Just One Thing: Unfortunately one of them had to win
As a Broncos fan it's incumbent on me to dislike the Kansas City Chiefs, and I do. But I was rooting for them (tepidly) during the Super Bowl yesterday because the Philadelphia Eagles have the worst fans in America and I don't want anything good for them. Sadly, one of the teams had to win. And it was the Eagles, in dominant fashion, 40-22, and even that understates the degree of Eagle domination.
I'm not one of these people who spends a ton of time watching and analyzing the incredibly expensive ads that run during the Super Bowl but a listener did send me a compilation of the ads and I have to say the one with David Beckham and Matt Damon is great, and I also really like the Mountain Dew ad with the musician Seal as a singing seal.
And in the second compilation, the cookware ad with Gordon Ramsey is good and you can't go wrong with the Muppets. Finally, I note that Alix Earle's ad for Carl's Jr is, ummm, riveting....
Only biological women in Nike's Super Bowl ad: Nike's Super Bowl Ad Puts Women Athletes Center Stage on a Male-Dominated Field
President Trump, who became the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl, had thoughts about the game and post-game:
.
One More Thing: The Trump pregame interview
It's not the whole interview...the rest runs on Monday on Fox News.
A trade war in earnest
Donald Trump announced Sunday that he would impose 25% tariffs on all imported steel and aluminum. I understand that many Trump supporters say he just uses tariffs as negotiating leverage. I disagree. He's made it clear he actually likes them and continually lies to the nation about who pays them. (We do.)
If he goes ahead with these tariffs, he will kill far more jobs than he will protect...in the myriad businesses, large and small, that use steel and aluminum to make things. If you think the new car or truck you're considering is expensive now, just wait until these tariffs take hold. And, no, the US will not be able to substitute in quality or quantity at anywhere near the same price as our current prices. If they could, they would be doing so already.
Tariffs on goods that are inputs for so many things are poison for the economy. That said, early Monday morning stock futures are looking slightly higher.
I know I sound like a broken record, but tariffs are very harmful to the importing country except for the small number of jobs they "protect". But for some reason everybody wants to pander to steel workers and ignore that there are literally thousands of times more businesses that use steel than that make steel.
Trump says he will announce 25% steel and aluminum tariffs Monday | AP News
I missed this last week: Team Trump realized that their eliminating the de minimis exception on imports is wildly impractical, at least right now. Think, for example, about the $2 package of resistors I just ordered from China. The new 10% tariff on them would have the government collect 20 cents. How much do you think it would cost the government to calculate, invoice, and collect that 20 cents.
Trump pauses tariffs on small packages from China, in win for Shein and Temu
.
Today's Guests
Rick Winer is a psychiatrist and the Broncos road statistician. This year he covered Super Bowl in-game stats for the Chiefs Spanish broadcast for the second year in a row. He has covered many Super Bowls including SB50 for KOA, games for Westwood One, CBS Sports, and other national outlets. We'll discuss the most interesting stats from the Super Bowl.
.
Augustine Sedgewick is an author including of "Coffeeland", which I just read. Because I'm pitched so many new books, I rarely read older books but my wife recommended Coffeeland and I recommend it to you. It's a fascinating story of culture, capitalism, and coffee.
He earned his doctorate at Harvard University, and his research covers the global history of capitalism, work, food, family, and masculinity.
Here's the book link. (It's my Amazon Associates link so I make a little bit of money if you buy with my link rather than the regular Amazon link): Coffeeland: One Man's Dark Empire and the Making of Our Favorite Drug
He has another book coming out in just a few months: Fatherhood: A History of Love and Power: Sedgewick, Augustine: 9781668046296: Amazon.com: Books
.
Other Stuff
A wonderful read, even the day after the Super Bowl: Things Worth Remembering: ‘A Game Most Like Life’ (by Charles Lane for The Free Press)
.
DeepSeek likely spent 100x more to develop its AI than original reports suggested: DeepSeek Debates: Chinese Leadership On Cost, True Training Cost, Closed Model Margin Impacts – SemiAnalysis
.
2030 will be here sooner than you think (or at least it will feel that way): Denver Broncos president says "all options" available for stadium - Axios Denver
.
A truly terrible story despite the hostage coming out of Gaza alive: Heartbreaking – Eli Sharabi, recently freed from Hamas captivity discovers wife, daughters, and brother were killed by Hamas, he didn’t know until his release | All Israel News
.
An interesting take on Elon Musk's young geniuses taking on the bureaucracy, and the Trump team's much better preparation for 2025 than for 2017: OVERRIDE - EKO LOVES YOU
.
I hope this college loses bigly and, more importantly, I hope they and other colleges do better in protecting Jewish students...and all students: Judge denies attempt to block Jewish students’ lawsuit over violent campus protest - The Jewish Chronicle - The Jewish Chronicle
.
This is fabulous: The systemic racism of Colorado transit policy | CALDARA | Columns | denvergazette.com
.
More interesting than most proposed firearms-related legislation from CO Dems: Colorado is likely to create "do not sell" registry to prevent suicides by firearm - The Colorado Sun
Voluntary Do-Not-Sell Firearms Waiver | Colorado General Assembly
.
I hope so...this is long overdue: Could This Administration Kill the Penny
Great article: America Must Free Itself from the Tyranny of the Penny - The New York Times
.
He's still got it: LeBron James Becomes Oldest NBA Player to Score 40
.
I won't reflexively say this is a waste of money...but I do wonder if anyone in Team Trump knew about it and approved it: Exclusive: Secret Service airing recruitment ad from Hollywood director Michael Bay during Super Bowl | CNN Politics
About the ad:
And here's the ad:
A modest proposal from some folks in Denmark:
.
I sure hope it's really "RIP, CFPB": CFPB to Close Office After Vought Tells Staff to Halt All Supervision - WSJ
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau staff to work remotely, HQ shuttered
.
Somewhat related: DOGE's next target revealed after $59 million spent to put illegal migrants in luxury hotels | Daily Mail Online
.
Decent read: Defending USAID Is Political Suicide for Democrats
.
Will they or won't they? The Tivoli taphouse on Auraria has been closed since December, but a new lease is in the works
.
Couldn't do this housing stuff in the US, but having seen what it did in Europe I don't think it's bad policy in some places. I mean, even in the US we have Dearborn(istan), Michigan. But the US is so big that having those kinds of at least somewhat unassimilated enclaves isn't disastrous. In a small country, the effects are much larger: Denmark’s ‘zero refugee’ policy drives down asylum admissions to record low
.
Just one case, but a funny one: Albanian criminal's deportation halted over son's distaste for chicken nuggets
.
The best story of the day: These eager beavers saved the Czech government $1.2 million
Beavers Take 2 Days to Build Dams The Government Had Been Planning for 7 Years
.
Today's Videos
Ice, Ice, baby!
No such thing as privacy