Mr.TaterSalad

I'm surprised Brad didn't resign Iffy for that deal. He seems to like his own guys and $4 million is a drop in the bucket.

UDS sounds like being diagnosed with a bladder infection.

Apparently the top two Corners for PI calls were Terrion Arnold and the guy we just signed DJ Reed. So we're now putting out two starting corners that led the league in PI calls. I do worry at least a little bit if being overly handsy and/or not turning to play the ball as Arnold was caught doing catches up with us at all?

Has Levi or Iffy signed anywhere or been linked to any organizations? I haven't seen anything yet on either.

I would have signed Davis to that deal I think. We can't go out there with Arnold and Rakestraw as our starting CBs. They have to make a commitment to a veteran guy now, be it another trade or signing. Even though Davis had a better year than Kendall Fuller, I'm still a bit puzzled that we traded a 3rd round pick for Davis for a one year rental, as opposed to signing Fuller for the cost of no pick.

Brad Holmes isn't even at the dealership. He's on Craigslist looking through the rebuilt wrecks with a new title.

And what if Yzerman, as Kenny frequently did, decides he wants to bring Lyon back next season? Then Cossa has zero shot at playing.

The crowd was largely white, I'd estimate 80% white. Lots and lots of young people though and adults under 40-45. There was also a large turnout of women there, particularly young and middle aged suburban white women. I felt like I saw more women then men there today.

An estimated 9,000 people showed up for the Bernie Sanders and Shawn Fain rally today in Warren. They had an overflow room and then people waiting outside that Bernie went and spoke to because they couldn't get in. I was there collecting volunteer signups for FundMiFuture for their 2026 Graduated Income Tax ballot drive. We got a lot of volunteer signups for FundMiFuture and lots of enthusiastic people committed to doing something in the midterms.

At some point he needs NHL ice time and to see big league minutes. With Mrazek back in town this garauntees he won't get anymore ice time his year and not much next season, unless an injury happens or we move on from one of the three we have now.

Also, why does Mrazek get a to roster spot over Cossa?

He's on thin ice with me now, after today. To see Walman get traded for a 1st round pick makes me irate. As Echoes said, it was a **** trade when he made the move over the summer, while having guys like Petry and Holl on the roster. It looks even worse now. The way Yzerman has built out his blueline has been straight up not good, outside of his two high draft picks. His Pro Scouting staff, especially scouting defenseman, leaves a lot to be desired. Their pro scouts have missed the mark on several guys on defense and my patience is running really thin.

Are we shipping another goalie out? Are we rolling with all three of Lyon, Mrazek, and Talbot?

I think when free agency is all said and done we'll look back on it and see that the theme was the Lions having brought back a lot of their own players. I think the other theme will be how healthy they are salary cap wise. How they maintained cap flexibility and are setup to be healthy when it comes to their cap. They really value their own players that they've drafted and developed and really value cap flexibility. As well, they like the free agents they've already brought in. I think we'll see that as the main focal point of what they did versus going out and breaking the bank in free agency or making a splashy trade that involves giving up high round picks. I think we'll have a new contract for Hutch this offseason. As well, I think Levi, Paschal, Kerby, Rodrigo, and Iffy might all get new deals. Iffy is the only one I'm the least certain on given that he's a starter who might not get the chance to do so here and so he'll leave to get that chance elsewhere. I think the other big priority is to bring back Davis and get him locked up for the next 2-4 years. I don't think this means we won't get any free agent signings of significance, I'm sure we will. I could see a Joey Bosa or Khalil Mack coming in to take over the Marcus Davenport role on the defensive line up front. Bosa offers them the value on a really talented player that they like. I could also see a starting Gaurd get signed up replace one of Glasgow or Zeitler's spots with Mahogany taking over another starting spot. I could see them signing someone like James Daniels from Pittsburgh or Mekhi Becton from the Eagles at Gaurd. All in all though, I think their splashy moves will be very much limited or nonexistent. They'll focus on bringing back their core of guys they've drafted plus a few other key free agents like Davis. They'll focus on retaining cap and financial flexibility over the long term. I'd love to be wrong here. I'd love to look back and see that Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell swung for the fences and brought in a game wrecker like Trey Hendrickson to pair up with Hutch. I don't see that happening though as that just isn't Brad's MO and has yet to be his approach to any offseason.

Yes, he did. I've been on the Hendrickson express for a year now and would love to get him. But I'm not building up my hopes that we're going to get him or make any major acquisition for a pass rusher.

Bosa is the type of player Holmes likes to sign. A very talented player who might come a bit cheaper due to past injury concerns. As much as I've wanted Trey Hendrickson, I've never really thought we'd be in on any of the top tier pass rushers, even if they were rushers, even if they were available for trades. I could possibly see a guy from the next tier, like Bosa, being looked at by Brad Holmes.

