The Cubs' 4th OF battle has just become wide open. The Cubs dealth Chris Coghlan to the Oakland Athletics for AAA/MLB SP/RP Aaron Brooks.
…..
By god, it's Dexter Fowler's music!!!
Those first two sentences were as far as I got before I read the news that the Cubs re-signed Dexter Fowler. One year with a mutual option. This is like pro wrestling.
The Cubs' 4th OF battle has just come to a close.
More on this later. My short thoughts are that this is a great move. Soler is now the 4th OF (who should play a ton if he stays with the team), the Cubs have the best lineup in baseball (if they didn't already), and that Aaron Brooks is actually an intriguing back of the rotation combatant.
I love this fucking team.
Comments
Well, shit. Awesome.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
So, if we’re done signing players now can we please re-sign Theo?
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
So…I guess Baltimore didn’t work out?
MillertimeQuote Reply
Gordita says $8 MM in ’16, $9 MM in ’17 mutual option with $5 MM buyout. Fucking (dying laughing), that’s a GREAT deal for Dexter Fowler. Probably the signing of the offseason, and that’s saying something.
mylesQuote Reply
Wittenmyer sez the Baltimore deal was never official. Cubs and Dexter kept talking throughout the process.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
Wow. This team is good. That lineup is going to be awesome.
dmick89Quote Reply
$13 MM for just 16, or $17 MM for 16 and 17. This is just insane. MLB players just love the Cubs.
mylesQuote Reply
myles,
That draft pick a team would have lost really screwed him and it probably shouldn’t have. He probably should have tried to sign earlier in the offseason. Or just accepted the arbitration. Weird.
dmick89Quote Reply
Given how this team suddenly does all the things, can’t help but wonder if a Soler deal is about to happen too.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
Fowler CF
Heyward RF
Bryant 3B
Rizzo 1B
Schwarber LF
Russell SS
Montero C
Catcher(, I mean pitcher)
Zobrist 2B
Good fucking luck, MLB. (Russell is 6th for developmental and handedness reasons. 2 switch hitters after the pitcher make it impossible to match up with us reliever-wise, too.
mylesQuote Reply
Smokestack Lightning,
I’d think there’s a good possibility one is being worked on. Soler as a 4th outfielder is kind of a waste. He has more trade value than that and I don’t think we’ll see a 4th outfielder play as much as you do with this setup and unless there’s a platoon in LF at some point. I think Szczur and/or Baez will get a lot of playing time in LF as the defensive replacement or platoon partner (Baez), but I’m hoping for 150 games for each of the outfielders.
dmick89Quote Reply
It helps that they get to have the catcher bat twice. That’s a real advantage that we haven’t talked a lot about.
dmick89Quote Reply
Dexter Fowler hit .250/.346/.411 last year in centerfield. He was worth 3.2 fWAR. As a free agent, he is getting at most $2 million less than the QO (AAV-wise), and at worst $8.5 MM per year.
mylesQuote Reply
dmick89,
That’s got to be at least a +25 run advantage over the rest of the league right there.
dmick89Quote Reply
(dying laughing)
mylesQuote Reply
I had the Cubs at about 93 wins so I’ll happily predict 95 wins for this team and not be the least bit surprised if they surpass that. I also think they’re at least 10 games better than the next best team in the NL Central. I think the Pirates and Cardinals are better than average, but not by a whole lot.
dmick89Quote Reply
Dude. How about the alternate line-up with Schwarber catching and Soler in LF.
JonKneeVQuote Reply
I hope they keep Soler. However, if they don’t, and they spin him for a good, young, pitcher, you have to start wondering if this is the best Cubs team we’ll ever see in our lifetime.
Oh wait, EVERYONE ON THIS TEAM IS SIGNED THROUGH 2017.
Next year, our biggest FA is either Fowler (if we both decline) or Travis Wood.
mylesQuote Reply
myles,
I dunno. I think 2019 with Bryce Harper and unfrozen zombie Ted Williams (yes, I’ve seen the latest Cubs recruitment lineup) should be a pretty good team too.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
Think about this, it would take probably 4 major injuries to Fowler/Heyward/Schwarber/Bryant/Rizzo/Zobrist/Soler for the Cubs to have a below average offense.
