09/17/26
Title
Money Money Money
Good morning! It’s Thursday, September 17th.
It’s both Constitution Day, DEI Day, and Country Music Day
Something for everyone!
Those things used to fit very nicely together. DEI – Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – a recognition that this country has used things like unconscious (and sometimes super super conscious) bias and systemic advantages and disadvantages have caused something people a leg up and other people a firm hammer down, and so a system was put in place, not to give unqualified people something they haven’t earned, but simply to make sure that everyone has a seat at the table, and that the table has chairs that accommodate, allowing for more voices in the room and better solutions to come out of it.
Something that needed to be created because our Constitution, magnificent as it is, wasn’t a first draft, no notes thing. But instead is a living document, that changes, that need amendments, as we, as a country, do that same ourselves.
All ideas that country music artists used to, and some still do, sing about.
Now though, there is an entire political party led by a group whose entire personality is “if this thing wasn’t made exactly for me, it’s gotta go” and that includes pushing for anticonstitutional laws, ending the same DEI that many (specifically white women) have benefited from, and silencing artists that have the nerve to speak their mind. In a genre whose forefathers were Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson,, Willie Nelson, and Loretta Lynn. Who sang lines like:
"You pleadin' just for the baseline, white man / Then you're takin' the whole damn river / You're signin' your names on paper, white man / But your promises fail to deliver."
"They’re killing babies in the name of freedom / We’ve been down that sorry road before."
"The heart of America... it's a hand reaching out to your brother in a moment of doubt... and there's room for everyone." (which Willie specifically said was about his anti-border stance)
"This old maternity dress I've got is going in the garbage / The clothes I'm wearing from now on won't take up so much yardage / Miniskirts, hot pants and a lot of fancy frills / Yeah, I'm making up for all the years since I've got the pill."
“You're known as 'Rated X' / And intermediate sex / And man's best plaything / Well, time was when a married woman was looked up to and respected / But when she takes her ring off, she's un-protected."
A tradition carried on by artists like The Chicks, the best-selling all-female band of all time in the United States, who lost their whole careers for a period of time simply because, in a small club in London, they had the nerve to disagree with a war that we all now recognize was wrong.
Anyway, what was I talking about?
Oh yeah
And now, the news.
Eddy Ed Ed…
-via AP News
I wasn’t really going to cover this, and then I did that opening and now I feel like I need to mention it.
Ed Sheeran!
Ed Sheeran, whose music I actually like, is currently on tour and had Macklemore as a US opener.
Macklemore is a white rapper who popped off years ago with Thrift Shop but has also been VERY vocally pro-Palestine. Anyone who knows anything about him, personally, knows where he stands on this issue.
An issue that shouldn’t be that controversial… being pro-Palestine is not the same thing as being anti-Jewish. It’s just being anti-genocide and against what the government of Israel is doing. Those are two very different thoughts.
We talked about this a few times – just as we need to stand against antisemitism at every single turn, we also need to stand against genocide at every single turn.
Those aren’t controversial thoughts.
Or at least, they shouldn’t be. But money money money baybee
So Macklemore opens for Sheeran and on his second night says: “I wanted to stand up on here on stages and stadiums across America and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine.”
And then he performed a song called Hind’s Hall, which includes lines like: “Who gets to the right to defend // and who gets the right of resistance // Has always been about dollars // and the color of your pigment // But White supremacy is finally on blast // Screaming free Palestine until they’re home at last”
Hind’s Hall was the name given to Columbia’s Hamilton Hall, which pro-Palestine protesting students occupied in April of 2024.
The song also specifically calls what’s happening in Gaza a genocide.
Following that, and after Robert Kraft, the owner of Gillette Stadium, told Ed that he couldn’t play in his, or many other, stadiums if Macklemore stayed on the tour, Macklemore was dropped.
He said it’s because it represented a “broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community.”
Okay, well perhaps he missed the part where Macklemore also said…
“To all my Jewish brothers and sisters, criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you. My message is for peace, love for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect and equality.”
So Macklemore got dropped, and then two other artists, meant to replace him, left. And then Sheeran’s whole backing band decided they were leaving the tour too.
For what it’s worth, Sheeran did say the decision to drop Macklemore came from the stadiums saying no one could play if he was there, and that he wanted to keep playing in order not to abandon his fans and crew.
And I can appreciate that HOWEVER, big big however, now he’s gotta do something else to show where he stands (or where he doesn’t) because right now he’s just an artist too afraid to take a stand. And that just makes him a guy with some songs and a microphone he might as well put away for all the good it does.
NBC News 4
-via NBC News
And some absolutely devastating news out of Los Angeles where, on Tuesday night, a speeding car crashed into a Metro bus, killing two people and injuring others.
Following that, obviously multiple news organizations were covering it including eyes in the skies. One of those eyes from an NBC News 4 helicopter which, for reasons that are going to be investigated but are currently unknown, crashed at the scene.
Killing the aerial journalist and pilot on board, and a third person on the ground.
That in itself is heartbreaking, but then you’ve got the NBC 4 news on the ground, there to cover the vehicle crash, and there’s footage of the reporters just rushing around trying to figure out which news station the helicopter came from, and there’s in studio footage as an anchor reports, asking their on-the-scene reporter to stay listening so he can also hear the news, that the helicopter is theirs.
Just… heartbreaking all around.
Fed Raise Rates
-via The Guardian
Alright, let’s talk money. Something I am very comfortable and interested in doing.
On Wednesday, the Feds announced that they would be raising interest rates from 3.75% to 4%. The first raise since July of 2023, and something Trump has been trying very hard (in a very inappropriate way) to stop.
The idea with raising interest is that, if things cost more money, maybe people will chill out on the spending and thus, hopefully, curb inflation.
So that’s… that news. (Trump’s response? All caps "LOWER THE INTEREST RATES FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND FAST!" He is… not an economist. Neither am I! But that’s why I listen to experts. He… would never.)
Full Empty House
And ending on… an ending.
House Republican Thomas Massie’s got nothing to lose and he knows it. It’s turned him into a bit of a wildcard and today he was going to call a vote to impeach Pete Hegseth!
A wildcard!
However, ever our bravest and hardest working boy, Speaker Mikey J decided instead that the House would go on recess until after the election. That’s a great way to show everyone that you deserve to keep your job, random unplanned vacations!
Before they bounced, they passed Russian sanctions, something Lindsay Graham worked hard for.
They also voted to hold billionaire, and Epstein associate, Leon Black in contempt for refusing to provide additional information about Epstein.
And then they were like that’ll show how serious we are. We are holding everyone in the files responsible. No one, no matter who they are, gets away with being a gross pedophile’s best friend, let alone associate.
Anyway, what do you think Trump’s doing today? Think he’d wanna watch TV over FaceTime?
Their bravery knows no end.
Every single one of these seats is up for election in November.
435 House seats. 33 senate seats. And we’re coming for every single one of them.
Including the seat for the person taking over for Mitch McConnell… he wasn’t running for reelection anyway but still. No one’s heard his voice still!! There are no recordings of his voice! Reporters have heard it but they’re not allowed to record audio or video when he talks.
I don’t like it. Something about it doesn’t sit right.
I’ll be honest… I think he got a BBL and nodes removed so he can go on The Voice next season.
And let me be the first say… there’s NO WAY Kelly Clarkson will pick him. Zero chance.
And that’s it. That’s the news!
I’m proud of artists who speak their mind and stand up for what they believe in.
And because you also speak your mind and stand up for what you believe in… I’m proud of you.