Leave Me Alone

May 21 is Buffalo’s primary holiday.  It shouldn’t keep featuring this much apprehension.  A citywide party for Josh Allen’s 30th birthday wasn’t the landmark event we pictured.  The lack of cake and streamers reflects his employer.  Aspiring celebrants hope we won’t again be trying to determine how to fix the roster after he turns 31.  I just wonder if there’s a way to learn what could help him like a super receiving corps.

Refusal to give the best chance the Buffalo Bills will ever have necessary resources is a principle of sorts.  Barry Sanders learned patience while seeking gaps by waiting for the Lions to draft offensive linemen.  Josh has waited without groaning for so long that he makes the legendarily evasive rusher look like he’s yelling at a bus to hurry.

Brandon Beane conducts business as if he resents the sole reason he’s not scouting for Cleveland.  Those mean fans claim he’s a one-pick wonder, and he’ll show them.  The confounding lack of support for the biggest asset is a trend to the point it’s up to him to prove he can reverse it.

Radiating cockiness is even more off-putting when paired with his obliviousness.  Usually, the quarterback flaunts his ego and not the general manager.  But the Bills innovate.  It’s one thing to yell at players screwing up games in real time while facing pressure from virtually superhuman foes.  It’s another to watch a general manager infuriatingly bungle an offseason where he’s granted months to ponder exactly what workers he should hire.

Allen covering up mistakes is franchise policy.  It may not explicitly be their official mission statement.  But improvisation defines the situation.  It feels like he’ll do something that seemingly defies physics to the point that people have become accustomed to magic.  The Bills are set up in the same way Frank Reynolds bails out the gang, and we shouldn’t want to imitate Eagles fans.

A most valuable player award is a slight against the rest of the roster.  It’s a statement that the winner is singlehandedly responsible for success more than any other player.  The Dominik Hasek-era Sabres teams were often maligned as a one-man show.  His contemporary Buffalo counterpart knows the feeling.  Josh covers up the front office’s shortcomings.

A cessation of nonsense seems obvious.  But organizations must decide to do so.  The Bills need a Lou Saban figure who makes it clear it’s time to quit fooling around.  The figurative leader doesn’t need to issue cage face masks to receivers.  In fact, I think they’re already equipped with suitably modern protective equipment.  The specifics are less important than the mentality.  It doesn’t even need to be the coach.  Every Bills fan is waiting to see if Joe Brady is able to reverse trends.  But promoting from within seems like it would preserve them.

The Bills are astoundingly casual with finding a bottle containing a genie.  They’re running out of wishes.  A football club shouldn’t find it hard to realize they must hurry.  They could pretend they’re playing some sort of game with a ticking clock where they must get certain tasks done.

They don’t have to head back through their own franchise history.  There’s a present Buffalo precedent from a different team that remarkably reversed its fortunes.  Jarmo Kekäläinen makes holding down the key to find the letter a with an umlaut even more fun.  Restoring order starts with establishing accountability.  Installing the simple mentality of no longer tolerating nonchalance spurred advancement.

The franchise needs an owner with an active mentality and plan for advancement.  So, please contact anyone you know who might fit that bill and ask if they’d like to buy a team.  Counting on Terry Pegula to do something wise is as worrying as the plan for Keon Coleman to start trying hard.  As with the ostensible receiver’s boss, his behavioral pattern has been established.  It feels like he’s blundered his way into the rare stretches of success.  I don’t think I’ll be asked to ghostwrite his autobiography.

It’s easy to claim that someone who does well got lucky.  Many allegedly knowledgeable hockey observers spent too long thinking the aforementioned Hasek just happened to get in the way of pucks.  But it still seems as if Pegula isn’t prompting accomplishments.  It took setting the NHL playoff banishment record to realize hockey school supervisor Kevyn Adams didn’t earn a baffling promotion.

If you want a reminder that time evaporates quicker than expected, realize that Josh is entering his ninth season.  I don’t want to presume anything but imagine he has a chance to keep starting.  I’m fretting about ending it with unfulfilled potential through no fault of his own.  It’s not making excuses when one worker has done what he could to overcome drafting many players who decidedly aren’t him.

Prepare to spend the summer envisioning nightmare scenarios about ghastly outcomes during the next season, namely football.  Don’t go outside and appreciate sunshine when there is a sport over which you have no control to obsess over.  The Bills are at fault for not fixing what sure looks to be broken.

Enduring each excruciating second of 60 Minutes is a torture set up by the premise.  The antiquated show’s name highlights just how long viewers will be locked in the sanatorium.  One particular practitioner has been discharged to his consternation.  Fresh air is toxic to the mendaciously insane.  Scott Pelley can’t announce what he thinks is going on anymore, and the last moments of Sunday suck a little less.  Canning the embodiment of the best way to get misinformed half a century ago is a good start.

I’m worried 60 Minutes will stop being stuffy, frigid, and haughty in obtuse bias. There’s nothing left of the sludge factory.  Pelley shouldn’t fret: he’ll find work making buggy whips.

Pelley covers one story: his own amazingness.  Getting fired for insubordination has offered the professional narrator the chance to act like a victim.  The midway barker sought self-styled cases of injustice to promote at his erstwhile gig.  Now he can interview himself.  He’s surely as awesome as his source purports.

Pelley is acting so melodramatically that it could be a segment.  He’s even more upset about not currently having a place to present what he stubbornly maintains are facts.   

Nobody familiar with Pelley is surprised he’s stealing valor.  His specific self-aggrandizing lie that “I have been in combat” highlights everything wrong with journalists, so thank him for revealing truth.  It’s accidental, but that’s how he works.

Someone watching something is not participating.  The pomposity of reporters who are taking notes about what others are doing is the industry’s defining feature.  Pretending he was carrying a rifle instead of a notepad doesn’t deter Rambo Pelley from his fantasy.

The casual announcement was curious choice of words for someone who uses them for a living.  Risibly announcing he’s been in combat is inadvertently revealing.  Do you know how full of oneself one must be to shamelessly claim something so despicable?  The answer is as much as Pelley is.  By his standard, I’ve been in NHL games.  And anyone who watches 60 Minutes is a contributor.  Tim Walz saw more combat.

Nobody is presently paying Pelley to lie superciliously.  It’s a loss for journalism.  He says he’ll tell me the news for spare change.  A weekly lecture that supposedly straightens out distortions instead contributed to them.  That’s worth examining for an hour.

Liberals suddenly care deeply about profits.  Hearing how much money 60 Minutes made is a curious defense from people deeply committed to punishing billionaires for attracting customers.  By their very serious logic, a good show should need subsidies because the unenlightened masses are too ignorant to tune in.  Do a story about how quantity equals quality.

We await which streaming service will host the new version of stodgy harangues to skip.  Hoary contributors who are the next to leave the alleged institution may soon be reunited with Pelley in a different break room.  Then they should have no problem reuniting the band on a different platform. Right?  Anyone who claims to be in such demand should be glad to enter free agency.

Producing their own YouTube or Twitter knockoff should be as easy as churning out distorted attack pieces.  The Scott Pelley and Friends Hour couldn’t look shoddier than the network version.  All the producer has to buy is a black curtain.  The signature sterile backgrounds look chintzy as they add to airlessness.  They don’t even need a stopwatch: your phone does that.  Sticking with obsolete technology is perfect in its way.

The best part of a phone timer is not having that creepy clicking.  The sterile clock is the next thing Bari Weiss should can.  Everything about 60 Minutes is as uncomfortable as being the subject of one of their cheaply-edited hit pieces.

The tone indicates the end of fun.  Racing after the late CBS NFL game to switch to Fox is as much of a tradition as cheering against the Chiefs.  Americans would rather watch Terry Bradshaw attempt English than the news as presented by Stanley Kubrick.

The person who pimped lies about his ideology risibly spews an accusation featuring the same offenses against those who finally had enough. Finally: there’s a good story from the show. 

Turmoil beats the stability of sticking with a partisan fibber.  Upheaval frightens everyone.  The desire for predictability is baked in to humans.  Please stop moving around the clicker and TV Guide.

Craving a stable viewing experience is especially appealing to Boomers who’ve grown accustomed to thinking they’ll be well-informed before the weekend’s end.  Anyone who’s endured a conversation with one knows the opposite’s true.

Those going extinct vainly fight nature.  The dinosaur insists the world will end when it does.  Instead, life goes on and actually improves.  The diehards at 60 Minutes think they can maintain their monopoly indefinitely.  Sunday night has been the schedule’s Baltic Avenue for decades.

Pelley is known by his fans, unfortunately.  If you’re a journalist praised by a politician, you’re a failure.  Adulation from those who should be subjects of ridicule is what we call the Stephen Colbert standard.  Those holding offices are precisely the people both late-night hosts and Sunday evening journalists should loathe.  Getting on the case of anyone in power is their role.  Instead, protected Democrats don’t have the sense to express gratitude privately by quietly sending an Edible Arrangement.  I am not listening to Pelley and Colbert’s podcast.

It’s sadly unsurprising who knows nothing.  A rather sizable group of youngsters accumulated nothing despite years of training.  School is a waste of time to attendees who pay attention.  They’re in the minority.

Chris Cillizza reported that he’s a bad reporter.  He’ll put inadvertent breaking news on his list of achievements.  The alleged newsman just discovered that reading scores for students in third through eighth grade have fallen in 47 of 50 states since 2015.  My math indicates that is a lot, although it hasn’t been verified with a grade.

