Guard Dog

It seems the new trend is extension not free agents. Snell, Goldshmidt, Trout, Lowe, Arenado all signed extensions. Bleacher Report says Rendon, Gregorius, & Bogaerts are all talking to thir clubs (Yankees & Red Sox) about extensions.

I am very much a fan of ranked choice voting. But it will never happen so long as the D & R have an absolute monopoly on the political process. If we are ever going to see 3rd & 4th parties in this country we are going to have to force them down their throats by actually VOTING for them and getting over this stupid notion that by refusing two terrible choices we are somehow "wasting" our vote. Setting aside the Democrat dream of popular vote elections the thing they are talking about that concerns me the most as adding six more Supreme Court Justices. That is much ore do-able and is nothing less than a naked grab for power.

I have come to the conclusion I mostly suck at this farming thing. Oh it's not growing veggies. I've got that part down pat. It's the animal part. A few years back I bought a pair of male rabbits for the pot. They both died of old age and lived in a heated house with daily treats their whole time. About two years ago I bought chickens. One of them has grown into a fine black and red rooster I never named because he was destined for the dinner table. Well, he has taken a liking to me in a very un-rooster like fashion. He follows me all over the place when I'm working in the back yard. After I fed them and rounded them up last night and raided the laying boxes for eggs he was eating pumpkin seeds out of my hand. Well.... I think h's probably upgraded his future prospects. I don't know where the line between pet and livestock is but I always seem to find myself on the pet side of it.

And on that note... Guard Dog, how do you feel about (the mostly Democrat-led) effort to eliminate the electoral college in favor of using the popular vote to elect the president instead? Depends on how they do it. If the try to amend the Constitution it will never happen. You have to get 2/3 of the states who will by utterly marginalized to agree to become backwater provinces of the great empire of Californianewyorkistan. Now if they want to do what Colorado, Oregon and a few other states are doing an award the states electors to the winner of the popular vote that is their prerogative. How each state determines it's electors is up to each state. But I can pretty much tell you the moment that (popular vote) benefits a Republican over a Democrat there will be great wailing and gnashing of teeth and probably put an end to it. But thankfully that can be reversed if the citizens of that state feel it should be

And then there is this: https://www.studyfinds.org/survey-half-americans-dont-know-what-first-amendment-protections/ "The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill

The Reform Party didn't exist until after 1992. Perot ran as an independent. And the current rules for ballot access were changed in many states in the years since. Not a good comparison. And voting against a candidate is a perfectly valid choice. I've voted against someone my entire life until 2008. I liked McCain so I did vote FOR him so he was the first. And unless something unexpected happens he will be the last Republican that ever gets my vote. But voting for the lesser evil, it's killing us long term. Who was the last President whose leadership you really respected? Has there even been one in your lifetime? Of course Johnson wasn't a good candidate. He wouldn't have made a good President. But he was never going to BE president. A vote for Johnson was a vote for someone running in 2020, 2024. It was a vote for congressional and state candidates who would have benefited from the millions of dollars of donations that is now dedicated to refighting the ballot access battle. And you are in one of the best positions of all. You can vote with a clear conscience. No matter who is running the winner of California is pre-ordained. The vote you cast for Clinton made zero difference. Had you voted for Johnson that would have been one more towards actually changing something. Same with me. But even if the the whole thing came down to just my vote and I lone could have decided the election between Clinton and Trump I STILL would have voted for Johnson. Because I HATED both of them. Why should I accept one bag of s--t over another of slightly different odor and consistency? And yes the LP should be concentrating more on state & Congressional offices. But here is the thing, it is a political party not a movement. It MUST have a face and that means, wasteful as it is, there must be a Presidential ticket. LP candidates are fighting ballot access battles all over the country. It's easier for a congressional candidate to get access when the Presidential candidate already has. When the party is already certified in that state. Right here in my home state the LP candidates must run as independents because the D & R agree on one thing for sure: no one is allowed to run for office but them.

