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Brit Hume on Twitter: After three years of tumult...

11/04/2019

it Hume Tweeted:

"After three years of tumult, public opinion is exactly where it was on election day 2016. Remarkable."
It was in response to this tweet by Peter Baker:

"New ?@NBCNews? ?@WSJ? poll finds that 49% support impeaching and removing Trump from office, while 46% oppose it, mirroring the 2016 popular vote results. Trump retains 91% support among Republicans. https://nbcnews.com/politics/meet-"the-press/nbc-wsj-poll-49-percent-now-back-trump-s-impeachment-n1075296

Our Take:

It didn't need to be this way. But there it is...

READERS' RESPONSE
  • Joe Schaller What's that saying about "Whoever controls the media/press controls...".
    • New Mexico Political Journal Nah, we don't think it necessarily "controls." The media have been strongly pro-Democrat, intensely (to an extreme) secular, and anti-US for several decades. While it is true that they have ratcheted that up exponentially over the past four years, there have been many things that Trump could have done to increase his support by 5 or 6 percentage points. But he simply would not do them. We certainly hope that a Democrat does not defeat him (or whoever the Republican nominee may be), and they appear to be trying to accommodate that preference, as they did in 2016. But if he does get beat he will share part of the blame.
    •  
    • Joe Schaller New Mexico Political Journal Yes, there's a price to pay for standing up to and exposing a corrupt and deep media as well as the deep state bureaucracy. Great rewards sometimes require great risk.
       
    • New Mexico Political Journal Joe Schaller We agree on that. But he could have done all of that and not have said all kinds of gratuitous things----things that no one or no thing compelled him to say. He has had tremendous achievements, arguably more than any president in the Post-War Era, but he has stepped on many of them, and has diverted the view of millions of Americans by needless (and oftentimes mindless) ad-libbing. Anyone else, with record employment for all demographic groups, excellent growth, improvements in all areas of foreign policy, and many other achievements, would be an absolute shoo-in. He has worked really hard on the side to leave the 2020 outcome in doubt.
      •  
    • Deewain Kimik New Mexico Political Journal that's a Snobbish Attitude.... You favor the polished politican who says the "Right" things and does nothing? Trump is just like every person that I have worked with. He talks like all of US... We get to talking and jabbing and joking around.... He sounds just like that.... Oh yeah.... We ALL Support Him...
      New Mexico Political Journal Deewain Kimik You work with unusual people. We don’t run into anyone who says “I’m a genius. I’m the smartest individual in the country. I’m brilliant. Nobody can do any of these things except me.” And on and on. (Well, we do know some folks like that, but they were in, like, maybe, the 6th Grade.)
    •  
    • Charles Richards New Mexico Political Journal, I am more impressed with what he has accomplished, in the midst of all this DemoSocialist turmoil, than I am with the gratuitous self aggrandizement. And not trusting the established bean Counters, I don't respond to their polls. Let them be surprised, and better yet, embarrassed, by the outcome.
      Trump is who he is, but the bottom line is, they don't like him. Those that have been there for 16 or more years, and led us to the pickle we found ourselves in, before Trump. And yes, maybe the Dems can find a banner carrier in that mess of candidates to challenge Trump. But I am so far unimpressed, and we will just have to wait and see.
       
    • Joe Schaller New Mexico Political Journal Your describing Trump, "I'm a genius etc...". Doesn't that describe Congressional Democrats, RINOs, and deep state bureaucracy/media? Hasn't Trump proven that after over 100 years of the progressive swamp he is the FIRST to match their arrogance and pomposity with one difference - he IS the smartest, and HAS done what is needed.
      Deewain Kimik New Mexico Political Journal Can't change people's unhinged hate of another person so I'll leave you to your jihad
    • New Mexico Political Journal Joe Schaller and Deewain Kimik: Just so no innocent readers are left confused with your comments and assume we have posited ANY of the things you have posted: We make none of your arguments. You are free of course—as everyone is—to create all manner of straw men then turn in on them and whip ‘em good, but they are “opponents” and arguments of your own making, not ours. (Just making the record clear for honest readers.
       
      •  
    • Joe Schaller New Mexico Political Journal Hold on there. I quoted you. "We don’t run into anyone who says “I’m a genius. I’m the smartest individual in the country. I’m brilliant. Nobody can do any of these things except me.” " . . I'm not trying to quibble. I made a valid point about the abuse of power and attitude of our Congress over the past 100 years. Who's worse, Trump or Congress? I say Trump is outmatching their attitude since he can back it up with results. They created the snobbish swamp aristocracy, not he.
       
