caulfield12

And I just like annoying you and playing Devil's Advocate to keep you on your toes...because I know you can take it as a professional campaigner (is that the right term, political advisor/consultant?) better than most. I'll admit to taking out my exasperation on the Trump administration on various posters, because they essentially serve as surrogates for the administration (and they often aren't comfortable being lumped in together with the worst of Trump's instincts, that's the biggest source of conflict IMO) and they are the only available targets. We don't have the ability to chase Trump's motorcade around on a bicycle and flip him the bird, or protest outside one of his golf clubs or properties. (The fact that we even consider such "revenge-oriented" tactics is sad, obviously, but NO NO NO president has intentionally tried to divide the country and antagonize the other side as a political strategy on an EVERYDAY basis in my lifetime. No president until now has been completely without empathy for his common man. In fact, presidents like Reagan and both Bushes at least had the best interests of the country and not themselves at heart, they grew up in that time of common/shared sacrifice that's so lacking in nearly everyone today. I was too young for Nixon and the civil rights/civil disobedience/Vietnam protest era, but even that seemed more uplifting and inspirational than what's going on today in America.)

The White Sox have been so terrible for so long, the main motivation I had to visit was Filibuster AND maybe discussing movies and a few other interests (financial). The depressing thing here is that we're all supposed to be bonded by being White Sox fans...and yet the vitriol is so overwhelming that a community with shared interests can't get along. (I'm also pretty sure if everyone on this board had actually met in real life at a Sox game and got to actually know each other, the tenor of conversations would be quite different, but that's obviously not feasible, some of us are thousands of miles away from Chicago.) Imagine how poorly that augurs for the rest of American society, when their used to be more beliefs about who we are as Americans that united us together as one, rather than dividing us. There used to be a sense of care/concern for anyone struggling in life, down on their luck, depressed or lonely...now there's more and more a prevailing sense that everyone is pretty much on their own, nobody can help you but yourself (and your family.) In the end, the political system has won again. They've managed to put the "common people" at each other's throats and distract them from the issues that really matter in the world. We've gotten bogged down in details, gossip, scandals, conspiracies and minutiae.

Has to be Davis.

What tangible benefits have we received so far out of these renegotiated deals? How can you successfully argue that there will be more American corporate profits without TPP than with it? Based on what? That trade deals in groups or blocs are bad, but not unilateral ones? By the way, most of our global supply chains are sourced overseas, so the negative trade balance in goods and services doesn’t reflect that accurately. What is the soft cost of allowing China to take the lead in Asia on trade with some of those countries who are supposed to be our close/st allies? Since we don’t stand up for human rights in foreign policy, what DO we actually stand for? https://eand.co/the-test-of-a-civilized-society-b615963900ea We’re currently failing the test of being a civilized society...and it’s continuing to unravel with each passing year.

77,000 voters, 3 states, not close in the popular vote...there was never a Blue Wall because most Clinton voters were resigned to voting for her rather than being enthusiastic or hopeful/optimistic.

When have government stormtroopers ever come in and confiscated legally~owned firearms? On the other hand, There's a much higher probability of abortion rights being severely curtailed when a minority of citizens even believe in organized religion anymore. Why doesn't the GoP also fund stable homes and a higher quality education for all those unwanted children, if they're so concered about the sanctity of life? Besides. you would think they would PREFER fewer (future) kids in America who will likely be voting against them...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/style/fire-financial-independence-retire-early.html Who's on board, and why/why not? Discuss.

Based on this playoff start and potentially at least one more defining start in the World Series...he will probably get a firm commitment of at least $25-30 million from someone, if not even more.

Since we already have a Sonny Gray thread with a number of replies, and signing Eovaldi would SEEM to be much more logical (depending on the terms) than some of the suggested moves for Gray, who also wouldn't be a part of the team's theoretical future playoff runs in 2021/22...why not another conjecture thread? He's obviously got great stuff, but has never been able to put it all together on a consistent basis...to the point where he's earning a $2 million plus incentives deal in his walk year. https://www.yahoo.com/sports/chuck-garfiens-top-five-free-134724876.html Garfien picked Machado (not Harper, for some reason), Adam Jones (yuck, McCutcheon or Pollock seem more likely, unless KW's making the call), JA Happ, Ottavino (that one makes more sense) and then Michael Brantley as his Top 5. Personally, I'd rather roll the dice on Eovaldi than Happ, but I can understand prizing "stability/track record" over potential. That said, it would be basically like trading Jose Quintana, only to resign an older and more expensive version of him. I can understand the logic of "subtracting" Brantley from CLE, but that injury history for him and AJ Pollock will at some point be the end of Hahn's tenure if he keeps gambling on less-risky but far from risk-free second tier free agents.

