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Saturday College Football Open Thread

Inauspicious start last night as Boise ad Mich St screwed the pooch for me (1-2 ATS). But today is the day I jumpstart my season. Here are the picks (all 2 units unless otherwise indicated):

Southern Mississippi +21 (3 units) over Mississippi State

Wisconsin +14 over Bama

Georgia Southern +18 (3 units) over West Virginia

New Mexico State @ Florida - Over 55

Texas +10 (3 units) over Notre Dame

Texas A&m -3 over Ariz State

Akron +34 over Oklahoma

Bowling Green +22 (3 units) over Tennessee

Penn State -7 over Temple

Louisville +11 1/2 (3 units) over Auburn

Nebraska -7 over BYU

Virginia +20 over UCLA

Stanford -10 (3 units) over Northwestern

Go Gators!

Open Thread

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    Clinton's southern state firewall... (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by Anne on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 08:05:35 PM EST
    From the NYT:

       Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign is methodically building a political firewall across the South in hopes of effectively locking up the Democratic nomination in March regardless of any early setbacks in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.

        Mrs. Clinton's advisers, struck by the strength of Senator Bernie Sanders in those two states, have been assuring worried supporters that victories and superdelegate support in Southern states will help make her the inevitable nominee faster than many Democrats expect. They point to her popularity with black and Hispanic voters, as well as her policy stances and the relationships that she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have cultivated. Mrs. Clinton was similarly confident at this point eight years ago, before Barack Obama and his superior organizers began piling up delegates, including in many Southern states.


    Ponder this
    :

    This strategy may or may not be successful in the long run, but it's terrible politics. Losing support among young progressive activists, white liberals and first-timers to politics, Clinton's strategy isn't to aggressively fight to win back the hearts and souls of those voters, but rather to build a firewall around her support among minority voters in the South.

    [...]

    The Clinton campaign needs to change its instincts. Its prevent defense approach to politics is terrible optics. It is bad for both the campaign and for the fortunes of the Democratic Party. There is no reason Hillary Clinton shouldn't be able to win the votes of younger and more liberal activists--and there's certainly no reason she should be ceding white voters generally to Sanders or Biden. But she would have to fight for those votes, and she seems to have no inclination to do so.

    So, yeah, she could get the nomination with this firewall approach, but the ultimate test is election day, and it seems like she could win the battle and lose the war if she's not careful.

    Anne, I read both articles, and I (5.00 / 1) (#15)
    by caseyOR on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 10:05:31 PM EST
    do not see the problem that the Washington Monthly guy sees. I am, always, skeptical of anything the NY Times and Amy Chozick write about Hillary Clinton.

     That said, what i got from the article is that Hillary is not taking anything for granted. She is prepared to fight and win after Iowa and New Hampshire, no matter what happens in those two primaries. She expects the primaries to be competitive. She knows the game is not over after only two primaries. And, she is shoring up her support among Latino and African American voters.

    Her campaign manager, Robbie Mook, is quoted in the Times saying that Hillary is not writing off any groups, that she believes she can compete for and win both white voters and progressive voters.

    Where the WM guy sees a terrible fortress mindset I see a campaign planning to fight for votes over the long haul and concede nothing to other candidates.

    Parent

    I don't think the Latino and AA voters (none / 0) (#16)
    by Anne on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 10:19:06 PM EST
    are going to be Hillary's - or any Democrat's - problem; it's going to be, as it was and has been for a while, working-class whites, and young people.

    I guess I'm just plain skeptical - about everything.  I don't really trust much of anything I read or hear anymore - I never know if the media's shining me on, or where the kernels of truth are.

    I don't think Clinton's particularly nimble when it comes to being able to quickly pivot on strategy when she needs to - she always seems to stick with something a little too long, and it hurts her.

    I've felt for a while that Hillary's playing not to lose, as opposed to playing to win - that's pretty much the definition of the prevent defense, and I hate it in politics as much as I hate it on the football field.

    And speaking of football, it will be a nice diversion from all this political BS, won't it?  Thank God...we really need it!

    Parent

    Leave (none / 0) (#10)
    by Ga6thDem on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 08:28:18 PM EST
    it to the NYT to put the worst spin possible on something or create drama where there is none. Yesterday they tried to create drama out of her saying "you can wave your arms".

    The fact that she was going to be stronger in the south than Bernie was never a disputed fact but they sound like it's the end of the world.

    Parent

    Perhaps you didn't click on either link, (none / 0) (#12)
    by Anne on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 08:58:55 PM EST
    and just assumed they were from the same source, the NYT, but the second quote is from Washington Monthly, not the NYT.

