caulfield12

QUOTE (mac9001 @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 10:07 PM) That was part of the reason I had my doubts, but as I sit here today there's no doubt in my mind they're going to win the house back and probably convincingly. The level of damage Trump has inflicted to the Republican party has already reached a breaking point and he still has a year left. I've had similar discussions and fell back on a belief that there wasn't sufficient backlash against the greater Republican establishment in the way the Tea Party represented a clear rejection of the policies being enacted by liberals. While the Republicans don't have any legislative achievements to create a similar liberal backlash they will eventually contribution to the damage Trump has inflicted by some degree of legislative political overreach. At this point in Obama's presidency there wasn't a overwhelming fear of a Republican mid-term wave, the fact we're sitting here and discussing that distinct possibility so early is a bad sign for Republican political prospects. One issue that has plagued Democrats despite their voting success with minorities is they've never really over performed from a demographic standpoint with the exception of an increased turnout rate amount African Americans during the Obama years. With the events that transpired today it gives Democrats a powerful message; if you're not white, we're your only hope. That's not a very good message, but fear is an equally powerful motivating factor to hope. Yeah, the second Clinton race (against Dole) would probably be the other example where the Dems did exceedingly well with African-American voters. But he ruined all that accrued good will during the 2008 South Carolina Primary with his wife vs. Obama.

QUOTE (mac9001 @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 09:29 PM) It's amazing how much damage Trump has managed in his short tenure in office. I didn't think Democrats had much of a chance in the 2018 mid-terms, but at this rate Trump will single handily deliver a wave in the Democrats favor. They don't even need a message or platform, they can stand ideally by and just let Trump continue his unraveling. Looking back I clearly gave the man too much credit. The signs of his bigotry were there, but when you put it on display in blatant fashion during a televised press conference it's completely unforgivable. I've been of the opinion he still had time to turn things around and establish some credibility to his presidency. But after today it's over, his political career is done, and it's now just a matter of how many people he's taking with him. The crazy thing is because of redistricting/gerrymandering (and the number of "safe" districts on BOTH sides) that the Dems still have probably only a 50/50 shot at winning back the House in 2018.

Would have waited until at least 2019 to do this...we also "won" a couple of off-seasons recently, only to have absolutely nothing to show for it.

How many at-bats does Moncada get at the big league level before they force him to hit lefty only? The only time he came close to not having a pronounced split was in 2015 (actually hit better from the RH side), his first year playing professional baseball. Jose Valentin comes to mind, but I believe his splits were even more dramatic than what Moncada's been doing in 2016 and 2017.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 08:30 PM) Why do we have statues honoring men who were treasonous to our country? You do not find this to be odd? On top of that, these men honored in statues were responsible for wanting to keep slavery and killed Americans to try to make that happen. So yeah, I can see why people would want to rip down these statues. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...w-colonies.html Abraham Lincoln wanted to ship freed black slaves away from the US to British colonies in the Caribbean even in the final months of his life, it has emerged. There's the problem of where do we draw the line???...which is the only point Trump made I would agree with, not necessarily comparing Robert E. Lee to Washington/Jefferson due to their slave-holding past (or having multiple children with Sally Hemings, etc.)

QUOTE (Brian @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 07:31 PM) Greg, ever hear of Central Park Five? Him refusing to rent to black people? He's said enough in the last year alone to prove he is. Maybe subconsciously but he's definitely a bigot. And it's probably not (100%) his fault...that belief system was even more thoroughly embraced by his father (Fred), and it certainly not uncommon with those who bought/sold/invested in real estate in NY from the 1950's through 1980's. Of course, none of that justifies or rationalizes away his espousing those same values as President of the United States, as opposed to the CEO/Chairman of a privately-held company.

