Texsox

2019 wins per payroll dollar. It's an interesting read https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.twinkietown.com/platform/amp/2019/10/10/20906889/mlb-minnesota-twins-best-buck-in-2019-rays-athletics-analysis-yankees-still-suck-dollars-per-win

If the team really nailed this we'd have the best lineup in baseball with the lowest payroll. If the team really fucked this up, we'd have the highest payroll with the worst players. So how to fairly judge the current state? Position by position we are kicking the Cubs and Cardinals asses and doing it for less money. That's great. Win for the front office. What happens next is where I start complaining. In this position it should be money over potential. Based on those other teams there is room to take on a bad year contract to fill a mid season need. Over pay a few million, you're saving it elsewhere. But congratulations to the front office for putting together a better roster than most teams and having a lower payroll.

Anyone have Walmart's in their area kind of randomly closing a store for 48 hours for deep cleaning and calling it part of a company wide initiative and allegedly not rooted in any one incidence or situation? We have one here that is happening to. Rumors are, well there are rumors of all sorts of explanations. From possible vaccine site to bodies from a super strain.

So true. It (Biden's faith) certainly wasn't an issue in the campaign. I remember reading several books regarding Kennedy and the fear that the Pope would actually be running the country. Many Democrats at the time believed that it was impossible for a Catholic to win. While the separation shouldn't come into play, it would be forced upon by some, especially if we followed the American way and treated every house of worship as equal. I'm not certain I want any barriers. And while I enjoy the idea of "oh, you don't want to go to the Synagogue, Mosque, Catholic, Protestant etc? Well then I guess you won't be vaccinated." On the practical side I want as many vaccinated as possible to keep me safe. I'm going to have to gently ask my mother in law who is an actively practicing Catholic for eight decades what she thinks of Biden. She voted Trump. ?

I've read some of the arguments against the blanket payments because the money that is used to pay down debt or put into savings will not stimulate the economy. I couldn't come up with a way to guarantee the money would be spent. Give me a $600 credit at Amazon (or groceries, etc etc) and I'll just put the $600 I was already going to spend in savings. I'm still just shifting monies. I know I'm lucky. I've lost some weight and do need some smaller pants, so I guess I could say I'm spending the stimulus money that way, but honestly, it isn't "new" or extra spending. It is a planned purchase.

The largest facilities here that are being used are a shopping mall and the former home of the Spurs, the Alamo Dome. In the 1950s you were injected on three Sundays at church. If it worked then, why not try it today? Schools, again at least in my tiny corner of the world, are mostly empty, so it seems like they would be good candidates for a more decentralized approach. I'm trying to learn who was handing out those sugar cubes or cups of vaccine. Government employees I assume. But how were they hired, trained, and paid? The overlap is interesting. Being anti-science does seem like a right wing ideology, but for example Obama won the Catholic vote, so I'm not certain churches are as conservative as we might believe. My priest in McAllen was so liberal that Balta might have been seen as a centralist. He unionized our church and led a drive to require the city and city contractors to pay a livable wage, not just minimum wage. I loved Fr. Jerry.

Agreed. If I said that however, there would be a couple comments that it isn't enough, it doesn't help everyone, I'm ignoring the bigger problem, and it should have been the $2,000 that Trump and Pelosi wanted. ?

Hmm. Seems like they need to open more distribution sites then. All of them here seem to be injecting as fast as they can with the available space. I haven't heard of any being left out to be destroyed in a while. I was thinking polio and I do remember receiving the vaccine at school. Thank you for the historical account. I was using my own experience where only kids needed to be vaccinated. I didn't pause to realize at one point adults needed it also. I wonder why we aren't using churches today?

What was this in reply to? I'm a bit lost.