JonKneeVQuote Reply
If you can get more value for Soler than you’d get from him as a 4th outfielder, you’ve got to make the deal. I think it’s wishful thinking that Schwarber is going to wind up behind the plate full time at any point in his career. If a young and healthy Schwarber can’t prove to be a better defensive catcher than Montero (who isn’t bad), then I’m just not seeing it. Not to mention, the hope is that Contreras will be up full time in 2017. The hope is that one of almora or McKinney will be up then too. There’s a reasonable possibility that Soler could become the 5th outfielder or worse as early as the middle part of the 2016 season. That’s a fantastic problem to have, but one that should probably be dealt with sooner than later in my opinion.
dmick89Quote Reply
berseliusQuote Reply
If there’s a press conference on this deal, I hope Theo drops the mic.
dmick89Quote Reply
I went to lunch just after the Coghlan trade, got back and saw Brett’s tweet that BN was blowing up and was surprised that so many people had Coghlan feelings (dying laughing)
berseliusQuote Reply
(dying laughing) and (dying laughing)
Suburban kidQuote Reply
berselius,
I’ve been offline all day doing work. Shit like this never happens when I’m lazy and browsing the Interwebs all day.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
I already traded Fowler from my video game franchise, been playing AJax there because I always thought that was more realistic (dying laughing) (dying laughing) (dying laughing)
^^^^just realized the macro works again
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Well, I hope you enjoyed it. Because your inattention just got you no dinner.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
dmick89,
berseliusQuote Reply
Theo says they’re done trading, for what that’s worth
berseliusQuote Reply
Cubs open in LAoA with the DH. Oh boy.
JonKneeVQuote Reply
Rosscup to 60 Day DL to make room on the 40 man
berseliusQuote Reply
April can’t get here fast enough
berseliusQuote Reply
https://twitter.com/bleedcubbieblue/status/702920714777563136
Suburban kidQuote Reply
berselius,
How do you copy tweets all pretty
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Suburban kid,
He’s got special powers. There are only certain html tags that users can use in the comments. The image tag is one I have to add manually after WP updates. I could add others that would make all those look pretty, but that specific tag isn’t the safest tag to allow everyone to use because it can be used maliciously.
dmick89Quote Reply
Suburban kid,
I click on the “…” at the bottom of a tweet, there’s an option that gives you embed html that you can copy and past. Though as dm says you might not be discredited enough to use them round these parts.
berseliusQuote Reply
Maddon liked to stack all those lefties at the top of the order at times. I’m kind of liking how this might play: Fowler, Heyward, Rizzo, Schwarber, Bryant, Montero, Russell, Catcher, Zobrist.
dmick89Quote Reply
This Fowler deal is one of the most friendly contracts for a free agent. Much better than these suggestions.
http://obstructedview.net/should-the-cubs-sign-dexter-fowler-to-an-extension/
http://obstructedview.net/should-the-cubs-re-sign-dexter-fowler/
Myles did his part too, but didn’t throw any values around (that was smart of him): http://obstructedview.net/the-cubs-should-re-sign-dexter-fowler/
dmick89Quote Reply
That escalated quickly. I went from thinking that Coghlan would be a good fit in Oakland but maybe the Cubs didn’t get enough from him but oh well, at least we’ll probably sign Jackson to this:
Not a bad morning. And happy birthday, Jorge, you just lost 300 PAs this year.
uncle daveQuote Reply
Yeah, a pretty shitty present for Jorge if you ask me
MylesQuote Reply
You tell me what lineup is better:
LF Murton
CF Almora
RF Soler
1B La Stella
2B Munenori Kawasaki
SS Baez
3B Christian Villanueva
C Ross
P Warren
or
LF Markakis
CF Inciarte
RF Bourn
1B Freeman
2B Jace Peterson
SS Aybar
3B Adonis Garcia
C Tyler Flowers
P Teheran
MylesQuote Reply
Myles,
Don’t tell me what to do.
Also, Barves
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
I lean Braves but am not at all convinced.
MylesQuote Reply
So Baez is the main backup at 2B/3B/SS/CF now, and Soler is the main backup at LF/RF/1B?. Ross and Schwarber both catch 20 games this year. La Stella or Kawasaki is the other utility infielder, Szczur is the 5th OF.
