Guy Chamberlin

Dr. Fauci's early pandemic statement on masks is used by conservatives to gaslight COVID in the same way they use "Abraham Lincoln was a Republican" to pretend they're not the racist party.

Just to clarify: they are not "forced" as much as they are cowardly.

It's probably the smart play. DeSantis is trying to distance himself from Trump without offending the true believers. If 98% of the Republican congress is terrified of openly challenging Trump on something as odious as Stop the Steal, I would expect the Presidential candidates to tiptoe around their resident madman for as long as possible. In a couple years they can pretend they never said the things they said. DeSantis is much smarter and more of an adult than say, Matt Gaetz, but at the moment they're forced to play the same tune.

I've uploaded lots of images to HB over the years simply by dragging and dropping. Now it's rejecting files as small as 78K, giving me a prompt that says it's over the size limit. But it's not. Help?

But I would never call it a moderate position. As a reference point: Obamacare is the very model of moderation. Like it or not.

This is already going on too long, but it is actually impossible to review the exchange between you and Archy and not conclude that he initiated an endorsement of Ron DeSantis in response to your wish for a more moderate GOP option. The rest is about how we define the term "moderate," a word you introduced into the discussion. Neither you nor Archy were in any way misrepresented by subsequent posts. I respect your follow up post outlining what you like and what might work for DeSantis. Of the latter, we are in agreement.

Professional sports charge a huge sum for rights to game film, unis, logos, everything that carries the brand. Huge corporations can rarely afford it, and only the brands with multi-year partnerships get to show the good stuff. The NCAA isn't likely to let this money walk out the door, either, and I don't know if individual schools would be allowed to strike their own deals with their own athletes. Again, I'm pretty sure Adrian Martinez would not be allowed to wear a Nebraska uniform much less air game film in any for-profit venture without compensating the university or the NCAA, and that cost could well be prohibitive.

Okay. Now I'm confused. Red Denver put the two posts together, and my "claim" that Archy considered DeSantis the moderate option Devo was looking for looks pretty unambiguous. Are the two of you now suggesting otherwise? I mean, beyond the train metaphor, which I was happy to throttle? The rest of my claim is pretty unambiguous, too. Ron DeSantis defined his Congressional career by co-founding and running media point for the Freedom Caucus, which existed precisely to identify the hard right wing of the Republican Party, and promote some of the more controversial positions (and talking points) on gun rights, criminal reform, immigration, etc. As Governor he advanced a few positions that listed moderate, but given the politics of the moment, he went all-in as a Trump loyalist, and as a 2024 opportunist he is pandering to a base that has vowed to oust RINOs and moderates. If a Republican is looking for an alternative to the hot mess left by Donald Trump and a return to a more moderate GOP, Ron DeSantis would need to say and do some things a lot differently. Hence, "recant." Who knows. He just might evolve that way --- if that's the way the wind is blowing over the next three years. He could be the Smarter Trump some are looking for. But that's hardly the moderating force many in this thread say they would prefer. DeSantis has offered a glimmer of hope on climate change. Maybe that would be a place to start. The reason I asked for a moderate benchmark is because a lot of Republicans say they'd like to return to the party of Ronald Reagan. Reagan would indeed be a moderate in 2021, probably unelectable by the flame-throwing standards in practice today. But by 20th Century standards, Reagan WAS the right wing of the GOP, never, ever considered a moderate. That's how far the line has moved.

Wait. You left out the funny part about pulling things out of your caboose.

I believe you initiated the discussion by claiming moderates were climbing aboared the DeSantis train. As the conductor of that train, it's incumbent on you do drive that discussion. Or are you simply pulling this stuff out of your caboose?

Let's agree on some benchmarks. Where to you consider Donald Trump in the political spectrum? What are some examples of moderation that attracted you to DeSantis --- being a moderate yourself?

Do you have any idea how much DeSantis would have to recant in order to become a moderate?

