GaryPinC

It's the same on both sides, pick your parentheses. Critical thinking involves being open to all sources and judiciously distilling your most educated guess where the truth lies. Almost always, bits and pieces are in both sides. The problem you have is one side enjoys finger pointing at the other while never turning it on themselves.

Yep, both sides now embrace the same tactics to enforce what they see as "correct"

One of the biggest problems we've had over all the years is the lack of a dominant defensive front. Got to be able to rattle Mahomes to have a chance in the playoffs. Our playoff "next men up" defense did about as good a job as they could this year vs the Chiefs. They gave up 7 yds per play, but KC was 1/5 on third down, we also held them under 400 yds (361) but benefitted a significant TOP advantage, roughly 37 min to 22. People can read as much as they want into things but we were missing a number of playmakers behind the D-line. 27-24 loss, the game came down to the Diggs drop, the defense was adequate and the best we were going to get for that day

Amen. To win those playoff games, you need your playmakers to step up for those handful of plays. In all three facets of the game. Our D did a great job considering.

Appraised value and assessed value are two different things. Appraised value (market value) determines the change from the previous appraisal to give gains or loss. Assessed value (taxable value) is part of what determines your taxes in conjunction with the property tax rate. Assessed value is typically lower than appraised value and can change yearly at the local legislative level. Property tax rates can change yearly for things such as school levies. You can appeal and contest the appraisal value directly to the county auditor. Therefore, your property taxes DO NOT have to change in direct proportion to your unrealized gains or losses, rendering your argument incorrect. It's an assessed value/tax rate change not an unrealized gains tax.

No it's not. Assessed value plays a part in your taxes but it's not based on unrealized capital gains. We have some communities in the Cleveland area which are almost all residential and their property taxes are significantly higher than mine for the same market value house. Reason is no corporate taxes get extra tacked onto property taxes. If you and your neighbor own the exact same market value house, same size house, same size property. In Ohio, your property taxes would be the same. Assume you both paid the same price for each house, you put in $60,000 in improvements, him none, and you both sell for the same price. Your capital gains are different than his. Please explain to me how property taxes are a tax on unrealized capital gains?

No, property taxes are absolutely not a tax on unrealized gains. They are a usage tax. While an assessed value of the property is used as part of the formula, there are many different factors that go in to determining property taxes. States, cities and towns can have separate rules. For example here in Ohio, residential, agricultural, and commercial/business properties have different property tax rates. We have a percent exemption, called the Homesteader's exemption, for seniors and handicapped homeowners. School levies get voted on in each community that increase the property tax rates. Rates are determined by the square feet of the house and property, but each community can enact blanket deductions from the assessed value. Often the taxable value is different than market value. Re-assessments are done every three to six years and eligible for appeal to the county auditor. Even villages can establish their own special tax zones and rules to some extent. All that being said, I'm totally against an actual unrealized capital gains tax.

Wight Wing Weetards at their finest.

Yeah, I hope they can but there will be a lot of noise from the airport as the large majority of traffic comes in/takes off Northeast direction of the main runways. It's really fairly close to his property along with I-71 and I-480, both 6 lane highways. Plus, the Brookpark area is lower middle class. Haslem had also tried to work out a deal with Hopkins airport, probably a land swap so he could get closer to Berea (practice facilities) which is also nicer neighborhoods/area, less highway proximity for growing his village. They turned him down though.

I'm sure they will. The strip clubs have been there a long time though, we'll see their representatives on the local news when changed ordinances force them out.

It is really nice and as a Clevelander it would be a complex choice. It'll be right next to the airport where all that glass will get regularly shook. Wonder how the proposed rentals will sell? I also shudder to think of the area traffic on gameday Sunday evenings between those two areas. At least they'll redesign the airport entrance which is really crappy right now. Hopefully it'll revitalize that grungy area. Also on the good side, one or more strip clubs should be easy walking to the stadium, thereby redefining tailgating!

