unclevlad

Read the story. The link again: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/26/politics/montana-house-bans-zooey-zephyr/index.html There is a case there for abuse of privileges, IMO, due to the "blood on your hands" comment. It could have been phrased in a less inflammatory manner. She was asked to apologize for that, but chose not to. I'm not saying the Speaker was completely in the right, but neither was she, IMO. Flip the script. Start from the premise that "blood on your hands" was, in fact, over the top, and considering it a violation of the chamber's rules of decorum is reasonable. THEN, what do you want the Speaker to do? The bill is offensive, sure. I totally get that. I totally get objecting to it. But that doesn't mean she was right in how that objection was expressed, or in her characterizations about the apology.

Sure, but the first consideration is getting through the primaries. Or maybe second, as he'd need to build a structure capable of large-scale campaigning. Side thought...if he gets trounced in the primaries...runs 3rd at best, losing to both Trump and DeSantis, this might damage his brand/credibility long term. I lean to a '28 run, should the Republicans lose again, rather than a '24 run.

Not quite true. There's one specific skeleton that matters: the whole "I hate Trump with a passion" will get played up. Do you stay loyal to Trump, or switch to Carlson when he's a Trump Betrayer? To be sure, it's possible this'll hurt Trump most, and help leverage DeSantis...but I don't see how it'll help Carlson. Oh...man.... I was kinda thinking...it was gonna start being miserable in the next few months, as we see the campaigns ramp up in advance of the early primaries... No. It's getting miserable, for me, NOW. A DeSantis SuperPAC called Never Back Down is airing ads...some were on MLB Network (had it on before the Braves game went into a multi-hour rain delay) and then on ESPN. And apparently there's other ads coming out, that I haven't seen...thankfully. A two-way Trump/DeSantis race will be ugly; I think a 3-way race with Carlson, if Carlson can actually gain traction, will be a total bloodbath.

Yes, I hear that too, but I disagree with it too. My factors...take your pick, and more than one is likely... --player ego. That "I'm not paid to hit singles" was Ortiz most notably, whose ego is bigger than his waistline. --analyst apologia. While they will criticize individuals, mostly when they're talking in broad terms like this, it's "gosh, all the players are brilliant, they're the best in the world!" Well if that's the case, then you have to make the pitchers brilliant because their stuff is too hard to adjust to. Heck, how many hitters cut down their swing with 2 strikes??? Not even suggesting choking up, just not swing for the fences. --overtrained, overgrooved robotic hitters...in part, to that power stroke. See above WRT not cutting back. Note that some hitters...Acuna, IIRC, is one...have blown off launch angle, and are overall MUCH more effective. --terrible accountability...IF you can hit a decent number of home runs. Rob Deer. Adam Dunn. Mark Reynolds, to a point...he did get knocked for his strikeouts. Strikeouts aren't the only factor in bad hitting, but the Deers and Dunns combine high strikeouts with bad batting average. IIRC, too...some of them were bad defensive players. --brain-dead attempt to use analytics...which IMO is prevalent in ALL sports. Individually, a power hitter might be better...but a full lineup of power hitters is NOT necessarily better. There's second-level impacts for having baserunners. ANY tactic taken taken to extremes, opens itself to counters because the other side has the right to react. (Yes, this is a HUGE factor why I still dislike banning the shift.) If they only have one tactic to consider, their problems are greatly reduced. --hype-making by analysts and talking heads. Clickbait sells. "It's too hard for the hitters to adjust" is better clickbait. And of course, my absolute favorite, moronic example...that the wider bases are making stealing easier. <sigh> I STILL hear this. NOT MEASURABLY. If a base runner has a 12 foot lead, he's got about 75 feet to travel to reach the front of the bag ahead. Shortening that by 6 inches is shortening it by about 0.6%. If it takes 3 seconds before, it's about .02 seconds. A 90 mph fastball takes about 0.454 seconds to reach the plate...figure the pitcher's extension is largely cancelled by the fact that the ball has to get to the catcher. A 96 mph fastball takes about 0.426 seconds. There's variance for a catcher to receive the ball then release it...sometimes it will be smoother than others. If there's that much variance in time to plate by the pitcher...the catcher's throw is twice as long, so the variance on the ball in flight time is MUCH longer than 0.02 seconds. But no...analysts get some fixed, simplistic explanation in their heads and stick with it, FAR too often. I think "the hitters don't have time to adjust" is a HUGE one.

