Althouse: Sunrise.

August 16, 2026

Sunrise.

31 comments:

Ann Althouse said...: Open thread. Write about anything.; 8/16/26, 6:11 PM
tcrosse said...: This morning I googled one of the terms in Connexctions. AI came back with the other three terms it was connected with, in the purple. Of course, I recused myself. I never would have gotten it anyway; 8/16/26, 6:23 PM
Disparity of Cult said...: https://x.com/GadSaad/status/2088725218181222499

Aseem Malhotra jumps the shark.; 8/16/26, 6:29 PM
Curious George said...: Yesterday Josh Baez of the St. Louis Cardinals was playing his first MLB game. He hit the first pitch he saw for a HR to center in Wrigley Field. Cool, but lots of players have homered in the first big league at bat. In his second at bat he hit a home run to left. Ok, super rare. Only two other players have done that. Third at bat, homer to right. Johs is the first player in MLB history to hit a homer in their first three at bats.

There have been about 23,000 players to play at least one game in the show. Incredible.; 8/16/26, 6:35 PM
john mosby said...: Interesting case in England, showing that public safety issues are not limited to the US: Britain is early-releasing thousands of prisoners because of limited capacity. Among the people scheduled for early release are the men who dragged PC Andrew Harper to death when he got caught in their car door. By the way, the killers are Roma, so white, and born in UK. So a lot of the usual issues around policing are absent here.

Starmer blubbered that you can't single out individuals to stay in prison if they fit in a category that's getting a general release. There also has been some criminological data that say releasing minor offenders doesn't relieve overcrowding, because they minor-offend again straightaway. Burnham has been noncommittal so far.

The most interesting part of this is that every single chief constable in England and Wales, including the commissioner of the Met, have signed onto a letter urging the government to figure out a way to keep these guys locked up. This is an unprecedented display of backbone by senior police officials.

The chief constables are appointed by and responsible to their mayors or other local-level elected officials. So either the chiefs feel this is an existential issue and if the mayor fires them, oh well, or the mayors agree.

Quite a turnaround from recent trends. Or maybe the cops are just worried that Tommy Robinson's boys will start killing them in the cause of freedom, if the prison time seems doable. CC, JSM; 8/16/26, 6:45 PM
bagoh20 said...: After reading the comments in previous post about Madison and college games, I think I'm the only one in here without a college degree. Don't feel bad. Doing what you are told keeps you out of jail., and that's a very good thing. I didn't listen, and yes I did go to jail. They told me I would I have to stay if I didn't tell them who I was, and what I was doing, but I didn't do that either, and they let me go. Never trust the man.; 8/16/26, 6:52 PM
Disparity of Cult said...: The New IRA taking on the migrant crisis in Ireland?; 8/16/26, 6:53 PM
bagoh20 said...: "Johs is the first player in MLB history to hit a homer in their first three at bats."

Wow! If would have just told them "let me play one game and then we discuss the contract". I'm sure he'll do well before long.; 8/16/26, 7:18 PM
Curious George said...: "bagoh20 said...
After reading the comments in previous post about Madison and college games, I think I'm the only one in here without a college degree."

Nope.; 8/16/26, 7:28 PM
hanuman_prodigious_leaper said...: He was already in their farm team.

Báez's arrival from Class AAA Memphis.

