Everything posted by Snake Diggity
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2024 Senate Elections
OH is winnable for the Democrats. Sherrod Brown is a good candidate. They can win OH and AZ and keep it at 49-51. That would mean healthy gridlock if Biden wins rather than the pure constant unassailable MAGA obstruction (and worse) that would come with a 47-53 senate.
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Health Insurance fuckery
On what little I have read, it seems like this product is addressing the real inefficiency of the market: the huge disparity in relative cost of providing care in person, especially in rural areas. It seems like to me, providing primary care (and even specialty “office visits”) to people in major cities should be pretty cheap, especially if it starts with virtual visits. The majority of healthcare visits are made up of checkups and routine illnesses and injuries which should be able to be treated without all the infrastructure costs of traditional doctors offices. Prescriptions seem like they would work the same way; economies of scale should make medicines cheaper in major cities than in rural areas. It is great to know that if I lose my insurance coverage there’s a product out there that can get me affordable access to a doctor when I need it. If there was a truly affordable “catastrophic event” health insurance plan out there that covered ER visits, hospital stays, and surgeries, that combined with One Medical and Cuban’s prescription product seem like it’d have all the bases covered to make healthcare reasonably affordable.
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Desantis is a POS and needs his own thread
I don’t see how Reynolds will be in the mix in a post-MAGA GOP. She has a long history of adhering to MAGA principles. Didn’t recognize Biden’s victory. Botched the shit out of COVID response. Multiple DUIs. Hardest core anti-abortion stance. I could be deadass wrong but I think a Hogan/Rubio ticket would destroy Biden/Harris.
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Desantis is a POS and needs his own thread
I am not sure about that. If Trump loses next year, and especially if that loss is combined with widespread rejection of MAGA in congressional and statewide races, I think it’s possible the movement fades pretty quickly, in which case guys like Vivek will be totally ignored and guys like DeSantis will have to either dramatically change their tune or be pushed deep into the background. Less shittastic candidates like Rubio or Sasse or Hogan will become the face of the GOP if it even survives. There’s no guarantee of that outcome but it’s hard to see the GOP doubling down after a 6 year losing streak. Of course, if Trump wins then all bets are off and these assholes will suddenly have a fuckload more contestants joining their race to the bottom.
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Houston Astros off-season thread
If that’s directed at me, meh. I wouldn’t label Urquidy (1 MLB season out of 5 with >107 ip) or France (136 career MLB innings) as “reliable”. If Houston can get really good trade value, they have the depth to absorb the loss.
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Houston Astros off-season thread
Traded/Out: one of Dubon or Meyers, one of Urquidy or France In: a backup catcher, an 8th inning RP, a LHH prospect to play LF and hit 9th (Loperfido, Hamilton, Wagner, or Barber), a high-ceiling young bullpen arm (Whitley, Sousa, Gage, Arrighetti, Tamarez, Dubin) Opening day roster: 2B Altuve 3B Bregman DH Alvarez 1B Abreu RF Tucker C Y Diaz OF McCormick SS Pena OF Loperfido/Hamilton/Barber/Wagner Bench: Dubon/Meyers, Kessinger, TBD catcher, Singleton SP: Verlander, Valdez, Javier, Brown, Urquidy/France RP: Pressly, Abreu, TBD, Montero, Graveman, Martinez (holding Garcia’s spot), Bielak (holding McCullers’ spot), Sousa/Whitley/Gage/Arrighetti/Dubin/Tamarez
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What is the point of prayer
Prayer is 1 of 2 things: A form of meditation Soothing superstition Either way, it’s a mechanism people use to cope with the powerlessness they know they have over most aspects of their lives.
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2021 - Is inflation finally back in the conversation?
The graphic previously posted ignores that possibility. Were the payments made on existing debt ever to exceed new debt taken on, there would then be less notes in circulation (and hence those previously borrowed notes held by the Fed), rendering that “USG cannot pay back…” step as nonsensical.
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Houston Astros off-season thread
Draft pick penalties don’t start in until a team goes $40M over the threshold. Going over by $20M would cost Crane an extra $4M. It’d be a pretty bitch move if Crane held up fielding the best team possible over $4M, especially when the team is so close to the limit because of his own ineptitude as acting GM last offseason If they really are gonna stay under, then flipping Urquidy for a good pre-arb 8th inning guy and signing a 2nd tier free agent backup C is all we are likely to see, although it’s worth noting any extension for Altuve or Bregman could be structured to not impact this year’s CBT amounts.
- Week 9, 2023: Kansas State @ Texas
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Houston Astros off-season thread
Yeah they should have at least required the Sox to eat most of Graveman’s 2024 salary. But at least Graveman’s contract is very close to being market value. McCullers, Abreu, and Montero are a combined ~$25M underwater in 2024 AAV compared to their current value. Crane is responsible for the latter 2 deals. His dumb ass needs to pony up over the tax to make up for it.
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Health Insurance fuckery
Sure seems like between profit margins and inefficiency due to lack of uniformity inherent in our current system, a single payer system would be better and more affordable. It also seems like office visits, prescriptions, and hospital visits are 3 wildly different animals that are getting muddied up but should be treated totally separately (with preventative care a 4th crucial component that really doesn’t even exist in our current system).
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Houston Astros off-season thread
Tucker for Soto, Barlow, Grisham, and prospect Robbie Snelling.
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Houston Astros off-season thread
Astros were extremely close to trading for Bryce Harper in his last year with the Nats. Soto will have a huge salary ($30M+) his last time thru arb but it would not shock me if Houston was in the mix for him. Crane would prefer not to go over the tax but he loves making huge moves.
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Buttigieg/Secretary of Transportation Thread
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.
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2021 - Is inflation finally back in the conversation?
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.
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Wives and the Stupid Shit They Say/Do
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.
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A story about a pathetic man's downfall [34 Felony Convictions]
He keeps calling the black prosecutor in NY “****aboo”. He keeps calling the predominantly black voting block in Georgia “*iggers”.
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Elon Musk: Nazi traitor piece of shit [Confirmed]
I passed a cybertruck while driving out to Beerburg brewery in west Austin on Sunday. Odds it was this piece of shit (Elon)?
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Wives and the Stupid Shit They Say/Do
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.
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Houston Astros off-season thread
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.
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Houston Astros off-season thread
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.
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2021 - Is inflation finally back in the conversation?
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.
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2021 - Is inflation finally back in the conversation?
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?
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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.