Paradise News

Tag: General News

  • The Feds Have Set Our House On Fire


    As the masses wake up to the globalist agenda, they plan to burn it all down

    Many people still don’t realize just how dire the situation truly is.

    Led by a deeply treasonous intelligence apparatus, a compromised dementia-riddled lunatic hijacked the Executive Office of the United States of America. His Marxist communist sympathizing base is following every handbook of sabotage to the letter to quicken the demise of the city upon the hill. They are burning it all down by any means necessary.

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  • FG Seeks IFAD’s Partnership To Boost Food Production

    The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS) Abubakar Kyari, on Tuesday reiterated the government’s commitment to working with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on achieving an inclusive agri-food system.

    This is as the minister said it is planning to organise an agriculture and food security summit in 2024.

    Kyari disclosed this when he received the Associate Vice President of IFAD Dr. Donal Brown at the ministry headquarters in Abuja.

    He said, “Our commitment to partnership with IFAD on Innovative Finance for Food System is evident in our participation in the United Nations Food System Stocktaking Moment in July 2023.

    “It is no doubt that the trio of the Inclusive Agri-Food System Transformation, Smallholder farmers’ empowerment and Innovative Financing are levers of change that offer a unique opportunity to accelerate global food systems growth, leveraging on new sustainable models for better agricultural productivity, safer environment, richer nutrition, and better livelihood for rural communities.”

    Kyari expressed gratitude to IFAD for her fidelity to due diligence in the existing operations of FGN/IFAD Portfolios.

    He said, “The smooth implementation of the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise – Niger Delta (LIFE-ND), Value Chain Development Program (VCDP), Additional Financing (AF) and Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) Programme underscores the unique quality of our strategic partnership.

    “It is my strong belief that some of the next steps in the implementation of LIFE-ND which include the approval of a one-year extension, request for $20m additional Financing (AF) and preparation of LIFE-ND phase 2 will be given accelerated attention.”

    Lauding IFAD’s commitment Dr. Brown said its mission in the country is not limited to strengthening existing relationships with Nigeria despite being one of its strongest members, but to look at the future direction of support that IFAD can provide the government in the long term.

    Brown said, “For us, it’s important for two reasons. One, it is a sign of the commitment of the government to IFAD, and secondly, all the money that we raise through our replenishment cycle is money that we immediately program back into our projects in countries like Nigeria. So, the more money we raise, the more money for countries like Nigeria.”

    FG Seeks IFAD’s Partnership To Boost Food Production is first published on The Whistler Newspaper

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  • Fact Check: No, Mel Gibson didn’t release a video of satanic rituals on Jeffrey Epstein’s island

    Actor Mel Gibson is regularly cast as QAnon folk hero on social media, sometimes starring in misinformation about high-profile people participating in a child sex trafficking cabal. 

    One March 5 Instagram post, for example, claims Gibson recently released a video linking British royalty, a former president and a media mogul participating in satanic rituals on the former island of Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender.

    “BREAKING: MEL GIBSON JUST RELEASED A VIDEO THAT SHOWS THE S@ T@N1C RITUALS WHICH TOOK PLACE ON JEFFREY EPSTEIN’S ISLAND!,” the post says. “THE VIDEO WAS RECORDED IN 2010 AND IT FEATURES PRINCE ANDREW, BILL GATES, OPRAH, BARRACK OBAMA AND MANY MORE!” (Obama’s first name is spelled “Barack.”)

    This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

    Gibson’s representatives didn’t immediately respond to PolitiFact’s questions about the post. We found no evidence to support the claim, including credible news reports or statements from Gibson. 

    A New York judge recently unsealed documents in a court case related to Epstein, renewing claims about an alleged list connecting celebrities and politicians to the late, disgraced financier.

    But searching through Epstein’s flight logs and address book, news reports, and newly unsealed documents from the case against Epstein’s former girlfriend and associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, we found no evidence that former President Barack Obama was linked to Epstein. 

    Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, meanwhile, did appear in Epstein’s flight logs, as did Prince Andrew, a member of the British royal family. One of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre, also filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew in 2021, accusing him of sexual assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress while she was a minor. Prince Andrew denied these allegations, and he and Giuffre settled in 2022.

    We rate claims that Gibson released a video that shows satanic rituals on Epstein’s island False.

     



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  • Democratic protest vote over Israel-Hamas war spreads to more states

    By Joey Cappelletti, Associated Press

    LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The protest-vote movement over President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war has spread to several states and raised more questions about whether a small but significant number of Democrats angry at Biden might abandon him in November.

    A week after 101,000 Michigan voters chose “uncommitted” on their ballots, so did roughly 263,000 voters in the five Super Tuesday states where similar ballot options were available. Minnesota, which had the most organized effort outside of Michigan, saw 1 in 5 Democratic voters mark the “uncommitted” option, a higher percentage than the 13% who voted uncommitted in Michigan.

    Organizers are watching the state of Washington’s primary on Tuesday to see how many voters select “uncommitted.” And a “Leave It Blank” campaign has formed for Georgia’s Tuesday primary that’s intended to have the same effect, as is a “uninstructed” vote in Wisconsin’s April 2 primary.

    FILE – Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march during a visit by President Joe Biden in Warren, Mich., Feb. 1, 2024. An “uncommitted” campaign protesting President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war is seeing success in other states after 100,000 Michigan voters chose the option in the Feb. 27 primary. Almost 263,000 voters in the five Super Tuesday states where “uncommitted” or similar options were available did the same.(AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

    Supporters of the protest argue anger over the war could endanger Biden’s chances in swing states like Michigan against former President Donald Trump in their likely rematch. Biden’s allies believe disaffected Democrats will return to the president’s fold when faced with a choice between him and Trump, who the president’s campaign has argued is a threat to democracy and is planning a sweeping set of policy changes that would attack liberal priorities.

    While the reasons for voters favoring unpledged delegates over Biden may differ, the choice has been increasingly pushed as a protest vote against Biden’s handling of the conflict in Gaza, where more than 30,000 people have been killed, two-thirds of them women and children, in Israel’s offensive following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,200 people.

    “We wanted to show that these voters not only morally matter but politically matter as well. Because if they sit out the election, which it seems like many of them might, that would have severe consequences for Biden,” said Waleed Shahid, a Democratic strategist who first organized the effort in Michigan.

    Lauren Hitt, a Biden campaign spokeswoman, said following the Super Tuesday primaries that the president “believes making your voice heard and participating in our democracy is fundamental to who we are as Americans.”

    “He shares the goal for an end to the violence and a just, lasting peace in the Middle East. He’s working tirelessly to that end,” Hitt added.

    As Biden’s supporters are quick to point out, the “uncommitted” vote isn’t a historical anomaly. In 2012, over 400,000 people cast their ballots as “uncommitted” or “no preference,” expressing discontent with then-President Barack Obama’s reelection. Biden has won every state’s primary contest so far and is on track to clinch the nomination this month.

    Still, the single-issue campaign has alarmed some of Biden’s closest allies.

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  • Passenger On Boeing Flight That Suddenly Dropped Says Pilot Told Him He Lost Control After Instrument Failure

    About 50 people were injured in the incident, according to emergency services in Auckland. (Dean Purcell/AP via CNN Newsource)

    By Kathleen Magramo, Manveena Suri and Alex Stambaugh, CNN

    (CNN) — The pilot of a terrifying flight from Australia to New Zealand told those on board he temporarily lost control of his Boeing 787 after one of its instruments failed, a passenger said Monday, as authorities investigate what caused a sudden drop that threw travelers around the cabin, injuring dozens.

    The incident aboard LATAM Airlines flight 800 from Sydney to Auckland is the latest to hit troubled aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which has been rocked by years of quality and safety issues.

