Guard Dog

Well it does not sit well to donate money to a charity and then charge that charity money for use of facilities. Then take THAT money and donate to other charities and thump your chest at how great you are and all the charities you are supporting. If I donate to Gfted1's Home for Lost Cats, then charge them to have a golf tournament at my golf course, then donate the money they paid to aluminiumtrioxid Save the Whales fund I really only made one donation.... but I'm taking credit for two. Like I said... it doesn't sit well. Not that anything that comes with the last name Trump is surprising to me.

I wish I could say that was the worst article I've read today. It's close. St. Jude is right here in Memphis and like Gromnir it is a charity I donate to frequently. In fact it is the only non-dog charity I will donate to since American Red Cross got on my s--t list. I one had a close friend who was an oncology nurse there. It takes a en incredibly strong person to work there, see what they see, and not lose their minds. Not many can do it but the jobs they do is so incredibly important.

This? No way. Gennett is hitting .302 in 116 ABs. His slugging is .516 as of today so he;s got decent power but it's gap power only. He's got 7 HRs on the year and got four of those last night. The most he;s ever had in a season was 14 in almost 500 ABs. This isn't proof of juiced balls, it's more likely proof the even a blind dog can find a bone every now and then.

Scooter Gennett went 4-5 for the Reds vs the Cardinals last night. All four hits were dingers. He had 10 RBIs in that game. 10! The NL record is 12 set in '73 so no cigar there.

This one bears watching. This is right in Roberts & Sotomayor's wheelhouse: http://reason.com/blog/2017/06/05/scotus-agrees-to-hear-significant-4th-am

Edison Volquez throws a no hitter for the fish. Albert Pujols hits HR 600 and the fan gives back the ball. What a great week. Until the Rays got swept in Seattle.

Even if they did they will still be Democrats. They will still be the party of no free speech, no private property rights, censoring the internet. They will still try to take guns away from law abiding citizens, and tax everything in sight to fund a federal government that ignores our constitution and grinds our state and local governments into the dirt. The biggest problem is even if one of the two parties runs a great candidate, voting for that candidate empowers all the worst aspects of that party. They way to figure out which side you're on is to look at the worst part of all the political factions and figure out what the country would look like if they suddenly got everything they wanted. Find out who's utopia you'd hate the least and vote for them.

Well, I realize this is of small consolation but look at it this way. While this is embarrassing for Americans of an above average education and political awareness it is also a little entertaining waiting to see what he does next. Also you would have had no joy from a Hillary Clinton administration. Just a whole other set of problems. So really no matter who won last year it was going to suck. As ditzy as he was I voted for the best candidate in 2016. I thought so then... I KNOW it now.

Why would Trump submit something to the Senate that he disagrees with? Then have it certainly defeated and look like he lost? Obama and the Democrats thought they won the demographics war (and they probably have, just not quite yet), so the next President would certainly be a Democrat and follow Obama's policies. Didn't quite work out that way in spite of everyone's expectations. Also Trump could still unilaterally withdraw from a treaty even if it's ratified by the Senate, and a non-treaty agreement can not place statutory requirements on American citizens. ​It's too late to do anything like this now. Done is done. So let's get that out of the way first. If he said he was pulling out because it was never submitted to the Senate for ratification he gets two things. He gets the treaty killed without paying a political price because it would never be ratified. Two he looks like a real constitutionalist while doing it. That will appeal to the people he needs to win in 2020. It's a win-win. The President can NOT unilaterally withdraw from a treaty ratified by the US Senate. Such a treaty is law in the US. The only way he can is if the withdraw is allowed for in the language of the treaty. For example, NATO. The language of that treaty allows for any member to withdraw with a notice of a certain period of time. 1 year IIRC. When George W Bush withdrew from the ABM treaty with Russia he was allowed to do that because the language of the treaty allowed for a withdrawal. Since a ratified treaty has the force of law the President must enforce it. Only Congress can repeal one. Or the supreme court if there is a constitutionality issue. I seem to remember that actually happened once in the '60s. You're right, a non treaty agreement cannot permit regulatory administration of the activities of the citizens of the Unites States. It's that whole consent of the governed thing. Which is why the Paris "Accords" should have been sent to the Senate in the first place.

I have fond memories of my school, but I certainly paid enough while I was there. I don't feel the need to donate either. I actually took classes at four different schools. Tennessee St. Miami-Dade Community College, and Broward College before transferring everything to FAU. I have nothing negative to say about the first three. All I'll say about FAU is you'll never catch me there again. Every ill vice and attitude bred by unearned wealth is on display there. I don't begrudge anyone fortune or success however the come by it... but don't be an a-----e about it.

