2022-01-15 15:30
Never heard of Alexis Grennell before, but after seeing this screed, it's clear she's in the territory of Batya Ungar-Sargon, Bari Weiss or worse. I saw it via Philip Weiss' crushing takedow… Read More
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Socraticgadfly Blog
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brad friedman
A skeptical left-liberal's blogging on Texas and national politics, environmentalism, journalism, church-state issues, atheism, more
2022-01-15 00:19
Setting aside the two old wingnuts plus Amy Coney Barrett (and somewhat Neil Gorsuch), who may be even worse, I think the court got both rulings right.Contra the many BlueAnon national opine… Read More
2022-01-14 15:00
Sounds great, the idea of getting us to an all-electric fleet, doesn't it.And, it WILL be great for the climate.But, again, where's the juice coming from, since we will need NINETY PERCENT M… Read More
2022-01-13 15:38
Off the Kuff presented the primary campaign interviews it has conducted so far.SocraticGadfly offers some thoughts on Karl Rove, election thuggery and election theft in the wake of Rove's Ja… Read More
2022-01-13 01:05
Over at Red Satan, Jesse Rogers is talking about the just-retired Jon Lester's Hall of Fame potential.No, really, despite Lester having under 45 career WAR.Or, to look at individual seasons… Read More
2022-01-12 15:00
I think that's the best name for the Cooperstown Cred baseball blog.I'd looked at an occasional post of his before, but gave it my first hard look last month.That was when I said Danny Murta… Read More
2022-01-11 14:30
Wired has a good story about that issue, starting with the fact that there's no epidemiological definition of what "endemic" means. It notes that it can take years before an infection truly… Read More
2022-01-10 15:23
Now that we know Shohei Ohtani, with his two-way heroics, produced "exactly" 9.0 WAR this year, let's look at this in terms of not the best pitching ever, or the best batting ever, but by re… Read More
2022-01-07 19:34
The original Turd Blossom, Karl Rove, actually talked some sense when discussing GOP responsibility for Jan. 6. OTOH, since his actions way back in 2002, or actions of those connected to him… Read More
2022-01-07 15:00
CRT, as many people know, is Critical Race Theory. GCRF? Gender Critical Radical Feminism.They're both essentialist theories in the roots of their identity. I believe that this is in part du… Read More
2022-01-06 15:00
Welcome to the first Roundup of this year by Texas Progressives, with a mix of members' blogging from last week and the best of news from around the state and beyond. Texas school districts… Read More
2022-01-05 15:30
Here's the 10 most read posts from the past year. Not all are from 2021, just the 10 most read. The biggest from this year were primarily baseball-related.No. 1? My old 2014 post about the "… Read More
2022-01-04 15:00
Gov. Abbott wants President Biden to open more federal COVID testing sites in Texas as Omicron surges. Biden has promised more federal sites nationally, but hasn't said where. Another round… Read More
2022-01-03 15:30
As normal, not all posts were from last month, just the most popular.No. 1? Me calling out the Cooperstown veterans committees for choosing the likes of Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva and Gil Hodges f… Read More
2021-12-30 14:57
A brief Roundup, written in advance of vacation. I'll add anything Kuff has, from the road or at the start of the new year.Besides the "Abbott Tax" (but remember, R.F. O'Rourke took lots of… Read More
2021-12-29 16:30
As a brouhaha spills out on organized lefty (or not so lefty) circles about the Green Party's Steering Committee officially backing a vaccine mandate, and with conspiracy theory lefty horses… Read More
2021-12-28 15:00
Anthony Fauci now admits that "deal with it" will probably be the end game on COVID. In other words, it will become endemic, but how severe it will be versus "just the flu" is still uncertai… Read More
2021-12-27 15:44
With the rise in the omicron variant, there's a rise in pushback against vaccine mandates from people who claim they have autoimmune diseases and thus allegedly cannot get vaccinated.NOT tru… Read More
2021-12-25 17:10
As you see this, I'm out in the semi-wilds of Southern California. I should be out and about hiking and birding at Big Morongo Canyon Preserve, which I stumbled upon last year.This year, I'm… Read More
