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I can respect that kind of thinking, although I don't think it can work in highly populated areas. What I can't respect is the support for fascism that I am seeing all over the place.

there are some places where I would agree it's better not to get tied up with the gov in the first place. For instance I think NPR is better off being fully independent. Turns out the public is willing to support them. Now they can stop looking over their shoulder all the time and do their thing. But I think when it comes to services for the indigent, public/private is often a good mix. The private charity is usually is a lot more disciplined with money than a purely public one would be, the labor force is generally available at much lower costs (no-one volunteers to work for government agencies for free!), and services for the poor don't have appeal to middle/upper class donors that something like NPR (where they get a lot of the direct benefit) does.

I’ve been really interested lately in how religion does intersect with all this. There’s a few different ways I can think of that someone can relate to Christianity: for the intrinsic spiritual and moral value they see in its message; for the order, structure, and community it provides their lives; for the way church doctrine and documents support their existing thinking about how the society should be ordered; for the way it provides an answer to an important life question or problem they couldn’t answer before. I’m sure there are others. I thought of all this especially the other day when I read that something like 42% of all men in their 20s now state that religion is very important in their lives, up from 28% just two years ago; whereas for other men importance is up only slightly, and for women of all ages importance went down. What can explain this surge in religiosity for just this particular group of people? Are these men suddenly discovering the mortal and spiritual value of religion in just the past two years to a degree that no one else is? Are they finding more community with one another by bonding over religion? Did they discover a message in religion that ratifies their existing thinking, or provides an answer to problem they couldn’t solve for themselves before? Is there anything in the cultural landscape that might be leading to this?

Also known as Patriots Day.

The people I grew up with in NH were mostly traditional conservatives. When they said they wanted government out, they meant it-and would take it upon themselves to make sure those who needed help got it from other community members. And religion was a private, personal subject that you only discussed in church. So we didn't agree on how to accomplish some things, but we often wanted the same things.

AJD Melting Pot. really good substack from one of the mgoblog boys. i think the wings' problem is not yzerman per se, but that yzerman has allowed the wings' front office to become the wings' retirement home. yzerman led a really good front office in tampa bay, one that has continued to be good after he left. here, he has draper and horcoff. guys who have been here for a decade. a decade of losing and tiny improvements on the ice and - outside of three top 6 picks - has failed in the draft. why are they still here? why are the only additions to the staff nick kronwall and lidstrom? julein brisebois never played an nhl game in his life and now he's the best gm in hockey after being there with yzerman. it takes talent to find that guy. it takes no talent to find kronwall or lidstrom, theyre literally contacts in his phone. time to overhaul this mess. go get the next julien brisebois, and if yzerman isnt ruthless enough to fire his underperforming ex-teammates, then go find someone who will.

multiple good pieces out there in the substack-verse on the need to overhaul the front office. "Look, those are the three most important picks Yzerman has made, since they were the highest. But you also get less credit for nailing them. Getting a really good hockey player out of the 6th, 4th, and 7th overall picks should be the baseline expectation for any GM in the National Hockey League. But can you get really good (or even just regular good) players when you pick 9th or 14th or 20th? Or out of the 2nd or 3rd rounds? That’s what differentiates strong front offices from average/weak ones, and what elevates rebuilds into contenders. Right now, it’s not great. Only seven Yzerman draft picks played more than 40 games for the Red Wings this season, in year #7 of a rebuild. Of those seven players, one is a third pair defenseman, one is a young D who was clearly not NHL ready, and the other is a former 7th rounder who scored 30 points. The final name is Marco Kasper, who went from one of the most exciting players at the end of last year to scoring just 19 points. That is close to a five-alarm fire for me. As it stands currently, Detroit doesn’t have a single impactful NHL player out of the 2022 or 2023 drafts. Maybe that will happen in the future but I’m not feeling great right now. Nate Danielson, the 2023 first rounder, came up and played 28 games, making little impact. Together with the Kasper, the players you picked 8th and 9th overall in ‘22 and ‘23 combined to score 26 points. "

you wrote that you didnt think they were far from being the top team in the conference. i think theyre miles from being the top team in the conference.

On the other hand, a lot of religious posters in that thread are disgusted with him. That picture seems to have struck a nerve.

I've got some relatives that are very active in the Catholic church, one of whom is a deacon. And some other relatives active in other churches. Pretty sure most of them are red hats. Just kind of curious if this term has made them found their true religion. This moment in particular for a few of them.

Starting times for this weekend are 7:15p, 4:10p, 1:35p, and 11:10a. The Monday game is the traditional Red Sox game that coincides with the Boston Marathon

Might as well.

Apple TV. Ah well.

Poke around Cot's and search for assignment bonus. But yes, it does seem like something of a soft no-trade. https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/american-league/detroit-tigers/

Finish watching Saul then. That’s all I will say. I liked BCS better and when I put on the AMC stories channel on Amazon prime I watch that. If it’s breaking bad I don’t tune in unless it’s an early episode.

They are done from what I have read. All NBA playiff games are on national networks. The parent group is shutting down offices.

MUST WIN MUST WIN MUST WIN

I didn't even entertain the idea of taking him out after the sixth inning, but maybe you are right. I don't know. I don't think it hurt to try to extend him an out or two more. I guess we can argue it almost cost the team the game, but if we lost, I wouldn't have been upset with keeping him in. I would've done the same.

I haven't legitimately watched a TV series since Breaking Bad. I started watching Better Call Saul, and it was fine, but somewhere down the line I lost interest in it. I'm sure I'll see the end one day. I was really upset that Gus wasn't the one that got the spinoff show. If there was ever a cooler villain than Gus, I don't know who it was.

I mostly read six-month "books" I have of old Sporting News newspapers these days. I'm reading one with 1965 papers in it right now. I wish something like TSN still existed today, especially the way it was before I started subscribing at 9 in 1978 to it. I thought that it was the greatest sports publication in the history of man back then. But when you see the detail TSN had with baseball (and the minors) even just 5, 10 or 20 years earlier, gosh was it awesome. I have an SABR subscription so whenever I feel the urge I'll go through a year's worth of Tiger articles, PDF them and put them in a notebook to read. They are great for my Tiger replays. ------- I just started reading a book that focuses on Greenberg's 1938 season (there was a previous book that focused on his career) and I was reading that until I misplaced it. I'll find it again. Until then, I'm starting to read a book on Boots Poffenberger. If you don't know who that is check into your 1930s Tiger history. 🙂

Really wish Hinch had taken the ball from Montero after the 6th. Maybe with a 4 game series coming up, they were trying to preserve as many bullpen innings as possible.

I think it's worth the gamble. The possible strike probably made this easier to make it happen.