caulfield12

Because they have consistently higher math and science scores than US students. They prioritize education. They don't accept teachers for certification programs who aren't in the top ten percent of their classes. They pay those teachers an upper middle class salary so they don't have to work two jobs or teach summer school. Second, how can the greatest country in the world with the best doctors, medical schools and modern technology/equipment have such poor outcomes? In those countries, the pharmaceutical and insurance companies don't overrun the system and blow up costs. Heck, even in Canada, Mexico or Cuba the same drugs are 10-15% of the cost for the same drug in America. How is that logical? How can we be back to aspiring to be a country where only the rich and upper medical class have access to quality health care under the GOP? How is our prison system logical, compared to that of Norway? http://www.businessinsider.com/why-norways...cessful-2014-12 Read this article or refer to Michael Moore's Where Do We Invade Next? Can you argue that our education, health care and prison systems are better in any measureable way than those countries? A final argument. Those countries (along with Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Singapore, etc.) always end up higher on "happiness/living standards" surveys. How do you explain why this has consistently been the case for a couple of decades DESPITE the winter weather that citizens from that region of the world have to suffer through for 5-6 months every year? Or just use your eyes. People there participate in sports year round...even in the winter. Much better physical conditioning. It's that Nordic look that was the Aryan model so desired by the Nazis/Hitler. Of course, aesthetics is always going to be subjective...but most people in Middle America could learn a thing or two from the diets and nutrition regimens of people from lots of areas outside the US.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/11/opinions/tru...nley/index.html Trump Nailed It (press conference analysis)

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/us/polit...WT.nav=top-news How a Sensational, Unverified Dossier Became a Crisis for Donald Trump

How is it helpful to have a late inning/high leverage reliever with control problems? Seems the main reason you see guys get converted to the pen is their repertoire is limited and/or they can't get their secondary stuff over for strikes/K's. Another obvious reason is they have a dominant fastball with movement (see someone like Mike MacDougal.) Not sure how conversion to relief will "fix" Glasnow, especially if the problems are mechanical more than psychological.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 11, 2017 -> 10:51 PM) Look, my position on Trump is clear. I did not vote for him. BUT I did not vote for Hillary. I feel she is just as bad as Trump, yes I do. My other statement is if they can find something REAL to impeach him on, by all means do so. I am not in favor of Pence replacing him. I am in favor of Obama remaining president a year (if Trump did something illegal with the Russians and Pence is on the same ticket so he can't take over) and an emergency election next November if Trump is kicked out of office. You say the logical succession would apply here and Pence has to be President. I say IF Trump is guilty of something, this is unprecedented, hence Congress should be able to concoct my scenario in a national emergency. This isn't the Revolutionary War. What is the "national emergency?" Lack of faith in government and elections? Well, that's been the case since 1968 and definitely since Watergate. We can't just change the US Constitution (in this case, an amendment) and allow Obama to stay on another year. We also can't change the fact that they would have to PROVE Mike Pence was involved in SOMETHING REAL (in other words, colluded or was part of a conspiracy with Russia) and that would make Paul Ryan of Wisconsin the president. In terms of impeachment, we do have Clinton, Nixon (if not for preemptive resignation), Andrew Johnson...but that's IT. John Tyler came awfully close. 2/45 works out to be about 4.4%. None have been ultimately successful. The House impeached Johnson on February 24, 1868, three days after he dumped his secretary of war, a radical Republican named Edwin M. Stanton, allegedly in violation of the Tenure of Office Act. The U.S. Senate acquitted Johnson later that year by a narrow margin. Johnson was spared conviction and ouster from office by a single vote. See JFK book "PROFILES IN COURAGE" for more details, Greg. Why Impeachment Isn't More Common Impeachment is a very somber process in American politics, one that has been used sparingly and with the knowledge that lawmakers enter it with an extraordinary burden of proof. The result, the removal of an American president chosen by the citizenry, is unprecedented. Only the most serious of offenses should ever be pursued under mechanisms for impeaching a president, and they are spelled out in the Constitution of the United States: "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

What was the statistic, after FDR, and the Clinton/Reagan years....Obama's eight years have seen the most job growth/creation in the last 100 or so years? There's no doubt the lower middle class has been hollowed out (even more), but to say Republicans weren't generally happy with the economy under Obama, or that their retirement/investments decreased, would be borderline nutty. Now, of course there are those pockets of workers in Iowa, WI, MI, OH, PA...who aren't so happy, but that's just part of the process that started LONG AGO under Reagan/Bush and is finally winding down in terms of those manufacturing/industrialized blue collar or labor jobs being outsourced to other countries. Without globalization, those same families who voted for Trump would be paying 25-50% more for their I-phones and typical Wal-Mart purchases. In turn, as those developing economies that are taking on the burden of manufacturing improve their economic efficiency, they end up becoming consumers for value-added products from the US, Europe, SE Asia, etc. Theoretically.