2021-12-23 15:00
Shades of a couple of years ago, the Secretary of State + DPS are still flagging citizens as non-citizens.SocraticGadfly offers a few thoughts from up on the Red about 2022 primary filings (… Read More
2021-12-23 03:57
I simply do not get the fandom for Gil Hodges. It's like a fricking cult, mainly of Brooklynites, but also of others. (See, I didn't even say "fucking," per the tone trolls commenting on my… Read More
2021-12-22 18:41
Yes, I had originally planned only one of these. But? As the fellations continue, per the new Tony Oliva piece? I'm firing back, now on Minnie Miñoso.The Undefeated, going back to its… Read More
2021-12-22 18:39
A week ago, I blogged about how the Early Baseball Committee, and even more, the Golden Days Committee, was wrong, or worse, at times Not.Even.Wrong, on the veteran players it voted into the… Read More
2021-12-21 14:30
Both Atlantic and Orac tackle Robert W. Malone's quackery in detail. The Atlantic piece nails part of his silliness besides being butt-hurt over not being called "the inventor of mRNA vaccin… Read More
2021-12-20 14:30
The latest? Anthony Davis has a sprained knee. Out a month minimum, when he'll be "re-examined." Since AD has now said he "heard a pop," I wouldn't expect any really good news in four weeks… Read More
2021-12-17 19:02
Straight from a Jackson "news" release:Today, Representative Ronny Jackson (TX-13) introduced the Providing Our Law Enforcement with Adequate Recourses for a Response Act, or the POLAR Respo… Read More
2021-12-17 14:15
Presuming he wins the general as well as the primary, it will be relatively nice to be represented by Michael Burgess rather than Ronny Jackson. Burgess has five primary challengers. Had to… Read More
2021-12-16 19:47
That's contra the breathlessness of this piece (and surely others) and the claim that, per Elizabeth Lea Vos, Seth Rich conspiracy theory promoter, Greenwald is also a JFK falser, per screen… Read More
2021-12-16 15:17
Good Atlantic piece here about vax hesitancy outside of "the West." It starts with South Africa, where Whites are more vax-hesitant than Blacks, but are still vaccinated at a higher percenta… Read More
2021-12-15 15:22
Sounds shocking to even think about talking about this, doesn't it? Especially for a Nuggets team that was in the Western Conference finals two seasons ago.I don't think it's "shocking." Red… Read More
2021-12-14 15:00
As many have heard, SCOTUS said SB8 would stand for now, while letting legal challenges proceed; it also narrowed the range of lawsuits available to abortion providers, including letting mos… Read More
2021-12-13 15:14
This is backdated to before my post about the Veterans Committee skyrocketed, so here goes. As is usual, not all items were posted in November. This is just the ones that were the most popul… Read More
2021-12-10 19:23
The claim I saw on Twitter, from some "Best Fans in Baseball" groupies responding to Buster Olney, was that Adam Wainwright would have been in the Hall of Fame if not for injuries, and that… Read More
2021-12-10 15:00
From an edited version of a Libertarian Party of Texas news release:The Libertarian Party of Texas, along with several individual plaintiffs, represented by Gordon, Arata, Montgomery, Barnet… Read More
2021-12-09 15:00
Lots of stuff to consider on this week's Roundup, so let's dig in. The acronyms and one word in the header should tell you what we're about.EnergyContra Strangeabbott, who probably checked t… Read More
2021-12-08 14:39
That's the message from new polling sponsored by Politico. Hispanics nationwide almost totally reject the neoblather "Latinx." Not only that, a large majority reject "Latino" / "Latina." Fo… Read More
2021-12-07 22:52
That's the theme of David Dayen's piece at Prospect. "It marches on." COVID, if you personalize it, doesn't care that many people are tired of lockdowns. It marches on. He notes that more th… Read More
2021-12-06 18:45
Buck O'Neil? Hellz, yes. But none of the others they voted in deserve there.Oh fuck, for fuck's sake.Minnie Minoso ain't a HOFer, and Gil Hodges ain't even a AAA HOFer. Jim Kaat and Tony Oli… Read More
2021-12-06 15:00
That's true, the above picture, about stupidity and COVID contrarian grifting just as much as the virus itself. Let's dig in.The headline? That's, of course, the White Coat Waste Proje… Read More
2021-12-03 19:46
