The Full Belmonte, 11/2/2023
Americans under siege in Gaza worried about evacuation
“The U.S. State Department said Americans are expected to leave Gaza for Egypt Thursday after an initial round of departures, but did not specify how many have made it out so far. But U.S. citizens and their families attempting to leave the territory through the Rafah Crossing say details from the U.S. government have been difficult to translate to the situation on the ground.
‘We do expect to be able to get all our Americans out. It will take time,’ National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters following Wednesday's initial departures. ‘This was the first step.’
•Getting out of the region isn't so easy: The densely populated region isn't safe amid Israel's airstrikes. And some Americans went to the Rafah Crossing and were told that only international NGO staff, nationals of neighboring countries and injured people were allowed through.
•President Joe Biden said he thinks there should be a humanitarian ‘pause’ in the war. Biden was talking to supporters in Minneapolis for a reelection fundraiser Wednesday when he was interrupted by a protester calling for a cease-fire.
•Muslim Americans are skeptical about a strategy to combat Islamophobia the White House claims to be developing, saying that the administration lacks credibility on the issue given its robust backing of Israel’s military.” [USA Today]
US President Joe Biden speaks about his Bidenomics agenda at Dutch Creek Farms in Northfield, Minnesota, on November 1, 2023.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS, AFP via Getty Images
Rep. George Santos survived an effort to expel him from the House.
“What happened? Twenty-four Republicans and 155 Democrats voted to remove the New York Republican yesterday, short of the two-thirds majority required for his expulsion.
Looking ahead: Santos, who is running for reelection, faces 23 federal charges, including fraud, money laundering and falsifying records. His trial is set for September.”
Read this story at Washington Post
Oregon teachers walk off the job in newest wave of US labor movement
“Schools are closed for the second day in a row Thursday after teachers in Portland, Oregon, went on strike, shuttering school for some 45,000 students in the state's biggest city. The Portland Association of Teachers union said it was the first-ever teachers strike in the district. Concerns over large class sizes, salaries that haven't kept up with inflation and a lack of resources prompted the strike, one of the latest signs of a growing organized labor movement in the U.S. that's seen thousands of workers in various sectors take to the picket lines this year. Portland Public Schools said it doesn't have the money to meet the union's demands. Read more
•Here's why the U.S. labor movement is so popular but union membership is dwindling.” [USA Today]
Teachers and their supporters hold signs, chant and rally the crowd with bullhorns on the first day of a teacher's strike in Portland, Oregon, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023.
Claire Rush, AP
Eric Trump expected to testify in his father's real estate fraud trial
“Eric Trump is expected to testify as soon as Thursday in his father's real estate fraud trial. His testimony comes after his brother, Donald Trump Jr. took to the witness stand Wednesday in a case in which $250 million in damages and a New York ban on the iconic Trump Organization is at stake. In the fraud case, the New York Attorney General's Office has described financial statements concerning Donald Trump's assets and liabilities from 2011 to 2021 as ‘fraudulent and misleading.’ Donald Trump Jr. said he didn't recall whether he worked on financial statements, and when it came to various accounting issues, he said he relied on the expertise of others. Eric Trump will be followed by his father and sister Ivanka Trump's testimonies next week. Read more
•Donald Trump hits Judge Engoron over his family's testimony.” [USA Today]
Eric Trump arrives at New York Supreme Court, Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in New York.
Seth Wenig, AP
GOP Senators Angrily Turn on Tuberville’s Military Blockade
“Republican senators’ patience finally snapped on Wednesday night over Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s protest against the Pentagon’s policy on abortion for service members. Since February, the Alabama conservative has blocked routine military promotions over a Department of Defense policy reimbursing travel costs for troops seeking an abortion outside of the state where they’re stationed. On Wednesday night, several Republicans including Sens. Dan Sullivan, Lindsey Graham, and Joni Ernst enjoined Tuberville to end the deadlock in the interest of national security. They sought to force the issue by proposing votes on the Senate floor on individual officers whose promotions have stalled in the backlog, but Tuberville objected to each one. ‘Xi Jinping is loving this,’ Sullivan said at one stage. ‘So is Putin. How dumb can we be, man?’ Sullivan also said Tuberville is ‘100 percent wrong.’ Graham noted that Tuberville blocked one advancement for a service member who had ‘zero’ to do with the abortion policy. ‘You just denied this lady a promotion,’ Graham thundered. ‘You did that.’” [Daily Beast}
Read it at The Washington Post
Columbia Students Stage Walkout of Hillary Clinton’s Class
“A number of Columbia University students staged a walkout during a joint lecture held by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Keren Yarhi-Milo, the dean of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, on Wednesday. The demonstration, which reportedly included roughly 30 students in the 300-person lecture, was apparently part of a protest against the school’s perceived lack of support for pro-Palestine students targeted by a right-wing group which displayed their names and photographs on a circling billboard truck that called them ‘Columbia’s Leading Antisemites.’ The group was demanding ‘immediate legal support for affected students’ and ‘a commitment to student safety, well being and privacy,’ according to The New York Times.” [Daily Beast]
Read it at The New York Times
A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip during the Oct. 7 attacks hit a residential building in Ashkelon, southern Israel.
