Detroit Blues

This is going to be my least popular post MM/DD/YYYY is clearly superior to DD/MM/YYYY. The day is by far the least important information in the date, so why feed that to me first? What am I supposed to do with that information until I read the month? At least in MM/DD I know the season, the approximate weather, etc. before narrowing it down to the specific day of that month. Now before you get on your soapbox, YYYYMMDD is clearly the best date format. The information is organized in terms of most important to least, and it is easily sortable. Also, I am not willing to accept my country as being at fault for This/Next weekend issues. At least where I live, the common parlance is to refer to the upcoming weekend as "This" and "Next" refers to the weekend of the following week.

It makes sense if you consider every move in the lens of "how can i get the most attention."

It feels a lot like being a Leicester fan TBH. The people in charge are making decisions that make no sense. The system feel broken beyond repair, and now you are just kind of hoping it will fail spectacularly to show the apathetic masses that they need to wake up and demand change. The last time this country was this far apart politically, it ended with a Civil War.

The cynical part of me thinks senate democrats passing the budget, was to accelerate the damage done by Trump to win in the mid-terms.

When Trump landed on the scene in the 2016 republican primary, there was a giant power vacuum within the Republican Party and Trump was able to use the MAGA populists (non-traditional conservatives) to grab control of the party, because traditional conservatives were divided between supporting Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, etc. By the time an anti-trump coalition formed, Trump had grabbed enough moderate republicans to his base that they did not stand a chance. Once Trump won the ticket, the two party system forced anti-trump conservatives to either move to the Democratic Party, or align to his extremist populist agenda. Unfortunately for the world, Republicans have proven to be more interested in wielding federal power than they are preserving American Ideals/Values.

I've always wanted to visit Montreal, particularly to see the Wings play the Canadiens. How is it up there?

The two big dividing lines for trump supporters are 1) Race and 2) Education Level. Trump's base is white, non-college educated people. In fact, the same group was a big member of Bernie Sanders supporters. For too long, traditional politicians have ignored the plight of the working class that have gotten poorer and more desperate. Unfortunately, rather than electing a politician like Bernie Sanders that would do something about that wealth inequality, America elected a fascist that appeals to the worst characteristics of Americans - Racial Hate, Xenophobia, Homophobia, etc. The other thing to think about is, who didn't vote in 2024 that voted in 2020? Voter turnout was lower in 2024 than it was in 2020 by several million eligible voters. A lot of those people who sat out were young people, dissatisfied with the Biden administration over things like Gaza. Unfortunately, if they did vote, perhaps we'd have a different outcome.

They extend halftime by 10-15 mins for the SuperBowl, so I wouldn't be surprised. It takes time to setup the stage on the field, and then break it down after the show. Plus the players have to be able to come back out onto the field to warm up before play resumes. No way they can do all of that in 15 minutes.

You can pry the Timbits from my cold dead hands

Imagine living here.

That was an incredible game. I don't know I agree with the over the top aggressiveness of Dan Campbell, but the team is playing true to his (and their) identity. Campbell told his team going into the week that with all of the injuries on defense, the offense would have to be aggressive, and they did just that. They went for it 5 times on 4th down and converted 4 of them, including the game winning run to kill the clock and set up the field goal. The Lions literally played last night without 8/8 defensive linemen and 4/5 linebackers that were on their roster at the start of the season, and yet they still found a win to win against a tough divisional opponent.

Southampton have been dreadful, and yet they would only need to take one point in the next 15 matches to beat Derby's record.

When you do, please leave Detroit on the Canada side, it's close enough = )

I am going to try and stay optimistic for another week before the dread and panic sets in

