by John Walters
Duds
On the same day that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced that baseball might return to sanity—no more 7-inning doubleheaders or placing a runner on 2nd base to begin each extra inning—he allowed these uniforms to be worn during the annual Summer Classic. The All-Star Game.
Baseball is the one team sport where players on the same team do not need to wear the same uniform for split-second recognition decisions. In basketball, football and hockey they do. So it’s long been an aesthetically appealing aspect of the All-Star Game that each player represented his team by wearing his actual uniform during the game. And baseball had to piss on that tradition, too, last night.
Hopefully, it’s a one-off. Sometimes social media hates change for the sake of change. Other times, the rabble is correct.
Who won last night’s All-Star Game? That became a side note.
Fish Flush*
*The judges will also accept “Nuclear Fission”
In a scene inspired by the Thanksgiving turkey giveaway episode from WKRP In Cincinnati, Utah wildlife officials reveal that they are carpet-bombing lakes with live fish. Someone needs to get the fish’ perspective on this.
Eat Ship And Die
Yeah, I don’t know why anyone thought this was unsustainable. The city fathers of Venice finally got wise and told those big-ass boats that they are no longer welcome to dock there. Now if we can only get the helicopters to stop hovering over New York City.
The ban affects ships that weigh more than 25,000 tons and measure longer than 180 meters, so your yacht is probably still fine.
Blair Erskine Keeps Winning
Here she is playing the role of Texas governor Greg Abbott:
No word is wasted, no vocal inflection a mistake. Wonder how many takes this required.
And this was from earlier in the week, regarding billionaire rocket boys:
Sweet Baby Jesus
Has any group ever strayed further from the message and intent of its founder than white evangelical Christians in the U.S.A.? We think not.
In this illuminating piece by Michelle Goldberg in The New York Times, you learn that in every year since 2013 the largest “religious group” in the U.S. was the religiously unaffiliated. White evangelical Christians are down from 23% of the population in 2006 to 14.5% last year. Their median age is 56. Their numbers are dwindling, and their beginning to panic. And people on the verge of panic tend to do some crazy-ass sh*t.
Such as voting for Donald Trump and positioning him as their savior. “Adherents dream of what they call ‘the storm,’ when the enemies of the MAGA movement will be rounded up and executed, and Trump will be restored to his rightful place of leadership.”
This explains January 6th. The ballot recount in Maricopa County. The crazy proclamations at the latest CPAC. Sure, say white evangelicals, we believe in America, but only in an America that is Christian and that God ordains. So if we can’t have our white Christian America, then we’ll burn it down and reclaim it for our own. It’s our divine right.
I was at a community pool at my largely MAGA community a couple weeks back when a man, talking amongst friends, was criticizing Critical Race Theory (i.e., American History) because “they’re trying to mess with our world.” Our. I loved that. I kept quiet but I really wanted to ask him what the difference between our and American was.
Galaxy Quest
Somewhat related to the previous post, here is a photo taken from the Hubble Telescope. As the caption reads, each blip of light is not a star or a planet, but an entire galaxy. Our little blue planet, the one that billionaires are so eager to escape, is just a small part of a single galaxy.
So it makes you wonder about the perspective of it all, about God and about man and our rightful place. If God created Earth as this home for his signature creation, you have to wonder why He bothered with so much other window dressing. It’s like building a 600-square foot home on a piece of property the size of the continental U.S. (actually the disparity in dimensions is far greater than that) and then claiming that that tiny shed is the entire reason for existence.
Odd.
I feel like you’re keep bating me into the comments section.
1) These outspoken evangelicals are not close to the majority of evangelicals. More to the point, the outspoken evangelicals are even further from the majority of all Christians in America. I consider myself a Christian, but I could not denounce these MAGA-crazy Christians any more. That there were a bunch of them leading the charge on Jan. 6th makes my stomach turn.
Last month, my wife told me she saw a post, in a Facebook groups she’s part of, from a woman who was incredulous that there were rainbow flags flying at her local library during June, and asking if there was one around she could visit that wasn’t flying the rainbow flag. This is the kind of outspoken, idiotic evangelicals I’m talking about. We both agreed that this woman was batshit crazy. Who gives a crap if there’s flags flying at the public institution? It’s not against the law in the US to be gay.
On a side note, one thing about my fellow believers that drives me crazy is when one of them says something as stupid as Jesus was for racial discrimination (or something similar). I want to scream at them about how Jesus was an ancient near-East Jew who would not have looked like you! Then, I’d like to turn their attention toward how Bible-illiterate they are.
2) I can understand the thought that of, “Why would God make so large a universe and only inhabit Earth?” … or, “There’s no way we’re the only intelligent life in the universe” (I hope I accurately summarized your point in the last item). I land on the thought that He made all these galaxies and stars to show how big He is – to display His majesty and power. To also display His creativity. And to also show how small we are. It’s as beautiful a display of art than you’ll see in any art museum. That is, if you are able to see it through light pollution (side note, get yourself somewhere where you can see the night sky the way it’s intended to be seen). And, the best part is, it’s absolutely free to view.
“The heavens tell of the glory of God;
And their expanse declares the work of His hands.” (Psalms 19:1)
And to bring it home – how humbling is it that the God who created all of that, and all of the Earth, and all creation, decided that each and every one of us is worth saving. Worth loving. To the point that he sacrificed His only Son for the forgiveness of all of our mistakes. That speaks to my heart.
I caught one of my own: “I feel like you’re keep bating me into the comments section.” should be “I feel like you’re bating me into the comments section” or “I feel like you keep bating me into the comments section.”
(I must have been indecisive and went with a combination of both!)
I think it is “baiting” but not certain. Also, you went with a small “h” on “he” for God.
You make terrific points here and I obviously welcome you to practice your faith. However, I fail to understand why something written a few thousands of years ago in Psalms should hold more weight than what a learned scientist of the 21st century writes. God or no God, why not all of us treat all living creatures with respect? The absence of an existence of a Biblical God won’t alter my behavior. Why should it alter anyone’s?