1984Echoes

Sorry I'm late in answering you Del... but pretty much what everyone above has said, starting with Lee. To add to that: Trump has been engaged in fraud at every step. A fraudulent "Trump University" (he paid out $25 mill for being fraudulent). A fraudulent "Trump Charity" (New York shut it down because it was fraudulent). He commits tax fraud regularly (New York State sued Trump for tax fraud and misrepresentation) He attempted to illegally avoid paying some of his workers, constantly jerks around contractors, local small businesses, lawyers, bankers... everybody. To whit: "report found hundreds of liens, judgments and at least 60 lawsuits against Trump and his businesses alleging that he has not fully paid workers for their labor and in some instances refused to pay commissions for his own lawyers and real estate brokers." "racked up 24 violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act for not paying employees minimum wage or overtime pay." "During construction on the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., in 1990, records show that Trump failed to pay at least 253 subcontractors in full or on time." I don't consider someone who is constantly screwing people over, constantly committing fraud, even criminal acts, lost almost everything in bankruptcies, and got bailed out by a television producer ("Trump is a bloviating charade... he'd be PERFECT for the 'Apprentice'!!!"), to be a "successful" billionaire. But I'm not denying he's a billionaire. So how about "Corrupt-to-the-Core and Criminal" Billionaire? Sort of like Vladimir Putin the billionaire (Trump has *****-envy of Putin's power, corruption, and hidden billions... Oh, and Kim Jong Un too!) Or like a mafia-don billionaire? Trump is a wannabe Putin/ Kim/ Mafia Don billionaire.

Speaking of which: Who would be your CRAZIEST Brad Holmes, out of the blue 1st round pick? Mine: I would say that the Lions could easily fall in love with Emmanwori or Jihaad Campbell. I think these two are very similar: Emmanwori is a BIG SS who can do almost anything on the field, including playing coverage LB'er if needed. Particularly covering TE's, RB's, big receivers. I think Jihaad Campbell is the exact same, only in reverse: A small linebacker that makes plays all over and could play SS. The team LOVES putting Branch at nickel... so... If ONE of them falls to 28, either Emmanwori (not very likely) or Jihaad (he seems to be slipping some... I've seen him mocked 31...); Brad and the rest of the Lions are "in LOVE" with both of these guys and... So my CRAZY pick is... Jihaad Campbell.

Zach Benson is 5' 10" 170 #'s. We have two dozen Zach Benson's in our system. Some will make it. A lot of them won't. One or two may turn into high-level star (Lucas Raymond, 5' 11" 186 #'s). A lot will be meh (Berggren 5' 11" 195 #'s). Just like Zach Benson... meh. We don't need any more Zach Benson's in the system. We need Kaspers and Danielsons and MBN's and in this year's draft, the one guy I want more than anyone else is not the top-rated prospect, but 6'3" 210 #'s (as an 18 year old) power forward described as Tkachuk-like... (but never guarantees with draftees...): Porter Martone. I've had enough of the Zach Benson's of the world. Save them for the 3rd round or later... I want a few Tkachuck's, MBN's, or Martone's in this organization. Just my 2 cents.

Now it's 5-3 Wings. They want the 12th spot.

Musk wants government contracts. Trump wants to reduce his taxes because he's corrupt and greedy. And Trump is not on Musk's level. You don't remember Trump 1.0? Businesses asked for a 24% rate, Trump demanded it drop to 21% because he himself would pay less in taxes. He demanded real estate carve-outs to benefit himself. And he demanded a massive reduction in inheritance taxes because he was pissed he had to pay on his father's estate. He cheats at taxes. Everything Trump does is to avoid taxes, and pocket corrupt money. He's done that his entire life. Trump is not a "successful" billionaire. So you can't put him in Musk's or any other legit billionaire's orbit. He's an imbecile. And he wants tax cuts for himself... and his fellow "billionaire's". Whether they actually want them or not.

Yeah, I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm not actively rooting for losses but I am rooting for the best draft position... I was just saying... They've sort of boxed themselves into a range. Our competition for the 10th spot is the Rangers & Islanders. GO RANGERS & ISLANDERS!!! WIN THESE LAST MEANINGLESS GAMES!!! YEAH!!!

