caulfield12

Get used to hearing the word "robust." He did do much better with the press this time around...and the Cassidy/Collins health care fix has some pretty interesting suggestions in it, to be fair. How the CBO scores it, who knows, but it appears they're willing to allow any state that wants to keep ACA can do that...the coordination and plan can be turned over to individual states OR people can decline coverade completely with no penalty. With the health savings accounts, it will basically automatically add everyone into those programs just like Social Security works, so technically more people will be receiving SOME form of coverage. Obviously evening out the risk pools will be the key, but that's the first time in years an actual plan has been presented by the GOP. In fact, by allowing states to choose, it shows the potential to pick off Democratic states/senators whose objections should be muted by being able to retain Obamacare. Pretty smart politics, and it was basically forced on them by Trump, instead of merely repealing it. As it stands right now, 30 million Americans are still without coverage. The infrastructure investments will be popular because the cities/mayors will have access to those funds...instead of it being under state control like the Obama infrastructure money early in his administrstion, which wasn't allocated all that effectively or efficiently imo.

Let's see if Sean Spicer can recover his integrity in the next hour or so. Conway is already toast. Tomi Lahren or Hope Hicks will be the next lambs to the slaughter...but hopefully someone will actually push back against Trump and stand their ground. The scary thing is some really respected media members were shocked that Spicer went so far against previous character in carrying water for the new administration on such a nonsensical issue.

Lemonis has shown interest in running?...that's the hardest part in today's polarized climate, convincing someone it's worth it to him and his family. Does he want 1/3rd of the electorate questioning that every move he makes is secretly showing favoritism to the Middle East or Muslims? Kennedy went through it about the Pope, obviously Obama...ut also seems to be too good to be true. We're so used to being disappointed and disillusioned by flawed politicians/scandals.

You can forget Hansen and probably even Fulmer in the Top 100 if Collins is so low. Same with Burdi. Not sure what his opinion on Basabe is?

The only truism here is Jordan is the GOAT.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 23, 2017 -> 07:13 AM) This sounds like a Donald Trump speech. You aren't going to say it out right. You are just going to make a bunch of innuendo and hints about it, and pretend that isn't what you are saying so you can be right with both sides, and then just make up anything else to fit the narrative. You can't just take an offer to another team for another player and assume that is what we are being offered, especially when a report is out there that contradicts that. C'mon, you've never heard of alternative facts?

Manchester by the Sea was excellently acted but way too depressing. American Honey is one of those low budget movies that you should see...Shia LeBouf does his best Frank TJ Mackey (Magnolia reference) and just maybe still has a career ahead of him.

Day 4 begins National Parks Service employees banned from using official twitter account https://www.yahoo.com/style/national-parks-...-172739369.html First conflict of interest lawsuit filed...with lots of huge legal names like Harvard's Laurence Tribe attached. This will likely be thrown out due to lack of standing. They're going to have to find a competing upper tier hotel in DC that's clearly losing business to Trump's and not afraid to stand up to him publicly. https://www.yahoo.com/news/ethics-lawyers-s...-051119236.html Trump's son Eric Trump, an executive vice president of the Trump Organization, told the Times on Sunday that the company had taken more steps than required by law to avoid any possible legal exposure, such as agreeing to donate any profits collected at Trump-owned hotels that come from foreign government guests to the U.S. Treasury. "This is purely harassment for political gain," Trump told the newspaper. According to Conway over the weekend, Trump tax returns will not be turned over despite 120,000+ petitioning on first day at new Trump WhiteHouse.gov website. Had promised an update or response on any issue/petition that gathered at least 100k online signatures or more. Has been a tradition for both candidates to do so going back to 1976.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/st...m=.63ab73ecb38d The traditional way of reporting about the president is officially dead, Spicer already killed it. Maybe the entire press should just ignore him for a month and see what happens with nobody to fight with or antagonize? Fox News could still carry his press conferences live...since he wants a controlled media with no hostile questions like Russia or China. I think he would get bored eventually with nothing but sycophants and butt kissers around him, but probably am overestimating his humanity.

QUOTE (reiks12 @ Jan 22, 2017 -> 07:44 PM) Actually dont believe its postering anymore. I think Luhnow is this delusional like his fanbase. Posturing. As opposed to Michael Jordan's forte against defenders at the rim.

