Don Rafa

MLS letting @mattdoyle.bsky.social go ✱IN A WORLD CUP YEAR✱ is an unbelievably short-sighted decision. if you've got the $$$ to spare, subscribe.

I mean, I'm Puerto Rican, so this question has relevance for me. and I think pro-statehood people should stop posing the question in non-binding referenda as a way of running from their governing responsibilities.

anyway, until the economic crisis is resolved, it's a moot point.

I'm not comparing it to Latin America, I'm comparing it to Mississippi (currently the poorest state), unless you're on some weird Manifest Destiny kick I'm unaware of.

are you willing to incur the political pain that would come with that? these are all questions that come into play here.

are you willing to crush the vulture debt capitalist firms that Democrats empowered & allowed to remove responsible government from Puerto Rico? because statehood would be incompatible with the current state of affairs. I don't see a way to grant statehood without fully forgiving the debt here.

are you willing to pay for that & sacrifice things that *you* might get in order that Puerto Ricans like my mom & dad & cousins might benefit from statehood? because I gotta tell you, the long-ass history of America doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence here, so pardon my skepticism here.

cool. what kind of economic bailout package are you willing to construct in order to make statehood viable for Puerto Rico? because however poor you *think* Puerto Rico is, it's incomprehensibly poorer than that. the infrastructure is unbelievably fucked. are you willing to pay for that?

until the economic crisis in Puerto Rico is resolved, the status question basically is a moot point.

people who don't take that into consideration are probably not people you should pay attention to WRT whether Puerto Rico should be a state or not.

maybe take a second to interrogate why there's a massive Puerto Rican diaspora, & why there's so much cultural product by & about Puerto Ricans treating leaving Puerto Rico as a tragedy & wanting to return.

if you're a Pats fan, you can tell yourself that this team over-performed & that a more experienced Maye plays better. sure, maybe.

or maybe *this* is the real Drake Maye, in which case you're sort of boned, because he isn't winning you a title. he got outplayed by a *mediocre* Sam Darnold!

if you're supposedly good enough to be ONE VOTE shy of tying MATTHEW STAFFORD (a SB-winning QB!) for the league MVP award, then you have to play better than Maye did. yes, the Seattle D was fantastic. the game was still there to be won if he'd been capable of adjusting. he wasn't.

people forget that Kerry Collins & the Giants balled out in the NFC title game! he was a legit QB! Baltimore D just straight up wrecked NYG & NYG D couldn't hang.

Drake Maye was utterly putrid in this game. Patriots D played an outstanding game. this loss is squarely on him; an all-time choke job.

a thread in which a user says in response to statehood for PR & DC: "oh boy, get ready for the mainland-dwelling separatists" & 2 other users chime in to say "mainland dwelling separatists will do anything for PR, except live there"

this is just a incredibly shitty thing for non-Puerto Ricans to say (the replies, that is).

maybe this is a learning experience for Drake Maye, but I think it's more accurate to say he's one-and-done in Super Bowl appearances. this is not a QB who was ONE VOTE from tying MATTHEW STAFFORD for league MVP. come on.

full credit to Seattle's defense for doing that.

the two worst Super Bowl performances by a QB belong to the Patriots, 40 years apart: Tommy Eason in 1986, Drake Maye in 2026.

punting in that situation is inexcusable from Vrabel.