Lounging With Libertarians on The Lower East Side During The Detroit Democratic Debate

After being unable to get into a Midtown club last night to watch the first Democratic debate from Detroit, I arrived early at The Cloisters Cafe on the Lower East Side to take in the second part of the Democratic debate from Detroit in the company of Libertarians. More on them later.

Well, a little now. Most really did not watch the debate. Rather they came to socialize with each other. But this made it a challenge to actually listen to the debate so there was a lot that I missed. As such I will make a few general observations rather than focus on each candidate.

1. Why Did Kamala Harris Not Prepare For Tulsi Gabbard's Onslaught?

After Kamala Harris went after Joe Biden hard on school bussing during the first debate, Tulsi Gabbard made a point of criticizing Harris for hatching "a political ploy" to "smear" Biden. Prior to the debate I tweeted, "Gabbard has been taking aim at Harris for going after Biden. Will Gabbard draw first blood? #DemDebate."

Well, you be the judge.

Here's my question. How could Harris not have been prepared for Gabbard's onslaught? She and her staff had to know it was coming. Gabbard had been telegraphing her punch for three weeks. My guess is that Harris simply didn't take her seriously or was polling too low to be taken seriously. Whatever her reasoning she wasn't prepared for what she should have known was coming.

Following the debate, Harris fired back at Gabbard calling her "an apologist" for Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. An hour late and a few million dollars short. The damage was done.

Needless to say, if Harris cannot handle Gabbard then how the hell is she going to handle President Trump?

2. Biden Was Bloodied & Every Democrat Who Attacked Him Got Hurt In The Process

Nearly all the Democrats on stage took Harris' lead from the first debate and piled on Biden (Cory Booker on crime, Kirsten Gillibrand on equal pay, Jay Inslee on climate change, Julian Castro on deportations and Bill de Blasio on just about everything else.) Biden did not always come out on the favorable end of those exchanges.

Sportswriter Jeff Pearlman tweeted, "I love @joebiden. Truly, I do. But it’s like watching Willie Mays flop around the outfield as a Met. #DemDebate."

To which I replied, "True. But no one is reaping the benefits. Their attacks on Biden hurts the whole team."

I understand that Biden is the top dog and these puppies need to knock him off the top of the mountain. But they all went about it in such a way that they made themselves look small. No one on that stage who went after Biden elevated their stature. Should Biden get the nomination, I'm sure they will all say wonderful things about him. Unfortunately, it will be hard to believe a word they say and will be yet another reminder of why politicians are held in such utter contempt.

3. What is So Libertarian About President Trump?

What truly surprised me was the level of support there was for President Trump among the Libertarians. Now this could be because it's New York City although there were several Libertarians in attendance from outside the city. But what is so libertarian about Donald Trump? After he is a man obsessed with tariffs and wanting to regulate social media critical of him. Given the possibility that Justin Amash will run for President as a Libertarian one would think they would hold Trump in contempt. Yet all the Libertarians I heard from thought Trump got a raw deal on the Mueller Report. This is most curious given how Amash's departure from the Republican Party was triggered by his call for impeachment of Trump in the first place. If this is representative of Libertarian thinking then that tells me that Trump has captured Libertarians every bit as much as he has captured Republicans and conservatives at large. All of which made for a very long night.

D'Backs Trade Greinke to Astros & Other Deadline Deals

This afternoon began with Zack Greinke at Yankee Stadium starting for the Arizona Diamondbacks.


Five innings later, the D'Backs trade Greinke to the Houston Astros for 1B/OF Seth Beer, RHP Corbin Martin, RHP J.B. Bukauskas, and INF/OF Josh Rojas. The bulk of Greinke's outstanding $100 million plus salary will be paid for by the Astros with whom he is under contract through 2021. At the time of the trade, Greinke had compiled a 10-4 record with a 2.90 ERA in 23 starts this season with Arizona.


Greinke, 35, is three wins away from the 200 mark for his career. Earlier this season, Greinke struck out his 2,500th batter. Over his 16 seasons in the big leagues which began with the Kansas City Royals along with stops with the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers and the D'Backs, Greinke has earned six All-Star team selections, won five Gold Gloves and earned the AL Cy Young Award in 2009. A World Series ring has eluded him. That could change.


Greinke joins a rotation that includes fellow Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Wade Miley as well as Aaron Sanchez who the Astros acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays along with reliever Joe Biagini. Perhaps being surrounded by Greinke, Verlander, Cole and Miley will help Sanchez improve his ghastly 3-14 record and 6.07 ERA and regain the form which led the AL in ERA in 2016. Not to be outdone, the Astros also reacquired catcher Martin Maldonado from the Chicago Cubs for outfielder Tony Kemp. Maldonado had been acquired by the Cubs earlier this month from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for pitcher Mike Montgomery.


