George Packer's Blog, page 170

Daniel Nestor’s Mastery of Men’s Doubles

Daniel Nestor is the oldest tennis player in the men’s draw at this year’s U.S. Open. On Sunday, he will turn forty-four—that’s nine years older than Roger Federer, who is recovering from knee surgery and will not be in Flushing.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

Related:
American Tennis in Black and White
Serena Williams, Andy Murray, and a Political Wimbledon
The Unexpected Challenge: Roger Federer’s Wimbledon Quarterfinal Victory

The Women Succeeding in a Men’s Professional Baseball League

On Friday night, at Albert Park, in San Rafael, California, the Sonoma Stompers ran onto the pitching mound, hugged one another, laughed, and sprayed champagne. Jose Flores, their six-foot-four closer, had just sailed a fastball by the San Rafael Pacifics slugger Brent Gillespie, leaving the bases loaded and preserving the team’s 5–4 victory. With it, the Stompers claimed the Pacific Association title. Five hundred and ninety-two fans were on hand to watch.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

Related:
The Athletes of the Pit Crew
Clearing the Bar: The Philosophy of the High Jump
Watching the Olympics: Gymnastics for Bodybuilders

Louisiana, Its Floods, and the Presidential Question

In Louisiana, the history of rain and flooding flows through the culture. Whether from the skies, the rivers, or the encroaching ocean, the people of the southern half of this subtropical state are pitted in a constant contest against water. Indeed, but for seasonal flooding through geologic history, much of the very land they live on would not exist.

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Related:
Obama Alienates Millions with Incendiary Pro-Knowledge Remarks
The Sweet Solidarity of Barack Obama and Larry Wilmore
Three Places Obama Could Teach

The Athletes of the Pit Crew

During the thirty-seventh lap of the Nascar Sprint Cup Series at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, New Hampshire, earlier this year, Jimmie Johnson, driving car No. 48, pulled into the pit lane for a new set of tires and a fresh tank of petrol. The six-man pit crew stood on the concrete ledge that outlined their designated stall. Just before Johnson skidded to a stop, the crew leapt off the wall and rushed to the passenger side. The jackman thrusted the car’s ride side up, while two tire changers zipped the wheel’s lug nuts off with a hydraulic screw gun. Just as the tire changers discarded the old rubber, their corresponding tire carriers shoved the replacement in front of the hub. After another round of hydraulic screeching—tightening five lugs for each wheel—the team jumped up and moved over to the driver’s side, where it was all repeated: car jacked up, old tires off, new ones on. The fueller hoisted the gas can above his head, funnelling the liquid into the car’s tank. He removed the can from the car, the jackman dropped all four tires back onto the pavement, and Johnson shifted into gear and hit the gas pedal, zooming back onto the track. The entire process took less than twelve seconds.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

Related:
Clearing the Bar: The Philosophy of the High Jump
Watching the Olympics: Gymnastics for Bodybuilders
Can Ashton Eaton Save the Decathlon?

A Court Overturns a Burkini Ban, but Not Its Mindset

In recent weeks, the burkini, a previously obscure garment of interest only to a subset of Muslim women, has become the object of intense legal, cultural, and philosophical debate in France—and, by way of social media, around the world. On Friday, France’s Council of State, the country’s supreme administrative authority, founded by Napoleon, in 1799, weighed in, decisively overturning a law in one of more than a dozen coastal towns that have forbidden women from wearing the full-body suit on beaches this summer. The burkini looks something like a wetsuit with a short tunic on top and provides the cover some Muslim women prefer when swimming in public. The court ruled that the ban “seriously, and clearly illegally, breached the fundamental freedoms to come and go, the freedom of beliefs and individual freedom.” The controversy, however, is unlikely to end here.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

Related:
Trump’s Blunt-Force Foreign Policy
Orphic Paris, Part XVI
A Real Wave of Terror in France

