Tag: Pop Culture

Humor, Links, News, Pop Culture

Weekend Links

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” 
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

What another week of news, and once again I can’t keep up–but we’ll do our best to recap along the way. We are past the Fourth of July and therefore officially into summer. I have switched to my “summer” sunglasses (aviators), purchased a linen shirt (which I duly report back on in my next shopping update), and all my drinks are iced. Consider me ready for the season.

I’ve put together a list of (mostly) poppy and fun links for your reading pleasure and I’m going to try and get a few additional posts together because I am officially on holiday! Jeff and I are going off to explore a new city neither one of us have been too, and I am going to do my best to try and unplug from work. Historically, I am TERRIBLE at this. (It doesn’t help that there’s an awful lot going on, a new contract to move into, and annual budget season to contend with…and shut up, C., you’re not helping yourself!)

Filing this under things I didn’t realize weren’t already federal crimes.

Anyone got a few cool million to spare?

Crissle returns to Drunk History!

Our country is broken.

Broken.

I accept this to be true.

Oprah for queen. Oprah for everything.

Noted and worthy beauty blog Temptalia breaks down the recent launch of the latest “big” brand and one, for a change, I have no interest in at all.

Good riddance, it’s a miracle he lasted as long as he did with that much scandal and bad behavior just…out there.

Jog on, indeed!

No duh.

I love writing on writing.

Long live the battle queens of the internet.

This piece from Slate hit me so hard this week that it actually took a full day to process. This passage deserves a block quote:

I am sad, above all, because the damage being done now no longer feels like it can be stemmed—let alone reversed—with a single election. This will last decades. The downturns my generation has already weathered—the 2008 crisis that hinged on obscure derivatives traded by a privileged few, robbing wealth from millions—were only the beginning. Education is now a luxury. Pensions barely exist. Health care is under threat. Retirement is, to those my age, a cruel joke. We’ve been waiting. For recovery, for relief, for some semblance of an American dream we can access.

It is clear, now, that there was nothing to wait for. In the time we’ve been waiting, the rich have only gotten richer and angrier and whiter, but it will never be enough for them. The good-faith ideological battle some thought right and left were waging turned out to be no such thing: Modern conservativism was never about small government. Or personal liberty—for women and people of color, anyway. It wasn’t about fiscal responsibility: The GOP passed a tax plan that has blown up our national debt, which is projected to reach 78 percent of America’s GDP by the end of this year, the highest it’s been since 1950. And Republicans are still not happy. They will pretend that this crisis they created will require “sacrifices,” gutting services poor Americans desperately need, like health care. The poor and disadvantaged will die.

Meanwhile, those in power will celebrate how much they deserve their wealth and how little anyone else deserves.

Finally, there are still children separated from their parents. You can donate to RAICES, KIND, and the ACLU to help.

Humor, Links, News, Politics, Pop Culture, Weekend

Weekend Links

“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.

Such shock. Much surprise.

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.

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Humor, Links, News, Politics, Pop Culture

Weekend Links

“Look at this mess! And where’s the mop?” 
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

It’s only Friday but I’m posting the links early because good grief…What a roller coaster of a week.

After backing down (kind of) on a wildly unpopular policy of his administration’s own making, the president is (of course) trying to spin the narrative of him heroically beating back wrong. I HOPE the conversation continues and now return to the debate about how long families are able to be detained (because please remember that that the administration is already challenging a legal ruling over limiting family detention) and our immigration policies overall. I HOPE TO HELL the furore continues over the fact that there is no commitment to reunite currently separated families. There is also an increasing numbers of verified reports of some of the conditions immigrants and immigrant children are being kept in that are shocking.

Finally, I HOPE this week is a reset in the media and public discourse. That after this ridiculous week, news outlets, politicians, and commentators will do better about bluntly and swiftly countering lies and mistruths–instead of endlessly debating whether or not the president “means it” when he says flagrantly false statements. This administration and the president has gotten away with unaccountability for far too long and it’s corrosive. We need to take him seriously and literally. He is the President of the United States, and we need to stop grading him on a god damn scale.

