What are they up to now? Part II
Michael Lewis finds out what Wall Street firms are doing with their proprietary trading units. The short answer: They’ve found a loophole. … Are you surprised? I didn’t think so. … Part I here.  ¶ 10:33 AM

Thank you, Texas!
All is forgiven. JFK, LBJ, George W. Bush, etc. For us, it's better than the Alamo. ...

P.S. - What's a good Texas beer? I want one.  ¶ 7:46 AM

'He likes to pretend he's a Nazi,' Part II
Rich Iott on the Waffen SS troops he portrays in re-enactments: “They were doing what they thought was right.” … By far, my favorite we-live-in-insane-times story of the week.  ¶ 2:46 PM

‘He likes to pretend he's a Nazi’
Ah, c’mon. ... I ask you: Doesn’t someone have to be the Indian when playing Cowboys and Indians? Doesn’t someone have to dress up as the Redcoat every Patriots Day? OK, so there’s a “swastika” sign on the Waffen SS Wiking’s web page. And, all right, there’s an “SS” symbol at the top too. And, yes, there were accusations of “war crimes.” Josef Mengele also served with the division, and some of its members were reportedly executing innocent Jews and other civilians right till the very end of WWII. But the charges were never proven at Nuremburg! Jeez, what's the big deal? ...  ¶ 8:51 AM

‘Unbecoming’ vs. ‘Whore’
Talk about soft-pedaling the ‘whore’ remark:

It is not clear whether Mr. Brown even heard the remark, or acknowledged it, but the episode is serving as a reminder for Democrats of the sometimes vexing dichotomy of Mr. Brown’s long career: a politician prone to both dreamy idealism and cold pragmatism, capable of being both poetic and profane in the same sentence and often surrounded with starry-eyed do-gooders and the occasional fringe character.

Oh, it’s a ‘vexing dichotomy.’ OK, now I see. Never mind. … How the Times covered Mitt’s ‘unbecoming’ remark. It’s not that much tougher, but there was certainly no ‘vexing dichotomy’ quarter given either.  ¶ 7:50 AM

A conspiracy theory about conspiracy theories, Part II
Now we’re getting closer to a more plausible conspiracy-theory truth: Cahill and Patrick’s people were playing footsie. The two camps deny it. But it’s more believable than the idea that Paul Loscocco was a “tool of Charlie Baker’s sleazy hit team,’’ a traitorous mole inserted into Cahill’s campaign and then extracted to inflict maximum damage – as if Baker wanted to strengthen Cahill’s campaign so he could later destroy it. Make sense? Nope. … What does make sense? Put your conspiracy hat on and ask: Who’s benefited all along from the Cahill candidacy? Just pointing out the logical dots. … It’s indeed been a wacky week. I’m loving every minute of it. Good timing, too. The Pats have a bye-week this weekend.

Update -- Baker beats back Cahill attacks.  ¶ 6:30 AM

The month's most important election development
This.  ¶ 10:48 AM

Booze Stamps
Why not? We already seem to be reliving the 1970s. Might as well go all the way.  ¶ 7:15 AM

A conspiracy theory about conspiracy theories
The Cahill lawsuit against his campaign consultants will hurt Baker because it’s an embarrassing distraction at a time when this should be a one-on-one race against Patrick. The Loscocco defection was supposed to be clean and simple. It hasn’t been. Now the GOP is urging an investigation of Cahill? … Hello, Republicans? Hello? Cahill is supposed to be fading right now. Let him fade. No one cares about his campaign tricks. He’s done. Hello? Anyone up there? … See ‘Stupid Party’ post below. …

The one man suppressing a big smile through all of this is none other than Deval Patrick. Remember: Before Cahill’s conspiracy theory and the GOP’s counter-conspiracy theory, the predominant conspiracy theory was that Cahill was merely acting as a third-candidate foil for Patrick in this race. Deval’s ‘hang tough’ call to Tim last week gives credence to the not-so-brilliant observation that Patrick wants Cahill to remain in the race. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to learn one day of emails between the two camps. But that’s not the point. The point is today’s distraction. …  ¶ 7:07 AM

The Stupid Party
The American Spectator seems pretty excited about possible GOP gains in Massachusetts this fall. But it warns:

There is, of course, no opportunity so great that the Republican Party can't blow it. That's true throughout the country, but it is an even greater likelihood in Massachusetts, where the Stupid Party frequently lives up to its nickname. But eventually, taxpayers get tired of shouldering the burden. The anger that elected Scott Brown hasn't subsided and his win may not be an anomaly.

Via RCP.   ¶ 12:28 PM

Tuscany, Tuscany, Tuscany!
If there's a Tuscany angle, the Times will always find it. ... More Tuscany stories here and here. Want more Tuscany stories? We got 'em! Here and here. ...  ¶ 5:08 AM

Can we stop building for next year? Part III
Karen Guregian provides a good chronological overview of Randy’s contract talks and departure. It wasn’t just Belichick vs. Moss. It was also ownership vs. Moss. It became untenable. … I can’t really blame Moss. He was in the last year of his contract. He saw Brady and Wilfork getting extensions. He was getting nothing. He got the message. … Dan notices the same discouraging short-term/long-term patterns to these contract disputes. Sooner or later, the future becomes now. OK, so a Moss-Pats break up was probably inevitable. But there’s a pattern here of the Pats not filling the gaps from the departures of Branch, Samuel and Seymour. Now Moss is leaving under similar circumstances -- and leaving an immediate short-term gap and a long-term gap that won't be filled by a future third rounder. …

Update -- This is encouraging: David Givens thinks everything will be OK. David:

In my opinion, I saw this coming a lot sooner than when it happened. I saw it coming when Randy went off and had his rant. Obviously, agents talk to players, and rumors are all around the league, and I feel that Randy kind of knew about this, probably during Week 1. ...

