unclevlad

I said unpleasant day, not sign of the Antichrist.

I think the premise...he runs it like a TV show...has considerable truth, but my takeaway from that would be, it's because he doesn't think the jobs in question are any more important...and that, of course, the first priority of the jobs is brown-nosing.

Has he ever done the job? Another round of despotism. Trump claims basically an unfettered right to limit WH press passes. On one level, that makes sense, but it's such a blatant challenge to freedom of the press that it can't be tolerated without qualifiers. Yes, the White House can ban someone for cause...overly disruptive, PROVABLE factual distortion (unlike Trumpian factual distortion), stuff like that. But never simply because they're perceived as Not On Your Side. Even the legal analyst at Fox is saying CNN is very likely to win this case quickly.

Based on the behavior of the locals, I'd say they dominate Philadelphia. On the point that he can't use 2-handed weapons...eek. If this is fantasy, and he's not a magical/psi type, then there's a problem because almost all long-range weapons require 2 hands. Melee options are only subpar in theory...he can say he's incredibly skilled with single-handed fencing, tho, so he does damage equivalent to a 2-hander. Sure, there's lots of things he can't do...but he'll be picking and choosing what his character does, so he won't pick things where only one hand would be a big drawback. Sure, he's putting a filter on *where* he can spend his points...but that doesn't necessarily mean he's any less effective, unless the GM has genre-related limitations as noted above.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/14/politics/trump-cabinet-staff-turnover/index.html So Melania gets a major policy shaper canned? Wow. And 2 more, major people...chief of staff, head of homeland security...are apparently soon to get the boot? Double wow. Combine that with the story wcw cited and I get an image of a cornered, angry, frightened rat thrashing and biting at everything. With really bad hair and worse tanning bed marks.....

...you realize your half-year car insurance AND property taxes really should be paid today...... ouch......... on the plus side, I got my cold-weather coffees on order, from a place I've used before and REALLY liked but hadn't used cuz their shipping cost was really bad. Yes, well, they made some better arrangements and it's back to sane. So perhaps my favorite espresso blend, a Sumatra, and a dry process Ethiopia on the way. That helps...but they roast/ship only once a week so it'll be a bit before it gets hiere. <sigh>

Yeah, they nailed that part of the origin story. And everything else, pretty much. The story they made was a lot more sensible than the classic comics part, with the uber-frail Ancient One as a DNPC. I suppose Hannibal Lechter would be another....

Doubtful. There was a story on Bleacher Report, IIRC, comparing Peterman to everyone else. His rating was something like 30 points below *every other* QB with a decent sample size (so discount mop-up types or thrown-into-the-breach rookies). Quick takes... Awww...no game in Mexico City. They botched the turf replacement, or maybe just didn't do it soon enough for it to take. Breaks my heart......not! How long can Marvin Lewis dodge the axe, now that he's canned coordinators in the last 2 seasons? I hope whoever signs Le'Veon Bell this offseason...someone will, altho perhaps not for the ginormous amount he thinks he should get...has to play in Pittsburgh early in the season. The booing will be EPIC.

Makes sense too. Any interpretation leads to the implication that he's unstable, at best. So scary...

I had a thought last night about Trump's comments on the California fires. It struck me...why??? Why is he blasting away so hard about fires? Doesn't feel like it's anywhere near any of his buttons. It's not personal, either; no one's blaming him at all, far as I know. But he still comes out with another Palinesque rabid-dog threat. So one has to ask...what's going on? My best thought is, he'll jump on any excuse to slash anything that interferes with his potential ability to exploit...so land use and environment are prime targets. It's not in the philosophical interest of smaller government, but that these block him from doing what he wants, and we know that IS a big button with him. And that's who runs the country.....

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/12/politics/white-supremacists-cheer-midterms-trump/index.html I'm concerned that between now and New Years, there will be a race-driven church bombing/burning.

Couldn't. Come on, Raiders are the lock of the millenium for the #1 pick. Not only do they have the inside track, but they're at Balt, then KC and Pitt, and end at KC. Other 3 games are Denver, at Cincy, and at Arizona. Those are games they might win in theory...but the locker room is *toast*. They are playing out the string, so I think that makes the gap between them and every other team Grand Canyonesque. OK, Andy Dalton can fritter a game away but that strikes me as the best chance. For the curious, but not curious enough to look themselves... Rams are generally -2.5 against the Chiefs next Monday; the over/under is only 63 1/2. Take the over.

Line of the week, from well down that BR article. Talking about the spreads and results: Falcons were -5.5. Bold mine.

If you're a card carrying member of the ANYONE But the Pats! club, or are at least (like me) sick and tired of Tommy Boy being called the GLA...GOAT is arguable, but ya gotta say he's in the discussion: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2805087-monday-morning-digest-can-the-patriots-survive-the-decline-of-tom-brady?utm_source=cnn.com&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=editorial#slide0

I can readily see the Rockets' playoff chances improving by ditching toxic Melo. Basketball-Reference has a stat called Box Plus/Minus, which estimates, per 100 possessions, a player's impact relative to a league-average player. He's at -5. For comparison, you can find the top 20 so far. #18 is at +5. There's clearly no requirement it'd be symmetric but it's probably a decent assumption to say that -5 is somewhere around the 20th WORST.

I daresay every one of us here owes him a debt of gratitude.

