I think it would be great if performers and models returned to a more healthy look. Too often they get rewarded for the unnatural thin look.

Running the ball on 3rd and 1 is a much higher-percentage play, so that's just common sense. Within the context of playing aggressively but smartly, that would've been the right call. If you pick up the first down, great. If you don't, you punt the ball and play for field position by trying to pin your opponent deep. Trying to throw deep on that play was just foolish.

And again, trying to pass on 3rd down when you're clearly in field goal range and three points puts the game effectively out of reach -- well, that can't be called anything but recklessly stupid. I don't know what the coaches were thinking. By that point, I surmise that the Patriots had perhaps gotten inside their heads and they were in panic mode, even though there was really no reason to be so.

jondee: "That's the kind of thing they do to 'outsmart the DNC.'"

And further, the people behind this are targeting an unsuspecting and low-information American electorate, of whom a fair portion is comprised of what you called "Planet Wingnut":

Motherboard | January 28, 2017
The Data That Turned the World Upside Down - "Psychologist Michal Kosinski developed a method to analyze people in minute detail based on their Facebook activity. Did a similar tool help propel Donald Trump to victory? Two reporters from Zurich-based Das Magazin went data-gathering."

It is my considered opinion that there is a likely nexus between recent electoral events in Moldova, Bulgaria and the United States, and it runs through Moscow. What's described in the Motherboard article went a long way toward clarifying for me what happened. Because if I understand this correctly:

• Psychological profiles (O.C.E.A.N.) have been further developed by mining "Big Data," which includes Facebook Likes, credit card expenditures, travel histories, lifestyle choices, etc. including GPS data of individuals moving through their daily lives.
  
• These profiles have been exquisitely refined and defined.
  
• Different cohorts can be assembled by selecting similar psychological profiles.
  
• "Profile cohorts" -- that is, identification of individuals deemed susceptible to such outside influence -- can then be targeted with highly personal, nuanced, and progressively more inflammatory messaging via their own electronic devices.
  
• These targeted messages are invisible to members of other profiles.
  
• The increasingly vicious tweets and online commentary we've seen online from far-right conservatives over the last 18 months, which often appear so inexplicably unhinged and crazy to the rest of us, are actually being driven and prompted by this "Big Data" analysis.

"Washington is ours. Chicinau is ours. Sofia is ours. Now we just have to drain the swamp at home[.]"

Aleksandr Dugin is a prominent Russian political scientist who is well known for his fascist and warmongering views, and who enjoys close and extensive ties with President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin's executive bureaucracy and the Russian military. The nexus here is that the United States, Moldova and Bulgaria each had national elections in Nov. 2016, all of which then resulted in shockingly unexpected wins by pro-Russian candidates. I do not believe that this is coincidence.

It can be pretty disorienting and frustrating to have a conversation with someone you love, who hasn't a clue about what you are speaking, or who may have been slowly -- over many, many months I suspect -- and subliminally "programmed" to respond to your concerns with flip and dismissive comments or characterizations, all of which serve to forestall further communication on the subject you wish to discuss.

I now believe that this state of affairs has been deliberately induced at least in part by a sophisticated, targeted propaganda campaign originating in Moscow and further, that this campaign is still ongoing. It has had the effect of inciting socio-political chaos; and of sowing doubt and mistrust both in our government institutions and between us as citizens and individuals.

If it's true, then it poses a direct threat to the political health and national security of our nation. One must ask, "To what ultimate end?" and, "Who benefits?" And this is why independent hearings on Russian interference in our elections ought to be conducted immediately.

Anyway, if you have time, please read the Motherboard article and watch the MSNBC video, and then pass it on. We can perhaps discuss its ramifications later. For now, I'm taking off my tinfoil hat and signing out.

1. believes you, and
   
2. cares.