bmags

Lol

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 12:12 PM) It's a stupid plan. By the time Jon gets north of the Wall, grabs a wight, and gets back to King's Landing, won't the army of the dead be at the Wall already? Wouldn't it be easier for Dany to just take King's Landing (something she's very well positioned to do) and then turn her attention North? Or to battle for King's Landing until Jon has a wight and then offer the ceasefire? Feels like a plan that exists exclusively to keep Cersei on the Iron Throne a little longer. Also, one of the many items of praise for early seasons of GOT was how it deconstructed fantasy tropes. I'm not sure there's anything more fantasy trope-y (real word) than a Fellowship of the Ring style quest north of the Wall. Fan service is, I think, the right word. Totally.

Mega thread

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 04:11 PM) Its all political. Despite statements to the contrary Obama would gain nothing for using the phrase "Islamic Terrorism" and Trump gains nothing for labeling these people as racists either. The people who are screaming the loudest in both cases for these phrases to be used will absolutely dismiss them as something they should have done anyways therefore as worthless, and that they didn't really mean it anyway. It is all an effort to gain political points out of these messes. Actually, I just straight up disagree with all of this. I very much think it is important after national moments of crisis or violence for our political leaders to assert empathy and moral authority, and that either terrorism from white supremacy or radical Islam, is specifically outside the bounds of the society the US tries to build. It does not eliminate the problem but it does keep it from getting worse. I think it is very beneficial to make sure violent fringes like this know they are an out group and are not gaining approval. Trump's response lacked empathy but most importantly moral authority, and that symbolism matters. There should be a consistency in a responses to identify the tragedy, empathize with the victims and in cases of violence admonish the bad. Trump is very much giving the response that violence against "his" groups are bad but against "their" groups are inconveniences. They are both bad. Bad bad bad. We shouldn't be so poisoned to be beyond that. The shooting of scalise was awful. This is awful. His response should be parallel.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 04:11 PM) Its all political. Despite statements to the contrary Obama would gain nothing for using the phrase "Islamic Terrorism" and Trump gains nothing for labeling these people as racists either. The people who are screaming the loudest in both cases for these phrases to be used will absolutely dismiss them as something they should have done anyways therefore as worthless, and that they didn't really mean it anyway. It is all an effort to gain political points out of these messes. I think there is quite a large gap in logic behind the Islamic Terrorism labeling (which the military and state dept both advised against to prevent the appearance of a war of civilizations) and calling out White Supremacists and literal Nazis. Nazis for obvious reasons, but I have not seen case made that calling out White Supremacists makes White people feel like you are calling them out.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 03:50 PM) My only memories of David Duke were from SNL Maybe it's one of those tricks of memory, but I honestly think I remember watching the famous Tim Russert interview, or maybe it was just a parody on SNL.

For much of my life, David Duke was that example about how "the way things used to be" weren't so far off. He had run for governor when I was just 5-6. Now, while true he is probably just as far off from being a politician as before, has this stupid, stupid relevancy again. And it could have been ended so long ago.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 01:26 PM) Conflict of interest. Oh, yeah. Duhh.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 01:16 PM) Interesting twist for the terrorist Nazi car driver, he can't be represented by the public defenders' office because one of the people injured was the relative of someone who works in that office. I don't understand this. Why would it matter?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 01:01 PM) There was a state-by-state gallup poll a couple of weeks ago that found he still has majority support in enough states to win an EC victory. His support is eroding among moderates and people who wanted to give him a chance located mainly in non-red states. Couple of weeks ago. Trend has been down 4% since then. I'd imagine it was plurality support even in that poll. People are still living 2016 for that stuff, and the question is whether that group that surged to actually go to the polls if they'll actually care enough. His "very" supportive group continues to slide.

I thought, way back to this morning so hours ago, that a statement explicitly condemning would be important in terms of sectioning off this group (white nationalist/alt-right movement) from institutional support. Now with it having happened, I don't think that's right. It's symbolically important to show some norm of behavior still has power to hold him to symbolic movements, but I do think at this point he needs to remove Gorka/Bannon etc. Clear that the group this was aimed against will just see it as lip service, and that he's really behind them (because of Saturday/Sunday's actions)

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 12:36 PM) For better or worse, Trump is married to his base. He has zero chance of winning over anyone who isn't already in his camp. I think this is probably right. Considering things are going reasonably well in the economy (though productivity is low), and his support continuing to crater, it seems like there are fewer remedies to win people back. I'd say one remedy would literally be cause less drama. When his support ticks back up it's when he has relatively light weeks of coverage. But he loves coverage! In terms of actual things happening, I don't see anything short of a major manufacturing revival getting people to feel okay with someone who just brings so much daily baggage into the countries lives.