I don't know that Harris will win, nobody knows that, but she certainly can win. In fact, it wouldn't really even be a huge surprise. Polling has it basically as a coin flip a week before the election. All Harris needs is for Democrats to turn out and she will likely win. Perhaps it is not evident over the pond, but the Democratic base is significantly larger than the Republican base. The only way Republicans win elections at the national level, is by lowering turnout (gerrymandering, purging voters from voting rolls prior to the election, good ol' fashion voter intimidation of ethnic minorities, burning ballot boxes, restricting the number of polling locations and polling hours, sabotaging the United States Postal Service to reduce voting by mail), bankrolling 3rd party candidates to pull away progressive/young voters (JFK Jr in 2024, Jill Stein in 2016/2024, Ralph Nader in 2000), Partisan Supreme Court tactics (Florida 2000), and their electoral college advantage which allows them to win the presidency without winning the popular vote. Republicans can and will do anything they can, legal or otherwise to win elections, and yet they still lose time and time again because they are less popular and have a smaller voting bloc. This is a minority party attempting to control national politics. So the gameplan is simple, if all the Democrats show up and vote for Harris, she'll probably win in a similar manner as Biden in 2020. She needs to win the blue wall (Pennsylvania-Michigan-Wisconsin) which almost always votes in the same direction. One of the big late factors in Harris possibly winning Pennsylvania is the Republicans calling Puerto Rico a garbage island. There are something like 200k Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania. If she gets that, she probably wins the election. She probably won't win Georgia, like Biden did in 2020, but North Carolina is definitely in play because the Republican running for governor is literally a black Nazi. She might lose Arizona and or Nevada, but she can still win without them. I expect it to look something like this - If she lost North Carolina, she would still win 270-268. I don't think he cares what people will think about him down the line. Nothing from his 2016 presidency, or 2020 insurrection leads me to believe that. However, even if he somehow decides to care about Space, NASA already has like the next 2 decades of missions planned. You don't just decide to do something in space and then do it within the same Presidential term. JFK challenged America to land on the moon by the end of the decade, back in 1962, and they landed on the moon in 1969, 7 years later. The more likely scenario is that he'll just take credit for whatever NASA does, like the moon landings scheduled in 2026 via the Artemis program. He'll probably like make them stick a MAGA flag on the moon, or something stupid Deport millions of Illegal immigrants, utilizing ICE like the Gestapo. Persuing retribution against his political rivals. Using the office of the Presidency to personally enrich himself (again). Appoint more MAGA cronies at all levels of government - Judges, Generals, Beaurocrats. Roll back environmental protections (again). Strike a "peace agreement" with Ukraine, that allows Russia to consolidate their gains and give them time to regroup and re-arm for their next European invasion. Significantly weaken NATO. Start up another trade war with China.

Fine, i'll bite. What's wrong with our cities?

This is going to be far from my most popular take - I'm Cooper Agnostic. I think his "system," whatever that is, and his player selections have been poor. But i will say that in every game, i got the feeling that his team was really fighting and competing. Even outgunned and out-coached, Leicester has at least put up a fight in every game this season. Perhaps that is a low bar, but after the relegation season, i won't discount how important that is. If he can figure out the right players and tactics, then this team could potentially be mid-table and easily survive the season intact. If he can't, honestly, seeing what we are competing against in the rest of the Premier League, we still might just scrape by. All that said, I think the thing that annoys me most the discussion of Steve Cooper, is how much baggage the "Cooper Out" crowd brings into it. Like, so many people are laying at his feet their disdain for the ownership, for Jon Rudkin, for the faults that led to relegation, and all this irrelevant crap that he has nothing to do with. We were miserable all of last year, complaining about Enzo, even when we won every week, and unsurprisingly that hasn't changed under Steve Cooper, now that we are not winning as often. There is plenty to blame Steve Cooper for, so i would just wish people would stick with the things he can actually control... like playing Ricardo

Small world! I lived and studied there 2006-2009. I assume you were doing study abroad or something? As for its current politics, the student and faculty population is obviously super liberal/progressive. As is parts of Lansing, they have a few particular neighborhoods that are very LGBTQ friendly and vibrant. The rest of Mid-Michigan though, is exactly as you remember it.