The Red Sox still don't trust Sandoval. Moncada and Devers were their future at 3b...with Pedroia holding down second for at least 2-3 more years. You can't trade both options if you're Dombrowski. If Devers was a corner outfielder, he would have been much more expendable. But yeah, Sale and Frazier together would have made sense...but they have to muddle through this year hoping for the best at this point at that position while waiting on Devers to arrive.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-set-move-...-071739318.html Russia moves closer to decriminalizing domestic violence. Party like it's 1953....err, 2017. Simply can't wait for Obama's sanctions to be lifted and our first trade and military cooperation agreements to be signed with them!!! Great day, beautiful day for all thugs and bullies who have Bobby Knight-like attitudes toward women...Putin, Duterte, Assad, Trump, Ergoyan. We should start to call it The Alliance of Excellence.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/201...ight-now-214678 America, You Look (Exactly) Like An Arab Country Right Now The moment at which we felt real solidarity with the American people, though, was when we started hearing BBC reporters talking to your citizens with the patronizing tone they normally reserve for the Middle East. Correspondents were sent to far-flung corners of the United States to talk to farmers and factory workers to try to understand how they feel and to ask condescending questions. I’m from the British Broadcasting Corporation, are you familiar with the BBC? Where do you get your news from? Do you feel angry? Does religion play a role in how you are voting?. (The only thing missing were pictures of people with blue ink on their thumbs; please consider introducing that practice in the future.) There was talk, too, of rural strongholds and urban bastions. Deep social and geographic divisions whose origins go back in time. They’re not quite tribal divisions, but there was more than enough religious and political sectarianism to ignite our interest. Who are the liberals and the conservatives and how did their disagreement begin? What’s the difference between alt-right and the Tea Party? What’s the origin of the schism between the neo-conservatives and paleoconservatives? Watching foreign correspondents trying to explain the differences was mesmerizing. And then there’s the unrest. In the lead up to the inauguration, we started to hear about youth protests against the new regime. Come on! This is bordering on plagiarism now. Please write your own plots and stop borrowing ours. Although, we usually wait for leaders to take power before we start protesting; we like your preemptive revolution approach.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 22, 2017 -> 03:42 PM) Trump is a thin-skinned egomaniac, no doubt about that. For many decades now, he's never faced any opposition in the business world from anybody. Everybody's kissed his butt, so to speak for decades. America knew this and still elected him president. So big deal. If he can do the job, great. If he can't, well, the next election cycle will probably begin in 2.5 years. It will go by fast. So we shall see. But nobody should be surprised by his ego surfacing again and again. I just want results. Improve the economy, baby. Build up the military. improve health care. I'm willing to bet one of your houses that you will change your tune within a year. While I would love to be wrong....Greg, we currently have 19 aircraft carriers, China has one (built on a Russian shell) and is now building their first close to original one. #2 in the world has four. Don't you believe that instead of building ships the Navy isn't even asking for that it would be better to allocate tax revenues to Social Security and Medicare...programs designed to provide a safety net for American middle class families? And do you really want to go to war with China or, more likely, in the Middle East yet again?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix...m=.e1b88b944259 When lies become "fake news" and now we get Conway's "alternate facts" and unfortunately 1/4th or 1/3rd of the country is willing to believe them or look the other way. https://mobile.twitter.com/rascouet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw And of course the Twitter source for that insightful Trump media strategy outline is getting battered by right wing social media for not oublicly identifying the source or simply making things up to fit a narrative. "But I'm worried about tweeting now because I've been able to not be harassed much thus far and this might change now." You know things are bad when Nazi Germany/Maoist China/Russia/Mussolini come to mind on a daily basis as perfectly appropriate comparisons. Freedom of speech and the press are always the first to go. Educational indoctrination/destroying intellectual curiosity comes second.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 22, 2017 -> 12:39 PM) Unfortunately I dont see any way to break the cycle. Approximately 500 newspapers endorsed Clinton, approximately 27 endorsed Trump. A good portion of America just no longer accepts "facts". Yesterday on this board there was an argument about whether or not Clinton "won" the popular vote. Historically speaking this has happened before. After the fall of Rome, European society entered the "Dark Ages." Its starting to appear that we may be heading down that road. Otherwise why attack Science, etc? Even if you disagree with global warming, our society should still be investing money to determine the facts. We shouldnt just say "The Pope said the Earth is the center of the Universe, so it must be true." The idea of "alternate facts" is pretty scary. Not to mention the biggest driver of American greatness and innovation/ingenuity is Silicon Valley the last two decades. The inaugural address could just as easily been aimed at those entrepreneurs as it was at the Washington establishment. Fwiw, Trump's immigration and trade policies are supported by exactly one person out there, Peter Thiel. That's why all the talk about California leaving the US isn't completely as far-fetched as it sounds. Highly unlikely, but...well, the electoral college doesn't do much for them, does it?

