01/25/23

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, January 25th. National Irish Coffee Day.

It’s so interesting, I actually celebrate this day often. And not just with coffee. Really, any liquid will work. I just… I just want to celebrate the Irish.

And now, the news.

Update on Half Moon Bay Shooting

-via NY Times

Let’s start with an update on Monday’s Half Moon Bay shooting, where 7 people were killed at two different sites.

As is always the case, questions still remain but we do know that the suspect was taken into custody when he left the last shooting and drove to a local San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office substation.

The 66 year old shooter was arrested without incident and police say he is fully cooperating.

There is no clear motive yet, though the suspect is believed to have worked at the mushroom farm where he first opened fire. It’s currently unknown why he went to the second location. Police have not found a criminal history or records of past incidents at either location.

Governor Newsom traveled to Half Moon Bay on Tuesday. He was visiting with victims of the Monterey Park shooting when he got news of the Half Moon Bay shooting.

Also on Tuesday, President Biden told reporters that he’d spoken to Newsom about a state and federal response.

Hey, here’s an idea. Ban guns!

Here’s something… I take these news episodes and cut together a little video for TikTok each day about the episode. For this TikTok, I’m going to have to use a place holder for the word gun, because there are certain words that get videos flagged. So in a video talking about these mass shootings, I will have to literally use the word “pew pew” in the subtitles. Because the word gun can get the video banned.

But even in a state that, per Everytown’s research group, has the harshest gun laws in the country… this is the third day in a row I’ve had to talk about mass shootings. And I can’t even use the word gun or shooting in a TikTok. But we know, we all know, nothing will be done about these shootings. Nothing real.

Thoughts and prayers don’t stop the next one. They don’t change the fact that I was in a bowling alley when I saw the news about Monterey Park and the first thing I did was look at the exit. Just to remind myself where it was. Which is pointless, because I knew where it was the whole time. I clock the hiding places and exits in every crowded spot I’m in.

Because I can’t use the word gun in a TikTok, but I still have to know where to hide in a public location.

I mean – what are we doing here?

Baton Rouge Shooting

-via CNN

Because 11 people were killed on Saturday and 7 people were killed on Monday, I failed to tell you that 12 people were injured in a shooting that took place at a Baton Rouge night club on Sunday night.

Three people sustained life-threatening injuries in the targeted attack after a fight broke out and multiple people started shooting.

Police are still looking for at least one suspect.

A dozen people injured and it hardly makes the news because 18 people were killed this week in mass shootings.

And yeah – I’m mad. Be mad with me, because the only thing that makes a difference is our righteous anger and the purposeful action we put behind it. Donate. Rally. Vote. Run for office.

We deserve better than this. And the victims of every single one of these shootings deserve better than our inaction.

Pence’s Confidential Documents

-via AP News

And now welcome to a weird transition of emotions as I talk about a different story.

Confidential documents have been found in the home of former Veep Mike Pence. They were found by aides and, as was the case with President Biden’s documents, turned over to the FBI. Lawyers for Pence say the former Veep was unaware the documents were at his house.

As a reminder… this is still not the same thing as Trump. Though now that a Republican has done the same thing as Biden, I am curious to see how the far-right networks thread that needle.

Have they tried putting an apple airtag on these documents?

Google Sued for Monopolizing Ads

-via NPR

Eight states joined with the Department of Justice to file a suit against Google on Tuesday. Their complaint is that Google’s digital advertising agency illegally monopolizes the market, saying, “the analogy would be if Goldman or Citibank owned the NYSE."

Oscar Nominations

-via Buzzfeed News

The Oscar nominations are out. Which means I guess it’s time to watch some movies?

There’s a link in show notes to the full list, but obviously Everything, Everywhere, All at Once led the nominations, with Michelle Yeoh making history as the first openly Asian woman nominated for best actress. I say openly Asian because Merle Oberon was nominated in 1936 for The Dark Angel but hid her Asian ancestry.

Angela Bassett was nominated for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is very cool.

Less cool - Danielle Deadwyler (Till) and Viola Davis (The Woman King) were not nominated in the Best Actress category. And, as always… not a single woman was nominated for best director.

Hollywood baybee!

LSU Fatal Sexual Assault

-via NBC News

I’m ending with a horrific story of sexual assault. If that’s not something you want to hear about, you can end this episode now and know that I’m proud of you for protecting yourself.

If you’re sticking around…

Four people have been arrested in connected with the alleged rape of LSU student Madison Brooks. The rape took place in the back of one of the suspect’s car, and following that, Madison was dropped off in an East Baton Rouge subdivision, where she was fatally hit by a car.

Two of the suspects are 18, one is 17, and one is 28.

Earlier in the night, Madison is seen on video at a bar with the four men that were arrested. When the bar closed, she asked them for a ride home because she’d been drinking.

She asked them for a ride home. She asked them for help.

She was 17 years old.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

Look, these last few days… doing the news has been hard. It’s hard today. So I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks for sticking with it. Hearing these stories is hard. But not knowing them, willfully ignoring this, is an irresponsible privilege that we cannot allow ourselves.

I’m proud of you.