The View from Right Field

38th Annual Cubs Convention* – January 17-19, 2025

Back to the Convention, the unofficial opening of the Cubs’ 150th season.  Two points: First, when I say “the Convention” it is obvious what I am talking about because the Cubs Convention is the Convention.  It was the first fans’ convention for any team, any sport, anywhere, and it is still the one to go to.  Second, it is the Cubs’ 150th season (our first was 1876; and all of them have been in Chicago – the only team that can say that).  I don’t know why the Cubs aren’t talking about it; maybe they are waiting until 2026.

Once again, we watched Friday night’s Opening Ceremonies at home on Marquee.  It’s just easier with how crowded the room gets, plus the driving back and forth.  Also, you get a better view on TV and you don’t have to sit/stand for an hour for the Opening Ceremonies to start, plus the time in line to even get in the room.  Wayne Messmer sang the Anthem; it doesn’t get better than that.

Biden Is Breaking Traditions Because Trump Is a Threat to Traditions

The Washington Post reports today:

“Outgoing presidents often conclude their tenure with a flurry of activity, such as pardons or proclamations, but Biden’s efforts have been unusually wide-ranging, reflecting his conviction that Trump represents a unique threat to American traditions.”

So, in other words, the Biden administration is breaking American traditions, as to what an outgoing president does, because Donald Trump is a threat to American traditions.  As I said in a letter to the editor published by the Chicago Tribune a year ago:

Daniel Patrick Moynihan Was Wrong. We Can Have Our Own Facts.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said: “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”¹  Except that is not true anymore.  Both sides in politics, and probably other things, do have their own facts today.  Fox vs. CNN/MSNBC.  The New York Times vs. The Wall Street Journal editorial page.  People watching/reading one silo of information vs. people watching/reading another.  People really do have different facts today, which means you can see why their opinions differ – because their facts are different.

And what may be even worse is that most of the people watching/reading in different silos don’t even understand that people watching/reading in other silos see things differently.  They still think there is only one set of facts and that everything else is just misinformation or disinformation.² 

Disinformation, Misinformation. How About “Lies” and “Wrong”?

People talk and complain about disinformation and misinformation constantly.  Disinformation and misinformation are said to be horrible, and in some people’s views, they need to be banned.  But to be honest, I’m not really sure what these terms mean.  Is “disinformation” a statement that is false or does it have to be knowingly false?  Does it need to have an illicit purpose or does that matter?  And what about “misinformation”?  Is it something that is not true but without an illicit purpose or is it something else?  And how is it different from “disinformation”?

I don’t know, and I suspect that I’m not alone in my confusion.  I also suspect that disinformation and misinformation are used more as weapons than as descriptions.  The nice thing about calling something disinformation or misinformation is that you don’t have to explain why it’s false or wrong.  You just get to call it false and tell people to ignore it and sometimes even try to shut people up because they’re saying it.

Biden Retrospectives – And the Question That Is Not Being Asked

Every Saturday, the Financial Times has a “Lunch with the FT” interview.  This interview this past Saturday was with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.  The interview was mostly devoted, not surprisingly, to a recap, on the positive side of the Biden administration’s foreign policy.  However, the interviewer, FT correspondent Dimitri Sevastropulo, apparently never addressed the elephant, or should I say, donkey, in the room.  During the 1973 Senate Watergate hearings, Senator Howard Baker (R, Tennessee) famously said that the question was what did the President know and when did he know it.

The questions regarding Joe Biden, which Mr. Sevastropulo apparently did not ask, are: When did the President’s diminishing capacity start and when did Secretary Blinken realize it?  But in the case of President Biden, there is an additional question: Given the President’s clearly diminishing capacity, how could Secretary Blinken possibly think that he could serve another four years and why didn’t Secretary Blinken say something?