“What fresh hell is this?”
– Dorothy Parker
I keep saying it, but the current pace of news is scary. We have not had week in this administration that hasn’t contained some kind of significant decision or change that will have lasting impact. This was no different.
Another Supreme Court seat is now in the mix and I assume that Senator McConnell will not seek to fill it as it’s an election year, right? I assume that if an election weren’t enough to warrant a delay in hearings, that investigations into whether or not the President and his election team were aided to power by a foreign adversary would, right? No, it was only about President Obama? K. Mitch McConnell is incredibly good at political power, but the cost of it is so, so high…
Seriously, this seat matters. Justice Kennedy was a conservative/libertarian in his position and as such was considered a swing vote in many cases–which is itself interesting. The court has shifted to the right in the past generation and that Justice Kennnedy is considered the occasional “moderate” voice is noteworthy. His vote has mattered in issues on LGBT and reproductive rights. It has also mattered to immigration cases, union cases, voter rights and access issues, presidential elections…the seats are probably the longest lasting appointments and offices in our government.
Elections matter. Too many people who are now angry about the direction of the country sat out of the last one and this week is the culmination of that choice.
In summary…
Lest we forget there are children who have been removed from their parents. Remember that? Here are multiple organisations you can donate to to help fight this.
If you are a liberal snowflake like me, here’s an avalanche you can join. November is closer than we’d like to admit and none of you get to sit this one out.
Judge Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion mirrors my own concerns with this decision. I fear we have overturned a bad legal precedent and just slotted in a new one in its place. It’s also one hell of a position that, “It’s legal if you set aside almost everything the actual president of the United States has said about this policy.” I wonder if and when some future court will be apologizing for this the way they are doing for Korematsu.
I’m never not interested in J. Crew news. It’s a brand that really lost me as a customer but I still perversely hope to root for.
Deeply relevant to my interests!
Netflix fires its communications officer for racist language.
What an amazing tribute in the face of tragedy.
New Lizzo alert! (PS, I’m three weeks late on this but Big Freedia ft. Lizzo alert too while we’re at it!)
Interestingly enough, there’s a whole swath of American people who think that your personal values should allow you to determine who you do business with (she typed sarcastically). That’s the problem with these kinds of positions. Sooner or later, they might turn against you.
To say that Brexit is going poorly would be an understatement. Regardless of whether or not individuals support it, it has now been two years since the vote and nearly nothing has been agreed or finalized in the negotiations to leave the EU with a deadline now less than a year away.
Honestly, and I recognize the irony of typing this, but this approach to masculinity is so damn sexy and attractive.
Big news from Saudia Arabia this week. Now let’s dump guardianship laws, k?
In Mormon news, the denomination’s hymnal is getting a long overdue update to better reflect the global membership. I’m also pretty pleased that national anthems are getting dropped, though I expect some Americans are going to be in their feelings about this.
Watching Glenn Beck help midwife much of our conspiracy theorist based media hellscape, try to rebrand himself as a Never Trumper, only to subsequently roll over legs waving in the air and be rewarded by a slow moving collapse of his media empire has been…weirdly enough, a little sad. But I’d be sadder if I didn’t feel he was one of the emotional architects of said media hellscape and a probably metaphor for what so many people are going to get out of this administration.
We all need more laughs. NPR is here to help.
“Please don’t make me sound horrible.” Ma’am, you didn’t need anyone’s help for that.
Another well intentioned art vandal.
Some good news: shut up to me about how identity politics don’t matter. Also I am pleased to report that I totally own this lipstick. May it imbue me with badassery!
NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG.
In more Mormon new, I enjoyed revisiting this then-viral piece about Mormon Mommy Blogs in the early 2000s and what’s happened to one of the OGs.
X sent me this link as it was “relevant to [my] interests.” As usual, she was RIGHT.
Immigration in the States is down. Immigration in Europe is down. And the President wants to make this the foundational plank of this election year because the facts don’t matter and he needs a fake enemy to bash, so people of color, the dispossessed, and the desperate will do. Shut up to me about the dangers of identity politics, the right plays it just as much as the left, they just couch it in different terms.
This doesn’t surprise me to read.
And nor does this, I’m heartsick to type…as I add this, it’s unclear what the motivations behind this shooting are (and fundamentally, it doesn’t matter because people are dead). But that the first place my brain went was to wonder if this was political speaks volumes. Just because it’s idiots calling for it doesn’t mean people aren’t listening.
ETA: More information is emerging about the shooter and his motivations.
On that note, also shut up to me about calls for civility from the right. You had a guy who was civil, who followed the rules and took the high road more times than I can count when confronted with racism and disrespect to his office. You declared obstructionist war against his administration. Don’t throw the mantra of the former First Lady in my face about going high when others go low, when the current First Lady is party to a government by internet trolling. The same people calling loudest for civility are supporting a leader who rose to prominence on a racist conspiracy theories and cyber bullying, warning against a militant left while arming themselves with more guns than there actual people to wield them in the country, detesting political correctness because they want to be able to use ugly language without consequences, and going to war over fiscal responsibility only to give up the fight when back in power. Fuck civility. You want it, you go first.
These tweets are two hours apart pic.twitter.com/HeRTQJgrdZ
— andrew kaczynski🤔 (@KFILE) June 23, 2018
Small Dog Syndrome 