RETRO FILES / WHITE HOUSE HALLOWEEN

 

On Halloween 2013, the Obamas greeted visitors on various days during the annual Halloween celebrations at the White House. 

FRIDAY FANS / WORLD SERIES BOO HOO

Halloween Hauntings from an Also-Ran Baseball City Congratulations, Milwaukee. The Brewers earned every damn minute of their remarkable season and postseason. 

The best team won. 

You deserve the champagne, the parade, the bragging rights and the hangovers. 

 But spare a thought for the rest of us poor bastards. 

 Especially San Diego, where another October has ended with the Padres watching somebody else celebrate. Another winter of wondering what went wrong. Another season of hearing that awful refrain, Wait'll next year. And this year we've got a ghost that won't go away. 

 Ty France. Remember that ninth-inning rocket in Milwaukee? The Padres trailing by a run, a man aboard, and France launching a baseball toward what looked like a miracle. A two-run homer would have put San Diego ahead. Instead, the damn thing hit a cable beneath the stadium roof, dropped into an outfielder's glove, and became an out. 

 An OUT! 

 Only in baseball can you hit a ball so hard and so high that the building gets credit for the putout. 

 Would it have cleared the fence? Nobody knows. But it had a chance, and for a few glorious seconds, so did San Diego. One lousy cable separated a possible victory from another kick in the teeth. And who knows where a Game 1 victory might have taken the Padres? That's the cruelty of baseball. 

The season ends, but the possibilities refuse to die. And one more thing, Milwaukee. Before you start claiming your city has never won a World Series, remember 1957. Hank Aaron and the Milwaukee Braves beat the New York Yankees in seven games. Different ownership, different franchise, same damn city. 

 World Series championships belong to cities. Ballplayers get pennants and paychecks. Cities get the glory, the parades and the memories passed from grandfathers to grandchildren. Milwaukee now has two World Series championships to remember. 

 San Diego? We're still waiting for our first. So are Seattle, Denver and Tampa Bay. Four cities, four empty trophy cases, and enough October finger pointing to fill a divorce court. 

 Happy Halloween, Milwaukee. 

Enjoy the bubbles and the bravado. The rest of us never-winners got another lump of coal. Yes, we're jealous, but wait'll next year. Damn it. 

And, when the stingy baseball gods deem the San Diego Padres worthy of a World Series title then all of baseball will see a celebration for the ages!

Until then: Nice going, Brewers!

OLD TIMES CAFE / ONLY READ THE GOOD NEWS

 

DESIGN / LONDON’S OXFORD STREET TO OPEN PEDESTRIAN MALL THIS WEEK

Designers look at a segment of London's Oxford Street when it becomes all pedestrian this week

A nearly one-kilometer (2/3 of a mile) stretch of Oxford Street will became a pedestrian mall October 26, removing buses, taxis, bicycles and other regular traffic from part of Britain’s best-known shopping street ahead of the Christmas shopping season. 

 The conversion will extend from Orchard Street to Great Portland Street, passing through Oxford Circus. Vehicles displaced by the change will be diverted onto nearby roads, where officials say traffic conditions will be monitored. 

 

The project is being driven by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who revived his campaign to pedestrianize Oxford Street in September 2024. His earlier effort failed in 2018 when Westminster City Council withdrew its support amid concerns about the effect on surrounding streets. 

 Proposals to change how people travel along Oxford Street have circulated for decades; the current conversion represents the delivery of Khan’s renewed initiative. City Hall presents the project as an effort to strengthen Oxford Street’s position as a shopping and visitor destination following years of pressure from online retailing, changing consumer habits and the pandemic. 

 

The intended benefits include more room for pedestrians, opportunities for outdoor events and dining, and a street where visitors can spend time beyond shopping.  

Responsibility for delivering the transformation rests with the Oxford Street Development Corporation, a public body established January 1, 2026. Its chief executive is Nabeel Khan (no relation), previously head of growth and environment at the London Borough of Lambeth. The corporation coordinates the regeneration programme with Transport for London, local councils, businesses and other partners. 

 Transport for London handles the highway and traffic changes that make the conversion possible. 

 The first phase’s design team is led by London practice East. Its collaborators include landscape firm J&L Gibbons, urban design consultancy Gehl, research and design practice Publica, Etude and Norman Rourke Pryme. 

East released initial images in October and says seating, new public spaces and trees will be introduced through the transitional stages, with improvements in place by spring 2027. 

 A separate team led by Hawkins/Brown is preparing a broader concept for Oxford Street’s full length, from Marble Arch to Tottenham Court Road. That wider assignment does not mean the entire street will close to vehicles October 26. 

 City Hall’s design brief provides for continued bus travel along the eastern section beyond the pedestrianization area. Former New York transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan (no relation) and Bloomberg Associates have also advised City Hall during development of the programme, bringing experience from the conversion of Times Square into pedestrian space. 

 Access arrangements will preserve some essential vehicle movements. Emergency vehicles and mobility scooters will retain access, while loading vehicles will be permitted between midnight and 7 a.m. 

Several north-south crossings, including Regent Street at Oxford Circus, will remain open except during temporary construction closures. These arrangements mean the new mall will still have vehicle crossings and controlled servicing access. 

 Public consultations helped shape the decision. In the 2025 consultation, 66 percent of respondents who expressed a view on pedestrianization supported it. A later consultation on detailed transport and highway changes received 2,716 responses. Questions about accessibility, diverted traffic, noise and air quality formed part of the assessment process. 

The consultation figures reflect participants’ responses, rather than a representative poll of all Londoners. October 26 marks the beginning of a phased conversion. The corporation plans limited initial construction to reduce disruption during the holiday shopping period, followed by seating, rest areas, trees and signage. 

Temporary arrangements will allow officials to gather feedback from residents, workers, businesses and accessibility groups before developing permanent improvements. A transitional scheme is expected to be in place by the end of spring 2027.  

LEST WE FORGET/ Oxford Street during WW2 Nazi bombing:

LOCAL / GIVE BLOOD, GET BURGERS: A HALLOWEEN TREAT IN CORONADO CORONADO, CA

There’s something deliciously vunderful brewing in Coronado, CA this Halloween week, and it involves a vampire, a blood drive and a free hamburger. Today Tuesday, October 27, Double Standard restaurant is teaming up with the San Diego Blood Bank for a community blood drive that promises to reward generosity with a hearty meal. From 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the San Diego Blood Bank’s Bloodmobile will be stationed outside the restaurant at 1202 Orange Avenue, ready to welcome donors willing to roll up their sleeves for a good cause. 

In return, everyone who donates blood will receive a free burger combo, including a single burger of their choice, fries and a soda. The complimentary meal must be redeemed the same day. 

The restaurant’s Halloween-themed promotion features a cartoon vampire enjoying a hamburger, a playful reminder that giving blood can be a treat for everyone involved. 

Of course, the real beneficiaries are patients throughout the San Diego region who depend on lifesaving blood donations. 

And unlike Count Dracula, the San Diego Blood Bank only accepts blood from willing donors. 

EVENT DETAILS: Tuesday, October 27, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at Double Standard, 1202 Orange Avenue, Coronado. For restaurant information, visit doublestandard-sd.com. A Halloween-inspired vampire puts his appetite to work promoting Double Standard's October 27 blood drive in partnership with the San Diego Blood Bank. Blood donors receive a complimentary burger, fries and soda, redeemable that day.

