Just How Bad Are The 2024 Chicago White Sox

The Chicago White Sox have lost 17 games in a row and might very well end up as the worst team in MLB history. 

As of this writing, the Chisox are 27-84. They are 40 games back of the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central. They are also 26 games back of the fourth place Detroit Tigers. 

Prior to this season, the longest losing streak in franchise history was 100 years ago in 1924 when the team lost 13 consecutive games en route to a last place finish in the AL. 

That record has been broken in 2024 not once, but twice. Prior to their current losing streak, the Chisox lost 14 straight games between May 22nd and June 6th. Their longest winning streak in 2024 was four games between May 8-11 when they beat the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field before winning three consecutive games against the Guardians at home. 

Their last victory took place exactly three weeks ago today when they beat the Minnesota Twins 3-1 in the first game of a doubleheader. The Twins beat them in the nightcap. From there, the Chisox have been swept in succession by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners and the Royals yet again. 

After going 3-21 in July, the South Siders have an off day tomorrow before starting a six-game road trip against the Twins and the Oakland A's. 

The worst team in modern MLB history by won-loss record is the 1962 New York Mets who went 40-120 in their inaugural season. By winning percentage, that record belongs to the 1916 Philadelphia A's who had a winning percentage of .235 following a 36-117 campaign (back when the MLB season was 154 games). The Chisox (who currently have a winning percentage of .243) could do worse on both counts. 

There are a couple of silver linings. One is that the Chisox will get the top pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. The other is that they might not be that bad for very long. 

Both the Baltimore Orioles and Arizona Diamondbacks are three years removed from losing 110 games. The O's are currently in first place in the AL East while the D'Backs won the NL pennant last year and have a legitimate shot at the post-season again this year. 

Let's also remember that 6 of their 17 consecutive losses came at the hands of the Royals. A year ago, the Royals lost 106 games. This year so far, they currently have the third AL Wild Card spot and have already won more games this season than they did all of last year. 

The Chicago White Sox could be a vastly improved team in the next couple of years. But they still have to finish this godawful season first.

Perhaps Harris Will Pick Shapiro After All

A couple of days ago, I mused why I didn't think presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris would pick Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to be her running mate.  

Now I'm having some second thoughts. Harris and her running mate will make their first public appearance together on Tuesday, August 6th in Philadelphia. 

While the Harris campaign is cautioning that nothing has been finalized, it would be weird for Harris to introduce her running mate in Pennsylvania and it is not Governor Shapiro. It would be kind of a letdown.

There are a lot of so-called progressives who certainly think Harris is going to pick Shapiro because they are demanding that Harris pick anyone (preferably Minnesota Governor Tim Walz or Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear) but Shapiro.

If Harris does pick Shapiro, it will demonstrate that she can stand up to the far left. While some might remain "uncommitted", I think the sight of Shapiro wiping the floor with J.D. Vance on a debate stage might help some people come around.

A Couple of Thoughts on Hezbollah's Attack Which Killed 12 Druze Children in Israel's Golan Heights

On Saturday, Hezbollah bombed a soccer field in Majdal Shams, a town is Israel's Golan Heights resulting in the deaths of 12 children all members of the Druze community. 

Now Hezbollah has been launching missile attacks into northern Israel since the day after the Hamas attack resulting in the deaths of 24 Israeli civilians and 18 IDF soldiers and reservists. But given how this attack targeted children there is fear of an expanded war with the U.S. demanding Israel exercise restraint.

A couple of thoughts.

First, had the IDF bombed a soccer field in Gaza resulting in the deaths of 12 Palestinian children the international outrage would have been swift and unambiguous. But when it comes to Hezbollah killing children inside of Israel (even non-Jewish children), the reaction is meh. 

Second, there has been great emphasis on Hezbollah denying responsibility for the attack with many pointing out that it rarely denies responsibility for its action. I heard this on Bloomberg from some professor from Columbia University (quel surprise). On the contrary, Hezbollah has long denied responsibility for its actions. Besides, who else could have been responsible for the attack? Presbyterians?

