Oldcoach

Interesting ending to the top of the 7th in Toronto. Half of the players and the scoreboard thought there were 2 outs, really only one out, routine fly ball to center resulted the runner on 1st doubled off. /1

I attended a local vigil for Renee Good in Hingham MA this afternoon. It triggered some thoughts, as follows: in August 1988 I arrived in Prague on the 20th anniversary of the Soviet invasion. I was just an American traveling in Eastern Europe, unaware of the significance of the day. /1

I don’t know how many were detained or beaten, I managed to get away. I didn’t really find out what had happened until I got to West Berlin, since there was no reporting on it in the communist bloc. It all seemed extremely dire for the citizens of Prague. /4

I attended a local vigil for Renee Good in Hingham MA this afternoon. It triggered some thoughts, as follows: in August 1988 I arrived in Prague on the 20th anniversary of the Soviet invasion. I was just an American traveling in Eastern Europe, unaware of the significance of the day. /1

As I walked through downtown, I saw many people on the street looking in the same direction. I decided to head in that direction to see what was happening. It took me to Wenceslas Square. There was a group of maybe 50-60 people in the square, chanting in Czech. /2

My one take on the discourse today: it is interesting that our “elites” believe that in a historically violent country, awash in guns, allowing or indeed providing content that degrades and dehumanizes people will NOT result in violence. /1

It’s actually impressive that the murder rate has declined as much as it has in spite of the rhetoric of hate and fear. Most people want only to live quiet, safe lives. “Elites” can shrug off the rhetoric because they feel safe from it. /2

Here’s an old Soviet joke: every day a man walks past a newsstand on his way to work. He stops, looks at the front pages, then continues on his way. After a few weeks of this, the news dealer stops him one day and asks, “why don’t you ever buy the paper?” “Oh, I don’t really want the paper,” /1

Hey @willbunch.bsky.social , I know you are a big Philly booster so I wanted to let you know that I had a great time in your hometown last weekend! I was there with some of my HS athletes for the New Balance Nationals at Franklin Field. We stayed downtown, it was lively, public transit was good /1

Listening to Patrick Wyman’s Tides of History on the middle Roman Republic while doing chores this morning. A couple of lines hit me like a brick: “Nothing was more dangerous for a state in the ancient world than elites who wanted to seize that state for themselves.”

Also: “They were even willing to demote their city or kingdom to second-rate status if that meant they got to be in charge of the desiccated husk.” From Tides of History: Rome in the Middle Republic, Mar 27, 2025 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... This material may be protected by copyright.

Apologies for the long thread but I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I had a great teacher at MIT, the economist Rudi Dornbusch. When discussing currency crises, which occur when confidence in a currency collapses and its value plummets, he would always say, /1

Many people still believe in the status quo even though the basis for that belief is rapidly collapsing. One day the crisis will arrive, and the legitimacy of the administration will collapse. Their incompetence makes that certain, but as in Dornbusch’s saying, it will take longer than we expect. 4/

Apologies for the long thread but I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I had a great teacher at MIT, the economist Rudi Dornbusch. When discussing currency crises, which occur when confidence in a currency collapses and its value plummets, he would always say, /1

“The crisis takes much longer to arrive than you expect, but when it arrives it happens faster than you can imagine.” That’s because ultimately a currency crisis is a psychological phenomenon, not an economic one. It is similar to political crises, like the collapse of the USSR /2

Just returned from a rally at the West Roxbury MA Veterans Admin hospital supporting laid off federal workers. Several hundred in attendance. Focus was on veterans services but support for all federal workers was expressed by the speakers. /1

Rep. Stephen Lynch, City Councilor Ed Flynn, union reps from AFGE, NAGE, and the VA Nurses union all spoke, along with Sen. Markey’s state director Jim Cantwell. Cantwell read remarks from Markey where he pledged to vote against any Trump nominees until the Administration starts following the law./2

Even though Republicans were the drivers of the trade policies which helped drive manufacturing out of the Midwest in the 90’s, Democrats got most of the blame. Why? Because workers thought that the Democrats were there to protect them and they didn’t. 1/

There’s much to be afraid of in the US today. Musk is employing his “move fast and break things” mantra, but he and his youth corps don’t understand what they are dealing with and will certainly break many things. If they crash the economy, as seems possible if or even likely, things get ugly. /1

It’s not just the olds, it’s also young people who feel their future taken away, and not just individual acts of violence. The anger will be channeled into new political movements- think Tea Party on steroids- whose motivating principle will be vengeance. /3

There’s much to be afraid of in the US today. Musk is employing his “move fast and break things” mantra, but he and his youth corps don’t understand what they are dealing with and will certainly break many things. If they crash the economy, as seems possible if or even likely, things get ugly. /1