02/28/24

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, February 28th.

Pink Shirt Day in Canada!

Listen, can I be honest… most of the days were trash. Except for pancake day, which is also today. But I feel like I talk about pancakes too much.

Also, on Wednesdays we wear pink.

This is actually an anti-bullying campaign that was started in Canada and now gets celebrated on the last Wednesday in February in other countries as well, including America.

Hey – don’t bully.

Look, I helped!

And now, the news.

Guilty Ruling in Jam Master Jay’s Murder Case

-via ABC News

Let’s start with the news that, on Tuesday, two men in Queens were found guilty for the 2002 murder of Jam Master Jay.

Twenty-two years after the murder, and three and a half years after their arrest, the two men were found guilty in a ten-count indictment that included one count of murder and nine counts of various cocaine trafficking crimes.

One of the men was a childhood friend of Jay. The other was his Godson.

The delay in charging was blamed in part on the very real and reasonable fear of the witnesses, who were in the studio at the time of the murder and knew the two men who are now facing 20 years to life in prison, or the death penalty.

Medical School Donation

-via AP News

This is news from last week that I never mentioned but is no less exciting…

Ruth Gottesman, the widow of a stock broker billionaire, has made a BILLION dollar donation to Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, transforming the school into a tuition-free school.

This is not only possibly the largest donation to any US medical school, but also the location is an incredible choice – the school is in one of the most impoverished parts of not just the city, but the state of New York.

This is a game changer for those students, that school, the city, and, I’m not being facetious when I say medicine in general. Because anytime you can diversify not just the demographics but the experience, family home life, and economics of something like med school, you’re going to be absolutely knocked right outta your socks by the positive change you’ll find.

Texas Fire

-via CNN

A city about 30 miles northeast of Amarillo has been evacuated after the Smokehouse Creek Fire, which started Monday afternoon, jumped the freeway.

As of this recording, the fire has grown to more than 250,000 acres and jumped into Oklahoma as well.

The fire is already the 5th largest in Texas’ history, with its rapid spread being blamed on climate change causing dry land and high winds.

Mexico City’s Water Worry

-via CNN

And in vaguely related news (as in… these stories are different, but it all boils down to how our planet is boiling), Mexico City, which is one of the largest cities in the world with a population of almost 22 million, climate change as well as urban development and leaky infrastructure are being blamed for a severe water shortage that leads many to believe the city is going to run out of water in three months.

Currently, taps are running dry for days in parts of the city.

So… not much more to report there. But it’s not great news!

Alabama Senate Moves to Save IVF

-via NPR

On Tuesday the Alabama State Senate took their first steps to protect IVF in the state through the introduction of two bills that would provide immunity from both civil and criminal liability for IVF providers.

This is a classic get-caught-trying technique because Republicans have a supermajority in the state but it accomplishes two things: forces those in the Senate Healthcare Committee to say where they stand on it, and then the entire state Senate could also potentially be forced to do the same, if it gets voted out of committee.

It also signals to potential voters in the state who, maybe even some of the them Republican but care about things like IVF, that there is a party that’s fighting for them and maybe they can pick up a few votes.

It’s also just the right thing to do – when you are fighting for rights. When you are fighting for something you truly believe in. When you are fighting for something that is net-positive… get caught trying.

Michigan Primary

-via NY Times

And of course, Tuesday saw Michiganders head to the polls in both the democratic and republican primary.

I considered waiting to talk about this tomorrow, and I probably will talk more about this tomorrow (spoiler alert) but there are preliminary results in now, with both Trump and Biden shocking no one (except Dean Phillips) by winning each of their primaries.

What makes Michigan interesting, besides the fact that they’re great and I’m not just saying that because my family’s there, is there’s a strong “listen to Michigan” campaign that urged democrats to vote “uncommitted” instead of for Biden, as a way to protest his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

As of this recording, uncommitted has 14.9% but only 18% of the vote is in.

In Michigan, although everyone will likely frame this as Trump having yet another amazing night… with 22% of the vote in, Trump has 66.1% of the vote, and Nikki Haley has 29.3%.

Votes are still being counted because, thanks to their Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, as well as voters who were into it, the state has made it much easier to vote, including to vote by mail. So it’ll be interesting to see what happens with the final numbers.

To be honest, I don’t even want to record this episode right now with so little of the vote in, because there’s going to be a lot to compare numbers to as more of the vote comes in but, you know… a Kim’s gotta sleep.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of… Canadians! Pink shirted Canadians.

You know who you are.

But more than a chocolate souffle, because it is also chocolate souffle day… because you are also… dusted in powdered sugar? Whatever, you know what? I’m leaning into it. Because you are also dusted in powdered sugar… I’m proud of you.