Just a generalized take on the situation: I feel like the primary driver of Diggs wanting out was Allen. Coaching may have played a role also but it's hard to get a read on how much. Diggs: Very, very detailed and driven receiver who wants very much to win a championship -Superb route runner/catcher -chooses situationally when to fight for extra yards or save himself for the next play -very focused on the quarterback's role in winning as proven in Minnesota and most likely Buffalo -multiple confrontational "arguments" with Allen -Both during his time here and after coaches and players discuss his will to win and that he's misunderstood because of it. -this to me points at poor communication skills. A bit arrogant also. Allen: Generational QB that we are lucky to have -Amazing ball talent. Probably the best this franchise has ever seen. -Very competitive on the field -Admitted he doesn't watch much game film. This is a huge indicator of the limits of his competitiveness -Coaches long tried to diversify his approach on offense. Taking the short throws, staying in the pocket longer -Forces balls, becomes predictable throwing patterns to the defense which leads to the turnovers. -I believe, despite his stats, this is why un-named execs call him "a bit overrated". Last year, it was clear the entire offensive focus shifted off of Diggs around mid-season. I thought it had to be an injury but that would have come out by now. The prime possibilities are a falling out between QB/WR, coaching changes or both. It was also easily apparent to me that Diggs gave up on the season. Body language, effort and attitude all took a dump. And yet he had his opportunity against KC and shanked it. Wants to be a winner but quickly turns into a petulant loser. I think Diggs felt Allen's game needed to be more diverse to win at the final levels but was divisive in communicating that. Diggs forced action with his petulance and I think it's to the benefit of all sides that he's gone. WRT Allen, he's proved he can dink and dunk and be a conservative QB when pressed. Last year, and maybe with Brady, they decided it's up to him now and let it go. Hopefully he incorporates it.

Yeah, maybe. Or maybe they simply got a little lazy because it was out in the sticks which is usually Trump country. We'll see.

Definitely USSS people should lose their jobs over this. It's the middle of nowhere. How do you not put even one agent on top of that building complex?

I don't know, I'd rather see things elucidated in Judge Chutkan's court. The SCOTUS did offer guidance in their document though: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf (apologies if already posted) I've only read through about 8 pages, and I agree with the court's decision. The President needs to make the best official decisions/acts possible to uphold the Constitution as he or she sees fit without fear of prosecution. I do believe WRT Jan 6 that when the Pres knew or was clearly shown there was no significant fraud, any actions attempting to prevent the change of power were subversive to his Constitutional duties and therefore prosecutable. Unfortunately it's going to take time and court cases to elucidate all that. And we all know Brownholed Dump will delay and prolong things as long as possible. But I can give a full circle scenario for the left wingers: If Dump wins the upcoming election and Biden has legitimate evidence of widespread fraud, he will need to pursue the truth in a short time and he should. We trust he will differ from Dump much like Gore did in finally conceding when the evidence showed otherwise. But he shouldn't be prosecuted for legitimately pursuing the truth, even if it disrupts some of the regular process. Unless he knew or was shown the evidence to be false.

He's 81 and we're talking about 4 more years. He spent much of the event mouth breathing, vacant stares and aside from a few lucid moments, couldn't fully hold his thoughts together for 1 or two minutes. I'm one of those people that won't vote for Trump but last night convinced me I can't in all good conscience vote for Biden. Lord knows Trump has turned most of the Repub party into mindless rubes. I was going to hold my nose and vote for Biden like the last two elections but won't. If the Dems put up anyone decent they're going to win. Beyond the corruption and national embarrassment of a second Trump term, do you really want him to have the chance to tilt the Supreme Court further?

It was bad for Biden last night. Trump spoke in his usual meaningless platitudes, I credit him for keeping his angry narcissim in check and I credit Biden for trying to express his facts but every answer got more and more muddled the longer he talked. When I heard the debate rules just before it began, I couldn't believe the dems agreed to them. All alone, no notes, no outside interactions. After 3 1/2 years of carefully micromanaging everything about his public appearances to hide his feebleness and gaffes, suddenly this? I'm convinced it was a purposeful sink or swim test to pave the way for him dropping out. We'll see. Dems have a problem getting someone on the ballot in Ohio if they wait till the conference in August. If the stepdown happens, they need to project strength and a highly organized plan. Not their strength. They also need to not pick an extremist or Hillary Clinton and it will work. Uhhhhhh. Yeah. Come on Dems, get it together. PLEASE.

College is not the NFL. He was too much of a knucklehead to be great and his NFL career proves it, along with demanding more targets at multiple stops(without earning them) and leaving KC because he wanted a better chance to be a number 1 receiver. Horse crap. Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid? There's no better chance of becoming a number 1 if you're getting open and executing on the field. Sammy has never been dedicated enough to doing what it takes to be top of his profession. Somewhere between college and the early Pros he decided his talent was an entitlement. The NFL has seldom been his #1 life priority. His quote about people working their "little jobs" says it all. I know along the way he's had locker room vets and coaches try to help him as you suggest. But here he is. Too set in his ways? Just an excuse for knuckleheaded as his career comes to a disappointing close. He's never been accountable. Wrong environment, coaches, players, negative energy, blah, blah, blah. I respect much of what you post and know all too well you can't admit error in your opinions, so we'll have to agree to disagree about the shining vet-on-the-hill transforming naive Sammy looking for a mentor. I agree that he needed a mentor, but you have to actually want one. See how much knucklehead you can take, here's a whole lot of it: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2889029-what-sammy-watkins-believes

