{"id":11194,"date":"2026-05-16T12:51:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T16:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=11194"},"modified":"2026-05-16T12:51:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T16:51:44","slug":"stick-to-baseball-5-16-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/16\/stick-to-baseball-5-16-26\/","title":{"rendered":"Stick to baseball, 5\/16\/26."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>For subscribers to the Athletic, I posted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7277801\/2026\/05\/14\/mlb-draft-prospects-live-chat-keith-law-may-14\/\">my Big Board for this year\u2019s draft<\/a>, ranking the top 100 prospects in the class, and then held <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7277801\/2026\/05\/14\/mlb-draft-prospects-live-chat-keith-law-may-14\/\">a Q&amp;A<\/a> on Thursday. I also posted a minor league scouting notebook last weekend, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7266838\/2026\/05\/10\/mlb-prospects-scouting-liam-doyle-ike-irish\/\">covering Liam Doyle, Ike Irish, Dante Nori, and others<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I filed two more pieces this morning, so next up will be <a href=\"https:\/\/keithlaw.kit.com\/\">a new issue of my free email newsletter<\/a>, followed by a game review to run here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now, the links\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/05\/06\/texas-legislature-flood-protection-bills-failed-july-4\/\">Texas Republicans repeatedly failed to pass flood protection legislation<\/a> that would have prevented the deadly floods that killed 139 people last summer, according to a ProPublica\/Texas Tribune investigation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Louisiana is one of a handful of reactionary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nola.com\/gambit\/commentary\/john-stanton-we-shouldnt-put-a-price-tag-on-protecting-the-rights-of-the-disabled\/article_61e7d8c3-6b34-4f87-91e8-a0c58ae21ef5.html\">states asking a federal judge to strike a 1973 law protecting disabled Americans from discrimination<\/a>. Yep \u2013 Republicans want to be able to discriminate against Americans who use wheelchairs, or have visual or hearing impairments, and so on. This should be a major campaign issue for Democrats, given how many of us know and care about someone with a disability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em> (subscription definitely required here) writes about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/world\/europe\/the-worlds-most-surprising-capitalist-makeover-is-under-way-in-sweden-a7830619?mod=mhp\">Sweden\u2019s shift away from its extensive social welfare system<\/a>, reducing government spending but also raising fears of inequality and increased poverty in the future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Tennessee continues to show its ass to the world. Keith Ervin, a school board member in Washington County, Tennessee, said to a teenaged girl speaking before the board, \u201cGod, you\u2019re hot,\u201d and put his arm around her. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/student-blasts-school-board-not-axing-member-said-was-hot-rcna344621\">The board declined to remove him<\/a>, and she blasted them in speech before the board last week, saying \u201cyou are all cowards.\u201d Which they are.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Also in Tennessee, Rep. Andy Ogles, who raised $25,000 in a fundraiser for a children\u2019s memorial he never built, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newschannel5.com\/news\/newschannel-5-investigates\/andy-ogles-now-denies-raising-25-000-from-public-for-childrens-burial-garden-that-was-never-built\">is now claiming that never happened<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Watertown, Wisconsin\u2019s school board <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpr.org\/news\/watertown-school-board-pulls-song-tied-to-lgbtq-history-from-spring-concert\">voted to ban an <em>instrumental<\/em> song from the district\u2019s spring concert<\/a> merely because it was dedicated LGBT rights pioneer Marsha P. Johnson. And now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmj4.com\/news\/jefferson-county\/we-dont-want-to-talk-about-it-watertown-school-board-members-refuse-to-answer-questions-about-song-ban\">the cowards won\u2019t answer questions about it<\/a>. They should get zero peace for this. The next board meeting is Monday, May 18th, so if you live nearby, go let them know how you feel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Slate<\/em>\u2019s Maggie Hennessy writes about how the rise of food \u2018influencers\u2019 posting pseudo-reviews on TikTok etc. <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/life\/2026\/05\/tiktok-food-restaurant-reviewers-keith-lee.html\">are costing us the real benefits of proper food criticism<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Media Matters\u2019 Angelo Carusone writes about how his organization <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ms.now\/opinion\/media-matters-ftc-settlement-trump\">fought the Trump administration and won<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Jess Valenti writes on her Substack about a case where <a href=\"https:\/\/jessica.substack.com\/p\/cps-separating-teens-abortion\">Child Protective Services kidnapped a 14-year-old girl from her mother\u2019s care because she <em>might<\/em> have gotten an abortion<\/a>. There are very few specifics in the story, for the privacy of the mother and teen, but I also want to acknowledge that this story is impossible to verify.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>404 Media\u2019s Jason Koebler writes that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.404media.co\/your-ai-use-is-breaking-my-brain\/\">other so-called writers\u2019 AI use is breaking his brain<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Nearly 50,000 people living near Lake Tahoe <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2026\/05\/12\/lake-tahoe-data-center-49000-residents-power-source\/\">are about to lose their power because of fucking data centers<\/a>. Not temporarily, either, as the electricity generator is redirecting its output to uses that are not people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Human Rights Watch issued <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2026\/05\/14\/dr-congo-m23-rebels-commit-atrocities-in-eastern-city\">a new report on the massacres, mass rapes, and abductions<\/a> taking place in the Congolese city of Uvira since the Rwandan-backed rebel group M23 seized the city in December.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Another Kennedy failson is running for Congress, and as <em>The New York Times<\/em> reports, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/05\/14\/nyregion\/jack-schlossberg-campaign.html\">Jack Schlossberg\u2019s campaign is a mess<\/a> \u2013 but he\u2019s still in line to win.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Restoration Games has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MJKhv_MPXGQ\">a video trailer<\/a> up for their upcoming Lord of the Rings: The King\u2019s Gambit game, a new implementation of the 2000 game Star Wars: The Queen\u2019s Gambit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The crowdfunding effort for the game Vanea: Guardians of the Eldertree <a href=\"https:\/\/gamefound.com\/en\/projects\/forgotten-tales\/vanea-guardians-of-the-eldertree-relaunch\">has been relaunched<\/a> and is already funded.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/undaunted-publisher-ospreys-board-game-operation-to-be-sold-off-by-owner-bloomsbury-publishing\/\">Bloomsbury Publishing is shutting down Osprey Games<\/a>, which has published Cryptid, the Undaunted Series, The King is Dead, and more acclaimed titles. They\u2019ll continue to publish wargames and RPGs under the Osprey name.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For subscribers to the Athletic, I posted my Big Board for this year\u2019s draft, ranking the top 100 prospects in the class, and then held a Q&amp;A on Thursday. I also posted a minor league scouting notebook last weekend, covering Liam Doyle, Ike Irish, Dante Nori, and others. I filed two more pieces this morning, [&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":[1300,1429,1083,1080,1512,113,959,1112,190,961,907,870,1044,477,1003],"class_list":["post-11194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abortion","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-board-game-news","tag-california","tag-disability-rights","tag-environment","tag-first-amendment","tag-lgbt-rights","tag-links","tag-longreads","tag-social-media","tag-stick-to-baseball","tag-tennessee","tag-texas","tag-wisconsin","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11194","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=11194"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11195,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11194\/revisions\/11195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}