Snake Diggity

There is no member of the current GOP, in any office at any level, with anywhere near the raw intellect of Buttigieg. Buttigieg could be president but he’d need a lot of help from prominent black people in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

I have wondered about this, and especially what kind of impact AI might have on worker productivity. I have thought about this more in terms of mitigating risk of the boomers retiring en masse and worker demographic issues in general, but this highlights how it might also mitigate inflation risks. Of course it does suck that we’re borrowing against that benefit before it actually exists.

I would have been fine with buying full size bars if we ever had enough treaters to actually give them out. I love the idea of being the house that gives out the good shit. But the houses in our Austin neighborhood are too spread out which makes it a shitty place to trick or treat. We’ve lived here 9 years and have never had more than 4-5 kids in a single Halloween night. That combined with the absurd amount of candy our kids haul in made it really stupid for her to go out and buy 24 full sized bars. We took our kids driving house to house around our neighborhood, it was really surprising the number of houses giving out crummy treats. Homemade cookies, popcorn balls, trail mix, pencils…that kind of stuff made up probably 25% of everything they got. Some of the other kids were ruthless, I heard a 6-7 year old say “you’re giving out trail mix?!?! Gross!!!”. I pretty much hate Halloween. In keeping with the thread topic, my wife makes us dress up as a family every year. I have gone along with it under the condition that she does all the work to make my costume. This year we were all characters from Alice in Wonderland, and my Mad Hatter “costume” was a plain black felt top hat and plain tan corduroy suit. I looked nothing the mad hatter, I looked more like somebody with special needs going to a job interview to be a cashier at Costco. I told her this was the last year I’m doing that shit.

He keeps calling the black prosecutor in NY “****aboo”. He keeps calling the predominantly black voting block in Georgia “*iggers”.

I passed a cybertruck while driving out to Beerburg brewery in west Austin on Sunday. Odds it was this piece of shit (Elon)?

Oct 25: Me: “Since you’re taking the kids to TWO trunk-or-treats on Saturday and then we’ll be trick or treating again on Halloween, I don’t think we should buy any candy to give out. We’ll just give out some of what they collect on Saturday.” Her: “Great idea. I agree.” Oct 30: Me: “What the fuck is all this?!?!” Her: “Oh, Costco had boxes of 24 full sized candy bars on sale. I figured we can give those out tomorrow.” We now have 22 full sized candy bars and 6 GALLONS of assorted Halloween candy.

I think Counsell to NY under stearns is a foregone conclusion. I also think that the fact that there’s consistently been front office turmoil and/or conflict between the GM and Manager/Owner cross 4 seasons might lead some good candidates to pass on the job.

I would be fine with Espada, Linares, Counsell, or Venable. I will be very surprised if Counsell is actually interested though. Ausmus, Washington, or Kepler would be disasters.

I’m not holding my breath, but maybe increased interest costs impact govt spending, then when recession finally hits and rates come down they refinance everything and are able to balance the budget with the savings.

Pardon my ignorance. But why is it assumed that expiring debt is automatically converted into new debt at current rates? Aren’t those notes paid off, and any new debt the sole result of the current federal budget deficit?

The idea of Trump committing suicide is laughable. Come on. No one who thinks like Trump or sees the world the way he does has ever committed suicide. He is a first ballot hall of fame piece of shit. But he will never quit believing that his will is the answer to all problems and that he’s one moment away from getting back on top. Trump’s story plays out one of 4 ways: 1. He dies naturally (i.e. not from suicide or murder), having fought and “won” his court cases but having lost the 2024 election; he remains a force in the GOP and continues to damage the country until his death. This is by far the most likely outcome and my guess is it won’t happen for another decade or more because fuck us. 2. He is jailed/exiled. I consider this extremely unlikely. The government is not going to jail a former president. He might end up cutting a deal that essentially exiles him or confines him to MAL. But I consider that extremely unlikely as well. 3. He fades away. I also think this is very unlikely. If the “sane” portion of the GOP had the ability to get rid of him or dethrone him, they would have already done it. The only way I think this happens is if Trump himself decides to retire from politics, which means he voluntarily gives up the easiest grift he’s ever had. Not happening. 4. He wins the 2024 presidential election. I still consider this unlikely but it is certainly possible. If this happens, who knows what the fuck follows, but it won’t be good for anybody.

