Photo of the Day, 1/2
Author: Rich Wilkins
Photo of the Day, 1/1
Goodbye 2025
I stared out across the mall, watching the fireworks. I realized I was completely burned out. The date wasn’t August 17th, 2024, the day my body failed and my life was on the brink. The date was January 20th, 2021. I was in Washington, DC and I had just finished working the inauguration of President Biden. I was over it all. I had been burning the candle further and further down that was my life. I was at the end. I wanted to turn down a job offer to manage a campaign, and I had already basically given up on joining the Biden Administration. I was in denial, that all I needed was a short break and then I’d be back to myself. I was at my wits end. I was probably already diabetic at that point, so my physical health was in decline. My mental health was shot. I was in denial about both, because well, I could make everything look fine.
From that day up until August 17th, 2024, I was able to fake it good sometimes. I had successes professionally. I went to the gym and had good work outs. I could make you think I was functioning. I did it better than anybody, trust me. I should have won an Oscar for the last five years of my life. I played my supporting actor role like an elite leading actor. Right until I got the infection in my foot, nothing was visibly wrong. Then it was. In the time since I almost died, my doctors have opened my eyes to where I was at. I was on a slow decline towards a young death that suddenly was accelerated by the blood infections. In a really, really weird way, almost dying literally saved my life.
2025 was the most adequate year ever. Not great, not bad, just adequate. Coming after the living hell of 2024, it was exactly what I needed at this time in my life. I needed to survive, heal, and get my strength back. I spent this year doing just that. I’m weirdly healthier than I was before. The fog in my mind has been lifting slowly over the course of this year. I’ve come around to the reality that is me. There wasn’t anything that great about this year, other than that I survived it. I’m not truly thriving yet. I’m much better than I was though. I also now know just how much I can actually take.
I’m afraid of nothing now. This year wasn’t the year I wanted, but it was the year I needed, to clear my mind and body. I did just that. I’m thankful for everything, every day, and every person. Thank you all, and god bless you in 2026.
Photo of the Day, 12/31
NFL Power Rankings, 12/30
There’s not much left to decide. With one game to go, we know six of the seven playoff participants in both conferences. We know that Denver, Seattle, and San Francisco control their destinies, in terms of winning home field. The order behind those teams could move a bit, but for the most part, it’s done.
The truth is that there are some teams who don’t care, and haven’t cared for weeks, and then there are some teams trying. So what is there to learn at this point? Not a ton. Just enough to hold your interest though, and that’s why you’ll watch this week. You still won’t really know who is the favorite in the NFC though, because you just won’t. The same could be said of the AFC, which none of you would trust anyway.
So basically you have a couple of meaningful games left. They are:
- Ravens-Steelers- the winner wins the AFC North. If the Steelers win, most people will make them the underdog now, no matter who they play in round one. If the Ravens win, people will start calling them the sleeper, and blah, blah, blah. Lamar has been hurt and inconsistent all year, but I guess that will all change when the calendar changes, according to some.
- Panthers-Buccaneers- If you still believe there are football gods, the Bucs should disprove that for you. They have been one of the worst football teams in the league for about two months, and yet they’re a home win against an 8-8 team away from the playoffs. They’ll probably be favored at kickoff. Meanwhile the Panthers grew from a hideous football team early to become really no worse than some of the NFC’s “contenders” after the first month. And yet, they both have a chance.
- Seahawks-Niners- Winner gets home field, a bye, and wins the best division in football this year. Loser gets either five (Seahawks, where they will still be favored) or six (possible for the Niners, but the reward is a trip to Philadelphia in January). This is literally a difference of having the easiest or one of the hardest roads to the Super Bowl. The Niners might never leave home again this season, a streak that would encompass the last two games of the season, two rounds of the playoffs, and the Super Bowl, or they could travel 3,000 miles to a hostile environment. Completely insane.
- There are other games that sort of matter for seeding, or could matter if Denver were to lose, but those are remote possibilities.
Ok, so on to the rankings.
12/24 rankings. 12/16 rankings. 12/9 rankings. 12/3 rankings. 11/26 rankings. 11/18 rankings. 11/11 rankings. 11/4 rankings. 10/28 rankings. 10/21 rankings. 10/15 rankings. 10/8 rankings. 9/30 rankings. 9/24 rankings. 9/16 rankings. 9/9 rankings.
- Seattle Seahawks
- Denver Broncos
- New England Patriots
- San Francisco 49’ers
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Houston Texans
- Chicago Bears
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Los Angeles Rams
- Buffalo Bills
- Los Angeles Chargers
- Baltimore Ravens
- Green Bay Packers
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- Carolina Panthers
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Minnesota Vikings
- Atlanta Falcons
- Detroit Lions
- Dallas Cowboys
- Miami Dolphins
- Indianapolis Colts
- New Orleans Saints
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Cleveland Browns
- Washington Commanders
- Tennessee Titans
- New York Jets
- Arizona Cardinals
- New York Giants
- Las Vegas Raiders
Photo of the Day, 12/30
Socialism Failed. Why Do Some Keep Bringing It Up?
We just passed the 34th anniversary of one of the greatest days in the post-World War II world- the death of the Soviet Union. A bunch of hyper-ambitious morons decided to create a government on a theory and a myth, and ended up creating a failed shit hole of a state, an authoritarian, corrupt, awful nightmare of a state. As with most Socialist nations in our world, it turned into a cult of personality towards it’s leaders, complete with rampant corruption and “black markets,” poverty, and all kinds of human rights violations. The world is better off for not having the Soviet Union around today, whatever you think of the governments in the republics that replaced it.
Sure, there are Russians and others from the old empire that miss the power they had at that time. Even so, they’re not desperate to return to the system of government they had. Meanwhile, socialism has failed pretty much everywhere else- North Korea is a hellhole, China basically abandoned the system, Cuba is on the verge of collapse, Venezuela has literal pirates off their coast, Yugoslavia collapsed into a state of war and ethnic cleansing, the rest of Eastern Europe threw out their dictators, East Germany had to build a wall to keep people from leaving, and Bolivia’s economy is now in ruins. Socialism just doesn’t work anywhere. Even countries that didn’t end up in violent chaos ended up turning away from the failed system.
So why do progressives in the Western World, who are actually just old European Social Democrats (a very generous government “safety net.”) want to brand themselves as far leftist nuts? To be clear, Bernie Sanders, AOC, Graham Platner, Bob Brooks, and others are not calling for the government to “seize the means of production.” They don’t want a “First National Energy Company,” and even their “Medicare for All” is just covering everyone under Medicare- which is generally administered by private companies. Why are they associating the policies of a full social safety net with a failed economic and political system that allowed Joseph Stalin to kill millions and millions of his own people? How is this good politics?
Americans are generally smart enough to know that these people are idiots, which is why they don’t win elections outside of comfortably Democratic jurisdictions where primaries decide the winners. It’s one thing to want a generous Social Security program or a higher minimum wage, it’s another altogether to brand yourself a part of a murderous, failed political system. Somehow, a lot of Democrats want to turn to these people to turn their 2024 fate around. It’s a foolish strategy.
Photo of the Day, 12/29
Photo of the Day, 12/28
Photo of the Day, 12/27
Apocalypse Vibes 