Tues Blogcast: KT McFarland; Chris Stirewalt; Glad it wasn't me

Broncos win on Bills repeated errors

The look on Peyton Manning's face is priceless: ManningCast reacts to WILD finish to Broncos vs. Bills | Monday night Football with Peyton & Eli - YouTube

Denver Broncos vs. Buffalo Bills NFL game story | 9news.com

I note that the Broncos kicking game has some serious work to do. Without the boneheaded Bills penalty that allowed Wil Lutz to rekick the ultimate game-winner, the Broncos would have lost due to missing two extra points after TDs (one of which was Lutz's fault and one of which was the holder, punter Riley Dixon's, fault) and missing a 41-yard field goal. Even though at the end, Lutz was the hero, the Broncos should have been up by 1, not down by 1, as time was running out. (Yes, that assumes that the Bills would not have gone for 2 on their last TD, which they would have, so really it should have been either a tie or Broncos up by 2 as time ran out.)

Still, this is why the game is actually played...and boy was that a thriller.

Also have to give Russell Wilson for making some big big plays at key moments. He's playing soooooo much better than last year.

Just One Thing: Can they keep gov't open?

Just so we're clear, all else being equal I'd be happy to have plenty of government closed. We do need an operational military right now, though, and intelligence services.

The problem is that federal employees who don't get paid during a shut down get all the money anyway later and it costs more to process the payments. It's also very disruptive to contractors who weren't at fault in causing a shutdown. So a shutdown doesn't end up being a cost savings or really have any other good outcome. Which makes it even tougher for a fiscal hawk like me to say "just shut (some of) it down."

I prefer the accidental "sequestration" that happened during the Obama years. That was the closest thing to fiscal responsibility that our federal gov't has seen in a long time. And it only happened because the GOP called Jack Lew's (former Obama Treasury Secretary) bluff.

Anyway: There’s a significant test coming up for the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, as far as passing appropriations bills that keep the government open. On the one hand our government spending is so insanely high as to be a political and economic sin committed against our children. On the other hand, Democrats control the Senate and the White House and on this subject they are perpetual sinners. With a tiny majority, Johnson has little wiggle room and some hardcore spending-cutters likely won’t support his proposal. They’re right on the merits but they’re acting as if they have leverage that they don’t have. Then the question is will Democratic leadership let enough Dems vote for the bill to prevent a shutdown. I suspect the answer is yes, but it’s a very close call.

With GOP opposition, Speaker Mike Johnson would need Democratic votes to pass plan to avert shutdown - ABC News

Speaker Johnson faces balancing act to avoid shutdown | The Hill

Jeffries suggests Democrats could support GOP stopgap funding bill | The Hill

One More Thing: Congrats to these resilient kids

Vowing to “do it for the city,” Lewiston soccer team wins state title weeks after mass shooting | AP News

Today's Guests

KT McFarland served as Deputy National Security Advisor in the Trump administration. She's been a fixture in American foreign policy within and outside of government for decades. And she's a very very nice person.

http://ktmcfarland.com

p.s. My blog picture today is from the war in Ukraine, which the US would do well not to forget about.

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Sam Bousfield returns to KOA. He's CEO of Samson Sky and designer of their Switchblade flying car which just made its first official flight!

Samson Sky | Switchblade Flying Sports Car

SWITCHBLADE FLYING SPORTS CAR MAKES HER OFFICIAL FIRST FLIGHT - Samson Sky

Other Stuff

It's the return of the left's "mostly peaceful protests"!

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I don't generally cheer for people to lose money but sometimes lessons need to be painful to be learned. A big part of the problem with the expensive lesson being learned by investors in "renewable energy" companies, who have gotten absolutely wrecked in recent months, is that the government never learns the lesson no matter how much of our money and our children's future earnings they flush down the toilet in search of unicorn-powered energy and virtue-signaling.

Take a look at the financial destruction:

The Alt-Energy Bloodbath In 10 Charts - Robert Bryce (substack.com)

The good news is that government usually tries to do these things in "public-private partnerships" and at least for a while it will be all but impossible to find a private-sector partner.

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I owe you these from yesterday:

There's a lot of money in sex: How OnlyFans top earner Bryce Adams makes millions selling a sex fantasy - Washington Post

LEGALIZE IT: Brothels serviced politicians, tech and pharma execs, military: Feds (cnbc.com)

US says prostitution ring counted politicians, tech execs, lawyers as clients | Reuters

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MTG is mostly a fool but she's right about this: House shelves Greene’s resolution to impeach Mayorkas | The Hill

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Is it a bad movie or is the genre getting tired? Disney's "The Marvels" flops at box office (axios.com)

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And yet whenever I go to a restaurant, at least one that is popular, they’re as full as ever. The average hamburger in Colorado now costs $15. Here’s why. (coloradosun.com)

I note this line: "For restaurants to make the same margin on burgers that they did in 2020, they’d have to charge $22."