They're stuck in the 10th-12th spot with no wiggle room.

Not correct. It's all about the Billionaires giving themselves a tax cut. But the optics of a tax cut to enrich themselves while the debt skyrockets is not so good... so... Slash Federal workers to pay for their tax cut. Oh... not enough? Eliminate "fraud" in Social Security... errr, slash the workforce. Still not enough? Trump floated cutting military personnel by half. Stop Pentagon waste. Cancel some "unnecessary" military equipment contracts... Hmmm... still not enough? "OK, balloon our debt please". It's all about the money. "Follow the money trail" guys.

The flipside is: There's only 1 pilot for The United States of America. She has no choice whatsoever except to go talk to this pilot (even if he's a fascist imbecile) when the need arises.

Fascism IN... Everything else... OUT.

I think it depends on our lottery luck: Get a top 3 pick (not very likely) and I would say no. No lottery luck (most likely) and I would say DEFINITELY yes.

Time to jettison Maeda?

Good call.

R.E.M. - "Superman".

How is Keith's shoulder? If it's 100% healthy, shouldn't the Org take another chance at seeing if he can thrive at 3B? IIRC, he was better at 3B than Jung. And Jung was better at 2B than at 3B, and better than Keith at 2B. That solves everything. Jung can come up and take over for Torres whenever the team is ready to make that move. No later than next year as Torres is a FA. But he takes over 2B whenever the Org is ready... Just a thought.

Not to keep harping on it... But I think Mo needs some "young, fresh legs" help and not some "tired old vet's legs" help. Experience is great, but... I want to see kids on the blueline next year, Wallinder, Tuomisto and Buium, even if they have growing pains. If they can at least do the "defense first" part of defending, I think that takes a lot of stress off Mo and Simon. IMO.

That happened immediately after we signed Torres. AJ said specifically this offseason that he called Tork and told him he was losing his 1B spot to the signing of Torres and the planned move of Keith to 1st. I'm 99.999% certain that was his CTJ moment.

Not when you bet AGAINST the market...

Any guy they trade up for has to love football more than breathing. His last dying wish has to be "I wanna be a Lion and hand my life over to Dan Campbell." That's what we won't know. Only Brad Homes and all his team (including DC and coaches) get to go inside these guys' heads and try to figure out what makes them tick. Does Shemar Stewart love football more than breathing? Then the answer to your question is: "maybe". Does the team also believe they can unlock his pass-rush abilities? Because although he'd be a great edge-setter, and is able to apply "pressure" on the QB, he didn't produce very many sacks at all. So the team would have to believe they can unlock that ability, otherwise, I would say no. Too many tricky questions to answer with any kind of certainty. It's all maybes with Brad because we all know he could do just about ANYTHING... Whoever they "fall in love with" the most is a fair target. So: Tyler Booker? Kenneth Grant? Shemar Stewart? Derrick Harmon? Grey Zabel? Donovan Jackson? Mykel Williams? Jonah Savaiinaea (nfl.com says so)? Or someone no one, not one of us, has even thought of? You can pick your poison... but you KNOW that Brad Holmes is going to pick HIS...

I was going to say that, but, no... I'm actually a dollar ahead so I had to cut out that line...

Aaah, cas beat me to it... Although I am a day late...

Dude... this is so easy. It's called Politics 101. How did the young kids (18-30) vote in 2020? Overwhelmingly for Biden. Who makes tips in America? Mostly the just-out-of-high-school or young people's getting a start in life. Overtime hours? Young people trying to get ahead in life. Trump "bought" himself a crap-ton of votes with this line. Social Security? Old folk on SS must seriously consider voting Dem because of the constant threats from Republicans. No taxes on SS? Trump "locked" in those votes too. Trump specifically targeted people with this. Votes. It doesn't have to be 100% effective. It just has to move enough votes from the Dem side to Trump's side in the 2024 vote... which... as Ronz kept saying...

How quickly the winds change...

I think I like THIS version of: TORK!!!

Two, after today...