I pushed this post back a day so I could file another post for the Athletic, so you had two from me in the last 48 hours – a scouting post on some top Guardians and Nationals prospects, and a second edition of my looks at September prospect callups. I also held a Klawchat on Thursday.
Over at Paste, I reviewed Next Station: London, a great new flip-and-write game with a route-planning mechanic that makes it a sort of a puzzle – the choices you make early in the game constrain your choices later. This is definitely the year of the roll/flip-and-write.
My guest on this week’s episode of the Keith Law Show was Wingspan game designer Elizabeth Hargrave, talking about her next big game, The Fox Experiment, now on Kickstarter (and already 500% funded in five days). You can listen and subscribe via iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts.
And now, the links…
Longreads first: The New Yorker looks at how Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and the Ottawa County police department have worked together to turn rape victims into defendants, putting one of their own on trial for accusing a cop – who has been accused by at least two other women of sexual assault – of coercing her into sex.
A column denying the extent of racism in Canadian society led to a successful effort to unionize the country’s conservative paper the National Post, securing gains for BIPOC employees in the process.
A Fox producer warned execs to stop Jeanine Pirro from airing her election-denial views, according to documents revealed in the Dominion Systems lawsuit against the right-wing juggernaut.
Billionaire Barre Seid has used his money to fund climate-change denialism and fight Medicaid expansion (that is, health care for our poorest citizens), while also funding a law school to churn out archconservative future judges, according to records unearthed by ProPublica.
One Alabama prison has been holding pregnant women there for weeks or months, in what appears to be a violation of basic Constitutional rights, to protect the fetuses from drug use.
David DeWitt of the Ohio Capitol Journal writes of the intolerable cruelty of Ohio’s total ban on abortions, including the suffering already of pregnant women needing essential medical care.
Nature’s editors write of the need for greater protections for scientists and researchers from threats and abuse, pointing at lawmakers and the executives running social media sites.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority Leader, introduced a new “Commitment to America” that is short on ideas and long on Trumpian insanity, according to Alex Shephard of the New Republic, pointing to the lack of details for how it will achieve vague goals, emphasis on truly counterproductive policies (like increasing fossil fuel production), and kowtowing to election deniers.
Oxford scientists may have developed an effective malaria vaccine. Malaria has long resisted traditional approaches to vaccine development because it’s caused by a parasite, rather than a bacterium or virus, and the parasite changes form once inside the host’s body.
Count me among those Duolingo users who hate the app’s total redesign, as it has removed most of the flexibility the old structure gave users to set their own pace; I used the app to try to keep my Spanish skills fresh, but wouldn’t do those lessons at the same speed or rate as those of Welsh, which I was learning from scratch. The founder’s comments don’t give me much hope, as they betrayed a real disdain for their customers.
I knew Florida state Rep. Randy Fine in college, and am not surprised to see the person he’s become as an adult or politician – he was one of the most vocal Florida officials to rail against “woke” Disney, but is also happy to spend thousands of dollars on the company’s cruises and products.
An 18-year-old student was elected to the Boise School Board, in no small part because his opponent refused to denounce an endorsement from a far-right extremist group that arrives armed with AR-15s to public events, supports book banning, and refers to undocumented immigrants as “illegals.”
As many GOP candidates across the country are trying to scrub anti-abortion or other hard-right rhetoric from their campaign sites, Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano is leaning harder in that direction, becoming “Trumpier than Trump” in the words of Axios’ Jonathan Swan.
Lots of board game Kickstarters etc. this week, starting with the solo-only game Legacy of Yu from Shem Phillips, designer of Raiders of the North Sea and the North Sea and West Kingdom series of games.
Disney is introducing a new Magic: the Gathering-style collectible card game called Lorcana, and Polygon has images of some of the superb art.
Keith Matejka, designer of the Roll Player games, has a new title on Kickstarter called Dawn of Ulos, a tile-laying game for 1-5 players set in the Roll Player universe.
25th Century Games has a Gamefound campaign up for expansions to its Prehistories and Space Explorers games.
Living in Texas, you’d think it would be comforting to see that my state is not necessarily on the forefront of nuttiness this week, but I’m just saddened at how commonplace it’s become. Plus, I was born in Ohio, so that doesn’t help.
