The WBC, damaged pinstriped goods, Great Moments in Public Subsidies, a NIMBY Blue update, me hawking another book, appliances, steering wheels that fly off, gun nuts, and C*H*A*T*G*P*T
Look, that was a long time ago -- almost a month! -- I am getting offers from Las Vegas. I'm not gonna tell you people what to do, but if you want to form a committee to help fund the status quo of this newsletter, I will not stand in the way of the effort.
There is no such thing as a libertarian anymore. Hasn't been since the early 90's when white nationalists such as Ron Paul started taking over the party and the movement. Now when someone declares themselves to be a libertarian it's fair to just assume they are a white nationalist who is obsessed with removing child labor and age of consent laws.
Da Huh? I must have miss-read your comment. Are you saying anyone who is a libertarian wants to employee children and are ultimately rapist, pedophiles? Forget about the white nationalists BS. I'm so floored by your last sentence I'm going to ignore the white nationalist shit.
Yes I do make these assertions. And I don't make them out of nowhere, after GWB became the nominee in 2000 I left the Republicans for good, declared myself a Libertarian, and started organizing for Harry Browne. I thought they were serious about their views but after six years of watching them excuse the excesses of GWB's two wars and the war on terror I knew that Republicans had to be stopped and no supposedly principled libertarian group was going to do this. That's when I switched to the Dems despite my far right Christian upbringing.
As for the positions, yes and indeed that was the toughest part of being a member. They often didn't say it in public but if you engaged with them in private you'd eventually get to the most despicable parts, generally around civil rights laws, and age of consent. Lots would propose a 'maturity' test that of course would leave girls (and it was always girls) victims of the subjective judgements of adults.
https://store.mises.org/-p238.aspx (this book, by Murray Rothbard, one of the modern founders of Libertarianism, gushes about child labor's benefits. One sample: "Supposedly ‘humanitarian’ child labor laws, have systematically forcibly prevented children from entering the labor force, thereby privileging their adult competitors.”)
Ultimately the fact that in 2008 the LP nominated Ron Paul for president cemented their takeover by the far right, and especially fascists and white supremacists. My feelings in 2006 about where it was heading proved correct. Paul has a long history of antisemitism and outright racism, they chose to embrace that.
You can say you don't believe it but honestly I can't take that seriously. As I mentioned I was raised in the far right, my step-father was Christian Identity, the group that was a founding part of white terrorist extremists like Timothy McVeigh and became a big part of the foundation of modern seditionist and fascist organizations. I know the culture, I know who many of the leaders are, and once I was out of that house and got into the real world I quickly realized I wanted none of it. When I joined the LP I thought I was joining ethical and principled conservatives who had a view for the future that didn't include the 'evils' of socialism. I was wrong, and six years in there was enough to prove it. That it's gone much further since then demonstrates that I was correct to leave.
So yeah, I stand by what I said. I heard exactly those things and other arguably worse things during my time in, and most damning was that when confronted in public they will weasel around the topic but never give a straight answer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElPKwyA7GV8), and *absolutely* not condemn those who do openly call for a low or non-existent AoC, elimination of labor protections (including for children) or any form of protection for those who face discrimination.
I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to fully explain your position. That aside, I bristle at the incredibly broad brush you paint with. What you stated isn't me. No disrespect (and I mean that), but I don't care if you believe it or not as I have nothing to prove. Again though, thank you for expanding on your initial comment so throughly.
Thank you for being respectful in your response. I appreciate that. I do suggest a couple of things -
1) If you believe a humane form of libertarianism can created, one that recognizes human realities including prejudice, environmental disaster, exploitation, etc, please help develop it. I gave up on it, as it stands now it's a fantasy that ignores human nature.
2) If you are principled you must publicly stand against what the modern Libertarian Party (big L) stands for, it has been taken over intentionally by actual fascists which are the antithesis of libertarianism (small l).
I'd love to be wrong about libertarians. I'd love to be proven wrong. But at this point I've seen decades of their work and I haven't seen any serious effort to fix the problems. Maybe you and some others like you can change that. In the meantime I have to go for solutions that do solve problems even if it isn't the hypothetical optimal scenario libertarianism or other purist ideologies claim.
I dunno. Maybe because Craig understood that Charles Barkley was not making a racist remark but rather challenging a racist remark. Also, you do realize your wielding a knife and walking into a gunfight, no?
Just a public service announcement after realizing the true nature of the burning bag we keep trying to stomp on.
In unrelated news, we need an ignore button. My dad used to say he was going to invent a Zap machine that would just raise jackasses up where everyone could point and laugh at them,, but alas, he passed away without revealing the plans.
