Is it me, or are sportswriters determined to make Cole Hamels into a mirror image of A.J. Burnett? Read this Times piece, which centers around Hamels’ inconsistency. And sure: Hamels is inconsistent. But… so? Look at A.J. Burnett. He’s an inconsistent pitcher. And yet for all but one inning this postseason, he’s put in excellent [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 855-09 October 31, 2009 DoD Identifies Air Force Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Department of the Air Force civilian who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Frank R. Walker, 66, of Oklahoma City, Okla., died of non-combat related medical causes Oct 28 at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan. [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 854-09 October 31, 2009 DoD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Pfc. Brian R. Bates, Jr., 20, of Gretna, La., died Oct. 27 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive [...]

Ted Kennedy was a smart guy. When advising Democratic candidates in the south, an apocryphal story has it, he’d tell them, “Let me know if you want me to campaign for you or against you.” He wasn’t so vain as to think that his unpopularity among a segment of white southerners should get in the [...]

Let’s just say I think this story is dubious, planted by a Karzai ally and passed along uncritically, although Christiane Amanpour may end up proving me wrong. Update, 1:17 p.m, Oct. 31: Dexter Filkins, whom I trust, vindicates Amanpour against me: Abdullah Abdullah, the chief rival to President Hamid Karzai, will announce on Sunday his [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 853-09 October 30, 2009 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Joseph L. Gallegos, 39, of Questa, N.M., died Oct. 28 in Tallil, Iraq, in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 720th Transportation Company, [...]

Inexplicably, incredibly, improbably, David Samuels writes for the Abu Dhabi-based National about observing the recession, as suffered by New York, through the prism of Yankee Stadium. Usually when people talk about the dark side of globalization they mean terrorism or weapons proliferation. But this has to count. As a Yankee fan, I must assure you: [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 851-09 October 30, 2009 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Spc. Robert K. Charlton, 22, of Malden, Mo., died Oct. 27 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident [...]

Via Ezra Klein, a disgusting anecdote from the New Yorker: It was Kim Il Sung who used to say, “Communism is rice,” meaning the system would succeed by giving the people enough to eat. The famine was caused by mismanagement and the inability to adapt to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the economic [...]

Halloween is a sacred time in my social circle, a no-joke occasion in which people’s wits are tested. (Ah, if only I could figure out how to embed this picture of my Danzig costume from last year.) Ever wanted to win-the-thread? This is the IRL version of that. Come prepared. Emily Thorson wins lots of [...]