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Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Monday, September 17, 2018
Kavanaugh described the baseball tickets as part of a group purchase divided amongst friends and avid Washington Nationals fans. Kavanaugh estimated he has attended “a couple hundred games” over the period of 2005 through 2017, when he purchased four season tickets, and also playoff ticket packages for the four years the Nationals reached the National League playoffs.
“I have attended all 11 Nationals home playoff games in their history,” Kavanaugh noted in his answers. “(We are 3-8 in those games.)”
His rationale for the tickets: “I am a huge sports fan.”
Beyond his baseball fandom, Kavanaugh noted in response to questions that has “not had gambling debts or participated in ‘fantasy’ leagues.”
(As always, views expressed in the article lede and comments are the views of the individual commenters and the submitter of the article and do not represent the views of Baseball Think Factory or its owner.)
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Says the doppelganger believer.
Concur.
I think King is a marvelously inventive storyteller - and occasionally (Dolores Claiborne being a prominent example), I think he even gets around to fleshing out his characters that can make some of his stuff worthy of being fine literature.
But Tommyknockers? What an awful, terrible book.
Only the Sudetenland!!
I also stayed at a place at the base of the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn for under $100. But that might not be what you're looking for.
1. The Stand
2. The Dead Zone (timely)
3....
Man I don't think I've read any in 30 years.
I'll have to reread it at some point to try to determine what people (King included, I see) object to so strenuously.* That was, after all, nearly 31 years ago. Only thing of his I've ever reread (as I've probably noted more than once, I basically never reread anyone except Philip K. Dick, & even then I haven't done so in probably 15 years, after averaging at least 4 or 5 annually for 15 years) is 'Salem's Lot, about 4 years ago. It help up very well.
*Biasing me in its favor, I have no doubt, is a deep fondness for not only '50s sf flicks but also alien-possession scenarios in general.
So? Is Kavanaugh testifying first? Is Ford getting to pick her questioners? I never said the Committee couldn't give Ford's attorneys a bit more time to come to their senses, just that their requests were so obviously unreasonable they wouldn't be granted. Why do you think Ford is making such silly demands if she really wants to testify? Dumb, easily-mockable "bargaining chips" don't have any real value. If Ford refuses to testify because she had to go first, she loses all credibility.
I'd go with either that, the aforementioned Dolores Claiborne -- or what I think was far and away the best of the Dark Tower books, Wizard and Glass.
Eyes of the Dragon is, I think, also underappreciated.
If Clapper wises up, he'll claim that a doppelgänger seized control of his BTF log-in last Friday.
I think this is fair, as long as Kavanaugh doesn't get time to prepare for his testimony using what she said. He should go right after her.
The Cook Report has moved the Ted Cruz-Beto O'Rourke Texas Senate race to "Toss Up."
Joe Manchin-Patrick Morrissey (WV) is being moved out of Toss Up, to Lean Democratic.
And Montana's race gets a bump from Likely Democratic to Lean Democratic.
Cook on the closest Senate races:
Florida -- "Even Republicans, who remain very optimistic about their chances here, acknowledge that Scott could run a perfect campaign, and come up a point or two short."
Indiana -- "Braun does have a path to victory as he hasn’t fully consolidated the GOP base, but Democrats feel good about where Donnelly is today."
Missouri -- "McCaskill is walking a fine line between the Democratic base in St. Louis and Kansas City and their suburbs and traditionally GOP voters in rural areas who have supported her in the past."
North Dakota -- "The race that Democrats are most nervous about. .....Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer isn’t running as strong a campaign as Heitkamp, but it appears he doesn’t need to."
Montana -- "While Trump is a big asset to Rosendale, the presence of a Libertarian candidate on the ballot may well prevent him from overtaking Tester; Libertarian candidates often cost Republicans elections here."
West Virginia -- "At the start of the cycle, West Virginia’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin bore the unwanted label of the most vulnerable incumbent of the cycle, making his move out of the Toss Up column noteworthy."
Arizona -- "They are evenly matched; both are strong fundraisers, both are strong personal narratives, and both have solid resumes. McSally had to deal with a primary that occupied her attention through August, while Sinema had a clear path to the Democratic nomination and months to define herself as a moderate. Now that the general election is engaged, Sinema’s advantage has eroded. ......Trump isn’t terribly popular among general election voters. This may end up being the closest Senate race in the country."