      • New Mexico Political Journal Joe Schaller No one we know of disputes the poor performance of Congress and the swamp. That’s why we would like to see Trump concentrate on trying to persuade a majority of the American people that he can make improvements over what we have. But he refuses to try to do that. He prefers to speak to crowds of 18,000 super fans that he had at “hello” and will always have — rather than try to win over the 11,000,000 in the murky middle who will decide the outcome.
        He doesn’t need you—the hard-core Trumpistas. And he doesn’t need us (for entirely different reasons)—the Trump Administration supporters.
        Unless he can draw the inside strait again (and he might, who knows?) he probably needs to improve his vote from 45.93% — again when you get that small a percentage it has to break perfectly in each state.
        He refuses to try for those.
      •  
    • Joe Schaller New Mexico Political Journal There's many like me who didn't vote for him yet are thrilled at the prospect of voting for him this time. One thing I'll never believe, is any poll.
      •  
    • New Mexico Political Journal Joe Schaller That would be a mistake.
      Joe Schaller New Mexico Political Journal Back to my original point, the leftist media has enough impact on people's perceptions to create a good ten percentage point swing in nation-wide elections. If you don't consider that to be an indicator of "control of the masses, the minds, the culture" (as the sayings go), that would be a mistake. Also, if you think a selected few answer poll questions honestly, that would be a mistake. Margin of error is always to the left, particularly nowadays.
    • New Mexico Political Journal Joe Schaller Alrighty then.
    •  
    •  
  • Frank Drinkwinre Is that the same polls that predicted Killary Clinton was going to blow Trump out of the water election day?
     
    • New Mexico Political Journal Frank Drinkwinre The averages of the polls actually forecast 48% for Clinton and 46% for Trump. She ended up with about 48.15% and he got about 45.93%. So they were not inaccurate—as many try to repeat. The lesson learned is that national polls that are only concerned with sampling that will reflect the likely national popular vote outcome are not determinative. They should have had very intense, high N surveys of the ten most closely contested states. Had they done so they would probably have seen that the race was “too close to call.” In 2016, Trump pulled off the equivalent of drawing three cards to an inside straight. He may do that again—we hope he does (the Democrats are disasters for our future)—but anyone who believes this is cut and dried is whistling past the graveyard.
       
    • Diana Sue Yum-Bucher New Mexico Political Journal and those results take into account the insidious voter fraud that made her appear to get a higher percent of the vote.
       
  • Sam Massey Bret who? Never heard of him.??
    Keith Coleman Phony outrage and tumult
  • Sara Bryan Democrat have no policies, no candidates & no chance - must impeach or cheat another way to win!
  • Deewain Kimik Well let's see...

  • https://www.facebook.com/100040343.../posts/146335300054580/
           New Mexico Political Journal Deewain Kimik, Your link does not link to anything at all. Just FYI.
 

Email us with your feedback, comments, questions, and ideas.

Intelligent Political Discourse—for the Thoughtful New Mexican

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2016 Presidential Campaign - Republicans

Jeb Bush gets religion.

"They said he got religion at the end, and I'm glad that he did."  — Tom T. Hall. The Year Clayton Delaney died.

Well, it's official.  Jeb Bush has changed quite of few of his positions on illegal immigration.  The single most significant is that he no longer endorses the "path to citizenship" for those who came here illegally. 

This is, after all, the key portion of any proposal aimed at "reforming" our existing illegal immigration situation.

No sensible citizen can see any point in trying to deport between 12 and 16 million people currently living in America illegally.  And no candidate for any office that we know of supports that.  What the average American wants is for the country to "get a handle on it."  They want it stopped, our borders secured and future illegal immigration prevented.  It is a national security issue.

The Path to Legal Status

The only way to accomplish the above goals, is to identify current illegal immigrants, get them accounted for, have them documented, and placed on a path to legal status.  Neither they nor their children or spouses should live in a state of fear or anxiety.

But a path to "citizenship" is not the right course.  It is not morally or legally correct.  A merciful and compassionate nation can provide the safeguards of legal status without sending the message to the rest of the world that all you have to do is cross our border and you will eventually get to become a citizen, thus circumventing the legal framework scores of millions of Americans have followed, honored and respected.

If someone who is granted legal status eventually wants to become a citizen, that person should have to return to his or her country of origin and wait in line like 20 million people around the world are doing at any given time.  Failing that, America will forever send the signal that anyone in the world can "jump the line," and that there is no reason at all to obey our immigration and naturalization laws.

