Breitbart reports a poll that might cause the left some grief in the quest to keep an evenly divided Senate:

This is not a surprise for several reasons:

  1. Charlie Baker was an incredibly popular governor
  2. Charlie Baker was an incredibly competent governor
  3. On Social issues you would be hard pressed to fit a playing card between Baker & Warren

And as Breitbart notes Baker is a lot more popular than Warren:

Senator Warren has significantly higher unfavorable numbers than her fellow Democrats statewide and that seems to be creating an opening for Baker, who always enjoyed large amounts of cross-party appeal. Looking at the cross tabs, Republicans seem to coalesce behind Baker (79%) in a way that Democrats do not around Warren (56%), and Baker leads with independent/unenrolled voters 2-1 at 57-26%.

Warren’s favorability rating is 5 points above water, with 49 percent finding her favorable  and 44 percent saying she is unfavorable, including 35 percent who find her “very unfavorable.” As Craney pointed out, her favorability rating indicates she is far less secure than some of her fellow prominent elected Democrat officials in the Bay State.

Now while it would be nice to have a Ted Cruz or a John Kennedy (of LA) win a US senate race in Massachusetts, with the current state of our state voting population there would be a better chance of the Red Sox signing me as a 60 year old pinch runner off the bench next week than an actual full blown conservative winning a statewide election for US Senate. Until and unless we educate and persuade the electorate Baker is likely the best we can realistically get and in terms of competence he would be a giant step forward for Massachusetts, plus it’s always useful to have a person with executive experience in the Senate.

This should send the fear of God into the left although there would be several bright sides for the left:

  • Baker would almost certainly be voting with Democrats 10-20% of the time
  • He would be the MSM’s “goto” republican on any social issues we attempt to advance
  • He could reliably be expected to attack a President Trump and make any opposition to him be by definition “bipartisan”

But that extra vote to give the gavel to McConnell and stop Biden judges in their tracks would outweigh those disadvantages.

However there is one question that needs to be asked before we break out the bubbly.

Has anyone asked Charlie Baker if he wants the job?

Right now Charlie Baker is president of the NCAA. I’m sure like all jobs it has ups and downs but I suspect it’s a job he enjoys and I don’t doubt for one moment that it’s a job he doing well because it rewards competence which Baker has by the bucketful.

So can someone explain to me why Baker would leave that job to enter a race where he’ll be targeted, attacked and get grief from an incredibly polarized electorate and even risk physical attack (and he’s a really big target, seriously that guy is tall).

Why would he abandon the sweet gig he has for all that grief? I don’t see him doing it and until someone convinces me otherwise I’m not going to get my knickers in an uproar.

You’ve now gotten a glimpse of the AL east in my Dynasty 16 team short season (80 games once a week) league. Lets continue with a look at the AL West. (Current as of 5/11/23 Noon EST)

WestWLPCTGB
Toronto95.643——
Minnesota106.625____
Seattle 85.6151/2
Chicago67.4622 1/2

Toronto: 9-5 1st place (tie)

The good news : Ellis Burkes is tearing it up with a .393 avg 4 HR and 15 RBI’s He is in the AL Top three in Avg, Slugging, OBS, HR & RBI. Pat Mears has been a pleasant surprise hitting .302 with a pair of triples while Brian McRae has scored 12 runs with only 14 hits. Meanwhile Troy Percival has been lights out 5-5 in save chances and their Team ERA of 3.24 is tops in the AL and 2nd in the Majors.

The Bad News: No team has swung and missed more than Toronto with 136K’s in 14 games and Cecil Fielder (8K .174 avg) and Ed Sprague (17K’s .184) have only one HR between them in 51 AB. With the glove their .976 fielding is 2nd to last in the AL only Cleveland has done worse with the normally sure handed Mike Lansing with 4 errors in 14 games

Didn’t see that coming: Toronto Relievers Kent Bottenfield, Mike Jackson, Tory Percival and Jim Poole combined have appeared in 14 games, pitched 20 1/3 innings and have yet to give up an earned run

Medical Report: Rusty Greer was hurt early in the season and won’t be back for this homestand and isn’t expect back until the team hits LA although there is an outside chance he makes the last game in Minnesota, The prognosis on John Valentin who went down during the Seattle series is much better as he’s expected to be able to make the the Atlanta Series before the team hits the road for six.

Coming Attractions: Toronto has two more against Cleveland and hosts Atlanta for a pair before going on a six game road trip ending in LA but starting with a critical four games at Minnesota.


