Guard Dog

Kudos to Jeter to stand up there and take it from angry fans for 90 straight minutes: https://ballparkdigest.com/2017/12/20/upset-marlins-fans-question-jeter-at-town-hall/ For my part, I get it. This rebuild became inevitable and unavoidable the day Jose Fernandez died. Better to get on with it.

I've been looking at Arroyo's minor league stats. It's a much more promising. But minor league success and major league success are not even distant cousins. Nick Franklin, Richie Schaeffer, and other Rays I could name can all attest. I wonder who in the Giants system were the Marlins going to ask for for Stanton? I wonder if Woods or Krook were on the list? I can guarantee Arroyo was not. The Giants farm system looks pretty poor. Their number one prospect is Chris Shaw in AAA but after that their next best prospect is in Advanced A, at least two seasons away. This trade just makes no sense. Span will get paid more than Longoria the next two years and the only place he can play in Tampa is LF and he told Botchy he didn't want to do that in SF. This comes down to Arroyo and Woods. If they are busts then Longo was sold for nothing.

I hadn't thought about it that way!

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/rays/2017/12/20/tampa-bay-rays-trade-franchise-cornerstone-evan-longoria-to-giants/ F--K!. Just, F--K! F-----g f--k! So... the Rays traded the best player in their history, Evan Longoria, the biggest Yankee killer they have ever had, to the Giants. And in return they got: Christian Arroyo: A former 1st round pick. He's a sub .200 hitter that after 194 innings at 3B last year plays defense their like he's wearing his glove on the wrong hand. Denard Span: A 34 year old outfielder whose best years are behind him. And were not that good to boot. Matt Krook: A RHP in Advanced A League. His numbers include a particularly horrifying 5.25 ERA and a WHIP of 1.644. He gets a lot of SO's so he's probably got good velocity but he's choking up 7.9 hits and 7 BB every 9 innings. In other words he's more of a suspect than a prospect. Stephen Woods: This might be the only good part of this trade. MIGHT be. He is in low Class A. His numbers are sharp with a sub 3.0 ERA and a WHIP of 1.4. He's only been used in relief so far. It looks like he only has two good pitches. But trading for guys below AA is like buying f-----g lottery tickets. You don't know and the odds are against you. Yeah they got four players for one. But this looks like quantity over quality. And it leave me wondering who the bloody flaming F--K is going to play 3B next year. Arroyo? Next year was Longoria's 10th season. After that the 10/5 rule applies to him. I will just BET that is what this BS trade is all about. So it is just a cynical Jeffrey Loria-esque salary dump. This f-----g SUCKS!

I'm not sure about the trees, but that comment section sure brought out the racists! The comments section on a news article: if you have any faith in humanity remaining, that is where you lose it!

Russia practicing for an invasion of Europe: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5177666/russia-military-drills-invasion-europe-vladimir-putin/ This isn't as big a deal as it sounds like. Military drills and exercises routinely mimic action in actual places. A few years ago under the Obama admin they were practicing an invasion of Texas during a "civil war". a much bigger seal was made of that than probably should have been.

50 year old trees to be removed after being deemed to be racists: http://www.ajc.com/news/racist-trees-separating-black-neighborhood-from-golf-course-will-come-down/d93DbErgWDfmdTIBdvYI1L/

I spent the day drinking beer and shooting super mutants from an overpass.

Three government bureaucrats explaining taxes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aO4bTKHXt8

I wasn't a kid anymore but this one too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEjXPY9jOx8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1zYNrsx9Pw

No, it isn't. It's chicken and egg nonsense. And since the government is not supposed to be involved in the media it's a waste of tax payer's money.

Did you know the US Government : Has a department to investigate UFOs with an annual budget of $22.8M Pays almost $300k per year from the defense budget for bird watching trips for pentagon employees. And they are mandatory. Paid over $400k for a study on the effects of smoking in Russia? Paid MIT a half million dollars to study “Does media choice cause polarization, or does polarization cause media choice?” $5k for a documentary on North Carolina's best fiddle player. $66k to study why bugs are attracted to light bulbs That is just a few things from this past year. The real money the government wastes is not on big ticket items. It's the nickel and dime crap that adds up over 10 years.

