Danny Dravot

That we are a collection of states and those states deserve representation in their own right. Strong bastions of partisan thought centered in certain geographic locales should not determine the overall direction of the country.

I don’t want any of those selfish things and I think the purpose of the federal government and this nation as a whole is altogether different, so get outta here with your belief that I’m getting screwed.

I’m Catholic. God will judge my devoutness, and He’d probably say, “not enough”. Either way, I try. I find my religion is better defended, however, by not placing it in the public square in the first place. The key message is humans are flawed, after all. So it’s understandable that Trump divorces twice and cavorts with porn stars, but he probably shouldn’t be the spokesman for the belief system.

A genuine bit of gratitude for your service, but I respectfully disagree with almost all of this. Like it or not, we are the world’s police, and in that role, Saddam Hussein is exactly the type of regime that we need to end. Moreover, and I don’t know if you meant it this way, but I don’t like talking about US soldiers as if they are victims. Those 4,000 heroes knew what they were offering to their country. You knew what you were offering to your country. So did I. There are things that will haunt me for the rest of my life from my service, but that’s a risk I took on when I swore my oath. We got what we chose.

If you mean that, I've got a lot of respect for that. Hopefully we don't ever have to find out whether you'd follow through. I've always voted for the "KAG" candidate. To me, that always meant Republicans, and I continued it in 2016 because I figured Trump was more or less a continuation of the same but in a rougher package. I was wrong. I agree with you now, I don't think he genuinely cares about the USA. Sure, he'll come out on stage and kiss the flag, and maybe that's what people sneer at here when they talk about "faketriotism". I fought in a war for that same flag but Trump skipped his war and said avoiding STDs was his personal version of it. So all of his MAGA and KAG stuff is fake. I probably won't agree with many of Biden's policies, but he does talk about everything America is capable of. He's optimistic about the future of this country. Trump promises the country will die without him. So I'm still voting for American patriotism, but the obvious party for that goal has flipped.

Ugh.

Was that quote in regard to the recent Texas incident?

I really appreciate this post. Try to imagine what progressives would do if the Democrats nominated a reliably left-wing but personally repulsive candidate. Say, Alan Grayson. Would they realize that he’s not fit for the job and give up progressive policy goals to vote for a Mitt Romney? Some would. Some wouldn’t. I voted for Biden but that’s also because Trump’s ideology doesn’t match mine in many ways. Put up an obnoxious, thrice-divorced neocon (with no conspiracy or racist tendencies) and yeah, I’d vote for them.

I agree with you. I want Trump to lose and I want Trumpism as an ideology to go away, but I dislike the attacks on Trump supporters. Most of them (to include many personal friends of mine) are not racist Q fanatics who have parades and try to run campaign busses off the highway.

I’ll mock extremists on both sides, thank you.

If you don't mind sharing, I'm somewhat curious what political philosophy you hold that led you to vote Bush 41-Clinton-Bush 43 (x2)-Obama (x2)-Trump. Not judging any of it and respect your position, but interested to hear what overall outcome you're trying to achieve with that particular history of decisions. Myself, I voted McCain-Romney-Trump-Biden. I was a collegiate Ron Paul fan who hated Bush but fell into a sort of binary thinking by the time ED rolled around in 2008. By 2012, I was a "standard" Republican and Romney was the obvious choice. In 2016, I held my nose and voted for Trump because I was still a Republican and figured he would do conservative things but simply in a more obnoxious package. I've done a lot of reading over the last few years and broadened my political beliefs, and it's now clear to me that even if he wasn't a bombastic, racist, conspiracy-mongering idiot, his philosophy still isn't mine. My juvenile hatred of Bush as a chickenhawk has long since disappeared and I'd now give my left nut to vote for his type again. I want reasonably limited government and respect for the Constitution, but absolutism is stupid. Capitalism should be defended, free trade makes us all better off, and Tucker Carlson nazbol-type stuff is blasphemy. Culture wars are counterproductive, if you don't like "drag queen story hour", don't attend one and the best way to protect Christianity is to disentangle it from the state entirely. The United States should use an interventionist foreign policy to promote liberal democracy around the world and prevent atrocities. Honestly, I'll never mention it to anyone I know in person, but if 2016 happened again, I'd probably vote for Clinton. I strongly disapprove of the Sanders wing of the DP, but Clinton-Biden simply isn't that and I don't buy into the idea that said wing will control Biden. After all, if that's what Democrats wanted, they would have gone straight to the source rather than opt for a puppet show. Anyways, I think Trump gets destroyed next week. Using 270towin.com, I could see Biden getting up to 412 EC votes. The high turnout suggests voter rage, and all Trump has done for four years is entertain his base rather than expand it, so it's not new folks voting FOR him. Realistically, I think TX, NC, and GA remain red, and Biden wins with 343. I think Republicans keep the Senate with 51 seats, showing that voters wanted to punish Trump rather than the entire GOP. Loeffler, Perdue, Tillis, and Ernst win, Collins loses.

You know, my brother gets equally as hurt and upset by trivial things as you do. You don’t live in the DC metro area by chance, do you? I’m going to bed. Please don’t get too despondent if I don’t immediately address your grievances.

Honestly, dude, you tooting your own horn about how reasonable you are in every single post is just annoying. Try to take it down a notch. No, I don’t think a scheme that a few Astros hitters used in their own stadium for a year or so forced anyone out of baseball who would have had a long and prosperous career had the Astros not concocted said scheme. I think that’s totally ridiculous. It’s hard to quantify one way or the other, but I’ll try to put some actual data together tomorrow. But for now, no, I don’t believe it at all.

