“Facebook’s baseball broadcast was a vision of the hellish future we deserve”.
Diversity in Baseball Begins in Little League.
Wishing all the best in retirement to Phil Coyne after EIGHTY-ONE YEARS of service as an usher for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“The federal government under Trump is apparently just a big pot of spoils to be divvied up. Do any Republicans even care about this anymore?”
Hey, you know how your personal information from Facebook gets shared with all kinds of unscrupulous people without your knowledge or consent? Well, don’t make it easier for them.
“POLITICO’s analysis suggests that Trump did, indeed, do worse overall in places where independent media could check his claims.”
A little primer on the perjury trap.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar writes about Bill Cosby and the good art/bad artist question.
Molly Ringwald takes a long and thoughtful look back on the work of John Hughes.
Congratulations to Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the first sitting US Senator to give birth.
“The image of Michael Cohen as a superlawyer was always laughable, and even the Trump fan club recognized that Cohen was a particular flavor of attorney: The Fixer. His desire to cast himself as a real-life Ray Donovan made him a kind of overwrought, grunting thug character destined for the cutting-room floor in even the most lurid soap-opera script.”
“Once other prosecutors’ offices are involved and have gathered evidence of crimes, though, Trump receives less benefit from firing Mueller, and at an increasing cost. And even if Trump fires Mueller, more prosecutors can carry on the work, with access to some of the same material.”
“Mr. Trump wouldn’t be the first person to stumble into a one-night stand and find he has generated a decades-long relationship. But he may very well be the first president. As matters stand, there is the distinct possibility that the president’s legal clinch with Stormy Daniels will outlast his presidency.”
“The American epidemic of gun violence is both a sin problem and a gun problem; the question is which problem we have the ability to solve. Sin is a power much stronger than us or our individual efforts. Defeating it is an ongoing cosmic project initiated by one greater than us who will complete it, but not on our timetable. Our task is to deal with the other problem: the physical instruments of death that sin has at its disposal. We can’t just keep them away from the bad people, because the bad people might well be us. We have to reduce our firepower.”
Child marriage should be banned. I do not understand anyone who thinks that it’s a good idea for minors to marry adults.
“The National Rifle Association and supporters have fought back against these advisories, sponsoring legislation to stop pediatricians from asking parents about guns in the home — something that really puzzles doctors who routinely ask about other safety issues, such as using car seats and wearing helmets while riding bikes.”
RIP, Mitzi Shore, owner of the iconic Comedy Store.
“But, at this point, with the president* re-enacting the Tell-Tale Heart in public and all over the electric Twitter machine, you have to wonder. Why not give the president* a laurel and hearty handshake and tell him to go slice fairway woods out of bounds for the rest of his life? Thank him for his great service to the ultimate Republican goal of dismantling the Republic for the benefit of their donor class and show him the door. After all, Mike Pence is waiting in the wings.”
“In 1960, we ranked 11th in infant mortality among rich countries. Not great, but not terrible. Today we rank 24th out of 27 rich countries, ahead of only Turkey, Mexico, and Chile. We are behind every single country in Europe by a large margin. This is the price we pay for our horrible health care system.”
“President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer negotiated a deal in late 2017 to pay $1.6 million to a former Playboy model who said she was impregnated by a top Republican fundraiser, according to people familiar with the matter. Michael Cohen, whose office, home and hotel room were raided by federal agents this week, arranged the payments to the woman on behalf of Elliott Broidy, a deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee with ties to Mr. Trump.”
That’s an outstanding essay by Mr. Abdul-Jabbar. I’m White, and I find Cosby’s downfall awful, because some cherished childhood memories are tarnished (I saw him as the funny dad when I was a kid). I can only dimly imagine how much worse this is for Black people who looked up to him. I also feel bad for his co-stars who are taking financial hits because of reruns not being aired. There’s no good answer for this.
I enjoy the music of Richard Wagner (both listening and playing). I know enough music history to know that he was a total asshole and someone I would despise as a person. But it’s easier to separate the great art from the asshole artist when they’ve been dead for more than a century.
As for who thinks it’s a good idea to marry minors- pervs and/or authoritarian religious jerks who want obedient little wives. Which means it’s a bad idea.
The doctors are idiots, far exceeding their professional responsibilities. They never need to ask about firearms in the home of a patient, it’s none of their business. at most, they might offer pamphlets on firearm safety
As for their demands of Congress, there is no such thing as a “semiautomatic assault rifle”. Assault rifles, by definition, are full automatic firearms. The firearms they seek to ban are “scary” in appearance to these ignorant dweebs, but are functionally identical to any other semiautomatic firearm that isn’t included ion the proposed ban.
If a 3 year old shot himself with a firearm, the owner of the firearm needs to be charged under existing laws, and sent to jail.
@Fly:
Ride of the Valkyries is a great tune for driving in Houston traffic, as is Mars, the Bringer of War by Holst, and of course most anything by Black Sabbath or older Metallica. May I inquire what instrument you play?
@Ross:
Holy crap, I agree 100% with you on this!
What is going on that sbnation article? With the comments interspersed, I could t tell if they were out there by the author to make some point, or if that is just the format they on that website. I couldn’t even read it, which is ironic since I gather the point of the article was to complain about new ways of communication (not sure)?
If your doctor asks a question you don’t like, find another doctor, don’t keep him from expressing his 1sr amendment rights in his own office
Flypusher, episodes of The Cosby Show air every day on cable and local television. During the blackout, no pun intended, by a few stations, I’m told sales of the season sets on DVD skyrocketed, so I’m not sure where the belief that the show is off air keeps resurfacing. If it were true, I’d be asking how come Chinatown, Rosemary’s Baby, and all the Woody Allen works seem to air constantly, to name a few.