Today is Bobby Bonilla Day, the day he gets paid $1.2m. The Mets deferred the $5.9 million Bonilla was supposed to make in 2000 when he was released -- stretching it out so that the annual payments until 2035 included 8% interest. That means $5.9 million will cumulatively be $29.8 million.
I missed out. Pot became legal today in Virginia and some group was just down the street giving out seeds to grow your own. I didn't read about it until after they were done. Apparently had a long line. Actually, I wouldn't use them but a guy I know who used to be on the street but is now on a very limited income in a subsidized apartment probably could have used them.
Trevor Bauer restraining order -- yikes. Woman alleges he choked her into unconsciousness during consensual sex, and then she woke up to some non-consensual goings on.
Yes but if you read the Athletic article, Bauer is on tape admitting to doing many of the alleged things. The police got her to record him admitting to them.
This Athletic article goes into lots of details. Not sure if it's the same as in the washington post article. MLB has already said that they will wait for the police investigation or their own internal investigation to be completed before they decide what to do. The Dodgers are probably going to wait because they aren't going to want to be on the hook for his contract if they cut him. Also I think only the MLB can suspend him. I'm guessing he'll be "sick" on Sunday and they'll skip his turn, if he flew with the team to Washington at all. Although the Athletic article didn't come out until later in the day so I'm assuming he flew with the team.
I'm not sure if it's really this clear legally that Bauer will be held responsible. So he's into some weird stuff that prevented the women from being able to utter the safe word. How was he supposed to know to stop (just playing devil's advocate here)? The women agreed to some consensual stuff but things just went out of control.
By the way, terrible timing by UCLA Athletics yesterday to announced that Bauer will be inducted into their Hall of Fame.
The Devil's advocate position is nonsensical. Why even start using violence during a sexual encounter?
I've always had a difficult time with the idea that consensual sex includes hitting someone with enough force to cause bruising or lacerations. How is that possible?
But going back to your first sentence - it's very possible that Bauer will not be held responsible. It wouldn't be the first time and it likely won't be the last.
I have problems with dragging cases like this into the public eye, especially where it involves a celebrity. Inevitably, the average peson reading and viewing reporting about cases like this are made into voyeurs, jurors in the court of public opinion, and participants in a system that sadly looks down on people they don't know and can't know, EVER.
I vacillate between being disgusted by the spectacle of these lurid episodes and outraged that certain people get away with sexual violence just because they happen to have a public reputation that gives them leeway they should never have (see Bill Cosby, for example). That vacillation includes wanting to reject the reporting and embracing the necessity of journalism in fighting corrupt behavior of any sort.
I need a shower because this all feels very dirty.
Maybe my opinion is clouded by how I knew that Trevor Bauer is a sociopath for years. He had said publicly that he told women ahead of time that he's going to sleep around and that the sexual encounters are nothing more than that. Because of that, I can believe that he's quite upfront about the violent, kinky thing that he wanted to do...before obviously going way too far.
As a society, we have been telling people to be accepting of all kinds of people doing things that I would never do...which I guess also include sociopathic violent jerks like Trevor Bauer if he was able to find a consenting adult. I'm merely saying that I am open to the small possibility that it was indeed somewhat accidental that this woman got seriously injured.
I didn't think I was apologizing for his action at all. I am just saying that I don't quite understand how consent works, especially legally, for these really violent cases where one might lose consciousness.
while i get your point, i wouldnt characterize the following as "weird": "strangled a woman he was having sex with until she lost consciousness on multiple occasions, repeatedly punched her in the face during sex and left her with injuries that required hospitalization"
Heading to Charlotte over the weekend for a wedding, looking for dining or other activity tips for the remaining days. We're staying close to downtown.
both for you and G&B, I recommend the NASCAR Hall of Fame (which actually caters to the casual fan and diehard fan at the same time). I understand it may not be your forte but I think you both would like some of the kinks and smaller things it has to offer (i.e. racing simulator, pit crew practice etc.)
