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Francisco 2.0

Certifiably Surly
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Posts posted by Francisco 2.0

  1. Too bad something like this would never be ran by media.  Then again, the broadcaster probably would get their license yanked by the FCC.

     

     

     

     

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  2. Just now, Orale said:

    Something something bootstraps. 

     

    Truthfully, this article could also have gone in the Leopards thread:

    Quote

    Despite acknowledging that he believes Trump “loves farmers” and is “trying to do what’s right for this country,” he emphasized the need for immediate action: “We gotta make sure that we survive through these tough times.”

     

     

     

     

  3. 5 minutes ago, South Austin said:

    I’m sure Trump called to tell him that he needed to bring up the trans thing.

    Yeah, about that.

     

    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/09/spencer-cox-charlie-kirk-trump/684203/?gift=66OeTwjwIWd7-zlTK2lFDohzXUDY-lzOGGJQa0E0m9g&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

     

    Quote

    Yesterday morning, Governor Spencer Cox stood behind a podium in Orem, Utah, to announce the end of the 34-hour manhunt for Charlie Kirk’s killer, and to plead for peace in a nation that seemed at risk of spiraling into further violence. “To my young friends, you are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage,” he said. “Your generation has an opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now.”

    Shortly after he finished, Cox’s phone rang. The president was calling.

     

     

    Quote

    “You know, the type of person who would do something like that to Charlie Kirk would love to do it to us,” Cox says Trump told him. Trump went on to recite statistics suggesting that the presidency was “one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet.” Fifteen percent of the men who’d held his office had been shot; 8 percent had been killed.

     

    Spoiler

    Cox understood Trump’s concern—after all, the president had narrowly escaped assassination himself just a year earlier. And Kirk’s murder was the latest grim turn in a season of political violence that has terrified America’s elected officials. “People are scared to death in this building,” a member of Congress told NBC News this week. But as Cox and I spoke yesterday evening, he didn’t seem especially focused on his own safety. He had something else on his mind.

    We were talking via Zoom. Cox looked exhausted; he told me he hadn’t slept in 48 hours. And though he was relieved that an arrest had been made, he also seemed unnerved by the alleged killer’s identity: a 22-year-old man who’d grown up in a Mormon family in the southern-Utah town of Washington.

    Cox had admitted in his news conference that he’d been quietly hoping for a different outcome. “I was praying that if this had to happen here that it wouldn’t be one of us—that somebody drove from another state, somebody came from another country,” he’d said. “But it did happen here, and it was one of us.”

    The comment drew some criticism from people who accused him of seeking a politically convenient scapegoat. But I understood what he meant. I was born in Orem, where Kirk’s shooting took place. And though I grew up on the other side of the country, I chose to return to the area after high school, attending college just 15 minutes from the now-infamous campus of Utah Valley University. It is difficult to overstate just how surreal it was to watch the macabre scene—the bullet, the blood, the screams—play out in the heart of a county so cartoonishly friendly and wholesome that Utahns refer to it as “Happy Valley.” For people like Cox, who have devoted themselves to realizing a certain idealized vision of Utah—the city on a hill, the beacon to the world—the assassination had a shattering effect.

    “It does feel like there’s a bit of our innocence lost,” Cox told me last night. “We’re kind of sheltered here in these mountains and these valleys, and we push the world out. But the world is certainly here. It’s at our doorstep.”

    From its inception, Utah has aspired to be a sanctuary from the strife and sin and violence that scarred the rest of the country. The Mormon pioneers who settled the territory had been driven into the desert by a campaign of state-sanctioned persecution, and at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains they set out to build an American Zion. A civilization sprouted; a mythology took root. In 1864, when a writer for The Atlantic visited Utah, he found Brigham Young, the governor and prophet, presenting his state as an idyllic haven from the Civil War. “You find us trying to live peaceably,” Young told the writer. “When your country has become a desolation, we, the saints whom you cast out, will forget all your sins against us, and give you a home.”

    More recently, Utah’s political leaders have sought to position their state as a model of cooperation and consensus-building. “The Utah Way,” they proudly call it. They’ve made headlines with bipartisan compromises on LGBTQ rights, religious freedom, and immigration. In 2023, as the chair of the National Governors Association, Cox launched an initiative he called “Disagree Better,” focused on improving America’s political discourse. Leaders of the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, meanwhile, have oriented much of their preaching in recent years around the Christian call to be peacemakers.

    Cox is the ideal pitchman for this brand of Utah politics—affable and smiley, temperamentally averse to the confrontational style that has taken over so much of politics. “We’re weird,” he declared at his State of the State address last January. “The good kind of weird. The kind of weird the rest of the nation is desperate for right now.”