Uh-oh (for Greg). https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politic...m=.c70b7c6c2ac3 Trump sides with the alt-right in Charlottesville That torchlight rally on Friday night, when protesters gave the Nazi salute, chanted “blood and soil” — a Nazi slogan — and “Jews will not replace us”? “I looked the night before,” Trump said. “If you look, they were people protesting very quietly the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. I’m sure in that group there were some bad ones. … But you had a lot of people in that group that were there to innocently protest and very legally protest, because you know — I don’t know if you know, they had a permit. The other group didn’t have a permit.” Both sides, he said, had some “very fine people” participating Saturday. After Trump’s initial statement on Saturday, white nationalist groups celebrated his positioning them on the same moral level as their opponents. For racists, that alone is a victory. After Tuesday’s news conference, he got another strong review in that vein from (none other than) David Duke.

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 07:01 PM) The thing is, it is so incredibly easy to make a statement as president that denounces the purpose of the march, reaffirms 1st amendment rights, and urges non violent resistance as seen by every president ever, and the gov/mayor in the situation. Don't let him off the hook. Had I asked you for a statement after the car act you would have put up a better response, and we aren't presidents with comms teams. We are just decent people. As a nation, we have to be stronger and united on the points which we agree and disagree upon...and one of the most paramount values of all democratic nations today is the belief that all men are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights. There is absolutely no room for the Nazi Party and those who follow that twisted belief system in any equation. Our parents and grandparents fought a World War which cost tens of millions of precious lives to ensure that the beacon of hope, equality and freedom would shine across all the continents in perpetuity. I, Donald J. Trump, therefore state unequivocally that there's no justification, rationale or defense for their actions, and we will not attempt to equate the two protesting sides as being equivalent in guilt or blame. Heather (forgot her last name) was simply walking across a street when her life was cruelly cut down by a misguided young man who was "out for blood." It is of paramount importance that we should work together from this point forward to make sure her life wasn't given in vain. We should reflect on the message that we want to send out to the rest of the world about what America symbolizes, and strive to live up to those ideals. Moreso, we should work together in our local communities, churches and non-profits to provide opportunities for all our young people to share in the American Dream, so that they aren't led astray by hate and divisiveness that simply ends up being counterproductive and, in this case, deadly.

Never thought I'd become a Marco Rubio fan (granted, a lot of it is probably politically-calculated for his next presidential run)... “We must be clear,” House Speaker Paul Ryan tweeted on Tuesday afternoon. “White supremacy is repulsive. This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity.” Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said the white supremacist rally organizers are “100% to blame” and that it’s dangerous to put some of the responsibility on the counter-protesters. “The #WhiteSupremacy groups will see being assigned only 50% of blame as a win.We can not allow this old evil to be resurrected,” Rubio tweeted. politico.com

Frame-wise, he's bigger than the likes of Pedro Martinez, Jose Ventura or Roy Oswalt. Stroman, Sale (weight) and Gio Gonzalez also come to mind. There are always going to be general rules and outliers in projecting starting pitchers.

How realistic is it for any conservative to expect protestors to simply "turn the other cheek" and practice non-violent resistance along the lines of Gandhi and MLK when they're getting mowed down in the streets? Even if they did, they would be ridiculed for being "soft" and "snowflakes," and the situation politically still wouldn't change to any appreciable degree. Other than being silent witnesses, what should liberals be doing in this time of national crisis, when appeasing the other side only is seen as a sign of weakness and leads to more emboldened actions like the protests planned by the alt-right in cities across the country this weekend? Politiely request the news media not cover them?