“Regardless of the criticism, von Ahn and the company maintained that the vast majority people are on board with the update, pointing to some positive tweets about the changes and claiming that internal metrics indicate equivalent engagement with the updated interface in comparison to the old one.”
Sorry Keith, now you know how it feels to vote for a third party in an election. Most people are on board with the update, so perhaps trying Babbel might be the way to go? As much as I want(ed) Gary Johnson to be POTUS, I got over it.
Good luck, my friend.
Babbel is supposed to be great, but offers fewer languages. Also looking at Drops. Depends on what language I really want to try/how much time I want to commit. I had a family reason for Welsh; anything else would be just for fun.
So because the company says that a majority favors the update, that means that it’s true?
As a Pennsylvanian, Mastriano scares the hell out of me. Out of all the horrible things he stands for, my greatest fear is that he’ll appoint Jenna Ellis as Secretary of State should he win. Considering her role in Trump’s insane fraud claims, and Mastriano’s stated position to overturn the results of the 2024 election if he’s governor and doesn’t like the results, we know what will happen, and it’s fucking terrifying.
Bringing AR-15’s to events is obviously awful and ridiculous and should be condemned. I’m sure the Idaho group you refer to is terrible. However, referring to undocumented immigrants as illegals is merely factually correct. While you may not like the terminology, if you live in a country without going through the proper process, you’re there illegally. Nothing wrong with saying it like it is, whether it’s a baseball prospect who likely isn’t going to make it or someone in a country illegally. Some might not like hearing it, but, thems the facts.
(And, according to Phil Collins, it’s no fun!)
Drew, a person is not “an illegal.” Their existence does not violate the law. You could say they were in the country illegally, but that does not make the person themselves illegal. Them’s, as you say, the facts.
Drew,
Why are you comfortable using dehumanizing to describe human beings? I am genuinely curious.
*dehumanizing language
A person’s existence itself – their brain, their soul, their intrinsic being – does not violate any law. A person who takes that existence where they don’t have a legal right to be, does. It’s like if someone owns a car without registering it – the car is illegal. But in this case, the person is illegal.
Mat – you find the term dehumanizing. I do not. Our mileage simply varies. If I go to some random country, say Denmark, and live there outside their immigration laws, I’m an illegal in Denmark, and should be called as such. And subject to whatever happens should Denmark discover that I’m there.
I don’t see anything anything dehumanizing about that terminology, I simply find it to be an accurate descriptor. (As compared to the term undocumented immigrant, which I find to be a rather inaccurate descriptor, as it sounds to me more like a guy who lost his wallet than a guy who is living where he doesn’t have a legal right to do so.
Don’t get me wrong – I’ve got nothing against people trying to better their lives, and finding the need to go outside immigration laws to do so. I’m just for accurate reporting.
And now I can’t get that Phil Collins song out of my head. (And it’s not even that great of a Phil Collins song!)
From Wikipedia: “In retrospective reviews, ‘Illegal Alien’ and its music video received largely negative reception, with critics describing both as racist and stereotypical.”
That checks out.
Well that is certainly an interesting rationalization on your part. Your apt descriptor has been used to justify all sorts of degrading, unjust, and inhumane treatment including murder. It’s unfortunate, but not terribly surprising, that you’re seemingly oblivious to this.
Drew, why is this the only instance in which a person is referred to as “illegal”? People who drive without a license are illegal drivers, but they don’t get branded as “illegals.”
I’d say it’s because it’s the only instance where it’s not a specific behavior or deed that creates the illegality.
Someone might drive illegally, but if not pulled over, they are no longer at risk.
However, living in a country illegally would be different, as it has nothing to do with exactly what behaviors the person is doing, just that their existence in that place is illegal. They are at risk 24/7.
Even a person that commits terrible crimes, who is nervous 24/7 about being apprehended, is not actually doing something illegal at all times.
The other, less involved, answer is expediency and that it’s a colloquialism. The word immigrant is implied. It’s like if the cops bust a bar, they’ll call the people either underage or of age. They don’t need to say underage drinker. Everyone involved knows they were drinking, it’s a bar!