    The reality, of course, was always more complicated than the picture Cox painted. Utah politics has seen its share of corruption and scandal, of demagogues and frauds. Still, in an era of radicalization, the state’s politics had remained idiosyncratic enough to create space for Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney and Cox—a genteel breed of Republican that had lately become scarce elsewhere. But at some point in the past decade, the sense of hostility and menace that’s bloomed across the country began leaching into Utah.

    In 2021, then-Senator Mitt Romney was booed at a Utah Republican convention with such viciousness that he found himself wondering if he was safe. “There are deranged people among us,” he later told me, noting that, in Utah, “people carry guns.” Last year, when Cox was running for reelection as governor, he received a similar response at the same convention. Dismayed and exasperated, he scolded the jeering members of his party: “Maybe you just hate that I don’t hate enough.”

    As he slogged through a bitter campaign, one marked by conspiracy theories and uncharacteristically heated rhetoric, Cox realized something had changed in his state. “There’s kind of been a breach in the stronghold,” he told me at the time.

    Cox looked for ways to close the breach. He launched “Disagree Better.” He filmed ads alongside his political opponents making earnest appeals for democracy and decency. Convinced that young people in his state were being poisoned by radicalizing content on the internet, he signed a first-in-the-nation law designed to limit children’s access to social media. (Social-media companies sued, so the law, tied up in court, has not gone into effect.) Still, the breach widened. Nothing seemed to reverse the torrent of nasty, feral politics flowing in from the rest of the country.

    Cox told me he had no doubt the alleged shooter’s worldview had been warped in some very dark corners of the internet. And watching the online discourse around Kirk’s murder this week only underscored the damage done by algorithmically incentivized ghoulishness. “Discord, 4chan, Twitter, Bluesky—these things are really hacking our brains and hijacking our agency,” he told me. “The worst of humanity is in our pockets.” Even the most carefully constructed sanctuary can’t withstand an onslaught like the one generated by Silicon Valley.

    And yet, as our conversation wound down, Cox made clear that he wasn’t ready to let go of his Utah exceptionalism. He spoke of candlelight vigils and touching conversations with Democrats who were devastated by Kirk’s death. “Maybe, just maybe, there’s a path forward for our country that comes through the great people of Utah,” he told me. I sympathized with his reaching for optimism. The dream of an American Zion doesn’t easily die.

    In the days since Kirk’s assassination, I’ve found myself repeatedly humming a strange old Mormon-pioneer hymn.

    “In our lovely Deseret, 

    Where the Saints of God have met, 

    There’s a multitude of children all around …”

    Deseret was the name first given to the territory that would become Utah. The word, borrowed from the Book of Mormon, means “honeybee,” and it was meant to convey the pioneer values of hard work and self-reliance. But the name eventually came to evoke the broader vision of Utah’s Zionic ideal—a place of peace and comity, of safety.

    The students who gathered at a campus amphitheater this week to listen and debate and protest—the ones who wound up fleeing in terror as a speaker bled out onstage and a sniper slipped away into the woods—were old enough to no longer be “a multitude of children.” Nor were they likely blind to the problems in their state. But they’d taken for granted that they lived in a place lovely enough to allow for a free exchange of ideas without bullets ripping through the air above their heads.

    That they had to be disabused of that belief is a tragedy. Cox, and all of us, are left clinging to the hope that it’s not a harbinger.

     

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  4. 10 hours ago, Thatguy said:

    Ole buddy wasn't guvment so no can do. Just a podcaster. Had to get his own security

     

    You just wait; before long all of the administration approved podcasters and website folk will have their own 24 hour security, courtesy of ICE or whatever. 

    Trump will sign the EO with lots of flourish and whatnot, touting that these treasures of our country need protection.

     

     

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  5. 5 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

    Watching the video with the corpse and reading the transcript of the speech where people were exhorted to join TPUSA before going to church gives me lots of thoughts.

    Widows and grieving parents need to be extended the utmost grace. I will say that I wish Mrs. Kirk and her family had some spiritual and emotional counselors around them instead of whatever gargoyles associated with her husband helped produce these things. 


    Counterpoint:  those spiritual and emotional counselors around the Kirk family are gargoyles.

     

     

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  6. 1 hour ago, SydneyCarton said:

    So basically it’s a microcosm of the rest of America? 
     

    hopefully they haven’t found a way to ruin sports gambling and Pieros. 

