caulfield12

http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/16/media/seth...tact/index.html UNFORTUNATELY THE WHOLE SETH RICH MURDER STORY COMPLETELY FELL APART (anyone not in conspiracy-land surprised???) http://www.thefringenews.com/murdered-dnc-...aker-confirmed/ PROOF THAT ROBBIE MOOK IS THE PREMEDITATED MURDERER...INDICT MOOK AND CLINTON!!!! LOCK HER UP This is REALLY the best rebuttal that FOX NEWS and the Trump admin can come up with??? While we're at it, can they please lock up Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reilly, too? Following Wheeler's claims, Rich's family have distanced themselves from the investigator who they are said to have hired. "As we 've seen through the past year of unsubstantiated claims, we see no facts, we have no evidence, we have been approached with no emails and only learned about this when contacted by the press," they said in a statement. "Even if tomorrow, an email was found, it is not a high enough bar of evidence to prove any interactions as emails can be altered and we've seen that those interested in pushing conspiracies will stop at nothing to do so. "We are a family who is committed to facts, not fake evidence that surfaces every few months to fill the void and distract law enforcement and the general public from finding Seth's murderers. "The services of the private investigator who spoke to the press was offered to the Rich family and paid for by a third party, and contractually was barred from speaking to the press or anyone outside of law enforcement or the family unless explicitly authorised by the family." https://uk.news.yahoo.com/investigator-clai...-230645963.html

Nice comeback by the White Sox...just couldn't quite finish it off. Guess we'll have a debate about bunting the runner over to 3rd, but that's the "by the book" play...still not sure you don't want Tim Anderson to have a shot (he'll have to do it in the future), compared to Narvaez, Saladino and Leury Garcia. Not a big deal...in the overall scheme of things this season.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 16, 2017 -> 10:22 PM) Bullpen quite depleted with Jones and Putnam out Don't forget Petricka.

Well, now we see the REAL Gregory Infante bringing everyone back to their senses...Jennings hasn't been good this year, either. 4 pitch walk with the bases loaded. To Luis Valbuena. UGLY.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 16, 2017 -> 09:13 PM) Right wing media has been exploiting the death of a DNC staffer last year with insane conspiracy theories to distract from Trump's s*** show, family calling in them to stop. https://twitter.com/KaivanShroff/status/864470917816213504 It's Vince Foster all over again...or Colombian drug runners' jets filling the skies and all queued up to land at Mena, Arkansas.

They better hope someone gets desperate to add a pitcher like Holland or Miguel Gonzalez in late May or early June...

Manafort, Stone, Page and Flynn better be lawyered up. Ironic that so many lawyers like Sessions will need to hire more lawyers to defend them, but what can you do? This is going to make the Clinton Administration look squeaky clean by the end of it. And, for the first time since January 20th, more Americans support impeachment (48%) than oppose it (41%). https://www.yahoo.com/news/majority-america...-142000416.html If all else fails, let's try a former lingerie model/Fox reporter as WH Press Secretary. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/k...2525252527sxhby At least SNL will have a new character to do...I'm sure Melania will be absolutely thrilled by this!!! A Fox News host is waiting in the bushes to pounce on Sean Spicer’s job. Kimberly Guilfoyle, a controversial co-host of “The Five,” told Bay Area News Group on Monday she’s in talks with Team Trump to become the administration’s next press secretary. “I’m a patriot, and it would be an honor to serve the country,” Guilfoyle told the outlet. “I think it’d be a fascinating job, it’s a challenging job, and you need someone really determined and focused, a great communicator in there with deep knowledge to be able to handle that position.” The 48-year-old cable news personality — who says she has known President Trump over a decade — declined to delve into specifics. But “a number of people” at the White House have raised her potential hiring, she said. Guilfoyle, who’d emerged as a rumored contender for the job in December, gave her interview after several reports indicated Trump was considering axing the beleaguered Spicer as part of a broad staffing shakeup. She reportedly also appeared to dole out advice on the flack job during one of her shows last week. “If you want to be successful and do communications with President Trump, you have to be someone who he actually wants to spend a little bit of time with,” she said. “You’ve got to insist on getting in front of POTUS, talk to him, and have like five, six minutes with him before you go out there and take the podium, and otherwise you’re driving blind.”

Well, playing with fire was fun while it lasted.