    And if you cared to read the full WaMo article, you'd perhaps understand that this was not "spin," it was a legitimate question about the Clinton strategy.  

    Here are the two paragraphs I did not quote in my comment:

    First, there's no guarantee that strategy will work. Contrary to the claims of some observers, Sanders' low level of support among minority voters has far more to do with name recognition than with actual policy concerns or inside-the-tent scuffles with Black Lives Matter protesters. Nor is it possible to fully predict what might happen if Joe Biden were to enter the race. If Sanders or Biden do, shockingly, win in Iowa and New Hampshire, that event combined with a series of debates would almost certainly make an impact on minority Southern voters as well.

    Second, it would have a crushing effect on Democratic activist enthusiasm. Barack Obama's support among minority base voters was obviously a net benefit for the Party, but the Obama moment was driven equally much by the passionate activism of young people, liberal activists and political neophytes. If Clinton holds onto a win in spite of opposition from these groups, it will leave her in a weakened state and have depressive effects on Democratic turnout for every race down the ballot.

    Now, you can just put this off to hysteria, or "spin."  You can keep believing that even after Iowa and New Hampshire and some debates that Bernie Sanders isn't going to be better known, and that his standing with minorities isn't going to improve.  But if you're wrong, then what?  

    Clinton has historically had terrible advice, and it doesn't look to me like she's learned anything in the last 7 years - other than that she wants to win more than ever.

    Well, I sure don't want Donald Trump to win, or anyone with an (R) after his or her name.  But I can't help thinking that she's somehow going to blow it with this, as the article says, prevent defense.

    Parent

    Both (5.00 / 1) (#17)
    by FlJoe on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 10:22:53 PM EST
    links turn some "inside baseball" SOP tactical moves into high drama, a "misguided defensive crouch", please.

    For months many people have been saying Hillary had better take Bernie seriously, now that she apparently is, some of these same people  and of course the media are freaking out.

    Of course the Hillary campaign  would redouble the efforts in this so called firewall, they would be fools not to. This is a tactical move absolutely not the change in strategy that Atkins claims it to be

    This strategy may or may not be successful in the long run, but it's terrible politics. Losing support among young progressive activists, white liberals and first-timers to politics, Clinton's strategy isn't to aggressively fight to win back the hearts and souls of those voters, but rather to build a firewall around her support among minority voters in the South.
    Here we go taking  "reports" that some "advisors"  are pointing out the obvious to some "supporters" becomes a new "strategy" where Hillary is abandoning the  "young progressive activists, white liberals and first-timers", ensuring a "crushing effect on Democratic activist enthusiasm", once again please.

    The only defensive crouch Hillary needs is to be in is to avoid the total BS these hacks continually throw at her.

    Parent

    This is (5.00 / 1) (#20)
    by Ga6thDem on Sun Sep 06, 2015 at 11:58:14 AM EST
    setting Bernie up to get burned. They're now stating that he must win IA and NH.

    The "Obama movement"??? There was no Obama movement. Granted judging from polls Bernie mostly attracts upper income white liberals much the same as Obama. Why didn't Obama build the party instead of destroy it? This article deals more with the reality of the situation the party is in. The so called "activists" in that article sure didn't do anything for the last eight years. And even despite Obama's best efforts the get young people to the polls the results were mediocre at best.

    Parent

    Speaking as someone who was ... (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 04:28:48 AM EST
    ... a senior state party official until June when we moved to Hilo, there has been a longstanding tension between Beltway Dems and local Dems for years.

    Howard Dean had us moving in the right direction with the "50-State Strategy," but he ran afoul of then-Congressman Rahm Emanuel, who headed the DCCC during the time Dean was DNC Chair. Dean thought that funds should be directed toward party-building at the state level, whereas Emanuel wanted those funds to be used on behalf the Democratic congressional incumbents.

    IMHO, President Obama's biggest mistake was his choice of the vindictive and petty Emanuel as his chief of staff. First thing Emanuel did was engineer the coup at DNC which sent Dean packing and installed Tim Kaine as his replacement. The monies to state parties quickly dried up, at the very time when Republicans were emulating Dean's strategy after the shellacking the GOP took in '06 and '08. The result was a disaster at the state level.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Great piece! (none / 0) (#21)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Sep 06, 2015 at 12:05:26 PM EST
    Why was this (none / 0) (#13)
    by FlJoe on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 09:08:16 PM EST
    story even written. Wow the Clinton campaign is working hard in some early delegate rich states, stop the presses! She must be desperate! OMG she is pursuing a doomed strategy by abandoning those wonderfully representative voters in Iowa and NH... or something.

