Nothing new at the Athletic this week as I finished writing up the top 50 free agents ranking, which will run shortly after the World Series ends.
Over at Paste, I reviewed Happy City, a light city-building card game that’s ideal for younger players, ages 8 and up, who aren’t quite ready for Splendor. If you’ve played Machi Koro, this has a similar vibe, but without the dice or the unbalanced cards.
My guest on my podcast this week was Christina Kahrl, who helped me preview the World Series and some of this winter’s free agent market. You can listen and subscribe to my podcast on Spotify or iTunes.
The latest issue of my email newsletter was about a hat – one that’s very important to me, though. And, as the holidays approach, I’ll remind you all every week that I have two books out, The Inside Game and Smart Baseball, that would make great gifts for the readers (especially baseball fans) on your lists
And now, the links…
- Longreads first: ProPublica has the story of how Liberty University, founded by Jerry Falwell and run for years by his ethically challenged son, discourages and dismisses students’ reports of rape and sexual assaults.
- Why is the idea of gender provoking such a backlash around the world? It’s an unholy alliance of religion, misogyny, and homophobia/transphobia, and feminists should not ally themselves with those trying to roll back progress on human rights.
- Steph Apstein spoke to multiple Native American leaders in asking why MLB still allows the “synchronized, team-sanctioned racism” of the tomahawk chop? Meanwhile, Rob Manfred totally whiffed when asked about the chop, lying about Native Americans’ views on it and landing on the wrong side of the issue.
- The Columbia Journalism Review published the second part of its series on paid advocacy groups writing content for local news outlets.
- The Posies broke up this week as multiple women accused lead singer Ken Stringfellow of sexual misconduct.
- That SEPTA (Philadelphia transit) rape incident where people watched and filmed the assault without calling the police? Yeah, the cops made that part up. The lesson here is to not take authorities at their word.
- Bobcat Goldthwait has some thoughts on the hoax that is “cancel culture.”
- A white man in Texas killed a Moroccan man who was sitting in a car in his own driveway. It took 11 days for authorities to arrest him.
- My colleague Levi Weaver called out the Rangers for their refusal to acknowledge LGBTQ+ fans. It’s outdated, it’s exclusionary, and it’s pandering to the wrong element.
- Meanwhile, the NAACP urged pro athletes to avoid signing with teams in Texas over the state’s rollbacks of reproductive, voting, and LGBTQ+ rights.
- Oh, and a Texas state rep who’s running for attorney general is trying to start a book-banning investigation of public schools in the state, demanding that schools disclose if they have any of eight hundred and fifty books – not in their curricula, but just in the buildings.
- Ohio isn’t that much better, as the Republican Governor forced out the Board of Education President who authored an anti-racism resolution that has since been repealed, because in Ohio, racism is good!
- Chevron’s ten-year vendetta against an environmental activist who exposed the company’s extensive pollution in Ecuador has led to the activist’s jailing on contempt charges. Steven Donziger has been under house arrest for over two years, all part of the company’s revenge against him for his exposé and the $9.5 billion judgment against them in Ecuador.
- Vaccinated people are 63% less likely to spread the delta variant of COVID-19 than unvaccinated people are.
- The bizarre backlash against critical race theory in elementary schools – where it’s never taught – was in reality an astroturfing campaign by conservative dark-money titan Charles Koch.
- Jim Squires, a Democrat running for the U.S. House in Texas’ 22nd district, held up a “The ‘Chop’ is Racist” sign at Game 2 of the World Series.
Not that they’re the primary culprit in any of this but I would really like to see national broadcasts stop showing images of fans doing the chop (local broadcasts too, but that will never happen); I don’t need close-ups of a family teaching their five-year-old to participate in racism. This is all too bad because I’m a big fan of a lot of the Braves’ players, but I can’t stand to watch any of their home games.
I’m guessing Trump is going to Game 4 just to conspicuously chop as red meat for his base.
He did indeed.
You buried the lede a bit – the gender piece is by Judith Butler, undoubtedly the world’s preeminent scholar and philosopher of gender.
“[W]here it’s never taught.”
Please comment on the documents presented in this article:
(fake news link deleted)
Do not post bullshit links here.
As for your claims, once again, Chris Rufo, who is funded by the dark-money right-wing Manhattan Institute, is lying. Maybe if you read some reliable sources rather than fake-news sites, you’d have realized this.
Man, I have loved this team since I was a kid (when there was no chop by the way … albeit, some maybe sketchier sh-t like Chief Knock-a-Homa) and they make it so damn hard to pass that on to my kids and to just be a fan that’s proud of your home town team and the storybook season they’re putting together. I can’t stand the chop and I can’t stand the disingenuous “We approached some Native American groups who don’t have a problem with it, so it’s fine” line that the team and MLB seem to have taken. To watch that dimwitted buffoon bring his performative art piece to the game last night just further poured salt in the wound. Why is it so hard to just accept that some things are hurtful to others and we shouldn’t do them?