Of course, the alarming way to get proficient subtraction applies only to a particular kind of institutional learning facilities, namely those that belong to all.  That’s one way to spread blame.  Government educational zones have the same reputation as buses.

Public schools have awful test scores.  That’s what happens whenever an entity is uncompetitive as a feature.  A monopoly is only acceptable to Democrats when it comes to their beloved monolith.  Showing everything wrong with trusting office-fillers to make kids smarter is real-world training.  If you think politicians do a ghastly job at transferring knowledge to whippersnappers, wait until you hear what they do with health care.

The same Democrats who kept Spirit from joining forces with JetBlue wonder why the lack of options hasn’t spurred classes packed with geniuses.  Removing an option from the sky is the same policy applied to schools.  They’re invested in dooming your kids to being so dumb that they’ll support their party.

Politician-run outposts unsurprisingly don’t teach the virtues of making businesses vie for your purchases.  And you certainly won’t realize that you can overpay, particularly for a lousy education.  That’s at least during class time.

The concession is baffling enough that it could be part of the curriculum.  Questioning why this public option is okay when it pertains to making children less dumb should be in the mind of every conservative.  Ask when government is good at anything.

The radical notion that parents should pay for what their own kids use appalls foes of teaching responsibility.  Tuition is a reasonable expense.  Parents can use savings from slashing property taxes.  You may be surprised that there was a bill all along.  It’s punishment for owning land.

Prices will plummet once we stop indulging Democrats who think squandering shows they care.  Their union overlords make them feel that way.  Creating competition for students creates a practical example that shows something no teacher addresses.  Members of the magical profession entrusted with imparting wisdom are horrified that youngsters won’t be doomed to a poor outcome based on ZIP code.

Coercion is wasteful, but at least its immoral.  Feel free to dismiss those who rely on taxes to assuage their consciences.  It’s unfortunate that sanctimonious grandstanding about funding pedagogy doesn’t lead to higher grades.  Public-sector cultists are actually proud of overpaying if you trust them on finances or half-decent sense.  It’s part of their preening.  Of course, they’re not being billed directly, as that gets expensive.  Money comes from government, which means it’s free.  What did you gain during your classy classes?

Government is great for liberals who don’t have to do anything directly.  It’s reminiscent of productivity.  Vote for people who’ll do that for you.  Teach kids the same.  The self-proclaimed most ardent believers in the importance of raising the next generation to be wise and decent would never, say, contribute to scholarships if academies went private.  The true horror to fans of teaching unions is a system that takes voluntary donations. 

Technical graduates who still can’t decipher economics fail to recognize how getting to choose a venue would make it possible for kids to not only master topics but at a discount compared to current preposterous rates.  Show them there are more options than the one presently provided by the curse of districts.

Worse results for more spending would make for a telling graph.  Of course, no students would understand it.  Brats should have as much information in their brains as their phones for the prices their academic careers run.  Instead, they only use devices that contain all facts ever to encounter lingo and gestures their parents find incomprehensible only because they make no sense.

Massive spending didn’t work.  The solution is obviously more spending.  Destroying the world for the precious children they claim to care about is the gift from liberals who keep announcing how much they care.  Financial doom is ensured thanks to ceaseless seizures of income.

Making youths stupider with greater alleged contribution is only partly how taxing fetishists ensure prospects are as bleak as the chances of grasping fractions.  Outraged Democrats wonder why recent graduates don’t think they’ll be able to afford luxuries like food or housing.  Corporate greed surely provokes poverty.  Now, feed government until Democrats say it’s full.

I’ve been through a lot with the Knicks.  And my inflicted aggravation doesn’t approach the burden endured by lifers.  My selected favorite NBA team has often played like they hated me personally, which makes their finals appearance feel like an apology.  I accept.  Reaping benefits of an investment that frequently seemed like it wouldn’t pay off is a worthwhile lesson even if it may encourage future unjustified optimism.

The particular unique approach to building a title contender offers a novel twist regarding one of the ultimate round’s participants.  Scoffing at the draft has been an audacious strategy in a league where conventional wisdom dictates one must build through it.

This team likes to see what potential hires can do as paid employees firs.  Upgrading with each trade has been as satisfying as adding unheralded free agents who exceed modest forecasts.  The Knicks famously got Mikal Bridges by sending away as many picks as they could in an embodiment of their outlook.  They clearly prefer known quantities.

It’s impressive how far one must go down the man count to find one of their draftees.  Their sixth is either electric guard Deuce McBride or relentless center Mitchell Robinson, and both show that selecting players fresh out of school can still be helpful.

The Knicks are personally different because I chose them.  The first time I was presented with that opportunity.  I have been assigned Buffalo teams by a universe determined to flaunt its cruel sense of humor.  I technically picked my college teams, but I didn’t select where I went for my stint of budget lager and endless Mortal Kombat during study hours based on its athletics programs.  That’s mostly true.

By contrast, I moved to Gotham in 2010 and realized I could finally use free will to select a franchise to follow.  The liberating notion occurred in between wondering where to get groceries and how to lug them through subway turnstiles.

But how should I align?  My options were limited.  I wasn’t going to select football and hockey teams to cheer for alongside the Bills and Sabres, respectively, much less replace them; that’d feel like casually adding a faith or swapping one out.  And I treat baseball like a nostalgic relic as opposed to something to follow this century.  But I had a free slot for basketball.  So, I chose… the Knicks.  Maybe fate is preferable.

Selecting a headache is part of everything.  Sports again serve as an example for the rest of life.  Being put through trials is an inescapable part of the process.  You can try to avoid aching by never liking anything, but something will still find its way to disappoint you.  The tendency for frustration is especially applicable to things you adore.  I chose allegiance that brought me to and through many lousy seasons.  I don’t blame Lou Amundson for competing to his utmost as I appreciate the club’s growth since the era when he started.

If you’ve ever watched a Knicks game, they’re likely to have lost.  It’s not a huge chance.  But their .491 record over the franchise’s history has enough examples to indicate a trend.  A 3078-3191 mark doesn’t just represent countless evenings dedicated to watching this hoop-based competition instead of reading or learning an enriching and valuable skill: the losses stand out for reasons beyond there being slightly more of them.  An entertainment option sure features frequent letdowns.

The rate at which they haven’t advanced is unsurprising.  They’ve only made 47 playoff appearances out of their 80 seasons.  I feel blessed to enjoy one that is technically not an exception.

Getting this far is novel.  Noting it’s their ninth finals appearance minimizes how each of those was an achievement.  Likewise, their 2-6 record in the last stage sounds unimpressive aside from the fact that it’s against the other team still standing.

Yet it only sounds unreasonably demanding to wonder if an original player in America’s biggest city could sustain a bit more success.  A team the league has long wished would be one of its premier franchises is finally playing like it.  The Knicks are thankful the Jets set the bottom baseline.

Now, the Knickerbockers have good worries.  Have they been on vacation for too long?  The excessive time between consecutive sweeps is like complaining about having to wear a tie after being elected president.  Rustiness is the best obstacle to face.

I know I’m feeling spoiled when the team looks like it played too good.  The fear that their foes didn’t challenge them enough isn’t just a way for fans who’ve grown accustomed to fretting.  The Knicks suddenly looked like the Harlem Globetrotters.  Their fellow Manhattan team inspired relentless defense and sharing ball-handling duties.  Philadelphia is pleased that Cleveland looked even more woeful.

We’re all excited.  Knowing you share common ground with strangers because you like the guys wearing the same jerseys brings them together.  It’s not like I was super unfriendly while walking around that particular island scowling all the time.  Wearing a hat displaying admiration for the same side of a fellow pedestrian walking by may have prompted a slight smile and head nod.  That metropolis could use any sense of camaraderie it can get.

Network late night hosts can’t get a broad audience in this hectic modern world with glowing pocket screens receiving innumerable shows broadcast from space. So, they alienate a huge slice of the small pie available to appease a dedicated partisan cult. At least the zealous had fun pretending their chosen prophet’s sermons were mirthful.

Everyone who doesn’t lie about humor got to laugh at the preening fans of the last Late Show. Stephen Colbert’s one-stop farewell tour only seemed endless. The relief we’re presently experiencing after his cancelation finally went into effect isn’t because we can finally watch Byron Allen at a decent hour.

We didn’t have to chose between Colbert’s tiresome nighttime show and books in the era of self-programming. But just knowing his worn shtick has been banished makes the unlikely prospect of checking what’s on a network seem less perilous.

Nothing says comedy like one party sucking up to you. Colbert reciprocated. Lauding exactly half the sides led to him getting more virtual flowers than Ferris Bueller. Now, that’s truth to power.

Democrats fawning over the person who was supposed to mock them gave away the punchline. Politicians from the Party of Kamala desperately tried to top each other in praise of their volunteer press secretary. The Bible doesn’t praise the second half’s protagonist this devotedly.

Flunkies shilling for the hack who’s supposed to criticize them actually summarizes the program nicely. A skilled satirist knows there’s plenty to mock on his preferred side and can bank credibility by being a fair-minded ideologue. Colbert wasn’t even good at being calculating.

Things really were better in the old days, at least by comparison to rotten recent ones. Colbert offered segments so unpalatable that the last regrettable host looks hilarious by comparison. Former jokester David Letterman’s decline helped make the genre as irrelevant as newsreels. The truth pains me to say as someone who didn’t merely watch but adulated a wise wiseass.

In a world full of humorlessly absurd moments and and humans, the erstwhile edgy host knew the best response was to laugh even louder. But Letterman then created an example of why we should cherish happy moments as if they’re temporary by going from an iconoclast to a preachy crank. Colbert was a worthy successor in his way.

