{"id":11596,"date":"2026-10-31T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=11596"},"modified":"2026-10-31T11:55:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T15:55:19","slug":"stick-to-baseball-10-31-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/31\/stick-to-baseball-10-31-26\/","title":{"rendered":"Stick to baseball, 10\/31\/26."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nothing new from me at The Athletic this week as I was writing up my annual rankings of the best free agents, which will run on Monday. This year\u2019s list is just 40 deep because the class is so bad. I&#8217;ll shoot to get <a href=\"https:\/\/keithlaw.kit.com\/\">a newsletter<\/a> out that afternoon or evening, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I did post videos on <a href=\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/mrkeithlaw\">Instagram<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@keith_law\">TikTok<\/a> after each World Series game this week, and will try to find more topics for commentary (without resorting to hot takes, I promise) as we enter the dark night of the soul. I\u2019m also still most active on <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/keithlaw.bsky.social\">Bluesky<\/a> and occasionally trolling anti-vaxxers on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.com\/@mrkeithlaw\">Threads<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And now, the links\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>House Democrats released a new report on the Epstein files that included <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/10\/26\/house-democrats-unveil-new-details-from-trump-accuser\/\">a fresh rape allegation against President Trump<\/a>. <em>The Miami-Herald<\/em>\u2019s Julie K. Brown, who won a Pulitzer for her work on Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s crimes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/nation-world\/article317782501.html\">also wrote about the revelation<\/a>, which has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/newsletter-why-is-the-media-ignoring-the-stunning-new-trump-epstein-allegations\/\">wildly undercovered<\/a> \u2013 or maybe suppressed \u2013 by a number of other major media outlets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The Guardian<\/em> spoke to Israeli voters on the eve of the country\u2019s elections. Some of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reels\/De9qL2CIxos\/\">the youngest voters had the most horrifying, hateful comments<\/a>, saying that Gaza should have been \u201cglassed\u201d after Hamas\u2019 attacks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Now, to some longreads: <em>The New York Times<\/em> has the horrifying and inexplicable story of a software engineer who asked ChatGPT to get her off a lifesaving anti-seizure medication. ChatGPT complied, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/10\/27\/well\/ai-chatgpt-medication-epilepsy-death.html?unlocked_article_code=1.L1E.hwOU.bGyBh4c0UThx&amp;smid=url-share\">telling her it was safe to do so and that she shouldn\u2019t tell her doctors<\/a>. She died shortly after at age 31.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Citation Oil &amp; Gas is one of the country\u2019s largest privately owned oil companies. Despite racking up over 1000 pollution and other environmental violations, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/oklahoma-oil-pollution-citation-violations\">it has never been punished by Oklahoma regulators<\/a>. This is a great example of why red states are cheaper to live in than blue states: To some degree, residents get what they pay for.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The Atlantic<\/em> looks at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/2026\/12\/post-revolutionary-cuba-society-religion\/689018\/?gift=NX91pXe_h9-jpMCTAKKndtL0t_g23iqVrxAJ3TSAGvo&amp;utm_source=copy-link&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=share\">Cuba\u2019s economic collapse<\/a>, with the U.S. blockade causing substantial misery for its already impoverished people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/post\/217201\/jared-kushner-secretary-state-fired-dictator-paid-him?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=Bluesky&amp;utm_campaign=SF_TNR\">The UAE sent $50 million to Jared Kushner to get Secretary of State Rex Tillerson fired<\/a>, according to the <em>New Republic<\/em>. Kushner then took a payment from Qatar as well after that country was concerned about how the firing would affect their relations with the U.S.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>NPR music journalist Ann Powers writes about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/10\/27\/nx-s1-5993861\/why-does-everything-feel-fake-music-essay?unified=true&amp;utm_source=later-linkinbio&amp;renderPlatform=nprone_ios&amp;utm_campaign=feed&amp;utm_medium=referral\">why music feels so fake right now<\/a> and the history of the quest for \u2018authenticity\u2019 in popular music, with a quick detour into the hack Stella Lefty\u2019s success and nods to the truly novel acts breaking out this year like Westside Cowboy, Twisted Teens, and Angine de Poitrine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Also in the <em>Times<\/em>, Amish families in New York have been fighting the state\u2019s mandatory vaccination laws, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/10\/20\/nyregion\/measles-amish-school-vaccine-requirement.html?smid=tw-share\">even as measles sweeps through their community<\/a>. The courts\u2019 answer should be simple: Educate your kids elsewhere. You do not have the right to put other children at risk.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The spam text messages and mailers sent to Texas voters claiming to offer resources for trans youth <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasobserver.org\/revealed-gop-group-behind-mysterious-trans-student-messages\/\">actually came from a Republican-backed PAC<\/a>, supported by the Republican Women\u2019s Caucus Fund, which denied involvement, and a Washington state senator running for Congress named John Braun. The trans panic is disgusting on many levels, but one is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@audreywiththedata\/video\/7701480827657522445?_r=1&amp;_t=ZT-9Aw6WhGRQBp\">how inaccurate it all is<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Scientific American<\/em> was first published in 1845 and until fairly recently was the gold standard for science journalism. A recent sale and the corporate owners\u2019 bending the knee to Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/society\/scientific-american-springer-nature-trump\/\">has left the magazine\u2019s future in doubt<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You may have seen the clip of a man being interviewed on Fox News at a Trump rally, where he says he always wanted to see what a cult was like but was too young for Jonestown. Marisa Kabas found the guy, Tom Hoyle, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehandbasket.co\/p\/tom-hoyle-jonestown-trump-rally-fox-news-viral-clip\">interviewed him about his comments<\/a> and that awesome <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Death_(metal_band)\">Death<\/a> shirt.