    The NYT once again applies the Clinton rules, perfectly normal political operations and thinking   gets twisted and folded into something "troubling"and vaguely devious.

    I think the NYT should recuse themselves from political reporting for the duration, they are not really up to it.

    Parent

    Didn't read either link, did you? (none / 0) (#14)
    by Anne on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 09:42:49 PM EST
    Did you even realize the two links were to two different articles?

    Is she smart to be trying to sew up the superdelegates?  Well, i guess so, since she needs them to get the nomination.  But to me, the emphasis on the superdelegates seems to marginalize the actual voters - the people she's going to need once she has the nomination.

    The nomination isn't the end, it's the beginning, and that is the point the WaMo article makes:

    The Clinton campaign needs to change its instincts. Its prevent defense approach to politics is terrible optics. It is bad for both the campaign and for the fortunes of the Democratic Party. There is no reason Hillary Clinton shouldn't be able to win the votes of younger and more liberal activists--and there's certainly no reason she should be ceding white voters generally to Sanders or Biden. But she would have to fight for those votes, and she seems to have no inclination to do so.


    Parent
    I read both links (5.00 / 2) (#19)
    by FlJoe on Sun Sep 06, 2015 at 08:20:27 AM EST
    The NYT is mostly an "inside baseball" story rehashing old conventional wisdom in their typical breath less manner. Hillary is demographically strong in the delegate rich south, she is strong with the establishment (ie. super delegates), that is old news.  The fact that a campaign that is possibly losing traction would be pointing to/relying on/finding comfort in their strong points, is totally unremarkable. But it's a Clinton of course...

    Atkins goes on to  assert, without any proof, that she is

    ceding white voters generally to Sanders or Biden.
    . Is she pulling resources from IA and NH? Has she quit speaking in those states? Has she changed her rhetoric or proposals?  NO, NO and NO.

    Frankly I think  Atkins is playing the race card here, he his inferring that Hillary is not fighting for the "younger more liberal activists" and strongly suggests she is abandoning the "white" vote. I call BS.

    Show me one shred of evidence that she has "no inclination" to fight for any subset of votes and I might concede this is something more then belly button browsing.......please proceed.

    Parent

    The odds are not even (none / 0) (#1)
    by fishcamp on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 11:13:30 AM EST
    Available for the Oregon V's Eastern Washington game yet.  Since they will be playing in Eugene, we will be able to avoid the Inferno, which is EW SprinTurf,  that is bright red.  The game can be viewed on the Pac 12 network, which is not available here, and is on at the same time as the Florida State, Texas State game.  Hopefully EW will earn some money that they probably need to survive in Cheney, Washington where there's not much more than sugar beet and wheat fields.  It's also not far from the old Handford Nuclear location.  We in Oregon knew that's where the space ships landed with aliens, which they will undoubtedly need to beat the Oregon Ducks.

    Ducks lead 37-21 at the half. (none / 0) (#11)
    by caseyOR on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 08:50:17 PM EST
    Vernon Adams looks pretty good in his debut as the Ducks' QB.

    Go, Ducks!!

    Parent

    Ducks win 61-42 over E. Washington. (none / 0) (#18)
    by caseyOR on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 10:39:25 PM EST
    Vernon Adams went out in the 4th quater after getting slammed by a late hit from an E. Washington defender. That player got a personal foul for targeting Adams. It was a cheap shot. Adams had to be helped off the field. I hope he is okay.

    So, the first game is over.  Now on to next week.

    Go, Ducks!!

    Parent

    Looks like NW will beat Stanford (none / 0) (#2)
    by ragebot on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 01:59:00 PM EST
    Let the upsets begin.

    Good, I've never liked Stanford. (none / 0) (#3)
    by fishcamp on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 02:24:25 PM EST
    Ragebot, you didn't have anything to do with that small drone that crash landed in the stands at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in NYC, did you?  I'm sure your drones don't crash land.  Nobody was injured.

    Parent
    Hope to do this (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by ragebot on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 06:21:52 PM EST
    with my new HEXH2O.

    video

    Parent

    I am still recovering (none / 0) (#4)
    by ragebot on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 06:14:47 PM EST
    from cataract surgery on both eyes and have not had any of my drones up in the air in over a month.  Just got a new one, HEXH2O that is water proof and can take pix/video underwater as well as in the air.  Problem is my close vision has not returned enough for me to put it together.