Ranting about how things were back in my day is almost justified when they can’t bother changing formats. Missing Colbert’s exhausting harangues is like being sad that newspapers no longer get delivered to the doorstep regardless of the content of each edition. Individuals in both quaint industries hastened their own declines by offering contemptible content. Get back here and consume like you don’t have other choices.

The prototypical standard still doesn’t face much competition. Television historians debate ceaselessly about whether Johnny Carson was truly a hilarious host who united the country or got away with mediocrity by having to beat a test pattern. You’d think one of the other two alternative networks would’ve tried to mount resistance.

Either way, it was tough to tell what he thought. Carson might’ve been a liberal who strove to balance jokes. On the other hand, he frequently allowed shady guests like discredited lunatic Paul Ehrlich to spew away. Aspiring intellectuals often get duped into thinking confident phonies are bright. The same people shrieked about six feet throughout 2020.

Biased journalists whose ineptness hastened the death of their obsolete industry are upset about Stephen Colbert’s cancelation for mysterious reasons. I wish alleged newspeople cared as much about Iryna Zarutska’s murder as they do Colbert’s cancelation.

The ratings were swell once they were irrelevant. Quondam patrons who slid into indifference raced to a restaurant they hadn’t graced in years to dine on its closing day. Nostalgia doesn’t keep on lights. Watching history is fascinating: nobody saw the last time dinosaurs went extinct. If everyone lamenting the cancelation watched before the final chance, Colbert would still be on the air.

Colbert really made you think. Sure, it was about how agonizing his take on an antiquated television tradition was. But at least he wasn’t funny. An hour that’s lousy as analysis and entertainment is efficient in its way. The show wasn’t fun or informative. It was the best of both worlds otherwise.

Avoiding torture for an hour while trying to doze off is an option that’s been rescinded. You could not watch Jimmy Kimmel. But that’s just not the same.

I miss Colbert. I’m as honest as he is. The lack of deadpan has left a void in our nation. It’s nearly impossible to presently see him perform. It’s tough to find the Starbucks where Colbert is presently confusing baristas who are unable to determine the sincerity of his gratitude. A dedicated performer created his own curse.

The late Late Show provided an occasion where the free market worked, which is another reason liberals hate it. The heartless conglomerate that no longer wanted to lose money thought only of replacing a show far too few viewers found worthwhile.

There’s good news for anyone craving a dose of joyless sanctimony. The last holdouts can read Democratic talking points from any number of Twitter accounts without having to hear Colbert sound like he’s going through puberty.

Saving Earth suddenly isn’t cool.  The environmentally enthusiastic used to advocate hiking prices to encourage hiking to work.  Worshipers of this precious fragile rock spinning through space finally got their wish yet won’t stop griping.  Hypocrisy fuels resentment.  The good news is that particular form of energy is free.

Democrats who believe more taxes are the price you pay for them allegedly providing services that keep society running are suddenly very concerned about prices.  

Oil prices are suddenly a big deal.  It only took a president from a particular party winning election again for fuming about fumes to become fashionable.

The faction that demanded unfathomable prices was only thinking of the whole planet.  Forcing commuters to peddle bicycles even if they weren’t paperboys would keep sea levels from consuming every coastal city.  But there’s a bigger cause than Mother Earth’s continued existence, namely harming Donald Trump’s favorability.

Determining the reason why full tanks empty wallets helps us understand what’s happening, which is why Democrats don’t bother.  Criminals don’t like cops highlighting security methods against common offenses.  Initiating inflation is a classic maneuver created by incessant federal spending.  It’s shocking how things cost more when money is worth less.  As for a specific tactic, levies on moving forward keep people sitting still.  Nobody could’ve predicted that.

An innate hostility to unearthing the magical combustible substance that lets us live in comfort and luxury is a principle of sorts.  Believing that the products underfoot should be kept there is another reaffirmation of the status quo.  It’s a vote against progress.  Elizabeth Warren only has so much room in her longhouse.

The inflexibly pacifistic never met a war they liked.  There might just be righteous reason to fight a tyranny that’s been striking us since Jimmy Carter frowned in retaliation.  As a reminder for leftists, we are the good guys.

War is very bad.  Stuff gets broken.  And there is a high probability based on a trend that more than one person will get killed.  In fact, the only thing worse than waging conflict is not doing so with a stupid jerk nation who deserves it.  Avoiders of conflict would prefer mullahs rule over millions of oppressed indefinitely.  But at least nobody gets hurt.

History would’ve repeated.  Pump price kvetchers pretend they would’ve been committed to the cause during World War II when they would’ve bitched during rationing.  That’s just the start.  Contemporary leftists would have called the sequel our war of aggression.  The Germans didn’t attack us on December 7, you know.

We may have saved a few cents if Iran were still allowed to meddle with atoms while threatening free people.  But refusing to blow up Iran’s dumb evil stuff would’ve just kept the dangerous conflict simmering in the name of saving a couple bucks.  Democrats only care about money in a way they accuse foes of acting.

Fake stability is a real problem.  Letting diabolical medieval scumbags maintain power so gas stays under four bucks a gallon may not be the moral crusade of our time.  Detente doesn’t work, but at least it’s craven.  The commitment to preservation of antagonism is either amorally practical in defiance of events or an indication of sympathy with an American enemy.  Anyone who hates Trump and Israel this much can’t be all bad to leftists.

America’s forces of tolerance are nostalgic for Iran’s good old days.  They yearn for the a reversion to the era of burqas as a liberating indicator of healthy diversity.  Letting Persia peddle filthy oil to the rest of the world turns out to be the driving cause of the side that can’t figure out why fast food is unaffordable after they got the minimum wage hikes they demand.

It’s no wonder Democrats think getting anywhere is so costly when their states treat fuel like the Road Warrior was a documentary.  Regional prices are random aside from the factor of punitive taxation.  New York and California always have even higher ones by mean uncanniness.  Those states need your cooperation to fritter your money.  

Conditions are bound to change, which baffles liberals who don’t understand decreased productivity after a tax hike.  Not thinking ahead is the specialty of those living in the moment, and you shouldn’t mess up today thinking there might be a tomorrow.  Raise taxes to ensure you can enjoy right now.

I know the party in question enjoys panicking as if whatever’s happening today is permanent.  That’s why they hate stocks so much.  But my experience indicates there will be a tomorrow, so Democrats very maturely shrieking about discomfort they’re enduring right this moment should try to grow up.

Gas prices will drop again, which is unlike the nightmare scenario if Kamala Harris continued erstwhile superior Joe Biden’s legacy of maintaining high fuel prices as policy.  So, that’s why they think pain is permanent.

There’s precedent from Iran’s equally unpleasant neighbor for a battle surge.  Saddam Hussein’s inability to behave occasionally made trips to the farmer’s market a little pricey.  But the price spikes or at least excuses for them were as fleeting as his reign.

Let’s redirect water for oil’s sake.  Iran’s intransigence is a good reason to make the Strait of Hormuz’s name obsolete.  Geographic tailors should let it out so the aquatic passageway doesn’t fit like a straitjacket.  Trump is always claiming he’s the best builder, so a canal would be the perfect chance to find someone else who actually does it.

Cuba is charming if you look straight ahead and down.  Using subversive free will to turn one’s head might alert visitors to conditions their guides don’t want them to see, and you don’t want to be a typically rude American.  Respect cultural traditions by not observing what’s happening.  Make sure to also avoid pointing out how the despotic holdout represents everything monstrous about the emblematic failed ideology.  That’d negate the trip’s purpose, anyway.

Hotel patrons are the only ones on the island having a good time.  I’m sure communists would never have a sinister secret agenda.  But it sure seems interesting that their fans will return to their non-impoverished nations and rave about how incredible this workers’ paradise is.  The only members of the category they encounter are hotel staff and barkeeps.  As in capitalist hellholes, they’re pleasant to customers as part of their jobs.  In their case, the fear more than getting fired.

I’m not saying Cuba-loving leftists are ignorant.  But they don’t realize that everyone who lives on their favorite island and hasn’t befriended the comically ridiculous despots in charge is suffering.  The inability to grasp that tourists get special treatment is as ludicrous as not grasping that guaranteeing everyone everything is the surest way to make it all suck.

People who still believe communism works in 2026 might just be dim enough to not grasp that they’re being used.  Using gullible visitors as unwitting propaganda tools seems unnecessary when they’d do so voluntarily.  But their willingness leaves their acting skills to chance.  It’s better to convince them everywhere is as pleasant as the resort than let them see life past the perimeter and try to convince America that it’s super.

Reporting back how glamorous Havana’s resorts are has been helpful in its way.  Everyone sensible realize why commies lie so blatantly, namely because their devotees lustily believe the world’s most manifest falsehoods.  Universal health care is just a boat ride away.

Accepting lies instead of food is an unfulfilling consolation prize.  Commies suck at advertising not just because they’re awful at everything.  Lousy sellers don’t realize they’re supposed to have a good product first.  It’s unsurprising yet disappointing that they believe commerce’s entirely is tricking dupes into squandering decadent payments for toil on bad consumer goods.

You think they couldn’t possibly believe their experience is genuine.  Then you check what they believe.  Anyone who has been on this planet for more than a day should be able to determine which parts prosper and suffer.  Those blaming free exchange despite experience don’t see that they’re being used.  Of course, all-time dupes believe Cuba is functioning well in the first place, so they’re not superb at perception.

You’d think propaganda represented a waste of time until you see who falls for it.  Enthusiasts really believe in a show, which is what communism is.  It’s one where you can’t look at the actual performance.  The magician performs a trick with no saw, box, or person in it.