The Pelicans' would-be phenom, Zion Williamson, has new pain in his surgically repaired (we think) foot ... and his return to duty is delayed again.Many of people have talked about the load… Read More
2021-12-03 15:19
If late friend Leo Lincourt, a lover of David Graeber, were still alive, he'd surely disagree with me, both in my take on this book and on his previous "Debt," based on the second of not one… Read More
2021-12-02 15:00
A slow week with Thanksgiving, but not totally slow, so let's dive in. The race to succeed Eddie Bernice Johnson is heating up. (The person I put money on, Carl Sherman, hasn't yet filed, bu… Read More
2021-12-01 15:00
With the kick-in of a federal Drought Contingency Plan earlier this year, Arizona, California and Nevada all have to cut the amount of lower Colorado River water they use. But, because of pa… Read More
2021-11-30 19:00
In the face of facts as told by NON wingnuts like Jaime Metzl, a member of President Clinton's National Security Council, St. Anthony of Fauci continues to lie about gain of function researc… Read More
2021-11-30 15:00
The new "variant of concern" has moved well beyond southern Africa and is likely in the US, just in time for the post-Thanksgiving spikes that the likes of Gottlieb warned about. Here's what… Read More
2021-11-27 18:18
President John Mozeliak will still make some back-end moves on the relief pitching area, and may make a low-level move on the bats side (I have a post coming up about that), but if Cardinals… Read More
2021-11-26 23:06
You'll find plenty of blogs, especially Red Sox related ones, making the case FOR David Ortiz to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame.Here's the case against.First, the PEDing cloud. Big Papi rep… Read More
2021-11-24 19:08
Just a few minor things in this week's roundup while hoping you have a happy Thanksgiving in the USofA. (Hope you already had one, Canadians.)Speaking of?Your Local Epidemiologist explains h… Read More
2021-11-24 14:16
Yes, Dante would have fun with this one.What else is there to say when Gohmert Pyle, after appearing to possibly chicken out, decided to enter the AG primary against Kenny Boy Paxton?Let's n… Read More
2021-11-23 15:00
At the Monthly, Jonathan Tilove takes a deeper dive on R.F. O'Rourke's gubernatorial announcement and hopes, complete with interview. I wondered last week, in discussing his announcement, wh… Read More
2021-11-23 04:50
I knew what today's date was. I had thought of Tweeting one of many blog posts on this issue today.I decided not to, until I saw the #CIAKilledJFK hashtag, and then I did.But, I wanted to up… Read More
2021-11-22 15:00
Wingnuts need not despair of the source of the non Ill Eagle immigration. The Monthly says many Californians don't want to Californicate Texas, and also, that it's not the only source of the… Read More
2021-11-20 21:44
First, twosiderism and tribalism, whether fueled by BlueAnon or by "antifa" on the anti-Rittenhouse side, or certainly by wingnuts?Not welcome.My takeoff is a non-wingnut, mainstream but tho… Read More
2021-11-19 15:00
The Biden administration vax mandate has been blocked by (shock me) the Fifth Circuit. One of the leading, youth division, legal beagles in this effort is Jenin Younes, part of wingnut AIER… Read More
2021-11-18 18:48
This corner of Texas Progressives saw so much nuttery outside the Pointy Abandoned Object State™ that he broke out a separate national and global roundup this week.National Mondoweiss… Read More
2021-11-18 14:59
Lots to talk about this week, the last before people stuff themselves on turkey or else scrape up vegan alternatives, so, let's dig in to ...This week's Texas Progressives roundup. Texas wil… Read More
2021-11-17 16:37
Per MLB's official list of free agents, which include players with opt-out options in the middle of contracts, or team or player options for single add-on years, the Cardinals don't face a l… Read More
2021-11-16 13:40
Approximately five years ago, the National Park Service, in the face of a rising tide of complaints of sexual harassment and even several instances of sexual assault of female employees by m… Read More
2021-11-15 19:33
Announcement on YouTube:I had not-jokinging asked rhetorically on Twitter which Robert Francis O'Rourke would run.Would it be the the neoliberal ConservaDem of 2018 who refused to back Medic… Read More
2021-11-15 15:00
First, here is the actual agreement, all 10 pages. You'll see lots of "urges." No "agree that they will" or anything like that, of course. So, with that, let's dig in.1. John Kerry is… Read More