You are right Grom, I do not agree. Voting for a terrible candidate just because an even more terrible candidate is on the other ticket IS throwing your vote away. When you vote for the lesser evil you are still voting for evil. Right now the LP is raising a lot of money and a lot of good people are dedicating a lot of volunteer hours trying to get 50 state ballot access for the LP presidential candidate in 2020. There isn't even a single candidate running but people have been busting their butts on their behalf since 2017. The Green party is doing the same right now. If just 1.1% more of the 137.7 million votes cast had chosen Johnson over the "lesser" evil they would not have to do that. The 2020 candidate would have ballot access. And all of that effort and money could be directed at getting better candidates elected. So every vote for Johnson was NOT wasted. There were bigger prizes to be had than wining the election. I wish to God more people realized that. There was no expectation that a vote for Johnson was going to lead to him getting elected. No matter what the 45th President of the US was going to be an utter piece of s--t that had no business being in change of anything. Our fates were already sealed. But what COULD have happened was setting up better things for better candidates to come. We need to take a longer view of this than the immediacy of the next election. We will be facing the same choice next year no matter who is running for the LP. A vote for Justin Amash (if it is him) isn't JUST a vote for him. It's a vote to break this stranglehold the D & R have over the process in elections to come. You and I should both know the United States is completely f-----g doomed unless this is brought under control: http://www.usdebtclock.org/. Nobody currently running gives f--k about that. That alone should be reason enough NOT to vote for any of them. Just my $.02

Trump is going to get the Republican nomination. It's just going to happen. Most of the Democrats running, while certainly better people than he is, are unacceptable to me at least because of policy preference. Personally I like Tusli Gabbard but even if it came down to her vs the orange menace I still wouldn't vote for either of them. I will not vote for a Republican, especially him, and I cannot vote for a Democrat. Not even her. For reasons you already know so I won't repeat them. The choice between an unacceptably flawed human being and an unacceptable political position is no choice at all. Vote LP, Green, etc, or write in someone else. Now 2016 you had a choice between a bag of cow s--t and a bag of horse s--t. You chose the one that offended you the least. Or the smart ones said f--k them both and voted 3rd party.

Woman dies after 5 hours of drugs and sex: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/columbian-woman-32-dies-after-14164649 Well.... if you gotta go...

suspecting is simple trump pathological need to never appear to weak. trump made a comment 'bout McCain, and 'cause so many people, including visible republicans, rushed to defend McCain's honor and legacy, trump felt need to show he weren't cowed, so the President not only repeats earlier McCain gripes, he adds. the more folks defend McCain, the more trump is gonna respond. is not unique behavior. HA! Good Fun! The Democrats used to say "character doesn't matter". They were, as usual, wrong. Of course in 2016 unless you voted 3rd Party (there WERE other and better names on your ballot!) you were voting for someone who had no business being in a position of power. And to make matter worse it could wasily happen again in '20,

Ichiro Suzuki will announce his retirement after the game in Tokyo today. It's tied at 4 runs a piece in the 11th as I write this. In other news Mike Trout signed the biggest contract in the history of sports. Good for him! Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy or better player.

Nah. From now on when someone says "it wasn't about slavery" we all reply with:

On a totally different note... have you guys ever seen Reese Witherspoons daughter? There is no way that girl isn't a clone!

The quickest way to make the lost cause go away is to STFU about it. The more it is attacked (even if the attacks are factual and justified) the more it will be defended (even if the defense is nonsensical). The only reason the Civil War has so much significance in today's world compared to other events even more recent is because far too many people want to pull the CSA out of it's grave to advance one political end or another. If we could agree nationally to just leave it lie in a generation we'll hear no more about how it wasn't really about slavery . Edit: Or we could just have another one. No one talks about WWI you notice. I wouldn't rule it out for lots of reasons

