{"id":6831,"date":"2018-08-11T15:58:50","date_gmt":"2018-08-11T19:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=6831"},"modified":"2018-08-11T17:53:35","modified_gmt":"2018-08-11T21:53:35","slug":"stick-to-baseball-8-11-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/11\/stick-to-baseball-8-11-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Stick to baseball, 8\/11\/18."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Just one Insider post this week, with scouting notes on <a href=\"https:\/\/klaw.me\/2vtGwKy\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">some Yankees, Pirates, and Orioles prospects<\/a>. I also held a <a href=\"https:\/\/klaw.me\/2KBa4Lf\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Klawchat<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>My Gen Con wrap-up is filed to <em>Paste<\/em> and I&#8217;ll update this post with the link when I get it.<\/p>\n<p>You can sign up for <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyletter.com\/keithlaw\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">my free email newsletter<\/a>, which I&#8217;ve been sending out every ten days or so. And my book, <em>Smart Baseball<\/em>, is <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2B3Rc86\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">now just $9 on Kindle<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And now, the links&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Longreads first: <a href=\"https:\/\/ny.eater.com\/2018\/8\/9\/17671884\/estela-thomas-carter-restaurant-culture-misconduct-altro-paradiso-flora-bar\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Eater exposes the toxic workplace culture at Estela<\/a> and other restaurants operated by chef Thomas Carter.<\/li>\n<li>ProPublica exposes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/ike-perlmutter-bruce-moskowitz-marc-sherman-shadow-rulers-of-the-va\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the unelected officials who are running the VA from the shadows<\/a> of Mar-a-Lago.<\/li>\n<li>Dale Murphy, former Atlanta Braves superstar and near-Hall of Famer, <a href=\"https:\/\/dalemurphy.com\/the-perils-of-baseballs-social-media-moment\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">wrote the best piece I have seen to date on players\u2019 social media gaffes<\/a>, such as the extremely bigoted tweets from Josh Hader and Trea Turner. Murphy gets it, and speaks with the gravitas folks like me simply can\u2019t muster. Over at Medium, Justin Megahan asked <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@justinrmegahan\/baseball-is-as-american-as-systemic-homophobia-538f10788c06\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">about the baseball culture that produces young men who think this shit is funny<\/a>, although I think it\u2019s not specific to baseball, but a function of societal views of masculinity.<\/li>\n<li>A major investigation by liberal rag &#8230; um <em>Forbes<\/em> found that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/danalexander\/2018\/08\/06\/new-details-about-wilbur-rosss-businesses-point-to-pattern-of-grifting\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross may have stolen over $120 million<\/a> from investors, and lied about his assets and business activities on ethics disclosure forms when he was nominated. He&#8217;s still employed as of Saturday afternoon. Drain the swamp, indeed.<\/li>\n<li>Twitter\u2019s attempt to remain apolitical by refusing to ban conspiracy theorist and snake oil salesman Alex Jones <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2018\/8\/8\/17662140\/twitter-infowars-alex-jones-apple-facebook-spotify-pinterest-ban\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">is in itself a political choice<\/a>. Parker Malloy writes here that Twitter still can\u2019t figure out what kind of platform it wants to be; I don\u2019t like the platform it has become.<\/li>\n<li><em>WIRED<\/em>\u2018s Issie Lapowsky writes that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/facebook-youtube-ban-infowars-but-invite-new-headaches\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tech companies can\u2019t win their war against Jones<\/a>. That may be true, but doesn\u2019t excuse inaction.<\/li>\n<li>Also writing for <em>WIRED<\/em>, Clive Thompson offers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/covering-online-hate\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">thoughts on how to slow the spread of online hate<\/a>. Doing nothing or disengaging are not good options.<\/li>\n<li>Slate examines <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/technology\/2018\/08\/why-twitter-hasnt-banned-alex-jones-four-theories.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">four hypotheses on why Twitter hasn&#8217;t moved against Jones yet<\/a>, none of which is terribly satisfying.<\/li>\n<li>Laura Ingraham went full white nationalist on Fox News this week; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2018\/08\/laura-ingrahams-loss-of-love-for-america\/567122\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the <em>Atlantic<\/em> called her out on it<\/a>, both in that her love of \u201ccountry\u201d seems to ignore this country\u2019s founding principles, and that the population as a whole doesn\u2019t agree with her.