gehringer_2

Yeah, I'm not sure I buy the argument that things are so different that the army that couldn't fight in the North suddenly becomes Caesar's legions in the East. But if the dire talk pushes against any tendency to Western complacency, that's fine. However, be that as it may, it would be nice if the West would move/move faster on getting some effective missile defense help in theater.

I think we have reached the point where it becomes context dependent. In my county the Vax rate is 87% and there have not been any fatalities in anyone too young to be vaccinated so I'm not bothered walking around in an unmasked general public any more. In an airplane where I am trapped in space with a person of unknown history, not so much. At the U, where a 5 day quarantine still creates a major hardship for students, we still mask in the classroom because it helps keep as many in class as possible. One of the problems in America is that we act like we are stupid (well, because we are), and have to have simple stupid one size fits all rules. Being asked to apply a little intelligent judgment has become too much for American society. (And of course the flip side is we are too belligerent to take other people's good advice.)

good summary. He's doesn't aspire to be a revolutionary, just the dictator. With Trump it's basically collateral damage to a personal agenda, but the damage to the system is the same.

Federal E-file is free. The state of Mich charges $25. Have never paid it, State return goes by snail mail even when it requires extra stamps.

Masking is effective when done corporately. They knock down the amount of virus you spread around in the environment.Typical masks protect other people from you more than they protect you from other people. N95s are somewhat more effective for the wearer, but even n95's are problematic because they still don't guarantee a good enough fit to insure protection to the wearer. The only thing that is really effective in protecting the wearer from other people is a respirator..... The US public has misunderstood how this works pretty much from day one and it apparently shows no sign of improving.

was almost waiting for this shoe to drop. He apparently had been skipping practice and his ability to carry play seemed to have decreased along with the Red Wings general recent skid.

yeah - Nixon's attempts to manipulate the FBI and the IRS and of course his likely interference with Johnson's VN negotiations were all far worse institutional crimes that had nothing directly to do with Watergate. But Nixon was paranoid and competent, so probably in that sense more of a potential danger than Trump. The difference is that Nixon did believe in US institutions in so many ways that Trump doesn't. That said, institutions/public were still so much stronger then, the clear evidence being that Nixon resigned without a fight because the rest of the government was going to reject him. Trump is a danger even without the competence because the rest of government/public is now so craven it isn't capable of rejecting him.

yeah, I think the problem is less that they are only carrying one extra IF as the choice of extra IF they are carrying. They are in love with Harold's OBP, but he is just not an MLB SS. As long as Baez was healthy they didn't expect him to have to play there much. Once you put Baez on the IL, and your replacement actually has to play, it can't be Harold. But then they go and compound the nonsense by calling up Willi Castro, the worst glove of the three potential IFs from Toledo. With Schoop, Candy, Barnhart all slumping they are paranoid about run production, even though their runs allowed are just as bad as their runs scored. Granted Kreidler is not on the 40, but as noted - Short is.

right - but John Deere doesn't care about Monsanto profits even though Monsanto depends on farmers using John Deere Tractors. The money has to go to MLB/teams to influence their behavior. And of course, that may yet happen.

In modern parlance a socieopathy is about as close to 'evil' as the therapeutic society admits to, and Trump is without doubt sociopathic, so I guess on purely definitional grounds - yeah, he is evil by any other name. All devils don't wear horns and tails. Granted though - he's probably never studied anything with enough discipline to earn the title "DR" Evil. 🙄

For whatever reason, Barnhart hasn't played up to his averages. If he begins to the discussion is moot because he should be a better player than Garneau by any measure. But whether he just hasn't gotten his feet under himself on a new team or whether he's one of those guys whose bat just decided to retire at 31 instead of say, 33-35+ is suddenly an unwelcome question for the Tigers.

it's all very reminiscent of the CCCP when the Stalinist purges came and the victims remained so trapped in their faulty logic they couldn't bring themselves to turn and fight or even flee and defect.

almost puts me in mind of a b side jam from a late 60's acid rock album but with more 8 bar structure....

that's basically the 'you can't swing the putter between your legs rule'?

Naval is all machinery and machinery needs continuity of operating experience - and that is senior empowered non-coms, which is what the Russian system lacks everywhere. Officers come and go, the CPOs operate the ships.

but there would have to be a direct $ link between people placing bets in real time and income to the team (not just to the sports book) before the team cares about it. At least until the teams start running their own books. Right now there is a sponsorship/advertising link, but if those are fixed dollar amounts, they won't drive teams' in-game motivations. Just because someone may make more money on a longer game under some circumstances doesn't mean the team does - yet.

The world has passed George by and he doesn't like it, but his baseball fandom is real enough.

Moskva apparently has two sister ships. A Russian attempt to take another warship into the Black Sea after a Turkish refusal of passage seems like a situation that could end up pulling NATO in the conflict.

you sell more beer in a 2:16 game if 30% more are watching than in the 2:40 game. Plus the marginal value of the Call Sam ad placed at 2:40, which is about the 10th time the same ad has played to the same eyeballs, has to be close to zero.

correct. He is dangerous because he doesn't care about institutions or their defense and is perfectly happy when any of them are compromised if it benefits him personally. He has zero real sense of his own impact beyond that he wants to be famous and a star in his own universe. And that profile attracts others who do have more malevolent agendas into his orbit who know that with Trump they can often get what they want by simply flattering him into supporting their ideas.

If it were just Trump it would be one thing - but Lindsay Graham, Cruz, Boebert, Cawthorn, Jordan, etc., and Mephistopheles himself from Ky are a cast of characters all beyond the pale of anything that should have ever come close to being elected to govern a pig farm let alone the US gov.

story in the DNews said Manning wasn't concerned - he didn't tell them anything was wrong - they pulled him because they didn't like what they were seeing in his motion and he then admitted he was a little sore but he would have pitched through it if they had let him.

Definitely true. Just thinking about how far the GOP has gone; it's not just from hard care right to batshit crazy - the total transformation far beyond just that : I remember Sen (R) Bob Griffrin used to come to UM football games and campaign to *students* as they walked to the north entrance of the stadium. Can you even imagine a GOP pol believing they had a potential constituency with UM students today?

For sure - if Manning and Mize both go down it's going to be a long season.

I agree - I think we will see more teams try things like split start systems. Maybe they will have to change the way the wins and losses are scored to reduce possible push back from the players.