caulfield12

QUOTE (greg775 @ Mar 16, 2017 -> 10:39 PM) He's not meant to broadcast games for a team that is going nowhere. There will be so many meaningless games the next 5-10 seasons. His heart can't be in it, especially doing only road games. The Sox might not even have a winning road trip period in the next 5 seasons. He'll be Mr. Grouch broadcasting meaningless ballgames IMO. Well, there's no hyperbole here!...coming from a frequent purveyor back when everyone used to care about all 162 Sox games during a given season. (Fwiw, 2018 better at least be entertaining...and a competitive, close to .500ish team.)

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Mar 16, 2017 -> 10:08 PM) When does Trump get his Nobel Peace Prize? I was hoping my genitals would win this year but I understand I can't beat out a new President with only a couple hundred days under his belt. "In this case, he (Trump) has no opponent," Santorum said. "And who he's hurting is not a rival, he's hurting himself, because he's now the president and it doesn't matter whether he blames Barack Obama or not. People don't care about Barack Obama anymore. They care about one person. They care about the president, and he's the president." cnn.com Well, it's also more likely that Kate McKinnon, Alec Baldwin or Melissa McCarthy will win Emmy Awards for portraying real people than Conway, Trump or Spicer will win any type of award for their contributions to the country. Actually, now that I think about it, Trump does deserve an award from the Netherlands for scaring their electorate away from going populist/nationalist. In fact, the same exact thing might happen in France, Germany and Italy over the course of this year...so Trump is NON-INTENTIONALLY contributing more than anyone else in the world (not named George Soros, who has to be the 2nd choice here) to reunifying the EU and foiling Steve Bannon's plans for meddling like a Scooby Doo villain in the New World Order. So Trump should get one as well, why not? Mockery is fun. (Then again, nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula or war with China over Pacific...yea vote cancelled.) Meanwhile, perhaps the GOP should secure someone who has ACTUALLY won the Nobel Prize in Economics to explain why their budget and health care initiatives won't work and how to fix them? http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/201...-resigns-236147 REPORTER QUITS IJR NEWSITE OVER OBAMA CONSPIRACY STORY The last straw, they said, was a post published earlier on Thursday connecting former President Barack Obama's visit to Hawaii with a Hawaiian federal judge's ruling against President Donald Trump's revised travel ban. The since-retracted post meticulously pointed out all the possible connections between Obama's visit and the judge, including that they attended Harvard at the same time, that Obama appointed the judge, and that a restaurant Obama ate at during his trip was close to the federal courthouse. "This is not to allege the former president met with Judge Derrick Watson, but merely to point out the timing and the opportunity was there ahead of a controversial court ruling," the story states. The theory of Obama having a connection to the federal judge's ruling was also promoted on sites with a conspiracy theory bent including InfoWars and Gateway Pundit. Shortly after the story was posted, it received an editor's note that said: "This story has been updated to remove unnecessary speculation about the timing of the visit. We apologize for any undue conclusions that might have been drawn from the report."

QUOTE (raBBit @ Mar 16, 2017 -> 07:44 PM) Not sure why you question if I have a straight face when your opinions don't line up with reality. I'm glad you respect President Obama but that doesn't make it as if he can do no wrong. Obama's administration got caught targeting conservatives through the IRS, journalists with the AP scandal, political opponents abroad in Merkel and others, journalists like James Rosen and Michael Hastings. Illegal surveillance was started by Bush's administration but normalized, expanded and abused throughout the Obama years. These are facts not opinions. Everything Obama did set a precedent for Trump. Obama even expanded surveillance reach on his way out. IRS scandal: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washington...dal-in-one-FAQ/ AP scandal: https://www.google.com/amp/www.nydailynews....ticle-1.1349443 Merkel: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardia...erman-newspaper Rosen: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.yahoo.com/...-134204299.html Obama'a administration surveillance makes Nixon'a administration look like children putting their ears against walls to eavesdrop. Obviously that's due to technology but your comment is totally off base regardless. Who knows what Obama's administration did behind the scenes with instances where they had the competence to keep their internal investigations, you know, internal. (Disclosure: This reporter counts Rosen among his friends.) Sounds like a completely objective, unbiased source of info. and the New York Daily News? Might as well be the Observer, the Kushners' paper. Okay.

Surely Ronald Reagan spent his first 100 days in office comparing himself to Jimmy Carter...at a certain point, you've got to just DO SOMETHING. The Trump administration has been completely dead in the water ever since the immense wave of criticism to the initial immigration ban hit. It's like they haven't been able to recover from that blow to their momentum. Since then, the only "good/positive" (from a GOP standpoint) things they have done are Gorsuch and McMaster. The AHCA has been an unmitigated disaster...and has ripped the Republicans into three factions, those loyal to Trump, the extreme right/fiscally conservative side (the ones who want all Medicaid expansion phased out IMMEDIATELY, and they number around 35+ in the House) and then the moderate/centrist side, such as Republican governors like Kasich in states where they're happy with the expansion program and have seen marked cost decreases by covering so many in the pool (the only losers there are the insurance companies, whose profits are limited by taking Medicaid patients). There's just no way to reconcile those positions and pacify both sides to get a bill through the Senate. And now the House doesn't even want to vote out of (justifiable) fear that they'll be providing the Democrats 2018 campaign material when the legislation doesn't even have a snowball's chance in hell of getting through the more moderate Senate. But they can't let Obamacare wither on the vine since they promised to repeal it...and have now assumed responsibility for everyone's health care, since they have complete control of the levers of government (except certain courts/judges and the evil left-wing media, haha).

