Report from Louisiana: Random Thoughts

Posted: February 7, 2022 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
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By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT -A few random thoughts today:     

On Living in Louisiana: Even though Louisiana is at the bottom of all the important economic growth lists, bottom of education, bottom of job growth, there are some definite advantages to living here. I’ve written often about the differences between north and south Louisiana – it might as well be two different universes, and I do love south Louisiana. But, even up here in the northern part of the state, we have our perks. It’s never a bad day, for example, when a friend calls out of the blue on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon and says, “We droppin’ a big ol’ batch of crawfish in da water right now; come get you some!”

When that happens, you drop what you are doing, grab a six-pack, and follow the directions to a renovated industrial looking building in the shad of the interstate where three 45-pound sacks of crawfish await the hot boiling brew over the propane fire that turns them into spicy, tasty delicacies. I could eat my weight in crawfish.

They aren’t crayfish or crawdads around here; they are crawfish. Sometimes mudbugs. Always delicious.

Another perk of living in Louisiana is the weather; yes, last winter we had a five-day snowmageddon event that had us shut inside for a solid week. Unheard of. We have already had our one day of snow this week, so now we look forward to spring. Oh, the cold isn’t done with us yet. We will have a few more spells where the temps go below freezing, but for the most part, I’m looking for spring.

I mean, college baseball kicked off this weekend. Nothing says spring like college baseball!

We have Mardi Gras parades coming up beginning in the next week or so and that harkens to Lent and then the Easter season, and well, spring.

Here in Shreveport, we have “city Mardi Gras” as opposed to “country Mardi Gras” celebrated by many of my friends in Cajun country down south. Very different events! But always fun.

I’m the first one to get on my soapbox and complain about the crime, the terrible politicians, the urban decay, the potholes, the low teacher pay, etc.; we are far from perfect here in Louisiana, but dang, I wouldn’t live anywhere else.

On The Super Bowl: Are you going to watch? I’m probably not. I haven’t watched an NFL game in three or so years and could not care less about it. I do love Joe Burrow however, and so I rather would like to see him win, but I won’t lose any sleep over it. We usually watch the Puppy Bowl instead.

On The Vanishing Louisiana Coast: I know we all hate the NYT, but I do want to share this article. Last week one of the books I share with you was the Mosquito Supper Club cookbook and this article references that book, the author, and her very real concerns about the danger of the Louisiana coastline. I’ve seen it. It’s read and it’s shocking. We can debate the whole climate change angle, but whatever the actual cause, or combination of causes, we are losing a lot of land down there, as well as entire communities and even the sustainability of our seafood industry. It’s troublesome.

Y’all have a good week and be kind.

Pat Austin blogs at And So it Goes in Shreveport and at Medium; she is the author of Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation. Follow her on Instagram @patbecker25 and Twitter @paustin110.

I’m Old Enough to Remember When the idea that the Government Was Hooking People of Color on Drugs Was a Conspiracy Theory

Posted: February 7, 2022 by datechguy in culture
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Ten Years ago when I woke up to the news that Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for basically being Barack Obama I though that I was still asleep and just dreaming.

It’s happened again, but instead of a silly dream it’s apparently a nightmare:

“The Biden administration is set to fund the distribution of crack pipes to drug addicts as part of its plan to advance ‘racial equity.’ The $30 million grant program, which closed applications Monday and will begin in May, will provide funds to nonprofits and local governments to help make drug use safer for addicts.

“Included in the grant, which is overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services, are funds for ‘smoking kits/supplies.’ A spokesman for the agency told the Washington Free Beacon that these kits will provide pipes for users to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and ‘any illicit substance.’”