PHOTO: TSAFRIR ABAYOV/ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. intelligence agencies all but stopped spying on Hamas and other violent Palestinian groups in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“They instead directed resources to hunt for al Qaeda leaders and, later, Islamic State, according to U.S. officials familiar with the shift. American intelligence outsourced the spying on Hamas to Israel—Hamas had never directly threatened the U.S—confident it would detect any threat. Now, more than 30 Americans are dead and 10 missing, fears of a regional war are mounting and billions of dollars in U.S. military hardware are heading to the Middle East since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which left more than 1,400 Israelis dead and 200-plus held hostage. Some officials say the U.S. misjudged the threat to its national security. Meanwhile, Gaza’s border with Egypt opened for the first time since the war started, enabling more than 100 foreign nationals and wounded Palestinians to leave, Egyptian and U.S. officials said. Americans were among them. Israel closed its crossings with Gaza after the Hamas incursion earlier this month.” [Wall Street Journal]
The Fed left interest rates unchanged at a 22-year high and signaled they would remain elevated well into next year to keep inflation dropping.
“This is the second consecutive central-bank meeting without a rate hike; the Fed last lifted its benchmark federal-funds rate in July, to a range between 5.25% and 5.5%. To avoid causing an unnecessarily severe downturn, Fed officials don’t want to overdo rate bumps, but they also don’t want to let inflation to reaccelerate or settle at levels well above their 2% target. A continued slowdown in inflation could allow the central bank to continue holding rates steady, while any price-pressure acceleration might mean raising rates again. The pause helped Treasury yields retreat and U.S. stocks climb.” [Wall Street Journal]
A new generation of highly effective weight-loss and diabetes drugs is fueling fanciful assumptions on Wall Street.
“The predictions spell doom for companies that have profited from America’s obesity problem and suggest opportunities for businesses that would benefit from the aggregate weight loss. Snack giants, soda manufacturers and companies that make insulin pumps, glucose monitors and knee-replacement products are among those potentially taking a hit from Ozempic, Mounjaro and the like. On the other side are airlines, which might save on gas because of lighter passengers. Now, from potato chips to computer chips: After a pandemic boom and a subsequent slump, semiconductor manufacturers predict a rebound as tech demand starts to recover.” [Wall Street Journal]
Too conservative for the Supreme Court? The nation's most right-leaning appeals court draws scrutiny
Is a federal appeals court in Louisiana 'testing the boundary' of the conservative legal movement or just reflecting where the Supreme Court is moving the law?
USA TODAY
“WASHINGTON − Deeply partisan legal battles this year over the abortion pill mifepristone, the regulation of ghost guns and a White House effort to remove social media posts all have something − or rather, some place − in common: They all made their way to the Supreme Court from the same federal appeals court in Louisiana.
And in each of those cases, the conservative Supreme Court sided with President Joe Biden.
After overturning Roe v. Wade, expanding access to guns and undermining the separation of church and state, the current Supreme Court has become the most right-leaning in decades. Yet some of the court's conservatives appear eager to also send a message to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: Don't overdo it.
‘I think that the Supreme Court is basically saying 'Don't change things so radically,' said Josh Blackman, a law professor at South Texas College of Law Houston. ‘It's just an act of moderation.’
That trend has been particularly pronounced in the court's emergency cases this year, which aren't precedent setting, but can have enormous real-world consequences. Concerned about government ‘censorship,’ the 5th Circuit this fall temporarily barred the White House, FBI and the Surgeon General from jawboning social media companies like Facebook and X to take down posts that officials said were full of disinformation.
Days later, the Supreme Court lifted that ban and agreed to decide the underlying case.