While the D'Backs lose Greinke they do gain Mike Leake whom they acquired from the Seattle Mariners. The Washington Nationals picked up a trio of relievers - Roenis Elias and Hunter Strickland from the Mariners and Daniel Hudson from the Jays. The Atlanta Braves bolstered their bullpen with the addition of Shane Greene from the Detroit Tigers and Mark Melancon from the San Francisco Giants. The Tampa Bay Rays obtained struggling first baseman Jesus Aguilar from the Milwaukee Brewers for reliever Jake Faria. The Brewers also landed starting pitcher Drew Pomeranz from the San Francisco Giants. The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired infielder Jed Gyorko from the St. Louis Cardinals for reliever Tony Cingrani. The Cubs landed third baseman Nicholas Castellanos from the Detroit Tigers while the Giants acquired Scooter Gennett from the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds traded starting pitcher Tanner Roark to the Oakland A's. The Philadelphia Phillies acquired outfielder Corey Dickerson from the Pittsburgh Pirates while the Minnesota Twins obtained reliever Sam Dyson from the Giants. You can read the fine print here.

AOC: Palestinians Have No Choice But To Riot

If Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's support of BDS didn't confirm her anti-Semitism then her justification of Palestinian violence certainly does. Here is what she said during a radio interview with Ebro Darden yesterday:

I believe that injustice is a threat to the safety of all people, because once you have a group that is marginalized and marginalized and marginalized—once someone doesn't have access to clean water, they have no choice but to riot, right?

Wrong. Dead wrong.

Palestinians don't kill Jews because of impaired access to clean drinking water. Palestinians kill Jews because they hate Jews and have been taught to hate Jews from they are born until beyond the grave.

Palestinians are taught to hate Jews in school.

Palestinians are treated to music videos glorifying the murder of Jews.

Earlier this month, a senior Hamas official called upon Palestinians to "attack every Jew on the globe by way of slaughter and killing."

I suspect that Palestinians who kill Jews outside of Israel can expect to be rewarded in a similar manner to that of Palestinians who kill Jews in Israel. Palestinians who kill Jews in Israel attain martyrdom status and are rewarded with a parade, a street, soccer field or school named in their honor and their families in turn receive financial compensation from the Palestinian Authority.

That AOC claims Palestinians engage in violence against Jews because they have no access to clean drinking water is at best willful ignorance and at worst anti-Semitic defamation.

AOC Supports BDS Under The Guise of Freedom of Speech

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gave her formal support to fellow Squad member Ilhan Omar's pro-BDS resolution. AOC justifies her support on the basis of "protecting free speech."


Of course, the white supremacists she decries so much justify their racism on the basis of free speech. The same can be done with anti-Semitism. So free speech my foot.


The aim and objective of BDS is to bring about the end of Israel as a Jewish state. Full stop.


To single out the world's only Jewish state for this kind of ostracization is anti-Semitic. Full stop.


Therefore AOC (and any other Congressman who supports this resolution) is anti-Semitic. Full stop.

Indians, Reds & Padres Consummate Trade With Bauer, Puig & Reyes

On Tuesday night, the Cleveland Indians dealt starting pitcher Trevor Bauer to the Cleveland Indians for outfielder Yasiel Puig in a transaction which also involved the San Diego Padres. The Friars sent outfielder Franmil Reyes, utility man Victor Nova and southpaw Logan Allen to the Indians while sending minor league outfielder Taylor Trammell to Cincinnati.

Although the Indians have the first berth in the AL Wild Card and are only three games back of the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central, the Tribe has discussed dealing Bauer for some time. Bauer wrote his ticket out of Cleveland when he threw the baseball over the centerfield wall after a rough outing on Sunday against the Kansas City Royals. This angered Indians manager Terry Francona. Bauer was forced to publicly apologize to his teammates, the organization and the fans and, to boot, fined an undisclosed amount of money for the incident. In 24 starts for the Indians this season, Bauer was 9-8 with a 3.79 ERA and led the AL in innings pitched with 156 2/3. In 2018, Bauer earned his first AL All-Star appearance with a 12-6 record and a 2.21 ERA in 27 starts. There is a question of whether Bauer will actually pitch for the last place Reds. He could potentially be moved between now and the trade deadline tomorrow afternoon at 5 p.m. EST.

Bauer might no longer be the Indians' problem, but Puig sure is. As the trade was completed, Puig was at the center of a pier-six brawl between the Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates, their second brawl of the season. Puig was at the center of the first brawl in April. Puig will undoubtedly be suspended and thus delay his debut across state. Entering tonight, Puig was hitting .255 with 22 HR and 60 RBIs in 99 games with the Reds. Puig was acquired in an off-season deal from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

However, any suspension time for Puig will be offset by Reyes who in his second year in the bigs has comparable stats to Puig. Entering tonight, Reyes was hitting .253 with 27 HR and 46 RBI in 98 games in San Diego. Puig and Reyes will give the Tribe some much needed power. Still, it would be nice if they got another starting pitcher back. Could that be Noah Syndergaard of the Mets or Detroit's Matthew Boyd? Or even Madison Bumgarner? The Tribe might not be done at the trading post just yet. Only 16 hours to go.

CNN 1st #DemDebate in Detroit Post-Mortem

I watched tonight's first part of the Democratic Party presidential debates which took place in Detroit and broadcast by CNN. It was my plan to do so at a debate watching party at a club in Midtown Manhattan called RPM Underground. But they gave me a hard time due to my backpack. So I watched the debate at home. Tomorrow night, I plan to watch the second part of the debate with some Libertarians on the Lower East Side. Hopefully, they will be more laissez-faire where it concerns backpacks.