If the Jay G era doesn't collapse due to everybody's boredom and irritation soon, an ignore button would be excellent. I now have to skim over those parts of the conversation, which is an entirely new and unwelcome behavior reading CoC. Until now, I have enjoyed the comments section without reservation. Craig, I can appreciate that you have a dilemma. Doing anything to silence unwelcome comments isn't your style or what your values would lead you to do.
Hi all. Big day for me, as I am actually going into my office. This is a one time thing for now since once the three month window after having covid is closed, I am going from cautious to way more cautious. But today, it is off to the big city.
The question for the Yankees is not, what did they know about Montas? It's, why did they trade Montgomery and replace him with Montas?
Eternal optimism is my guess. Both have similar xERAs over the past several years of about 4.00, so they both look better by ERA than they really are (which is why Montgomery didn't yield a ton in trade). But Montgomery is a soft-tossing lefty while Montas is a hard-throwing righty. Montas also had an excellent 2019, better than anything Montgomery has done, and is a year younger. So my guess is they saw that shiny great year and were hoping to capture more of that.
I saw Rodon too many times in too many medocre outings for the White Sox against the Twins to ever be able to fully go in him. He's sure figured it out these past couple of years but still, memories linger.
My 6 years as Chief Civility Officer at Twitter were some of the best years of my life. Almost as good as my 4 years in high school as calculator salesman at the Tysons Corner, VA Circuit City.
PS The Nats’ Victor Robles ran into the CF wall in Lakeland yesterday, banged his knee on a pipe behind the padding and had to be helped off. His replacement, former 2nd round pick Daylen Lile, went 3-4 with a SB and some sparkling defense. After the game, Robles said he was feeling better. That’s what I’d say too, Wally Pipp.
PPS Thanks for the book update; now I know what to say I want for my birthday!
He's made some bad decisions - bulked up after the 2019 season, which messed with his game, especially his defense - and has gotten conflicting advice over the years (hit for power! no get on base!) from the team and (like everyone else) gotten jerked around the lineup by Sir Mix-a-Lot Davey Martinez. He also loves to bunt and gets HBP a ton but isn't really much of a hitter otherwise. He's clearly a defense-first guy who should be hitting 9th or serving as the PR/4th OF on a team, but the Nats have been so poor at PD that he's never been pushed. If Lile is really healthy and can be consistent after missing a season due to injury Victor may have finally run out of time.
A banger today… the Asheville story made me wonder if (1) Ohio’s failed commerce campaign had significant signage on the outfield wall (2) there’s a concession stand called “Frans Favorite Treats” and (3) why no Ohio media ever pick up on the full family enterprise? (I know the answer to #3…)
The car my mom had for most of my childhood was a brown 1976 LeSabre. It actually stayed in good condition, rust-wise, despite Michigan and then West Virginia winters and seldom being garage-kept. They got rid of it in 1990 or so.
My mom put cookie sheets under carpet scraps on the back seat floor of our '48 Plymouth. I used to pull all that away to watch the road and drop pebbles through. Yes I'm old.
Sadly, mom's Maverick was retired before I started driver's ed -- that woman developed some legit gunz due to its non-power steering! Instead, I got to train on a '79 Ford Fairmont. Still have no idea how I got up enough speed in that thing to get ticketed for going 55 in a a 40....
Me too! Mine was bright orange with a golf plaid interior (Dad bought it when an old car died and took the cheapest one on the floor). I prayed for it to die, too, but it never did.
Parents said "go to CUNY and we'll get you a car." Went to Brooklyn College (they couldn't have afforded anything else) and I got the hand me down '68 Plymouth Belvedere. #tank
I love Asheville and used to go there a lot. My brother-in-law worked for the city’s tourism department back in the late 90s and early 00s. And I love MiLB. But somehow we never made it to the park to see a game. Maybe this year I can do a Minor League road trip and see the Tourists, Knights, Drive and Fireflies, all within about 2 hours of each other.
PS Green Man is my favorite stop along the downtown brewery tour.
We wandered around by the Asheville ballpark during our 2012 East Coast road trip (we had a very liberal definition of "coast," clearly). Ballpark staff was very friendly, even by MiLB standards; they let us walk around inside the park a couple hours before game time.
“Apparently he is unaware of the fact that 91 of Ohio’s 132 state legislators, the governor and every single statewide office holder, a majority of the state Supreme Court, both U.S. Senators, and ten of the 15 Members of Congress from this state are Republicans…”
Sorry to nitpick but Sherrod Brown is still our Senator.
