1984Echoes

De nada. They're just attacking the messenger to distract from the actual message. That Trump is a corrupt fascist and liar.

I need to set up a man-cave... But that also is a distant back-burner project...

I haven't had a Rum Runner in a long while... Had them all the time when I lived in Florida. (Got a Bachelor's at FAU in Boca Raton... lived in southeast Florida a total of 19 years before I had enough of the crappy weather and had to head back up north to New Jersey... which is not as nice as Michigan weather but it'll do...).

Your preference is...?

I actually don't like beer. I prefer liquor or wine. Actually, my favorite is Vintage or Late-Bottled Vintage Port. Dow's or similar. Or Stoley's Vodka. Or a shot of Fireball. Or a Russian Quaalude (Kahlua, Stoley's, Bailey's Irish Cream, and Frangelica). I have no clue what White Claw is... I had to look it up. So... not much for beer... And since Stout is a much stronger taste that covers up some of the beer taste I can actually enjoy a bit of Guinness. Certain IPA's too...

Lazy. Maybe they are all just lazy. But then again.. the media has NEVER been found to be lazy... amiright? Me? I prefer the.... Truth.

You are making one mistake here. I agree with the top part. But the IDF is a military organization. It is NOT their job to report on Gazan civilian deaths. Their ONLY objective is to complete their MILITARY objectives. They report military deaths/ casualties. Their own and the "enemies". That's it. That's where you are making a mistake. You are trying to conflate the IDF's military objective with an all-encompassing report. I look at the Gazan Health Ministry as reporting all Gazan deaths/ casualties. They actually do a good job of that. But the do not report military deaths under the orders of Hamas (the Health Ministry IS Hamas). Therefore, I go to the IDF numbers for military deaths. It really is NOT that hard to find these numbers. What hoops are you referring to? If this doesn't pop up as your number one choice you just give up? That's it? You don't make any more effort than that? You say you're interested in the truth. Really? You don't look for it very hard. Also... Are the IDF numbers perfect? No. They are estimates because in battlefield damage with all the destruction verification is difficult at best. And in deeper tunnels, even more difficult. But they do have modern tech, including infra-red tech, drones, etc., etc. So I know that the Health Ministry is reporting 28,500 Gazan deaths. Zero military. I know the IDF is reporting 11,000 Hamas fighter deaths. I'll even ignore the 3K assessment report on non-combatants tied to Hamas activities that are estimated to have also perished. 11,000 Hamas fighter deaths (more or less) out of Health Ministry reported deaths of 28,500 gives me a rough idea of a much more TRUTHFUL scenario that you are trying to pass off here. Which I would call a lack of effort. The IDF's approach is NOT more offensive. It is NOT their job to report Gazan civilian casualties.. they are NOT ignoring them... it is not their JOB to report on them. I just wanted to reiterate that. They are a MILITARY organization and are ONLY going to report military deaths or casualties: their own, and Hamas.

I'm going to by a snowbird place down there but it's still a backburner project for me at this point in time. Possibly towards the end of this year, or maybe next year...? My timing is obviously not set yet so... I will definitely keep you in mind at some future date for a beer. I drink Guinness. 😉

Moderate Republicans so far have refused to break away. Understandable. And there IS enough of them. I have no idea how many... I think they're at roughly 20-30. It's enough. But they have to get to that "breaking point" that tells them they've just had enough of this ****show and it forces them to break away from Republican dogma and go to moderate "consensus" as you've pointed out. A very hard nut to crack. Maybe even impossible. But... we'll see... the House is reaching a boiling point from outside (my own) observation.... As for the second part on Dems: They'll do it under the right terms and conditions. They've already stated as such.

Yes, this. Depends on WHO they want to work for. Major Republican donors are looking for exits away from MAGA. There may be opportunities starting to pop up for moderate Republicans, even in "conservative" industries. (if we're talking TV only, CNN and MNBC are looking for "normal" Republicans and not "flamethrowers" for a viewpoint from the "other side"...). That may have been true from 2016-2023... But I believe that is starting to change a little bit from blowback...

So a couple things: 1) Sorry, I thought that was ONE number from the IDF but it is actually TWO numbers and the second part is harder to find. I thought it was all IDF but I think my memory failed me and the 11K was IDF and the other 3K was from some other analytical report that I can't remember... 2) The numbers obviously change daily so that is not ONE link. I do have a link to the IDF website: https://www.idf.il/en/ But... you would still have to search for the correct report that contains the new numbers, and that changes all the time. Weekly or daily whenever they update. It's not just ONE link. I actually have an easier time searching Google to get someone (like Jerusalem Post...) quoting them. But again, they (number of deaths) still change often so not just one link.

No... That's Gaza (Hamas) Health Ministry TOTAL deaths as of that date in November. Nice try though! 😉

I would state that the IDF's numbers are probably EXACTLY the same as Gaza Health... IN TOTAL. As you said, IDF is not counting the civilian deaths. I have never had a problem with the Health Ministries "total" number of casualty numbers. My problem has always been that they do not report any combatant deaths, which leads to the conflation of all deaths being civilian, which they are NOT. And then Tater or someone else comes in upset about all the civilian deaths. When that is ABSOLUTELY not truth. Almost ALL countries differentiate between military and civilian deaths. Those that do not, or distort the numbers: Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Hamas, and other similar countries/ organizations. There's a theme there.

1933 Goudey Gehrig looks good.

I think I have all of Kaline's Topps cards except his rookie card. I collect vintage cards only, mostly Near Mint only but there are some lower graded exceptions. Not many but some cards are just difficult to obtain in higher conditions... This is a nice 1955 Topps Kaline, his second one...