A Court Overturns a Burkini Ban, But Not Its Mindset

In recent weeks, the burkini, a previously obscure garment of interest only to a subset of Muslim women, has become the object of intense legal, cultural, and philosophical debate in France—and, by way of social media, around the world. On Friday, France’s Council of State, the country’s supreme administrative authority, founded by Napoleon, in 1799, weighed in, decisively overturning a law in one of more than a dozen coastal towns that have forbidden women from wearing the full-body suit on beaches this summer. The burkini looks something like a wetsuit with a short tunic on top and provides the cover some Muslim women prefer when swimming in public. The court ruled that the ban “seriously, and clearly illegally, breached the fundamental freedoms to come and go, the freedom of beliefs and individual freedom.” The controversy, however, is unlikely to end here.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

Related:
Trump’s Blunt-Force Foreign Policy
Orphic Paris, Part XVI
A Real Wave of Terror in France

Rodrigo Duterte’s Campaign of Terror in the Philippines

Rodrigo Duterte, the new President of the Philippines, is a liberal’s worst nightmare. In his campaign, Duterte, a former mayor and prosecutor, promised to cleanse the country of drug users and dealers by extrajudicial means. Since his inauguration, on June 30th, he has been following through with a vengeance. In that time, more than eighteen hundred people have been killed—drug dealers, drug users, and in several cases people who happened to be nearby. The youngest was five years old.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

Related:
The Challenge of Rebranding Donald Trump
The Far Right’s Obsession with Hillary’s Health
Pence Recaptured After Fleeing Trump Campaign Bus

The Case Against Fox News

Years ago, I briefly considered a job on a different career path. A person whose position made him a gatekeeper for that job had contacted me to ask if I was interested in being considered. He suggested we meet to discuss it, and named a restaurant. When I arrived, we had a respectful conversation about my qualifications. Then, his hands reached and landed squarely on my leg. I removed them. He suggested we go to my place, and I said no. When I went to hail a cab, he grabbed my shoulders, turned me toward him, and pressed his lips and tongue onto my mouth as I pulled away. As I closed the car door in his face, he asked me to send him materials that would support my application. I sent them. Soon afterward, he proposed that we date. I responded that our relationship would never be more than professional. He accepted that, and continued in the next months to encourage me to seek the job, even introducing me to people he thought could help me. But I stopped considering it and didn’t look back. Several factors contributed to my loss of interest, including my contentment with the job I already had, but one was the downside of having to navigate the professional yes alongside the romantic no.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

Related:
Roger Ailes, the Clintons, and the Scandals of the Scandalmongers
Fox News and the Repercussions of Sexual Harassment
What Are Donald Trump, Roger Ailes, and Steve Bannon Really Up To?

The Challenge of Rebranding Donald Trump

Donald Trump, Inc., is badly lagging the competition, losing market share, alarming its financial backers, and being portrayed by its main rival as a toxic product that incites hatred and bigotry. From a business perspective, there is no doubt what is needed: a major rebranding campaign.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

Related:
Rodrigo Duterte’s Campaign of Terror in the Philippines
The Far Right’s Obsession with Hillary’s Health
Pence Recaptured After Fleeing Trump Campaign Bus

The Far Right’s Obsession with Hillary’s Health

Politics is one of the few careers whose successful practitioners almost never pay a penalty for aging. A quarter of the U.S. senators serving currently are seventy or older. Among the Senate’s twenty women, twelve are sixty or above. Ronald Reagan’s folksy paternalism was part of his appeal. White-haired, seventy-four-year-old Bernie Sanders was practically a teen idol this election cycle. And the general election will pit a sixty-eight-year-old (Clinton) against a seventy-year-old (Trump). Politicians might skew old, but by self-selection they tend to be people with a lot of stamina; they also tend to be affluent and have access to high-quality health care, so, for the most part, they trundle along pretty nicely. All of which means that if you want to make a politician’s age and possible accompanying health deficits an issue, you really have to work at it. You may have to gin something up entirely, relying on certain corners of the Internet least encumbered by facts.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

Related:
Rodrigo Duterte’s Campaign of Terror in the Philippines
The Challenge of Rebranding Donald Trump
Pence Recaptured After Fleeing Trump Campaign Bus