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I thought it was very reassuring that the Democrats had a candidate who was the most productive president since Johnson and had decades of experience.

This is a really good post.... whatever *this* is, it doesn't feel like 2016. And it doesn't feel like 2020 either, which in and of itself was a black swan event because of COVID. There may be things here or there that I might pick nits with, but if she loses, it's not going to be about the campaign she ran. It's going to be on the American people, or at least those in the states that will decide the election, choosing Trump.

As an aside, I mentioned that I voted absentee two weeks ago. It still hasn’t been marked as received, and given the ~state of affairs~ surrounding absentee ballots and nonsensical allegations of voter fraud, I thought it wise to call up my clerk’s office. I live in a *very* conservative rural area in Monroe County, the kind where local officials run unopposed as Republicans. When I called, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But the clerk herself answered the phone and was the nicest public official I may have ever spoken to. She apologized for the delay and said she can see my ballot was sent but that they haven’t marked it in yet. Took my phone number and said she’d call either way by the end of the day and work with me to spoil it and send a new one if needed, or that they found it and marked it in. Despite the national narrative and push by a certain side to encourage certain people to do certain illegal things (like overthrow a certain democratic election), I think the majority of local officials remain good people who are in it for the right reasons. I was encouraged by the phone call.

I hear him talking like this and the Association's Cherish comes to mind. Tariff is the word I use to describe you.

Torn chakra..........

As someone who more passively pays attention to these things, it sure feels like Harris has been running a mistake-free campaign since taking over the torch. The transition was seamless and she understands both her opponent and the battle field. She is going far and wide to pickup as many votes as she can. The name of the game is turnout, but that goes both ways. Yes you need record Democratic turnout, and I think they’re well on their way. But also - if you can dishearten some number of vital rural voters in MI and PA who will never vote blue, but might not vote Trump? That’s just as well. On the other side of things, Trump has probably 70,000,000 votes no matter what either he or Harris does. Shoot someone on 5th Avenue and all that. That’s an indicting systemic embarrassment on this country, but it is what it is. There’s no changing it. But it wasn’t enough in 2020, and Trump doesn’t seem particularly inclined to increase it. I honestly don’t think he cares. I’m sure he has people telling him “this is what you need to do to pickup votes”, but he’s a narcissistic old man who genuinely believes that he can’t lose. He doesn’t give a ****. I could be wrong. But I was worried in 2016, cautiously optimistic in 2020, and am currently more confident than I was in either of those two elections. I think we are trending towards a Harris victory where she wins it walking away.

Speaking as somebody who worked at McDonalds, I relate more to the person who actually drew a paycheck from them over the guy pandering for voters.

I think I went there around 1970. It was my first of many trips to Montreal with my dad.

YAY!

He can just phrase all of his criticisms of officials and other franchises as questions to Kevin Burkhardt. “Kevin, does it seem to you like this officiating crew needs about ten pairs of glasses?” ”Kevin, have you ever seen an owner as inept as Woody Johnson?” ”Kevin, Maxx Crosby has been an incredible addition to this Detroit defense but don’t you think the Lions must have had prohibited communication with him to get it done?”

Act shocked.

I fully expect the Weinstein Walker if/when Trump goes to court next time.

It immediately refers you to an AI summary without regard for the various contexts in which it has searched. It’s like an 11- year-old’s cheating version of “research.”

I understand that people want to apply strategy to it or conspiracies and all, but the Occam's Razor explanation here is that Donald Trump is 78 years old and both in poor health and evasive as to his medical history. And unable to get in front of a crowd that isn't a perfectly curated safe-space for him (ie. compare Fox Women's Town Hall vs. Univision Town Hall). To the extent that any of this is strategic, it's because his campaign has literally no other choice than to pursue it because of the candidate's apparent weaknesses and declining mental abilities.

That is one possible read, but I tend toward an alternate view. Trump is stuck in 1980 - either because of age or vascular driven neurologicala deficit leading to loss of frontal lobe integration or just because of his basic narcissistic inward view, his view of reality is fixed/regressed back to his golden boy swinging NYC idol days circa 40 yrs ago. He understands everything that was true then to be what is true now, so in his political calculation he can't lose the election because he is playing to the overwhelming majority of what that America was. His majority can't be outvoted unless people are cheating. His advisors don't know what they are talking about with their constant carping on him to go here and do this. He certainly cares if he wins because even through his thick skull it has penetrated that if he loses he's going to jail.

Gordon Gekko was based on a Wall Street trader named Ivan Boesky.

I absolutely think that is a part of their strategy. They feel like they are tied or ahead in this race. The less people see of Trump the better in his strategists minds. They don't want the average voter and swing voter to be exposed to the ridiculous stuff he says and the demented fool he has slowly eroded into.

Hey, here’s an idea for the Rays!

Did Nacho Varga switch his pills?

With the core group of this roster under longterm deals, maybe it does make sense to start trading off future high draft picks for pieces that can get them to the top. The Rams had huge success with this plan while Brad was with them and they were contending for titles. The Lions are in a much better position than they were at the same stage regarding key players locked up for many years. Trade the 1sts and 2nds and start using later round picks to add depth and of course hit big on some future studs like they’ve always been able to do. Let free agency be an area where they let players go and turn them into future 3rd and 4th round compensatory picks instead of trying to sign big name FA that they won’t be able to afford. I guess what I’m saying is maybe it does make more sense to give up two future ones for Maxx Crosby and resign him as part of the core.

