05/22/23
Good morning! It’s Monday, May 22nd.
Harvey Milk Day!
Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected in California, when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. He served for eleven months and during that time sponsored a bill that banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in public accommodations, housing, and employment.
It was passed on an 11-1 vote and signed into law by the mayor.
On November 27th, 1978, he, as well as the San Francisco mayor, were assassinated by Dan White, the sole vote against the bill.
Sen. Feinstein, who was president of the Board of Supervisors at the time, was the one who found Harvey Milk. As recently as 2008, thirty years after it happened, Feinstein said: "I remember it, actually, as if it was yesterday. And it was one of the hardest moments, if not the hardest moment, of my life."
Feinstein, who had run for mayor twice and lost both times, became acting mayor and San Francisco’s first female mayor. She won two terms beyond that before becoming a Senator.
And now, the news.
Debt Ceiling Talks Continue
-via CNN
Staff-level chit chats between the White House and Kevin McCarthy’s team picked up again Sunday night. I’m recording this on Sunday afternoon so who knows what actually got said. This first story is just to remind you that the chats are still happening.
Also, to say this… there have been a bunch of headlines these last few days about how the talks are breaking apart or things are going terrible or you know… hey it’s the end of all of money forever.
Raising the debt ceiling is a normal, super boring, thing. It normally happens without this much drama. But, you know… Kevin McCarthy is the clown captain of a clown party, a majority that doesn’t want to actually do anything because that would take time away from being on Fake Fox News with Fake News Outrage about Fake Things. So, you know… now both sides have to do a PR campaign before they can actually not let the country go onto default and fall off a financial cliff.
Who knows what they’ll actually work out, but don’t read too much into those headlines. Wait until there’s actual news. News news, not news gossip.
Kansas City and Alabama Shootings
-via The Guardian
At least three people were killed, and two others were injured, after a shooting at a nightclub in Kansas City.
Meanwhile, at about the same time in Birmingham, four people were injured after a shooting outside of a bar.
Of course, these tandem shootings that follow a different shooting at a birthday party, also in Birmingham, Friday night that left one person dead and three injured are barely going to make the news.
Because this is America – the only country where this happens so regularly and yet, this year, we are on track to have the most mass shootings on record.
Whales Have Had It
-via Washington Post
Hey, did that last story make you mad? May I suggest… taking a cue from the whales?
Orcas, who are so smart, have sunk three boats off the Iberian Coast. Scientists are trying to figure out why, because normally Orcas don’t attack boats or humans when in the wild. Because, again, they are SO smart.
Turns out, it all might be because of a lady whale named White Gladis, who had a run in with a fishing boat but survived, and went on to teach other adult orcas about the sweet sweet taste of revenge. Then, because, again, Orcas are super smart, the kids learned if from their parents.
It’s apparently been happening for a few years and the number of boats attacked, with minimal damage, might be in the hundreds. But they have sunk three boats, including as recently as this month.
Don’t Go to Florida
-via AP News
Over the weekend, the NAACP joined with joined the League of United Latin American Citizens and gay rights advocacy group Equality Florida, to issue a travel advisory for Florida, noting hat Dinkus DeSantis and other Republican lawmakers are “openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.”
DeSantis is expected to announce his presidential campaign this week. So expect me to spend a lot more time talking about how terrible he is. Because Trump is the leading candidate, but who knows what’ll happen once DeSantis formally joins the race. But either way – both of those people are bad for the country and their policies are deadly for a lot of Americans.
Democrats MUST win in 2024.
Any of outcome is absolute devastation.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of Harvey Milk, who even decades after his horrific assassination continues to be an inspiration for so many.
I’m proud of White Gladis. Let em know, White Gladis.
But more than that… more than whales, which is really saying something because I LOVE whales… because you are also majestic and powerful and look great in black and white… I’m proud of you.