The convenient chance to lie on behalf of a diabolical failed regime is one some apparently can’t decline.  American participants can kvetch about their home.  Blaming the country that points out how rotten Cuba is brings to mind demonizing police for fighting back against crime.  They do that, too.

It’s an amiable gift to keep them from trading with the rotten United States.  Blaming the embargo for the island’s dejected morale is like claiming prison made a murderer evil.  The glorious people’s outpost shouldn’t want to engage in stupid capitalism, anyway.  Importing items from other countries means both parties benefit, and that reeks of free markets.  They don’t need our fancy pocket phones or running automobiles.

Enthusiastic pinkos enjoy the lack of traffic travel.  They don’t seem to have grasped that they’re the only ones who go from America to Cuba.  It’s the same reason getting a U-Haul in California is as hard as affording taxes while the Florida market is as glutted as Funko Pop shelves.  The thoroughly oblivious don’t even notice they’re flying and not sailing makeshift rafts in a desperate attempt to escape tyranny’s yoke.

Oh, and they also got to leave.  The truly dedicated should be shredding their passports rather then heading back to a monstrous kingdom with natural rights and private gun ownership.  I just want to help them fight hypocrisy as well as exploitation.  Virtuous smugglers should help illegal immigrants escape America after they made the regrettable decision to enter a horrid place with a Second Amendment and no universal insurance.

The emblematic example of state failures apparently isn’t obvious enough.  Believing otherwise requires either lying or ignorance.  That brings us to everything they hold.

The only thing worse than thinking Castro knew what he’d be doing before taking power is thinking he did fine work.  The sole person with a job where he did anything would’ve have been better if he were unemployed.  Fidel’s ghost is still suckering the maliciously foolish in an era where voters elected a freaking socialist as New York City’s mayor.  Explaining in 2026 why government controlling everything doesn’t mean they’re helping people shows how even evidence won’t deter to regrettably committed.

There’s nothing worse than being told things went pretty well overall after one of them did not.  That’s what I’m here for.  An annoyingly positive outlook gets even worse in the moments after a brutal cessation to a campaign.  But the situation warrants looking past present wreckage.

The Buffalo Sabres advanced even as they didn’t if synthesizing desirable chemistry counts.  Showing that a curse is nothing but ineptitude turned into a habit is the best way to break them.  I still think that shot was savable.

Every previous game is done.  That’s not just a tautology.  Momentum seems logical but turns out to be elusive when there are two days between opening puck drops.  The Sabres lamentably showed they weren’t able to sustain enough inertia even though it sure seemed like they tilted the ice in Game 6.

Amazement at getting this far despite long absences from typical contributors is the only way to make the season’s coda feel more ambivalent.  The Sabres won one series and pushed the next to the very brink despite a lack of offensive contribution from who should be the usual suspects and the necessity of oscillating between two shaky goalies.  That’s impressive, I guess.

Arguing who will get swept by Carolina was one way to taunt.  There’s small comfort in waiting to see if Montreal and Buffalo win the same number of games against the Hurricanes in this year’s playoffs.  But I’ll still feel jealous of getting four more tries even if the predicted tidy sweep becomes actuality.

I’ve been mentally prepared for discontent since November and also 2011.  

The group dodged unfathomable anxiety for a decent quantity of presidential terms.  Suddenly dealing with a heart rate of 83,700 beats per minute once regulation ended shows these are new conditions for fans, too.

Those seeking auspicious signs can cite how this team’s version of efficiency was looking like it was tanking while cashing in on insider betting.  That wasn’t too long ago, either.  But it doesn’t matter how they got there: they were there.  There’s no such thing as house money, as it’s yours once you’ve won it.

Your brain offers coping mechanisms to deal with what it noticed.  Every Sabres fan has gone through the mental exercise of speaking to past you to offer your present version perspective.  Remembering that nobody thought they’d suddenly start winning assuages feeling devastated now.  Envision telling yourself at season’s start that they’d win seven postseason games, and you’d feel more confused about that then how you time traveled.

Being glad they got ahead doesn’t preclude legitimate criticism about their updated status.  It’s not ingratitude to expect them to keep going even if it’s been since before most apps existed that they were last relevant.  Tense without drama while viewers wait for something thrilling to happen: the Sabres often played like it’s the Stranger Things finale.  I’ve forgotten about that crew’s alleged adventures like they’re Sabres teams from the drought.  Thankfully for one party, there’s another season.

The Sabres should’ve asked to play in Montreal.  A league that allows Purge-style lawlessness during the postseason refused to let the higher-ranked team choose the venue.  Being able to control getting excessively pumped from a rabid crowd is part of the adjustment phase.  Game attendees had grown accustomed to long frustrating stretches.  To be fair, those now came in the playoffs.

Wearing a short-sleeved Sabres shirt on game day is a sign of progress.  The garments would’ve technically worked during long stretches between games, but wardrobe choosers were more likely to wear a top celebrating AC/DC or a preferred beer brand.  Even ardent supporters may not have felt like wearing club apparel during drought offseasons.

Nothing summarizes the voyage of the Sabres like how much navy gear you see around town.  The last shade of apparel and other merchandise represents when fans stopped buying new stuff.  Many tapped out of buying products representing their favorite awful franchise.  Even the most zealous adherents hit limits.  Now, fans may finally fear like updating to current classy royal even if missing the final four aches.

The thing that always happens to Buffalo isn’t as reassuring in predictability as hoped.  One edition could be a team with fantastic expectations.  Another’s seeming best-case scenario would’ve been winning the draft lottery in a year where they’re hosting.  We’re still enduring having one’s soul sent through the glass either way.  The Smoking Man hated all Buffalo teams and not jut the Bills.

A trip to the second round offers taste of luxury like a timeshare before it’s quickly rescinded.  Anticipation for a season that started with precisely none can feel like a little extra cruelty.  

But a higher letdown is the byproduct of an unexpected chance.  There were woeful days when you wished you had present stress.  A promotion from the mailroom means facing heightened muscle contraction.  Outcasts never face crushing overtime series defeats.

Tell yourself the loss now enables winning later.  Many athletes and members of other professions need to go through experience in order to face conditions before learning how to deal with them.  This is that agonizing moment of getting through real-time adjustments.  Exposure to playoff conditions while taking a step forward is part of the privilege of falling short.

Treating this like the start is the primary way of managing the end.  The Sabres are motivated by a higher level of agony.  The process is ceaseless, which no longer sounds like a warning.

I almost feel bad mocking Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It’s not nice to make fun of morons, and she’s the embodiment. But a classic dolt’s inability to keep to herself defines her beliefs and everything else. A recent AOC all-star diatribe reveals what she and those of similar intellectual capacities think about life itself to the point that exposing oneself to the toxicity is justified as a cautionary learning experience. She doesn’t protect Earth, either.

I’m loath to present AOC’s words unedited for the discomfort spurred by exposure to such wretched mendaciousness. A Terrifier movie seems soothing by comparison. Art the Clown is less disturbing in his honesty and more honest in apparel.But the erstwhile bartender and present pinko wrecks her case when she’s allowed to elaborate about her oh so fascinating beliefs. The First Amendment functions as a free market where those with shoddy ideas harm their goals by discussing them, which is another reason leftists hate it. So, let her ramble:

The single largest form of theft in America is wage theft. $50 billion a year are stolen from American workers. If a billionaire amasses their wealth by underpaying their full-time workers so severely that they must rely on food assistance and government programs to survive, then no, that wealth was not earned by one individual - it was a wealth transfer subsidized by underpaid American workers and the public who get stuck with the bill for large corporations free-riding off our systems. The point is less about individual morality. It’s more about how our current economic reality of shattering inequality rewards screwing over workers and exploiting essential systems at scale. We’re talking monopoly power. Rent-seeking. Wage theft. Profiteering. Stock buybacks. Destabilizing housing markets. Companies using SNAP/EBT to underwrite their wages. Massive government subsidies or contracts to corporations following lobbying and dark money in politics with little to no oversight or accountability. Some people get enraged that I draw attention to this. That’s on them. Let them call me shrill, dumb, inexperienced, girly, uneducated - these folks will say anything to distract from or undercut the truth that working people are getting screwed, and giving people a fair shake means we must have a grown conversation about reigning in abuse of power.

Wondering which East German textbook she plagiarized is merely my first thought. An alarmingly depressing mission statement deserves to be disregarded. But I must sadly remind everyone about a shame that will forever mar this nation, namely that AOC holds power. Her typically unhinged ranting summarizes her side. That’s the opposite of a compliment. Anything she contributes is inadvertent as a result of offering an example to avoid.

The toughest part about replying to AOC is figuring out what bit of emblematic idiocy to respond to first. Trying to stuff responses through a funnel can overwhelm. The editorial process allows for prioritizing in a rational manner she can’t comprehend.

Most notably, it’d be funny to think of believing an employer can steal from someone hired if she didn’t mean it. A voluntary alliance on both sides violates half of participants. AOC has taken up their cause whether they want her to or not. They don’t.

Nobody is in position to rip off others as long as there are options. Pretending companies are abusing power is mortifying while serving as prototypical projection. Noting the benefits of competition for consumers and workers offers a chance to review the basics or in her case lean them for the first time.

She’s never created value and it shows. Feeling emboldened enough to brag about being a useless grifter is an opportunity that ironically only exists because AOC has already gotten some of her way. Democrats figure everyone who has a little cash also accumulated it by siphoning.