I gave you a serious response that addresses what I believe to be most of your points, but this is why I give you so many jackass retorts. There is no reason to take this so seriously. There is no reason to not be amused by this. We will never meet. If I die in my sleep, you will never know. And vice versa. This isn’t life or death. I want to have the conversation, but ultimately, it’s meaningless. It doesn’t impact our actual lives at all. So...chill, man.

Thank you! Genuinely, thank you for finally pointing out what bothered you so much. You can dislike that it doesn’t bother me, but that won’t change it. Sorry you think it’s childish. I grew up in the 90s so I looked at baseball as some sort of holy thing. It was innocent. Everyone played baseball, everyone followed baseball, me and my friends knew all the records and traded cards over lunch. Rickey Henderson, Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, Kirby Puckett, and, of course, Frank Thomas were household names to us. I could have recited certain of their stat lines like the back of my hand. Then 1998 came around. Maris’ record, something that was absolutely meaningful and untouchable to us as kids, was gone, the victim of a couple of drug pounding lunatics. Couple years later that new “record” was smashed by another guy in cartoonish fashion. 61+ has now been done multiple times, all meaningless. 500 homeruns was special and when I was a kid we could name all those guys- now, that list has names on it like Gary freaking Sheffield. That was when baseball grew up for me. I still enjoy the game. I love the Sox. I even understand that steroids helped baseball draw in more fans and survive as a business. But I hated how it denigrated the game and, because it did, denigrating the game doesn’t have the same impact it would have had on me in 1997. Maybe that makes me a sentimental old fart, and maybe you think the logic sucks, but no, I am not going to be all that worked up about what the Astros did. It just doesn’t raise my hackles at all, really. Drugs and marriage are totally different and not comparable to this at all. If you cheat on your spouse, you’re ruining lives. Same with drugs. Apples to oranges.

You’re welcome to point out the exact fallacy. Did I miss a question you asked? I don’t remember ignoring any specific question. By all means, remind me. I don’t have friction with you. Frankly, you’re not worth having friction with. No one here is. You amuse me, and I do think you are just babbling when you talk about logic because I still never see you use any. Feel free to prove me wrong. Also, I do enjoy @hi8is clear annoyance at this conversation.

Are you this insufferable in person? We get it, you’re great! Your logic is impeccable. You are totally civil! You never take a joke, because everything, even sports, is super serious and must be discussed with nothing less than the utmost focus and concern! Geezus. Lighten up, Francis.

Feel free to point out where you kicked my butt the other day. You said the Astros didn’t get punished enough, I said Hinch and Luhnow got suspended, you said that wasn’t enough, I said cheating was less meaningful to me in light of baseball’s steroid issue. You then started going on about how great your logic was compared to mine. I walked away because I got tired of talking to a rock.

I agree with you 100%. I think there should be police reform and I think it’s valid to protest on behalf of that, but expressing disdain for our country as a whole is a poor way to make that point. And I see there are a few internet hardasses here yapping about “faketriotism”- well, I fought in a war for that flag so fuck off with that shit. I don’t have anything to do with police brutality in America (other than thinking it shouldn’t exist) so how scorning what I hold sacred is supposed to be effective for me, I just don’t know.

Trolling doesn’t phase you? Guy, you’re on an anonymous internet message board. You’re not gonna get punched, you’re not going to get fired, and you’re not going to lose your place in mommy’s basement. Not over anything that occurs here. If anything here phases you, it’d be an even greater sign that you need counseling. You get zero credit for being unphased. The reason I “disappeared” from our last conversation is the same I reason I made a joke about you here. You talk a lot about logic and reason but show little of it. You criticized the logic I used in making a purely subjective statement of my own beliefs, which doesn’t make any sense. Rather than making you some sort of Glorious Man of the Enlightenment, your talk about logic is just air. Seriously, only a teenager could combine your level of pretension and idiocy into one small package. So have fun prepping for the SATs and wondering if you’ll get a handy after prom, little man. Adios.

yOuR lOgIc Is SuBpAr SiR

Please don’t get me wrong- I think he’s a great ball player. After Tim, he is my favorite of the young talent and it’s not really close. I think he’s a terrific hitter and I don’t think we’ve yet seen his full ability either (would bet money on .300/40/100 next year) I agree with what you say about drawing people in. I did rewatch Yelich’s homer against us. I was wrong to say he did it for a laugh (I think there was another play where he got caught in the net and was laughing about it?). But he was probably eight feet from the wall when he missed the ball; he ought to have the ability to hit the brakes and get back in that play quickly. I think TLR is a good choice to harness his talent and move to a greater level of focus. Don’t think he’ll ever be great in the field (again doesn’t have to be) but he can definitely be less clumsy and avoid injuries out there.

I dunno, man. Watching that play it seemed like he almost went out of his way to fall into the net and have a laugh. Either way though, I don't expect him to be great in the field. With Robert in center, we can get away with below average more than most. I get that he's not gifted and that's fine. But there's still a limit, and some of the ridiculous moves that have gotten him hurt need to stop (the one where he drop kicked the wall). Just let it go!

I get that, and I know that anyone who hits 30 bombs in MLB has to have some great work ethic to get there. But the lollygagging on a relatively easy fly ball, tripping into the net and loafing there while it turns into an inside the park HR? C’mon man.

Joking aside, the president has a massive staff to help run things. TLR has a couple of coaches and that’s it. Even if Trump wins, he’s done at 78. I’d rather not go through the manager search again in 2 years.