07/24/23
Good morning! It’s Monday, July 24th.
International Day of Self Care.
May I suggest… a bath? A bath is kind of my answer to everything lately, if I’m being honest. But you know what? A nice bath with some bath salts and a bath bomb? A good book and some music in the background? Perhaps a Cedar Brae Candle Co candle burning… all lovely.
And now, the news.
Texas v DOJ
-via CBS News, CNN and Texas Tribune
Last week I talked about Texas’ horrific Operation Lone Star, Greg Abbott’s inhuman border policy where people are dying or getting trapped and essentially tortured by wiring at the border.
And it’s not just people attempting to cross the border that are dying thanks to Operation Lone Star. Last year, a 20-year-old service member became the fifth service member to die by suicide while working at the border.
It’s just… Operation Lone Star is the worst of Texas and the worst of us.
Because Greg Abbott is the worst type of person.
Well finally, more than two years after it began, the Department of Justice has warned Texas officials that they will sue the state unless they remove a newly installed floating barrier in the Rio Grande River because, in addition to raising humanitarian concerns and presenting serious risks to public safety, the floating barrier, according to the letter that was sent in to Abbott’s office, was deployed without authorization from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and violates the Rivers and Harbors Act, which prohibits obstructions in U.S. waters.
Abbott, responded like any adult does – on Twitter. He says he will fight to keep Texans safe.
Which is a pretty bold lie from Abbott, as he has never, not even once on accident, protected Texans. What he does, instead, is stuff like this. Things that harm people. And then turn around and make wild big dog statements as if he cares about anything besides himself.
“Gee Kim, you’re being pretty hard on Abbott.”
Yeah.
Because unlike Greg Abbott, I love Texas. It deserves better than Greg Abbott.
And by the way, speaking of Greg Abbott and his horrific Texas policies that do way way way more harm than good…
A preliminary infant mortality data report from the Texas Department of State Health Services, obtained by CNN, shows that Texas’ harsh abortion restrictions may be the reason behind a spike of 11.5% in infant mortality in the state.
That’s an increase of 227 deaths. And why do we think causation equals correlation here? Because between 2014 and 2021 infant deaths had fallen by nearly 15%.
So again, as always, we say no thank you to Greg Abbott. Because if he cared about Texas… well if he cared about Texas, he’d care about Texas.
Grecian Wildfires
-via CNN
A wildfire tearing through the Greek islands of Rhodes has forces thousands of tourists to leave in what Greek officials says is the largest evacuation in the country’s history.
The fire has been burning since Tuesday and has now caused the evacuation of almost 19,000 people since Saturday.
Thanks to climate change, Greece is also facing the longest consecutive heat wave in history. And Greece, if you forgot, is very very old. 1987 the country had a 12 day long heatwave. This one is expected to last 15 or 16 days.
Twitter < X
-via NPR
Okay, now let’s cover a genuinely dumb story.
Hey, remember when Elon accidentally bought Twitter as a joke he couldn’t get out of, and then started running it into the ground?
Wait, let me try that again. Hey, remember Twitter?
On Sunday, Elon announced that despite the fact that Twitter has 17 years of brand recognition, it will now be known as…. X.
Just… the letter X.
Currently, x.com redirects to Twitter. An interim logo is expected any time now. I haven’t seen it as of this recording but I can only assume it looks very dumb.
The dumbest thing about it is that he just really loves the letter X. Which is like… who cares? Why is he making liking a letter his whole personality? What kind of weirdo likes a letter that much?
World Cup Standings
-via Google
And finally, a World Cup update.
We’re still in the group stage, and Team USA is in group E, tied at 3 points with Netherland (after a surprisingly low scoring game against Vietnam on Friday). Vietnam and Portugal both have zero points. America plays the Netherlands on Wednesday – it’s a very important one.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of… Sophia Smith. She gave us two of the three goals on Friday, including one 14 minutes in!
I’m also proud of baths. And just any type of self-care. To quote Tricia Hersey - “Rest isn't a reward for the work; it's part of the work.”
But more than that – because you know that rest matters… I’m proud of you.