Mark Davis

Keep in mind you get so many strikes from the jury pool, it would be pretty easy in certain areas to strike any even moderate jurors. I'll admit I never followed this case at all because I assumed guilty from the venue.

I'm not arguing with you to try and insult or put you down, I do believe you believe in the best. I wish you were right, I'd just bet my last breath you are wrong on this. In fact, I know you are from my "side" as people perceive it, even though I'm more moderate where I live at least the way I'm seen.

It wouldn't have taken 15 minutes in a rural Alabama courtroom. Walker Co, Chilton Co, Coffee Co, I could go down the map. Pick your southern state and I'll find you the county. I grew up there, still do business there, it's reality.

Well, you don't really think this is the end of it do you? I think that as soon as the right can, they are going to use the judicial process in a heavily red area to go after their political opponents. It's not an if, only a when. Statistics told me that from the jury pool they had what would happen. And it's not a left only viewpoint. As I stated, it can be duplicated in a hard right area. We are as polarized as we've ever been, certainly in my lifetime anyway, and I know plenty of people who would have made up their minds going in just to "get the other side".

It may have been the weakest case, but given the venue I had assumed this verdict all along. I would assume if Biden were tried in Walker Co. Alabama for a murder that happened before he could walk he would also be found guilty. I'm a little cynical.

I'll admit it could. It could also intensify the people who weren't voters in 2020 that have been polling for Trump that the Biden camp is hoping don't vote in 2024. As you know there's a polling gap between likely and registered voters. Closing that gap helps Trump so Biden will need to offset that gain in intensity from independents or what few swing voters there are. I don't really think there are a lot of moveable voters left. Given how polarizing this all is I'm not sure I know of anyone who could be moved right now. I know people who have changed their minds from 2020, but not that this would change their mind today.

Yeah I agree with you. I feel the same way when we get to November. It's not going to be pretty either way. I'm not so sure we don't have some leading up to November as well.

Lowest common denominator. Pretty much by definition anyone who is out there needs to go find a job. I doubt there's too many independently wealthy folks spending their Thursday afternoon out there.

Gooden was awesome and let drugs ruin him. The main one that jumped to mind for me was Bob Gibson. Josh Gibson deserves the HOF honor he has, but we can't rewrite history to put those players in MLB and know what would have happened. MLB wants to expand their appeal to the black community and has for years. I don't think this will matter and people will view those records with asterisks or still differentiate between the two. I'm trying to think of the top black SP prospects from the recent past. David Price, Dewon Brazleton, CC Sabathia, Brien Taylor came to mind. Taylor ruined his arm in a bar fight, Brazleton never panned out, Price was good for awhile, Sabathia had a nice career. What's funny is top 10 black SP prospects from the past 35 years or so would have to include Pat Mahomes. He was ranked the top RHP prospect in baseball by a few publications in 1991 I think it was.

Why would you think that? That's counter to every econ class I ever had all the way through grad school. I'm assuming we agree that we gave more unemployment than some jobs were paying in wages. So why would that incentive of you get more money to not work, not then lead more people to not work?

Why are you calling a fact a trope? We paid people not to work. You can argue the merits, but factually that's what we did. Also, just because you stop something doesn't mean it returns to the way it was in an economic environment. Just as inflation has not regressed to its former levels, neither did demand for jobs in the restaurant industry from the workforce. While labor costs certainly did increase, that is true, the materials/raw costs for food also took a large move upward.

Sure. Paying people to not work had an impact on it too. I'm pretty realistic and try to view economic situations with open eyes. How can you profit if you only want to lie to yourself about economic realities? The restaurant industry was forever changed by the economic forces at play, specifically when it came to the labor market as we came out of it in 2021. I admit I chuckle a bit about the discussion of corporate tax rate and it's part in the overall economy. You can't view that rate in an isolated vacuum. Right now the US is about middle of the pack on corporate rates in the industrialized world. Each move on the rate has a ripple effect on jobs, movement of corporations (both in and out), and obviously revenues. I would argue that much more important than the corporate rates, our runaway spending has had a much larger impact. You simply can't flood the zone with economic stimulus and not expect inflation. Particularly coming off a time where we were paying people to stay home. The end result was obviously an increase in currency with reduced output. It's impossible to do that and not have inflationary pressures. I think what's especially troubling is that the Fed is realizing they can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. Inflation has remained more stubborn than they ever expected. The old target of 2% seems far away. If the fed does remain diligent, we won't see those rate cuts everyone anticipated. It's fine to argue the merits of whether or not we reacted in the right way with stimulus, whether or not we did too much. But the impact of what we did is pretty obvious at this point and now the question is how to deal with it.

