The Days’ Reading, August 22–24, 2017
I forgot to post this.
Bannon
Sam Kriss, The Baffler, The Eclipsing of Steve Bannon (August 21, 2017) — I shouldn’t have read this while I was eating
Media
Hillel Aron, LA Weekly, It’s a Total Eclipse of the L.A. Times Masthead as Tronc Cleans House (August 22, 2017)
Kevin Roderick, LA Observed, Top editors out at Los Angeles Times* (August 21, 2017)
TV
Laura M. Browning, A.V. Club, Joss Whedon was never a feminist (August 21, 2017)
Baseball
Ben Lindbergh, The Ringer, Inside the Worst Pro Baseball Season of 2017 (August 22, 2017)
Matt Ellis & Jason Wojciechowski & Nathan Bishop, Baseball Prospectus, Short Relief: A Broadcaster Out of Step with His Time (August 23, 2017)
Matthew Trueblood & Bryan Grosnick & Scott Orgera, Baseball Prospectus, Transaction Analysis: Grand Exit (August 21, 2017)
Rob Mains, Baseball Prospectus, Flu-Like Symptoms: Vin Mazzaro’s Second-Worst Day (August 21, 2017) — about a rule that means that team earned runs isn’t necessarily the sum of individual pitcher earned runs; I didn’t know about this.
BP Prospect Staff, Baseball Prospectus, Monday Morning Ten Pack: August 21, 2017 (August 21, 2017)
Travis Sawchik, FanGraphs, Can Scouts and Statcast Coexist? (August 21, 2017)
Vidgames
Eric Van Allen, Compete, Turns Out Madden’s Referees Make Human Errors Too (August 21, 2017)
Crime
Jeff Maysh, Los Angeles Magazine, The Cop Who Became a Robber (August 22, 2017)
Rhett Jones, Gizmodo, Man Behind Crowdfunded Submarine Admits That Missing Journalist Died and He Buried Her at Sea [Updated] (August 21, 2017)
Basketball
Paolo Uggetti, The Ringer, The Winners and Losers of the Kyrie-to-Boston Deal (August 22, 2017)
Kevin O’Connor, The Ringer, Let’s Stop Pretending the NBA Cares About Its Tampering Rules (August 21, 2017) — the thing is, if there’s a norm that everyone tampers and nobody snitches, then for the Pacers to snitch, it’s likely that the Lakers actually broke the tampering norm in some way, i.e. they tampered more egregiously than the norm allows. Basically: someone violated the norm, either the Lakers or the Pacers, and only one of those teams is run by a pair of front-office neophytes, so I know where I’m putting my money.
Music
Briana Younger, Pitchfork, Mozzy: 1 Up Top Ahk (August 21, 2017)
Matthew Ismael Ruiz, Pitchfork, A$AP Ferg: Still Striving (August 21, 2017)
Andy O’Connor, Pitchfork, Cloakroom: Time Well (August 21, 2017)
Dan Weiss, Consequence of Sound, Album Review: Queens of the Stone Age — Villains (August 21, 2017)
Juan Gutierrez, LA Weekly, South L.A. Rapper/Singer Duckwrth Isn’t Afraid to Explore His Feminine Side (August 21, 2017)
Misguided Youth
Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, The Boston Protests Revealed the Limits of Trumpism (August 21, 2017)
Sam Barsanti, A.V. Club, Dumb 20-year-old is The Daily Stormer’s new savior (August 20, 2017)
Fascism
Mark Bray, Literary Hub, Why We Should Pay Attention to Dinesh D’Souza’s Terrible Book About Fascism (August 21, 2017)
Trump
David Roth, The Baffler, The President of Blank Sucking Nullity (August 22, 2017) — this is so superb
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, Why Obama Should Lead the Opposition to Trump (August 21, 2017) — I don’t know; the counterarguments that Gopnik raises I think outweigh his own arguments, in particular the one that Obama would just provide a convenient target and renewed focus of energy among folks who have become disenchanted with Trump
Jeffrey Frank, The New Yorker, What Are Trump’s Advisers Saying Behind Closed Doors? (August 22, 2017) — the man knows him some Nixon
John Wagner & Jenna Johnson & Danielle Paquette, The Washington Post, Trump threatens shutdown, suggests controversial pardon at Arizona rally (August 23, 2017)
Kurtis Lee & Jaweed Kaleem, Los Angeles Times, Outside Trump’s rally, thousands take to the streets in mostly peaceful protests (August 22, 2017)
Scott Lemieux, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Great Statesman Delivers Stirring Address (August 23, 2017)
Schools
Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times, L.A. school board narrowly rejects taking stand against new state science and math school (August 22, 2017) — this is how it’s gonna be
Books
Margy Rochlin, Los Angeles Times, This small Altadena press is publishing some terrific L.A. cookbooks (August 22, 2017)
Navy
Dan Lamothe, The Washington Post, Navy to relieve admiral in charge of Japan-based fleet in response to deadly disasters at sea (August 22, 2017)
Richard Cordray
Renae Merle, The Washington Post, Richard Cordray defends CFPB arbitration rule amid speculation he plans to run for Ohio governor (August 22, 2017)
2018
David Weigel, The Washington Post, In a swing district, a Democrat runs on (eventual) single-payer health care (August 22, 2017)
Afghanistan
Luke Barnes, ThinkProgress, A picture of Afghan women in miniskirts helped convince Trump to send more troops (August 22, 2017) — I really don’t think those are miniskirts, but it’s possible I just don’t know what’s what
David Weigel, The Washington Post, ‘It’s a coup d’etat’: Antiwar conservatives decry Trump’s Afghanistan surge (August 22, 2017)
Badass Nuns
Jack Jenkins, ThinkProgress, A nun called out Paul Ryan on health care last night. His response was awkward. (August 22, 2017)
Movies
Steve Erickson, Los Angeles Magazine, With Atomic Blonde, Charlize Theron Thrusts Another Dagger into Old Hollywood (August 22, 2017) — there’s a jumble of things going on here, and I’m not sure it avoids the trap of horndogging when Erickson is trying to write about the beauty of movies’ ass-kicking women.
Josephine Livingstone, The New Republic, Wind River Reveals the Tricky Politics of Feeling Bad for Cops (August 22, 2017)
Transit
Alexander Aciman, The New Yorker, New York’s Oldest Subway Cars, Beautiful Symbols of a Sad Decline (August 21, 2017)
Math
Jamey Guy, Quanta Magazine, Mathematicians Tame Rogue Waves, Illuminating Future of LED Lighting (August 22, 2017)
Louise Linton
Stephen A. Crockett Jr., The Root, Steven Mnuchin’s Wife Gets Called Out for Flossin’ on the ’Gram and Has the Whitest Response Ever (August 22, 2017)
Food
Gowri Chandra, LA Weekly, A Vintage Koreatown Gas Station Is Reincarnating as a Coffee Shop (August 22, 2017)
Unions
Dave McNary, Variety, SAG-AFTRA Election Ending Bitterly With 2000 Strike Still in Dispute (August 23, 2017)