Basically, props for not paying too much attention to that silly “Space Force” announcement. More of that, please.

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It’s a complicated history, but it’s important to explore and unpack. I have a vivid of a university classmate of mine vigorously denying even the possibility of this relationship because, and I quote, “God would not let His government be organized by a man who did that.” Fourteen years on and I’m still thinking about that conversation…woof.

BEYONCE ALERT. Oh, and her husband too. Sure.

Seriously, who else could shut down the Louvre?

This opinion piece is beautiful and hits right in the feels: “I like to watch Rob and our boys and be reminded that there are some very good men out there… I can expect a great deal from them — and not be disappointed.” Thank god for good men, and yes to celebrating them.

Design flaw.

“[Neko] Case may be an acquired taste, but she’s an addictive, enveloping one. To love her is to fucking love her.” Can confirm that this line, part of this overall great profile, is accurate.

I think every urban generation goes through something like falling out of love with its city, and New York is no different. However there was a lot about this longform piece that really resonated with me as a sojourner in another iconic city during our current socio political moment. I’m surrounded by property I can’t afford, lots of the “old neighborhoods” have undergone a major demographic shift in the last generation, and businesses as well as people are often priced out. The poor are hidden and the rich are in hiding. I’m still prepared to hustle and grind as much as the next hungry and ambitious woman out there, but for what can feel like diminishing returns. Meanwhile, I wonder about how long an ecosystem like a great city will last if less and less of the labor it depends on can find a way to live in it.

I have so many questions about this…

This article came out nearly two weeks ago, but I’m still thinking about it and the implications of bro culture as diplomacy. An op ed this week lays out what some of the consequences may be. “America has been dominant for so long that it takes for granted outcomes that support its policies and interests…”

Way to bury the lede…in the 19th paragraph… “According to four people close to Kelly, the former Marine general has largely yielded his role as the enforcer in the West Wing as his relationship with Trump has soured. While Kelly himself once believed he stood between Trump and chaos, he has told at least one person close to him that he may as well let the president do what he wants, even if it leads to impeachment — at least this chapter of American history would come to a close.”

God, my friends are amazing. My New York bestie and surrogate big sister did a killer podcast this week.

The role of women in the Trump White House is endlessly interesting to me. He relies on certain women in key ways and always has, while simultaneously projecting an intentional, old-school masculinity that is often disdainful of women or insists on traditional gender roles. The women in his orbit are adept at using the tropes of that system to both their and his advantage…which brings me to medieval history! (Everything comes back to medieval history on this blog.)

Finally, this quote sums up the screams-into-a-pillow rage I experience when pondering this whole presidency. “The elite! Why are they elite?” Trump wondered. “I have a much better apartment than they do. I’m smarter than they are. I’m richer than they are. I became president and they didn’t.” HIS IS THE ELITE. HE IS THE PRESIDENT AND HEAD OF THE EMPOWERED PARTY. HE IS RICH AND PRIVLEGED. IT IS A LIE TO SAY OTHERWISE.

Let’s review some of the political events of the last week:

Monday and Tuesday: Fuck your discomfort.

Tuesday: The clip that crashed ProPublica’s website.

Everything pure is going fast…RIP Koko.

As of Wednesday, there were stirrings that the White may back down. Which if course is good, if unexpected on my part, but ironically puts the president in similar situations to his predecessors. I actually accept that our immigration system is in desperate need of reform, in no small part to the messiness and responsibility limbo different aspects of government find themselves in. But until we acknowledge the underlying driving ethos in various drives for reform, this conversation will not move forward. And speaking off…

Lest we forget, we have allowed this administration and a series of untruths to hijack the conversation around immigration in the first place. While there are seasonal trends, the overall trend is that immigration numbers are falling. There has been no scientifically robust link between immigration and crime rate, or wage rates for that matter. We are not being invaded. The language around immigrants is age old, frequently ugly (see also: “infest”), and seldom rooted in fact. If you want to say that immigration is a national security issue: prove it. The problem is that certain people want to behave in ways that are underpinned by nativism, racism, and nationalism, but don’t want to have to admit to those motives. “‘Unable to say, “We want fewer foreign-born Americans, full stop,’ the Trump administration is instead constantly making arguments that don’t withstand much scrutiny.”