When does (re) negotiating begin; 8/16/26, 8:06 PM
Jaq said...: Israel is dropping white phosphorus on Lebanon and setting it ablaze. They are just taking Lebanon for lebensraum, I guess,because Lebanon has an actual source of fresh water, and gas fields offshore which the Israelis have been preventing them from developing.; 8/16/26, 8:29 PM
wildswan said...: The man who proved Jason Arday's plagarism, Nathan Cofnas, was a supporter of the eugenic positions of the late 20th century. He believed that blacks had a genetically-based IQ deficit. He based this position on the work of Eugenics Society/ American Eugenics Society members. For example, consider the article: Research on group differences in intelligence: A defense of free inquiry. 2020 Nathan Cofnas. Philosophical Psychology 33, 1 https://doi.org/10.1080/. This article used the work on race and IQ of Arthur Jensen, Sandra Scarr, Richard Lynn, JC Loehlin, Linda Gottfredson, Spearman, AWF Edwards, JP Rushton, Richard Lewontin and Plomin who were all members of one or the other or both eugenics societies. These references were used to back up Cofnas's arguments that race and IQ should be investigated again because, he said, it was true that blacks had a genetically-based IQ deficit. Cofnas though that no black legitimately held an academic position at Harvard and that very few held their positions legitimately at Oxford/Cambridge. These positions led to Cofnas being forced out of Oxford as a racist - which he is. And Cofnas is a supporter of eugenics as well. It could not be more unfortunate that it was left up to a man known for supporting these false and outdated theories to expose the frauds of Jason Arday, that no one else was willing to face the storm which would swirl about the man who exposed a black charlatan. Yes, the only one who spoke up was the man who thinks almost all black academics are charlatans and who lost his job for saying so. And now it is this racist who has exposed this huge scandal. Others should have spoken up. Look at the damage their silence has done.; 8/16/26, 8:51 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: Far-right Israeli minister advocates killing ‘30 to 40’ Gazans each night ~ FT
https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/22061c4a-9084-434e-b6dc-d825d58e8626

"Itamar Ben-Gvir also calls for re-establishment of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian enclave"

“I think we should be doing 30 to 40 targeted assassinations per night,” Ben-Gvir said. “Not just those who pose an immediate threat. There are people there who don’t deserve to live . . . They are not even people.”; 8/16/26, 9:53 PM
Milwaukie guy said...: Only a moron would suggest that Israel's fight against Hezballah is about lebensraum.; 8/16/26, 9:57 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: If the Israeli army treated settlers the way they treat Palestinians, this would be over in two weeks. The settlers have been out of control for decades. Deal with them....but we know that wont happen and this is on the Israeli government.; 8/16/26, 10:00 PM
Gospace said...: Too be honest, I'm all in favor of the Roman solution to the Gaza problem. Kill them all, men, women, and children. Start at one end, then roll the tanks, artillery, and infantry to the other. Flee ahead of them or die. Allow other nations to fly planes in and take in Gazan refugees to their own countries. There won't be any doing that, but offer them the chance to do so.

Doing that may shock the west bank Palestinians to seek actual peace with Israel's existence. Probably not, but we can hope.

Genocide has been successful in establishing peace between enemies many times throughout history by the simple expedient of removing one of them from the board. Don't believe it? Ask the Carthaginians what they think about the premise.

Israel is living next door to a population that wants to kill them. Not just the crazy insane leaders, the population. Should they compromise with them? What exactly is the compromise position? "Well, okay, we won't bomb the crap out of you if you limit your killing to 100 Israelis a year." an acceptable compromise?; 8/16/26, 10:11 PM
Milwaukie guy said...: The Israelis should treat the Gazans like they did the Jewish Gaza settlers in 2005? I'm confused.

There are occasional clashes in the West Bank. I don't think the settlers are randomly firing rockets into civilian areas or flooding into settlements murdering and raping.; 8/16/26, 10:28 PM
n.n said...: Planned Palestinianhood (PP) is an ethical Choice... and a moral response to social justice. Injustice committed through murder, rape, torture, etc.; 8/16/26, 10:34 PM
hanuman_prodigious_leaper said...: https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-psychological-origin-of-the-1300-year-old-arab-israeli-war-how-history-must-guide-policy-making; 8/16/26, 10:39 PM
Jim at said...: *I think I'm the only one in here without a college degree.*

Nope. I got my AA degree after I 'retired' just because it was fun to go back to school in my early 40s.; 8/16/26, 10:48 PM
hanuman_prodigious_leaper said...: Does this mean Nurture changes Nature
https://www.popsci.com/environment/potatoes-reshaped-dna-indigenous-andeans/; 8/17/26, 12:24 AM
Saint Croix said...: Curious George, wow!