Only four batters in the line-up tonight entering with an OPS over 615. Yikes. The anti-Astros/Reds.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-wrong-...-010845580.html Trump is the wrong kind of businessman (private vs. public company leader) to be president Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of Exxon Mobil who’s now Secretary of State, seems to be learning quickly on the job, and performing competently so far. Former Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn, head of Trump’s National Economic Council, seems to be rolling with the punches and mustering an economic agenda for Trump, even as crisis swirls. Both men have learned to thrive amid the glare of critics. Trump hasn’t, and may never. There’s speculation that other business leaders may follow Trump’s lead in 2020, and run for the White House, including Disney CEO Bob Iger and Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz. Both earned their spurs in public companies that are also consumer brands, answerable to unpredictable trends, the ever-present threat of boycotts and the merciless trolls on social media. It would be interesting to see how a public-company CEO fares in the White House. Compared with one not accustomed to such accountability. Many would at least be willing to listen to at least listen to Howard Schultz, who was raised the direct opposite of Trump. Not sure about Iger. Whenever this discussion arises, Marcus Lemonis' name comes up as well as Mark Cuban (no) and Mark Zuckerberg (big no).

QUOTE (Donaldo @ May 16, 2017 -> 07:20 PM) Giolito was drafted out of high school, while Hansen was drafted out of college. I really don't read all that much into it. I suppose you can look at it like Tim Beckham was drafted the same year as Gordon Beckham and didn't hit his stride as a big leaguer until he was 26-27 years old. (Obviously, Hansen was more of a "project" and hard a difficult time even sticking in the OU rotation, compared to being a Golden Spikes winner.) Or that Giolito doesn't have nearly the same mileage on his arm (minus the TJ), nor the experience. Potential, always a dangerous word.

Even if that informant was executed/caught, there's no way the information comes out of Mossad because of how much Netanyahu hated Obama and desperately wants to work with a Republican administration on military/foreign policy and Palestinian issues. It's going to take the international media digging to the bottom of the story, which will be extremely dangerous in and of itself. Guess we'll have to wait and see this next week what, IF ANYTHING, Israel will say in public on the matter.

Schwarber with his 6th homer. (683 OPS, aka Avi Garcia 2014-2016 form) With that hitting pedigree, short of another catastrophic injury, have a hard time believing his value could fall much more. Can Happ really play CF? Guess we'll find out. Final note: Wish we had that young Reds' line-up 2-6, with Hamilton patrolling CF. Pretty exciting young offense...their problem obviously is pitching. Mesoraco looked like he was going to be an excellent player as well before all the setbacks.

QUOTE (reiks12 @ May 16, 2017 -> 07:07 PM) his number are much better I would like to see him go 7 here and there rather than 5 and 6 He probably could have gone 6 but they're being extra careful with pitch counts and all their young pitchers. It has really been noticeable with Kopech and Dunning...Hansen as well.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ May 16, 2017 -> 07:02 PM) I was able to do the Grand Canyon with my dad for the first time in March, about a month before he passed away. He'd never been there and when you go there, holy s***, it doesn't even look real when you're standing there. Did the South Dakota stuff as a family over ten years ago, also pretty cool. Alaska is definitely on my US list...still have to go there, ND and Montana (was less than ten miles from the border, but couldn't convince my friend to go to the Custer Battlefield). Glacier really sounds cool, it looks very similar to Nepal and Tibet, where the same ice loss is taking place over the last 30-40 years, maybe even at a faster pace than in the US. Mount Saint Helen's area is another excellent hiking/trail area.

Lopez righting the ship after struggling earlier in April. Unfortunately, those 93 pitches prevented him from starting the 6th (yet one more compelling reason we'll need an excellent bullpen to pair with those young starters early in their MLB careers). Funny stat note, Jacob May and Yoan Moncada almost have the same OPS. C Blair is actually leading (SSS).

The main question with Tatis (just like Delmonico) is whether he can stick at 3B. If not, his value is pretty limited.

QUOTE (Big Hurtin @ May 16, 2017 -> 06:41 PM) Hmmm https://mobile.twitter.com/th3j35t3r/status...640351428108288 That goes right along with the Seth Rich was murdered to prevent from providing even more damaging information to WIKILEAKS and then Pizza Gate. Too many "-Gates" recently. Just in the span of a single week, ComeyFired-Gate, ClassifiedIsraeliInfo-Gate and Flynn'sAGoodGuy-Gate.

