05/03/24

Good morning! It’s Friday, May 3rd.

National Space Day

I’ll tell ya one thing about space… it’s outta this world.

(Does that joke even work? Because it’s not out of the world. It’s around the world.)

And now, the news.

Fort Worth Shooting

-via ABC News

We start how we start here in America, with six people injured, including a three-year-old, after a shooting at a Fort Worth, Texas, apartment complex parking lot on Wednesday night.

Police believe this is an isolated incident – it was a drive-by, and they know what car they’re looking for but have yet to find it.

Hey, in 2021, Greg Abbott signed into law a bill that made it legal in Texas for most people over the age of 21 to carry a gun in a holster without a permit. And though it has to be in a holster, it can carried open or concealed.

Without a permit.

Greg Abbott’s Texas, folks.

Katie Hobb’s Overturns Arizona’s Abortion Ban

-via AP News

In opposite “who we elect as Governor matters” news… Arizona’s governor, Katie Hobbs, signed the bill that overturns the state’s abortion ban. The bummer here is that it will not take effect until 90 days after the end of this current legislative session, so hopefully a court can quickly swoop in but in the meantime…

Actually not in the meantime, it’s just going to be a confusing summer in Arizona (and as a reminder, confusion around reproduction rights is risky, possibly deadly) because the earliest the ban can be enforced is June 27th, though the state’s AG has asked the state’s Supreme Court to block it until mid-July.

So people in Arizona are just going to have a really bad summer, waiting for a law to go into effect and then hoping it gets blocked before it eventually gets overturned for good.

Once that happens, people in the state only have a 15-week ban to contend with, which is still not good! And I just think – what a need time to be a person in this world, where something bad is still not as bad as some people want it to be.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it forever – if you don’t want to have an abortion, fine! Don’t have one! Leave bodies that are not yours alone.

Second Boeing Whistleblower Dies

-via NPR

Joshua Dean, one of the first whistleblowers to flag an issue at a Boeing supplier, died on Tuesday. He was 45. His family says he was an exceptionally healthy man who went from completely healthy to dying of MRSA in two weeks.

His family has requested an autopsy.

Armed Student Shot

-via AP News

An investigation is ongoing after police shot and killed an armed student who was outside of a Wisconsin middle school on Wednesday.

The student’s name and age have not yet been released to the public. At this time, it’s unclear if the student shot at the police first, but they opened fire. It’s not even public knowledge what kind of weapon the student had, how police confirmed it beyond the call they got that the student was armed, or whether the student tried to get into the school.

And aren’t those the questions we want to have outstanding in a situation like this?

Campus Protests

-via CBS News, CNN, and NBC News

More than 2,000 people have been arrested in the ongoing campus protests since the first arrests on April 18th.

On Thursday, President Biden spoke about the protests for the first time. In his speech, he noted that his support for Israel remains the same but said that he supports the protestors, as long as they stay peaceful. In his speech, he noted: “Peaceful protest is in the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues. Violent protest is not protected, peaceful protest is.”

Meanwhile, Republicans are still out there pretending like they care about free speech but just don’t want it to turn into antisemitism.

To be clear: antisemitism is horrific and unacceptable. But these MAGA Republicans don’t believe that. And the way we know that is because they literally do it, quietly or very very loudly, at every possible turn. The only reason they’re acting outraged now, is because they think it’ll drive a wedge and bring some voters to their side.

Once these protests calm down, they’ll be right back to normal abhorrent selves. Not that they’re on their best behavior right now, they’re just hoping you’ll hear their words and not care about their actions.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

So… my goal, my hope against hope, is to take next week off.

It’s my mom’s birthday. It’s mother’s day. It’s also my cousin dan’s birthday, which isn’t why I’m taking the week off but it’s still nice to celebrate people.

Anyway, it’s my hope to take the week off. If big news breaks, I’ll pop on and do an episode. But I’m not going to be happy about it, so everyone just… be on your best behavior, okay? I need a break!

Let me tell you something, if Marjorie Taylor Greene calls a vote to oust Speaker Johnson next week and I have to break my week off with that news, I am going to be furious. Will the jokes be solid? Yes, duh. Will I be mad? Unimaginably so.

I’m proud of space. It’s cool. Very pretty.

But more than space… because you’re not an overwhelming idea that we can’t even grasp the vastness of… I’m proud of you.