caulfield12

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 29, 2016 -> 08:47 AM) BETSY DEVOS, TRUMP’S BIG-DONOR EDUCATION SECRETARY https://thinkprogress.org/meet-mike-pompeo-...e2ac#.c1ks91xvs And thus, we can tie DeVos, the Koch Brothers, Mike Pompeo (CIA nominee) and Kris Kobach (immigration/Homeland Security) all together in a neat little bundle. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_T._Flynn See "Retirement" Mattis, Flynn and Petraeus were 3 of 5 "warrior class" generals named by Fiorina...along with McChrystal and Keane.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 29, 2016 -> 06:42 AM) Trump's infrastructure plan is a bunch of tax breaks, not actual projects https://www.google.com/amp/www.cbsnews.com/...android-verizon In fairness, the Republicans refuse to spend any new money on infrastructure so there has to be some creativity involved...the obvious problem is that most of the benefits will fall into Top 1% hands, bondholders, banks....bridge and highway tolls, everything privatized. Of course, they're perfect willing to increase defense spending and wipe out 75% of the social safety net.

http://observer.com/2016/11/republicans-th...mented/?ref=yfp NYC and Trump administration on a collision course on immigration...

Still won't get Benitendi and Moncada together as a package even by including Frazier. The Red Sox still have plenty of options for 3B and DH that are less costly...both internally and in free agency. We should pick the one with the highest ceiling and then build rest of the package around him. Probably Moncada.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/trumps-tacti...-194518444.html Trump's tactics for saving jobs could kill them instead

5. White Sox Since winning it all just over a decade ago, the team has imploded so spectacularly that even its few loyal fans have since applied for conscientious objector status. The Apathy-O-Meter at Guaranteed Rate Field seems permanently stuck at 11. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the Sox actually did bring home hardware in 2016, as they were awarded the coveted Guinness Book of World Records plaque for most dogs attending a sporting event. I think the front office needs to come to terms with the fact that canine Sox fans might outnumber human ones. For a team near the bottom of the standings in both wins and attendance, it’s hard to argue against running the Bark at the Park promotion more often—although I’m not sure PETA would let the poor pups be subjected to more than nine innings of Sox baseball. http://www.redeyechicago.com/sports/redeye...mp;noRedirect=1

Also would be ironic to give it to Petraeus when Giuliani and Christie were disqualified due to work for foreign governments and Bridgegate ties (not to mention the Kushner Sr. prosecution) respectively.

Christina Kahrl on what the Giants should do if they can't afford Cespedes/elite closer: My thought? Place a priority on getting one of the closers on the market. And then, to give the offense a boost, I’d be fascinated to see the Giants go to the Minnesota Twins to talk about Brian Dozier, because second base is a place where the Giants don’t have a long-term financial commitment, yet they could make a massive upgrade on offense without having to spend anything like what it would cost in cash to buy Cespedes on the open market to add a right-handed power bat. Start with second baseman Joe Panik and shortstop Christian Arroyo, put Ty Blach and whoever else from the prospect pile into the conversation on the pitching side of things, and see if the Twins listen. And maybe then get in on a late-market loser from among the many corner outfielders on the market, any one of whom might settle for signing short-term with San Francisco to get a shot at winning, having failed to get the huge multiyear money he expected. But if the Twins don’t talk and the closers walk, go to the Chicago White Sox to talk about a multiplayer package to get David Robertson to close and Adam Eaton or Melky Cabrera to play left. http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/...all-in-for-2017

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Nov 28, 2016 -> 06:05 PM) Insurrection? Doubtful. They are silent as he refills the swamp. When working class voters start deciding if they like the "replaced Obamacare," and their new tax rates/disposable income, then we'll have a bit clearer picture. Of course, immigration was the single biggest issue for Trump, along with trade, so he'll have to toss them some type of red meat in the first 2 years. Mitt Romney as SoS will not be it. I guess the other issue is waiting for the actual confirmation hearings themselves in the New Year, and seeing which candidates the Dems go after the most. Right now, Sessions is the most obvious flashpoint, and CIA/Pompeo, although senators typically don't like to go after one of their own (unless they're the opposing party). Petraeus hearings could be interesting as well, if that's the pick. Ben Carson, if he's nominated. The typical arguments with DeVos about school choice/voucher programs that have been going on for 20-30 years. But my intuition says they'll really pinpoint the 2-3 most egregious and go after them.

