Guard Dog

So, the State of California has decided that since it's such a shame that a beach vacation is so expensive that the low income folks can't afford it, the State will help them out. A new bill has been introduced into the State Assembly to use the tax dollars of hard working folks to subsidize low cost beach vacations for the "poor". Wow What a great place to be poor huh? If you work for the city of San Francisco you can get a free sex change and a trip to the beach, all paid for by your fellow citizens. By the way, isn't there a dam failing in Oroville because they haven't been taking care of it? How's that going? http://www.ocregister.com/articles/beach-743100-beaches-people.html

Now this is worth a laugh. Someone created an alternate news website where Hillary Clinton won the election. It is pretty funny. http://www.hillarybeattrump.org/

"That Obama guy reads his speeches too much. Let's elect a guy who doesn't like reading anything longer than the kid's menu at Denny's! No way that can go wrong, right?" The jury is still out but it ain't looking good. But, as I am so fond of repeating, "Don't blame me, I voted for Johnson".

Offseason report cards. I thought they were a little hard on the Marlins. It's not like top name pitchers grow on trees. http://www.si.com/mlb/2017/02/16/winter-report-cards-final-grades

Val you are far too cynical!

Do you guys realize Gonzaga is just two wins away from a perfect regular season. But they are still predicted to be the 4th seed in two weeks. That bang you just heard was Volo's head exploding. Too bad! We can talk college hoops here too with selection sunday just two weeks away!

said no one ever! He was just the least undesirable choice. And an opportunity to help the cause in 2020 if the LP can manage to get it's act together. You an I live in the reddest of red states. The only way our votes were going to count for anything was voting for either Johnson or Stein. I am WAY philosophically disinclined to do the latter.

First I have heard of this Melania Trump incident, I'm certain its not common news on the global media channels http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/02/19/melania-trump-attacked-for-reciting-lords-prayer-at-campaign-rally.html A lot of the so called alt-right news services are covering the story in detail. NBC & CNN reported that it happened but did not report on the venom or public criticism. I would laud them for that but the thing is left wing biased news media tends to not report on nastiness from people who share their leanings. Had it been Michelle Obama and nasty comments came from folks on the right CNN & NBC would have been all over that.

Say no to poison. Vote Libertarian!

Some genuinely nasty reactions to Melania Trump reciting the Lords Prayer at the rally on Saturday. It's a funny thing. The left is pretty high on the "make no law regarding the establishment of a religion" part of the first amendment but totally ignore the "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" part. I'd just like to ask them where you there? No? Then what do you give a s--t? The biggest flaw in the notion of a free country is too many jackasses (intentionally used with double meaning) think THEY get to decide what other people are free to do.

Yep, as soon as they tried to "explain" what was happening the whole thing fell apart. And the mysterious re-appearance of the girlfriend was just laughable. Like I said they got the plane in the air but just couldn't bring it in for a landing.

I have to agree with you on that last part especially. Trump gets in front of the microphone and just says stuff. Often taking a half a news story and fabricating the other half with what he "thinks" happened. It's ironic, We were down on Obama because he couldn't even talk to his kids over dinner without a teleprompter and lauded Trump because he never used one. No maybe he should. At least then there will be one gate keeper on his mouth.

In two weeks I'm taking a page from Hurlshots book and packing up the dogs and the camper and heading down to Florida for 10 days. We're going to do some fishing in Cedar Key, Catch a Rays vs Phillies game in Clearwater (Brighthouse stadium will allow dogs on the grass berm) then spend the weekend camping at the Rainbow River in Ocala and stop and see my brother and his family on the way back up. I can't wait.

I'm not sure if that statement is going to help you get hired at ESPN. No doubt it won't! Just as well. Look at Curt Schilling. If he hadn't been fired we wouldn't have Jessica Mendoza on the Sunday Night broadcast. And her and Schulman have been killing it.

I don't know, I find I'm agreeing with Volo on this one. An apology proffered without actually doing anything wrong just validates the wrongful accusations. I guess if he'd followed the word "guerilla" with "warfare" it would still make sense in the context and maybe would not have led to the mess. But since it's a white commentator talking about a black athlete everyone still would have assumed he was being racist. I guess in that situation the commentator already has one foot in the grave and the automatic assumption is anything that might be construed in more than one way will always be construed to be racist. Because the PC mindset is all white people are racists. Personally had it been me I'd release a statement to the effect of "I'm sorry the world is such an awful place that we are all lying in wait to ambush each other or wrongs real or perceived. And I'm sorry for the shocking ignorance of the public on the nuances of the English language. I suggest you all go invest in a dictionary and if you are not going to bother to read it then you can go f--k yourself with it" But hey, that's just me.

GD I appreciate this is a form of a coping mechanism but you cant reasonably compare Trump and Obama ....you need to separate there presidencies and have honest and separate views on them Bruce you can have different varieties of bad. Obama knew what he was doing and it involved seizing power away from Congress and State Governments as well as curtailing individual liberty of citizens. That is bad. Trump does not seem to know what the heck he's doing. He's jumping from one thing to the next and in much of it he's acting on power the Presidency does not have. That's bad. So yes, it is totally comparable because it is all rooted in the same thing: extra-constitutional power. Would you rather be stung by a hornet or bitten by a venomous spider? Not really the same thing but neither is desirable. Get the idea? I do see your point but you can ask anyone on this forum from outside the USA who follows US politics and updates. I can guarantee you they will say Trump is seen as much more controversial But as I have mentioned his foreign policy decisions have been mostly prudent and reasonable rather an active participant in it that advances their own ends. GD I cant stress enough how important it is when people like you who encounter this type of sentiment immediately address it and challenge it Yes after Trump faith in the media should return but at the moment the media is constantly attacked and criticized by Trump or his campaign team. Remember this is about free speech and I think we both value this Faith in the media will not return. Here is why. Suppose in 2020 Trump is replaced by a rabid, freedom hating left-winger like Elizabeth Warren. The "media" will do an immediate 180 and President Warren will be the benefactor of their fawning praise and forbearance against reporting anything negative even when they should.

