Cup of Coffee: August 5, 2021

In which I pitch a "Field of Dreams" sequel that would ease our pain

Good morning! And welcome to Free Thursday!

Today in the recaps we get a deliciously cryptic comment from Hawk Harrelson and learn that taking a 3-0 lead was the worst thing any team could do last night. The 2022 schedule is out and I talk why that’s (a) boring; and (b) good that it’s boring. The Dodgers signed another pitcher, a big Atlantic League experiment begins, Sinclair wants to create the worst possible broadcast imaginable, and I imagine a sequel to “Field of Dreams” that would kick ass, so give me money, Hollywood.

In Other Stuff we look back at some “Miami Vice” guest stars, look back at some amazing and important buildings, get told by a moron that it was WAY better to get sick back when medicine sucked than it is today, and see what happens when your governing ethos is nihilism and spite.

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And That Happened

Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:

Reds 6, Twins 5: There’s a dude who follows me on Twitter who is a Reds fan who does not subscribe to the newsletter but tells me that he reads it every Free Thursday and that more often than not the Reds have won the night before so he’s really enjoying Free Thursday. I looked back and, yeah, he’s right, the Reds win more often on Wednesday than they lose, making Free Thursday a more enjoyable read for Cincinnati fans. Which suggests to me that they should all subscribe and see if reading Reds recaps every morning improves the team’s record. Would have to. I suggest an annual subscription over a monthly so that we get a proper sample here, but I’m confident it’ll work out that way.

Anyway, Jonathan India had three hits, Joey Votto drove in two and Tyler Stephenson hit a seventh inning homer that seemed like gilding the lily at the time but which ended up representing the winning run thanks to a late comeback by the Twins that fell just short. Michael Lorenzen helped put that out with a five-out save.

Royals 9, White Sox 1: The Royals went deep four times, with Salvador Pérez hitting a two-run shot and Edward Olivares, Michael A. Taylor, and Ryan O'Hearn went deep as well. The most interesting thing about this game, however, was that longtime White Sox broadcaster Hawk Harrelson threw out the first pitch and was seen talking with White Sox manager Tony La Russa before the game. Harrelson, old folks know, was the White Sox general manager back in 1986 when Tony La Russa was fired from his first stint in Chicago. Harrelson, asked about that last night, said that the two had buried the hatchet over that years ago. The quote about that, though, raises more questions than it answered:

“The first thing I like is Tony La Russa,” Harrelson said. “I didn't fire him because he was a bad manager. Only he knows and I know why, and it's going to stay that way.”

Over the years a lot has been written about it simply being a personality clash. My suspicion was that it was a matter of respect. As in, La Russa — who knew what he was doing — had a hard time respecting the authority of Harrelson, who had absolutely no business being the GM of a big league team and did more damage to the White Sox in less than a year than one might believe to be possible. That aside, there is likely nothing Hawk could’ve said just then that would me make imagine more hilariously horrible shit than that cryptic comment. And for that I thank Harrelson, because this intriguing unknown will now fuel way more speculative content on my part than I ever would’ve thought possible.

Athletics 5, Padres 4: Oakland mounted a two-run rally off of Padres closer Mark Melancon in the bottom of the ninth to tie it and force extras, fell behind 4-3 in the tenth, but then rallied again in the bottom half when Matt Olson doubled in both the Manfred Man and Mark Canha, who had singled just before him, for the walkoff win. According to the Associated Press, that was Oakland’s 92nd walk-off win since Bob Melvin became manager in 2011, which is the most in the majors during that span. You’d think more managers than just Melvin would call the Walkoff Win Play, but they consistently fail to do so as often as he does. That’s what separates the great from the good in my opinion.

Yankees 10, Orioles 3: Baltimore took a 3-0 into the bottom of the fourth inning at which point New York plated ten unanswered runs over the rest of the game. The first of those came via another Anthony Rizzo home run. He now has batted in at least one run in all six of the games he’s played for the Yankees. The biggest blow in the multi-inning rally was Giancarlo Stanton’s bases-loaded, bases-clearing double in the seventh. D.J. LeMahieu drove in four runs on his 3-for-5 night. That early trouble aside, Jameson Taillon struck out ten over six innings.

