In theory, he would become an independent, not a Republican, but would presumably caucus with whichever side he cares to, giving him tremendous power, since he can swing the Senate either way at his sole discretion.
After this article was published, reporters questioned Manchin about it. He replied, “I can’t control rumors, and it’s bullshit, bullshit spelled with a B, U, L, L, capital B.”
The reporter stands by the story, saying his source in unimpeachable.
As far as I know, only one observer saw this coming. I need to add here that having this come out is a major monkey wrench in the plan. The real key to the plan, as I see it, is to keep a Manchin move secret, so that the Republicans can first trick the gullible Democrats into abolishing the filibuster, then have Manchin exit, leaving the Democrats with a minority and no filibuster to protect them. According to the scenario I presented, Manchin’s departure was supposed to be the hole card which enabled them to win that pot.
Now that the hole card is exposed, the Democrats will be wary of any sudden Republican co-operation to eliminate the filibuster. Even if the filibuster remains, the Senate could turn topsy-turvy if Manchin were to caucus with the GOP, since McConnell would then control all committees, and be able to block all of Biden’s appointments, including to the Supreme Court if a position comes open.
Eddie Rosario homered twice and became the first player to have two four-hit games in a League Championship Series. (But he was not the first in the post-season. Robin Yount did it in games 1 and 5 of the 1982 World Series.)
Rosario had a terrible start to his regular season in the AL. Cleveland acquired him for the pop in his bat, and he totally disappointed, stroking only seven homers in more than 300 plate appearances. They traded him off to Atlanta, where he immediately rediscovered his stroke. His OPS had been a weak .685 for Cleveland, but rose to an impressive .903 for Atlanta. He has been white-hot in the playoffs, hitting .467 overall and .588 in this particular series.
He was not the only good acquisition made by the Braves this year to shore up their outfield:
Around the July 30 deadline, Atlanta traded for four outfielders: Adam Duvall, Joc Pederson, Eddie Rosario and Jorge Soler. In 101 plate appearances this postseason, they're hitting a combined .341/.400/.593 with six homers and 21 RBIs in eight games. Atlanta now up 3-1 in NLCS.
They didn’t just start hitting well the post-season. Together they hit 44 homers and knocked in 116 runs in 676 at bats in the regular season, so obtaining them was roughly the equivalent of picking up Dale Murphy in one of his best seasons.
The Astros:
Framber Valdez went eight great innings and the offense scored five runs (four unearned) in the fifth, as Kyle Schwarber joined Billy Buck in the tradition of costly post-season errors by Red Sox first basemen. To be fair to Schwarber, (1) the Astros would have won even if he had made that play, (2) he’s just not a first baseman. He’s a left fielder who can fill in at catcher in a pinch. Before this season he had never fielded a major league chance at 1B, and had not played the position in the minors or college, except for two games in the Cape Cod Summer League in 2013! He only started nine games at first during this regular season, and in three of those he was pulled for a defensive replacement. But the man hit 32 homers this season in fewer than 400 at bats, and the Red Sox wanted his .928 OPS in the line-up. Powerful J.D. Martinez is filling the DH spot, so first base it was for Schwarber.
In my opinion, that was not an especially good decision, irrespective of Schwarber’s fielding abilities. Schwarber does not hit lefties well. His lifetime OPS against lefties is a weak .684 (the MLB average is about .730), as compared to a very solid .880 against right handers. The Sox left their natural first baseman, Bobby Dalbec, on the bench, although he hits lefties very well. His lifetime OPS is .902 against lefties, with 14 homers in only 203 at bats. Forget defense. Starting Schwarber against the left-handed Valdez was a mystifying offensive choice by manager Alex Cora.
But then again, it didn’t seem that anybody was going to solve Valdez in this game.
This version is censored by blurring the nipples to avoid the Instagram High Sheriffs, but you have to figure that an uncensored version may not be far behind.
The scene with Sydney and Megan Fox is difficult movie to watch, because the acting is so poor that it tends to break the fourth wall. Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy) isn’t much better. Of course, I guess we shouldn’t really care. If the director wanted acting, he would have hired Emma Thompson and Meryl Streep, but that was clearly not what they were going for here.
The world totals are no longer declining. For the past two days added together, cases have been up 2% over the same day last week, and fatalites have been up 1%. Those changes are insignificant, but the small amount of movement is upward.