In Triple A, he had .901 OPS (on base percentage + slugging). That is elite level. 34 home runs and 90 RBIs. I'm sure the Cards are kicking themselves for not elevating him sooner.

He apparently had multiple below-average seasons in the minors. Drafted out of high school in 2021. Finally made an adjustment last year, had an .884 OPS, went from single A to double AA and started this season in AAA at Memphis.

He was born in Boston, spent some of his time in the Dominican Republic (baseball factory), but mostly in Boston. Imagine this accomplishment on your very first day! That's like Roy Hobbs in The Natural. Now all he has to do is knock the cover off the ball.; 8/17/26, 3:55 AM
Saint Croix said...: Actually, he spent a decade in the Dominican Republican. Right after his birth they moved there. Then it was back to Boston when he was 11. Taught himself English. Went to JFK's high school.

In the minors this year, he hit four homers in a game. Wow. Only 21 players have done that in the Majors. (Nobody has hit five in a game). Lou Gehrig (the Iron Horse) did it once. Babe Ruth did not. Willie Mays did it. Mike Schmidt.; 8/17/26, 4:12 AM
Saint Croix said...: Republic; 8/17/26, 4:12 AM
Saint Croix said...: I'm not sure I believe this, but it's alleged that Jay "Nig" Clarke hit eight home runs in one game in the Texas League. It was a 51-3 victory. Ooof.

ha ha ha

Because Corsicana's blue laws forbade Sunday baseball (or, according to The Sporting News, due to poor attendance in Corsicana), the game was played in Ennis, Texas, in a facility that has a right field fence estimated to be 210 feet from home plate along the foul line.; 8/17/26, 4:12 AM
Saint Croix said...: While some cast doubt on Clarke's eight home run game, the feat was later attested to by the official scorer (under oath) and by others who observed the game. In a 1940 interview with The Sporting News, one of Clarke's Corsicana teammates claimed:

"The right field fence at Ennis wasn't more than 40 feet back of first base. Nig just pulled eight short flies around and over that wall. I'm not taking anything away from old Nig's batting prowess—he was the one of the best hitters I ever saw. But that's the way he hit eight homers that day. Didn't have to send the ball more than 140 feet at the most."

Maybe they moved the damn right field fence back 70 feet after he hit eight homers in a game? 210 is still pretty damn close. 140 is ridiculous.; 8/17/26, 4:24 AM
Saint Croix said...: Meet Your Second Wife; 8/17/26, 4:50 AM
Marcus Bressler said...: Only one without a college degree? Surely you're not serious. (straight line gratis); 8/17/26, 5:12 AM
Fritz said...: "Jim at said...
*I think I'm the only one in here without a college degree.*

Nope. I got my AA degree after I 'retired' just because it was fun to go back to school in my early 40s."

I have a couple of spares to give away.; 8/17/26, 5:32 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: **Milwaukie guy said...
Only a moron would suggest that Israel's fight against Hezballah is about lebensraum.**

Perverting words to confuse rubes is always part of the oldest tradition of hatred. IMO even calling what the terrorists Hezbollah and Hamas do “war” is a perversion to further gloss over their zealous murderous nature. There are no redeeming qualities to any organized groups supporting the fake country of “Palestine.”; 8/17/26, 5:42 AM
James K said...: "I'm sure the Cards are kicking themselves for not elevating him sooner."

He had a very high strikeout rate in the minors, which usually doesn't bode well for MLB. There was a similar situation a couple of years ago with a player on the Reds, Rece Hinds, who came up and went on a home run tear for a week. Hinds then went cold for the next month and ended up back in the minors, and was subsequently released by the Reds..

After that first big game, Baez is 0-9 with 5 strikeouts in his last two games.; 8/17/26, 6:18 AM