     

    Hate to break it to you, and maybe things won't change, but be prepared:

     

    https://www.pieroscuisine.com/blog/amazing-brands-acquires-pieros

     

    Quote

    Las Vegas Italian restaurant Piero's sold to Pinkbox, Bagelmania owner
    June 13, 2025
    Piero's Italian Cuisine, a Las Vegas dining institution, has been sold to the ownership group behind Pinkbox Doughnuts and Siegel's Bagelmania.

    A publicist said Amazing Brands, led by Stephen Siegel, acquired Piero's from Freddie Glusman.

     

    Quote

    Amazing Brands will take over full operation control, while Glusman will retain an ownership stake and "remain an active presence at the restaurant,"according to the announcement.

    "Piero's isn't just a restaurant—it's part of the fabric of Las Vegas," Siegel saidin a statement. "I'm honored Freddie has entrusted me with this legacy. I’m committed to preserving everything that makes Piero’s—and what Freddie has built—so special: the charm, glamour, atmosphere, and that old-school Vegas experience that’s become so rare."

     

    So, while all the right words and phrases have been uttered, color me skeptical that the purveyor of doughnuts and bagels will keep the legacy of an Italian place alive.  Also, Mr. Glusman is 88, so...not sure how much longer he will be around to remain an "active presence".

     

    And this is unrelated news from April, maybe:

     

    https://www.8newsnow.com/investigators/las-vegas-restaurateur-son-of-pieros-founder-accused-of-loan-fraud-shooting-threat/

     

    Quote

    The son of the owner of prominent Las Vegas restaurant Piero’s Italian Cuisine is accused of taking out an unauthorized loan against the business and then threatening a shooting, according to documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained.

    Evan Glusman, 46, faces charges of making terroristic threats and harassment, records said. He is listed as the operating manager of the restaurant, which his father, Fredrick “Freddie” Glusman, 88, founded in 1982.

     

    Quote

    Piero’s, located on Convention Center Drive near Paradise Road, was featured in the 1995 movie “Casino” and is known as a classic Las Vegas mainstay. Evan Glusman is also a managing partner at Batch Hospitality, a restaurant group, according to its website.

    Last September, Evan Glusman allegedly took out a $1.5 million loan against his father’s business, documents said. Then, in mid-April, Freddie Glusman began receiving phone calls about selling his business. Freddie Glusman later suspended his son’s employment, which made Evan Glusman become “extremely irate at his father’s decision,” documents said.

     

    Quote

    On Friday, April 25, Evan Glusman texted a Piero’s manager, “I hope you realize I’m drinking and I’m going home to get a gun and [expletive] kill them in the middle of Piero’s,” according to documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained.

    Metro officers responded to the restaurant on Convention Center Drive. While there, Evan Glusman called the restaurant to speak with officers, they said.

    Metro’s investigation into the $1.5 million loan was continuing Sunday. Documents reveal investigators suspect “Evan Glusman provided outdated, inaccurate, and/or altered trust documents to the financial institution in support of the loan application, thereby misrepresenting his legal authority over the trust and the property,” documents said.

    Evan Glusman will likely face further charges related to the loan, police said. In another text message about the loan, Evan Glusman told an attorney for his father that he “didn’t do anything wrong,” documents said.

     

  7. 1 hour ago, Bateshorn said:

    This also portends a huge fucking problem for the GOP once he's gone.  It's how this country could swing from Trump to a Mamdani in like 1 or 2 election cycles. 

    And that's why the race is on to completely fuck over future elections in any way, shape or form.

    If it takes masked men holding weapons to keep people from voting, gerrymandering so outrageous that the Supremes give it a thumbs up, or some other method(s) so heinous or not conjured up yet to sway an election, it will happen.

     

     

     

    • Hook 'Em 1
  8. More info on the donor trip to Oregon with the AD

    https://tulsaworld.com/sports/college/osu/article_e5b52d96-8964-4088-bb64-cd601983ff68.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

     

    Quote

    It was a roll of the dice, taking important donors and university personnel to the Pacific Northwest for the Oklahoma State-Oregon football disaster.

    Had the Cowboys played well in a close loss, or played extremely well in an upset victory, this exercise would have been regarded as having been strategically brilliant.

    Instead, there was a 69-3 Cowboy loss, and now there are these questions.

     

    Quote

    Might such a demoralizing outcome have a pronounced and possibly disastrous effect on athletics fund-raising?

    Has Cowboy athletic director Chad Weiberg been working without a contract for two months because he won’t receive a new contract?

    Among donors, does a head-coaching change feel (A) possible, (B) likely or (C) certain?

    From conversations with informed supporters of Oklahoma State University athletics, there are these answers.

     

     

    Spoiler

    Fund-raising: The flow of donations might dry up if OSU doesn’t make leadership changes. Mike Gundy’s approval rating was damaged last November, when he was critical of fans. His 2024 team was 0-9 in the Big 12.