It's a strong argument you make, except for one glaring problem: Sammy Watkins is unique and a bit out there, a head case who fervently clings to his own ideas and has never been too willing to listen much to others. You want to argue veterans and leadership guiding him to greatness? He played three years in Kansas City, outside of 2 or 3 memorable games never distinguished himself as a premier receiver, despite professing to love Reid and be tight with Mahomes. A premier atmosphere for him to catapult to greatness but he never did, "choosing" to leave because he wanted a better opportunity to be a number 1 receiver. He would have come back to Buffalo for it. Boldin wouldn't have made a difference. Sammy was a career 400-600 yard receiver a year. It's clear from the article he likes to think big but seldom comes close. WRT McBeane, I remember Gilmore and Woods just wanted out at that time and who could blame them? I don't remember much about Darby but Dareus was another inconsistent, talented player that seemed frequently unmotivated. While you believe McBeane deemed Watkins and Dareus a threat to their regime, I believe McBeane viewed them more as a threat to the culture they wanted to establish and not worth the effort to try and coax consistently high performances. It's been almost seven years since then and judging by their careers I'd say McBeane were on the correct side of those decisions.

Certainly the losing culture in the locker room was no help, but it's clear from Dunne's article that Sammy was struggling with expectations, pressures from home, and horrors of his life growing up. It's clear as day in that article he was suffering from stress and depression and mired in self destructive behavior that he feels played a large role in injuries and tearing up his body. Over time he compounded it with self-isolation. It's questionable that a winning culture would have mattered. To his credit, he recognizes and admits it, family pressures were bigger for him than football. But I feel like blaming the poor Bills culture at the time is mostly off the mark and diminishes from the internal struggle he was trying to come to terms with.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations I would point out that vaccine was not significantly administered before mid-December 2020, and that vaccine doses administered peaked on April 12, 2012 when excess mortality was less than 5% of expected mortality. Excess mortality does not at all correspond to daily injections during this time frame.

Great post, thanks for the different perspective. I agree with you but would suggest there's one more critical component to winning a championship. Difference makers. When the lights are the brightest, so are they. And it's not just about talent. Downfield blocking to the whistle, pursuing with everything you've got just in case there's a tackle opportunity. Burning desire for the high pressure. -Milano back to 100% is huge because we saw signs that him and Bernard will work together well and amplify their respective difference making abilities. -Diggs quit on the team well before season's end and his poetic drop in the KC game symbolized his fall from difference maker. -Gabe Davis had his negatives but I will miss his supportive blocking efforts downfield. -Hyde and Poyer unfortunately aged out of being difference makers. -Out of all the free agents lost, Floyd would be my biggest loss as he seemed to elevate the play of the entire D-line. -Tauron Johnson kept. Difference maker. -Shakir and Kincaid both showed potential of becoming bigger difference makers this coming season. -Cook. Difference maker, especially if Josh would dump it off to him more! -Oliver came into his own as a difference maker this season. Now he needs help, hopefully Von can be at least give some. We really need our promising looking rookie safety to step up quickly this year. We'll see how the rest fall but I agree with you that it's not as bad as it seems because we didn't lose much in the way of difference-makers.

Then along came Beane the bidet. Problem solved!

I enjoyed Diggs' time here but am glad he's gone. It's been a while in coming. Thanks for posting, this story doesn't surprise me. I think Diggs wants to win and probably realizes his career is getting closer to winding down. I think he took it on himself to challenge Josh on his bad habits and probably got tired of it against Cinci and perhaps also sick of McD. Last season everyone, especially Josh, got sick of Diggs' approach. I definitely felt Josh was ignoring Diggs on the field when his stats were tanking. I love Josh but let's be real, he's very stubborn as a QB. Doesn't always go through all his reads preferring to force the ball and God help him he throws the wide open check-down. Obviously he's proven capable in certain games during Dorsey's time when they tried to force him to be more of a pocket QB. But he chooses not to see the entire field regularly. What worries me the most from this story and situation is maybe no one's holding Josh accountable anymore, not even Josh himself. That may be the biggest window closure to the Super Bowl.

Me also, I was convinced Diggs had to have an injury at first because the dynamic between him and Josh changed so abruptly. As games went on and things languished it seemed otherwise. He definitely seemed nonchalant and not invested in the playoffs. It all makes sense now and he's better gone. It ran its course. I wish him well and good luck Texans. Diggs jumped to the up and coming team again. Except he may be nearing the end of his usefulness.