During these fraught times (and when were times last not fraught?!) it’s easy to lose track of major happenings in our country and the world around us. Plus, sometimes it’s nice to just leave the television turned off and ignore the news. It can get overwhelming.
So whether you just want to catch up on anything you might have missed or have instead gone out of your way to miss everything you could, here’s today’s update of the actual news (not fake!) with special focus on what’s getting missed by major media.
So. Are you sitting comfortably? …Good. Let’s begin.
– The Senate is bitterly infighting over two versions of a sweeping police reform bill. The Republican version is descried by Democrats as being too weak; the Democratic bill is condemned by Republicans because it would cripple law enforcement. Meanwhile, even the AP has noticed that it’s strong police unions and arbitration that keeps bad cops on the job. Neither plan mentions this. In strict point of fact, the main difference between them appears to be in the title.
– With 90% of the in-person vote and absolutely none of the absentee ballots counted, CNN has called yesterday’s primary in the 14th New York for AOC, who appears to have defeated her rival MCC. (Note that there appear to be almost twenty times as many absentee votes as in-person.) Interestingly, she’ll be facing MCC again in November anyway, since MCC defeated AOC in the non-primary fight for the Serve America Movement Party nomination.
– The NCAA has barred Mississippi from hosting championship events due to the Confederate symbolism in their flag. Courageously, the NCAA is limiting this to Mississippi despite the obvious symbolism on the Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas state flags. (Granted, Mississippi’s flag is pretty obvious, but still — it’s a brave stand for them to take.)
– North Korea has announced they will forego a planned military response to South Korea’s repeated failure to stop citizens from launching propaganda leaflets at the border. It should be noted that this is largely a cultural difference: North Koreans aren’t sympathetic toward South Korea’s free speech policies and view the leaflets as an assault on their sovereignty. (I dunno… maybe we build some big nets at the border to catch the leaflets?)
– The present list of ongoing disasters is now: COVID-19, Kivu Ebola, drought in southern Africa, windstorms in Europe, cyclones in the Pacific, locusts in east Africa and India, hurricanes bloody everywhere, famine (surprise surprise) in war-torn Yemen, and now a massive earthquake off Oaxaca, Mexico which generated a tsunami and killed people numbering at least in the double digits. Good news? There’s little reason to suppose Yellowstone will erupt or California will fall into the Pacific in the next few weeks. (…I guess that’s actually mixed good news with bad.)
– NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace remains offended about what turns out to have been a door pull in his garage rather than a noose crafted for his benefit. “It’s a straight-up noose”, he said in an interview with someone-or-other. (I honestly didn’t care enough to watch it, but I’m sure there’s something in the link.) Meanwhile, exercise equipment being investigated as nooses in Oakland appears to have included at least one item that was “definitely not” designed for exercise.
– Our regular readers will have noticed that, for the most part, COVID-19 precautions were not the voter suppression they were touted to be in Kentucky and that the “lynching” epidemic appears to have been perfectly normal (yet nevertheless tragic) suicides. Still, it’s worthy of mention again here in an Update; not everyone reads everything on the site, nor perhaps should they. (It’s about spoons, people.)
– President Trump has announced the temporary suspension of H1-B, H2-B, and L visas for foreign workers. Business interests don’t believe his administration’s explanation that this is designed to open up jobs for American workers, and those interested in preventing the spread of COVID-19 are skeptical of the purity of his intentions as well. In other words, Trump gets blamed for doing something that most other presidents would have done in his place. The man’s gotten bad at dodging criticism.
– India is now having a border dispute with Nepal, in addition to ongoing military escalations with Pakistan, China, and… actually, I’ve lost count. Let’s see… Bhutan, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and for some reason Russia, with whom they don’t actually share a border. They’re still very friendly with the Maldives, however.
– It’s fallen out of the headlines, so just as a reminder: There are still protests in cities across the United States. They’re also still tearing down statues (often of Union generals) and defacing monuments. Rather than ending police brutality, largely Democratic mayors have increased it, but to placate the mob we’ve declared war on Aunt Jemima. The mob has responded by tearing down statues of anti-slavery activists and trying to kill Wisconsin State Senator Tim Carpenter (D) for taking pictures. Meanwhile, a statue of former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin has been erected in West Germany despite efforts to prevent it in court.
– Ben & Jerry’s, in an apparent bid to distract from their close ties to Big Tobacco and alleged bee slaughterers Monsanto, has pulled its ads from tech giant Facebook after Facebook censored a Donald Trump campaign ad. Corporate P.R. was very clear that this was an anti-Trump move. Meanwhile, the list of corporate boycotts has now grown to include every corporate entity ever listed, which may detract somewhat from the collective impact of the boycott movement.
– In other news: Epstein is still dead, but polka will never die.
TANSTAAFL: There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.
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