MEDIA MONDAY / THE $25 BILLION PRICE OF BETRAYING AMERICA'S PRIVACY

How Cambridge Analytica transformed personal information into political intelligence—and why Meta's enormous court judgment matters to anyone who uses social media. 

 By the staff of PillartoPost.org daily online magazine--A New Mexico judge has put a $25 billion price tag on something millions of Americans have been giving away for years without realizing it: their personal privacy. 

The company being ordered to pay is Meta Platforms, parent of Facebook, one of the largest social media enterprises in the world. 

 The October 21, 2026, judgment follows a jury's finding that Meta repeatedly misled consumers about the privacy of their personal information. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez pursued the case under the state's consumer protection laws. 

 Meta disputes the allegations and plans to appeal. 

Nevertheless, the extraordinary penalty returns public attention to one of the most troubling episodes in the history of social media: Cambridge Analytica saga. What did Cambridge Analytica want with information belonging to millions of unsuspecting Facebook users? 

The answer was political intelligence. The company wanted to learn how Americans thought, what concerned them, what interested them, and which messages might influence their political decisions. 

 To accomplish that, Cambridge Analytica turned ordinary details from people's online lives into psychological profiles designed to help political campaigns target potential voters. It was an extraordinary application of computer technology to politics, and it raised a question that remains unanswered for millions of Americans: 

Who gave anyone permission to do this? 

 THE PERSONALITY QUIZ THAT OPENED THE DOOR 

Cambridge Analytica's methods became public knowledge in March 2018, when investigations by The Guardian, The Observer, and The New York Times exposed the company's collection and exploitation of Facebook information. 

At the center of the operation was a personality-testing application developed by Aleksandr Kogan, a researcher affiliated with Cambridge University. 

 Facebook users were offered a modest payment to complete an online personality survey. What many did not realize was that the application could also obtain information concerning their Facebook friends. 

 The Federal Trade Commission later described how the application collected information about hundreds of thousands of participating Americans and tens of millions of their Facebook friends. 

 Many of those friends had never taken the quiz. 

They had not knowingly agreed to participate in Cambridge Analytica's research. Nevertheless, their information became part of an enormous database. The original participants were told that personally identifiable information would not be collected. 

Federal investigators subsequently found that this assurance was deceptive. The operation demonstrated how a relatively small number of participants could provide access to information about an astonishingly large population. 

WHAT CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA DID WITH THE INFORMATION 

Having obtained personal information, Cambridge Analytica set about answering a politically valuable question: What makes an individual voter respond to a particular message? 

 The company used computer algorithms to analyze Facebook activity, interests, demographic details, and other personal characteristics. That information was combined with voter records and commercial databases containing additional details about individuals. 

 The resulting profiles attempted to estimate personality traits, political concerns, and potential responsiveness to advertising. The company's approach was known as psychographic profiling. 

 One widely used psychological model, known by the acronym OCEAN, evaluates five broad personality characteristics: 

--openness, 

--conscientiousness, 

--extraversion, 

--agreeableness, and 

--neuroticism. 

Cambridge Analytica used personality assessments and behavioral information to divide individuals into groups that could receive different political messages. 

 For example, someone classified as particularly responsive to perceived threats might be shown advertising emphasizing danger or insecurity. Someone with a different psychological profile might receive an optimistic message about prosperity or opportunity. 

 The underlying political issue could be identical. The language, imagery, and emotional appeal could change according to the characteristics assigned to the intended audience. Instead of delivering one political advertisement to a broad population, campaign strategists could test different messages and direct them toward selected groups of voters. 

 That is the essential meaning of political microtargeting. The remarkable aspect was not that politicians were trying to persuade voters. Political persuasion is as old as democracy. The concern was that private information, sometimes obtained without meaningful consent, was being used to make that persuasion increasingly individualized. 

 THE GUN OWNERS WHO NEVER GAVE PERMISSION 

A particularly revealing investigation published by the nonprofit newsroom ProPublica in February 2025 demonstrated how extensively Cambridge Analytica's techniques could reach into ordinary American life. 

 Reporters Corey G. Johnson and Byard Duncan investigated the relationship between Cambridge Analytica and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry trade association. 

 The investigation documented how the gun industry had accumulated personal information about customers over many years, including information drawn from warranty cards and sporting goods purchases. 

 In 2016, Cambridge Analytica received information collected through this operation and combined it with additional information from commercial data brokers. 

 The resulting files contained details reaching far beyond firearms ownership. According to ProPublica, the information could include income, debts, religious affiliation, shopping preferences, charitable interests, and other personal characteristics. 

 Cambridge Analytica matched more than 1.3 million records and divided prospective voters into five behavioral groups. 

 These groups included people the company described as risk-takers, carers, go-getters, individualists, and supporters. 

 Different messages were developed for different groups. The company's work helped the firearms industry identify and contact voters it believed would respond favorably to its political objectives. 

 Among the most disturbing findings was the reaction of people whose personal details had been included in these databases. Some told ProPublica they had no idea their information had been collected for political purposes. 

One could buy fishing equipment, purchase a firearm, complete a warranty card, or shop at a sporting goods store without imagining that those transactions might eventually become part of a political intelligence operation. Yet that was precisely the sort of information Cambridge Analytica was using. 

 DID IT CHANGE THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION? 

Cambridge Analytica worked for Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016 and was associated with other political campaigns, including Senator Ted Cruz's Republican primary effort. Its executives promoted the company's ability to use psychological information to influence voters. The company certainly collected personal data and developed targeting methods intended to serve political campaigns. 

 But whether its psychological techniques actually changed the outcome of the presidential election remains unproven. 

 That distinction matters. 

 There is documented evidence of invasive data collection, personality profiling, and targeted political advertising. There is considerably less evidence establishing that these techniques persuaded enough individual voters to determine an election's outcome. The consequences for personal privacy, however, do not depend upon proving that Cambridge Analytica elected a president. The privacy violations stand on their own. 

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STEPS IN 

In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission brought proceedings against Cambridge Analytica and reached settlements with former company CEO Alexander Nix and application developer Aleksandr Kogan. 

The FTC found that Cambridge Analytica engaged in deceptive practices in collecting Facebook users' information for voter profiling and targeting. The company had already filed for bankruptcy in 2018. 

Facebook also agreed to a separate $5 billion FTC privacy settlement in 2019. The New Mexico judgment of October 2026 brings the controversy back into the headlines with a financial penalty five times that earlier federal settlement. 

The $25 billion award is subject to appeal, and Meta argues that its conduct and the calculation of penalties have been mischaracterized. Nevertheless, the judgment underscores the enormous legal and financial stakes involved when technology companies make representations to consumers about the protection of their information. 

THE PROBLEM IS LARGER THAN CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA 

Cambridge Analytica is gone, but the digital advertising economy that helped make its operations possible remains. Millions of Americans continue to supply personal information through social media, online shopping, mobile applications, loyalty programs, and countless other electronic transactions. 

Some information is supplied deliberately. Other details are inferred from browsing behavior, purchases, device activity, and online interactions. Data brokers can assemble information from numerous sources to construct profiles of individuals who may have little idea how extensively their behavior is being recorded or analyzed. 

Political campaigns are permitted to use many forms of commercial and voter information to reach potential supporters. Not every form of targeted advertising is unlawful, and political campaigns have long used voter records, polling, and demographic research. 

The central issue is whether consumers know what is being collected, understand how their information will be used, and have meaningful control over its distribution. In the Cambridge Analytica affair, federal regulators found that deception was part of the process. The public was deprived of the opportunity to make informed choices about information that belonged to them. 