Why I Don't Believe Harris Will Pick Josh Shapiro as Her Running Mate

Presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has reportedly narrowed her VP choices down to three men - Arizona junior Senator Mark Kelly, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. 

Of those three, I am most enthusiastic about Shapiro. Perhaps his most significant achievement during his term as Governor was overseeing the rebuilding of a section of I-95 which collapsed in flames in only 12 days. 

And yes, I take pride that Shapiro is Jewish and unabashedly pro-Israel. As a board member of the University of Pennsylvania (albeit a non-voting member), Shapiro's criticism of then President Liz Magill's handling of anti-Semitism essentially sealed her fate. He also won praise for denouncing an anti-Semitic protest outside of a restaurant called Goldies, owned by an Israeli Jews. Shapiro then subsequently showed his support for the restaurant by buying lunch there.

Consider what I wrote a week ago when President Biden announced his withdrawal:

But let's assume Harris does get the nomination. Who does she choose as her running mate? I'd like to see either Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg or Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Either of them would tear J.D. Vance to pieces. Then again, I'm not sure if Democrats would accept a Jewish running mate or if the country at large would accept an openly gay man running with a biracial woman. Yet if that is the case then it says more about the country than it does about them.

A few hours later, CNN's John King said this about Shapiro when asked about him by Anderson Cooper:

Well, he certainly under consideration, I know that from key Harris allies. He’s a first-term governor, he’s Jewish, there could be some risk in putting him on the ticket.

Jeff Jacoby, the lone conservative columnist at The Boston Globe, remarked on X, "In America today, antisemitism on the left is a given." 

Well, certainly on the far left. A "No Genocide Josh" website has been launched in an effort to persuade Harris not to choose Shapiro to be her running mate. The website has been denounced by NY Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres who remarked:

Every potential nominee for Vice President is pro-Israel. Yet only one, Josh Shapiro, has been singled out by a far-left smear campaign calling him ‘Genocide Josh.’ The reason he is treated differently from the rest? Antisemitism. The antisemitic far left must never be given veto power over the selection of a presidential running mate.

Now one could argue that Shapiro might not be selected by Harris because of his support for school vouchers . While teachers' unions are an important constituency of the Democratic Party, I don't think school vouchers is animating the far left of the Democratic Party in the way support for Israel does. 

As I argued yesterday, Harris is treating Israel and Hamas as if they are morally equivalent. If she is looking to put space between herself and supporting Israel, then she will not choose Governor Shapiro. Lord knows, she doesn't want a spectacle of Democratic delegates denouncing Shapiro's selection which would only reinforce notions that a critical mass of the Democratic Party does not want a Jew on the ticket. But given that Americans are more supportive of Israel than Hamas, Harris would be wise to ignore these considerations when determining Shapiro's virtues for the Democratic ticket.

This isn't to say that Kelly and Walz don't have their merit. If she selects Kelly, it might help neutralize some of the criticisms she received over her role as "border czar." Kelly was one of the Senators heavily involved in the ill-fated bipartisan border deal which Trump scuttled much to Kelly's disgust. Meanwhile, Walz is a successful two-term Governor. 

But if he were to be selected it would signal that Democrats are worried about holding onto Minnesota which hasn't gone Republican since 1972. Yet I think Pennsylvania is a far more crucial state for Democrats to hold onto than both Arizona and Minnesota.

I sincerely hope I am wrong about this assessment. Indeed, if Harris does choose Shapiro as her running mate while intensifying her criticisms of Israel, she can dismiss Republican critics by saying, "My running mate is Jewish. So is my husband." 

With that said, I hope she will both choose Shapiro while not intensifying her criticism of Israel. That might be asking a lot, but it would demonstrate that Harris has some backbone against the far left.

What Does Trump Mean When He Says Christians Won't Have to Vote Again After 2024?

During a speech yesterday at Turning Point Action's Believers Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida, former President Trump declared that it will not be necessary for Christians to vote after the 2024 election:

I don't care how, but you have to get out and vote. Christians get out and vote. Just this time. You won't have to do it anymore.

In four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed. It’ll be fine. You won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. We'll have it fixed so good. You're not going to have to vote.

What exactly does this mean?

