are claiming, with video documentation that the Gaza Health Ministry (Hamas) was hiding baby formula and milk in warehouses in order to manufacture shortages for propaganda purposes.

https://x.com/i/status/1998244937356231110

Nobody could really be that evil, could they?

"Never allow yourself to be a useful idiot in Hamas’s propaganda. You can have compassion for the real suffering of the Palestinian civilians of Gaza, and demand Israeli action to facilitate aid entry into the coastal enclave, while still holding Hamas accountable for its part in causing a hunger and starvation crisis in the first place."

[Mr. Bumble]

...and in news from the Eastern Front in the war against radical Islam:
"With the Lebanese government failing to disarm Hezbollah by the December 31 deadline, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) overnight struck several targets belonging to the Iran-backed terrorist group, including a terrorist training facility belonging to its so-called elite Radwan Forces.

“The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it struck infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah in several areas in southern Lebanon, including what it described as a training compound used by the armed group’s Radwan forces,” Reuters reported. “Military structures and a launch site belonging to Hezbollah were also hit in the attacks, the military added in a statement.”

The 2500-strong Radwan Force, trained and equipped by Iran’s Islamic Guard (IRGC), spearheads Hezbollah’s terrorist campaign on Israel’s border with Lebanon. In recent months, the Radwan operatives have been leading the charge in restoring the terrorist buildup on the Israeli border."
https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/12/israel-hits-hezbollah-radwan-forces-terrorist-training-camp-other-targets-in-south-lebanon/

[Commenter_XY]

Yes, hamas are that evil. That is why they are human animals.

[Stephen Lathrop]

Bumble, what's your complaint? Do you think anyone here supports that conduct. We are all glad he was fired.

And why are you wasting time on a $200,000 federal budget fraud which is already as fixed as it probably ever will be?

Everyone gets that in your mind, you are striking rhetorical blows against political opponents. While cherishing a hope that by making your attack you will convince someone, somewhere, that your opponents support what they actually oppose as much as you do.

[Mr. Bumble]

Wow, I now have a remora .
"We are all glad he was fired." Who are the "we" you speak of. You now speak for everyone?
Do you think that this one example is a one off?
"And why are you wasting time on a $200,000 federal budget fraud which is already as fixed as it probably ever will be?"
Address this to Sen. Charles Grassley.
By the way, there is no indication that any of the finds have been recovered.

[Mr. Bumble]

"funds"

[Michael P]

Speaking of "we", I like the idea of "we"-free writing: https://open.substack.com/pub/hollisrobbinsanecdotal/p/a-we-free-december :

“We” is what linguists call a deictic word. It has no meaning without context. It is a pointer. If I say “here,” it means nothing unless you can see where I am standing. If I say “we,” it means nothing unless you know who is standing next to me.

... And it is very easy to use "we" to avoid thinking about what the bounds of a statement are.

[Kazinski]

One of the crazier stories in the NFL in a while, the Colts have signed 44 year old Philip Rivers, who retired after the 2020 season to their practice squad, and there is a pretty good chance Rivers will get the start against the Seahawks in Seattle on Sunday.

They may not have much of a choice they are almost completely out of QBs.

Rivers has been coaching football at a Catholic High School in Alabama.

Weather in Seattle on Sunday will be 50 degrees with rain likely before 4pm according to NWS.

I can't imagine a 44 year old who hasn't played in 5 years, playing against one of the best defenses in the league in the cold and rain.

At the end of his career Rivers was pretty immobile, in 2020 Rivers did "run" the ball 18 times totaling -8 yards, and the longest was 3 yards.

Over the last 2 games the Seahawks have given up 9 points and have 8 turnovers.

Seahawks are favored by 10.5 points.

[Commenter_XY]

Hope the Colts have a HUGE O-line for the RB to run behind, and for Rivers to throw short passes.

[Michael P]

What's up with Somali frauds, even in states with names matching "M*n*"?

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/northeast/maine-whistleblower-gateway/

Taxpayers in Maine have been bilked out of millions of dollars from the state’s Medicaid program, according to a whistleblower who in an interview with NewsNation likened the case to a burgeoning scandal in Minnesota, where people in the Somali community are accused of defrauding taxpayers of $1 billion meant for social services.
[...]
The company’s founder and CEO is Abdullahi Ali, a Somali-American who, while at the time serving as executive director for Gateway, last year ran for president (effectively governor) of Jubaland, a state in Somalia’s south that borders Kenya.