    Also had to go to Ft. Myers and get my boat ready for Erica, my new best friend who made me happy by standing me up.

    On a serious note my drones all have software that prevents them from being flown in restricted areas.  Most serious drone guys don't want to risk their toys crashing like the one you mentioned.  DJI is serious about being a good citizen.

    Parent

    The drone belonged to a school (none / 0) (#6)
    by caseyOR on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 06:18:39 PM EST
    teacher who turned himselg in to the police. I don't know what he was charged with, but he was released by the police.

    Parent
    PSU goes down (none / 0) (#5)
    by ragebot on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 06:16:55 PM EST
    Not sure what to make of this game.  Hack was sacked 10 times and picked.  May be a little optimistic to think he will go in the first round.  He simply missed a few throws at crucial times and probably half his sacks were not on the very bad OL PSU has, he just has slow fee.

    slow feet (none / 0) (#8)
    by ragebot on Sat Sep 05, 2015 at 06:22:30 PM EST
    for Hack.

    Parent
    One of the reasons I want to relocate (none / 0) (#23)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 02:28:49 PM EST
    is that living here feels a bit like being a dingle berry on the a$$hole of the political world.

    But sometimes even that can be funny.

    Satanists Move To Put Statue Of Goat-Headed Icon At Arkansas Capitol
    They think he'd look good next to a Ten Commandments monument.


    I would highly recommend western Washington. (none / 0) (#25)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 03:12:08 PM EST
    I thoroughly enjoyed my college years in Seattle, which was nearly three decades ago. The Puget Sound region is absolutely magnificent, one of the most gorgeous areas of the country. Although the Seattle area itself has gotten quite expensive, you might take a look north to Bellingham, Mt. Vernon and Anacortes, or west to Vashon Island, Bremerton and Poulsbo. I think you'll find those locales to be affordable. To be sure, western WA has its share of rubes, mostly in the rural areas. But in no way do they constitute a majority, and in general the region is socially progressive.

    Parent
    Been spending a lot of time online (none / 0) (#28)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 03:41:39 PM EST
    looking at real estate.  One thing that became clear right off is that there is a lot more affordable (for me) things in CO than in WA.   That surprised me a little.  I think I would have expected the other.  
    Understand, I am looking for a rural fixer upper.  And I'm not afraid of a challenge.   There are before and after of my house here.

    link

    link

    My needs are simple but I want more than a teeny tiny lot.   I was very excited about some of the thing I found in CO.  

    Anyway.  Still at least 18 months away from any real action.

    Parent

    As I noted, if you avoid the ... (none / 0) (#49)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 06:00:23 PM EST
    ... Seattle-Tacoma metro area, you'll find plenty of places in western WA that are both rural and affordable, particularly on the Kitsap Peninsula on the west side of Puget Sound. Personally, the hard-bitten winters of Colorado and the Great Plains would quickly do me in, and the Puget Sound region's weather tends to be much more temperate and to my liking.

    I suppose it all depends upon what your personal priorities are when making your decision. Since I'm not privy to your financial situation, if money is a very real concern, then Colorado sounds as though it might well be the more practical choice for you.

    As for me, well, were we to ever relocate to the mainland, we'd likely limit it to those states fronting the Pacific Ocean, because neither of us cares at all for long stretches of near- or sub-zero winter weather. If I was to get specific, I'd likely target Monterey Bay, San Luis Obispo-Pismo Beach and Santa Barbara / Santa Maria as my own first choices.

    But for right now, we're loving Hilo and its small town island lifestyle, and Honolulu seems like another world. I'm very happy that we took the plunge and made the move to the Big Island.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Winter doesn't scare me (none / 0) (#50)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 06:26:13 PM EST
    we have winters here.  I like seasons.   I was looking at average temps in the places I'm looking, generally not high altitude particularly, and they are not very different from here.

    I actually love snow.  Particularly now that I don't have to commute or really do anything but stock up.   I do wonder about "dark winters".  I might prefer a little snow to less than 8 hours of sunlight.   But I am completely open to possibilities.   I would never predict where I might end up when it's over.

    Parent

    I'm not big on snow at all. (none / 0) (#53)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 06:45:03 PM EST
    We used to get the occasional big snowstorm in Seattle, emphasis on the word "occasional." It would hit and paralyze the city, and so everyone would be stuck at home. But nobody really minded at all, and everyone would go outside and play in it, and within a few days' time at the most, it would be melted and gone.

