{"id":11174,"date":"2026-04-21T08:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T12:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=11174"},"modified":"2026-04-20T20:17:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T00:17:16","slug":"stick-to-baseball-4-21-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/21\/stick-to-baseball-4-21-26\/","title":{"rendered":"Stick to baseball, 4\/21\/26."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>My one post on The Athletic last week was a long scouting notebook <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7194678\/2026\/04\/14\/mlb-draft-scouting-vahn-lackey-joseph-contreras-drew-burriss\/\">covering Vahn Lackey, Joseph Contreras, Liam Peterson, and other players<\/a> I saw in a week in South Carolina and Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over at the AV Club, I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.avclub.com\/catan-on-the-road-review\">reviewed Catan on the Road<\/a>, a new portable Catan game that loses the map \u2013 and thus the competition for space \u2013 but keeps the resource-trading mechanic and even tweaks the rules to encourage players to trade more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I sent out another issue of <a href=\"https:\/\/keithlaw.kit.com\/\">my free email newsletter<\/a> late last week. You should subscribe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now, the links\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Longreads first: <em>The New York Times <\/em>has another expos\u00e9 on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/20\/us\/epstein-files-harvard-university-faculty.html\">how Harvard professors and administrators were happy to take Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s money<\/a>, even after his initial conviction. Three more professors found their names included in the latest files that the <em>Times<\/em> reporters reviewed: Howard Gardner, Anne Harrington, and Andrew Strominger. All are still active faculty members.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The New Yorker<\/em> investigates how the Trump Administration has made <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2026\/04\/20\/the-return-of-family-detention\">locking up immigrant infants and children a core part of its strategy<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Upward Bound<\/em> is a bestselling novel written by nonverbal, autistic author Woody Brown using the discredited communication technique called Rapid Prompting. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/books\/2026\/04\/who-really-wrote-autistic-author-woody-brown-novel\/686814\/\">His mother may be the actual author<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A group chat started by the secretary of Miami-Dade\u2019s Republican Party was filled with racist slurs and antisemitic comments by FIU students, but so far <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/politics-government\/article315314990.html\">the school has yet to take any action against them<\/a>. One of those students, Ethan Ratchkauskas, is suing the school on First Amendment grounds after saying someone had to \u201cswiss cheese that professor,\u201d later clarifying that he meant shooting them full of holes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Courtney Williams was one of the whistleblowers who spoke to a journalist about sexual harassment and discrimination at Fort Bragg in the 2010s. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/09\/us\/army-leaker-fbi-arrest-courtney-williams.html\">The Justice Department just arrested her<\/a>, claiming she revealed sensitive information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The BBC goes through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cge0grppe3po\">all of the insider trading allegations against Trump<\/a>, his family members, and his Cabinet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Most of the stories about former Virginia Lt. Gov Justin Fairfax (D)\u2019s murder of his wife and subsequent suicide were about him. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/04\/17\/us\/cerina-fairfax-death-virginia\">CNN profiled Cerina Fairfax<\/a>, the victim in his case.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Also in the <em>Times<\/em>, Michael Jackson\u2019s estate is hoping the upcoming hagiography <em>Michael<\/em> will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/14\/magazine\/michael-jackson-biopic-estate.html\">help restore some of the disgraced singer\u2019s image<\/a> and thus boost their profits. Of course, if you\u2019ve seen <em>Leaving Neverland<\/em>, you know exactly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.avclub.com\/leaving-neverland-michael-jackson-documentary-you-cant-see-estate-cant-hide\">why this whole endeavor is disgusting<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Good riddance to Eric Swalwell, whose downfall came about due to the efforts of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/04\/15\/nx-s1-5784021\/eric-swalwell-resignation-california-congress\">many women (including some of his victims) who organized themselves online<\/a>, as detailed by NPR.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Oh, hey, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/justice-department\/another-pardoned-jan-6-rioter-admit-guilt-child-sexual-abuse-case-rcna331841?link_source=ta_bluesky_link&amp;taid=69dec246fe8f270001af76f3&amp;utm_campaign=trueanthem&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=bluesky\">another person President Trump pardoned<\/a> has gone on to be convicted of sex crimes against children.