He wrote "Rock Around with Ollie Vee" for Buddy Holly himself, and it rocks so hard it's very nearly punk!* *Buddy also recorded a more laid-back version; do not be fooled.

If he comes to Seattle next year, im getting tx by 3B, and I'll shout "debate me bro" all night.

I used to get such grief for writing about the way baseball and politics intersect whether we like it or not! Shamed for HURTING my publications by not "sticking to sports!" It was not/is not my fault that SPORTS NEVER STICKS TO SPORTS!!! And failing to write about it? Complicity and negligence!

May all his future arbitration hearings be full of unfettered, blunt, uncensored free speech!

This seems like an adjacent thought: "A free country is one in which there is no particular individual to blame for the existing tyranny." From a 1943 book of quotations, no attribution.

There is no world in which it is normal for the president to publicly call upon his attorney general to hurry up and prosecute his political foes. It’s like the Watergate tapes but posted on social media. Let’s get a grip on what’s happening here.

In a video shared to Twitter, ICE is shown throwing congressional candidate @katmabu.bsky.social to the ground

HARDEST PHOTO OF 2025 JUST DROPPED

An encore for yesterday's column as we hit the weekend. When we speak honestly about the dead, we're testing our own integrity and objectivity. To lie about them is to erase them and rewrite their story for your own purposes. I don't say any of that in here, but I s'pose it's implicit. Baseball!

This is SO close to the beginning of "King Lear" you'd think Shakespeare hopped a time machine and took notes. I suppose it isn't news that we're in hell because a failing old man couldn't let go, but this is too on the nose. You could stage the play in modern dress and call it "The Last President."

I am sentimental about old WPIX because of Yankees games growing up, followed by my high school-college late-night ritual of news/Odd Couple/Honeymooners/Star Trek/Twilight Zone (and sleep through 1st period the next day). AFAIK, today it has no purpose whatsoever aside from serving the regime.

"They set the slave free, striking off his chains... Then he was as much of a slave as ever... His slavery was not in the chains, but in himself. "They can only set free men free... And there is no need of that: Free men set themselves free." --James Oppenheim, 1914

Someone wrote T. Jefferson a letter asking what G. Washington was like. TJ reproduced GW throwing a tantrum over his newspaper coverage. That was Prez 1/Year 1! No president has enjoyed being criticized by a free press, but only a few out-of-control megalomaniacs tried to suppress fundamental rights

Calling all Guild members, labor allies and anyone who believes in a free country — Join us outside the entrance to ABC's offices at 7 Hudson Square (310 Hudson Street, Manhattan) TOMORROW at 12 PM ET to demand that ABC bring back Jimmy Kimmel Live! RSVP: wgaea.st/kimmel-rally

If every doctor's office that knows they will make you wait for a long time* would just put out some sort of fresh-baked cookies buffet we would all look forward to them lying about your appointment time. *Non-infectious disease division only.

I stand with PBS. I stand with NPR. I stand with Stephen Colbert. I stand with Jimmy Kimmel. I stand with the First Amendment. PERIOD.* *Also #ReleaseTheEPSTEIN_Files

As I was moved to say in the comments, "If the goal is to venerate someone for purposes that have nothing to do with the reality of their lives... That's a manipulative politics that has no relationship to critical thinking and is in fact actively opposed to it." That's what this column is about.

As a cat guy, I really appreciate the frequent recurrence of Churu pet treats on the Dodgers backsplash. My cats will volunteer to power-wash the house and clean out the attic if I put one of those on offer.

Chuck Schumer's famous last stand at the Alamo.

Since ANTIFA doesn't exist as an organization, I read this as a declaration that he (and Miller) can night and fog anyone who disagrees with him, criticizes him, etc. You can't prove or disprove something that isn't real.

One of the best Harlan Ellison short story titles: "Hitler Painted Roses."

The same thing applies to the whole crazy regime. We threw out 250 years of halting but genuine progress for THIS GUY?

Was it pure sodium? I quit on their products when I realized their salt content wasn't too far off from seawater. Who wants to have blood pressure high enough to send an elephant bouncing off the ceiling?

From a whole series of Donald Westlake novels that (like most Westlake) are a ton of fun.

It seems that the only trans person known to be in the orbit of this horrific Kirk assassination saga expressed shock and horror, and immediately cooperated fully with law enforcement.

Robert Redford wanted to make a movie of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." It's probably better that he didn't. A film would have--what?--focused on the (ultimately tragic) father-son story and eschewed all the important stuff re forms of thinking?

The shape of politics in the US right now is increasingly that the media, political and economic elites are allied with the Trump regime against the actual people of the country who hate it

This week's Infinite Inning explores the story of the redheaded outfielder they called "Zaza," and then the rest, yeah, it's about THAT, but it's also about baseball: a visit to 9/1901 and who acts, who doesn’t, and what games they might have attended instead. www.spreaker.com/episode/infi...

NYT, 10/1936

It's not a constitutional crisis if the constitution is already dead. That's like saying we're in a Babe Ruth crisis. It's been long enough that a revival is unlikely, leaving us with a total lack of Ruth. It's a different problem, one that requires a different set of potential solutions.

Celebrating a supposed advocate of free speech by punishing others for exercising their right to free speech is a coherent position to a certain kind of thinker. Next: book-burnings to promote literacy?

Trans rights are human rights. I just say that whenever I reach a new follower plateau so you can fuck right off if you wandered into the wrong room.

Lost in the discussion of how Charlie Kirk "did politics the right way" are the lives of the two victims assassinated at Florida State University by a member of Kirk's organization, Turning Point USA, in April 2025.

I hope you all read this from me.

Been thinking about this vision of America for the last 24 hours or so--Jack Kirby's, from 1976. The American Dream, the Captain says, is about "the chance of making life meaningful," which is a good paraphrase of that slippery "pursuit of happiness" thing. And that chance is open to all.

Inspired by a series of books I refuse to have in my home, and my home is as open to books as the Kingdom of Catlandia is to little orange kittens.

MAGA 3 days ago: Chicago is about to find out the meaning of WAR MAGA today: the left needs to stop condoning violence

Remember the man by his words.

I'm very engaged w/political issues and am further to the empathetic New Dealish left than the average. There are no shortage of people out there expressing ideas antithetical to mine-so many that until today (and I don't mean to diminish this act by saying this) I'd never given Kirk a thought.

Hey, @theatlantic.com is this considered appropriate from a staff writer because 90% plus of the Bluesky I see is condemning the shooting. I believe many paying subscribers will not appreciate their subscription fees going to him.

My feed is almost entirely people condemning violence and telling others not to celebrate this.

These people genuinely know nothing of the history—white conservative state & vigilante violence has been arguably *the defining feature* of U.S. history. They apparently also know very little of the present, in which, again, the very opposite is the case.

What a great bit on the futility of prohibition from the Brooklyn Eagle, 1928, by "Harding."

For this week's Infinite Inning reissue, I brought back a conversation I had with the late Davey Johnson-and his dogs. Well, they make an appearance, anyway. It was very endearing. I'm sorry that he's gone but pleased we have this to remember. www.baseballprospectus.com/podcasts/inf...

Every ball that goes into the stands now, fair of foul, doesn't matter who or where, I expect that Phillies lady to come running up and accost whoever picked it up like she's on some kind of national stadium tour for entitled people.

If you're an author and haven't yet signed up for the Anthropic settlement, do yourself a favor (and strike a blow against AI) by checking to see if any of your books were involved. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

You'll never guess who expressed similar thoughts re Poland, Ukraine, and France circa 1938-1939.

No one would be confused about what is happening here if they saw it in another country.