RIP, Bobby Knight. You were not a nice person, but a helluva good basketball coach.

Here’s the reason the MLB playoffs are what they are today.
https://apple.news/AaPUjWBNETJmFMOANNtz_Xw

It’s supposed to be the best against the best, as determined by a season’s record, not just survivors of short series. A barely .500 team can now enter the crapshoot that is today’s MLB playoff system and knock off, in just three games, a team that has proved itself one of the best by winning more than 100 games. There should be a better, fairer way to do this.

#MLB In the old days, the winner of the American League (most wins in the season) would play the winner of the National league for the World Series title. But now, with all those added teams and the creation of wild cards and divisions and multiple playoffs, the process has become almost silly. Any team can beat another two out of three or three out of five. The best teams in the leagues can be eliminated before ever getting to the World Series, as has happened many times. Is that what we want?

Two from my it-looks-so obvious-now-but-it’s-too-late list:
1. If only Israel had given over the West Bank to be a Palestinian state years ago. It was extra territory, after all - not a part of the original Israel.

2. If only Israel had not given over control of Gaza to Hamas. What the hell were they thinking? That an extremist Muslim organization that pledged to kill Jews and wipe Israel from the face of the Earth would change its mind and be peaceful neighbors?

Of course Hamas knew that Israel would respond ferociously to its brutal attacks and that it would devastate Palestinians living in Gaza. They don’t care, obviously. They know that Israel will take international heat for the humanitarian disaster that will ensue. The Palestinians are pawns that will be sacrificed in Hamas’ determination to obliterate Israel.

Stalin said that it didn’t matter how many votes you got but who gets to count them. Or something like that. Trump’s paraphrase would be, “It doesn’t matter if you get indicted, only what judge you have to oversee the trial.” The only slam dunk case against Trump is the classified documents case, and Judge Cannon is doing her best to put her thumb on the scale in favor of Trump.

I was surprised to learn that not only have the MLB playoffs begun, but that some teams have already been eliminated. Yawn. Maybe it was because I wasn’t paying attention, with so many other things on my mind. Like making sure my trash can was at the curb on the right day.

Yup, Idaho Republicans show themselves to be the Pro Birth Party, rather than Pro Life. https://apple.news/AZ1N2WF_JQzmdp2B8mBtA3w

Financial disclosures should include, like tax returns, that the material presented is true to the best of the submitter’s knowledge and be signed. So of course such a declaimed would be rejected.

Trump said yesterday that he can’t be accused of fraud because in all his financial statements there is a buyer beware clause - a disclaimer that warns the reader that they should not believe anything in them!

If speeding up the trial date is Judge Chutkan’s only practical means of stifling Trump’s continuing assault on the justice system, why is she taking so long to rule on Jack Smith’s gag order motion?

Is anyone who watched Real Time With Bill Maher that aired last Friday (available on Max) still a fan of his after that show?

Oh goodie! The shutdown has been averted - for a month and a half. Then it starts again.

Why is it that whenever a government shutdown looms, closing national parks is one of the awful things that is always mentioned? Like having to forego a vacation trip to Yellowstone is up there with not getting a paycheck?

#RyderCup The reason we keep losing to the Europeans in this biannual golf tournament: they make putts and we don’t. I don’t know why that is, but it’s obvious.

What rationale can there be for paying the members of Congress their salaries when the government shuts down? Congress, at least the House, is responsible for the shutdown. And Congress can’t work during the shutdown because, well, everything will be shut down, including their staffs’ salaries. Congress barely works as it is, but now they’ll get paid for doing absolutely nothing!

Yup.

Pro-life. Gotta hand it to Republicans. They sure can come up with catchy terms perfect for bumper stickers. Pro-life sounds good, right? Who can be against life? But actually, those Republicans are just Pro-Birth. After the delivery, they’re not interested in protecting the life or welfare of the baby or the mother. And they’re Pro-Death Penalty. Wait, how is that Pro-Life? And they’re Anti-Vaccination. But vaccinations save lives, right? Oh, those Republicans, bless their hearts.

When will the media stop saying “X, formerly know as Twitter” instead of X? Do they say Meta now instead of Facebook?