Your “It’s Not A Swamp If I’m In Charge” Tuesday Evening Open Thread

NFL Notes:

• Showing absolute confidence in Le’Veon Bell, the Jets have signed Frank Gore to a one-year deal.

  

  • This is all part of coach Adam Gase’s plan for “load management” to “lighten the load” for Bell, who suffered last year because the Jets had an offensive line that forced Sam Darnold to run around like Russell Wilson despite his Tebow-like accuracy.
  • This will be Gore’s 16th season.
    • He currently stands third on the all-time rushing list (15,347 yards), third in rushing attempts (3,548), third in touches (4,016) and fourth in yards from scrimmage (19,243).
      • He is 1130 yards behind Walter Payton for 2nd all-time.

• On the topic of veteran signings, rumours are that Beastmode might be back in Seattle for another dance in 2020.
  • The thinking is that the Seahawks need as much help as they can find, considering that they went through their entire depth chart between November 17 & December 15.
  • According to ESPN, based on Lynch’s time in the NFL, he would stand to make at least $1.05 million in base salary if he were to play in 2020.

• Today’s attempt by Mike Florio to stir Green Bay’s shit comes from a discussion with Phil Simms’ semi-literate son about who could have intervened in the Jordan Love draft decision.
  • In an attempt to besmirch the entire Green Bay organization, he implies that having a single owner might have prevented the GM from making this ‘fateful decision’.
    • Completely ignoring the existence of Jerry Jones (flamboyant), Jimmy Haslam (crazy), Dan Snyder (terrible), and Mike Brown (cheap).

Finally, the NFL announced that the 2020 schedule will be released in a three-hour broadcast on the NFL Network this coming Thursday.

• “Schedule Release ’20” will be a three-hour show breaking down the upcoming 2020 NFL regular season with analysis of the biggest games, how divisions are looking and the primetime showdowns.

The previous holder of the Green Bay QB position is in a small bit of trouble with the state of Mississippi today.

• A state audit was released yesterday and it highlights, among other things, that Brett Favre was paid $1.1 million for speeches he never gave on behalf of the Mississippi Community Education Center.

  

  • Auditors said after reviewing dates and other details they determined Favre “did not speak nor was he present for those events.”
    • Favre doesn’t face any criminal charges related to the misappropriation of public funds.
    • He will likely have to have Favre Enterprises (not the Foundation) repay the money it received.
      • (I don’t want to get us sued.)
• A total of $94 million in spending was “questioned” by state auditors, meaning the money was in all likelihood misspent or the auditors could not verify that it had been spent legally.
  • The money in question came from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, a federal block grant that states have wide latitude to use to help lower income families, including through cash assistance for very poor families formerly known as the “welfare check.”
    • In 2017 the Mississippi Department of Human Services reportedly rejected 98.5 percent of welfare applicants the previous year.
    • The agency also reported leaving nearly $50 million in TANF funds unused.
  • Because it came from a federal grant from the Dept. of Health & Human Services, the FBI are also involved in the investigation.
• Former Mississippi Department of Human Services Director John Davis is in jail awaiting trial on embezzlement charges, along with Nancy New, the leader of the Mississippi Community Education Center.
  • MCEC gave contracts to, and hired, family members of Davis, sometimes making lump sum payments. The payments and salaries to his nephew and brother-in-law totaled more than $1 million over the past several years, auditors said.
  • MCEC bought three cars with welfare money, each worth more than $50,000, for New and two sons. Salaries, cellphones and other expenses were paid using welfare money.
    • Some of Nancy New’s charges arise from using her proceeds to fund Republican candidates.
• The News’, Davis and other state and nonprofit employees indicted in what investigators called a “sprawling conspiracy” face hundreds of years in prison.

• Also indicted is Brett DiBiase, son of the “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase.
  • Davis was close to the DiBiase family; his agency awarded more than $2 million in grants to the “Heart of David Ministry” owned by the patriarch, Ted DiBiase Sr.
    • And that Davis and Ted DiBiase Jr. had gone into business together, developing a motivational training program called Law of 16 that they delivered to public agencies on the nonprofit’s dime.
      • Ted DiBiase Jr.’s companies Priceless Ventures LLC and Familiae Orientem received more than $3 million from the nonprofits between 2017 and 2019, but the audit does not show that Davis financially benefited.

i only wanted to link the Favre bit to Florio’s shit-stirring, but the more I read the more I wanted to dig. The whole affair just reeks of a loud, fat-cutting Republican getting put in charge & then just diverting the proceeds to himself and his colleagues at the expense of people who will never vote for him, or likely vote.

Tonight’s … entertainment?:

• Korea Baseball Organization:
  • NC Dinos at Samsung Lions – 1:00AM | ESPN
• Wrasslin’:
  • Best of WWE Wrestlemania – FS1
    • Edge – 8:00PM
    • Brock Lesnar – 9:00PM
    • Roman Reigns – 10:00PM

I’m sorry, but none of the regular TV options looks interesting, so I’m not listing anything else of interest. Please talk amongst yourselves.