Big Mistake: Man Gets Same Tattoo As His Rescue Dog Not Knowing Its Meaning. Tabs, Fri., April 8, 2022
(The dog was neutered, is what it meant)
Yr Doktor Zoom completely forgot to do tabs yesterday! How embarrassing! Still, it's better than misplacing a whole planet . You'll be glad to know that Rebecca has graciously allowed me to do her work for her today (Thursday evening) to make up for it, so let's see what the news is in this crazy old world.
The UN General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council, following evidence that Russian troops committed war crimes in Ukraine. Harsh criticism indeed, considering that the Human Rights Council hasn't had any problems with member countries with such sterling human rights policies as Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, Venezuela, Hungary, or Egypt. [ CNN / Atlantic ]
Hoary old turtle Mitch McConnell explained in an interview with Axios that he has an "obligation" to support Donald Trump if Trump is the 2024 Republican presidential nominee. Donald Trump is likely to repay that sense of duty by having Mitch defenestrated. [ Axios ]
I'm still giggling, perhaps inappropriately, at this group of Ukrainian soldiers driving an armored personnel carrier in Bucha, site of the recent massacres, as seen on MSNBC's "All In With Chris Hayes" Wednesday. The guy with the novelty Viking hat (with ahistorical horns) just cracks me up. Slava Ukraini, Lt. Blutarsky!
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday. Her chief of staff, Drew Hammill, said she'd asymptomatic; Pelosi was fully vaccinated and has had a booster shot too. She had attended two events at the White House, on Tuesday and Wednesday, but wasn't in close contact with President Biden, who tested negative Wednesday and is tested regularly.
In addition, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia) have tested positive as well, and so have several Washington movers and shakers who attended the annual Gridiron Club dinner last weekend, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Reps. Adam Schiff (D-California) and Joaquin Castro (D-Texas). Pelosi didn't attend the dinner. [ CBS News ]
The Justice Department is planning to investigate those 15 boxes of records Donald Trump had to return to the National Archives, the Washington Post reports. It's a weirdly vague story, so unless you already subscribe to WaPo, maybe just wait until Evan's terrific story about WaPo's extremely tentative reporting goes up in a bit. No need to burn a free read on this one. [ WaPo ]
In an Idaho story I'll for sure be hitting today, it seems rightwing candidate for Idaho governor Ammon Bundy just can't keep his ass out of jail. He's been sentenced to ten days for contempt of court after failing to meet the terms of his community service in a different conviction. The dipshit patriot was unable to convince the judge that his campaign appearances counted toward his 40 hours of "community service," and we honestly doubt we can hope to come up with any jokes that could possibly top that reality. [ Idaho Statesman ]
A nice time! In Florida, 17-year old Will Larkins, a gay nonbinary kid at Winter Park High School, went viral this week after posting a Twitter video of a lesson they presented to their history class, about the 1969 Stonewall Uprising that helped launch the modern LGBTQ+ Rights movement. For the occasion, Larkins dressed in a snazzy red dress and pearls.
LGBTQ American history is not taught in Floridas public schools, so I took it upon myself to explain the events of the Stonewall Uprising to my 4th period US history class. #SayGayAnywaypic.twitter.com/A73TKPlWXF
— Will Larkins (@Will Larkins) 1649008560
Last month, Larkins, who's president and co-founder of the school's Queer Student Union, led a school walkout to protest the state's stupid "don't say gay" bill that's aimed at scaring teachers and students into silence. They also testified against the bill, and for good measure wrote a New York Times op-ed about growing up gay and nonbinary. Hell of a kid! Larkins has been featured in a local news report, and in a very good Washington Post story that you ought to read with this paywall-free linky.
Florida being Florida, however, it seems all the media attention may have created some kind of backlash; Larkins tweeted Wednesday that the WaPo story had led to an "investigation" by their school "because my history teacher doesn’t like it," and added yesterday that they've been summoned to meet with their school's principal for some reason. It certainly can't be the new law itself, since it won't go into effect until July 1 (unless it's blocked in court).
Good luck, Will, and as everyone on Twitter said, take a parent, lawyer, or both to that meeting! We're rooting for you! Maybe the principal just wants to give you a certificate of achievement and the Key to the School. [ NYT / WESH / WaPo ]
See also this excellent Teen Vogue article on the Florida bill; it includes interviews with several Florida teen activists — including Will Larkins — who are fighting the idiotic Florida law. [ Teen Vogue ]
See also ALSO one of my favorite podcasts, "You're Wrong About," and its 2019 episode on the myths and mythconceptions about Stonewall. It's history done snarky! [ Spotify , but you can also listen at Apple Podcasts , Sticher, and, oh my, right here in this YouTube "video." ]
I'll also assume this next thing is from Florida: I left some video open in Facebook, no idea what, and when I came back to the tab, there was this video of a doggie trying to make sense of a manatee. I bet it was a lot better than whatever I'd been looking at that I can't remember.
Let's say it together: OH, THE HUGE MANATEE!
We'll close with a littleCool History Nerdingin the form of the University of North Carolina Libraries' project On The Books: Jim Crow and Algorithms of Resistance , which collects every single law passed in the state between just after the end of the Civil War and the modern Civil Rights era, with the aim of using machine learning to identify all the North Carolina laws that related to Jim Crow segregation. That's from 1866 to 1967, a freaking century of discrimination. The "about" page explains the goal is to use
text mining and machine learning to identify racist language in legal documents, helping expose the wide-ranging effects of Jim/Jane Crow on the American South. We have coined the phrase “algorithms of resistance” in reference to Safiya Noble’s Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism (2018). If algorithms can reinforce racism, could we also use algorithms to fight racism? Instead of proliferating racist ideas, can algorithms help us better study the history of race and advocate for justice? Click here to learn more.
In addition to the searchable database, the project includes a collection of resources for K-12 teachers, including lesson plans tailored to K-12 schools, on topics including the fight to desegregate diners, the role of African-Americans in the Vietnam War, Black members of Congress during Reconstruction, and OMG those are literally only the first three of many. I think I may be browsing through those pages this weekend! [ UNC Libraries ]
Now go have you a good Friday, kids. Thornton commands you.
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