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/16/opinions/wor...nion/index.html The Ten Cruelest Proposed Budget Cuts

Amash was one of the few Republicans who excelled in his "ambush" town hall environment as well...

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Mar 16, 2017 -> 08:50 AM) Don't forget education. No Supreme Court Justice in this case. Going by the Brett Rule, since the 2020 campaign is underway already with two campaign rallies already...quite clear the Gorsuch nomination should be tabled.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 15, 2017 -> 02:35 PM) Netherlands Election exit polls are filtering out, and it looks like Geert Wilders' far-right anti-Islam party fell into a three-way tie for 2nd place with 19 seats in parliament. As recently as last week. his party was leading the incumbent VVD party. It's a possible sign that the tide of right-wing populism has been stemmed in Europe, but the big one to watch is still the upcoming French elections. http://www.dw.com/en/dutch-pm-ruttes-vvd-e...poll/a-37937959 If you like multi-party systems, the Dutch elections have several dozen parties running and over a dozen will get seats in parliament. They have a proportional representation system with a parliament, so you're voting for a given party rather than a particular candidate, and seats are allocated to a party based on their percentage share of the electorate. Turnout in the Netherlands will be well over 70%. Anti-Trumpism is actually working against Wilders and Le Pen, at least for the moment. That said, all it takes is another major terrorist attack on EU soil to reverse the tide again. Saw on CNN the turnout was in the low 80's, at least from their polling. The other positive with the Netherlands' form of government is that it would have been impossible for his Freedom Party to even form a ruling coalition, even had they ended up with more seats. On the other hand, it's pulling the ruling parties more and more to the center right in response to the populist movements, but that's perhaps not the worst thing in the world...because those countries are still significantly more liberal-leaning than the US in recent years.

https://www.yahoo.com/style/ivanka-trump-ex...-032823047.html Ivanka Trump a notable exception to the Buy American Rule Same with American steel for the pipelines.

While serving as the House Budget Committee chairman, Price had a role in appointing the current head of the CBO who is a conservative economist. There's your key sentence.

The numbers would have been very accurate had those hold out states taken the Medicaid expansion monies. Do you see any of those GOP governors saying it was a failure, didn't work in their states (it has actually succeeded in lowering costs for those risk pools) and how they'd just love to give the money back to D.C.? How can you create a projection/model where governors act in ways that are completely antithetical to best interests of the poor in their states...? As noted, there were five different agencies/foundations that provided an array of predictions on ACA, and the CBO numbers were most accurate in all categories but one...in that, they finished second. So we should expect and trust all the Senators and Reps to give us their objective opinions to us? All voting aging Americans should be required to read the bill in its entirety (something nobody in even Congress does, it gets farmed out to staff dividing that responsibility into sections)...and make their own informed projections? Waiting for someone to provide a better answer than the CBO, which has tended, if anything, to be a bit conservative over all these years. Oh yeah, dynamic scoring, that's the solution ...just pencil in 4% or higher growth every year, all the problems are solved. There we go. If you can find anyone who believes Trump anti-free trade policies will actually stimulate the economy. Because taking almost all of the disposable income away from those in their last ten years away from retirement will surely help to stimulate spending, and we know how the rich will just go right out and spend those tax cuts.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning...m=.5ec09a09e5c8 Trump supporters angered by "Resistance" radio network actually promoting Netflix's The Man In The High Castle

http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2017/03/12/ne...uson-newday.cnn

Did Clinton also have only one State Department position filled at this point...who essentially has been neutered already because other countries are learning to go to Jared Kushner instead? Can't imagine if the Clinton's did the same with Chelsea's husband, it would an impending international catastrophe of Biblical proportions.

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/snl-wants-sell-com...-054353817.html Wonder how long before the first defensive Trump tweet or Conway promo of how her Ivanka's real life perfume line has shot up to #1? Wouldn't be a surprise to see this exact product start selling well here in China, since so few know what the English word complicit even means...it will sound exotic and vaguely French. http://www.thewrap.com/snl-alec-baldwin-trump-space-aliens/ This one will get under his skin as well... http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/12/opinions/snl...llah/index.html CNN opinion piece on Complicit sketch

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/201...-chicago-214895 The (role playing) video game trying to stanch the carnage in Chicago http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/11/us/muslim-fl...fire/index.html Another attack on immigrants confused for being Muslim The fire at the Met Mart in Port St. Lucie was quickly put out Friday morning and did not cause much damage, Mascara said. The store was closed and protected by security shutters. According to CNN affiliate WPEC, Lloyd told investigators he tried to buy a bottle of Tropicana orange pineapple juice at the store a few days ago but was told they didn't have any. He was also upset because he assumed the store employee was Muslim, WPEC said, citing the investigative report. Lloyd told investigators he planned to burn the building because he "was doing his part for America," WPEC said. When deputies arrived Friday morning and found the fire, a man in front of the store put his hands behind his back and told officers to "take me away," Mascara said.