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 22, 2017 -> 11:47 AM) f***. Double f***. The common thread with most of those Cabinet members and Paul Ryan is adherence to the tenets of Ayn Rand's philosophy. And we wonder why the GOP gets labeled as selfish, or only motivated by individual greed or advancement rather than societal progress.

Who me? Biased? Insightful video series by the NY Times. Peanut butter, jelly and racism. Implicit bias vs. Racism, and how they're different. https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/1000000048...and-racism.html Carter was a brilliant man but terribly ineffective president. We can't retroactively give his presidency points because of his honesty, integrity, charitable work like Habitat for Humanity, or Sunday school sermons...or diplomatic efforts even. To me, his biggest accomplishment/credit lies in the area of Mideast Peace negotiations, but everything else was pretty much a disaster. His term led to 12 consecutive years of GOP leadership of the presidency, not easy to pull off after Watergate for the Dems. But perceived weakness or let's call it softness on crime/death penalty and the military is largely attributable to this era of leaders in the party, whether we want to admit it or not. It's why Clinton/Gore were able to rise to power a generation later as Southern DLC moderates.

Alcohol has always been a part of the culture of baseball, look no further than Guillen and LaRussa. I suppose they could put something in all their contracts, but wouldn't you have to do that for all players, not just the Latin American ones? There's a fine line between safety and taking away individual freedoms. It's not like MLB is going to pay a subsidy for additional police checkpoints in all those countries, or have private security contractors/designated drivers stay with their players 24/7. I guess I'll believe it when I see it, like dealing with steroids, or the gun and domestic violence culture in the NFL. http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-colum...e128092259.html

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jan 22, 2017 -> 09:16 AM) of course they aren't. you think greg can handle complexities? Greg has appeared on the same number of Time Magazine covers as everyone else at SoxTalk. Richard Nixon, by the way, is first with 55. Not Trump. FDR second. HRC 19 times.

