Jenksismyhero

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Apr 7, 2017 -> 10:52 AM) What is Americas position in Syria? This probably made it more complicated. Ha, well that's fair, who knows what it is or should be. But at least one thing is clear: you use chemical weapons, we inflict damage to your military capabilities.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Apr 7, 2017 -> 10:35 AM) "Military intervention is now an option on the table." Lmao. Do other countries ever think that it's not on the table when it comes to America? We are literally bombing like 7 different countries and have troop presence in almost as many. You can make a plausible case that during the last few years of the Obama presidency, any new military intervention was politically very dangerous for him and thus not really an option. We now have a new President and it was important, or at least significant, that he took an action that set the stage going forward. He realigned America's position in Syria at least a little for the new administration. I agree with bmags that ultimately this probably does nothing to stop Assad from murdering his own people, but at least a statement from the new admn was made. Where it goes from here is the next question mark.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 7, 2017 -> 10:28 AM) Obama went to Congress to ask for authorization to make a military strike on Assad, which the Republicans denied him. He did this after having participated in military intervention in Libya (which did not go well and is still a s***show), increasing troop presence in Afghanistan, and having a large scale drone program running. The idea that Obama didn't have military intervention on the table is delusional. 1) And yes, Assad knew that politically Obama couldn't come after him because of how Libya went. 2) IMO Obama knew he wouldn't get authorization and he knew he could then claim he wanted to but couldn't.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 7, 2017 -> 10:21 AM) It's not, but there's been a raging civil war going on there for over half a decade now and Assad's done plenty of heinous s*** with and without chemical weapons. The US getting more involved in Syria is not going to end well for anyone including Syrians. I don't disagree with the last statement, but IMO Assad knew Obama would never actually get involved, which is why he didn't honor his agreement (queue us finding out Iran's still working on it's nuclear weapons program at some point in the near future). I like this move for two reasons: (1) Again, it shows the world that Trump is different from Obama, and military intervention is now an option on the table, and (2) it was a minimal loss strike that sent a message more than anything else, without totally pissing off Russia.

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 7, 2017 -> 10:13 AM) Japan and US were at war. I do think bombs solve problems when two countries are at war. I think they have significantly less efficacy when we are using them to coerce leaders to run their countries differently. So using chemical weapons on innocent women and children is a form of domestic governance. Gotcha.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 7, 2017 -> 07:06 AM) It's only one of the biggest decisions in his life...... And I can appreciate that, but let's call it what this is - a negotiation. I don't think it's appropriate to view recruitment of high level players as a bidding war in the ugly side of college athletics, but then pretend these kids are all saintly and merely making a decision to play basketball at the place where they can obtain what's best for them. His original non-commitment, then commitment and now de-commitment have nothing to do with the "good" side of college sports. It's about maximizing his worth for him and/or his family. He's got every right to do that, but he's not absolved from being s***ty to people at the program I root for. edit: and to be clear, when I say "f*** him," it's not a personal attack against him for his decision making, it's my opinion that the school should be done with him. Focus energy elsewhere.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 7, 2017 -> 10:03 AM) WTF were Russian soldiers doing at a base that fired chemical weapons? Um, helping Assad wage his civil war.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Apr 7, 2017 -> 10:02 AM) I like when people start the "political route" doesn't work, we must bomb. When has the "bomb route" ever worked? Also, since when does this administration and people that like Trump all the sudden start giving a s*** about Syrian citizens or people in the middle east in general? They only ever get "humanitarian" when it's an excuse to bomb something. He has banned refugees and cut back on humanitarian aid. Trump authorized a mission in Yemen that ended up with a Navy Seal shooting a 6 year old girl in the neck, in which she bleed out and died from. Give me a f***ing break about people giving a s*** about people in that area. Japan says hi, to your first question. And I agree this has nothing to do with a change in heart of Trump. The same people he's concerned about are the same people he called a trojan horse. But his past views or his justifications don't really factor in to whether this was an appropriate response.

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 7, 2017 -> 09:58 AM) This is so ridiculous. I was mostly joking, but I actually got that from an ex-KGB agent that WGN interviewed this morning about his past and his thoughts on the current situation.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 7, 2017 -> 09:58 AM) I think they largely did, but I'm not sure how much notice they actually got. I read 30 minutes, but if it was enough time for Russian soldiers to escape...

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 7, 2017 -> 09:36 AM) It's 100% a good thing that we informed Russia so that they could evacuate rather than killing Russian soldiers. Congress should be providing authorization here, but they should be overseeing the endless droning we've been doing across the Middle East and North Africa for years. I'm confused why Russia wouldn't have also told Assad's troops to evacuate. Collateral damage?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 7, 2017 -> 09:43 AM) Come on now, if this were out of the blue that would be one thing, but this is a response to a chemical attack, using weapons that they promised were gone 3 years ago. A response was absolutely necessary. We went the political route in 2013 and where did it get us? Nowhere. At least Trump has the element of "we have no idea what the f*** he would do, maybe we should think twice about using these heinous weapons on women and children." Also, not sure why you guys are worried about Russia. You've been arguing that Trump and Putin are tight for months.