    But to have to live in it and shovel it on a regular basis -- ugh! No, thank you. My great aunt and her family used to live in Crestline, CA, up in the mountains near Lake Arrowhead above San Bernardino, and they just loved it up there in the wintertime. Not me. If I'm to live in SoCal, give me Long Beach or Santa Monica, anytime.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Well there's your problem (none / 0) (#54)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 06:51:44 PM EST
    thinking you have to "shovel" it.  The secret is to look out the window at it.  Or take a nice walk with the huskies.  I do not own a snow shovel and it snowed a lot here last winter.  Supposed to snow even more this winter.

    Here I live on the very top of a mountain or I go sledding in a Tahoe.   When it snows I stay home by the fire.

    Parent

    If I have to go to work, ... (none / 0) (#56)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 06:57:45 PM EST
    ... then I'd have to shovel it. Maybe once I'm retired, I might reconsider. Actually, no, I probably wouldn't, so strike that. I think that (a) snow is pretty to look at; and (b) it's even better looking when it's in a photo.
    ;-D

    Parent
    A word on behalf of huskies (the real dogs) (none / 0) (#60)
    by christinep on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 07:44:21 PM EST
    My little husky relative--a mini-Eskie--loves and loves and loves the snow.  The walks, the treks, the cross-country skiing (or snow-shoe) ... all a wonder in fluffs of powder under a blue sky and, often, with birds fluttering close to your hand as you have a picnic.

    That is not a pipe-dream.  More times than I can count, the surreal of real on a beautiful clear day with a few giant puff clouds appears in February and March and April in the heart of the mountains. Georgia O'Keeffe skies. And, remember: The lower elevations of Denver and the front range--and also the San Luis Valley as well as the far west slope are quite mild in winter, and gorgeous through most of summer and fall. The lack of humidity can be a very good thing....

    Colorado is variable in amounts of snow.  Yes, Donald, all parts of Colorado definitely have more of the white stuff than Hawaii :)  Yet, when it snows here in the lower elevations, we all know that the sun is not more than a day or two behind ... no long, gray, drizzly dark here. January is typically as bad as it gets--low low temps--but, there also some January times that invite sweaters. Not many, but some.

    The climate here makes one smile with the different beauty of the different seasons.  The big missing: An ocean.  I'm still waiting for the Great Nebraska Sea.  

    Parent

    Real (5.00 / 1) (#62)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 08:12:14 PM EST
    dogs

    Real Snow Dogs anyway.  Once when I lived in Illinois, where the winters are worse than here by a lot, I woke up one morning.  Bitter cold.  Like, 20 below.  30 mph winds.  Blizzard.  I let Ghost out side, I only had one then, and then I dropped a fluorescent tube on a tile floor made a huge mess and got busy cleaning it up.  Then about 30-40 minutes later i remembered he was outside and ran to the back door thinking he would be a dogcicle.  He was laying in the snow chewing in a stick happy as a clam and didn't want to come in.

    Parent

    My late stepfather used to love to sail, and during the late summer after my baseball season was over we'd all head down to Marina Del Rey, where he kept his boat. I really looked forward to those times, and I credit him for having passed on to me his own love of the sea, with its salt air and all its sounds. I have to live in relatively close proximity to the ocean, just so I can have my fix.

    Parent
    You know, I was just thinking that ... (none / 0) (#51)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 06:28:53 PM EST
    ... another area you might want to consider is Bend/Redmond, OR. It's located in the center of the state on the eastern side of the Cascade mountains, in a region known as the "High Desert." For an inland locale, it's remarkably temperate, and as of right now it also looks to be very affordable.

    Parent
    Bend-edmond is too costly (5.00 / 1) (#57)
    by caseyOR on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 07:01:50 PM EST
    for Capt. Howdy. It has grown tremendously the last 20 years, prices have skyrocketed, due i n no small part to those damn rich Californians invading.

    Oregon can be quite affordable for what Howdy wants. He needs to avoid the Portland metro area, anything around Ashland and anywhere right on the coast.

    If you want rural, well, Oregon has rural.

    Email me , Howdy, and we will talk.

    Parent

    Is it really that much now? (none / 0) (#61)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 07:56:59 PM EST
    Wow. I have to admit, I haven't really paid too much attention to the real estate market in Bend/Redmond recently. We have two longtime clients up there, and I'm actually flying up there next week on work-related matters. I've noticed that there's been some growth, but I wasn't sure how much had occurred of late.

