Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Quick Hits: Volume CLVIII

- Now that the Clintons are pretty much a liability to the Democrat party, leftists now feel emboldened to seek accountability for past sins, specifically regarding accusations of Bill Clinton committing sexual assaults before he was ever elected President.

It was a pattern of behavior; it included an alleged violent assault; the women involved had far more credible evidence than many of the most notorious accusations that have come to light in the past five weeks. But Clinton was not left to the swift and pitiless justice that today’s accused men have experienced. Rather, he was rescued by a surprising force: machine feminism. The movement had by then ossified into a partisan operation, and it was willing—eager—to let this friend of the sisterhood enjoy a little droit de seigneur.

With the accusations levied against Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been cited by multiple women that he propositioned them when they were in their teens and he in his 30s, some leftists have actually grown a conscience here. They realize they can no longer adequately dismiss the retort of "Yeah, well, you all flippantly dismissed credible accusations towards Bill Clinton."

So while it hardly shows any moral courage for leftists to address Clinton's indiscretions only after he's become persona non grata, I still believe it's vital for his victims to finally be given a more unified voice. I hope we have reached a "bottoming out" here so that countless victims can finally have a start to their healing.


- When an MLB team goes from 103 losses one season to a playoff berth the next year, it take a good number of people to make that happen. For my favorite baseball club, one such person was recognized on Tuesday.

As arranged marriages go, it’s hard to imagine one working out better than what the Twins experienced in 2017.

Holdover manager Paul Molitor didn’t just find a way to coexist with the new analytically savvy front-office combination of Derek Falvey and Thad Levine. Molitor navigated a historic turnaround that saw the Twins go from 103 losses to a 26-win improvement and their first postseason appearance in seven years.

For that, the Hall of Fame player was named American League manager of the year on Tuesday. Voting was conducted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

“I still think there’s value in people that have history and have some old-school thoughts as well as integrating the new,” said Molitor, 61. “I think the resources we added this year certainly affected my pregame preparation, things that I thought about and also how to probably manage in-game. I still use some of the old tools and I still trust my eyes and my gut, as managers like to say, but I think the layers that we have are helpful.”

Molitor received 18 of 30 first-place votes to outpoll runner-up Terry Francona, who led the Cleveland Indians to 102 wins and their second straight AL Central crown, and A.J. Hinch of the World Series-winning Houston Astros. Francona received 11 first-place votes and Hinch one to finish a close second (112-90) to his former Milwaukee Brewers teammate.

And to think the front office was seriously contemplating whether or not to retain Molitor despite the Twins making the postseason in 2017. Thankfully, Molitor accepted a 3-year extension recently, so he'll be able to follow through on leading the core of young players who were valued contributors this past season.

One other interesting tidbit is Molitor and Frank Robinson are the only two Hall of Fame players in MLB history to win a Manager of the Year award. Pretty impressive company, eh?


- A disturbing story regarding a shooting in northern California.

The gunman who killed four people and wounded at least 10 others, including two children, in Northern California Tuesday tried to access rooms at an elementary school to shoot more kids as part of a "bizarre and murderous rampage," police said at a press conference Tuesday night.

The shooter was killed by police after he opened fire at multiple “random” locations near Rancho Tehama Elementary School in Corning early Tuesday.

Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said that one of the victims was a woman the gunman stabbed in January.

School officials heard shots being fired about a quarter-mile away and the school went into lockdown mode, Johnston said. He added the incident "could have been much worse if it wasn't for the quick thinking" of the school's staff, who put the school in immediate lockdown mode without instruction from police.

Johnston noted it was "monumental" that school workers took action when they did, because he believes they saved the lives of countless children.

The assistant sheriff said the gunman rammed his vehicle into a school fence, then walked onto school grounds with a semi-automatic rifle while wearing a protective vest.

After being unable to access classrooms due to the lockdown, it's believed the gunman became "frustrated" and went back to his car, and began shooting at people while driving, according to police.

An incredibly bizarre sequence of events to be sure. So much so that it would be absolutely asinine to leap to any conclusions. Alas, I'm certain there were the obligatory shrieks on social media of the NRA being a terrorist organization, etc. I wouldn't know since I strategically avoided Twitter as soon as this news broke. For once I chose to follow my own advice and await some concrete facts. Pretty sad when that is considered an abnormal stance.

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