Oh boy, the appliance bit hit hard. I bought my house shortly after I started in my current job (the one I'm planning on early retirement from in 36 months) and the appliances are all from when I bought it. The refrigerator in particular makes a death rattle from time to time (it's a Hotpoint) so I've decided to replace that this summer before it dies and I lose all my food. The washing machine and dryer are Maytag and Kenmore Elite so they're probably on their last legs too. Then again they might have another five years left, hard to say. Them, I'm going to wait until they decide to keel over though because it will be less inconvenient to deal with a short time sans laundry facilities than sans refrigerator.
My youngest nephew turns 9 soon, and he plays baseball, so I might have an idea for him for Christmas. Thanks, Craig!
We replaced our washer last year. It had only been with us since 1994, three houses ago. I figured that it died of heartbreak as the matching dryer lost its last battle in 2021.
Good luck with clothes has been matched by bad luck with dishes. We are on our third dishwasher in ten years in this house, plus on our second in the attached in-law apartment.
Ugh, dishwashers are the devil's appliance! We've replaced two of them in 17 years. Our last one was a Consumer Reports top model noted for its quiet operation; unfortunately, it's the lack of a grinder that made it so quiet, and some food residue got past the filter and ended up making things stankyAF for the machine's final year. We were happy to replace it with a noisier machine that pulverizes any and all food leavings.
With the caveat that not everyone wants to deal with this stuff, we actually replaced the springs on our Maytag clothes washer after every load would get majorly out of balance and rattle the whole house. Aside from some tight spots to fit my hand into, and watching the wrong YouTube video (similar model but not exact..it matters), it was pretty easy and we got it back up and running like a champ for about $100 and a Saturday afternoon. Main point being, if you are into this sort of thing, YouTube has videos on how to fix just about anything.
My landlord did the same thing on ours recently. Not Googling fixes like that is one of the small pleasures of renting after 30+ years of homeownership. [He did swap the hot and cold hoses, though - I wondered why my clothes were so warm for a about a week before I figured it out.]
We became renters about 5 years ago, after 20+ years as homeowners. I had a circa 2000 washer and dryer still running when we sold the house in 2017. I'm pretty sure I had replaced every moving part in those things at least once. Now I just text the landlord when something breaks.
That would be useful but I can't afford to rent. If I rented my current house instead of buying it the monthly rent would be almost twice my mortgage payment. 😬
Our icemaker was making funny noises and otherwise misbehaving---found out that the condensation drainspout had frozen over. Goosed it with warmwater from a turkey baster, and wham. back in business. Much better than buying a new refr.
I did get a nice rush of accomplishment back in the day anytime I fixed something. And I've done some very minor repairs in the rental house just because it seemed silly to have the landlord pay for a minimum one-hour service call for something I could do (like replace a dead light switch) in less than 10 minutes.
My washer gets a little out of balance but that's because the adjustable feet are stuck and don't adjust any more. So I sit on top of it and read a book while it runs and that takes care of it for now.
At some point I'll get tired of that and stick some wooden shims under the offending foot but I haven't bothered yet. Too lazy haha.
We built our house 23 years ago and everything is still original. Going to be a really big bill once they start failing. My money is on the furnace going first - it's been given 2 years to live for ten years now.
When we sold our house last year, the new owners wanted our 32-year-old Kenmore washer and dryer. Still running well with a few repairs. The last time we had a repair guy out for a problem with the washer, he said he tells customers that if they could find the washer we had, buy it. He said it would last another 20 years. Meanwhile, the new GE appliances in the condo we bought are already making the noises Craig describes.
That's why I'm waiting until the washer and dryer give up the ghost. They're working fine for now, I'm not planning on staying in this house forever, I'd hate to buy new ones only to have THEM fail right before I sell and move.
Also going cheap on the fridge. Just want a big insulated box with cold on the bottom and frozen on the top, nothing fancy, that's just more parts to break.
We still have the washer and dryer that were here when we bought the house in 2006. Washing machine has crapped out on us twice since then, but it already had an appliance repair service's sticker on it and this guy who looks like Sam Elliot has kept the machine going at a very reasonable cost. (He advised us to keep it as long as possible; it's a fully mechanical machine with no microprocessors.)
Thanks for calling out the rank hypocrisy of fat-cat capitalists “job-creators” who have installed their adult children in sports teams, clubs and facilities, making them instant “job-creators”.
Now, please support the local community by pumping tax dollars into these facilities, or you’ll lose your beloved team.
We visited Asheville some years ago. Loved it! Didn’t even know there was a minor league park there. That’s a destination that doesn’t really need a MiLB facility.