    Passenger Brian Jokat described the horrifying moment when he was woken from his sleep as the aircraft “dropped something to the effect of 500 feet instantly.”

    “That’s when I opened my eyes and there was various individuals at the top of the plane. Just stuck to the roof and then they fell to the floor. And then I just realized I’m not in a movie, this is actually for real,” he told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

    After landing in Auckland, Jokat said the pilot checked on the passengers and explained he had temporarily lost control of the jet.

    “I immediately engaged with him and said, ‘What was that?’ And he openly admitted, he said, ‘I lost control of the plane. My gauges just kind of went blank on me,’” Jokat said.

    “He said for that brief moment he couldn’t control anything and that’s when the plane did what it did. Then he said the gauges came back and it reengaged, the plane just reengaged to its normal flight pattern. And we had no issues before, no issues after. But just that moment.”

    The plane, operated by Chile’s flag carrier, was a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.

    LATAM on Monday said the plane “had a technical event during the flight which caused a strong movement,” adding it had landed as scheduled in Auckland.

    In a statement to CNN Tuesday, Boeing said it was “working to gather more information about the flight and will provide any support needed by our customer.”

    About 50 people were injured in the incident, with one person in serious condition, emergency services said.

    Jokat said he feared for his life when he saw fellow passengers fly out of their seats and hit the ceiling of the plane.

    “People were screaming and crying. And yeah, it was mass chaos for a few short seconds,” he said. “Clearly there was a moment in my head that I just kind of resigned to the fact this could be it. This might be it.”

    Boeing’s troubles

    As investigators scramble to discover what might have caused the sudden drop, the incident comes at a fraught time for Boeing.

    The US manufacturer has faced harsh criticism for a series of quality and safety issues in recent years, with many critics saying the company has shifted its focus in the last few decades to financial results at the cost of safety and quality in its aircraft.

    They include two fatal crashes of the 737 Max jet due to a design flaw in the plane, numerous halts in deliveries due to quality control issues and, most recently, a door plug that blew off of a new 737 Max operated by Alaska Airlines in January, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane.

    Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration in February flagged safety issues with engine anti-ice systems on the 737 Max and larger 787 Dreamliner.

    The safety regulator continues to allow both models of the plane to fly despite the potential problems. Both issues are moving through the FAA’s standard process for developing airworthiness directives — rather than an emergency process — signaling that the agency and plane maker do not believe the issues are serious enough to require the planes to stop flying immediately.

    The FAA said Monday it has given Boeing until late May to produce a plan to remedy issues identified in a federal audit and other reviews, including a safety culture survey of employees and a separate panel report that found workers concerned about retaliation for reporting safety concerns.

    FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said he expects the company to produce “a very detailed plan within the next 90 days to fix the quality issues that are out there.”

    Boeing has said it is working on several of the issues Whitaker identified.

    The-CNN-Wire
    & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

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  • The only way Biden can address concerns about his mental fitness is to debate Trump

    President Joe Biden, following his impassioned partisan State of the Union speech last week, said jokingly in side remarks to longtime Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), “I wish I was cognitively impaired.” 

    I have to admit it was reassuring to see the president comfortable with himself and full of vigor, forcefulness and even humor, even if he didn’t always have all the facts straight; especially disturbing when it came to slain Georgia nursing student Laken Riley (calling her Lincoln), or her alleged murderer (whom he called an “illegal,” offending his base). 

    But whether you agree with Biden’s policies or not, the real question remains: How cognitively fit is the president? Consider that he has not undergone any cognitive testing that we know of or disclosed an MRI of the brain despite suffering from chronic atrial fibrillation, a condition that predisposes to mini vascular events in the brain (mini-strokes or cognitive problems) and sleep apnea, which a new study demonstrates is associated with a 50 percent increase in cognitive problems.

    The public’s perception of Biden’s feebleness and cognitive dysfunction is not going to truly lessen without a bold intervention. The only way for Biden to partly assuage the public’s doubts is to take Trump on directly; to debate him in public, at least once.  