I haven't been to the Queen City since Covid hit, so I think a bunch of restaurants I know have closed because it's such a commuter city. I know that Uptown Yolk , Loft & Cellar, and @Dawn are closed. I've heard good things about Leah & Louise, which is run by the same James Beard nominee behind Uptown Yolk. If you're north of Charlotte, then I'd hit Kindred in Davidson. I've heard good things about Fig Tree and Haymaker. I'd also make sure I had western Carolina-style BBQ to see how those barbarians like to cook pork.
Rivals? against. except when they play ND. Effectively I want both Stanfurd and $C to go 1-10-1 each year. (the tie being with each other). I'm never happy about the actual outcome. *sigh*
That's kind of how I see it. It's especially relevant in basketball, where schedule strength could be the difference between making the tournament and not making it.
Other conference foes like UW, Oregon, Colorado, etc., it depends on the matchup. Usually I'll be slightly favorable towards them unless I'm feeling spicy towards their coach or fanbase.
For, tho not in a David Puddy, face painting at the Devils game kind of way. But the P12 badly needs all the non-con wins it can get, so if that means pulling for UCLA over Oklahoma, or SC over Notre Dame, so be it....
I was just there over the weekend. There is definitely a huge touristy sign right by the Underground Railroad Freedom Center that said "Sing the Queen City".
Cincinnati got the "Queen City" moniker from a poem.
"The sculpture, by Tommy Sheehan, features the words "Sing the Queen City," a line from the last stanza of the poem "Seven Hills and a Queen to Name Them." In the early 1900s, residents often referred to the booming new city along the Ohio River as the "Queen City of the West.""
"Celebrated poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote his poem “Catawba Wine” as a tribute to the Ohio River Valley vineyards and the fragrant wines produced there. In particular, the poem celebrates the vineyards run by Nicholas Longworth, a member of the well-known Cincinnati Longworth family and a winemaker (sometimes called the “father of the American wine industry,” in fact) who created the first American sparkling wine.
The poem’s final stanza contains yet another reference to Ohio’s status as “Queen of the West,” likely furthering the term’s popularity:
Cincinnati is indirectly named after George Washington. GW was called revered for being another Lucius Quinius Cincinattus, a Roman General who became the sovereign leader but then voluntarily stepped down. American Revolution generals called themselves the plural of Cincinattus - Cincinatti - because they saw themselves as the protectors of the Republic by temporarily stepping in during times of war and NOT becoming dictators despite having tremendous power.
For the Cal DC alumni club, the (too fancy for me) annual receptions was/is often hosted by The Society of the Cincinnati, which is some patriotic club.
Annapolis, Maryland - kind of. It was originally named after the second Lord Baltimore's wife, Anna Arundel. The second Lord Baltimore founded Maryland. LB2 was Roman Catholic and set up the province to have religious tolerance and became a haven for Catholics. The struggle of Catholic/Anglican & Royalist/Parliamentarians via the English Civil War spread to the New World. The Catholic Royal governor of Maryland was overthrown and replaced by an Anglican Parliamentarian. He rechristened the town after Queen Anne of Great Britain, a Protestant.
Maryland was also named after a Queen - Henrietta Maria - Queen Consort to Charles I. Charles I was protestant but Henrietta was Bourbon Catholic and mistrusted because of it. Charles I was executed because of the Civil War. Henrietta Maria had 17 miscarriages - and the lack of heirs marked the ended the 4 century rule of the House of Stuarts in England, Scotland, and/or Ireland.
Dear Lord Baby Jesus, or as our brothers in the South call you: 'Hey-suz'. We thank you so much for this bountiful harvest of Dominos, KFC, and the always delicious Taco Bell. I just want to take time to say thank you for my family: my two beautiful, beautiful, handsome striking sons, Walker and Texas Ranger, or TR as we call him. And, of course, my red hot smokin' wife Carley, who is a stone cold fox, who if you would rate her ass on 100, it would easily be a 94. I also want to thank you for my best friend and teammate, Cal Naughton Jr, who's got my back no matter what...Dear Lord Baby Jesus, we also thank you for my wife's father Chip. We hope that you can use your Baby Jesus powers to heal him and his horrible leg. It smells terrible and the dogs are always botherin' with it
The Liberal MP David Lloyd George mocked Members of the Lords as "Five hundred men, accidently chosen from among the ranks of the unemployed".
