oblong

Regarding Christie, I remember the flack he took in 2012 when a Hurricane hit New Jersey. It was like the week before the election or something and "He's out there hobnobbing with Barrack Obama". I'm not saying that to change any minds and I know the other crap he did as Governor. I just don't think he's going to destroy democracy or severely curtail some of our rights. That's a low bar I know but given today's GOP the minimum baseline is critical.

I honestly wouldn’t care if Christie won. Not my first choice but if it’s gotta be an R he’s the best we can reasonably hope for.

The crazy guy, Vivek or whatever called Haley “**** Cheney in 3 inch heels” and they are out doing each other in proclaiming how bad Israel should smoke Hamas.

Then we can trade for him again.

I know some very well off folks who work for them at the corporate level.... of course, they wouldn't want the places near where they live. But it's fine to make money off it.... sure.

but to give him the benefit of the doubt... why would a free agent immediately rule out a big spending team that's targeting his position? Even if you don't want to play for them or live there you keep them in the game. He'd be an idiot otherwise.

and many many people are nuanced and mature enough to hold a position that is "I think abortion is generally wrong, maybe even immoral, and women generally shouldn't get one but I don't think it should be illegal because a woman ultimately should have full autonomy over their body". I think my wife falls into that camp. The flirting around with banning contraceptives and denying certain cancer/medical treatments because a woman may be pregnant is also at play. Throw in the higher risk women in their 40's face with pregancy issues... it's just too much. It's the ultimate "Dog catching it's tail" analogy.

this one has been making the rounds... basically admitting the problem for the GOP is doing stuff that motivates democrats to vote. According to Santorum's twisted logic the problem of democracy is people wanting to vote on things that interests/matters to them. Not surprising from the guy who said allowing gay sex would lead to bestiality....

I mean.... who wouldn't? Just love reading the internet commentary about that whole situation from people who think they know what went on and what Harris did or didn't do.

Yeah I am not a fan. I don't care what people do. I just don't want to smell it and I don't want to be bombarded with the adverts for it. I drive to Ohio 3 times recently and noticed the plethora of signs in Monroe. A friend came up to visit us and she commented "I have to stop at a place on the way back for my brother" and she laughed, then I understood. It's always very evident when you are passing through a town where it's legally sold.

Taylor could totally change the electorate if she got passionate about politics in a big way. I love seeing all the outrage from fanboys already due to Kelce. Bros are triggered.

And he got far more money and sex from the cloth. my math was off in that. I was playing around with the numbers but the point remains. It’s just people getting people to pay to listen to them, like a guy with a substack or girl on Onlyfans.

To me the choice is between eating a bland bowl oatmeal and eating a can of expired wet dog food out of a can. One is just not going to excite me or give me any kind of joy but whatever. It'll be over soon. The other will be horrible the entire time and may hurt me and make my life miserable for an extended period of time.

Baptist, by definition, means independent. There are larger groups of denominations that call themselves "Baptist", like Southern Baptist, that have a structure. But anyone can form a church and call it Baptist. You don't answer to anyone. You can join an affiliation which tells members that you believe "X,Y, and Z". It's like a mission statement. But Joe Bob Baptist Church on Groveland Avenue in one city has no link to Jim Crack Corn Baptist Church on Fremont Street in another city. Nobody can come to you and say "You can't call yourself that". But of course there are affiliations and whatnot that will hold you accountable if you wish to join up. And if you call yourself a Baptist church but are preaching God awful things about Mary and Saints then word will get out that you are too "Catholic". The affiliatons and networks lead to a breeding ground. Start a church. Then a school. Then send those graduates to an associated "College" to churn out more pastors. Then they go out and start their own church. Multi Level Marketing that leads to a LIberty or Bob Jones University. Then you have your cult. How much of the church starting is a calling to preach or just to create a job for yourself? Get 100 member families to donate $50 a week.... that's $15K a week plus some other stuff and you can bring in 1/3 of a million a year in revenue, minus your costs... a pastor finds himself making six figures. Nothing stopping you. Nobody can tell you that you can't call your church that.

I think Haley will be the nominee. And she will have a decent shot at winning. The sense of urgency will be gone and then it becomes a question if Trumps **** will translate into voters for her. He may push for her if he thinks he can get a pardon.

Trump had a lot of generally normal people around him. He didn’t expect to win. Look at his first CoS. His cabinet. Generally they were mainstream if not moderate republicans. Throw in Tillerson and Mattis… a second term will not have that. It will be the Rudys and Flynns and Powells. He will fire Wray. Just look at who was left in his final weeks. We would look back and wish we had Barr and company.

Javier Baez will be an LCS MVP in 3 years (I made this joke about Jhonny Peralta once after Edgar Renteria won it.)

Not any Christianity. Only those who believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible. These are people who think the earth is 6-10K years old. It’s a narrow form of evangelicals. Methodists. Out. Presbyterians. Out. Catholics. Out. Lutherans. Out.

I like how the release says New York (NL) instead of the Yankees. Yet earlier in the release they use the team nickname on themselves. Little things like that get my attention. I want to know the protocol or standards.

It’s only wasteful spending when it’s the other side. It’s only gerrymandering when it’s the other side. And in some situations a gerrymander is the result of complying with the VRA.

Can’t wait for the “that’s it?!?” Reactions from the self appointed experts.

I think it’s just because there’s so many. The nation was founded by one group of Christians then mass immigration later on from another group of Catholic Christians. They emigrated west and the world needs ditch diggers. They got here first. I suspect practicing or orthodox Jews didn’t feel comfortable out in the Wild West.

It’s an element of “privilege”. Being a small number of the population and largely in urban areas then a culture where education is stressed then it just gets passed down from generation to generation. success gets passed down. The blatant anti Semitism during and after WWII created isolated communities. We don’t have mass immigration of other Jews coming here to take up the remedial jobs like in other cultures. In Detroit the Jews stuck to their areas of comfort and stayed “high” so to speak.