Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

PseudoSABR

Old-Timey Member
  • Posts

    6,120
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

 Content Type 

Profiles

Minnesota Twins News, Rumors & Analysis

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospect Rankings

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Minnesota Twins Trade & Free Agent Rumors

Minnesota Twins Fan Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by PseudoSABR

  1. Why remove him during a game if he's simply being promoted? Trade or injury seems more likely to me.
  2. To be clear, I am not for nationalized standard of education, per se. I'm for a nationalized funding of education, and a nationalized minimal standards for class-size, pay-rate, resources; and I'm opposed to minimal standards that measure achievement or attempt to standardized curriculum. That said, I'm not sure Mississippi or Alabama even have functional democracies. The states that seem to object to government solutions also seem to have the most people dependent upon the government for their livelihood. We have a vested interest in those southern school children, too, I think.
  3. America got out spent by other nations on education. If anything it's the lack of a nationalized education funding that has allowed for mediocre schooling to exist. Local governments have been handling (or mishandling) education for generations, under the inane policy of connecting education to property taxes. States have been instituting their own standardized tests etc. without any federal influence for decades. Locality isn't the answer; it's more funding, so that local governments don't continually try to stream-line the process through cheap assessment (like standardized tests). The problem is we're cheap. We underfund essential government programs and then claim that they don't work--a self-fulfilling prophecy. Of the nations that are ahead of the US in education, how many have privatized education? How many have more nationalized and socialized education than the US?
  4. It will be interesting to see if his game can translate; that said, good deal for the Twolves
  5. I really just don't get the fervor behind libertarianism. The market has already had nearly unabated access to address issues like employment, healthcare, poverty, education... Part of the problem with the new brand of right wing governance is that they gum-up the legislative process. I think we need to acknowledge that quasi-government solutions are sometimes necessary (depending on the nature of the problem). I think we need to experiment, be willing to invest public dollars in programs that have some risk of failure, and may run at some public loss. I think a libertarian approach would handicap any potential experiment. Libertarianism, while shows foreign and fiscal restraint; I don't think offers much in the way of workable ideas, as sound as it might be theoretically/philosophy. I mean how is libertarianism different from austerity. I mean, other than not being rightwing crazy (and not a democrat), what ideas would a libertarian candidate offer that would address any of the issues we've been talking about. I think we need less ideology and more ideas, programs, etc. not just stances on issues. I apologize for painting with a broadbrush, but I am curious about the viability of such a candidate.
  6. Opened a 40 man spot for Santana? Or did Ervin count against the 40-man during his suspension?
  7. What's a deadbeat? How does one become one? Perhaps a full grown unwanted child? I don't think it's so easy to draw distinction between those who really deserve our welfare and those who abuse it.
  8. I agree, Levi, though I do think it's interesting that you frame the discussion with "unwanted pregnancies" as opposed to "unwanted children." Each are related phenomenon, but policy would favor very different measures to address when that which is unwanted comes into existence anyway.
  9. No one argues whether the fetus is alive. The argument is whether a fetus is a juridical person, a person with rights. This is not a scientific issue. Personhood is an abstraction, one we write onto the world. (The legal definition of when a fetus becomes a person is staked on viability, which typically happens in the third tri-semester--this is largely seen as an arbitrary marker as the implication of personhood, is in the rights we grant that person). I'll frame the abortion argument this way: what does it mean to make abortion illegal, or otherwise inaccessible? Is a human being's sense of personhood effected by being raised by a person who does not want them? To what extent are pro-life people willing to invest in maintaining unwanted children's sense of personhood? The hypocrisy I cannot overlook is found within a philosophy that compels people to birth unwanted children and abandons those it claims to save simply because they are born. I think we'd all be in a better ethical place to have this discussion if we sought to compel birth in a society that we knew would go on to care for those people. There should be no fight to establish a meaningful safety net if we truly care for those we compel towards life.
  10. All? That's a huge deal. At least for me. I've been without insurance for nearly a decade and I've had chronic health problems that I just had to tough out or pay out of pocket. There's simply no need to diminish that. Preventive medicine itself is a cost control. Otherwise I'd end up at the emergency room when I couldn't tough it out any longer, and my cost of care would be at it highest. The market will never appropriately price where there is inelastic demand. We need to find a way to take the profit out of healthcare without diminishing the need for innovation and efficiency. That's a complex problem that neither side has many workable ideas (beyond the socialistic single-payer, heaven forbid).