#FAKENEWSHASINFECTEDSOXTALK

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 11, 2017 -> 09:31 PM) Um...I have a different and fairly obvious alternate theory about why the FBI might not have been investigating Donald Trump... Well, let's wait and see how many of the top FBI echelon maintain their positions...that should be telling. Interestingly, the new season of HOMELAND is based on the "presidential transition" between election and inauguration, but their hypothetical example has an isolationist/negotiations over "boots on ground" (think female Rand Paul) as President-Elect. Deals with the issue of the CIA and NSA trying to maintain their own clandestine/black ops in the face of a soon-to-be oppositional leadership on foreign policy.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 11, 2017 -> 09:35 PM) Anywho, a BBC reporter wrote this today seemingly attaching a bit more credibility? What's the Eastern European version of Interpol? Or that means a "spy shop" working out of an autonomous Eastern European nation? I would think the Baltic States, in particular, would be interested in anything they can dredge up on Russia, Trump and/or their connection/s.

If you're the Braves, and your scouting is on point, aren't you thinking that giving all those prospects at least another year to "percolate" will give you even more weapons in your arsenal to trade from a year from now? Especially when there will more trade options on the table, as well as FA's available to use as leverage in trade negotiations? Is Q that compelling (compared to Archer/Gray) that you can't wait until at least mid-season and most likely into the off-season? The only reason for the "rush" is the belief that all those teams like the Astros, Pirates, Yankees, Rockies, Dodgers, etc., aren't willing to pay Hahn's price...and that a "slight overpay" (but not the Shelby Miller equivalent) would be warranted because of Quintana's more flexible contract for a "mid market" payroll team like ATL? STILL, in the first year of a new stadium, would the Braves winning 78 games vs. 68 games even make much of a difference financially? You can at least understand the argument (especially going by Hawks/Falcons/past Braves' attendance) that there's a NOT insignificant amount of pressure to be competitive for the second year in the new stadium...but why NOW?

This begs the question why the FBI, at the behest of the Obama administration, didn't begin a more formal investigation of Trump a long time ago? One would guess that it's because nobody took seriously how much of a threat Trump was to actually win the election. If Hillary hadn't been "leading" for much of the 18 months prior to November, one wonders if they would have taken a different (albeit more political) approach. https://www.yahoo.com/news/marco-rubio-gril...-174525761.html The scariest part of this whole article is that Dr. Ben Carson and especially Jeff Sessions are in the "top half" in terms of the future Cabinet popularity ratings. Tillerson at the bottom, unsurprisingly. Of course, it's almost human nature for Americans to consider military leaders to be more likable than typical Wall Street/finance/banking figures in the last 10-15 years.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/the-man-behind-t...-004221154.html The man behind the Trump dossier (now named) was a former British spy and trusted FBI asset Still, U.S. officials said the allegations were not easily dismissed, in part because Steele was a known quantity who had produced reliable information about Russia in the past. “He’s a meticulous professional, and there are no questions about his integrity,” said one U.S. official who has worked with Steele. “The information he provided me [about Russia] was valuable and useful.” A senior law enforcement official declined to talk about the nature of Steele’s relationship with the FBI. But the official confirmed that he was known to the FBI and that the bureau had already obtained copies of his reports months before Sen. John McCain handed FBI Director James Comey a dossier of Steele’s material in December. Asked why a two-page summary of the uncorroborated reports was included as part of last week’s intelligence briefing on Russian hacking, the official said that “it was an intelligence community decision” to do so after officials learned that his reports had been widely circulating among members of Congress and journalists. “It seemed very clear that these were going to see the light of day in the next couple of weeks,” the official said. The conclusion was that “it might be a good idea to tell [Trump] about them before they were publicly released.” The official declined to share U.S. officials’ current thinking about the reliability of the material, saying it is still being investigated. “It’s part of the larger look at the Russian influence campaign,” the official said. Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said the decision to include the material in the briefing was justifiable in light of the expectation that it was likely to leak. “Are you going to tell the guy?” Hayden said, referring to Trump. “You almost owe it to him.” Besides the news media, other intelligence services were likely to get their hands on the material. “It’s awkward, but duty kind of dictates that you tell him.” Still, Hayden added, the rules about what intelligence to share — or not share — appear to be shifting in the Trump era. “We’re off the map here,” he said. All that begs the question of what the public should make of Steele’s reports, in light of the “hall of mirrors” atmosphere that surrounds much intelligence reporting about the Kremlin. The format of the reports tracks the writings of professional intelligence reports, with each claim tied to a particular source, even if the sources (per standard procedure) are never identified. Steve Hall, a former top Russia operations officer for the CIA until 2015, said he found aspects of Steele’s reports to be credible, especially as they related to the Kremlin’s plans for hacking the U.S. election. “I find some of it indeed has the ring of truth,” said Hall. But, he added, “other parts of it are problematic.”