Minnesota: 10-6 1st place (tie)

The good news : Their +23 run differential is the AL’s best fueled by Johnny Damon whose .451 avg and 1.237 OPS both lead the majors Chuck Knoblauch .354 1 HR 11 RBI, and Mark Whiten .295 2HR 12 RBI are big reasons for it. Ben McDonald 3-0 with a 1.73 leads the league.

The Bad News: Brad Radke 5.21 ERA and no decisions in three starts. Javy Lopez has disappointed with the bat .191 1 HR 8 RBI and the glove he and Brian Johnson have a combined 25 stolen bases and 4 errors between them with only 5 caught. Whiten is wowing with the bat but already has 2 errors in the outfield and Jason Giambi .220 1 HR 7 RBI .270 OBP, and Garret Anderson .182 0 HR 1 RBI 1 R scored have underperformed.

Didn’t see that coming: Pedro Martinez 2-1 3.94 ERA

Medical Report: They feel fine

Coming Attractions: Minnesota’s home stand continues with Florida in for 2 and a huge 4 game series with Toronto interrupted briefly for a pair in St. Louis before they come back home for 3 vs the Yanks


Seattle: 8-5 .615 3rd place 1/2 GB

The good news : Albert Belle has been a monster at the bat hitting ,339 with 6 HR and 13 RBI. A-Rod only has 3 HR but has driven in 10. Jeff Cirillo his hitting .333 and has an OBP over .400

The Bad News: Dan Naulty has a 1.08 ERA but with an 0-2 record with only a 50% save rate (1 in 2 chances) Ken Griffey Jr. .214 1 HR 5 RBI

Didn’t see that coming: Randy Johnson in the bullpen 1-0 1.29 ERA 3 saves in 4 chances

Medical Report: Daren Oliver who was hurt in his 2nd start will be available for the final game of their series with Boston but with a record of 0-1 and an ERA of 10.29 the question is, will he come back to the rotation?

Coming Attractions: Seattle faces Boston and Pittsburgh on their current homestand before traveling for 4 against the White sox in Chicago and a pair in Houston before they see home again.


Chicago : 6-7 .313 4th place 2 1/2 GB

The good news : Marty Cordova has been a pleasant surprise with his .351 avg he and Steve Finley both have six doubles tied for 3rd in the AL Frank Thomas line is .300 4 HR 10 RBI with a 1.004 OBS. Alex Fernandez is making other teams earn their way on as his 1.57 walks per nine innings demonstrates. Steve Finley already has 2 outfield assists and Robin Ventura and Omar Visquel have only one error in 113 chances and the White Sox are tied for the fewest runs given up in the majors.

The Bad News: Unfortunately while giving up the fewest runs Chicago is also dead last in the AL in hits, batting avg (.242) and OBP. .311. White teams don’t score runs on Chicago they sure can run against them as Mike Macfarlane has caught only 1 of 11 runners trying to steal 0.91.

Didn’t see that coming: Mark McGuire .132 0 HR 2 RBI BUT .353 OBP 13 walks (3rd in league)

Medical Report: Every is healthy just not contributing much

Coming Attractions: Chicago has a nine game homestand with the Yanks coming in for 3 Cincy for two and then four huge games vs Seattle before hitting the road.

UPDATE: Had Baltimore coming attractions for Chicago, fixed.

For decades the political has left waged a guerilla style war here in the United States.  It was a cultural war fought with destructive ideas rather than the type of war fought with guns and other physical weapons.  It was a war they fought unopposed because most of us on the political right did not think this conflict was worth our attention.  We were so very wrong.

A small minority of us Conservatives and Libertarians saw what was taking place and tried desperately to raise the alarm.  We were all but ignored.

Now that this culture war is all but won by the Marxist Left, a sizable percentage of those of us on the Right have finally taken notice and have begin to fight back.  The hugely effective boycott of Bud Light is strong evidence that we have effective weapons in our arsenal.

The political left has targeted children from the very beginning.  This article explains the two fold rational behind this.

Leftists aren’t building a robust generation of people who can fight wars and control countries. Instead, they are creating a broken generation of people who will be physically and mentally dependent on government care for the rest of their lives.

Lenin understood how important children are to any revolution. The most famous quotation attributed to him is, “Give us the child for eight years, and it will be a Bolshevik forever.” An alternative is, “Give me just one generation of youth, and I’ll transform the whole world.”

As you can see from this article, the strategy employed by the left was devious and effective.

