1776

Personally, I’ve not seen the economy as being “bad,” to borrow the term. Inflation has clearly been a detriment in the last year or so but that, to some degree, is being overplayed at this point.

The article attached is interesting. Point being in this piece, realistically, the economy is better than people give it credit for. However, the general perception remains that the economy is not good. So again, folks will vote according to their perception of things, not necessarily according to the actual numbers. https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/whats-wrong-with-the-economy-its-you-not-the-data-cfa911e6?mod=mhp

Don’t know about the “landslide” part but if I were a betting person (I’m not) I’d bet on Trump winning.

To clarify, I’m not implying it’s the only thing that will matter. I am saying that I believe it is a bigger issue on the ground than he and his party believe it is.

Out of curiosity, do you want to expound on your point here?

My point again is that the perception/reality is that Biden is ignoring the border issues. That’s all that matters when voters make a choice on Election Day. They’re not going to care what courts ruled what. And it’s not just MAGA folks either. They see a president that appears to be just fine with the current state of things.

Agree he would have been re-elected had Covid not happened. Don’t know what Pence could have done to avoid what we experienced. The entire exercise was a learning process across the board.

Yes, the Border Bill was defeated because of Trump’s overbearing intimidation on the spineless GOP. Agreed. My point is, and I repeat, Biden has the authority to act to curb this fiasco. Executive orders are not foreign to Biden. They certainly were not foreign to Trump either. The voting population is, in my opinion, going to hold Biden accountable for not acting within his authority to address the border chaos. From the Kamala Harris border “czar” charade at the outset of his administration to the present day demonstrate, or at the very least, gives the impression, that Biden’s administration doesn’t give a crap. I firmly believe that this one issue is going to cost Biden. As 84 Echoes would say, just my two cents worth from the bleachers.

The above pictures would have been the exact same regardless of who was in the Oval Office at the time. Supply chains froze due to mandated shut downs around the globe. Small world. We probably took the ugliest hit because our economy prior to this fiasco was doing very well. The shutdowns and locked doors on production facilities produced the pictures you’ve posted.

I’m not going to argue that polls are unreliable. They have proven to miss the mark frequently in recent elections. However, you must be reading a different WSJ than the one I subscribe to. The WSJ EB has been critical of both Biden and Trump. Trump lost his remaining supporters at WSJ on 1/6. The WSJ writers are absolutely not enamored with Trump. As a whole, they are left of the EB. I am of the opinion Trump has a high probability of beating Biden. In my opinion, his greatest failing is to show any concern, other than lip service, toward the southern border. Immigration is viewed as a huge problem. I personally don’t understand how he doesn’t see how damaging this is to his standing with many Americans. Regardless of what the GOP legislators did or didn’t do, it remains the voters impression that Trump attempted to control immigration at the southern border and that Biden hasn’t, just that simple. Politically, I believe the public in general lays the out of control border in Biden’s lap. Right or wrong, I believe that’s the national perception. And you know what they say about perception.

To be fair, Obama has never been a friend of Israel.

He passes as an Andrew Chafin stand-in in this picture.

🫣

Dude, you’re just jelly.

Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung fractured his right wrist on a strange strike in the ninth inning of Monday night's 9-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

A glass ‘half full’ perspective…commendable.

Starting the season with a legitimate rotation is going to take some getting used to but it sure is a nice change from years past. Through four starts the Tigers will still have Casey Mize for game five. Of the 16 home games in April, 11 of them will start in the one o’clock hour.

For a change, it’s a good situation that the organization doesn’t have to feel like they need to rush a top prospect, particularly a pitcher. If he succeeds at Erie and Toledo this year and gets a late call up to the bigs it will be a very successful year for him and the Tigers. Realistically, and this is somewhat hard to believe, Jobe is probably in the starting rotation on opening day next year. Staying healthy is paramount in his case.

Toledo does travel to Charlotte for a mid month series in August this year. I’ll definitely have that one on the radar. This is a bit of a rarity since MLB took over the minors. Toledo used to make one or two trips to Durham every year.

Erie plays a series in Richmond the last week of May. I don’t think it’s out of the question that Jobe will still be at AA then. Hoping to see him pitch there. Over the years Tiger affiliates have vacated anywhere near us geographically. The closest affiliate from us is now is about a 10 hour drive to Erie with a couple of rest breaks.

"If this is what the game has become, it don't need me no more." Sparky Anderson

I will be very interested in seeing how Yamamoto pitches for the Dodgers tonight.

Not really sure where to put this but I think it is worth a note. One of my favorite baseball sites is shutting down. I don’t know if anyone else reads this piece but it has always been informative as far as I was concerned. https://ballparkdigest.com/2024/03/28/all-good-things-time-to-bid-farewell/

In other news: Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco has been placed back on paid administrative leave through June 1, as part of a joint agreement between MLBand the MLBPA, a league source said Thursday. The agreement was first reported by the Tampa Bay Times.

Joe Lieberman, a former longtime Connecticut senator and moderate Democrat who became the first Jewish American nominated to a major party’s presidential ticket as Al Gore’s running mate in 2000, has died. He was 82.