    Parent
    What I'm talkin about (none / 0) (#52)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 06:35:46 PM EST
    That looks cute. (none / 0) (#55)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 06:53:38 PM EST
    For some reason, that photo reminds me of Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead, probably because there are a lot of similar-looking A-frames up there, nestled in the trees. If I was a nester at heart, I could go for that.

    But alas, I'm still somewhat of an urbanite at heart, and I need at least a good-sized town nearby. That's why I like Hilo. It has the amenities of a city, without all the attendant headaches.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    for the sake of balance? (none / 0) (#29)
    by jondee on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 03:46:33 PM EST
    makes me think of that scene in Full Metal Jacket when the colonel asks Matthew Modine why he's wearing a "Peace" button and another one that says "Born To Kill"..

    "It's that Jungian thing, Sir..To symbolize the duality of man.."

    Parent

    Did you see it? (none / 0) (#31)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 03:49:41 PM EST
    awsum.   Love the little kids.  

    But then I have a 6' Garuda in my living room.

    Parent

    Looks a little like Pan's Labyrinth.. (5.00 / 1) (#32)
    by jondee on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 03:54:15 PM EST
    which, btw, is one of my favorite movies.

    Parent
    Devils Backbone (none / 0) (#33)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 03:56:40 PM EST
    sort of a companion film.  Also about children in the Spanish Civil War.   Also excellent.

    Parent
    Yeah, my daughter's really really into del Toro (none / 0) (#34)
    by jondee on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 04:02:53 PM EST
    so we had a mini-del Toro fest here not too long ago..

    After we'd recovered sufficiently - which took a little while - from the mini-Von Trier fest we'd had not too long before that..

    Parent

    I think it might be illegal (none / 0) (#59)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 07:15:09 PM EST
    to watch Von Trier with your children.

    Parent
    She's a very mature ten year old.. (none / 0) (#64)
    by jondee on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 11:00:31 PM EST
    No, she's twenty six.

    And it was mostly her idea. For a little while I felt like having her arrested after watching Antichrist..

    Parent

    Example (none / 0) (#30)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 03:47:58 PM EST
    Yeah... (5.00 / 1) (#35)
    by ScottW714 on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 04:10:22 PM EST
    ...no lunatic politicians in Colorado or Washington.

    Parent
    Wow. Nice job, Navy. (none / 0) (#36)
    by jondee on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 04:16:51 PM EST
    Pam Roach...."And she's a Mormon" (none / 0) (#39)
    by jondee on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 04:28:11 PM EST
    Just Syaing... (none / 0) (#44)
    by ScottW714 on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 04:49:14 PM EST
    ...if crazy politicians are guiding your decision you might find yourself in Antarctica.

    I know what Howdy means, though, it's this constant right wingery and for me, it just easier to let it go than to fight with the idiot brigade.  My favorite water holes are places I never visit because too many loud mouthed Limbaugh devotees.

    I was friends with almost everyone, it was just too much to here it all the time, and to see friends jump on the non-sense.  It's this constant drum beat of some version of liberals are destroying the county, followed with just plain non-sense.  I broke when Obama got elected, that is when it really started flaring.

    That being said, my fairly liberal Wisconsin is headed in the same direction.  I was up there for 10 days, and while not as bad as Texas, it seems like they are trying like hell to get there.  There is no shortage of Walker fans.

    The St Paul airport had many 'Fox News Stands', which I had never seen, not one or two, they were everywhere.

    Parent

    LOL! Pam Roach is currently serving as ... (none / 0) (#48)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 05:19:42 PM EST
    ... President pro tempore of the Washington State Senate. Her son Dan Roach is chair of the Pierce County Council (Tacoma), and is a former member of the Washington State House of Representatives.

    And if you think Sen. Roach is bad, well, she's small potatoes compared to former WA State Senate Majority Leader Jim West (R-Spokane, now deceased), who had his own serious personal issues with not only his temper but also his deeply closeted homosexuality, which was not surprising since he had long championed an anti-gay agenda politically.

    According to longtime staffers in the WA State Senate who are personal acquaintances, then-Sen. West ran afoul of the mercurial Sen. Roach when then-teenaged Dan Roach allegedly complained to his mother in 1990 that West had been hitting on him. Not surprisingly, she went ballistic in the GOP Senate caucus and they quickly became rather bitter political enemies, even though they were fellow Republicans serving in the same legislative body. For his part, West denied Sen. Roach's allegations.

