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For over 150 years, no land battle has been fought on the American mainland. Oceans help, but the other primary reason is that for over 100 of those years we have an explicit policy of supporting allies closer to the things that threaten us, so that when those threats turn into hot conflicts, they happen 'over there' and not 'over here'. Does this policy have an element of cynicism and self-serving? Of course, yet it's still manifestly also in the interest of a party like the Ukrainians, who would just as soon win the battle for their land instead of becoming meat ground in the prelude to the US facing Russian at the Atlantic shoreline. Just because everyone's motives are not 'pure' does not mean a situation is still not a win-win.

But at the end of the day: 1) This conflict started when Vladimir Putin chose to invade. Lockheed or Raytheon or whoever didn't tell Putin to invade, he had agency and made the choice on his own recognizance. 2) The Ukrainians, who SB refers to as puppets, did not want Russia to invade and, when they did, they chose to fight back and solicited the help of the world in the process. In other words, they want our help. I have never claimed that there aren't ways in which the broader conflict might have geopolitical impacts that benefit the United States. But the chain of events that led to this situation originated in Moscow. Full stop. They are the reason we are here now. On another note, I would suspect that so.e folks who have spent years (correctly) identifying how ****ed up The War in Iraq was would be able to identify how similar Russia's role in this current conflict is similar to our role in Iraq. And would calibrate their criticism to conquest and nation-building accordingly, given that Russia's justification for the invasion included all about those things. But maybe it's too much to expect intellectual consistency.

That was pretty incredible.

One way to look at Feliciano is that at catcher depth, we went from Ali Sanchez to Michael Papierski to Feliciano, a guy who used to be a pretty high prospect in the Brewers system who is only 24 in about three transactions. While retaining Papierski after his DFA. It isn't sexy, but it's how you build depth in an organization. Avila never did that kinda stuff.

Why is Harris' wife with Metzler?

I'd do him

he's on his honeymoon; where do think it is?

That seems like a lot of machinations, when all they need to do is share media revenue.

https://pointerpointer.com/

I argued with Henning on twitter that the Tigers should take Madrigal 1:1 over Mize because as an every day 2nd baseman with a plus glove and bat at a position the Tigers had no one close to ready...he had more value than a P with the usual injury concerns. Then they both get hurt....

How hot is she?

This is truth. There was not a post WWII movie made that featured grey ships with white numbers that I didn't see as a squirt sitting next to ex POFC/Gunnery A.G. at NBC 'Saturday Night at the Movies." (or even a few at real movie house). 'Caine Mutiny' not the least.

Someone invaded Ukraine on that day. Maybe some day we will know who.

It's almost like February 24, 2022 never happened lol. Just gets ignored every single time.

It the same dichotomy as Nickelson in 'A Few Good Men' but Jack played it over the top enough so that listening to the argument wasn't the point. The difference between the ambiguity of the 70's and the self assuredness of the 90's But it's Von Sydow that makes TDOTC. He is beyond perfect. His is the only real truth in that universe.

From time to time when I rewatch "3 Days of the Condor" even with its problematic rape scene, it comes across as a very interesting look at the issue of what is in our interest. The final scene when Cliff Robertson and Robert Redford are arguing and Robertson is talking about the nasty things the US Government does on behalf of the people is thought provoking. I sometimes sympathize with Robertson and I sometimes sympathize with Redford.

Another thing about the relegation system is that it creates a whole new degree of interest in bad teams trying to avoid relegation. Some European leagues have (or have had in the past) actual relegation playoffs that draw a low of fans and TV viewership. There are a lot of downsides to the P/R setup, but interest in the fate of bad teams at the end of a season would be a new and intriguing add.

he'll be hitting in a good park for him.

Dodged that bullet.

Not us but there was fear of what they would do after Ukraine before Ukraine put up a fight.

We signed Mario Feliciano................Feliz Navidad everyone.

I mean, Russia invaded Ukraine of their own accord and wished to decapitate their government back in February 22. I gather you may be too far gone to remember that

He was really good!