Phillies 9, Nationals 5: Like the Yankees, the Phillies erased an early 3-0 hole. Rhys Hoskins homered, doubled, and drove in three runs. Didi Gregorius hit a two-run homer. Bryce Harper went 3-for-5 and knocked in two. Harper, by the way, is having about the quietest .306/.417/.557 season you’ll ever see. There was a time when fans and players around the game voting him to the top of those “most overrated” lists every year. Now I feel like he’s underrated maybe. I dunno. I do know that that’s four wins in a row for Philly.

Rays 4, Mariners 3: The Rays were 0-6 against Seattle this season but finally won in this, their last game against them. Randy Arozarena hit a two-run triple during Tampa Bay’s three-run third and Mike Zunino homered. Mariners manager Scott Servais said that Arozarena’s triple came when outfielder Jarred Kelenic lost the ball in the roof lights of Tropicana Field. I dunno, man. I watched the play and it looked like he was poised to catch it but just missed it, but what do I know?

Brewers 4, Pirates 2: Pittsburgh had a 2-1 lead into the seventh which Rowdy Tellez turned into a 4-2 Brewers lead with a pinch-hit three-run homer. Dude is making friends fast since coming over to Milwaukee from Toronto. He’s batting .340 (18 of 53) with five homers and 16 RBI in 21 games with the Brewers. 

Blue Jays 8, Cleveland 6: Toronto took an 8-0 lead by the end of three, held that until the eighth when Cleveland rallied for six, but since six is less than eight the Jays won (folks here for Free Thursday: I offer that bit of insight you that you know that my analysis is worth paying for). George Springer had yet another leadoff homer — he did it on Tuesday night too, and last Saturday — which was just the first of four hits he had on the evening. Steven Matz pitched six shutout innings. In a totally unrelated-to-the-game move, the Jays placed reliever Joakim Soria on the 10-day injured list because of a sore right middle finger. I’m gonna assume he injured it flipping off the Arizona Diamondbacks for trading him, which was the fifth time he had been dealt in his career and sent him to his ninth team. Some people don’t like moving, man.

Red Sox 4, Tigers 1: J.D. Martinez hit a solo homer in the second, Kiké Hernández hit a two-run homer in the fifth and that was immediately followed by a Jarren Duran solo shot to close out the Boston scoring for the evening. Eduardo Rodríguez struck out ten over five shutout innings and Boston pitchers struck out 18 batters in all as the Sox snapped a five-game losing streak.

Atlanta 7, Cardinals 4: Man it was a really bad day for teams that took early 3-0 leads. Here Nolan Arenado’s first inning Earl Weaver Special did not hold up as newest Cobb County outfielders Adam Duvall and Jorge Soler homered and Dansby Swanson went 4-for-4 with three runs scored. According to the Associated Press, “the win helped Atlanta post its first two-game winning streak since the All-Star break.” Which does more to describe the vibe of Atlanta’s frustrating-to-watch season more than anything.

Mets 5, Marlins 3: The Mets, like the Orioles, Nationals, and Cardinals blew an early 3-0 lead. Unlike the Orioles, Nationals, and Cardinals they got up off the mat and rallied. Javier Báez hit a solo shot leading off the eighth to make it 4-3 New York and, after a couple of singles and some defensive clownery on the part of the Marlins they scored one more. Earlier in the game Báez scored a run with a nifty swim move on a slide when almost every other player in baseball would’ve been tagged out. The most amazing thing about that play: home plate ump Angel Hernandez actually got the call right despite the fact that (a) the ball beat Báez to the plate; and (b) Hernandez is an inherently lazy ump who is exactly the type who’d call the ball rather than the tag in that situation nine times out of ten.

Angels 2, Rangers 1: Shohei Ohtani moved his record to 6-1 and dropped his ERA to 2.93 as he allowed one run on four hits over six. Jack Mayfield went 3-for-3 with a homer. Juan Lagares scored from second on a wild pitch. Not that Rangers catcher Jonah Heim did much to distinguish himself on the play. First he totally lost the ball and stood around looking. Then, once he finally found it he made an awkward backhand flip back to the pitcher covering at the plate and sent it, roughly, to the Tom Landry Freeway. The westbound lanes.

