Mark Davis

Spent many long nights in Vicksburg casinos when I was first putting card counting into practice. Before I lived in MS we spent a night in Vicksburg on our way to Dallas when I was a kid. My dad got sick that night and walked around in the Confederate cemetary there to try and walk it off I guess. Stayed sick the whole trip. By the time we drove home he had to lie in the back seat. Ended up his appendix burst that night and he kept on going through the trip til we got home and damn near died. He was a pretty tough old guy. But lots of memories of being in those casinos way too late and seeing a ton of sad sights.

Watched some NewsNation reruns of the Cuomo show tonight. I was out of town this week and out of pocket a bit. They had Mark Geragos on who said this was over at jury selection because this happened in Manhattan. He made the point that while he disagreed with Trump on the issues he did agree with that. He made the case any jury brings their own baggage and experience and when you bring in a pool that over 85% voted against Trump this was over before it started. His best shot was an outside chance at a hung jury. That kind of fits with what I was thinking all along and we discussed. It’s why I didn’t really watch any of it and really can’t discuss specifics because I simply didn’t follow it. I knew the end, why watch the movie.

I had to look this up, this was some off brand deal supporting positive self image or something of that sort. You knew it would be a big girl. She's from Atmore, I'd probably overeat to compensate if I were from there too. But on the bright side, they executed a murderer down there this week.

These polls are hard to decipher with the cross currents. What would be more valuable is if they would cross tab between Trump support in the prior poll to support now. I think a lot of these more likely/less likely were already in the decided camp regardless of the way this went. I could say a conviction would make me more likely to vote for Trump, but if I'm voting for him anyway it doesn't matter. I'd guess Biden gets at least a temporary bump from this but it's very hard to read. There are others who were soft support or lean Trump that got pushed further in his direction because they view it as political. I'm guessing that number is less than the few undecideds pushed in the other direction, but it's so hard to know.

It will definitely rot, especially if you are in a more humid climate. Even though mine is covered, it still gets wear and some sunlight at certain times of the day. I originally treated it with Thompsons but the last time we had our house painted I had them paint the floor the color of the house trim. Big difference in if it's covered or open to the elements on your treatment schedule.

In his defense, you have to admit it took Bragg awhile to come up with this one. He didn't have time for the petty criminals.

Essentially the accounting coding written on the back of the check wasn't into the correct account and he not only knew, he knew the treatment was improper. But not only that, he did it primarily to win the election. The average person will never digest that, they'll think it's because he paid off a porn star he had sex with.

As good as Jeff Bagwell was, his numbers were drained so much by the Astrodome.

A hell of a hitter too.

If he'd just shot someone, Alvin Bragg likely wouldn't have prosecuted him.

Well at the very least it’s going to give him a huge fundraising night. It’s like I posted in the other thread. It’s possible this influences some of the few undecided or persuadables, not that there is many. It also might push some of those registered voters polling for Trump into actually showing up to vote who might not otherwise have been as intense. I’m not sure how it will all work its way through.

My wife, who voted for Biden last time, got her vote flipped to Trump thanks to Bragg. The fact he doesn’t prosecute things he should and yet decided to go after a political opponent was all it took. So I do owe him that debt of gratitude. In all seriousness, that was just one part. The open border situation and security concerns are probably as large or greater.

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.