Catching up

Good to see that my usual plan of intermittent blogging has returned, ha!  Actually, I took time to watch "The Great Ziegfeld" (all 3 hours), which was the Best Picture of 1936.  It was a roaring musical time, so I think you can imagine what I thought of that.

I was amused, if you will, by the blowback about the WaPo reporter who included a discussion of Kobe's rape accusation in a tweet... not that I want to defend a WaPo reporter, of course, but she was...right?  (I realize they are claiming some other reason for this, but...cut the crap.) I guess -- and I have expressed this before -- people like him and Big Ben really lucked out that they were just before the MeToo era, as they were able to avoid the presumption of guilt (without innocence at any step); I am not saying this is right, or that he was innocent, but that times have....changed.

The Castellanos deal and the Marte trade means, to me, that all of the good, or least decent, OFs are off the market, save for Puig... and we all know what I think about signing him. I can't imagine the Tribe making a move now; hell, an Ozuna signing would have been...awesome?  At least it would have quieted the cheap seats, as I think -- $18 million or no -- he can play and would be an asset in every facet of the game.  Now...  yikes.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-chart-topping-rock-band-youve-never-heard-of-11579528801?mod=hp_listc_pos4

What???  I've heard of them; hell, I've been three of their concerts and own a bunch of CDs.  Come on!

Linx

Blogging two days in a row, people are going to think I am crazy; maybe I am, as I am sleepy and need to hit the hay, but...this could be me, but the weather was bad but not terribly so?  I mean, it's cold, and Saturday morning the drive was not particularly good, but... it does seem like out East it is far worse.  I could do without the cold and the wind, but by the weekend, it should be nice and warm again, and as rar as I am concerned...well, after last year's -5 stretch, this is fine.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/01/why-trump-has-huge-advantage-over-democrats-low-information-voters
This makes a lot of sense to me... to be sure, I am one of the small minority that does follow politics, all of these people are familiar to me, but I can assure you that in most cases, people do not...

https://www.niskanencenter.org/did-americans-racial-attitudes-elect-trump

Long but interesting; I sort of like this sort of thing, especially as it flies in the face of established wisdom.  I would think it bodes well for the GOP if he can hold those disaffected Democrats; whether or not it means the destruction of the political center in the US or not, that is another question...

https://trevorbauer.com/blogs/off-the-field/colorado-school-of-mines-talk

This is longer but even more fun...

Movies

So... I have reached the part of the Netflix queue where I am now watching all of the Best Picture winners I never got around to watching before.  So far, I have seen "Cimarron," "Cavalcade," and "Mutiny on the Bounty."  The first two are a little...dated?  I mean, some of the stuff in Cimarron I liked, but the whole stand by your man thing, no matter what he does or where he goes...people actually believed that stuff?  Oi.  "Mutiny," at least, has some star power and an interesting, if familiar, plot. 

One thing I am fascinated about by the baseball scandal is that it seems that the players are appalled by the lack of punishments in the case...I think for one, the idea that Manfred didn;t want to fight with the Union is ridiculous, because that process would actually be a trial, with evidence, exculpatory evidence, etc... two, the idea that players will start meteing out their own judgment is pretty funny... I would also like to note that if it wasn;t for the fact that Barstool is seen as being somewhat toxic... well, the Tio story would be bigger right now...

musings

In response to the Twins signing Josh Donaldson, the Tribe is going to offer Clev back to the Angels for three oft-injured yet less expensive pitchers, I am sure.  Ok, I am joking, but... it is an mpressive move for them, provided he remains healthy; I mean, their rotation isn't all that much but if you score enough runs...  One of my coworkers insists we should resign Puig, which does have some appeal, but the power drop in the second half concerns me.

Anyways, Duke lost, but I missed the game because I (like millions of Americans, according to the records), was watching the J! GOAT, and it was...glorious?  I did like the questions being harder, I liked that it didn't interfere with regular J! programming, and it was sort of good to see old friends/competitors again. The extra hour of my life not doing something productive was a hit, but...

I've been reading the Bill James Handbook for 2019, and... well, one thing that has stood out for me is how few pitchers throw 200 innings; I seem to recall it was sort of expected that at least the frontline guys would throw 200.  I think I counted 15 in 2019, which is...low?  I mean, the opener and the idea of three-and-out seems to limit opportunities, but... I realize I am squarely in the "OK Boomer" quadrant here, but....

Hilarity

So, the Tribe traded Eric Haase for cash... I don't know, this seems a little unwise?  I mean, if Perez has a bad year, Leon is no improvement, and in that case...ugh.  More to the point, with the 26h spot... this could be me, but I would think the spot could be used for a bat, and Haase -- he's only had, what 32 ML ABs -- could be the guy they use for it. 

https://babylonbee.com/news/methodist-church-to-split-over-whether-or-not-to-be-christians

Ha! I think is hilarious, of course, and being able to call all my Methodist friends racists -- sort of like calling the people who aren't supporting ex-mayor Pete in the primary homophobes -- is hunting dairy cattle, but it doesn't mean I won't do it because it's fun and enjoyable!

Similarly, this could be me, but if you're going to blow someone up, you should probably have 1) A reason for it and 2) the ability to tell someone why this is a good idea, or, at least, why the benefits outweight the negatives.  I realize pissing off Mike Lee and Rand Paul isn't that hard for a RINO, but... the funny thing is, of course, that so far... the Iranian response has been to shoot missiles at places where they know we will not be, which, to me, indicates that they've been sent a message, and even if there is a little face-saving...well, the man is a genius.

catching up with links

It was an interesting week...lots of fun, lots of work, and lots of sleep -- I am fending off a cold, more or less, so I have been trying to hit the bed early. In the meantime...

Well, first of course was the killing of the Iranian general.  I think it's awesome, for a bunch of reasons.  As for myself, I wonder why the GOP isn't stressing this compared to Benghazi... this could be me, but I think the man is a genius -- promising to bomb the shit out of them, doing it, and then of course letting the Dems attack him for doing so.  It's pretty awesome.  But he is President Awesome, of course.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/gertrude-himmelfarb-historian-moral-change/604276/
I've always wanted to read her, and now...well, at least I've added her to the list.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/united-methodist-church-is-expected-to-split-over-gay-marriage-disagreement-fracturing-the-nations-third-largest-denomination/ar-BBYAufp?li=BBnbfcL

Isn't this sort of what the left is doing, say, everywhere?  I mean, Brexit, the Trump election -- they don't like it and of course they do everything they can to overturn it.  Here, the liberal/US Methodists didn't like the idea of the church in Africa deciding their theology, so they...seceded?  Yes, I like that phrasing...

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/two-party-system-broke-constitution/604213/

I don't know...I think the problem is that there has been -- especially by the Left -- a gradual erasure of the concept of federalism/separation of powers; when the federal government runs roughshod over everyone and everything, pretty much, and is then used to promote the ideas/policies of one party over another... well, as you can imagine, there is going to be some sort of cleavage...

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-humans-came-to-americas-180973739/

This is pretty cool...