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 03:32 PM) I dont really know where most people on this site lean, because (imo) most of the arguments on this board actually arent left or right. Nobody really argues about free trade, immigration, etc. anymore. When those topics do come up, you would be surprised that most of the people on these boards have pretty different opinions. For the past year the majority of the posts/arguments (imo) have been anti-Trump. The problems start to arise because Democrats/left want to force Republicans/right to disassociate from Trump. So anytime Trump is an idiot, it leads to a similar argument "If youre a Republican youre okay with what happened." To be fair, I can only recall 1 poster on this site openly supporting Trump. I believe that, the association with Nazis/KKK etc) is mostly out of frustration because some people really believe that Trump is leading the US down a terrible path, and that no amount of alleged jobs, etc are worth the damage that he is doing. As an American, I feel that my credibility/respect takes a hit every day because of Trump. Its not a good feeling, especially when the person who is supposed to be our representative does not seem to care at all about how we are perceived. A lot of people have disliked my comments about GWB as compared to Trump, but it really just shows how far the country has fallen. I may not have agreed with GWB's ideas, but I think that beneath it all he was a good person trying to do his best. You see him having a good time with Michelle Obama, you see the respect that our former Presidents have for each other. And then you see Trump. And personally its hard for me to accept that anyone would support a party that willingly got into bed with him. And maybe it would be different if everyone rallied against Trump. But too often it seems (at least to me) that Republican's are willing to agree if they think it will help them in the end game. That bothers me, because certain things you have to stand against. Exactly. And the "liberals" literally can find at least 25 quick examples where Trump has done the opposite of what he claims below...as it pertains to minorities/immigrants (conflating them with terrorists/ISIS) and then deafening silence when the violence is perpetrated by whites. "I wanted to make sure, unlike most politicians, that what I said was correct, not make a quick statement," Trump said, calling his initial comment (Saturday) a "fine statement." He added: "I don't want to go quickly and just make a statement for the sake of making a political statement." The President subsequently called the driver of the car that drove through a crowd, killing one woman, a "murderer" then once again blamed both sides for the violence. "You can call it terrorism, you can call it murder. You can call it whatever you want," he said. "The driver of the car is a murderer and what he did was a horrible, horrible, inexcusable thing." "I didn't wait long. I didn't wait long. I wanted to make sure, unlike most politicians, that what I said was correct, not make a quick statement," Trump said Tuesday. "The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement, but you don't make statements that direct until you know the facts. It takes a little while to get the facts. You still don't know the facts and it is a very, very important process to me. It is a very important statement."cnn.com And doubling down by talking about "political correctness" removing statues of Washington, Jefferson (and perhaps even Lincoln one day) is hardly the most germane point here...

White nationalists are planning 9 rallies nationwide this weekend alone http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/15/us/white-nat...trnd/index.html 4th CEO/exec quits Trump council/s, pressure mounts on others remaining http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/15/investing/...ntel/index.html

Educational outcomes across all races are nearly identical when the parents have roughly the same educational and wealth/income controls set in place...or we can look at the cases of thousands of babies from different ethnic groups that have thrived after being placed for adoption with extremely successful/wealthy families of any race, creed or sexual orientation. Heck, according to standardized test scores, Chinese are the best (smartest?) students in the world by about an average of 50-75 points on the SAT or PISA exams. But it has a lot more to do with working twice or three times as hard as white students as it has any correlation with genetics or this concept of superior/dominant races.

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/confederate-statu...topstories.html Confederate statue toppled in Durham, NC...more coming down in other Southern cities as well.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/14/politics...oups/index.html Seven key charts explain US hate groups

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/201...-victims-215489 White nationalist groups stunned that the police didn't have their backs... “I have never felt like the government or police were against me,” said white nationalist leader Richard Spencer at a small news conference inside his home here on Monday afternoon. “There has never been a situation in my life when I’ve felt this way.” Jason Kessler, the Charlottesville rally’s organizer, was also reeling. “This has changed everything,” he said. “I thought that the police would uphold constitutional law no matter what.” Kessler claimed the city’s police failed to follow through on plans for protecting the rally that they had discussed with him. He also said that during planning for the rally, one police captain divulged to him that authorities were communicating about the event using their personal emails to avoid Freedom of Information Act requests. Following Saturday’s violence, Kessler attempted to hold a news conference on Sunday in front of Charlottesville’s City Hall but was foiled by anti-racism demonstrators, some of whom physically attacked him. Kessler criticized Virginia state troopers — who intervened after a scuffle broke out — for not taking more proactive steps to protect him.