Cubs 3, Rockies 2: Patrick Wisdom’s bases-loaded, bases-clearing fifth inning double made a 2-0 Rockies game into a 3-2 Cubs game and that’s how it’d end as well. Alec Mills was solid for Chicago. That double aside, Jon Gray was solid for Colorado, but if the team was competently run he would’ve been solid for some contender last night. Oh well.

Dodgers 7, Astros 5: Welcome to Los Angeles Max Scherzer. The Dodgers’ biggest deadline pickup struck out ten batters over seen innings and was hitting 95+ on the gun for the first time since before he started dealing with that nagging triceps injury back in Washington. He left the field to a standing ovation and made a curtain call to a raucous Dodger Stadium crowd. Mookie Betts homered twice, while Will Smith and AJ Pollock also went deep. Scherzer, Joe Kelly and Kenley Jansen combined for 15 strikeouts, with José Altuve striking out four times, much to the delight of the home crowd.

Giants 7, Diamondbacks 1: Kevin Gausman allowed one run over six. Then he was placed on paternity leave in advance of his wife having a baby tomorrow. Nice week for Gausman. Alex Dickerson hit a three-run homer and Donovan Solano hit a solo homer and a two-RBI single. The Giants maintain their three and a half game lead in the West.

UPDATE FROM YESTERDAY: In yesterday’s Giants recap I, repeating what I read in an AP game story, referred to a play in which two Diamondbacks base runners were advanced one base after Giants catcher Curt Casali stopped a rolling ball with his mask a “catcher’s balk.”

It was not a catcher’s balk. It was a violation of Official Baseball Rule 5.06(b)(3)(E) — dealing with players using equipment to contact baseballs — which is one of the most obscure rule invocations in the book. Sort of like the baseball version of the IRS’ Corrodium 3 Deduction. Which is an incentive used by large manufacturers who can limit their use of Class 3 decay toxins such as corrodium and . . . malgorium.

Anything else?

Oh, yes, for a full explanation of the actual catcher’s balk rule — and what happened on the Curt Casali play — go to this excellent analysis from Close Call Sports, which is a site I just learned of but which deals with stuff like this.

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The Daily Briefing

The 2022 schedule is out

In the NFL they make the schedule release a big honkin’ deal with hours of studio shows and hype. In baseball they just shoot out an email and say “here’s the schedule.” Which is what they did yesterday.

Normally I criticize MLB for not taking advantage of a big hype opportunity, but in the case of the baseball schedule it’s way better this way. There are something like 2,400 games with each individual one approaching utter meaninglessness, so it’s not like putting some analyst on the screen to break down all 28 August games of the White Sox or whoever and picking likely wins and losses makes any kind of sense. And while strength of schedule is not a 100% meaningless concept in baseball, it’s about a 99.2% meaningless concept, so college football-style analysis would be stupid too.

The baseball schedule just is. With the exception of Opening Day, the All-Star break, the last day of the season, a couple of weird promotional/gimmick games, and the issue of which division teams will face in interleague play, it’s just . . . a bunch of games, God love, ‘em.

Anyway, Opening Day is March 31, the All-Star Game is in Los Angeles on July 19 (Happy birthday, Carlo!), and the last day of the regular season is October 2 (Happy birthday, Mom!)

Oh, and forget all of that if the owners and players can’t reach a collective bargaining agreement this offseason. The current one expires on December 1.

Dodgers sign Cole Hamels

The Los Angeles Dodgers signed free agent lefty Cole Hamels yesterday. It’s a major league deal, too. He is reportedly guaranteed $1 million and will receive $200,000 per start. Good deal for a guy who has been in semi-retirement.

Hamels, 37, made only one start with Atlanta last season because of triceps tendinitis followed by shoulder fatigue. He went unsigned this past winter. In 2019 he posted a 3.81 ERA in 141.2 innings with the Cubs. Hamels held a showcase for interested teams in the middle of July. I saw some random reports from that that his velocity was off even for him, but it’s hard to say how to take those. Obviously the Dodgers liked what they saw or else he’d not be on a guaranteed deal like this.