When a Conservative backbencher defended the Lords as the "watchdog of the constitution", Lloyd George quipped that it was in fact "Mr Balfour's poodle" (Arthur Balfour was Conservative leader in the Commons).
Bob Bernanke, former chair of the federal reserve. My neighbor works for the Fed and bought old Bob's minivan when he sold it via an internal message board.
I have a hard time seeing the value of these kinds of stories. We kept hearing about the chaos inside the Trump administration from people who were apparently appalled but never did anything like resign or go on the record. So someone from Politico got a series of employees - and former people with the same job, no mention of the proportions - and discovered that there are disaffected staff. I'm glad I was sitting down when I read that!
Yeah, for the most part these stories are a big yawn. The Trump stuff was a little different because some of it indicated a chief executive who really didn't know what he was doing. Dangerous incompetence and whatnot. Still even that is not as important as what he actually does as President.
If people just think the politician is mean or something, then whatever. Not sure how relevant that is to our lives.
Looking iffy for the Dodgers and Nats tonight. It just got so dark I had to turn the lights on. Raining pretty hard and I can hear thunder nearby. This line may move through but there's lots of red and yellow cells out to the west on radar.
We just got blasted with about 0.75" of rain in ~20 min. It's calmed down a bit, but still coming down. It looks like the whole region will get hit with more thunderstorms this evening, so outlook for the game isn't good. The weather is supposed to be glorious for the next few days, so a doubleheader should be easy to schedule.
Cavendish wins his second sprint at the Tour de France, bringing his total number of stage wins at the Tour to 32, just two behind the all-time record held by Eddy Merckx. Prior to this Tour Cav had gone 5 years without a stage win, leading many to prematurely conclude his career as a top-flight sprinter was over.
The percentage of folks here that pay attention seems much higher than in the general population. Other than one of my brothers I don't know of anyone else that follows the Tour.
I'm a wannabe cyclist so I'm paying attention - and also absorbing a lot of stuff because a lot of my follows on IG and Twiter are cycling brands (Rapha, Castelli, Cervelo, etc.) so I see a lot of results that way.
Selection effects! Berkeley is an above-average bike town. Start with bike commuting, see folks riding road bikes, get into cycling culture…. Next thing you know you’re watching pirate streams of Europeans in spandex in the early A.M. hours.
I lived in Davis from 2008-1010 and took up riding and racing road because that is literally all there is to do in Davis. Three times a week in the summer the Davis Bike Club race team would have a "race ride" that often involved 50-100 riders. Occasionally, local pro's would show up (not UCI pros). It was amazing how one exceptional athlete would increase the entire pack speed by around 5 miles per hour when leading at the front (and of course, tons of people getting dropped). One of those guys, Paul Mach, won a climbing stage in the TOC racing against guys like Levi and others. Since I moved to the mountains though, I fell in love with mountain biking have lost interest in competitive cycling aside from checking the headlines.
also, cool to the Alaphillippe, in rainbow jersey (reigning world champion) and 2nd place in overall standings working his ass off to chase down breakaways and lead him out in the sprint finishes.
He was involved, and there was a settlement, but the amount of money the Wilpons actually lost due to Madoff's schemes was battled over in court for years.
A bigger, and likely related issue, is just how big of a boob Wilpon was as an owner....ineptitude of Chris Cohan W's-proportions, at the organizational level...
At TCU game in Sept.....we need to get Newellbany to tell the story of his wildly inappropriate heckling of Bobby Bo in Montreal back in the day. Epic, and obviously one of the reasons why major league baseball is no longer played in that town...
He's definitely a big time flopper. I didn't like him when he was with the Clippers and paired with the other champion of flopping, Blake Griffin. But now that he's the old man mentor showing the young Suns how to win he seems more sympathetic.
