Empty Seats

The death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has made this campaign season even more interesting. Now we’ll get to hear the candidates talk about their ideas on the role of the Supreme Court, and what one should hope to get in its members.

Of course, there will also be the usual foofaraw over the “fitness” of the nominees to replace Justice Scalia. We’ve already seen it start, but it’s interesting that the tone is a bit different this time. Instead of the mouthpieces of the GOP saying flat out that they will oppose whoever Obama nominates (on whatever principle they feel their constituents are most concerned about), they are saying that the nomination should wait until after the election. Something having to do with the fact that there will be a new president very soon, and it isn’t fair to whoever that will be for some reason.

There are a few reasons why this delaying tactic is nonsense (mostly because there’s absolutely no reason behind it), but there’s much more to it than that. While the GOP strategists have been planning to oppose any potential Obama Supreme Court nominee for a long time, the words they are using – don’t even bother nominating someone – hint at what’s really going on.

Article II Section 2 of the Constitution says it is the duty of the president to nominate candidates for positions like the Supreme Court and it is the duty of the Senate to offer “advice and consent” on these nominees. If Obama were to present a nominee, the GOP members of the Senate would have to come up with reasons for not doing their job. The usual “Whatever it is, I’m against it” isn’t going to work much anymore. We’ve seen just how fed up voters are with the obstructionism and stalemates in Congress (which partly explains the rise of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders).

And this year, in addition to voting for a new president, thirty-four Senate seats are up for election. What makes the GOP nervous is that twenty-four of them are currently held by Republicans. Most of them are “safe” seats, but depending on who you listen to (and when they did their count), as many as ten are toss-ups. And the GOP majority in the Senate is only three seats (54 compared to the required 51)….

The GOP isn’t just trying to tilt the Supreme Court their way and win the White House; they also want to maintain control of the Senate. And that’s going to be harder to do if they anger more voters with pointless obstructionism. Sure, the GOP will spout a lot of sound and fury during the Inquisition (er, confirmation hearings), but it’s all going to signify nothing more than grandstanding for their base. In the end, as long as Obama doesn’t nominate a complete loser, the nomination will begrudgingly go through. Better a slight lean leftwards on the Supreme Court than a Democrat White House, Senate – and a slight lean leftwards on the Supreme Court, too.

A Bucket of Warm Spit

We’re coming up on Presidents’ Day here, which allows workplaces to combine Lincoln’s Birthday and Washington’s Birthday into one convenient day off, gives retail businesses another excuse to advertise a sale, lets football fans argue that it should be made the day after the Super Bowl since people tend to take the day off anyway, and offers the pundit an opportunity to bemoan the poor quality of the current crop of presidential candidates.

But we might also want to give a nod to those people who are, according to one saying, “a heartbeat away from the presidency”: the vice-presidents.
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Expanding Major League Baseball – 1

We’re in that gap in the Baseball Calendar between the Hall of Fame announcement and the beginning of Spring Training. What better time to talk about baseball, and muse on the future of the sport?

Over at ESPN.com, they’re doing a series of essays under the heading “Baseball 2.0”, where their writers talk about various ideas that come up every now and then. Relocating the A’s to San Jose, tweaking the replay rules, and the like. One of the ideas that’s been talked about there is expanding to 32 teams.

The idea has some merit; with 16 teams in each league, you could have four divisions per league (each with four teams) – and get rid of the silly wild card. You want to make the playoffs, you win your division. It would also remove the need for interleague play (which is probably a good thing). True, it would dilute the talent pool a bit more, especially since you’d also need two more sets of minor league teams. But that’s been a complaint every time baseball has expanded. However, we are just doing a little pie-in-the-sky dreaming here. So we’ll ignore that.

