1984Echoes

So... I better follow my own device and have some... patience. Like it or not.

1) Don't spend $ 135 mill on a House of Cards. Like Schoop, Grossman, Miggy, etc... Even Meadows & Eduardo... who we didn't know would run into injuries/ other issues this year... 2) Patience. Cannot put Humpty Dumpty back together again in just one year of spending some money. Especially when relying on (A) foreseeable underperforming assets (Grossman/ Schoop/ Miggy) and (B) also relying on a boat load of kids who are naturally going to have ups and downs until they establish their footing in MLB. Requiring... patience, no quick FA fixes. We could hope that everything goes perfectly right in 2022 and we get our 80-ish wins... Or, like we all did, including Ilitch, we forgot that Murphy's Law does actually exist and things do go wrong. So... patience. I don't want to do anything different in 2023 so we can see how most of these kids (at the higher levels such as MLB down to no further than AA) flesh out before making any decisions/ changes in the on-field personnel... but that's just me. Ilitch should see that the correct lesson is to continue to develop the farm system so that free agency is turned to only as a last resort. There is lots of promise on the farm, but it will take further patience. And further improvements in the development system. And someone at the top who can do more/ faster than Avila to bring the Org front office, from top to bottom, into the 21st century. We are half way there, but need an integration specialist that can pull all the pieces together, and make them work cohesively. As for money, I hope that our prospects turn out well enough that we are offering THEM 8 year contracts to buy out 2 or 3 arbitration years as well as 5-ish years of FA at a hometown discount. And filling in only 1 or 2 holes with outside FA's. That's how I want to spend our annual Salaries. But... that's probably a different topic of discussion for the very far off future... at least as it looks like right now...

They want to save civilian casualties and stuff...

It would not bother me to extend current day Tajikistan into any predominant Tajik territory in Afghanistan, and lop off the rest of it as Pashtunistan as you say. The Taliban are all Pashtun... the only issue is that there is a chunk of Pakistani territory that is mostly Pashtun also so there will always be troubles fomenting there... But if you combined the two Pashtun territories I believe that would extend all the way to the Indian Ocean and therefore give them a modicum of economic viability... Maybe enough to throw off the Taliban extremists... although, that could backfire... Separate issue... but I have long wanted to carve out a Kurdistan for the Kurds. The largest culture/ ethnicity without its own country. Northern Iraq, eastern Turkey (no wonder they're always attacking the Kurds...), northern Syria, and northwestern Iran. I would give them a land bridge to the Black Sea and to the Caspian Sea. But that's just me.

"We've lost nothing." "Not one single thing." As he cuts off all oil and gas to Europe because right now he is... desperate.

Hiding Johnson may have been a... stratagem...

We have to replace him with wins in other states.

The flip side is that I would think most really don't want to show the inner workings/ stratagems of their team.

I was just going to say exactly this...

Northeastern Afghanistan is Tajik territory. The same guys who overthrew the Taliban in 2002 (under Massoud it was all Tajik in the "Northern Alliance"; but grew quickly after his assassination and with American funding/ expertise/ special ops to include some other Anti-Taliban tribes...).

This also points out that, not only are they retaking territory, but the Russians are abandoning equipment to flee (where they can); but where they cannot retreat, the Ukrainians are taking a significant number of POW's... especially on the western side of the Dnieper River, near Kherson or Dnipro region, since they took out all the bridges as a means of retreating: https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukrainian-troops-capture-russian-army-175100801.html

Hoo boy!!! Now I have company!!!

Wentz is being called up to pitch Friday's game...

In the year 2022 no less...

And Ukraine is also back to capturing Russian colonels and generals... https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukrainian-troops-capture-russian-army-175100801.html

He could arrest Garland, Hillary and Dr. Fauci... You know... The Trifecta...

I think those two do not purchase the same amount as Europe. I could be wrong but... And they certainly cannot replace EU purchases of gas as the infrastructure is just not there... although most of the money is in oil so Russia may not even care... Too many unknown factors to get a good read on what all the impacts will end up being... but I don't think the sanctions and the EU turning off the Russian oil spigot are helpful. Other unknown factors: whether a recession is in the works, or can be avoided. The US might escape that but I doubt Europe does. Also: The other thing that may hurt Russia but only if it happens is if we get back into agreement with Iran on the nuclear deal. They're sitting on 95 mill barrels that they can dump on the market quickly, and even if it takes 6 months to ramp up to full production, once they do it's going to loosen up market supply. Lots of unknown factors adding up to some serious gray area over the next year.

They're obviously full of shit and Putin (or Lavrov or whomever, I forget...) already stated clearly and unequivocally that they will not restart Nord 1 until sanctions are dropped. It has nothing to do with maintenance and everything to do with desperation. I think sanctions are going to drop the hammer on the Russian economy. The slow burn so far is going to jump up into a conflagration soon enough. Oil will be shut out of Europe in December, and price-capped wherever the US and EU can hold sway outside of Europe. That's their money maker. Russia knows their economy is going to be screwed soon so... This is their panic/ power play to try to get the sanctions dropped. Shut off gas to Europe.

Very well could be...

Maybe so... But his comments are still maximum grotesquery... especially with regards to his "smell".

So in other words... He was going to blackmail that country for a big payoff...

I have no interest in Blough, whatsoever. The interest in Boyle is that he has the arm, but can't get past his mistakes. They're hoping to "coach him up"... because you can't teach NFL arm strength to Blough, he just doesn't have it. I understand the reasoning for choosing Boyle over Blough perfectly... but, you know, still... ewww! The correct solution is to find a developmental QB that can develop at least into a backup QB, if not an actual starter. I have no problem with Boyle if the team thinks they can actually coach him up to that level. I just don't think Boyle is that guy. I'd like them to find someone better. Sudfeld is at least a competent backup QB. That's the level of practice squad QB I'd like to see, a young raw guy who can actually be coached up to at least that level (I do NOT believe that that is Boyle).

More of this please. Much, much, much more of this. In fact, everyone identified on Jan 6th as participating in the coup attempt should be barred from holding any U.S. political position (meaning both Federal, State, OR Local...) for life. Even including School Council. In fact, bar them for life from holding any government paid position at all. That immediately affects the PA Governor's race... doesn't it?!?!

Nothing to see here... Move along... These are not the droids you are looking for...

PS: She needs to be impeached. Tomorrow. Immediately. And her judgement tossed out. IMO.