'Testing' the boundaries of conservative outcomes
In the term that began this month and runs through June, the nation's highest court has agreed to review eight decisions from the 5th Circuit − more than any other appeals court. They include some of the most far-reaching issues on the docket, such as whether people who are the subject of domestic violence restraining orders may be barred from owning guns and whether to weaken a controversial consumer protection agency.
And there is likely more to come: On Friday, the justices discussed whether to take up an appeal of a 5th Circuit decision that invalidated the Trump administration's ban on bump stocks, a device that uses the kickback of a semi-automatic firearm to mimic automatic firing. It's not clear when the court will announce whether it will decide that issue. Later this year, the justices are expected to agree to review a 5th Circuit decision that severely limited access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
A majority of the justices in April agreed to put that 5th Circuit mifepristone decision on hold. Only Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito noted an objection.
The 5th Circuit hears appeals from courts in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, deeply red states where Republicans control legislatures and attorneys general can draw national headlines with culture war suits against a Democratic president. Federal district courts, particularly in Texas, have become a forum of choice for conservative groups who bet not only on winning but also getting their arguments heard at the Supreme Court when their opponents appeal.
And then there is the Trump effect: Six of the 5th Circuit's 16 judges were appointed by former President Donald Trump, who had an enormous impact on federal courts through a flood of nominations over four years. Another six judges were named by Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. Four were named by Democrats.
Last term, the Supreme Court at least partially reversed seven of the nine appeals from the 5th Circuit − including a major immigration case in which Texas and other states challenged Biden's ability to prioritize certain immigrants for deportation. By comparison, last term, the Supreme Court reversed 10 of 13 decisions by the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit, widely viewed as the nation's most liberal appeals court.
The win-loss percentage for both courts, in other words, was about the same.
Between 2019 and 2022, the Supreme Court reversed decisions from the 5th Circuit twice as frequently as it affirmed them, according to a review by Adam Feldman, who runs a blog called Empirical SCOTUS.
If an observer were to plot federal courts based on ideology, the 5th Circuit would land somewhere to the right of the Supreme Court, said Aziz Huq, a University of Chicago law professor. Given that, Huq said, ‘you would expect to see the Fifth Circuit essentially testing where the boundary is.’ And that, some speculate, may be advantageous for a Supreme Court that polls suggest has lost the confidence of many Americans on the left.
‘If the court was savvy, what it would want is at least one court that looks like it was it was further out,’ Huq said. ‘It could use that court as a way of triangulating and positioning itself as moderate even as it moves the law in the direction that it wanted.’
An 'outlier' decision puts guns back Supreme Court docket
University of Texas law professor Tara Leigh Grove said that some of the criticism of the 5th Circuit may be misdirected.
‘I think there are some examples where at least some judges on the 5th Circuit have pushed the law in a way that was both surprising and probably not something we would expect from any court,’ Grove said. ‘What worries me is people taking those individual examples and just kind of making broad generalizations about a court of appeals.’
Next week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in one of the most controversial cases of the year: A follow on to a blockbuster Second Amendment decision last year in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. In that case, a majority of the justices struck down a New York law that curbed who may obtain a license to carry a handgun in public. The court also set a new standard by which other gun laws would be judged. To pass constitutional muster, those laws would have be ‘consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation.’
Zackey Rahimi was convicted of a federal law enacted in 1994 that prohibits Americans from possessing a firearm while they are the subject of a domestic violence restraining order. Rahimi's defense team argued that because there was no founding-era law that banned guns from people in Rahimi's position, his conviction should be tossed.
In February, the 5th Circuit agreed. The law at issue, the court ruled, may embody ‘salutary policy goals meant to protect vulnerable people in our society.’ But that wasn't the standard the Supreme Court had set. The law, the appeals court ruled, was a historical ‘outlier that our ancestors would never have accepted.’
In some ways, Grove said, the 5th Circuit's decision on Rahimi was like holding a mirror up to the Supreme Court.
‘The Supreme Court itself has been pushing the law in lots of directions,’ she said. ‘Now we're starting to get a sense of what that may actually mean on the ground.’” [New York Times]
“Once Israel ends its military campaign to destroy the Palestinian militant group Hamas, what’s the future for Gaza?
While the operation could still last for months, American and Israeli officials are looking at the various options to run a post-conflict Gaza: A multinational force that includes US and possibly Arab and European troops, a peacekeeping operation modeled on the one that oversaw a 1979 Egypt-Israel treaty or putting the territory under temporary United Nations oversight.
