caulfield12

https://www.yahoo.com/news/fifth-woman-accu...-131848124.html Now up to six for Franken. He gone. (Has to be.) And Conyers looks either crazy or just plain ornery trying to hold onto power at age 88...

Would anyone really trust Smoak or Logan Morrison mostly based on last season? It’s about the same as believing in Avi Garcia. Maybe one standard deviation in increased confidence. It’s easy to say xyz player like those two or Belt could replace Abreu, but picking the right bargain bin has been incredibly elusive on the offensive side.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 11:19 AM) Mnuchin said the repeal of the Estate tax will mostly help rich people t. Like this was even a question? Overall, it's really not that much of the tax pool anyway, and I personally will benefit greatly from its repeal, but why? Isn't that at least a small token you could throw out there as "we aren't catering to the rich"? SoxTalk admins will hit you up for site donations if they have reason to believe you’re worth $5.5 to $11 million. JK. It’s pretty amazing that if you go back to the late 90’s, we used to have to worry about having to take a measly $10,000 per year in estate distributions per child to help avoid piling up $1+ million plus estates. Then Bush bumped it way up. Now it’s only the top two tenths of one percent of filing households in the country, with a disproportionate amount of gains not going to family farms or small businesses but the billionaire class. The actual amount of “small” inherited family farms that would be impacted in America at those rates would be in the single digits per year.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 11:14 AM) Most people don't itemize and just take the standard deduction because it's more than their itemization would be. They're doubling the standard deduction, which sounds good on its face, but they're also eliminating the personal exemption. That means it generally ends up as a wash for most people, and slightly negative in the longer term. The bigger impact will be when tax cuts for billionaires are used as an excuse to cut public programs and social safety nets. And anyone having more than two kids is getting screwed losing their $4050 deduction per child...really makes a lot of socioeconomic sense to make MORE vulnerable the largest middle and lower class families, after all.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 09:30 AM) The bolded part in that last section sounds very far from "changing american life". The post is literally writing it as "scary big number sounds scary aren't you scared". How many taxpayers are expected to be in the 40-50k band? Right now that's something like 10% of taxpayers. a $5 billion tax increase on ~12 million people is an increase of $500/year. That's not pleasant, but not going to "Change American Life". If it's phased in over several years which it would be, most of the posters here wouldn't even realize their federal taxes went up. Isn’t that also taking into account those relatively likely to lose major health care benefits?

Amid MLB's home run revolution, free-agent sluggers could come cheap http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/2161090...gers-come-cheap

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 12:22 AM) Yankees, Dodgers, Boston, Cubs, yes Cubs, have all done fine spending moolah and getting free agents. Not everybody doing the rebuild thing has won big. Cubs rebuilt, yes, but also bought some players. I personally think 3 starting pitchers we trotted out there last year were an embarrassment to baseball. Seriously? This isn't a pro-front office board? Hahn is beloved. KW for the most part is given the benefit of the doubt all the time. Meanwhile for some reason Ozzie is destroyed and some of my favorite players destroyed (I know I know Ozzie quit on the team). That's just not true. Again do some research on threads. I stand up for my favorite players for sure and I argue against some of the current vision of the front office, butI don't complain always. Did you read my long reply on the future lineup/roster? I listed players at each position gave my takes. Nobody responds to my normal reaction posts. Some people get me; most don't. I'm a great Sox fan IMO. Name a team with a #15-25 payroll in MLB that can pull of that trick of competing consistently without rebuilding primarily through their farm system...it’s the exception to the rule.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 07:55 PM) We truly have the worst arena in the big ten. What a waste. Also the worst guards. Iowa would disagree with you...

QUOTE (Tony @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 10:36 PM) Given the Sox have 2 more years of control, that's an irresponsible use of assets. Avi is a unique case. You're right in 99/100 cases, 250-300 PAs is not enough to judge a player. I agree with you. But given the tremendous 2017 campaign Garcia produced, to go along with a lackluster 14-15-16, by July 1 2018, the picture should be at least a little less hazy on who the real Avi Garcia is. I think you're rushing a decision when you don't have to. That, and 2005. How many of the core players on that team were in place by mid-2014? F.Garcia and Contreras were the big adds, but MOST of the moves were made that 2004/05 off-season, what was it, like 8-9 players? Among their existing 40 MAN roster outfielders, I'm pretty SURE whoever we threw out there in 2018 (if Avi was dealt) WOULDN'T be around in 2020. It would be a much more obvious case that they should be traded were there not equally compelling reasons for holding onto them, for at least half of 2018. Of course, the usual caveat is someone blows you away with an offer RIGHT NOW, you go ahead and do it, but how likely is that to occur (especially for offense-first players)? With the amount of financial flexibility we'll have, I don't see any reason the same type of offseason (as 04/05) isn't possible after 2018 or 2019...just not THIS YEAR. My primary concern is not putting all of our eggs in just a few baskets, like Machado/Arenado types. White Sox history has taught the danger of this, with non-superstars like Dunn, Cabrera and LaRoche. (Of course, the danger is the fear/risk factor keeps you from ever adding one of those truly big names for fear of it blowing up...leaving you mining the second/third tier group year after year, which obviously hasn't worked, either.)