WHO OWNS YOUR PRIVATE LIFE? 

There is an old expression that knowledge is power. In the digital age, personal knowledge about millions of people has become an extraordinarily valuable commercial and political commodity. 

 The Cambridge Analytica affair demonstrated how information collected for one apparent purpose could be redirected toward another. 

--A personality quiz became a source of voter intelligence. Customer transactions became political targeting tools. 

--Private interests became clues to the messages an individual might find persuasive. The fundamental question concerns the public's right to know who possesses its personal information and what is being done with it. 

The New Mexico court has attached a $25 billion penalty to Meta's conduct, although the appeals process may ultimately change that figure. But the larger question cannot be settled by a court judgment alone. 

When an American purchases a fishing rod, likes a Facebook photograph, or answers an innocent-looking online questionnaire, should that activity become raw material for a political operation without the individual's informed consent? 

Cambridge Analytica demonstrated that the technology exists to make such use of personal information possible. The New Mexico case is a reminder that the responsibility for protecting it remains a matter of considerable public importance. And $25 billion is a remarkable reminder of what can happen when that responsibility is challenged in court.  ###

EDITOR'S RESEARCH NOTES AND SOURCES 

--Associated Press, October 21, 2026: Report on the New Mexico judgment ordering Meta to pay $25 billion for violations of consumer protection laws.

https://apnews.com/article/b329f82c3d3db3758a159405acbd4d0e

--The Guardian, March 17, 2018: Original investigation into the harvesting of Facebook profiles and Cambridge Analytica's political activities.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election

--Federal Trade Commission, July 2019: Explanation of Cambridge Analytica's deceptive collection of Facebook information and its use for voter profiling.

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2019/07/ftc-sues-cambridge-analytica-deceptive-claims-about-consumers-personal-information

--Federal Trade Commission, December 2019: Official findings and enforcement order against Cambridge Analytica.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/12/ftc-issues-opinion-order-against-cambridge-analytica-deceiving-consumers-about-collection-facebook

--ProPublica, February 5, 2025: Corey G. Johnson and Byard Duncan's investigation into Cambridge Analytica, the firearms industry, and the political use of customer information.

https://www.propublica.org/article/guns-lobbying-cambridge-analytica-nssf-privacy-elections

--ProPublica, February 27, 2025: An illustrated investigation of the personality profiling system and targeted political advertisements developed for the gun industry's 2016 campaign.

https://projects.propublica.org/gun-owners-cambridge-analytica-data-psychological-profiles-privacy/ 

BLOOMBERG UNLEASHES WALLET / $80 MILLION TO DEMOCRATS

"That's all I got and better late than never, right guys?"

Bloomberg gives Democrats $80 million in an 11th-hour midterm push. . 

Shared from the New York Times:

Around this time every election year, Democrats begin to wonder: Where is Michael R. Bloomberg? And then, like clockwork, he makes his move — spending big money to help Democrats. 

 Mr. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and Democratic megadonor, is again serving as a late-arriving white knight for the party, sending about $80 million in September and October to help Democrats in the midterms, his team told The New York Times. 

 The giving, some of which is still underway, will make him one of the largest known left-leaning donors in the midterms. His team provided details on the donations before most of them show up in new campaign finance filings on Tuesday and Thursday. “He believes in participation in our democracy,” Howard Wolfson, Mr. Bloomberg’s political adviser, said in an interview. “And obviously the scale of his participation, given his resources and his means, is greater than other people’s financially. But other people are participating in different ways.” 

 Will the money make a difference? After all, Mr. Bloomberg spent more than $1 billion on his own failed 2020 presidential campaign. “He is of the view that resources matter in campaigns,” Mr. Wolfson said. Still, Mr. Wolfson said that Mr. Bloomberg, 84, who exited elected office more than a decade ago, “expects a result.” 

 Mr. Bloomberg is particularly focused on ensuring a sizable Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, the chamber that Democrats are most hopeful of flipping and that he tends to focus on. Mr. Bloomberg’s autumn budget is similar to what he spent during the fall 2018 campaign, which his team sees as the gold standard for when he was able to make an impact politically. “Mayor Bloomberg played an incredibly instrumental role in the decisive midterm election in 2018,” Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, said in a statement. “The extraordinary support from Mayor Bloomberg will once again help Democrats flip the House.” 

-- At least $50 million of Mr. Bloomberg’s latest spending is headed to House races, 

--including $24 million to Everytown for Gun Safety, a group he co-founded that is focused on the House this year. 

--Another $16 million is going to House Majority PAC, the super PAC aligned with Mr. Jeffries. 

The money makes Mr. Bloomberg the largest disclosed donor for both groups. Because Democrats are favored to win the House, big donors are sending more money to races for the Senate, which is seen as a tossup. Mr. Bloomberg wants Mr. Jeffries to have a governable majority — not just the 218 votes needed to become speaker. 

 “The difference between 221 and 230, in terms of the House majority, really matters,” Mr. Wolfson said, referring to how many seats Democrats could end up holding next year. Mr. Bloomberg’s infusion of cash will offer some relief to Democrats who have watched apprehensively as Elon Musk and President Trump’s super PAC have unleashed hundreds of millions of dollars to support Republicans. 

 Much of Mr. Bloomberg’s largess has gone toward helping Democrats keep up with Republican spending on television and digital advertising across the country. 

 Mr. Wolfson said that Mr. Bloomberg remained deeply concerned about what he sees as the leftward drift of the Democratic Party, particularly on issues like Israel. Mr. Bloomberg is not “directing” money to left-wing supporters of the Democratic Socialists of America, Mr. Wolfson said. Given his financial muscle and deeply held political views, Mr. Bloomberg is likely to play a role in helping to shape Democrats’ 2028 presidential primary race. 

 He has not made a decision on whom to support, Mr. Wolfson said, but one of Mr. Bloomberg’s donations this cycle backed Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, a potential Democratic candidate for president. “He is a pragmatist. He is a centrist,” Mr. Wolfson said of Mr. Bloomberg. “I would be surprised if in the end he didn’t support someone who shared that orientation and was from that wing of the party.” 

 This year, around the time of Mr. Bloomberg’s donations, Everytown and House Majority PAC said they were working together on a roughly $10 million ad campaign for eight female House Democratic candidates who have worked on gun safety activism. Mr. Bloomberg’s funding of Everytown effectively freed up some of House Majority PAC’s money to be used elsewhere. 

 Mr. Bloomberg plans to soon spend an additional $10 million in House races, Mr. Wolfson said. During the spring, Mr. Bloomberg also spent $11 million to ensure that Assemblyman Micah Lasher emerged from a contentious primary to succeed Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York. 

 Since Sept. 1, Mr. Bloomberg has made other contributions, including $5 million to the super PAC allied with the League of Conservation Voters; $3.5 million total to a group focused on electing Democratic scientists and doctors; $2.5 million to a super PAC backing James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas; and $8 million to help Democratic candidates for governor in half a dozen battleground states. 

Mr. Wolfson said Mr. Bloomberg also donated $2.5 million in September and October to a super PAC backing the re-election bid of Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York. 

SATURDAY SILLIES / LIFE'S A GAS

 

WORLD SERIES / THE BIG STATISTICS SANDWICH, HOLD THE MAYO

Who wins World Series? Clutch teams or hot teams. Bet on the hot teams. Here's a stroll to Major League Baseball stats to find out why it's better to be on a hot streak than being a league leader as a clutch hitting team/ Here's what statmasters have to say. 

