Monday, February 13, 2023

Quick Hits: Volume CCCIII

 - So there have been four objects shot down over American airspace in about a month's time. The initial object was a "spy balloon" deployed by China. It was allowed to fly across literally the entire U.S. before being shot down over the Atlantic Ocean. 


Fast forward to this past weekend, and we're shooting down objects immediately upon being detected via radar. Conservative commentator Erick Erickson ponders why the change in philosophy.


What changed? One of two things.

It could be that they are doing it because of public perception and knowledge. The government changing how it handles things because the public might not like its prior response is a bad thing. Either the balloons were worthy of spending a stinger missile on them or not. That’s bad form.

Or, it could be that we now know what is on the balloons and what they are carrying has provoked a heightened national security response. That such an escalated response has not come with sanctions, etc., against China would also be deeply troubling.

Either way, the Biden Administration has botched this.


But is China responsible for the increase in quantity of these literal UFOs? Not necessarily.





Regardless, none of these scenarios is providing great comfort at this point, especially due to the woeful lack of transparency from our government. 



- I definitely applaud the creativity of my fellow Minnesotans when the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT) held a contest to name some of its snow plows. 


The winners:   





And would you believe this elicited a response from mega pop star Lizzo???


  



This also had to be a nice change of pace for the Twin Cities media in that they didn't have to do their normal contortions to unearth a local angle in a story. 



- In what was the third highest scoring Super Bowl of all time, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 on Sunday evening. It was the Chiefs' second title over the past four years. 


When quarterback Tom Brady retired a couple of weeks ago, I said the only modern day QB who could possibly eclipse all his records (i.e. career pass yards, career touchdown passes and most Super Bowl titles) is the Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes. 


While I'm still skeptical that Mahomes will usurp Brady in any of those categories, I certainly wouldn't bet my house that he absolutely won't. I mean, just look at the beginning of his career. In his five seasons as a starter, Mahomes has reached the AFC title game all five years, while appearing in three Super Bowl and winning two (named MVP in both games). He has also won two NFL Most Valuable Players awards. 


Some people are already willing to crown Mahomes the G.O.A.T., but I think that's premature. That said, if one were to suggest he has the most complete skill set of any QB who has ever played the game? Given he played 10 of KC's 12 quarters in the 2022 postseason with an ankle injury that typically requires multiple weeks to heal, you're not going to get a lot of pushback from me. 


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