OF
Fowler
Schwarber
Heyward
Soler
Szczur
IF
Bryant
Russell
Zobrist
Rizzo
Baez
La Stella
C
Montero
Ross
MylesQuote Reply
Myles,
I think Sczcur is headed to Iowa, as much as I would like to have a 5-man bench.
berseliusQuote Reply
Out of options. Maybe he clears waivers, but that’s no guarantee.
MylesQuote Reply
“Unless, of course, my nine all-stars fall victim to nine separate
misfortunes and are unable to play tomorrow. But that will never happen.
Three misfortunes, that’s possible. Seven misfortunates, there’s an
outside chance. But nine misfortunes? I’d like to see that!”
Wenningtons Gorilla CockQuote Reply
Wenningtons Gorilla Cock,
(dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
I can finally be as happy as I should have been when the Cubs signed Heyward. I was a little worried about him playing 150 games in CF. I’m sure he can handle it OK defensively, but I was worried about the increase chance of injury, as well as how shitty the outfield defense was going to be.
dmick89Quote Reply
Pirates outfield or Cubs outfield? I asked this a few weeks ago. I went with Pirates because of the defense, but I’m going with the Cubs outfield now.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
I’m not sure that Heyward won’t be able to handle center field, and would go so far as to say that I might prefer him to Fowler in parks with a lot of turf between the alleys due to his jump and range. In Wrigley, though, no question that the team is better with Heyward in right and Fowler in center. It opens up some interesting possibilities (not the least of which is having Fowler shade a step or two towards left to cover Schwarber).
uncle daveQuote Reply
Yeah, I’d assume we’ll see Fowler play more toward LF this season. If Baez is as good as the Cubs hope he is in the OF, the Cubs defense could actually be good with Baez, Fowler and Heyward in the OF. I like Schwarber’s bat a whole lot better and I didn’t think Schwarber was all that bad in the OF with the exception of the postseason.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
if baez is lights out in ST and schwarber is kinda shitty, do we see baez as starting LF and schwarber on the bench?
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
Theo and Dexter must have been the ones behind that Orioles deal misinformation, right?
Suburban kidQuote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
No. I don’t think spring training performance is going to have anything to do with Schwarber’s role this year. I’d be very disappointed if it did. From what I’ve read today, I’m starting to think there’s a pretty good chance we’ll see a Soler/Schwarber platoon in LF and Baez will probably be the defensive replacement. I wouldn’t be surprised if Baez comes in at 2nd and Zobrist shifts to LF late in games replacing Soler/Schwarber.
I’d rather not see a straight platoon in LF. Schwarber can probably hit lefties well enough if he’s given the chance, but more than anything, I want to see him given the opportunity to do it.
dmick89Quote Reply
Suburban kid,
I think that’s just reporters doing a poor job. I think a deal was close in that the two sides had mostly agreed to the framework of the deal, but the Cubs came in and got the actual deal done. The reporters heard deal is near and ran with it and now they’re blaming Fowler for being unprofessional about it (MLB Network was anyway). It’s not his fault the reporters did a poor job.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
My reading of the tea leaves was that the reporters were running with the offer on the table, not anything that Fowler agreed to (especially wrt the option year)
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
Probably. Whatever it was, it wasn’t anything Fowler did. Media just fucked up as usual. (dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl71xMenc6E
aisle424Quote Reply
dmick89,
I think that Schwarber’s defense will dramatically improve with reps as well. But when you have a guy who can cover ground like Heyward can in right, you have the luxury of giving him a bit more cover regardless.
I don’t see a straight platoon in left. Schwarber will get 30-40 games between catcher and DH, and will probably sit against tougher lefties. That still leaves him with about 80-90 games in LF. Soler will probably pick up the other 70, as well as the 10 or so that Heyward doesn’t start, and I think he slots into RF with Heyward moving over for another 30-40 games. That’ll give Heyward 150 starts, with Schwarber, Fowler, and Soler slotting in at 110-130 each. Plenty o’ room for everyone.
Unless I’m totally off or there are major injuries, I don’t think that we’ll see a ton of Baez or Zobrist in the outfield this year. Given how strong Baez is defensively in the infield, I’m ok with that, though that likely limits him to about 60-70 starts absent injuries.
uncle daveQuote Reply
Haven’t had time to read because HOLY SHIT!
