Random News and Notes 14 November
We start off this edition of RNN with a quick sportsball roundup. The MLB post season awards have all been doled out and here’s who got what.
| Award | League | Winner | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most Valuable Player | American League | Aaron Judge | New York Yankees | 3rd career MVP (2nd straight); edged Cal Raleigh in close voting |
| Most Valuable Player | National League | Shohei Ohtani | Los Angeles Dodgers | 4th career MVP (unanimous, 2nd straight in NL) |
| Cy Young Award | American League | Tarik Skubal | Detroit Tigers | 2nd straight; first AL repeat since Pedro Martínez (1999-2000) |
| Cy Young Award | National League | Paul Skenes | Pittsburgh Pirates | Unanimous; followed Rookie of the Year win from 2024 |
| Rookie of the Year | American League | Nick Kurtz | Oakland Athletics | Unanimous; 36 HR as a rookie first baseman |
| Rookie of the Year | National League | Drake Baldwin | Atlanta Braves | Catcher; first catcher to win NL ROY since Buster Posey (2010) |
| Manager of the Year | American League | Stephen Vogt | Cleveland Guardians | 2nd straight |
| Manager of the Year | National League | Pat Murphy | Milwaukee Brewers | 2nd straight; first NL manager to repeat since Bobby Cox (2004-05) |
The comeback players of the year were Jacob deGrom (NL) and Ronald Acuña Jr. (NL). The Hank Aaron Award went to Judge in the AL and Ohtani in the NL. The Relievers of the year were Edwin Diaz and Aroldis Chapman. Mookie Betts won the Roberto Clemente Humanitarian award. The Platinum Glove awards for the best overall defender in each league went to Bobby Witt Jr in the AL and Fernando Tatis in the NL.
Earlier this year, loudmouth Dem Rep (but I repeat myself) LaMonica McIver assaulted an ICE agent at a facility in Elizabethtown NJ. She was charged with three counts of assaulting, resisting, impeding, and interfering with a federal officer, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(a)(1) because of her actions that day. Yesterday, a Biden appointed federal judge ruled on her motions to have the charges dismissed. It did not go as Rep McIver would have hoped. The Judge, Jamel Semper, denied her motions to dismiss.
In his ruling, Judge Semper called the behavior “wholly disconnected” from her congressional oversight role. I have a feeling this trial is not going to go well for McIver.
Democrat Adelita Grijalva won a special election in Arizona’s 7th CD to fill the House seat vacated by her deceased father. The vote took place back on 23 September. Grijalva beat R Daniel Butierez by a 2-1 margin. Then the shutdown happened. House Speaker Mike Johnson – as required by law and tradition – refused to swear her in until the shutdown ended.
Part of her spiel about not being sworn in was it was preventing her from immediately signing a discharge petition on releasing the Epstein files. She claimed that was the primary reason for the delay. She was sworn in, almost immediately signed, and triggered a vote on the release. Which the Dems voted down. Go figure.
A new study seems to indicate that the development of your favorite canine companion started far earlier than conventional wisdom states. Researchers analyzed 643 ancient and modern canid skulls spanning 50,000 years and discovered that distinctive dog skull shapes first emerged around 11,000 years ago in northwest Russia.
By the middle Stone Age, dogs already exhibited half the diversity seen in modern breeds, with varied snout lengths and head shapes reflecting different roles in early human societies. This study overturns the belief that Victorian-era breeding created most dog diversity, revealing instead that dogs rapidly diversified thousands of years ago as they traveled alongside humans across Eurasia.
New data aside, it seems the domestication mystery still exists. Scientists are still unsure of the how or when dogs became pets and companion animals.