I'd drink heavily too if I worked for Christian Conservative and MAGA Mike Johnson. So much for that holier than thou bull**** though.

Who exactly are we winning over with that type of praise on Reagan? That's the same kind of failed strategy we just tried last election by trotting out Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger on the campaign trail and hoping there was some moderate base of Republicans sitting around, ready to vote for Democrats. The Republican Party of Reagan is dead and gone. It's a MAGA Party now and fully controlled by Donald Trump. There aren't a magical group of old school, 1980s-style Republicans that Democrats can win over. Those people either don't really exist or have already decided to cross over and become Democrats. Democrats need to win back over non-college educated, white working class people in the middle who may have voted Biden in 2020 and then Trump again in 2024. Voters who's brains aren't fully rotted out by MAGA. They need to win back over more young men under the age of 35 of all racial makeups. They need to hold down the fort on black men under 50 and stop the erosion of Latino men under 50. Pandering to some yesteryear of Ronald Reagan isn't going to do that with any of those demographic IMO. Furthermore, if we're concerned about the assault on the federal workforce, let us not forget that started under Reagan. Reagan spent years trashing the federal government and federal employees. He fired air traffic controllers and made millions of Americans believe that nothing good can come out of the federal government. Reagan's rhetoric against federal bureaucrats and bureaucracy is part of the reason we ended up in this mess.

I don't know what specifically bothered people last night, but I know her past affiliation's with the CIA and Bush Administration have always been a criticism of the left in Michigan. I've gotten involved with Michigan Democratic Party internal politics and other progressive organizations and those have been common criticisms I've heard from the left. More recently, people were mad that she was later to the game on supporting the end of the filibuster (she eventually came around) and supported banning the pride flag on military bases when her own mother was a lesbian. I'm fine with Slotkin compared to the alternative which is a Republican. But I reject the idea that you have to moderate yourself to win. I look at other midwest states like Wisconsin with Tammy Baldwin and until recently Ohio with Sherrod Brown. I'd love for Slotkin to have a voting record and policy positions in-line with Senators like those two. If a lesbian progressive, who was a co-sponsor of Medicare For All, can win in a purple state like Wisconsin, I don't think it would hurt Slotkin to take a few more progressive, left-leaning positions. Edited to add this, her line about how she was thankful that Reagan was in the White House during the Cold War and not Trump is one critique I've seen this morning. It shouldn't have been said. Everyone who is being intellectually honest knows Reagan should have been impeached and removed from office for Iran-Contra. As well, the damage Reagan did to working Americans and unions in this country is still being felt to this day. We shouldn't be holding up a crook like Reagan and it added nothing of substance to her speech by praising him.

Yeah, America looks real affordable now. What a ****ing moron.

What a bitch, he couldn't even last a full day.

Call it socialism or whatever you want, but I'd prefer federal price controls and a maximum wage/maximum compensation on corporate executives to tariffs.

Well you have to do something to win back non-college educated voters in midwest and southern states and defending NAFTA isn't going to be it. The reason that there was a Bernie/Trump voter in 2016 was because of issues like NAFTA. Sherrod Brown hung on as long as he did in Ohio because he went around the state assailing and speaking out against free trade and he stood up for workers rights at every turn. If Sherrod Brown decided to be a pimp for free trade like some of his Democratic colleagues became and sold out workers he'd have lost a lot sooner in Ohio. I think Jared Golden recognizes the same thing in Maine.

And they were all right to do so. The difference is Sanders was the only no vote on NAFTA to have a shot at being President. Looking through the roll call vote he may have been the only Democrat/Independent to vote no on NAFTA that ended up running for President. Jay Inslee ran for President but he voted yes. NAFTA was a flop for manufacturing heavy states. Sure, places bounced back a bit like Detroit or transformed like Pittsburgh did, but it took two decades for that to happen and some people suffered greatly in the meantime. As well, some place never recovered from NAFTA's devastation on manufacturing. I want to be the party of people like Shawn Fain and the UAW or Jared Golden or Sherrod Brown where we hammer bad trade deals like NAFTA and bring non-college educated voters back into the fold.

We did see these things you reference above. But we saw an acceleration of job loss with NAFTA too. Again, the Economic Policy Institute has published multiple studies on NAFTA and they've estimated up to or beyond 700,000 jobs lost due to NAFTA. Regarding the movement of the auto industry down south, this is why we need to get rid of Right-to-Work (For Less) laws and make every manufacturing job a union job. And in a place like Pittsburgh, how many people were devastated for decades while its local economy transformed from primarily being dependent on manufacturing to where it is at today. Truth be told, every worker, in any job, white collar or blue collar, should be represented by a union. If the corporate executives get bargaining power, legal representation during contractual negotiations, and a work contract to secure their wages and benefits, so to should the worker.