Not condemning actual theft is a nice complementary touch. In fact, excusing away felonies is party policy. Democrats create cities where Batman doesn’t even bother to try by doing everything they can to release criminals. Refusing to punish wrongdoers offers an example of how incentives work in its way. Accompany the demonization of imprisonment by vowing to make exceptions for any fiend who commits the crime of running a thriving enterprise.

Those who feel they’re underpaid can’t do anything like work elsewhere. If labor is valuable, someone will pay for it. But Democrats think every industry is a scheming sham like the way they run Washington. Jealousy as policy leads to fewer successful individuals to resent.

People who make getting overpaid by taxpayers into a career think you’re underpaid. You’re not smart and clever enough to seize an office like they are. But the singularly gifted magnanimously help those cursed with inferior abilities and charm. It’s almost like workers and employers negotiate a mutually acceptable pay rate. But you possess insufficient capacity to realize you were voluntarily getting ripped off the whole time. We sure are lucky Democratic politicians tell us what we don’t know.

The solution is the cause. That’s quite the yin-yang paradox. Liberals engineer such defiances of reality constantly. The opposite of what’s indented occurring is tricky for AOC to grasp, who’s an affiliate of an ideology based in claiming something happens means it does. The belief system itself disproves its basis. You surely remember when everyone got free awesome health care with nothing more than Barack Obama’s signature.

Victims never think to thank perpetrators. The ingrates will just collect assistance to cope with ends that somehow never meet. Sure, many might not need to get benefits if government didn’t confiscate so much. But treasure is only plundered from, and we know those targeted never hire or spend. Democrats hate the rich to the point where they ensure nobody else can join them.

Making some wealthy jerk pay is supposed to offer comfort to the rabble. But he in turn can’t pay you more when he’s forced to fund coerced redistribution engineered by megalomaniacal legislators who build nothing. Solving fire with napalm will extinguish this time.

There is an entity taking advantage of you. Democrats are the only ones surprised by the twist. Taxing the stuffing out of you for the crime of earning is a ripoff in a way an earned payday isn’t. You may have heard there’s no option to decline. I suspect the inability to shop elsewhere is connected to infamously ghastly service. It’s too bad there’s no way to confirm like the same thing happening every freaking time it’s tried. Government couldn’t be more inefficient if it were trying to prove National Review’s editorial statement.

Democratic politicians are hopeless to the point where they can’t even conceive of being useful. It’s one thing to not do anything worth selling and another to presume everyone else is an idler. A lack of empathy turns to coercion. That basic twisted approach to economics, politics, and decency leads to telling people they get ripped off going to work.

Stealing is wrong.  I can’t believe I have to write that.  The year 2026 is filled with advancements in app icon design and little else.  Morally deficient larcenists ruin everything for everyone else, which sure sounds like an example for the upstanding to note.  Inappropriate misappropriation is the unhelpful lesson of miserable humans who never bother to learn any lesson about basic economics or virtue.  They’re related, although in the opposite way they think.

We can thank horrible writer and person Jia Tolentino for a discussion about humanity’s basics.  It’s always good to review, especially when there are so many bad people who need help.  The confessed shoplifter giddily proclaimed her habit of leaving stores without paying to fellow fiend Hasan Piker, who’s become the primary showman for demented values.

The only way to make immorality worse is hypocrisy, so Tolentino naturally obliges.  Living in the sort of luxury she condemns as decadent only sounds like she’s following a script.  A supermarket pilferer residing in Brooklyn’s toniest quarters sounds like a Tom Wolfe character.  This was not the confession of someone genuinely remorseful but rather an endorsement.

Every level is identical.  Taking what’s not theirs is the defining example of collectivism.  It’s not a compliment for people who allegedly think we’re all in this together.  They help each other… to the items of others.

It’s bad to take goods.  Those belong to someone else.  Stating such is so obvious that it seems unnecessary.  Then again, fans of redistributing everyone else’s treasure don’t seem to have obtained any useful information.

Driving up costs for everyone is how purloining leftists show that we’e all in this together.  Uninspiring bandits are skilled at making others pay more for their ripoffs, which inadvertently summarizes their ideology.  The security expense spikes, too.  It’s no wonder they hate cops.

Don’t be successful enough that elected pirates will justify thievery.  Leftists grasp incentives like they do your earnings.  They either don’t realize what precedent they’re setting or disregard respect in the name of acquiring what they want in any way they can, which they think is what the businesses they pillage do.

Nothing angers leftists like doing something proficiently.  Creating inventory shrink doesn’t count.  Customers fancy what’s available to the level that they’re willing to pay for outposts’ output.  Maniacal kleptomaniacs need you to keep creating value in order to have stuff to take.

Consistently pretending to forget to pay for what they pocketed is merely another crime statists praise.  Adherents are particularly fond of illegal immigration, where they insist the one unregulated behavior permitted in this nation should be crossing into it.  And did you know fare theft helps subway hitchhikers afford a loaf of bread for their children?  

Grievous offenses don’t excuse away harmful yet relatively minor ones, so the modern left is screwed either way.  You’ve surely been disturbed by coming across statist moral titans excusing away murder.  Yes: murder.  Killing Charlie Kirk for talking is lauded like executing a health care CEO who tried to cope with their preferred policies.  

The self-professed tolerant side has their own interests at heart.  Pretending they care about others is how they conceal true selfish motivations like produce in their pants.  Upstanding people have to exist alongside amoral psychopaths if anyone wonders why progress lags.  They blame corporate greed.

Communal fans making life miserable for everyone else are at least sticking to their beliefs.  Dedication can be misplaced.  Every bit of strife can be traced back to adherents of one ideology thinking they’re entitled to what others create.  It’s written into their platform.  Shoplifting is merely an expression of id from egotistical conscience-killers.

Please don’t advocate stealing from upper-class lowlifes just because it’d be funny.  Crime is bad even if they should want to redistribute their own funds.  Consistency in principles is surely a reasonable goal.

Spending what’s looted from fans of ripping off others is wrong even if it would be a satisfying embodiment of irony.  Plus, robbing robbers would surely spur other sectors.  By their own logic, spending what’s plundered gets multiplied, so let’s get that economy purring by pawing anything not bolted down.  They sure are lucky their foes aren’t also awful dolts.  Thieves of products and dignity are again saved by the decency of others.  Naturally, they won’t offer thanks.

Affluent felons are way better off than those for whom they purportedly issue excuses.  The only thing those who can’t be trusted with their own integrity respond to is punishment, which is why they’re so eager to use governmental power for everything but its intended purpose.  Sympathizers with miscreants have an endless list of Uncle Leo-style excuses for why they should be allowed to get away with larceny.  Say goodbye to those.  Every single alleged reason comes down to not wanting to be useful enough to generate revenue for trade.  

People aren’t supposed to take something that belongs to someone else without consent.  I’d classify opposition as childish, but kindergarteners with attentive parenting have developed enough of a moral compass to know better.

I guess the Buffalo Sabres don’t celebrate Matthew Barnaby Hat Trick against the Canadiens in the Playoffs Day.  They’re on the verge of treating one series win as sufficient.  Or, fans are about to feel silly for overreacting to a disappointing outing.  It’s only one game.  But there are only so many of those available right now.  Oh, and the previous outing sucked, too.  Do they know about the format?  Defense remains legal during the playoffs.  Alert the roster.

Do you know what I liked? That first minute.  Teasing us with a hopeful tone was a cruel way to open Game 3.  But at least their biggest option played like it.  Tage is as sick of the narrative as we are.  Seeing a play unfold in slow motion might not necessarily equate to spotting a disaster unfold.  I still don’t think Rasmus shot it.

The sole desirable carryover from the third game’s letdown would involve Buffalo’s best scorer.  Tage has always been streaky.  Of course, so have players through hockey history.  This is the sort of sport where a goal every other game is impressive.  But even modest consistency would really help right now.

Tage’s improvement from the previous contest is particularly stark considering how regrettably he performed.  The downward spiral of messing up whole trying to overcompensate for previous letdowns may lead to falling over on the ice.  Attempting to do too much is a common playoff occurrence for new participants.  Just like during regular times, trying two things at once leads to getting nothing done.  Consequences are merely exacerbated.

I wish the Sabres hadn’t proven that they can get this far without much from their top line.  Oh, and the second one.  They’re running out of them.  Jack Quinn is a Kevyn Adams player, which is the opposite of a compliment.  I’m not expecting the offseason to arrive soon just because I’m fantasizing about Jarmo’s trades.

Drop the drop.  Heading backward is more than figurative for the worst power play in the universe’s history.  Everyone knows what the Sabres are going to try on the power play.  Predictability is the least of the counterproductive tactic’s problems.

Each game is its own entity.  There’s momentum or possibly not.  Well, that settles that.  Trends may manifest themselves two days later.  But there’s also a chance to leave behind struggles and start again with no score in a sports and life lesson.  Buffalo 66 is about reacting when things don’t go right, and the Sabres could use inspiration from a script about the Disney-style one getting shredded.  Their home venue is depicted in the film even if it’s got a different name, so don’t let a different bank buying the rights throw you off.

For as thrilling as finally leaving the desert has been, there have been long frustrating stretches by the oasis.  Some Sabres struggles are extensive enough that they feel like rules and not exceptions.  We used to say that about the regular season.  I’m trying to be grateful while noting an elite eight appearance is unacceptable to accept.

The Sabres won by their standards.  Groupon aficionado Terry Pegula still owns this franchise, which surprises those who got used to disappointment. Announcing they’re going to sully their sacred jerseys with a hideous advertisement was bad enough.  Doing so on the day of a playoff game was a particularly tone-deaf move that sadly reflects team style.

