05/23/23
Good morning! It’s Tuesday, May 23rd.
National Taffy Day.
Hey! Do you like candy? Okay what if I told you that you could enjoy the taste of candy, but it would also be kind of like glue in your mouth? If that’s something you’re interested, I have the best thing for you…Taffy!
Taffy – it’s like candy, but also like glue in your mouth.
And now, the news.
TikTok Sues Montana
-via NY Times
Lots of news today! Let’s ease into it with a little TikTok news… Calling it an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment, TikTok is suing the state of Montana for its law that bans the app and fines app stores $10,000 a day if they have it in the store.
Now, something to think about… app stores are not state specific. It’s not like, once you cross the state line, certain apps disappear. So there’s currently no way for, say, Apple to remove it from their app store in Montana only. They would have to remove it from their entire store.
Which is unlikely.
What makes more sense to me… someone who neither owns an app nor runs a tech company, is for Apple, who netted $394 BILLION last year, to just pay the fee. Because they made almost $4 billion last year, and that fee, per year, is $3,650,000.
Feels very worth it.
Anyway, we’ll see how this all goes but TikTok is suing Montana.
New Search for Madeleine McCann
-via CNN
Based on a recent tip, police will carry out a new search for Madeleine McCann, who went missing in 2007. The search will take place in Portugal, in a reservoir about 50 kilometers from the resort where she went missing.
The two-day search is expected to begin today, with British and German police observing the search by Portuguese police. This search will focus on land instead of water.
Water Deal Struck
-via NBC News
Arizona, California, and Nevada had agreed on a plan to conserve at least 3 million acre-feet of water (acre-feet a real measurement… apparently. I mean, not apparently. Duh. I totally knew this. One acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons of water). This deal, which was announced on Monday, will save about 6 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.
6 million!
I could do so much water polo-ing!
If… you know… if I had full range of motion in my shoulder. Ugh – my kingdom for the shoulder range of motion of my youth!
The deal is meant to hopefully avert a water crisis that would have almost drained the Colorado River, which about 40 million people rely on for water and electricity. It will be in place through 2026.
E. Jean Carroll Strikes Back
-via CNN
Remember when I said I wasn’t going to talk about the CNN Trump Town Hall unless news broke from it? Well…
So during the town hall, Trump got to say whatever he wanted, with very little pushback. And obviously, he did was he does best… wore a too-long tie and spewed lies and hate. Some of those lies were about E. Jean Carroll, who was just awarded over $5 million because he sexually abused her and then lied about it. Part of the suit, for which he was liable, was about the fact that he lied about the abuse.
So it should be no surprise at all that, after he went on CNN and, once again, defamed Carroll, she has asked a judge to amend her initial defamation case and is seeking additional punitive damages from the town hall.
More as this develops.
Real News About Fake Photos
-via AP News
This is one of those stories that like… if you’re doing other things while you listen to this episode first of all – how dare you. Second of all, I totally get it but I need your full attention for just a second. Because otherwise you’re going to be very confused as you listen to this story:
For a few minutes today, FAKE and AI-generated photos that appeared to show an explosion at the Pentagon made their way around social media on Monday.
They were fake.
Believe me, it would be a MUCH bigger story if they weren’t.
They made their way around, you guessed it, Twitter because you can have a blue checkmark now and pretend to be anyone. Which is what an account that looks, but absolutely is not, associated with Bloomberg News did. They aren’t, but when the feed is called Bloomberg Feed, and has a checkmark and matching logo… hard to blame someone for not knowing it’s fake.
And for just a moment, the S&P dropped .3%.
Elon Musk had no comment, but he did retweet Republican Tim Scott’s presidential campaign announcement (oh yeah, Tim Scott’s running for president).
Eight More Texas Woman Join Abortion Care Lawsuit
-via NPR
Eight more women have joined a suit filed in Texas in March by five women and two doctors who allege that the murkiness of the state’s abortion laws have put their health or lives at risk while facing pregnancy-related medical emergencies.
The suit is asking a judge to clarify the meaning of medical exceptions in anti-abortion statues.
Great time to remind you that I’m making a movie! It’s called Still Standing and it’s a documentary about Wendy Davis’ 2013 Texas filibuster for reproductive rights and what we can learn from that moment as we continue to fight for rights nationwide.
Nebraska Passes Anti-Abortion AND Anti-Gender Affirming Care Bill
-via AP News
On Monday, Nebraska signed an all-in-one bill that seeks to just.. hurt as many people as possible in one horrific swipe of a pen.
The bill immediately outlaws abortions at twelve weeks, which exceptions for rape, incest, and to save the physical life of the mother. They don’t say physical life, they say life but… they don’t care about the pregnant person’s life. Right? If they did, they’d care about the full picture of their life and wouldn’t ban abortions.
Also, they say “life of the mother.” I don’t, because it’s not just women who get pregnant. That small little bit of language is the difference between trans-erasure and, you know… understanding that trans people are real and deserve be treated as the whole people they are.
Which brings me to the next part of the bill… which also bens gender-affirming care, beginning October 1st, for anyone under… 19.
Not 18.
19.
Is the state redefining at what age someone becomes an adult?
No… they are sneaking anti-trans bill into adulthood. Cracking a door that they will, know this, absolutely slam open the INSTANT no one is paying attention.
Which we will not let happen. We will not stop paying attention because these bills are deadly.
Expect to see this one in the courts.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Lots of news today! Not all of it good!
I’m proud of taffy. I’m not saying it tastes like glue, I’m just saying its sticky. Famously. It’s like… that’s what makes taffy, taffy. But it’s got a million flavors and that’s fun!
But more than that… more than a Neapolitan flavored piece of taffy (which is so good, by the way. Highly recommend)… because you are also layered… I’m proud of you.