Pence as president would lead to a insurrection from Trump voters who wanted to drain the swamp and ended up with a typical Republican "social values/military first" leader. Great for the Dems in 2020, perhaps safer for the world but perhaps hard to say if it would be better for the country or nor. Tough choice. It would be an an interesting battle, with Pence hemmed in on both sides but technically in country of every wing of the US government, including the Supreme Court. The biggest Roe v. Wade challenge would be coming, at a time when the economy is 10x more important to 85-90% of the country.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Nov 28, 2016 -> 03:30 PM) Agreed. I don't think anything comes of it, but then again I didn't expect any of this election to play out as it did. I'm guessing the next move is that Pence becomes president in a year or two, due to a number of possible scenarios. 25th Amendment, Section 4 http://theweek.com/speedreads/664168/keith...re-donald-trump

His talking point actually should have been that there wasn't a gun involved...except for law enforcement.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/delta-ceo-calls-...-181824872.html One can just about guarantee Trump will go after Delta Airlines now. Sigh. https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/rosie-odonn...-215931968.html Or Rosie O'Donnell over the "Baron Trump might be autistic" video...with Melania threatening to sue the video's producer, who simply wanted to bring more attention to the cause (more like a PSA intent) but probably over-speculated based on Baron's mannerisms and then it started getting viewed by 3 million and Rosie jumped in as well having her own autistic child. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cuban-dumb-e...-172209145.html Cuban: Trump is basically playing the MSM with every single "controversial" appointment...

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 28, 2016 -> 02:41 PM) I'm speaking for him, but I worry that they will prematurely "accelerate" the rebuild ala 15 and trade away some of the depth for lateral moves. Just look at some of these rumored players for Sale. I don't want to be mean to Fulmer, who is still developing, but if we had not gone for it in 15, we'd have 2 more players on the farm due to not losing compensatory picks and would have picked earlier in the draft (likely) that netted Alex Bregman, Andrew Benintendi, Kyle Tucker and Dansby Swanson. Impossible to know if we would have been bad enough to see these results, but how much better would you feel about state of sox if we had just debuted Anderson and Bregman, had a 20 home run second baseman in Semien, and Abreu as 1b. That's why I don't want to rush, get a group to develop and let them develop before trading them in for more. A cost-controlled 26 year-old Semien who just hit 27 homers in a much bigger park than USCF.

If you are 81-81, you lose those two years the Cubs had of drafting Bryant and Schwarber. And the White Sox can't afford to play the free agency market as it stands, so they absolutely need to hit on two more Top 10 draft picks for this to actually work. It's all a numbers game. Trading the remaining pieces other than Anderson and maybe Rodon/Earon gives them lots of lottery tickets and then theoretically two close to 'surer things' at the top of the draft. To spend on the open market for that type of talent is cost-prohibitive, and almost all of those expensive players are staring at the downside of their careers with a few rare exceptions like Trout, Harper and Machado.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/28/politics/pus...ions/index.html Members of the GOP already being forced to turn on Trump again... Let's see, we have Cuban-American relations completely being thrown back up into the air (what is our policy there going to be, exactly?), Native Americans protesting a pipeline that Trump owns stock in, Syria, voter fraud/recount...immigration wars now with the OSU incident and Trump's unfounded allegations, and he's not even president yet. It's only Monday. And, oh yeah, another former Trump campaign manager in hot water for having an opinion, this time Conway on the Romney for SoS position. http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/28/politics/tru...mney/index.html Then we have Conway/Giuliani vs. Priebus/Romney vs. Bannon. Not to mention the de-facto Chief of Staff is really Kushner, with Trump being pulled in three different directions (establishment GOP, far right with Bannon and somewhere in the middle with his son-in-law). That's not going to end well for two of them.