He has a particular flair with his flopping that really, really irritates me. On one hand, he's a fantastic point guard and I think he's deserving of a ring. On the other hand, I'm not excited to see more of his dramatics.
A's down Rangers 3-1 behind the pitching of Chris Basset, 9-2. Trivino surrenders a home run in the ninth and a couple of base runners but settles down to pick up the save. A's only .5 games behind the Stros.
Brandon Mello, who was the second string RT at the end of last season has entered the transfer portal. He started two games in 2020 when Curhan was injured. Daltoso is the presumptive starter at RT.
I missed out. Pot became legal today in Virginia and some group was just down the street giving out seeds to grow your own. I didn't read about it until after they were done. Apparently had a long line. Actually, I wouldn't use them but a guy I know who used to be on the street but is now on a very limited income in a subsidized apartment probably could have used them.
Trevor Bauer restraining order -- yikes. Woman alleges he choked her into unconsciousness during consensual sex, and then she woke up to some non-consensual goings on.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/06/30/trevor-bauer-restraining-order-sexual-assault-allegations/
There are allegations. Weird story.
Yes but if you read the Athletic article, Bauer is on tape admitting to doing many of the alleged things. The police got her to record him admitting to them.
I read the WaPo article, it was enough.
Yes, it was enough.
This Athletic article goes into lots of details. Not sure if it's the same as in the washington post article. MLB has already said that they will wait for the police investigation or their own internal investigation to be completed before they decide what to do. The Dodgers are probably going to wait because they aren't going to want to be on the hook for his contract if they cut him. Also I think only the MLB can suspend him. I'm guessing he'll be "sick" on Sunday and they'll skip his turn, if he flew with the team to Washington at all. Although the Athletic article didn't come out until later in the day so I'm assuming he flew with the team.
He shouldn't ever pitch in the MLB again.
https://theathletic.com/2682479/2021/06/30/graphic-details-photos-emerge-in-restraining-order-filed-against-dodgers-pitcher-trevor-bauer/
I'm not sure if it's really this clear legally that Bauer will be held responsible. So he's into some weird stuff that prevented the women from being able to utter the safe word. How was he supposed to know to stop (just playing devil's advocate here)? The women agreed to some consensual stuff but things just went out of control.
By the way, terrible timing by UCLA Athletics yesterday to announced that Bauer will be inducted into their Hall of Fame.
The Devil's advocate position is nonsensical. Why even start using violence during a sexual encounter?
I've always had a difficult time with the idea that consensual sex includes hitting someone with enough force to cause bruising or lacerations. How is that possible?
But going back to your first sentence - it's very possible that Bauer will not be held responsible. It wouldn't be the first time and it likely won't be the last.
I have problems with dragging cases like this into the public eye, especially where it involves a celebrity. Inevitably, the average peson reading and viewing reporting about cases like this are made into voyeurs, jurors in the court of public opinion, and participants in a system that sadly looks down on people they don't know and can't know, EVER.
I vacillate between being disgusted by the spectacle of these lurid episodes and outraged that certain people get away with sexual violence just because they happen to have a public reputation that gives them leeway they should never have (see Bill Cosby, for example). That vacillation includes wanting to reject the reporting and embracing the necessity of journalism in fighting corrupt behavior of any sort.
I need a shower because this all feels very dirty.
Maybe my opinion is clouded by how I knew that Trevor Bauer is a sociopath for years. He had said publicly that he told women ahead of time that he's going to sleep around and that the sexual encounters are nothing more than that. Because of that, I can believe that he's quite upfront about the violent, kinky thing that he wanted to do...before obviously going way too far.
As a society, we have been telling people to be accepting of all kinds of people doing things that I would never do...which I guess also include sociopathic violent jerks like Trevor Bauer if he was able to find a consenting adult. I'm merely saying that I am open to the small possibility that it was indeed somewhat accidental that this woman got seriously injured.
Bauer is possibly on the spectrum and perhaps really needed a verbal no to realize that he needed to stop.
