LTS

It's the swords crossed and it will look awesome. someone posted the "leak" of it the other day and I believe that was the design. naturally to each their own..

Given that politics creeps in the other forums and gets moved here I figured I would create the catch all basin for it. Most recently discussions on Eichel trade demands ended up in the COVID thread.. they don't belong there. Given there is no where else for them to go.. the ended up somewhere. So now.. @nfreeman - please just move the stupid crap from the main forums here. Regardless of the topic. Frankly it's disrupting to see crap from the main forums end up in a thread here that had nothing to do with what was being discussed there.

Look, I would expect that "no checking" ends up looking a lot like a USA v Canada women's game where they are out there bouncing off each other at all times. You might not get the "finishing check" but you can be sure there will be contact. And I think that's the real key. In all non-checking leagues, it does not mean "no contact". There's usually plenty of that.

I dunno.. but I think I'd buy that sweater...

I believe this. Leftist extremists have been involved in incidents of violence. Neither side holds a morale high ground. The problem is that those who identify as Republicans are currently enabling the behavior of the head of their party which is calling for violence and hatred. The head of the Democratic party is not. People who support Trump are enablers of his behavior and as I have said before. People are choosing to support that maniac and his minions because they'd rather see him in office than a Democrat. They're fine with four more years of their party being represented by a wanna-be dictator. This is what is not cool to me. If I were a Republican I would be completely pissed at my party for having supported that turd for so long. He is a disgrace to humanity and to this country. I would feel the same way if we had the equivalent person in office but it was a Democrat. This country has been led by Republicans and Democrats and it's largely been fine until the past 4 years when the entire world just started laughing at the United States. We became a joke overnight. How can ANYONE support that? I understand where you are coming from, but I think you look at historical racism and ignore the racism that exists in front of you every day. Yes, the extremer left would like to say "you either are actively against racism or you are a racist." That's grade A BS right there. While everyone is created equal in the eyes of the law (as written on paper) they are not equal in the practice of it. We do need to continue to work against that. Perhaps not by marching on the Capitol in Albany. But we cannot accept continued systemic racism and policies that continue to work towards enabling it. By no means do I think there isn't work to be done all across the board. But the one thing I am positive of is that as we continue on this path towards separation and escalation, things will not get better.

First.. I used a smaller amount out of the gate, but the point is.. make the fine significant enough to encourage people to adhere. Wearing a mask does not convenience me. I hate wearing masks and would choose to do so if I knew I wasn't putting others at risk. My point is that shutting bars down will not have the same level of impact as actually enforcing masks. I'm not about government intervention at all, but I think we can agree that without some in this case we'll be in a true ****show. Yes.. I have seen bars from 5-7 when people get out of work. People who want to drink will. Home parties and private gatherings are the worst culprit. It's not that reducing hours won't help, but there's this concept that it will make a significant difference.. and it simply won't. This is where it's at. The world is full of what ifs.. its why lawyers continue to make a great living. There's a reasonable amount of a fine that can be levied. The point is.. I was in a hotel in PA where signs said "Masks must be worn at all times by PA state mandate". Yet, there were hundreds of people in the lobby (a religious convention we were told) where none of them were wearing masks and when we asked the hotel to enforce it, they said they couldn't. State mandate? Guess not. As I have written before, everyone has their own acceptable level of risk. What is your acceptable level of risk? Even with mask wearing there is still a fairly significant risk of being exposed and carrying the virus around. Being immunocompromised sucks (as you well know) but if I were in close contact (or was immunocompromised myself) that I would barely venture out into public at all. I'd get groceries delivered and so on. That said, given your situation, are you going to a bar at 4pm? Do you go to a restaurant? My parents won't sit down in a restaurant to eat because that's below their acceptable level of risk. They don't need a ruling from the government for that.. they just do it. Which is what my whole point is... we want people to practice safe habits but rather than enact rules that enforce that we enact rules that punish everyone and for minimal gain. The focus is in the wrong spot.

I would agree then. I had thought, for some reason, that the number of games he played in the NHL came into play with regards to having to protect him.