We just had to replace an apartment-sized combo W/D for the third time for my daughters apartment. The first two lasted 4 years each. This time I spent long hours trying to find a different model, but was stuck getting the very same GE 24” space saver once again because of, well, space considerations, and also all the latest dryers are ventless and her building doesn’t allow that. Plus the lint drawer in the only two other possible machines (Frigidaire and Whirlpool, I think) were pretty inaccessible. They also no longer seem to offer an extended warranty. Oh, and I was willing to pay any amount less than the cost of a new machine to repair the old one, but GE no longer manufactures the part that we needed. Frustrating as hell.
As someone who has been to Asheville numerous times and who loves baseball, I had NO idea they had a minor league team. They can't possibly be that major of a tourism driver.
I’m the weirdo who travels to see MiLB games. In venture capital terms, we are not exactly a sizable TAM. We probably drive a solid four figures into the team’s’ revenue streams!
And yet despite my weird proclivities, my frequent visits to Asheville and our reasonable proximity now, we’ve never been to a Tourist game.
Minor appliance issue but my Keurig finally broke this morning. I managed to get one cup out of it before it shit the bed. I’m not going to say anything to my wife or Dad who are both coffee junkies and use it frequently. Gonna see who snaps first and springs for the new coffee machine. I think I can hold off in the mornings until I get to work.
Yes, you can do pour over though a paper towel. No, it is not any good. Yes, we suffered through it in a small cabin where they had a tea kettle but no coffee pot. The Folgers tea bag / coffee combo is a functional emergency solution.
i had a Keurig for 13 years. never did the vinegar thing. towards the end we did get a solution from Bed/Bath/Beyond to put thru it as we were starting to have issues with the flow. After it died i bought a replacement Keurig that lasted about 3 months. I then switched to a Mr Coffee that does both pods and pots and I've never been happier.
IIRC Keurig will literally give you a new needle assembly if you call them. Mine broke one morning during the pandemic and I almost wept but I was back in the game 2 days later.
Before we switched to the Keurig, we had a pourover that is our backup. They're not expensive, and if you're a purist, apparently make great coffee (I have an unrefined palate).
I have Melitta pour-over cone that sits on an insulated pitcher, also Melitta. It uses widely available #4 filters, and, for emergencies, I still have some #6 filters that I used with my previous pitcher/pourover system. (I upgraded early in the pandemic, when it became more and more difficult to find #6 filters without buying a case from Amazon.)
As someone who used to walk through the printing press area of the newspaper I worked at when I needed a break (we printed several papers in the area so it was usually running all the time, at least all the times I went back there), I enjoy the thought of Craig firing up the presses to get this newsletter out.
That was the subscription price increase.
Look, that was a long time ago -- almost a month! -- I am getting offers from Las Vegas. I'm not gonna tell you people what to do, but if you want to form a committee to help fund the status quo of this newsletter, I will not stand in the way of the effort.
Oh Jay… here’s your 5 seconds of attention you feel you’re entitled to. Run along now:
GenX, Sparky
J Zzzzzzzzzzzzx
If you were a libertarian, you wouldn’t support authoritarian policies and politicians.
There is no such thing as a libertarian anymore. Hasn't been since the early 90's when white nationalists such as Ron Paul started taking over the party and the movement. Now when someone declares themselves to be a libertarian it's fair to just assume they are a white nationalist who is obsessed with removing child labor and age of consent laws.
Da Huh? I must have miss-read your comment. Are you saying anyone who is a libertarian wants to employee children and are ultimately rapist, pedophiles? Forget about the white nationalists BS. I'm so floored by your last sentence I'm going to ignore the white nationalist shit.
Yes I do make these assertions. And I don't make them out of nowhere, after GWB became the nominee in 2000 I left the Republicans for good, declared myself a Libertarian, and started organizing for Harry Browne. I thought they were serious about their views but after six years of watching them excuse the excesses of GWB's two wars and the war on terror I knew that Republicans had to be stopped and no supposedly principled libertarian group was going to do this. That's when I switched to the Dems despite my far right Christian upbringing.
As for the positions, yes and indeed that was the toughest part of being a member. They often didn't say it in public but if you engaged with them in private you'd eventually get to the most despicable parts, generally around civil rights laws, and age of consent. Lots would propose a 'maturity' test that of course would leave girls (and it was always girls) victims of the subjective judgements of adults.
Specifically to these issues...
Child Labor -
https://jimheath.tv/2021/06/new-hampshire-libertarian-party-calls-for-end-of-child-labor-laws/
https://www.lewrockwell.com/1990/05/lew-rockwell/in-defense-of-child-labor/
https://store.mises.org/-p238.aspx (this book, by Murray Rothbard, one of the modern founders of Libertarianism, gushes about child labor's benefits. One sample: "Supposedly ‘humanitarian’ child labor laws, have systematically forcibly prevented children from entering the labor force, thereby privileging their adult competitors.”)