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 03:25 PM) <!--quoteo(post=3578398:date=Nov 29, 2017 -> 03:20 PM:name=BigSqwert)-->QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 03:20 PM) <!--quotec-->Is he a big time DIYer because I have no idea who the hell would have installed that Bond villain locking mechanism for him. It's like this, but for sexual harassment (I never remember how to embed yt videos here) Apparently, several higher-ups at NBC have this feature. NBC not having a great 13 months here. Covered up the Access Hollywood tape, tried covering up for Weintsein, and they had to have known about Lauer for a while. Andrew Lack also under fire, along with Scarborough...fwiw, seems Ann Curry might end up getting her revenge after all. And does this whole sexual harassment storyline blow up in the same way with Hillary in office? Not so sure.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 10:53 AM) When you pulling out? I have a co-worker who has put in a couple hundred thousand pretty early. He needs to pull the plug now. If you’re already worth $2-3 million, that’s a more legitimate bet, like hedging with your portfolio by investing in gold. If that was all of his investment money, that’s pretty darned crazy...hope he doesn’t have a wife and kids depending on the ultimate success of such a move. As with most bubbles, most people will get too greedy or arrive too late to the party...hold on a day too long, and those eye popping returns won’t be available any longer and the bottom will fall out.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/29/politics/don...deos/index.html Is Trump losing control? Picked a perfect time with Senator Graham now threatening war in North Korea as well...and then there’s the REAL craziness of the day. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders defended President Donald Trump's decision to retweet a series of anti-Muslim videos from a British far-right account on Wednesday morning, telling reporters he circulated them to start a conversation about border security and immigration. Sanders also said she doesn't know how the videos got in front of Trump and wouldn't say whether or not they were real. "Whether it is a real video, the threat is real," Sanders told a small group of reporters after appearing on Fox News. "That is what the President is talking about, that is what the President is focused on is dealing with those real threats, and those are real no matter how you look at it." When pressed on whether it matters if the video is real, Sanders said reporters were "focusing on the wrong thing." "The threat is real," she said, later adding that "the threat needs to be addressed. The threat has to be talked about and that is what the President is doing in bringing that up." cnn.com

https://www.yahoo.com/news/roy-moore-challe...-235755535.html Roy Moore has a write-in challenge in the AL Senate race to be decided two weeks from now...long-serving Marine with connections to General Kelly, not sure if they're trying to ensure Moore can't win or what? A write-in with so little to time to mount a campaign and no advertising budget beyond pointing to his LinkedIn page seems a bit off the wall, but what else can you expect from that state right now? Candidate also currently refusing to take any position on sexual harassment/underage allegations against Moore.

Where’s that Uranium One indictment again? And with Mulvaney currently running two agencies that he’s out to destroy, along with DeVos, Perry, Tillerson/State and EPA...that’s at least six that will have to be completely rebuilt over time. Not to mention new agencies created to deal with all the fallout over tax reform and ObamaCare erosion impacts on real families. What opioid crisis? Well, at least we sent Ivanka to India where she could scope out more outsourcing possibilities for her factories when the steadily rising labor rates start to work against her product line’s profitability here in China.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 07:12 AM) This doesn't even establish that she's wrong, much less that she lied. Her claim remains unconfirmed. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_pol..._heritage_.html Inconclusive, at best. The weakness of the genetic tests poses an even bigger problem when you're looking for Native American ancestors. Native Americans have been reluctant to participate in genetic testing, which means scientists don’t have many reliable markers for that population. In addition, the genetic profiles that have been conducted show that many card-carrying members of certain tribes, such as the Cherokee, have more European ancestors than Native American ancestors. That means even the small number of Native American genetic markers we know of aren’t present in large segments of the population, making it difficult to find evidence of Native American DNA in people like Elizabeth Warren. That's part of the reason that most Native American tribes have resisted using ancestral genetic analyses to determine membership. Tribal membership has more to do with the culture and location of one’s ancestors than precisely how many of their relatives can be traced back to the Bering land bridge. Just fewer than 2 million people are enrolled in Native American tribes, representing about 0.7 percent of the population. That’s not a reliable estimate of how many people have Native American ancestry, however. Each tribe has its own rules about the “blood quantum” required for membership, and some qualified people have not enrolled in a tribe. Many famous people have claimed to be among Pocahontas’ descendants through her son Thomas, including members of the First Families of Virginia, First Lady Edith Wilson, American Western actor Glenn Strange, Las Vegas performer Wayne Newton, and astronomer Percival Lowell.[6] wikipedia

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.”

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/28/politics...unch/index.html Undisciplined Trump undermines his own tax reform efforts And it's not even particularly advantageous to Trump from a political standpoint. What are the odds that Warren can win the Democratic nomination, maybe 10%? How many Native American voters are there now, less than 1%...maybe 8/10th's of 1%? The president should be a unifier and not a divider, unless it's absolutely necessary for him to take a hard political/policy stance. This is NOT that. The fact of the matter is that antics like this one are NOT playing well out there in "Independent/Moderate Voter" Land, Mainstream USA. Picking on minority groups isn't going to make you look stronger. Even religious officials around the world are starting to wonder aloud how Trump can be so thoroughly supported by Christian groups in the US (is it 100% due to abortion/US Supreme Court control)?