The facts and legal ramifications will work themselves out in due time. In the meantime, I am not going to give this thing any further thought.
Really, are we going to have rape apologists here?
I didn't think I was apologizing for his action at all. I am just saying that I don't quite understand how consent works, especially legally, for these really violent cases where one might lose consciousness.
while i get your point, i wouldnt characterize the following as "weird": "strangled a woman he was having sex with until she lost consciousness on multiple occasions, repeatedly punched her in the face during sex and left her with injuries that required hospitalization"
Gross
ew.
Travel
Heading to Charlotte over the weekend for a wedding, looking for dining or other activity tips for the remaining days. We're staying close to downtown.
I'm headed to Charlotte for a wedding in late September, so I'm also interested in hearing these recommendations.
both for you and G&B, I recommend the NASCAR Hall of Fame (which actually caters to the casual fan and diehard fan at the same time). I understand it may not be your forte but I think you both would like some of the kinks and smaller things it has to offer (i.e. racing simulator, pit crew practice etc.)
I haven't been to the Queen City since Covid hit, so I think a bunch of restaurants I know have closed because it's such a commuter city. I know that Uptown Yolk , Loft & Cellar, and @Dawn are closed. I've heard good things about Leah & Louise, which is run by the same James Beard nominee behind Uptown Yolk. If you're north of Charlotte, then I'd hit Kindred in Davidson. I've heard good things about Fig Tree and Haymaker. I'd also make sure I had western Carolina-style BBQ to see how those barbarians like to cook pork.
LAPD confiscates 5k pounds of fireworks. They do a controlled explosion that didn't go to plan.
https://twitter.com/CBSLA/status/1410445580397056002
Underestimated the energy load by a considerably amount!
A controlled explosion right in the middle of a neighborhood, no less. Whoever owns that car that was blown onto its side is not going to be happy...
Neat article from Reuters about Olympic sports from yesteryears
https://graphics.reuters.com/OLYMPICS-2020/HISTORY/oakpedqbgvr/index.html
Do you cheer for or against conference rivals in OOC/postseason play?
I generally pull for the conference, but I will make exceptions for ASU, and also depending on who the opponent is.
Rivals? against. except when they play ND. Effectively I want both Stanfurd and $C to go 1-10-1 each year. (the tie being with each other). I'm never happy about the actual outcome. *sigh*
One of these days it'll happen
cheer for them, even Stanford.
some of it is the familiarity of the players, coaches, etc
selfishly for Cal, the better our conference rivals do, the better it is for us.
That's kind of how I see it. It's especially relevant in basketball, where schedule strength could be the difference between making the tournament and not making it.
conference rivals? Always against. Burn their campus to the ground and salt the ground.
Rivals? Against, always.
Other conference foes like UW, Oregon, Colorado, etc., it depends on the matchup. Usually I'll be slightly favorable towards them unless I'm feeling spicy towards their coach or fanbase.
Depends on the team. I cheer for underdogs and cheer against teams like SC and UCLA and Furd.
For, tho not in a David Puddy, face painting at the Devils game kind of way. But the P12 badly needs all the non-con wins it can get, so if that means pulling for UCLA over Oklahoma, or SC over Notre Dame, so be it....
Someplace named after a queen
Victoria Harbour
Queen's Road
Victoria Peak
all in Hong Kong
Fat-bottomed girls, you make the rockin' world go round
"I was just a skinny lad
Never knew no good from bad
But I knew love before I left my nursery
Left alone with big fat Fanny
She was such a naughty nanny
Hey big woman, you made a bad boy out of me"
"I've been singing with my band
Across the water, across the land
I've seen every blue eyed floozy on the way
But their beauty and their style
Went kind of smooth after a while
Take me to them naughty ladies every time
Oh, won't you take me home tonight
Oh, down beside your red fire light
Oh, and you give it all you got
Fat-bottomed girls you make the rocking world go round"
Queensboro
Charlotte, NC, the Queen City! Queen Charlotte was the wife of George III (the mad one).