TB may have had him try maneuvers to sell out for more power. Bears, having already lived with a no power kicker, may just ask he be automatic within 40 and XPs.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 11:13 AM) They need to prove white walkers are real. But it doesn't matter because Cersei doesn't give a f***, Walker or no walker Right. That's what I mean. The plan seemed uncontroversial when it's actually a really bad plan that risks losing your likely ally to the north all to get something that may, may get a temporary ceasefire that they are well positioned to get anyway.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 11:06 AM) I believe that the players must be sent as a PTBNL before the beginning of the next season, which is like the week after the World Series. Its most likely the White Sox have a list of 7-10 prospects they can pick from and they are evaluating which they would like to have. I agree. I think it was a PTBNL arrangement due to Houston wanting deal done quickly and gives sox time to scout lower-level players.

QUOTE (The Gooch @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 11:00 AM) Are we sure they are getting around quickly, I can't really tell how much time is between one scene and the next... And how did Jamie and Bronn escape? Bronn legit tackled Jamie right in from of Danarys and a dragon and all of a sudden they are safe while everyone else is dead or captured? I would think bringing in the leader of the Army would be a priority That was really stupid, and part of the "fan service-y" parts I didn't like. basically they find themselves having swam across the whole lake in armor, and by the time that was done the battle was over and completely cleared from the field. The "Bron should've died" takes were right. It seems they are scared now to kill anyone of significance. And I have to be honest. I don't totally understand why kidnapping a dead army guy is so important.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 10:35 AM) So the original trade overall is Robertson, Kahnle, Frazier for Rutherford, Clarkin, Polo and PTBNL. When you put it this way...huge win.

I think we all may have differing opinions of compete. 2019 I expect us to be competitive. At least in the 75-81 wins area.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 09:53 AM) Merkin pointed out the White Sox now have no pitcher on their roster who has recorded a save this year. I wonder how long that will last, truthfully. May be a new mlb record.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 09:27 AM) What is Jesse Waters saying? You can probably imagine. The leftists were pushing violence, this is all just a ploy by democrats to attack Donald Trump, etc etc.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 08:38 AM) To answer the original question in this thread, I still think the most realistic timeline is 2020. That said, I'm not going to be shocked if it happens in 2019 and I'm not going to be shocked if it takes until 2021. The fact that there's so much talent but also so many questions marks just makes it impossible to actually know. Yeah I think 2019 is still my milestone for watching exciting baseball and identifying what we need to get over top. 2020 is when I want playoff run.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 09:18 AM) Honestly, I guess it is good that they are actually recognizing it as a white nationalist and Nazi rally. They have continually told us the "Alt-Right" isn't a white supremacist group. Hard to push that after a majority of that crowd is running around with Nazi arm bands and Fascist symbolism. It's totally valid to push them to be better actors here, but if they were to cross that line of embracing conspiracies like you see from Jesse Waters, that's a line I'm not sure US can come back from.

Listen, cutting the particulars of how much of this is trumps base, I don't care. THis last week was exactly the worst of what I feared. High-stakes lunacy in foreign policy and then refusing to call out white supremacy rallies that ended in violence. That is your answer in November 2016 when asked "what are you worried about a trump presidency looking like?". But to the question of whether this is trumps base, I don't think it matters. They are though a weaponized part of his support. This is the group that swarms and abuses on social media. That rallies to intimidate. That embraces violence. And regardless of whether he wants to or not, he needs to be pressured to denounce this group. As long as they are aligned they get to muddy their purpose to just being supporters of the president. They get to claim victimhood. If he's forced to disavow they become clearly labeled for who they are and will be a lot easier to talk about them accurately.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 09:03 AM) Has any Republican called for Trump to remove Sebastian Gorka from his administration? He has open ties to Nazi groups. How about Miller and Bannon? Paul Ryan and can go on Twitter and say how sad is about the events that happened over the weekend, but talk is cheap. Do something about it you coward. I want the pressure kept up on them, but I am still relieved that they called out the rally, even if cheap, rather than embrace it.

Were there rule changes to why PTBNL would indicate a 40 man guy? I thought it was just done for expediency, like, hey, we want this deal done, here is a list of guys we'll trade for him, you can scout them post deal. If you like none of them, here's cash. ^Conversation