If Christians won't have to vote in four years' time, does Trump mean that for people of all faiths?

If yes, does this mean there will be no elections after 2024 should Trump be re-elected?

Does that make Trump President for Life?

And what is exactly that will be fixed? The border? A national abortion ban? The abolition of gay marriage? The termination of the U.S. Constitution?

Of course, the Trump campaign is minimizing the former President's comments. Spokesman Steven Cheung issued a statement:

President Trump was talking about the importance of faith, uniting this country and bringing prosperity to every American, as opposed to the divisive political environment that has sowed so much division and even resulted in an assassination attempt.

No, Trump was speaking of the importance of sending him back to the White House. Talk of faith, unity and prosperity much less the assassination attempt doesn't explain why Trump would tell his audience they wouldn't ever have to vote again.

If Kamala Harris entertained the idea that people would not have to vote again after this year, Trump and MAGA nation would go ballistic and not without justification. 

Of course, Trump's authoritarian talk of not having to vote, of being "dictator for a day" and "terminating the Constitution" will persist. Yet the question remains if Americans want our democratic experiment to carry on. 

Kamala Harris Is Treating Israel & Hamas as Moral Equivalents

On Thursday, following her one-on-one meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Vice-President Kamala Harris said some good things and some not so good things.

Here are the good things:

Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization.  On October 7, Hamas triggered this war when it massacred 1,200 innocent people, including 44 Americans.  Hamas has committed horrific acts of sexual violence and took 250 hostages.

There are American citizens who remain captive in Gaza: Sagui Dekel-Chen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Edan Alexander, Keith Siegel, Omer Neutra.  And the remains of American citizens Judy Weinstein, Gad Haggai, and Itay Chen are still being held in Gaza. 

I have met with the families of these American hostages multiple times now.  And I’ve told them each time, they are not alone and I stand with them.  And President Biden and I are working every day to bring them home.

The Times of Israel noted, "The vice president made a point of reading out the names of all eight American-Israel hostages still held captive by Hamas — something no other US official has done."

She said their names.

But here are the not so good things:

I also expressed with the prime minister my serious concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians.  And I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there, with over 2 million people facing high levels of food insecurity and half a million people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity.

What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating — the images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third, or fourth time.  We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies.  We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering.  And I will not be silent.

While there is no question Palestinian civilians have been killed, the Hamas run Gaza Health Ministry makes no distinction between civilian deaths and those of Hamas terrorists. Harris, too, fails to make this distinction.

While it is true that the deaths of some Palestinians civilians are as a result of Israel's defensive military operations, it is also true that Hamas uses its own people as human shields. Harris again fails to make this distinction.

Claims of hunger, famine and starvation are equally dubious. Yet Harris sees fit to spread misinformation. 

In so doing, she undermines her rhetoric about U.S. hostages in Hamas' captivity by treating Israel as Hamas' moral equivalent. So long as Harris places pressure on Israel instead of Hamas, the hostages will remain in captivity. 

While former President Donald Trump pounced on Harris' remarks, he has shown himself to be no more sympathetic to Israel's plight imploring Netanyahu to "finish it up and get it done quickly." If only it were that easy.

Unfortunately, given Harris' vow not to be silent concerning the Palestinians, I suspect we will hear more of this rhetoric from her which in the long run will do more harm than good especially for the hostages. 

No doubt some of this rhetoric is motivated by recapturing the support of "uncommitted" Democratic delegates alienated with President Biden's support for Israel which earned him the nickname "Genocide Joe".  Minnesota's uncommitted delegates have indicated they will not support Harris and it is unclear if her remarks changed anything. If they haven't changed anything then I shudder to think what Harris might say about Israel to earn their support. 

The Pros and Cons of The MBTA Red Line Partial Shutdown

 

For the past two weeks, the MBTA's Red Line has been partially shut down from track repair work between Alewife and Kendall Square. The closure has also extended to Park Street during the evening.

This has made getting to and from work between Cambridge and Boston very interesting with both pros and cons. 

