{"id":11145,"date":"2026-02-21T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=11145"},"modified":"2026-02-21T00:20:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T05:20:38","slug":"stick-to-baseball-2-21-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/21\/stick-to-baseball-2-21-26\/","title":{"rendered":"Stick to baseball, 2\/21\/26."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I was on PTO from Wednesday to Wednesday, so I haven\u2019t written anything new on the Athletic in nearly two weeks. I\u2019ll begin draft content this upcoming week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over at AV Club, I reviewed two smaller games with surprising depth and complexity for their size in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.avclub.com\/oddland-board-game-review\">Oddland<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.avclub.com\/neko-syndicate-board-game-review\">Neko Syndicate<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DQN4t4zomZw\">I appeared on Sox Machine<\/a> to talk about the White Sox\u2019 farm system and a little more about Colson Montgomery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I sent out another edition of <a href=\"https:\/\/keithlaw.kit.com\/\">my free email newsletter<\/a> on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now, the links\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>ProPublica got a hold of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/ice-dilley-children-letters\">letters written by children being held in one of ICE\u2019s concentration camps<\/a>. The camp\u2019s Schutzstaffel responded by raiding the facility to destroy any further missives. Meanwhile, a group of pediatricians wrote about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/opinion\/2026\/02\/10\/ice-kids-detention-centers-liam-ramos\/88593161007\/\">the harm that ICE detentions are already doing to children<\/a>. Remember that when anyone tells you they\u2019re concerned about, say, what bathroom a person uses because of \u201cthe children.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The American Prospect<\/em>\u2019s Ryan Cooper explains why <a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/02\/16\/ice-cbp-defund-homeland-security-democrats-congress\/\">Democrats should defund ICE and CBP permanently<\/a>. <em>The Nation<\/em>\u2019s Andrea Ritchie says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/society\/ice-abolition-police-reform\/\">essentially the same thing<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/feds-zip-tied-14-year-old-girl-idaho-raid-ice-tactics\/\">ICE agents zip-tied a 14-year-old girl<\/a> in Idaho in October during one of their \u2018raids.\u2019 She is a U.S. citizen, but that\u2019s beside the point.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Futurism\u2019s Maggie Harrison Dupr\u00e9 has been all over the harms propagated by the AI sector and the amoral actors pushing the technology. Her latest piece looks at <a href=\"https:\/\/futurism.com\/artificial-intelligence\/ai-abuse-harassment-stalking\">how ChatGPT is fueling and encouraging stalkers<\/a>, because these LLMs are nothing more than compliment machines \u2013 they tell you what you want to hear. Well, that, and plagiarism.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The Guardian<\/em> exposes just how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2026\/feb\/07\/revealed-how-substack-makes-money-from-hosting-nazi-newsletters\">Substack profits from all the neo-Nazi content it hosts<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A new study published in <em>Nature<\/em> found that X\/Twitter users who had the For You feed turned on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-026-00486-z\">saw their political views shift to the right<\/a>, but turning it off did not move them back towards the left (or center).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Heritage Foundation published a \u201croadmap\u201d for the country that is really a playbook for a Christian nationalist future; Jessica Valenti exposes this under the headline \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/jessica.substack.com\/p\/theyre-coming-for-our-daughters\">they\u2019re coming for our daughters.<\/a>\u201d I can\u2019t describe the Heritage Foundation\u2019s worldview as anything other than sick. It is a diseased way of looking at women and humanity as a whole.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/02\/20\/nx-s1-5720677\/israeli-settlers-kill-19-year-old-palestinian-american-officials-and-witnesses-say\">Israeli settlers shot and killed an American in the West Bank<\/a>. No one will do anything about this.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The far-right elites in Texas <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasmonthly.com\/news-politics\/texas-gop-comptroller-primary-don-huffines\/\">are backing MAGA candidate Don Huffines for state comptroller<\/a> as he promises to \u201cDOGE Texas government.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Meanwhile, the self-immolation of Texas\u2019 public universities continues, as UT-Austin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/02\/12\/texas-ut-austin-consolidate-race-gender\/\">is consolidating four departments<\/a> relating to Black, Latino, and women\u2019s studies, a move that appears motivated by ideology; and all University of Texas schools <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kut.org\/education\/2026-02-19\/ut-system-votes-to-limit-controversial-topics-in-class-raising-concerns-about-academic-freedom\">now must limit discussion of \u201ccontroversial topics\u201d in the classroom<\/a>. I wonder who decides what is \u201ccontroversial.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I am shocked, shocked to note that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/crypto-funded-human-trafficking-is-exploding\/\">cryptocurrency is now being used to facilitate human trafficking<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A brainwashed mother in South Carolina whose unvaccinated son is hospitalized with complications from the measles told <em>The Independent<\/em> that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/health\/measles-encephalitis-south-carolina-anti-vaccine-b2918500.html\">she still wouldn\u2019t vaccinate him<\/a>. There is no risk from vaccines even close to what that poor kid has already suffered, and what he\u2019ll suffer in the future if he survives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The FDA\u2019s site <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/rfk-jr-fda-removes-autism-treatments-warning\">removed pages that exposed fake autism treatments<\/a> like MMO (bleach) and raw camel milk.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>However, the FDA\u2019s thoroughly unqualified leader Vinay Prasad reversed course and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2026\/02\/18\/fda-moderna-reverse-course-flu-vaccine\/\">will now review Moderna\u2019s mRNA-based flu vaccine<\/a>. I wonder what pushback got to him; I suspect it wasn\u2019t the public outcry, but the business one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Why is Prasad unqualified? Well, for one thing, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biospace.com\/fda\/fdas-prasad-weathers-personal-controversy-internal-strife-amid-moderna-imbroglio\">he\u2019s already facing sexual harassment accusations<\/a>, and is making us taxpayers pay over $65,000 a year for him to commute from California to DC. And he\u2019s only been on the job for 9 months.