Balta1701

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 10:31 AM) On this site? Yes. I always think we are above that fray. On another note, boy that Project Veritas is corrupt as f*** huh? Then you should count this as a lesson about what is lying in the background waiting to come to the surface. I thought that this country was made up of better people until last year.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 12:22 AM) I just don't buy this idea that in order to have equality we have to treat people differently. I'd be fine with a justice system where the judge doesn't know anything about the individual's sex, race, background, immigration, etc. Same laws for all. This man has had multiple sexual assault accusations thrown at him and had to step down disgracefully but because black people were treated differently in the past we should have more skepticism? The public is paying for his sexual assault settlements. I don't think someone's skin color should affect the application of law. It's just kind of confusing that a man has been accused of sexual assault multiple times and your response is to judge him as a group of people instead of an individual so we can "build their support." If someone commits a sex crime, I want them to face the court of law. You're opening a real can of worm though. Do we write these different standards for different groups into law? What if we had a Japanese senator in a sex scandal? Would that individual get a bigger leash because there were internment camps during WW2? What about Cosby? How does the justice system help build support with black people if he has to face the law for drugging and raping women? Lesser sentencing? What about black immigrants from Jamaica? Do they get any sort of lenience in the law? If Elizabeth Warren got caught up in a sex scandal would your first concern be ingratiating the greater population of blonde-haired, blue-eyed Cherokees or is it enforcing the law of the land? Where does this end? I should say, I was a fan of Conyers. I think history will be kind to his views on American foreign policy and whistleblowers. No, we should not treat them differently in a legal sense. However, as of right now, you are ok with Conyers being treated differently from anyone else in Congress and ok with it reducing the power of African Americans in Congress. His information was leaked. He deserves to be removed, but this was a selective attack that harms the voting power of the Congressional Black Caucus. It is not inappropriate for the CBC to say "Wait a second, we don't want to defend him personally, but why should our voting power be diminished by this if the same thing is not being done to others in Congress? What are you going to do to make sure that this does not harm our ability to represent the interests of African Americans in Congress"? And seriously, your Warren rant is just stomach churning.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 09:11 AM) https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-strategist-s...-082052295.html GOP strategist Rick Wilson, a frequent Trump critic, said on CNN on Monday night that Sanders knows she’s lying but does it anyway. “The reason she does that is because her job is contingent upon her being a serial congenital liar in defense of Donald Trump’s latest outrages,” he said. “I mean, she probably has some like tiny, shriveled husk left in her soul where she realizes this is the wrong thing to do. But she does it anyway because otherwise they’ll replace her.” Wilson was just getting warmed up. He said Sanders “tries to bury people in an avalanche of horse s*** every day because this is her job.” Dude...I'm pretty sure you have just posted the official job ad for the position of the White House Press Secretary.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 10:07 AM) Exactly. I can’t believe this is being used to try and excuse blatant racist remarks. Really? No seriously, there's a level of racist stuff that "you can't believe" this country is capable of? After the last year?

QUOTE (hi8is @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 02:45 AM) It'll be interesting to see how both of the rest of their contracts end up and how their next deals are once reaching FA. I can easily see both sides of this option. If they both hit FA right now I think JBJ would dramatically outearn Garcia. If they both are 3-4 win players for the next 2 seasons, then I'd imagine their deals would come out pretty comparable and right around that 9 figure mark.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Nov 27, 2017 -> 06:11 PM) Exactly. Treating people differently due to race is inequality by definition. I am for equality. Whether Conyers is black white or Polynesian, he should be held accountable for his actions. Same goes for Moore, Franken or whoever. There should be on standard for all. And Balta, black people are historically underrepresented. We live in the present though. We currently have the most diverse congress in the history of the states. Black people are ~12% of the country. About ~11% of the house is black at a time where the house is majority Republican. Given that black people vote democratic ~95% of the time and in turn, rarely have a candidate on one side of the ticket (I believe there is only one black rep in the HOR) it seems like they're more represented than what could be reasonably expected. That's not even considering the majority of our black population lives in metropolitan areas and the southeast. Not to mention, we have ridiculously slow turnover in Congress and all of the old, white reps from the past generation are still clicking along. In 20 years, I'd bet black people are over represented in congress. I am all for waiting until there is proof someone is actually guilty of whatever they are accused before putting them out to roast. That is especially important in our social media age. However, it seems Conyers is taking accountability for his actions. Affording him special treatment for his transgressions on account of his race is a scary road to go down. See, I'm of the opposite perspective - treating people who have historically been treated as lesser the same way is a way to avoid dealing with the history of oppression. I cannot blame anyone else in that caucus for viewing an attack on one of them as an attack on all of them because they have had that history. If you don't deal with that history and account for it, then in my view you are still failing to account for the damage done by past issues. In other words - trust is earned, and the Black Caucus should not trust that they're going to be treated fairly until it is demonstrated that they are every time. They're going to go out on the streets that night and have to worry about not being treated fairly. They're going to go home and worry about their families not being treated fairly. Justly so. So treat their members fairly. Let them have the time to sit down with the minority leader, discuss their issues and their reaction to what has been presented, and then take action after making sure to build their support.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Nov 27, 2017 -> 04:41 PM) He posted a piece of news without an opinion and you're attributing an opinion to him that he didn't make. If you don't care about his post, don't respond to it. AP found it newsworthy. Clearly I do care about it. I consider anyone who thinks that to be unusually important and believable enough to copy and paste onto another page as evidence of whatever to be worthy of ridicule.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 27, 2017 -> 05:32 PM) That's a pile of crap. If he did wrong, he did wrong. Now if you ALSO want to see how it is that his records came out but not others, hey, feel free. But that should not stop us from going after this particular person who seems to have done wrong, just because they belong to a certain group. And of course it's also true that maybe he DIDN'T do wrong, but similar things can be said about all those other people to varying extents. So again, his group identity isn't relevant. I did not say he should not be removed. I said that some delicacy should be in order in the process. I don't think that's a "pile of crap".

