by John Walters
Tweet Me Right
Wow. Not only does he not know what the Old Testament and the New Testament are, but the only way he can relate to the Bible is to compare it to his own book. Rule No. 3 of Trump: Everything reverts to Trump.
Starting Five
The Arsonists
The world has never been perfect. Allow me to amend that: the people who inhabit the world have never been perfect. The world, in the absence of people, is pretty perfect (parenthetical: I ruefully laughed at last week’s Twitter meme, “Name 5 Things You Love More Than People;” stop me when I get to 5 million).
The people who inhabit the world have never been perfect, but at least it used to feel as if there was moral courage at the top. No more. The Amazon rainforest is burning for the same reason that kids are being held in cages at the U.S.-Mexico border, which is the same reason that China is on the brink of violently suppressing peaceful demonstrations in Hong Kong, which is the same reason that Russia has yet another radioactive nuclear accident and claims, yet again, “Move along. Nothing to see here,” which is the same reason that Mike Pompeo plays footsie with the Saudis after they assassinated a journalist, a columnist for The Washington Post, in a Turkish embassy.
An absence of morality, spurred on by insatiable greed and totalitarianism.
The planet is in a tailspin, and the willful burning of the planet’s most precious source of life, of both oxygen and biodiversity, in the name of more cattle ranching, well, there’s your symbol of everything that’s wrong with the world.
Not all of our leaders are so depraved. Justin Trudeau is not. Nor is Emmanuel Macron of France. Or Angela Merkel of Germany. Nor Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand. There are probably others.
However, the leaders of the most powerful nations in North America (Donald Trump), Asia (Xi), Europe (Putin) and South America (Bolsonaro) are all fascists, all crooks, all bullies, all men without empathy for living creatures, man or beast. They are beholden only to wealth and power. The world is burning, figuratively and literally, and they are the ones holding the matches.
Actions become habits, habits become character and character becomes legacy. And we have all seen time and time again that all habits have consequences. Call it karma if you like, but I believe it’s more tangible than that. The actions currently being undertaken by the most powerful “leaders” on the planet are going to have a devastating impact on thousands of species, including man, for decades to come. If not centuries.
If you have the chance and/or the inclination, you may want to read A Canticle For Leibowitz by Walter Miller, Jr. The book, published 60 years ago, tells the story of a post-nuclear world where monks preserve just enough scientific knowledge so that civilization can once again rebuild. And , of course, after thousands of years, what happens? Man makes the same mistakes all over again. It’s both a hilarious (“The Archbishop of Texarkana”) and depressing read and I’ve always been amused that Fr. Becker, S.J., assigned it to us to read, since its basic message is that it is inherent in man’s nature to destroy everything, including himself.
I honestly don’t know if there is a capital-g God (yes, I graduated from Notre Dame). But it all makes you wonder how His supposed top-of-the-line model could be so inherently flawed, and that’s before you wonder why He built a universe that is hopelessly enormous, in terms of our ability to comprehend its size, and then stuffed all the creatures He adores on one tiny rock in one miniscule galaxy.
And that’s all I have to say about that. Now you may return to bickering about Popeye’s chicken sandwiches.
Michael Tauchmann Overdrive
A couple of thoughts after the Yankees were swept in Oakland in a three-game series in which they never led, not one inning:
—Gleyber Torres, 22, hit his 30th and 31st home runs last night and went 4-for-4. The only Yankee in franchise history to hit 30 home runs in a season who was younger than Torres? Joe DiMaggio. So, yeah, that was a smart trade the Bombers made for him three seasons ago (and the player they traded away, Aroldis Chapman, is already back in the Bronx).
—David Cone, in the booth with Michael Kay, is excellent. He really is. Insightful and articulate, sure, but the only man calling games who also pitched a perfect game isn’t afraid to voice an opinion that runs contrary to Yankee brass. After Torres clouted his first home run last night, in the 7th inning, Cone noted again that he doesn’t quite understand, just in terms of number of bats per game, why a hitter as talented as Torres bats 7th. When the A’s made an error in the 8th, the first thing Cone noted was that it meant Torres would at least get another at-bat in the 9th. And then with two outs and nobody on in the 9th, Torres hit his second home run of the night.
–At least the Yankees scored, meaning they’ve scored at least one run in 211 consecutive games. That’s the third-longest streak in MLB history. The second-longest streak belongs to the 1978-1979 Milwaukee Brewers, 212 games. In order to tie that streak this evening, the Yanks must overcome Dodger ace Hyun-jin Ryu, who has by far baseball’s lowest ERA at 1.64.
–Outfielder Michael Tauchmann, who was at the end of the list of afterthought Yankee replacements back in April (remember Clint Frazier? Tyler Wade?), has the second-best batting average in all of baseball since the All-Star break. Tauchmann, batting .299 overall with 12 home runs and 45 RBI. Tauchmann, whom the Yanks acquired from the Rockies last spring in exchange for a pear-and-arugula salad, has the same number of at-bats (221) and homers this season as starting centerfielder Aaron Hicks. Tauchmann has nine more RBI and one less home run than starting right fielder Aaron Judge, and that in 44 fewer at-bats. He has the same number of at-bats as Edwin Encarnacion (143), Giancarlo Stanton (31) and Miguel Andujar (47) combined. What are the Yankees going to do with this guy when everyone gets healthy?