The Dodgers just went out and got Max Scherzer and Danny Duffy, of course. Clayton Kershaw is on the injured list and was poised to come off of it soon, but now there are some questions about his recovery, which may have been part of the reason L.A. has been so aggressive in punching up the pitching staff. Between those three, they seem pretty well set to weather the continued — and likely permanent — absence of Trevor Bauer, who is on leave and could soon be suspended due to sexual assault allegations against him.

Hamels could be useful or he could get shelled right out of the box. No way of knowing, really. All depends on if the shoulder fatigue from last year was just that and if it has no lingering effects.

Anthony Rendon’s season is over

The Angels announced that Anthony Rendon will miss the rest of the season with a right hip impingement. Which is a hell of a thing given that he’s been out with a hamstring strain, not a sore hip. Before that he missed time with a bum knee, a bum groin and triceps problems this year. He’s a goddamn wreck. That hip will require surgery and he’ll be unable to return to baseball activities for a couple of months at least.

Rendon finishes the 2021 season with a line of .240/.329/.382 in 58 games. Bummer.

The Atlantic League’s pushed-back mound experiment begins

Yesterday the independent — but TOTALLY controlled by MLB in all ways that matter — Atlantic League began the MLB-driven experiment of moving the mound back one foot to 61’ 6”. It’s the first change in mound distance in professional baseball since 1893.

I talked a lot about this when it was first proposed in 2019 (at that time it was proposed to be moved back two feet). My feelings then are basically the same as my feelings now.

While one might argue that today’s high-velocity pitchers need a bit of a handicap, the guys pitching from a farther-back mound will, without question, try to compensate for the decreased effective velocity by attempting to overthrow. That will likely lead to significant mechanics changes to get the breaking balls to break, cut and slide the way they like. I suspect that some pitchers are going to hurt themselves adjusting to this. In my mind that’s not worth the couple of upticks in opposing batting average this is aimed at addressing.

We’ll see how this goes in the Atlantic League. But if someone put it to me to cut down on strikeouts and/or increase offense, I’d alter the strike zone to take away the 97 m.p.h. fastball at the shins that no one can do a thing with anyway and call it a ball. That would force pitchers to work up, inside and outside more.

“In-Game Betting But on Steroids”

The Athletic reports on something straight from my nightmares:

Could some NBA, NHL and MLB games next year be served up akin to a Las Vegas sportsbook screen, with changing odds and heavy gamblers comped the subscription to the service?

That is the vision at least outlined Wednesday by Chris Ripley, CEO of Sinclair Broadcast Group, whose Bally Sports Regional Networks are negotiating with those leagues to obtain streaming rights for a planned direct-to-consumer (DTC) launch next year. Ripley told investors on an earnings call Wednesday morning the service would be “like in-game betting but on steroids.”

Ripley went on to refer to “real-time gamification of a sporting event,” which is confusing given that I thought sporting events were themselves games, but I suppose my ongoing failure to grok all of this is part of why I’m not rich.

To be clear — and to be fair — this is Sinclair’s effort to create a new product, not to mess up the existing broadcasts any more than they have already messed them up. The news nugget here, really, is that Sinclair wants to buy the rights to games to fuel this product as a stand alone thing, separate from the cable bundle or authentication or what have you. Which is a thing that does not currently exist because leagues, RSNs, and cable providers have constructed a multi-billion dollar edifice on the foundation of cable rights deals, for which a la carte streaming of games is anathema. The pitch from Sinclair, I suppose, is that it’s a separate product from games — its a gambling show with baseball in the background, basically — so there has to be a way to make a deal here and not think of it as a zero-sum game.

Obviously this product is abhorrent to me, so it’s not like I’d purchase it anyway, but it figures that the one thing sports fans have wanted for a long damn time — the ability to stream a local team’s games independent of a cable package — is only being suggested in the context of some gross gambling play.