Did we get four consecutive playoff appearances? Back-to-back, even? If you count individually, you have to go back to 1993 to get there. That's a quarter of a century to duplicate the Cubs' success in just this decade. This is the reason why a small (but growing) group of Sox fans talk about the team relocating at some undefined point in the future.

These are the same people who accuse ANYONE with an Islamic-sounding name (when they're actually sometimes Christian, like Obama or one of the DEM candidates in the midterm elections) of being a terrorist/Jihadist/fundamentalist looking to overthrow the American government and bring Sharia Law into the schools. These are the same people who claim to be for free trade/survival of the fittest in terms of capitalistic principles, but hide behind protective tariffs/trade wars/subsidies in the guise of "fighting for the little/forgotten people." The same ones who want to cut back "entitlement" programs that hard-working Americans have (actually, unlike the Trumps) paid taxes into their whole lives, but which have to be cut now so we can have more military interventions and tax breaks for those who need it the least. The ones who will draw a line in the sand for Israel, but could care less about the lives of any non-white/Israelis being wiped out/victims of genocide or just victims of bullying by Saudi Arabia (Qatar/Iran/Turkey). Who are against chain immigration and divorce, but don't see the inconsistencies of Trump having "imported" two foreign wives (they're "white" and attractive like those Swedes and Finns!!!) or having been divorced twice and not even knowing how to properly cite a Bible verse from Corinthians. (But, Kavanaugh and Gorsuch, yay!!! it's all worth it!)

They were going to confirm him regardless...those anti Bush talking points actually were what brought the split GOP wings together in a perverse deal with the devil.

With Dems, one single, solitary flaw DOOMS their candidacies. (Exception for HRC, which shouldn't have been made, because her flaws overwhelmed her in the end.) Biden's age/plagiarism, Booker's coziness with Big Business/Big Pharma and sermonizing without backing it up, Warren's "Pocahontas" factor, it's ALL meant to distract the electorate from being forced to discuss and ponder REAL ISSUES, which might actually cause the balance to tip to the side of the Dems. Look what Trump did with his nicknames to nearly the entire Republican presidential field in 2016. We spent 50% of the campaign discussing those soap opera issues (will Cruz defend his wife's honor, is Fiorina going to fight back about her appearance being picked on by an obese/rich/white guy? is Cruz actually somehow connected to the JFK Conspiracy, etc.?) DISTRACTIONS. That's all they are...and quite deliberate ones, at that.

It would be fine if 2 or 3 of those teams were competitive, but they all sucked this year, other than the Indians...it was the worst (individual) division statistically in a LONG time. Unless you mixed all the teams together and did away with NL and AL, you'd be in a division with the Cubs/Brewers/Cards or the Astros, which would be suicidal for the White Sox rebuild.

In other words, ADD/ADHD has now become the convenient excuse for every parent whose kids are overachieving or lose focus. From a school standpoint, it's an issue dealing with all the zombie kids on Ritalin (in the US, allowing them to put their head down on the desk is considered to be abuse/neglect, even if they have a job after school and don't have enough rest)...and, of course, those who "game the system" in order to get extra time allotted for their SAT or ACT exams, for example.

You can always watch The Man in the High Castle. And Greg has a point about the "boring" factor of a 162 game schedule with most of the games started by relievers and hours' worth of pitching changes and commercial breaks. Not to mention the fall off in attendance/revenues related to the bottom 1/3rd (maybe 8-12) of teams not having a realistic chance to even make the playoffs at the beginning of the year. That's why the NBA/NHL model is something they're going to have to look at (in terms of half the teams making the playoffs)...with a 154 or even 140 or 146 game schedule. Yes, it's sacrilegious to purists and will throw off the single-season records, but they're going to have to do something eventually because attention spans are just not that long anymore for young people.

Gray is the next Contreras...or not. I’ll go with highly unlikely. (Well, probably better than being the next Loiaza, which would put him in prison for life.)

More Trump hocus-pocus, up is down, down is up...and he’s somehow actually fighting for “us” when he’s really doing exactly the opposite. Maybe those lower middle class / lacking college degree Trump voters are simply expressing admiration for how cleverly billionaires can “legally” (right up to the borderline) work the system to pay less in taxes than Warren Buffett’s secretary...?