For US President Joe Biden, who’s seeking reelection next year, the idea of putting American boots on the ground, even a token force, carries particular peril, Peter Martin and Jennifer Jacobs write.
All those ideas have their drawbacks, but one thing is clear: Neither of the two protagonists in the current fighting, Israel and Hamas — designated a terrorist group by the US and the European Union — should run the enclave.
Israel had tolerated Hamas’s rule over Gaza, but the militants’ Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,400 people and took more than 200 hostages has fueled a drive to eliminate the group. Whether that is possible remains an open question.
Israel’s retaliatory action has killed more than 8,500 people, including thousands of women and children, according to the ministry of health in Hamas-run Gaza. An overnight strike on a refugee camp that Israel said was used by Hamas as a training center drew condemnation across the Middle East.
At this point, there’s little sign that the Palestinian Authority, which administers the West Bank, would be able to run Gaza even if it wanted to.
The West Bank itself is threatening to become a new front amid widespread arrests by Israel, a rising death toll and an economic slump.
For most of the world, the long-term goal is a sovereign Palestinian state governing Gaza and the West Bank in peace with neighboring Israel.
The challenge is how to get there.” — Karl Maier [Bloomberg]
An Israeli soldier walks among the rubble of a house in the Nir Oz Kibbutz on Monday. Photographer: Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg
Why Norway — the poster child for electric cars — is having second thoughts
A Tesla charging station in Skei, Norway. The country has the world’s highest rate of electric car adoption. Sean Gallup/Getty Images
“Motor vehicles generate nearly one-tenth of global CO2 emissions. In wealthy countries, strategies to mitigate this environmental impact often revolve around electrifying cars — and many countries are looking to Norway for inspiration.
The lowdown: Over the last decade, Norway has emerged as the world’s undisputed leader in electric vehicle (EV) adoption. With generous government incentives available, 87 percent of the country’s new car sales are now fully electric, a share that dwarfs the European Union (13 percent) and the United States (7 percent).
But, this soaring EV adoption rate hasn’t solved all of Norway’s woes:
Norway has always been a car-centric country. Norway has one of Europe’s lowest rates of public transportation usage and a higher car ownership rate than its Scandinavian neighbors.
The Norwegian government created financial incentives to increase EV adoption. In the 1990s, Norway made EVs exempt from the country’s steep taxes on car purchases — which today add an average of $27,000 to each sale — and made it so that EV owners did not have to pay for tolls, parking, or ferries.
However, these incentives benefitted affluent residents far more than non-affluent ones. Many low-income Norwegians do not own a car. The likelihood that a Norwegian household would purchase an EV rose 26 percent with each 100,000 Norwegian Krones (around $11,000) in annual income.
Now, cities are rethinking their automobile-focused approach. Over the last decade, Oslo has joined Bergen, Trondheim, and Stavanger (Norway’s four largest cities) in committing to meet all future trip growth through transit, biking, and walking — not cars.
The stakes: Ending the sales of gas-powered cars, as Norway is close to doing, is an essential step toward addressing climate change. However, a 2020 study found that even the most optimistic forecasts for global EV adoption would not prevent a catastrophic 2-degree Celsius rise in global temperatures.
Reducing driving — not just gas-powered driving — is crucial. While EVs may not pollute the planet the way traditional gas guzzlers do, they still create a car-centric society, and leave little room (literally) for other even better, less polluting forms of transit such as walking and biking.
Despite its generous incentives for electric cars, the Norwegian government provides no discounts for those buying e-bikes or e-cargo bikes (Oslo and Bergen offer limited programs for city residents). The country’s current 12-year National Transport Plan includes initiatives to catalyze the adoption of zero-emissions vehicles, but none to reduce car trips.
‘The mistake is to think that EVs solve all your problems when it comes to transport,’ said Tiina Ruohonen, a climate advisor to the mayor of Oslo. ‘They don’t.’” [Vox]
Could Israel dump Netanyahu in the middle of a war?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in March 2023. Sean Gallup/Getty Images
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a non-zero risk of losing his job. Since the October 7 massacre by Hamas, Netanyahu’s poll numbers have been grim, with one October 2023 survey finding 80 percent of Israelis held him personally responsible for failing to prevent the attack.
