Extra, Extra
The Age of Bull: “Bull Connor’s fire hoses and police dogs were meant to restore order during civil rights demonstrations. Instead, they revealed the brutality of segregation to an international audience.” NYT (Gift Article): We’re Seeing the Weakness of a Strong State. “Visible state violence against sympathetic civilians was the beginning of the end for Jim Crow. It may be a turning point now, too.” (I wonder if the same rules apply in the era of doomscrolling, altered images, information silos, and social media. And when Bull Connor is in the Oval Office.)
+ What to Expect About Your Expectancy: “The average U.S. life expectancy hit an all-time high in 2024 … as the nation continued to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and deaths from drug overdoses continued to decline.” (That sounded like better news before we got a dose of 2025.)
+ Still Looking for Those 11K Votes: “This just looks like a way to use the might of the federal government to further Trump’s voter fraud narratives.” ProPublica: FBI’s Search of Georgia Election Center Is ‘Dangerous,’ Experts Warn. (I’m guessing even the non-experts can see that it might not have be a good idea to re-elect guy who asked Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to find him 11,780 votes. But here we are…)
+ Tech Support: The masks, guns and tear gas is what makes the news. But ICE’s arsenal gets a lot more high tech. And there’s no reason to assume these same technologies won’t be used against everyone who is considered a threat at some point. WaPo (Gift Article): The powerful tools in ICE’s arsenal to track suspects — and protesters. “Biometric trackers, cellphone location databases and drones … These technologies, both visible and invisible, are transforming the front lines of immigration enforcement and political protest across America today.”
+ The Protein Bubble: Meat is hot. Fake meat is not. And everyone, and I mean everyone, is putting protein into everything. Hence this latest product from Beyond Meat: a protein soda.
+ Green Without Envy: What’s the best way to give Greenlanders more positive vibes about Denmark? Hint: Trump. “Not long ago, Aviaja Sinkbaek, an office manager in Greenland, thought it was time to ease further away from 300 years of Danish rule and maybe think about independence. She was even open to drawing closer to the United States. Now as she watches the images of violence coming out of Minneapolis from her pale green rowhouse on a hillside above Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, her ears still ringing with President Trump’s threats about getting her homeland somehow, she’s changed her mind.” (This is a metaphor for feelings bubbling up among all of our allies.) Greenlanders Watching Turmoil in the United States Say No Thanks.