Thursday: we’re still unpicking the implications of the Executive Order as it is.

Also Thursday: we’re doing what now?!

Friday: the underlying truth is that our immigration system across the board is a mess, and I’m not just talking about enforcement. Our laws need review to meet the needs and realities of the 21st century. Our borders do need enforcement but they also need them in ways that match reality–a wall won’t work. Our legal systems need money and people to cope with the workload. Our people services need investment so that our national values are just as prioritized as our security. Our Congress is paralyzed by infighting. This whole ugly situation arose because our immigration system is fundamentally disordered (and the ruling powers are ethno-nativist in the extreme). Until that mess is fixed, personal animus will continue to hold more power than it should in the debate.

 

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Humor, News, Politics, Pop Culture

Another Update: This Guy…

…Stepped right in a perfectly crafted designed-to-outrage-without-uttering-a-word layup. Because of course it’s always all about him.

 

Insert comment about how they can’t coordinate their communications strategy, etc. etc. etc. Unless of course this is all intentional. Who knows, Melania isn’t talking.

Oh well. Back to the outrage about the chronic lying, discombobulated policy, and sacrificing women as spokespeople, thanks.

Fashion, News, Politics, Pop Culture, Style

A Jacket Interlude

“Miss Rhode Island, please describe your idea of a perfect date.”
“That’s a tough one. I would have to say April 25th. Because it’s not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket.”
– Miss Congeniality, 2000

Deploying the First Lady is something the Trump administration does rarely but damn effectively. She really is an under utilized resource, and like many others I don’t know if this is down to personal preference or genuine strategic thinking to keep her PR value high.

So, with that in mind,  let’s fight about this jacket. I’m pretty well convinced this is intentional and strategic. Melania Trump, a former model and genuinely well dressed and shod woman, knows how to use fashion. See also, her pussy bow blouse during “Grab ’em by the pussy” week, her choice of stilettos when visiting a flood zone which may or may not have been practical but certainly got people talking, her excellent (and I mean that sincerely) handling of the French president’s state dinner including her style choices, and so on.

There is a reason we watch First Lady fashion and while it’s far from the most important thing to talk about right now, it’s not insignificant or incorrect to talk about it.

The jacket in question.

Is this a signal of disdain to immigrants? Is it a signal of disdain for her own husband and his policies? Is she supporting the administration? Is she trying to embarrass it from inside the house? Is she triggering the media? Is she pandering to the media? It’s aggressively ambiguous and open to interpretation. I’m almost perversely tempted to tip my hat to this EXPERT trolling/attempt to seize control of/disrupt the narrative, and I have no idea what her intentions are.

I wish we could all let go of the silly idea that she’s a beautiful-but-dumb woman trapped in her marriage. She’s long been willing to play second fiddle to her diva partner but she has never, ever struck me as unintelligent. She’s also not lived in Trump world this long without learning how to use its tricks and The Art of the Headfake is a classic Trump move. It’s wild to think that if her husband were half a subtle as she, he might be twice as effective. Dreadful thought.

Humor, Links, News, Politics, Pop Culture

Weekend Links

“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” 
― Friedrich Nietzsche

Happy weekend, kittens!

I spent yesterday walking 20 miles for charity and my body is hurting. Therefore we are diving straight into the links. Political news is almost moving too fast to keep up with but to summarize some major stories of the week: Manafort’s bail was revoked, Michael Cohen might be flirting with the prosecution, an the FBI released a report that may or may not affect your personal feelings on James Comey, but has nothing whatsoever to say about “exonerating” Mr. Trump in relation to the Russia investigation given that the report was on the handling of the FBI’s investigation into Ms. Clinton’s emails. No matter what the hell he tweets.

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A look into a world we don’t get too many glimpses of.

When it all went wrong, at least pop culturally speaking, and at least according to current curmudgeons.

