Dystopian fiction is when you take things that happen in real life to marginalized populations and apply them to people with privilege.
NAACP asks Black Student-Athletes to Reconsider Florida Colleges
Andrea Adelson writing for ESPN:
The NAACP asked Black student-athletes to reconsider their decisions to attend public colleges and universities in the state of Florida, in response to the University of Florida and other state schools recently eliminating their diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Don’t forget Iowa.
Car Washes are Proliferating Across the U.S. Here’s Why.
Ailsa Chang interviews Patrick Sisson of Bloomberg on NPR:
You also talked about how, like, some small towns – they’ve resorted to banning car washes. It’s really that bad. Like, car washes has – they’ve become this invasive species in some parts of the U.S.
The number of car washes is expected to double in the next six years because there’s a ton of money to be made in subscription model, the labor costs are low and culturally we’ve shifted from “I can do it” to “I want someone to do it for me”.
Not Far from Navalny
Valerie Hopkins and Andrew E. Kramer in The New York Times:
Aleksei A. Navalny, an anticorruption activist who for more than a decade led the political opposition in President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia while enduring arrests, assaults and a near-fatal poisoning, died Friday in a Russian prison, according to Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service. He was 47.
The prison authorities said that Mr. Navalny lost consciousness on Friday after taking a walk in the Arctic penal colony where he was moved late last year. He was last seen on Thursday, when he had appeared in a court hearing via video link, smiling behind the bars of a cell and making jokes.
That’s a suspiciously sudden turn.
Adam Liptak in The New York Times:
Eight years ago, just before the Iowa caucuses, Donald J. Trump crowed about his invulnerability.
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?” he said. “It’s, like, incredible.”
On Tuesday, at a federal appeals court argument held the week before this year’s caucuses, a lawyer for Mr. Trump said that the Constitution basically states the same thing.
It took a few questions from Judge Florence Y. Pan to pin down the lawyer, D. John Sauer. But in the end he made the jaw-dropping claim that former presidents are absolutely immune from prosecution even for murders they ordered while in office.
“I asked you a yes-or-no question,” Judge Pan said. “Could a president who ordered SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival, who was not impeached, would he be subject to criminal prosecution?”
Mr. Sauer said his answer was a “qualified yes,” by which he meant no. He explained that prosecution would only be permitted if the president were first impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate.
Trump’s argument is that the president could order a rival’s murder and the only possibility of accountability is political process of impeachment.
That seems suspiciously close to Navalny’s downfall.
Only if We’re Brave Enough
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it
There’s a lot of folks in Johnson County who need to be reminded.
Rights
Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.
It’s emblazoned on the state flag if you need a refresher.
The Iowa Civil Rights Act would be changed by removing gender identity as a protected class, and by adding gender dysphoria to disabilities covered by the act, under legislation that will be considered by state lawmakers next week at the Iowa Capitol.
Shameful.
A subcommittee will hold a hearing on Jan. 31, and you can provide written or in-person comment.
We made it to 21, baby.
On Abolition
Every day, we take hundreds of steps towards abolition.
Waving to a neighbor walking her dog.
Stoping to help a kid on their way to school who’s bag is spilling papers.
Handing out Halloween candy at your front door.
Meeting a new person who works near your office.
Collecting a few pieces of trash.
Holding your kid’s birthday party at the neighborhood park.
Closing a street to cars for a community festival.
Visiting a playground and playing.
Asking someone if they’re OK.
Sharing a tradition.
Picking up dog poop that’s not yours.
Giving another human grace.
Moving forward when you’re not offered the same.
Writing a poem.
Flying a kite.
Checking in an old friend.
Letting your boss know, clearly and honestly, what isn’t working.
Joining a community network that connects folks across your city to solve problems.
Asking your neighbor if they’d stop setting of fireworks.
Getting over neighbors continuing to set off fireworks.
Finding a new home for books you’ve already read and things you no longer use.
Bringing food to a potluck.
Forgiving a person who wronged you.
It’s hundreds of daily acts of resistance, easy and hard, that makeup the steps on the infinitely long path to abolition.
One-Star Food
For our anniversary last January, Laura and I visited Chicago for two nights of eating. Night One was an all-out, over-the-top dinner at the kitchen table at Next. It was good, of course, but it also felt very too much. And, ironically, maybe weird in a too-safe kind of way?
Night Two was the tasting menu at Indienne, a newish spot serving refined Indian cuisine with a bit of French flare. It was surprising and delightful, and the best meal I’d had in years.
It should be no surprise it was just awarded its first Michelin star.
🐸☕️