Netanyahu is the longest-serving leader in Israel’s history. He was prime minister between 1996 and 1999, and has led Israel for every year (save one) since 2009.
Before this war, Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the judiciary made him increasingly unpopular. The plan, which would have put new limits on court power, spawned the largest protest movement in Israeli history. Netanyahu says the overhaul is dead, at least during the war, but the resentment it created remains.
He fumbled the public response to the October 7 attacks. The day after the massacre by Hamas, Netanyahu sent out a tweet blaming Israel’s military and intelligence services (but not himself) for not stopping the massacre. He later deleted the post and apologized for the message.
Netanyahu’s probably not going to resign. The next Israeli election isn’t scheduled for another three years, and it's unlikely Netanyahu will resign before then.
If he goes, it’ll be because he’s forced out. If at least five members of Netanyahu’s pre-war governing coalition vote against him in the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament), he’d have to leave. Whether there’s enough anti-Netanyahu sentiment for lawmakers to take that step remains to be seen.” [Bloomberg]
“Growing isolationism. North Korea announced on Wednesday that it will shutter nearly a quarter of its embassies around the world in a historic tightening for the Hermit Kingdom’s already isolated global status. Pyongyang signaled that the missions it will close in the near future include those in Spain, Hong Kong, Uganda, and Angola, bringing its total number of foreign offices to 49 diplomatic missions.
According to South Korea’s unification ministry, North Korea’s embassy closures highlight Pyongyang’s struggles to afford overseas operations. Western sanctions have curtailed funding for the autocracy’s nuclear and missile programs as well as weakened the nation’s economic standing.” [Foreign Policy]
“Bletchley Park takes on AI. Britain kicked off a major artificial intelligence summit on Wednesday. World leaders—including U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Chinese Technology Vice Minister Wu Zhaohui—attended the two-day gathering at Bletchley Park, where the U.K.’s top World War II codebreakers worked. The summit marks British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s largest effort yet to cement London’s role as a global leader in AI safety.
At this week’s meeting, tech executives and industry experts will discuss threats posed by AI and safety measures that governments can take to limit human rights abuses, such as infringements on privacy. Sunak has also hinted that he will propose a global advisory board, modeled after the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to regulate AI. The summit continues a week of major AI regulation efforts after U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday requiring greater transparency in AI development.” [Foreign Policy]
“Myanmar sanctions. The United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom imposed new sanctions against Myanmar’s ruling junta, known as the Tatmadaw, on Tuesday in a trilateral effort to curtail human rights violations. The U.S. Treasury Department targeted the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, the Tatmadaw’s main source of revenue. Ottawa banned insurance for any person or ship involved in transporting aviation fuel into Myanmar. And London announced a new sanctions package on the junta’s arms dealers and financiers.
‘These actions signal to the people of Myanmar that they have not been forgotten,’ said Tom Andrews, the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, ‘but there is much more that the international community can and must do.’ That must include rejecting the Tatmadaw’s legitimacy, he argued in January.” [Foreign Policy]
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed everything for billionaires who prospered under President Vladimir Putin until the US and Europe imposed sweeping sanctions aimed at isolating the Kremlin leader and bringing his economy to its knees. While the restrictions have hurt their lifestyles and made them business pariahs in the West, they remain hugely wealthy.” [Bloomberg]
“The world economy is lumbering from one shock to another as brutal wars, stubborn inflation and high borrowing costs pockmark the post-pandemic recovery. The next source of turbulence: a packed 2024 election calendar. The year will bring 40 national elections — a busy lineup even in calmer political times.” [Bloomberg]
Keir Starmer celebrates a Labour Party by-election win in Tamworth, UK, on Oct. 20. Photographer: Darren Staples/Bloomberg
“Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are set to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco this month. Their encounter is likely to span issues including disputes over their economic and technological ambitions, disagreements over Taiwan and human rights, as well as broader issues such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war.” [Bloomberg]
“The assassination of Fernando Villavicencio as he campaigned to be Ecuador’s president in August and a police finding that the suspects were Colombian hit men with links to gangs was enough proof for many that the state had become powerless against organized crime, Matthew Bremner reports. From 2016 to 2022, rival gangs had turned the country from one of the region’s safest to one of the deadliest places on Earth.” [Bloomberg]
“The next UK government will have to raise taxes to a new postwar high as public services need an additional £142 billion ($172 billion) a year by 2030 just to keep them in their current weakened state. The dismal inheritance awaiting the winner of the general election, expected next year, was set out in a report by the Centre for Progressive Policy.” [Bloomberg]
“A majority of judges on Brazil’s top electoral court voted to declare former President Jair Bolsonaro ineligible to seek or hold public office for a second time yesterday, ruling he abused his power during last year’s Independence Day celebrations.” [Bloomberg]
“The American Cancer Society (ACS) has expanded its guidelines for who should get screened for lung cancer. The age range has been expanded to 50 to 80 years, from 55 to 74. People who quit smoking up to 40 years ago can be eligible for screenings expanded from 15 years. Lung cancer is the most lethal cancer in the U.S. Around 5 million more Americans will be eligible for screenings under the new guidelines.” [NPR]
The names of dozens of North American birds will be changed.