By PillartoPost.org staff--When examining how teams win World Series titles, extensive research from sabermetrics and historical MLB playoff data provides a definitive answer: hot-hitting teams on a streak win more championships than teams relying on "traditionally clutch" players. 

1. The "Traditionally Clutch" Player is Mostly a Myth 

• The Sabermetric Consensus: Decades of statistical analysis show that "clutch hitting" is not a repeatable individual skill. Year-to-year or even month-to-month performance in high-leverage situations shows virtually zero correlation. 

 • Small Sample Illusion: A player labeled as "clutch" in the regular season is statistically no more likely to hit well in October than any other hitter. Postseason "clutch" moments are almost always the product of a player simply hitting their baseline talent level or getting hot at the right time. 

2. Hot Streaks & Modern "Hot Hand" Analytics 

• The Power of Momentum: Modern analytics have validated that the "hot hand" in baseball is real. Research shows a player on a hot streak over a recent 25 to 30 at-bat window maintains a measurably higher expected On-Base Percentage and Slugging Percentage. 

 • The October Multiplier: When several hitters on a roster enter October on a hot streak, it creates a cascading effect. Because postseason series are short (5 to 7 games), a team riding a collective 2-week hot streak can roll through elite pitching staffs before regression to the mean catches up to them. 

3. Home Runs and Hot Offenses Drive Titles 

• Power Over "Situational" Contact: In October, pitch quality jumps dramatically as teams rely heavily on elite starters and high-velocity bullpens. Stringing together three single hits in a row (traditional situational hitting) becomes extremely difficult. 

• The Longball Factor: Over 50% of all playoff runs are scored via the home run. The teams that win the World Series are overwhelmingly those whose offenses get hot and hit power extra-base hits, rather than teams relying on small-ball situational hitting. 

 Which Predicts a Champion? 

• Traditionally "Clutch" Players: Lowest Impact. Unreliable and non-predictive in short playoff series. 

• Overall Team Quality (Talent Baseline): Medium/High Impact. Provides the baseline to reach the postseason. 

• Hot-Hitting Team on a Streak: Highest Impact. The ultimate equalizer in a short MLB postseason format. Chats are reviewed and used to improve Google AI. Gemini is AI and can make mistakes, including about people. Some content may not be suitable for everyone. You can manage your activityOpens in a new window, including info about your location. Learn more about your choicesOpens in a new window who leads major league baseball for leaving the most players on base in scoring position? The Chicago Cubs leave the most runners on base in scoring position (RISP) in Major League Baseball. StatMuse Team Level (Per Game & Total) 

• Chicago Cubs: Average 4.06 runners left in scoring position per game (over 700+ total runners left in RISP). 

• Milwaukee Brewers: Tied with the Cubs for average at 4.06 RISP per game. • Arizona Diamondbacks: Follow closely behind averaging 3.75 per game. 

Individual Player Leaders (RISP Left On Base) 

• Daylen Lile (Washington Nationals): 69 Team Rankings 

• Colson Montgomery (Chicago White Sox): 68 Team Rankings 

• Seiya Suzuki (Chicago Cubs) & Nolan Arenado (Arizona Diamondbacks): 67 each 

 Team Rankings What player leaves most runners on base in Major League Baseball 

Official Major League Baseball tracking for individual "Runners Left on Base" over a full career or single season is not maintained as an official historical stat category by MLB or Baseball Almanac. However, single-game records and modern tracking provide clear leaders: 

Single-Game Individual Records 

• 14 Runners Left on Base (Extra-Inning Game): Ryan Zimmerman (Washington Nationals) set the major league record on May 8, 2016. Baseball Almanac 

• 13 Runners Left on Base (American League Record): Dustin Pedroia (Boston Red Sox) holds the AL record, set on September 15, 2017. Baseball Almanac 

• 12 Runners Left on Base (9-Inning Game Record): Glenn Beckert (Chicago Cubs) in 1972 and Todd Helton (Colorado Rockies) in 1998 hold the 9-inning National League mark. Baseball Almanac 

Modern Single-Season Trends Middle-of-the-order power hitters who take a high volume of plate appearances with runners on base lead this category annually: • Clean-up hitters and high-OBP middle-of-the-order bats (such as Kyle Schwarber, Pete Alonso, and Matt Olson) routinely top the league by stranded total base counts due to sheer opportunity volume. current season 

Christian Walker (Houston Astros) leads Major League Baseball for leaving the most total runners on base. 2026 MLB Individual Left On Base Leaders 

• Christian Walker (Houston Astros, 1B): 275 LOB  [See image above]

• Colson Montgomery (Chicago White Sox, SS): 274 LOB 

• Alex Bregman (Chicago Cubs, 3B): 272 LOB 

• Michael Busch (Chicago Cubs, 1B): 262 LOB 

• Daylen Lile (Washington Nationals, LF): 256 LOB 

San Diego Padres Stats

Padres Individual Left On Base Leaders (2026 Season) 

• Manny Machado (3B): 218 LOB (532 Plate Appearances) 

• Fernando Tatis Jr. (RF): 204 LOB (555 Plate Appearances) 

• Jackson Merrill (CF): 192 LOB (523 Plate Appearances) 

• Xander Bogaerts (SS): 176 LOB (481 Plate Appearances) Because Machado, Tatis Jr., and Merrill consistently bat in the middle of the Padres' lineup, they routinely come to the plate with high volumes of baserunners on ahead of them, leading to higher overall stranded counts. 

This is the reason the Padres don't win on a consistent basis The frustration around "leaving runners stranded" is a huge talking point among Padres fans. The inability to capitalize in clutch situations directly drives those frustrating losses: 

1. The Inability to Cash In (RISP Struggles) Leaving runners on base isn't always a product of getting outplayed; it's often a failure of situational execution. The Padres frequently put runners in scoring position via walks or extra-base hits early in an inning, only for the heart of the order to press, pull out of their approach, or strike out looking. 

2. Volume Bottlenecks in the Middle of the Lineup When batters like Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Jackson Merrill regularly come up with runners on, those at-bats carry high leverage. A bad approach—such as swinging at pitcher's pitches early in the count or failing to hit productive outs (like sacrifice flies)—turns potential multi-run innings into zero-run frames. 

3. Cascading Pressure on Pitching & Bullpen When the offense strands 8 to 10+ runners a game, it completely changes game management. 

• Pitchers are forced to throw high-stress innings with zero margin for error. 

• Relievers are called on earlier and more frequently in tight, high-leverage games, leading to fatigue and late-inning breakdowns. 

4. Low Overall On-Base Frequency Ironically, because the Padres rank low in generating overall baserunners with nobody on base, their total volume of RISP opportunities is lower than average. This creates a double penalty: they get fewer chances to score, making every single stranded runner feel twice as painful and magnify every loss.  

Do any Padres fall among the top "clutch" hitters this season  No. Padres player currently ranks among the league's top "clutch" hitters.  When measuring "clutch" performance (defined in sabermetrics as performance in late-inning/high-leverage scenarios or production relative to baseline output in key situations), the Padres' main contributors fall largely in the middle to lower tier: 

Padres High-Leverage & RISP Performance 

• Fernando Tatis Jr.: While Tatis leads the team in total hits and generates strong numbers overall, his situational numbers drop in late, close-game situations. He sits near average in Advanced Clutch Ratings.  

• Manny Machado: Machado leads the team in RBIs and HRs, but he also leads the team in leaving runners stranded. Advanced leverage metrics show a notable gap between his overall production and his production in high-leverage situations. 