I thought Cincinnati was the Queen City. Or is there more than one?
I was just there over the weekend. There is definitely a huge touristy sign right by the Underground Railroad Freedom Center that said "Sing the Queen City".
Cincinnati got the "Queen City" moniker from a poem.
"The sculpture, by Tommy Sheehan, features the words "Sing the Queen City," a line from the last stanza of the poem "Seven Hills and a Queen to Name Them." In the early 1900s, residents often referred to the booming new city along the Ohio River as the "Queen City of the West.""
https://www.loc.gov/item/2016632761/
Oops, should have read it before posting. I guess this is some new poem commissioned more recently.
The original name is from a Longfellow poem.
https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/ohio/articles/cincinnati-oh-called-queen-city/
"Celebrated poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote his poem “Catawba Wine” as a tribute to the Ohio River Valley vineyards and the fragrant wines produced there. In particular, the poem celebrates the vineyards run by Nicholas Longworth, a member of the well-known Cincinnati Longworth family and a winemaker (sometimes called the “father of the American wine industry,” in fact) who created the first American sparkling wine.
The poem’s final stanza contains yet another reference to Ohio’s status as “Queen of the West,” likely furthering the term’s popularity:
“And this Song of the Vine,
This greeting of mine,
The winds and the birds shall deliver,
To the Queen of the West,
In her garlands dressed,
On the banks of the Beautiful River.”"
Yes, Cincinnati is the/a Queen City. My favorite ice cream flavor is called Queen City Cayenne, made by Jeni's, and is a spicy chocolate.
What do you know about Ohio?!? ;-)
Cincinnati is indirectly named after George Washington. GW was called revered for being another Lucius Quinius Cincinattus, a Roman General who became the sovereign leader but then voluntarily stepped down. American Revolution generals called themselves the plural of Cincinattus - Cincinatti - because they saw themselves as the protectors of the Republic by temporarily stepping in during times of war and NOT becoming dictators despite having tremendous power.
For the Cal DC alumni club, the (too fancy for me) annual receptions was/is often hosted by The Society of the Cincinnati, which is some patriotic club.
Queens?
Annapolis, Maryland - kind of. It was originally named after the second Lord Baltimore's wife, Anna Arundel. The second Lord Baltimore founded Maryland. LB2 was Roman Catholic and set up the province to have religious tolerance and became a haven for Catholics. The struggle of Catholic/Anglican & Royalist/Parliamentarians via the English Civil War spread to the New World. The Catholic Royal governor of Maryland was overthrown and replaced by an Anglican Parliamentarian. He rechristened the town after Queen Anne of Great Britain, a Protestant.
Maryland was also named after a Queen - Henrietta Maria - Queen Consort to Charles I. Charles I was protestant but Henrietta was Bourbon Catholic and mistrusted because of it. Charles I was executed because of the Civil War. Henrietta Maria had 17 miscarriages - and the lack of heirs marked the ended the 4 century rule of the House of Stuarts in England, Scotland, and/or Ireland.
Victoria and Queensland in Australia
Regina, Saskatchewan
i have not been to Regina, but driven the northern road thru Saskatoon and across the width of Saskatchewan.
it is a long but super interesting drive. lots of farms, but incredibly scenic unlike Kansas.
the sky is also amazing up there. especially the clouds.
Berenike on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. Named after queen Berenike I (Berenice) the wife of Ptolemy II Philadephus.
Robert, Bob, or something similar
How that Red Red Robin goes, along.
Dear Lord Baby Jesus, or as our brothers in the South call you: 'Hey-suz'. We thank you so much for this bountiful harvest of Dominos, KFC, and the always delicious Taco Bell. I just want to take time to say thank you for my family: my two beautiful, beautiful, handsome striking sons, Walker and Texas Ranger, or TR as we call him. And, of course, my red hot smokin' wife Carley, who is a stone cold fox, who if you would rate her ass on 100, it would easily be a 94. I also want to thank you for my best friend and teammate, Cal Naughton Jr, who's got my back no matter what...Dear Lord Baby Jesus, we also thank you for my wife's father Chip. We hope that you can use your Baby Jesus powers to heal him and his horrible leg. It smells terrible and the dogs are always botherin' with it
Bob's nephew, A. Balfour:
The Liberal MP David Lloyd George mocked Members of the Lords as "Five hundred men, accidently chosen from among the ranks of the unemployed".
