The acting head of the CDC has canceled the publication of a study that found that the Covid vaccine sharply cut the odds of hospitalizations and emergency visits last winter
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/u...
2026-04-22
Wordle 1768 2/6
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Mini 0:29
Connections 1046
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Strands 780
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Bandle 1344 3/6
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Minute Cryptic 666: got there
maptap.gg
87🎉 93🏆 83🌟 79✨ 84😁
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IMMACULATE!
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www.sports-reference.com/immaculate-grid/share/Ejtc4D4
Masyn Winn (STL, Shortstop) had a 5.1 WAR season at age 22 in 2024, with mild regression to the mean (but a Gold Glove) the next season. He already has 1.1 WAR in 2026 (.257/.354/.400) still in mid-April.
7. Reminder that Donald J. Trump once shoved a child's face into his exposed crotch, after telling her (as she described in subsequent FBI interviews), "Let me teach you how little girls are supposed to be"
6. US District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai struck down a ban on [Medicaid funding for places that offer] gender-affirming care, "one of a long list of examples of how a leader’s wanton disregard for the rule of law causes very real harm to very real people."
Lore: I almost got a 1996 internship working w/Carlson (& David Brooks et al). I didn't get it (they left it empty) because I didn't have my act together. Instead of a cab from DCA, I had insisted on Metro. Got lost; arrived sweaty & almost an hour late. Exchanged pleasantries w/Carlson, if that.
5. I finally saw Tucker Carlson's exact quote: "I've always liked Trump, I feel sorry for him, as I do all for all slaves." Carlson claimed that DJT is "hemmed in by other forces." Saying (w/conspiracist innuendo) that DJT is a powerless pawn is the exact opposite of reckoning with his misdeeds.
4. Todd Bowles & Kash Patel held a joint presser to advance their theory that Southern Poverty Law Center commits fraud when it exposes hate groups. In the process, Bowles claimed that Patel chugging beers in a hockey locker room had nothing to do with reports of Patel's drinking problem.
3. The UK & France are hosting 30 countries worth of military planners for a conference on how to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile the Islamic Republic might or might not send diplomats to Pakistan after all.
To be more precise on the first equilibrium: you'll never guess which political party killed three different attempts (most recently 2025's Redistricting Reform Act) to ban gerrymandering nationwide & require independent commissions everywhere.
There's a better (if highly unstable) equilibrium involving none of this shit; redistricting is non-partisan & follows contiguity + representation criteria. (I know it's still a hard problem.) That is similar to the equilibrium in which the Strait of Hormuz is open & U.S. didn't attack Iran.
2. Virginia voters passed a new Congressional map. Va, like Cali, did by majority vote the counter to what Texas legislators did in the dead of night. As NYT reports, CA+UT+VA vs. MO+NC+OH+TX nets between red+1 & blue+3, though Fla still might change maps, & SCOTUS might nerf the Voting Rights Act.
Iran War (et al), 2026-04-21 (part 2)
1. Our president set a deadline that came and went. His bluff called, he just publicly announced his (correct this time) choice not to resume attacking Iran. (Yet.) The Strait of Hormuz, unencumbered for decades prior to the attack, remains closed.
The only dirty Mountain Dew I believe in is a horrific concotion of Mt. Dew, white Gatorade (either Glacier Cherry or whatever white was in the late 1990s), and Malibu Coconut rum, as haphazardly combined into a 32oz container & sipped over a full day of trashy pop culture quizzing.
9. Reminder that Donald J. Trump once shoved a child's face into his exposed crotch, after telling her (as she described in subsequent FBI interviews), "Let me teach you how little girls are supposed to be
8. Joe Rogan lobbied our president to fast-track approval of his favorite psychedelic. (I don't know if he succeeded & don't care to find out.) The real problem there is governance based on whatever grinds the gears of whoever happens to have access.
7. Ohio prudes introduced House Bill 249, in which "seminudity" -- newly defined to include t-shirts (w/o a bra under) & tights -- is a crime. The so-called Indecent Exposure Modernization Act is primarily anti-trans, but also (to be charitable) sloppily drafted enough to be even more repressive.
6. Many years ago the Southern Poverty Law Center effectively destroyed the KKK. Now this regime's "Justice" Department is investigating SPLC under the harebrained theory that SPLC defrauded its donors by failing to disclose its use of paid informants.
5. I also hadn't written about Hasan Piker (& otherwise don't plan to), nor do I care to learn why I should. But I did see polling in which 79% of those asked either had never heard of Piker or had no opinion of him.
4. I hadn't written about former Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer yet. Her husband was banned from Labor Department HQ for alleged sexual assaults (plural), & she apparently instructed women on her staff to "pay attention" (full meaning unclear) to both her husband & her father.
"If Tucker Carlson really wanted to make amends he could shut up and go away" -Jacob Rice (Threads' itstheheyman, also known for his Arlo Guthrie impression). The hardest thing I ever had to do in my life (long story) was shut up and go away, although some of the going away went two directions.
3. Tucker Carlson apparently apologized for backing DJT, but note: Tucker's beef is a combo of anti-war (which is fine) & nativist (i.e. DJT should be even more fascist) (which is not fine). Unclear whether he fully appreciates the extent of the horrors that he contributed to unleashing.
2. NYT reports that our president is negotiating to send refugees from Afghanistan -- the same ones who helped us when we warred w/the Taliban -- out of Qatar & into (their choice) either Congo (DR) or their homeland under the same Taliban regime.
Iran War (et al), 2026-04-21
1. Our Secretary of Defense bragged about no longer requiring flu vaccines, posting a photo with Washington Crossing the Delaware behind him. Two months after that crossing, GW mandated smallpox inoculation, saving his troops from being wiped out by an epidemic.
Oakland was supposed to host the Astros that first week, right after the trashcan scandal had broken. Maybe 1-in-5 shot of seeing Mike Fiers on the mound at that.
Now the A's themselves are dead to me & our paths are somewhat less likely to cross.
2026-04-21
Wordle 1767 4/6
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Mini 0:27
Connections 1045
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Strands 779
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Bandle 1343 2/6
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Minute Cryptic 665: insta
www.maptap.gg
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sports-reference.com/immaculate-grid/share/CotBh4F
2 side notes to this:
1. A minute before the deeplink timestamp, a pitch thrown at Grace nails the umpire (WGN hadn't come back from commercial yet) (1993 commercials in the video though!)
2. This might be Thom Brennaman's first interesting call, 27 years before Castellanos made it a 4-nothing game
@jonbois.bsky.social thank you for the mound-charging database! (www.patreon.com/posts/databa... )
Have you evaluated Mark Grace vs Blas Minor (PIT-CHC, 1993-08-02)? Grace only takes a step or two but the Group Project is at least fracas-level.
youtu.be/yBiwyRm1iDo?...
INCORRECT: David Ortiz (BOS but NOT MVP) was top 5 in AL MVP voting 4x (2004-07).
05: 47 HR, 148 RBI, 5.2 WAR, 2nd to A-Rod (9.4 WAR)
06: 54 HR, 137 RBI, 5.8 WAR, 3rd to Morneau(!) (4.3 WAR, well below top 10) & Jeter. Should've been Grady Sizemore or Johan Santana.
Fred Lynn insta in extras
P.S. There's one exception to "I don't do in-game coaching." Whenever there's a force at third, I LOVE reminding the 3B that if it comes to them they can step on third base to get the out.