What is the purpose of closing the bar? Of limiting seating? Do these measures have as appreciable an impact as wearing a mask? Not even remotely. They impose limitations that further degrade the quality of life. I am using those two examples because they are the latest rules to be implemented. Let's not act like they are the only stupid rules that have been put in place by governments all over that have no real impact on "safety". We want people to wear masks. So, make them wear masks. So we close the bars at midnight... because the virus is only effective after midnight. What purpose does it serve? It allows bars to remain open so at least there can be some income earned? Servers can still work? Sure. They can if the bars are open until 2am or 4am. NYS got rid of happy hours, specialty drink pricing, etc. It did this because it encouraged people to binge drink, which was dangerous. So, now NYS thinks that reducing the hours will somehow reduce the alcohol consumption. Whereas before when someone got out of work at 11pm they might have until 2am to enjoy alcohol they now have an hour... do we not think they will cram in the drinking? You need to ask yourself. What is the POINT of the rules? What is the government attempting to accomplish? Arguments are that the mask wearing and hygiene are highly effective in limiting the transmission of the virus and yet no rules are actually put in place to force that to happen. Instead, rules are put in place so those who DO ABIDE by the mask wearing and hygiene are forced back into their homes. Rules are put in place to limit the freedoms of those who are responsible because of those who are not. Those who do not want to wear masks will still NOT be wearing masks while hanging out at a house party at 3am drinking their face off. Sorry for not fully clarifying my statement. I was using that in context of large gatherings where groups of people are not wearing masks (especially the Sturgis Rally). I realize the purpose of them. I appreciate you pointing out that I did not explain things well in my response late last night and doing so with civility. You should have stuck with your first instinct of not saying anything. But clearly you needed to get it out there. It's long fall from that mountain of superiority you put yourself on. You keep using your jump to conclusions mat and you'll eventually jump right off the end and fall off the cliff. I'll save my LOL for that moment. Glad you were entertained though. Take a look above at how it could have been handled...

Welcome to the board.. The continued escalation of "wielding power" is the problem. Each cycle the party in charge will seek to enact more and more extreme legislation and thus force people further and further apart. Our entire existence, and I don't just mean within the United States, is based on balance. Balance comes not from rocking things to their extremes but by finding ways to keep things in the middle. What you prescribe would see each side rocking the proverbial boat until there's a point where it cannot be righted. The tipping point as it were. When all occupants of the boat are dumped into the water, causing chaos. As a society, we're being pushed further and further from that middle Whether it's left or right, rich or poor.. the middle has been eroded. Why? Because no one likes the middle, it's boring. The middle does not sell well. The middle, average, whatever way you phrase it is not acceptable in this country. The concept that the "winning" party has the right to destroy the losers is the mentality we see in the Middle East. No one should be "rounding up" Trump supporters or making lists. The entire concept of "putting people on lists" invokes images of times that should never be repeated in the existence of humanity.

Maybe I am incorrect.. but if he stays in Rochester he doesn't have to be protected right? I would imagine that's why a bunch of middling D were signed to 1 year deals. Borgen may be worth a shot, but he's not a bona fide roster player yet. As such, the better play is to keep him in the AHL.

Yes.. it's not surprising a contagious disease spreads in groups of people. Frankly, Mr. Darwin would applaud those not wearing masks and taking preventative measures as they are increasing their odds of selecting themselves out of the gene pool. If masks and hygiene are effective then you don't need lockdowns. If they are not effective, then you need to put everyone in their own biosphere. If the government wanted to put rules in place that really made a difference, why not just implement $5k fines for anyone not wearing a mask in public, except when allowed to be removed? That would be far more effective than closing bars at midnight and reducing tables to no more than 4 people. Two examples of restrictions placed by the government that have no impact on reality. Hell, make it $50k for all I care. Just stop screwing with people's lives with regards to living life.