Nevada -- "The conventional wisdom is that Rosen is a few points ahead, though Democrats acknowledge that they haven’t put this away. Of the four GOP seats in Toss Up, this seems the most vulnerable."
Tennessee -- "Republican strategists are surprised that the open-seat in Tennessee is still in play, with one bemoaning that it seems destined to be a tough slog until the end. .......U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the GOP nominee, struggles with an image problem and hasn’t consolidated the base yet."
Texas -- "A Toss Up rating makes both parties nervous: Republicans for obvious reasons and Democrats because it creates an expectation that they will start spending money on the race. For that matter, Republicans aren’t anxious to spend money in such an expensive state either. ....Getting the last couple of points to overtake Cruz and win the seat will be difficult though not utterly impossible."
Cook's most likely scenarios, ranked in order of likelihood: (1) 51-49 Republicans; (2) 50-50; (3) 51-49 Democrats. Unprecedented 2018 Senate map, R.I.P.?
This Yahoo article about the three-way Mississippi Senate race explains the jockeying and fighting among Republicans, worried about holding onto their seat. For context, the Democrats' most recent Senate victory in Mississippi came four weeks before the release of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album.
My understanding is the she wants the Senators on the committee to do the questioning. You're making it sound like this is HR derby and she wants her little league coach to do the questioning. The Republican stance seems to be that Republican members of the Judiciary Committee are not the best people to ask questions when people come before the committee? Of course, you yourself proposed the issue be vetted with a short background investigation so that everyone is on the same page going into the testimony. They could always do that.
Your position is way too strong here.
Lay people have no idea whether it's typical for the accuser or accused to testify first, or whether it's typical for lawyers to question witnesses as opposed to senators.
These things are up for grabs, and probably some concessions/compromises will be made.
So you prognostication powers of what she has to give in are a bit suspect. You insisted she has to adhere to Grassley's timeline. Now it appears to not be the case. I agree, and have agreed that she should testify first, but for someone with a poor track record on this might be a little less forceful in their predictions about what must happen.
I keep saying it - but I don't see any need for Democrats (meaning the DNC or DSCC) to spend in Texas.
Beto has a mint's worth of CoH - and what's more, he's eschewed TV advertising until very recently... and rumor has it, his last round of fundraising numbers might very well be double the already eye-popping numbers he'd raked in previously.
The only reason for any "national" Democratic money to get involved would be if Beto wants to outsource the attack ads... but then, I think his most effective attack ads are the sort that don't need to come from outside: I.e., the best Cruz attack ad is "What a #####! Trump smears Ted's dad and his wife - and now Ted is begging Trump for help? If Ted Cruz cannot stand up for his own father and wife, how in the world can he stand up for you?!?!?"
I understand coming up with this seemingly-brilliant flash of insight and following all the clues and coming up with the theory. What I don't understand is how he didn't run it past anyone who could tell him how bad an idea this was.
Maybe it's because the people he ran it by are as dumb and reckless as he is, and possibly a little desperate at this point.
And just where would he have come up with all those floor plans? It's hard not to wonder just who else was in on this little Keystone Kops escapade. This whole nomination just gets curiouser and curiouser.
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If there were evidence implicating Kavanaugh in a crime, Democrats would oppose him. If there were an inconclusive mix of accusations and memories, Democrats would oppose him. If Kavanaugh were totally vindicated, Democrats would oppose him. Especially the last one. Folks suggesting credibility be determined by gender, and that the accused should testify first, aren't really interested in the evidence.
Oh, look, a Clapper sighting!
Whelan managed to apologize (though probably AT GUNPOINT) for that tweetstorm of his that you so gleefully passed on for the BTF world to see. Any chance that you're going to issue a similar apology?
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Says the doppelganger believer.
Doppelganger believer? Or doppelganger whisperer?
Is 1721 David's doppelgänger? The world wonders.
edit:
Too late! : )
Don't you mean doppel?
Was not a crazy person, you mean.
As I proposed - "Everything Trump Touches that is Then Touched by Someone Else Dies"
I liked the first... half? Three-quarters? of "Under the Dome" but seem to recall it fizzling out badly. Not going to go back to find out why.
Oops - yeah, forgot that one... in the running, too.
I recall being reminded, favorably, of one of Heinlein's better juveniles. That was '85ish, so I recall no details.
