07/25/23
Good morning! It’s Tuesday, July 25th.
National Hot Fudge Sundae Day.
I like when they’re day days. Like Sundae day.
Hey, fun fact – ice cream Sunday’s were created by a pharmacist named Charles Sonntag (possibly, it sounds like a lot of people want to claim inventing the Sundae). He namee it the “sonntag” after himself, as anyone would. Sonntag means Sunday in German, and so the name was translated to Sunday, and later spelled as “sundae.”
And now, the news.
DOJ Suing Texas
-via AP News
Let’s start in Texas, where Greg Abbott, who remains the worst thing to happen to Texas since Reba was canceled, says he will not remove the floating barrier in the Rio Grande River that Abbott says is meant to deter people from crossing from Mexico into America and the Department of Justice, and all other rational people, say is an aggressive tactic that endangers people and the environment.
To which Abbott was like – yeah. That’s why we did it. Duh.
No no, he didn’t. But, on the other hand… didn’t he?
Anyway, as promised, the Department of Justice has now sued the state, asking a federal judge to remove the barrier. As a reminder, Abbott knew this fight was coming (indeed, some could argue that he was, in fact, looking for a fight because what he lacks in care for Texas he makes up for in love for headlines). Expect this fight to continue.
Black Man Attacked by Police Dog
-via NBC News
Jadarrius Rose, a 23-year-old Black man in Ohio was attacked by a police dog earlier this month. After he was pulled over because, according to police, the semi-truck he was driving “was missing a left rear mud flap,” he called 911 twice, in calls that were released on Monday.
He told the dispatcher “Right now I’m being chased by like 20 police officers and they all got their guns pointed directly to my truck. So now I’m trying to figure out why they got their guns all pointed to me and they’re all white people.”
After the pursuit, Rose stood outside with his hands up and, at that time, one of the officers told his K9 to attack. In fact, in the body cam footage you can hear another officer advising, multiple times, against the K9 attacking because Rose had already surrendered.
It’s 2023. And a police dog was just ordered to attack a Black man who appears to have done nothing wrong.
A use of force review board will release its findings next week.
Protests in Israel
-via NY Times
Protests have broken out in Israel after the Parliament passed a law on Monday that limits the Supreme Courts’ concept of something called “reasonableness,” which would allow the Court to overturn decisions made by government ministers.
It passed on a 64-0 count, after opposition members walked out of the chamber, boycotting the vote they weren’t going to win anyway. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition has a slim majority in Parliament.
As protests broke out around the country, Netanyahu suggested that they would wait until November to change the Court.
Carlee Russell Kidnapping Was a Hoax
-via NBC News
Hey, remember last week when I told you about Carlee Russell, the 25-year-old woman from Alabama who went missing after she stopped to help an abandoned toddler on the side of the road.
Well, uh… so… it turns out that she did not see a toddler, nor was she, ya know… kidnapped. Through a statement read by her lawyer, she apologized to the community and said that she had, in fact, not left the Hoover area at all.
The police department is now consulting with the DA’s office about potential criminal charges.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of… Andrea Barber and Jodie Sweetin. They have a new podcast out today called How Rude Tanneritos and obviously they don’t need me to promote their show, nor did they pay me to do this so actually… wait a minute… still though – I’m very excited about this show, which is premiering today!, and just want everyone to know about it.
I’m also proud of ice cream sundae’s… even though I don’t understand why they’re spelled like they are. But more than that… because YOU are the cherry on top… I’m proud of you.