My one piece this week for subscribers to the Athletic this week was my first dispatch from the Arizona Fall League, covering prospects from the Tigers, Cardinals, and Rockies. I’ll have a longer wrap-up once my trip concludes on Saturday evening.
And now, the links…
- Longreads first: ProPublica continues to lead the way in exposing the role of Leonard Leo in creating the conservative super-majority on the Supreme Court and packing federal courts with right-wing jurists, often of dubious credentials, and how he plans to push the country further towards a Christian theocracy.
- New York’s Olivia Nuzzi followed the clown car of Republican candidates trying to run against the disgraced former President – and, so far, failing.
- The richest man in Pennsylvania is spending millions of dollars to support Republican candidates for judicial races, most of it to support Carolyn Carluccio, a right-wing justice running for a seat on the state’s Supreme Court.
- Sports Illustrated’s Steve Rushin wrote a lovely memoriam to sportswriter Jim Caple, who died last week at age 61 of frontotemporal dementia. I did not know Jim well, and even argued with him at times about matters such as the value of the runs scored statistic for individual hitters, but I believe the outpouring of sadness from people in our industry who did know him well is a testament to his legacy.
- Several new instant-loan apps in India have targeted borrowers with threats of leaked nudes, harassment, and other forms of coercion that have led to multiple suicides.
- I have taken a psyllium husk supplement every day for nearly 25 years now to help manage my stomach, as I was diagnosed with the meaningless term “irritable bowel syndrome,” which means that I don’t actually have a GI disease or disorder but the doctors didn’t want me to walk away empty-handed. Psyllium husk works wonders, and it’s probably pretty good for my overall health anyway. Now it’s a fad food and if you fucking hippies and influencers create a shortage I will come for you all.
- Target closed several Seattle stores, blaming crime for the decisions – but is that really the reason for the failures of these Target mini-stores?
- Arkansas, befitting its status as a backwater state, gave prisoners with COVID-19 ivermectin without their knowledge or consent, so now the ACLU has filed suit on their behalf. Just a reminder that ivermectin is completely ineffective against COVID-19 and comes with rather unpleasant side effects, no matter what the grifters on the interwebs told you.
- Mississippi was one of the only two states that disallowed religious exemptions to childhood vaccination requirements until a Republican judge struck down the state’s rule, and this fall over 1800 such exemptions have been issued – even though no major religion bans or forbids vaccines. This is all a con from parents who are ignorant, denialist, or just sheep going along with the Republican party’s anti-science platform. We’re likely to see some sort of outbreak there in the next few months, perhaps measles, as it’s the most contagious of the vaccine-preventable diseases that affect humans.
- Eric Trump hosted an overt anti-Semite who denies the Holocaust and once killed someone while driving drunk at the Trump Doral Miami resort for a “Reawaken America” event this week.
- And some prominent Texas Republicans hosted Holocaust denier and white supremacist Nick Fuentes at the headquarters of right-wing consulting firm Pale Horse Strategies.
- Elon Musk is actively promoting false information about the Israel-Hamas war, even sharing a video that falsely claimed a reporter there was actually an actor. (By the way, I’m avoiding any commentary on that conflict. I know I don’t know anywhere near enough to say anything worthwhile beyond condemning any and all attacks on civilians.)
- Alex Norris is the creator of the web comic known simply as Webcomic Name, but after he signed a deal with Golden Bell Games to publish a board game using his creations, the publisher is trying to claim ownership of his intellectual property. There’s a GoFundMe to support his legal case, but I’m also linking this so people know what Golden Bell – publishers of Unbroken, Dungeon Dice, and other titles – are all about.
Your self-awareness and subsequent restraint on the I/P conflict is commendable. A few resources if you want to learn more:
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine – Rashid Khalidi (this recent interview with him was fantastic: https://www.americanprestigepod.com/p/special-the-2023-gaza-war-ep-3-w#details)
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine – Ilan Pappe (also has a free e-book that I haven’t read yet: https://www.versobooks.com/products/370-ten-myths-about-israel)
The Wretched of the Earth – Frantz Fanon
Discourse on Colonialism – Aimé Césaire
https://decolonizepalestine.com/
Pretty sure if you search through his previous comments you’ll find Jewish ancestry in his comments. Nice try though.
