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side note: how can we get in touch? for advice on my son's career (recent Bard grad interested in your field)

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THANK YOU!

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Wow! I would be surprised if any of my departmental faculty were unvaxxed (barring a rare legit medical reason).

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TFW you think you're part of the silent majority and find out you're a singularly loud dumbasse.

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Re: Nato, wherefore art thou? Because my mom and dad had a wonderful camping trip in the summer of 1979.

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What makes you think Texas will give a damn about funding any program to ensure good health or adequate education for those kids? Get 'em born and then forget 'em is the unspoken GOP motto.

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There is the option of doing nothing with is always the preference of the GQP legislature in Texas. They will only fund it when a Court orders them to and even then they'll do everything they can not to.

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They do repairs but don't do anything to mitigate future issues. I think you are misunderestimating just how big of shitbags we have running this state. They make George W and Rick Perry look like Washington and Lincoln.

"I miss Rick Perry" are words I never thought I would type. But yet here I am doing it.

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They don't HAVE to fund anything.

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Same thing reservation schools have done, I suspect. They aren't wanted so no one will really notice if they disappear.

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NOTHING

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Since they also have permitless carry, and many pregnant women are murdered, they probably figure that problem will resolve itself soon enough. 😡

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I was thinking about the high rate of homicide with pregnant women as victims. If the boyfriend or husband doesn't want to support a child, there's an easy fix right there and he won't even need a permit.

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Maybe those guys can claim as a defense that they were just standing their ground as childless men. What Texas court would convict them?

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"They better plan on spending a lot of money to take care of unwanted children"

They're Republicans. They are pro-life when you are in the womb, but once you pop out it's "Piss off, you're on your own."

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Not just "you're on your own" but also "you didn't pick the right parents, so too fucking bad. . . .and, uh, don't get vaccinated."

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I'm wondering if people are going to flood whatever "Snitch Line" Texas sets up with baseless accusations. Or if someone will discover that a prominent Texas Republican secretly helped a mistress get an abortion....

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Flooding the snitch lines are already happening. I believe people have tried DDOS attacks on the website(s) although I don't know if it worked.

And I can say with 99.957% certainty that someone pro-birth politician or activist is going to get caught up in in.

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^bank on the latter. That's how Republicans do.

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Haaah. I was going to comment on today's typos (which I never feel compelled to do), because that was a big one (also, "They often are portrayed as evidence of drunkenness even among somber people and in no event do they ever help you." tickled my funny bone).

I held off though, after your touching tribute to your mother's empathy. Just didn't feel right to nitpick. But it looks like your editor caught the big one after all.

Thanks for writing, have a great day

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Sep 2, 2021Liked by Craig Calcaterra

Same here. Lots of snarky/angry things to say based on the first 2/3 (Yah Mo Burn this place to the ground!), but then you get to a lovely piece about the selfless and unconditional love someone had for a person they could have blocked out entirely, someone with struggles most of us could never begin to comprehend. And so the impression I'm left with, instead of rage about hatemongers and theocracy, is instead faith that there are good people out there, all over, and we should be immensely grateful for them, even as they fail to make headlines on any given day BECAUSE they're good people.

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At about 23 (ahem years ago), doing night city work (yeah it was glamorous and yeah, one of the slot editors had a bottle of vodka in his drawer) and in a snowstorm, efforting to close early and get everybody home for the night, okayed a 72-pt front-page hede using the wrong "Rain" for "Reign." Nobody in composition caught it and ... it went to print.

I still think about it although many of the Hudson County, NJ, readers probably didn't notice.

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Whew! Miller's Crossing, No Country For Old Men, AND Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas refs all in one newsletter! What's the rumpus?

Oh, AND Bob's dad Ray Boone was the scout who originally signed Curt Schilling to the Red Sox...(there has to be a "a plague o' both your houses!"--joke in there somewhere).

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Seeing a Boone in baseball news has me wondering which baseball family has the most total WAR. Should we include All Time Greats who had a son or brother who rode the family name to a brief appearance in the bigs?

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I'll start the discussion with Bobby and Barry Bonds, who had a combined 220.6 bWAR. Though I suspect a family with a larger MLB family tree can top that.

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Yeah, it would probably take a family the size of the Boones to even sniff the Bonds. And if we decided to add in Willie Mays as Barry's godfather? Shut 'er down, folks.

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Touching tribute to your mom, I’m sorry for her (and your) loss.

My wife works for a small business that brokers heavy machinery domestically and overseas. They don’t sell it themselves but basically market the equipment for sellers to buyers. Overseas and some domestic buyers will overpay for older equipment because they can repair if themselves.

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Sep 2, 2021Liked by Craig Calcaterra

Thanks for the sports reports and the story about your mother. (I skipped the abortion piece because I find it too depressing...the health of women in Texas is taking a hit...) - but I was touched by your story of your mother's selflessness. Cool.

