10.31 At least 133 people were killed in Morbi, India, after a 140 year pedestrian bridge built under British rule collapsed.
10.29 At least 120 people were killed and another 100 injured after they were crushed in a large Halloween crowd in Seoul.
10.28 Intruder yelling “Where’s Nancy?” breaks into home of Nancy Pelosi, attacks her husband with a hammer. Rep. Debbie Dingell: “Somebody is going to die. It’s not just about Congress: I know school board members that are wearing bulletproof vests to meetings now. . . . We’ve got to dial down the temperature. We can’t live in fear.”
10.28 Calvin Butts dies at 73.
10.28 Jerry Lee Lewis dies at 87.
10.27 Musk buys Twitter for $44 billion, or $54.20 a share.
10.27 In the latest round of tests of 4th and 8th graders administered by the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), about a third of students didn’t meet the lowest reading benchmark, and math performance saw its steepest decline since the NAEP’s first tests were administered in 1990.
10.25 Now Rishi Sunak becomes PM
10.24 According to the United Nations, on or before November 15th, a baby will be born, bringing the world’s population to 8 billion.
10.23 Anthony Rizzo on Aaron Judge, after the Yankees were eliminated: “Whatever he gets is gonna be astronomical and he deserves it. I think that he bet on himself on the biggest stage in the biggest market and did it with ease and should be rewarded as the highest-paid player in the game. He’s the new gold standard, in my opinion. And it’s all about market timing for the most part and what better time to go out and hit 62 home runs. He hit over .300, played—how he’s not a Gold Glove finalist is beyond me—amazing defense, stole bases when he needed to, gets on, walks more. It’s just he’s the total package. I think he single-handedly won us at least 40 games this year. So minus 40 games off our record and that’s what we’d be.”
10.23 David French: “Donald Trump was elected in large part because millions of Americans believed the story of the national crisis. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and those desperate measures included nominating and electing a man who would stand up to the left, who wasn’t afraid to smash his enemies. He was the person to confront “American carnage.” Yet what happened? For the first time since the Carter administration, the abortion rate increased. Drug overdose deaths hit a record high. The murder rate spiked. After stabilizing in the Obama years, the marriage rate plunged. And for the first time since the Civil War, the American transfer of power was anything but peaceful. A violent mob, fueled by ridiculous lies, attacked and briefly seized the Capitol. It would be silly to lay all of these developments at Donald Trump’s feet. They’re complicated phenomena with complicated causes. But when you elect a man to address the “carnage,” and the carnage gets worse, then it’s time to reconsider the approach. The sheer scale of the negative changes during his four years in power suggest that there is a high cost to electing a cultural wrecking ball. You might think you’ve aimed your weapon only at your enemies, but there is always collateral damage in cultural conflict. And what is the far right’s response to the failure of the Trump presidency? Yes, they’re reconsidering. They’re doubling down. To them, Trump’s failures just prove how powerful the left truly is. . . . It’s time to take a step back. Through their combination of truth, exaggeration, and outright falsehood, the far left and far right undermine American confidence and fabricate an existential threat to the American idea.”
10.21 Steve Bannon sentenced to four months in jail for contempt of Congress
10.20 Liz Truss resigns after 45 days as PM, outlasted by head of lettuce
10.19 Lunch with Ron Hull
10.13 David Frum via Twitter: Decisive irrefutable documentary evidence that the 45th president of the United States tried to overthrow the US Constitution by violence, no big deal, just another news day.
10.13 In a video shot on January 6, 2021 and released today, Nancy Pelosi replies to the news that Trump might come to the Capitol, where presidents traditionally must not go without an invitation: “I hope he comes, I’m gonna punch him out… I’ve been waiting for this. For trespassing on the Capitol grounds. I’m gonna punch him out, I’m gonna go to jail, and I’m gonna be happy.”
10.13 1/6 Committee issues subpoena for Trump.
10.12 A Connecticut jury said that Alex Jones must pay $965 million for pushing false claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, where 20 first-graders and six adults were killed in 2012, had been staged and the grieving parents were crisis actors.
10.11 Billy Bragg at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.
10.11 Angela Lansbury dies at 96.
10.9 Nicki Finke dies at 68.
10.8 Grace Glueck dies at 96.
10.5 Tom Verducci in SI: “Bonds is the official home run champion. Judge is the authentic champion. One has the official designation. The other is unofficial but has the prestige of authenticity. Which would you rather have? . . . .It is stunning that it happened this year, when hitting is the worst it has been in the 50 seasons with a DH, when the average fastball is faster than ever, when pitchers throw more breaking and offspeed pitches than they do fastballs, when no one else is within 15 homers of him, and when Tinoco was the 230th pitcher Judge saw in 161 games. It took Ruth 10 years as a Yankee to see that many pitchers. Maris saw 270 pitchers in his seven years with the Yankees.
10.4 Aaron Judge hits his 62nd home run, a record for the American League.
10.4 Loretta Lynn dies at 90.
10.4 Pete Buttigieg on Fox News: “I literally don’t even understand what that means. My sense of manhood is not connected to whether or not my vehicle is fueled by gasoline or whether it’s fueled by electricity. . . .To be honest, there are other members of Congress that I pay more attention to when I’m thinking about opinions that really matter or ideas that are critical to engage with.”
10.2 Marjorie Taylor Greene, at a Trump rally in Michigan: griped that “Democrats like Pete Buttigieg want to emasculate the way we drive and force all of you to rely on electric vehicles.”