This shouldn't even be a debate point. To add to this description: Nearly 100% of the aid going to Ukraine (95? 98% ?) is for military aid. That military aid is spent by Ukraine on AMERICAN arms and ammunitions. In other words, on American Businesses and WORKERS. We are benefiting, ECONOMICALLY, by providing military aid to Ukraine. MAGA and Trump and the other brainless jagoffs in that movement either don't understand this. Or they are shouting it down/ hiding this fact because they don't want it to be known.

They don't even really have to do that. One would hope. All these Republicans (moderate/ establishment/ whatever we want to call them...) need to do is to decide on a vote of no-confidence against the MAGA and hard-right Rep's. A hard decision to make... but... for the good of the country, right? As to my comment on G2's quote: If the moderate Republicans want to use their middle finger against MTG and her ilk: Collude with the Dems to oust Johnson. THEN: A Republican could STILL be Speaker (the moderates would not give up THAT right), but the Rules would be changed to be more inclusive of Dems, Bipartisan decisions would be made between the moderate Pubs and Dems, EXCLUDING the so-called "Freedom Caucus". Bipartisan efforts would be forced through using 100% Dems and the remaining 20-30 or so moderate Republicans. The House can function with a Republican Speaker. Just not a MAGA one.

Yeah the IDF reports keep getting posted and are easy to find. I believe the 3K was a separate report/ analysis and now I don't remember where it originated. IDF, Intelligence analytics or otherwise. The 11K is definitely IDF. The balance may have been from somewhere else, sorry to conflate the two. The IDF has a blind spot, but not what you are stating. Their blind spot is in verification. If their number is 11,000, there is no way to verify that. However, in no possible way is the number zero. I accept the Health Ministry total deaths number. I cannot accept that it is zero fighters' deaths. And I KNOW that Hamas is using child soldiers in their midst. Their deaths also are not ZERO. That means a proportion of the "children's deaths" were of those placed in harms way by Hamas. I apologize that I cannot get you an EXACT number of non-combatant deaths (associated with Hamas activities) in an easy to find daily report. But if the 11,000 or 14K or anywhere + or - around those numbers is not an EXACT number of deaths of fighters and non-combatants associated with Hamas activities... Why do you care that it is not exact? There are often numbers given as estimates. These are estimates. They will not be able to be verified to an exact amount: ever. Anyone interpreting the Hamas Health Ministry's death totals as being 100% civilians, like Tater keeps trying to do, is being disingenuous and falling directly for Hamas Propaganda. If my reports from the IDF and wherever I came across that other analysis are not PERFECT, they are still better than the incomplete picture that Hamas is providing. So two quick questions: Are you demanding PERFECTION? And if so, WHY are you demanding perfection? I'm just interested in what/ how you are thinking... I'm not trying to be inflammatory... Just wondering what standards/ judgements you are applying here...

This is Asia and not Europe... but: Put another way: If China blockades the South China Sea and blocks all goods flow coming in or out of Asia (by sea): We're ****ed. It is critical to the United States to NOT have bad actors destroying or disrupting U.S. to Europe trade routes. U.S. to Asia trade routes, etc. Without collective security in Asia or Europe, the world descends back into the chaos of the pre-1950's again. World Wars (not just in the 20th century, but also the previous ones in the 1700&1800's between France & England, and Germany versus Europe), Great Depressions, etc.

Thanks! Saving this info...!

Works for me... They could call themselves "Sane Republicans voting for Democracy". You know... A dying breed.

I'm trying to find that last piece I had read (I think it was about two weeks ago) that was an estimate of fighters versus non-combatants inside the tunnels and an estimate of how many of each had been killed in the tunnels (the estimated 3,000 non-combatants...) but haven't found it yet. Similar but not exactly related: 160 dead Gazan children from building Hamas' terrorist tunnels: https://www.wiesenthal.com/about/news/deaths-of-160-palestinian.html#:~:text=“Hamas officials openly admitted that,leading Jewish human rights NGO. Hamas using child soldiers: undergoing terrorist training (including kidnapping skills): https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-accuses-hamas-islamic-jihad-of-using-child-soldiers/#:~:text=Hamas and Islamic Jihad have,the terror groups' military wings. Another general statement of usage (how Hamas is using child soldiers) during this war. Message runners, explosives hidden in vegetables, battlefield casualty assessors, etc. https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-destroys-shifa-hospital-tunnels-as-fighting-intensifies-in-central-southern-gaza/

In other words: They're homeless. So the next question is: What will become their next home. Because it's not going to be the Trumpublican Party anymore.

PS: I think it was FOUR Stan Musial cards that I forgot. Another $3K pop per each... Total Appraisal for all of the cards (including the commons on the table was $150K...).

I can't find the old thread discussing baseball cards so just tossing this out there: I was just watching Antique Road Show on PBS an hour ago when this older middle-aged woman (late 40's?) is showing some cards she inherited (from her father I think...). A collection of 1948 Leaf cards. The appraiser had some key cards up on a backboard (with felt brackets to hold the cards... no pins mind you...): Not just one but FOUR Ted Williams. In high end (looked ExMt to NrMt range to me) condition. Roughly $2,500 each or so. A table loaded with nice looking commons. One Honus Wagner card. For a joke he took the picture with him shoving chewing tobacco into his mouth. Nice condition, around $500. FOUR Joe DiMaggio's, same condition as the Williams and also around $2,500 each range. She had SIX Babe Ruth's from that set. Great condition, all of them. Around $3K per card. And the coup de grace? THREE Jackie Robinson 1948 Leaf rookie cards in excellent shape. $15-25K per card (depending on grading). I think I'm missing something else. I salivated.