Events

This year, Major League Baseball had more weather-related postponements than ever before recorded: In the 2018 season, 53 games have been postponed because of weather, tied for the second most since Major League Baseball began keeping track in 1986. It wasn't just rain-outs that disrupted the schedule but a lingering April cold snap in the Midwest and Northeast that resulted in 28 games postponed that month — an all-time high. Although the baseball season got off to its earliest start ever to give...

Paul Krugman highlights how the politics of the Republican party are mainly about privileged white men feeling like they're losing their privilege: There have been many studies of the forces driving Trump support, and in particular the rage that is so pervasive a feature of the MAGA movement. What Thursday’s hearing drove home, however, was that white male rage isn’t restricted to blue-collar guys in diners. It’s also present among people who’ve done very well in life’s lottery, whom you would normally...

After Eddie Lampert refused to advance any more cash to his failing retail chain, Crain's editorial board concluded Sears may be about to file for bankruptcy protection: Tracking the slow-motion collapse of what used to be Sears Roebuck has been sort of like watching a glacier melt: You know it's happening, but it's tough to detect it with the naked eye. That is, until a Delaware-size chunk breaks off, which is what happened when the once-giant retailer recently unveiled a "liability management" plan...

In the last few hours I've packed 38 boxes full of books and other things. I've got 16 days to pack the rest, which is actually a lot. Also, my new place is just 10 minutes' walk from here. I think we're not even a decade from people setting up house moves on the basis of labor being so inexpensive that no other labor can price it anywhere near; and yet. And yet. And yet we can't let labor manage itself. This is a longer conversation, if for no other reason than...well, than...let's come back here. What...

It seems timely for me to dredge up this PSA I did for Hofstra Television in October 1991: On later viewing, though, it seems to me like we still had trouble seeing that date rape was exponentially more common than random street rape. That said, I was pretty proud that HTV broadcast the video, from a script that we used in crisis hotline training. Cast: Heather Maidat (Hofstra '94). Director: Sean Pearson (Hofstra '92).

The American Bar Association had concerns about Brett Kavanaugh 12 years ago: Democrats for three years had been blocking President George W. Bush’s 2003 nomination of Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. They argued he was biased, as shown by his work as a lawyer for Bush’s presidential campaign, for an independent counsel’s investigation into President Bill Clinton and for other conservative causes. Republicans kept pushing to make Kavanaugh a judge on the powerful appeals...

Brett Kavanaugh's hearing yesterday dominated the news. Here are some reactions: My favorite: Alexandra Petri demanding HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO BRETT KAVANAUGH. My least favorite: Mona Charen correctly identifying it as a show trial but incorrectly identifying the aggrieved party. Sarah Holder makes the case for a local investigation of Kavanaugh's conduct. Emma Green found herself baffled by Rachel Mitchell's questions. Andrew Sullivan notes that everyone lost yesterday. Aaron Blake says the GOP's...

Phew! I own property again, as of 11:42 CDT today. I'm glad meet the requirements for voting as established in most of the States back in 1789. (Fortunately, we've updated the requirement, and the Republican Party haven't succeeded in rolling back the new rules.)

Republican David Brock, who worked with Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the Clinton impeachment, urges the Senate to vote "No" on Kavanaugh's nomination: Twenty years ago, when I was a conservative movement stalwart, I got to know Brett Kavanaugh both professionally and personally. A detailed analysis of Kavanaugh's own notes from the Starr Investigation reveals he was cherry-picking random bits of information from the Starr investigation — as well as the multiple previous investigations — attempting vainly to...

Long-time readers know how much I hate what Eddie Lampert has done to Sears (recent example here). Now, apparently, even he thinks the company is done for: Edward Lampert's proposed debt reduction plan for Sears Holdings is noteworthy for what it doesn't include: any commitment of new funds from the hedge fund mogul/CEO himself for the floundering retailer he has controlled since 2005. That may be why the plan landed with such a thud on Wall Street. Sears stock tumbled 7 percent after Sears disclosed...