We Like Jeb Bush

We are glad Jeb Bush has learned this lesson.  He is a fine speaker, and can eloquently explain his positions on complex issue.  If he were not named "Bush" he would be an actual top tier candidate—in all that that title would entail, including likelihood of acceptance and support of and from the American people in the primaries, and in any theoretical general election.  

We also recognize that he already is a de facto top-tier candidate because of his fame and his fundraising.

If he were to be the nominee of the Republican Party we would heartily support him and endorse him.  We hope, however, that he is not, as he does not give the center-right coalition the best chance of winning.

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  • Movies, Television, Pop Culture
    Selma   ????? We have now seen the Oscar-nominated movie Selma.   Our earlier allusion to criticism that sounded as though it was in an Oliver Stone category for historical fabrication is some...

Sports

Sports

The Major League Baseball Playoffs are not realistic, and destroy the actual meaning of the sport. 

Major League Baseball is unique in this respect—its postseason is markedly different from the way the game is played normally.  No other major league sport suffers from this flaw.

Not that much is wrong with baseball. In some respects it's the most well thought-out sport there is.  The "perfect game" many aficionados say.

But the Major League Baseball postseason experience is unique in the world of professional sports, and not in a good way. 

In fact the playoffs are flawed in such a way as to detract from the sport itself and diminish the game and what it means to be the world champion of the sport. 

Among the Big Four team sports of North America: football, hockey, basketball and baseball—and all the 122 professional major league teams competing in the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB respectively—it is in baseball alone that the postseason turns the sport itself on its head and makes it reflect something that it is not.  This article will explain why that happens and why it is wrong-headed.

 

Background on the The Frequency of Play

The 30 teams in both the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association teams play a very similar schedule.  On average, each team has a day off between games, sometimes two days off.  Though there are back-to-back games, they are relatively infrequent.  NBA teams play between 14 and 22 back-to-back games a season, and for the NHL it usually ranges between 9 and 19. The NFL has a full week between games, the exception being the new Thursday games that each team plays once, leaving them only four days' rest once a year.

But baseball players play every single day.  Ten days straight, then a day off, then seven more games, then a day off, then ten more games.  Typically a baseball team plays 27 games every 30 days.  For the NHL and NBA it would be 14 per month, and for the NFL the number would be 4.

 

Getting to the Playoffs:  It's a grind

In all four sports, getting to the postseason requires a total team effort—in fact an all-out total organizational effort.  Teams must be deep, have bench strength and the capability of moving players in and out of the lineup, and on and off the roster, who can take the place of key players who go down for an injury, or who have to miss games for whatever reason.  While this is true of the other three major sports as well, it is most certainly even more of a concern for baseball teams because of the sheer volume of games in which a team must field a competitive lineup.

Each league's regular season* is a marathon, not a sprint.  NFL teams play for 17 weeks, 16 games.  The NHL has an 82-game season over six months, paralleled by an NBA season of 84 games over the same timeframe. Baseball is the biggest marathon of all—a true test of resilience and endurance—162 games usually starting around the beginning of April and finishing about the end of September.

NHL teams carry 23-man rosters, of which 20 can be active for any particular game.  The NBA is similar, with 15-man rosters of which 13 can be on the bench for a given game. In the NFL, the teams have 53 players on a roster, but only 46 can suit up on game day.  In Major League Baseball, teams have a 25-man active roster, and all 25 are at the park every day.

 

The Postseason Playoffs:  Sport by Sport

The National Football League:

Of the 32 teams, 12 qualify for the playoffs.  The playoffs are conducted in the exact same manner as the regular season.  Each team plays once a week, the exception being that the four top teams get the first week off.  For a typical qualifier to reach the Super Bowl, the team must play three consecutive weeks.  At that point both remaining teams have two weeks off before the Super Bowl.

In short, the playoffs, with a game each week, reflects the same means of advancement as is present in regular season grind.

The National Hockey League: 

16 of the 30 teams qualify for the postseason.  The playoffs are conducted in the exact same manner as the regular season: a game, a day off, a game, a day off, a game, a day off, and so on.  Just as in the regular season, there are occasionally two days off.  But the playoffs require the same stamina, the same approach as that required to make the playoffs.