    Gundy’s Cowboys are winless in their last 10 meetings with FBS opponents. In OSU’s last two games against FBS teams – Colorado and Oregon – the combined final score was 121-3.

    Since midseason 2022, the overall Oklahoma State football record is 16-20.

    Weiberg’s contract: The Tulsa World was told weeks ago that the 53-year-old Weiberg would be getting a new contract. His original four-year, $750,000-a-year situation expired on June 30.

    Now, from a different source: “There’s a reason (a new contract) hasn’t gotten done, and that’s because it’s not getting done. I would be surprised if Chad is around to hire a new coach.”

    That second sentence is a spoiler on the third question — the Gundy question: The answer on that one is an emphatic (C) — that the 2025 Cowboys are Gundy’s 21st and final Oklahoma State football team.

    It is said that one donor is ready to deliver a heavy, eight-figure contribution — specifically for football revenue sharing — but not before a coaching change is made.

    For the reasons I shared in the Sunday Tulsa World, there doesn’t seem to be a strong push to fire the 58-year-old Gundy now. It would be pointless. OSU doesn’t have the type of roster that an interim coach could lead to a flurry of great performances and victories.

    And also, of course, Gundy is synonymous with Oklahoma State football.

    For 35 of his 58 years on this planet, Gundy has been a Cowboy football figure: four seasons as a quarterback, six as an assistant coach, four as Les Miles’ offensive coordinator and 21 as the mostly successful and occasionally very successful head man.

    Most donors are fine, I’m told, with letting Gundy finish the season and negotiate a reasonable number on exit money — or stand strong on a demand for the full amount, believed to be about $15 million. Gundy would end his coaching career and begin his television career.

    Again from sources: Within the network of donors, the most talked-about of OSU coaching candidates are 38-year-old Zac Robinson, a former Cowboy quarterback who today coordinates the Atlanta Falcons’ offense; and Todd Monken, who coordinated the Brandon Weeden-Justin Blackmon offense during the 2011 Cowboys’ run to the Big 12 title. The 59-year-old Monken now is the Baltimore Ravens’ offensive coordinator.

    If there is a coaching change, I would nominate Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein as someone who commands attention. He’s a Kentucky native who in 2008-12 was a Louisville quarterback.

    Long before the Ducks’ offense scored eight touchdowns against OSU, Stein was established as a rising star – destined to get a Power Four head-coaching opportunity. He seems to be what many schools want in a head coach: someone who is wired for offense, someone who is young (35) and someone who is polished and does well in media settings.

    Presumably, Stein has Texas connections. As recently as 2019, he coordinated the offense at Lake Travis High School in the Austin area.

    The Oklahoma State athletic director situation is delicate because Weiberg still is recovering from an Aug. 2 open-heart surgery.

    If a change in the AD’s office is inevitable — as has been stated recently by multiple sources — it would happen after Weiberg has more time to get stronger and wrap his mind around the disappointment of losing the No. 1 role in the athletic department of his alma mater.

    And if a Weiberg change happens before the university has identified its next athletic director, is there a chance that former OSU AD Mike Holder might agree to a short-term return to that job?

    Holder is a phenomenal fund-raiser and was the athletic director in 2005-21 — the period during which OSU evolved into a football school.

    It is said that several donors would “heavily” support the hiring of an athletic director, Wren Baker, who currently oversees the athletics operation at West Virginia.

    Baker is a Valliant native who graduated from OSU in 2003, and during his time in Stillwater was a four-year member of the Cowboy basketball program’s support staff.

    Before moving to West Virginia in 2022, Baker was the Rogers State athletic director in 2006-10. He was a deputy AD at Memphis and Missouri before working as the North Texas athletic director in 2016-22.

    Baker is said to have the combination of traditional organizational abilities and fresh ideas on fund-raising and marketing.

    The OSU-Oregon football trip was hosted by Weiberg and OSU President Jim Hess. A group of Board of Regents members and donors boarded a chartered jet and traveled from Stillwater Regional Airport on Thursday. They returned from Eugene on Sunday.

    On Saturday, Weiberg, Hess and their guests were witnesses to one of the worst games in Cowboy program history.

    In this week’s Associated Press poll, the Ducks received one first-place vote. After rolling for 631 total yards and making it look easy against a completely hapless OSU squad, Oregon looked like the best team in college football.

    Oklahoma State’s next game is a home game — a Sept. 19 clash with the University of Tulsa. For Gundy, Weiberg and the whole of the OSU community, it’ll be a sobering Friday night if there are 15,000 empty seats.

     

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