The Broncos win a stunner...and lose Bo Nix
I was working a sideline microphone for KOA on Saturday's incredible Broncos win against the Buffalo Bills. Truth be told, the Bills outplayed the Broncos in almost every aspect of the game except for turnovers. And even with 5 turnovers, the Bills almost won and probably should have. But "should have" is not how these things work and, with a truly incredible overtime interception by Ja'Quan McMillan (that Bills fans think was a catch, but if you read the rule and understand that the Bills receiver, Cooks, did not "complete the catch" and therefore can lose possession of the ball when he hits the ground), stole a shocker from Josh Allen and the Bills.
I can't embed this video but for a fuller discussion of the rule, watch this: NFL rules analyst Walt Anderson breaks down controversial ruling on Ja'Quan McMillian's INT on Brandin Cooks 'NFL GameDay Morning'
The stadium went nuts. Denver was electric. We were all on a Broncos high. And then as I was listening to Ryan Edwards on KOA as I was driving home, he interrupted the celebration to share the news: On one of the last plays of the game, Broncos QB Bo Nix broke a bone in his ankle, will have surgery on Tuesday, and is out for the rest of the season. Backup QB Jarrett Stidham who seems like an able backup but hasn't thrown a pass in a regular season game in two years will start for Denver on Sunday as they play the New England Patriots (who defeat the Houston Texans) at 1 PM at Empower Field at Mile High.
A few relevant videos:
Marvin Mims also had an incredible catch near the end of regulation that could have been the winning score had the Bills not driven down the field for a tying field goal. Mims, along with Courtland Sutton and Liljordan Humphrey had to play most of the game with very little rest after Broncos' wide receivers Pat Bryant and Troy Franklin went out with injuries in the first quarter.
Admire the fine camera work on this one!
Shortly after the Patriots won (with the Texans' CJ Stroud having an even worse game than Josh Allen did), I checked the betting line and saw the Patriots a 5.5-point favorite against the Broncos. That sounds about right, even with the Broncos' great defense and even playing at home, given the QB situation. A lot of folks are hoping that "Stiddy" will become the Broncos' Nick Foles.
Now the Broncos' third-string quarterback, Sam Ehlinger, moves up to next-in-line and the Broncos signed Ben DiNucci as their emergency backup.
Just One Thing: MLK Day
I (and most other KOA folks) are working today. I'm not making a statement of opposition to MLK day as a holiday; I think MLK deserves a holiday. I just don't need a day off less than three weeks after a Christmas and New Year vacation.
The Denver "Marade" (march and parade) is today: Marade Information
A little history: The 15 Year Battle for Martin Luther King Jr. Day | National Museum of African American History and Culture
What to Know About M.L.K. Day - The New York Times
I think that charges of racism against Donald Trump come too easily to the mouths of his political opponents but it's hard to see this decision as not being motivated by racial animus, especially as the National Park Service maintains "Flag Day" which just so happens to be Donald Trump's birthday, as a free-entrance day: No more free entry to national parks. How Trump changed MLK Day
We may talk about race relations a little today. Polling is all over the map though one consistent theme is that almost all Democrats believe that there is some or a lot of discrimination against blacks, Hispanics, and, to a slightly lesser degree, Asians. A small majority of Republicans, and less than a quarter of Democrats, beleive there is some or a lot of discrimination against white people. (That all according to Pew Research: Views of how much discrimination racial and ethnic groups face in the US | Pew Research Center)
Gallup's results are similar but they represent the answers based on the race, rather than the political party, of the respondent: Steady 64% Say Racism Against Black People Widespread in U.S. It is generally unwise to try to blend results of two different polls that talked to different people and asked slightly different questions but I will note that IF you could directly compare the Gallup and Pew polls, it would suggest that a higher percentage of Democrats than of black people believe there is significant discrimination against black people in the US right now which, if you assume that the vast majority of blacks are Democrats, would mean that a massive percentage of white Democrats believe that. As for me, I do believe there's occasional discrimination against blacks and Hispanics though, fortunately, far less than there used to be. I also believe that I'm just guessing because these questions are far outside of my actual experience. As for the question of discrimination against white people, I do believe it exists but in a very different way in that I think discrimination against whites exists primarily in liberal institutions like colleges but has also poked its head up in hiring practices in a few places that took "DEI" much too far. Thus, where anti-white discrimination exists, it's every bit as bad as anti-anybody-else discrimination, but it's not as generally widespread and perhaps not as specifically focused on (not) hiring as discrimination against non-whites.
And, again, I stipulate that none of this is within my own "lived experience" but rather based on how I interpret the news of the past few years.
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Today's Guests
We'll be joined over the course of the show by KOA's Broncos broadcast team of Dave Logan, Rick Lewis, and sideline reporter Susie Wargin.