As far as I can tell, there are Native American groups that are okay with the name “Braves,” but even those are not okay with the chop.
That article is a couple of years old; here’s a current one, indicating that the chop is definitely not okay, but also, that various other aspects of the situation are also problematic.
Manfred is quoted in the article as claiming that various relevant local groups have told him the chop is okay. (Manfred’s claim is contradicted several times in the article.)
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/28/us/atlanta-braves-tomahawk-chop/index.html
Agreed Frank. My point in quoting that older article is that Manfred and the Braves have been using the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to claim that some Native American groups support the chop, which is not true. But yes, there are lots of recent articles from a variety of sources that contradict Manfred and the Braves. This is just a cynical ploy to excuse obvious racism because they feel it’s better for their bottom line to ignore the issue.
Unfortunately, it seems as though Manfred and the Braves are going to be stubborn about this issue. Inertia is a powerful entity.
Chuck, I’m also a long time Atlanta fan, and my 6 year old daughter asked about the chop during game 3. My answer was overly simplistic about the casual racism of our fan base and that we “don’t do that”.
It’s hard to remain a fan of the team, but to me, the franchise is Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Dale Murphy, and Greg Maddux. It’s not that large segment of the fan base and it sure as hell isn’t Liberty Media and Terry McGuirk.
The chop has to go. The name Braves should too. I don’t believe it will happen unless forced.
Greetings, Keith. Are you planning on getting a booster? If so, will you be doing them each year? Hard to know what to do! Thank you.
Yes, since the metabolic disorder my daughter and I have could put us in a higher risk category (it’s so rare that we just don’t have evidence either way, but other metabolic disorders are considered co-morbidities). As for future years, I’ll follow the advice of the broader medical community.
Just got my Moderna booster last week, with symptoms similar to my second dose (~36 hours of very sore arm, mild fever, flu-like symptoms). The data from the Pfizer trial is very strong, ~95% efficacy for symptomatic COVID vs those with “only” two doses. And that trial happened when Delta was predominant. As someone with a relatively high likelihood of exposure (college Prof), and unvaccinated kids at home, I was pretty eager to get a booster after seeing that data. We’ll see what the future holds.
We just have to look at what happened to David Shor and Dorian Abbott to realize “cancel culture” sure isn’t a hoax. Progressives can either continue to deny this reality or acknowledge things maybe have gone to far here. Proclaiming there’s nothing to see here only helps Republicans.
What happened to Dorian Abbott? He was invited to speak at MIT, they revoked the invitation, and within hours he was invited to give the same speech at Princeton. He didn’t lose his job, or anything else, as far as I can tell. He also appeared on CNN, Fox News, and several podcasts to discuss the incident. He got more of a platform. So, yeah, cancel culture is a hoax. I’m sorry you fell for it.
It’s a hoax because one person didn’t suffer professionally because another school realized the value of what he had to say (on a topic which was completely unrelated to why he was disinvited)? Ignoring the chilling affect of going after people professionally for things a small group deem taboo seems rather dangerous in a liberal society. And I’m not talking about things that are clearly sexist, homophobic or racist. I don’t know how any school, let alone one of MIT’s stature, could think Abbott’s views on affirmative action were worthy of revoking his invitation to speak on climate science. The Shor example might be even worse, though. He was vilified summarizing an academic paper in his attempt to let Democrats know what helps or hurts them electorally! And if Shor and Abbott’s views were so beyond the pale to go after their professions, maybe this shows this method of attack is at best counterproductive.
Of course Republicans are going to take some of these examples and make it seem worse. But that doesn’t mean there’s no truth to it. For Democrats/progressives/liberals to pretend otherwise is doing them no favors. I know you don’t care for links, but Freddie DeBoer, a self-described liberal, might be the absolute best writer out there right now with thoughtful criticisms of the left from the left. He is spot on with the problems that exist in the political left world right now.
https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/that-one-side-would-like-to-utterly?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoyNjA1MDk1LCJwb3N0X2lkIjo0MjQxOTkxMCwiXyI6IlRyNTFUIiwiaWF0IjoxNjM1ODA4OTQ2LCJleHAiOjE2MzU4MTI1NDYsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0yOTU5MzciLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.vD4GL7sLnMLeFwoJXOmP2IhCq0sawjikvS5fUkRLy5w
You’re missing the point. Neither guy was “cancelled.” Neither has lost his job, or his platform; in Abbott’s case, he seems to have benefited from the broader audience he received. He’s certainly not been harmed.