They made it clear that when you are called, if you accept, you better be there for the vaccine. My assistant coach's mom went to one of the big vaccination locations here at the end of each day. They would line everyone up by age who did not have an appointment and gave out shots until all were gone. Her mom is 72 and never made it to the front of the line. Her dad at 80 received it on on the second or third day they went. Mom finally received one through her doctor today. We literally had months to be ready for this moment. I understand we've never really experienced anything like this before and if we need to ever do this again, we'll do better. But this is a prime example of where private medical care just fails. This is a giant public health issue and required a giant public (government) response. I don't believe a new administration can fix this in a week or a month, but I really hope by May we have a coordinated response. I have a lot more faith in Biden's approach than anything the denier in chief could come up with. It seems that despite a few widely publicized cases almost all of the vaccine is getting into arms but for patients hours on the phone, standing in line, or hitting refresh isn't efficient.

So my school district is partnering with a large medical company here and trying to begin a vaccination plan. The plan is to systematically vaccinate everyone. Ok, sounds like a good goal. The challenge is they really don't have all the information. Age? Check. 100% Contact with students? Mostly but not 100%. Underlying medical conditions? 0% and unless people volunteer the information the district can't know. So who do you vaccinate first? A 66 year old high school teacher who has almost zero contact with students or a 35 year old elementary school teacher who sees 15 kids every day? Where does a 60 year old high school teacher who sees about 2 students a week in the classroom, but 50 a week on the golf course fits. Who btw has cancer? Remember it's the school district's input based on the number of vaccines they are obtaining each week. I'm glad I'm not making the decision. I'm also glad my admin is pushing for me.

I said we're a great country and look how fast I was shot down. But I agree our Covid response, like climate change, became political and we suck when things become political.

Never. Second worse place on earth to live.

Of course I never actually said go live somewhere else but creating a paper tiger is your specialty. I asked for an example of a country you would rather live in. But that simple declarative sentence is impossible for you to say. So why can't you say you would rather live in the United States? There are a few possibilities. One is it isn't true and you would prefer to live elsewhere. I can think of a few countries that are our equal or even better in some areas. There is no single perfect country, but some are better fits than others. My brother in law lives in Dubai and Singapore and will never move back here. A high school friend has found love and happiness in Denmark. A few former friends in McAllen retired and moved to an ex-pat village in Mexico and love the peaceful, cheap, living. It doesn't seem difficult to name a country that would be a better fit for you. I enjoyed working and traveling throughout Mexico until the cartel violence took root. But I wouldn't want to move there. Another possibility is it is true and you do want to live in the US. But that would mean you have to agree with me, and that's a horrible option and I understand you not wanting to do that. It also means that despite all we have to fix and improve upon, we're still a damn good place to live. I can't image you believing that for a second. In the end it's clear you don't want to live in the US but you haven't found a better place or how to actually pull that off. One of the worse realities is the higher your degree the least amount of options you have to actually use the degree in a meaningful and fulfilling way. Add that to looking to immigrate and it's probably impossible. I pray most weeks that you find happiness one day. I'm certain it's out there for you.

Exactly, but we don't do that with other stuff. For example, tonight I was enjoying a glass of Ranger Creek bourbon which is excellent, but alcohol kills so many people each year. A few minutes ago Amazon delivery dropped off some woodworking supplies I'm planning on using this weekend, which saved me from actually going into a store. Who would have thought that in less than 24 hours such a variety of products could be delivered? But Amazon destroyed local businesses and treats their employees unfairly. As liberals we are required to always mention what's wrong with the country. We can't fly the flag proudly. But we'll defend the right of any immigrant who proudly flies their home country's flag. If you do compliment your country your fellow liberals will QUICKLY and VIOLENTLY reprimand you for it and quickly point out all that is wrong with this shit hole of a country we are forced to live in. I have a nice home with great neighbors. But too many Americans are forced to live in squalor. I'm in a major city with excellent grocery stores but too many Americans are forced to live in food deserts with out access to fresh produce which adds to our obesity problem. So I won't enjoy my nice home, my neighbors, or the food I eat because that is just wrong. I have cancer and love MD Anderson Cancer Center. Their level of care is amazing, I count my blessing after each visit. My care team is world class. But too many Americans don't have this access for reasons from finances to location. That's horrible and wrong but should I love the care I get any less? It's really sad and tiring to be a liberal. But with so much to be unhappy about in America at least it's easy.

