I had two columns up this week for subscribers to the Athletic: my third stab at projecting the first round for next week’s MLB draft, and my ranking of the top 100 prospects in the draft class. I also held a Klawchat on Thursday.
My podcast this week featured my colleague Evan Drellich, talking about the state of negotiations between MLB and the union when we spoke on Monday. You can also listen on Apple, Stitcher, or Spotify.
The Inside Game has garnered several recommendations from major publications as a Father’s Day gift or for summer reading, including from Forbes, The New York Times, and Raise. My thanks to all of you who’ve already bought it; if you’re looking to pick up a copy, you can get it at bookshop.org or perhaps at a local bookstore if they’re reopening near you.
My free email newsletter continues to not write itself, yet I keep sending it out anyway. Feel free to sign up for more words from me.
And now, the links…
- Writer Jake Lawler asks “What more can we do to show you that we deserve to live?”
- Nylah Burton writes in The Independent that Trump’s threat to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 is just a continuation of our government’s ongoing war on black Americans.
- The media become complicit in Trump’s plans by dismissing the protests as “chaos” – they’re not.
- The same white, wealthy Americans who preach libertarianism have no problem with authoritarian rule for those on the other side of the income gap.
- As of Friday morning, there had been at least 140 incidents of U.S. police attacking journalists. It’s as good an argument as many for those saying it’s time to defund the police.
- Alex Pareene writes in The New Republic that the police have sided with white vigilantes in cities across the United States.
- From July 2019: Tear gas has been banned in warfare, so why do police still use it?
- Tear gas may have led to the death of a protester in Columbus, Ohio, who had asthma.
- The National Guard occupied my adopted home city of Wilmington, Delaware, for nine months in 1968. The city has never recovered, including economically.
- Breonna Taylor’s family spoke to NPR about grieving her loss and the life ‘robbed’ by police.
- The Washington Post has a guide to deleting old Facebook activity, if you’d like to reduce your presence on the service (for any reason) but aren’t ready to delete your account entirely.
- The U.S. unemployment rate probably didn’t decline in May after all – it was a “misclassification error.”
- Coronavirus appears to attack the lining of blood vessels, leading to a spiral of inflammation that culminates in a cytokine storm that has proven fatal for many patients with underlying cardiovascular conditions.
- Anti-vaxxers are already mobilizing against the coronavirus vaccine that doesn’t yet exist.
- Without a vaccine, herd immunity against COVID-19 may not be possible.
- Poland’s ruling right-wing party is taking advantage of the pandemic to tighten its authoritarian grip on the country, including making abortions almost impossible for women to get.
- BBC film critic Nicholas Barber pays tribute to the light comedic touch of author P.G. Wodehouse, the “crafter of perfect sentences.”
- Board game news: Maztec, a jigsaw puzzle that plays like a competitive board game, is now up on Kickstarter.