Life, Death, & Bean Counters

AmRef Punked, Golden At-Bats, Euthanasia, &tc.

Dear Friends,

Happy Wednesday! Here’s a quick Quarter Inch before I get all my gear together for my road trip to California.

James Lindsay, the “anti-woke” crusader, has been noticing for awhile now that there is a “right wing” version of the phenomenon. My colleagues and I have been beating that drum for years now, even compiling a whole book on how the “post-liberal” right is essentially a reactionary and revolutionary movement. Well, Lindsay wanted to test his theory so he hatched a plan.

He took a large portion of text from Marx and Engels’s Communist Manifesto, changed some of the terminology (e.g., “bourgeoisie” to “classical liberalism,” “proletariat” to “New Right,” that sort of thing), essentially turning it into a manifesto for the post-liberal Christian Nationalist crowd. Then he created a fresh burner email account, made up a name (“Marcus Carlson”), and submitted it to the flagship New Right publication, American Reformer.

They published it with no questions asked.

What’s that the kids say these days? Oh, yes. Based.

He tells the whole story here. He concludes: “The Woke Right is Woke. They saw themselves in what can only be called a ‘Communist Manifesto for Christian Nationalists.’”

The stunt is, of course, of questionable and fleeting substantive value, but the AmRef folks are not taking it very well and I’m not feeling particularly sorry for them.

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Major League Baseball really needs a Commissioner who actually likes baseball. I know, I’ve been saying that for years. But Rob Manfred has got a brand-new harebrained idea that needs to be suffocated to death. He’s now publicly floated the idea of “Golden At-Bat.” You get one per game, and it means that you can have your best hitter come to the plate at any point of the game, regardless of the batting order.

Good grief.

What about the “Golden Pitch”? You can bring in your closer at any tight spot in the game, and he’d still be available in the 9th! Or my favorite suggestion: how about placing a giant bullseye in the outfield bleachers, and if a batter hits it the runs are doubled! Heck, let’s use aluminum bats and use softballs while we’re at it!

Ownership needs to put the ‘ol kibosh on this one, quick. Forget the Golden At-Bat. Give Mr. Manfred a Golden Parachute and send him off to retirement.