You're right, I just forgot that's the meaning of the title in TV news. If Carlson tries for the Republican nomination, a) the late night types will have a field day b) oh my, the backstabbing at a Carlson / Trump / DeSantis debate would be most amusing... c) ...almost as entertaining as seeing how Fox News covers his candidacy Mind, neither rises to a level where I'd actually *watch*... I think he'd find out that the spotlight intensity for a presidential candidate is orders of magnitude more than on a network talking head, and it's sounding like he's got way more than enough skeletons in his closet to cause big problems.

Oh my.... My, oh my, oh my... Milwaukee enters the 4th quarter, at home, up 16. First 4 minutes of the 4th, they hit 2 FTs...that's it. (Miss 2 as well.) Heat get back to within 7 before Holliday hits a 3. They get 1 point in the next 4 minutes. Yep...the first 8 1/2 minutes, they score all of 6 points. There's more of a flurry both ways...with the Heat making a layup to tie the game with 0.1 seconds left. The Heat outlast the Bucks in the OT to win the game. A big factor...Bucks miss 5 FTs in the 4th quarter, and 3 more in OT. Giannis only shoots 10 for 23 from the line. Can't say it's all on him, but that's a key stat when you lose in OT. I expect there's gonna be some significant changes coming. EDIT: yeah, Ernie Johnson dropped the number I didn't want to work out...Bucks shot 5 for 25 from the field in the 4th and OT. At home, in an elimination game. 1 - 2 - 3...CANCUN!!! Morning after edit...The Athletic noted that a collapse like last night's, may cost Budenholzer his job. They didn't predict it; the Bucks did win in '21. Still, what would've been unthinkable at the end of the regular season is...thinkable.

Even if you think you know the continuity, it'll be changed within 3-4 years. Or muddled beyond belief, if all the series are allowed individual takes. All the more reason to continue ignoring DC...

You're quite generous. Me, I don't see it, cuz I don't see Carlson moving behind the camera yet. If ever. Unless it's a combo gig somehow, but I think he is going to try hard to keep himself on camera.

Yeah, and coming back from innings, you don't have that really leisurely period you used to have. I think the game's going to move away somewhat from the power-dominated game, simply because singles hitters are more useful when there's runners on 2nd more. Which is the case, with steals being up so much. You don't need 3 hits to score a run; you can do it with 2. The best offensive team I can recall, somewhat recently, was the 1998 Yankees. DEPTH!!! of hitting. No one hit 30 HRs, but 8 different players had 17+. 8 players had 20+ doubles. The team slash line was .288/.364/.460/.825. Jeter struck out the most...but only 119 times, and he hit .324 even at that. It might not be possible to do that now; the common refrain is that pitchers are far ahead of hitters in information use...that was part of the argument for the shift. Another comment from earlier...during the D'backs game. Bob Brenly was talking about relatively soft-tossing, lower-velocity pitching sometimes messing up hitters' timing. Well, he pointed out, some batters back in the day would move up in the box to increase the apparent velocity...but today's hitters are usually so locked into their rhythm that they can't do that. That point was also cited many times for banning the shift...that hitters won't or *can't* adjust. We'll see if things change. It'll be slow, at best, as it's hard to revamp salary structures broadly. There's too much pushback based on the existing contracts that *do* pay exorbitent premiums for power.

More on the Fox abrupt change of stance, from NYT: On the Montana story...yeah, OK, maybe it's repressive Republicans, but from the story? I'm not sure about that. Granted that detail is lacking, it's plausible to infer she was at least stretching decorum. Story gives this quote from her:

I might buy *a* retcon, but they've done HOW many since, say, 2000?

I'd assume that last word. They leave just enough to connect the characters, but it's otherwise a blank slate. Yeah, you have to allow that's part of the intent, but that trailer also strongly suggests a multiverse tie-in where they'll do a LOT of reset. Apparently that's happening *again* in their comics, with this whole Infinite Frontiers.......stuff. Just looking at the Wikipedia page for it, will DC ever learn anything? Yet ANOTHER complete retcon/rewrite??? SHEESH!!! I got burned out on Feist's Midkemia because every series was Yet Another World-Destroying Threat, and usually involved another continent-wide massive battle. It got OLD. For me it killed suspension of disbelief. DC's approach is worse. At any time, we go back to Dallas and the start of the final season, wherein the shooting of JR was retconned to be just a dream. And then we do it again. And again. And again.