“Why? The nation’s top birding organization decided that birds should no longer have human names. It will prioritize changing names linked to white supremacists and enslavers.
What’s next: The American Ornithological Society will set up a group next year to explore up to 80 new names, it said yesterday. The names will better describe the birds’ characteristics.”
Read this story at Washington Post
THE WORLD SERIES CHAMPION TEXAS RANGERS
“For six innings, Zac Gallen was untouchable. No hits allowed.Rangers flailing all over the place trying to solve him. Domination to the highest degree on the biggest stage.
But pitching is a game of mistakes, and the Rangers' explosive offense knows how to take advantage of them.
Corey Seager ended the no-no with a single to lead off the seventh inning, and he soon scored on a Mitch Garver single for what proved to be the game-winning run. The Rangers provided a safety net busting the game open with a four-run ninth inning in a 5-0 World Series-clinching Game 5 win over the Diamondbacks.
It's the first World Series in Rangers franchise history, ending what had been the longest title wait in the sport.
Seager, unsurprisingly, won World Series MVP. Also the 2020 World Series MVP with the Dodgers, he joins Reggie Jackson -- "Mr. October" -- as the only players to win the award with multiple teams.
Things fell apart in the ninth for the D-backs. Alek Thomasmade an awful error that allowed two runs to score, andMarcus Semien blasted a two-run home run shortly thereafter.
While Gallen mowed down Rangers, Nathan Eovaldi pulled off his greatest Houdini act yet, somehow going six scoreless despite four hits and five walks. He held Arizona to 1 for 12 with men on base and 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position. Eovaldi joins Stephen Strasburg (2019) as the only pitchers to go 5-0 in a single postseason.
These Rangers came together slowly and then all at once. We can point to Dec. 1, 2021, when Seager and Semien joined the team. But we must point to Oct. 21, 2022. That's when the Rangers hired Bruce Bochy as manager. His steady leadership through ups and downs; through injuries to Jacob deGrom, Adolis García and Max Scherzer ; and through the rigors of playoff baseball earned him his fourth ring. The Rangers are awesome, but Bochy made them champions -- and cemented his legacy as an all-time great -- writes Matt Snyder.” [CBS News]
Remembering legendary Indiana basketball coach Bob Knight
“Iconic as he was controversial, Bob Knight for decades embodied the spirit of basketball in a corner of the world mad about it. Knight died at 83 in Bloomington this week. At the height of his success, few in the sport were more recognizable, or more noteworthy. Read more about his life and legacy here.” [USA Today]
Indiana coach Bob Knight celebrates the Hoosiers' 1987 NCAA regional championship with Steve Alford (12) and CBS broadcasters Billy Packer, left, and Brent Musburger.
Larry Crewell, Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK
Ady Barkan, Health Care Activist and ALS Campaigner, Dies
“Ady Barkan, a health care reform campaigner who became well-known for his advocacy after being diagnosed with ALS, has died. He was 39. His death from complications related to his terminal neurodegenerative condition was confirmed by Be a Hero—the organization he co-founded in 2018 to push for greater health care protections. ‘Ady was a brilliant strategist, an incisive communicator, and powerful advocate who, while fighting for his own access to health care following his ALS diagnosis in 2016, became a leader in the effort to save the Affordable Care Act so that tens of millions of people in this country could also get the health care they deserve,’ the group said in a statement. Barkan’s wife, Rachael, separately confirmed his passing in a post on his X account. ‘You probably knew Ady as a healthcare activist,’ she wrote. ‘But more importantly he was a wonderful dad and my life partner for 18 years.’ Barkan is survived by his wife and their two children.” [Daily Beast]
Read it at The New York Times