The idea that Sean Rodriguez or a Brandon Phillips "rent-a-player" would be blocking Albies long-term seems pretty far-fetched. The Braves are ATTEMPTING to be competitive this year, but they know their window won't begin until 2018 at the earliest, and more likely 2019.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 11, 2017 -> 05:59 PM) I just can't get over the Senator Cotton story that he purposely held back an Obama nomination who had been consistently blocked nad then was dying of leukemia and he still blocked her just because "he knew it would cause Obama pain" https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/07/opinion/...hopes.html?_r=0 There's the classic "inside the Beltway" story...she was to be Ambassador to the Bahamas of all places, Cassandra Butts was her name https://www.yahoo.com/tv/trump-press-confer...-174157523.html A t.v. critic/reviewer takes on the assignment of assessing Trump's first press conference..."A HOSTILE GAS LEAK" Once he began calling on reporters, the salient headline answer would seem to be an admission that “I think it was Russia” that was behind the election-period hacks. Later, on the same subject, Trump gave a slightly incoherent answer about Russian president Vladimir Putin; its meaning slid through his syntax: “He shouldn’t have done it, I don’t believe he’ll be doing it more, now.” And, never one to leave a grudge untended, Trump freshened his oldie about Hillary Clinton: “Does anyone in this room think Hillary would be tougher on Russia than me? Gimme a break.” Dillon’s (Trump lawyer on the conflict of interest "non-issue") news conference interruption was as long and tedious as you’d imagine from any lawyer reading a lot of legal jargon and redundancy (e.g., “he will hire an expert in the field of recognized experts”). It served another purpose: It ate up time, limiting the number of questions Trump would answer. In the conference’s most hostile exchange, Trump refused to take a question from CNN’s Jim Acosta, dismissing him as “fake news.” When the press conference was over, it was left to Jake Tapper to explain the context of Trump’s animosity, and to note that this was nothing less than “an attempt to discredit [a] legitimate news organization.” (note: even FOX NEWS is defending CNN, talk about surreal!) Asked what the impending repeal of the Affordable Care Act would be replaced with, Trump gave the standard Trump-and-Republican Party line of gassy vagueness: “You’re gonna be very, very proud of what we put forth. Obamacare is a complete and total disaster. … it’ll be repealed and replaced … it’ll be almost simultaneous. … It’s very complicated stuff. … We’re gonna take care of health in this country. … We’re going to have a plan that is far less expensive and far better.” In other words, no specific answer. From today’s press conference, it looks as though the Trump Show that debuted during the campaign will continue, with minimal tweaks, into a new season. Same format, same content.

Probably means watching Moncada in another uniform, the wrong Sox?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 11, 2017 -> 05:13 PM) Sen. Tom Cotton on Corey Booker https://twitter.com/SenTomCotton/status/819...src=twsrc%5Etfw Not unlike the Japanese after WWII, someone forgot to send the memo that the Civil War was actually over. And at least Atticus Finch had the good sense to be polite.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 11, 2017 -> 11:36 AM) he's also right here: Luckily, he can't launch any ICBM strikes for 9 days. And luckily for Mexico, Carlos Slim will be spared...."great guy, terrific guy, we're going to do business together, lots of potential deals on the table."

Invoking God...will be the greatest jobs creator ever made by God? What? This is insane. Going after Podesta, taking shots at Hillary and the DNC for their security....nothing is surprising when the day began with comparisons to Nazi Germany. That germaphobe comment to deflect from the golden showers? Nobody cares about his taxes? It's only reporters, sure. Stating over and over again he can't have a conflict of interest....no ties to Russia? Cmon. Eric and Donald Jr. will never talk to him and will be sequestered in a soundproof booth? You'd think he was giving a press conference for winning the Nobel Prize in every possible category. America is doomed.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 11, 2017 -> 09:24 AM) Can't help but read this and realize if this is fabricated info it will serve russian interests in that he will continue to believe any info from them over our own intel. On the other hand, if he continues to completely ignore it....the likes of McCain, Graham, Cruz, Rand Paul, Rubio, etc., will hold his feet to the fire. And how exactly would they prove it was fabricated at this point, anyway? There's just way too much smoke out there now to easily get past it by calling it "fake" news.

Trump is going to get massacred in 35 minutes. No way he keeps his cool.

http://m.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article/213...s-at-mini-camp/ Moncada displays skills at mini camp in Glendale.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/world/eu...ussia.html?_r=0 The murky Carter Page and his ties to Russia.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 10, 2017 -> 09:46 PM) Senate GOP blocks Sanders on preventing entitlement cuts http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/sena...ntitlement-cuts Kudos to Susan Collins, I guess?

QUOTE (Al Lopez's Ghost @ Jan 10, 2017 -> 10:39 PM) Where are we gonna find 8-10 mid-tier prospects? I was just joking. With our recent luck, Trout would probably suffer a Bo Jackson-esque injury.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jan 10, 2017 -> 10:20 PM) I'd say he is. Braves are probably looking to win in 2018 and may think of themselves as a sleeper for 2017. He's not worth much at all to the Sox, except as currency. The question is whether he's worth more to the Braves than to the Pirates, Astros or Yankees. That, I would doubt. But there's a legitimate case to be made for the White Sox contending in 2019 and 2020 if this plays out the way many are hoping. At least for the moment, it doesn't feel like this trade gets done until June/July.