–By the way, the player with the best batting average in the big leagues since the All-Star Break? Teammate Gio Urshela, who like Tauchmann was a complete afterthought on this highly compensated roster when the season began.
The Exchange Rate Field*
*The judges thank Cecil Hurt for the inspiration
The Packers and Raiders played a preseason game in Winnipeg because why not? And then they played it on an 80-yard field goal, which just gave Frank Calendo 4 more minutes of Gruden-related material. You may wonder, as I did, how two teams playing on a field that is ordinarily 150 yards in length (end zones included) would play on a shorter field, but apparently it had to do with the conditions of the end zones, which is funny because the Raiders annually play on the most inhospitable football surface in the NFL. So quit asking questions, okay?
This is not what everyone is referring to when they suggest that the NFL needs to shorten its preseason.
–Apropos of nothing, the Baltimore Ravens won their 16th consecutive NFL preseason game last night.
–Also, look around and you’ll see that the fourth-highest rated passer in the league this August (after established starters Derek Carr, Baker Mayfield and Kirk Cousins) is New York Giant rookie Daniel Jones, who was selected out of Duke with the sixth pick overall. Who’s laughing now?
–Finally, Trace McSorley looks as if he’ll make the Ravens and Gardner Minshew the Jags and they’ll both be vying for the Kellen Moore Trophy this season.
Going Down
Here in Gotham City, a 30 year-old male was crushed to death by a malfunctioning elevator. In a 23-story luxury building that only four months ago was fiend $1,300 by the city for having unsafe elevators. Sam Weisbren was killed as he exited the elevator first and the elevator came crashing down on him as he stepped across the threshold; three eyewitnesses who were still inside the elevator saw the tragedy happen right in front of him.
One wonders if Weisbren was exiting first so as not to alarm any female passengers who may have thought he was stalking them (sorry, I had to).
A-Mays-ing Met
Another borough, another century, another franchise, another player, but last night at Citi Field in Queens Mets left fielder J.D. Davis made the most Willie Mays-robbing-Vic Wertz catch in the 1954 World Series you’re likely to ever see.
A reminder that Wertz, like last night’s batter, Greg Allen, played for the Cleveland Indians. And that Mays, 89, finished his playing career with the Mets.
“the only man calling games who also pitched a perfect game”
Dallas Braden is a color commentator for the Oakland A’s.
Ah! I stand corrected.
“…it is inherent in man’s nature to destroy everything, including himself.” Is that “MAN’s” nature or HUMAN nature? If you are referencing the MALE half of the species, I might agree. 🙂 I dunno, is it really our “nature” to “destroy”? And you were taught this in Catholic school? Seems “God” was preety damn fallible then if ‘he’ populated ‘his world’ with such a defective/doomed-to-fail bunch of beings.
Let me speak up for humanity. Unlike various animal species roaming the earth today, WE don’t EAT our newborn babies! Sure, some may kill them, eventually, but even that is pretty rare. And we’ve done alright in the ‘arts’. Name me a platypus that can sing let alone write an aria. Heck, I bet that can’t even gurgle out ‘Ghostbusters’.
Oh ok, I’m desperately reaching for some levity. It’s either that or I continue screaming &/or crying at the state of the world. Question – WHAT brought us to this? Greed & power unrestrained? IF the USA actually had a REAL President at the moment, one with a moral conscience & an ACTUAL “big brain” to put it to use, do you think so much of the world would be slipping into fascism? Without the USA as the bastion of HOPE, freedom, equality & democracy (not always attained but strived), it seems the world is falling into an abyss.
For the past 20 years, I’ve been increasingly frantic over the widening wealth disparity & where it would lead. Which I saw as us reverting to a ‘class’ society with a small EXTREME monied aristocracy on top. Which would eventually lead once again to revolution/war/deaths of millions. What I didn’t factor in was our “killing” of the environment 1st.
Well, with increasingly wacky weather, the oceans rising, the Amazon being destroyed, people being pushed to the brink of despair & a NUTJOB SOCIOPATH in “charge” of the “Free world”, grab yourselves a pair of hip boots as we are headed into deeeep shit.
Susie B,
After I wrote Item 1 this a.m. I thought about and realized I hadn’t felt this bad about current events since the Khashoggi murser. And then I recalled what happened to the markets after that. So I sold just about everything in my portfolio as the Trump Seesaw is making me nauseous. Currently hunkered down for the apocalypse and grateful I sold.
It is appropriate that you noted Willie Mays’ age, because, at 89 he is likely still a better outfielder than J.D. Davis. Whereas Willie made the spectacular look routine, Davis has a knack for the opposite, and that fly ball is a good example.
This is true.
CALL JD DAVIS 877-OUTS NOW!