    Some in the media have questioned whether Biden might be taking a form of stimulant intermittently, but I refuse to engage in this kind of speculation. What I can say is that at his age, 81, he needs to show a sustained focus to win over voters who have questioned both his age and his fitness. 

    How will he do in a head-to-head matchup with former President Trump if he agrees to a debate? How will the teleprompter president do against the shoot-from-the-hip former president? I was surprised at how well Biden did debating Trump four years ago, but Biden doesn’t appear to have the same level of cognitive ability that he had even back then when he was Trump’s current age. 

    When I interviewed President Trump at the White House back in July 2020, he not only didn’t prepare in advance, but he also didn’t ask to see the questions that I intended to ask him. It is hard to compare that to President Biden, who appears almost entirely dependent on the teleprompter. 

    Don’t get me wrong, the State of the Union speech still stands as a cognitive win for the president, if for no other reason than he presented himself cogently, coherently and through themes regarding the economy and the border, which matter a lot to Americans. But so does the high price of food, and our borders remain as porous as ever, which, since Trump’s restrictions have been lifted, have led to a huge influx of more than 8 million migrants. 

    I can tell you that I am concerned just from a public health point of view. I believe the current measles outbreak among unvaccinated migrants in a Chicago homeless shelter is tied directly to the fact that migrants don’t have the same level of measles vaccination as most citizens do.  

    It is almost mind-boggling to consider that we are talking about an 81-year-old president who, if he wins reelection, will be age 86 when his second term is complete. America is watching to see if this president can maintain the vigor he showed last week over time. Most are highly doubtful, as they should be.  

    Cognitive function may wax and wane, and having a good night’s sleep, exercising regularly and following a diet high in vegetables and other anti-oxidants helps. The key term is cognitive reserve, which means how agile a person’s brain is in using a range of skills to solve problems and show advanced judgment in coping with challenges. 

    How much cognitive reserve does our president really have? We need to know. The more cognitive reserve the better the brain’s executive function. And of course, no one needs this ability more than our chief executive. 

    It goes without saying that all of this matters because behind closed doors the actual job of the president is more about capacity and decisionmaking ability than appearance or public perception. 

    One test of this that we are all looking forward to is a debate with the outrageous and largely unpredictable candidate Donald Trump. Is President Biden up to it? We all hope to find out.

    Marc Siegel MD is a professor of medicine and medical director of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Health. He is a Fox News medical correspondent and author of the new book, “COVID; The Politics of Fear and the Power of Science.

    Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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  • Separating Information from Disinformation: Threats from the AI Revolution


    The real threat is AI’s impact on information. This is in part because induction is an inappropriate source of knowledge—truth and fact are not a matter of frequency or statistical probabilities.

    Artificial intelligence (AI) cannot distinguish fact from fiction. It also isn’t creative or can create novel content but repeats, repackages, and reformulates what has already been said (but perhaps in new ways).

    I am sure someone will disagree with the latter, perhaps pointing to the fact that AI can clearly generate, for example, new songs and lyrics. I agree with this, but it misses the point. AI produces a “new” song lyric only by drawing from the data of previous song lyrics and then uses that information (the inductively uncovered patterns in it) to generate what to us appears to be a new song (and may very well be one). However, there is no artistry in it, no creativity. It’s only a structural rehashing of what exists.

    Of course, we can debate to what extent humans can think truly novel thoughts and whether human learning may be based solely or primarily on mimicry. However, even if we would—for the sake of argument—agree that all we know and do is mere reproduction, humans have limited capacity to remember exactly and will make errors. We also fill in gaps with what subjectively (not objectively) makes sense to us (Rorschach test, anyone?). Even in this very limited scenario, which I disagree with, humans generate novelty beyond what AI is able to do.

    Both the inability to distinguish fact from fiction and the inductive tether to existent data patterns are problems that can be alleviated programmatically—but are open for manipulation.