2021-11-12 21:56
That's the bottom line on Jon Gruden suing the NFL for releasing selective ones of his racist, homophobic emails.It's a modern civil-law version of the old story about a kid killing his pare… Read More
2021-11-12 15:00
There's plenty to not like about the Great Barrington Declaration. That would include that, arguably, technically, on denotative definition, that it was "eugenics-embracing," yes. But, Orac… Read More
2021-11-11 18:34
High Country News publisher Greg Hanscom has invited me, along with other former as well as current subscribers, via a mass blast email to participate in the latest installment of what will… Read More
2021-11-10 19:53
Xi Jinping has NOT "crushed COVID" if Chinese residents are being encouraged to stock up on bottled water and other staples just in case there's another COVID lockdown.Zhang Zhan, a Chinese… Read More
2021-11-10 15:00
President Biden's Occupational Safety and Health Administration released its vaccine mandate at the end of last week, as many people obviously know.First, let's note it isn't actually a "vac… Read More
Climate Issues In The News: Fracking And Alaska's Oil Decline, Hydrogen Economy, Transnational Water
2021-11-09 19:43
Fracking has changed the face of oil so much that Alaska is now only No. 4 in oil production and within a year or so will likely fall behind California and/or Colorado and out of the top 5… Read More
2021-11-09 15:00
Lots to talk about on various issues, so let's dig in!StateTexas Monthly discusses what all is behind all the recent American and Southwest flight cancellations. Job loss, pre-vax mandate, i… Read More
2021-11-08 15:00
Quartz recently noted that half of Merikans rely on one form or another of gummint health care aid, be it Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP, and VA and Tricare for veterans. And, that doesn't coun… Read More
2021-11-06 14:45
This is an expansion, editing and reframing of my post of three days ago about the retirement of Buster Posey and whether he would make the Hall of Fame, and if so, sooner than Yadier Molina… Read More
2021-11-05 14:00
With Mike Shildt being fired over not kissing's Mo's ass and a hitting coach dispute?Yeah, bats struggled before the 17-game win streak, but the real issue?Including Alex Reyes's tank runnin… Read More
2021-11-04 14:09
The Republicans may not hold the same degree of advantage in the House in the Newt and post-Newt era as Democrats did from the Depression to Newt, but they do have an advantage. A new book b… Read More
2021-11-04 02:24
In a semi-stunner, Buster Posey is reportedly going to retire from the San Francisco Giants, leaving a $22M team option year that likely would have been picked up on the table, and a possibl… Read More
2021-11-03 17:53
Material at top taken from a LONG blog post about Chris Stedman's "Faitheist" book, his marketing of it, and even more of himself, and how he was likely full of crap and marketing crap… Read More
2021-11-03 14:00
Even if they're not going to tell me, I'm going to announce it.I have been banned, or shadowbanned by not actually being banned but by having no privileges, from an email list-serve run by d… Read More
2021-11-02 14:40
To the degree that some countries like Vietnam DID "crush" earlier waves of COVID (I remain somewhat dubious that they did), it may have hindered them when Delta arrived. Counterpunch explai… Read More
2021-11-01 14:00
Financial Times reports that an unnamed US intelligence agency is fingering a Wuhan Institute of Virology lab leak as the likely source of SARS-Cov-2, aka COVID. Nut graf: According to the r… Read More
2021-10-30 16:29
Ross Barkan's piece on what the fuck is wrong with Taibbi isn't bad. It's got a Doug Henwood quote about him going off the rails. And, I didn't know that he and Mark Ames had a 20-year non-s… Read More
2021-10-29 15:31
This is an updated post of one I did about this subject from the start of last month, and it's being done for several reasons.First, now that we're at the end of a season, we can further per… Read More
2021-10-28 14:00
In terms of real science, and science NOT being aloways self-correcting? NIH has fessed up about funding gain of function research at Wuhan Institute of Virology. Sorry, #BlueAnon tribalis… Read More
2021-10-27 14:00
Boston Review has a great piece on how nuclear power is a part of a successful transition from fossil fuels, but one that looks legitimate science and public health concerns square in the… Read More