• Jackson Merrill & Xander Bogaerts: Both have hit around league average in scoring opportunities, but neither has delivered the sustained high-leverage output required to rank among the league's top clutch performers. 

Team-Wide Impact As a team, San Diego ranks in the bottom half of Major League Baseball in batting average with runners in scoring position. The absence of an elite situational hitter in the middle of the lineup directly explains why the team strands a high volume of baserunners and struggles to consistently convert close games into wins. 

Who are the most clutch hitters in major league baseball this season 

While sabermetrics often define "clutch" via metrics like FanGraphs' Clutch Score (measuring performance in high-leverage situations compared to a player's context-neutral baseline) or Win Probability Added (WPA), standard baseline metrics like performance with Runners in Scoring Position (RISP) and late-inning close-game output showcase the season's top producers: 

League Leaders in Traditional Situational Stats

 • Yordan Alvarez (Houston Astros): Leading Major League Baseball in overall OPS (1.037) and Batting Average (.317), Alvarez also ranks as one of the most effective situational hitters. His ability to draw walks in high-leverage situations while maintaining a slugging percentage over .600 makes him a tough bat with runners on base.  

• Sal Stewart (Cincinnati Reds): Leads MLB in Runs Batted In (105 RBI). His efficiency at driving in baserunners when given scoring opportunities puts him at the top of traditional clutch metrics. 

• Alec Burleson & Jordan Walker (St. Louis Cardinals): Both sit right behind Stewart with 101 and 99 RBIs respectively, delivering consistent run production in late-inning and RISP spots. 

• Pete Crow-Armstrong (Chicago Cubs): Leads position players in overall WAR (8.4) and ranks near the top in home runs (38) and total bases (306). He has consistently produced extra-base hits in high-leverage situations. 

Advanced Leverage Leaders

• Jake Burger (Texas Rangers): Leads the major leagues in FanGraphs' official Clutch metric. He has performed significantly better in high-leverage situations relative to his season baseline, converting key late-inning opportunities into wins.  • Daulton Varsho: Ranks near the top of the league in high-leverage WPA (Win Probability Added) impact, routinely delivering hits in late-game situations. Using those stats what teams lead MLB in clutch hitting this season 

Chicago Cubs • Stat Context: They lead the majors in run production efficiency when getting runners aboard, ranking near the top in team Batting Average with RISP (.252) and team OPS (.772). 

• Key Drivers: Behind individual high-leverage production from Pete Crow-Armstrong (8.4 WAR) and Alex Bregman (3B), the Cubs consistently cash in when opportunities present themselves, leading to 700+ RBIs on the season. 

Los Angeles Dodgers • Stat Context: Ranked near the top in team Batting Average (.258) and On-Base Percentage (.336) with runners in scoring position. 

• Key Drivers: Anchored by Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman (.306 BA), and Andy Pages, the Dodgers minimize high-leverage strikeouts and maintain high power metrics in scoring situations, leading to 640+ team RBIs. CBS Sports 

Milwaukee Brewers • Stat Context: Top-tier situational execution with a team .339 On-Base Percentage and a high conversion rate in late-inning high-leverage spots. • Key Drivers: Strong situational baseline hitting across the order (led by Brice Turang and Jake Bauers) allows them to produce runs via situational contact and high walk volume rather than relying purely on home runs. 

Pittsburgh Pirates • Stat Context: A surprise entry near the top of situational hitting, leading the league in team Batting Average with RISP (.253) and posting 650 team RBIs. • Key Drivers: Driven by high-contact situational approaches from Nick Gonzales (.310 BA) and Bryan Reynolds, making them one of the most effective teams in the league at bringing base runners home.  

Washington Nationals • Stat Context: High-volume run producers who rank near the top of the National League in Slugging Percentage (.431) and total team RBIs (696).  • Key Drivers: Young middle-of-the-order hitters like James Wood (.924 OPS) and CJ Abrams deliver heavy extra-base damage in high-leverage and RISP opportunities. 

THE FOODIST / THE FAMILY TABLES

From the Coulons of San Diego to the Langers of Los Angeles, daughters and granddaughters give Southern California’s restaurant traditions a tasty future. 

By Holden DeMayo, PillartoPost.org Dining Guru--In the Coulon family, the route from childhood to a restaurant kitchen was a short one. The children went there after school. They watched, helped, learned and, when they got home, sometimes played restaurant. Years later, three granddaughters of Don and Arlene Coulon opened Little Lion on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. By then, the family business had supplied both an education and a powerful suggestion about what to do with their lives.

Their aunt, Michele Coulon, had already made her own choice. Once a computer-industry professional who hurried back to the family restaurant to bake desserts, she built a La Jolla business around the proposition that something sweet ought to be worth eating. Between her pastry shop and her nieces’ coastal café, the Belgian Lion’s descendants have given San Diego several good reasons to remember the name.

Up the coast to Los Angeles, a comparable story has unfolded around another celebrated surname. Trisha Langer, granddaughter of Al and Jean Langer and daughter of Norm Langer, carried her deli apprenticeship from Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park neighborhood to West Hollywood. Her restaurant is called Daughter’s Deli. The name supplies the genealogy; the food has to do the rest.

These families offer a particularly appetizing answer to the question of what happens after the founders. A restaurant can survive through its recipes, its standards and the people who learn them. Sometimes the next generation also needs a place of its own. 

In San Diego. the Coulons, the American restaurant story began in 1977, when Don and Arlene opened the Belgian Lion in Old Town. They later moved it to Ocean Beach. Over its long run, the restaurant became a local reference point for European cooking and attentive hospitality. Its influence would continue after the original dining room closed. 

The preparation had begun abroad. During Michele’s high-school years, the family lived in Paris and visited her father’s relatives in Liège. Her Belgian grandmother, also named Anne-Marie, made waffles and fruit pies that remained vivid in Michele’s memory. Arlene attended cooking school in France and passed the pastry lessons along to her daughter. 

At home, they took turns whipping ingredients by hand. The education required effort, and it ended with something good to eat.

Arlene initially talked of opening a dessert shop when the family returned to San Diego. Don proposed a restaurant instead. That decision created the Belgian Lion, where Michele made desserts while studying computer science and working in the computer industry. 

Eventually, she left that career and took on restaurant jobs while developing her dessert business. It was an apprenticeship in the less glamorous requirements of independence: earning enough, finding time and doing whatever needed doing. Michele Coulon Dessertier, at 7556 Fay Avenue in La Jolla, gives that history a deliciously specific address. 

The menu includes a flourless chocolate Cognac cake layered with chocolate ganache, alongside other cakes, tarts and sweets. There is a savory side, too, including quiche and café fare. A visit need not depend on a birthday, although the cakes make a persuasive case for finding something to celebrate. 

Michele’s stated philosophy favors excellent ingredients and proper methods, however much time they require. Her cakes may be decorative, but their purpose remains wonderfully practical: someone is going to eat them. That is a useful priority.

The third generation gave the family story another dining room. Little Lion’s founders are sisters Anne-Marie, Jacqueline and Dominique Coulon, granddaughters of Don and Arlene and nieces of Michele. The original division of responsibilities put Anne-Marie in the kitchen, Jacqueline in charge of beverages and the front of the house, and Dominique on marketing and branding. That arrangement recognized a restaurant’s need for several different talents. 

At 1424 Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, the café occupies a small building near the place where the neighborhood gives way to the curving coastal road. It is an appropriate setting for a family tradition finding its own Southern California expression. The sisters’ early statement of purpose acknowledged their grandparents while making room for a different restaurant and menu. 