1. I don’t think that’s true
2. Even if it is, Zionism is not Judaism. Reflexively associating a people/ethnicity/religion (or any individual member of such a group) with a right-wing tendency should be avoided. Indeed, that very problem is a large part of the reason you see people conflating support for Palestine with support for Hamas
Zionism is a right-wing tendency?
(I know little to nothing about any of this, so that is news to me.)
@FrankJones yeah, there’s two basic ways to think about this that lead to the same conclusion:
1. Zionism is inherently a settler-colonial project, and settler-colonialism in the time of capitalism is inextricably linked with support for and from capitalism. So if we’re defining “right-wing” in general as supporting capitalism (which I do), then Zionism certainly that.
2. Zionism in practice has consistently marginalized its left/moderate wing, from the marginalization of Birnbaum and other cultural Zionists at the First Zionist Congress, to the assassination of Rabin, to the current judicial crisis happening under Bibi. So while there is a nominal/real left/moderate contingent within Zionism, that it’s never held significant/sustained power for the 130-year history of the movement is telling.
@Mike, Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people, like any other people, have the right to national self-determination. Period, full stop. To define Zionism as inherently right-wing, that means that Woodrow Wilson, for example, was a right-winger given his support for national self-determination; other than his racial policies, does that make any sense?
If your position is that “supporting capitalism” is right-wing, that also means that virtually the entire US political establishment is also right-wing, which I don’t think not something that most readers of this blog would agree with.
As for Zionism “consistently marginaliz[ing] its left/moderate wing,” that simply isn’t true. The leaders of the Yishuv (the name for the Jewish political establshment prior to the creation of Israel) were predominantly socialists and kibbutzniks. Its armed wing, Haganah, formed the basis of the IDF, even at times attacking the right-wing militias if the latter were taking acts that undermined national interests (the sinking of the Altalena, for example). After Israel’s founding, the right didn’t join in the government at all until the Six-Day War in 1967 (and for only 3 years), and it didn’t lead a government until after the 1977 elections. Even after that, power went back-and-forth between the left and right until Barak lost his election in 2001 during the Second Intifada. Since then, it’s mostly been the right except for a brief period under Olmert and Livni, but that hardly means that the left has been marginalized.
If one believes that all forms of nationalism are right-wing, then sure, Zionism is right-wing. But the same goes for the French, Ukranians, Palestinians, and Japanese nationalism. And if that’s the case, I don’t think that’s really answering @FrankJones’s question.
@ Mike
“So if we’re defining “right-wing” in general as supporting capitalism (which I do), then Zionism certainly that.”
??????
So, you just invent your own definitions
How are you defining “right-wing” as “supporting capitalism”???
And, what is your definition of capitalism? (I’m not sure why I’m asking, since you just invent definitions, apparently, but my curiosity is superseding my common sense, so I’m asking anyway.)
“right to national self-determination” yeah but the location of that nation is a place where other people live and/or have been ethnically cleansed from. that is very different from most other claims of self-determination, hence my use of the more accurate term, settler colonialism
“other than his racial policies, does that make any sense?” other than that mrs. lincoln how was the play? More seriously, if you’re holding up Woodrow Wilson as some bastion of liberalism, then you have lost the plot
“virtually the entire US political establishment is also right-wing” yes. we live in possibly the most individualized and capitalist country in the history of the planet…that could not have happened without both parties’ help
“As for Zionism…” This whole thing seems to confuse the relative left-wing of Israeli politics for an actual left-wing. It’s the equivalent of calling Joe Biden left-wing just because he belongs to the leftmost major party of his country
“If one believes that all forms of nationalism are right-wing” I never even said the word nationalism, so I am not sure how you could infer that
@FrankJones capitalism is the private ownership of the means of production.
w/r/t defining “right-wing,” politics broadly speaking is the struggle for power between the many and the few. In the past two hundred or so years that struggle has taken the form of the struggle between capitalism and its many alternatives. That there are times and places throughout history (such as modern America) where the few have this overwhelming power does not mean that we should limit our political analysis strictly by those circumstances. That the left-wing of the left-most party in America has members who are proudly “capitalist through their bones” is a pretty clear demonstration that there is not a more generally left-wing current in American politics with any sort of real power. This situation is the same if not even more extreme in Israel.