Next, we'll have conspiracy theories he was influenced by ISIS. Because what better way to get closer and closer to drawing the US back into direct engagement...which leads to a cycle of more publicity and fundraising? Let's say Trump does manage to close off all immigration from Muslim and terrorism-related countries. With all of those people he's bringing in on national security/defense, they will merely counsel for the US to be completely isolationist and stand idly by while the Middle East completely falls apart when...in the eyes of Republicans...Trump/Clintons and not Bushes are to blame for the destabilization? Especially when the GOP is once again calling for massive increases in defense spending? Thankfully he didn't have a gun or assault rifle.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2...ry.html?ref=yfp $2.5 million donated by Kushner's father to help get Jared into Harvard. Senators Kennedy and Lautenberg enrolled in influencing effort, as well.

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/uselecti...ps-victory.html Duterte is already taking a more conciliatory to the US after the Trump victory. Coincidence? http://wksu.org/post/big-overlap-between-t...policy#stream/0

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/clinton-play...-222300204.html Trump potentially threatening to go after Clintons now after the recount process started...surprise surprise. Banana Republic here we come. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-trump-we...-121500552.html Why Trump and the US are better off with a recount....not to mention debunking the fallacy that he would/could have won the popular vote.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 27, 2016 -> 05:41 PM) You have told us time and time again Nate Jones is terrible, even as a supposed White Sox fan, hoping he would fail miserably in a closer role in 2017. If he is so bad, why would any team give up anything of significance to acquire him? So White Sox fans can only predict their players will do well in the future, and to doubt anyone's ascendancy is treason, lol? I don't believe Nate Jones will succeed as a closer, but he's overvalued as a reliever right now and so you might as well take advantage of that market. Of course, I've also been arguing for the last two years that Robertson should have been traded and that he's not worthy of his "elite" salary as well, but you didn't mention that (as there were MANY fans arguing that save totals were not as important as his peripherals)...and now we're to the point where we'd be lucky to get a Tilson back for him, if that. In the end, there are also too many medical red flags with his delivery/mechanics. When you have relievers throwing in the mid to upper 90's, it's usually going to be a better move to sell high on them, rather than waiting for them to break down like Jenks, Crain, Petricka, Putnam, etc. The White Sox haven't mastered the Beane/A's art of flipping overvalued reliever talent for something even more valuable. To go back a decade, we also turned MacDougal, Aardsma, Sisco, Dotel and Linebrink into what? Mostly salary write-offs.

Let's not forget George W. Bush's ownership of the Rangers. While not being ex-presidents, there are numerous Big 4 sports owners with obvious ties to politics, starting with Mark Cuban. Trump owned the New Jersey Generals USFL team. Also, look no further than the Ricketts Family donations to the GOP and/or Trump campaign (at the end, after first crossing him) this past election cycle.

Good luck when you start rounding up people on the streets and following through on your deportations threat. Separating families who have been here together 10+ years is really going to help create more jobs, too. The irony is that Ryan/Norquist want to sneak in and change the tax code, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which almost nobody voted for as a set of policies...while continuing to raise military spending. Something has to give, and the most likely target is the social safety net since those poor people are assumed not to vote or Dems. But start touching the Holy Grail of those three programs and substituting even higher out of pocket costs and less services in the Obamacare tradeoff, good luck. The campaign was about immigration and trade policy.

The debt problem was the $400+ million load/service they started the acquisition with...although losing $166 million the last three years hasn't helped. Sale and Frazier with Urias and Puig and prospects coming back still makes sense. Or Nate Jones, even moreso.

This is more troubling. Anti-Clinton stories/propaganda planted by Russia were viewed well over 213,000,000 times over social media. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/report-russi...-180751117.html That has to be a significant part of the explanation for how the GOP was able to get away with spending significantly less than HRC on advertising the last 2-3 months. https://www.yahoo.com/tech/russian-propagan...-212747217.html