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Nats’ Sean Doolittle pleads for ‘common-sense reforms’ on gun laws

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Nats’ Sean Doolittle pleads for ‘common-sense reforms’ on gun laws


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On Tuesday evening, simply after the Washington Nationals held a second of silence for the victims of the mass taking pictures at Robb Elementary Faculty in Uvalde, Tex., a center faculty choir sang the nationwide anthem at Nationals Park. And that’s when Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle says he “broke,” interested by how the youngsters killed in Texas have been youthful than these singing America’s tune and about how this nation “can’t even assure sufficient security in colleges to make it so youngsters can attain that age.”

Two days later, Natasha Cloud, a member of the Washington Mystics, urged members of the Nationals and Washington Capitals to use their platforms to debate current mass shootings and the persistence of gun violence. Doolittle says her message “snapped” him out of a funk, main him to tweet a thread of thoughts earlier than asking The Washington Put up to satisfy him within the Nationals’ dugout Friday afternoon. Right here’s what the 35-year-old mentioned upon sitting down:

Beneath Steve Kerr’s self-control is a life’s price of concern and grief

“I believe it’s essential to say that Natasha was proper,” Doolittle mentioned. “I believe she is a very essential chief within the D.C. neighborhood, and each time she talks I hear. I believe she was proper to primarily name for backup, particularly right here in D.C., the place Congress is in our yard. We’d not have illustration ourselves as D.C. residents, however possibly we will drive some change and a minimum of some conversations.

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“… It simply looks like we’ve reached a degree the place if not now, when? We must always have accomplished one thing after Sandy Hook; we should always have accomplished one thing after Vegas; we should always have accomplished one thing after Pittsburgh; I imply, you possibly can go down the record. We must always have accomplished one thing after Virginia Tech. How far again do you need to go? After which the dialog inevitably at all times modifications to psychological well being or bulletproof backpacks. We’re speaking about ballistic blankets. We’re speaking about renovating colleges so there is just one entrance and one exit. We’re speaking about arming lecturers.

“You’re describing a jail, and also you’re bargaining and negotiating with folks’s lives as an alternative of simply addressing the frequent denominator in each single certainly one of these points. It’s actually irritating, and I wish to suppose that on this nation we’re able to some common sense reforms {that a} majority of Individuals assist that don’t infringe in your Second Modification rights.”

Buckner: Individuals, torn between mourning and normalcy, use our video games to maneuver on

Whereas Doolittle spoke, his fingers saved shaking in his lap. He raised his voice greater than as soon as. He appeared on the verge of both screaming or breaking down in tears.

“Simply watching the tales on the information of those harmless folks and their households, the survivors which have to hold on … yeah, we will attempt to compartmentalize as athletes. Natasha talked about it in her press convention yesterday,” Doolittle continued. “While you’re right here, while you’re at your job, while you put a uniform on and also you’re round your staff, you’re 100% centered on what you’re doing. … However there are solely so many hours that I can actively rehab my elbow. There are solely so many hours I can actively put together for a sport after which play the sport.

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“We’re nonetheless members of our communities, and we would like our communities to be safer, and it’s actually irritating that Congress is taking a 10-day recess proper now after folks have been peacefully protesting outdoors Supreme Court docket justices’ properties, and two days later that they had an emergency session to extend their safety. Two days after Uvalde they usually’re taking a 10-day recess? It doesn’t make sense.

“… And, yeah, we do want to handle psychological well being on this nation, however the one time we speak about it could’t be after a mass taking pictures. There are such a lot of different issues now we have to handle to cut back the frequency of those sorts of occasions, like earnings inequality and higher assets in communities and at colleges. That’s the longer sport, and we’ll in all probability by no means be capable of cease these assaults from occurring. It’s a part of our society. It simply looks like a disgusting and gross value that we pay for freedoms. It doesn’t actually really feel like freedom when each two weeks that is occurring.”

Why did Doolittle agree with Cloud’s assertion that extra native gamers — and extra Nationals — ought to use their platforms proper now?

“I suppose, cynically, you might say that you simply’re overinflating the scale of your platform and the affect that you’ve and it’s simply self-indulgent to say these sorts of issues. Possibly it’s on some stage. Who am I? I’m on the injured record. I’m a center reliever on a staff that sadly is in final place proper now,” Doolittle answered. “However we’re nonetheless members of societies and our communities, and there are individuals who look as much as us as athletes, who hearken to what now we have to say as athletes.