    Manipulation and Propaganda

    When Google launched its Gemini AI in February, it immediately became clear that the AI had a woke agenda. Among other things, the AI pushed woke diversity ideals into every conceivable response and, among other things, refused to show images of white people (including when asked to produce images of the Founding Fathers).

    • URGENT! Keep Alex Jones in the fight against the NWO! Please pray & contribute at DefendJones.com today!

    Tech guru and Silicon Valley investor Marc Andreessen summarized it on X (formerly Twitter): “I know it’s hard to believe, but Big Tech AI generates the output it does because it is precisely executing the specific ideological, radical, biased agenda of its creators. The apparently bizarre output is 100% intended. It is working as designed.”

    There is indeed a design to these AIs beyond the basic categorization and generation engines. The responses are not perfectly inductive or generative. In part, this is necessary in order to make the AI useful: filters and rules are applied to make sure that the responses that the AI generates are appropriate, fit with user expectations, and are accurate and respectful. Given the legal situation, creators of AI must also make sure that the AI does not, for example, violate intellectual property laws or engage in hate speech. AI is also designed (directed) so that it does not go haywire or offend its users (remember Tay?).

    However, because such filters are applied and the “behavior” of the AI is already directed, it is easy to take it a little further. After all, when is a response too offensive versus offensive but within the limits of allowable discourse? It is a fine and difficult line that must be specified programmatically.

    It also opens the possibility for steering the generated responses beyond mere quality assurance. With filters already in place, it is easy to make the AI make statements of a specific type or that nudges the user in a certain direction (in terms of selected facts, interpretations, and worldviews). It can also be used to give the AI an agenda, as Andreessen suggests, such as making it relentlessly woke.

    Thus, AI can be used as an effective propaganda tool, which both the corporations creating them and the governments and agencies regulating them have recognized.

    Misinformation and Error

    States have long refused to admit that they benefit from and use propaganda to steer and control their subjects. This is in part because they want to maintain a veneer of legitimacy as democratic governments that govern based on (rather than shape) people’s opinions. Propaganda has a bad ring to it; it’s a means of control.

    However, the state’s enemies—both domestic and foreign—are said to understand the power of propaganda and do not hesitate to use it to cause chaos in our otherwise untainted democratic society. The government must save us from such manipulation, they claim. Of course, rarely does it stop at mere defense. We saw this clearly during the covid pandemic, in which the government together with social media companies in effect outlawed expressing opinions that were not the official line (see Murthy v. Missouri).

    AI is just as easy to manipulate for propaganda purposes as social media algorithms but with the added bonus that it isn’t only people’s opinions and that users tend to trust that what the AI reports is true. As we saw in the previous article on the AI revolution, this is not a valid assumption, but it is nevertheless a widely held view.

    If the AI then can be instructed to not comment on certain things that the creators (or regulators) do not want people to see or learn, then it is effectively “memory holed.” This type of “unwanted” information will not spread as people will not be exposed to it—such as showing only diverse representations of the Founding Fathers (as Google’s Gemini) or presenting, for example, only Keynesian macroeconomic truths to make it appear like there is no other perspective. People don’t know what they don’t know.

    Of course, nothing is to say that what is presented to the user is true. In fact, the AI itself cannot distinguish fact from truth but only generates responses according to direction and only based on whatever the AI has been fed. This leaves plenty of scope for the misrepresentation of the truth and can make the world believe outright lies. AI, therefore, can easily be used to impose control, whether it is upon a state, the subjects under its rule, or even a foreign power.

    The Real Threat of AI

    What, then, is the real threat of AI? As we saw in the first article, large language models will not (cannot) evolve into artificial general intelligence as there is nothing about inductive sifting through large troves of (humanly) created information that will give rise to consciousness. To be frank, we haven’t even figured out what consciousness is, so to think that we will create it (or that it will somehow emerge from algorithms discovering statistical language correlations in existing texts) is quite hyperbolic. Artificial general intelligence is still hypothetical.