Four thoughts

  1. If this had been a Trump program the moment it had been proposed every media outlet in the nation would have been screaming it was a conspiracy to keep people of color hooked on crack, but instead we are only hearing about this after the grant program had closed applications for the funds.
  2. I maintain that the last election was stolen and the information that continues to get around the media’s blockade increasingly supports that idea and Donald Trump did better with the black community then other GOP members, nevertheless the Black Community overwhelmingly supported this administrations election therefore I don’t want to hear a damn thing ever again about the circle of poverty and addition when said community is aiding an abetting such a scheme.
  3. What makes this even worse is the supposed “leaders” of the Black community in congress and in the communities did not raise holy hell over this program and the cementing of a permanent addicted black underclass whose addictions will be supported by government funds. This tells you all you need to know about what the so called black leadership thinks about the black community. Remember this is being done under the guise of “racial equality”.
  4. Finally I must commend the various drug gangs and cartels on their ability to normalize themselves within the American system. They apparently have used their influence and cash to lobby and/or contribute through the political system to such a degree that a program whose very suggestion would have been condemned by members of both parties in the 60’s is now going though without a whimper. These guys might be evil but nobody can say they’re not smart.

You wanted a post Christian society, you’ve got it.

My 1969 Seattle team goes all in for this season Wombat’s Washington team hardest hit

Posted: February 5, 2022 by datechguy in baseball, Dynasty, gaming
Tags: , ,

I haven’t written much about the various online baseball leagues I’m in lately but there has been a twist that I thought was interesting enough to put on the blog.

I had not made a single trade this season and held all my draft picks for next year. I also had one roster spot open in case there was a key injury that required me to make a claim off of waivers.

Yesterday the Cincinnati Reds in our league announced they will looking to trade first baseman Dick Allen. HIs current stat line was as follows:

in 86 games with the @Reds Allen batted .251 with 24 HR & 60 RBI with an OBP of .326 & slugging at .846 He was fielding at .987 with 11 Errors in 879 chances.

PlayerGABRH2B3BHRRBIBBKSBCSAvgOBPSLGOPS
Dick Allen86335488418024603811910.251.326.519.846

Allen was 3rd in the NL in homers (7th in the majors) 7th in RBI’s in the NL and 5th in slugging more importantly he was hitting .310 with runners in scoring position and two outs.

Cincinnati was asking for a 1st & 2nd round draft pick for Allen but claimed a willingness to entertain offers.

To clarify what that means at the end of the season each team is able to retain the rights to 4-12 players from their current roster plus any new rookies debuting in the next season (1970). The rest are re-drafted. So the world series winner keeps 4 players, the runner up 5 and the two worst teams in the majors 12. So in addition to rookies who are just coming up.

In other words the first 134 players in the majors are accounted for and you have to build your team on the rest

So this would mean if I paid cincy’s price and won the world series. I would retain four players (presumably Allen among them) and my first pick for next year would be the 48th overall. So the questions were:

  1. Is Dick Allen be a big enough upgrade to warrant a deal
  2. Could the price be made more manageable?

Now my current first baseman Mike Fiore is currently 6th in the AL in batting .297, 2nd in OBP .441 9th in OBP+ Slugging (.892) 4th in Runs (69), 4th in hits (102) and leads the league in walks with 88, and has incredible range (A) vs Allen (C+). This would suggest that Allen would not be a sufficent upgrade but it turns out Fiore also played the outfield in 1969 albeit at a below avg level. To get him into left I would have to move Pete Rose to 2B permanently so the person to compare Allen to wasn’t Fiore but Dick McAuliffe who would be benched in his favor. here is how their current stats compare:

PlayerGABRH2B3BHRRBIBBKSBCSAvgOBPSLGOPS
Dick Allen86335488418024603811910.251.326.519.846
Dick McAuliffe77215325693838343400.260.356.442.798

As you can see a marginal drop in avg and OBP is offset by a huge increase in slugging. Allen’s addition to the lineup in the cleanup stop also means that Pete Rose would be less likely to be given an intentional walk as the next batter would be Allen rather than Ed Kirkpatrick who while having virtually the same OBP as Allen (.325) has much less pop (.238 6 HR 41 RBI).