When a Conservative backbencher defended the Lords as the "watchdog of the constitution", Lloyd George quipped that it was in fact "Mr Balfour's poodle" (Arthur Balfour was Conservative leader in the Commons).
Bob's your uncle. I was in Australia when I first heard that expression.
If you wanted to be Bobby's Girl, would that be Bobby McGee, Bob Dylan, Bob Barker, or maybe even Robert E. Lee?
Dangit Bobby. That boy ain't right, I tell you hwat
Sideshow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NUFHLngNEk
Had lunch with him yesterday.
You had lunch with Oakland's former City Manager?
Bob Bernanke, former chair of the federal reserve. My neighbor works for the Fed and bought old Bob's minivan when he sold it via an internal message board.
* Ben
so much for my hopes of adding something to this subthread.
Elsewhere in college
The first paid tweet of the NIL era starts of with this ringing endorsement.
https://twitter.com/MatthewCoghlin/status/1410596878035521541
I look forward to Slater Zellers promoting The California Golden Bearcast.
Political stuff
Trump to launch his new social media platform on July 4th.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/01/gettr-trump-social-media-platform-497606
Politico publishes an unflattering article about how Kamala Harris runs her office. Her CoS Tina Flournoy is not painted in a good light.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/30/kamala-harris-office-dissent-497290
I have a hard time seeing the value of these kinds of stories. We kept hearing about the chaos inside the Trump administration from people who were apparently appalled but never did anything like resign or go on the record. So someone from Politico got a series of employees - and former people with the same job, no mention of the proportions - and discovered that there are disaffected staff. I'm glad I was sitting down when I read that!
Yeah, for the most part these stories are a big yawn. The Trump stuff was a little different because some of it indicated a chief executive who really didn't know what he was doing. Dangerous incompetence and whatnot. Still even that is not as important as what he actually does as President.
If people just think the politician is mean or something, then whatever. Not sure how relevant that is to our lives.
the value, imo, is that politico try's to be 'non-partisan', but really is beholden to some non-democratic elements and they like this sort of thing.
Trump Organization CFO expected in court after indictment
New York prosecutors are expected to announce the first criminal indictment Thursday in a two-year investigation into Trump's business practices.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/01/trump-organization-cfo-expected-in-court-after-indictment-497485
His loyalty suggests that perhaps he didn't want to find out what polonium tastes like.
PRO
Looking iffy for the Dodgers and Nats tonight. It just got so dark I had to turn the lights on. Raining pretty hard and I can hear thunder nearby. This line may move through but there's lots of red and yellow cells out to the west on radar.
oh wow I just saw the radar. If they play at all it will be super late, though there looks to be a huge line of rain.
We just got blasted with about 0.75" of rain in ~20 min. It's calmed down a bit, but still coming down. It looks like the whole region will get hit with more thunderstorms this evening, so outlook for the game isn't good. The weather is supposed to be glorious for the next few days, so a doubleheader should be easy to schedule.
That sounds like a midwest thunderstorm we used to get in Louisville.
Cavendish wins his second sprint at the Tour de France, bringing his total number of stage wins at the Tour to 32, just two behind the all-time record held by Eddy Merckx. Prior to this Tour Cav had gone 5 years without a stage win, leading many to prematurely conclude his career as a top-flight sprinter was over.
https://cyclingtips.com/2021/07/cavendish-sprints-to-another-victory-on-stage-6-of-the-tour-de-france/
The percentage of folks here that pay attention seems much higher than in the general population. Other than one of my brothers I don't know of anyone else that follows the Tour.
I'm a wannabe cyclist so I'm paying attention - and also absorbing a lot of stuff because a lot of my follows on IG and Twiter are cycling brands (Rapha, Castelli, Cervelo, etc.) so I see a lot of results that way.