In the USA, both cases and fatalities are in the red zone, but there are some positive trends. Cases have been down 22% and 21% for the last two days compared to the same days last week. Total COVID hospitalizations are down 11% in the past week. Fatalities, however, are still stubbornly high.
The red states on today’s chart represent Wednesday’s double-double group, which is to say that these states are at double the red line in new cases, and also double the red line in fatalities, making them the worst of the worst. As you can see, the pandemic’s worst effects have migrated from the deep south. The states in green are in the double green zone. (Puerto Rico, not shown, is also in the double green zone.)
In Charlotte N.C., you can buy a regal estate for that money.
In Columbus, Ohio, or Houston you can buy a handsomely appointed house with 4000 sq feet of living space and five bedrooms on about 3/4 of an acre. (The one in Houston is waterfront property.)
In San Francisco, you’re on the verge of homelessness.
For a million dollars in my town, you can pretty much have any house you can find. Here is an example: 6900 square feet of living space on the waterfront.
I wouldn’t normally link to this playlist because we’ve been through this discussion so many times, but I was startled to see, in the middle of the familiar earworms, a real surprise. You probably know that there have been many versions of Try a Little Tenderness. Bing Crosby crooned it back in the 1930s, and Otis Redding totally nailed an R&B version in the 1960s.
But I think you’ve never heard the song until you hear it performed by Dragnet’s Jack Webb, from his never-to-be-forgotten album, “Just the Tracks, Ma’am.” (I did not make that up.) Perhaps you thought Otis Redding had some soul? Amateur! It’s Webb that really brought the downtown funk! This will remain the definitive version unless we can coax one out of Shatner.
While we’re on the topic – have you ever heard Donald Trump singing the theme to Green Acres? This could make your day.
UPDATE #3: This seems to be the highlight of the release. It seems to be an uncensored version of the watermarked and censored pic that was floating around earlier .
More details about the other pics and vids accompanying this one.
UPDATE from the comment section:
“A drop? Probably ie it’s only 6 pics/6 vids hence, ergo, therefore not a lot of dripping to be had lol. Nudes? No, only a side view of her left tit in one of the six vids. Plus she pees in a large fast food (?) cup.
But hey, it’s Selena …
TMI
p.s. It’s nice being one of the few who actually have her set (currently) and reading all the over reactions/hyperbole re: said set.”
UPDATE #2 from the comment section:
“Upon further review the topless vid you do see both her boobs ~ barely, but the left boob is so prominent you really don’t focus on her right boob. Plus the handbra pics/vid is about it. If not for being Selena totally forgettable.
Having searched for female celeb nudity since the late ’60s the journey is oft times more exciting than the final destination. Being older would like to see Lana Turner full frontal and Shirley Jones’ sex tape, etc. from Hef’s vault 😮 if they exist.
“Netflix noted that the series has ranked as its No. 1 show in 94 countries including the U.S. and said that it had “pierced the cultural zeitgeist” with skits on Saturday Night Live and memes on TikTok gathering more than 42 billion views.”
Footnote: The population of earth is a bit less than 8 billion. Only 4.7 billion of them have access to the internet, and only about one billion use TikTok. So on the average, every TikTok user has viewed 42 memes from the ol’ Calamari Game.
I love her name, which sounds like it should belong to a wench in one of Shakespeare’s plays. I had no idea who she was, so I consulted her IMDb bio, which says it all quite succinctly:
“Longbottom not only has been featured in such publications as Nuts, Maxim, and The Daily Sport, but also has worked for various adult websites that include Only Tease, Strictly Tease, and This Is Glamour. Moreover, Sarah was the Playboy UK Cybergirl of the Month for July, 2009.
Outside of modeling, Longbottom is also a qualified make-up artist.”
I know it sounds boring, but I was surprised to see that it was:
“I tell you this my children: Light one of my vagina scented-candles and put on some Black Sabbath. Then fuck like there’s no tomorrow; devour like a beast; wail like a banshee.”
Nah, I’m just fuckin’ witcha. That was the sex advice of either Pope Francis or Mickey Rourke. I forget which. Gwyn just offered some cliches so tedious that they would have bored Polonius. In fact Polonius actually offered Laertes a more eloquent version of the very same advice:
Polonius: “This above all: to thine own self be true”
Paltrow: “You have to stay really close to your own truth.”
She is said to be quite intelligent, albeit not quite as brilliant as her uncle, General George.
Although she looks better naked.
Or maybe not. From what I’ve heard, George also cut quite a figure when he wandered through famous battlefields, stark naked except for his ivory-handled firearms.