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Republicans\u2019 favorite streamer Hasan Piker <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bloomberglaw.com\/ip-law\/hasan-piker-sues-scott-jennings-in-72-million-defamation-suit\">is suing CNN talking head Scott Jennings<\/a> for $72 million for Jennings\u2019 use of a highly edited video to make it appear that Piker called for Black Americans to be lynched.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A Christian media outlet dedicated to exposing scandals and controversies in churches writes that <a href=\"https:\/\/roysreport.com\/ohio-megachurch-pastor-lonnie-snell-fired-for-sexual-misconduct\/\">an Ohio megachurch pastor named Lonnie Snell has been fired for sexual misconduct<\/a>, with parishioners told not to ask questions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/em> broke with its policy of avoiding endorsing candidates in major races <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleveland.com\/open\/2026\/10\/we-cannot-remain-silent-amy-acton-for-governor.html\">to endorse Amy Acton<\/a> in the wake of Republican Vivek Ramaswamy\u2019s disgusting ad that used Acton\u2019s stepfather sexually assaulting her to attack her credibility.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Federal immigration judge Chadwick Dotson, who has a track record of rulings against asylum seekers, <a href=\"https:\/\/defector.com\/cincinnati-reds-blogger-immigration-judge-chadwick-dotson\">also writes about the Reds<\/a> for <em>Cincinnati Magazine<\/em>. I haven\u2019t seen any comment from the publication about their relationship with him.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Brent Taylor (R) is running for Congress in Tennessee in a highly gerrymander district. He has a serious problem with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nashvillescene.com\/news\/pithinthewind\/brent-taylors-sexting-problem\/article_150e5999-55f6-40a8-9bd6-7da56bfe5d84.html\">sending unsolicited dick pics and other sexts to women<\/a>. He\u2019s 59 years old.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Lynchburg, Virginia, City Countil member Marty Misjuns (R) said on social media that \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/wset.com\/news\/local\/lynchburg-council-member-responds-to-accusations-of-hate-speech-on-social-media\">Democrats, Christians, Jews, and gay Americans need to join the Republican Party or die!<\/a>\u201d and other hateful comments, but when asked about them he either ignored the questions or claimed there was \u201ccontext.\u201d He\u2019s up for re-election next week in the nonpartisan competition for three seats.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A town council candidate in Castle Rock, Colorado, was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denvergazette.com\/2026\/10\/24\/castle-rock-candidate-seen-stealing-opponents-campaign-materials\/\">caught on camera stealing his opponent Tiffany Coyle\u2019s fliers<\/a> and replacing them with his own.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Chris Rufo and company got what they wanted: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecrimson.com\/article\/2026\/10\/27\/harvard-admissions-data-2026\/\">Black enrollment at Harvard has fallen for three straight years<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Opposition parties in the Bundestag have forced a debate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/the-bundestag-has-debated-the-genocide-germany-carried-out-in-namibia-a-century-ago-but-will-it-spur-progress-on-addressing-colonial-crimes\/a-79682388?utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=bluesky\">on recognizing Germany\u2019s genocide of the Herero people in 1904<\/a> in what is now Namibia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The Arizona Republic<\/em> spoke to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/entertainment\/music\/2026\/10\/25\/testament-frontman-chuck-billy-holding-my-breath-interview\/92373585007\/?gnt-cfr=1&amp;gca-cat=p&amp;gca-uir=true&amp;gca-epti=z116201p118950l004450c118950e1115xxv116201d--50--b--50--&amp;gca-ft=185&amp;gca-ds=sophi&amp;fbclid=IwZnRzaAVPc9xleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mAWZkaWQWURNsbabP5q4ccpb37o9fQmU450-9BHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR-GwQ9J1O3e3l0qf15yJN4okGghezwCSEFuE1ChhVeSgy9POMjw70wFLXhFwQ_aem_Ln7u7vMwdmCvbHwYekOt2w\">Testament lead singer Chuck Billy about his career<\/a> and his battle with a rare cancer about 25 years ago.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Cleveland City Council did something very rare for any government body: They said no to a local sports team, <a href=\"https:\/\/signalcleveland.org\/cleveland-browns-stadium-huntington-bank-field-repair-costs\/\">refusing to pay for $1 million in repairs to the stadium the Browns are abandoning<\/a>. They may lose in court, but even the idea of someone standing up to the billionaire owners is a rare positive sign.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The excellent social deduction game Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is getting a new version, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/152730994\/deception-heist-in-hong-kong\">Deception: Heist in Hong Kong<\/a>, that\u2019s up on Kickstarter right now.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nothing new from me at The Athletic this week as I was writing up my annual rankings of the best free agents, which will run on Monday. This year\u2019s list is just 40 deep because the class is so bad. I&#8217;ll shoot to get a newsletter out that afternoon or evening, too. I did post [&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":[1429,1083,1125,1539,113,1492,1387,1396,939,1109,190,961,971,852,870,1044,477,940,1114,1239,807,597],"class_list":["post-11596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-board-game-news","tag-colorado","tag-cuba","tag-environment","tag-epstein","tag-gaza","tag-germany","tag-harvard","tag-israel","tag-links","tag-longreads","tag-metoo","tag-music","tag-stick-to-baseball","tag-tennessee","tag-texas","tag-the-swamp","tag-thrash","tag-trans-rights","tag-vaccines","tag-virginia","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11596","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=11596"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11599,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11596\/revisions\/11599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}