2024 NFL Playoffs: Wildcard (Saturday games)

Los Angeles Chargers (-2-1/2) at Houston Texans: In his debut season as head coach of the Chargers, Jim Harbaugh proves he's still got that ability to elevate a team in short order. In his first season as 49ers coach in 2011, he guided San Francisco to a seven-win improvement over the previous year. With L.A., it was a six-win upgrade over 2023. While stud QB Justin Herbert had another solid year, the Chargers did it with defense this season as they allowed the fewest points in the NFL. 

After a terrific rookie season in 2023, Texans QB C.J. Stroud seems to have endured the ol' sophomore slump in '24. While he wasn't abysmal, he certainly didn't have the same vibe as last year. While their defense overall was pretty solid (#6 in terms of yards allowed), they've looked pretty leaky against upper echelon teams in the second half of the season. 

Los Angeles 21 Houston 16

Pittsburgh Steelers (+8-1/2) at Baltimore Ravens: Thirteen games into the 2024 campaign, the Steelers were riding high at 10-3 with QB Russell Wilson somewhat resembling the perennial Pro Bowl player he was in Seattle. But the Steelers fizzled down the stretch going 0-4 while allowing 27 points per game. Even worse, Wilson reverted to the stiff the Denver Broncos jettisoned after two lackluster seasons. And while RB Najee Harris had another 1,000-yard season, the sledding will be awfully tough against the Ravens' top ranked rush defense. 

After starting 0-2, the Ravens won 12 of their last 15 games to secure another AFC North title. And what a surprise, QB Lamar Jackson has put forth another MVP-caliber season (it'll come down to Jackson, Bills QB Josh Allen or Eagles RB Saquon Barkley). Oh, and more than just Jackson can run the ball as first year Raven Derrick Henry just missed a second career 2,000-yard season by running for 1,921. And this was his ninth season overall. Incredible. 

I believe we're going to see a similar game that occurred in Week 16 when the Ravens pounded the Steelers in a game that basically settled the race in the AFC North.

Baltimore 27 Pittsburgh 13

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Just gonna leave this here

Uber podcaster Joe Rogan left L.A. for Austin, TX a few years ago. There were many reasons for that decision, not the least of which southern Cali was on the verge of collapse economically, socially and naturally. 

The lamenting over California's ill-preparedness with the out of control fires occurring this week in the Pacific Palisades area was actually a first guess as opposed to Monday morning quarterbacking. 

Check out Rogan's prescient statement from six months ago: 

And how 'bout Adam Carolla's testimony before Congress a few years ago? 

California is on fire because of DEI@adamcarolla applied to be a fireman in LA and was told to wait 7 years to test because he’s white

7 years later when he took the test he asked a black women there how long she waited to test. She responded “Wednesday” (less than a week) pic.twitter.com/PZkDyLkHsG

— Pharmwhistleblower (@pharmwhistlblow) January 8, 2025

Will lessons be learned? Well, the entire state of California is under ironclad progressive representation, so to say I'm not terribly optimistic would be the equivalent of saying the Joseph "Elephant Man" Merrick had a slight acne problem. 

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Quick Hits: Volume CCCLXII

 - Minnesota Democrats personify the spoiled child. After getting whatever they wanted for the previous two legislative sessions, they are presently throwing a full-fledged tantrum now that they're no longer getting their way. 

In essence, DFL House members are looking to take their ball and go home. 

House Democrats are mulling not showing up for the first two weeks of the legislative session to prevent the chamber from achieving a 68-member quorum, according to lobbyists who’ve spoken to members and confirmed by two DFL legislative sources. Doing so would effectively shut down the House as Democrats seek to block Republicans from using their temporary, 1-seat advantage to elect a GOP House speaker.

The gambit would attract national media attention and likely lead to a political and legal firestorm.

State Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor leader, declined to comment except to say that House Democrats “want a power sharing agreement we’ve spent 60 days negotiating, and we’d like Republicans to honor their agreement. Sixty-seven is not a majority.”

Leave it to attorney extraordinaire (and my state rep) Harry Niska to throw cold water on that assumption.

Basic legal error here: The Minnesota Constitution does not set 68 as the quorum.

It says “[a] majority of each house constitutes a quorum to transact business.”

On January 14, there will be (at most) 133 members of the Minnesota House, so a quorum is 67 members. https://t.co/6gCp55uJDB

— Rep. Harry Niska (@HarryNiska) January 6, 2025

So if indeed DFLers follow through on their "threat?" 

 

"What if Democrats don't show up on day one?"

Speaker-Designate Demuth: "What I will tell you is that House Republicans will be here on day one and we'll be ready to go to work for the State of Minnesota." pic.twitter.com/a6XSzOTYDe

— MN House GOP War Room (@MNHRCWarRoom) January 6, 2025

Because the Dems needed literally zero GOP input to implement their radical agenda over the past two years, it's almost as if their political acumen "muscle" has completely atrophied. Not sure why they believe this is a smart play politically, but far be it from me to warn them that they're about walk into a buzz saw. 

- Speaking of unearned righteousness.........

 

Democrats to GOP: That's how you certify an election https://t.co/pc64E8Mf8D

— Axios (@axios) January 7, 2025

Uhh.....despite a handful of idiots having a temper tantrum on 1/6/2021, Joe Biden's 2020 victory was ultimately certified by the Vice President on 2020's losing ticket. Now, if you're suggesting that certification should be little more than a rubber stamp, then Democrats have hardly lived up to that standard the over the past 32 years when faced with confirming a GOP victor (See: George W. Bush's 2000 & 2004 victories and Donald Trump's 2016 triumph).