A stunning 50% of the CEOs, executives, government officials and academics surveyed at the Yale CEO Summit in June gave Trump an "F" for his first 130 days in office. Just 1% gave him an "A." source: cnn.com

Seems we're going to have to back and argue THE BELL CURVE from 1994 all over again. Sigh. An unnamed Indian diplomat told Bobby Ghosh, the editor-in-chief of the Hindustan Times: "We regard Ivanka Trump the way we do half-wit Saudi princes. It's in our national interest to flatter them.”

More domestic terrorism, this time in Oklahoma... OKC - A 23-year-old man who was "out for blood" when he attempted to detonate what he believed was an explosives-laden van outside an Oklahoma bank in a plot similar to the deadly 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, authorities said Monday. During a meeting with undercover FBI agents in June, Jerry Drake Varnell of Sayre, Oklahoma, said he held "3% ideology" and wanted "to start the next revolution," a reference to the "Three Percenters" patriot movement — begun in 2008, galvanized by President Barack Obama's election — and that has rallied against gun control efforts and pledges resistance to the federal government over the infringement of constitutional rights. According to their website (3percent.org): During the American Revolution, the active forces in the field against the King's tyranny never amounted to more than 3% of the colonists. Three percenters today, for the most part, identify with this 3% because they were true patriots fighting for the freedoms the nation we love and honor was founded on. Three percenters intend to maintain their God-given natural rights to liberty and property. History itself, for good or ill, is made by determined minorities. Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed citizens to change the world. Indeed, it has never been done otherwise.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 07:37 PM) Yea, they're all cinches. That's the kind of dreamland in which the Sox lived in 2015-2016....at least this time it is with young players, with their better years ahead of them. With all the Sox had to trade, this should not be a 5 year rebuild. That's why we made the playoffs four consecutive years (2003-04-05-06)...because of that amazing 2000 prospect class that was ranked #1.

Any confirmation or just speculation?

QUOTE (soxfan49 @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 06:49 PM) Hansen has a 2.72 ERA this year. Am I missing something about him "not being good?" His last start, holding on any runners and potentially tipping pitches (not sure this was his last start or a general concern)...nothing about the overall quality of his stuff, though.

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=...=0&sort=9,d Moncada closing in on a 35% strikeout rate after today. Going to be something to follow with Davidson, Yoan, Adam Engel, Tim Anderson, etc. Yoan still putting up overall positive defensive numbers and a 0.3 fwar. 704 ops.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Aug 13, 2017 -> 04:48 PM) Strange Sox, I have a suggestion. Tomorrow is Monday. Get up and go to work and on the way maybe help someone out; either hold the door for someone in a wheelchair, give $20 or $100 to a homeless person. Then at work, tell somebody they are doing a good job at something. Then help somebody out on the way home and maybe call your mom and tell her thanks for all the sacrifices she made for you. Maybe not those exact things if they don't apply to you but you get the idea. You'll feel good about your day and you'll do more for humanity in one single day than all the days added together of being a part of demagoguery. You'll help more people in one day than all the shouting and labeling could ever achieve. You'll also realize that most people are like this every day and live in this humane version of the world that isn't on the news. You'll notice that there really isn't blatant racism everywhere, or misogyny, or bigotry. It's just on TV where they choose to point the cameras. It's a beautiful time to be alive, go help somebody that needs it, if you are able. Love you brother. Appeasement. That's what the Trump administration would love for everyone to do. Normalize and accept him and go about our collective business like absolutely nothing is out of the ordinary. Then, in the end, the fight to defeat those forces just gets bigger and bigger the longer it gets kicked down the road. Even if Trump is not there, Mike Pence would still be the clear favorite and the same dynamics would largely be at play in terms of either turning back the clock OR fighting for progressive causes.