217,000 or more in that period.

Ziggy, thank you for doing this. Very classy way to remember Bonebuck. I really miss seeing him as part of the board.

callers ask if I got my new Medicare card.  I know what is up.  Sure, I got it.  They want to confirm by me giving them my number off the card.  I say you’ve got the number, right?  You are with Medicare, right?  They still ask till I cuss them out.

PSA: do NOT give out SS# or date of birth or any personal info over phone.

You are welcome

Texas bus company agrees to stop transporting migrants to NYC amid Mayor Eric Adams lawsuit

Using law-fare vs bus company doing commerce knowing they don’t want the expense of court.

A Texas bus company has agreed to stop bussing illegal migrants from Texas to New York City amid an ongoing lawsuit from Mayor Eric Adams.

Bus company Roadrunner Charters agreed Wednesday to stop transporting migrants, signing a stipulation letter.

"The Defendant Roadrunner Charters Inc. will refrain forthwith from transporting individuals known as migrants from Texas to New York City, and/or from Texas to the vicinity of New York City," the letter said, in part.

Popular ex-GOP governor trounces two Dem rivals in blue state Senate showdown: poll
Democrats are defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs this election cycle
Could a longtime deep blue state provide Republicans a path to winning back the Senate majority in November's elections?

A new poll suggests the answer may be yes.

Former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland holds double-digit leads over both of his potential Democratic rivals in his home state's Senate race, a Washington Post/University of Maryland poll released on Wednesday indicates.

Hogan, whose surprise announcement last month that he would launch a Senate campaign rocked the campaign world, tops Democratic Rep. David Trone 49%-37% if the general election were held today, according to the survey.



And the poll indicates that Hogan leads the other major Democrat running for their party's Senate nomination — Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks — by a 50%-36% margin.



But the survey, which was conducted March 5-12, also indicates that by a 20-point margin, Maryland voters say they'd prefer if the Democrats retained control of the Senate.

In the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, the poll indicates Trone leads Alsobrooks 34%-27% in their party's primary on May 14, with nearly 4 in 10 Democratic voters undecided.

Trone, the co-founder and co-owner, along with his brother, of the successful alcohol retailer Total Wine & More, has vastly outspent Alsobrooks to date in the Democratic Senate primary.

Hogan, a vocal GOP critic of former President Donald Trump, won election and re-election in 2014 and 2018 as governor in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a roughly 2-to-1 margin.

Hogan, a successful business leader before entering politics, seriously mulled a run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and made numerous trips in 2022 to New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary in the GOP nominating calendar.

But in March of last year, Hogan announced he wouldn't seek his party's presidential nomination.

During his last year as governor, Republican leaders in the nation's capital and in Maryland heavily courted Hogan to run for the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections against Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen.

But Hogan declined, saying in a news conference in February of that year that "as I have repeatedly said, I don't aspire to be a United States senator."

ut fast-forward two years, and Hogan is now running for the open seat in a state where it's been nearly four decades since a Republican served in the Senate.

Hogan, who steered Maryland in a bipartisan way, left office with high approval and favorable ratings. And the new poll indicates he remains popular, with a 64%-23% favorable/unfavorable rating.

The survey also indicates that Trone and Alsobrooks are not well known among many Maryland voters.

Democrats currently control the U.S. Senate with a 51-49 majority, but Republicans are looking at a favorable Senate map this year, with Democrats defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs.

Three of those seats are in red states that Trump carried in 2020 — Ohio, Montana and West Virginia, where Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin is not running for re-election.

NFL owners to consider kickoff change, hip-drop tackle ban
The NFL's competition committee proposed a revamped kickoff Wednesday that resembles the alignment used in the XFL during its 2020 and 2023 seasons, one of a series of high-profile changes owners will consider next week at their annual league meeting.

The committee also offered a rule that would prohibit the hip-drop tackling technique.

The kickoff proposal would be the most significant on-field rule change for the NFL in years and is designed to reverse more than a decade of declining return rates while also lowering concussion rates. In essence, the committee's proposal would move the majority of the kicking and return teams downfield to minimize high-speed collisions. If approved by at least 24 of 32 owners, the rule would go into effect for one year only.




The kicker would continue to kick from the 35-yard line, but the other 10 players would line up at the receiving team's 40-yard line. At least nine members of the return team would line up in a "set-up zone" between the 35- and 30-yard line. Up to two returners can line up in a "landing zone" between the goal line and the 20-yard line. No one other than the kicker and returner(s) can move until the ball hits the ground or a player inside the landing zone. Touchbacks would be marked at the 35-yard line and no fair catches would be allowed.