Glad I didn't put any money on him like I was going to.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Apr 6, 2017 -> 11:03 AM) Sounds like both Tilmon and Illinois are going to mutually part ways. And by mutually, I mean Illinois doesn't think it'd be healthy for a lot of reasons to continue to recruit Tilmon and that he's sold on going elsewhere, so they aren't going to pursue him hard a 3rd time. Good for them. Go back and get Kirr and get Smith and they'll be fine.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Apr 5, 2017 -> 11:21 PM) f*** that kid? Really? Isn't he like 18? You are taking this a bit too seriously. All I've seen on twitter is people calling Tilmon names. College sports diehards are so f***ing creepy and weird. Holy cow. People need to leave the kid alone and let him figure out the rest of his life. Also, Orlando Antigua is a big deal. They aren't mutually exclusive, but if I were an Illini fan, I'd rather have Antigua than Tilmon. It's my opinion, not something I would ever say to him. Fans talking to recruits is creepy, I completely agree. But as a fan of the program, I don't buy the nonsense "he's just 18 and a kid" stuff. You can vote at 18. You can go to war and die at 18. Are you emotionally as stable as someone 10-15 years older? No. But you're not a 5 year old either. He knows exactly what he's doing - negotiating for more. The dude has every right to change his mind, but that doesn't make his flip flopping and inability to commit any better. If he continues to flip flop in order to gain an edge in the business side of recruiting, and his commitment continues to mean nothing, then yes, f*** him. The program should move on and not waste any more time on him. He's not an absolute must get. He's not going to make or break next season or the seasons thereafter.

Piper just posted some interesting info. The nuts and bolts are that Tilmon told Underwood and Walker at the end of their in home meeting shortly after Underwood was hired that he was committed and would not ask for a release. Days ago his mother confirmed they were still good. Then he did this out of the blue today without the approval of his mother (she's the main driver of him committing). She was not/is not happy about it and still thinks he'll be in Champaign next year. He also surmised this is all because Tilmon is upset that Mark Smith is getting attention and is making a power play to get more attention (and probably money). If true, f*** that kid. edit: corrected a few minor details.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 5, 2017 -> 04:00 PM) I guess that's one way of reading it, but imo it's more likely that the only thing in Trump's brain about Iran is the no-good-very-bad deal and he has no clue what Iran is doing in Syria or with Hezbollah. That's possible too, for sure.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 5, 2017 -> 03:42 PM) Anyway, rather than more unsupported conspiratorial silliness, here's some more of our President's strong grasp of foreign policy on display: https://twitter.com/jessicaschulb/status/849677509146947586 Not sure I see the issue there. He's inferring that he can/would/will threaten to pull the Iran deal off the table if Iran doesn't deal with its militias aiding Assad?

Happy to get Calipari's ex-#1 recruiter. Not so happy his HC record sucks and he was fired amid an academic scandal.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Apr 5, 2017 -> 02:01 PM) If it is Missouri and it happens quickly he is picking to play at a school where he had very little relationship with the head coach. I pretty much guarantee he isn't asking for his release because he simply wants to play for Cuonzo Martin. And this recruitment has been dirty from the beginning including when Illinois won it. Whatever school wins this recruitment is doing it by being in the mud, this shouldn't bother you, no good programs in college basketball are clean (except for maybe Wisconsin because Bo Ryan was just that f***ing good of a coach). But that is what is happening. Not sure i'm buying this totally. Seems hard to believe since no one said anything about any alleged shadiness, but no one heard he was banging secretaries and having kids out of wedlock either. Funny how one of the most successful coaches in the country for the last 2 decades, a sure fire hall of famer, hasn't been heard of since he retired. Literally vanished. There has to be a lot of skeletons in that closet.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 5, 2017 -> 01:56 PM) Basketball is probably the worst recruiting game right now, mostly because of the AAU system. But lets be honest, if your school lands top recruits and you win a natty, do you really care if there was smoke around that players recruitment? Because you are lying if you say you do. UNC just got caught for academic fraud and nobody said a f***ing word during the tournament. And they will still land top kids who do zero schoolwork. It absolutely pays to cheat if you're at a certain level in college sports. It'll be years down the line before you get caught (like, 18!) and by then you'll have brought your program back to relevance and/or won. At that point your gained or regained image is secure, so a few years of difficult recruiting or a one year post-season ban isn't a real problem to deal with. It's when you're a mediocre to bad program, like Minnesota or SMU....that's when it hurts to cheat. The NCAA will hammer you and use you as the example that they go hard after cheaters. Indiana is the only good program in recent memory that got hit with serious penalties. And that's only because the coach continued to lie and continued to break the rules.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 5, 2017 -> 01:26 PM) Let's see...you are going to be a one and done, where do you go? Kentucky? Duke? North Carolina? Kansas? Illinois? They really never had much a shot at Cliff in reality. If your plan is one season, you need as much exposure as possible, going 9-9 in the Big Ten and playing in the NIT doesn't do it. Back in the Flying Illini days, you probably land this type of guy. Not now. They were in his final two and most insiders thought he was going to choose Illinois up until the last few days. Again, given the family received $200k, there's really no argument that money didn't play a role in the final decision.

So, Illinois now has Nichols and Finke as their frontcourt, right?

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 5, 2017 -> 01:14 PM) But my point is this is your default operating assumption. There has not been a recruit who Illinois has lost out on that has not had the "wellp, he got a better offer". I don't remember saying anything like that for Quentin Snyder or Demetrius Jackson. The only high profile recruit i've blamed on money was Cliff Alexander and, well, there's proof of his mom accepting $200k so...

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 5, 2017 -> 01:06 PM) The Illini fan obsession with assuming every player that doesn't choose Illinois is getting paid more is really unparalleled. If you don't think money or gifts to friends and family play a role in just about every top level recruitment, you're naive. Moreover, in this situation he re-tweeted his commitment mere days ago. Clearly someone in his camp has someone pulling them in another direction. What other reason could their be?