2021-10-26 14:00
"Waning" antibodies isn't bad, and isn't limited to COVID vaccinations, and is even good in many ways. The Atlantic explains, that this is all part of antibody evolution. The story also note… Read More
2021-10-26 13:34
Best takedown obit of Colin Powell? Counterpunch. Not only Iraq and Vietnam, but Reagan-era Central America and Iran-Contra. It's detailed and needs reading. DC Babylon is a decent second, a… Read More
2021-10-25 14:00
I posted a non-takedown obit to Southwestern and mountaineering writer David Roberts two months ago. But ... while still not wanting to do a takedown, thought that Roberts' writing about the… Read More
2021-10-23 14:30
So now the backlash comes over the backlash over Cardinals president John Mozeliak firing Mike Shildt."Differences of opinion," per Shildt in his presser presumably included roster man… Read More
2021-10-22 13:40
No, this is nowhere near idle speculation.LeBron James is sixth in career NBA minutes played.Well, sixth in regular-season minutes.Because of the length of today's playoffs, and how often Ja… Read More
2021-10-21 14:12
As many in Texas have heard, Southlake Carroll was hoist on a petard created by a mix of itself and the Lege's HB 3979, the anti-critical race theory law, when a school administrator said th… Read More
2021-10-20 14:34
Oh, it's fun with the Overton Window gang that can't shoot straight!Status Quo Joe is caving in to Big Coal Boss Hogg Joe Manchin on the climate change of Build Back Better, or Can We Build… Read More
2021-10-19 15:17
The "Great Resignation" is accelerating, per the Atlantic. COVID, and its modest uptick in federal safety support net aid, was just the fulcrum prying this open.But, the British version of W… Read More
2021-10-18 14:00
He claims that people who disagree with him are rejecting "data and science" and are "conspiracy theorists."Not all of us, you butt-hurt bureaucrat.Let's see.You're the guy who:1. Told a Pla… Read More
2021-10-16 20:04
This is a very good piece by Brian Phillips at The Ringer. It's about the walking mass of contradictions and self-indulgence that is Kyrie Irving, while also noting that he's had a real soci… Read More
2021-10-16 16:45
As St. Louis Cardinals fans in particular and MLB fans in general know, it isn't usual to fire a manager on the same day as a baseball playoff game. In fact, team president John Mozeliak… Read More
2021-10-15 01:39
As St. Louis Cardinals fans in particular and MLB fans in general know, it isn't usual to fire a manager on the same day as a baseball playoff game. In fact, team president John Mozeliak had… Read More
2021-10-14 14:00
Even relatively mild cases of COVID can cause lasting brain changes, Psy Post reports.Speaking of "brains on COVID," Allen West has "got it." He claims it's "not serious" but then says he'll… Read More
2021-10-13 13:52
First, a friendly reminder, as I blogged last month, that sex is NOT gender and that the National Institutes of Health says so.Now, the actual story.Two British doctors, both transsexuals th… Read More
2021-10-12 14:28
Ruy Teixeira has a breakout on the latest Pew information about Hispanic voting for president last year. Hispanics by all major areas of national origin broke harder for Trump than in 2016… Read More
2021-10-11 17:55
Last week, Southwest, the last of the major airlines, said it too will meet the Dec. 8 deadline for President Biden's vaccination mandate.UPdate on that! On Sunday, Oct. 8, per Twitter, Sou… Read More
2021-10-11 14:00
Some thoughts here, about the reality of American Indian lives, via The Conversation.At the same time? More thoughts here, here, and here, largely focusing on High Country News' "wrongful wo… Read More
2021-10-09 15:01
As I do every quarter, I have a brief list of blogroll changes. Not all items that get dumped from the blogroll vanish. Some may still be on the links list, but got deblogrolled. Others, tho… Read More
2021-10-08 13:30
I had intended a longer post about how special Shohei Ohtani's 2021 season was compared to some past breakouts.But, that's been delayed two weeks for a special shorter post.This is an update… Read More
2021-10-07 13:31
"God's will is being thwarted" in Hood County, by an elections administrator actually doing her job, but who the true wingnuts want replaced with a county clerk who, after Obergefell, resist… Read More
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