1. Trump 2. George W. Bush 3. Obama (by 30-40% of the country) 4. Ozzie Guillen 5. Alex Rios/Adam Dunn combo 6. Mariah Carey 7. Kardashians 8. Anne Hathaway 9. Charlie Weis in Lawrence, KS 10. Rudy Guiliani/Chris Christie (tie)

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/27/politics...ysis/index.html The Bully In Chief... Look. There's no question that Trump's base, when they hear about this kerfuffle, will laugh at the reference and revel in the fact that the so-called "fake news" media made a big deal out of it. That's fine. But just because you laugh at bullying or cast rank incivility as a rejection of an overbearing political correctness culture doesn't make it -- or you -- right. There are lots and lots of ways that Trump's candidacy and presidency have changed, are changing and will change not just our politics but also our culture. Perhaps the most damaging is that his obsession with insults and feuds sends a message that name-calling and bullying are just fine as long as you are doing it to "people who deserve it." That is the sort of genie that is impossible to put back in its bottle even after Trump leaves office. The mainstreaming of incivility and insults will have an impact long after Trump leaves the White House. It's kind of messed up that no one cared that _________ lied about his/her background and used a/an __________ to advance his/her own career. What are we on with Trump now, over 2,000 documented examples of outright/blatant lying about different facts and figures since he came down the escalator and started accusing most Mexicans of being racists/gang members/drug dealers? Or is that 2,000+ number just since January 20th, when he was first inaugurated? That is the sort of genie that is impossible to put back in its bottle even after Trump leaves office. The mainstreaming of incivility and insults will have an impact long after Trump leaves the White House. For example, look at what sports fanbases (Tennessee) can now get away with to prevent a coaching hire...see Greg Schiano/Penn State/Sandusky. Don't need to have any proof at all, just an allegation which has not one single legal/justice system official corroborating it.

The reverse of this is why do Trump and Roy Moore get a free pass with large segments of their political base when the likes of Franken and Conyers are automatically expected to resign? And yet I've seen members here arguing there's absolutely ZERO differences between Republicans and Democrats on this issue, in other words, it's nearly a "universal" problem. If that's the case, wouldn't the resignations of Franken and Conyers then theoretically provide the Dems the right to say they're the party who cares more about protecting the rights of women in these situations? I'm not sure if it's so much skin color (that's part of the political calculation, and based on the poor turnout among African-Americans in the 2016 presidential election)...as the fact that Conyers has been in Congress for so long, so there's this seniority/tenure idea that's also in play. The problem with that is we can't turn around and say a Conyers can get away with something that a much less experienced (non-committee chair, etc.) representative can't get away with...that's not exactly right, either. I'm trying to imagine if this was Representative John Lewis facing allegations instead...would it be fair to treat him with even more "delicacy" than Conyers, because of his iconic/legendary status in the party and the Civil Rights Movement? Is it likely that's exactly what would happen, though? And what of the "general suspicion" that all of Congress is now acting under, knowing there are numerous sealed cased of allegations/settlements that are working on Capital Hill every day as if nothing happened...how do you ever get to something resembling a "clean slate" on this issue without full disclosure?

Wouldn’t count on OU beating TCU twice in one month. Their defense has been garbage all season long. Frost will have an interesting choice to make, with those SEC jobs open. Nebraska doesn’t dominate recruiting like they used to, and they always had the athletes to make their running game work, as well as a stout defense. Switching from their tradition Osborne/Solich style to a more wide open offense has backfired. Iowa throttled OSU, beat ISU (who beat two top 5 teams), Minnesota, Illinois and Nebraska, which would normally lead to elation for Hawkeye fans. Had PSU down until the final play. Otoh, Wisconsin has once again proved to be the class of the West...and losing at home against Purdue is almost inexplicable. Ferentz has been there 19 years, and we seem to be stuck with same stale style of play with his son as OC. When executed properly, we can take out some top teams, especially at home. When it goes south, you get losses to NW and Purdue. Pretty restless fanbase, due to the huge salaries the coaching staff now earns.

Has anyone seen Wonder yet? Coco was great, will reiterate the earlier post. Brilliant animation of the Land of the Dead, even though it went over the top a bit, the imagination expressed was great. Reminiscent of Japanese anime Spirited Away in many aspects. Like the classic Up, the family aspects had most audience members crying at the end, even in China, which has zero emotional connection with Mexican culture/traditions.

Keep in mind, the rate of bricks and mortar store closures is twice last year’s rate, and expected to be 3x worse in 2018, even with a pretty strong economy. The nature of in-store shopping experiences around the world has been completely upended by Amazon, Alibaba, TenCent and JD.

What about Fox News? When does Trump turn on them, too? Shep Smith and Cavuto have both gone after him pretty hard in recent weeks.

During a panel with Trump voters, one supporter said he likes that the President's cabinet is filled with millionaires and that he would take the President's word even if Jesus were to contradict it. http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/11...-sot-newday.cnn