I know would oppose him because he lied about receiving Democratic strategy materials while White House counsel. But I understand that is no longer a concern for many.
The ending was almost Shyamalanian.
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s chief counsel for nominations tweeted a couple of days ago that "Unfazed and determined. We will confirm Judge Kavanaugh."
Is it your position that it is unreasonable for Ford to not want him or someone associated with him to ask questions in an "investigation"?
Zonk is confusing "lay people" with those Amazon tribes untouched by civilization, and he's probably wrong about them, too. Anyone who has seen a single episode of Law & Order (or hundreds of other legal dramas - heck even the comedies) knows that the defense puts it case on after the prosecution, and that in civil cases its plaintiff first, then defendant. It's never the accused putting on a defense and then the accuser revealing what the accusation is. And even if "lay people" were as clueless as Zonk seems to think, how is it any better for Ford to be proposing an idiotic scheme that every lawyer and 1st year law student knows is silly? She's tipping her hand, but some don't want to see it.
Andy, like the Senate Democrats, is desperate to play Look-A-Squirrel. On what planet would it ever be the FBI's business to "find out the story behind" some guy's tweets?
Fine, let's just assign Mark Judge to look into it. Or maybe Chuck Grassley can ask him about it, if it wouldn't be too inconvenient for a man with Whelan's busy schedule.
And how did Whelan manage to get a hold of such detailed floor plans of that doppelganger's house?
There's this thing that Al Gore invented called the Internet.
Okay, here's what I found online:
How Do I Get Floor Plans of an Existing House?
Now admittedly that link was for San Francisco, not Chevy Chase, but generally speaking you're not likely to find floor plans on Zillow or Redfin. It ain't that easy.
And is it possible that the doppelganger himself might have been in on it? That seems pretty far-fetched, but if he wasn't, then wouldn't he then be in a pretty good position to hit Whelan with a big fat lawsuit?
In theory. In practice, it makes no sense to file such a suit; right now the vast majority of people don't know the name of the person Whelan accused. A suit, though legally justified, would not serve his interests.
Funny, but I'd think that the possibility of a large cash award might be an inducement to file a suit, not to mention it'd make him a public hero in the eyes of many.
Of course if he's a Kavanaugh fan, I can see why he'd want to spare a key Kavanaugh ally any more embarrassment.
Flat, boring characters with flat, boring writing doing flat boring things.
Bed bugs aren't like rats that they come in from the neighborhood because you have openings in your building and aren't keeping your building clean. Bed bugs come in because travelers bring them in. So every single hotel out there has had bed bugs and has had them on numerous occasions over the last 15 odd years. Your hotels that belong to large companies and large scale hotels in general have setup procedures for dealing with the problem once an infestation gets reported. It is anyone's guess what some small rinky-dink mom & pop operation does when they have a problem.
Nowadays a good chunk of reported bed bug infestations are in fact not bed bug infestations or not connected to the room. People nowadays are so aware of bed bugs and so frightened of them that virtually any bug or any bite on their body gets chalked up to bed bugs and of course people won't think that they might have brought them in. We'll get people calling down saying that they were bitten multiple times over night by bed bugs. The hotel will quarantine off the room, send in outside specialists to look over the room, which often times involves specially trained bed bug sniffing dogs and come up empty for bed bugs.
That isn't to say there are no bed bugs. Like I said all hotels have had multiple legitimate cases and have multiple cases every year for bed bugs.
1. I am not Zonk.
2. This is not a court room, it's a senate hearing.
3. All this stuff is up for grabs and negotiable. She probably gives on some stuff, and gets some concessions.
Perhaps he was only thinking of Tump supporters?
Maybe he doesn't have as much on the fastball as that 77 year old first time congress candidate he keeps posting about.
Yeah - I liked that one, too... Never understood why nobody ever made a movie out of it.
You know, it's odd - but now that I think about it... Misery, Dolores Claiborne - his non-horror/supernatural stuff and the Stand/Dragon/Dark Tower... fantasy/sci-fi stuff is my favorite from him.
In the 60s-80s it was not that big a deal.
I have no idea what the City is like now. The last time I visited was 95, for my father's funeral, and did not stay long.
"Misery" is the opposite of flat and boring. Or "Dead Zone". Try either, you won't be disappointed.
Clapper should tell Zonk (and tshipman) more about his theories on "confusion".... and cluelessness.