The guiding family motto was brief: “Food is love, love is family.” 

There is substance behind the sentiment. San Diego Magazine’s August 2026 profile singled out the Belgian waffle, made with batter fermented for two days, and the Belgian potatoes, along with housemade granola with passionfruit curd and a power bowl with pesto and cashew cream. Those dishes suggest the range: inherited Belgian pleasures sharing a menu with the way coastal Californians eat now.

The same profile recounts Anne-Marie’s decisive visit to the smoothie shop that would become Little Lion. After a catering mishap in her car, she went to the shop and asked its owner about selling. The owner had just decided to retire. Anne-Marie eventually hung plates from her grandparents’ restaurant on the walls of her own. The objects came along; the next chapter required her own work.

Little Lion’s present offerings extend beyond daytime meals to dinner, take-home food and other services. Its small scale makes reservations sensible. For an admirer of the Belgian Lion, it offers a chance to follow the family forward. For someone discovering the Coulons over a waffle, the ancestral connection can be a pleasant second discovery.

The Los Angeles chapter begins three decades earlier than the Belgian Lion. Al and Jean Langer founded their deli in 1947. The original restaurant had only 12 seats. Norm began working for his father in 1963, and the business grew into the MacArthur Park institution familiar to generations of Angelenos. 

Survival through changing neighborhood conditions became part of its history, alongside the sandwiches.

Langer’s reputation rests on a highly disciplined pleasure: hot pastrami and good rye bread. The famous No. 19 adds Swiss cheese, coleslaw and Russian dressing to hand-cut pastrami on double-baked rye. It is a particular arrangement of rich meat, sharp and creamy accompaniments, and substantial bread. Reproducing that arrangement day after day is the sort of achievement that can look easy from a booth.

Norm’s explanation to Michelin emphasized consistency: customers should receive the same quality that established the restaurant’s reputation. That kind of teaching gives a successor something exacting to inherit. The family name may bring people through the door, but it also gives them a very clear expectation of lunch.

Trisha’s training began before she could reach all the equipment. In her own account, her grandmother supervised her first job rolling Swiss cheese for catering trays. After college, she returned to the family business and spent 14 years learning from her father. 

Her husband’s favorite courtship story involves her coming home from a busy day of hand-cutting pastrami alongside Norm. Restaurant work was already part of the conversation. In November 2018, Trisha and her husband opened Daughter’s Deli on the Sunset Strip. 

It was her own venture, with a smaller menu and a different style of service. Family connections appeared in the sandwich names: Papa honored Al with a version of the No. 19; Nana honored Jean with corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing on grilled rye. 

Here was a family album that could also serve lunch. The resemblance to Little Lion is compelling. Both businesses were created by grandchildren who had spent years close to the founding restaurant. 

Both used that experience to establish something personally their own. The names acknowledge the relationship openly, while leaving room for the next generation’s choices. 

Daughter’s Deli is also in a period of transition. Its website identifies a forthcoming location at 8618 Sunset Boulevard in Sunset Plaza. The move is part of the continuing story, and diners should confirm reopening and service arrangements directly before making the trip. 

Meanwhile, Langer’s original restaurant continues at Seventh and Alvarado, approaching eight decades in business.

What joins these Southern California families is the patient transfer of knowledge: a mother teaching pastry in a Paris apartment, grandparents making room for children in a restaurant kitchen, a father showing his daughter how to carve pastrami. Such lessons accumulate quietly, long before anyone designs a sign for the next restaurant. 

Don and Arlene Coulon, and Al and Jean Langer, founded places people wanted to return to. Their children and grandchildren have undertaken the harder part of the tribute: opening the doors, doing the work and giving another generation a reason to come hungry.  

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DESIGN / ISLAND MAGIC

 

IBIZA MINIMALIST ON THE BALEARIC SEA 

Editor's note:  Why is this featured.  Simply because it is an example of fine minimalist architecture.  The images were shared from Dezeen Magazine, the contemporary leader in online design/architecture and related trends.  Glance at this coverage as you would a face in passing trolley window in Piccadilly or San Francisco.  Catch a glimpse then itss gone.  Keatsian beauty in our time. Move on. --PillartoPost.org

What captures the eye immediately are the straight lines of Bellavista 11, a residence in white concrete by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos.  Those still lines counterbalances the raw face of Roca Llisa cliffs on Ibiza, a famed Spanish enclave rising out of its liquid neighborhood of the Mediterranean called the Balearic Sea. Jagged vs. linear.

A lone figure, a model or muse or talented actress, who is photographed throughout accents the project accenting the true purpose of what we're seeing: this truth is a home.  Let's pretend James Bond has allowed us to visit while his creators slave in London penning another TV series.  All of this is imagination n'est-ce pas?

The scale is immense because of its linear starkness. Concrete in white becomes pigment for a still life.  The home, a fantasy with canyons and mystery splashed on walls, ceilings and floors throughout by the midday sun.  Geometry as art.

Stepping down into the primary living space, a model walks the length of the terrace, her movement tracing the floor-to-ceiling glass that completely erases the line where the polished interior floor ends and the outdoor deck begins. 

Further down the topography, the thin concrete shell juts directly out over the void, framing a stark contrast between the fluid posture of the model, the rigid white architecture, and the jagged, sun-bleached rock of the hillside. 

At the absolute edge of the plot, a figure rests by the glass-walled infinity pool, where the massive structural overhangs cast deep shade over the bedroom suites below while the water mirrors the flat horizon of the Balearic Sea.  Imagine living here.  Imagine you have the means to do so whether it is a resort second or third home or  primary residence for a cinema star and her lifestyle.   

Shaken or stirred Jamella Bond? 

Well done Arquitectos.

LOCAL / WHY SAN DIEGO AREA LOVES ITS COMMUNITY SIGNS

San Diego County likes to introduce itself overhead. 

On a freeway map, San Diego County can seem like an assortment of exits. On the street, its community signs give those places a recognizable face. Turn onto a neighborhood business street and there, suspended above the traffic, is the name of the place in letters large enough to suggest that you have arrived somewhere worth remembering. 

It offers a place to meet, a backdrop for a celebration and a familiar sight on the way home. Hillcrest has its familiar red flourish. Kensington makes its announcement in restrained green and white. North Park plants its name in the median. The Gaslamp Quarter supplies an elaborate entrance, as though downtown has dressed for dinner. 

There are cheaper ways to tell people where they are. San Diego has developed a taste for this one. The signs began with a practical ambition: bring customers to local businesses. Merchants wanted people to stop and spend money. Residents wanted their neighborhood to retain a recognizable face. That bargain has survived remarkably well, even after the businesses that paid for the originals have disappeared. 

Over the decades, the signs became landmarks people would raise money to restore, argue over and photograph. The county did not acquire its collection through one grand plan. Different communities commissioned their own signs at different times, creating a regional tradition almost by accumulation. 

North Park offers a particularly good account of how that happened. The North Park Historical Society dates the first overhead sign at University Avenue and 30th Street to 1935. A replacement with the familiar scalloped outline followed in 1948. That sign came down in 1966, leaving a gap that residents remembered long after the hardware was gone. In 1993, the name returned on a pedestal in the University Avenue median near 30th Street. Its form recalled the earlier landmark, but its new home brought it down from the overhead wires. North Park had recovered a piece of its public identity. 

