Paul Markoff

Dad, husband, film critic, former ⚽🏀 and softball coach and fantasy baseball/football commissioner.

[Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh]

🚨 BREAKING: Gov. Ron DeSantis has just stunned the nation, sitting down to SIGN this year’s SMALLER BUDGET THAN LAST YEAR for 4 straight years

Florida will now have a budget less than HALF the size of New York, despite being similar population

And the rainy day fund WILL BE FULL and more than TRIPLE THE SIZE from 7 years ago

FLORIDA DOES IT RIGHT!

No income tax, incoming property tax relief, every state should do this! 🇺🇸 ☀️

@FLVoiceNews

[Paul Markoff @Paul_Markoff]

@LanceMcAlister Congrats!

[Paul Markoff @Paul_Markoff]

@KirkHerbstreit @Reds @FIFAWorldCup Ahh, ye of little faith.

[MLB @MLB]

The Brewers honored Marcus Storm, a 10-year-old cancer survivor, earlier this week. Six months ago, Marcus was diagnosed with anaplastic large-cell lymphoma, and this week he celebrates being in remission by taking the mound at American Family Field. ❤️

[Shruti @heyshrutimishra]

Elon just created 4,400 millionaires in a single day.

400 of them are now worth over $100 million.

These aren't VCs. They're SpaceX employees, and the list includes welders, technicians, and cafeteria staff, because for two decades the company paid every level of the workforce in stock instead of higher salaries.

Juan Hernandez immigrated from Mexico and took a $28 an hour contractor welding job in 2015. He says he didn't even know what SpaceX was. The company gave him a $10,000 equity grant and let him buy more shares through payroll deductions. That stake is now worth $880,000.

Trevor Hise's parents wanted him to take a stable job at General Electric. He picked SpaceX instead, stayed 12 years, and accumulated over 100,000 shares. At the $135 listing price that's $13.5 million. He's 37 and semiretired. His words: "The magnitude of this has been ridiculous."

The most telling detail came before the listing. Over 100 employees quietly banded together and negotiated a group wealth management deal covering up to $5 billion, because none of them had ever needed a wealth manager before.

Software IPOs have minted millionaires for 30 years. This is the first one where the money went to the factory floor.

[Mike Netter @nettermike]

This article was written by a 26 yr old college student by the name of Alyssa Ahlgren, who's in grad school for her MBA. What a GREAT perspecitve..👍🏽

My Generation Is Blind to the Prosperity Around Us!
I'm sitting in a small coffee shop near Nokomis (Florida) trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of presidential candidates calling for policies to "fix" the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around.

I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook's, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we've become completely blind to it.

Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose.These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don't give them a second thought.

We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty One Times!!!

Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful. ??

Our unappreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, "An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity."

Never saw American prosperity! Let that sink in.

When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I've ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided.

My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let's just say I didn't have the popular opinion, but I digress.

Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country.

People around the world destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they've never seen prosperity, and as a result, we elect some politicians who are dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism.

Why? The answer is this,?? my generation has only seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn't live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, the Korean War, The Vietnam War or we didn't see the rise and fall of socialism and communism.

We don't know what it's like to live without the internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don't have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it's spreading like a plague."

[Paul Markoff @Paul_Markoff]

@TulsiGabbard @bungarsargon Prayers

[Paul Markoff @Paul_Markoff]

@CodifyBaseball The Matrix is real.😏

[G-PA @IndianaGPA]

🙏💛🙏

Most people who watched that episode of Friends never noticed it-and honestly, I didn't either the first time.
Season 8, Episode 13. Just another night, familiar faces, a few good laughs. But in the background, almost easy to miss, Joey is wearing an FDNY shirt. Printed across it:
Captain Billy Burke.
Just a name on a shirt... until you realize it isn't.
Captain William Burke led Engine 21 in Midtown Manhattan. On September 11, 2001, when everything changed, he did what firefighters do—he showed up. He ran straight toward the danger, into the smoke and chaos most of us can't even imagine.
And when the moment came to leave, he stayed.

He stayed behind in the North Tower with injured civilians, making sure others could get out. That part hits me the hardest.
Because that wasn't just duty-that was a choice. A human moment where he put others ahead of himself, knowing full well what it might cost.
It's strange how something so small—a shirt in the background of a sitcom-can carry something so heavy. You watch a show for laughs, for comfort, and there it is... a quiet reminder of real courage, real sacrifice.
I think about how many names like his we've never heard. How many stories live just beneath the surtace, waiting for someone to notice.
I won't miss it again.
Captain Billy Burke.
A name worth remembering. 💛

[Newt Gingrich @newtgingrich]

After spending this week reviewing the Iranian war I am now convinced President Trump is on the edge of an historic victory. The real breakthrough for me came as I reviewed President Trump’s decisions and maneuvers not from the standpoint of American unilateralism but from the standpoint of the leader of a remarkable historic coalition, the largest coalition ever put together in the modern Middle East. Everyone understands that Israel is an important ally. What is little discussed is the depth of support from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region. It has to be sobering for the Iranian dictatorship to realize that it does not have a single ally willing to challenge the American naval blockade. Slowly, gradually, timidly, our European allies are lining up to help with the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. A great deal of President Trump’s maneuvers against Iran make sense once he is seen as a coalition leader and not just as a unilateral American President. I spent a lot of the last couple weeks reviewing kinetic options including wining the battle of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz and if necessary using the shocking and shattering level of force President Nixon and Secretary Kissinger used against Hanoi and Haiphong in Christmas 1972 (which both leaders believed convinced the North Vietnamese to agree to a truce and the freeing of American POWs). If this were a unilateral American campaign I could enthusiastically support a more aggressive kinetic campaign. However it is also clear it would shatter the coalition because our Arab allies are convinced Iran could still do enormous damage to their oil fields and infrastructure. Coalitions are inherently slower than unilateral campaigns. However coalitions ultimately bring vastly more power to the fight. I am as frustrated as everyone else by the pace of talking with the dictatorship but having reviewed the correlation of forces and the options available to the coalition on one side and the Iranian religiously motivated dictatorship on the other I am prepared to assert that President Trump’s coalition leadership (something almost none of his critics want to acknowledge) is within reach of an enormous historic victory. And if the Iranian dictatorship ultimately proves it is hopelessly committed to a suicidal position there will be plenty of time for a kinetic campaign of enormous power and effectiveness. Either way we are on the edge of an astonishing victory for our values and for a safer Middle East.