Age of Consent -
https://dailycaller.com/2022/10/07/age-of-consent-up-for-a-vote/
There is a lot more on this but I do not wish to pollute my search history like that.
White Supremacy -
https://inthesetimes.com/article/charles-koch-economics-nancy-maclean-book-james-buchanan-racism-education
Virtually all the white supremacists you see running hate groups consider themselves libertarians: https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/christopher-cantwell
Ultimately the fact that in 2008 the LP nominated Ron Paul for president cemented their takeover by the far right, and especially fascists and white supremacists. My feelings in 2006 about where it was heading proved correct. Paul has a long history of antisemitism and outright racism, they chose to embrace that.
You can say you don't believe it but honestly I can't take that seriously. As I mentioned I was raised in the far right, my step-father was Christian Identity, the group that was a founding part of white terrorist extremists like Timothy McVeigh and became a big part of the foundation of modern seditionist and fascist organizations. I know the culture, I know who many of the leaders are, and once I was out of that house and got into the real world I quickly realized I wanted none of it. When I joined the LP I thought I was joining ethical and principled conservatives who had a view for the future that didn't include the 'evils' of socialism. I was wrong, and six years in there was enough to prove it. That it's gone much further since then demonstrates that I was correct to leave.
So yeah, I stand by what I said. I heard exactly those things and other arguably worse things during my time in, and most damning was that when confronted in public they will weasel around the topic but never give a straight answer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElPKwyA7GV8), and *absolutely* not condemn those who do openly call for a low or non-existent AoC, elimination of labor protections (including for children) or any form of protection for those who face discrimination.
I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to fully explain your position. That aside, I bristle at the incredibly broad brush you paint with. What you stated isn't me. No disrespect (and I mean that), but I don't care if you believe it or not as I have nothing to prove. Again though, thank you for expanding on your initial comment so throughly.
Thank you for being respectful in your response. I appreciate that. I do suggest a couple of things -
1) If you believe a humane form of libertarianism can created, one that recognizes human realities including prejudice, environmental disaster, exploitation, etc, please help develop it. I gave up on it, as it stands now it's a fantasy that ignores human nature.
2) If you are principled you must publicly stand against what the modern Libertarian Party (big L) stands for, it has been taken over intentionally by actual fascists which are the antithesis of libertarianism (small l).
I'd love to be wrong about libertarians. I'd love to be proven wrong. But at this point I've seen decades of their work and I haven't seen any serious effort to fix the problems. Maybe you and some others like you can change that. In the meantime I have to go for solutions that do solve problems even if it isn't the hypothetical optimal scenario libertarianism or other purist ideologies claim.
I dunno. Maybe because Craig understood that Charles Barkley was not making a racist remark but rather challenging a racist remark. Also, you do realize your wielding a knife and walking into a gunfight, no?
How are you so bad at this.
Is he? He gets dozens of replies every day. I’m not sure why you think his intent is to defend policy rather than attract attention.
“The only thing that is worse than being talked about is being ignored.” Oscar Wilde
People notice shit on the sidewalk, too.
People go out of their way to avoid dog poop on the sidewalk. (Or, in your case in HHI along the wonderful beaches.)
People here are going out of their way to step in the feces day after day after day favoring it with attention.
Just a public service announcement after realizing the true nature of the burning bag we keep trying to stomp on.
In unrelated news, we need an ignore button. My dad used to say he was going to invent a Zap machine that would just raise jackasses up where everyone could point and laugh at them,, but alas, he passed away without revealing the plans.
If the Jay G era doesn't collapse due to everybody's boredom and irritation soon, an ignore button would be excellent. I now have to skim over those parts of the conversation, which is an entirely new and unwelcome behavior reading CoC. Until now, I have enjoyed the comments section without reservation. Craig, I can appreciate that you have a dilemma. Doing anything to silence unwelcome comments isn't your style or what your values would lead you to do.
Especially in San Francisco and Portland.
Like Paul Anka said, just don't look: https://y.yarn.co/091c7d34-8364-4200-aea0-dc545c367d57_text.gif
Good luck and God bless.
Hi all. Big day for me, as I am actually going into my office. This is a one time thing for now since once the three month window after having covid is closed, I am going from cautious to way more cautious. But today, it is off to the big city.
The question for the Yankees is not, what did they know about Montas? It's, why did they trade Montgomery and replace him with Montas?
I would have included Nootbaar if for no other reason that I’d get to mention that his older brother is Nigel Nootbaar.
I am not a fan of the NL’s version of the Evil Empire, but I’ve softened that stance since LaRussa left, plus Nootbaar is fun to watch.
