*** VD 13 Commentary Thread ***

[Kevin Seitzer]

Now that you are working remotely for the Braves, have you given any thought to going back to Austin. It would be a bit better at least.

We liked Austin. It's gotten significantly more expensive since we moved away seven years ago. But also, I have four kids in school here now, including my oldest in high school, and I hate to move away from all their friends at this point. There are a lot of things I like about Houston that don't involve the politics, and not all the politics would be solved by moving to Austin, either.

I like Texas. It's one of my favorite states in the union. California would be high on the list, too. I figure Texas needs some damn liberal voters, though.

[Bene Futuis]

Happy Father's Day to all you vintage drafters lucky enough to have gotten pity sex from some poor woman who clearly didn't carefully think through her life choices.

[Bene Futuis]

On a different note, I also dislike corn tortillas. I much prefer flour. Corn it's just too dry. I like corn chips, just not wraps for my tacos.

You're going to be one disappointed Philly white dude when you visit Mexico, my bro.

[Bene Futuis]

But I mean if you're going to eat a burrito, something I don't think I even saw in Mexico, it seems pretty impossible to do it with a corn tortilla. On the other hand, tacos al pastor in a flour tortilla seems like an offense worthy of imprisonment.

I think they ship to California, not 100% sure, but if you ever get the chance to get Santa Fe Tortilla Company tortillas (corn or flour), do it! They're delicioso and owned by a friend of mine!

[revo]

We liked Austin. It's gotten significantly more expensive since we moved away seven years ago. But also, I have four kids in school here now, including my oldest in high school, and I hate to move away from all their friends at this point.

We own a house in Pennsylvania and we're planning on moving there full-time next summer. My two youngest are into it, but my oldest, who's 12, is upset because of his friends. I'm not saying that's going to sway our decision, but I do want to move before he gets to High School so that he could at least go in with some new friends. I told him the good news is that he has things like the Xbox, where he can still interact with them, and we're also keeping the NJ properties so he can come with me and see his friends every so often. But I did make conscious decisions based around their friends and gave it a lot of thought.

In contrast, my parents moved numerous times when I was a kid, including twice smack dab in the middle of a school year! Heck, it may have been the middle of a school week! It was like I just got plucked out of class one day with a note saying "get out, you're moving!" And it's not like my dad was in the Army and got transferred to another base or something like that, it was that they just didn't like where they lived! So there was really no urgency, and certainly not enough urgency to just up and leave before the school year ended.

In addition, we moved back into largely the same neighborhood in Brooklyn I grew up in, albeit a few blocks away -- but it was in another school district! So all my friends I had growing up went to one HS and I went to another. All they had to do was move a few blocks to the north (my parents rented, so it's not like there was a "perfect house" or something like that) and all would have been different for me, but there was absolutely no thought given to that. That's how little parents cared about this stuff back in the 80s.

[frae]

This place makes me constantly question how my politics align with some of these clowns. I mean, I still like Bernie Sanders but fuckin' goddamn my team has some unbelievably annoying cheerleaders.

It does surprise me that people really want to push Sanders again. I always like the idea of pushing for a more liberal agenda especially when my perception is that the Democrats have allowed the Republicans to deem centrists liberals, but regardless of that Sanders isn't the answer for me. He isn't going to win the nomination if Biden's numbers dwindle I believe they will go to others and I think Warren will present a more reasonable option for non-full on Sanders zealots.

I still can't believe I always get sucked back into those Hot Topic threads no matter how long I go away something sucks me back to get into debates where I won't change anyone's mind. I am not a smart man.

[Ken]

I still can't believe I always get sucked back into those Hot Topic threads no matter how long I go away something sucks me back to get into debates where I won't change anyone's mind. I am not a smart man.

You might change my mind.
But I don't post much over there so you won't know it if you do.

[frae]

You might change my mind.
But I don't post much over there so you won't know it if you do.

Thanks, I'll pretend I changed your mind.

[Bene Futuis]

All that's happening in the migrant detention centers is breaking my heart, and I don't know what to do to stop it. Do the people who run these facilities just have black, shriveled hearts? How can you treat other people like animals and go home and sleep at night? Especially children.

The youngest child taken away from his parents at the border was just 4 months old.

I mean....how does anyone defend this? It's just so heartless and evil.

[Bene Futuis]

And in moderately unrelated Houston news, some worthless sack of a preacher who vociferously supported criminalizing abortion just got busted for sexually assaulting a child. To their credit, the pastors to whom he had confessed immediately alerted the police and he has now been excommunicated. That's a pretty good turn of events considering what usually happens when a religious leader hurts a child, i.e. nothing at all. There is a "retirement village" relatively nearby to me where sick fuck priests get to go live out their years after they've molested children.

[heyelander]

And in moderately unrelated Houston news, some worthless sack of a preacher who vociferously supported criminalizing abortion just got busted for sexually assaulting a child. To their credit, the pastors to whom he had confessed immediately alerted the police and he has now been excommunicated. That's a pretty good turn of events considering what usually happens when a religious leader hurts a child, i.e. nothing at all. There is a "retirement village" relatively nearby to me where sick fuck priests get to go live out their years after they've molested children.

The Southern Baptist Church just made sexual abuse on of their main issues in this year's convention. Hard hitting stuff there, but at least it's a move in the right direction I guess. This on the heals of denouncing white supremacy 2 years ago!

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/12/731919189/southern-baptists-vote-to-hold-churches-more-accountable-for-mishandling-abuse-c

[Kevin Seitzer]

The Southern Baptist Church just made sexual abuse on of their main issues in this year's convention. Hard hitting stuff there, but at least it's a move in the right direction I guess. This on the heals of denouncing white supremacy 2 years ago!

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/12/73191...ndling-abuse-c

That happened primarily because of some excellent journalism by the Houston Chronicle uncovering the problem and secondarily because of some leaders in the Southern Baptist denomination like Beth Moore and Russell Moore (no relation) standing up to some of the power brokers who would have preferred to sweep it under the rug and move on.

[heyelander]

President of the convention had a nice quote in there... responding to criticism that the discussion and issue was distracting the convention from the mission of the church....

"Protecting God's children is the mission of the church," the Rev. J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, N.C.

[heyelander]

[heyelander]

Hmmm .... I thought I was just messing with him, but Johnny hasn't been on in 2 weeks, what's up with that?