I did not see this coming.
ceruleanQuote Reply
aisle424,
Thanks for reminding me that the speedy leadoff man is a slugger too.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Flying Hawaiian ————> Cubs, minor league deal
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
nine misfortunes insurance
Suburban kidQuote Reply
I bet Matt Murton had about 40 minutes of hope yesterday.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
BP has some great stuff about this deal: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=28534
dmick89Quote Reply
Victorino —–> Cubs minor league fodder (what’s the point?)
JonKneeVQuote Reply
JonKneeV,
Just in case 4 or 5 outfielders go down in spring training. You never know. (dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
To the Victorino goes the Spoiled
MylesQuote Reply
You have been banned from Obstructed View. You can browse but not participate. Please email me, dm, Al, and your sixth grade science teacher to confirm.
berseliusQuote Reply
Send two to Alvin.
dmick89Quote Reply
Suburban kidQuote Reply
(dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
SPANDAU BALLET ES EL MEJOR GRUPO GAY NO GAY DE LA HISTORIA
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Suburban kidQuote Reply
????
This team is going to score 1100 runs.
umbraQuote Reply
umbra,
In April
berseliusQuote Reply
Suburban kid,
Nice form.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Fixed
dmick89Quote Reply
(dying laughing) at Calcaterra’s headline
http://obstructedview.net/cubs-trade-chris-coghlan-for-aaron-brooks-resign-dexter-fowler/#comment-150432
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
Cardinals fan in the comments!
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
Wrong link (dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
No dinner for me tonight.
berseliusQuote Reply
http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2016/02/26/the-braves-will-wear-a-patch-commemorating-them-abandoning-atlanta/
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
That guy is definitely a Trump voter.
dmick89Quote Reply
Watch your language. If Trump becomes president, he’ll sue you for libel and make a lot of money.
ceruleanQuote Reply
cerulean,
How the fuck can a presidential candidate say shit like that and actually be the overwhelming favorite to land the nomination from one of the two major political parties in the US? It’s fucking baffling.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
Did you see cwyers’s trump thing from the other day? Trump is batshit crazy but not too surprising that that constituency exists, though lots of overlap with plain ol’ racism and xenophobia.
https://gist.github.com/colinwyers/5f2945488e4b864f8736
Calcaterra posted a reply/continuation too from a lib perspective
http://craigcalcaterra.tumblr.com/post/140002974422/donald-trump-the-overlooked-and-the-invisible
I got super depressed when I realized that this baseball season will be over before this fucking election. At least the Cubs will be worth watching.
berseliusQuote Reply
This piece by Taibbi was also good
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-america-made-donald-trump-unstoppable-20160224
berseliusQuote Reply
Good thing my dinner privileges were already revoked, I’ve got nothing to lose for political links (dying laughing)
berseliusQuote Reply
It’s anti-intellectualism all the way down. I used to say that at home I feel like a foreigner and as a foreigner I feel at home. I have some aspirations to expatriating myself. A Trump presidency may hasten such plans. Maybe a place with a different language just to escape politics for a little while.
ceruleanQuote Reply
I am a casual fan of Taibbi. There was a time when I thought some of his reporting could effect meaningful change.
Alas.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Thanks for the links, guys. Great reading. That Colin Wyers article was really good. So were the others, but I’m always impressed with how good cwyers is. I miss reading his work.
dmick89Quote Reply
https://youtu.be/ElhAysq3O6c
Suburban kidQuote Reply
It wouldn’t for me. I’m not too worried about 1) Trump winning the presidency or 2) Trump actually being able to do even a fraction of what he’s said. Besides, what has he actually said in detail? He’s been intentionally vague about most everything. Build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. That’s not going to happen. Basically gut the 1st Amendment. Not happening.
I live in a city that is home to some of the most appalling people in this country (Westboro Baptist Church). Other than when I see them picketing, I like it here and have no intention of leaving any time soon. I disagree with much of the state and local governments have done (fucked over education for decades and they pretend as if mental health isn’t worthy of funding to name a couple). This shit has happened elsewhere and if I lived in another country I’d just be upset about something else.
I thought the one thing I wouldn’t sacrifice is my privacy, but I gave that up after I learned for certain the government didn’t give two shits about it. They still don’t (FBI vs. Apple).
