Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Tom Brady’s Disappointment Easily Explained

Posted: November 21, 2019 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Why don’t we just kick the field goal?…40 yarder and the game’s over. 

Tom Brady to Bill Belichick Superbowl LIII

Everyone in the sports world seems to want to psychoanalyze Tom Brady’s disappointment in the play of the offense after their 17-10 win over the Eagles last week and are all reading a million things into it when it all boils down to simple offensive math. Plus Nine.

If you hold a lead of 9 points or more, then as an offense you have more room for risk. You can try a running play or a short pass that consumes time simply for the sake of clock management, or risk a pass play to a receiver who is less sure or reliable because you don’t risk losing the lead,

With such a lead the need for opposing defense to recover the ball or generate a score is large and gains urgency as the game continues. Such a lead forces a defense to take risks that might turn one of those short time consuming plays into a big score.

Finally with such a lead even if the ball is turned over due to an interception or a punt the need to score twice forces an offence into situations that favors your defense and if worst comes to worse and they score anyway after the ensuing kickoff your offense in general and the Quarterback in particular still has control their own destiny.

If however your lead is 8 or less then any mistake has the potential of costing you the lead. If you throw into coverage the ball is intercepted the ball can at worst be run back for a lead changing score and at best gives the ball back to the other side with a chance to take the lead or win the game while you have to sit on the bench, completely helpless relying on your defense to make the stop.

Brady isn’t frustrated because of ego, he’s not frustrated because he wants to be the star, he’s frustrated because he knows what it’s like to sit on a bench and watch a game slip away due to a mistake (think Miami miracle) , or an impossible catch. (think Superbowl XLII) or even just an offense on a roll (Superbowl LII). Sure your defense might hold like last week against the Eagles or even make an impossible play to preserve the win (think Superbowl XLIX).

It’s not that he doesn’t have trust in his defense, he’s frustrated because the offense, his offense, is placing a burden on the defense that has the potential to cost them wins in the short run and a championship in the long run and he takes that responsibility seriously.

If you doubt this for one moment compare the reaction of Tom Brady after he put up spectacular MVP class numbers while losing Superbowl 52

And his reaction after being held to 13 points and one touchdown in winning Superbowl 53

This isn’t about ego, it’s not about money, it’s not about a contract. Tom Brady wants to win. That what it’s all about.

To say “Robert Spencer Nails It” is a rather redundant thing as he has made a career of “Nailing it” when it comes to Islam but if you read only one paragraph this month from him, this is it

What is noteworthy also about The History of Jihad is something that it does not contain. As the jihadis move against non-Muslim states without any letup, pause, period of coexistence, period of tolerance, reformation, or reconsideration, there never appears any force of Muslims to oppose them. While it is undoubtedly true that not all Muslims in any given age have ever waged jihad, there has never been in Islamic history an Islamic entity or organization that was opposed to waging jihad and dedicated to stopping those who were waging it.

In fairness for a Muslim to oppose these things would likely prove hazardous to their health and the health of their immediate family.


On hearing the Chick-Fil-A had decided to cut off the Salvation Army at a time when the left is going after them I tweeted my displeasure along with many other conservatives. Chick-Fil-A insists that they are simply refocusing their giving, but some are suspicious. Steven Kruiser explains why:

Many conservatives remained unmoved because, while Chick-fil-A said donating money to help homelessness, they had cut off funding to the Salvation Army, which is huge, nationwide, and helps the homeless. It seemed to them that the move was made purely due to Salvation Army’s stance on LGBTQ issues.
There are any number of reasons that Chick-fil-A could have for cutting ties with the Salvation Army. We will only know if this was truly a capitulation to the rabid wokesters when we see who the company gives money to going forward.

The irony of course is that the primary reason that Chick-Fil-A’s incredible growth over the last few years to this point was because it was a delicious way to hit back in the culture wars. And they should know that if you pay the danegeld you never get rid of the dane. So until I know for sure which way their wind is blowing, I’ll stick to the better tasting Wendy’s Chicken sandwich, although I’ll miss their 1st rate soup until they do


Like Robert Spencer Byron York regularly nails it and his explanation as to why the Democrats have been very careful to shut down GOP members who has difficult questions at the impeachment hearings is spot on:

Should the whistleblower have connections to prominent Democrats, exposure of his identity could be embarrassing to the party. And perhaps most of all, reading through the impeachment investigation depositions that have been released so far, it’s clear that cutting off questions that could possibly relate to the whistleblower has also allowed Democrats to shut off any look at how the Trump-Ukraine investigation started. Who was involved? What actions did they take? Why did some government employees think President Trump’s July 25 call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky represented a lost opportunity, or poor judgment, while others thought it represented wrongdoing requiring congressional investigation?
Democrats do not want the public to know. And in that, their position is familiar to anyone who has watched Washington for the last two years: The Democrats’ determination to cut off questions about the origins of the Trump-Ukraine investigation is strikingly similar to their determination to cut off questions about the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation. In both cases, they fought hard to keep secret the origins of investigations that have shaken the nation, deeply divided the electorate, and affected the future of the presidency.

I think Glenn Reynolds has been right from day one. The entire impeachment farce is not about getting rid of Trump but about forestalling any investigation of their activities to keep him from being elected.