Selection effects! Berkeley is an above-average bike town. Start with bike commuting, see folks riding road bikes, get into cycling culture…. Next thing you know you’re watching pirate streams of Europeans in spandex in the early A.M. hours.
I lived in Davis from 2008-1010 and took up riding and racing road because that is literally all there is to do in Davis. Three times a week in the summer the Davis Bike Club race team would have a "race ride" that often involved 50-100 riders. Occasionally, local pro's would show up (not UCI pros). It was amazing how one exceptional athlete would increase the entire pack speed by around 5 miles per hour when leading at the front (and of course, tons of people getting dropped). One of those guys, Paul Mach, won a climbing stage in the TOC racing against guys like Levi and others. Since I moved to the mountains though, I fell in love with mountain biking have lost interest in competitive cycling aside from checking the headlines.
next thing you know there will be a daily "Pro Cycling" section in DBD ...
Just during the grand tours. . . and some of the 1 day classics . . .and the SoCal Crit circuit. . . and the grand gravel races. . .
Vive la France!
quite a late age comeback. great to see. it seems that everyone in the peloton is happy for him.
also, cool to the Alaphillippe, in rainbow jersey (reigning world champion) and 2nd place in overall standings working his ass off to chase down breakaways and lead him out in the sprint finishes.
Yes, and van der Poel has been leading his sprinter out while he’s wearing the yellow jersey. LOVE IT!!!
Bobby Bonilla Day
Didn't the owners of the Mets at the time also loose a shit ton of money in the Madoff scandal?
He was involved, and there was a settlement, but the amount of money the Wilpons actually lost due to Madoff's schemes was battled over in court for years.
A bigger, and likely related issue, is just how big of a boob Wilpon was as an owner....ineptitude of Chris Cohan W's-proportions, at the organizational level...
well, yes. Simply this type of deffered payout deal is terrible business. 8% interest. wholey f*.
At TCU game in Sept.....we need to get Newellbany to tell the story of his wildly inappropriate heckling of Bobby Bo in Montreal back in the day. Epic, and obviously one of the reasons why major league baseball is no longer played in that town...
Which reminds me, I gotta put the deposit down for the tailgate
Oh I need to buy my return trip and find an airbnb or hotel.
https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/1410597737872039946
Suns blow out the Clippers 130-103 to clinch their first trip to the Finals since 1993
https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1410572657045684228
It's good that Chris Paul finally gets to play in the Finals. He's too good a player to have been kept off that stage for his whole career.
I know he's good but isn't he kind of a dirty player?
He's definitely a big time flopper. I didn't like him when he was with the Clippers and paired with the other champion of flopping, Blake Griffin. But now that he's the old man mentor showing the young Suns how to win he seems more sympathetic.
Seemed to me like a big time flop when Paul scored and the Cousins gave him a light elbow while retrieving the ball.
He definitely oversold that. At the same time, it was a foul.
He has a particular flair with his flopping that really, really irritates me. On one hand, he's a fantastic point guard and I think he's deserving of a ring. On the other hand, I'm not excited to see more of his dramatics.
He seems to really despise Steph Curry, but that would seem natural for any of Curry's opponents.
I think he despises that Steph Curry came along and whooshed right past him to become MVP and NBA Champ before he got there.
The fact that he tried to do Steph's shoulder shimmy back to him shows that Curry really got under his skin.
Patrick Beverley seems to think so...
Beverley is a punk.
Grade-A certified...
A's down Rangers 3-1 behind the pitching of Chris Basset, 9-2. Trivino surrenders a home run in the ninth and a couple of base runners but settles down to pick up the save. A's only .5 games behind the Stros.
We need a better bullpen!
CAL
Brandon Mello, who was the second string RT at the end of last season has entered the transfer portal. He started two games in 2020 when Curhan was injured. Daltoso is the presumptive starter at RT.
https://twitter.com/RivalsPortal/status/1410557690481418243?s=19
Go Bears!!!