  11. Many state laws ban abortion even if it's the only method to save the woman's life. No one in this thread has implied Republicans are evil. We all care about the truth. We are all good people. So let's just stop with challenging any of that. Abortion, like guns, has become such a stalwart political necessities for Republicans that they will not comprise in any capacity. Everyone suggests that Roe and Carey (which is the actual law), is a liberal decision--but really it is comprise between liberal and conservative values. Just like ACA (Obamacare) is a compromise between liberal and conservative values. The teaparty seems to be against compromising with those whom they disagree which seems like a bad fit for governance and leadership to me.
  12. The Court didn't have to go as far as they did, but I was heartened by Kennedy's opinion. “It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions.”
  13. The problem for many of the leading conservative candidates is that they really don't have the poise or gravitas that especially conservative-leaning voters expect of their President. Jindal, Rubio, and even Jeb fall here. The ones that do demonstrate confidence have their own eyesores--from hubris to controversy--that mar their presidential mystique. Cruz, Christie, Walker, Santorum, Trump etc. fall here. Then you have a guy like Paul Rand who might be nationally viable if it weren't for the fact that he's out of step with the Tea Party, and really post-Reagan conservatism in general. I don't think any of them have a chance. If Hillary gets the nomination--even though she's something of American royalty and totally over exposed--we shouldn't diminish the fervor created by the first likely woman president, and frankly, rightfully-so. I think the Republicans begin to get wind of such a political and cultural environment and gravitate towards nominating Rubio, to win the identity war, who would lose by Bob Doyle proportions.
  14. He does have good hustle from the bullpen and pitches with the wrong hand, but no.
  15. I'd agree that most hate Obama because of his politics, but much of those--meaning a significant portion--are motivated by deep-seated, even latent racist tendency. I think case-in-point example is the outcry about Obama using the n-word from the far right; if that faux outrage isn't a subtle form racial deafness I don't what is. The birther argument along with the many stories of public officials circulating emails that compare Obama to primate reinforce this notion. I think too many people define racism as hating another race. Racism is any assumption applied to an individual purely on the basis of their skin. American racism--in its pervasiveness--is latent and systemic, so that it is near invisible. Reminds me of the proverb where an old fish asks two young fish "how's the water today, boys?" and the young fish turn to each other and say "what the heck is water?"
  16. Great post, my friend. Asking the questions that you do and being bothered by troublesome facts are the kind of investments we need. There are no good answers to your questions. I only stress that we cannot be stymied by false starts and lost causes. So much policy would have to be 'grandfathered in' for it to be a effective, sadly. What ever good there is to be done, many will be left behind.
  17. Of course, money alone does little. Implementation matters. Ideas matter. Meaningful education that leads to real skills matter. But we probably need the funding before we get the best ideas and the best people. As to 'our nature,' there will always be a tendency for people to aggregate into groups and seek claims of dominance or victimhood, but hopefully we can move beyond such pervasive groupings based on skin color.
  18. Taxes. We need to make huge investments in education in impoverished areas, in infrastructure, in skilled labor training, in day care, welfare-to-jobs programs etc. etc. We need to be willing to experiment with public policy until we find what works. We can't be scared of sunk cost. If there's ways to incentivize private firms to help address poverty, I'm all for it; but we can no longer wait for the market to care for the indigent, much less make them self-sufficient. Totally unrealistic, I know. What needs to shift is our American values where we think "mind your own business" and "not my problem" to something that takes being our brother's keeper far, far more seriously. We need to go outside and play with the neighbor's kids, get to know them, and give a **** about them.
  19. Go vote. There's more than just the presidency on the ballot. Cynicism is healthy, but an outright boycott of the political process does nothing to change the political process. (Almost half of eligible voters don't vote, historically). Criticism always rings more true coming from those who partake than those who don't.
  20. Maybe with some help you could. Takes a village to raise a child. That's our solution. Enough of this "it's not my problem" crap.
  21. Honest take, but you should care, and you should try; it's not about reaching a point of understanding, it's about the attempt, I think. I look at it this way: How darkly must opportunity shine to motivate a whole group of people to habitualize a form of civil disobedience? Rather than look at the behavior and see evidence of a non-systematic effect, why not see that widespread resistance of authority as proof of their pervasive, inter-generational bad experience with authority?
  22. Vargas and Mauer. Oi. You guys make me so angry and so happy!
  23. Vargas keeps showing why he doesn't belong. Maybe if we bat Mauer and Vargas back to back we can better avoid double plays.
  24. Struggles are one thing. Lapses in judgment and effort are another. I can't say for sure that Buxton has a better approach, attitude, or effort, but with the way he's been hitting in AA, it might be time to give him a cup of coffee. His speed and defense will pay immediate dividends. If he looks overwhelmed, send him down and play Hicks the rest of the season.
  25. For the Twins, Hicks is a rotational outfielder, that has the athleticism to play centerfield. He'll be low cost over the next several seasons, and will be quality and necessary depth. During that time, I hope he can address his capacity for lapses in judgment, attention and attitude, and build up value as a tradeable asset. I don't think he'll ever be much with the bat; and although I agree with those who say he looks better, he still looks scared and passive to me. Bring up Buxton soon, please.
×
×
  • Create New...