Happy Birthday Joy-Ann Reid, Week in review, 'Quid' and the 'quo" in a 'Quid pro quo' scenario proven, James Franco embarrassed that he saw Phish, Warren Haynes Christmas Jam, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Steve Brandano, Sha Na Na, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, George Carlin with Andy Kaufman, Deutsche Bank Subpoenaed by Mueller and The Rams Play the Eagles tomorrow!

It is Joy-Ann Reid's birthday today!

It has been a crazy week.

James Franco was on the Howard Stern Show this week. He was on with some guy that evidently put up his own money to make the world's worst movie ever. The guy on with Franco seemed like a total dick. He was even a Dick toward Franco and I think James helped him get his film made. I couldn't really figure out what was going on or what Franco was promoting. 

Regardless of why he was on the show this week, he (James Franco) did say that his first concert ever was a Phish show and that he was embarrassed to admit it. 

I assume it was a show from the 90's if it was his first show ever. He also said about the Phish scene that he felt that Grateful Dead Heads carried over when Jerry died to become Phish Phans. That is why I bet he went back in the 90's because if he went to a show maybe in the mid 90s, I could see that being a true but it was short lived after a few years when Jerry died.

They pulled in like 88K people at their own festival in Limestone, Maine of all places at the Loring Air Force Base back in 97. They played there again in '98 drawing close to 70K people that year. One year was The Great Went and the other year was the Lemon Wheel. I forget what festival was in what in year off the top of my head.

The irony of Phish even then is that they were already playing at 15K to 20K seat venues on a regular basis well before Jerry died but yet people still had no clue about the band. And, again, there is the element that thinks Phish's career was built after Jerry dying which is not even remotely true. 

Today most Phish Heads have never seen the real Grateful Dead when Jerry was alive.

I was wondering why he was hesitant to admit that Phish was his first show ever?

My first show ever at an arena sized venue was Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) at the Spectrum in Philly. 
My parents took me to Sha Na Na, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and George Carlin with Andy Kaufman opening up at the Valley Forge Music Fair when I was a young kid. 

Those shows were in the round.
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I was thinking that maybe he heard the two segments from Steve Brandano when he interviewed people at the Mann Music Center in the lot scene at the last two times they played that venue. They were interviewing people doing Nitros which I get that a typical Phish Head doing NO2 is a an easy tool and great to laugh at but it is also not the best reflection of the average Phish Phan. I sat near Brandano the one time two years ago and we talked the entire set break. It was because the people next to me were yelling his name before the show started up and during the break, they went to the bathroom or whatever away from the seats which gave us the chance to talk alone. We had a good conversation and even though I had history with that show, I did not let on how but it was easy to see that I had followed the Stern Show since I was a kid. I stopped listening a few years a go giving it a break, however I actually started listening again lately (when I got my new car in the spring).
Flynn's text shows Trump's administration was all about making money while lifting the sanctions on Russia. Minutes after President Trump was sworn in, his former national security adviser Michael Flynn told a former business partner that Russian sanctions would be 'ripped up', according to a whistleblower's account. Rep. Elijah Cummings also let out the credibility of a whistleblower regarding Michael Flynn’s texts about ending Russian sanctions on Inauguration Day. 

Robert Mueller asked Congressman Cummings to hold back on releasing this information to the general public for many months.

Deutsche Bank had to finally provide records related to Donald Trump's dealings with them to the special prosecutor Robert Mueller. This was turned over to investigators weeks ago after getting subpoenaed by Mueller's team

Those records are related to anyone affiliated with Trump and that the subpoena targeted Trump and his family’s bank records. That was disputed by Trump’s personal lawyer and the White House but what else is new about them lying and denying anything against them? 

“We have confirmed that the news reports that the Special Counsel had subpoenaed financial records relating to the president are false. No subpoena has been issued or received. We have confirmed this with the bank and other sources,” Trump’s lawyer John Dowd wrote in an email Dec. 5.

That the subpoena was issued in connection with Paul Manafort who was indicted in October. Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni declined to comment.

“Deutsche Bank always cooperates with investigating authorities in all countries”

A spokesman for Mueller’s office declined to comment which is what I love about the guy.

Deutsche Bank for months has rebuffed calls by Democratic lawmakers to provide more transparency over the roughly $300 million Trump owed to the bank for his real estate dealings prior to becoming president. Representative Maxine Waters of California and other Democrats have asked whether the bank’s loans to Trump, made years before he ran for president, were in any way connected to Russia. The bank rejected those demands, saying sharing client data would be illegal unless it received a formal request to do so. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

Trump defaulted on a large loan with Deutsche Bank in NY here in the US. He got another loan for 300 million from Deutsche Bank in Russia. When a Deutsche Bank New York representative was asked if this was normal practice at the Deutsche Bank. He replied saying "no fucking way." 

Deutsche Bank in Russia was later caught laundering money.

Mueller could be getting these bank documents and records so he can see if there is some tie.

It is now 11 months done and into this administration and the only constant is that Trump and his staff will not say one negative word about Vladimir Putin. Not to mention that the administrations old campaign manager has been indicted along with another key levelled staffer that was also indicted while his National Security Director and some other foreign policy representative have already plead guilty.

The guy blasts everything and everyone and not one time has he uttered one negative comment about Vladimir Putin and/or about Russia.

That is after it was made clear that the Russians hacked into the Democratic Party's computer system while it seems like it helped Trump get elected. 

He has not acted on the sanctions congress enacted with a 98-2 vote that were against Russia for the hacking and interference in our elections last year.

It is unreal and so obvious what is up here.

And because of it, the noose is tightening while the walls are all closing in on them big time. 