It’s his version of a win.  Turning players into skating billboards means more cash, and that’s what matters to this particular owner.  I hate whichever company is defacing beloved sacramental robes.  It didn’t have to be them.  Like representing an obvious murderer, there’s an option to decline even if some other soulless entity accepts the devilish task.

Getting into action may take exposure to conditions.  Many Sabres still seem tentative about the postseason situation.  Hockey should remain the same.  But the anticipation and stakes are accompanied by an appropriate increase in desperation.  Going to the net’s front tops the list.

The theory is confirmed.  The Sabres were aware during their self-imposed banishment that intensity increases in the promotion phase.   Everyone can and does say it.  But participants have to experience it to know the intensity no matter how much mental preparation they’ve invented.  You can’t pause hockey: it’s tricky with the skates.

Get used to the hot tub already.  It shouldn’t take that much exposure to grow accustomed to increased heat.  Everyone on the roster should know what’s demanded.  Previous members of this team pulled it off: 1975 was only the team’s second appearance and they still managed to reach the finals despite a paucity of minutes in the elimination portion.

We don’t ask for adversity.  But that’s often what we get.  When the Sabres play like they have for a few of these postseason games, they give it to themselves.  They may as well learn from their mistakes.

Failure’s most important lesson is in its inevitability.  The key is to remove inertia.  A team that’s won a postseason series is unlikely to be dominated outright.  

winning as often as blackjack.  Anyone who thinks they’re going to conquer every hand better keep bus fare in a sock.  A success rate of slightly above half is acceptable for reasonable skilled players.  This is no time to stand on seven.

Get in line now.  Even if you’re not hungry, you will be by the time you get to the front.  Pinko seducer Zohran Mamdani finally created a way to buy groceries.  The only leader capable of compassion will fix this horrible capitalist famine.  Nobody’s had lunch before in a nation where deprived subjects can buy anything they want from whoever’s selling.

New York City’s supermarkets will not be super.  And there won’t be much marketing.  The name is only the first unappetizing aspect.

The horrifically understocked Manhattan outpost will be a preview.  New East Berlin’s mayor is the visionary who determined how to finally make something to eat.

Everyone will be equal, I’m afraid.  The coercive investor wants one  in each borough, which means glorious liberty radish queues will converge.  Staten Island gets left out as usual.

It’s impossible to open a business without under eight figures.  Don’t listen to parasites who risk their own funds in order to stock low-cost goods.  Mamdani’s economics lesson must be taught to those who defied it while thriving.  Wegmans is the favorite of everyone who’s ever patronized one, and they somehow managed to open in Manhattan without spending 30 freaking million dollars.  A place renowned for making customers happy is trying to not fritter their own money, which in turn keeps prices down.  Why, it’s almost like both parties are negotiating.  

Every pleasant makes the pending statist dump even more unappealing.  The new produce peddler based on very bad old ideas should way fancier than Whole Foods for that price.  I will go ahead and predict it may not.

Why would the entity that avoids icky profit need so much treasure to engage in commerce?  It’s almost like government is only good at inefficiency and corruption.  Useless shirkers who only profit from grifting presume useful businesses do the same. 

Incentives at every step are like following a recipe.  Zohran serves pasta straight from the box then complains that it’s crunchy.  Al dente policies don’t take anything but allowing chefs to figure out what works best.

Why did nobody think to sell ingredients for dinner before?  Zohranists think they’ve discovered something amazing.  Sure, there have been marketplaces for humans to acquire energy and deliciousness for as long as there has been trade.  But nobody arranged the packages in a sufficiently appealing manner.   The gentle awe they feel upon acting like they’re the first to picture a benevolent tyrant dispensing comestibles isn’t quite inspirational given the undernourished devastation that ensues.

We have to explain in 2026 how selling works if you think progress is inevitable.  Devices that can be access all information ever are instead used to ruin attention spans, as seen by the inability to retain how central planning spurs starvation.  Offering what people want at agreeable prices is the the most grievous offense since keeping and bearing arms.

You can shop elsewhere.  It’s tough to rip off patrons who visit voluntarily.  The right to vote with dollars is why food invoices are reasonable, or at least were.

Attempts to fill fridges will be way costlier paired with crummy selection, which to socialists is the best of both worlds.  Inflating costs with governmental interdiction might as well be the goal for how consistently it happens.

The only present infringements on affordability are from avarice.  And it’s not the source that the allegedly selfless claim.  Nothing inflates bills like politicians ordering them to shrink.  Democrats would adore tariffs if the incumbent president were still a member of their gang.

And it’s uncanny how a high minimum wage leads to higher prices.  I’m almost certain there’s no connection just like meal planning by choosing a different ice cream pint for every weeknight can’t possibly affect one’s waistline.

Debate what the role is of the culinary public option.  Just know funding 

competing with businesses who aren’t subsidized by taxpayers or just take over the whole industry.  Oh: it’s like health insurance.  Socialists either never plan ahead or come up with the worst ones.  They can decide which is preferable.

Alleged foes of Russia want to bring back hammer and sickle bazaars.  New York’s meddlesome merchant will not be Soviet-style: commie predecessors were way more efficient.

Enemies of mutual voluntary exchange deserve an example of what their beliefs inflict.  Smirking fans of shopping for off-brand Doritos at Trader Jung’s in Pyongyang should get the curse of their granted wish.  Anyone tired of gloating from those who voted for government shopping is inclined to let the ghastly shopping experience happen.

Let Khmer Rouge Knickerbockers get what they voted for, which is apparently the only way they’ll learn.  Make voters daft enough to believe socialism works after countless examples of it ruining nations and lives spend time waiting with fellow comrades with the dream of getting one of the last loaves.

The greedy side will surprise only those who think Manhattan is about to be filled with bargains.  An industry with alarmingly thin profit margins was already putting products on sale as cheaply as possible.  Trying to attract buyers doesn’t have to be from the bottom of their heart.  Zohran zombies would be horrified if they ever ran a business or at least tried to understand what goes into doing so.  Oh: that’s how humans get food.

Government ownership of emporiums creates the perfect example of socialism.  Practitioners think that’s a compliment.  Ruining something that’s already working is a chef’s kiss from someone who has nothing with which to cook.  Fans of an obese government are about to learn that full carts resulted from their preferred shopkeeper not being involved.

Unlike SPLC donors, I don’t support the Klan.  It’s just one of those brave stances I’m willing to take.  There’s good and bad news for the besieged alleged hate tracker: they found racists.  The fact they themselves are the culprits shouldn’t detract from their stellar work identifying the source of hate.  Sure, it was them.  But worrying about distinguishing the source and victim of trouble seems like one of those hurtful tasks for icky conservatives obsessed with personal responsibility.

The Southern Poverty Law Center getting indicted on wire fraud will make them poor.  Centering on lawlessness means their demented business model went south.  Their name is finally accurate.

The SPLC finally getting nabbed was a rough day for Wikipedia.  Oh, and it probably wasn’t super for the group, either.  But citing mendacious partisans as defenders of just truth is the broader cause the besieged group embodied.  The allegedly impartial online encyclopedia now has to wonder who it will cite for distorted takes to smear anyone with the nerve to vote Republican.

Pretending their pet biased sources are objective is a persistent habit.  What else will they do: tell the truth?  I can’t make myself feel sorry for the editor who had to remove SPLC citations from 12 billion articles.

Sticking to shilling was an inadvertent gift the indictment provided.  Legal issues for the law center doubled as a chance for the media to show they’re adhering to their prejudices.  Alleged purveyors of truth are not going to let something trifling like trouble with the Justice Department deter them from their editorial mission of fibbing on behalf of leftism.

The sources failed to surprise at each level.  There was CNN noting the SPLC discontinued their habit of paying bad people to snitch about the others.  Why would they stop if there was nothing wrong with gleaning crucial information? On a related note, O.J. Simpson discontinued murdering people after that one day.

As for even more disposable journalism, USA Today indulged the SPLC’s roleplaying by noting federal agents do the same.  Real law enforcement should issue them junior detective badges instead of treating them like troublemakers.

A race-based gang’s claims are surely valid if they must pay others to confirm them.  Alleged informants totally weren’t making a living off sanctimonious rich liberals making a show of fighting what they presume to be right-wing meanness.  Tell your Tinder match you’re also into astrology because that’s surely not just saying what you think she hopes to hear.  The loudest pleader made up examples to pretend their ideology was true.  It’s only natural that Democrats admire them.

Their shelves were empty.  The SPLC identified a problem that didn’t exist and suckered donors into funding the false creation of it to continue profiting off the fake fight.  It’s no wonder they hate free markets.  Leftists presume all companies are as shady.  Peddlers of goods surely manufacture demand then tick suckers with clever advertising.  Their nefarious business model also serves as an inadvertent confession that they’re easily duped and disturbingly calculating.

Doesn’t the Justice Department care about the tiki torch industry?  It’s like they want to incinerate the economy.  The Patriot Sunglasses Front waits until dark to take in shipments from the steps.  Maybe SPLC donations didn’t prop up racist eagle’s nests.  I’m sure money isn’t fungible.  The hate outlet got demonetized before Twitter.

There’s good news in their mission to rid America of ethnic-based enmity.  America is down one criminal organization and features way less organized racism.  Of course, the welcome result resulted in the biggest phonies no longer causing what they claimed to opposes.  We could let them pretend it was their efforts to quash complexion-based animosity that did the trick.  Also, bank robbers just want to highlight security flaws.

