thoughts on soybeans while kids are in cages

Not sure of all the variables in the trade wars, but one thing I see is the media remarking upon farmers trusting President Trump's decisions despite the potential downfall of their corn and soybeans being blocked abroad. Three months ago, the pending trade war was said to surely ruin farmers. Crazy to think three months have gone since the spat was started yet nothing major has occurred to push the kids in cages narrative away.
Seems odd that there are millions of hungry Americans, yet the media is concerned about the soybeans and corn not being sold to the Chinese. The infamous Farm Bill is always made out as a slush fund for farmers to not actually have to act profit oriented or competitive given the trade off with SNAP. Why not make the SNAP money limited to those crops like soybeans and corn affected by the tariffs?
WTO probably frowns upon such things.
Speaking of the kids in cages, why hasn't Mexico offered to pay to build the wall to make the family separation scenario seem like a hostage situation rather than the reality of criminals being incarcerated? Everyone knows bank robbers don't get their kids sent to prison/jail with them upon arrest, so the kids in cages would seem more horrid if pallets of money were shipped to help bring families together.
Speaking of tariffs and of the wall, a lot of  steel could be used for that wall.
Since there isn't a balanced budget amendment, the government will always be hell-bent on deficit spending.
Given deficit spending seems out of control, I see most budgetary problems as being exaggerated for the sake of making political points.

bored

Not sure if I'm bored, but I'm not seeing the reason for people being bothered by President Trump's first term. The immigration thing has occurred for some time. No one had the courage to fix it, so it's a no win situation if you want to enforce the law.
No one wants kids in cages, but it's better than dead or being trafficked.
There's been a pause on a number of things.
The Mueller thing seems to be nothing, if the kids in cages is the biggest thing.
NRA haters have been peak with the journos being targetted last week.
Meh, Congress was shot at a year before, yet no one cared half as much.
Part of me expects October surprises.

Trump gives me hope

Before I went MAGA, I was skeptical of Trump. I was sick to my stomach that he destroyed Ted Cruz and got the nomination until I figured he probably had a better shot at beating Hillary due to the fact that Cruz was not viable in my wife's opinion.

The promises Trump made were broad and vague but very much under the MAGA umbrella.

• Build the wall
• repeal Obamacare
• SCOTUS
• scrapping unbalanced trade deals
• tax reform
• fixing climate deals
• fixing Iran deal
• fixing North Korea's nuke threat

Trump has kicked the tires on all of the above fronts. Only a third of way through his first term, yet so many coals are in the fire being stoked by nothing given the 24/7 negative news about FBI investigations going no where fast.. The economy has been chugging along with the price of gold dipping to pre-Brexit ranges. Gold is a barometer I use as a hedge against everything... since I foolishly feared the "fiscal cliff." 

The housing market worries me. Everything is selling fast and nothing seems to be left in modestly priced ranges... much like 2005.

Trump being a builder in his former life almost surprises me given the lack of building he has spearheaded as president.

I predicted prison reform, I totally expect affordable housing to be a huge Trump initiative. There's so much federal land that is available.

Baseball

Ever since I can remember, I have been a fan of baseball. I cried when Tony Pena was traded. I probably cried when Johnny Ray was traded, too.

Looking back at old baseball cards a while back, I saw lots of names I had never seen or recalled. They had terrible numbers, yet became immortalized on a card. I found myself wondering, why did the suck so bad if they were good enough for the majors.

Chad Hermansen comes to mind. He never panned out. He got to the majors and never did much beyond strike out a lot. He lost the mojo or something once he got sent back to AAA.

Adam Hyzdu wasn't hateful but he didn't have much of a career.

Regardless, baseball is a team sport with a lot of individual players that aren't at all alike. The variables for baseball stats to be relevant beyond traditional stats was made into movie, right?

I personally believe most managers are irrational. Jim Leyland was a genius in his day, yet had Jay Bell lay down a sac bunt regularly in the 1st inning ahead of Andy Van Slyke. The same line-up had Barry Bonds batting 5th, being protected by Sid Bream.

I believe pitching is overrated. Having a script to get to closer is flawed if you rely upon a guy who could get injured in the wink of an eye.

I heard that Kevin Cash had a reliever start a couple games in a series. Novel idea, but very practical considering starting pitchers are expensive and only pitch once or twice a week.

I love the NL. Pitchers who can hit amaze me. Position players who can mop up by pitching humor me.

Data exists that running the numbers for best matchups for each game of each opponent can be done without having the regular 8 penciled day in and day out.

