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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026

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Is this you, baby? Back under a fake name? Because the whole aura of "why can't I, a 30 year old man, bang hot nubile sexy little Lolita 15 year olds without society tut-tutting at me" sounds awful familiar.

So far as I can find out, it's not "Belichick was denied because he was banging a chick 48 years younger than him for the past three years", it was "some kind of cheating scandal cooled the vote":

Multiple sources told ESPN that Spygate and Deflategate, the twin cheating scandals during the Patriots' championship run, came up in deliberations among voters. A voter who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Polian, an ardent Kraft supporter and former general manager of the Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts -- a chief Patriots rival during their dynasty -- told some voters he believed Belichick should "wait a year" before induction as penance for Spygate, the 2007 cheating scandal that cost the team a first-round draft pick. Commissioner Roger Goodell also fined Belichick $500,000 and the Patriots $250,000.

"The only explanation [for the outcome] was the cheating stuff," a veteran Hall voter told ESPN on Tuesday. "It really bothered some of the guys."

  • -20

Because the whole aura of "why can't I, a 30 year old man, bang hot nubile sexy little Lolita 15 year olds without society tut-tutting at me" sounds awful familiar.

Wow, this really takes the blue ribbon for nasty strawmanning. Sadly, I am not a moderator so I cannot ban you for this. However I am no longer going to engage with you.

To quote an author of one of my favourite novels:

I don’t mind if you don’t like my manners. They’re pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings.

Oh, noes! Seems I can haz bin blocked, alas and alack I cannot indulge in intercourse with this person no more!

  • -10

Glad you got there first.

Bill is both probably the greatest football coach of all time, and the co-leader and spirit animal of a Patriots organization that was ontologically evil during the dynasty years. He got caught cheating twice, and there's no doubt in anyone's mind that there were other creative strategies that were never (publicly) found.

No one cares that he (was) banging a influencer, it was mostly just hilarious to see them together.

he believed Belichick should "wait a year" before induction as penance for Spygate, the 2007 cheating scandal that cost the team a first-round draft pick.

Shit man, he should be disqualified for that reason. You cheat, you don't get accolades. Very simple, or it should be very simple.

You (and @ArjinFerman):

  1. If you suspect someone of being an alt, report it to us (people frequently do this when pressing the report button). It is much more effective and less annoying. We'll take it under advisement, though we won't necessarily (and probably will not) tell you if we decide someone is a ban evader. People suspect other posters of being alts all the time. Usually they are wrong, sometimes they are right, but publicly calling someone out like this is not productive. It just causes drama, especially the way you do it, in such a taunting "neener-neener I see you" manner.

  2. Length of account history is not a guarantee of not being an alt. Many people create multiple sockpuppets, sometimes going back years, just to establish account history and have backups in case their primary shit-stirring alt gets banned. They frequently brag about this to us when they get banned, and think they are demonstrating their great cunning, because we've surely never anticipated such a genius move.

  3. @omw_68, while on thin ice for other reasons (mostly bad faith attacks on other posters), is probably not Mr. Underappreciated Naturally Whitely Superior Genius Ebophile. That guy is in the category of people who cannot hide their light under a bushel--they always reveal themselves quickly. Most of our repeat obsessives underestimate how difficult it is to hide their obsessions and their writing style even when they are trying to fly under the radar. At any given time, we're aware of a number of alts who think we haven't noticed them yet. Generally our policy is to let them have enough rope. Fact is, subject matter alone is rarely a decisive tell, and guys who want to complain about progressives and specifically why progressives are terrible for disapproving of age gap relationships and prioritizing female preference are... not exactly rare on the Motte.

  4. @HereAndGone2 was never permabanned and is not ban-evading. If she had been, she would not be allowed to still post (she is another one who could never keep a mask on for very long). She has flounced several times and come back under a new name, which we allow because she doesn't exactly try to hide it. That said, her past record doesn't get wiped clean with a new account. Please behave yourself, Daoiseach-of-the-many-names, I would also hate to see you leave forever, even though you keep blaming me for your departures.

Yes sir, right sir, sorry sir 😁

I did think it was rather curious that we'd get two guys in a row complaining about how unfairly society treats older men/younger women couples (which caused me to raise both eyebrows because dudes, that's been society forever, the only current modern complaints are (a) idiot online social media about how a small age gap is terrible grooming power imbalance and (b) the more common 'yeah man you're literally twice her age, that's not a good idea').

But I suppose it's entirely possible that Mr B was encouraged to tell his tale of woe after reading Mr A's posts on how 15 is totally old enough to be having babies.

No it’s a totally different person and this isn’t his hobby horse.

Okay. Just amused that when I looked it up, the teeny-weeny age gap between Mr. Belichick and his second squeeze after breaking up with his missus was a mere 48 years. Nothing at all, really. Why shouldn't a sprightly, virile, famous (presumably rich?) 71 year old man be attractive to a 23 year old woman? Just like Mrs Merton!

Is this you, baby? Back under a fake name?

  • You could at least check someone's profile, before making an accusation. He's been here for a while.
  • Aren't you on you third or fourth alt, that you set up specifically to get around a permaban?

She's never been permabanned. I seem to recall her saying she'd lost the password to her previous account, and she then turned down our offer to restore it.

It just seems awfully coincidental that a second person with the same bee in his bonnet over age gaps should pop out of nowhere.

Am I? How nice of you to keep track for me, I feel so seen, cherished, and valued that you spend precious time and energy on worrying about what I'm doing!

It just seems awfully coincidental that a second person with the same bee in his bonnet over age gaps should pop out of nowhere

Sure, in isolation that's a fair thing to base your, but when you can click his profile and see things like "joined 2022 September 08", and "452 comments" that should put the suspicion to rest.

Am I? How nice of you to keep track for me, I feel so seen, cherished, and valued that you spend precious time and energy on worrying about what I'm doing!

Oh, I can do better. I think you're an indispensable part of this forum's folklore, and I'm happy that you're still posting here. I'm just pointing out that someone's throwing stones in glass houses.

I tend not to click on profiles, unless I'm very infuriated and want to know what other stupid crap this stupid idiot who annoyed me has been spouting.

Also, I have a terrible memory so I really don't keep track of "this is A, who used to go by name B, who got banned back in year C, and then came back as new account D". I have enough to do to remember to set my alarm clock for the morning.