02/20/24

Good morning! It’s Tuesday, February 20th.

It is Clean Out Your Bookcase Day (would never), National Love Your Pet Day (she’s aware), National Cherry Pie Day (yes please), and also National Comfy Day (always).

That’s too many good things! In one day!

Very on theme for today’s episode. No time to dally…

And now, the news.

Waffle House Shooting

-via ABC News

There is so much news to cover, but of course – we start how we start here in America, with one dead and five injured after what’s being described as a “disturbance between two groups” lead to a shooting at a Waffle House in Indianapolis. As of this recording, we don’t know yet if any of those shot were a part of the group fighting.

In Indiana, both open and concealed carry are legal without a permit.

Update on Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

-via NY Times (Alexei Navalny) and NBC News (Russia)

On Friday, Russia announced that long-time opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was 47 and serving multiple, concurrent, 19-year prison sentences on charges of “extremeism”, died from what they’re calling “Sudden Death Syndrom” which is the lamest and laziest way to say you murdered someone.

Prior to being jailed in January of 2021, Navalny was poisoned by a nerve agent, which he blamed on the Kremlin. He went to Germany to receive treatment, and was jailed upon his return to Moscow.

Just this past July, after a trial that resulted in his second 19-year sentence, the called the judge and officers in the courthouse crazy, saying, “You have one, God-given life, and this is what you choose to spend it on?”

He began his life as an activist at 24, when, in 2000, Putin was first elected President.

In 2011, he led thousands of Russians in protest over Russian’s fraudulent parliamentary elections.

In 2017 he was barred from running for President after a Russian court convicted him on fraud charges. In response, he organized nationwide protests and boycotts against Putin’s re-election, as well as built investigative teams across the country to investigate Russia’s elite.

His activism, opposition, and popularity rose, leading to his poisoning in 2020, jailing in 2021, and now his death in 2024.

He was a hero, a subject of inspiration, and a bravely unflinching critic of Putin and his party. And now, at 47, thanks to Putin and his loyalists, he is dead. With Russia refusing to return his body to his mother for at least two weeks.

And with that in the foreground, as well as Putin’s election for yet another sham term coming up in a little under a month, we also now know that, in Ukraine, Congress’ delay on sending aide to the country is part of the reason that, also last week, a key eastern city was taken under Russia’s control.

Meanwhile, you’ve got talking pieces for the Republican party like Tucker Carlson, a dude so unappealing that even Fox News fired him, and yet he still gets loved on by this Trump-loving group, literally going to Russia and doing Putin’s stumping for him. Talking about how much better it is in Russia than America. Literally saying that he has been “radicalized” against our current leaders because of how great Russia us, and referring to Crimea, a part of Ukraine that Russia currently occupies, as just – Russia. No more info needed. Russia’s Crimea is amazing.

It's disgusting and almost, almost, too much to think about without letting you pull you down.

But, after being poisoned by the Krelim and forced to leave the country for his own survival,  Alexie Navalny still returned, knowing he would be arrested, because he knew he still had a fight in him. And he knew that giving up without a fight was worse.

“The fight for justice is a fight worth fighting, regardless of the odds.”

Alabama Court Rules That Embryos Are Children

-via Washington Post

In a stunning ruling, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled on Friday that frozen embryos are people and someone can be held responsible for destroying them. At least 11 states have defined personhood as occurring at the point of fertilization, which is also insane because wow have we never heard of science? Just tossing that book right out the window, huh?

Oh no we don’t have gravity, things just fall down sometimes because God thought it would be better on the ground.

So now these frozen embryos will be afforded the same protection as babies under the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.

This is so wildly dangerous and also so impossibly short-sighted. It’s a threat to everything – a continued threat to abortion rights, a threat to IVF and ways that people who want to pregnant can get pregnant, a threat to birth control because if you’re willing to say a frozen embryos is a baby, what’s the next step?

It’s all just bad.

Neat! What a neat to time to be walking around with a uterus in this country!

Joey Manchy Won’t Be President

-via CBS News

And finally – didn’t even make a script for this. Joey Manchy, lover of houseboats and general frustration of mine… my roman empire, if the roman empire was something you didn’t want to think about and also never wanted to stop bullying because they ruined so much will also having a face that says “I hate to do this, I really do because I’m sure you guys are working hard but I asked for salad dressing on the side and now that I have it here, on the side, I hate it and I’m going to have to send it back so you can remake my whole salad, this time with the dressing on, and you’re going to need to comp by meal and also I will know if you don’t make me a whole new salad instead of just mixing the dressing into the salad you gave me.”

That guy… has decided he will not run for president.

And that’s it. That’s the news! There’s so much news!

Hey, so much in fact that there are two episodes today. So make sure you check that feed because there is also a solo Trump Crime Update Time. Because there was just a lot of TCUT and also a lot that had to be made fun of.

But more than that… more than the idea of Ruth cleaning out my bookshelf because she knows I have too much on by to-read list, while I make a cherry pie and we both wear matching cute little comfies… because you’re normal, and that wasn’t an idea in your brain… I’m proud of you.