Still, I thank Clapper for acknowledging that I've gotten inside his head. It's a tacit acknowledgment that he knows I'm right about him, his cult, and his Dear Leader -- and a natural defense mechanism to let it all meld like this.
This was a brilliant story. I'm a massive King fan, even if I probably haven't read anything from the last 15-20 years.
Clapper also thinks that the American electorate will be highly disgruntled about which day of the week Dr. Ford testifies on, and about her lawyer insanely asking that Ford testify second. He'll take his analysis, thank you very much.
And this is when his side's winning! Again, the only clean exit here is for Clapper to blame his Doppelcläpper for these posts.
Why does that matter? How is it proper to require the accused to put on a defense and then the accuser to reveal the accusation?
Apologies for earlier misidentification to whoever was the most offended.
Even absent the other context, it’s a public accusation of attempted rape, connected to specific individuals. Probably worth at least a few phone calls, to see whether there might be some smoke behind the fire. The FBI isn’t usually involved in rape investigations in cases that don’t involve the Mann Act, but like vampires, they can come in on anything where they’re invited by local LEO, right?
.
Hmmmm, was that Clapper's retracted apology for yesterday's Whelan whispering?
edit: boy, he's an editing fiend. Now he disappeared the period.
There are two things wrong with your argument. The first is that, yes, it's unreasonable for Ford to not want him or someone associated with him to ask questions. The second is that your implication is that his biases are what has led Ford to reject him as a questioner -- but what Ford has said she wants is for the senators themselves to do the questioning, and they're surely not less biased.
Somebody call Theoretical Detective Ed Whelan to crack this case!
But give him credit: He ain't turning on his boy Whelan. In for a bird dropping, in for a cow pie.
My man!
I think his short stories (e.g. “The Reach”) are his best work.
I smells like politics at play here. The scuttlebutt is, the R's want a female lawyer to do the bulk, or all the questioning for their side because the specter of a bunch of aged white men interrogating an alleged assault victim won't play well. And they're probably correct. So the other side is trying to take that option away from them.
@peterwaldotoo:
Senators decide on the division of labor between majority party committee members and staff counsel, or even outside counsel. Same for the minority party. Witnesses don't tell the Senate who may question them. That said, my own preference would be for the GOP to just designate one of the better lawyers among the Senators, possibly Mike Lee, to do the bulk of Ford's cross-examination. It shouldn't be too difficult, the goal is merely to have Ford confirm the various gaps, inconsistencies, and contradictions that she has already acknowledged in her public statements. There's plenty out there, although the committee members probably have more material by now.
Of course. But that doesn't make Ford's position reasonable, and indeed it shows that she's more interested in how it plays politically than in fact-finding.
Yes, I'm sure acceding to a bald political ploy for the sake of of honor and good faith would be your play too, David.
Nightmares & Dreamscapes is a favorite collection.
The refusal of the majority to do any sort of pre-hearing investigation shows fact finding isn't uppermost in their mind either. Both sides are playing politics here, which is unsurprising.
Thats was happened in the Anita Hill testimony. On both sides, they looked ridiculous. I think Ted Kennedy was noticeably quiet. This was widely mocked on SNL.
Even granting this as true, YC seems to believe that only Trumpers can fairly investigate the President regarding Russia and collusion, calling into question the motives of anyone that does not believe as he does. I was curious whether YC would give others that standard. Not that I expect him to ever answer it.
Thanks. I had not heard that was one of her condition. I agree with Misirlou that this smells of politics. Not a good look.
Rosenstein Suggested Secretly Recording Trump and Discussed 25th Amendment
Hoo boy... and this is the Times, yet... Oy.
I think Rosenstein is SO fired for this. And justifiably so. Just terrible.
EDIT: Coke to TraderDave
This is a response to criticism of Ford trying to limit who can question her before the Judiciary Committee? And that has never been my position, you're just making up stuff.
The Failing New York Times is always lying, Fake News!
Peer pressure will do that. You don't want to be the only person not secretly recording the president, do you? You'll look like a fool!
Aaaand there it is. Who had 4 minutes in the pool?