My list of preferred realistic free agent targets in order by position of need: backup catcher: Tom Murphy, Victor Caratini, Yasmani Grandal, Mike Zunino, Gary Sanchez LF: Joc Pederson, Robbie Grossman, Michael Brantley, Tommy Pham, Joey Gallo RP: Matt Moore, Jordan Hicks, Reynaldo Lopez, Joe Jimenez, Will Smith SP: James Paxton, Luis Severino, Frankie Montas, Wade Miley, Alex Wood

My list of preferred manager candidates in order: 1. Astros bench coach Joe Espada 2. Rays bench coach Rodney Linares 3. Rangers associate manager Will Venable 4. A’s manager Mark Kotsay 5. Tigers manager AJ Hinch

That’s a thing I have noticed about aging. I do not think I ever used an entire bottle of any kind of OTC medicine prior to about 35. Advil, NyQuil, Sudafed, etc. all would be thrown out due to expiration. Now I consistently run out of that kind of shit.

He’s been a shitty manager. All 5 MLB teams he’s managed have underperformed. If he hadn’t gone to Dartmouth there’s absolutely nothing about him that anyone would cite as evidence that he’s qualified. And despite his Ivy League background, he is well known to not be willing to embrace/learn the value of analytics or forward-thinking baseball. The fact that Bagwell is his champion should really be all you need to know. He probably wouldn’t make as many maddening playing time decisions as Baker, but he has nowhere near Baker’s ability to control the clubhouse and foster a productive culture. Ausmus was a very good defensive catcher as a player. But he has no redeeming qualities as a manager.

4 stars, 3 borderline stars, and 2 average players. The bench would feature 3 below average bats (Kessinger, Singleton, Meyers) and a backup C who projects to be a poor hitter (Salazar). Adding a LF who would be an above average hitter (moving McCormick to CF) and a backup C who would be a below average hitter would really deepen the roster to where it needs to be to keep up with the other good teams in the league. Absolutely not. I would 100% prefer Baker over Ausmus.

If the Astros hire Brad Ausmus, for any role, their run as championship contenders is officially over.

MAGA supporters have to be shown where the MAGA agenda leads. They have to be forced to see that it’s not just poors and browns who benefit from a functioning government. The Dems may be tempted to massively compromise to avoid the suffering that will result from the GOP implosion, but it’s absolutely necessary. I cannot believe the seemingly otherwise sane Republicans in congress have not been able to find a way to save the party from traitorous extremism, but it’s clear they cannot. The only way out is to show the rubes that the emperor has no clothes.

If you just took all the Aggies that were raised in Dallas, you’d have it. Unjustified pride. Unjustified optimism. Adjustable memory. Loser rich kid mentality.

To me it would show a lot of dysfunction if Crane hired a POBO to be Brown’s boss, since it’s pretty clear Brown took the job thinking he’d be the top baseball guy. Linares or Espada would be great Managers. I can’t think of any other good candidates. Jason Castro might be a decent pick if he wants to manage but he also would be a good fit in the front office. I wouldn’t complain about Maldy as the bench coach but I’ll burn down MMP if he’s back as a player. I sure wish Crane would be a bully in free agency since Montgomery, Garver, Pham, and Hader would solve a shitload of problems and none of them are likely to get more than 5 years.

Offseason checklist in order: 1. Replace Baker with Espada 2. Replace Maldonado with an affordable well rounded backup C (Victor Caratini?) 3. Extend Altuve 4. Add a leverage RP to replace Neris if he opts for free agency (Matt Moore?) 5. See if any other stars bite on an extremely team-friendly extension (Bregman, Tucker, Framber, B Abreu) 6. Be opportunistic on the trade and free agency markets to potentially upgrade other areas that aren’t necessarily weaknesses but also aren’t strengths (CF/LF, SS, SP). 7. Be on the lookout to convert MLB depth into high ceiling prospects (assuming all above tasks are completed) 2024 has a chance to be Houston’s deepest and most talented roster ever, depending on how aggressive/smart Brown and Crane are.

My comment was pretty prescient. Those pitcher signings were a good value and if Evan Carter hadn’t been ready their OF would have been a glaring hole this postseason; Carter could end up being similar to Alex Bregman in value and how fans feel about him. I’m an Astros fan but the Rangers are built to be good for a while. They have a deep controllable roster and a good farm. If ownership is willing to support a top 10 payroll then their window could be open indefinitely. Their deadline move to add Montgomery changed them from an also-ran to a WS team.

I’m sorry but you don’t know what you’re talking about. If you’re looking for something to blame the loss on, look no further than Tucker/Dubon/Pena going 0-9. Singleton put together a very good at bat. He swung and missed on the 8th pitch, a cutter about an inch above the zone. He ripped a middle fb down the line foul. Both those pitches were incredibly close to ending in a good outcome. This.

Diaz should have PH for Maldy in the 7th. McCormick should have PH for Dubón in the 8th. I agreed with Singleton pinch hitting for Pena; Pena has been worthless and big Jon is a patient lefty power bat going up against a guy who walked him the previous night. This was not Baker’s best night.

Altuve is like no other. He is officially my favorite athlete of all time. I knew Singleton would have a playoff moment. Abreu getting suspended immediately is bullshit. That could matter a lot.