Pretend baseball starts soon and that’s followed by real baseball. Hopefully by the time I care about anything else on tv the election will be all but over and the Trump News Networks can return to reporting on missing white kids. Thing about how many white kids will have gone missing since they stopped reporting on anything not related to Trump. Also, how many beautiful blond white girls will have been murdered? They’ve got years of coverage of white people to make up for.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
Every place has problems, to be sure. But so much of America’s problems stem from a lack both tolerance and perspective. Looking back through history, the demise of institutions seems to occur at points of over-optimization, local maximums that when reached have allowed us to see peaks that were previously beyond our vision, but remain out of reach because the trek is too difficult—everybody is comfortable enough here—it’s not perfect but it works. Until it doesn’t. We see this not just in history, but in prehistory, that adaptation to a particular environment and/or overuse of a strategy that has worked in the past leads to vulnerabilities—think large dinosaurs and antibiotics.
Our strategy for “democracy” is showing its cracks. And even if issues could be voted on directly, the majority of the country seems to be content to let threats to national security erode our civil liberties, save for the impregnable fortress of gun ownership that was written into our constitution at a time when guns were part of the livelihood of many and could not easily do great damage. On the false dilemma between guns and encryption, I’d choose encryption every time. But that choice isn’t up for grabs, because guns are sacrosanct.
Instead, we have the FBI justifying this sacrifice of privacy, compelling companies (or maybe just one company that makes the whole widget and mints cash due to its success around the world) to write malware to break the encryption that seems to be the only vector of attack against organized bad guys with weapons (and I mean beyond just guns here, which would be their argument). We are blinded by the highly improbable, feeding our fears, distracting our imaginations, rather than using our imaginations to break our fears.
I have concerns about America transitioning from a super-imperalistic-republic to an also-ran like the great powers before them. I like to remain optimistic that the change would be relatively peaceful, but given the threat we are actually dealing with—technology obsoleting many jobs, feeding all of the wrong tendencies of government—the future could be dicey.
For the record, I am sure that the probability of a violent transition is far less likely than not, but if it does happen the cost may be so great that the expected value of all the eventualities will be overwhelmingly negative. We live in interesting times.
ceruleanQuote Reply
It’s of course less likely than not in the short-term, but it will happen eventually. I’m just not convinced it’s better elsewhere. There’s a lot I don’t like here and there’s a lot I do like. I imagine the same would be true in other countries. I will say this, when I’ve seen others say they’re going to move to a different country in the past if so and so is elected, I’ve laughed. It’s not so funny to hear that if Trump is the one being elected. It becomes an understandable and perhaps even desirable decision. It’s not one I’d make even though I think Trump is basically a piece of shit.
All of our circumstances are different. I would guess it’s beneficial for some (perhaps many, maybe none, I really have no clue) to move to a different country, but the benefits for myself and my family would be small to non-existent. At least in the short-term anyway and really, my existence is short-term so yeah, I’m staying put, but I understand the desire to get the fuck out.
dmick89Quote Reply
It’s not like you can just move to another country anyway. Unless you have family ties or really good professional qualifications that can open doors for you job-wise. I suppose if you were independently wealthy you could convince a country to give you a green card and/or citizenship.
I moved out of the US a long time ago but not because I didn’t want to live there. I’ve always kept in the back of my mind that someday I’d move back, maybe retire there, because I do miss it sometimes. Lately I don’t feel that way so much.
DM is absolutely right that you would find shit you don’t like / hate about where you end up living, with no way of changing/avoiding it. Most things that fall into that category in your home country, you have already rationalized or made allowances for long ago. So you’ll need as much / more tolerance abroad as you had at home.
What I observe from a distance that is different about the US is a certain innate entitlement about freedom that is drummed into us from birth. Don’t get me wrong, we should all be free. But the meaning of freedom seems to extend nowadays to not just mean freedom to speak or pray or make a living, but freedom to not give a shit about other people, freedom to be selective to where justice is served, freedom to buy and carry automated death machines without even a background check, and with the latest crop of presidential candidates (NOT just Trump, but almost all of them), the freedom to lie whenever you want and say “who cares?” when challenged, because this is America and if I wanna say something, I’ll say it. It’s my right to bullshit as much as I want and you have to accept it.
I think in other countries they don’t use their political freedom to justify personal overreach, or selfishness, quite like the way it comes naturally in the US. Freedom came later in history, or at least true freedom across the social spectrum, than in the US so people are less convinced that they really have it. Lingering class and racial divisions maintain certain inequalities that we thought were eliminated a long time ago in the US (…or were they?).