Maybe he should run for President.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Nov 27, 2017 -> 04:40 PM) I am confused of why Conyers' race here is of any relevance here. With Moore, Franken, Clinton and others the sexual deviance/pedophilia/misconduct/assault is taken for what it is. With Conyers' it's different? What am I missing here? When there aren't that many representatives who have served a community, and historically the nation has found a great number of excuses to single out and target that community, you should at least be very cautious in how you treat them. Conyers's case IS different. Conyers's case has been revealed by selective targeting using confidential records the likes of which we have not seen for the rest of the House. Someone with access to House of Representatives discipline records picked 1 representative out of 435 potential targets to bring down. There are probably several dozen other offenders in those files who weren't targeted. The person targeted just happens to be from a historically underrepresented group, of the sort who has been targeted many times. At the very least, some delicacy is in order. Why is this person being targeted? Why not others? Who has access to that information?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 27, 2017 -> 12:24 PM) The Associated Press‏Verified account @AP 6m6 minutes ago BREAKING: White House official: Trump will not campaign for embattled Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore before Dec. 12 election. QUOTE (raBBit @ Nov 27, 2017 -> 04:30 PM) What's the need to bring in 2k5 here? Um, he literally posted that tweet as something worth caring about.

QUOTE (dasox24 @ Nov 27, 2017 -> 01:02 AM) Stop. History of college football doesn't exist since 2008. But yeah, the last decade has been horrendous. No fan base has had it worse. The administration is killing us and is totally incompetent. But bring in the right football coach, and things change. Being the big state school in a state that is seeing an noticeable increase in high school talent, plus having several billionaire boosters and the facilities that we have, not hard to see us getting back to where we were pre-2008. I get how Dooley was a "find anyone willing to take the job and get us back to stable" kind of hire, but was Butch Jones really that bad of a coaching hire? I was still on campus when he arrived. He had a strong reputation. He seemed to bring in good recruiting classes. He had the players he needed, but basically that team fell apart this year. So seriously, what was the deal with him? He was in a position where he should have been able to succeed and he had the raw ingredients to succeed. He had the recruits. Was he somehow an unusually terrible coach or are there deeper issues here?

QUOTE (zisk @ Nov 27, 2017 -> 02:46 PM) I am hoping for Carlos Gonzalez. LF,DH,RF til Eloy is ready. Then flip him at the deadline if he has a bounce back season. He'd make decent sense if we could move Garcia.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 27, 2017 -> 11:49 AM) He and his staff already endorsed him, soooooo Hell Conway already committed a Hatch Act violation to campaign for him. "We won't campaign for the child predator we broke federal law to campaign for" 2k5: "Seems reasonable".

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 27, 2017 -> 01:37 PM) Anyway, this weekend solidified that Pelosi needs to indicate she would not seek majority leader if a dem congress is elected. I'm sure her willingness to protect members is what helped make her more effective, but with Conyers it is wrong and frankly dangerous. Not only should his behavior have come to light, but clearly from all involved his mind is not up to the job anymore. Let alone a top committee lead. So, you realize that it took like 2 hours of her finishing up her work for him to depart from a top committee lead? Stop and think about how it would seem to some people if out of 435 Congresspeople, 1 of them has their sexual assault records selectively leaked and then that person is immediately pushed out...and that person just happens to be a long serving African American. This weekend is exactly why she's a good leader. Took one on the chin on Sunday morning show while simultaneously getting necessary work finished.

QUOTE (cjgalloway @ Nov 27, 2017 -> 12:18 PM) Giving our front office a "pass" would mean to let them keep doing what they had been doing and NOT selling. Which is exactly what you want Greg.. Sounds like you're giving them the pass.. But oh well.. the incoherence is confusing. Ironically, the "we're going to be pretty bad the next couple years" statement that triggered this round - that was my reaction to the Todd Frazier deal before 2016. "They have a crappy team and think they're only 1 player away, they aren't fixing the much deeper rot, they're going to be pretty bad the next couple years".

