You guys lo
ve talking politics. I have been avoiding all talk of the 2016 election because it’s NEXT YEAR and when you feed the never-ending campaign machine by paying attention to it, the media keeps inundating you with it. The only way to shorten elections is to refuse to participate in them until an acceptable time frame.
/steps down from soapbox
In any case, y’all love talking about the presidential election and keep mentioning it on posts, so I’m throwing you a bone today:
It turns out that one Donald Xenophobe Trump was a promising baseball player in his youth. His first intentions were to be a professional MLB’er and he was scouted by a couple of teams. Can you guess who they were? The Phillies and Red Sox, which seems so perfect if you think about it.
Read a little more about Trump’s almost baseball career here. (Spoiler: he went into real estate so he could make more money.) The Trumpster played 1B and catcher — which he seems to lack the temperament for entirely. Odds that he was the guy who enforced the unwritten rules on his team?
Fan Interference 
The irony is not lost on me with this post. Star Wars was fantastic by the way. Literally, it’s fantastic, as in based in fantasy. Much like this campaign you speak of.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmmm, I understand Kevin thought it was crap. Fight!
LikeLike
Kevbo? Hold on, let me go get the kid gloves…
LikeLike
I hold TFA in roughly the same regard that you hold Nick Swisher.
LikeLike
Dayum.
LikeLike
NSA? Nick Swisher Awakens …. as Jeremy Giambi?
LikeLike
Talking politics is part of my job, as well as interest. At least, although you’re also in Tejas, you’re not in Gohmert Pyle’s congressional district.
LikeLike
Actual quote from OK state legislator Clark Jolley re: the $900M budget shortfall for next year (caused by the oil industry bust): we are one war in the Middle East away from higher oil prices.
LikeLike
Well, it would have to be a big war indeed to drive them up that much. That said, that may be part of why the Saudis wouldn’t mind Israel attacking Iran.
If internal politics makes strange enough bedfellows, geopolitics makes even weirder ones.
LikeLike
There’s an election?
LikeLike
Bernie’s suing the DNC. Getcha popcorn!
LikeLike
Remember, Castro also got a good look from the White Sox. There is some symmetry there.
But I’m not sure where.
LikeLike
Castro, like Jeter, had no range to his right.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sadly, for the joke, it was to his left that Jeter had no range, he was fine going to his right.
LikeLike
You have to be a literalist on everything?
LikeLike
Well, where does a dictatorship fall on the “left-wing right-wing” axis? I’m not sure it is even associated with variation along that axis, but is a different (and independent) approach to government altogether.
So, the joke really didn’t work for any perspective (see, I can be worse if you want me to be).
LikeLike
But, I’m imagining you saying it with beard glitter, and that makes it AWESOME!
LikeLike
Is my webcam on? How did you know?
LikeLike
Because I know you are secretly whimsical and festive. 🙂
PS dictatorships can be right or left, depending.
LikeLike
It’s not that something is wrong, cuz you would say then, right?
LikeLike
I don’t understand?
What would be wrong? Things are fine. Just busy with holidays, house, and a workshop at work. I think I am taking off the rest of the week….or, at least, working from home.
LikeLike
Okay, heh heh, just being paranoid. Ignore me. I just have to know how all my peeps are right now.
LikeLike
No worries.
I completely understand.
There are times when I am a bit of a hermit. It does worry me that if I die unexpectedly that it could be a few days before it occurs to anyone to check on my dogs.
LikeLike
I had that after I passed out in the bathroom once when sick. I think one of the unfortunate side-effects of my brother’s illness is I’m more sensitive. I have to check in with everybody.
LikeLike
Well, thanks for checking in. I do appreciate it.
I know the prognosis is generally not good, but how is your brother doing?
LikeLike
Sorry if I’m clingy.
They sent him home from MD Anderson today. There’s new growth on his lungs and it’s spread to his spine, so they are stopping the trial. They are going to start him on a different one after the new year.
LikeLike
Enjoy the time you have.
I am not in any way making a comparison….Molly has Cushing’s disease (first diagnosed in January, probably had it since at least mid-2014) and she’s getting old (12+). The disease is really hard on her if her cortisol levels creep up…and when they do it takes a while for symptoms to show up and then takes another month plus for the effects of increased dosages to alleviate the symptoms (i.e. for her energy and muscle tone to return, those are the more superficial symptoms, some of the effects are not reversible). I have to be careful with her meds, they are essentially chemotherapy drugs and too much could send her into shock….made all the more difficult by her being 12 lbs. Anyway, this disease (which is caused by a tumor on her pituitary gland) has really changed how I think about having her. Literally, every day I take time to appreciate that she is here.
LikeLike
Poor Molly.
We still hope he hits the jackpot on a trial, but obviously, I’m here for insurance. We’ve had a lot of loss this year.
LikeLike
Hmmm, you may be on to something with this backing off thing.
LikeLike
It may not be necessary for everyone. But it helps me to have a re-set period from time to time on various aspects of life….just helps my mental approach to things.
LikeLike
I get that. I need a lot of down time myself. I just don’t want to get too brooding right now. I used to kill my social media accounts about once a year, it seems like. But maybe it would be good to simplify a little.
LikeLike
Isn’t the graph usually two dimensional, with authoritarian up and libertarian down in addition to left and right? i.e. Donald Trump would be top rightish while Rand Paul would be bottom rightish.
LikeLike
If authoritarian is “up,” how do we connect with the analogy that Jeter had no range going backward on pop-ups, either? 🙂
LikeLike
Like so?
https://www.politicalcompass.org/analysis2
LikeLike
LikeLiked by 1 person