03/08/24

Good morning! It’s Friday, March 8th.

International Women’s Day.

Hear that ladies! Sexism is cured! We did it!

And now, the news.

Mass Shooting in Philadelphia

-via ABC News

We start how we start here in America, with eight teens shot, one of them shot 9 times, in a mass shooting that took place at a Philadelphia bus stop. Two of the teens are in critical condition.

The suspects, three masked shooters and a driver, remain at large.

This is the fourth shooting at a bus stop in the area in a week. On Monday a 17-year-old boy was killed, and two others were injured at a bus stop shooting. Police are looking into whether this is related to that shooting.

Sweden Joins NATO

-via NY Times

A little more than two years after Putin invaded Ukraine, Sweden has officially joined NATO. On Thursday, the country became the 32nd member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, strengthening their stand against Russia.

On Monday, at a ceremony at their headquarters in Brussels, as well as NATO commands in Europe and North America, the Swedish flag will be raised.

Maine Shooter Had Brain Damage

-via BBC

In a study with Boston University’s CTE Center, scientists discovered that Robert Card, the man in Maine who shot and killed 18 people and was found dead a few days later of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, may have been suffering from traumatic brain injuries.

Card was a US Army reservist who had no combat deployments, but doctors believe it’s possible the brain injuries could have come from military drills. He was an instructor at an Army hand grenade training range. During which time he was exposed to, what the CTE Center describes as, "thousands of low-level blasts."

Though they don’t believe that the brain damage can fully explain the behavioral changes to Card in the last ten months of his life, nor did they find evidence of CTE, but scientists did note that, based on previous work, it’s very likely the brain damage played a part in his symptoms.

Alabama Passes IVF Protections

-via NPR

In, “whoa, I didn’t even know they could do good news out of there anymore” news…

Alabama lawmakers passed, and the governor has signed, a bill that grants both civil and criminal protections for IVF providers and receivers.

This will allow patients and clinics to restart services right away.

That’s right. Republicans in the House are doing everything they can to limit rights (and have the nerve to ask for a re-up on their jobs), while even deep red Alabama is trying to show them that they want reproductive choice and freedoms.

This is so great for Alabama.

And such a great reminder that we are not voting for any Congressional Republicans this year. Not when they pull these games. (I mean, I would never anyway, but still)

State of the Union

-via CNN

But of course, the big news of the day was President Biden’s State of the Union address.

As expected, Biden used the opportunity to try and appeal to undecided voters. He invited people like Kate Cox, the woman who had to leave the state of Texas to have a medically-necessary abortion, as well as Alabama IVF patients, as he vowed to restore Roe, if only Congress would pass it.

And you know my little heart was set a flutter when he talked about the need for voting rights.

He also made very clear that the former guy, and more than a few audience members, were a literal threat to democracy.  

He repeated calls for Republicans to pass tough southern border measures and proposed an expansion of the work that he’s done to lower prescription drug costs.

He also invited the Swedish Prime Minster as a guest – an important contrast to the news of today, which is that Trump is hosting Viktor Orban, the Hungarian Prime Minster, who Trump calls a “strong man,” and others call a dictator.

But now let’s get to the fun stuff.

Republicans were told to tamp down their protests, because of how, in theory, they’re all supposed to be adults and shouldn’t have to be told to act like an adult. How’d it go? Fine-ish. Everyone was fine but Speaker Johnson just sat there, rarely clapped, never stood. Imagine being so far up Trump’s tuchus that you can’t even clap for getting kids to learn how to read.

And he didn’t even look like “oh I strongly disagree” he just looked… very sad up there. He just sat sadly, shaking his head a little when he disagreed.

There was a little bit of a back and forth when Republicans boo’d the southern border bill but crowds heckling him is where Biden eats, and he did a great job of reacting to them.

There was a real life heckler but he didn’t annunciate so no one really knows what he said before he was kicked out.

For me, besides the actual important stuff about humanitarian aid, southern border, health care, and reproductive rights, the best part was that George Santos was there.

He, like many of the super Trumpers, was wearing a button in honor of Lakin Riley. Riley was a 22-year-old nursing student who authorities believe was killed by an undocumented immigrant. A genuinely sad story that is infuriating to see the Republicans use as a piece of politics when they’re not doing anything to make real change at the border anyway.

Marjorie Taylor Green wore a shirt that said “say her name” which made my head literally implode #SayHerName is a social movement that seeks to raise awareness for Black women victims of police brutality and anti-Black violence in the United States. The movement's name was created by the African American Policy Forum. Majorie Taylor Green remains abhorrent.

She interrupted his speech to call out Riley’s name but not unlike Green herself, the comment went nowhere because Biden is not an idiot and knows that the Republicans are the one holding up the southern border bill.

She also wore an ugly trucker hat – she looked ridiculous but so did Speaker Johnson, because she wasn’t even allowed to wear the hat but Johnson is so afraid of her that he didn’t tell her to take it off.

Overall, as it turns out, the state of the union is strong.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of… President Biden. He’s done a lot of good stuff and we need to start giving him the credit for it.

I’m also proud of women. Not all women. Not people like Marjory Taylor Green or Lauren Boebert. They’re terrible. So not all women.

But a lot of women. Proud of them.

But more than peanut butter clusters (because it’s also peanut butter cluster day), because you’re a cluster of good… I’m proud of you.