left field

Ted Cruz or Rand Paul ... who has the more punchable face?

I don't subscribe to or particularly care about political designations (left/right, liberal/conservative, dem/rep). I think the blind adherence to a political ideology and party borders on zealotry and is the mark of the unthinking. The other issue is that those labels have pretty much lost all meaning and at this point are only used as bludgeons against the other side. But, if it helps, I have repeatedly said that I'm liberal here and conservative there. Not sure how much more clear I can make that. As for Buttegieg, I like smart people. Imperfect? Sure. Wrong at times? We all are. He seems to be unflappable and I like that. Did you watch that Wyoming debate I posted? I would vote for Cheney based on that. Who would you choose? Did you read the evangelical piece? Agree or disagree? I'm a little surprised by that lack of discussion on the Jan 6 hearings here. The country was almost lost by a violent attack on the capitol during the peaceful transfer of power and that was all on Trump. What do you think would have happened had the mob come across Pence? A few of them dead by Secret Service, then what? Oh well, gas prices and Hunter's laptop. Desantis scares the hell out of me. He is ten times smarter than Trump but seems to be an evil vindictive prick and I think he would finish what Trump started. We used to say that the country would survive Trump, now I'm not so sure. We are heading toward a massive sea change - this new legislating SC bench is a good example - and I don't think it will necessarily be the change people want. If you want the Reps to take control again, then reread Crappy and Rob. They seem to get it. You're Trump adoration is not only going to hurt the country, it will hurt you.

White House is a cool strawman. The idea that there wasn't less consideration given to black neighbourhoods pre Civil Rights is quaint.

North, buddy, work with me here. A Rockefeller Republican refers to someone who is moderate to liberal on social issues and generally conservative on the rest. Like the majority of the country. I didn't call Trump a moron. Vile, degenerate POS, sure. I'm not the only one who thinks so. Here's an evangelical writer calling out other evangelicals for their hypocrisy in rejecting a black christian family man with zero moral scandal in favour of a morally bankrupt and depraved white guy. https://johnpavlovitz.com/2018/01/24/white-evangelicals-people/ Which leads to: are roads racist? No. Were roads and neighbourhoods designed in the '50s and '60s by white guys to disenfranchise and limit black people. I'm going to say yes. Making cities better for everyone benefits everyone.

You may need to look up what RR means. Buttigieg is many things, but moron ain't one of them. Are you referring to "Reconnecting Communities"? If so, it's a pretty good idea to rebuild and/or tear down roads that divided cities and marginalized neighbourhoods. A Trump buttload? If so, that would be a lot of ballots! It's a little odd that you immediately go to fellatio, but if that's your thing I support your freedom and right to explore.

Rockefeller Republican which doesn't fit into whatever the current republican party is. Somehow we've gone from "Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall" to this shitshow of morons. What is your objection to Buttigieg? Harvard educated, Rhodes scholar, military service, ran a city. These are the kinds of people we should be encouraging to serve.

"Except for the guy who got more votes, Trump got more votes than everyone else," is a weird way to make yourself feel better about losing bigly. I have to think that Biden won't run again and Harris is a disaster, so who knows. Had Buttgieg been made VP he would be perfectly placed to run. Too bad, as I think he would make a good Pres. Here he is running circles around a Fox host.

Impressive.

Have a great day.

Misogi? We all need a misogi. And rucking. When I worked out in a gym, I would warm up by putting all the dumbbells - from 5 to 100 lbs - back in their proper place. I think I got stronger just from picking up heavy things and moving them from here to there. In the middle of this. It's dense and taking me a while to get through but well worth it.

Congratulations!

It's not a great logo. Sorry if anyone here designed it, but there's just too much going on and where are those mountains? I would do something more graphic and stealthy like this. H N Y

Agreed. It should be decided by the people or more accurately, the individual person most affected by the pregnancy. What it should not be is decided by this person for that one. Nice to see you agree with the individual's freedom of choice.

