S1P12 - Politics & News

A recap of politics and news since about 01/28/2019

National & International

• 01/28 - Speaker Pelosi invites Trump to deliver the SOTU on February 5th.
• 01/28 - US and Afghanistan Taliban agree in principle to a peace framework.
• 01/28 - The US announces sanctions on Venezuela.
• 01/28 - The Justice Department charges Chinese technology company Huawei and CFO with fraud.
• 01/28 - The CBO estimates that the #TrumpShutdown cost the US economy $11 billion.
• 01/29 - Now that they have been caught again, Eric Trump says the Trump Organization will use E-Verify to check new employees at all their properties. 
• 01/30 - US Intelligence chiefs disagree with Trump's assessment of global threats. 
• 01/31 - The Senate rebukes Trump's plan to withdraw US troops from Syria and Afghanistan by a vote of 68-23.
• 02/01 - US to suspend INF missile treaty with Russia.
• 02/01 - Senator Cory Booker (D, NJ) announces that he is running for president.
• 02/01 - The US economy added 304,000 jobs in January.
• 02/04 - Federal prosecutors in Manhattan subpoena documents from the Trump inauguration committee about donors, finances, and activities.
• 02/04 - Trump will nominate David Bernhardt to be Interior Secretary. He is currently the acting secretary and is a former oil lobbyist with numerous conflicts of interest. Another example of Trump appointing someone to gut the department they lead. 
• Leaks of Trump's schedule shows that he has about 60% "executive" time daily. Unscheduled time mostly for watching TV. His workday rarely starts before 11:00 am and usually ends by 5:00 pm. Such a hardworking guy. 
• The Trump Organization releases undocumented workers at five NY and NJ golf properties. That's not a mistake, but a company policy to hire cheap illegal help. 
• 02/04 - Trump will nominate David Malpass to lead the World Bank. Again, Trump appoints an organization's critic to lead it. 
• 02/05 - Trump delivers the State of the Union (SOTU) address to Congress. The usual over the top theatrics full of falsehoods. WP fact-checking.       
• Trump announces during SOTU that he will meet with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un on February 27 & 28 in Vietnam.   
• 02/07 - AG nominee William Barr clears the Judiciary Committee. Will now be voted on by the full Senate.
• 02/07 - Jeff Bezos accuses the owner of the National Enquirer, David Pecker, of extortion and blackmail. 
• 02/07 - The Supreme Court votes 5-4 to block Lousiana's abortion law. 
• The CFPB proposes delaying restrictions on payday lenders, the Shylocks of the world. Another perk for the fat cats and screw the poor.    
• 02/08 - Elizabeth Warren officially enters the presidential race. 
• 02/10 - Amy Klobuchar enters the presidential race.  
• 02/12 - The Senate passes a sweeping conservation bill 92-8.  
• 02/12 - Maybe a compromise agreement on the government funding and border security has been reached in Congress. It's up to Trump now.             

wjh   

S1P11 - Baseball - Pre-Spring Training

Baseball News Since About 02/01/2019

Rangers

• The Rangers officially announced that the new stadium will have artificial turf. Not my choice. Let's hope they still use real dirt for the basepaths and warning tracks. The Diamondbacks are installing the same turf for this season so there will be a chance to evaluate it under game conditions.  
• The Rangers Triple-A team for the next four years will be the Nashville Sounds. Round Rock is now the Astros affiliate. 
• The Rangers have roster questions at first base, third base, catcher, and center field. Of course, starting pitching is a major question mark. It's the Tommy John surgery gang. 
• Delino DeShields has the center field job to lose but is not a lock. 
• Ronald Guzman is the favorite at first base but he has less than a year of MLB experience
• The Rangers sign Hunter Pence to a minor league contract with an invite to spring training.

MLB

• This will be the 150th year of professional baseball. The Cincinnati Reds were founded in 1869. 
• 02/07 - Frank Robinson died. He was the first MLB Black manager, the first and only player to win the MVP award in both leagues, NL Rookie of the Year (1956), the 1966 Triple Crown, 12-time all-star, and a Hall of Fame member. RIP Frank.
• Discussions with MLB and the Players Union could result in the following rule changes in 2019 and beyond:
• Adoption of the designated hitter (DH) in the National League
• Require that pitchers face a minimum of three batters except when finishing an inning or an injury. 
• A 20-second pitch clock
• A single trade deadline
• A roster expansion to 26 players with a 12 pitcher maximum
• Reduce mound visits to 5, currently, it is 6
• A test of placing a runner on second base at the start of each extra half inning
• Tweaks to the draft order and MLB contract signings
• As an old guy, I would prefer that the DH be eliminated but that is not going to happen. That being said, both leagues should play by the same rules especially now that inter-league play is an everyday occurrence. I think 2019 is too soon though since the National League teams have already built their rosters based on no DH.
• No NL DH for the 2019 season has been decided.
• I have no problem with the 26 player, 12 pitcher roster. Again, teams probably need a year to make the necessary adjustments.
• I'm not sure about the three batter minimum. I know it is to speed up the game by eliminating pitching changes. Seems somewhat unfair unless teams were also limited in the number of pinch-hitters. This one needs some thought as it is a major change.
• The 20-second pitch clock and five mound visits can be done immediately.
• The trade deadline, draft order, and contracts are internal issues that I don't really care about and have a limited effect on the day to day games. 
• No draft changes for 2019. 
• Placing a runner on second base in extra innings is an abomination and should never be even discussed let alone implemented. It changes the fabric of the game and will alter several statistics such as RBIs, runs scored, ERA, and others. No way Jose!
• One item that wasn't addressed but should be is the active roster expansion up to 40 players on September 1st. That needs to be fixed. I would be in favor of no roster expansion at all or at most a couple of players. 
• The Disabled List has been renamed to the Injured List. The DL is now the IL.
• MLB is negotiating with The Disney Company to purchase 14 regional sports networks. These are the old Fox Sports regional networks that Disney/ESPN purchased. Stay tuned. 
• Rawlings will supply MLB baseballs and helmets for 2019.

wjh