    But because Pam Roach has long been known to go ballistic on a dime, her accusations against her fellow Republican were never really given much credence until then-Spokane Mayor Jim West -- who had left the State Senate in 2002 to run for that post -- was recalled by his constituents in a Dec. 2005 special election as a direct result of his involvement in a gay sex scandal involving a minor. Then only 55 years old, he died of cancer six months layer, having quickly deteriorated physically and emotionally following his recall as mayor.

    While almost perversely comical on one level, Jim West's story is just an incredibly sad cautionary tale about our society's longtime failure to acknowledge homosexuality as a legitimate part of a person's being and humanity.

    Aloha.

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    You know (none / 0) (#37)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 04:19:12 PM EST
    it's really sad what has happened to the south. Honestly it used to never be quite as bad as it is these days. You're not the only one that is thinking of escaping it would seem. Many a friend is just downright sick and tired of the crazy.

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    This tactic of pursuing the (none / 0) (#41)
    by jondee on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 04:36:26 PM EST
    Southern Strategy" to thwart the Democrats by, among other things, giving aid and comfort to fanatical evangelicals, reminds me of the strategy of thwarting the Russians by arming and training the Taliban and Al Queda..

    The cure being much worse than the (perceived) disease..

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    Plus We Are Watching... (none / 0) (#43)
    by ScottW714 on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 04:38:47 PM EST
    ...how it is unfolding for the other party.  They can't get a descent candidate through the primaries because they can't tell the evangelicals to go to hell.  So they end up with primary winners who can't win elections.

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    Well (none / 0) (#46)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 05:15:54 PM EST
    that was on a national level and we were still able to at least elect reasonable people for governor and the legislature. Since the era of W the state can't get budgets in on time, we had a governor who stands outside during the drought and leads a prayer meeting to pray for rain. Cronyism is rampant.

    Your governor there in NY would be a dream come true down here in GA.

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    Put Me Down... (none / 0) (#42)
    by ScottW714 on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 04:36:28 PM EST
    ...in the agreement column.  

    The problem, at least for me is like the weather, a lot.  Take out warm wingnut states and you got California, which is not affordable, or rather I could not live in the comfort I currently enjoy.

    Maybe Nevada, but I can't see living in Vegas or Reno.

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    This state has gotten way worse (none / 0) (#45)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 05:01:54 PM EST
    remember this state elected Bill Clinton 5 times.   Those days are long gone.  I see it happening.   The kids who have a brain can't leave soon enough and that leaves the cretins to procreate and start the reductive process all over again.    It's Idiocracy made flesh.

    Tom Cotton is a symptom.  The disease is ignorance and superstition.

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    And the inability (none / 0) (#47)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 05:19:29 PM EST
    to separate fact from fiction. Rumors and stupidity are taken for facts. During 2004 I went to aunt's house and she told me that Theresa Kerry owned Heinz and had all her factories overseas. I had to tell her that was a lie. They see these emails that are passed around and never bother to check any of them and then repeat them like it's God's own truth.

    Of course, the fact that the press doesn't even try to inform them on a lot of this stuff doesn't help much either.

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    Geez, Tom Cotton would never make it ... (none / 0) (#58)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 07:15:05 PM EST
    ... out of a GOP state legislative primary here in the islands. Hawaii Republicans may be fiscally conservative, but by and large they are tend to be social moderates who really don't appreciate the idea of stark raving bat-guano crazies holding public office.

    The one whacked-out GOPer we have in the state legislature, the professionally homophobic Bob McDermott, is from a West Oahu suburban district populated predominantly with mainland transplants, who are mostly military retirees.

    The few other whackjobs who've somehow occasionally made it, they'll last for one term, and are given the boot once their constituents see them for what they really are.

    Aloha.

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    Very Cool Post Captain (none / 0) (#24)
    by ScottW714 on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 02:57:35 PM EST
    Riding the Light

    This animation illustrates, in realtime, the journey of a photon of light emitted from the surface of the sun and traveling across a portion of the solar system, from a human perspective

    I wanted to add a couple things, it can take millions of years for a photon to reach the surface of a star to be 'released'.  

    But thing that blows my mind, because a photon travels at the light of speed, no time exists.  From to say 1 million light years away, to the photon it takes zero time to reach it's destination.  Meaning that all photons have the exact same lifespan, which is none.

    Granted hitting an atmosphere slows them down a fraction, which would essentially give them the smallest sliver of a lifespan.  But in the video, that view could not exist as to the photon it is destroyed at the very moment it is created, even if it's been in existence for 1 billion Earth years.