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The Lancet<\/em> has an editorial beseeching readers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(25)02001-X\/fulltext\">not to forgive people like Jay Bhattacharya and Marty Makary<\/a>, ostensible scientists who sold their souls to Trump and have peddled misinformation that will set public health efforts back for decades.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It appears that the <em>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<\/em>, which traces its origins to 1786, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/local\/city\/2026\/04\/14\/post-gazette-venetoulis-institute-baltimore-banner\/stories\/209901010002\">will continue publishing after all<\/a>, as the nonprofit institute that owns the <em>Baltimore Banner<\/em> is buying the paper. Block Communications, owned by the Block family, had decided to shut the paper down rather than abide by federal labor court rulings against their unfair labor practices.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The same white supremacist behind the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that knocked down affirmative action in college admissions <a href=\"https:\/\/ballsandstrikes.org\/law-politics\/ed-blum-cbc-scholarship-lawsuit\/\">is now targeting the Congressional Black Caucus\u2019 scholarship program for Black students<\/a>. Hell isn\u2019t hot enough for people who want to roll us back to the days after Reconstruction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A worker died during his shift at an Amazon warehouse in Oregon earlier this month. His co-workers were told to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewesternedge.media\/p\/everyone-is-replaceable-death-rattles\">ignore his body and keep working<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Mother Jones<\/em> details the Trump Administration\u2019s potential \u2018nuclear bomb\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2026\/04\/transgender-gender-affirming-care-hhs-manhattan-institute-segm-leor-sapir-trump\/\">to stop all gender-affirming care for trans youths<\/a>. I\u2019m not sure if Monday\u2019s federal court ruling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advocate.com\/politics\/national\/judge-calls-rfk-unserious\">vacating the Kennedy Declaration<\/a> changes what\u2019s in this story.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Senegal just passed a law <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/en\/lgbtq\/article\/2026\/03\/31\/senegal-enacts-law-doubling-penalty-for-same-sex-relations_6751989_211.html\">doubling the penalty for same-sex relationships<\/a>, while also criminalizing \u201cpromoting\u201d or \u201cfinancing\u201d LGBT relationships. The bill passed the West African nation\u2019s legislature with no votes against it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Texas A&amp;M professor who was told by that fake university\u2019s Board of Regents that he couldn\u2019t teach a portion of Plato\u2019s <em>Symposium<\/em> because of the school\u2019s new censorship regime <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chronicle.com\/article\/professor-banned-from-teaching-plato-excerpt-to-leave-texas-a-m-its-getting-worse\">spoke to <em>The Chronicle of Higher Education <\/em>about his decision to resign<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.niemanlab.org\/2026\/04\/social-traffic-kinda-stinks-for-news-publishers-now-in-3-charts\/\">Traffic to publishers from social media is plummeting<\/a>, particularly from Facebook and Twitter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/17\/business\/media\/artificial-intelligence-trump-social-media.html\">AI-driven accounts promoting Trump<\/a> and\/or conservative politicians are popping up all over TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A Missouri cop who killed a 2-year-old girl while working as a SWAT team sniper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcur.org\/news\/2026-04-13\/joplin-police-sniper-who-killed-a-2-year-old-girl-just-became-a-missouri-state-trooper\">is now a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper<\/a>. Keaton Siebenaler has never faced any consequences for firing at a silhouette during a hostage situation, which is how he ended up killing Clesslynn Crawford during a standoff between her father and police.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Quined Games\u2019 reprinting of <a href=\"https:\/\/gamefound.com\/en\/projects\/quined-games\/goa\">Rudiger Dorn\u2019s Goa<\/a> is up on Gamefound right now. I owned it, and played it, but it didn\u2019t quite do it for me \u2013 at least not to the level of its reputation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My one post on The Athletic last week was a long scouting notebook covering Vahn Lackey, Joseph Contreras, Liam Peterson, and other players I saw in a week in South Carolina and Georgia. Over at the AV Club, I reviewed Catan on the Road, a new portable Catan game that loses the map \u2013 and [&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":[899,1429,1083,137,939,1456,1112,190,961,971,1105,239,1197,907,870,477,940,1239],"class_list":["post-11174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-africa","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-board-game-news","tag-frauds","tag-harvard","tag-immigration","tag-lgbt-rights","tag-links","tag-longreads","tag-metoo","tag-missouri","tag-pittsburgh","tag-police","tag-social-media","tag-stick-to-baseball","tag-texas","tag-the-swamp","tag-trans-rights","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11174","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=11174"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11175,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11174\/revisions\/11175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}