“Field of Dreams 2: Electric Boogaloo”

This came across my timeline last night:

BaseballHistoryNut @nut_history

With the Field of Dreams game coming up, would you be for or against a movie remake? Please quote.

I oppose a remake, but I have a hell of an idea for a sequel. Get your damn checkbooks out, Hollywood executives, because I’m about to make you a mint.

Gaby Hoffman stars as grown-up Karin Kinsella. Her father Ray has had her running his magical baseball field for years now. Ray isn’t around much. He’s off playing golf, going to MAGA boat rallies and doing all the other things ex-hippie Boomers who made some money in the 80s and 90s and then became obsessed with their wealth and status do now. Annie Kinsella left him years ago; the seeds of that were planted when Ray was dismissive of her big school board/banned books speech, which was super exciting and important to her but which he met, you’ll recall, with “great babe, OK, I’m leaving for Boston now for my thing” deal, which was total unsupportive b.s. Annie now does communications for progressive non-profits and she’s really damn good at it. People listen to her now.

Karin is unhappy running the Field of Dreams. While there was a genuine excitement for it when she was a kid, it’s been thoroughly commercialized now. The price has gone up from $20 a person to a $165 a person and the whole thing is sponsored by DraftKings. Each year MLB shows up for a big cynical TV event in which those per-person tickets are jacked up to $385 a piece. The revenue from that event alone more than covers the Field’s overhead, so the income is mostly banked. In an ironic twist, Ray spent most of Karin’s childhood using money and the things it can buy to substitute for a genuine connection to his daughter. There were nice toys and vacations, but Karin doesn’t really know Ray now and he certainly doesn’t know her.

After 30 years of silence from the “If you build it, he will come” ghost, Karin begins to hear the voice herself. Except now it says, “don’t leave them behind . . .”

Karin seeks out an aging Terence Mann, who was a warm and loving influence in her life when she was young but who has been out of the Kinsellas’ lives since he and Ray had a falling out over the Iraq War (Ray, again, like so many ex-liberals who made their bones, turned surprisingly hawkish in late middle age). Surely Terence, who helped her father navigate this exact situation all those years ago can help her now.

Terence, once again, is initially loathe to help a Kinsella who shows up on his doorstep. But then he remembers what he told Ray all those years ago about “penance.” In the years that have passed he realized he was wrong about that with respect to Ray, however. Ray owed no penance to his late father — he did nothing wrong to him — and Terence has come to realize that convincing Ray that he was repenting for some sort of imagined sin had the perverse effect of making him believe that his act of building the field meant that he was now, and forever, free of sin. This has rendered him self righteous and incapable of truly interrogating his own thoughts and actions which, in turn, is what caused his emotional estrangement from Karin.

Thinking even more deeply, Terence realizes that, actually, he himself has penance to pay.

Terence remembers that he was once a radical writer who was at the vanguard of progressive thought in the 1960s but, somehow, by the late 80s, he was giving speeches about how people would gladly pay $20 a pop to deny the present and revel in nostalgia for just a little while. More damningly, he didn’t say boo when those dead ballplayers came out of the corn and every last one of them was white and from baseball’s dark segregated past. The former firebrand had become a cheerleader for capitalism. His silence at the Field of Dreams made him complicit in the excusing of baseball’s original sin and the erasure of the game’s Black pioneers. “Your father and I resurrected some dead ballplayers,” Terence tells Karin, “but it cost us our souls.”

Karin and Terence drive through the night. But not back to Iowa. Rather, they go to Hinchliffe Stadium, in Paterson, New Jersey, where the New York Black Yankees and New York Cubans once played. Through the wonders of magical realism, Hinchliffe is transformed into the state of its historic glory and, out of the trees beyond the outfield, Satchel Paige, Oscar Charleston, Josh Gibson, Pop Lloyd, Buck Leonard and dozens of other Negro Leagues stars appear and the grand games of long dead ballplayers begin anew.