Here is my evaluation of the candidates which in most cases I will group together:

Bernie Sanders & Elizabeth Warren - These two were the biggest fan favorites. Sanders was feisty while Warren did encounter trouble interjecting although she generally got a big pop when she spoke. I did find it bizarre that she would make the case the United States should never use nuclear weapons first and claimed it had never happened before. I seem to recall President Truman ending WWII in this manner. Curiously, Sander and Warren avoided confronting each other nor were any of the questions posed by Jake Tapper, Dana Bash or Don Lemon attempted to get one to criticize the other. This will change down the road, but tonight Sanders and Warren spent much of the evening fighting off more marginal candidates skeptical of socialism.

The Average White Band (John Delaney, John Hickenlooper, Tim Ryan and Steve Bullock)

Aside from their race, gender and age, these four candidates expressed a distinct hostility towards socialism and directed much of their attention towards Sanders and Warren. Of the four, Delaney was the most effectiveness forcefully arguing against Medicare For All and wealth taxes. Both Sanders and Warren tried to bait him over his status as a multi-millionaire, but he didn't take the bait. Where it concerned wealth taxes, Delaney pointed out they were unconstitutional and had been repealed or scaled back wherever they had been implemented. He proposed raising the capital gains tax instead. This earned him his only applause of the night. Unfortunately for Delaney, the former Congressman is man without a party as its followers give socialism a warm embrace.

The two governors on stage, Bullock and Hickenlooper, were barely coherent. While Ryan didn't help himself when he said President Trump was on something where it concerned tariffs. I suspect at least of these candidates will suspend their campaigns between now and the next scheduled debates on September 12th and 13th.

Beto O'Rourke & Amy Klobuchar

These two candidates needed a breakout performance. Klobuchar was workman like, but made no real impression in the debate. O'Rourke drew applause for his support of reparations, but Marianne Williamson drew even bigger applause.

Marianne Williamson

If there was any candidate who was significantly helped by tonight's debate it was Williamson who drew applause not only when she spoke of reparations, but threw shade at the Democratic Party at large over its unwillingness to accept public financing of elections and that the Flint water crisis wouldn't have happened in Gross Pointe. Because of her unconventionality, Williamson is going to stick around and gain traction. While possessing an entirely different disposition than Trump, they both embrace an anti-intellectualism. Williamson regularly derides the Democratic Party for its "wonkishness" and it is resonating. Will she capture Democrats the way Trump captured the GOP. It's not likely. But then again Trump's ascendency to the White House was unlikely too.

Pete Buttigieg

The South Bend mayor turned in another solid performance answering questions head on about his dealing with race relations amidst a lack of resonance with black voters. He might have begun to change this perception. While many other candidates called Trump racist, Buttigieg went after congressional Republicans who have chosen to stay silent and look the other way. Buttigieg also resonated when he said Democrats shouldn't worry about what Republicans think of their policies because they will be called socialists regardless and there is certainly a lot of truth to that notwithstanding the increasing leftward tilt of the party. When Buttigieg was asked about his youth he replied, "I don't care about how old you are. I care about your vision," an assessment which Sanders agreed. It's always good to have your rivals agree with you. Buttigieg manages to be forceful without being angry. That takes some skill. Whether it will be enough to win the nomination remains to be seen, but he has made himself a top contender by the sheer force of his personality.

The Moderators

Tapper, Bash and Lemon kept time tight. It might have ruffled the feathers of a few of the candidates and their supporters, but it kept the debate from going four hours. I'm sure the audience was grateful because they seemed ready to go home.

Epilog

Part two of the debate will be tomorrow night. Hopefully I will get a sense of how other people are responding to the candidates even if Libertarians will be predisposed not to be receptive to their message.

Mets Trade Jason Vargas to Philly

The New York Mets have traded pitcher Jason Vargas to the Philadelphia Phillies for minor league catcher Austin Bossart.


The 36-year old southpaw joined the Mets as a free agent in 2018. In 2017, while with the Kansas City Royals, Vargas had led the AL in wins with 18 and earned his very first All-Star Team selection. During his tenure with the Mets, Vargas was a combined 13-15 with a 5.26 ERA in 41 appearances (40 of them starts). In 2019, Vargas was 6-5 with a 4.01 ERA. Since June, Vargas had won five of his last seven decisions including wins in his last three starts.


Vargas' recent effectiveness was somewhat overshadowed by an incident where he and Mets manager Mickey Callaway had words with Newsday reporter Tim Healey with Vargas threatening bodily harm against Healey. Vargas reportedly told Healey, "I'll knock you the fuck out, bro." The Mets subsequently fined both Vargas and Callaway $10,000 apiece for their behavior. While Callaway publicly apologized for his behavior, Vargas was defiant and was rebuked by Mets broadcasters Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez for not doing so.


So while Vargas will add depth to the Phillies starting rotation, I don't think he will do the same for the Phillies clubhouse. The Mets and Phillies will meet six more times this season in late August and early September.