I can’t believe there isn’t a candy bar named after Lars…
Oh, well, Lars Nootbar is definitely going to be in Book Two of Hall of Name when David Firstman gets around to writing it!
My daughter was the future Mrs. Bader during his time in St. Louis and when he got traded, she dropped him faster than Scott Adams' syndicate.
Eternal optimism is my guess. Both have similar xERAs over the past several years of about 4.00, so they both look better by ERA than they really are (which is why Montgomery didn't yield a ton in trade). But Montgomery is a soft-tossing lefty while Montas is a hard-throwing righty. Montas also had an excellent 2019, better than anything Montgomery has done, and is a year younger. So my guess is they saw that shiny great year and were hoping to capture more of that.
Has anyone ever said to you, "You're a peach, DelMonte!"
Dude...
God, all us Twins fans going "Where Frankie?" last year on Twitter and such have to be breathing mega-sighs of relief. I know I am.
I saw Rodon too many times in too many medocre outings for the White Sox against the Twins to ever be able to fully go in him. He's sure figured it out these past couple of years but still, memories linger.
My 6 years as Chief Civility Officer at Twitter were some of the best years of my life. Almost as good as my 4 years in high school as calculator salesman at the Tysons Corner, VA Circuit City.
PS The Nats’ Victor Robles ran into the CF wall in Lakeland yesterday, banged his knee on a pipe behind the padding and had to be helped off. His replacement, former 2nd round pick Daylen Lile, went 3-4 with a SB and some sparkling defense. After the game, Robles said he was feeling better. That’s what I’d say too, Wally Pipp.
PPS Thanks for the book update; now I know what to say I want for my birthday!
It's weird to think just how highly regarded Robles was as a prospect when his contact quality is so bad. Not that he's the first guy to bust, of course, but...just...gah! https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/victor-robles-645302?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb
He's made some bad decisions - bulked up after the 2019 season, which messed with his game, especially his defense - and has gotten conflicting advice over the years (hit for power! no get on base!) from the team and (like everyone else) gotten jerked around the lineup by Sir Mix-a-Lot Davey Martinez. He also loves to bunt and gets HBP a ton but isn't really much of a hitter otherwise. He's clearly a defense-first guy who should be hitting 9th or serving as the PR/4th OF on a team, but the Nats have been so poor at PD that he's never been pushed. If Lile is really healthy and can be consistent after missing a season due to injury Victor may have finally run out of time.
A banger today… the Asheville story made me wonder if (1) Ohio’s failed commerce campaign had significant signage on the outfield wall (2) there’s a concession stand called “Frans Favorite Treats” and (3) why no Ohio media ever pick up on the full family enterprise? (I know the answer to #3…)
let he among us who "designed" a car whose steering wheel *doesn't* randomly fly off cast the first stone.
I learned how to drive in a Ford Pinto. Steering wheel issues are small potatoes.
My rusted out car was a ‘75 LeSabre I bought in ‘91 for $900. I ended up riveting a couple of pieces of sheet metal in the footwells.
I loved that car.
The car my mom had for most of my childhood was a brown 1976 LeSabre. It actually stayed in good condition, rust-wise, despite Michigan and then West Virginia winters and seldom being garage-kept. They got rid of it in 1990 or so.
My mom put cookie sheets under carpet scraps on the back seat floor of our '48 Plymouth. I used to pull all that away to watch the road and drop pebbles through. Yes I'm old.
My first car was a rusted-out 1966 Ford Falcon. But my second car was a Pinto. I had it for less than a week before it was stolen.
Even better - it was found about a week later trashed and burned.
That exactly describes my 1966 Ford Falcon. God, I loved that car.
Sadly, mom's Maverick was retired before I started driver's ed -- that woman developed some legit gunz due to its non-power steering! Instead, I got to train on a '79 Ford Fairmont. Still have no idea how I got up enough speed in that thing to get ticketed for going 55 in a a 40....
Me too! Mine was bright orange with a golf plaid interior (Dad bought it when an old car died and took the cheapest one on the floor). I prayed for it to die, too, but it never did.
White with fake wood paneling and brown vinyl seats. The 70s were ... interesting.
That was the station wagon that was the first car I remember my parents having. With back seats that were sideways so they faced each other.
Parents said "go to CUNY and we'll get you a car." Went to Brooklyn College (they couldn't have afforded anything else) and I got the hand me down '68 Plymouth Belvedere. #tank
Too bad, McCormick is probably my favorite minor league ballpark--and they filmed Bull Durham there.
I wonder how many people would go to the site if it was something like a Waterpark instead of a minor league ballpark. Those seem popular.