There is so much shady money hiding in plain sight. Here’s some engrossing reporting from The Guardian on Russian money in the UK, but this is hardly the only combination out there. I appreciate the point made that in many cases of money moving through the world, it’s not happening necessarily with nefarious intent so much as it is a need for aggressive self-interest in preserving wealth through uncertain financial and political times. Conspiracy theories about “elites” sitting in darkened rooms smoking cigars and contemplating the best way to keep poorer people down and shake governments aren’t really true. Conspiracy theories about wealthy and powerful people meeting in daylight in comfortable office spaces and speaking practically about the best way to use completely legal means to protect their assets are.

Our entire society–media, politics, you name it–seems built on charlatans all scheming to get out just before the house of cards comes down at the moment. Some of them even manage to luck into success doing it.

Let’s be clear: broadly speaking, it’s still much harder and more negatively consequential for women to come forward about sexual assault and harassment then for me who assault and harass.

We were all rooting for this little guy this week.

This is horrific and unacceptable.

The White House is trying to shift ownership of this policy onto the opposing party, probably to try and force people to the negotiating table. It’s disgusting. Don’t cite holy writ, whatever your creed, to justify it. Either buck up and own your cruelty or be ashamed of it and stop weaponizing suffering.

God, we need Mr. Rogers more now than ever before...

Queer Eye is an active force for good in the world (with bonus Mormon content!)

Three cheers for healthy masculinity!

How the Netflix model works when it comes to programming and showrunning.

Here in Britain there is a bit of a celebrity gossip news this week that rather stuck in my craw in a way I couldn’t put my finger on. Then, Lainey put it better than I ever could.

Humor, Links, News, Pop Culture

Weekend Links

“It is easy to decide on what is wrong to wear to a party, such as deep-sea diving equipment or a pair of large pillows, but deciding what is right is much trickier.” 
― Lemony Snicket, The Slippery Slope

I’m on birthday leave, kittens, let’s get straight to the links!

The objectification of men and masculinity is a tricky but real subject for conversation.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, AKA the internet’s new boyfriend, has been a delight to discover. Let him and Bob Marley bless your ears this day.

Interesting. But let’s pick this up in six years, shall we?

Ireland, come through! Here’s to a future where we don’t need martyrs first.

You know what? Credit where it’s due to a guy who realized that he was part of the problem and owned it in public (after that awful NYT interview). This is what complacency and complicity looks like in real life, and it’s good to be reminded of the fact. Most accomplices to toxic or sexist workspaces are not Jeffrey Tambor, most are Jason Bateman. Let’s know better and do better.

Another deep dive profile for the ever reliable McKay Coppins at The Atlantic, this time on White House aide Stephen Miller and what the culture of trolling has to do with where is based today. I’d genuinely like sociologists and experts to do more writing and speaking on what the long term effects of trolling as professional or political strategy may be. Coppins points out that the difference between provocateur comments for the sake of being “edgy” and outright racism have effective blurred in many area and that studied irony and sincerity are near impossible to tell apart on some forums. There has to be some kind of study on what this mentality does to a society.

I will read the crap out of this book.

Important reminder that by most standards, the world is getting better. But also a reminder than progress isn’t inevitable.

Immigration has been in the news lately and with good bloody reason. Vox has a (policy based!) take on how the Department of Justice is reshaping the immigration debate and system in a way that will have long term ramifications.

There are solid pieces of advice in this reddit thread.

Bach as a weapon.

This series is a joy.

A comprehensive overview of the coverage and surrounding issues for the ICE stories in the news this past week.

We live in such a weird time.

Where? Point me to these women? I sure as hell don’t know any of them. And to give them all due credit, the vast majority of millennial men I know are supportive of their partners who do out-earn them. As Jeff put it to a coworker who queried this exact subject in our own marriage, “Who the hell is mad about more money?!”

Our dispatch from the Mormon world this week is not religiously based, but says something interesting (I feel) about men who feel increasingly displaced in society–which is a valid academic and social discussion to have–and what some of them want in response to gender dynamic changes–namely, the right to rule again.

