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u seem mad

It is now occurring to me that the buyout of federal workers is not about completely shrinking the size of the federal government to practically nothing, but rather about replacing all the woke motherhubbards who are there right now.

I know it looks like that from a distance, but I wonder whether it feels different in person? Is that why people get snowed? Maybe they want to believe he’s being genuine in the moment, and he delivers just enough by of the charm to pull that off?

Agree. If a hypothetical player got offers of 5/120 from the Dodgers, 5/125 from the Yankees, and 9/250 from the Tigers, I'd bet they'd take the Tigers' offer (with early player opt-outs, of course). Sure, they could live in Detroit six months a year for that. The old man is dead, though, and ain't no one getting that kind of offer from this team. Not this offseason, anyway.

Everything I have read about Trump is that he is very charming in private. I think the psychology at work here is that he comes off as a firebreather in public but as a big pussycat in private, which people like Dolan find reassuring when they meet and talk with him, and then they BS themselves into being reassured that everything is going to be OK for them, that he is truly on their side and no harm will befall them. And then when they discover the truth, it's too late.

"Haphazard" doesn't mean this is all unplanned. I believe it's all unorganized for the reason I mentioned earlier: they're purposefully flooding the zone with the fire hose to defeat any kind of opposition that might stop them, because no one can focus on anything. Believe me when I tell you, by the end of the week, we'll have basically forgotten he's offered buyouts to all federal workers, because there will have been numerous new outrages we'll be trying to focus on. That might be a sign of incompetence, but it is not incompetence per se. We have yet to see whatever Phase II of their plan to destroy America is. As for the funding freeze itself, I really don't think they care that it appears haphazard. That's part of its charming appeal to red hats. It's exciting. It's thrilling. It's fun. And it's goddamn entertaining, and even you have to admit that's a big reason why they voted MAGA. What I would agree with you on is that this cannot continue on at this pace for four straight years. At some point this is all going to crest, at which point we may be able to catch a breath and survey the damage before they turn on the hose again. But for now, it's clear to me that red hats' prime directive is make libtards cry, and nothing else is even a close second. Witness posts on this very forum to that effect. The $64 question to me is, once rank-and-file red hats start feeling the pain of Trump's action on the ground, will they accept it as the price of sweet lib tears and reason that, well, at least they're not as bad off as the people they want to destroy? Or might the scales finally start to fall from their eyes and they see what their golden calf hath wrought? I'm not holding my breath on the latter. For all we know, they might be so far gone that they go to their graves happily impoverished but "winning", rather than live to admit they're were wrong the whole time.

This is consistent with red hats' desire to destroy the government entirely.

I don't think pointing out that the Trump administration getting everything they want so far, which appears true on its face, is defeatist.

As far as top free agents are concerned, probably not much difference. It's not that I believe Detroit will never get any top free agents ever again, but I do think it will take some years and an overhaul of the reputation of the Tigers organization to start seriously competing for them.

Is it a shirtshow, though? Looks to me like they're ... ahem ... killing it right out of the box, and any hiccups they're experienced along the way has been minor. They seem to be getting literally everything they want so far. When I see some major failures by them, then I'll start to get on board with your idea. And I don't consider whatever uproar they've experienced to be any kind of failure—in fact, seems to me the uproar is providing a real benefit for them in terms of making libs cry, getting people fighting, creating competing distractions we can't properly focus on, etc.

Yes. This is my favorite part of delivering pantry boxes to my clients. I have established dozens of continual relationships with these folks and I know about their lives, their families, etc. Bringing them food and chatting with them is one of the few pure joys in my life at the moment, and they are joyed when they see me as well. I hope Trump doesn't make it go away.

I deliver for a local pantry here 3x/week (M-W-F), and an overwhelming percentage of my regular clients are black, latino, and Chinese, with the majority of them seniors. I texted my contact to see whether they receive federal funds. Haven't heard back back yet, and he is normally very responsive. I've also been wondering how Trump could use his power to shut down charities that receive no federal funds. I suppose he could eliminate whatever tax-favorable status they have, possibly when he issues the proclamation that there will be no more tax write-offs available for individual tax returns.

They will get their funding back once they pledged fealty to Trump and only Trump. That's what this part is all about.

"Bubble Headed Bleach Blonde" would suggest that Leavitt's a dupe and doesn't know what's happening or why. I call BS on that suggestion. She knows exactly what's happening and why, because she is 100% in on it.

Susan Collins is coming off as though she is the most naive adult in the United States of America.

I myself am not assuming that, but if it were to happen, than papalawrence would be right and I would be wrong, and seriously, I'd root for that, too.

I know. Truth hurts.

Correct, assuming Flaherty has done a complete 180 from his past and becomes a consistent staff ace year after year into his 30s.

I don't think you can generlaize about it.

I myself don't buy the "one dollar more" argument, but agree to disagree. I believe MLB insiders when they say players don't want to play in Detroit in part because Detroit, because the idea easily passes the smell test, and I think anyone can easily see that, even if they don't want to admit it. I don't like admitting that, either, but it is what is.

I like Tubi best of all of them, mainly because they are easier to use and have on demand.

When you get into a crash with another car, do not get hit by a guy who has a suspended license and no insurance. I signed up with a new insurance company in 2023, car was $1,513 for the year. We had a bang up with a stationary object that year and car went up to $2,291 for last year, a hike of +51%. We felt that seemed fair given the circumstance, so we went with them again. After getting hit by the guy (who has already skipped two court dates on it and now has an FTA warrant out against him), a crash the police has confirmed on record was his fault and not ours, now the insurance company wants $4,035, a hike of +76% since last year, and +166% over two years. Yes, our insurance had to pay for the accident because of the guy who hit me, but again, it was established as not our fault, so really, we should not be considered an elevated risk because of it. So, in essence, they are asking for almost triple the premium they asked for just two years ago. In the meantime, one of the other majors just gave us a quote of $1,239 for six months, which works out to $2,479 for the year if we can get them to do 12 months with us, which is much, much lower. I hate the idea of leaving the new insurance company after they were so cool about handling our two crashes, but I gotta tell ya, the difference in cost is too compelling to just ignore. Plus, if I establish that I am willing to pay an elevated insurance rate for my car now, it's never, ever, ever going to come down to anything resembling a normal rate ever again. After all, there's a good business reason insurance companies work off a black box quote system and not a rate card. I'll give my current company a chance to respond, but I see practically zero chance they bring the quote down.

They misspelled "enabling" at the end there.

Then both can be true. It's not the Trump voters freezing the infrastructure projects.

It's true that a third of the people love the theater, but the other two-thirds who would normally object to it are getting too distracted by too many outrages all at once.