Odds and Ends

Supreme Court: The Order List is one page. For one case, "The motion of petitioner to dispense with printing the joint appendix is granted." Various rehearings were denied. Kagan didn't take part in one involving the U.S., probably her being involved in the case when she was solicitor general.

They will do the "long conference" to deal with a bunch of pending stuff around the end of the month. First Monday in October (beginning of the 2021 Term) is fast approaching. Oh, Breyer is continuing to promote his book and annoying liberals.

Books: I have been adding content on the Teach N Thrive website (see blog panel) for a while now. The web creator is expanding to books, but the website is not up yet. When it is, I will provide basically history book reviews, including a few covered here. 

I read or skimmed a couple books by Peter J. Hotez, a vaccine scientist.  He mentioned Paul Offit, who is in the same field, but has done more media/advocacy (including books about various scams).  I found Bad Advice: Or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists Aren't Your Best Source of Health Information on a library free rack. No one wants to buy it on Ebay yet, but it's an interesting and down to earth book.  While covering the subtitle, you learn something about his life and work. 

(The practice of NYPL to provide a rack or little red kiosk for free books, including those donated or taken out of circulation, is a good idea. It's like Strand Book Store or some other store having a cheap rack, which has a lot of eh stuff but you can find some good stuff there.) 

Sports: NFL is back with a Thursday Night Football game (a Tampa game being over after 11:30 PM seems unnecessary) that was the proverbial "good" (if at times messy, including a key missed XP) game between Dallas and Tampa.  Let's say if Dallas is this good consistently, the Giants should try to find a way to sneak in as a wild card team. 

Pretty Boy won on a final drive, as required. Dallas stopped them repeatedly, one of the scores a result of a turnover, but of course, in the final eighty or so seconds, they couldn't find a way to stop them from scoring the winning field goal.  It's getting a tad old, and I'm sorry, the result is not that "great" when it is same old same old.  

Baseball is still going on.  The Yanks are in the midst of a losing streak, allowing the Blue Jays (long winning streak) to knock at the door. Problem is that is it is hard to sustain that sort of thing and hope the Yanks stay away.  Still, at the moment, the Blue Jays are only a half game away from the Wild Card with the Red Sox and Yanks basically tied up.

The Mets had two weeks of the Marlins and Nats and managed to go 9-5. The Braves had to deal with the West, so that allowed the Mets to gain a bit of ground, but struggling to even win those games (they just went 1-2 vs the Marlins) doesn't bode well for their mid-September real team run.  The Braves didn't make it easier for themselves, but managed eventually to win in the 10th (with a two out hit) to lead the Mets by five games, less so the Phils, who continue to tease.  

There are some races technically open though it might be the only real battle is for the last NL Wild Card slot, which the Reds had for a bit, but now are a bit behind the Padres.  The Padres had a major slide of their own, but I think they somehow will manage it. 

The Giants have a bit of breathing room versus the Dodgers, but it would not surprise if the Dodgers sneak up on them. Since a Wild Card game is a crapshoot in many cases, winning the division there is very important.  

More Baseball: A look at the paper provides some more baseball fodder. So, Mets fans are upset that they were once up for four games and eventually were down by 8.5 (now 5) in the course of August? 

How about this stat from ex-Mets reporter KA:  "On August 27, the Blue Jays were 9.5 games behind the Yankees, they are now just a half-game back (and tied in the loss column) for the second American League Wild Card spot."  Ouchie.  This was after it looked like the Yanks went on a nice run after the break and had a comfortable lead in the Wild Card race.

(But, they still have the lead, if barely. The Mets can factor in a bit with a Subway Series coming up next.) 

[Update: The Yanks played poorly in the first game, but showing how hard it is to catch up, the Blue Jays blew a chance to get a wild card slot by losing to the Orioles.  The Braves won, but the Phils lost, so the Mets are closer to being in second place.]

Meanwhile, after a National pitcher was tossed early for hitting a player, the Nats player who was hit earlier that seems to have led to targeting later basically won the game for them.  Even with the Nats having to go with long relief.  That is probably the best way to send a message.