Ray pulls up in his Tesla and walks over to Karin. The two of them look at one another for a moment. Ray says, “honey, you’ve made me proud.” Karin says “I didn’t do this for you dad. I don’t owe you a thing.” What Karin knows, and what Ray never understood, was that it’s not the job of children to spend their lives pleasing their parents and carrying out their wishes. To believe that is to believe that we should always be beholden to ghosts. Rather, it’s the job of parents to do what they can to put their children in a position which allows them to achieve their dreams on their own terms.

Karin walks over to the stands, sits down next to Terence and watches the ballgame that has just begun. As the camera pulls back a line of cars can be seen stretching down Totowa Avenue in Patterson, each one filled with people exited to see the players who have magically appeared. As they approach the stadium a large sign can be seen which reads “ADMISSION: FREE.”

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Other Stuff

“Miami Vice” guest stars

If you really want your noodle baked, you need to spend some time with this thread of “Miami Vice” guest stars, most of whom were “just before they were famous” kind of deals. Like Al Bundy as a coke dealer:

Daniel Holland🎗 @DannyDutch

Al Bundy as a Miami Vice Coke Dealer (1984)

The musicians — Phil Collins, Little Richard, Leonard Cohen (?!) — were famous first and then came on, but the actors, hoo boy, did they pay their dues before stardom.

Full disclosure: I watched nearly every single episode of “Miami Vice” as they aired in the 80s. It was my favorite non-sitcom. Or at least it was right up there with “Murder, She Wrote,” but that’s another conversation. I thought “Miami Vice” was the height of cool.

Further full disclosure: I have not watched a single episode of “Miami Vice” since the show went off the air. I am gonna guess that they have aged really, really poorly.

The 25 most important buildings in the post-war world

One of the most relatable lines in the history of television for me was George’s “you know I always wanted to pretend I was an architect,” line from “Seinfeld.” I knew from a very young age that I did not and never would possess the skills to be an architect, so I never even attempted to pursue it, but I do love to look at architecture books, to read articles about architecture, and to generally geek out about architecture to the extent a completely unschooled person like myself can manage.

In light of that you will not be surprised that, when the New York Times Magazine asked a number of architects, designers and journalists to make a list of the 25 most important buildings constructed since World War II, I’d be all over it. And so I am.

The list — which photos and explanatory framework for all of its entrants — includes some things which are familiar, such as the Sydney Opera House and the Seagram Building. It also includes a whole of of stuff in Europe, Africa, and Asia that architecture dilettantes like me don’t know anything about at all but will enjoy learning about.

“They just got sick and they got well”

This Tampa Bay Times story features a Florida woman who is an anti-masker who is suing to end the federal mandate on masks on commercial flights. The story says she “wants to promote health the way her generation’s grandparents experienced it.” Here’s how she characterizes that:

“When they got sick, they didn’t need the crutch of pharmaceuticals or antibiotics to get better. They just got sick and they got well.”

One of my grandmothers died in her early 60s of what would now be eminently treatable cancer. My other grandmother suffered from untreated mental illness and then basically drank herself to death because there simply were no available resources to deal with her and her sickness in the 1950s. One of my grandfathers had a fully-loaded crane fall on him which led to him having multiple surgeries which entailed putting all kinds of crude hardware in his legs — far cruder than what would be used today — making one of them longer than the other for the rest of his life, and the other grandfather, well, I’m not sure because he was mostly in the wind, but seeing as though he died in his 60s too, the whole “they just got sick and they got well” thing didn’t apply.

We have some serious issues with the way medical care is distributed in this country. What it costs people and how the corporate interests which run it visit misery on the lives of sick people. But the care itself, when available — and the vaccines this woman is complaining about are free and available to everyone — the quality is excellent.

What in the hell is wrong with people? Well, besides what I detail in the next item.

Dying to own the libs

Over the past several years the Republican Party has eagerly adopted a strategy of making stupid, performative gestures couched in bogus appeals to “freedom” but which are really aimed at angering their political opponents. They then claim that the fact their opponents are upset means that they themselves have the moral high ground. This spite-driven mode of governing is typically referred to as “owning the libs.” There are, practically, no limits on the deployment of the strategy. No limit to the idiocy Republicans will back as long as the idiocy triggers a negative reaction in someone they can then attack via cultural warfare.