My ex took out private parent loans for our daughter's education. She later was telling my daughter the debt was crippling her financially, ruining her life, and that the loans totaled over $100,000. My daughter was understandably distraught until we started doing some math. After what I contributed, and my daughter earned in scholarships and other financial aid, the difference was substantial, but much closer to $40,000 than $100,000. Go Illini!! It didn't take long to prove with receipts that my ex maxed loans every year but spent less than half on our daughter's education. She partied with the extra money. Your story is very close to my son's story. Since this is anonymous I hope you don't mind me sharing with my seniors. I have a collection of warning stories I share. Since Republicans love tax cuts perhaps cutting borrower's taxes the amount of their student loan payments up to $10,000 may sound better.

We're not a perfect union and have a long way to go to get there. On most of those social issues we're middle of the pack, which is embarrassing at best, and horribly catastrophic at worse. It's sad that we don't see a third group. A group in the middle that believes we are great with an incredible opportunity to be even greater. I'm optimistic things will improve. Biden just signed multiple executive orders that should have been done a year ago that will help and put us on a better trajectory. But I'm certain someone will argue I'm wrong and they won't help, it will just make things worse. From now on I will always balance anything positive with a negative. We're a great nation but we totally failed the people of Flint. We are a beacon of opportunity for many around the world then they will be hit with horrible racism and possibly murdered. We have an incredible constitution and form of government that was almost overthrown in one day, something the Confederate Army couldn't do in years. We have the best interstate highway system anywhere but with drunk drivers and corrupt cops that will kill you. We have a horrible education and health system that bankrupts students and kills the poor. Trump really wanted that fence to keep Americans from moving south to a better country. Yep, we have a ton of problems. More than will be solved in my children's children's lifetime. There are a few countries that would be very nice to move to, but I'll stay here and keep working to improve this one because we have the people and resources to be amazing.

Lol. I forgot to be liberal is to think everything is wrong with this country.

You are easily the most negative unhappy, person I know. If I said what a beautiful day not a cloud in the sky you would argue about how serious skin cancer is.

Really? So if I think we're a great country I'm excusing corruption? Look around the planet. Columbia, Ghana, Somalia. I can't imagine how bad their response must be. So if I believe that I'm excusing our response? No. I'm pointing out that people who live in third world shit holes are really fucked in this. But feel free to disagree, you always do. Again, what country is a better place to live? I'm not telling you to move there, I want to know what country you believe is better than the US to live? If you're going to argue my point when I say we're a damn great country give a straight answer. I'll probably agree with about four or five, but not many more.

So which third world country where corruption is the norm has handled this better? That's specifically what I referenced.

I believe we have one of the greatest countries on the planet. But I'm willing to listen. Where would you rather live? We are doing horribly in our response. It should have been much better on the government side. But I don't think Nigeria or Nicaragua are doing better. We're not a perfect union. Some want to see the very worse in America and believe that is who we really are. I see the good and bad and believe we're greater than just about anyone. Even with our bad points. Sorry if that doesn't fit here.

Agreed. A lot of it is marketing. With pressure to retain the next students instead of having them choose a magnet program or for profit, taxpayer supported, charter schools the public schools need to hit those easy for the public to recognize metrics. For example a charter school in the area bought dozens of billboards in the area to announce 100% College Acceptance!! for their senior class. It was very effective at recruiting students away from public schools. How did they accomplish this amazing feat? Glad you asked. They required every senior to apply at the local college that accepts everyone. The second issue is with all these college grads it means we'll have a more educated society, but not every available job is high paying. We need Amazon warehouse and for now, delivery drivers. They don't even need a high school diploma. My buddy graduated with a master's in architecture in the 80s. No one was hiring when he graduated. He was one of those that were say don't get an art degree or you will work in a restaurant. Only his was architecture.

I didn't see this posted anywhere. Good stuff.

I hope he starts posting so we can tell him he knows nothing about baseball. ?