08/29/23
Good morning! It’s Tuesday, August 29th.
National Lemon Juice Day!
No notes.
And now, the news.
University of North Carolina Shooting
-via WUNC
We start… how we start here in America, with one faculty member dead after a suspect opened fire at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Monday afternoon.
Neither the suspect nor the victim have been identified, but police are certain that, after searching for around 90 minutes, they have the correct person in custody.
The gun, and motive, have yet to be found.
DeSantis Booed
And speaking of “we start how we start”… on Sunday, at a vigil for the three people that were killed in a Jacksonville, FL Dollar General, Governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis was booed as he approached the podium to speak.
Attendees also called out “you’re not welcome here” and, most accurately, “your policies caused this.”
As a reminder, the guy who wants to be in charge of the entire country can’t manage his state, or figure out how to smile like a human being, has loosened gun laws in Florida, as well as actively worked to prevent radical teachings like – Black people exist. Slavery happened. And we should work to do better.
He tried to continue speaking saying they were looking for funding to increase security at Edward Waters University before he was eventually booed so loud that Jacksonville councilwoman Pittman stepped in.
On Monday, the governor’s office directed $1 million toward campus security as well as $100,000 to support the families of the victims.
So hey, let’s break that down.
$1 million is great but, as a reminder, the gunman did go to the HBCU before security told him to leave. Bolster security sure but… security got him to leave.
$100,000 dollars between three families? Or even if that’s per family. That’s what we’re doing here? That’s what their lives were worth?
DeSantis is not a hero. I mean, I know that’s – duh. But don’t let him act like he’s done something amazing here.
As a reminder, in May he defunded diversity programs in the state.
The crowd was right. His policies caused this.
GOP Tries, Again, to Silence Tennessee Three Member
-via AP News
On Monday, Republican lawmakers in the Tennessee state House voted to once again silence Justin Jones, a member of the Tennessee Three. As it happened last time, it was over a debate on gun control. This time they voted to temporarily silence him, claiming he violated the newly enacted rules built to punish disruptive members.
As a reminder, the Tennessee Three were three state House members, one white woman and two young Black men, who took to the floor this past March in a 1st Amendment protected peaceful protest in service of passing gun control measures after the Covenant School shooting saw three students and three adults killed.
A vote on the floor saved the white house member, Gloria Johnson, but expelled the two Black house members, Justin Pearson and the aforementioned Justin Jones. Jones and Pearson were later voted back into the statehouse after a special election.
So now here we are, five months later, and once again the house is working to silence Jones because the GOP doesn’t want to even take up any significant gun control changes. Jones criticized legislation to allow more law enforcement in schools and instead listed other possibilities that the state should provide (including mental health professionals). That, apparently, was off topic, as decided by the Speaker who then set up a vote to silence Jones for the reason of Monday’s session.
The vote passed, and Jones and Democrats left the chamber in protest.
So that’s… how democracy is going in Tennessee.
Update on Spanish Football Federation
Just a quick update on the Spanish Football Federation.
On Monday, Spanish prosecutors opened an investigation into whether Luis Rubiales, the president of Spain’s Soccer Federation, could be fired for forcibly kissing Jenni Hermosa on the lips after the game. A kiss that Hermosa immediately said she did not want.
Six hours later, he was the Spanish soccer federation asked Rubiales to step down.
Good move, if not incredibly late, because 1: this dude sucks and 2: the entire national team has quit and said they will not play until he is gone.
His mother, in the meantime, is on a hunger strike until her son is cleared of these actions. Not uh… not sure what to say about that. But it is certainly a part of the story.
The Meadows Hour
-via CNN
And finally, we return to The Meadows Hour, a place where beleaguered former Trump Chief of Staff, and receiver of embarrassing texts from Ginni Thomas, Mark Meadows um… does his thing.
On today’s episode of The Meadows Hour… Marky Meads is attempting to move his RICO case in Georgia to a federal court because, as he says, he didn’t just do crimes to Georgia. He did it for the whole country. (His literal reasoning is that his actions were done on behalf of the President of the whole America.)
He had to go to court and have a hearing to make that change, which he did on Monday. The hearing is done and while U.S. District Judge in that case, Judge Jones, recognizes his needs to rule as quickly as possible, he did not rule on Monday. When we know more, we’ll know more.
Also on Monday, a Washington DC judge ruled that the federal Election Stealing Crimes Case, aka the January 6th case, will begin March 4th, the day before the Super Tuesday primaries. So, that’ll be interesting.
None of this is funny, but what’s a little funny is that Jack Smith, aka Coach Beard, suggested a January 2024 start date and Team Trump countered with April… of 2026.
Get caught trying, I guess.
Silly geese.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of… lemons. The humble lemon. Slice that bad boy real thin, top it on a salmon roll, and I am in love!
But more than that, more than the lemon roll from Sushi Yuzu, which is one of my very favorite sushi rolls ever… because you are also an all-time favorite… I’m proud of you.