No. Not even. The accomplishment is hosing a team that was good...albeit lucky, IMO...quite recently into a pretty POOR team. ANd not a positive one. The Falcons are overall a BAD team at this point. OK, not Raiders bad, but still. Hey, SNF proved that. Eagle defense is apparently decimated, but the Zeke runs for 150, Dak !!!! throws for 270? This is the 27th ranked offense AFTER the game this evening. And the Eagles won the Super Bowl, last season. Final note, from the Attaboy department. You may be familiar with this...collect 1000 Attaboys, get a promotion. But one Aw **** wipes out ANY accumulated Attaboys. To wit today...Tampa Bay had over 500 yards total offense. FIVE hundred. And scored........3 points. Drive 56...INT. 51...punt. 73...miss FG. 63...FG. 66...miss FG. TO on first play. 56...fumble. 73...fumble. Buncha Attaboys...all mercilessly slaughtered. EDIT: 500+ yards of offense, 467 times. Not sure how far back that went. Average points per game was, IIRC, 37 and change. That from SVP.

BLM, so presumably fed.

Well, story goes that Rockets are about to boot ol' Carmelo to the curb. Denied by Rockets GM, but that's a given; it'll be denied until the papers are filed, or at least all ready to be filed. Should that happen, I wonder if anyone will try picking him up. Not like the Rockets are world-beaters this year.

And if you know something about climate, southern California's inherently fire-prone. Winter wet season; rain's almost non-existent from late spring through much of fall, IIRC. DRY, too. So there's nice growth early, and everything dries out big time by now. Santa Ana winds do NOT help; they suck moisture like a swarm of mosquitoes. The terrain is also TRICKY! VERY hilly/mountainous, tons of folds, hills, canyons.

On Trump's fire tweet.... My god, what world does he live in? And man, I could just wish this happened LAST week. This might've cost his buffoons a few seats. But it'll be forgotten by New Years, like most of the inanities he's uttered. PLEASE NOTE that I am NOT!!! advocating this......but this feels like the kind of line to incite someone to try to take Trump out. It's not hate speech but it's hateful, and if you'll pardon the pun, inflammatory.

Not much of an accomplishment.

The gap between AAA and MLB pitching has been there for a long time. Back in the day when I was in Colorado, we had the Denver Bears. First baseman was Randy Bass. He won the American Association MVP award in 1980...37 HRs, hit .330. Only played a total of 130 games and only hit .212 in the majors. That sort of thing was common enough to even spawn the term "a AAAA hitter"....great in AAA but torn apart by MLB pitching. Back then it was the curve ball, most often. Now, I suspect it's holes in the swing versus the fastball. OR, just not able to catch up to 95+ enough.

Who made that argument? Not me. I said the game being played now is not the game of even 15 years ago, and completely different from 30. You brought up Ryan; when's the last time any pitcher was left in to throw a 200 pitch game? Nor did I ever even suggest it's how the game should be played; I'm stating how it *is* played today. Who's bucking all the trends, and which trends? Sox? Not in pitching. No Sox starter threw 200 innings; only Porcello broke 180. 4 different relievers had 60+ appearances and innings pitched...so we're not talking specialists. All four are high strikeout pitchers...only Joe Kelly had a strikeouts per 9 innings rate of less than 11. Sox hitters aren't so much breaking the trend, as knowing when the trend is moronic. Pure metrics-based decision making has flaws. Some because the metrics are flawed or incomplete; others because they're misused or even misunderstood. Approach A may be correct 90% of the time, and thus define the trend...but there's 10% of the time when it's not. That's not defying the data, it's delving deeper into it.

We're not talking 2005, we're talking 2018. I'm saying in baseball, as it's playing the last 6-8 years in particular (but a trend for 15-20)...only a handful of pitchers don't get pulled today. And that's how we have to frame the context. Sandy Koufax started 43 and 41 games in 65-66, completing 27 each season and going well over 300 innings. In 2018, Scherzer led MLB with...220. No pitcher in baseball has exceeded 235 in the last 4 years. Since 2005, 250's been reached just *twice*. Heck, you can actually see a radical dropoff in the last 2 years. 2016, NL and AL leaders were about the same, at ~230. 2017, drops to 207 NL, 214 AL. 2018 it only recovers to 220 and 215. Here's a chart I made up. Data is the innings pitched leader in the AL and NL from '95 forward. And these are your aces...or at least the ones who stay mostly healthy. (https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/IP_leagues.shtml ... gotta love em) Hey, I don't like where baseball's going either, but decent starting pitching gets SERIOUSLY expensive fast. 28 starters made $13M or more this season. And the lost time from injuries! Found this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_baseball_players_who_underwent_Tommy_John_surgery It's FRIGHTENING to see the increase in numbers. This isn't just pitchers, it's everyone, but 10 in 2013, then 21, 28, only 14 in 2016, 21, and 25 this year. Note, those were the years where the surgery was performed. There were also some players who had to have it *twice* and I may have missed the second one. And we know how long the recovery takes, so...there's a lot of lost time there. But probably first and foremost, it's the metrics. Most pitchers' batting average against *jumps* on the 3rd time through the order, so the wisdom has become, crank of the parade of HEAT! from the bullpen. What good team doesn't have its bullpen set up for 7th, 8th, 9th? Maybe the Red Sox, but they just bludgeoned you so it wasn't as big a deal. But that's baseball today. 5 inning starts from probably half the starters out there...that's OK. Hitters who never adjust. 3 true outcomes as the holy mantra. Games too boring to watch, just catch the highlights. Fiddly-ass, terrible replay rules (oh, his hand lifted up off the base for 1/4 of a second...OUT!) The play's only gonna probably get worse, tho.