<\/li>\n<li>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the darling of the progressive left, but her increased media presence <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/fact-checker\/wp\/2018\/08\/10\/fact-checking-alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-media-blitz\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">has just led to her producing a lot of bullshit answers<\/a>, including the same kind of myth-repeating that characterizes the alt-right. Her policy proposals are at least interesting enough to discuss, but her sound bytes don\u2019t reveal any depth to her ideas.<\/li>\n<li>The Italian Senate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skepticalraptor.com\/skepticalraptorblog.php\/italian-vaccine-mandate-senate-delay-implementation\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">is trying to delay the country\u2019s new mandatory vaccination rules<\/a> that arose in response to an ongoing measles epidemic in the supposedly developed country.<\/li>\n<li>I\u2019ve never had any use for PETA, and they reminded me why when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2018\/08\/10\/impossible-foods-rats-testing-peta\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">they attacked Impossible Foods for testing its burgers on rats<\/a> to satisfy federal safety requirements. If PETA\u2019s interest is in improving the lives and welfare of animals &#8230; well, it\u2019s not, as evidenced here. Their interest is in generating headlines. I guess they got their wish.<\/li>\n<li>A couple in New Mexico <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/morning-mix\/wp\/2018\/08\/03\/a-small-town-couple-left-behind-a-stolen-painting-worth-over-100-million-and-a-big-mystery\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">appear to have stolen a $100 million painting<\/a> just to keep it in their apartment, and perhaps stolen and sold other art works to finance a lifestyle beyond their apparent means. None of this was discovered until after their deaths, and family members still can\u2019t believe it\u2019s true.<\/li>\n<li>The FDA has approved <a href=\"https:\/\/www.contagionlive.com\/news\/fda-approves-first-preventative-antimalarial-in-almost-2-decades\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the first new malarial preventive drug<\/a> in over 18 years.<\/li>\n<li>One of my Senators, Tom Carper, wrote an editorial <a href=\"https:\/\/www.delawareonline.com\/story\/opinion\/contributors\/2018\/08\/07\/carper-cutting-clean-car-standards-bad-environment-and-business\/918955002\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">assailing the Trump administration\u2019s plans to end emissions standards for cars<\/a>. It\u2019s going to take years to undo the environmental damage wrought by this regime.<\/li>\n<li>Attorney General Jeff  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2018\/08\/bribery-trial-reveals-jeff-sessions-role-in-blocking-epa-action-targeting-one-of-his-biggest-donors\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">helped block an EPA action against Drummond Coal, one of his biggest donors<\/a>, while he was still in the Senate, according to testimony in a recent bribery trial of a Drummond executive and a prominent Alabama law firm, both of whom had close ties to .<\/li>\n<li>The sugar industry in Florida is under attack now for its role in pollution that is feeding toxic algae blooms; they&#8217;ve also got a long history of labor rights abuses and using tariffs to restrict sugar imports and raise consumer prices. The Florida GOP has historical ties to Big Sugar, and one leading gubernatorial candidate, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/florida-politics\/buzz\/2018\/08\/06\/only-one-candidate-for-governor-still-takes-money-from-big-sugar-adam-putnam\/\" target=\"_blank\">Adam Putnam, has taken over $8 million in contributions from Big Sugar and its PACS<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Mike Salk, program director for ESPN Seattle 710 and longtime host of the Brock &#038; Salk show, as well as a friend of mine, wrote about how <a href=\"http:\/\/sports.mynorthwest.com\/444427\/how-1-handed-pitcher-jim-abbott-inspired-mike-salk-to-keep-playing-baseball-as-a-kid\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jim Abbott helped inspire him after an accident damaged his hand at age 12<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>The online editorial comics site The Nib <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/thenib\/the-nib-magazine\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">has a Kickstarter for them to start a print version of the publication<\/a>. Some of the best editorial cartoonists online have appeared in the Nib or will appear in the magazine, including Matt &#8220;We Should Improve Society Somewhat&#8221; Bors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just one Insider post this week, with scouting notes on some Yankees, Pirates, and Orioles prospects. I also held a Klawchat on Thursday. My Gen Con wrap-up is filed to Paste and I&#8217;ll update this post with the link when I get it. You can sign up for my free email newsletter, which I&#8217;ve been [&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":[964,49,113,128,160,190,799,907,870,940,807],"class_list":["post-6831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alabama","tag-baseball","tag-environment","tag-florida","tag-health","tag-links","tag-science","tag-social-media","tag-stick-to-baseball","tag-the-swamp","tag-vaccines","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6831","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=6831"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6838,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6831\/revisions\/6838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}