You know... it Trump had half a brain (something no one has accused him of in my hearing) he would submit the Paris Accord to the Senate for ratification like Barack Obama should have done. If they ratify we stay in. If they don't we don't. Either way it's off his back and he looks like a hero to the right for following the Constitution. If Obama had any brains, and he's not stupid, he knew an Executive Agreement could be undone by the next executive. And I'm sure he also knew an agreement that placed statutory requirements on private American citizens, subject to punitive actions by entities OUTSIDE of the United States is not an agreement. It's a treaty. Treaties are supposed to be ratified by the Senate. So why didn't he do it? Because more than half of the Senate is voted in by people who didn't vote for him and he can't impose his will on people if that pesky Constitution and democratic process keep getting in the way.

Sorry Algoth, it looks like I will be the first to post about politics in the politics thread. So anyway it seems College Alumni, tired of seeing their almae matres turning into left wing protester factories are cooling it with their donations and endowments. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/05/us/college-protests-alumni-donations.html?_r=0 Personally I never saw the sense in that anyway. I absolutely hated the University I ended up graduating from and everyone in it. I didn't even attend the graduation and I sure as hell haven't written them any checks since.

Yesterday I picked all the strawberries. I have four plastic bins full of fat ripe strawberries. I will admit... I did eat a few while picking them. Plus I had strawberries for dessert last night and breakfast today. But today I'm making preserves. I'm going to be busy the next few weeks. The majority of what I planted this year was corn. But the winter was so long the stalks were slow to grow. But it won't be much longer now. The vidalia onions are almost ready and I've already had one pick of black eyed peas. The second will be ready soon. In a week or two I'll turn the strawberry patch and seed for pumpkins. They usually take 130 days which will be right on time for Halloween. I enjoy doing this but it's a hell of a lot of work. I should have had some kids!

My copy of The Complete Jack London never spends more than a few months without me picking it up. Even though I've read every story and novel in it multiple times. Walden is also one I come back to. Probably my favorite book is one I read as a kid, Beautiful Joe by Marshall Saunders. It was out of print for a long time but I found a sixty year old copy at a used book store a long time ago. I've re-read that one several times. It's available in e-book platforms now. I guess the day will come soon that nothing will ever be out of print again. That's not a bad thing.

tis a tv show. Also shot leverage up here Who is Leverage and why did Jonathan Frakes shoot him?

Shooting them isn't necessarily murdering them... maybe they had it coming?

I didn't know that. Well, I knew Tolkien's son has really been editing and cleaning up things his JRR was tinkering with but had never finished. He may have filled in some gaps but 90% of the work was JRR Tolkien's I believe. I didn't know Brian Hebert wasn't the sole writer of all the Dune prequels and expanded backstory stuff.

Oh I know why it was done. my complaint is it wasn't done well. In the three examples I mentioned the sons are far below the ability of their fathers. Edit: OK, that's not really fair. Jeff Shaara is a pretty good writer in his own right. Brian Hebert though? No. Not even

It's not about clean energy. It's about political power. It's about money. Even if you accept that 100% of the worst assumptions about human induced climate change are true what we are really seeing are cynical attempts to exploit the problem to seize political power or "level" the economic playing field.

There is something else everyone seems to be missing here. The Paris "Agreement" places statutory requirements on the United States with provisions for punitive actions. That is a treaty. Treaties are supposed to be ratified by 2/3 of the United States Senate. His Excellency Premier Obama did no even allow that to happen. He just signed us up. So while everyone is hyperventilating and going batsht crazy about this it's worth remembering since this was never ratified we were never actually IN any kind of agreement.

Double post

Awww Man. Someone beat me to it! https://twitter.com/MaxineVVaters/status/870375357454712832 And no it's not really her... but it IS funny.

I can't believe how cruel and heartless Donald Trump is to do this to all of us. Do you realize that after doing this the Mississippi River will rise as much as 1.5 meters next February? After this there will be hurricanes in the Atlantic this summer? Some might even hit the US? Do you realize that after this the Sun will go nova someday and destroy Mercury, Venus, and the Earth too? After this every single one of us, everyone reading this thread is going to die (someday)? And even worse, your children are all going to die (someday). Oh my God... in just three hours the ocean levels around New York city will rise almost four feet!. Four feet!!! And the things are so unstable by 10 PM tonight they will fall over five feet! We're doomed!

This thing is still going on. It's looking more and more like this guy is right and the State of Oregon might have to refund every red light camera fine they have collected over the years. Still a ways to go: http://reason.com/blog/2017/06/02/oregon-man-who-was-fined-for-doing-math

What is is about sons following up on their fathers work? It never goes well. Brian Herbert took the mess his father made of Dune following God Emperor and made a bigger mess with sequels and prequels. Christopher Tolkien has made a living off his father's pen. Even Jeff Sharra, who isn't a bad writer himself, still isn't a patch on his old man Micheal Sharra as he finished his father's civil war series. Anyway I'm reading this: One of my favorite novels and movies is True Grit. I actually like the 2012 remake better than John Wayne's 1969 version (sorry Duke) because it is more true to the book. I was reading about the author Charles Portis and I found out the charterer Rooster Cogburn was based on a real man named Franklin Cogburn. Although he wasn't a lawman of any sort he did in fact do some of the things Portis attributed to his character. Not the least of which was the 4 on 1 shootout at climax of the book and both movies.