I love Asheville and used to go there a lot. My brother-in-law worked for the city’s tourism department back in the late 90s and early 00s. And I love MiLB. But somehow we never made it to the park to see a game. Maybe this year I can do a Minor League road trip and see the Tourists, Knights, Drive and Fireflies, all within about 2 hours of each other.
PS Green Man is my favorite stop along the downtown brewery tour.
We wandered around by the Asheville ballpark during our 2012 East Coast road trip (we had a very liberal definition of "coast," clearly). Ballpark staff was very friendly, even by MiLB standards; they let us walk around inside the park a couple hours before game time.
“Apparently he is unaware of the fact that 91 of Ohio’s 132 state legislators, the governor and every single statewide office holder, a majority of the state Supreme Court, both U.S. Senators, and ten of the 15 Members of Congress from this state are Republicans…”
Sorry to nitpick but Sherrod Brown is still our Senator.
Lol brain fart.
Oh boy, the appliance bit hit hard. I bought my house shortly after I started in my current job (the one I'm planning on early retirement from in 36 months) and the appliances are all from when I bought it. The refrigerator in particular makes a death rattle from time to time (it's a Hotpoint) so I've decided to replace that this summer before it dies and I lose all my food. The washing machine and dryer are Maytag and Kenmore Elite so they're probably on their last legs too. Then again they might have another five years left, hard to say. Them, I'm going to wait until they decide to keel over though because it will be less inconvenient to deal with a short time sans laundry facilities than sans refrigerator.
My youngest nephew turns 9 soon, and he plays baseball, so I might have an idea for him for Christmas. Thanks, Craig!
We replaced our washer last year. It had only been with us since 1994, three houses ago. I figured that it died of heartbreak as the matching dryer lost its last battle in 2021.
Good luck with clothes has been matched by bad luck with dishes. We are on our third dishwasher in ten years in this house, plus on our second in the attached in-law apartment.
Ugh, dishwashers are the devil's appliance! We've replaced two of them in 17 years. Our last one was a Consumer Reports top model noted for its quiet operation; unfortunately, it's the lack of a grinder that made it so quiet, and some food residue got past the filter and ended up making things stankyAF for the machine's final year. We were happy to replace it with a noisier machine that pulverizes any and all food leavings.
With the caveat that not everyone wants to deal with this stuff, we actually replaced the springs on our Maytag clothes washer after every load would get majorly out of balance and rattle the whole house. Aside from some tight spots to fit my hand into, and watching the wrong YouTube video (similar model but not exact..it matters), it was pretty easy and we got it back up and running like a champ for about $100 and a Saturday afternoon. Main point being, if you are into this sort of thing, YouTube has videos on how to fix just about anything.
We bought our Maytags in 2004, and the only repair was a replacement of the in/out valve, which I did courtesy of YouTube. Still going strong!
My landlord did the same thing on ours recently. Not Googling fixes like that is one of the small pleasures of renting after 30+ years of homeownership. [He did swap the hot and cold hoses, though - I wondered why my clothes were so warm for a about a week before I figured it out.]
We became renters about 5 years ago, after 20+ years as homeowners. I had a circa 2000 washer and dryer still running when we sold the house in 2017. I'm pretty sure I had replaced every moving part in those things at least once. Now I just text the landlord when something breaks.
I feel seen.
That would be useful but I can't afford to rent. If I rented my current house instead of buying it the monthly rent would be almost twice my mortgage payment. 😬
Fixing things is one of my great pleasures of home ownership!
Our icemaker was making funny noises and otherwise misbehaving---found out that the condensation drainspout had frozen over. Goosed it with warmwater from a turkey baster, and wham. back in business. Much better than buying a new refr.
-Craig, back to you!
Ours had a mystery on again/off again problem that finally cleared up when I changed the water filter.
I did get a nice rush of accomplishment back in the day anytime I fixed something. And I've done some very minor repairs in the rental house just because it seemed silly to have the landlord pay for a minimum one-hour service call for something I could do (like replace a dead light switch) in less than 10 minutes.
My washer gets a little out of balance but that's because the adjustable feet are stuck and don't adjust any more. So I sit on top of it and read a book while it runs and that takes care of it for now.
At some point I'll get tired of that and stick some wooden shims under the offending foot but I haven't bothered yet. Too lazy haha.
I only sit on my washer during a hot water cycle.
We built our house 23 years ago and everything is still original. Going to be a really big bill once they start failing. My money is on the furnace going first - it's been given 2 years to live for ten years now.
Better to have to replace a furnace than repair its user.
When we sold our house last year, the new owners wanted our 32-year-old Kenmore washer and dryer. Still running well with a few repairs. The last time we had a repair guy out for a problem with the washer, he said he tells customers that if they could find the washer we had, buy it. He said it would last another 20 years. Meanwhile, the new GE appliances in the condo we bought are already making the noises Craig describes.