Hillcrest's original sign arrived in 1940, a gift from the Hillcrest Women's Association. The women who helped establish the tradition deserve a place in its history alongside the merchants and civic officials. These neighborhood introductions required someone to organize, raise money and get the thing built. The Hillcrest sign eventually went dark. Its rebuilding and relighting in August 1984 drew a crowd and helped launch CityFest. That is a respectable return on a repair job: restore the sign and acquire an annual street party. 

Kensington's sign went up in 1954 to promote the Adams Avenue commercial district. Save Our Heritage Organisation records its purchase by the Kensington Park Business Association for $1,166. Its straightforward lettering and green background made a modest advertisement that became a neighborhood emblem. By 2008, the original had earned city historic designation. A dispute over its deteriorating condition eventually led to a replica, installed in 2010. The argument itself tells us something about these signs. 

Residents may disagree over how to preserve one precisely because they agree that it matters. The later generation was often more deliberate about using a gateway to encourage business revival. 

The Boulevard sign near Park Boulevard and El Cajon Boulevard was erected in 1989. The city's photographic archive describes it as an effort to recover the appeal of the neon that had flourished along the commercial strip from the 1940s through the 1960s. Local officials and business leaders wanted a landmark that would help make the Boulevard a destination again. 

The Gaslamp Quarter archway followed in 1990. 

Little Italy first illuminated its landmark sign in October 2000 during the neighborhood's annual Festa. The Little Italy Association connects the sign to the district's history as a center of tuna fishing and canning. An entrance that visitors now associate with restaurants also recalls the working waterfront that helped build the neighborhood. 

Beyond San Diego's city limits, the same appetite appears in different forms. 

Chula Vista's Third Avenue gateway, installed in 2003, was part of a broader effort to give its historic commercial district a coordinated identity. 

City of El Cajon's decorative arch arrived in 2009, its design chosen by public vote. 

Encinitas installed its present gateway in 2001, reviving an overhead-sign tradition dating to the 1920s. 

The San Diego Union-Tribune shared its photo collage accompanying this blog feature showing the geographic spread is easy to see. Vista, Escondido, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Ramona and Imperial Beach join the urban neighborhoods. Even the ordinary mileage sign pointing toward Borrego Springs earns a place. 

There is no reliable nationwide inventory here to support a claim that San Diego County has the most. What stands out is the way the idea recurs across the region, from neighborhood shopping streets to independent downtowns. Residents recognize the form and keep adapting it. A sign can look thoroughly local while belonging to a countywide family. San Diego County has spent decades hanging its introductions over the road. The message remains invitingly simple: You have arrived. Have a look around. 

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Artwork credit: Photo collage from The San Diego Union-Tribune. Text: Staff PillartoPost.org daily online magazine  

MEDIA MONDAY / MONDAY HAS A SOUNDTRACK

Listen for the one "Monday" lyric reference in this classic 40s tune brought back by Sinead O'Connor

The following is an example of the topics you'll find in no other general interest blog. Here's what we mean: 

A train leaves Chicago. 

A woman misses her ride to work. 

A man waits for his lover to come home. 

Another wishes the weekend would hurry up and end. 

All four songs have something to say about Monday, but they cannot agree on what the day means. Popular music has spent decades making it stand for fatigue, loneliness, romance, routine, escape and, occasionally, relief. 

Here are 25 songs PillartoPost.org's research team discovered with Monday in their lyrics.  This Monday hunt is arranged roughly by public recognition. Each entry names the writer and the first identified recording when it differs from the familiar one. 

-- “Monday, Monday” — The Mamas & the Papas (1966). Written by John Phillips; first recorded by the Mamas & the Papas. Their glorious harmonies make a lover’s departure sound almost pleasant. The singer knows better. Monday brought the news, and he no longer trusts it. 

-- “Lady Madonna” — The Beatles (1968). Primarily written by Paul McCartney, credited to Lennon–McCartney; first recorded by the Beatles. The song follows a mother trying to feed her children and pay the rent. Monday appears as one small moment in the relentless business of raising a family. Its title gave us no warning that it belonged on this list. 

-- “Manic Monday” — The Bangles (1986). Written by Prince, credited as Christopher; first recorded by Prince for a proposed Apollonia 6 version, but first released as a hit by the Bangles. A romantic dream gives way to a missed-train panic. Monday is the instant a private life collides with a work schedule. 

-- “Rainy Days and Mondays” — The Carpenters (1971). Words by Paul Williams, music by Roger Nichols; first released recording by the Carpenters. Karen Carpenter does not need a storm outside to convey the weather inside. Monday gives an otherwise hard-to-name sadness a place on the calendar. 

-- “Blue Monday” — New Order (1983). Written and first recorded by Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert of New Order. The phrase is in the title, though it is not sung. That title still shapes the way we hear the record’s mechanical pulse and cool emotional distance. 

-- “Friday I’m in Love” — The Cure (1992). Written and first recorded by the Cure’s Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson, Boris Williams and Perry Bamonte. The song celebrates Friday, but first it acknowledges Monday’s blues. The weekend needs a working week to escape from. 

-- “FourFiveSeconds” — Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney (2015). Credited to a team of ten writers, including Rihanna, West and McCartney; first recorded by these performers. Its chorus repeatedly looks toward getting home by Monday morning. Here Monday is a deadline for finding one’s way back. 

-- “New Moon on Monday” — Duran Duran (1984). Written and first recorded by the band’s five members: Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, Roger Taylor and Andy Taylor. Leave it to Duran Duran to put a moon over Monday and turn the least glamorous day into an evening of mystery and dancing. 

-- “Blue Monday” — Fats Domino (1956). Originally written by Dave Bartholomew; later recordings commonly credit Bartholomew and Domino. First recorded by Smiley Lewis in 1953. Domino gave the song its enduring rock ’n’ roll voice. This “Blue Monday” is a separate composition from New Order’s, grounded in the familiar drag of the working week. 

-- “I Don’t Like Mondays” — The Boomtown Rats (1979). Written by Bob Geldof and Johnnie Fingers; first recorded by the Boomtown Rats. The title sounds like a joke one might make over breakfast. The song is anything but: it was prompted by the 1979 shooting at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego. It should never be mistaken for a routine protest against the alarm clock. 

 “City of New Orleans” — Steve Goodman and Arlo Guthrie. Written and first recorded by Goodman for his 1971 debut album; made a hit by Guthrie in 1972. Its Illinois Central train runs on a Monday morning. The day gives the journey its point of departure; the passing countryside, passengers and railroad workers give the song its soul. 

-- “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window” — The Beatles (1969). Primarily written by McCartney, credited to Lennon–McCartney; first recorded by the Beatles. In a refrain from Abbey Road, Sunday is on the telephone to Monday. The days pass news along as though they know one another. 

-- “Come Monday” — Jimmy Buffett (1974). Written and first recorded by Buffett. Monday is welcome for once. It promises the end of a separation and the return of the woman he loves. 

-- “Monday Morning” — Fleetwood Mac (1975). Written by Lindsey Buckingham; first released recording by Fleetwood Mac. The song opens the band’s 1975 album at a brisk pace. Its romantic uncertainty is as unsettled as the start of a new week. 

 --“Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)” — T-Bone Walker (1947). Written and first recorded by Walker. One of the great electric blues records begins its account of trouble on Monday, then discovers that Tuesday offers little improvement. 

-- “Black Coffee” — Sinéad O’Connor (1992). Music by Sonny Burke, words by Paul Francis Webster; Sarah Vaughan made an early recording in 1949. O’Connor’s version finds a sleepless singer tending her heartache with coffee. Monday enters as Sunday’s dreams fade. It may be the gentlest way into this collection, even with sadness in the cup. 