DeSantis' own words may prove to be among the stronger arguments that it's reprisals. From the related CNN story:

How much have games sped up? Yankees at Twins today. 11 AM local timeslot, so first pitch would've been around 10 minutes after the hour. Game's over at 1:40 local, so about 2 1/2 hours, give or take. Nothing remarkable, you say...to which I say, the final score was 12-6 Yankees.

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-teams-stealing-the-most-early-in-2023-season

Or just add a note onto the power itself. Just use the Create Note button that's included on every power. Or, as Simon observes, turn on Note 1 and put all the final notes you want there. I've done that a fair bit when, for example, I define an MP with 3 different HAs...normal damage, AVAD, and AVAD does body. The notes will have the total dice to roll, accounting for the damage from STR and martial arts, rescaling the DCs to dice based on the advantage level. I actually export to plain text most of the time, then reformat as I prefer. This is a mage-type, who can boost lots of his characteristics. Template output: VAL CHA Cost Roll Notes 20 STR 10 13- / 16- HTH Damage 4d6/7d6 END [1] 18 DEX 16 13- 20 CON 10 13- 28 INT 18 15- PER Roll 16- 18 EGO 8 13- 18 PRE 8 13- PRE Attack: 3 1/2d6 6 OCV 15 6 DCV 15 3 OMCV 0 5 DMCV 6 5 SPD 30 Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12/2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12 6 PD 4 6/18 PD (0/12 rPD) 6 ED 4 6/18 ED (0/12 rED) 12 REC 8 50 END 6 20 BODY 10 60 STUN 20 Post edit: 20/35 STR 10 13- / 16- HTH Damage 4d6/7d6 END [1] 18 DEX 16 13- 20 CON 10 13- 28 INT 18 15- PER Roll 16- 18 EGO 8 13- 18 PRE 8 13- PRE Attack: 3 1/2d6 6/9 OCV 15 6/9 DCV 15 3 OMCV 0 5 DMCV 6 5/7 SPD 30 Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12/2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12 6 PD 4 6/18 PD (0/12 rPD) 6 ED 4 6/18 ED (0/12 rED) 12/22 REC 8 50/75 END 6 20 BODY 10 60 STUN 20 The tab stops are a bit messed up, but you get the idea. The notation's similar to HD's, where you've got the primary/secondary. Whatever's easier for you.

To wit: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/24/florida-surgeon-general-covid-vaccine-00093510 "No significant risk" to "high risk" is not a revision, it's a complete reversal. The man's license should be revoked. This is gross scientific malfeasance. Oh...wait. He's the top of the chain of the group that could do so.... What this also does is to poison the analysis of anything released by the CDC. If we claim this Florida study was edited for political purposes, then "well why should we think the CDC's answers aren't written by those woke leftists?" I might actually quibble with one word, Cygnia. It's not a toxin, it's a cancer. Very malignant, and overjoyed to metastasize and spread everywhere.

That can be taken a step further. The 2 most prominent candidates are trying to sink the US.

Hard to believe, for sure, but who else? Packers have tremendous uncertainly at QB...and a so-so team overall even with Rodgers. The Bears look to be hopeless again. So...the Vikes? OK, 13-4...but how many were coin flips that went their way? They got VERY little betting love, IIRC, against the Giants, for a 13-4 team...and it proved out when they plain lost. Vikes seem just as likely to be sub-.500 as to contend for the division.