Mind you, I have recently experienced other prolonged MBTA Red Line shutdowns. There was a 10-day shutdown between Alewife and Harvard Square back in February. This particular shutdown wasn't onerous as it made for a pleasant walk to Harvard Square. In early May, there was a 9-day partial shutdown between Park Street and JFK/UMass. Again, this shutdown didn't affect me too adversely as it only affected my route between Park Street and South Station which made for a short shuttle bus trip. There were several occasions when I opted to walk from Park Street to South Station and one occasion when I walked straight from Park Street to work in the Seaport District.

However, this shutdown which commenced on July 12th and will conclude tomorrow (July 28th), affected the Cambridge portion of my commute which necessitated more strategic planning on my part. While I don't start work until 9 a.m., I made a point of setting my alarm for 4:50 a.m. so as to allow as much preparation time as possible. 

Initially, I would catch the shuttle bus on Mass Avenue. The first day was great as there was hardly anyone on the bus. But most people work from home on Mondays and Fridays. The following day proved far more chaotic. Fortunately, the MBTA devised a two-pronged approach to shuttle buses. 

There was one set of shuttle buses which made all stops between Alewife and Kendall Square while there was another bus which went express from Porter Square to Kendall Square and on most days, I opted to take this bus. However, this past Wednesday morning, the lines were unusually long for the express bus, and I ended up taking the local shuttle and barely got to work on time. The MBTA had a similar strategy on the return home. Passengers could take buses to Central Square, Harvard Square and Davis Square or could opt for bus service to Porter Square and Alewife. 

This being the MBTA there were invariably other wrinkles. On the first day, a lot of us couldn't use our Charlie Cards to enter Kendall Square and there was no MBTA staff on hand to help. The next day there was plenty of MBTA staff present and they made their presence known. As I was making my way to the train, one MBTA worker shouted at me, "Hurry up, dude!!!" To which I replied, "Don't call me dude!!!"

For the most part, the buses we used were charter buses which were clean and had plenty of air conditioning. Although I do remember having to take a minibus to Porter Square in which I had to stand for the entire duration of the trip. Standing on a subway train is one thing. Standing on a minibus is another. 

Still, I was amazed how the bus drivers could make those tight turns without hitting anything. That is until one evening a bus driver collided with a car as we pulled into Porter Square knocking the driver's front fender clean off. While I could disembark, those headed to Alewife had to stay put until the police arrived to settle things.

However, things would become chaotic this past Wednesday evening. I actually got out of work 15 minutes early due to cutting my lunch short to help a client. This delighted me as I was supposed to meet a friend for dinner in Davis Square and I figured I would have plenty of time to spare.

Wrong.

A man jumped to his death in front of a train at South Station resulting in a temporary shutdown of the entire Red Line. There was a large police and fire department presence. An MBTA worker notified us that "an extreme emergency" had taken place and that shuttle buses would be coming soon. 

This meant having to take a shuttle bus all the way from South Station to Davis Square which took almost two hours. Despite the lengthy trip, I arrived at my destination not long after my friend and we had a splendid dinner on a cool evening.

The biggest virtue of this partial shutdown was all the time I now had at my disposal before getting to work. There were several occasions when I arrived at Seaport before 8 a.m. I would use this time to shop at Trader Joe's, walk around Boston Harbor and eat breakfast before needing to clock into work at 9 a.m. It would liken it to a morning siesta. 

My co-worker Scott asked me if I was going to continue getting up earlier once the shutdown ended. I think I'll try a happy medium as I do want to catch up on my sleep. But at the same time there is a joy in arriving at work with time to spare before needing to start work. This I would like to continue. But we shall see.

Further partial Red Line shutdowns are scheduled for both August and September. The former will take place between August 19-25. While this shutdown will be shorter in duration, it will affect my entire commute as the shutdown is between Alewife and JFK/UMass. It will be interesting to see what the MBTA's shuttle bus strategy will be during this shutdown. Fortunately, I get to miss the September shutdown which goes from JFK/UMass from September 6-29. 

However, for better or for worse, these partial shutdowns are likely to continue for the foreseeable future. I also wonder if the Red Line will have a total month-long shutdown as the Orange Line did in August-September 2022. This is the price we pay for not making public transportation and infrastructure improvement a priority for far too long.