I’m a fan of her work with Tony Bennett. The duet albums are great, not to mention the friendship the two seemed to develop

They just want self determination and not to live under Russian rule. You don't care about any of that. Just admit it.

The Beatles had so much technical innovation in recording due to the genius of George Martin. Both bands started with the similar influences in blues and skiffle. Those can still be heard as the Stones main influence throughout their career. I’m not sure they evolved that much musically. That’s just fine since they were so good at it and became an influential live band. The Beatles were just the opposite and had their music evolve as much as almost any band that you can think of and they were only together for less than a decade. The combination of the public insanity and the love of playing around with new recording technologies kept them as mainly a studio band.

i love tp. i tease him all the time but being a contrarian is his schtick. he knows it. and game threads are places to vent.

Actually I am ok with the moves so far for the MLB team: Boyd, Lorenzen, Ibanez and even Feliciano (also Malloy). The upper management has improved it would seem along with scouting, player development, conditioning, the hitting philosophy and other areas where there is potentially upgraded personnel coming aboard. My concerns, and it may be early still, are with the depth of the MLB team. Injuries are going to happen. Right now we do not even have a complete team to put on the field. When (not if) an injury or two occurs we currently have no depth. I actually do think the team has a chance to still be decent - provided some smart moves are made. We are not in a strong division really. Two years ago we came on strong and were thought to be turning the corner (then injuries and down years took place). No one gave Cleveland a chance at this time last year and for that matter well on into May - but it happened. There is some time still. Some players to had - be it FA and/or trade. However, if the mindset is to 'Come to Detroit to get better' that IMHO does not attract many 'position' players (aka Comerica Park, listen to Lorenzan Presser). Veterans know what coaches are for. Many hire their own personal coaches in several areas. Not every player need be 24 or under for this team to get better. If that were the case then just follow minor league teams - but the Tigers are a MLB team. BTW, we will get even more 'prospect' talent in the next draft, ex 3 picks in the top 46? We just have to start developing players (esp positional) regardless and that should be perhaps the organization's main focus - but many of us would not mind a few more MLB players as well along the way.

I would have liked Mitch Haniger. Believe he got a reasonable 3-year deal. RH hitting OF with some power.

Quit yer bitchin’

If you are not going to game, just watching on TV and are so upset you aren't willing to give the new FO even the who offseason before writing them off for not picking up free agents they weren't after anyway, why don't you root for the Mets or another team that is doing what you want? I totally get the frustration of the past seasons, but we never realistically were going to sign the vast majority of the players who are off the market, nor should we have. There are many ways to build the team and we are roughly 1 month into the offseason. I doubt many of the players Harris has targeted are now unavailable. And saying Illitch doesn't care is absurd also IMO as last offseason he was more than willing to spend when it looked like a SS, a starter, and a LF could take the team from 77 wins to playoff contention.

It seems when a team can't produce home grown talent and has issues keeping players healthy and botching rehabs and the first thing the new guy does is overhaul the amateur scouting department and training staff, it's hard to say nothing has been done.

There isn't a single person on this board who isn't tired of the rebuild.

its easier in the NBA for a team with one great player to win championships

I think that relegation works in English football because there are 92 clubs independent of each other in the first 4 levels, and literally thousands of clubs at levels 5 and below. Theoretically they could all advance to the premiership. There is not anything in North American pro sports that is analogous to that.

so is zach wilson and he just passed for 300 yards and left a ton of plays on the field. i'm a bit worried about the lions secondary again. they looked awful against the jets. can we re-hire aubrey pleasant again so dan campbell can fire him?

How’s this for Exhibit A as to how the market has changed: A guy who was let go after a below-replacement-level year gets two years, the second one being his option.

Relegation, to me, smacks of the mentality that the best way to manage is through fear and punishment, and I've just never subscribed to that, that is that worst way to manage any system.

Even setting aside the NBA, the EPL, which has been discussed at length (and whose system of relegation has been held up by some) has had 7 Champions since it's inception 30 years ago... three of those teams (Man City, Man U and Chelsea) own 24 of those titles.