Production meetings aren't the ones u are referring to. Those are in house of course he can do that. It's the ones on air staff and producers meet with team coaches and key players. They are vital. It's why you here color guys say things like coach xyz said they would try to feed the ball to the rb today. They create a well rounded broadcast that has depth and context. Missing on them is a huge deal.

I am so wary of a long-term contract. Miggy hurt the team for years and it was only during the last season that they started to take him down from his pedestal. It really seemed like we would not be able to win as long as Miggy was on the roster. I am also wary of a seasoned vet coming in and showing everyone how to "win". This team is figuring it out from their perspective and they are creating it together. Worried that some experienced winner might put a damper on that. A Bregman might influence them with the Houston way or something like that. That said, Harris did talk about one of the values of Vierling's flexibility is that he would have a position if they brought in someone at 3b. That indicated to me that he was thinking of upgrading the position. I'd rather see them get someone who could upgrade the team but be vulnerable to someone pushing their way up. With a great farm system you can trade productive ML players for good prospects because another prospect is coming up, reloading the system. You can also obtain a star player for giving up prospects but I suspect that Harris would be looking for someone with more future than past. DD was in the habit of emptying the system to pull in top players to keep the team in contention and he has produced results everywhere doing that but he also had huge downsides. Harris seems to be more organic, grow the system, control the players coming into the game. It is notable that we had no FAs on the playoff rosters. Not sure when the last time that occurred.

We haven't seen such an obvious cocaine user since the final scene of Scarface.

maybe they could change their name to the bootsox or something, too

If the Sox were bought and moved to Nashville, they should move them to the NL Central and put Milwaukee or Pittsburgh in the AL Central

It would definitely be great to go to a place where people mostly want the same things, just disagree about getting there. As it is it's getting to the point where maintaining infrastructure that people depend on (directly or indirectly) feels like pulling teeth.

I mean Bally is a Casino, so this is basically the same thing.

I heard my new favorite columnist was on CNN last night. The way she stuck to facts while being barraged by smug from O'Leary and that Jennings character. Oh, and Bunk is on this panel for some reason? https://youtu.be/OwignVX4loI?feature=shared

Ive heard Cal Thomas's old ass on CSPAN many times now, and hes on currently and has already stated hes undecided on Trump (???) and has stated he agrees with some of VP Harris's critique of Trump. He also mentioned a pollster who tends to poll religious folks and theyre finding a more significant number of them saying theyre not going to vote.

Memories ...

My wife and I just happened to be at the Grimace game back in June, stopping by for a Mets game as we were driving through on the way back from a Long island weekend. I guess Grimace had thrown out the first pitch, which we missed, but it was a Mets blowout from the word go, so everyone was in a party mood right away. They kept showing Grimace in different parts of the ballpark during inning breaks and people were going nuts, and of course, this was the beginning of a long winning streak for them, which sealed the deal. It's a toss-up as to what's the more popular meme in Queens: Grimace, or OMG.

Well, it’s become as clear as can be that if you’re voting for Trump, you’re voting for the fascism, because once the dementia takes him out for good, all you’re going to be left with is the J.D. Vances and the Stephen Millers and the Michael Flynns and the Heritage Foundation, and none of those guys are any fun at rallies.

Good point

Baier's aggressiveness is going to score her huge points with women. Men and all the male talking heads will watch and completely miss the significance in the subtext. Women will not.

Considering how the NYT has been all election cycle.... wow

Possibly, I didn't watch live but afterward myself. But even still, Fox does get a lot of eyeballs from people who aren't necessarily in the tank for Trump.... there's a reason that Pete Buttigieg shows up there periodically and that the Harris campaign sent Walz onto Fox News Sunday recently. Not to mention the fact that it is default programming in a lot of public spaces in areas of the country. Of course I do think there was benefit beyond the actual Fox audience though - she benefits from proving she can spar and hold her own against all comers. Baier gave no quarter, but she did well and (at times) exceeded IMO. It almost seemed like a form of absolution that she had to go through in the context of this campaign.

the Tariff thing also has to be hurting him with a lot of old school green eye-shade mainstreet types who have always been Republican for economic reasons who know it's economic lunacy. They are not a huge cohort but neither side can afford to lose anyone.

Alonso has the same problem Yandy Diaz has: can't defend at first. If we move on from Tork, I believe we'll want a guy who can save our infielders as well as hit.

WTF is David Duke Polling? This isn't real.

Fixed it for you

Could you imagine Hinch getting fired after that improbable run, because of one bad inning by the best pitcher in baseball? I’d be in front of Little Caesar’s HQ with a pitchfork.

Reddick doesn’t fit any of the criteria. Can’t play de in detroit’s system, can’t cover from the sam, probably isn’t a culture fit

Or maybe they should lecture Hamas about the humanitarian crisis since it is Hamas who initiated it and perpetuates it by hiding behind citizens and confiscating the provided aid. But no let’s keep blaming those pesky Jews for retaliating against an enemy attack and ensuring that their citizens are safer going forward.

Maybe they should send a strongly worded letter to Hamas to release the hostages.

Love that they have him PKing

Bring back PASS