“And I believe for those who may begin a few of these conversations, or you possibly can take part in a few of these conversations and possibly get folks to hear or put stress on elected officers to do one thing, the truth is that you’ve just a little bit extra sway than the typical individual. And relating to making modifications in your neighborhood, you possibly can assist transfer the needle on any variety of points which can be essential to you.

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“… Guys right here have been speaking about it. Guys in right here have youngsters that age. Guys in right here have youngsters that go to highschool. We don’t have youngsters, however I take into consideration my 5-year-old niece. The opposite day I requested my spouse if our niece’s faculty does energetic shooter drills. I used to be like, what the [expletive], man. Like what a query to should ask. We’ve normalized it a lot.

“We have to have extra conversations about higher rules round assault rifles. I don’t suppose folks want them. I don’t suppose that weapons of struggle ought to be on the road. However, like, I respect the fitting to guard your own home and to go hunt and to have a gun, and I do know a number of guys that I’ve performed with are gun homeowners.

“… There’s a method right here to guard folks’s Second Modification proper but additionally defend people who find themselves simply going to the grocery retailer, who’re going to the movie show, youngsters which can be going to highschool, people who find themselves going to church or a synagogue. It doesn’t really feel like a controversial opinion to have, however I discover myself actually policing my speech proper now. It’s actually irritating.”

Doolittle stopped, saved his eyes on the bottom after which minimize off the subsequent query, speaking louder than at another level of the dialog.

“The children known as 911,” he mentioned. “It’s heartbreaking. It’s completely heartbreaking.”

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Washington

Archdiocese of Washington celebrates annual Red Mass

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Archdiocese of Washington celebrates annual Red Mass


The Archdiocese of Washington on Sunday celebrated its annual Red Mass ahead of the opening of the Supreme Court’s October 2024 term, a liturgy that the archdiocese said invokes “God’s guidance and blessing on justices, judges, diplomats, attorneys, and government officials.”

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Washington Archbishop Cardinal Wilton Gregory was the principal celebrant at the Mass, while Deacon Darryl Kelley offered the homily. The assembly sang the “Star-Spangled Banner” prior to the opening of the Mass.

Attendees at the liturgy included Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. as well as associate Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Elizabeth Barchas Prelogar, the U.S. solicitor general, was also in attendance.

Red Masses are offered for those who work in all legal professions. The practice dates back to the 13th century.

Washington Archbishop Cardinal Wilton Gregory presides at the archdiocesan Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. Credit: Archdiocese of Washington
Washington Archbishop Cardinal Wilton Gregory presides at the archdiocesan Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. Credit: Archdiocese of Washington

The Washington archdiocesan Red Mass, held at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in downtown Washington, is sponsored by the John Carroll Society, an organization of Catholic professionals. The group has been sponsoring the Mass for over 70 years. 

Kelley in his homily said the Mass was not a “mere social event at the beginning of the judicial year.”

“Today, in this nation’s ongoing work to form a more perfect union in justice, genuine liberty, and the common good, we praise God for the blessings and guidance of the spirit of truth and gifts,” Kelley said.

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It is “no coincidence,” Kelley said, that the Red Mass first began centuries ago “when the foundation of our law today was being developed.” 

“And the foundation of our law is the common law,” he said, “which is rightly grounded in fundamental principles and right reason.” 

The faithful receive Communion at the archdiocesan Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. Credit: Archdiocese of Washington
The faithful receive Communion at the archdiocesan Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. Credit: Archdiocese of Washington

The Red Mass serves as a “recognition that there is a higher, timeless, unwritten, transcendent law of justice, such that law, per se, is something that is discovered, or received — not arbitrarily created or decreed,” the deacon noted. 

Quoting the 13th-century English jurist Henry de Bracton, Kelley noted that God “is the author of justice.”

The Mass was preceded by remarks on the history of the John Carroll Society by board of governors member Liz Young. 

In addition to the annual Red Mass, the John Carroll Society also sponsors a yearly “Rose Mass,” meant to “invoke God’s blessings on the medical, dental, nursing, and allied workers and the many health care institutions in the Archdiocese of Washington.”

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Deacon Darryl Kelley homilizes at the archdiocesan Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. Credit: Archdiocese of Washington
Deacon Darryl Kelley homilizes at the archdiocesan Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. Credit: Archdiocese of Washington

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SNL delivers ‘Washington’s Dream’ part 2 which fans hailed as ‘best skit in years’

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SNL delivers ‘Washington’s Dream’ part 2 which fans hailed as ‘best skit in years’


Saturday Night Live delighted fans by delivering part two of Washington’s Dream sketch, which was hailed last year as the show’s “best skit in years.”

Nate Bargatze reprised his role as George Washington to share more of his hopes and dreams for the country with his Revolutionary War soldiers Kenan Thompson, Mikey Day, Bowen Yang, and James Austin Johnson.

