1776

If you’re only speaking of Democrats. Republican President Calvin Coolidge could have run for another term but opted not to.

Therein lies the mystery.

I’m anxious to see how this plays out. The GOP desperately needs a start over at this point. I believe Haley is now a legitimate part of the next chapter, IF…. she doesn’t cave in the end. She won’t win the primaries but she can establish herself as a serious part of the future GOP. If she caves she will undermine everything she’s accomplished to date. I really would hate to see that happen.

The Chapman mystery should unfold in the near future.

Haley did well in the Charleston area and in the Columbia area.

Really good piece on Shelby Miller and his family. One of Cody’s better articles. https://theathletic.com/5288509/2024/02/21/shelby-miller-son-genetic-disorder/

This is going to be a long season with C-Mo in the booth.

Airplane fastball

I think there is roughly a 100% chance he was expressing his personal feelings.

As Jimmy Price would say, Beautiful!

His pitching coaches told him, “It’s an egg. Hold it like it’s an egg.” Apparently he didn’t grasp the concept.

Regarding North Carolina: The Carolina Hurricanes ownership is all about bringing MLB to N.C. I don’t know that they have publicly indicated a particular city. The governor is on board as well. Beyond that, not so sure. Charlotte’s ballpark is five years old I believe, beautiful park! I don’t know if it was built with the consideration of being a MLB park at some point. Years ago there was a big push for the Triad Area (Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point) getting a MLB team. That plan never got off the ground. Personally, and I’ve said this before, I would rather see MLB stay out of N.C. We have 10 affiliated teams here now. We have two Atlantic League teams here. Seeing an affiliated team is an easy drive from any point in the state. I wish we had a AA team but we lost the last one in 2011 to Pensacola, Florida.

I’ve read that Boras is trying to set the market with Snell’s contract so he wants to get him under contract prior to Montgomery signing. The Athletic reported the other day that the Yankees have put a contract on the table for Snell. Obviously no details at this point. It’s been reported that Bellinger’s peeps have had conversations with the Cubs but no details there either.

No lollygaggers in this bunch.

So they were both wrong. 😁

I believe Chris Illitch is the one that declared the rebuild over.

Optionality is key.

I felt like this was going to be the outcome when they moved Navalny recently.

A’s talking lease agreement. https://ballparkdigest.com/2024/02/15/oakland-coliseum-lease-talks-reportedly-go-well-as-government-officials/

Not to mention the Tigers & Orioles literally canceling the last scheduled spring training game one of the past two years (can’t remember which year).

The 10 year benchmark with a nice spike up this morning.

WSJ- Treasury yields have sprung to multiyear highs, forcing the U.S. government to pay a lot more in interest and putting pressure on the budget. The U.S. government is expected to pay an additional $1.1 trillion in interest over the coming decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s latest estimates. Interest costs are on pace to surpass defense this year as one of the largest government expenses in the budget. Only Social Security and Medicare are forecast to be bigger burdens in the coming years.

WSJ- KYIV—Ukraine’s top military-intelligence officer said Russian invasion forces in his country are using thousands of Starlink satellite internet terminals, and that the network has been active in occupied parts of Ukraine for “quite a long time.” Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov’s comments in an interview suggest that Russia is starting to acquire Starlink terminals, made by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, at a scale that could cut into a major Ukrainian battlefield advantage. Ukraine’s government said last year that around 42,000 terminals are used by the military, hospitals, businesses and aid organizations. Starlink, which is more secure than cell or radio signals, is considered so vital to Ukrainian operations that the Pentagon struck a deal with SpaceX last year to help fund access for Kyiv’s forces. Up to now, Russian forces have had no similarly secure communications system. Russian private firms buy the terminals off intermediaries who pass off purchases as for personal use and deliver the equipment to Russia via neighboring countries, including former Soviet republics, Budanov said. Russian army units down to company level were seeking to acquire Starlink terminals, often by collecting money for the purchases, he said.

We’ve been scanning houses there from afar. Reasonable costs as well. Nice area.

WSJ- DUBAI—Egyptian authorities, fearful that an Israeli military push further into southern Gaza will set off a flood of refugees, are building an 8-square-mile walled enclosure in the Sinai Desert near the border, according to Egyptian officials and security analysts. For weeks, Egypt has sought to bolster security along the frontier to keep Palestinians out, deploying soldiers and armored vehicles and reinforcing fences. The massive new compound is part of contingency plans if large numbers of Gazans do manage to get in.