I dream of the day a pitching staff has 8-9 pitchers who all log 162 innings for the season while each position has a left and right handed hitting variable to insert into the lineup.

Fielding, speed, bunting for base hits and pinch hitting abilities would dictate line-ups beyond the opposing pitcher's particular dexterity.

Some hitters are good fast ball hitters. Some feed on offspeed pitches.

So many ball games are decided by a few runs or less... I believe managers cause more losses from mistakes than the stats reveal.

I dream of a expansion team drafting from subpar players who have various skillsets that mesh into a winning team concept. No fanbase wants their team to be blownup and be used as theoretical enterprise employing nobodies....

Solar disappointment

As I said in my previous installment, I am looking to kill time more productively.
I'm failing miserably. I'm still stuck following certain things that are wastes of time. Twitter is a time bandit... but I only have myself to blame.
I shouldn't follow sports.
I shouldn't follow the stock market closely.
My reading topics that I perused were: solar power, home repair, and being a land lord.
Solar power is way too unrealistic for my current situation. Buying stuff from Harbor Freight always looks cool and affordable, but the kit you buy doesn't set itself up and lacks some of the essentials. I'm  probably too lazy and lacking of funds to set up something worthwhile.
Home repair is an open ended matter. I have a number of unfinished projects that simply need me to focus my energy. I find excuses for not doing things... like not having a mitersaw or money to pay someone else.
Investment property isn't going to land in my lap, so it's foolish to pursue entertain the thought, right?
I wish I was wired differently. I just lack the drive to finish stuff and get distracted by unrealistic interests and things that aren't important in the grand scheme of things.
Moments like now, I hate free will for I can only blame myself for the majority of my shortcomings.
Theorectically, I put stuff out here to say I looked into things, and affirmed my home and existing personal stuff need focus before thinking of other matters such as solar power and investment property. 

summer reading - exploring better hobbies

Having spent considerable time avoiding being productive or advancing my skill set, I decided to do some cheap self-investment through reading library books.

Given my previous post, I am exploring real estate investment. I have always had interest in houses. Much like reading job postings, I enjoyed reading house listings. Given that I do not have the funds nor time to invest into such endeavors, I need to focus on my current home before moving onto pipe dreams.

I'm cutting sports from my time consumption diet. I should cut my 401(k) obsession along with following the news cycle that seems stuck since November 8, 2016.

Speaking of pipe dreams, I have dreams of making my shed a man cave. It's a small barn, which we currently use for storage, but I'd like to have electricity out there. I would like to have it be solar powered, hence off the grid.

I got a book out from the library that appeared relevant, Do It Yourself 12 Volt SOLAR POWER, but 17 pages in, I find it comical. It's translated from German with an idealistic premise of living off the grid in a van or yurt. Probably not going to do me much good to read the whole thing, but I find solar power intriguing. I doubt I will be less knowledgeable, so it should have benefit, right?

Time's take on making side money to quit your real job

Read this old article Time tweeted about making enough side money to quit your job.

It made me chuckle.

1. Real Estate investment takes money.
2. Writing a book is easy. Finding someone willing to pay for it is another story. I actually started writing a book in '96, but I stopped because I lacked worldly experience to properly develop characters.
3. Sell a product on Amazon?
4. Sell your skills?
5. Blogging!

Seriously, I've tried to blog for money, but I have nothing anyone wants to read it seems. My tweets aren't worthy of getting followers, beyond a static 80. I have stuff that isn't being said, yet nothing catches on. I guess I don't trash Trump, so my feed isn't going to catch on. Suppressed? Perhaps the shadow ban is real enough that there's a pre-shadow ban? I know I'm not dumb, yet I must be missing something key beyond interacting with strangers. I'm joking. Dale Carnegie said in his book, people only care about themselves, so you have to indulge their ego if you hope to be successful in getting anything in return.

I need to create better twitter content, or at least dumb it down. Substweeting seems more necessary than I ever could guess. Nothing piques interest than being left out of a conversation. Obviously, I need to follow the biggies and comment on their inane stuff if I want to generate an opening. Sounds fake. Perhaps most people are fake, and that's why I have trouble following their point. 

I have multiple Twitter accounts. I could have multiple profiles to experiment with traffic flow. and such. If I were to be anti-Trump, I'd get the most followers quickly, I'm afraid. That said, I can be deranged in the tongue in cheek sarcastic way that would make Scott Adams proud. I really don't get TDS, but I never got the Obama stuff either.