    As we saw in the second article, there is also no economic threat from AI. It will not make humans economically superfluous and cause mass unemployment. AI is productive capital, which therefore has value to the extent that it serves consumers by contributing to the satisfaction of their wants. Misused AI is as valuable as a misused factory—it will tend to its scrap value. However, this doesn’t mean that AI will have no impact on the economy. It will, and already has, but it is not as big in the short-term as some fear, and it is likely bigger in the long-term than we expect.

    No, the real threat is AI’s impact on information. This is in part because induction is an inappropriate source of knowledge—truth and fact are not a matter of frequency or statistical probabilities. The evidence and theories of Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei would get weeded out as improbable (false) by an AI trained on all the (best and brightest) writings on geocentrism at the time. There is no progress and no learning of new truths if we trust only historical theories and presentations of fact.

    However, this problem can probably be overcome by clever programming (meaning implementing rules—and fact-based limitations—to the induction problem), at least to some extent. The greater problem is the corruption of what AI presents: the misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation that its creators and administrators, as well as governments and pressure groups, direct it to create as a means of controlling or steering public opinion or knowledge.

    This is the real danger that the now-famous open letter, signed by Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and others, pointed to: “Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth? Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization?”

    Other than the economically illiterate reference to “automat[ing] away all the jobs,” the warning is well-taken. AI will not Terminator-like start to hate us and attempt to exterminate mankind. It will not make us all into biological batteries, as in The Matrix. However, it will—especially when corrupted—misinform and mislead us, create chaos, and potentially make our lives “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.”

    MUST WATCH: Funeral Home Director John O’Looney Exposes The Secret COVID Holocaust



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  • Navy Destroys Illegal Refining Sites In Bayelsa, Delta

    Operatives of the Nigerian Navy have destroyed at least three illegal refining sites in Bayelsa and Delta States.

    The operations, executed on Monday were the latest on the Nigerian Navy’s activities recorded in both states and revealed via its X Account on Tuesday.

    The Navy outpost KOLUAMA discovered and destroyed an illegal refining site with about 3,000 litres of illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) also known as diesel at the Koulama II Community in Southern Ijaw, Bayelsa State

    Similarly, Navy Ship SOROH destroyed illegal refining sites with three reservoirs with crude oil estimated to be about 2,400 litres of crude oil.

    The operatives also destroyed an oven in a Creek around the Gbaram General Area, in the state.

    In Delta, Forward Operating Base ESCRAVOS destroyed and dismantled an illegal refining site with about 54 manhole dug-out pits and three storage tanks laden with about 12,000 litres of illegally refined products in Ogbudugbudu Community Along Deli Creek of the state.

    The operations under the codename: Operation Delta Sanity have yielded progressing feats since it was activated on January 10, 2024.

    Since the commencement of the operation until February 20, the Navy has denied oil thieves approximately a total of 5,324.08 barrels of crude oil, worth N838,700,078.37; 341,380 litres of illegally refined AGO worth N232,275,787.17 and DPK worth N102,150.

    Navy Destroys Illegal Refining Sites In Bayelsa, Delta is first published on The Whistler Newspaper

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  • Is the 49ers’ Super Bowl window shut?

    It’s about time we went back to the mailbag.

    In fact, let’s make this a regular occurrence.

    If you want a question answered, hit me up via email [dkurtenbach@bayareanewsgroup.com], text [510-479-0932], or whatever the worst people in the world call Twitter these days [@dieter].

    Is the 2024 season likely to be the last realistic chance the 49ers have of winning a Super Bowl before they have to deal with salary cap issues? – @giants_niners

    » The NFL salary cap is fake, and it will continue to rise at an absurd level for years to come, just like it dramatically rose this season. That’s good news for the Niners — I predict the league will have a $300 million cap well before the next decade.