And, in the worst-case scenario, Pence is somehow tied to all the lies and cover-ups, making Paul Ryan the president. Talk about lesser of two evils. But yeah, Sessions...he gotta go. Just like William Sessions two+ decades ago as Director of the FBI. Not the luckiest name in politics these days. Supposedly the Dems are also closely looking into the option of recall votes/elections in 18 states to tip the balance of the US Senate back to the left, at least until the 2018 mid-terms, but that seems pretty far-fetched. It would, however, be pretty hilarious to see McConnell and Paul having to sweat it out in KY and many of the red Trump states that currently have the highest percentage of ObamaCare and Medicaid recipients.

QUOTE (ptatc @ May 15, 2017 -> 04:05 PM) That is a long, depending on how badly the joint surface is damaged. Meanwhile, Tyler Flowers at .352 and 900 ops in 70+ at-bats.

Congress/McConnell have recently speculated about going it alone and basically ignoring Trump...but that won't work very effectively in today's media environment. During the days of Warren Harding or US Grant, sure. Got a chuckle out of this one from NY Times comments section. Memo states: "“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Comey, according to the memo. “He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”" I'm sorry where is there a request to Comey to stop the investigation? http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/201...ublicans-215145 When will GOP Dump Trump? (Written before Comey/Flynn) And yet the stakes on the trail were different. Back then you only had to grit your teeth through the last few months of the election, hold on tight and hope for the best. Flash forward and Republicans actually hold all the levers of power. If it was hard to cross the party’s underdog nominee, the thought of breaking with the president of the United States with three and a half years left on the clock is exponentially more daunting. Moreover, the current trifecta may be a once-a-generation legislative opportunity, suggesting a heightened tolerance for Trump’s foibles. When you find yourself in the red zone on a decade’s worth of political goals, it takes a lot of lost yardage to force you to punt. There still may be more fallout from the Russia meeting, to be sure. For now it feels like a political bomb that didn’t quite go off, even if the audible ticks sent the smarter pols scrambling. But it’s nonetheless an instructive moment when it comes to discerning the pain threshold for the elected GOP. The criticisms may grow louder with each unforced error by the White House, but as long as the legislative dream is still alive it’s hard to imagine any sort of full-scale break. If that dream dies, however, it’s every man for himself.

Comey's description of the event make clear his understanding of the conversation was that the president was seeking to impede the investigation, according to people who have read the account or had it read to them, these people said. Comey felt the conversation was improper and decided to keep the details of the conversations away from the case agents working on the Russia probe. That paragraph alone is pretty damning from WaPo. A Constitutional crisis has officially arrived. The Founding Fathers consistently put country over Party, so the inherent weakness in the Constitution is imaging a time when the majority part in control would not do so. Free Advice to Trump aides: Quit While You Can https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/opinion/...col-left-region

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ May 15, 2017 -> 07:10 AM) I thought about it and it would just be soundbites of Hawk/Benneti/Stone saying his name lol I'll remember his homer and Harrelson going on and on about how he just missed another one (moonball to RF) in the same game.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/16/opinions/onl...rger/index.html All the President's friends worried---Gloria Borger But in another way, no, the President is not anywhere near a tipping point. In fact, he may be incapable of one. Because change does not come easily to Donald Trump. There is absolutely no sense among his friends, according to multiple sources, that he blames himself for any of his problems. It's his legal team or his communications team or his senior staff. The President, says one source, "seems to have lost confidence in everybody." Except himself. So he complains constantly, says one source, but he can never say that, yes, maybe he ought to take the presidential daily brief, um, daily. Or that he ought to require more substantive briefings before meeting with foreign officials. Or that freelancing is not a great idea in classified settings. "There's not enough substance to much of what he gets," says one ally who has gotten feedback from a foreign official who recently met with Trump. And that allows the President, this source says, to just go "off script and have his instincts take over and [he] goes with it." Consider: the Russians. "Is he absorbing what comes through the door?," this friend asks, "or what he sees on social media and TV?" In fact, this ally has told Trump "if you want to become a great President, turn off the TV." Again, these are friends -- people who want to see the President succeed. They all understand the need for staff changes -- and agree with Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner who believes, according to a source with knowledge, that the communications shop needs to be fixed. But they also say that replacing the entire staff would probably not do much to fix the most important thing: Trump himself.

Let's just hope that's the tip of the iceberg with Comey and he saves something for his public Senate hearing. Otoh, it would be nice to head off Trump's Mideast trip before he somehow sets off a war. No way he can stick to prepared speeches that whole time. It's not in his instincts to be boring..he has to do something to be the center of attention and make headlines. He probably believes he can still pull a Jimmy Carter peace envoy appearance out of the hat, but even better and bigger. Then again, with Comey's strong sense of ethics and honesty, one wonders why he is waiting to sink Trump if he has the ability to do so?