Pretty sure this will play out like professional sports, right? If you bring a big personality and ambition, you can earn money off the field. But you still have to bring it on the field. Showboaters run the risk of being mocked, maybe even losing endorsements. Whatever hits you can generate on your own YouTube, Instagram, or Tik Tok channel should be your money to keep --- the free market will handle that. That might also mean that if your claim to fame comes from wearing a Nebraska jersey, you will not be allowed to wear your Nebraska jersey in a personal for-profit venture, just like the NFL, NBA and MLB guard their own uniforms and logos.

The problem is that with Republicans still in power via both Mitch McConnell and Joe Manchin, a majority of voters within the GOP still loyal to Trump, and politicians in deep red states pulling the levers at their disposal to monopolize power, the move is to let a minority viewpoint rule America. I mean, we've always been led by an entrenched minority, but it was more pragmatic than ideological. Right now they're circling the wagons around a belief system that is literally insane. (and fascist)

I used to agree with you on that, but things change. Mussolini was smarter than Trump, but otherwise they're extremely close in views and temperament. If you support undermining the bulwarks of Democracy in order to return Donald Trump to power, you might be a fascist. A majority of Republicans do. Ipso facto.....

I think most of the student athletes are already ahead of the agents and corporate interests when it comes to monetizing their social media. They know what they're doing. The other money ventures will only flow to athletes that have created their own following. It's going to be both fun and cringy to watch people with nothing to sell trying to cash in.

Going on 4 years since he was here, but I'm old enough to remember it. Remember when you told us to be patient? That Scott Frost would be a sub .500 coach for at least three seasons, but only because he was playing multi-dimensional chess that mortal fans couldn't understand?

Even with the 64 teams (actually 68) that get invited to the NCAAs every year, I think basketball is a tougher invite than a bowl game, where individual fanbases and revenue play into a decision with less accountability. An up and coming Nebraska football team looks good to the Holiday Bowl, but the NCAA selection committee has little to no sentiment looking at a plucky 16-14 Nebraska basketball team, in a sport where we're competing with Gonazagas, Drexels, Butlers, and lots of other teams outside the P5. If Hoiberg gets NU to the bubble, or even the top half of the conference, we'll consider that a major success for the program moving forward. So far we haven't even been close. If Frost goes 6-6, he gets us to a bowl, and we've only been a game or two away from that.

Honest question: when you think Athletic Director do you think of the person in charge of 26 different men's & women's sports programs, or the guy who be hiring or firing the football coach?

I mean, there's zero doubt that Donald Trump drove the ratings numbers of all news outlets, above and beyond any predictable election cycle. Hurricanes, building collapses, and celebrity deaths drive big numbers, too, so it's not exactly a badge of honor, Don. But yes, people tuned in because you truly were unprecedented, a hurricane and building collapse that happened every day, with half of the country rooting for the hurricane and building collapse.

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Now you do.

Given the Husker's run over the last six years or so, we could have chalked up one sure win in the Big 12 --- Kansas. The bottom of the Big 10, Illinois, Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue was at least as weak as the bottom of the Big 12. The middling teams of the Big 12 -- Baylor, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, TCU — ran the kind of offenses that typically overwhelmed Nebraska defenses. OU and Texas play the role of Ohio State & Michigan, and frankly Michigan and Michigan State (like Texas) haven't been frightening non-conference opponents lately. Kansas State, Iowa State, and Texas Tech take turns being the Northwestern, Minnesota, and Indiana of the Big 12. You sure wouldn't pencil those in as wins at this point. The Big 10 West was perfect for the Huskers to establish themselves in the conference. Where do you think a lot more wins would come from if we limped back to the Big 12?

Bottom line: if you want to go back to the Big 12 because you think you'll win more football games there, you're a pu&&y. You'll be mocked relentlessly, and you'll deserve it. Also, you won't win more games.

Why is no one talking about Moos' habit of showing up to AD meetings flying on peyote and speaking Navajo?