 

The National Basketball Association

16 of the 30 teams qualify for the postseason.  The playoffs are conducted in the exact same manner as the regular season: a game, a day off, a game, a day off, a game, a day off, and so on.  Just as in the regular season, there are occasionally two days off.  But the playoffs require the same stamina, the same approach as that required to make the playoffs.

Major League Baseball

10 of the 30 teams qualify for the postseason.  (Although four of those teams qualify only for a one-game do-or-die play-in game.)

Here is where all similarity to baseball ends. 

Unlike the other three sports whose playoffs mirror the test of the regular season, and whose conditions are the same as the regular season, Major League Baseball playoffs in no way resemble the sport itself.  In hockey, basketball and football, the teams win playoff games and reach the pinacle of the sport in exactly the same way that they qualify to try to do so. 

Not so in baseball.  They are two entirely different concepts.  Teams make the playoffs only because they have depth, five-man pitching rotations and can play day-in and day-out at a high level.  But the baseball playoffs suddenly become a kind of "all-star" game within each team's roster.  MLB playoffs are conducted in a way that more closely follows the NBA and the NHL.  Teams have enormous numbers of days off. 

Here's the key point:  No Major League Baseball team could even qualify for the postseason if they played the same way during the regular season that they do in the playoffs.  None.

In the regular season Major League Baseball teams have to use a 5-man starting rotation, with pitchers pitching every 5th day.  There are not enough days off to have even a four-man rotation, let alone a team with three pitchers.  Even the best team in baseball using only a 4-man rotation, would wear them out, and most likely end up with a record of something like 66-96, or 70-92—and that would be if they were otherwise teh best team in the sport.

 

The 2014 Baseball Postseason is Typical

As examples, last year's World Series teams the Kansas City Royals played only 15 games in 30 days, and the San Francisco Giants played only 17 games in 30 days.  The 12 to 15 days off in the non-baseball fantasy world of the MLB postseason, means that teams can turn to three pitchers and give all of them plenty of rest.  But it isn't the way baseball really works.

At one point, the Royals had 5 consecutive days off, and the Giants had 4.  This never happens in the regular season.  Even the All-Star break is only three days.  Very rarely is there anything beyond a one-day break, and even that happens only a couple of times a month. 

What this means is that neither team used the team that got them to the playoffs.  (The NFL, NBA and NHL teams ALL used the very same teams that got them to the playoffs.) 

Baseball teams use a three-man pitching rotation in the playoffs.  Sometimes, they essentially opt for two pitchers only—conceding the likelihood that some of their games are going to be lost—when their third-, or rarely fourth-best pitcher has to face one of their opponents' two-man or three-man rotation members. 

Imagine an NFL team using only one running back and three wide receivers, instead of rotating through their roster in the course of a playoff game—or using only 4 defensive backs and 4 linebackers, instead of rotating 8 or 9 DBs and 6 or 7 linebackers?  In hockey, would a team use only two or three of their forward lines?  Would an NBA team use only the starting five?  They would never make the post season if they tried to present that product to their fans during the regular season.

Those are the equivalents of what Major League Baseball sets up every fall.  No other sport drags its playoffs out in such a way as to completely change the playing field—completely change the dynamics of its game.

Why Does Baseball Do This?

MLB does this because the TV networks want to drag out the games so that they can try to have one game each day  This requires an unnecessary staggering of games, and creates the phenomenon of 15 off-days in a month.

What about travel days?

What about them?  Baseball has travel days constantly.  A team may play in Chicago one day and in Miami the next, or in New York one day and Phoenix the very next day.  Travel days as a routine part of the game are again, a phenomenon of television, and stretching out the playoffs.

In years past, travel days were employed only when necessary. The famous "subway series" games were played on seven consecutive days.  Why?  Because there was no "travel day" required to go from Brooklyn to the Bronx.  Today, they would put in artificial travel days.

Even fairly long train trips didn't necessarily matter.  The 1948 World Series between the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Braves was played in six consecutive days, October 6 & 7 in Boston, October 8, 9 & 10 in Cleveland, and October 11 back in Boston.

This reflects actual baseball, the way the teams play day-in and day-out, and the kind of unique test that baseball presents to its athletes, its managers and management, and to its fans.

In the modern world of charter planes, teams fly from coast to coast to play games on consecutive days.  The artificial "travel day" should be eliminated so that teams can play in the playoffs in the same way that got them there in the first place.


*All these leagues also have pre-seasons and training camps, which add an additional 6-8 weeks to each player's year.


Email us with your feedback, comments, questions and ideas. 

Religious Issues

Religious Issues

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