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 26, 2017 -> 08:57 PM) The problem is that teams have the same disincentives to trade for the guy. If you are a team that thinks you are close to competitive right now and next year, and you miss out on or can't afford Stanton, what are your other options like right now? JD Martinez is looking for huge money, Lorenzo Cain is a strong player, Jay Bruce is probably comparable but is a lot older, and then as outfielders the next guys who played full seasons are Carlos Gonzalez and Melky Cabrera. If your team thinks you're competitive right now and you mis out on Stanton and Martinez, you don't have a lot of options.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 26, 2017 -> 04:50 PM) It would be nice if the Bears actually had NFL level receivers to help with their #1 pick's development. Jeffery was that. Whether he wanted to be there or not isn't really relevant. The team held all the cards. I will admit not having any receivers does help make the coaching staff look stupid. But IMO, the issue is far deeper than that. Like I said, signing Garcon and Kaepernick would have given them a veteran WR and a veteran QB, at least for the first half of the season before Garcon got hurt, and they would have cost less together than they spent on Glennon.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 26, 2017 -> 03:13 PM) Markus Wheaton does have a catch this year. You can be mad at them for their choices of signings, but I for one don't miss Alshon Jeffery.

QUOTE (Brian @ Nov 25, 2017 -> 12:17 PM) I didn’t see the game but he only had 7 pts. What did i miss? The move was dumb on draft day but didnt see great numbers last night. QUOTE (SoxAce @ Nov 25, 2017 -> 05:52 PM) Dude stuffed the stat sheet. 6 Rebounds, 6 Blocks, 4 Assists, 2 Steals. Then kept flashing the money sign and saying "3.5" (million) afterwards. It was completely justified. Article version

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 26, 2017 -> 03:39 PM) Alshon Jeffery is exhibit A if I had to explain to the McCaskeys why firing Fox isn't enough. It seems for every decent move Pace makes, he offsets it with something unbelievably ridiculous. I totally disagree with this. Yes, the Bears are weak at WR, but Alshon Jeffery was not a good fit for the Bears. The last 2 years he only played 21 games. He was regularly injured. He has a PED suspension on his record. He's a solid #2 receiver on a good team when he's healthy. If he were on the Bears their WR corps was going to be better than this but it would still be awful, they wouldn't be anywhere close to a playoff team, and I've still got no confidence he would be on the field right now on the Bears as some guys just get hurt more in certain roles (i.e. #1 WR). The Bears are going to have to spend at that position, but Alshon Jeffery was not a good fit and they will be better off aiming for some other WR either in the draft or elsewhere. You want to be frustrated, be frustrated that they spent $15 million on Glennon when Kaepernick was available for a ton less than that.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 26, 2017 -> 01:53 PM) You have no empirical proof I hate people different from me. You have one case of me not wanting to eat in the same place as a guy struggling to walk in the place in a dress with high heels on. An instant decision to not do it. How do you know on other occasions, in a better mood, I might want to chat up the person, dine with them? How do you know what charities I support, how I treat homeless, how I engage strangers, how I treat elderly, how I treat youth, how I interact with all? You know none of this yet are convinced I am a monster that hates anybody different from me because of one circumstance. Or is it that I don't condone protestors shutting down highways because a.) it is dangerous and b.) somebody on that highway could be trying to get to a hospital or save a life in some way? I must hate all the protestors cause I would never do that. I think it's dangerous you stereotype people off a comment or two on a message board. OK I should be a saint and at every moment of every day be Mother Teresa and go out of my way to speak to all people including the guy in the high heels who probably didn't want to talk to me anyway. I don't go to Subway wanting to meet strangers; that person probably would have been upset as well if approached. I disapprove of your quick conclusions on people's character. I live by the Golden Rule, baby. However I am not perfect. JFC. Go justify being a bigot to someone else, not around me.

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Nov 25, 2017 -> 11:21 PM) I've posted on this before- keep him, IMO. The upside is worth more than what you'll get for him, anyway. If 2017 was a fluke, well, it was worth a shot. Not like you're getting anything significant anyway. I think it's the exact opposite, there's little upside to keeping him. If he repeats 2017, then if you want to sign him next offseason it'll be a 9 figure deal because that's what he'll get a year later. If he repeats 2017, then if you wait until next offseason, you're trading him with only 1 year left before FA so "you're not getting anything significant anyway" since he'll only be available for a year And he'll be hitting Free Agency at the same time as all the other teams are spending their offseasons going after guys who are substantially better. The only way this works that things give greater value is he comes out on a tear for the first half and you can move him at the deadline, but the downside risk is BABIP related. If he does everything right and gets slightly unlucky for the first 200 PAs, then he's worthless and costly and that's basically a coin flip. If you can get anything of tolerable value for him now, take it.

My place looks great. 1200 lights, first time for me! All bought this morning. And the ladder!

Anywho, Levar Burton is getting angry Trump fan tweets aimed for Levar Ball because he's a black guy named Levar and I want to go hug Mr. LaForge.