GD I appreciate this is a form of a coping mechanism but you cant reasonably compare Trump and Obama ....you need to separate there presidencies and have honest and separate views on them Bruce you can have different varieties of bad. Obama knew what he was doing and it involved seizing power away from Congress and State Governments as well as curtailing individual liberty of citizens. That is bad. Trump does not seem to know what the heck he's doing. He's jumping from one thing to the next and in much of it he's acting on power the Presidency does not have. That's bad. So yes, it is totally comparable because it is all rooted in the same thing: extra-constitutional power. Would you rather be stung by a hornet or bitten by a venomous spider? Not really the same thing but neither is desirable. Get the idea? I do see your point but you can ask anyone on this forum from outside the USA who follows US politics and updates. I can guarantee you they will say Trump is seen as much more controversial But as I have mentioned his foreign policy decisions have been mostly prudent and reasonable He's controversial because the media is finally doing it's job and challenging him. Through the majority of Obama's two terms he received mostly fawning praise or had the worst implications of his actions utterly ignored by the majority of the media. It's not for nothing most Americans believe the "media" is not the watchdog of the political process but rather an active participant in it that advances their own ends.

GD I appreciate this is a form of a coping mechanism but you cant reasonably compare Trump and Obama ....you need to separate there presidencies and have honest and separate views on them Bruce you can have different varieties of bad. Obama knew what he was doing and it involved seizing power away from Congress and State Governments as well as curtailing individual liberty of citizens. That is bad. Trump does not seem to know what the heck he's doing. He's jumping from one thing to the next and in much of it he's acting on power the Presidency does not have. That's bad. So yes, it is totally comparable because it is all rooted in the same thing: extra-constitutional power. Would you rather be stung by a hornet or bitten by a venomous spider? Not really the same thing but neither is desirable. Get the idea?

When Barack Obama was President I had a few bits of advice for every American. If you are in debt, get out. If you are not, stay out. Make sure, if you are able, that you own at least one firearm with a minimum of 200 rounds of ammunition stored. Set aside a store of canned or non-perishable food. At least two weeks worth. Invest at least some of your money in real assets like gold, silver, real estate, etc. Don't believe anything you see in the news or hear from the government. Now that Trump is President and we have had a look at how things are going my advice is this: If you are in debt, get out. If you are not, stay out. Make sure, if you are able, that you own at least one firearm with a minimum of 200 rounds of ammunition stored. Set aside a store of canned or non-perishable food. At least two weeks worth. Invest at least some of your money in real assets like gold, silver, real estate, etc. Don't believe anything you see in the news or hear from the government.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe. As horror flicks go this one was well above average. 80% of the way through it was actually very good. Then they made two of the mistakes that all horror movies seem to make. 1. Some kind of Deus Ex thing happens for pure shock value and 2. They try to explain through character exposition what's going on. The explanations are usually absurd and just kill the whole thing. You know what made Blair Witch Project great? You never actually "see" what is causing everything and there is no way to know WHY it's happening. The unknown is far creepier than a great premise ruined by a ridiculous explanation. They can usually establish a story, and set a great atmosphere, but horror movie directors and scrip writers don't seem to know what do do with them. It's like they can get a plane in the air but just can't bring it in for a landing. But this one came close.

This is quite an epic rendition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt9He6c8F9s

It's word in the dictionary that means what it means. Seems to me discussing a budget proposal is about the only time using it would be appropriate. The idea of that aide being forced to apologize for the ignorance of people who can't pick up a dictionary or use google just rubs me the wrong way. The word negro and it's racist slurred form is not an english word. It was Spanish and Portuguese. It has no other definition so there is no appropriate English use. Big difference. I remember a few years back a Knicks sportscaster was fired because he said Patrick Ewing swung from the basket "like Tarzan" after a dunk. He was fired and forced to apologize because it was determined by whomever the hell determines such things that the comment was racist. I don't see how. Tarzan did swing from vines and was white in any case. Would it have been OK if he said Spiderman? I'm pretty sure he is black now so that would be OK I guess. This PC madness over words is way out of control and in truth is a small contributing factor to Trump being elected. People get sick of having this mindless crap rammed down their throats and sometimes over compensate. The thing is though, we can't "fix" it. You can't make the willfully ignorant less so and can't make those determined to be offended not be offended. All we can do is get enough people to tell them to piss off when they get into a knot. Lie the did in the story Bartimaeus commented on. Or like what the University of Chicago did recently. We need a lot more of that.

As much as I find this little "war" between Trump and the media to be an exercise in pettiness I also have to admit I'm taking a perverse satisfaction in it at the same time: https://news.grabien.com/story-after-likening-trump-hitler-journalists-upset-theyre-not-get

What a sorry effort by the Grizzlies last night. They were sleepwalking through the first three periods. Especially the third. Then a furious comeback attempt in the 4th that just came up short. The hole was too deep to dig out of. I had decent seats though. The were the last row of the lower level even with the foul line.

Please! Please please please please please let this happen: http://www.sbnation.com/2017/2/9/14560550/miami-marlins-sale-jeffrey-loria