There’s racism and injustice in Europe and Canada and Australia and Japan too. Where I live, they sanctimoniously hang onto “pro-life” legislation that allows women to die in hospitals rather than abort their non-viable pregnancy, and they don’t have to deal with botched illegal abortions in alleys because women can outsource their abortions to the country next door. On the other hand, they seem to have a much more caring attitude to the homeless, the mentally ill, and the disadvantaged in general, which I admire. Prison isn’t an industry and offenders get a chance to rehabilitate themselves and return to society before they’re 80 years old. They had a woman president 25 years ago, despite the fact that only 50 years ago married women weren’t allowed to work.
Ah, shit’s fucked up everywhere. I just hate that the joy and excitement of the Cubs’ World Series domination in October will quickly be soiled by the ugliest presidential campaign imaginable.
I think Trump will get trounced in November, but he will be the nominee and we will have 10 more months of his (and his supporters’) utter bullshit.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Suburban kid,
Good points. You’re probably right that Trump will get crushed in the general election if he’s the nominee. I expect a higher percentage of Republicans will vote Democrat than have in a long time. I think 538 has an article up today on that possibility, though it’s seemed probable for a long time now.
dmick89Quote Reply
I think people are generally very passionate about their own freedom, and much less so about someone else’s. Same goes for spending, entitlement programs, and taxes. I think the thing that bothers me most about politics and government is how so many people don’t seem to care about the process, or about how the court system/justice/law should work, as long as they get what they want.
MillertimeQuote Reply
Regarding Trump, I think you guys are underestimating the American public. If there’s one thing I’ve learned the past decade, is that the majority of our fellow countrymen and women are bat shit fucking crazy and actually agree with everything Trump says. As much as people hate Trump, there is a huge amount of people that hate Clinton too. The sad thing is that it seems elections are no longer about politics and are more about popularity contests.
MuckerQuote Reply
Suburban kid,
Once upon a time, I was looking for a good place to lie down in the grass. It looked like a well-trimmed and lovely lawn from sidewalk, all soft and green. But no matter where I tread, the green gave way to a green-brown coarseness, with insects to bug me as soon as anything resembling comfort came about.
The grass is greener where you don’t look hard enough.
By the same token, no storm is as dark as it is when it’s approaching.
As for leaving the country, I do have ties outside of the US since my wife and I both have recent European ancestry with the bonus that mine came via South America. Moving with children is the tough bit, though I do hear about negative birth rates in Europe and wonder when they will start enticing children of emigrants to come back home. Demographically, it’s getting pretty dire.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Millertime,
I approve this message.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Don’t blame me, I voted for Jim Gilmore
MylesQuote Reply
I used to think that most people think like me. And then I find a statistic that 1 in 5 women in college will be raped (along with an alarming number of men). This leads me to believe that a non-negligible amount of rapey dudes make up the population.
I have a vivid imagination, and that statistic—even if off by a factor of 2 or 10—boggles the mind.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Myles,
I am thinking about writing in Lin-Manuel Miranda, but I hear he is busy these days.
ceruleanQuote Reply
I just started rewatching The West Wing, and it’s funny how many issues on that show (gun violence, supreme court nominations) are still pretty much the exact same conversation then as they are now.
MillertimeQuote Reply
Or in the case of about 80% of them, district-drawing contests.
berseliusQuote Reply
And/or assume that the process/system can’t be changed.
Why two years for a congressional term?
Why is 12th grade free but 13th grade costs $30,000?
Why can’t voter registration be done online?
Suburban kidQuote Reply
berseliusQuote Reply
You can do it here in NM, or so I’m told. Even if our drivers’ licenses can’t be used to get on airplanes anymore (dying laughing).
berseliusQuote Reply
cerulean,
Yeah, I guess that’s why Merkel is happy to let so many refugees in. Someone has to pay for the social security of the aging workforce.
Of course, other European countries are facing the same demographic challenge but are trying to keep them out. Hopefully, your parents are from one of those countries (dying laughing).
Suburban kidQuote Reply
berselius,
Ah, I was reading about the systems (or maybe it was on John Oliver) in S. Carolina and Wisconsin where they decided to make it harder rather than easier to register.