Despite suggestions that Monday's certification was a ho-hum affair, there was actually a history making moment. 

The first woman of color to certify her own election defeat.

Another glass ceiling shattered pic.twitter.com/0k91t18wEe

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 6, 2025

Given what happened four years earlier, a ceremonial shattering of glass might've been too triggering. 

- Over the summer, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave sort of a mea culpa for acquiescing to the Biden administration's demands that Facebook posts which they believed contained "COVID-19 misinformation" be flagged as such. 

Then this week he announced that his company will be taking it a step further. 

Meta will replace its fact checking program with the “community notes” system pioneered by Elon Musk’s X as part of the tech giant’s move to revive free speech on its social media platforms, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday morning.

Over the years, Meta has been found to have engaged in censorship of conservatives at the behest of the Biden administration. The company is now moving away from those dubious practices less than two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The change will affect Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

“We’re gonna get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said in a five-minute video. “More specifically, here’s what we’re going to do. First, we’re going to get rid of fact checkers and replace them with Community Notes similar to X, starting in the U.S.”

Despite progs gaslighting us into thinking that Twitter "X" is dying, the fact of the matter is there's been more engagement there than similar platforms such as Threads as well as the prog safe space cesspool known as Bluesky. And obviously Zuck has noticed the bad rap Facebook has gotten. combined with the fact the Biden administration's desire to regulate social media platforms played no small role in his presidency cratering.

Just as fact checkers were about to awaken from their 4-year slumber, they get hit with this. Ya love to see it. 

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The NARN Closer's playlist - 1/5/2025

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We've got preachers dealing in politics and diamond mines......

Happy New Year!

It's my first broadcast of 2025, and the year is definitely off to a raucous start. I'll be back in the Patriot bunker today for my radio show The Closer. The 2-hour blitz gets started at 1:00 PM Central Time. 

On New Years Day alone, two harrowing terrorist incidents in two different major cities showed just how inept the FBI has become. 

At 1:30, former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Francis Rooney will join the broadcast to discuss what foreign policy should look like in Donald Trump's second presidential term. 

Then at 2:00, MNGOP candidate Paul Wikstrom will join the broadcast to discuss his candidacy in the special election for Minnesota House District 40B (northern Roseville, eastern Shoreview).  

So please call (651) 289-4488 if you'd like to weigh in on any of the topics we plan on addressing.

 

You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 or, if you're near downtown Minneapolis/West Metro area, 107.5 FM on your radio dial. In and out of the Minneapolis-St Paul area you can listen to the program on the Internet by clicking this link, or check us out via iheart radio as well as Amazon Alexa (just say "Alexa, play The Patriot Minneapolis"). If you're unable to tune in live, please check out my podcast page for the latest show post.

And if you're so inclined, follow along on Twitter at #NARNShow or "Like" our Facebook page, where we also conduct a "Live Stream" of the broadcast.

Until then.....

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The Biden admin's parting gifts

The two separate terror incidents which occurred New Years Day (one in New Orleans, LA and the other in Las Vegas, NV) were not committed by "white supremacists," which was the group President Joe Biden and his administration deemed as the country's biggest domestic terror threat. 

First, the horrific incident in New Orleans.

Federal authorities said a Texas man was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that plowed into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans’ French Quarter early Wednesday, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more.

The FBI identified the suspect as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen and Army veteran who lived in north Houston, public records show. After ramming into the crowd, Jabbar crashed the truck and opened fire on police, injuring two officers before he was fatally shot by law enforcement, FBI officials said.

Inside Jabbar’s truck — a Ford pickup that “appears to have been rented” — was an Islamic State flag, weapons and a potential improvised explosive device, according to an FBI statement. The agency said it is investigating the slaughter as “an act of terrorism” and looking into how Jabbar gained possession of the vehicle.

But hey, at least elderly Catholic women who protested outside abortion clinics were safely behind bars. 

And then a massive explosion in Vegas. 

The suspect who rented the Cybertruck that exploded outside of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year's Day has been identified as U.S. Army Master Sgt. Matthew Livelsberger, 37, a Special Operations soldier who was on leave from his base in Germany, investigators said.

After a day of examining the remains found inside the vehicle, the Clark County Coroner confirmed Livelsberger was the driver, the Las Vegas Metro Police Department said. The coroner's office said Livelsberger sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and a handgun was found at his feet.

Seven people suffered minor injuries when the truck, which was filled with fireworks-style mortars and gas canisters, exploded around 8:40 a.m. PT. Investigators believe the explosion was intentional, but hadn't determined a motive, Sherriff Kevin McMahill told reporters at a news conference Thursday.

Emphasis mine. 

Look, I'm all for letting the investigation play out to determine what was going through the perpetrator's mind. But whenever someone kills multiple people with a firearm, fingers are immediately pointed at the gun lobby and Republican members of Congress literally before the bodies of victims are even cold (then the story inevitably disappears, especially when it's a trans person committing the atrocities). Yet when some dude detonates an explosion in front of a property owned by the left and media's (PTR) enemy #1 in a vehicle produced by the company owned by a top Trump surrogate in Elon Musk....well....by golly, let's not get too overzealous in jumping to conclusions here. 

Regardless, I believe Erick is on to something.

It's not unlikely that this Livelsberger fella witnessed the fawning and adulation over a dude literally setting himself on fire while shouting "Free Palestine!" As such, there's a nonzero chance he fashioned himself a martyr. 

While there have been confirmed terror elements which have come across the southern U.S. border during the Biden years, we now have a surge of a more frightening scenario: American citizens vulnerable to radicalization by elements who do not even have to be in the country. Between them and those who stand in solidarity with Hamas, that doesn't bode well for the West's survival. 

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