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If Santiago Espinal wasn't on the IL, the Blue Jays could field an all-Black and Latino starting lineup, DH and SP included.

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Yeah, that statement sounded wrong. I would have thought teams could field a team of Blacks and Latinos, though it would be mostly Latino.

I thought back to my Mets in May when everyone was injured, and the first box score I clicked on, May 22, every position player was Black or Latino, though Joey Lucchesi was the starting pitcher:

Jonathan Villar

Francisco Lindor

Cameron Maybin

Dominic Smith

Tomas Nido

Wilfredo Tovar

Johneshwy Fargas

Kahlil Lee

If, say, Tiajuan Walker happened to have started that game, we would have had one this year.

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The Mets had another game on May 18th where everyone but Pete Alonso was Black or Latino. Miguel Castro started that one. And I only checked the 4 games Khalil Lee started. Two of those four had 8 Black/Latino starters. Seems like there has to some team that did all 9.

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I put one together for the Brewers, too. And, as you noted, the lineups of such teams today are far more Latino than Black American/Canadian, but still - it can be done! And the Brewers lineup is pretty damn good, too.

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Astros could also do that last year - losing Springer is the difference this year.

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If both the Indians' Latino catchers were not on the IL, it would not be difficult for the Indians to do this.

Roberto Perez/Wilson Ramos C

Bobby Bradley 1B

Andres Gimenez 2B

Amed Rosario SS

Jose Ramirez 3B

Harold Ramirez LF

Oscar Mercado CF

Daniel Johnson RF

Franmil Reyes DH

Triston McKenzie P

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- My condolences to you and your mother and your whole family, Craig.

- So what say you about this: I noted to my wife that in Texas, once more we are seeing that the unborn have more of a right to live than all the people dying from COVID because the state is anti-mask. She said that I am missing the point, that it's not about the unborn at all but only about infringing on the rights of women. I agree that this does infringe on the rights of women, but also think there are people whose religious beliefs really think abortion is murder, and she claims that the evangelicals never felt that way until the sexual revolution. (She was willing to accept that Catholics have their own reasons, but also felt that they have little role in the anti-abortion movement, especially in Texas). So is she right, and this is entirely sexism and misogyny, or is there also some core of actually wanting to protect a fetus. (For the record, I will respect the personal belief of anyone who thinks abortion is wrong but will not accept their insistence that their belief should trump mine. Anymore than you will let me tell you have to keep kosher.)

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At its heart I think it's about eugenics, for those in charge anyway.

Individuals who truly believe abortion is wrong are interested in increasing access to birth control, sex education, prenatal care, assistance for pregnant individuals so they can deliver and support healthy babies, etc. Those in charge and firing up their followers aren't interested in any of that really, they are pro-birth -- but it seems only pro white births. Some of the same people and organizations are also interested in forced sterilization of minority women. For them, being against abortion is a stance that gives them the societal control they want to establish a white supremacist theocracy, and reduce the numbers of the so-called lesser races. So gross.

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Yuuup. They are scum. I wish I could treat them like the wasps in the nest I found in my outdoor grill last summer. But that wouldn't be in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ, a man those evangelicals would crucify today if they met him.

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Per the Tigers talking heads last night, that was the Motown Nine's first victory over the A's in Comerica Park since April 2016. Yikes.

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Sep 2, 2021Liked by Craig Calcaterra

Oof. Touching write up about the fam there. Thanks Craig.

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Oof is right. Came to the comments knowing someone would word my feelings for me. Oof it is.

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Sep 2, 2021Liked by Craig Calcaterra

That was a great tribute to both your aunt, and your mother. My sympathies to you, and especially your mom.

Re: that '71 Bucs team, Bruce Markusen's "The Team That Changed Baseball" is one heck of a book on the topic, which I can't recommend highly enough.

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Sep 2, 2021Liked by Craig Calcaterra

Thanks for sharing that story and for the reminder that family matters even when it's (really really) hard. Godspeed to your aunt and my deepest admiration and condolences to your mom.

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Last night was a biblical rain here - 6" in my town, thanks to the "remnants of Ida" (which might be a shitty band playing Better Than Ezra covers). The noise helped me sleep, but I woke up to a feeling of "I should check my basement" dread (it's fine), and then was bombarded by the news out of Texas once I checked my phone. I'm horrified and sad. Thanks for pointing out The Lilith Fund - hoping they can make use of my small donation.

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Will give $50 to Lilith Fund, thanks! (Also, best avatar eva)

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Can't take credit for the avatar but it speaks the truth. And thanks for being spurred to donate. Maybe we should all do this in Jared Porter's name. On second thought, naah.

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Yes, yes I did click on the link and saw the ....

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