The never-sleeping folk at the not-yet-failed New York Times on the Trump tax beat are at it again, this time with a lengthy expose on how Jared Kushner, the President's son-in-law, likely paid no taxes from 2009 until 2016, at least. This comes on the heels of the reporting, published less than two weeks ago, on how Fred Trump, Donald's father, engaged in aggressive tax planning with his son starting when Donald was as young as 3. It continued over decades, to avoid more than $400 million in taxes, per the Times' analysis. And those two reports followed the bombshell reporting from October 2016 -- to which Trump was responding in the tweet above -- that Trump had used losses, which we later learned came from other people's money, to avoid paying any tax on almost $1 billion in income for up to two decades. The most recent piece on Jared's non-taxpaying is once again lengthy and detailed, turning on tax-law intricacies such as depreciation deductions, the income tax treatment of debt, Section 1031 "like kind" exchanges, and more. The New York Times article leaves little doubt that Jared's tax-saving techniques were legal. Cue up the band to sing odes to Jared's genius, which is precisely what Rudy Guiliani said of Donald two years ago, after the first Times story broke: "The man is a genius, he knows how to operate the tax code for the benefit of the people he is serving." Now we know: Taxpayers helped enable Trump's fortune But the legality of Jared's tax planning is not a defense of Trump. It is a damnation of him. https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/15/opinions/trump-kushner-taxes-paid-by-others-mccaffery/index.html

https://www.yahoo.com/news/governor-blames-trump-republicans-protest-clashes-180747923.html In a conference call with reporters, the Democratic governor called the invitation to Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes to speak at the Metropolitan Republican Club a "political tactic because what they're trying to do is fire up their base" ahead of the midterm elections. "Why would the Republican Party at their main club invite the Proud Boys?" Cuomo asked, pointing out that they have been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Proud Boys is made up of males who describe themselves as "western chauvinists." The state Republican Party called Cuomo's comments "outrageous." The Republican Club had been vandalized ahead of the speech, with officials saying the damage included smashed windows, a spray-painted door and a keypad lock covered in glue. A note left at the scene claimed that the damage was "just the beginning." In an emailed statement, spokeswoman Jessica Proud said, "It's unconscionable that when Republicans were attacked and threatened, Governor Cuomo said absolutely nothing. Violence of any kind has no place in society, yet the governor — who is charged with ensuring everyone's personal safety and property is protected — only thinks those rights should be afforded to Democrats. It's not surprising coming from the man who said conservatives have no place in the state, but it's nonetheless outrageous." Cuomo said he had directed the state police to assist the New York Police Department in a probe of the violence that took place Friday night between the Proud Boys and those protesting the speech. Three people have been arrested, but elected officials were outraged over videos posted online of the violence, saying they showed Proud Boys members were involved and should face consequences.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/maine-faces-consumer-backlash-senator-135002653.html Maine faces a targeted consumer boycott of tourism and lobster industries after Collins' vote for Kavanaugh...already $3 million raised for anyone who challenges her as well. What next, Trump will approve more bailouts/subsidies for the lobster industry, like he did with the farm lobby?

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/14/opinions/dem-voting-excitement-opinion-obeidallah/index.html That's like me saying anything from the Wall Street Journal or Forbes is nonsense. If Trump is so great for their ratings, why would they want to have "skewed" polls that result in an environment where he was politically "hemmed in" (assuming the House goes DEM) by leading the country to believe a Blue Wave was coming? As a Republican, you don't believe anything CNN puts out there, right? They're only making CONSERVATIVES want to vote more with their "fake" polls, true or false? Wouldn't it be better to SCARE THE HELL OUT OF LIBERALS by creating/crafting polls that had Trump's party leading by 3-5%, causing EVERY Democrat to be motivated to get out and vote, instead of a mere 36-37% of the eligible electorate, which is more typical compared to around 55% for presidential contests?

Trump can put 4000 lies out there in 2 years and one candidate who's actually authentic or honest...lets her guard down a bit that she occasionally plays computer games to relax is all of a sudden "done" in Iowa for actually being a genuine, REAL person? Isn't that what everyone admires (supposedly) about Trump, his "calling it like it is"-ness? Isn't that why Beto O'Rourke is quickly becoming the Hispanic Obama? How many times, by the way, was Obama criticized for golfing or filling our NCAA Tourney Brackets? It's like the Dems can't take ONE wrong step, but you can be Duncan Hunter in CA and basically break election laws and STILL win? I have a feeling that Grassley or King wouldn't know anything beyond the Atari 2600, yet Iowans keep voting for them. It's nuts.

Price has yet another opportunity to wet the bed in the post-season, they somehow got him back the lead. (One pitcher we know won't be entering here is Workman, haha). Looks like Cora learned his lesson going with Eduardo Nunez at 3B, too. Big at-bat here to see if Price can leave the box score with the lead or not. We can (still) hardly say he's been worth his investment.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moneyball-author-says-analytics-drained-baseball-emotion-121728125.html