Guard Dog

I really wish we could keep sports and politics separate. Well, we can't with this kind of story popping up as often as the do. Here is the link: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2821567-bruce-maxwell-just-wants-a-fresh-start?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_medium=referral I'll save you some reading. It's about poor Bruce Maxwell the former Oakland A's catcher and MLB player who joined the whole kneeling thing during the national anthem two seasons ago. Now poor Bruce Maxwell is out of baseball. Blacklisted if you accept the tone of the article although Miller never specifically says he is. The insinuation is plain. Of course more than halfway through the story Miller admits Maxwell's agent says the concern teams have wasn't his social justice protest but his other criminal chargers but more than that is his on field performance. In 2016 he slashed .283/.337/.402 and was above league average in fielding for a WAR of 5. In 2017 he was .237/.329/.333 still not bad but was a little bit of a liability behind the plate below league average in fielding and worst of all was -7 in DRS. All combine to gave him a 0 WAR for 2017. In 2018 he slashed .182/.207/.309 and struggled more on defense for a WAR of -1. Free agents with these numbers don't get contracts. In sports performance trumps all. Numbers talk, all other BS walks. Michael Vick is the one of the the most despicable human beings to ever play in the NFL. But he had no trouble finding work after three years in UFP. Why? For one he accepted the contract he was offered and except for his rookie year in no season he took snaps did his QBR fall below 69. His second year back it was 100. That is top 5 in the league. That kind of performance makes up for all the protests, criticism, and bad karma from having Dogkiller on your team. Now take Kaepernick. This last three seasons is QBR was 60, 43, 49. Unless you play for the Jacksonville Jaguars that will not even get you a backup job in the NFL. And he is demanding top pay for a QB. I guarantee you on thing though, knees or no, protests or no, if CK was throwing the ball like Michael Vick did when he came back to the league he'd have a NFL job right now. Check you politics at the door please. No one gets "black listed" for that. You get black listed when you can't contribute.

#22 The Bird The ultimate wrong place at the wrong time! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PyCpG06138

I know how you feel. There is always a surprise right before closing.

most o' our money comes from real estate related stuff. the thing is, we ain't paid a tax bill since 2010 and am unlikely to need do so for near future. our situation is one o' the things wrong with our current tax system. have been able to carry forward losses from housing bubble burst years in spite o' fact we actual made money from purchase o' numerous enchepened properties. our personal income is kept low and as long as we avoid capital gains situations, taxes is a non-factor. in theory the irs bill would catch up with us when we sell property, 'cause then the capital gains would kick in and kick in hard. buy sooper cheap and sell expensive sounds nice, but such is when irs swoops in and takes. great recession, which devastated many thousands o' US families and seniors, were best thing to happen to us from a financial perspective. am admitting system is busted, but democrats got all bass ackwards with new plans to tax wealthy. capital gains taxes make more sense and is far more easily valued than some kinda tax on net worth. the thing is, there is current far too many ways to avoid capital gains taxes. democrats is going at this all wrong 'cause it resonates with their base and not 'cause is a practical solution. HA! Good Fun! Next year I'll have a comeuppance on the town house I sold. I've taken some steps to minimize the impact. Like you, real estate is my primary investment vehicle these days. Although I'm not willing the go back in housing rentals. That is way too 'hands on" for my tastes. Plus i couldn't charge enough in rent and still cover the expenses incurred plus the mortgage. Every month was a loss. Of course market appreciation more than made up for it. The 17 acres I bought near Brownsville I paid cash for so no mortgage to worry about. It has a nice income potential from a 3 year lease I made with a horse farm for growing feed. More than enough to cover the tax bill. Long term I'm betting on the city of Brownsville continuing to expand down SR 54 and driving up the value. I was also looking at some acreage near Austin Peay that is currently zoned for agriculture but might change in the years to come. The one thing you can count on is populations are going to increase and towns are going to grow.

I did my taxes. One nice thing about not being a business owner is not having to write the goddamned filthy IRS a big check right about this time of year. Instead i get to brood over the interest free loan I gave them on the money they took from me that I didn't owe. Oh well.

To the OP: Marksmanship training program

And right there is why the prequels ruined Star Wars. Well... bad acting, writing, a specious concept, and a complete rethinking of the backstory really didn't help either.

They wouldn't need to change the old games, just make a version that is compatible for modern OS or even consoles is possible. Kids today don't know what they missed. Besides a re-release of FONV might even help OBS. Creatively speaking that was one of their finest hours.

They own FO 1 & 2 as well right? One rumor on youtube is a remaster bundle for every title from FO1 to FONV.

I get the feeling ktchong is the kind of person that laughs at traffic accidents, house fires, hurricanes, etc.

That is extremely cool Grom. You've earned it.

#23 The Walk off The New York Yankees have won 27 championships. They have played in 40. They became the Yankees in 1913 (they were the New York Highlanders and Baltimore Orioles previously) so 38% of all AL pennants since 1913 have been won by the Yankees. But there have been stretches where they were pretty terrible. After being soundly defeated by the Cardinals in the '64 WS the Yankees wandered into the wilderness for twelve years. Half of those they had losing records. But in 1976 after two years of rebuilding and free agency spending under new owner George Steinbrenner the Bronx Bombers were back. Winning the ALCS in walk off fashion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS6HGwoRrkY

Hey Hurlshot if you're feeling overworked: https://apnews.com/76e7c9eb60f14db98c855ef680d43adb

