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This would’ve been even funnier if you had quoted the whole thing!

Fair point on GDP. Saudi Arabia is higher overall on GDP, about double, although less than half per capita of Israel. Qatar is higher per capita, but less than half of Israel overall. Israel is higher on both than the rest of them, including UAE. Source and source. What Israel has that none of the rest of them have is the full and mostly unquestioned backing of the government of the United States, which is willing to plow billions in resources into Israel to maintain their position in the Middle East. So, it's not as though they are the Little State That Could all on their own out there. It's also a fair point that Israel has to have the military it does, due to existential threats to them arising from the establishment of their state in a region in which they were unwelcome from the start, and undertaken due not to claims to the area recent at the time of its establishment, but apparently on a claim based on an ancient text of disputed provenance. The fact is, though, that regardless of how they got to this point, they are seen by the majority of the world as little bullies throwing their weight around with the biggest bully in the world egging them on. That's not how I personally or emotionally characterize them. That's how they are objectively seen. And given the way they are currently slaughtering Gazan civilians indiscriminately along with the fighters, and have been routinely running Palestinians off their land so they can put up exclusive settlements, I think it's a tall order to expect the rest of the world to root them on.

Maybe it's also because Israel is the wealthiest and most powerful nation with the greatest military might in the Middle East, a nation that has traditionally enjoyed the full and nearly unquestioned backing of the wealthiest and most powerful nation with the greatest military might on the planet. Of whom much has been given, much is expected. Of course Israel has a right to defend itself, and even to avenge the heinous terrorist act that precipitated all this. But remember, too, that a little more than two decades ago, when their benefactor was also the victim of a heinous terrorist attack, and then that nation went on a two-decade rampage slaughtering people, including civilians, all over the Middle East, very little of the rest of the world stood up and applauded for that as well. Very few people root for Goliath.

Given how much the Gaza War is succeeding in pulling people even further apart, I gotta wonder how many people sharing super strong and angrily partisan opinions—maybe this El-Kurd guy, for instance—are also getting paid in rubles.

How could you tell they were Muslim?

If it's economics you're talking about, then you are wildly underestimating the power of each and every state in the Union. There are 213 nations whose GDP is measured by entities such as the IMF, World Bank, and United Nations. If every state's economy were a nation unto itself, every single state, bar none, would be in the Top 100 worldwide. Even last-place Vermont would rank just ahead of #99 Estonia and just behind #98 Paraguay.

Technically, it’s catch it with one hand and then time the other to cup the ball and secure it in the first hand. It’s the lack of that timing that leads to most bare-handed drops.

If Chapman were fine with a shorter term higher per season deal, he’d of been signed in December.

The another thing I try to remember is that the primary process provides the luxury of casting a grandstanding vote within a forum in which the cost of doing so is so low as to be basically nonexistent, and where the benefit is social media fame. That’s not so true of the general election, and come November, I would expect that all these grandstanders will cast their vote in a serious manner, with the possible exception of one high-profile newsmaker in Congress.

Remember the old board? There were a high percentage of posters there who loudly and proudly copped to being Libertarian. It definitely seemed a lot cooler back before people came to understand exactly what a Libertarian system would entail. Libertarianism is great for people born on third base who believe their government’s sole job should be to prevent anyone from blocking the plate.

I heard him stumble across a word once …

In her defense, having an impactful vice president is not always, perhaps not even usually, a good thing. Ask me about a guy named Cheney some time.

This is why I’ve written in Michelle Obama the last few elections: Illinois is already in the bag for the Democrats because at the end of the day, the Constitution requires each state to throw out the votes of every citizen who showed up to cast them, then select as few as three people to replace them, and give these people the power—nay, the requirement—to cast 100% of the only votes in the entire state that count for a one candidate or the other. Stupid ****ing slavery.

Shoulda wrote: lol “literally”

If Biden is the wrong guy, then I’ll ask the same question we always ask people in the Tigers forum who say Harris should have signed a big free agent or traded for top players who will help us win a pennant this year: who would you want now? Name some names. And don’t get all mad like some people there and say, I don’t know, I’m not the GM, he is, it’s his job to figure that out, not mine! 😉 Also, if you don’t mind, I’ll dig into my pocket for the extra five bucks and buy you your own Vente. Lips that touch your coffee cup will never touch my cup. 😁

Not exhaustive, but example: https://judiciariesworldwide.fjc.gov/judicial-tenure

💯

I don't agree even a little that a perfect world would have Joe Biden opting out of running because he is old. Joe Biden is arguably the best president since FDR, is still performing at a high level into his 80s, and if nothing else, he has surrounded himself with good and competent people to pursue the agenda he has established—an agenda that has resulted in getting COVID under control; soft-landing the economy without a recession; marshaling the world's efforts against Putin; bringing prices way down on life-saving drugs; making us the leading producer of renewable energy (and non-renewable energy, FWTW); cracking down on junk fees by banks; keeping China at bay; tackling crippling, coercive student debt; bringing high-tech microchip production to the US; implementing the greatest infrastructure effort since the Interstate Highway System; and several more that are escaping me at the moment. Don't you want four more years of the same? Because put some other Democrat in there and there's no guarantee they don't just substitute batons instead of taking Joe's and running with it. Besides, who would you run in Biden's place? Gretchen Whitmer? (A) she's not available or ready to run, and (b) there are still a lot of people on the margins, enough to cost the election (thanks to the Electoral College), who will simply not vote for a woman for president, even in 2024. Pete Buttigieg? Same thing, substitute "gay' for "woman". J.B. Pritzker? Nobody knows who he is, he weighs 400 pounds so substitute "fat" for "old", and people would hang the myth of nation-leading Chicago crime around his neck like an anvil on a pier. Dean Phillips? He's already proven to be dead in the water. Marianne Williamson? Robert Kennedy Jr? Kamala Harris? *snort* Who else ya got? Besides, I don't think it's a fait accompli that Biden will be dead before January 20, 2029, anyway. Every elite in the world is living into their 90s and beyond these days because they all have access to the best, most advanced healthcare in the world, and Biden has the best of all of them, literally 24/7. Plus he has shown that he's pretty healthy—he even rides bicycles for exercise, or at least he did as recently as last August. Biden is not gonna simply drop dead of being 85. So I'm not worried about that at all.

lol literally

Well, clearly, Eric was recently not "so, so supportive" of Trump.

I don't know if that's true of Mets fans, and yet, he left. When I caught a high pop foul on the fly in Washington in 2017—something you almost never see—of the four broadcasts between the two teams, Josh Lewin on Mets radio was the only one to mention it on-air.

The New York Football Yankees.

Boras is setting a precedent that he is open to low-year/high-AAV contracts with opt-outs every year. Expect to see the same thing for Blake Snell, at the very least. I wouldn't bet on the other two big ones settling for the same.

I think there's a good chance TORK! clears both .500 SLG and forty bombs, even with half his games at home, based on the idea that whatever clicked in August is sustainable, especially if this coaching team is focusing on him, which I believe they will.

Josh Lewin has cycled through a lot a lot of jobs, which leads me to wonder whether he is a nightmare employee.