Over at The Athletic, I wrote some brief updates & outlooks for five prospects called up on August 31st/September 1st, and an in-person scouting notebook on Guardians pitcher Joey Oakie plus some other Guards, Orioles, Nats, and Phillies prospects.
At Endless Mode, I reviewed the one vs. many game 2001: A Space Odyssey, where the player who takes on the HAL role does indeed get to close the pod bay doors. It’s a good game, Dave.
I’ve moved my free email newsletter over to Kit, away from the place that proudly hosts white nationalist newsletters.
And now, the links…
- Longreads first: This WIRED story on a venture capitalist, Cindy Bi, who hired a surrogate to carry her baby, and is now trying to destroy the woman’s life after she miscarried, is absolutely batshit. I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t know if Bi actually hurt her legal case, but she certainly tanked her own reputation by talking to writer Emi Nietfeld, who did a great job telling the story.
- Maclean’s has a story from a former anti-vaxxer who now tries to convince the deluded and the ignorant that vaccines are, in fact, safe and effective.
- Former Dodgers & Expos GM Kevin Malone, who called himself “Dodger Boy” and said “there’s a new sheriff in town” before spending several years as one of the worst GMs in Dodger history, is now an adviser to President Trump on human trafficking, because he became a religious nut and joined one of those activist groups that claims it’s fighting human trafficking (and actually isn’t helping at all).
- The Trump Administration is trying to tag several politicians with mortgage fraud for allegedly claiming more than one primary residence on loan applicants. At least three Cabinet members have done the same thing, ProPublica found in an investigation. It’s almost like this isn’t actually about mortgage fraud!
- ProPublica also wrote about how xenophobes and white nationalists are co-opting climate change as a justification for their proposed policies.
- Yale epidemiology professor Gregg Gonsalves writes in The Nation that RFK Jr. needs to resign or be forced out immediately as head of Health & Human Services.
- Benny Johnson was fired for multiple acts of plagiarism. He became a right-wing podcaster and charlatan, posting lie after lie on social media, and took money from the Russian government to do so. He’s now a darling of the Trump White House.
- A reserve captain in the Israel Defense Forces who served in Gaza wrote in the New York Times that fellow reservists should refuse to fight in this unjust war. His words: “With over 60,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, dead, according to Gazan health authorities, and growing starvation in the territory, with Israeli hostages languishing for nearly two years, this war has crossed every boundary. There is no longer any goal worth achieving by prolonging the war.”
- Reps. James Comer (R-KY) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) are demanding that Wikipedia dox its own editors because of some bullshit claim about editorial bias. Where are the free speech absolutists now?
- The matcha drink craze has led to a shortage of the green tea product, which has cultural significance in Japan, as influencers need their grass-flavored iced milk beverages.
- Harvard won the latest round in its legal battles against the Trump Administration, as a judge ordered the White House to restore funding it had cut, but my alma mater continues to comply in small but meaningful ways with the fascists, this time removing designated spaces for the women’s center and the office for LGBTQ+ students.
- Yahoo! sportswriter Matt Ufford writes that Bluesky has plenty of users, and the complaints to the contrary seem to miss the point or stem from individuals’ bad experiences with, well, getting called out for their bullshit.
- The great Elie Mystal writes about the power of small acts of noncompliance, and the overemphasis on “big” acts of resistance.
- Allplay has a Kickstarter for a new edition of the grail game Container, which runs $100+ for a used copy. It’s an economic simulation game about shipping containers, which sounds dry as hell, but people love this game. It’s been out of print since the 2018 tenth anniversary edition.