I've read enough about and from Jeff Davis to believe he probably did love his slaves. Just as he loved his horse and his hunting dogs. The fact that he can equate the three as being equals is the problem with the whole notion of human beings being considered property. Well, as bad as that is you can't hold it against him too much. He was a man of the time he lived in. Tha more than half of Americans found his views abhorrent says more about them than it does about him. I am 100% against rhetorically digging these guys up and hanging them in the street. Of course I'm also against deifying them or holding them out as some kind of example.For the most part they were not evil men. They were wrong and a lot of people paid a heavy blood price for it. That said you can't argue some good didn't come from slavery. There are millions of really good people who would have never lived in the country but for slavery. Most black Americans today can trace their ancestry to emancipated slaves. Had the US been an more enlightened country in 1788 and dealt with the issue before ratification a lot of people we all know, love, respect, hate, etc would never have been born and I can't thinking we'd be much less without them than we are with them. So there was nothing good about it, but some good has come from it. I read the article in full. This kind of thing a real outlier. It's not what is taught in schools I think and with the exception of one place I visited in Savannah some time ago is not the kind of history you get at most confederate historical spots.

The "Lost Cause" narrative has changed somewhat over the last 150 years. I daresay no one alive today would find virtue in slavery. Even the notion that the slaves were mostly well kept according to some does not make it less repellent to anyone today. Even the folks waving confederate flags and calling it heritage. Today the lost cause story generally leaves slavery out all together and frames the war as a contest of "state's rights". Better not to ask "State's rights to do what?".In four years the US Civil was killed 2.8% of the population of the United States. Over 20% of men living in the Confederate States were dead by the end of the war. I believe there is a need in people in the South today to find some meaning to that that is coupled with an unwillingness to admit what the real meaning of it was. It was a war fought to perpetuate slavery. The ideal of the lost cause does no survive more than a cursory examination of history. Therein lies the problem. The history most folks learn does not dive below the surface and if often fraught with bias one way or another. But there is plenty of writings by actual participants of the Civil War that you don't need to guess at what they were thinking.

Ditto for me. I have a Facebook account that i only have to play WSOP. Besides getting funny memes I have no use for it. Of course I have no friends and communicate very little with what family I have left. I have a LinkdIn account I keep up with because you never know what job may be available. Other than that this is one of just five online boards I enjoy conversing with the regulars on.

#1 Barry Hits 71 Of all the records in sports the single season home run is the crown jewel. This is the one kids dream of breaking. Since 1927 only four men have held it. As important as the McGwire/Sosa chase was to baseball at the time Bond's record breaking 2001 season was almost anti-climatic. For the life of me I will never understand why. 73 HR is a monster season. Most Career HR and Single Season HR from one player. He should be in the HoF. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJVNo6ne_vw Tomorrow morning at 0400 Central time there will be a real baseball. A's vs Mariners in Tokyo. I'll be watching!

This might be too small scale and US centric to elicit much comment. But I am curious to hear opinions. In 2017 & 2018 the city of Minneapolis banned zoning for "single family" homes city wide. Meaning all new construction must be town houses, duplexes. triplexes, or condo. The idea is to lower the cost of housing... at gunpoint. Now I have a real problem with forced solutions like this. If there are more buyers than houses the cost of houses goes up. Which incentivizes builders to build more houses until there are more houses than buyers which means the price of houses goes down. It's really simple. Now Oregon wants to do this state wide (applicable only within city limits of cities over 10k). And Los Angeles is looking at going a step further and eliminating the requirement to build parking for housing like this. Now this will likely never affect me because hell will freeze solid before I ever live within a city limit again. And I have no intention of ever selling my house and moving. But as a real estate investor it does have my attention. It puts my back up more than a little bit to see politicians who generally know very little about real estate and economics in general applying heave handed nonsense like this. The short term effect will be to lower housing cost because inventory will exceed demand pretty quickly. But making it less profitable to back new construction likely ends up having the reverse effect long term. As construction falls off buyers will end up paying the equivalent of a single family home cost today to get a unit 1/2 or 1/3 of the size.

Meh. I'll see it when it comes on HBO or something. Of course I could say the same about any other movie too. The nearest movie theater to me is a hour away.

I don't get much into a twist how folks in other countries handle their business. Like Zorp said, not my business. The rush the crack down on firearms ownership is just punishing people who have done no wrong because of someone who did. But it's their show. Try that s--t here and we have a problem. But very few countries have the right to firearms ownership codified right in it's founding document.