Instead, the SPLC served as the worst example of what it allegedly condemned.  Members will have to call conservatives Nazi fiends in their personal time.  The ensuing victims of disgustingly branding anyone as a bigot for the offense of not herding individuals into groups is not quite the legacy they sought.  Any party celebrating the demise of ironic racists should be catered by Chick-fil-A.

Unlike their fictional uncovering of prejudice, the SPLC created a crazy true story.  Demonizing anyone to Hoxha’s right as a seething racist when they were bailing out dying supremacist groups all along sounds like it’s scripted.  It was indeed written by the SPLC.  People that lacking in creativity bungled the ending.

The iPhone was not released yet on May 6, 2007.  There have been five presidential elections in the meantime.  Josh Allen was 10. That was the date of the last Buffalo Sabres playoff clinching.  Go ahead and open that special can of Labatt Blue you’ve been saving.

The great thing about reading every tweet from the last time the Sabres won a playoff series is that there aren’t many to read through considering how few users there were 19 years ago.  A franchise that lagged for years finally made technological leaps after ditching flip phones. 

But there’s even better news about a team that refused to settle for initial progress, namely that they’re starting a new round.  One of endless issues during an interminable drought involved fretting that fans would end up pleased with just being there.  Simply advancing could have been classified as a Buffalo championship.  That term thankfully hasn’t make Urban Dictionary.

Credit the head yeller.  Lindy is Canadian for Jack.  Ruff means Adams.  Sabres fans are not worried about offseason awards when there’s a rather prominent postseason one in play.  But this team still has the coach of the year by any reasonable standard.  A favorite film not nabbing an Oscar fails to affect its greatness even if it was deserving.  I don’t even care what movie was criminally nominated instead of Slap Shot.

Articles are important.  Ruff should be the finalist.  Replacing the “a” signifies his singular achievement this past season.  The only debate should be whether his name is listed thrice or alone once.

Buffalonians can’t praise Ruff enough.  We experience the same issue with Josh Allen.  There’s finally a good Buffalo sports problem.  The incumbent is associated with countless great Sabres moments not just because he’s been around for many percentage-wise but more importantly because he initiated them.  Calculating how much of the franchise’s success can be linked to one person is one way to pass time on playoff off days.  Did I mention the Sabres made it?

Getting a lot out of players in general is even more impressive when noting the specific strategy has change.  His style is to recognize that of his team.  It’s modest in its way.  And it’s particularly ideal for a sport based on flowing action instead of set pieces.  I blame the ice.

Hang around long enough and you’ll start embodying eras.  The late ‘90s x-treme teams skated with sandpaper with awareness of just which bendy superhero they had in net.  By contrast, the Ryan Miller-era Sabres thrived in the high-flying mid-2000s during the glorious brief time where the NHL realized it should call penalties.  Now, they’re indulging in what boxing judges refer to as effective aggression as they reverse zones seamlessly.

Ruff has shifted not just to his roster’s strengths but also league trends.  Playing in manners that reflect and identify certain hockey epochs also helps define them.  The best teams are participants and not passengers.

An old school coach learning new teaching methods brings to mind another coach who adapted to what was available.  Pat Riley surprised basketball observers who thought he was good at one thing. Everyone was certain that he would bring his established Showtime production to Manhattan.  They instead played like the Warriors battling to get back to their territory, and not the Golden State kind.  Gang warfare was the result of a leader who knew what kind of recruits he had.

Changing requires a lack of arrogance.  It would be very easy to impose his preferred system on hapless team property.  Everyone has experienced the misfortune of dealing with inflexible coaches, bosses, or teachers who are condescending as they transfer little of value.  Ruff makes ineffective jerks look even more foolish.

A coach is not just directing players but people.  Realizing that individuals respond differently in both sporting structure and motivation is a respectful path to success.  Ruff has been broadly tough while exhibiting flexibility in approach.

If J.K. Rowling wrote a book about magical hockey, she’d have a character called Lindy Ruff.  The perfect name evokes how he played and coaches.  It took sorcery to reverse Buffalo’s fortunes.  This magician uses different spells based upon circumstances.  The true test of a proficient wizard is not just the ability to perform magic but to know when to try a different text.

Ruff is not thinking about retirement any more than he is about Jack Adams voting.  He can leave wondering if he’ll get two statues to us while he’s busy.  The sculptor could combine the subject’s careers with the same employer by having the work of art wear a helmet and suit while carrying a stick.

Our hero coach created the unique situation where a team can honor a coach by retiring his number.  They won’t have to list his wins or games coached total on the banner.  No Islander can wear the number 1500 in Al Arbour’s honor.

The Sabres re-hired a Buffalonian just like a one-time visitor found his home.  Ruff epitomizes his adopted city in the same sense the endlessly cool Clyde Frazier is a New Yorker who happened to be born in Atlanta.  Locals hope teams display desirable character.  Sometimes, a settler brings desirable traits to the new residence.

Ruff has always been efficient.  Someone whose demeanor could most properly be classified as gritty maximized his own abilities in his playing career and applied the same principle to getting those under his charge to do the same.  He’s the sort of supervisor who is able to alter his approach based on what employees offer.  This is the opposite situation of a Michael Scott-type manager whose skills weren’t transferable to his promotion.  Ruff avoided the Peter principle.  That’s what she said.

No other factor matters while working hard.  Ruff has always earned his paycheck no matter how the Sabres have employed him.  Setting the tone is why this roster is not content with being glad to have made a cameo or advanced once.

A high-cost bailout for a low-cost airline didn’t seem like a good deal. I’m not a financial professional or even amateur, but something seemed off about trying to overpay for a middle seat. Washington doesn’t bother shopping for bargains. They do save you cash if businesses vanish like, well, spirits.

Donald Trump benefits from circumstances that negate his wishes. It’s nothing new. Like missing out on getting a bad deal after a flight is delayed by inclement weather, losing Spirit keeps him from investing on your behalf.

The fact Trump was still willing to throw cash seized from others at Spirit Airlines as they entered the ether shows he’s unwilling to change even when the universe tells him to stop. It’s easier to get tipsy on Trump Vodka than it is to get a Spirit flight, but only barely. Being prevented from doing something harmful by reality is a common bailout for socialists if Trump wants to stop trying the other kind.

Spirit isn’t nearly as cheap as claimed based on the price Trump wanted to pay for it. The best CEO ever naturally wasn’t going to use any of his fortune for the ticket. Coercing investment as shrewd as his financial maneuvering gets.

Government tried to make no-frills flying as costly as Amtrak. It’s a good thing some cash-tossing statist RINO didn’t win and strive to meddle with the market using taxpayer dollars to keep flying Greyhound buses in the air.

For some reason, Trump is sympathetic about a lousy airline going out of business. It surely has nothing to do with his owning of an airline that existed for shorter than a presidential term. The ego boost of seeing his name on planes didn’t need to last long: he just wanted to see it once.

A grounded airline is one of numerous shady enterprises you may have heard that Trump didn’t run as amazingly as proclaimed. His greatest accomplishment is boasting, which he’s repeatedly highlighted to anyone taking note of results and not obnoxious seduction. Now, he’s got a job where he gets to risk other people’s earning. The fact he frequently acts like a prototypical liberal who thinks he knows how to spend what you earned better than you do surprises No Kings protest attenders who would’ve voted for someone with the same record and different name.

There’s a different method for dealing with budget woes that doesn’t involve involuntary American ownership. You’d think Trump would tout bankruptcy’s virtues. Why was he involved in so many if not for practice? A struggling outfit can either reorganize or disappear. But then there might be one fewer airline. The government should force Oldsmobile dealerships to reopen.

Buying a plane provider is surely pro-market, no? The spiritless Spirit acquisition disappearing represents a different attempt at meddling, which is how to differentiate between parties.

Trying to take over a concern to show how much they like it is how Republicans commit to companies. Conflating intervention with economic vigorousness coincides with thinking a bossy president is patriotic if he claims to act on behalf of loving the nation.

Taxpayers wish a different entity would spend what’s theirs if it’s worth having Spirit. Terra Chips distributor JetBlue should’ve been allowed to obtain their fellow flyer. But the chance has disappeared like a flight while you were stuck in a TSA groping queue.

The sensible potential private deal was naturally prevented by the very thoughtful meddling enemies of commerce in the Joe Biden White House. It’s sure uncanny how none of the ejected failures from that regrettable administration have had any success in anything ever other than winning elections. It’s one thing to only be good at seizing power and another to drag down those who are good at profiting.

Your flight to Houston was late because there was hail in Atlanta. Unlike weather, the chain reaction that wrecks exchange is avoidable. Tailgunner Joe’s refusal to allow a merger of two entities led to struggling which in turn caused his successor to unsuccessfully fail in the air travel industry again.

If the cunning strategy of Biden flunkies was to set off a Rube Goldberg device that led to a government takeover, then they almost pulled it off. Unlike Spirit’s legroom, that interpretation is generous. The previous meddlesome president avoided potential blame for daft federal purchasing. You know he didn’t plan that.

The kind government protected us from having a bigger airline servicing more places. Biden will never get the credit he deserves for routes disappearing. They could be to haunted places or ones without sanctuary policies, and you’d rue the day you got there if a Democrat didn’t make your decisions.

It’s not like the alleged pro-economy faction is better. In fact, their alleged commitment to not bothering people makes ensuing hypocrisy even more appalling. Republicans don’t even pretend to be for markets anymore.