That's why I'm waiting until the washer and dryer give up the ghost. They're working fine for now, I'm not planning on staying in this house forever, I'd hate to buy new ones only to have THEM fail right before I sell and move.
Also going cheap on the fridge. Just want a big insulated box with cold on the bottom and frozen on the top, nothing fancy, that's just more parts to break.
We still have the washer and dryer that were here when we bought the house in 2006. Washing machine has crapped out on us twice since then, but it already had an appliance repair service's sticker on it and this guy who looks like Sam Elliot has kept the machine going at a very reasonable cost. (He advised us to keep it as long as possible; it's a fully mechanical machine with no microprocessors.)
Thanks for calling out the rank hypocrisy of fat-cat capitalists “job-creators” who have installed their adult children in sports teams, clubs and facilities, making them instant “job-creators”.
Now, please support the local community by pumping tax dollars into these facilities, or you’ll lose your beloved team.
I don’t think Sherrod Brown is a Republican and a I think he’s one of your two senators.
"As the newsletter goes to press this morning, Shohei Ohtani and Japan are leading China and Italy and Cuba"
Dang. I knew Ohtani was good, but didn't think he and Japan would be able to take on three teams at once! He and his new best friend, Noot, are unstoppable! https://twitter.com/TheGameDayMLB/status/1633508333423403028?s=20
We visited Asheville some years ago. Loved it! Didn’t even know there was a minor league park there. That’s a destination that doesn’t really need a MiLB facility.
We just had to replace an apartment-sized combo W/D for the third time for my daughters apartment. The first two lasted 4 years each. This time I spent long hours trying to find a different model, but was stuck getting the very same GE 24” space saver once again because of, well, space considerations, and also all the latest dryers are ventless and her building doesn’t allow that. Plus the lint drawer in the only two other possible machines (Frigidaire and Whirlpool, I think) were pretty inaccessible. They also no longer seem to offer an extended warranty. Oh, and I was willing to pay any amount less than the cost of a new machine to repair the old one, but GE no longer manufactures the part that we needed. Frustrating as hell.
Maybe we should just buy an extra one when we get new ones, and disassemble it for parts for future repairs.
But first we’d need to find a good handyperson!
RE: Asheville
As someone who has been to Asheville numerous times and who loves baseball, I had NO idea they had a minor league team. They can't possibly be that major of a tourism driver.
I’m the weirdo who travels to see MiLB games. In venture capital terms, we are not exactly a sizable TAM. We probably drive a solid four figures into the team’s’ revenue streams!
And yet despite my weird proclivities, my frequent visits to Asheville and our reasonable proximity now, we’ve never been to a Tourist game.
Minor appliance issue but my Keurig finally broke this morning. I managed to get one cup out of it before it shit the bed. I’m not going to say anything to my wife or Dad who are both coffee junkies and use it frequently. Gonna see who snaps first and springs for the new coffee machine. I think I can hold off in the mornings until I get to work.
Yes, you can do pour over though a paper towel. No, it is not any good. Yes, we suffered through it in a small cabin where they had a tea kettle but no coffee pot. The Folgers tea bag / coffee combo is a functional emergency solution.
A few days in a cabin ... and use a sock for coffees? That would add an interesting flavor.
I made coffee once with a dirty sock (all I had) when I was going through a period of athlete’s foot and toenail fungus
No instant?
I have three French presses in different sizes, thereby covering all of my coffee needs.
i had a Keurig for 13 years. never did the vinegar thing. towards the end we did get a solution from Bed/Bath/Beyond to put thru it as we were starting to have issues with the flow. After it died i bought a replacement Keurig that lasted about 3 months. I then switched to a Mr Coffee that does both pods and pots and I've never been happier.
IIRC Keurig will literally give you a new needle assembly if you call them. Mine broke one morning during the pandemic and I almost wept but I was back in the game 2 days later.
Before we switched to the Keurig, we had a pourover that is our backup. They're not expensive, and if you're a purist, apparently make great coffee (I have an unrefined palate).
I have Melitta pour-over cone that sits on an insulated pitcher, also Melitta. It uses widely available #4 filters, and, for emergencies, I still have some #6 filters that I used with my previous pitcher/pourover system. (I upgraded early in the pandemic, when it became more and more difficult to find #6 filters without buying a case from Amazon.)
As someone who used to walk through the printing press area of the newspaper I worked at when I needed a break (we printed several papers in the area so it was usually running all the time, at least all the times I went back there), I enjoy the thought of Craig firing up the presses to get this newsletter out.