Perhaps you shouldn't be looking to Trump or Biden? Thinking that Trump was interested in pulling the country together is definitely an interesting belief you had. The guy has always existed for himself. The fact that Republicans then caved to him said all I ever needed to know about their entire party. I can't find a defense of voting for Trump. Willingly doing so was saying "I support hatred, bigotry, and racism." over anyone else and what they might bring to the table. The country did not fall apart the 8 years Obama was in office, despite what people want others to believe. It did not fall apart when Bush or Clinton or Reagan were in office. For what it's worth, if you don't want to live in a world where being a white man is deemed oppressive, then perhaps you should not vote for white men who represent and spout those oppressive ideals every chance they get. Your view points here really are in line with the old, white dude mentality. You don't want to accept change. You want everyone to stay where they are and deal with things. The Eat the Rich BS happened before... it's kind of what led to this country. The whole taxation without representation, royal families owning the land and forcing peasants to work for them and not make their own way. You do want people to abandon their culture. You want immigrants to come here and be American. imagine if the Irish had done, or the Italians, or the British, or the French, or really any of the other immigrant families that originally came here. I bet the Native Americans would have really loved it if those cultures had not just shown up and taken over. Mexicans should be proud of their heritage. It's their right to take over the South Western states, if they choose to live there and have entered the country legally. The law of the land once said black people were property and women had no rights. Imagine if everyone had continued to conform to those laws of the land? People come to America, not to fundamentally change America, but to have a chance they did not have elsewhere. You are free to leave this country to find your way elsewhere as well. Do you think the people in the Middle East loved when the US showed up and interfered in their politics? When our country caused wars to happen to further business interests there? Do you think the Japanese loved the infiltration of Western culture? The Chinese? I mean, the things I am referencing happened much more recently than the 600+ year ago battles between Ottomans, Goths, Turks, etc. What is an American belief anyway? Honestly, how could you define it without reaching back into history into one of the many different cultures that have settled here over time? You can't. Immigrants have every right to come here and impose their ideas because welcome them into the country, as we always have, with the expectation that here, in the United States, we can blend all cultures together to create a better place. Everything you have said above is against that concept.

Frankly, what you are presented with in media and online is not necessarily the grand opinion of medical professionals. I doubt ANY of us are capable of having a widespread understanding of how they feel on the subject. I know a few medical professionals who share the opinion that lockdowns, etc. are nothing more than placebo for the masses and do just as much damage as COVID does. They believe in the safety protocols, but the lockdowns are garbage. They don't share those opinions openly because being derided and harassed by people is not something they want to take on given their already stressful lives. I know medical professional who disagree with their opinion as well. To pretend that anyone has the right answer is pure folly. Think of it this way. Despite all the safety measures, the protocols, etc. Cases are rising. Why? Are you going to pin on a few careless people or is it more likely that the safety protocols and lockdowns are not as effective? Well, at least not as they are right now. Certainly forcing everyone to live within their own sealed biosphere would be more effective, and I think that's really what those who oppose the lockdowns are getting at. How far do the lockdowns have to go to be as effective as people want them to be and at that point are people giving up too much of their freedom and thus being impacted psychologically and in other ways? Do you believe that the percentage of people who are against the lockdowns (and further increasing them) is roughly the same as the percentage of people who believe Martians live on the moon? Asking since you are relating the two.

Who keeps electing them?

Your clock is fine. The SSL certificate has expired and since its recent its basically telling you that the certificate MIGHT be right, so check your device time in case its wrong. In this case.. it's fine and the SSL certificate needs to be renewed. I am sure @SDS will get it done.

This is a particularly narrow take. You are associating the majority vote getter with the county being 100% for that candidate. 50.1-49.9 accomplishes a majority without there being a clear split. In the case of Erie County it appears to be ~204k to ~174k... a whopping 30k votes of separation.

To be fair... MODO is more than a handful. 🙂

Kids can be raised as jerks.. and I blame the parents and those who support that behavior. That said, events like this need to happen because it needs to be a punch in the face for every kid out there with dreams of the NHL that acting like an asshat in your teen years is going to come back to haunt you. One hopes that those who are currently being enabled by their parents and peers see this outcome and think twice about the way they are choosing to live day to day while they pursue their NHL dreams. I can't definitively say what life influences led this kid to act in such a way, but I wouldn't try to defend it anyway. Point is, he did these things, and now he's paying the price. Perhaps this motivates him to get more involved in organizations that work with children with developmental disabilities so he can truly understand the challenges they face. More importantly, I hope he sees just how amazing so many of them are and how their disability allows them to see life different from so many of us and through that can help others realize how they let trivial matters impede their quality of life. That's probably some poor grammar there at the end, but I hope my point comes across.

Is it really crap? I listened to a 16 year old tell me about all of his racist tendencies this past weekend without him ever knowing he was being racist or caring at the very least. I only had to look at the parents. People do tolerate forms of racism.. especially if that's the group you are in while growing up. One hopes that he does change or has changed, but it seems clear, from his words, that they were meant more to be polished than heartfelt and certainly failed to convey that he truly feels remorseful and changed over it.