And you never seen such narrow roads. They cut the hedge right up to the road. When we returned our car, the lot was lined with cars with broken passenger side mirrors. Fortunately, the gears on the stick and the pedals are in the same configuration as here. Anyway, I think Eddie is on a bus tour, so leaving the driving to someone else

Beautiful country. I fly fish because of something a ghillie said to me there. By happenstance, my wife and I found ourselves staying at a very famous salmon lodge in Connemara some years ago. They just happened to have an available room that night. As I found out, anglers would fly in from all over the world to fish there. I grew up in a Canadian steel town and fly fishing was something done by rich white guys in Connecticut. It just wasn't part of my world. As I sat around the communal dinner table at the lodge, listening to the fishing stories, I grew more intrigued with each tale and thought that maybe this was something I could do. The next morning as we were leaving, I saw one of the ghillies preparing the rods for the day. I approached and asked him a question: "Why do you fly fish." Being an old Irish guy he was going to give me an old Irish guy answer. After a moment, he replied. "Well, there are two things that I know are coming in life, but I don't know when. The first is the strike of a salmon and the second is death. And to tell the truth, lad, I really like the anticipation of both those things." I bought my first fly rod three days later. Eddie, that's a lot of trip you have there in 13 days. And a lot of breakfasts. I found that after the third Irish breakfast, I was done for the rest of the trip. I may be there in Sept as well, so I'll wave from the river.

Even me!

You asked if the oil exec was being too sensitive. I said yes and provided an pertinent example of a ballsier oil exec responding to a president who traded on being an asshole. Can we go back to baseball trivia? Did you know that MLB rubs new balls with Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud - a special mud from a secret spot in NJ - to break them in?

We've gone from an Exxon CEO calling it as he sees it by referring to Trump as an effing moron to the Chevron CEO whining about Mean Joe. So, yes.

You neglected to include this response: A powerful CEO getting his feelings hurt because of mean words. Seems a little snowflake, doesn't it?

In the old days, we had fewer things and they were cleaned and stored with mothballs, then brought out in the sun to air out in the spring. Now we just buy too much stuff and shove it in a dark closet. Ground zero for moths. I had clothes moths in my apt. It was like the death of a thousand cuts. Pick up a sweater and find some holes. Wool carpets had tracks where larvae ate. They ate through my wool base layers that were wrapped in a sealed bag. Finally, I had enough and called in an exterminator. Take every item of clothing you have and run it through a dryer for 30 minutes then seal in a contractor bag. Dry clean others stuff and don't bring it back until the chemicals have been sprayed. Remove everything from your closets and pull furniture to the center of the room. Exterminators come on for three hours and spray every crevice. (While the eggs and larvae are in the sweet wool or fur, the adults live in tight crevices like baseboards and wall outlets.) Come back in four hours and wipe down every surface of your house. There's a white powder on everything. Put clothes back. Pray.

Where's this guy when you need him?

Everyone needs to be sprayed with beer at least once in their lives. A drink thrown in their face as well.

It's weird the things you remember. I can't say that I'm much of a baseball fan but can tell you what Tinkers to Evers to Chance means or what "the shot heard 'round the world" was. Just dig trivia, I guess. I do love baseball movies, though. I cry at the end of Field of Dreams every time I see it; believe that Gary Cooper was Lou Gehrig; and love the colloquial wisdom of Bull Durham. Hell, I even watch The Bad News Bears just for Matthau. It probably comes down to seeing this as a little kid which put baseball in my brain and a started me on the path to a love of language and word play.

No, like you said, it was a typo and there really is a Bruce. Except it wasn't and there isn't. It was bullshit. When you found out you actually bought John Voight's LeBaron, did you start talking about the fine leather seating instead of its provenance? In baseball terms - for North - you're like the Fred Merkle of HNY.

So when AP got in touch with BP and asked about "Brice Cromwell" and received this response: You think that Ms. Baldino sent the email and then a moment later thought, "hmmm, could they have been asking about Bruce Cromwell?" There is no Bruce Cromwell. Your dogged desire to remain below the Mendoza Line is unparalleled.