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Other Stuff
Oh, the benefits of "restorative justice": Newly elected Aurora Councilmember Rob Andrews faces DUI charge, pledges accountability - Sentinel Colorado
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President Trump threatens to punish Americans by raising the cost of things we might want to buy from Europe. He thinks it's just punishing Europe. In any case, the excuse this time is that he wants the US to own or control Greenland and he's in no mood to have a discussion about it.
Now, it's easy (and correct) to criticize Trump for even momentarily considering US military action to capture Greenland. But not enough people are talking about the fact that as a national security matter, the disposition of Greenland or, more specifically, of the US's ability to project power into the Arctic from Greenland, is a real and important issue. Trump isn't wrong that having that ability would be important for American security and for Europe's.
I also note that while Greenland has kinda sorta been "European" as a territory of Denmark for a long time, geographically it's about the same distance from the northeastern United States and much close to northeastern Canada. In short, it's really part of North America more than of Europe, which may be another reason Trump seems rather obsessed with it.
This is a decent short explainer: Why is there so much international interest in Greenland?
I'm not sure why Trump has used language about "giving back" Greenland, which was never under American authority.
Trump functions, when he can, like a bully. And, frankly, when the US can get away with it and it's in our national interest, that might be the right way to play it. But it's the wrong way here. Sure, he can be aggressive but implying the possibility of military action and just trying to push around all of NATO is a bad and unnecessary approach. Yeah, maybe he's blustering to set up a negotiating position where he can, as the Russians often do, escalate to de-escalate. In fact, I suspect that's what's going on. But it's one thing to take on one European country at a time. It's enough thing to infuriate all of NATO at once.
Trump’s Dangerous Greenland Game - by The Editors
Europe preps retaliatory tariffs over Trump Greenland threat—report
'Dangerous downward spiral.' NATO allies bash Trump's Greenland tariffs
I suspect these tariffs will either never come into force or won't last long. In the meantime it will be interesting to see how the markets react to Europe talking about delaying ratification of a trade agreement with the US. If that happens, everybody loses.
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Meanwhile, the other place Trump is thinking of sending in the military is...Minnesota. He's backed down a bit in recent days saying he doesn't think he currently needs to invoke the Insurrection Act but will do so if he thinks it's necessary. If so, it would raise the chances of his being impeached as soon as the Dems take control of the House (probably a year from now), massively, though that's not the most important thing at this point.
I continue to feel as if I live in a political world with almost no good guys. In this case, Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller are malign figures, and so are the Minneapolis protesters and so, especially, are the governor of Minnesota (Tim Walz) and the mayor of Minneapolis (Jacob Frey).
In the meantime, it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the massive fraud(s) having been committed in Minnesota for years. Frauds that were suspected and should have been found and stopped years ago. I believe they weren’t because Democrats didn’t want to upset what has become an important voting bloc in their state. That in itself strikes me as a problem.
Chaos in Minnesota - Christopher F. Rufo
Look how long this has been known: A timeline of fraud investigations that shaped Gov. Tim Walz's tenure | MPR News
The ‘Insurrection’ Actors of Minneapolis - WSJ
1,500 soldiers placed on standby for possible deployment to Minneapolis
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I like this but I also think it's a bit annoying to see the House working on this stuff when there are much bigger issues. Maybe it's just that it's impossible to make progress on important things so they're just doing something: House passes bill to codify Trump order on showerhead regulations
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Is there any real value in a major like "Gender Studies"? (The answer is "not just no, but hell no"): Nearly 80% of grades handed out at Yale are A's, study shows
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Secondary effects of economic issues can be very interesting. This makes a lot of sense: What mortgage rates have to do with shrinking backyards - The Washington Post
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Hard to imagine foul play, but in any case it's a bummer: Denver Zoo investigating Malayan tapir deaths - Denver Gazette
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AI is impacting jobs but not as much (yet) or as badly (yet) as some have feared:
5 signs that AI job destruction is bearing down
Anthropic study: AI isn't killing our jobs. It's changing them instead
Exclusive: Global trust data finds our shared reality is collapsing
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Is it important to you if your Broncos jersey is real and licensed? I'm kinda torn on this question but surprisingly I think the answer for me is probably "yes". I wonder if this is like a woman carrying a fake Louis Vuitton or Chanel or Fendi handbag versus a real one. You tell me...
Fans warned about counterfeit NFL gear as playoffs heat up
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I had this last week but hope to get to it today: Prehistoric discoveries beneath a US lake found to be older than Egypt's Great Pyramid | Daily Mail Online
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A cool nerdy story: What a Wolf Pup’s Stomach Revealed About the Woolly Rhino’s Extinction - The New York Times
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Today's Videos
I guess this is how these turbines kill so many birds. Separately, that's a great throw.
I'm not sure if this is funny but the AI dancing Tim Walz is...