Archive for August 23, 2022

It’s all about the kids

Posted: August 23, 2022 by chrisharper in baseball
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By Christopher Harper

The Little League World Series, just a few miles up the road from my home in central Pennsylvania, provides a wonderful sense of sanity amid the chaos and controversy throughout the country. 

For two weeks in Williamsport, once a thriving lumber town, the focus is on the crack of the baseball bat until the end of the month, offering a celebration of Americana that is difficult to surpass.

The players between 10 and 12 years old come from some of the smallest towns in the United States, including Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania; Bonney Lake, Washington; Hagerstown, Indiana; Pearland, Texas; Santa Clara, Utah.

The 20 teams also include groups from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico; Aguadulce, Panama; and Bologna, Italy. 

Whatever their language or background, the games are all about the kids, the parents, and the city of Williamsport. 

As ESPN put it: “Williamsport is the happiest town in America for nearly two weeks starting in the middle of August. It opens with The Grand Slam Parade the night before the games begin, the kids riding down the street with their team, next to other teams that have come from thousands of miles away. They don’t all understand the same language, but they know a party and a parade when they see one.”

In 1939, Carl Stolz started Little League baseball in Williamsport because he enjoyed playing baseball with his two young nephews and ultimately decided that he wanted to create an organized league for them to play in. There were just three original teams in the league: Lundy Lumber, Lycoming Dairy, and Jumbo Pretzel. See https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/05/sports/carl-stotz-82-founder-of-little-league-baseball.html

Little League baseball eventually expanded to 12 leagues in Pennsylvania in 1946. Today, there are an estimated 180,000 teams throughout the world. 

The first official Little League World Series occurred in August 1947 in Williamsport. This year’s event, which can be seen on ESPN, will continue until August 28, when a champion is declared. Or, you can drop by to see a game for free. 

According to the Little League website, the World Series has featured some participants who had notable sports careers in the MLB, the NFL, and the NHL, including Yankee third baseman Todd Frazier, Stanley Cup winner Chris Drury, and Tennessee Titans quarterback Matt Cassel. 

This year brought Yankee Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, former President George Bush, and Rachel Robinson, the widow of Jackie Robinson. 

It just doesn’t get much better than that. 

This Screams “I’m running in 2024”

Posted: August 23, 2022 by datechguy in elections, politics, Uncategorized
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A few days ago I was a tad surprised to see California Governor Gavin Newsom do something sane, namely attempt to keep the remaining Nuke plant in California open:

The draft legislation — which would be attached to the state’s budget as a trailer bill — would help extend the power plant’s operations for an additional five to 10 years beyond its scheduled shutdown dates in 2024 and 2025.

The forgivable loan, if authorized, would be lent by the state’s Department of Water Resources.

Diablo Canyon — California’s last remaining nuclear power plant — generates about 8.6% of the state’s total electricity supply, according to the Governor’s Office.

Now of course I’m not a fan of a “forgivable loan” to a big Utility, which is another way of saying it’s a payout so one might dismiss this a giving in to the reality of not kneecapping the power grid while making some friends with taxpayer money at the same time but with the energy crunch in California keeping that 8.6% of the power supply up is vital even if the left has done all it can to reduce demand by chasing people away.

I figured he was being mugged by reality, but then I saw this

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have allowed pilot programs where people could use drugs under the supervision of trained staff in San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles, a blow to a long-fought battle to tackle the cities’ overdose crises.

In his veto letter, Newsom said he has “long supported the cutting edge of harm reduction strategies” but said the unlimited number of sites allowed by the bill “could induce a world of unintended consequences.” He did not go into detail about what those consequences could be.

John Sexton at Hotair, where I saw the story has it pegged:

It’s probably safe to assume the “unintended consequences” Newsom is most concerned about about are the ones that could damage his run for president in a couple of years. … And while “safe injections sites” are an easy call in deep blue California, the idea would be a non-starter in many states. 

Now a broken clock can be right twice a day but an ultra liberal California governor making two sane decision in less than two weeks? Yeah he running in 2024