Third-round compensation -- I think that's pretty legit. I think that's a pretty equal payout for Randy. Randy is obviously getting old now. Some people would argue that he’s not a complete receiver. A lot of times, teams want a receiver that blocks and catches and does all the other things that receivers do -- I know some seventh-round receivers that can be a lot more valuable than the things that Randy does. Troy Brown is one of those guys that was an eighth-round pick.

  ¶ 5:05 AM

Can we stop building for next year? Part II
Ron doesn't like the Moss deal at all. ... I understand the long-term pluses to the trade. It's the short-term minuses that bug me -- and how there have been so many past short-term minuses that haven't been offset by the promised long-term pluses. Deion Branch, Asante Samuel and Richard Seymour. All three were immediately missed when they left. The last two still haven't been replaced. Now Randy Moss is gone -- and the Pats have yet another hole to fill. I'm all for planning for the future. But when does the future finally arrive?

Update -- Belichick's statement. It refers to "short term and long term" etc.  ¶ 1:23 PM

Trouble for Tierney
But she was just trying to help her bad-apple fugitive brother -- who previously pleaded guilty to tax evasion. ... What does "conscious course of deliberate ignorance" mean? How can you be deliberately ignorant? And conscious of it at the same time? Oh, well. ... The Seventh race would be in play right now if Republicans hadn't nominated such a loony.  ¶ 7:40 AM

Can we stop building for next year?
Ugh. ...  ¶ 7:30 AM

'Professional football has peaked'
John has an excellent post on how professional football may have reached a popularity tipping point. I hope he’s wrong but fear he’s right. … I’ve posted on this approximate subject before here, here and here. Of course some people have had the impertinence to disagree with me.  ¶ 2:26 PM

'Look for Obama to campaign for Deval …' Part II
Another presidential visit to Boston to help Deval. Brighton Reader called it more than a year ago. ... This would make the third trip in the past year, right? The upcoming visit later this month. The one last year. And I'm pretty sure Obama was here earlier this year for a fundraiser. Maybe while he was vacationing on Martha's Vineyard? I'm losing track of the presidential life-preservers being thrown to the gov.

P.S. -- Brighton Reader also predicted two visits this year.  ¶ 12:05 PM

'Patrick Chung for President!'
In an email slugged 'Patrick Chung for President,' Reader No. 1 reacts to last night's remarkable Pats win:

It is most gratifying to see the Pats make all of the half-time adjustments for once - and punch the opponent's clock. (Well actually maybe twice, the second half offense was the good news buried inside last week's close call with Buffalo). Look at the tackling on replay in this second half!!! And four interceptions, have we had this many in a single game since the days of Ty Law and Rodney Harrison? And the blocks - has there been a bigger special teams mismatch in NFL history than tonight's 3rd quarter?

Might happy days be here again? Is it me, or the Belicheck Hoodie talking? (Dear NFL Films, please accept a pre-order for my DVD of last night's game.)

For those of us still living in the recent past and can't get used to no October baseball, tune in ESPN at 8 pm Tuesday.

  ¶ 6:48 AM

'Two bankrupt parties bankrupting the country'
It would be nice to see the rise of a centrist third political party in America. But a third party seems to have already risen: The Fox News Party. ...  ¶ 7:04 AM

'The frantic final seconds'
The most exciting college football game of the weekend: LSU vs. Tenn. It was also the most mismanaged final seconds of a game that I've seen in years. ... The most disappointing college football game: BC vs. Notre Dame. I'm a Notre Dame fan (sort of), so the outcome didn't bother me. But I was still hoping for a closer game.

The most anticipated football game today: The Watertown-Belmont Pop Warner C Team against. ... I'm not sure who. Hub Blog is privvy to the fact that a new offensive scheme is being rolled out today, courtesty of a Hub Blog brother who's become an offensive coordinator with grand visions of recapturing his football glory days of the 1970s.

Update -- It was the D team, not the C team. No matter. It didn't go well.  ¶ 6:23 AM

'Just torpedoed his career'
Armchair Gen. Savin Hill emailed in this link with the simple comment: "CNN's Rick Sanchez just torpedoed his career."‏

Also, a 2:19 p.m. news flash has since come in from the general, who seems to have volunteered to serve as Hub Blog’s official cable-news-monitoring correspondent

Fox News's Meghan Kelly is questioning Paladino live about whether he has evidence of Andrew Cuomo's extramarital affairs. He says he does -- reversing a denial he gave to a reporter last night. He looks unbalanced and angry -- again.

The Cuomo-Paladino contest is turning out to be the best political show of the year.

Update -- As predicted, the torpedo aimed at Stewart has circled back on Sanchez.  ¶ 1:52 PM

The birth of a great idea
H.J Heinz has developed an alternative to the despised impossible-to-tear-open ketchup packets. ... As far as breakthrough inventions go, it's not quite up there with re-sealable Oreo packages, the twin-blade Sensor or even plastic squeeze ketchup bottles. But it does improve the condition of mankind.  ¶ 10:48 AM

Timmy Toast, Part II
Now Cahill's running mate is bailing. He's endorsing Baker, who must be loving every minute of this. ... I expected Cahill to fade. But I never thought it would end like this.

Update -- From Bert:

Star Wars reference: Executive Order 66 has now been carried out on Tim Cahill. He's going to be the punchline at a lot of future GOP cocktail parties.

  ¶ 9:32 AM