Additionally Allen continued to have great years through 1975 while Fiore was a one year wonder who would fade after this season

In short Allen would be a big offensive upgrade and worth getting. Bill James rated him as the 15th best first baseman of all time in his 2001 Baseball Abstract but noting one big downside describing Allen as:

The second most controversial player in baseball history, behind Rogers Hornsby. Allen had baseball talent equal to that of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, or Joe DiMaggio, and did have three or four seasons when he was as good a player as anyone in baseball, but lost half of his career or more to immaturity and emotional instability.

In short Allen has a bad effect in the clubhouse (An F rating-30 pts teams with a 45 or above have a positive clubhouse below 0 negative 0-30 avg ) Allen would reduce my clubhouse to avgerage from positive so to counter this effect I would need to bring up veteran Dick Tracewski (.214 0 HR 0 RBI) and sending down switch hitting backup Dick Schofield (.227 0 HR 4 RBI) but that was a small price to pay.

The 2nd question was could I pay the price of not picking till #48?

That took some negotiation and in the end the deal was as follows:

I gave up my 1st, 3rd and 5th round picks (if I won the series picks 16, 48 & 70 presuming no expansion)

Cincy threw in their 4th round pick (currently pick 57)

So while I would lose pick 16 & 48 if I won it all I would be moving up 13 spots on trading pick 70 for 57.

So the deal was made. In four games here is Allen’s line so far

PlayerGABRH2B3BHRRBIBBKSBCSAvgOBPSLGOPS
Dick Allen4171501022400.294.368.412.780

Both of those walks were intentional while his power numbers are down his OB is up and I’m sure once he gets a few games in the HR friendly Sick Stadium his slugging will go through the roof.

More importantly Pete Rose batted in two spots where he would normally have been walked and drove in runs both times.

It remains to be seen if this will put me over the top but if nothing else it means that my next Opponent the Washington Senators will not issue Pete Rose seven intentional walks as he did before.

Wish me luck

CNN, Jeff Zucker and the left/Media’s Harvey Weinstein Rules

Posted: February 4, 2022 by datechguy in media
Tags: , , ,

Jim Hacker: I can’t make my support too public

Duncan: It’ doesn’t have to be public, just so long as everyone knows

Yes Minister Party Games

There is one thing that jumps out at me concerning the resignation of Zucker at CNN and the reaction, particularly within CNN to these events that really drives the point home

At Wednesday night’s meeting in DC, Cuomo’s former colleagues made it clear there was no love lost.  

‘An outside observer might say, “Well, looks like Chris Cuomo succeeded. He threatened. Jeff said, We don’t negotiate with terrorists, and Chris blew the place up.” How do we get past that perception that this is the bad guy winning?’ he said.

‘I think the issue is that it’s not a perception. What Jake just described is actually what happened here,’ echoed Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins.

Now I could write volumes about how, with rare fictional exceptions, it is unwise to tangle with a Sicilian who knows your secrets and holds a grudge (or do you think it’s a coincidence that all the Gov Cuomo criminal probes are closed by I digress) but the real story isn’t that team Cuomo exposed Zucker’s secret.

The real story is every person at CNN who is complaining about this scandal knew about it all along and these so called members of the 4th estate whose job it was to inform the public kept their mouths shut for years.

This is consistent with DaTechGuy’s 4th Law of Media Outrage

The degree of media exposure of the corruption or illegality committed by any individual or organization under investigation is directly proportional to its distance from the media’s ideology.

This was a repeat of the Harvey Weinstein story. As long as he was useful to the left the left/media was delighted to be 100% behind him and keep his actions a secret but once they became known in public circles suddenly he was beyond the pale.

But once the public knew what everybody at that table knew he became expendable per DaTechguy’s 2nde law of media outrage:

The level of acceptance of the positions and/or actions of any group or organization by the left and media is directly proportional to their current or potential value in electing liberal Democrats.

The idiot was no longer useful so he was out and those in media are outraged not because of the scandal but because the scandal was made public to those who should never know what the media gatekeepers don’t want them to know.

What a bunch of dishonorable bastards

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