Louis C.K. was “cancelled,” certainly. Kevin Spacey was. It looks like Ryan Adams was, although he’s trying to come back from it. But this idea that we have “cancel culture” runs amok is not supported by evidence – and the fact that your two examples were not “cancelled” in any meaningful way only supports my point.
I don’t know, I think the attempt to “cancel” is a pretty big point. Nothing either Shor or Abbott did or said warranted the reactions they received. Instead of pointing out how excessive and unnecessary the attack on those two were, for example, too many on the left are acting like this doesn’t exist at all. All a few liberals/ Democrats need to do is point those excesses. Along the same lines, look at what happened to the Native American law student at Yale. I don’t know how anyone can begin to defend the Yale administrators. Whether this is part of the “cancel culture” or not, it’s viewed in the same light. To treat every example of some hoax created by the right wing simply plays right into the Republicans’ hands. At least politically imo. I hope not electorally, but Democrats don’t seem to pay attention to that at all or don’t really care.
I’m honestly not getting the voting ‘rollbacks’. From what I’ve read, there were provisions put in place to help,with voting during a pandemic, now there are some that have been kept, some expanded ‘extra days’, and the rest returned to the original pre-pandemic rules ‘I.e. getting rid of 24 hr voting’. To just broadly call it a rollback is not accurate and simplistic. They’re better than pre-pandemic, if I’ve read correctly. Getting rid of some, not all, of the emergency measures is now voter suppression?
The other shenanigans going on in TX and FL? Shameful.
Here’s a good explanation. The rollbacks disproportionately hit voters of color. Because of course they do.
Hmmm. I can see some of that. Is all of it verified to have an effect? What is the source? A study? Actual data or is that a theory?
Is 24 hour voting really necessary? Drive thru voting? A big deal was made about handing out water and food to people in line to vote. Who has been in a voting line long enough to need food? Water, maybe.
Citizenship checks? Monthly? First I’ve seen that. That’s crap. I’ve never seen the problem with having ID to vote.
In 2018, I voted early in Soho in Manhattan, an affluent neighborhood, and I still had to wait ~4 hours to cast my ballot. Volunteers served me sorely needed pizza on Houston Street as I continued to circle the block.
I imagine the waiting could have been worse in a state that 1) liked to make it difficult to vote; and 2) typically did so in less affluent neighborhoods. I really don’t understand complaining about providing people sustenance so they can see themselves through a sometimes arduous process!
I’ll skip the part about needing ID to vote, because far more people have argued against the necessity more effectively and eloquently than I can.
Sorry, I meant to say 2020!
Hello Malcolm, 2020,is kind of a special case. I would rather see effort put into reducing lines than providing food. Argument against food is that it can morph easily into influence. No one should have to wait that long.
Living at the edge of rural NJ I have never had much of an issue but I realize that is much different than an urban setting.
As for ID, you need one to get just about anything today including ……a vaccine.
I have not needed to show ID to get a COVID-19 or flu vaccine.
ID is an obstacle for many people because of time and access. It’s a modern poll tax. And those are unconstitutional.
That’s sort of the point, right? The ease or difficulty or voting differs based on location, and sometimes intentionally so, as alluded to by Keith above.
I don’t think the City was trying to actively disincentivize voting. As I said, it’s an affluent area, though because it was early voting, it was a consolidated center for many polling places in Lower Manhattan, many of which are less so. But still: I and others waited for a very long time, and the food helped.
While 2020 may be a special case, what about 2024? Do you imagine it being any different? There are already bans on electioneering in and around polling places, so volunteers handing out food so people can comfortably continue to wait to me does not pose a problem. The volunteers who handed me food were not from campaigns, though they may have been/probably were from civil society non-profits.
To that last point, you say you would rather the effort be put into reducing lines: but that is the role of our government and Boards of Elections; no one is asking they provide food. Just that volunteers who want to encourage people to participate in the democratic process also be allowed to do so.
Re: vaccines and ID; you need to prove your age, not provide identification. And voting is a right, not a privilege that the things that typically require IDs ask for.
Well. I had to show ID all three times I got the vaccine, two at a mega site, booster at CVS. Didn’t have to show ID for flu vaccine because I got it at work (manufacturing plant where we make COVID PCR test kits, incidentally).
As for rights, you have the right to bear arms, but have to show an ID to purchase one.
How does one prove their age without an ID?
2024 should be a lot different simply because hopefully we’re past this virus and its distancing, spacing, and safety measures which have been contributing to the lines, no?
Less vote-by-mail will lead to longer lines. There’s also a large body of literature showing that non-white voters have longer wait times than white voters, and this probably spans decades. Here’s on such example, but a Google search provides dozens of papers on the topic.
Thanks Salty. I have absolutely nothing against mail in voting.