-- “Long Monday” — John Prine (2005). Written by Prine and Keith Sykes; first released recording by Prine. He remembers a weekend with his lover, then faces the hours after she leaves. The day grows long because he misses her. 

-- “Except for Monday” — Lorrie Morgan (1991). Written by Reed Nielsen; first recorded by Morgan. She tells an old flame she has recovered nicely from their breakup. There is, she admits, one exception—and Monday was never much good anyway. 

-- “Monday” — Imagine Dragons (2021). Credited to Dan Reynolds, Wayne Sermon, Ben McKee, Daniel Platzman and Andrew Tolman; first recorded by Imagine Dragons. It borrows Monday’s poor reputation to make an affectionate point: even an unpopular day can become dear to someone. 

-- “Monday Morning Church” — Alan Jackson, with Patty Loveless (2004). Written by Brent Baxter and Erin Enderlin; first released recording by Jackson, with Loveless on harmony. A church that was full on Sunday stands empty on Monday. The image becomes a measure of the singer’s grief. 

-- “Monday Morning” — Pulp (1995). Written and first recorded by Pulp members Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Nick Banks, Russell Senior and Steve Mackey. A new day appears to offer a fresh start. Then it reveals itself as another Monday morning, with the same life waiting. 

 --“Monday” — Wilco (1996). Written by Jeff Tweedy; first recorded by Wilco. Horns and guitars send this Monday charging down the road. Its restless narrator wants to get somewhere else. 

-- “Silent Weekend” — Bob Dylan. Written and first recorded by Dylan during the 1967 Basement Tapes sessions; officially released in 2014. His weekend has gone badly enough that he wishes Monday would arrive. Dylan turns the usual complaint neatly upside down. 

-- “Monday Monday Monday” — Tegan and Sara (2002). Written by Sara Quin; first recorded by Tegan and Sara. The day repeats in the title like a thought that refuses to leave. 

-- “Stone Cold Sober” — Rod Stewart (1975). Written by Stewart and Steve Cropper; first recorded by Stewart. Its lively run through the days of the week gives Monday a place in a calendar kept for late nights and good times. 

 The songs disagree because Monday itself is useful to a writer. It stands immediately after something—rest, pleasure, company, freedom—and immediately before the obligations of another week. 

That makes it a hinge for almost any story. 

 For the Bangles, it is a train to catch. 

For Prine, an empty stretch of time. 

For Goodman, a train already moving. 

For Buffett, a reunion. 

Dylan cannot wait for Monday; New Order can summon its mood without singing its name. Most days have to be explained. Monday walks into a song carrying its own baggage. The pleasure lies in hearing what each musician decides to do with it. 

SUNDAY REVIEW / CIVIL WAR EMBERS STILL GLOW

By Thomas Shess, Chairman, PillartoPost.org daily online magazine--Having read every major work on the American Civil War from Shelby Foote to Winston Churchill does not by any stretch make me an expert on the war between the states. However, as a writer and an editor I've made a career of offering my opinions. Some right, some wrong. 

But when it comes to the Civil War if I could choose only one author, who has researched and wriiten about that war, it would be Bruce Catton (1899 to 1978). And from his prodigious body of work I would choose A Stillness at Appomattox. 

 Published in 1953, it won both the Pulitzer Prize for History and the National Book Award for nonfiction in 1954. Awards help establish its reputation; the writing explains why it endures. A Stillness at Appomattox, the book is the concluding volume of Catton’s Army of the Potomac trilogy, following Mr. Lincoln’s Army and Glory Road. It stands comfortably on its own, taking readers through the Union army’s final year of fighting in Virginia, from winter quarters in 1864 to Robert E. Lee’s surrender in April 1865. 

Bruce Catton 1960s

Despite its title, this is a book about the long, punishing road to Appomattox, rather than simply the surrender itself. Let's discuss A Stillness..., Catton begins with a dance. At a Washington’s Birthday ball, officers and their guests briefly inhabit a world of polished boots, handsome uniforms, music and ceremony. The coming campaign hangs over the celebration. 

Many of these men will be dead before another winter arrives. That opening establishes the book’s governing tension: the distance between war as people imagine it and war as soldiers endure it. Then the music gives way to the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor and Petersburg. 

Grant, Meade, Sheridan and Lee occupy their necessary places, but Catton’s most compelling achievement is making the army itself a living presence. 

Drawing on soldiers’ letters, recollections and regimental histories, he gives ordinary men a place in a narrative too often reserved for commanders. 

 My opinion is that the book’s greatness lies in its control of emotional scale. 

Catton can explain the movement of an army, then bring the reader close enough to feel the exhaustion of the men moving it. His prose has rhythm and atmosphere, yet the story remains intelligible. You understand that campaigns depend on roads, orders and supplies; you also understand that somebody must keep walking in these warrior's boots. And what courage it took just to wake up to another day of war. 

Ulysses Simpson Grant emerges as the commander willing to sustain the pressure necessary to defeat Lee. But victory accumulates an appalling human invoice. The reader knows where the story is going, and that knowledge offers little comfort. Catton makes the final surrender feel earned through suffering. 

For me, the “stillness” of the title is the book’s most fitting presentation. After so much motion, noise and destruction, the absence of fighting becomes an event in itself. 

Relief arrives carrying grief. 

The achievement is literary as well as historical: Catton gives an ending whose emotional weight exceeds the familiar facts. There are limits. This is principally the story of a Union army in the eastern theater. Readers seeking an equally sustained account of slavery, emancipation, Southern civilians, Black Americans or the western campaigns will need other books. 

Catton understood slavery as the central cause of the war, but his emphasis on shared sacrifice and national reconciliation can soften the distinctions between what the opposing sides fought to preserve or destroy. 

Historian David Blight’s assessment recognizes both Catton’s extraordinary narrative power and that reconciliatory tendency. Those qualifications matter. They do not diminish my choice. 

For those new to Catton's work, A Stillness at Appomattox remains an exceptional introduction to Catton because it concentrates his finest gifts: clarity, sympathy, dramatic movement and an awareness of what victory costs. 

Bruce Catton, born October 9, 1899, in Petoskey, Michigan, grew up in Benzonia listening to Civil War veterans. He attended Oberlin College, served in the Navy during World War I and built a newspaper career before becoming a celebrated historian. 

In 1954 he became the founding editor of American Heritage. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and died August 28, 1978. 

Stepping back, where does he stand among the great Civil War authors? Easily in the first rank of narrative historians. That is my assessment, supported by the esteem of historians who followed him. Blight credits Catton with drawing him into Civil War history; Stephen W. Sears praised his transformation of ordinary soldiers into fully realized historical participants. I would place Catton alongside Shelby Foote for storytelling distinction, while choosing James M. McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom for a broader single-volume understanding of the conflict. Catton’s particular territory is the lived experience of the Union soldier. 

Few writers have made those men feel so close, or made the passage from military glory to human loss so moving. Read A Stillness at Appomattox for the history—and for a demonstration of how beautifully history can be written. 

And, please know my esteem for A Stillness...does not diminish whatsoever, Shelby Foote's epic coverage of the Civil War or Doris Kearns Goodwin passion for the era. 

And as for all the books on Gettysburg, Jeffrey Hall's The Stand is a beacon in detail, but Bruce Catton's Gettysburg: The Final Fury delivers the emotional impact delivered in one of the most pithy and engrossing works. Via Bruce Catton, the embers still glow all these years later. 

Reading Catton is simply remarkable adventure in  itself.