1984Echoes

I think it is higher than 19 (around 30 IIRC) but several have chickened out (Jordan, MTG, etc.) and gone over to McCarthy already in this game of chicken...

Yeah I considered that. Pashtun in Pakistan I believe are all in the western mountainous areas all the way down to southwestern Pakistan, I believe west of Karachi, and touching the Indian Ocean... Maybe Pakistan out of the goodness of their hearts would gift some land to the Pashtun, giving them sea access, and good relations with (no more terrorist attacks within) Pakistan. Hah! What a farcical dream. No one would ever go for that. Except the Pashtun that is...

On the boomer/ not boomer spectrum... I was at the very tail end of "boomers", born in 1964. So Vietnam was not a thing for me at all... too young. My political/ military initiation was Nixon's fall (barely on my register), the EPA and the rise in environmentalism, stagflation, the end of Vietnam, Carter's dysfunctional years, and the rise of Reaganism. I was in Fort Bragg when we went to Grenada, however, I was Artillery and we didn't go there, just Airborne went to Grenada (from Fort Bragg... so they took all of our equipment). I did serve near the Korean DMZ for a year and a half latrer on... I hated lots and lots of Reagan policies but, in the end, I had to agree that he was a good president. Still hate lots of his policies. But he turned me from a Liberal Dem to a stout Independent that caucuses mostly with Dems. Since 1990. Or maybe it was 1992.

Iraq - I believe could have been correctly done, but not the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld Plan. They F'd it up. Not saying it's an absolute guarantee that a (General) MacArthur Plan would have worked; but it would have put the country in its best position to succeed rather than its worst. I won't give a guarantee, but I absolutely believe that that kind of plan would have worked. Afghanistan - the only thing that would work for the Afghans is to split them up IMO. Not a good option, but the northeastern 25-30% of the country is mostly Tadjik. Split that off (I think Kabul is in that NE 25%, but is more mixed ethnically) and combine it with Tadjikistan and at least that area is stable. The rest of the country is 90% Pashtun. Create a Pashtunistan. The Taliban would rule there. There's no getting around that. But if that's how they (Pashtun) want to live then we would just have to resign ourselves to that scenario. It would still be a problem area and the Pashtuns would decidedly not be happy with that solution... but wall of the area from Pashtun and most of the population could live a normal life. 0% chance this ever would have been considered though...

Looks like they're ready to at least go 1 more round... It's not even 3:30... let's see what kind of stamina they have for this.

That would definitely show the level of Republican incoherence though...

Well the practical would be that Jefferies would hold the Speakership. But the Republicans have the majority so they could at any point in time call for a new vote on Speaker so... Practically speaking, Jefferies would actually be Speaker for less than a day.

2nd round same as the 1st round. The Fascist 19 swung all their votes to Jordan rather than splitting them but it's still 212 Jefferies - 203 McCarthy - 19 Fascists. When do they do the 3rd round...? And how late do they go? Seems they have enough time for at least a few more rounds today...

The obverse would be Jordan breaking ranks and voting for himself on the 3rd... opening up the floodgates from there on... I was thinking that was the 2nd round strategy of nominating Jordan... to try and get him off the McCarthy track...

I think this is most likely scenario. Not Jefferies. I know Gaetz opened his mouth and said he'd vote for Hakeem over McCarthy but... like G2 said, the "spite vote" if it ever went that way would last about 2 seconds before they changed their minds again. Fun to specualte on this because it would be wild but... zero likelihood chance of happening. The Fascist Caucus holding out for Jordan and actually getting him as Speaker? I don't think that's very likely either. 5% chance. Maybe not even that. McCarthy waiting the FC out and gaining his coveted speakership? For awhile I thought he might bargain his way to it... had him at a 95-98% chance of doing so. We'll see how firm the Fascist Caucus holds onto their position here... I would drop McCarthy down to 60% at this point. Whether that goes up or down we'll have to see how steeled is the FC. I'm on board with moderate Republicans refusing to hand over their 2 years to the Fascists. It's my preferred pathway, but I have no idea the chances of that happening. I think... the longer the FC holds on, the more likely it is that moderate Republicans reach out to the other side and cut a deal with Dems (I would love to know what THAT would look like!!!) and put up Scalise. I don't know how many Dems would swing over. It's to their benefit to watch Repub's attacking each other for the next two months squabbling and being dysfunctional. Chances for Scalise, right now, 15%? That goes up the more dysfunctional the Repubs get but again, Dems would have to make a tactical decision to do so. The second they do, that 15% shoots way up to 90% methinks.

So if he gets 10 Republican "presents" and 212 votes and Jeffries gets 213 then the Jeffries wins, right? At a certain point, "present" votes don't help him. In fact, any Republican "present" votes do NOT help him... only Dem "present" votes.

We're around 12 at this point...? I think we're looking at one of the plethora of Centers in this draft or, a falling Russian talent... in the middle of the draft... wherever we end up.

PS: I think Jobe makes it to MLB some time in 2025...

oops... wasn't paying attention and missed that part...

17.

Comically, IMO.... Every player except one on your list is an Avila player... Just sayin'...

It's a thing in countries all around the world. But not really in the US as we outgrew the Wild West cowboy era... Or at least... so we thought.

I don't know if I mind the consumerism - per se - as that is what drives our economy to #1. IIRC, our economy is roughly 70% consumerism? But the problems that come along with that... consumer debt, lack of restraint/ budgeting/ savings/ ... I don't know how to solve those and, wish we could figure that part out.

If Berggren & Soderblom can hold their own then I don't mind other guys being pushed to inactive or even out the door... And yes... they're going to need to make a decision between Ned & Hellberg. Would Hellberg slip through waivers and get sent to Grand Rapids? Or is the only option with him an outright release? I'm unclear on what we can do with him. Ned won't make it through any kind of waivers just based on age and "potential"... But if the team decides they are giving up on Ned... does he have any trade value? It seems far-fetched to be giving up on him, but...?

And living paycheck-to-paycheck is exactly what SB has outlined here. An inability to budget, to "live within ones' means", to avoid "splurge" shopping, to rely on credit cards or relatives to help one "maintain a lifestyle"... all lead to the same problem: No budgeting/ restraint = living paycheck-to-paycheck = no money = no savings.

Yeah... I didn't mean to make that sound so restrictive... because you're correct, a person CAN look around and find good advise, even for free. I think I was answering in a restrictive way based on the financial advisors = sharks vein... As for the bigger problem... I still think that it's too many people living paycheck-to-paycheck where they're not even able to get to that first attempt. I think that's what SB's charts are showing.. that people just don't even have money to make the initial effort to start up savings. Just my opinion. But yeah, once a person has some money to start investing, they have to get past the sharks... and starting with free seminars as you've described them by banks & credit unions are probably their best and most risk-free path to follow.

That doesn't affect our offensive efficiency though. It affects our final win-loss record. I'm on board with our offense recovering in 2023 (I don't know to what level) because it can't get any worse than it was in 2022.

Two different issues though... Those without money have nowhere reputable to turn to... because that costs money and they don't have it (point I'm making). And those who get money are jumping into shark-infested waters; which I believe is where your point carries weight.

... for better or for worse. Mostly worse.

I think the issue is that financial advisors are expensive and therefore anyone with no money searches for advice where it costs no money.