1984Echoes

Finalizing our 10K today to be issued to the SEC so I'ma gonna use that as an excuse...

I was actually interested in seeing a Vrana-Veleno-Zadina line... I think I called for that quite a while ago... Just want to see if they gel together or can be productive at all. And that's with two minimally productive (Veleno-Zadina) guys there... If they actually do something: Vrana is a superhero. I'm assuming Namest is on the top line only due to Bert being out... well, I mean, obviously...

Oops, I slept on this one today...

I'm ready for a no-fly zone over Ukraine. I'm ready for NATO forces West of the Dnieper River (that includes Kiev, Kherson, Odessa, and Nikolaev, all currently under Russian control or fire... although I don't think they've really made a move on Odessa yet... just blockading them from the Black Sea...). I'm ready for Polish MIG's to be given to Ukrainian forces (as well as Romanian MIG's), and for Patriot missiles in western Ukraine and to start shooting down Russian jets. I'm ready for Ukrainian and NATO relief/ invasion (from NATO's/ Russian perspective) forces making a push to free up Mariupol from Russian shelling; which brings them past the entranceway into Crimea and on the edge of the Donbass. Direct combat with Russian artillery & other forces. Wanna fuck with us Putin? Go for it. We'll react accordingly... so... just try it. (you know... "make my day"). But... That's just me.

Spectacular! But the chemical and biological weapons scare me. It sounds like Putin is ready and willing to use them. Against his Slavic brothers and sisters. And it will be 1000's and 1000's of kids that die at his hands. By way of chemical weapons. How despicable. Contemptible mother fucker. Yup davaya mot.

Is Duren part of that 2nd tier? If you have a shot-blocking interior scorer at Center, then Stew can come off the bench as an energy guy. If Duren is a 6th pick type of guy (if we end up as low as there...), but he is capable of starting at Center, then you've got Duren at C, Bagley or Grant at PF, Grant or Bey at SF, Cade at Guard, and whatever 3 & D secondary ball-handling guard you can find to put next to him... Asking for a friend...

Maybe suffering from PTSD?

Hatred and bigotry. Pure & simple.

I'm not certain where that push would be coming from or exactly what that push is... From a Commercial Real Estate push, of course they want to get employees back into office space. From my own companies' POV, we cancelled our office lease and have been very content working from home. Saves the Company a bundle and there is no current push or "must-have" for office space. Makes our local commercial real estate agents and owners quite unhappy though (if our attitude were the prevalent attitude) From my own perspective and that of multiple co-workers, I'd rather work from home and do NOT want to get back into the office. If it's a push to get people back to work in general, I think that's happening anyways. But I agree with that last part: avoiding the cost of rush hour/ traffic jams/ and all the gasoline associated with that seems another really good reason to just continue the work-from-home mindset that we've enjoyed the past couple of years. Commercial Real Estate Agents & Owners be damned!!!

Total dismantlement, at Home, by a 16-35 team. Beautiful.

We've had a few grotesque games recently... Including this one.

Sweet. It sounds like the loss of 30 attack helicopters near Kherson is confirmed. Putin HAS to be feeling the pain...!

PS: One more thing on China: If we were to go to financial war against China, including support from the EU and other western style democracies (all the Asian countries I listed above, plus NZ/ Australia, etc...), just as we have done against Russia... China has no one to turn to. Russia can turn to China. That's to Russia's benefit. China is still a lifeline for them. But China cannot turn to Russia for any economic lifeline as we all know how nothing an economy Russia actually has. Who does China turn to? Attacking back against the US & EU & other countries... economically? That doesn't help them or protect them in an economic war. They are also damaged in a direct economic war, without having the fallback that Russia has with China...

Yeah, I know your thoughts on him... But he's not a UFA; in fact he's signed through 2025 I believe. Definitely not a FA which is why their asking price is so high and they're in no rush for a deal because they have time/ no pressure.

The EU and USA have for several years spoken of getting tougher on China's cheating/ theft/ economic under-handed tactics... So of course I can see China pushing for a wedge between the US and EU countries. The question I have is... if China is seeing attempts against their country's tactics - disjointed at times but, definitely anti-China, including a concerted effort by SE Asian countries and Australia/ Japan/ S Korea/ Canada/ USA/ Mexico to create a block-agreement under the TPP to thwart Chinese practices (that Trump idiotically got out of & then a year later begged to get back in after he realized what the agreement actually did...) - and is now seeing the effect of a threat of danger against the NATO alliance (EU & North American countries) by way of Russia's invasion of Ukraine... ... At what point does Xi Jinping consider a tactical change for China towards a more partnership-of-equals approach instead of a China-is-going-to-replace the USA and dominate-the world approach? Or will they ever even consider such a change in tact?

It's why I wouldn't mind making a play for Chychrun. But I don't think we have the right assets...

IE: Just my opinion but... I really look at Jabari Smith as the only franchise type guy. Ivey-Banchero-anyone else... seem like good players, but not franchise. If we're at #2 and someone offered two 1sts and two 2nds to drop to #'s 3 through... 5? 6? I'm definitely thinking of saying yes to that. Even at 6 I think we're getting a player that is not much different than at #2... We won't get that kind of crazy offer... I'm just sayin'...

Depends on if other teams are looking at these guys as franchise players or as a not-very-strong class. If no one seems to be a franchise guy, some teams will prefer more assets/ chances rather than just one. Just guessing though...

Close... I'm an extremely blunt, honest-to-a-fault, wildly emotional, backend boomer... Wait! Is that the same thing? Anyways, yeah... thanks for the positive comments!

One last question/ issue: Can we trade up/ afford to trade up?

I was thinking more along the lines of explanation with the possibility of opening up doors/ mind... Probably no chance of that but.. just thought I would give it a try...

The flipside is that if DraftNet is correct, then Jabari-Ivey are going 1-2 in the draft and, if we're at #3 or lower, then what does the rest of the Pistons' draft board look like? I'm just about on board with Ivey as the #2 guy. But again, Smith goes 1 and Ivey goes 2 and we're at a lower draft spot... now what? No matter what spot we're in, aside from getting #1... we've gotta be thinking on a Plan B IMO...

Let me put this a different way: I voted for Bush in 2004. After voting for Gore in 2000. Knowing that Bush was full of it with Iraq's "WMD's" and that he and his leadership team (specifically Cheney & Rumsfeld) were making total hash of Iraq on-the-ground (Sunni & Shia were in full civil war at the time...) and also that it was asinine to even be in Iraq if we were serious about going after Bin Laden and dismantling his terrorist network. So Archie, why would I have voted for Bush in 2004?

He's finding out the answer to that really quickly. Like in the past two weeks.

Trump is scum. Pure scum. Outside of Trump, my political views are closely aligned with Teddy Roosevelt Republicanism, FDR Democrat, Abraham Lincoln Republican (preservation of the Union, anti-slavery), Reagan military alignment, Fed Reserve conservatism (1st priority control inflation, 2nd priority facilitate maximum employment), collective security (NATO) and globalist economy (TPP, NAFTA, lower trade barriers, and conversely "trade" or "tariff" wars are asinine), Democratic centrist, invest in domestic infrastructure and future leading industries to the benefit of American Economic leadership in the world, atheist or strict separation of church & state, fiercely Independent... There's not a whole lot of partisan hackery in there. More closely aligned with "make the best decision for the American people/ future" than anything else. But if you want to try to find some partisan hackery in there... go for it.