A textbook example of this strategy occurred here in the Columbus area — and some other areas, I gather — a few years ago. In that instance a wealthy, inner-ring suburb of Columbus called Bexley, Ohio, passed an ordinance banning single-use plastic bags. The sort of bags you might get at grocery stores or pharmacies. The ordinance was initiated by citizens and crafted in cooperation with local businesses and the Bexley Chamber of Commerce and with the town’s Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee. There was virtually no opposition to the bag ban. Liberal types in Bexley wanted it for environmental reasons. Conservative types in Bexley were OK with it, generally speaking, because it would fight pollution and thus help maintain Bexley’s high property values. You may oppose or support such an ordinance for various reasons, but there is no question that the will of the town was behind it and that it was enacted via legitimate democratic means.

The Republican-dominated Ohio Legislature then stepped in and passed a ban on bag bans. There were some appeals to economic policy cited as the move was debated and enacted, but the broader politics of it were very clear: “godless liberals wanna take away your freedoms and, dammit, we Real Americans are not gonna let ‘em.” When pushback came from local governments like Bexley’s, from environmental groups, and from business groups which supported the single-use bag ban, they were portrayed as radical hippies with California values who are ABSOLUTELY HYSTERICAL about plastic bags. Which, in turn, caused ordinary Republicans, who likely had no strong opinions about plastic bags to begin with, to immediately become HUGE pro-bag people because, hey, if the educated liberal elites who they have been conditioned to despise by Republican political messaging for the past few decades are for something, they damn well have to be against it.

When this strategy simply involved things like plastic bags it was more annoying than anything else. The fact that it has become the defining political dynamic of a global pandemic, however, has made it literally deadly.

We saw this last year when, a mere three weeks into the country’s efforts to combat the pandemic began, angry mobs began storming state capitols and protests against governors and health departments over their alleged “unconstitutional tyranny” began to proliferate. Sometimes they were violent. It was frightening and ugly business. Republican politicians seized on this anger and fear and have ridden it for over a year now, transforming it from something that started out of a certain sort of panic into just the latest iteration of their spite-driven political program.

They refused to enact or enforce mask mandates, aggressively and irresponsibly reopened their economies, and undermined or actively blew off efforts to vaccinate the public. Then, not content with their own irresponsibility, they took further steps and passed laws and issued orders banning those who attempted to be more responsible than them from making such efforts. Rather than just refusing to enact mask mandates, some have affirmatively banned mask mandates and have made efforts to do the same with vaccine mandates or verification regimes. In so doing, they have essentially become a pro-pandemic party. Not because they love infectious diseases necessarily, but because engaging in such idiocy pisses off liberals, scientists, and the sorts of educated people against whom they have found it advantageous to wage the same culture war that arose out of the bag bans and every other thing you can imagine.

Yesterday I talked about how there’s a certain class of politician who are incapable of showing shame. There is an even larger class of politician who cannot acknowledge mistakes. Shockingly, however, we saw an instance of a politician sorta kinda admitting that pro-pandemic politics may, actually, be really fucking stupid. That politician is Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson who, a few months back, signed one of those laws banning local governments — including schools — from imposing mask mandates. Now COVID cases are quickly on the rise in his state. Yesterday he came out and said “in hindsight, I wish that had not become law.”

As far as responsibility goes that’s pretty weak sauce — that passive voice in connection with a law he himself enacted is rich as hell — but it’s more than most Republicans have done so far. His counterpart in Florida, for example, is practically reveling in spiraling infection rates and seems to view it as good for the healthcare business. Which says a whole lot of other things too, but we’ll save that for another day.

Hutchinson is probably gonna have trouble getting that mask mandate ban amended because, unlike him, most Republicans are still deeply invested in the politics of nihilism and spite that lead to things like bans on good things that people want or need. Indeed, Hutchinson will probably be punished, politically speaking, for even suggesting it. A movement of fanatics cannot abide apostasy, and modern Republican politics is nothing if not an extremist, fanatical movement.

A movement that spends most of its time seemingly dying to own the libs will not change course, I don’t think. Even if it’s now one that is literally dying to own the libs.

Have a great day, everyone.