I'm sincerely not trying to be disrespectful here. The situation sucks. But the government's response had nothing to do with the situation your office assistant faced. The odds are good that she would eventually be exposed and the odds are good that the virus would impact her in this way. That is part of life. She was treated, she had medical care, and this still occurred. Why does anyone think it would not have occurred with any different government response? People are hanging their hats on vaccines... something that has NEVER existed for a coronavirus and still does NOT exist for even the flu. But somehow, this time, there will be a vaccine. Which, I might add, if you look up the anecdotal stories on people's adverse reactions to flu shots, you can find stories similar to your co-workers. This is why anti-vaxxers exist, they glom onto those anecdotal events as some widespread conspiracy theory. There are billions of people on this planet and we are all different. Some of us are predisposed to being at risk to certain diseases, infections, etc. Some of us will naturally have high blood pressure. Some of us will naturally have terrible lungs. All of it bad for the person, but that's nature, and whether we choose to believe it or not, we are just highly evolved animals. None of that diminishes the situation for her and how much it sucks, but I read articles every day on the potential side effects of the virus. I'm not sure what's being covered up. The President is an idiot and he's proven his ignorance on pretty much every topic thrown at him. A cover up? Only the ignorant would believe that blowhole at this point and there's no fixing stupid.

Maybe.. I probably am okay with it. It's not a race thing however and you shouldn't make it that. It's certainly a monetary issue and there are definitely economical divides in the country that follow race lines, but hockey is not anti-black. It's anti-poor. Poor white kids also are not playing it. There are things in this world that are expensive... and those without money will not have access to them. Many of those things are far more important than hockey.. and many are far less important. That's just how life goes.

The scope of "everyone" is not based on financial ability. that said.. HOCKEY can be for anyone, since you could play street hockey pretty cheap. If you focus on ice hockey, it's expensive. It's that simple. I get your passion, but you are telling others what they need to spend their money on. As much as I love hockey, if I were giving money to a program to help kids with financial restrictions its going to go towards items that aid in their education. Playing hockey does squat for that. Education is the key to long term improvement in financial opportunities. Convince college scouts and talent evaluators to stop focusing on elite tournaments and you can fix that. Otherwise, you cannot. As I said, there are more people chasing the dream of sports and because of that it's harder for programs to find that talent amidst the thousands of town leagues. So, elite programs spring up to showcase those with talent. Those elite programs cost money because you pay the people to run them and coach them. One other major problem with hockey, compared to pretty much any other sport, is the need for a rink. Those don't just pop up anywhere like football fields, soccer pitches, and basketball courts. The fact that you recognize this is the perfect underscore of my point. People are not interested in helping out the greater good. They have their own financial priorities and would prefer to spend their money where they get benefit. This is exactly why you won't get what you are seeking. You blame people for this, but I think that's quite disingenuous. I mean, what If I suggested you should stop spending $5k on hockey and add $50 to your taxes to fund a program you didn't necessarily agree with or find valuable? You'd be in the same boat.

I agree.. and so the need for business trumps the need for protection. It's akin to locking all windows and your front door, but you leave the side door open. COVID-19 transmission doesn't stop just because you need to commute for work and those who commute don't have to quarantine. So the rules that bind one state do not bind another and that's the problem. It effectively makes all of the bans worthless. State A allows State B and State B allows state C.. ergo, State A allows State C. Nothing is protected.

Who is going to own the rink? A town that builds a hockey rink and maintains it does so at the expense of not spending money elsewhere. If money gets tight in the government the pressure will be to cut the unnecessary programs first. If the rink has no income and is only breaking even, how long do you think it will last? Schools cut arts and music before anything else. Sports would be next but they continue to drive booster support more than any other program but they still get cut. Even sports have a pecking order right? Football/Basketball/Soccer are the last to go. No one makes teams go to tournaments now. MyHockey operates a business and their business is to offer tournaments and people CHOOSE to go to them and they do so knowing they will have to stay in a sanctioned hotel.

Yes, but to NOT put the quarantine in place, even though it's not enforceable is basically giving the green light on crossing the border to everyone. I look at it like a travel ban during a winter storm. Is it enforceable? No. Do they still do it? Yes. Why? Because it discourages SOME to not engage in the behavior and should something happen there is at least some level of mandate to fall back on that says "You should not have been there." Of course that's only arguing for the quarantines and bans. I'm on the opposite side that their unwillingness to do it on the states where the most travel occurs is a good enough reason to not bother with the rest of the states. It's not like COVID-19 only comes from Arizona. So Sally in Delaware wanders into Philly and meets Joe from NYC. Boom.. Delaware has met NY. Those hockey teams are playing teams from border states too. So, the Baltimore Checkers wander on up to Pittsburgh for a tournament and play against the Rochester Ice Dogs... boom. Contact. Travel restriction be damned. Thus.. why bother having them at all?