Ramblings from a mind that is often irrationally upset about things

The Senate Republicans have released a coronavirus aid package valued at approximately 1 trillion dollars. This is on top of the previous 3 trillion dollar package. The original federal budget had a 2.7 trillion dollar deficet. That's not the total budget, that's how much they are in the red for 2020. Add all that together and the United States government is 6 trillion dollars in debt for one year of operation. That is an insane amount of money. How much you ask?  1. You could buy Jeff Bezos 32 times.  2. You could buy the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Bulls outright and have enough left over to get a third of the Chicago Cubs.  3. You could outbid Steve Cohen's offer for the Mets by $5,998,000,000,000. That many zeros makes my head hurt.  4. You could buy 7,500,000 apartments in New York City. If you wanted farmland, you could buy Iowa and 60% of Illinois.  5. You could fund an army 8 times the size of the United States'. (That includes all branches) 6. You...

Dustin Honken was executed July 17, 2020 for the murders of two children. He was also serving life sentences for the murder of three adults. He was born in Britt, Iowa. This town is 11 miles from my hometown and where I went to high school. Honken also attended the same college as me. I did not know him personally due to the fact that I was 10 when this started and 16 when it ended, but it was a huge deal for this area while I was growing up and when he was finally executed. This is his story. Early Life Details on the internet are a little thin and due to the fact I am currently working 50+ hours a week, I didn't do any interviews, just relied on the internet. Honken was born March 22, 1968. His father was an alcoholic and career criminal. Honken's first taste of crime was copying a bank key for his father, who then robbed the bank. He was later arrested for 2 bank robberies and sent to prison. He would reportedly brag to his kids about his criminal exploits when they visited....

Baseball is back everybody. Cubs vs. White Sox on ESPN Sunday night baseball in 2 days. Now, let the arguments commence. Fangraph released a  ranking  of shortstops and put El Mago, the King, at number 13. They seriously think there are 12 people better than Javy at SS. They are wrong. I then realized I was biased and should take a step back. So I did. (At this point your author drank some Busch Light). After reconsideration, Fangraphs is still wrong. Javy is Top 5 at worst. I would say 1, but I am biased and adult enough to realize I am biased, so Top 5. Fangraphs is a sabremetric site, so I looked at some stats they had figured and compared Javy to the top 5. We gonna look at Batting line, WAR/BAT, and DRS.  Batting Line. AVG/OBP/SLG Lindor, CLE .289/.353/.529 Correa, HOU .270/.356/.503 Simien, OAK .271/.347/.414 Bogaerts, BOS .290/.363/.501 Seager, LAD .278/.344/.475 Baez, CHC .273/.312/.510 The biggest knock on Baez was his hitting. That's the weak spot per Fangraphs....

I was scrolling the socials this evening when I came across this  piece of garbage . Pete Thamel attempting to cash in on the coronavirus with some fear-mongering bullshit. Ol' Pete coming with the hot takes and good sources obviously knows more than you and me, right? He starts us off with a bang.  I have no idea what he is talking about with MLS. Haven't heard anything. Pete can have this one. Is MLB having hiccups? Yes. Is the season happening? Yes. Also, the Chicago Cubs currently have zero positive tests. Pete won't tell you that because it doesn't fit his bullshit narrative. He is just going to focus on all the bad news and none of the good.  Pete dropping bombs here. It will be a year before we have football per.... um.... I don't know who said it because he has no source. This is the same lazy bullshit reporting that the New York Times uses to write hit pieces. Pete doesn't have a source. He has an off the record conversation disc...

So.... I came across this on Parler today. Left turn. If you aren't on Parler you should be. It's very entertaining. Back on track, this post just blew my mind. Accusing Stephen Colbert of raping, murdering, and eating a child to join a club? And wearing shoes made of said child's skin? There has to be a rabbit hole here. There has to be more than this random screen shot. So, in the interest of unbiased reporting and intellectual curiosity, I googled multiple searches to find out what this is about. There is nothing. Crickets. There is one, this  Reddit thread  which is a longer version of the above post. It also includes this, which seems to contradict the whole murder and shoes made from children's skin narrative. I mean, if Tom Hanks bought you to get into this club, you're not alive, right? Me being me, I also googled the person who posted this. I found her Facebook and wow. I consider myself to be fairly right wing, anti government, and ...

I personally find the Roger Stone case very interesting. The guy was definitely a political operative and consistently operated in a murky gray area around legality. I don't have the legal expertise to understand all the quirks of his case, but  here  is a good article summarizing what and why he was convicted for. The part that intrigues me is the 4th Amendment and the good faith idea behind search warrants. I am a firm believer that the legal process and court system is overly complicated. I will not pretend to be an expert, but I am attempting to bring a common sense approach to things. The 4th Amendment states "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."   The Surpreme Court has...