A president who portrays a business titan either can’t distinguish between a company offering poor service or determine why a worthwhile one would attract sufficient financial resources. I am almost starting to suspect he never knew anything about trade. Let’s give him until the end of his second term to make sure.

I don’t want government owning an airline regardless of which party holds the presidency and especially if it’s the supposed laissez-faire one. It’s a banana republic move. I’m opposed to them owning clothiers, too.

Letting the market decide is the oldest cliché for a reason. Getting around was brought to a halt by executive interdiction. An aspiring move prevented by shuttering would’ve served as the equivalent of viral Spirit sky brawls. Trump is exceptionally good at showing everything that’s wrong with government. He’ll treat noting that inadvertent display of ineptitude as an ego boost.

Let aspiring flyers decide which owner of planes deserves ticket money just like what happened with the numerous outfits the incumbent piloted into the ground. You can’t get Trump Ice from your flight attendant no matter how thirsty you are.

No citizens should want to own an airline without permission. That’s true for even a good one, which notably isn’t an issue. The transporter in question would’ve turned even worse after being governed from the Oval Office.

Compulsion is the crucial factor, from smugly mendacious public broadcasting to worthwhile arts initiatives to attempts at making kids less stupid through education. Anything may or may not be a deserving cause. Free humans can decide with what currency is theirs.

I’m shocked that a socialist broke his promise.  It’s the first time.  Witnessing history is easy while puttering at eight miles per hour.  Unlicensed driver Zohran Mamdani’s gratis bus scheme got thwarted before implementation, which is as close as he gets to efficiency.  There’s still a free transfer to blame.

A free bus isn’t helpful when you’re going nowhere.  New York City wants a literal example of their figuratively bleak situation.  Embracing government running stuff could only get more foolish in that particular city during this specific year.

Pretending people can get a ride without a fee is a promise worth breaking.  I wish a leftist politician lied.  It’s not really a lie when everyone one believes is false.  Mathematics, human nature, and reality will stop any boast from becoming true.  It’s best to shelve daft proposals even if yet another example of why government doling out free stuff is apparently necessary to demonstrate which side of the Iron Curtain was cast in darkness.  

I guess Democrats think drivers don’t deserve a living wage.  And why would a bus need maintenance?  Press the pedals while turning the wheel and it’s bound to go.  They’re surely powered by wholly complimentary solar energy in these advanced times.

Yet there are still superficial greed specialists who think that a motorized vehicle only moves if someone pays for it.  It’s tough to determine whether they think the trip truly doesn’t require any outlay or if some wealthy jerk funds a pass that keeps getting handed off.  This must be the end of freeloading.

The good news is everyone’s rich.  The bad is that everyone’s getting taxed accordingly.  The definition of wealthy is someone who makes more than you.  Everyone would get ripped off if fares were complimentary.  Laughing at the baron who’s forced to subsidize the proletariat chariot isn’t as funny when the mugging victim doesn’t have funds to employ you or buy a set of customized crocheted birth month coasters from your Etsy shop.

The only thing worse than pretending the ride’s free is preposterous fares.  A ridiculous price for single-payer transportation is especially outrageous for a service that encourages walking by being slower than pedestrians.  Travelers could get out and shuffle to the next stop and board again if they need to stretch their legs.

Asking what free means isn’t merely rhetorical.  It gets costly.  Someone else covering your expenses is how self-professed selfless people stick to their budgets.

The charge is about more than ponying up for a ride.  Coughing up a couple bucks is a barrier.  Aspiring travelers not only need to pony up a couple bucks to board and ride but also must go through the procedure.  Paying a fare is like a velvet rope: the obstacle may be eluded, but the psychological barrier is in place.  Anyone can board.  Advocates think that’s a virtue.

Capricious chargers try to make things free while charging those who get themselves around.  The congestion tax is a punishment for moving ahead placed by the Bureau of Obvious Metaphors.  Trying to herd people onto the original rideshare is too reminiscent of the way cattle are treated.

I don’t mean to doubt socialists because they get everything wrong.  Even the type of riders mystifies them.  Endorsers of comped fares think it’s productive patriots on the way to glorious factory toil.  Or maybe they’re joining fellow committed comrades waiting for glorious bread rations in the Freedom Queue at the city-owned supermarket.  Soon, the line will extend so long that you’ll be able to join it by stepping outside the front door.

The open bar of ambulation would’ve been even shadier than the streets.  You may have noticed how people treat anything that’s free, namely not quite respectfully.  That means you know more about human nature than New York City’s incumbent mayor.

Those prevented from creating rolling homeless shelters are unwilling to learn how the consequences they inflict lead to compensating responses.  Command economy fans loathe the free market because they can’t control it.  Of course, they can’t control anything.  But imposing their comically moronic attempts to reshape society lets them pretend they’ll shape destiny.  They’re right in their completely wrong way.

Democrats avoided the disaster of implementing their goal.  They shouldn’t fret, as there will be plenty of chances for them to create disasters by trying to dodge prices and responsibility.  Those who misunderstand the nature of getting around 

can’t ascertain why people who are good at earning cross state lines permanently when they’re punished for it.

I just know ceaseless calls to get things without being charged reflect the onset of responsibility.  Mature adults are known for trying to get something for nothing.  It’s cheaper than paying, you idiots.  A lesson to be learned on the first day is vainly evaded by statists who learn less daily.

It was nice of the Buffalo Bills to not interrupt the Sabres postgame show.  I fretted that I’d miss hearing Peyton Krebs comment about a concluded successful playoff outing while quickly switching over to check if the football counterpart selected someone who may or may not play in a few months.  The palpable excitement shift between the two franchises is embodied by declining the chance to add their top rookie during primetime Thursday.

You can’t bungle a first-round pick if you don’t make one.  That sounds like a certain way to win games, too.  The Bills didn’t acquire every seventh-round selection, but they sure seemed to try.

I hope Brandon Beane is committing betting fraud and not drafting this poorly because he thinks these are swell picks.  They forgot who their quarterback was and what he could use.  Everyone in Buffalo loves Josh Allen but the Bills.

Beane can’t get fired.  He’s glad the Bills are run like the Yankees.  This franchise’s George Costanza sure seems like he’s deliberately provoking his bosses.  Terry Pegula is the Bizarro Steinbrenner.

It’s fitting Shane Conlan mentioned 2016 for a move that feels like it’s from the drought.  An uninspired choice was a throwback who doesn’t inspire nostalgia.

Regrettable tendencies are overlapping.  Trading down to draft another pass rusher made Bills fans shudder twice with recognition.  Groundhog Day meets Happy Death Day. 

I don’t even feel like reviewing individual choices.  This is usually a space for projecting how the NFL career will go of someone who’s still technically in college.  But Buffalo’s bargain hunting spurs analysis of the overall trend rather than individuals caught up in it.

Helping the Patriots get the player of their dreams is what divisional mates do for each other.  At least, one of them does.  A gift to a foe in need may be too sportsmanlike.  An offensive tackle who I’m certain won’t stymie Beane’s coterie of mediocre pass rushers for years was part of what we can only hope stemmed from a nice deal.  Skyler Bell has the added pressure of being the 125th pick who needs to thrive to make a transaction with the most despised divisional foe seem worthwhile.

Next, they’ll draft Keon Coleman again.  Repeating their baffling strategy of trading out of the first round obeys a precedent they set.  It proves that sticking with a plan might be unwise if the initial concept was daft.  The Jets took auspicious receiver prospect Omar Cooper Jr. in the meantime.  This is why Josh drinks. 

We’re challenged to maintain faith that the club got it right when everything indicates things went wrong.  It’s not just the psychological aspect of failing to add a first-rounder: the Bills will again not getting a fifth season on a pick’s contract.  Backers shouldn’t feel like they have to explain to the general manager how rookie contracts work.

Depth doesn’t help when the pool’s footprint is so narrow.  Exercising countless options to back up is an unexpected strategy for good reason.  Bragging about the quantity of choices is the only recourse for the beleaguered Bills social media team.  It’s quality that’s better in case anyone is confused.  To Beane, a handful of change buys more than three dollars.

It’s not to be impatient.  Wait: yes, it is.  You may be aware that the Bills are one of those clubs that has not won the present championship.  This roster needs players who can make an impact now considering who they have for how much more time.  Our BFF’s impending milestone birthday means he’s about to enter his fourth decade.  His employer is entering its seventh without a title.

We waited for a geological era until Josh showed up and now endure the seemingly endless waste of potential.  That’s two eternities by my count.  It may seem impossible.  But a franchise that specialized in making fans wait sure doesn’t act like it cares about seizing a singular opportunity.

The maddening front office spent the draft dilly-dallying like they have with Josh’s career.  Maintaining a philosophy can come with downsides.  Nonchalance paired with arrogance is Beane’s signature, which is particularly appalling for someone whose winning record can be traced back to a single selection.

The Bills could use a general manager trade.  One of the other teams in the Pegula portfolio was the worst thing to happen to hockey until they finally canned their oafishly unqualified general manager.  I would rather have Jarmo Kekäläinen make Bills picks during the Stanley Cup playoffs.  I don’t care if he’s ever seen an American football game.  Changing the culture is as important as doing the same with the way they draft.

The lack of buzz might not seem like it should factor into a draft grade.  But chemistry affects performance in a way the Bills are in danger of demonstrating.  This year’s selection process more like an afterthought than a competition.  Sabres fans had to remember to monitor what the Bills plotted.  There was a time not long ago when they’d ready for a stoppage in play to change stations as soon as possible to maximize the chance of catching a selection.  Then again, there wasn’t playoff action to miss.