Much as America’s enemies historically used its (formerly) free press and the nature of its open society against it, Constitution-disdaining leftists used conservatives’ adherence to the Constitution — and its mandate for limited government, the rule of law, and equal justice under that law — against them in their now successful bid to get control over virtually all of the country’s institutions and levers of power.

They now ruthlessly use the self-same institutions they used to protest — but now own — to spy on, castigate, deplatform, silence, slander, “cancel,” and even incarcerate those with whom they disagree.  They eschew dialogue and debate and simply scream “racist!” or “transphobe!” at any- and everyone who dares to dissent from their preposterous narrative.

Corporate media proved to be the most effective arsenal the left employed in this culture war.

IF you can control the information flow, you can control an entire society. Gone are the days of trusting your reporters and news outlets to provide unbiased and factual pieces to keep you informed on the state of your country.

Perhaps I’ve watched too many “X-Files” episodes, but I now embrace the same principle of Fox Mulder: trust no one. To get to the bottom of any story as a citizen, you’d have to read reports of the same incident on at least 30 different outlets to get a sliver of truth.

The hard reality is that traditional media outlets have been not just complicit, but happy little manipulation warriors bent on ensuring your mind and views fall in line with their chosen narrative.

Over the last decade, their narrative of choice: You’re a racist. 

According to Lexus Nexus, there has been a marked increase in specific phrases and words since 2014. As an example, below is a taste of some of these terms: white privilege, system racism, diversity and inclusion, unconscious bias, whiteness, intersectionality, diversity training, police brutality

How sharp is this increase? For example, between 2011 and 2019, the New York Times and Washington Post increased using words like ‘racist,’ ‘racists,’ and ‘racism’ increased by over 700% and 1,000%, respectively. 

Furthermore, between 2013 and 2019, the same two publications increased their usage of terms like ‘systemic racism,’ ‘structural racism,’ and ‘institutional racism’ by 1,000%. And during that same timeframe, the two liberal heavyweights of print used ‘white privilege’ and ‘racial privilege’ at an increased rate of 1,200% and 1,500%, respectively.

College campuses have also been the primary battlefields where this culture war has been fought and won by the left.  Checkout this article.

Hundreds of professors at the University of North Carolina signed a public letter Tuesday opposing legislation that would require university students to take courses on America’s government and founding documents.

The 673 UNC Chapel Hill professors revealed the public letter Tuesday, arguing the new courses and another bill in the North Carolina House of Representatives would constitute an infringement on the university’s “academic freedom.”

The first piece of legislation, House Bill 96, would require students to take a 3 credit-hour course covering America’s founding and history. Required reading for the course would include the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, at least five essays from the Federalist Papers, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Gettysburg Address.

The author if this American Thinker article has it absolutely correct.

Put simply, the big mistake in thinking the culture war isn’t the most critical issue heading into 2024 is that all of American politics is now one big culture war. The culture war is the only issue because the cultural war is everything now. When one side stakes its claim to political power on offering abortion up until birth and transgender operations for 8-year-olds, and holds out these policies as proof of its moral authority, we’re way past arguing over how to get the economy back on track. There’s no going back to that kind of politics.

Tucker Carlson hit on this at the end of his big speech at Heritage recently. He compared the values of the political left to the values of the Aztecs, who sacrificed children to their bloodthirsty gods — and he wasn’t wrong.

One of the things that I argue over and over again is that you have to take for where and what they are.

There are things about Donald Trump that drive people absolutely nuts. Almost all of them are about style and ego but in the end you can’t get all of the positives from Trump without the rest of him. He is who he is and all of those things that he is what made his administration, in my opinion the third most successful presidency in the history of this country.

And the CNN Town hall demonstrated why.

Trump took no prisoners and doggedly took all that was thrown at him and made the case for his second term.

CNN wanted to talk election 2020 and January 6th and Trump swatted it right back at them making point that the left ignored for years and then still moved forward on the issues that people actually care about.

The best measure of how well Trump did is the absolute meltdown the left is having over the American people being able to see Trump make his case in his own words.

The angriest people in the world seemed to be the CNN folks in the panel afterwards but it also produced what was in my opinion the best moment of the night where Congressman Byron Donalds was quoting testimony given under oath vs Anderson Cooper trying to “correct” him by quoting a book which is not written under oath.

Put simply we saw Donald Trump at his best, willing to say the truth to people who push a lie, willing to talk straight and make his case. I disagree on his comment concerning Disney vs DeSantis but that’s OK, he used the media well making his best case to the American people without the filter that the left so wants to keep on.

This is the Good Trump and if he wants to win the GOP nomination that is the Trump we need to see.