QUOTE (L. Ron Paultard @ Jan 22, 2017 -> 12:36 AM) . . America's status: 'saved' Never in doubt from June 2015 on. the Boss overcame 18 months' worth of wall-to-wall Orwellian propaganda + massive Dem voter-fraud + lack of conventional groundgame, ads, money, etc "Darth Voldermort McHitler" will be an amazing President. yay! Best part? Some of the most effective "pandering, urgent" lines in the final stretch of the campaign that won over key demos in swing states ( "Save America.... "this is it, one last chance".. .won't touch SS & Medicare for our wonderful seniors... no WW3 with Russia" preserve freedom of religion...speech...free internet for my Millenials" mexican drug epidemic + 20 trillion dollar debt consigning our daughters & granddaughters to a dark, hopeless future" etc, etc, etc) -----> were in part courtesy of yours truly. Miller, Bannon, KA et al notwithstanding not my field at all; just couldn't stay on the sidelines. so when a couple of friends asked...had to help save America from the impending hellish nightmare Kenyan traitor & Grandma Nixon, Soros-Alinsky pedo-satanists, et al conspired to create. truest story, haha considering how razor tight the race was in MI, WI, PA, & FL (they love their SS & Medicare in FL, amirite?).. ....that existentially-urgent, laser-focused messaging might have made all the difference Feels fantastic #SaveAmerica #MAGA https://www.instagram.com/p/BPgWi9iBsOD/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iotk6ES3ToY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoKnfWhdqDw . . Lol...that same deficit that is projected to have another $7 trillion added by Trump? Interesting for the first time in eight years there's no longer talk about fiscal responsibility and balancing the budget coming from Republicans. Oh, but you get access to the health care market but only if you have enough money because all the rates will go up 25-50% with 32 million disappearing from the rolls...or you'll be left with a bare bones policy that only is helpful in a dire emergency but not very practical for a growing middle class family. And glad to know the Republicans under Herbert Hoover, oops McCain and Romney, would have made the Great Recession into Great Depression II by not doing anything, letting banks (unless they're run by your hunting buddies) and automakers go bankrupt and creating a spiral effect in terms of unemployment and economic carnage by refusing to use government stimulus spending, the same exact thing that China did. Obviously private industry with no regulations was fully capable of solving all the problems themselves.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 22, 2017 -> 08:54 AM) FWIW the DJIA and "the economy" are not the same thing Yes, you have to look at the unemployment rate, GDP growth, CPI/inflation indexes as well as interest rates, home purchases, PPI, import/export numbers, balance of payments and trade deficit, etc.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 22, 2017 -> 08:52 AM) for some reason you keep assuming that people who went to the largest protest in US history, which was organized by women and primarily focused on a rejection of Trump, either didn't vote or voted for Trump. The numbers you brought up multiple times in this thread aren't really relevant beyond trying to make a smuggo point that doesn't really work. Trump did lose the female vote big amongst minority voters — 94 percent of black women voted for Clinton, as did 68 percent of Latino women, according to exit poll data. But nearly twice as many white women without college degrees voted for Trump than for Hillary, and of college-educated white women Hillary won by only a narrow margin — 51 percent supported Hillary, compared to 45 percent who supported Trump. Overall, 53 percent of white women voted for Trump, alongside 58 percent of white men who did so as well. http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld...illary-clinton/ I'm going to guess 75-80% of that crowd on the Mall was college-educated...if for no other reason than those with college degrees typically have much higher incomes and the ability to finance such a trip to DC. It's a good starting point for the Democratic version of the Tea Party to have 1 million in Washington, NYC and Chicago alone.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 22, 2017 -> 08:52 AM) for some reason you keep assuming that people who went to the largest protest in US history, which was organized by women and primarily focused on a rejection of Trump, either didn't vote or voted for Trump. The numbers you brought up multiple times in this thread aren't really relevant beyond trying to make a smuggo point that doesn't really work. Trump did lose the female vote big amongst minority voters — 94 percent of black women voted for Clinton, as did 68 percent of Latino women, according to exit poll data. But nearly twice as many white women without college degrees voted for Trump than for Hillary, and of college-educated white women Hillary won by only a narrow margin — 51 percent supported Hillary, compared to 45 percent who supported Trump. Overall, 53 percent of white women voted for Trump, alongside 58 percent of white men who did so as well. http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld...illary-clinton/ I'm going to guess 75-80% of that crowd on the Mall was college-educated...if for no other reason than those with college degrees typically have much higher incomes and the ability to finance such a trip to DC. It's a good starting point for the Democratic version of the Tea Party to have 1 million in Washington, NYC and Chicago alone.

First, it describes a reality that some but not most Americans perceive. As everyone who’s written about the economy in this Second Gilded Age, including me, has noted, far too many people are displaced, left behind, shortchanged, and dead-ended by the effects of technology and finance. That’s the human and economic challenge of this economic era, and it’s especially true for older people, less educated people, and those in some majority-white Appalachian and Rust Belt-locales where businesses have been closing rather than opening. But for most Americans, the past few years have represented economic progress rather than decline. (Employment; recently median-wage levels; inflation; financials; energy-production; manufacturing; trend in deficits; emissions; etc.) I’ll save the full “some-vs-most” arguments for another day but will cite these two illustrations: the strong popular-vote majority for what was essentially a continuation of current economic policies; and the classic Politico headline from the GOP convention. It was “GOP Delegates Say Economy Is Terrible—Except Where They Live.” Again, there’s more to say about these figures. But as the dominant theme in the speech, it represents pure rallying the base rather than reaching beyond. James Fallows, The Atlantic