There are only 5 turf fields right now...and one of those is at the Trop. 2 of those are in the torrid zone: Arizona and Arlington. Arlington needs it for heat and rain; Phoenix, it's the EXTREME heat. I think Chase Field had grass at first, but they switched. I suspect needing to keep the roof closed basically all day, every day from probably mid-May to mid-September, might be a problem. Another is in Toronto...with Oakland-Alameda, the last of that 70's and 80's multi-purpose phase. Scary...once the A's leave, Rogers will become the 6th oldest stadium. Fenway, Wrigley, Dodger Stadium...no surprise. Next? Angel Stadium...1966. That I'd forgotten...the franchise has never moved, once it was built. Then Kauffman, in Kansas City...built in 73. Then Rogers. Turf there...the stadium might not have been built for grass, not in that era, and Toronto winters might be problematic. The last turf field is Miami. I suspect there, the issue is drainage. So there may be good reasons for most of these...probably except for the Trop, which is a disaster in EVERY way. No one's gonna spend to replace that field even if it was practical. For the rest? I bet you want to go back to wool uniforms, too, and gloves the size of driving gloves.

Oh my. Bucks enter the 4th up 11...and blow it, losing by 5 in regulation. Down 3-1 now. Butler explodes for an extremely efficient 56...but the other story was the bench. Bucks bench: 52 total minutes, 16 points, 5 of 15 shooting. Heat bench: 100 minutes, 32 points, 12 of 23 shooting. Heat bench: +51. Bucks bench: -22. Bucks shot distribution was pretty poor. Grayson Allen is out there for shooting, but only got 6 shots. Brook Lopez took 23...most on the team. He shot well, but you don't want him taking that many. Jrue Holiday is supposed to be the point guard...but he took 19 shots, while having only 4 assists. That's a mess...and when he goes 6 for 19? That's worse. Unless the Bucks can turn things around completely, which has been VERY rare, I think there will be some significant changes over the summer.

I think that's fair. I think he's also lying to himself about how skeptical he's been. I might try to avoid that...but I've probably fallen into that trap myself. He really hadn't heard about the lawsuit? Wow. But I guess we shouldn't be surprised. I don't step over to the other side of the fence much either. The difference between me and him probably isn't that big. The woman on the bottom left pretty clearly is one who'll move to OAN or Newsmax...that was clear before that last question about whether to stay with Fox. She pretty clearly bought the MAGA election steal story completely, and nothing and no one is going to change that. That's interesting to me. Fox can shape the story initially, they can push a line...but once that line's out there, it has a life of its own, and not even Fox can shift it. It seems likely that these are the viewers that will abandon Fox in HIGH percentages, especially now that their principal prophet is gone. It's also scary to me that the election lies *still* have such influence. But i've been saying this for quite a while, and it still bears repeating. Fox News waged a war on truth. Truth lost. Today's addendum: I think much of the social repression we're seeing now has its basis in that characterization. It becomes far easier for demagogues to thrive in an atmosphere of distrust and doubt. When factionalism dominates, it's easier for a radical faction to become dominant.

An interesting point, tho, is that the size of the SF Bay region is so large that 2 teams should be viable, some articles have noted. If not Oakland, then perhaps Santa Clara/San Jose. A story in the SF Chronicle pointed out, it's in the Giants' territorial area, but felt that shouldn't be allowed to block things once Oakland's gone. A factor has to be, how would baseball restructure the divisions? 8 divisions of 4, or 4 divisions of 8? I don't think I'd like 8 divisions. Even with 6, there's frequently been 1 very weak division...most often the AL Central. And at least last year, perhaps last few...both Centrals have been really weak. Go to 8 divisions, and there's gonna be 2, even 3 soft divisions *most* years. One thing I want to see for a few years is how well the balanced schedule approach works out...specifically, WRT rainouts. With the balanced schedule, there are more games where A plays at B once only during the season. When those games get rained out, they're much harder to make up.

In one sense, maybe, but GB is letting Rodgers go CHEAP!!!! From NFL.com: So mostly it's the #2 this year, and the conditional for next year. But, if Rodgers comes with the baggage we expect, and gets his way for some of His Boys...expensive vet contracts that'll force out good, young, CHEAP players...yes, there's huge potential for subtraction by addition. That said, for now at least they haven't mortgaged the future the way the Broncos did. So, one of the rings of the circus is empty now. Lamar Jackson pretty much has the only circus act left...for now.

Yes, if you want to see some: https://www.businessinsider.com/maga-reaction-to-tucker-carlson-split-from-fox-news-2023-4 There's also this little tidbit https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tucker-carlson-fox-news-exit-162319291.html It's quite likely that substantial numbers of their current viewers will bail as the quotes from Business Insider suggest.