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Oklahoma\u2019s radical Gov. J. Kevin Stitt (R) says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chronicle.com\/article\/tenure-will-be-eliminated-at-most-of-oklahomas-public-colleges-governor-says\">he will eliminate tenure at most public colleges in his state<\/a>, a great move for a state widely ranked in the bottom five for education.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Also in Oklahoma, a man speaking out at Claremore City Council meeting against the construction of a new data center was arrested \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.404media.co\/man-opposing-data-center-arrested-for-speaking-slightly-too-long\/\">not stopped, but fucking <em>arrested<\/em><\/a> \u2013 for going a few seconds over his allotted time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There\u2019s some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/02\/14\/nx-s1-5714517\/eu-europe-russia-navalny\">real evidence that Putin murdered dissident Alexei Navalny<\/a> \u2026 and it barely made a dent in the news this week.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/stereogum.com\/2489144\/evan-dando-accused-of-sending-unsolicited-explicit-videos\/news\">The Lemoneads\u2019 Evan Dando is a creep<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) has taken up MTG\u2019s mantle as the most overtly racist member of Congress; he has a challenger this fall in <a href=\"https:\/\/floridaphoenix.com\/briefs\/jennifer-jenkins-to-take-on-randy-fine-in-floridas-6th-congressional-district-race\/\">Democrat Jennifer Jenkins<\/a>, who has a history of calling out Fine\u2019s bigoted language and rhetoric. I knew Fine in college; I thought he was pretentious, but if he held these views back then I didn\u2019t know it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Harvard took a $350 million gift from Gerald Chan, the second-largest in the university\u2019s history, and then named their school of public health after his father. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecrimson.com\/article\/2026\/1\/31\/epstein-chan-proposed-tsinghua-campus\/\">Chan had a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>. Harvard physics professor Lisa Randall is also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecrimson.com\/article\/2026\/2\/1\/lisa-randall-epstein-ties\/\">all over the Epstein files<\/a>. I\u2019ve seen some comments that mere association with Epstein, especially for scientists (given his interest in patronizing scientific research), shouldn\u2019t be a capital offense; I might be sympathetic to that perspective if any of these assholes owned up to schmoozing with the convicted sex offender before their names appeared.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>At Salon, Andi Zeisler writes that academics who communicated and fraternized with Epstein may not be criminals, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2026\/02\/19\/jeffrey-epstein-helped-fuel-the-campus-culture-wars\/\">they did so in pursuit of a shared vision of a world<\/a> where only certain people (men, mostly) were worthy of attaining knowledge and the status that comes with it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The same folks who were all about \u201cfree speech\u201d and talking about opposing cancel culture have been dead silent as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theunpopulist.net\/p\/what-are-heterodox-free-speech-warriors\">the Trump Administration attempts to quell free speech<\/a> by demanding that social media platforms reveal the identities of users who criticized ICE. Maybe it wasn\u2019t actually about free speech after all.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Defector\u2019s Patrick Redford wrote <a href=\"https:\/\/defector.com\/eileen-gu-will-never-be-the-traitor-jd-vance-wants-her-to-be\">how Eileen Gu will never be the \u2018traitor\u2019 that J.D. Vance and other nationalist nitwits are calling her<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Astronomers might have seen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/did-astronomers-just-see-a-star-blink-out-to-become-a-black-hole\/\">a star in the Andromeda Galaxy become a black hole<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The delightful folks at Flatout Games have a new Kickstarter up for two smaller games, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/flatoutgames\/forage-honeypot\">Forage and Honeypot<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Two minor scandals in the gaming world from the last two weeks: Dice Tower contributor Sam Healey resigned from the site \u2013 claiming God told him to step away or some other non-apology nonsense \u2013 after <a href=\"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/30\/veteran-dice-tower-reviewer-sam-healey-resigns-in-wake-of-saying-alex-pretti-renee-good-to-blame-for-ice-killing-them-after-comments-began-impacting-review-giants-annual-pledge-drive\/?utm_source=boardgamewire&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=watch-it-playeds-rodney-smith-cuts-ties-with-game\">he said that Alex Pretti and Ren\u00e9e Good were to blame for being murdered<\/a>; and Alderac (AEG) COO Ryan Dancey, who has left a trail of messes and controversies behind him in his three decades in the industry, was forced out by CEO John Zinser <a href=\"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/tabletop-industry-veteran-ryan-dancey-loses-alderac-coo-job-after-saying-ai-can-generate-game-ideas-as-good-as-some-of-his-companys-designs\/\">after Dancey posted a pro-AI and very anti-designers rant on LinkedIn<\/a>. Hey, I guess something good did come out of that site!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was on PTO from Wednesday to Wednesday, so I haven\u2019t written anything new on the Athletic in nearly two weeks. I\u2019ll begin draft content this upcoming week. Over at AV Club, I reviewed two smaller games with surprising depth and complexity for their size in Oddland and Neko Syndicate. I appeared on Sox Machine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1505,965,1083,1302,1054,128,939,1456,1109,190,961,1315,590,1037,907,870,477,807],"class_list":["post-11145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ai","tag-astronomy","tag-board-game-news","tag-christian-nationalism","tag-education","tag-florida","tag-harvard","tag-immigration","tag-israel","tag-links","tag-longreads","tag-measles","tag-oklahoma","tag-russia","tag-social-media","tag-stick-to-baseball","tag-texas","tag-vaccines","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11145"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11146,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11145\/revisions\/11146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}