I haven’t voted in a US election since 2000, but I registered for the Democrats Abroad primary which takes place this week. (The GOP doesn’t offer this option.) I think we get about the same number of delegates as Guam.
I actually don’t think ex-pats should be allowed to vote, but they’re letting me, so I will.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Suburban kid,
I think terms should be 2 years for the party I don’t vote for, but 4 years for the party I do vote for. Gerrymandering is wrong, vetoes are wrong, activisit judges are wrong, using “political stunts” to ram bills through congress is wrong, unless it’s something that I want, in which case it’s ok.
MillertimeQuote Reply
Suburban kid,
I was really surprised to see that NM was one of the online registration states in that John Oliver segment – we’ve had a pain in the ass time getting my wife a new drivers license here, since her social security card is buried somewhere in my stack of paperwork and hasn’t turned up (or got mixed in with the shred pile when I did my last big purge). Apparently an active US passport isn’t enough proof of your citizenship to get a DL here, though the main issue wrt to the licenses here is that they can give them to undocumented types. To get a new card, we have to drive 3 hours to ABQ and wait all day at the apparently notoriously understaffed office.
berseliusQuote Reply
Suburban kid,
Wisconsin was great, you could show up with a utility bill with your name and address on election day and vote.
berseliusQuote Reply
Millertime,
(dying laughing)
Suburban kidQuote Reply
One of my biggest pet peeves is when people complain about their property taxes or local income taxes, and then also complain about how they want more police, more firefighters, more jail time for criminals(because we all know the reason crime exists is that we’re all too soft on crime), better roads, better snow removal, better public transit, more parks and rec programs, and better funding for the public school they send their kids.
Also, anyone who uses phrases like “my tax dollars”.
MillertimeQuote Reply
http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2016/02/27/criticism-analytics-shows-division-analysis/tNgGYvAwbAdPv1SaF6AddJ/story.html?event=event25
????????????????????????????????????
(h/t to Brett)
berseliusQuote Reply
never in history has this phrase been used in a way that didn’t make me want to vomit
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
agree 100%. it is very dangerous to write off trump. there are a whole bunch of crazy ass motherfuckers out there. and i have lost count of how many times i’ve heard the phrase “well i’m no fan of trump, but if it’s him vs hillary, i’m definitely voting trump to keep that crazy bitch out of office.”
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
So, they had a spring primary in WI a few weeks back because our state is stupid enough to have people vote on who the state supreme court justices should be (which leads to ridiculous miscarriages of justice because if you’re currently a county DA and want to be a judge someday, you basically have to lock people away for the rest of their lives or else face the attack ad of ‘will this justice let rapists out of jail after only 30 years?!?!?!?’). Anyway, this comment isn’t about that, it’s about the voter ID laws.
The voter ID laws only recognize certain forms of ID as valid. Your student ID with picture and name does not work. Your veteran’s card does not work. Your driver’s license from Minnesota does not work. That’s nuts. You either get a passport, WI driver’s license, WI voter id card, or go screw yourself.
When presented with the fact that this caused a lot of students from Minnesota and Illinois and a couple veterans to not be able to vote (even though they had registered, gone to the polls, had a non-approved ID, and gave a crap about a primary in February for the state supreme court), Republicans just said that that was a small price to pay for the voter fraud which was prevented.
umbraQuote Reply
umbra,
(dying laughing), that was exactly what I thought of when I saw some stuff floating around post-Scalia about making Supreme Court Justices electable or term-limited.
berseliusQuote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
I guess I’m going off the the fact that to win the three primaries he’s won so far, Trump only had to get votes from like 1/8th of registered voters in those states — because it was just the Republican side, many November voters don’t bother with primaries, and there were several candidates splitting the votes.
But each day he insults an entire religion or gender just seems to make him more popular, so who knows.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
I seem to recall a “THE POLITICAL TALK WILL STOP NOW” meme and while I enjoyed the discourse, thought it might be pertinent to this thread.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Rice Cube,
(you don’t have to stop the political talk, but don’t let me tell you what to do)
Rice CubeQuote Reply
http://obstructedview.net/the-4-man-outfield/
New Shit
mylesQuote Reply
I also have this belief that potential Trump voters will show up to the voting booths in spades while Hilary or Bernie voters might be like “I need to vote………meh, it’s cold out”.
MuckerQuote Reply