It's an interesting story that opens with several paragraphs flatly stating Rosenstein has said and done various things, with no indication of its sourcing, then followed by several rather vague paragraphs on the sourcing that only mention Andy McCabe by name, before getting to Rosenstein's denial in the 7th paragraph:
That's followed by several paragraphs that finally make it fairly clear that the sourcing is McCabe and those he talked to, which would seem to make the story depend entirely on McCabe's credibility, and there are certainly differing opinions on that.
I'd go with the novellas -- The Mist, Shawshank Redemption, The Body, etc. etc.
Here's what came of it:
Rosenstein denies the account, other sources back it. Classic he said/she said.
But assuming the story is largely accurate, what's the subtext here? That Trump should just be allowed to run wild, trashing anyone and everything in sight, and responsible people in the government are just supposed to sit there and take it? And that Rosenstein's initial instinct, not followed up on, is justifiable cause for replacing him with a party hack loyalist who would fire Mueller in a blink? Does this Unreality Show host in the White House really have that much power to intimidate everyone into submission?
I guess viciously attacking Ford today has satisfied his stupid quota for the rest of the day.
If you go to kill the king, you better not miss.
Rod missed.
RIP Rod.
My intro to him, via the (IIRC) Doubleday Book Club in the summer of '79. A few months later, in anticipation of the CBS two-part adaptation, I read 'Salem's Lot (which I'd owned for awhile after seeing a favorable reference in a fanzine from, I believe, Robert Bloch). Haven't looked back since, really, though as noted (& clearly I'm not the only one here) when it comes to the Gunslinger stuff I don't look at all.
At best, it's fuel for the GOPers in the legislature who want the Mueller thing to just go away -- to say nothing of the red meat this is for his base and the Clappers, Sugar Bears, Jasons and to a lesser extent Rays of the world.
EDIT: and what Srul said
Why do you want to thwart the will of the voters by deposing a manifestly unfit excuse for a human being, you horrible freedom-hater?
How do you not understand these ####### are connected up the wazoo? Though likely where Whelan pulled them from.
Rod missed.
RIP Rod.
And if Trump fires Rosenstein, I'm sure it'll take Mitch McConnell about 3 days to try to rush through a "personally loyal"** replacement through the Senate. Yet another chance for those "moderate" Republicans to show some backbone, ho ho.
** i.e. loyal to Trump, not anything else. See Comey's account of his meeting with Trump.
Hence, my lament.
At best, it's fuel for the GOPers in the legislature who want the Mueller thing to just go away -- to say nothing of the red meat this is for his base and the Clappers, Sugar Bears, Jasons and to a lesser extent Rays of the world.
And I'll repeat my question: Is the rest of the country so browbeaten that they'll let that sorry collection of human beings just work their will without resistance? What do Collins, Murkowski, Flake and Corker have to say? What about the voters 46 days from now?
I think the bolded portion is Sugar Bear's key phrase here, PepTech.
In his case, I believe it works the other way around.
Does anyone even remember any more that Comey, Rosenstein, and Mueller are all Republicans?
For me, this falls in a similar category to impeachment. I've been saying over and over that any impeachment/removal case had better be airtight and pristine...like there'd better be TWO smoking guns pristine.
This revelation about Rosenstein pretty much cripples any case to be made for invoking the 25th anytime, short of Trump leaving the Oval Office in a straitjacket or video of him handing the keys to Putin.
I have to admit.
I am deeply amused by all the Cult45ists who keep pretending all the many references to 25th Amendment problems and discussions, Trump is crazy this and that, yada yada - keep pretending it's always the first time we've heard such a thing.
I guess that Obama Microwave that got bolted to the wall of the WH break room and gained sentience just keeps pumping that same lie to the all the different #FAKENEWS! and #FAKEBOOK! authors, right?
Chelsea Hotel (Hotel Chelsea?).
Legendary in literary and rock 'n' roll circles. It's where Sid killed Nancy...
Leonard Cohen also lived at the Chelsea Hotel, and there is a plaque on the front commemorating that fact. When he died a few years ago, there was a makeshift memorial there.
The hotel closed in 2011 for renovations and is supposed to reopen this year, although permanent residents were allowed to stay through the renovations. The upper levels facade looks very nice from the outside, although the lower levels are still obscured by scaffolding.
Does it have a sort of diner-esque restaurant that is never open, vaguely western-themed (or named or something)?
There's a restaurant on the ground floor called El Quijote which also closed last year for renovations. There's also a great donut place called the Doughnut Plant which has remained open.
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