The sketch mocks the peculiarities of the American–English language. As his men question whether they will win the battle, Bargatze’s Washington tells them: “We will live through the battle ahead because we fight to control our own destiny, to create our own nation…and to do our own thing with the English language.”

“I dream, that one day our great nation will have a word for the number 12,” he continues. “We shall call it a dozen.”

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“And what other numbers will we have a word for?” asks Yang.

“None,” Bargatze replies, completely deadpan. “Only 12 shall have its own word because we are free men, and we will be free to spell some words two different ways.”

Nate Bargatze reprises the role of George Washington for the skit

Nate Bargatze reprises the role of George Washington for the skit (Saturday Night Live/NBC)

Day then asks: “Which words, sir?”

“Donut,” Bargatze replies. He adds: “We will also have two names for animals, one when they are alive and a different one for when they become food. Cows will be beef, pigs will be pork.”

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Yang asks: “Chickens, Sir?”

“That one stays,” Bargatze says. “Chickens are chicken.”

Fans welcomed the second installment of the skit on social media. “I honestly didn’t think they could pull this off again but so happy to be proven wrong,” one said on X.

Another, taking aim at how the latest Joker: Folie à Deux film has been widely reviewed as a flop, said: “This is how you make a sequel Todd Phillips.”

Nate Bargatze delighted fans by reprising the role of George Washington

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Nate Bargatze delighted fans by reprising the role of George Washington (NBC)

“I needed this this morning. Very clever & so true,” someone else said.

It follows last year’s hilarious skit where Washington outlined his dream for a country with its own “system of weights and measures.”

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The scene was a takedown of American measurements and other peculiarities, including lines like: “We are free men! And we will be free to measure liquids in litres and milliliters… but not all liquids, only soda, wine and alcohol. For milk and paint we will use gallons, pints and quarts, god-willing.”

Asked by one of his soldiers (Day) how many liters are in a gallon, he replies simply: “Nobody knows.”

Last night’s SNL also poked fun at the vice presidential debate between JD Vance (Bowen Yang) and Tim Walz (Jim Gaffigan).

Kamala Harris (Maya Rudolph) and Doug Emhoff (Andy Samberg) watched on as the pair stared into each other’s eyes and found “common ground”, prompting Rudolph to spit out wine and exclaim: “Why are they vibing?”

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For Commanders fans who aren’t sure what to do, here’s a suggestion: Believe

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For Commanders fans who aren’t sure what to do, here’s a suggestion: Believe


LANDOVER, Md. — It’s OK, Commanders fans.

You don’t know what to do with yourselves, do you? You’re like Ricky Bobby.

This can’t be real, right? Not for this franchise, which has worn holes in your soul for three decades, beaten the care out of you with one embarrassing off- and on-field episode after another, made you put your tickets on the secondary market and led to off-the-charts bile readings every Monday morning. It’s been grim around here. Grim.

You have every reason to let cynicism and jaded history be your guide. None of the team’s three units is fully formed or totally functional.

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But, it’s also OK to believe. Really.

It doesn’t mean Washington will be playing for a Lombardi Trophy any time soon. But the boulder is, at last, moving toward that, rather than rolling away from it.

At 4-1 and in first place in the NFC East after spanking the Cleveland Browns 34-13 at Northwest Stadium, the Commanders have already equaled their win total for all of last season. They didn’t even play that well in the first half Sunday, in what Dan Quinn called a “grimy” first 30 minutes. Jayden Daniels threw a bad interception at the Cleveland 5 in the first quarter, after … well, I can show you better than I can describe it:

That was 66 yards, on the move, on third-and-13.

The stadium wasn’t sold out Sunday, but it was more filled with actual Commanders fans than I can remember seeing — and hearing — in a very long time. The home crowd chanting “defense” and meaning it? Goodness.

People in Commanders jerseys started leaving late in the third quarter … but it was because their team was up 34-6. And when is the last time the home team was up by that much in this stadium?

It was Nov. 15, 2015, against the New Orleans Saints, a game Washington won 47-17. (Kirk Cousins was pretty efficient that day, going 20-of-25 for 324 yards and four touchdown passes.)

It’s not that there were no Browns fans around Sunday. There were many. But they didn’t overwhelm the stadium with their noise, as opposing fans have done for most of the last decade. They couldn’t, because every four or five minutes, Daniels did another thing that left their jaws slacked while Washington’s faithful could almost giggle at the absurdity of what they were watching.