Yeah, Minnesota and the single district of Nebraska are generally solid democrat territory. I would be shocked if either went for trump this year. That leaves the race at 226 (D) vs 219 (R) with these battleground states remaining: Arizona (11) Georgia (16) Michigan (15) Nevada (6) North Carolina (16) Pennsylvania (19) Wisconsin (10) Since 1980-2020, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania have all voted for the same candidate in each election, with the sole exception being the 1988 presidential election: - 1980 /1984 - Reagan (R) - 1988 - Wisconsin went for Dukakis (D), Michigan/Penn went for H.W Bush (R) - 1992 / 1996 - Clinton (D) - 2000 - Gore (D) - 2004 - Kerry (D) - 2008 / 2012 - Obama (D) - 2016 - Trump (R) - 2020 - Biden (D) Since they account for 44 electoral votes, if they all go towards the same candidate, it would be the tipping point of the election. At 226 + 44 = 270, Harris would win the election by locking up the "blue wall" of Michigan/Wisconsin/Pennsylvania. If they go for Trump, her path towards victory is extremely slim, as Trump would be at 219 + 44 = 263. He would just need one of Arizona, Georgia, or North Carolina. If Trump only won Nevada, it would get him to 269 and an electoral college tie. In that circumstance, it would come down to who controls the House of Representatives (including the Nov 2024 races). 538 currently has Republicans at a 54% chance to retain the House of Representatives. The Senate would pick the VP, which means Trump could be saddled with a democrat as VP, or vice versa. I personally see Harris winning North Carolina, because the Republican candidate for Governor is so unpopular. Unfortunately, i think Georgia will go Republican. Either by actual mandate, or via 2000 Florida election shenanigans. This is the state, if you've been reading the news, has a partisan electoral commission that is changing the rules to force a hand count, and will likely not certify a Harris win. Unfortunately, if Harris wins Georgia, but they fail to certify, and that is the number of electors needed to get her over 270, then it will go to the supreme court, which will almost assuredly vote in favor of Trump on partisan lines. Lastly, it's just a gut feeling, but I can see Arizona and Nevada going for trump. Something about the focus on immigration, and Trump tapping into the anti-migrant hatred, in two states that have high populations of immigrants.

Honestly, in my opinion, denying the results of the election with no evidence to back it up is treasonous. Not only it disqualify that person from running for office again, but anyone who maintains that Trump won the 2020 Presidential election should be disqualified from holding office as well. Unfortunately, my fellow citizens living in the state of Michigan, do not agree. Mike Rogers, running for Senate in Michigan, maintains that Trump not only won the 2020 election nationally, but also won the state of Michigan in 2020. Biden won Michigan by 2-3% of the vote, which is something like 180k votes. How do citizens of Michigan feel about Mike Rogers, and his crazy election conspiracy theories? Well, he's only trailing Elissa Slotkin by about 4 points on average, and recent polls have him statistically tied.... It really makes you lose hope in democracy. No partisan viewpoints should be more important than our democratic values, and yet the NYT's latest poll has 95% of people who had voted for Trump in 2020 voting for him again in 2024. Denying the results of the election, raising an armed mob to attack the capitol, and all the other crazy things he's done in 4 years has only eroded his support by 5%. 19 out of 20 people who voted for him in 2020, saw what happened on January 6th, and are willing to support him in 2024. It makes me sick.

Any of ya'll get into Hell Let Loose? I picked it up on PC a few weeks ago. Really fun WW2 FPS game, and it's not just your run of the mill COD/Battlefield game, either. It really emphasizes squad based team work, and there's a command/leadership structure that provides a lot more strategy than any FPS game i've played before.

Nobody controls his anything, and if people are on TV talking about him, he is absolutely going to be watching He dictates his tweets, and spends large portions of his day (even when he was president) watching cable news. He is a egomaniacal sociopath, concerned only about getting attention and power.

If he loses (which is still a big if), I think he claims he won the election. I think he probably gets a lot of people riled up and do something stupid, like they did on Jan 6th, though I think the authorities will be better prepared to deal with it. Then, mainstream anti-trump Republicans will seize on the opportunity to take over the vacuum of leadership, eyeing 2026 mid-terms and 2028 presidential election primaries. Enough of Trumps' supporters will stop following him because he lost twice in a row, and he will no longer have the support of congress and the supreme court to protect him from the justice department's ongoing criminal investigations. The fact is, Trump needs to win to stay out of prison, which is why he is so dangerous.

Good on her. It probably doesn't help that the perception is that Texas will always be Red, so why bother, but it seems like Texas is becoming more and more of a toss-up nationally. I definitely grew up in an era where enlightened centrism, of "both sides suck" was very prevalent. Now, I think that couldn't be farther from the truth. The ideological divide between the two major parties has grown exceptionally over the last decade.

Probably? Buonanotte is far further in his professional development than Alves. He's played like a full season and a half of top flight professional football between Argentina and the Premier League. Alves has almost no professional experience.