In the event a team wants to attempt an onside kick, it would have to inform officials of its intent and would then be allowed to use the NFL's traditional formation. No surprise onside kicks would be allowed.

The proposal follows the structure and philosophy of the XFL version with a slight shift in where the players are aligned. In the XFL, they lined up faurther downfield, between the returning team's 30- and 35-yard lines. More than 90% of kickoffs were returned during the XFL's two seasons.

The reason for the proposed changes is clear. In its efforts to reduce concussions on kickoffs, the NFL over the past 15 seasons has implemented rule changes designed to reduce returns. It moved the kickoff from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line, outlawed wedge and double-team blocks and in 2023 created a rule that allowed a fair catch to be spotted at the 25-yard line.

Touchback rates dramatically increased over that period and the return rate fell to a league-record 21.7% in 2023. The number of concussions dropped as well, but only in parallel with the decrease in returns. The rate of concussions per kickoff, according to league officials, has remained relatively constant.


It is unclear how owners will react to the changes. When the XFL and USFL merged this season, the resulting UFL discarded the XFL version and opted to use the traditional NFL kickoff alignment.

Meanwhile, the committee's attempt to eliminate the hip-drop tackles -- a dangerous technique that often results in lower body injuries -- requires officials to note two actions: If a defender "grabs the runner with both hands or wraps the runner with both arms," according to the wording of the proposal and also "unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and trapping the runner's leg(s) at or below the knee."

The committee's proposals came one week after teams made a series of their own rule change requests.

Other committee proposals included:

To add two instances to the list of reviewable plays: whether a passer is out of bounds or down by contact before throwing, and whether the game clock has expired before a snap.

To expand the rule against crackback blocks to players "who go in motion and move beyond the center to block a defender at or below the knee," according to the proposal.

To allow teams to use a practice squad quarterback as its emergency No. 3 quarterback. Currently that quarterback must have previously been part of the 53-man roster.

Cuba protesters demand food, electricity as Rubio says nation on ‘verge of collapse’ from Marxist policies
Protests erupt as Cuba sees one of its worst ever economic and energy crises


Protests have continued this week in Cuba over one of the island’s worst ever economic and energy crises as food shortages and blackouts push the country toward the "verge of collapse."

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio took to X on Tuesday to say the disastrous situation was down to Cuba’s long-standing Marxist policies.

"The reason Cuba is on the verge of collapse is because Marxism always leads to hunger, poverty and shortages," Rubio said.


The senator, an ardent critic of the Cuban regime, took to the social media platform to push back on accusations levied by the Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío, who suggested in a Monday interview with the Associated Press that the food shortages were due to the U.S.’s longstanding embargoes.

Fernández de Cossío accused the U.S. of "open interference [in] Cuba’s domestic affairs" after the State Department on Monday called on Havana to respect the protesters and "attend to the legitimate needs of the Cuban people."



"It was also cynical, as we said publicly, and hypocritical because it was referring to issues that are occurring in Cuba in which there’s an import and responsibility from the U.S. government," Fernández de Cossío said, calling the comments "disrespectful."



The U.S. has had trade and other financial embargoes on Cuba largely since the early 1960s, though certain exceptions permit the export of food products to the island nation so long as they are used in the private sector and not by the government.

"There is no U.S. food embargo on Cuba," Rubio reiterated on X Tuesday. "Last year Cuba imported over $300 million in food and commodities from the U.S."

Critics of the ongoing embargoes point to the economic sanctions re-enacted under the Trump administration, soaring food prices and the inability of Americans to travel to Cuba as factors that have exacerbated the energy and food shortages.

The State Department on Tuesday reiterated its stance on the ongoing protests and said it continues to watch the situation "closely."

"There are protests across several cities in Cuba that were calling for electricity, food, and fundamental freedoms, and we are urging the Cuban Government to refrain from violence and unjust detentions and calling on authorities to respect Cuban citizens’ rights for peaceful assembly," deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters.

"We stand with the Cuban people and continue to support their demands of human rights, freedom, prosperity, and a future for greater dignity," he added.

Is Chase DeLauter someone to get really excited about? The Indians have really, really, really needed to develop players like this for a LONG time.

Quote:

@jojofromjerz

 

@jojofromjerz

No. We were not better off four years ago.

♬ original sound - JoJoFromJerz

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Who do you feel takes this home?
First round upsets?