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There was Daniels going deep to Terry McLaurin. There he was beating the Browns’ man coverage late in the first half, dropping a 41-yard TD in the bucket to Dyami Brown. There he went, after his bombs made Cleveland’s defensive backs stay glued to their men rather than come up and assist their defensive line to keep Daniels contained, scampering out of the pocket, time and again, taking off downfield to the tune of 11 carries for 82 yards, including converting a fourth-and-3 at the Cleveland 40 by making linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah miss, then taking off for 34 yards down the sideline.

And watch the impact, as Browns defenders’ bodies sagged every time Daniels moved the chains again.

Jayden Daniels can break your brain if you’re not stout of mind on the opposite sideline.

“It can be demoralizing,” Quinn said. “’Cause all of a sudden, you’ve created some long-yardage scenarios. … To have a big shot, even when the person’s guarded well, and you put it in the only spot it could go. The play that comes to mind before today was the one to Terry at the end of the Cincinnati game, where there was really only one spot where he could throw that pass. He had a couple of those scenarios today.”

And this is happening every week. And it’s happening here.

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Not just Kansas City. Or San Francisco. Or Philly or Buffalo or Detroit. Here, too. Finally.

The player who is rapidly becoming Must-See TV around the country, the person about whom the morning shoutfests are devoting increasing amounts of their time (“If you could clone Jayden Daniels, what team would you put him on?”), the first-round quarterback pick who is going first overall now in the 2024 NFL redrafts (yes, it’s still 2024; these are the clickbait times in which we live) plays for your team.

And afterward, the first thing he talked about was the plays he and the offense left on the field.

“I’m happy to get back and watch the film,” Daniels said. “It’s always better to go back and review stuff after a win, but we’ve got to improve.”

The Commanders did leave points out there Sunday. Daniels’ pick erased a scoring chance deep in the red zone, a play after he missed an open Zach Ertz in the end zone. Later, he missed Ertz again, after the tight end had cleared down the seam past the Cleveland secondary. McLaurin fumbled on the first play of the third quarter and dropped another potential TD on a near-perfect fade from Daniels late in the third. Washington was fortunate that wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus was hustling downfield early in the second quarter at the end of Austin Ekeler’s 50-yard run and was able to recover Ekeler’s fumble after Browns corner Martin Emerson Jr. punched the ball out.

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There was complementary football all over the field Sunday. Austin Seibert still hasn’t missed a kick since he’s gotten here. Linebacker Nick Bellore, a two-time Pro Bowler on special teams in Seattle before Washington signed him to its practice squad a month ago, hit most everyone who tried to return a kick for the Browns.

The defense again got home Sunday, sacking Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson seven times, with Bobby Wagner forcing a Watson fumble after a big hit on him in the third quarter. Washington’s defensive tackles were outstanding, stuffing the Browns running game and forcing multiple third-and-longs. (Sunday was third-year man Phidarian Mathis’ best game here, by far.) The woeful Browns were 1 for 13 on third downs.

And even though Daniels struggled at times, the big plays he and the offense made not only picked up Washington’s defense but also reinforced what it already believes: Daniels is earning everything he’s gotten so far.

“It fires us up,” linebacker Frankie Luvu said. “’Cause we know what Jayden puts in all week. The kid shows up at 4 a.m., and he’s already lifting in there. Me and Bobby walk in at like 5, 6, and dude is already done with his film tape, done with his lift. He’s already a step ahead. To see that, and to (then) see what he does on Sundays, it’s not shocking. It is to the world. But the dude put in a week of work. It’s a long conversation, but what you put in is what you’re gonna get out. To do what he does, it just fires us up and helps us keep going.”

That’s why it’s OK to hope. That’s why it’s OK to dream about what could happen around here, and maybe sooner than we all think, if Josh Harris and his folks can find a place to build the stadium they want, and if Adam Peters, as I believe he will, keeps his draft powder dry and doesn’t reach for a short-term fix at the trade deadline and has a couple of more cracks at things in 2025 and 2026, and if Quinn and his staff continue to develop what they’re given. Nothing’s promised in this league, or this game. The Ravens await next Sunday in Baltimore, and if you ever want to stress-test these Commanders, to see where the fissures still lie, that’s the perfect place to do so.

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But it’s OK to believe. And to dream. And to hope for greatness down the line. Because the quarterback, the one who hasn’t been around here in so very, very long, isn’t skipping steps. He isn’t cutting the line. He wants to be great, and he’s grinding to become just that.

Win or lose in a given week, it’s real. For real.

(Photo of Frankie Luvu and Washington teammates celebrating with fans after his fumble recovery: Timothy Nwachukwu / Getty Images)





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