D. Hocking

Collusion aside --- these are things the President of the United States has said in the last few days (paraphrasing): Windmills -- what happens if there is no wind - and then I can't watch TV... (notice how not watching TV is what he considers a horror). Because he absolutely has to be the best at everything - he has to claim "I know a lot about wind!" Going on and on about a representative in Congress having a skinny neck like he is some third grade bully (and not to be petty, but should Trump be giving anyone a bad time about their physical condition?). On a very presidential note, you can now buy a t-shirt with a picture of Adam Schiff literally having a pencil neck on the official Donald Trump merchandise webpage. Some rant about how much money we will save if he closes the border highlighting how he still really has not bothered to figure out how trade works and why he has gone bankrupt more than once. Pretending he is an expert on the Great Lakes he claims record deepness - very deep. Lake Superior itself has to actually dispute that on twitter. Not to mention his praising of the Great Lakes is a bit hypocritical since his proposed budget wanted to do big time slashing in that area. Pretending he is a great savior to the Special Olympics when he got enough negative reaction that he had to pretend he was not fine with the money being slashed in the first place. Having the nerve to say he has done more than "any living person" for Puerto Rico. Even if he has committed no crime, this man is not fit for office - he is lazy, he lies, he has no moral center, is petty and vindictive, and he is proudly ignorant and feels that his gut feeling on things is how he should make his decisions -- not on any of the experts or amount of data he could review (unless he hears it on Fox&Friends or Hannity). He really, really, needs to get voted out in 2020.

I think unless there is some unforeseen injury or they lose momentum when the clinch the division in August -- they are on a strong march to 162-0.

I was actually scanning for this post when I first read the thread. I was disappointed when it was not there yet, but glad you came through.

I am not sure worse - but it does seem odd. Plus even though Dozier and others were gone mid-year, it still seems strange to glance at the line-up and not see some of the old standards (not that that is a bad thing). I saw Phil Miller tweet that Joe is not there because the girls are on spring break (we did not have that when I was in kindergarten). Speculation on my part, but from the few clips or tidbits I have seen of him during the off-season, I am really under the impression that Joe does not have any second thoughts and has fully embraced life as Dad Mauer with the occasional charity sporting event.

I am hoping you will still take time to post here and contribute to TD after you make it as a big time commentator.

Yes - I think that has always been the way to get Trump out of office. Even if the report would have said collusion, I don't the the GOP in the Senate would do anything and would not convict even if the House impeached him. I had already heard a number of people starting to argue collusion would be no big deal. I do think they need to continue to try and get the full report and not abandon the other investigations, but they need to chew gum and walk a the same time and have a large focus on the election and focusing on other issues than just being anti-Trump. I am not sure what the make-up of the open Senate seats are for 2020 - but it would be nice to have people like Mitch and Lindsey lose a bit of their power.

Things are going to get ugly(ier). Trump is going to feel pretty unrestrained and not feel limited in what he can do or say about people he feels are not loyal to him and the GOP leadership is going to stay out of his way. I do think the above quote should probably be amended to read:

Sadly, there does not appear to be a Rod Stewart cover of "What a Feeling!"

Yes - I feel bad for him and for his sake I hope for a quick recovery, but at one time I would have been bummed because I thought it would be a set-back for a key to the future really coming into his own. Now I think he still has potential to be a contributor, but nothing guaranteed, and probably not as one of the team's crucial, irreplaceable cornerstones.

Good foreign policy, although it appears it might not be something of which Trump is aware. https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1098343075280310273

I believe this was from Chief's 30th or 40th birthday. The painting was discovered on a cave in France.

The Twins home opener is 6 weeks from today. I am sure by then this will all be a faded memory and the steamy late March heat will make us wish for cooler times.