In lieu of a tax increase, I would also accept freezing tax returns for 3-5(?) years, but I have no idea how much revenue that would generate. It would probably take a decade of sustained tax increase to right the national deficit. Nah, we could do it in half that time. The key isn't to increase revenue. The key is to reduce spending.

You are reading WAY too much into that!

Well, for my part I expect nothing but stupidity from the collection of idiots that seem to find themselves in government service. So when we get stupidity like saying certain agencies can't say certain words it's hardly a surprise. In fact it's an excellent argument on why government agencies should not be allowed to have power over anything of consequence and be kept small enough they can be laughed at, ignored, or if needed drowned in a bucket of water.

Got this in an e-mail.... to funny not to share:

If you are arguing that an ID should be required to vote, your are arguing that people should be charged by the state to vote because state IDs cost money. It might not seem like a lot of money to you, but for families living close to poverty, which is half of America factoring out welfare, it's a lot of money. This is compounded when you factor in that places to get IDs are open during the normal working hours these people are working, which further prevents them from getting their IDs. This would be a non-issue if IDs were easy to get and free, but that isn't the case. I assume it's because we freedom hating commies consider citizens being able to participate in elections more important than ISPs being able to throttle sites and charge higher prices for the same stuff. I was arguing (poorly) that an ID should be required to vote. That ID should be any form, student IS, employee IS, whatever. And if none of that is acceptable then why not a voter ID issued for free in lieu if a voters registration card which is already being sent to everyone. As for your other snide remark...

Well, my apologies for drunk posting yesterday. You know those breathalyzer things they put on cars? Laptops & smartphones need them too.

You know.. maybe the problem is with you, not with them. :> No doubt!

We had our Christmas... excuse me HOLIDAY party for my office today. Yes, I was actually corrected on that score. Now, generally I do not socialize or cultivate friendships with the people I work with. For good reasons. But in this job, there are great reasons. Ever since the day I walked in the door I've felt like the gypsy that crashed the Royal Wedding. But beyond that I just don't like these people much. And I am certain the feelings are mutual. They don't drink. They don't swear. Most of them remind me of characters on the Big Bang Theory. One actually thinks Star Wars is intelligent social commentary. But during these office functions they get a little tipsy. Alcohol is like a magnifying glass. If you have any character flaws or personality short comings a little bit of hootch will bring that right out. It can be entertaining if you stay sober. During these functions I just laugh at them and keep to myself because when I drink that little man that sits on my shoulder and keeps me from telling people i dislike to f--k off goes home.

See that makes no sense to me. There is no good reason a student ID, or even a library card would not suffice. You don't need to prove residency, You've already done that when registering to vote. The only thing they should have to prove is that the name on their ID and the name on the ballot are the same. If you're really going to want to check a photo ID for accuracy, you'd actually want a photo ID that also contained a signature, that you'd check and match against the signature of the voter when they sign in as well as checking for signs of tampering or just being unauthentic. Most student ID's don't seem to be that difficult to mimic if one has the right equipment. The road blocks to fraudulent voting don't need to be insurmountable. Like we've already discussed it would take a hell of a lot of votes to turn even a local election. Just making it a little more difficult than just walking in and stealing a ballot should be sufficient.

You left out half the story. You left out the part where Comrade Officer Rudolph arrests the man for having a opinion contrary to the one authorized by the party. You omitted the part where the man is taken to the Lubyanka and tortured until he confesses and implicates a lot of other people, most of whom he's never met or even heard of but the Party wants rid of. And you definitely missed the part where they drag him out back and blow his brains out or ship him to Yakutsk or somewhere to worked to death. Hwy, if you want to tell communist jokes, tell the whole joke!

It's ironic that a libertarian would think the government charging someone is a good thing, but it seems irony is common these days. I didn't say they should be charged. I just find it ironic that the left leaning folks who have no problem imposing the indignities of a heavy handed government on people waffle on this one minor thing. After all if you think the government should be our God and master in all other things why not this too?

See that makes no sense to me. There is no good reason a student ID, or even a library card would not suffice. You don't need to prove residency, You've already done that when registering to vote. The only thing they should have to prove is that the name on their ID and the name on the ballot are the same.