Dodger Baseball Please!

Times change. People change. Baseball changes. Once upon a time, we allowed no politics to be discussed on this site, but then one day MLB and its Clueless, Classless Commissioner decided to delve into the political arena. Right or wrong, I felt it deserved a response and I delivered it. The stolen All-Star Game is now over. There is however, more to be said about this issue as it is not going away. When Joe Biden was running for President he proclaimed that he wanted to be transparent and “unite America.” OK, that sounds good!

But, this week he then goes on to say:

“The 21st-century Jim Crow assault is real. We’re facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War—that’s not hyperbole. The Confederates back then never breached the Capitol, as insurrectionists did on January the 6th. Texas lawmakers want to make it so hard and inconvenient that they hope people don’t vote at all.”

Yeah, Joe, that’s truly not hyperbole. It’s called a lie! I call it a damn lie.

The main thing the Texas bill does is eliminate drive-in voting and 24-hour voting. Texas never did this before, except for the pandemic, and perhaps that made sense when every Texan was urged to stay six feet from every other Texan. But having someone in your car who sees who you are voting for and could even be driving you there, lends itself to coercision and/or giving your power to someone else, and who is their right mind would thing that some polling mischief could occur at 3 AM (sarcasm)?

The main thing the Texas Bill does is help prevent voter fraud. I think one person should be able to vote at a time, in private, without influence of someone else, including a spouse or ballot harvesters.

This is not a blockade of the ballot box. To the contrary, in some places the bills would expand mandatory early voting hours. Current law says that in the final week before Election Day, counties with 100,000 people must open their “main” polling place for 12 hours on weekdays and five hours on Sunday. The House would lower the population threshold to 55,000, and the Senate would set it at 30,000. Both would also require six hours of Sunday voting.

Mail voters would be asked to verify their identities by supplying a state ID number or the last four digits of a Social Security number. That way election workers could quit squinting at people’s signatures. A study of Georgia in 2018 found that 54% of the ballots rejected for signature or oath issues were from black voters. Under the Texas plan, if the ID numbers matched, the voter’s signature would be presumed valid.

The voting bills propose many other provisions that are hardly extreme: Local officials would be barred from sending unsolicited mail-ballot applications. Courts would have to “instruct” felons about how their convictions affect their voting rights. Employers would be required, “while early voting is in progress,” to permit workers to be absent for the purpose of going to the polls. Ballot harvesting for compensation would be banned.

The argument is not that these bills are perfect, because no election system is. The point is that they are not some “un-American” throwback to Jim Crow, as President Biden claims. If Texas Democrats think one provision or another is wrong, then they should stay in Austin and argue the case to the public. They claim to be fighting for democracy, even as they deny a quorum to prevent democracy from functioning.

Mr. Biden is escalating his rhetoric about Jim Crow and now the Civil War. Part of his aim, after Republicans made gains in 2020 among nonwhite voters, might be to reinforce the message that the GOP is racist. But President Biden is also distorting the truth to justify congressional passage of H.R.1, a constitutionally dubious takeover of voting rules in all 50 states. He is trying to appease frustrated progressives who are starting to blame him for the Senate’s refusal to kill the filibuster.

Before Democrats hail quorum breaking as heroism, they might recall that they are trying to pass the most radical agenda in decades with the narrowest majorities in decades. Who’s really undermining democracy?

I know some of you don’t want to hear this stuff because it differs from your narrative, but you are not shy to say that Donald Trump lied and I am saying that Joe Biden is even more prolific at it than Trump because the media is almost 100% complicit in it. They hated Trump and took him to task daily on real and imagined issues. Joe gets a pass not because they love him so much… it’s just that they hated Trump so much. I am not a Trump-Lover. I hope he goes away or get indicted for something, but I am not going to let MLB and Joe Biden spew bullcrap all over.

Yesterday, other issues were brought up including border issues. MLB only focused on the election issues and that is all we will talk about here. Keep it respectful and polite to one another and if you see fit, talk about Dodger Baseball. I just will not ignore the 800 pound Gorilla in the room. Joe Biden should go back to his campaign pledge to Unite, not divide America, because when you paint half the country as Jim Crow on Steroids, you are the most divisive President…. EVER!

Dodger News

• It should be noted that Trevor Bauer is suspended through July 27th and that the Hearing on the Restraining Order is on July 23rd. We should know more after that hearing… a lot more! I have no expectations that he will be cak with the Dodgers, nor do I think he will be gone the rest of the season. I simply have no opinion.
• Jimmy Nelson may be back as early as next week from his lumbar strain.
• Victor Gonzalez could be back next week as well.
• I expect to see Corey Seager tonight.

Minor League Notes

• JoJo Gray pitched 4.2 innings and threw 68 pitches. He gave up 4 hits and 3 ER while striking out 7. BTW, Tulsa was shutout 9-0.
• Ryan Pepiot’s line last night: 3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 7 K (2.22 ERA). Still not ready for prime time.
• Great Lakes has four prospects who could move up in the future. (1) Justin Yurchak is now hitting .380 and hit his 3rd HR last night after going 3-4. (2) Carson Taylor went 2-4 and is at .288. (3) Brandon Lewis went 3-4 with his 15th HR of the season and is hitting .279 with a .365 OB% and .923 OPS. (4) Ryan Ward has 10 HR and is hitting .293 with a.372 OB% and .866 OPS. I am not even mentioning Andy Pages who likely will be there a while

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k-ouCtrxZQ