Jazz Shaw did not explicitly quote any of DaTechGuy’s Laws of Media Outrage in this piece on a Mass shooting in California but all those principles are there when he notes how fast it went down the memory hole:

 this mass shooting is uninteresting to much of the media because it fails all the normal tests and doesn’t fit in with the narrative. Had the men at least been using “assault rifles” they might have merited a bit more coverage. But those events are vanishingly rare because most gang members are well aware that it’s tough to hide a long gun when walking down the street to attack someone or while fleeing the scene afterward.
Further, if initial reports prove accurate, this was an incident of adult Asian people shooting other adult Asian people. And most of the press has about as much interest in that story as one where black gang members are shooting other black people. In short… basically none. It’s reminiscent of 
the Bunny Friend Park shooting in New Orleans back in 2015. It was the second-largest mass shooting of the year in the United States.
Seventeen people were shot in the middle of a public festival but if you didn’t live in New Orleans or subscribe to the Times-Picayune, you probably never heard about it. Why? Because it was two rival gangs composed primarily of African-Americans settling a turf war. Unfortunately, they were such poor marksmen that almost all of the victims were bystanders, including a young boy who was shot through the spine and will likely spend his life in a wheelchair.

Unless the right people are shooting or being shot the media has no interest in mass shootings, period!


Finally if you want to know what impeachment is you won’t do better than Rep Devin Nunes

“But if the Democrats in the media are suddenly so deeply concerned about bribery, you would think they would take some interest in Burisma paying Hunter Biden $83,000 a month. And you think they would be interested in Joe Biden threatening to withhold U.S. loan guarantees unless the Ukrainians fired a prosecutor who was investigating Burisma. That would be a textbook example of bribery. The media, of course, are free to act as Democrat puppets and they’re free to lurch from the Russia hoax to the Ukraine hoax at the direction of their puppet masters. But they cannot reasonably expect to do so without alienating half the country who voted for the president they’re trying to expel. Americans have learned to recognize fake news when they see it. And if the mainstream press won’t give it to them straight, they’ll go elsewhere to find it, which is exactly what the American people are doing.”

This is why most people actually seek political power, to get those perks

By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – I saw a meme on social media Sunday morning:  “Waiting for election results is like waiting for a grade on a group project. I know I did my part right but I’m scared the rest of you screwed it up.”

Well, they did.

We’ve got four more years of John Bel Edwards. Pete wrote about this yesterday.  It’s true, as he says, that Edwards is a pro-life Democrat and to a state that is heavily Catholic, especially in the southern regions, that matters.

However, I’d hardly say that his re-election is a mandate. The race was very close and for a lot of us who would like to see business returning to Louisiana, this is not really good news. It means:

Four more years of high taxes.

Four more years of trial lawyers running businesses out of the state.

Four more years of last-in-everything.

Four more years of shackles on the oil and gas industry.

Four more years of decline.

The race was close: Edwards received 774,469 votes and Rispone received 734,128, giving Edwards about 51% of the vote. Voter turnout was about 50% and it is worth noting that Orleans Parish went 90% for Edwards. 

The days leading up to the election were insane: Donald Trump lobbied throughout Louisiana for Eddie Rispone and his rallies drew literally thousands. In the Shreveport/Bossier City area here in northwest Louisiana, Trump visited on Thursday, before the Saturday election.

Interestingly, just days before Trump’s visit, the Shreveport mayor Adrian Perkins (D) issued a “stand-down” order, telling Shreveport police and fire responders to offer no assistance to the security of the President during his visit. Shreveport’s first responders had been in planning meetings and had assignments to assist Bossier City (we are divided only by a river). This stand-down order met with a backlash against Mayor Perkins that resulted in a local defeat of the Mayor’s bond election that was also on the ballot.

The only good news here is that this runoff election granted Louisiana Republicans a supermajority in both the House and Senate, and so Edwards will have a tougher time this term.

Looking at the numbers, it is interesting to consider for example that voters reinstated the Republican Secretary of State overwhelmingly over the Democrat candidate (59% to 40%), but only 51% of those same voters went for Edwards.

I think a lot of the problem for Republicans in this election can be placed on two things: a lot of people see Edwards as just moderate enough that they can take him. The second thing is that Republicans just did not offer up a top tier candidate. Rispone’s name recognition was zero coming into this election and he had no political experience. He’d just made lots of money in the private sector. He knows business and he touted himself as the Louisiana Donald Trump.

If Senator John Kennedy had run, we might be having a very different conversation right now.

Pat Austin blogs at And So it Goes in Shreveport and is the author of Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation. Follow her on Instagram @patbecker25 and Twitter @paustin110.

Hospital pricing, from MSNBC

Going to a hospital is stressful. People generally go that are sick and want to get better. But even if you do, getting the bill in the mail a few days later can often send a shock to your system. After Rebecca died, I did get the final bill (that my insurance gratefully paid for), and the total was almost $100,000. Paying that out of pocket would have been pretty tough.

A little while back, I was visiting friends and one of them told me she had finally paid off the hospital fees associated with her little girl. It was shocking to me, since I’m blessed to have insurance and because her girl was two years old. But her insurance didn’t do a great job of detailing out-of-pocket expenses, so she and her husband got a bill that they just couldn’t pay in one chunk.

Thus, I was really happy to hear the news that President Trump pushed for price transparency rules that require hospitals to post prices. Initiatives like this have been moving forward before with varying degrees of success. Not surprisingly, hospitals and insurance companies are pushing back, but that’s no surprise. Every time an organization can hide their cost model it doesn’t benefit the consumer. Banks were like this years ago, and I’d argue social media sites are in this category now.

The more we learn about how hospitals charge people, the more people will shop around for routine procedures and force larger hospitals to embrace change. The only place this works now is in elective surgery. You can in fact shop around for LASIK eye surgery, and that has kept the surgery within grasp of most Americans, even ones without health insurance. As that same level of transparency gets applied to other areas of health care, we’re going to get better pricing, and stop saddling people with huge hospital debt.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.