    Hey, social liberal hoaxer (none / 0) (#26)
    by jondee on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 03:14:27 PM EST
    Take a composition 101 course and then come back and tell people who's obtuse.

    Sorry, folks.

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    That makes my head hurt (none / 0) (#27)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 03:33:03 PM EST
    It's Insane... (none / 0) (#40)
    by ScottW714 on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 04:29:58 PM EST
    ...when you consider that photons are the very things we use to judge distance in the universe, which to date the furthest galaxy we have spotted is 13.2 billion light years away.  

    Photons allow us to look back in time, yet to them, time doesn't exist.

     

    Parent

    Forget the Tom Brady debacle for the moment. (none / 0) (#38)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 04:22:04 PM EST
    Per investigative reporters Don Van Natta, Jr. and Seth Wichersham at ESPN, it now appears that the Patriots' spying scandal of 2007-08 was much, much worse than the public had heretofore been led to believe by the NFL:

    "Goodell had imposed a $500,000 fine on Belichick, a $250,000 fine on the team and the loss of a first-round draft pick just four days after league security officials had caught the Patriots and before he'd even sent a team of investigators to Foxborough, Massachusetts. Those investigators hadn't come up empty: Inside a room accessible only to Belichick and a few others, they found a library of scouting material containing videotapes of opponents' signals, with detailed notes matching signals to plays for many teams going back seven seasons. Among them were handwritten diagrams of the defensive signals of the Pittsburgh Steelers, including the notes used in the January 2002 AFC Championship Game won by the Patriots 24-17. Yet almost as quickly as the tapes and notes were found, they were destroyed, on Goodell's orders: League executives stomped the tapes into pieces and shredded the papers inside a Gillette Stadium conference room."

    This is an astonishing revelation. Coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots got caught red-handed stealing their opponents' signals, yet for all intents and purposes, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell basically enabled their cheating to continue by first slapping them teams collective wrists with punitive sanctions, and then covering up what they actually did.

    "'Goodell didn't want anybody to know that his gold franchise had won Super Bowls by cheating,' a senior executive whose team lost to the Patriots in a Super Bowl now says. 'If that gets out, that hurts your business.'"

    Most league owners and executives were of the opinion that Goodell handed the Patriots a big, fat Mulligan on the spying charges, and they weren't happy about it. Thus, when the issue of New England's deflated footballs reared its head last January, it's not all that surprising that so many of them were now ready to draw blood.

    "Interviews by ESPN The Magazine and Outside the Lines with more than 90 league officials, owners, team executives and coaches, current and former Patriots coaches, staffers and players, and reviews of previously undisclosed private notes from key meetings, show that Spygate is the centerpiece of a long, secret history between Goodell's NFL, which declined comment for this story, and Kraft's Patriots. The diametrically opposed way the inquiries were managed by Goodell -- and, more importantly, perceived by his bosses -- reveals much about how and why NFL punishment is often dispensed. The widespread perception that Goodell gave the Patriots a break on Spygate, followed by the NFL's stonewalling of a potential congressional investigation into the matter, shaped owners' expectations of what needed to be done by 345 Park Ave. on Deflategate. It was, one owner says, time for 'a makeup call.'"

    Further, the culture of cheating in New England under Coach Belichick became so pervasive and corrosive that, well, just read the following:

    "In fact, many former New England coaches and employees insist that the taping of signals wasn't even the most effective cheating method the Patriots deployed in that era. Several of them acknowledge that during pregame warm-ups, a low-level Patriots employee would sneak into the visiting locker room and steal the play sheet, listing the first 20 or so scripted calls for the opposing team's offense. (The practice became so notorious that some coaches put out fake play sheets for the Patriots to swipe.) Numerous former employees say the Patriots would have someone rummage through the visiting team hotel for playbooks or scouting reports. Walsh later told investigators that he was once instructed to remove the labels and erase tapes of a Patriots practice because the team had illegally used a player on injured reserve."

    Personally, I'm now so thoroughly disgusted with the NFL, and the New England Patriots and Roger Goodell in particular, that at this point I'm unlikely to watch many games this season -- and that's even before the highly anticipated film "Concussion" hits the theatres in December. While this ESPN piece is certainly a lengthy read, it's an important story for all sports fans who are laboring at present under the assumption that all is on the up and up, come game time and the opening kickoff.

    "I don't think fans really want to know this. They just want to watch football. But if you tell them that the games aren't on the level, they'll care. Boy, will they care."
    - Unnamed Carolina Panthers coach / executive, to ESPN (2015)

    Aloha.