So, assuming we are going to add one team per league, which cities get the honor?
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The 2016 Presidential Campaign – 1

Being the first in a series of posts and commentaries on the 2016 Presidential Campaign

I’ve been holding off here on commenting on the presidential campaign since so far, it’s been too uncertain with candidates coming and going, and the standings in the polls changing so often. But now as the primaries are starting, things are getting serious, and it’s time to take a look at the main candidates.

Personally, I consider myself to be a little “left of center”, a moderate liberal or a liberal moderate if you will. I’m not registered as one, but I almost always vote Democratic. So all my thoughts will be colored that way, despite my efforts to be as fair and even-handed as I can.

In alphabetical order, here’s what I have to say on the four main candidates:

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BOOK REVIEW: The Strange Case of Dr. Doyle

THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. DOYLE: A Journey into Madness and Mayhem
By Daniel Friedman, MD and Eugene Friedman, MD
Square One Publishers, 2015

Sometimes it’s not easy being an amateur reviewer, especially with today’s obsession with “spoilers”. You really, really don’t want to give anything away about your subject. But sometimes, it’s almost impossible.

So in this case, if you don’t want to know too much, don’t go reading past the “More” link. Just take my word that this book is a very good recounting of the five “canonical” Jack the Ripper killings, intermingled with an equally good biography of Arthur Conan Doyle in his early years (before he became a famous writer). It’s worth reading for either of those.
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Ken Griffey, Mike Piazza, et al.

Earlier this week, the Baseball Hall of Fame officially announced the deification of Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza. In the days around the announcement, there was much discussion in social media as to whether or not Griffey would be chosen unanimously, and also as to whether or not allegations of performance-enhancing drug use had affected Piazza’s voting results.

Of course, I have a little to say on this. Let me take the case of Mike Piazza first.

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2015 In Review

Well, I made it through another year of blogging!

I posted 61 essays, which is down a bit from 2014, but still better than my desired target of one post per week.

The number of views (1,482) and visitors (1,028) is way up. Probably because I’ve been a little better at promotion this year. January was the top month for views, with 192. I got 17 “Likes”, too! Thanks, everyone!

My most viewed posts (those with 20 or more views):

Book Review: Mars Girl by Jeff Garrity — 35
I think I have the only full review of this SF book out there….

A Christmas Mix for You – 2015 — 31
I happened to have the chance to plug my blog to a lot of old friends just after I posted this.

A Holiday Message from Our Sponsor – 2015 — 26
I was able to mention and link to this post in a comment on Joe Posnanski’s blog; he’s a sportswriter who is a far better writer than I could ever hope to be.

Charlie or Ahmed? — 26
Movie Review: A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) — 23
Review: Project: Potemkin — 23
Random Thoughts on the 2015 All-Star Game — 20

People stopped by from all over the world.  Residents of a total of 80 countries visited (Hello Andorra! Thanks for stopping by, St. Lucia!) – though some stretch the definition of “country” (Isle of Man), I’m not going to argue with them. I do wonder why I’m so popular in Brazil….

United States – 771
Brazil – 217
Russia – 68
Italy – 58
United Kingdom – 41
Germany – 28
Canada – 20
Mexico – 18
Australia – 15
Portugal – 13
India – 11

What’s coming in 2016? Well, there’s a presidential campaign and election to comment on and the Rio Olympics. There’s also Eurovision, more vacations, and the baseball season. Plus the usual reviews (I’ve got four book and four movie reviews already written and ready to post).

Keep checking in!

Ave Atque Vale

It’s the time of year when all the news magazines and papers and other media publish their “Best of” articles on the ending year, along with the usual lists of notable people who passed on. While they devote space to the Christopher Lees, Yogi Berras, E.L. Doctorows, B.B. Kings, and Leonard Nimoys of the world, there are still plenty of people who have left their mark on history and culture who get overlooked.

Maybe they contributed to an obscure field. Maybe they were only locally famous. Maybe their time in the limelight was too short. Maybe we just plain forgot. But they still deserve a proper farewell.

A few worthy of honor, in no particular order….

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