Hope Hicks was interviewed this week by Mueller. It has been radio silent since and Don Jr. fielded and dodged questions at the House hearing this week. He even stated something about there being a lawyer client privilege merely because there was a lawyer in the room. The lawyer was not representing him but he somehow he has now brought this lawyer into the probe. 

The lawyer should now be subpoenaed to answer that about privilege.

Now conservatives are trying to say that Mueller is corrupt or that he should be tossed from heading that probe.

As of this week though, we have the 'Quid' and the 'quo" in a 'Quid pro quo' scenario proven. The pro or the actual link that created the Quid and the Quo is the only thing that needs to be discovered and again, they are getting very close (if they don't even have that proof in hand by now anyway). Mueller already knows what is up. He knew the answer to any question asked to Hope Hick yesterday. She is only 28 or 29 years old. I hope she does not fuck up because the way that this is panning out is not good for the likes of her and her boss.

This weekend is the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam in Asheville, NC!
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And last, the Rams play the Eagles this week in LA at the Los Angeles Coliseum!
This could be another be careful what you wish for in life (if you remember how much I wanted that Minnesota game vs. Case Keenum which they manhandled us that game), however, this is the game I have wanted all year. 

The 10-2 Philadelphia Eagles head to Los Angeles and actually, the team never even left the West Coast this week. That scheduling was brutal because they played against the Seahawks on Sunday night. They practiced at the old Ram Stadium down in Anaheim all week. 


I wanted that loss the Eagles had against the Seahawks last week. It was very odd rooting for the Seahawks. I did not watch one play in the game. I basically made my pick while telling some friends what I was up to (and they scolded me too for even remotely rooting for Seattle) and then I closed my eyes that night to see later on that the Eagles lost 34-10 or something like that. It looked like Seattle dealt and handled them big time.


The reason BTW, why I wanted Seattle to win is because we get to play them next week. I feel we can beat that team. And then as we all know, we have the Eagles on Sunday this week. I want to come out of that game with a great win tying our records at 10-3. That way we have the upper hand come playoff time as far as home field advantage. I just do not want to step into the city of Philadelphia on January 19th or 20th to have to play in Lincoln Field in what could be freezing cold weather with a rawkus crowd that wants their team to make it to the Super Bowl.


That was my M.O. 


And so we will see how that pans out. 


Phase one is complete. 


The Rams must now handle the Eagle team.


The Rams Defense must not only stop the run game on Sunday, they really must also stop the runs up the middle.


That is where the Rams have gotten creamed over the last few weeks. Right up the middle. 


The rest of the defense is perfect. 


The middle parts that D that control the run have been playing awful as of late. They must adjust and they must deal with that very issue. 


Now having Connor Barwin out has hurt in that regard and then Alec Ogeltree went out of last weeks game with an elbow injury. However, that was after he caught an interception that he ran back for a touchdown before doing a flip in the end zone. That was not what injured him but still, no pun meant because its a huge gap to fill in every regard. Plus, I think some big runs happened with him in the game un-injured let alone he played the entire New Orleans game and that guy ran rampant up the middle all day.


They must stop the run game and they must clog the middle of the field on D. 


They do that; they will win handily this weekend.


It looks like (Alec) Ogletree along with Robert Woods, Connor Barwin and Lamarcus Joyner have not practiced at all this week. I assume they are all out of Sunday's game.


The team can clinch Sunday / this week if the Lions lose or tie. And if the Packers lose or tie. And the Cowboys have to lose or tie. Oh and the Panthers have to lose and the Falcons have to lose too. 


That is setting aside that the Rams must win vs the Eagles while those teams must lose and therefore, for the Rams to clinch a playoff spot this weekend, we must see wins by the Saints, Vikings, Giants, Browns, and Buccaneers and again, vs. the teams I mentioned above that must lose this week.


Regardless of it all, I cannot wait for that game. I can't wait.



IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY:
At 9-3, L.A. is in a favorable position to host a playoff game in January. As the No. 3 seed in the NFC, the Rams would host the No. 6 Panthers in the Wild Card round at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

CURRENT NFC PLAYOFF PICTURE

SeedTeamCommentRecord vs. NFCNext
1
Vikings(10-2)
Minnesota kept rolling with a 14-9 win over the Falcons in Week 13. With a better strength of victory, the Vikings jumped over the Eagles for the No. 1 seed.8-1at Panthers (8-4)
2
Eagles(10-2)
Philadelphia lost to Seattle, 24-10, falling from No. 1 to No. 2. The Eagles still hold a four-game lead in the NFC East.8-1at Rams (9-3)
3
Rams(9-3)
The Rams beat the Cardinals, 32-16, securing their first winning season since 2003. With the victory, L.A.holds onto its one-game lead in the NFC West.6-3vs. Eagles (10-2)
4
Saints(9-3)
The Saints defeated the Panthers, 31-21, to establish a one-game lead in the NFC South.7-2at Falcons (7-5)
5
Seahawks(8-4)
Seattle's win over the Eagles kept the club one-game behind Los Angeles in the NFC West, and put the club above the Panthers and Falcons in the Wild Card race.6-3vs. Jaguars (8-4)
6
Panthers(8-4)
Though the Panthers lost last week, they still hold a one-game lead over Atlanta for the final NFC Wild Card spot.4-4vs. Vikings (10-2)
In the Hunt:
7. Atlanta Falcons (7-5)
8. Detroit Lions (6-6)
9. Green Bay Packers (6-6)
10. Dallas Cowboys (6-6)
11. Washington Redskins (5-7)
12. Arizona Cardinals (5-7)
13. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-8)