“A lot of people really want to believe a conspiracy because it’s a lot easier to think a malevolent force is in charge than that our government is run by idiots.” This piece is an intense read, or would be in normal times. In any other age, a confirmed and avowed conspiracy theorist of this caliber would not hold the office he holds, or have the capacity to damage/shift narrative the way he does.

These photos of the fading remains of WWI are powerful.

Wow, this guy had a bad day…

The cancellation of Roseanne was a hot topic this week, but this take from Variety resonated most with me. Roseann Barr has been a controversial figure (and overtly racist/conspiracy theorist tweeter) for a long time. ABC knew that when they hired her. They still gave her a show. I’m glad there are consequences to this kind of speech, unless you’re running for president or something, but it feels like they’ve taken away something she should never have been given in the first place

I’m convinced every woman has SOME kind of story that she has had to go over, review in her own mind, and re-contextualize over time. Was it me? Should I have done this differently? Am I at fault? It’s a funny story…right?

Oh J. Crew, will you win me back? Time will tell!

And finally, this whole YouTube series about how the Alt Right uses language as a tool and a weapon is fascinating listening.

This guy has a delightfully specific vocation!

 

Feminism, History, News, Politics, Pop Culture, Writing

Late night rambles on the C-word

“I’ve been accused of vulgarity. I say that’s bullshit.” 
― Mel Brooks

Samantha Bee used the C word to describe Ivanka Trump this week on her show and, like unto Roseanne Barr, it caused something of a kerfuffle. More in the links post tomorrow.

But in the meantime, and while I have this on the brain, do you know what? I HATE the C word. Hate it. It’s slung around in the UK like loose change in a way I never experienced in the States, and I haven’t gotten used to it in five years. I still feel a full body cringe at its ugliness whenever someone uses it. If TBS chose to reprimand or punish Samantha Bee like ABC chose to do with Roseanne, I wouldn’t like it, but I’d grudgingly admit it’s the network’s prerogative to make that kind of call.

I similarly think it’s the NFL’s right to try and set certain boundaries the speech of its players. I further think that deliberately defying rules is literally the point of a protest so we’re not exactly comparing apples to apples. Nevertheless, the Twitter wars rage.

The difference between a comedian and a president is that one of those people is expected, even encouraged to be vulgar. The other, historically, is expected to set an example to the nation state. One is expected to set standards, the other to push boundaries.vWhich brings me to the broad point I can’t shake.

Anyone who tries to defend the current political administration (the target of the comment in the first place) with the claim that vulgarity (as opposed to racism, for instance) should cost someone their job needs to have an intellectually honest conversation about the dude in the White House and how he got there. He weaponized vulgarity and rode it all the way to Pennsylvania Avenue.

You do not get to cheer a man who kicked off his political life by calling Mexican immigrants rapists, has a history of sexual assault allegations, and been caught on tape bragging about grabbing women by their “pussy,” and then cry foul when an entertainer uses foul language towards one of his administration officals. One side does not get to say that Roseanne Barr’s statements on her twitter feed, filled with antisemitism and conspiracy theories, are jokes and then turn around and say that an unfriendly comedian’s jokes are beyond the pale.

Pick a lane. Either offensive jokes are acceptable more broadly or they are not. If you insist on your side’s right to be offensive, you should in turn be prepared to buckle up and be offended right back.

Here’s the thing. I believe wholeheartedly that the overall coarsening of our culture and public discourse is not a good thing. We’re all worse off for it. But spare me the moral hand wringing if your whole ethos and political strategy is built around “triggering” other people. These are your rules, it’s your game, and you’re in charge. Either toughen up and take what you sling out, or do your best to claw back the moral high ground if you can.

But to say that systemic and historically racist speech and vulgar speech are on par is a false equivalence. Both are bad. Both may incur consequences on the speaker. But one traditionally operates from the vantage point of power which could be interpreted as punching down, while the other is “punching up.” Ugly language may be frowned on but as a society we agree that there are places where it’s appropriate or at least acceptable. Antisemitism on the other hand, is not welcome. Unless you agree that there are “fine people” who believe in it.

Here. Someone smarter than me said it better.