I thought the same thing about the WCCO interview. I have noticed a couple of times in the past when he had been interviewed by some national sportswriter that he gave more interesting answers largely because they did ask him some different questions. He did not just shoot of a canned response which he could often do with the local interviews because they often asked him the same thing over and over. I remember someone (I think it might have even been Souhan) saying that when Joe does not have to answer questions about himself and how he is feeling he actually has some interesting things to say about the game. He might end up being a much better interview as a relaxed retiree than an active player who probably often felt he had to be politely defensive and guarded in his responses.

I grew up in the Ely area (Babbitt) in the 70's and 80's. I remember many days when the class room would be half empty because the the kids from Embarrass were stranded somewhere on a broken down bus somewhere on the way to town. They would arrive half-frozen about 45 minutes late. Now I am going to sound almost as old as Chief - although I don't remember the mammoths. I remember 81-82 being esp. cold winters and the windchill reaching -100 below by the old calculations (be between 60 and 70 below now). I think that was one of the times the official thermometer in Embarrass broke, and the only time I remember school being cancelled not due to an actual snow fall. Other than that I never remember it being cancelled simply due to cold (although in retrospect, the way the buses broke down, there were probably other times it might not have been a bad idea to cancel a few other times).

So no one volunteered to be part of this trick? I think it would have really made the evening memorable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sW8YnEobznw

Thanks for sharing - sounds like a good experience or in Mauer speak "neat". I remember someone saying (I believe it might have even been Souhan) when Mauer does not have feel like he has to ask the standard interview questions about himself (how are you feeling etc.) and is just talking he actually is a bit more chatty and has some interesting baseball insights. I thought that was even a little evident in the Twinsfest 'CCO radion interview where he was pretty relaxed. Now that he no longer is in that player mode where felt the need to be more guarded in his answers he might have some interesting stories that he tells in future interviews.

from MLK Day -- this rubbed me the wrong way a bit:

This tweet shows that he cannot resist about bragging about anything (and here he is bragging about buying fast food even though he himself owns a hotel nearby where he could have upped it a level), and that he has to lie about anything (even if there were 50 people in attendance - for 1000 burgers to be gone, it would mean each person had 20 burgers), and he really does not believe in proof-reading.

You have to admit he has brought a new level of class to the White House.

If Mitch actually did his job and/or had a soul he could get enough Senators to override a veto. Instead he is too craven and interested in his own self-interests to even bring something to vote unless Trump gives him his blessing. Trump's fear-mongering is such a low point for the country - his latest tweets:

I am guessing there are a number of people in Chicago who were wishing they had decided to skip the game and went to the movie theater.

Today in a cabinet meeting, where he had a big poster of himself on the table, he thought he would make a real good general, blasted General Mattis, said he could be popular enough to hold office anywhere in Europe, thought the Soviet Union had cause to invade Afghanistan, and said lucid statements like this: How can the GOP leadership pretend this is OK ( I know judges, corporate tax cuts, etc., in the short term they are getting what they want and in reality he truly does reflect what they are underneath their conservative power suits and ties).

I thought the beginning of the third season it was starting to get a little stale, but then it clicked again. The actress playing Janet had a tour de force performance in the episode leading into the holiday break. Jason is the character who I think is funny in small doses, but gets a little tedious when is the focus of an episode.

I actually thought it was kind of nice and kind of appropriate for Mauer that they surprised him with it at his old Cretin stomping grounds and almost a casual affair. No doubt they have a big formal Mauer day at Target Field next summer, but will be hard (or impossible) to beat the unofficial Mauer day the last day of the 2018 season. The people behind that deserve some kudos. From the clip I saw, he kept his speech pretty much geared for the kids in the audience and told them to enjoy and appreciate what they were doing, because it goes by quickly. Oh, and he thanked people.

Profile in courage Paul Ryan must be upset that this possible temper tantrum shut-down is interfering with his stream self-congratulatory exiting his office tweets of what a great job he did with the tax bill. I am sure Speaker Ryan was forceful and truthful with Trump and did not simply try to appease him and his ego and tell him what he wanted to hear.