Draftees have a very different experience compared to volunteers. As of today (meaning it may change if there ever is one again) a draftee serves two years active and two years inactive reserve in the Army. As a two year enlistee they will not get the benefit of the best educational programs. They will also not be able to select what job they are going to get while on active duty. A drafted soldier is damn near enslaved. A voluntary enlistee can choose their service branch, and if they are joining the Army or Navy they can even choose the exact MOS and duty stations they want most of the time. As long as their record is clean and the scored high enough on the ASVAB and that test they give you after you join. Forget what it's called. The Air Force and Marine Corps will not guarantee an exact job but lets you choose from a list. I never heard of anyone who qualified for them not getting their first or second choice once through Boot Camp & MCT. In my case the school I was signed up for was full so the last week of MCT the S1 guys informed me I had to choose a new MOS/school or go on Barracks Support (basically and never ending s--t detail) for 8 months until a slot came open. I picked one that looked interesting and it was. The point of that story being the military treats voluntary enlistees pretty decently. Don't get me wrong, there is a tremendous amount of BS that comes with just being in the military and it isn't easy work most of the time. But you know up front what you are getting and you do get it. A draftee on the other hand... that's a hard row to hoe. And more often than not they are highly unmotivated because they are not there by choice. But you are right about the opportunities military service offers. I was.t a particularly good football player like some folks i know and I was a C student in HS and didn't have much direction. In return for four years of service I have a degree and a career that I likely would not have without it. And paid for just a fraction of it from my own money.

Bah... non-issue. No draft, not going to be another one. I've been arguing for some time we need to not just cut defense spending but to re-prioritize from tactical superiority to strategic superiority. Large contingents of infantry and armor are needed for fighting wars and holding ground. But if we get off a war footing and go back to focusing on the ability to destroy enemy assets remotely or from the air the first dividend is a reduction in necessary man power.

OH Please please please please please please please please please let this happen! https://www.theamericanmirror.com/ex-clinton-pollster-hillary-will-run-if-biden-doesnt-or-field-is-too-far-left/?fbclid=IwAR3SHvVcBvPQa7fscfU_zWG_ZFvBlnDIVCTclREcMhgolyGa0x00IDYw2Sg The Dixie Mafia vs the Socialists. This would be the gift that just keeps giving!

In the US the all male military draft has been ruled unconstitutional. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/24/military-draft-judge-rules-male-only-registration-unconstitutional/2968872002/ Women will now have to register for Selective Service. If there ever is a draft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gtvILZ-Kw8 Actually I wouldn't worry too much.. I doubt we will have a draft again. Conscripts are f-----g useless. One volunteer is worth three of them.

#24 The Hidden Ball Trick Watch Todd Helton fake the throw back to the pitcher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5wGxsxjmy0

am not democrat, so we got no involvement in primaries, but am finding warren and bloomberg most intriguing, if for different reasons. 'course bloomberg is older than biden and almost as old as sanders. call us ageist. harris is seeming like the current candidate-to-beat for the democrats as she has adopted the goldilocks zone for most issues and doesn't have any eyebrow raising questions regarding her background or campaign. HA! Good Fun! The only one of them I find even somewhat tolerable is Gabbard. She does have a few redeeming qualities. As you already know I am predisposed against the Democrat Party for a number of very good reasons. Hell will freeze solid before I ever cast a vote for one. Of course I'm predisposed against the Republican Party for pretty much the same set of reasons. And I used to be one of their biggest supporters. Heck I worked for a Republican candidate when he ran for Congress back in florida in '94. But as Reagan once said, I didn't leave them, they left me. John McCain was the last Republican I voted for and I strongly suspect we will be the last one I will ever vote for.

Hey Democrat supporters here you go. You're going to wind up hating yourself on way or another once you vote in the primaries. This guide will help you figure out what you hate yourself for!

I disagree with you on that count. I don't think the idea of free social benefits or new "rights" to healthcare etc is all that good an idea. That isn't freedom. Freedom isn't an endlessly expanding list of rights -- the "right" to education, the "right" to food and housing. That's not freedom, that's dependency. What they are promising us are the rations of slavery -- hay and a barn for human cattle. Freedom is summed up in only one basic human right: the right to do as you damn well please. Take care of your own business with minimal intrusion from the government or each other so long as you don't intrude on everyone else's one basic right. THEN the government has a job to do. Not before. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences. Good or bad. When I look at the Presidential candidates of 2020 I am reminded of a quote from Daniel Webster: "There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters" Regardless of whether it's a good idea or not, they still have to figure out how to pay for it, that was my point. 'Ideas and all' are good in the sense in that it's fine to have ideas and debate the merits of them, but when it comes time to actually apply them as policy.... see stuff like Trumps insistence that Mexico will pay for the wall and trickle down theory. Doh.... Sorry I misread that. I thought you said the ideas are good. Sorry about that!

I disagree with you on that count. I don't think the idea of free social benefits or new "rights" to healthcare etc is all that good an idea. That isn't freedom. Freedom isn't an endlessly expanding list of rights -- the "right" to education, the "right" to food and housing. That's not freedom, that's dependency. What they are promising us are the rations of slavery -- hay and a barn for human cattle. Freedom is summed up in only one basic human right: the right to do as you damn well please. Take care of your own business with minimal intrusion from the government or each other so long as you don't intrude on everyone else's one basic right. THEN the government has a job to do. Not before. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences. Good or bad. When I look at the Presidential candidates of 2020 I am reminded of a quote from Daniel Webster: "There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters"

Exactly how is that going to make me panic? Even if that goes exactly as you hope were trading one set of problems for a slightly different version of the same problems. You're telling me instead of being stung by a scorpion I get to be bitten by a snake. Hooray for us. Let me tell you a secret ktchong. The left wing and the right wing? They are both part of the same ugly bird. Here is another little secret... no matter who wins in '20 this gets worse: http://www.usdebtclock.org/ Tick tock tick tock tick tock.....