Outback is ok. Their salads are really the best thing there in my opinion. Well, that and I like the grilled chicken, can eat a healthy dinner. However, ours has really gone downhill post Covid. Never has gotten staffing right since then. Very spotty on service and quality. I'm sure like any other chain, depends on your local manager.

Damn. Just look at that guys eyes and tell me you'd leave your kids with him. Montgomery is an absolute s-hole. Everyone who could got out years ago.

Kudos to everyone following closely. I follow politics way more than the average person and even I've had to tune this one out.

Met him two summers ago at a business conference I was at. Told great stories and very personable guy. I'm a pretty tall guy and when I posted a photo with him on social media with him standing way over me that got a lot of comments. What's sad is he was kind of stooped over even at that. When he sat down, he used two stacked chairs to sit so that his knees had less strain.

Yeah, I agree with a lot of libertarian views, but the border isn't one of them. I don't know that I'd say that one issue or any one issue should exclude someone from a certain ideological group. One thing I've found disheartening in recent times is the litmus/purity tests for people. There's not a party or group I agree with on every major issue, much less every issue down the line. Anyone who always agrees with one party needs to think for themselves more.

That bill wouldn't fix the problem. Granted it was as much of a lessening of the flow legislation as could get passed at the moment. Trump owns the border narrative, while you may be correct in that the bill offered was better than nothing, it's that old saying in politics that when you're explaining you're losing. The majority of the electorate sees Trump as hawkish on the border and Biden as for more open borders. Nobody has to like it or agree with it, but it's the way it is. Trump has made a talking point of it for years and most of what the general public will remember is Biden stopping building the wall, reversing Trump's executive orders, and the kids in cages narratives. The average voter isn't going to be that nuanced. When it comes to the border and how it stands now Trump is viewed to the right, Biden is viewed to the left. I think the majority of the electorate wants us to the right of where our border stands right now.

Elevated and more persistent inflation numbers than the Fed thought would occur even just 2-3 months ago are going to be an awfully strong headwind for Biden to try and overcome.

I'm not sure how last night went different from what anyone expected. Trump was never going to be popular in that room. We can debate over whether it was wise or not. But for heavens sake, if closing the border is even up for discussion, that's not where the electorate is going to be this cycle. Anything other than closing the border is a losing position. Biden may not have any intention of doing so, but you can bet he's going to talk about securing our border down the stretch because he knows that must be his position.

The latest Bovada odds have it at: Trump -150 Biden +145 Trump is roughly a 3:2 favorite based on these numbers. The odds for someone other than the two of them unsurprisingly continues to decrease with each increment of time that passes. This is the first time when adding the odds together they come up on the negative (vig) side, which means now the implied likelihood of someone other than one of these two winning is less than the vig/house rake of roughly 10%, sometimes a bit more on these prop bets.

The lynchpin that would cause the SEC to move right now from what I'm hearing is if somehow UNC got clear of the ACC's Grant of Rights. I could see a scenario with a UNC, Virginia, and two others. FSU and Clemson have hurdles in that Florida and South Carolina are going to stick together with other members from states with non-member power 5 type schools (Kentucky/Louisville; Georgia/Ga Tech) to try and block entry. Texas just brought enough dollars in to make it a must. But UNC opens a new market and has the brand right now. I think the Big Ten would covet them as well. Short of Notre Dame I'm not sure who else they'd want in more.

I think this is a valid point. On the kids, the pictures of the white (almost too pale from lack of sun) kids on their knees and bending over for the Islamic prayer says a lot. These are lost souls desperate for somewhere to belong. They will conform to any underdog or oppressed cause of the moment. The problem for us is that's a perfect breeding ground to have some home grown militants down the road.

Between that and Kari Lake running for Senate the R's have made AZ as hard as they possibly can to try and win.

I'm not nitpicking, it's just nothing alike. Iran's regime denies the Holocaust even occurred, they are Hamas' biggest supporter, you know the one that is in charge of indoctrinating the children, the ones now that are the adults. Russia on the other hand views many Ukrainians as their countrymen and ethnic kin. There's quite a large difference. People have pointed this out to you in many different forms, you can deny it if you want to fit your view, but trying to split hairs to twist a few words of the narrative to narrowly explain these acts away is denying yourself the truth.