oldmanfan

What exactly should the Sabres have done when O'Reilly basically said he wanted out and wouldn't play hard for the Sabres? All this stems from having a kid whose motivation to play is questionable as captain. Now I hope Eichel is not hurt badly of course; neck injuries are terrible and we should all hope this does not end the kid's career. But when I say kid, I mean kid. He has no business being the captain of the team. Your captain has to lead, to motivate, to demand accountability. Is there any evidence he does so? Is there really any evidence that the players on this team are motivated, that they are hungry to win? Not that I can see, except for a young guy like Cozens who will actually go hard into a corner and fight for the puck. Get a captain worthy of the title, get guys on the team that give a damn, and if you have players that cannot sack up and play hard they are useless and need to go away.

Change coaches if you want. But the next guy will have the same problem. Players with no heart and no desire. Until Adams moves some of these babies out and gets some guys like him, guys that had NHL careers because they worked their tails off and played hard every shift, the Sabres will be a bad team. Build around Cozens and hopefully Quinn once he comes up to the big club. If a new coach does one thing it should be to light a fire under Dahlin. Everyone else can go.

I wish you were right and that people would listen to facts. It is apparent they won’t.

One more commission won’t change a thing. You think those who refuse to believe there was no fraud will change their minds? This is beyond ridiculous.

I have no problem with showing ID so long as every citizen can access how to get one and so long as no one tries to keep people from obtaining it. And if you think that will end the nonsense of people claiming fraud you’re naive. Absolutely not. No. The only reason - the only reason - we had this nonsense was because Trump started telling his believers he could only lose by fraud weeks before the election. Every single review of results of reviews into fraud including the one after the 2016 election that Trump’s review team looked at found no evidence of systemic fraud. No state found it after the 2020 election, the DOJ didn’t. No one. The answer is to stand up to this nonsense and tell the truth: the election was not fraudulent. Period.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely

I went to the first game in 1960 but was only 4 years old so no memory of that. First memories include seeing guys carry cases of Genny into the stadium and put them at their feet. I remember autograph day and Cookie putting me on his shoulder. And of course The Hit Heard Round The World.

Great to hear

Thanks.

Yes it is a thing. My younger daughter is adopted from China. We adopted her when she was 11 months old and she has lived her entire life since as an American citizen. She is involved in an Asian-American group at college, and members of that group have been harassed on occasion on campus, with more incidents during the pandemic. A Vietnamese restaurant near her campus was vandalized, with racist slogans painted on the walls of their restaurant. They have chosen to close because of fear of more attacks. Add the other well publicized attacks on old men of Asian age, and it is clear attacks on those of Asian descent are on the rise. So to put it bluntly, shut up. My daughter lives this every day. You don't know what the hell you're talking about. And for others who may be harassed and attacked on a daily basis, how about this: let's work on not having ANYONE attacked or harassed on a daily basis? Regard;less of their socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or whatever. And how about we all stand up for that instead of offering lame excuses about divisions and such crap.

My wife and I don't get one. If we had we were going to donate it to a local business to help them get back on their feet.

Many thanks Smoke and best wishes going forward.

No, people should not call Trump voters gullible and stupid. But what I would ask Trump supporters is this: now he is telling you to send your donations to him rather than the RNC. Does that make sense?

In general I think we need to elevate the level of discourse.

Enough with the cheap insults.

I can only speak for myself, but I believe voting is a right protected under the Constitution and I feel we should do everything we can to ensure people can exercise that right, not do whatever we can to deny them that right.

I'd say 20%. It is a difficult year for teams to do free agency with uncertainly about the cap and such. And I think Milano, while a good fit with us, may not be as attractive to teams that play 3-4, plus his injury history will decrease his value. But some team with a lot of space will make him a bigger offer that we can.

I don't agree with letting felons vote. But instead of carping about the CCP and the other drivel you usually come out with, tell me this: why in a country where citizens are guaranteed the right to vote should we be making that constitutional right harder to do? Should we not make it easier to vote. Why is is OK to pass laws that restrict someone's Constitutional right? Folks like you yell your head off when someone on the left suggests restricting your Second amendment right, but it's OK by you to tell people trying to vote that they can't have a bottle of water given to them while standing in line? It's OK to make registration harder rather than easier? Why don't we get back to the actual purpose of elections, for the candidates and the parties they represent win votes by the power of their argument and the logic of their positions on issues?

He has to pass Saban first. As for Marv, I think all Bills fans love and respect Marv, but I do not feel he should be in the HOF.

It takes time to grieve the loss of a loved one, and the amount of time is different from person to person. The best gift you can give yourself is time. And you shouldn’t feel that there has to be a time where things go away. They never do completely. But having lost both parents what I would tell you is that, with time, the bad memories of her passing are replaced with the good and fun memories of her life. With the anniversary of her passing, I would encourage you to surround yourself with the good memories. Share them with your family and your mom’s friends, and have them share their stories with you. That has helped me.