You don't trade Burdi until he's succeeded as closer for at least one year. See the Addison Reed and Santos deals (that both sucked). All things considered, the biggest value is in that second and third year before arbitration hits...but trading him in 2017 would be completely illogical. Of course, we also have to consider that Lopez and Fulmer also might end up in the pen eventually. There are plenty of candidates for future Sox closer. Kopech would be another if he suffers some injuries throwing at that sustained velocity as a starter. As far as desperation to have a closer, we always point to Takatsu, Hermanson and Jenks all taking the ball in the 9th in 2005.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/03...nski-ac-dnt.cnn Jared Kushner is basically acting as de facto Secretary of State...with Tillerson out of the loop and press pool not even allowed to accompany him to China https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the...m=.cd2c64f7062d The Winning Argument Dems Have Against Trump

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/10/politics/ukr...exts/index.html More Manafort allegations in connection to "consulting" work in the Ukraine (from daughter's texts)

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/10/opinions/tru...izer/index.html Trump's hidden success...destroying government, faith in presidency, court system, media, etc. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archiv...&yptr=yahoo Good news for Trump Family's bottom line

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/201...an-union-214889 Now it's starting to make some sense. Steve Bannon, the man who wants to undo the EU and Western global order A United States hostile to the EU would be terrifying for Europe at any moment, but never more so than right now. Economic weakness, a flood of refugees and a drumbeat of Islamic State terrorism have combined to create what EU official Verhofstadt calls “an existential crisis.” Making things worse, the EU-bashing Marine Le Pen has a chance in France’s spring presidential elections, while anti-EU candidates have gained traction in the Netherlands, which votes in March, and Italy, which may call elections this summer. In September, voters in the EU’s anchor state, Germany, will deliver a verdict on Chancellor Angela Merkel, a staunch defender of European unity whose popularity has severely eroded in recent months. Some European leaders worry that Trump and Bannon could issue a de facto endorsement of Le Pen, turbocharging her supporters and her media coverage. In a post-election tweet, Le Pen’s niece Marion, who is also a prominent member of her party, wrote cryptically that she accepted Bannon’s alleged “invitation … to work together.” A few weeks later, French officials were startled to learn that Le Pen had been seen in the lobby of Trump Tower, though a Trump spokesman denied that she had been in any meetings there. But tweets and photo ops might not be where Trump could inflict the most damage. The White House commands the awesome economic and political might of the United States, and can employ that power as a sledgehammer against the weakened, post-Brexit EU. “I think Brexit is going to be a wonderful thing for your country,” Trump told Britain’s prime minister, Theresa May, during her January visit to Washington. Last year, Obama had tried to discourage Brexit by promising it would put Britain “at the back of the queue” for American trade deals. Now Trump was making clear that it had a place safely at the front. “You’re going to be able to make your own trade deals without having someone watching you,” Trump added.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/is-trumpism-an-e...-100032958.html Is Trumpism an existential threat (to the US and the world)?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-l...m=.8574e70b0402 Trumpism is now getting exposed as a monumental fraud... So the best ideas in the last 48 hours are choking the ACA to death by encouraging health insurance companies to bail and doing everything to sabotage it for two more years...blaming everything on Obamacare/Dems...and cutting off Medicaid in 2017/18 instead of 2020. Brilliant.

Is there any chance they give Kevan Smith a position over Narvaez? Looks like an interesting battle between Liriano, Davidson, Leury Garcia, Hayes and Delmonico for that last roster spot. Of course, a lot depends on Tilson's health as well. Are they still playing to play Avi Garcia in RF nearly everyday or put a better defender out there and DH him? I would guess they want to give him this final shot playing in the field, and rotate DH or let one of the names listed above have an extended opportunity (well, probably not Leury there).

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Mar 8, 2017 -> 06:32 PM) I just heard this doctor on the radio. Seems like a genius. At least the premise of his model seems smart to me. This is an old article but it still sums up his idea more or less. What are some of your thoughts on it? https://www.theobjectivestandard.com/2013/0...mine-obamacare/ He doesn't seem partisan. He's just one of the thousands of pissed doctors but it seems like he actually did something to help people get care. Undermine Obamacare as part of the title of the article doesn't seem partisan at all? If it was non-partisan, it would be 1) reforming/improving the ACA to make it the most efficient possible program, or 2) starting over from scratch and creating an even better program. Undermining Obamacare seems to have a very explicit political message to it. Choke the current system to death so the blame can be placed on Obama/Dems rather than anything that follows after. The "failures" here are not the ACA itself, but the fact that insurance companies don't want to give up any of their profits at all. Naturally, they're going to decline to offer insurance in areas where they are losing (or at least arguing that they're losing) money offering plans. But the same exact thing (only worse) will happen with the new GOP plan. There's nothing in the bill dealing with the health insurance industry, or the supply-side issue with declining numbers of doctors/clinics/hospitals, especially in rural areas.