gunnarthor

Actually, most of the Court's decisions are limiting the power of the legislative branch, not the judicial branch, OR limiting the protections of the Constitution. That's a pretty big difference. (Roberts court decisions have gutted the voting rights act, environmental laws as well as limiting the protections of the 4th and 14th amendments, for instance). Occasionally, when it suits their need, they claim that the decision is not one the Supreme Court should hear but usually they are quite willing to limit the people's will as expressed through Congress. I don't think people realize how conservative this court is because Kennedy was considered a "moderate" despite being an absolute conservative himself. The Court if much farther to the right than the American people and very close to the conservative nature of the Lochner era court. We'll see if they get there but I wouldn't bet against it.

He respects the integrity of the court the same way Collins is a moderate. We hear nice things and occasionally he makes a surprise decision (upholding Obamacare was one but not surprising since it was a significant boost to corporate America's interest). He's had some pretty seminal cases where it's pretty clear he doesn't care about the legitimacy or his legacy. The Court finally permits same sex marriage and what happens? All four dissenters write their own dissents and three of them read them from the bench. If there was ever a time for Roberts to keep the dissent in check, write one respectful dissent, and move on, it was there. But nope. All four railed against same-sex marriage while Roberts dissent was just the least objectionable. He upheld the Muslim ban which will be this generations Korematsu. He over-threw nearly fifty years of bi-partisan work to gut the voting rights act - twice. He cares not a whit about the integrity of the court. He cares about pushing his agenda and Kavanaugh helps him do that. Roberts himself has lived his entire life in an entitlement bubble. At oral arguments he once mentioned that he'd never even been pulled over for a traffic violation. He has no clue how people view him or the court. Our hope isn't in the courts. It's only in voters. The Supreme Court decided that the 14th Amendment demanded "separate but equal" for nearly 100 years. The Supreme Court decided the Constitution prohibited workers from organizing for wages and labor laws for 40 years. The Supreme Court decided that the First Amendment didn't protect speech that objected to the war effort. Those horrible cases were changed not because our Constitution was suddenly re-read. They changed b/c people demanded them by marching, causing social unrest and educating others on the problems by forcefully putting those issues on the front page.

Probably the courts before the new deal era but that's where we're heading. Remember, for a while, the Supreme Court was an enemy to basic concepts like child labor laws and basic work place regulatory acts by congress. That Supreme Court was fully pro-business and that lasted 30+ years as our country was transforming from rural to more industrial. The Roberts court is very pro-business and anti-union/worker. Roberts himself has done more to limit voting rights of African Americans than anything since the Jim Crow laws. And the court continues, despite the increased video over the last few years, to protect law enforcement from any liability for police abuses. Things are currently bad and have been for awhile. With Kavanaugh, they're going to get much, much worse.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/susan-collins-2020-election-kavanaugh_us_5bb7a778e4b01470d05150d0?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=main_fb&utm_campaign=hp_fb_pages Collins vote will raise 2.5m for her 2020 opponent. That person might be Susan Rice.

I can't find the link but I read an article earlier today that said just that.

We could trade Kepler or Rosario because that's a position of depth for us and, frankly, the Pohlad's aren't gong to pay to keep the nucleus around. Kepler will be 26 next year, Rosario 27 and both are entering their arbitration years. Notice I also said, "depending on the return" for them. I didn't suggest giving Rosario away. I like him a lot and am also willing to let him try third base. He's probably our strongest trade chip - his bat has been good for a couple years now and the defensive metrics decided to like him this year, most likely b/c Buxton wasn't in center rather than any actual change to his game. I'm also ok if the Twins don't move those two. But they should at least see what the market is for them.

Flip a coin between the two.

I don't think that'll happen but you're right that it could. But the Dem energy is huge and Kavanaugh turned off a lot of independents as well. So, we'll see ...

Well I'm fairly confident that the teams are taking advantage of the kids down there so hopefully this investigation leads to some serious changes that help those kids.

Well, looks like he'll get on the Supreme Court. Bummer.

In all seriousness, I think the Twins should consider trading either Kepler or Rosario, depending on the return. Wade and Cave could hold down a corner until Kiriloff is ready to come up and the new piece could help us in areas where we are weaker than OF depth. I haven't followed the Rays nearly enough this year to know but they have 4 MIers on their roster that put up some nice seasons with the bat in varying number of at-bats (Wendell 118 OPS+, Adames 109, Robertson 122, Lowe 112). I'm not sure if those four are even all still with the Rays, for that matter. But the Rays were interested in Kepler last year and might find a spot for him. But even if it's not the Rays, moving OF depth for IF help seems to make sense, unless the Twins are ready to go with a Gordon/Polanco MI out of the gate.

A solid off-season plan: 1) Trade Kepler 2) Sign Harper and Machado 3) Win

I gotta say, I'm impressed with McDonnell's ability to push things that the vast majority of Americans really don't want. His seat is secure but hopefully the left can take back Congress soon.

A friend of mine was telling me that Collins and Flake are like abusive boyfriends. They keep saying the right things and you keep hoping for them to change but at the end of the day, they don't change. I think I'll actually donate money to whoever challenges Collins in two years.

Nice ad. MLB is trying to get young fans involved in the game by letting the players be themselves. That's good. Players should display emotion. When I think of how bland this season was for the Twins, part of that blandness is that, with a few exceptions (Astudilo in Sept and Rosario before the injuries), no Twin was really showing emotion. They were a boring group and I think the fans sensed that.

Hope he wins his grievance.

I'm ok with giving Wade a shot but the FO didn't this year and I'm not sure he's good at not playing for several days and then being able to start or pinch hit in a game. For all his warts, Grossman has been a pretty good bench bat.

I don't mind him depending on what the rest of the roster looks like. Take his glove away. But his on-base ability is legit and something sorely needed. And he'll be cheap, which helps this club.

Wow, what a day to be busy. I think this was a very good move by the FO that had to be done.

Sickels has a nice write up on Mauer. https://www.minorleagueball.com/2018/10/1/17922066/the-career-of-joe-mauer

I have a political friend who says King is great for our side b/c he opens his mouth and money flows to the Dems. Because of that and the shape of his district, they haven't been too inclined to get rid of him but he told me this year, they'd spend more to try and kick him out. So hopefully it happens.

I think the failure is pretty clearly on the ML side of it though.

I don't think that's right. They were in the playoff hunt in 2015, down to the last series of the season. They had a very young nucleus of players and they carpet bombed 2016. They were in the playoffs last season. They should have at least expected .500 this year. Yeah, a lot of stuff went wrong this year but we shouldn't be happy with 78 wins. We should have expected this team to push Cleveland, which really wan't that good this year. Instead we got a bunch of unwatchable baseball for most of the year.

Yep. The Red Sox have actually had quite a few blunders themselves. If you look at mlbpipeline's list of top 100 guys, it included Allen Webster, Henry Owens, Barnes, Ranaudo, Cecchini, Ball, Swihart etc. Every single team misses. When you have additional resources - like $ - it helps cover those mistakes. Henry Owen and Allen Webster didn't turn into aces but they could go out and get Price and Sale instead so those mistakes don't hurt. Although the Red Sox do deserve credit for Betts, a 5th round pick, becoming Mike Trout. Wowza.

That was a nice send off for Mauer.