    That said, the Niners’ Super Bowl window has at least two years remaining.

    That’s how long Brock Purdy will make less than one-half of one percent of the salary cap. If the 49ers cannot put a championship team around a quality quarterback making that little, then I have a very hard time believing they can win a championship once Purdy is paid.

    And while there’s a long time between now and that Purdy contract—a million things could happen—I wouldn’t bet on him taking a hometown discount.

    If Purdy really is the second coming of Kirk Cousins, as Kyle Shanahan believes, then the Niners have every reason to be afraid of the hard-ball negotiations that will come their way.

    You could do a lot better than Cousins on the field, and you could do a lot worse, too.

    But no one secures the bag like Cousins. That’s a great model for Purdy and a possible nightmare for the Niners.

    As for the 2024 Niners, the window doesn’t seem as open as it once was.

    The salary cap inflation has led to an inflation of free-agent player salaries. Funny how that works. So, while the Niners might have money to spend and plenty of places they need to bolster, every other team has cash to burn, too. That’s why guards are getting $20 million a year and prospect defensive ends can land $50 million contracts.

    So, in a way, the salary cap crunch is already here.

    We saw that with the Leonard Floyd signing, which I can’t endorse. Now, I have no problem with a middle-class pass rusher — that’s about all the Niners can afford, given the number of holes they need to fill (this team doesn’t have anyone to start next to Javon Hargrave in the middle of the defensive line) — but Floyd was aggressively mediocre with Buffalo last season. He had one sack in his last eight games and was a no-show against the Chiefs in the playoffs. And I thought I was taking crazy pills reading all the praise for his run defense. (It’s fine, at best.)

    Perhaps playing opposite Nick Bosa changes things, but as things stand on Monday night, the Niners will rely on rookies to play big roles on defense, which a first-time coordinator now leads. That’s a big red flag to me.

    Luckily, they have an excellent quarterback.

    How realistic is it that Klay takes a pay cut to stay with the Warriors, and what can they do to bolster their team to win another championship? – @zstrong12

    » The first part is highly realistic.

    The second part? Well, that would either require a blockbuster trade or an exceptional offseason in which the Warriors nail every single draft pick (they lack a first-rounder this year, so… probably one) and ace their league-minimum signings. I’d bet the Warriors’ title-contending window is done, but I thought that going into the 2022 playoffs, so don’t follow my advice there.

    Let’s circle back to Klay, though. The wing is making $43 million this season. That’s not happening again.

    In fact, I think the Warriors should start negotiations at $40 million.

    For two years.

    Klay has put some nice games together lately and has been a great team player this season, but his best basketball is unquestionably behind him. While the Warriors certainly don’t want to lose one of the most important players in franchise history, they also cannot afford to continue to pay him what he’s making. The NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement is downright vindictive to teams that are luxury tax repeaters, meaning the Warriors need to drop under the tax line either this upcoming offseason or next.

    I expect Chris Paul’s to be waived this summer, saving $30 million. But the Warriors would still be roughly $30 million over the tax line (into the second apron) with Thompson at roughly $20 million a season.

    The good news for the Warriors is that I doubt Thompson will have a robust free-agency market.

    He’s in Draymond Green territory now—valuable to the Warriors for both on- and off-the-court reasons (nostalgia still sells) but not worth the big investment for outside teams.

    Ultimately, I think Thompson and the Warriors will do right by each other and find a team-friendly deal that aligns with Steph Curry, Green (who does have a player option in 2026-2027), and Steve Kerr, and run it back for two more years.

    How do they get under the luxury tax line after that? Would anyone be interested in a lightly used Andrew Wiggins? He’d be free to a good home.

    Which Bay Area pro team gives you the most agita? Or might there be more than one? -@mred315



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  • Oscars: Da’Vine Joy Randolph – Best Supporting Actress

    Da’Vine Joy Randolph wins the Oscar for best supporting actress for ‘The Holdovers.’

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