Every citizen has the right to vote guaranteed in the Constitution. Every citizen - regardless of economic status or race or whatever. So to me we should first make sure that the individual voting is a citizen; I personally have no problem with some form of required ID so long as it is structured such that access to such an ID is equally available to all. Second, instead of restricting options for voting we should provide more options to help ensure that the franchise is utilized by the entire populous. These options would have to make sure of the identification of the voter, and models for mail in ballots such as in Colorado should be studied and potentially implemented nationwide as they seem to work quite well. Third, we should eliminate artificial restrictions on voting. The most disgusting and egregious thing I have seen in a long time is this proposal in Georgia that would make it a misdemeanor to offer a bottle of water to a thirsty voter in line to execute their Constitutional rights. If this thing actually passes I plan to fill my car with cases of water and drive down there. People should be encouraged to vote, not discouraged or restricted. Now, is it also true that the voters in this country are way too apathetic. To celebrate the last election where around 50% of eligible voters actually voted as some sort of success is to me sad; we should aspire to 100%. And voters should also be good citizens and actually study the issues and make informed decisions rather than just pull a lever or check off a box. Which leads me to my last point, one that is admittedly idealistic, but I don't see making sure our democracy functions as idealistic. We need to get back to a system where a political party wins by formulating policies that appeal to the most voters. Not by restricting the ability to vote of those you believe will vote for the opposition.

Good points

You have repeated there is validity in people’s feelings that there are problems with our electoral system, when there is no evidence to support that. Again, the Trump insisted on a special investigation into the 2016 election; it ended with nothing to support such a claim. The DOJ found nothing to support fraud in 2020 that could have caused a problem. Georgia relooked at votes 3 times and found nothing. Other states such as Arizona found no problems when they reviewed results. There simply is nothing there. When accusations are made there have to be some factual basis for them. And yes the primary system may- may - be different but that to me pales in comparison to the ultimate office holder. Plus you have to think of this logically. If there was a problem, say, with the machines why would they only affect the presidential election? And only in certain states? Again, the only reason- the only reason- that we are talking about this is because Trump got it into the heads of his supporters weeks before the election that if he lost it was rigged. One last thing. You say something about me believing Russian affected the 2016 election. I have not opined on that at all.

Ok, first if all do you really think quoting a Russian media site on the voting machines buttresses your argument? Seriously? The audits I am aware of all confirmed there were no abnormalities with the Dominion voting machines. And now that they’re suing those who slandered them discovery will show what occurred. Assuming the idiots claiming that are also too stupid to settle out of court. Now, as far as how the parties choose their nominees, the parties have their mechanisms and I don’t really care about that as I don’t have a constitutional right to vote in primaries. It used to be the bosses picked them in a smoke filled room. Now both parties lie, cheat and steal. Remember how Bush lied about McCain having an illegitimate child who was actually his adopted daughter? How about Trump lying about Cruz’s father? And yes Sanders probably got screwed. And Clyborne got Biden going in SC and we don’t know what pressure was put on nominees after that. But that is a means to an end where we all get to participate, and there simply is no evidence to support widespread election fraud. None. Remember the special investigation Trump demanded into the 2016 election to root out supposed fraud? You may not because the investigation was quietly terminated because it yielded nothing. In 2020 the DOJ said there was no evidence of widespread fraud. States that audited and reaffirmed their votes concluded there was no fraud. When Giuliani tried to get the Pennsylvania courts to intervene he told them specifically they were not claiming fraud. You claim states changed their laws; they did so to ensure that voters during the epidemic were not going to be deprived of their right to vote, and despite 60 some court cases no court said any legislature did anything illegal. And what they did helped make sure the Constitutional right to vote was protected for all. What you should be pissed about is the efforts to disenfranchise voters, like people in line to vote getting a bottle of water from a volunteer. If you care so much about supposed problems with primaries and voting as such, I hope you’ll join me in Georgia next election if this idiotic law is held up, and hand out water. You say a huge population has lost confidence in elections. Do you know why? Because they wanted Trump and that dishonest carnival barker started telling them weeks before the election that if he lost it was because it was rigged. It wasn’t rigged. He lost and his ego refused to accept it. Republicans now unworthy of the label Republicans participated in this charade because they were afraid of losing around 25% of voters, the hard core Trump supporters, who are incapable of separating themselves from their fantasy, and somehow believe a guy who lost the presidency and both the Senate and House is the answer to their political salvation. You ask for an independent investigation. The Trump campaign challenged results in states they wanted to challenge, and they lost. There you go. That is how elections work. There is no reason to add another layer to this just because Trump can’t accept defeat. And who would run a so-called investigation? The DOJ as I already pointed out found no evidence and that was run by Barr. So you want to put together some outside team? Led by who? With what investigatory powers? And when they reach the same conclusion the states and DOJ reached, will Trump and his supporters accept that? Are you so naive to think they will? What should have been done is for leaders of both parties to stand side by side and confirm in no uncertain terms that the election was fair and that Biden was elected. But that would involve integrity, which is in very short supply these days. As you say, we can go back and forth but it boils down to this: when you know that 2+2=4 and some if the population swear 2+2=5, or when you know the sky is blue but some of the population say it’s purple, and they say it because a guy like Trump tells them so, that is your problem. The political system in our country is far from perfect. But to fix it your have to focus on facts, and you have to fight against deliberate lies. Joe Biden is President because he was duly elected in a free and fair election. Rather than indulge those who want to live in conspiracy we would all benefit from focusing on the truth. Reviewing this I sound harsh, and apologize for the tone as I believe you are sincere in wanting to establish good dialog. But my general approach and opinion stand regardless of my harshness-I am just tired of what this continues to do to our country.

The federal government needs to get back to doing what is proscribed by the Constitution. Those things that only a federal government can do. That would cut spending tremendously.