@mike:
Okay, I am pleased that you know the definition of capitalism. (I was not sure you did, based on your posts).
So, let me try to get this straight. It seems that you are suggesting or outright saying that capitalism is a right-wing tendency. I find this puzzling. Are you suggesting that left-wingers are not capitalists; that left-wingers oppose private ownership of the means of production?
And if so, what evidence is there to support the assertion that private ownership of the means of production is somehow a bad thing? Private ownership of the means of production is responsible for countless technological advances, providing us goods and services at affordable prices. For example, computers, cell phones, televisions, and streaming services, all of which greatly enhance our lives and have functionality and affordability beyond what anyone could have predicted decades ago.
Mike,
No literature on the morality of slaughtering innocent civilians by Hamas? You can disagree with historical policy and want statehood and also condemn terrorism regardless of who commits it. The Hamas attack has degraded the Palestinian cause more than anything else since 1973.
What I shared covers all of that, but since you asked here’s some more stuff targeted towards the specifics of your post:
On Israel’s role in the creation of Hamas: https://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2002/06/18/Analysis-Hamas-history-tied-to-Israel/UPI-82721024445587
On the US’ role in the entrenchment of Hamas: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/04/gaza200804
On last week’s attack: https://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-forces-shot-their-own-civilians-kibbutz-survivor-says/38861
On how Israel converts grief into power: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/a-response-to-joshua-leifer/
What is happening currently in Gaza: https://jewishcurrents.org/a-textbook-case-of-genocide
The psyllium husk link is broken, but Metamucil is a fad now? Vibes of “If peeing your pants is cool, consider me Miles Davis.”
whoops, somehow I lost the final “l” in the URL
“Even if it is, Zionism is not Judaism. Reflexively associating a people/ethnicity/religion (or any individual member of such a group) with a right-wing tendency should be avoided. ”
Zionism is not a right wing tendency. It is a 2500 year old aspect of Jewish religion, and culture, expressing itself in art, literature, religious writings, and historical documents, across that time span. The rabbinic commandment to “Make Aliyah” (for individual jews to return to Israel dates back to a time period prior to the founding of Islam or the arrival of Arabs in Judea. While the name “zionism” was coined in the late 19th century, the idea is ancient. The statement of zionism is simply that Jews should have a legally recognized home in our ancestral homeland. It is no more right-wing than international law, which establishes the right of all people to self determination in their homeland. And, at no time, did the people Israel renounce their indigenous claim to the land of Israel. (And, yes, linguistically, genetically, archaelogically, Jews and Samaritans arose in the Levant about 3500 years ago, and are the people who have the longest ties to the geographical region)
Edit to add: You will find a TREMENDOUS number of left wing zionist israelis, because, nearly universally, Israelis, and Jews in the diaspora as well, are zionist.
1. Conflating actually-existing Zionism with Judaism more broadly is not all that different from saying American Evangelicism is a natural consequence of Christianity. So if you think (I hope) that Jesus would not endorse the ethos of say Jerry Falwell, why would you presume the equivalent for Judaism?
2. The 3500 years ago stuff is some real blood and soil-type nationalism. You sure you wanna take that path?
3. Sure, the modern tendency of the majority of the American diaspora is to at least tacitly support some flavor of Zionism. But this has not always been the case! Much like how abortion rights became a cause of religious Christians over the past 50 years, a hegemonic support of Israel by our govt (among other things) has played into durable support from American Jews. But this does not mean that is good or desirable, nor does it mean that anti-Zionist Jews and/or genuine criticism of Israel does not exist (see the protests in NYC and DC, the writing in Jewish Currents, etc)