Ok folks, apparently the 20ish people that read my blog haven't managed to change the world yet so here we go with another edition of don't drink the koolaid. I am going to hit both the left and right this time around so, if you don't like the first part just power through to the second. First up is this gem of an  article . The whole point of this article is that the rona is never going away. The author completely ignores any possibility that a vaccine or herd immunity may occur and proceeds to explain that Trump and "idiot army of supporters" are actively trying to spread the virus. Some quotes. "Trump doesn’t have a plan to beat the virus. He never did. He’s been  encouraging his Idiot Army  to spread it. He’s on the side of the pandemic. He’s not about to have a plan. But…" I'm not here to argue whether or not Trump has done a good job, but saying he is on the side of the pandemic is definitely leaving the realm of logical thought and drinking th...

So..... in case you been under a rock the number one college football conference in the country announced that they will play  only conference games . This brings up almost more questions than it answers. Are they just playing the current 9 game conference schedule? If so, Hawkeyes go 7-2, maybe win 8. Are they adding more East vs. West games? Are they going to eliminate all East vs. West and play home and away against just your division? That would be wild. Two games against each division opponent? Give me some of that action. Whatever they do, at least we have football this fall. Stay safe, folks, we are almost there.

The Cubs schedule dropped today and it looks awesome. 60 games in 65ish days. (I don't know how calendars work). Let's see how the season will shake out. July 24 – Brewers July 25 – Brewers July 26 – Brewers Cubs sweep 3-0. Rizzo is fired up. Rossi is on a mission. The ivy is green. July 27 – at Reds July 28 – at Reds July 29 – at Reds July 30 – at Reds Cubs take series 3-1. The Reds get one due to home field. We are now 6-1. July 31 – Pirates Aug. 1 – Pirates Aug. 2 – Pirates Cubs sweep. The Pirates aren't good and they know it. Rossi has the fans ready to run through brick walls and the players ready to run through buildings. El Mago is doing magic shit and Contreras has 5 pick offs at first minimum. 9-1 record. Aug. 3 – Royals Aug. 4 – Royals Aug. 5 – at Royals Aug. 6 – at Royals At this point a division of Abrams tanks could be placed in front of the Cubs roster and it wouldn't stop these guys. Rossi points and Rizzo and Bryant go. 1...

There is soccer. MLB is in training camp. NBA and NHL are back. I feel confident we will see college football in 9 weeks at Kinnick. Apparently CBSports has the beloved black and gold at 7-5 for the year. I disagree. Let's look at the schedule. UNI @ Kinnick This is almost always a closer game than expected, but the Hawkeyes will win. My only concern is that they sleep on this game, but I don't think Coach Kirk will let that happen. Iowa State @ Kinnick Iowa State will be good this year. They won't be good enough to win in Kinnick. It will be a tough game, but, as good as Purdy is, he doesn't have enough weapons to get past the Iowa defense. Petras is untested, but Iowa has never been a quarterback focused team. They will emerge victorious at home. Minnesota @ Minnesota The Gophers will definitely be looking for revenge after last year's loss at Kinnick, but it won't be enough. They definitely had a great run last year, but will take a step back this year. The o...

The level of koolaid drinking has reached an absolutely ridiculous level. I will forewarn the readers, this is a shit on CNN blog.  This article  was posted yesterday. It includes several statements portrayed as facts that are not facts. The opening paragraph is great. " Reports that the  Russians bribed the Taliban  with bounties for killing US service members were stunning -- and not just because of the alleged targeting of American soldiers, but because the Trump administration apparently did nothing to retaliate against Russia." Did anyone with half a brain read this before they hit publish?  John Bolton  says it is unverified intelligence. There is not a single person in Washington willing to go on record saying that Russia offered bounties on US troops. It is an unverified, uncorroborated, report that the New York Times ran as fact. The actual fact that no one is confirming that this happened is apparently lost on CNN. Instead, they use a completely u...

So, if you would of told me 3 months ago I would be writing a blog defending Uncle Joe, I would of laughed. I have heavily criticized both the right and left for their biased reporting and use of anonymous sources. I have mocked and judged people for being disrespectful to President Trump and former President Obama. I wrote a lengthly  blog debunking  a post that called Trump supporters stupid. I have staunchly and tirelessly supported the common sense, middle ground. And now, the right has become the left and forces me to defend former VP Biden.  This article  appeared in the National Review and is a speculative hit piece that is as horrible as any written about Trump. Here we go with the quotes. "He stays off the campaign trail on the pretext of the virus and his age-related susceptibility to COVID-19 morbidity."  At this point anyone denying that coronavirus is real and a threat to elderly and people with underlying conditions is an idiot. Has it been overblo...