03/16/23
Good morning! It’s Thursday, March 16th. National Panda Day. How cute is that? Very cute, is the answer. Pandas are adorable and sleepy and, as a zookeeper having a very rough day, announced like 15 times during a walk through a few years ago… wildly dangerous. They will eat your face, if given the chance. I think she was going through something, but still… it was a haunting walk through.
And now, the news.
Texas Takes Over School District
-via Texas Tribune
After weeks of speculation that I totally knew about and therefore was totally not at all surprised by this headline because I am wildly plugged into every single thing and nothing ever surprises me… The Texas Education Agency confirmed that it’s removing the Houston Independent School District’s elected school board and superintendent, basically putting the school district in the state’s hands.
Now here’s the thing. Texas? She big. Not just in terms of what she’s given the world (Beyonce and Kelly Clarkson), but also in terms of actual size. It’s the second most populous state in the country and its 30 million residents make up 9% of the county’s population.
So Texas is big and Houston? Oh, she big too. And again, not just in terms of giving us Beyonce. The Houston school district is the largest in the state – it has 276 schools and almost 200,000 students.
The current board will finish the school year and be replaced June 1st. This is in response to poor academic outcome at one campus, as well as allegations of misconduct on the school board. Interestingly, scores at the school have improved. But still, you know… Texas.
And I “you know… Texas” because the state has a lot of problems, as State Rep Jarvis Johnson points out. But Greg Abbott doesn’t want to fix issues that need fixing. He just wants to do his thing – which is to just make headlines and make it seem like he’s fixing things. Why take the time to make long term good, ya know?
Anyway… so weird that the state wants to take control of the largest school district in the state just because of one school. Very odd. We definitely shouldn’t read anything into it… DOT. DOT. DOT.
Insurrectionists Buying Properties Near Capitol
-via Washington Post
I want to put something on your radar. The Washington Post is reporting that a $41 million real estate shopping spree has taken place over the last year, all connected to Mark Meadows. And how is the star of the Meadows Hour paying for all this?
Why, with his nonprofit of course!
The Conservative Partnership Institute. That’s the name of this nonprofit. And hey, not for nothing… but nonprofits are supposed to be nonpartisan. I have one. We’re nonpartisan. That’s part of the paperwork. And it’s WILD that they get to get away with this.
And maybe I’m just jealous because I want to buy a cute little townhouse in DC and if a bunch of insurrections either buy the place I want or buy the place next to it… imagine how annoying I’ll be!
Anyway, they’re buying these places and turning them into what they call “Patriots’ Row.” Because obviously they haaaaaaate DC. It’s the swamp. It’s also exactly where they want to be. It’s like how they hate LA. But if someone told them they were rebooting Family Ties, there’d be a line out there door to play a young Alex P Keaton.
The point is…www.wearevoters.org. We’ll take your money and, and hear me out… we’ll actually do something good with it!
Swiss Ready to Support Credit Suiss
Credit Suiss, which I learned yesterday was both a real bank and also has nothing to do with chocolate, had a little bit of a 20% drop in value after it announced it found “material weakness” in its financial report.
Girl, same.
And that, combined with the whiplash-ly quick failure of Silicon Valley Bank, made everyone very nervous. However, Swiss regulators says Credit Suisse can access money from the central bank, if needed. To which Credit Suiss said – yeah, no, dibs. And announed they will borrow up to 50 billion francs. Which means, that the fears of contagion should, hopefully remain low.
So… we’re okay. Everyone’s okay. Nooooo worriesssss…
DeSantis Cancels Hyatt Alcohol License
-via CBS News
Florida’s Ron DeSantis, of the Oh I’m a Republican Because I Believe in Small Government and Blah Blah Blah My Voice is Weird… DeSantis’s… is moving to revoke the liquor license of the Hyatt Regency Miami because they hosted an event called A Drag Queen Christmas.
So what’s happening here, is that Ron DeSantis is, once again, messing with a private company because they, as a private company, had thoughts over than his absurd, frankly weird, and very lame thoughts.
And we stay paying attention, because this is… you know, in the granular, this is meant specifically to make any member of the LGBTQ feel less than, and the warn any company that may, in any way, want to support the LGBTQ community, that there will be repercussions for being willing to admit that people are people and deserving of love.
But if we widen out a little bit… this is a fraction of a human who wants to be President because of what it does for him, not for the ways it will be of service to the world. And he is using this hateful platform as the way that he’ll be doing it.
So… we stay paying attention to both.
Ted Lasso is Back, Baybee
And finally… Because, again… this show is free and I get to say whatever I want. Ted Lasso is bad. I was VERY casual about that in yesterday’s episode but, having watched the first episode of the season I just have to say it again. Because dang – did they nail that season 3 opener. And I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on it. But just like every other emotion I’ve ever had… they will stay inside my tum tum. Unless you ask. And then I want to tell you literally every single thought I have.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Hey guess what… drag shows aren’t dangerous.
Also, less important… guys, how good is Ted Lasso?
I’m proud of Rebecca. Ya know? Like, what a boss. What an absolute boss. Oh! This is a total coincidence, but it’s Panda Day and I’m also proud of Keeley.
But more than that… because you are a real person and not a fiction character on a TV show, even though even as I say the words outloud I’m still apprehensive because I sort of believe they might be real if we look hard enough… because you are a panda and a lion… I’m proud of you.