Hey folks. Happy Friday!
1. Roger Stone case: Mueller has ‘voluminous and complex’ evidence (Washington Examiner)
Special counsel Robert Mueller said federal prosecutors have evidence that is “both voluminous and complex” in the case against a longtime associate of President Trump.
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| Capt. Robert Mueller, USMC, in Vietnam |
That includes banking financial records and communications taken from iCloud and email accounts, as well as cellphones, computers, and hard drives.
I’ve made a concerted effort to at least scan the New York Times in its entirety lately rather than let Google News aggregate my information algorithmicly. I think that’s helped, but the experiment is ongoing. However, I also try to read the Washington Examiner when I can, especially for the Trump-collusion stuff. The Examiner is hyper-conservative—well to the right of the Wall Street Journal, for example—and that’s the point. None of this Mueller stuff will matter in the slightest until outlets at the right end of the spectrum start to treat the in question allegations as serious.
For what it’s worth, it seems to me like we’re slowly moving in that direction.
2. Why almost half of U.S. adults now have some form of heart disease (Market Watch)
A new report estimates that nearly half of all U.S. adults have some form of heart or blood vessel disease, a medical milestone that’s mostly due to recent guidelines that expanded how many people have high blood pressure.
The American Heart Association said Thursday that more than 121 million adults had cardiovascular disease in 2016. Taking out those with only high blood pressure leaves 24 million, or 9 percent of adults, who have other forms of disease such as heart failure or clogged arteries.
Yeah, you know, we’re also getting older as a general population. It probably won’t shock you to hear that most folks don’t get enough exercise.
There were three big question marks heading into 2019, and now there's just one.
The government shutdown ended last week, and on Wednesday the Federal Reserve was successfully pushed to the sidelines. That leaves just China trade talks as the next big fundamental issue to be solved.
I’ll be really surprised if the trade war ends, but who knows? Maybe it will.
I’m also a little annoyed with the Fed. I continue to think we’ve got a real risk of inflation in the marketplace, but it looks like the Fed doesn’t care. Which means that we’d all better keep our money in the markets… well, until it’s too late.
I’m not overly sanguine about our long-term prospects, but balancing that outlook against probable short- and medium-term capital growth is seriously tricky. You want to ride the elevator up and then get off. I’m supposed to meet with my broker pretty soon, and honestly, I’m not at all sure what I’m going to tell him.
“There’s no magic glossary telling you the difference between a fence and wall or a barrier, they are kind of interchangeable,” said Jeh Johnson, who served as President Barack Obama’s homeland security secretary from 2013 to 2017.
“There is a distinction between governing and political rhetoric, and people should not get trapped in the binary,’” Mr. Johnson said. “The moment when we reach a compromise on the vocabulary is the moment we reach a compromise on the policy.”
Good God, how I hate this debate. I mean, I see Johnson’s point, but this is well beyond ludicrous.
I am hardly a fan of President George W. Bush, but he at least treated immigration like it was a serious issue. He had a whole Grand Bargain kind of thing laid out, and I really thought that it would pass.
That was back in about 2008.
5. Super Bowl LIII Prediction: Our Pick Against the Spread (NY Times)
Pick
Rams +2.5
If Gurley is indeed healthy, then I agree that this is the right pick. The problem is that he hasn’t looked remotely like himself since his late-season knee injury, which leads me to believe that it’s a little more serious than the Rams want to admit. The Times also has a bit about Rams’ DE Aaron Donald, and yeah, if you remember the way that the Giants beat the Pats—twice—it was with pass rush.
So that’s what I’ll be watching during the game—Gurley and the Rams’ pass rush. However, I would personally never bet on a contest for which the books have had two full weeks sharpen the line.
If you’re wondering, we’ll be skiing on Sunday. I hope to be back in time for the game, but I want to hit the new(ish) powder at Ski Butternut first, and I expect to see no one in the lift lines.
I talked to my friend Jeff yesterday, and he admitted to having never listened to a podcast. I was astonished because, among many other things, Jeff has been a monster-fan of As For Football.
The podcast is my favorite part!
Anyway, I gave Jeff a short little list of my current-favorite podcasts. The following list is expanded from that conversation. Links are via Overcast, the best podcast app by far because of their “Smart Speed” and “Voice Boost” options. Shows are listed in no particular order.
Five ThirtyEight Politics. Five ThirtyEight is about polling, opinion, and raw governmental power. The hosts tend to be slightly to the left of me personally, but they don’t much talk about the issues themselves. They certainly don’t ever talk about right and wrong. Rather, they spend their time talking about how opinion polling and perception drive the raw forces of government.
If you are the kind of person who enjoys arguing about S&P+, and you follow politics, you’ll like Five ThirtyEight. If you hate math and statistics, this one won’t be for you.
Marketplace with Kai Ryssdal. The daily business and economics show on NPR.
Ross Tucker Football Podcast. My favorite NFL podcast. Tucker is a former NFL O-Lineman and Princeton grad. He’s done color commentary on a few Army games as well.
Even Money. Probably my favorite show of the week. Ross Tucker and betting guru Steve Fezzik talk about the NFL in betting terms, and although I don’t gamble, listening to them has changed the way that I think about and analyze football.
The Pat McAfee Show 2.0. McAfee was the punter for Indianapolis Colts. He’s now a stand-up comic and media personality. His show is hilarious, and he gets great guests, but it’s usually so long that I only listen to about one episode in four.
Acquisitions Incorporated, The Series. This is the original D&D live-play podcast. Shows come out about quarterly, and they are always hysterical.
Alliance Football Podcast. A podcast that covers the nascent Alliance of American Football. I don’t love it, but it’s easily the best source for AAF news.
Pod Save America. Another recent favorite. It’s an entertaining but very liberal take on the news. I really enjoy it despite the fact that I disagree with it about half the time. Strongly recommended.
Talkin’ Yanks. Yankees baseball with Jomboy and his buddy Jake, two hyper-knowledgeable Yankees fans.
Yards and Stripes. Service academy football by a former Navy Football beat writer. He has some great guests, but I confess to fast-forwarding through some of the non-Army stuff. Still, I really enjoy the show.
That’s it! Enjoy the weekend.
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