Humor, Links, News, Politics, Pop Culture

Weekend Links

“Every person needs to take one day away.” 
― Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now

It’s a long weekend this week and I took an extra day off for my first holiday time since Christmas so links are landing early, kittens. Forgive the short intro, but I’m on break mode!

Scene of the crime.

This take on the Duchess of Sussex’s wedding dress was my favorite. Her evening reception frock was a lovely, lovely number as well!

Yay, heraldry!

One last take on the Royal Wedding from the great and good Linda Holmes.

This man was not prepared for the replies to his tweet.

It’s the guns.

Much surprise, such shock, wow.

More shock. This is one hell of a FARA violation. 

Yet more shock. (ETA: he might not know what he’s talking about. Super shocking.)

Yet more shock still. Such a shocking week this has been. Please read this and the past four links in a devastatingly monotone voice.

We live in such weird times…

I have to stop falling in love with brands. One will always break your heart. The Deciem weirdness continued this week.

Speaking of skincare, though, this is 100% how I lured Jeff in.

Also this week in awful, an organisation with almost 100% white ownership and a 70% black workforce told its members that they couldn’t engage in certain acts of civic protest over police brutality. I refer of course, to the NFL. There is some hope, however.

“They may have a different version of the truth than we do.” This year’s version of “alternative facts.”

ARE THERE NO HEROS LEFT?! Also Weinstein has turned himself in on rape charges. Good.

Two bad ICE stories in the news. Both horrifying.

Here, something good in the world.

Good dog.

#RepealTheEighth

I’m not dwelling overly long on the various political dramas of the White House week, but I’m conflicted about that choice. Because in part I think that it means the perceived tactic of this White House is working: they are sowing so much chaos, unreliable information, or outright conspiracy theories that it’s almost impossible to land any kind of blow on them no matter how necessary. The president is in tone (and who knows, I’m typing this on Wednesday, this could total expand by the end of the week) suggesting that the FBI planted evidence against him. This is farcical. He’s tried this tactic before, claiming that the game was rigged against him and his messaging was rather thrown off course when he actually won the election. Meaning that the long term scheme was for the government to plant a spy in his organization to gather information that they didn’t release while simultaneously investigating his opponent’s campaign organization and holding press conferences about that, so that he would win the election to install an administration of his own supporters….to then start undermining him?

The alternative option on this Occams Razor edge is that at some point Mr. Trump or people around him came to FBI attention due to the various shady dealings in his business past. But hey, why be simple when you can start another conspiracy theory. The president lies constantly and no one cares.

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Oops. I dwelt.

Britain, London, News, Pop Culture

The Duchess of Sussex
Image from the BBC

An absolute stunner of a modern dress by Givenchy with protocol-required sleeves…but collarbones on display?

The Song of Solomon in the reading?

MLK, African American spirituals, and social issues in the sermon?

An unabashedly progressive and somewhat controversial Reverend?

A gospel choir?

A bride walking herself up the aisle and giving herself away?

All of the Commonwealth nations referenced in her veil?

The signature messy updo?

The groom choosing to wear a ring?

THAT cello player?

Feelings on display? Publicly?!

The (utterly elegant, lovely, and show-stealing) MoB wearing dreadlocks and a nosering whilst seated across from the Queen in coordinated colors?

Stand By Me and This Little Light of Mine?

The new Duchess of Sussex could have gone quietly into her new life, gone traditional, acquiesced to the frank ugliness of the tabloids, played it safe, and had a perfectly nice and boring wedding. She didn’t.

Color me too-emotionally-involved, but the whole ceremony felt at once deeply personal and also a signal for the kinds of public figures this couple intends to be. Weddings are typically the “bride’s day,” at least when one is not marrying into a firm, and that’s what this felt like in all the important ways.

She might be marrying into an institution and making concessions to do so, but she is clearly carving out a way to do it on her and her husband’s terms. She respected the tradition she is stepping into it while unabashedly–without being brash but also without shrinking–brought her own tradition, family, heritage, and personality along with her. This woman is a smart cookie.

I STAN.