05/22/24

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, May 22nd.

Harvey Milk Day!

Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected in California, when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. He served for eleven months and during that time sponsored a bill that banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in public accommodations, housing, and employment.

It was passed on an 11-1 vote and signed into law by the mayor.

On November 27th, 1978, he, as well as the San Francisco mayor, were assassinated by Dan White, the sole vote against the bill.

There are a lot of great Harvey Milk quotes, but this one here is my current favorite: “Hope is never silent.”

And now, the news.

Extreme Turbulence

-via NY Times

“Sudden extreme turbulence” is what a flight from London to Singapore encountered, injuring every passenger and crew member, including six seriously injuring, and killing a 73-year-old man.

Deaths from turbulence are so rare that the last time it happened on a commercial flight was 1997.

And if that fact made you feel a little better, here’s something that’ll undo that feeling real quick: Recent research indicates that turbulence is rising thanks to climate change.

So wear those seat belts friends, even when the light is off.

South Carolina Bans Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

-via ABC News

South Carolina’s Governor McMaster signed into law a bill that bans gender-affirming care for minors in the state.

In South Carolina? That is… not shocking at all.

It’s also just in general not shocking, as South Carolina is now the 25th state to enact the same ban.

In addition to preventing health professionals from performing gender-transition surgeries, prescribing puberty blockers and overseeing hormone treatments for patients under 18, it also means that school principals or vice principals would have to tell parents if their child wanted to use a name other than their legal one, even if it’s just a nickname, or if they want to go by pronouns other than what’s on their birth certificate.

That’s the part that always gets me. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it all ruffles my feathers but the names? The pronouns? That’s not medical. You shouldn’t be in any of this, but what on earth are we doing here in non-medical things?

And if that kid isn’t out at home, but is at school, it’s probably not the safest thing in the world for the school to out them. Because if a principal knows their pronouns before the parents do, it’s likely that that’s just not a safe space for them. You are putting these kids in danger. All of these laws put these kids in danger. Kids who just want to live their authentic lives.

Because, say it with me know… the cruelty is the point.

Louisiana Makes Abortion Pill a Controlled Substance

-via NBC News

Not to be outdone, but in a different way, Louisiana on Tuesday became one step closer to being the first state in the country to make the abortion pill a Schedule 4 drug on the state’s Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law.

The bill passed the state House on Tuesday. If it passes through the Senate and gets signed off on, it will mean that people can literally go to jail for simply possessing, not even taking, the abortion pill without a prescription.

By the by, it’s illegal to prescribe the pill in Louisiana because the state has made abortion illegal in the state, with no exceptions for rape.

Congratulations Louisiana – you made a bad thing worse!

Trump Crime Update Time

-via CBS News and ABC News (Guiliani), CNN (2016 Case), and AP News (Contraceptives)

And speaking of making a bad thing worse…

Trump Crime Update Time!

(Plus his weirdo mayor friend, edition)

Let’s start in Arizona where America’s Mayor Judy Ruiliani (can’t take credit for that one… my stepdad said his name wrong once and we really pounced) as well as a variety of Trump allies, including the familiar (in a bad way) Marky Meads and Jenna Ellis (Jenna Ellis doesn’t have a nickname because, and this is not a joke, I forget about her completely until I see another story about her. I truly don’t believe I could pick her out of a lineup, which is ironic because she has done a lot of crimes… for Donald Trump. Risked it all for a guy whose had the same hairstyle his whole life but has still never figured out how to make it look good).

Anyway, that cast of people I would leave any room they were in, were all arraigned on Tuesday for, you guessed it, tomfoolery! Their election stealing crimes in Arizona, this time. This is specifically for the fake electors scheme.

Trump is not being charged here, though he is an “unindicted co-conspirator” so… hey, maybe one day that’ll change!

In total, 18 people are being charged in Arizona. 11 appeared in court on Tuesday with their “not guilty” pleas. The others are expected to appear in the coming weeks.

Judy was one of the folks who gave that “not guilty” plea on Tuesday. His spokesperson made the funniest statement because in it he said, “Mayor Rudy Giuliani—the most effective federal prosecutor in U.S. history—looks forward to full vindication soon." Which is hilarious because he can’t even practice law in New York because of exactly these crimes. His law license is suspended!

It's actually all hilarious because there is a window in which you can serve someone in their indictment and, for a while, no one could find Ruiliani to be served. Knowing he was mere hours away from that deadline, he posted on Twitter, at his 80th birthday, saying "If Arizona authorities can't find me by tomorrow morning: 1. They must dismiss the indictment; 2. They must concede they can't count votes." And then included a picture of him with a few other people, in one of those group shots where, even though we’ve had selfies for years, no one knows where to look to make it look like they’re looking at the camera (nerds).

And when he posted that… authorities were literally outside waiting for him. He walked out of his birthday party, someone called his name, and when he asked who they were, they were served.

That’s hilarious!

The crimes were not funny.

And speaking of crimes!

The defense has now also rested in Trump 2016 election interferences crimes case. The jury is expected to get the case next week.

Is that so wild?

And lest we forget the stakes of another Trump presidency… on Tuesday Trump said he was open to regulating contraception.

In an interview he was asked, “Do you support any restrictions on a person’s right to contraception?” To which he said, “We’re looking at that and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly,” before adding “Things really do have a lot to do with the states, and some states are going to have different policy than others.”

Listen, the dude’s a joke and honestly almost any decision he makes will just depend on the last person who showed him something shiny. But that doesn’t mean he won’t do it.

That’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of solitaire! It’s also national solitaire day and I just think it’s a very underrated game.

But more than that, because I’d play solitaire with you any day of the week… I’m proud of you!