[OldTimeHardball @OleTimeHardball]

Pat Tillman

Rest well sir #MemorialDay

[Paul Markoff @Paul_Markoff]

@TulsiGabbard @DrJBhattacharya Prayers for you and your family.

[Paul Markoff @Paul_Markoff]

I also have an uncle I never knew that died in WWII. God bless your family and their sacrifice.

[Brit Hume @brithume]

The uncle I never knew. I always think of him on this day. He was killed on D-Day.

[Danny Deraney @DannyDeraney]

Every year, I share this video of French caretakers who take sand from Omaha Beach in Normandy, and scrub them into the letters to give them the gold coloring.

They do this for all 9,386 US soldiers who died.

France also gave us this land as American soil. #MemorialDayWeekend

[Super 70s Sports @Super70sSports]

Michael Jordan went 25-1 in the last 26 playoff series of his NBA career. Read that again. Absorb it.

[Robert Sterling @RobertMSterling]

I just had the craziest experience at the airport.

We are about to board a flight to Atlanta when the pilot from the incoming plane walks out of the jetway. Guy is probably late 50s, salt and pepper hair, military look. The kind of pilot you instantly feel good about seeing on your flight.

Pilot walks over to the counter, gets on the PA system, and starts addressing everyone. “Folks, I’ve been doing this a long time. Flying one of these jets is easy. The hard part is looking at 130 people and telling them their flight is going to be delayed.”

Audible groans throughout the boarding gate. Most people here are flying to Atlanta as a layover before another flight. 130 people just had their day become a complete mess.

The pilot goes on. “I get it, trust me. But here’s the deal: During our landing, we had a small mechanical issue. I’m not your pilot for the next leg, but I don’t feel confident the jet’s safe to fly until we have a mechanical team look it over, and I don’t feel comfortable asking the next pilots to fly you guys until we get confirmation.”

He points at the agents next to him behind the counter: “Now, none of this is the agents’ fault. Please be kind to them. I’m the one who made this decision, not them, so any inconvenience you experience is my fault. Just please know that I don’t do this lightly, and I’m only doing it because I believe it’s in the best interests of everyone’s safety.”

Now this is where the story gets crazy. The pilot puts the microphone down, grabs his suitcase, and all the people in the gate…

Start clapping.

I’m not joking, everyone starts clapping for the guy. 130 people who just had their travel plans ruined give an ovation to the guy who made the decision and delivered the message.

All because he addressed them with decency and transparency, took ownership of the decision, made it clear that it was necessary, and explained why it was in everyone’s best interest.

It’s honestly one of the best examples of strong communication—of strong leadership, for that matter—that I’ve seen in a long time.

@Delta, whoever your Atlanta to Wichita pilot was this morning, he’s one of the good ones. Please tell him the delayed passengers of flight 1637 appreciate what he did.

[Paul Markoff @Paul_Markoff]

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 1133 9/9:
Rarity: 17
IMMACULATE!
🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩
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Play at:
https://t.co/oYjYBBEwPn

[Bonchie @bonchieredstate]

Dude is literally the most wholesome person to ever live.

Some will find it jarring and call his personality awkward, but we should want more of this, not less.

[Michelle Maxwell ™ @MichelleMaxwell]

I believe in the power of prayer. Please join me in praying for Maddox. Dear Jesus, please heal him and help his family get through this difficult time 🙏✝️🙏

Last night Maddox Graser had two hits and helped his Wooster High School baseball team win 10 to 0.
He was perfectly fine.
By 8 pm he was throwing up at home. It got worse fast. He was rushed to the hospital in Wooster and then life flighted to the Pediatric ICU at Akron Children’s Hospital this morning.
Maddox is a sophomore. A second baseman. A teammate. A son.
Right now he has no brain activity.
From a baseball field celebrating a win to a pediatric ICU fighting for his life in less than twelve hours. His family never saw this coming. Nobody did.
His mom and dad are sitting in that hospital right now needing every prayer they can get.
If you believe in miracles please stop scrolling right now and say one for Maddox. His family is pleading for them.
Please share this post. The wider this reaches the more people are praying over this young man tonight.
Maddox Graser. Remember that name and lift it up.

[Desiree @DesireeAmerica4]

This 6-year-old survived with just staples in his head. His dad was a local police officer actually on duty when the attack happened.

​The 19-year-old who charged the dog is Grant Brown. He took bites to his hand but won the fight.

​The city immediately declared it "Grant Brown Day."
​The very next morning, Grant shipped out to the Army National Guard.

The owner of the pit bull was officially "cited" by animal control, and they surrendered the dog to Montgomery County Animal Control to be euthanized.

​Some people are just built different.