“just that their existence in that place is illegal”
No. Their existence is not legal. Their location may violate a law, but their right to exist is not in question. Thus, they are not “illegals.” Unless you are conceding that you don’t see them as humans…
Drivers who flout traffic laws don’t tend to be one-time offenders. They tend to exceed speed limits, follow too closely, change lanes without signaling, roll through stop signs, etc., every time they get behind the wheel. It’s a pattern of behavior that would justify calling them an “illegal driver” regardless of whether or not they happen to be behind the wheel at this moment. A person who commits a crime doesn’t stop being a criminal the moment the criminal act is completed.
The point is that there are many illegal actions, but there’s only one that gets a person branded as an “illegal,” as if (as you put it yourself) their very existence is illegal. Is a citizen who trespasses on private property forever branded as an “illegal” because that citizen’s existence in that place was illegal? No, they are not.
The reality is that the term “illegal” is often used to demonize and “other” people, and to lump together people who may be in very different situations with respect to the law. It is a crime to *come* here illegally. It is not a crime to *be* here illegally; it is only a civil infraction. Many people came here legally and remained here illegally (by overstaying their visas, for example). Some people who came here illegally had no agency because they were brought here as children. No matter how someone came here, their crimes (or civil infractions) are mostly benign. It is literally their mere presence that is at issue. Most are otherwise law-abiding, productive members of society. But this is the only group that we choose to single out and demonize with the blanket term “illegal.” We shouldn’t do that.
Sigh. I feel we are just talking past each other. I’ve made pains to say that no one doesn’t have a right to exist, and I certainly don’t think that someone who lives somewhere illegally is not human. (As I stated above, if I live somewhere illegally, I should be called illegal, and I know I’m human!) Yet I’m being asked to concede a viewpoint I explicitly said I don’t believe in.
“A person who commits a crime doesn’t stop being a criminal the moment the criminal act is completed.” Agreed! However, should the authorities come upon them while not committing an act, they may go away scot-free. The same cannot be said for someone living somewhere illegally, as their being there means they are constantly committing the act, and as such it becomes part of their existence.
At no point did I ever say that illegal immigrants are not law-abiding otherwise. Indeed, any rational person living somewhere illegally would want to escape notice and therefore not do anything to be involved with the authorities, and is very likely to be more law-abiding than the average legal citizen.
At any rate, per above, some feel that it is “dehumanizing” and “demonizing”, to call someone living somewhere they don’t have a legal right to be, illegal. I simply don’t see the massive leap that equates “illegal” to those words. You guys do. I guess, to bring it all the way back to Phil Collins, that’s all.
Keith, I am also frustrated by the Duolingo update (my wife complains everyday too). I was doing multiple languages for a number of years on the platform, but I have basically stopped and focused only on Spanish maintenance.
The Ottawa County, Ohio story is even more concerning due to the nature of that county’s economy during the summer. It is right on Lake Erie & includes a place called Put-In-Bay, which is an island you can get to only from boat or by a large ferry that leaves from the county seat, Port Clinton.
Put-In-Bay is self-styled party island, that on summer weekends will have hundreds of boats tied up in the harbor & about a dozen packed bars on the main drag on an island with about 150 year round residents. It is literally packed with people, mostly young people, every weekend from Memorial day thru Labor Day that are drinking/partying all day long. & due to the ferry, that extends somewhat over to Port Clinton.
Perfect scenario for a predator cop to take advantage of inebriated out of town young women..or force them to do “favors” to get out of a drunken disorderly ticket.
I started trying to learn Russian last year on Duolingo. I wasn’t a fan of how it was set up so I’m wondering if I might like this version better as a brand new learner (for some reason I stopped in early February, can’t remember why, something must’ve changed my opinion of Russia, but I’d like to try again). The old version would sometimes have a row with one topic and about 7 lessons, then the next would have 3 topics with 7-8 lessons each and I felt I was supposed to learn those 3 at the same pace as the previous row but it was a bit overwhelming. And the 3 topics weren’t really related so I didn’t know why I was supposed to learn them at the same time. It also felt like the Russian lessons were getting sloppier the further I got with more and more mistakes, so hopefully a more streamlined version will be better, at least for me.
I did do a quick check on the new app and I was able to click lessons I did previously and redo them, so I’m not sure why the person in the article was making it sound like they couldn’t do earlier lessons again.