Spell Check Initially Changed “Weekend” to “Weakened” In This Email, Which Is An Interesting Editorial Note, For Sure.

Poppets! Did you know we had record-breaking temperatures all up and down California last week? As the NYT reported, Palm Springs hit 124 degrees F and that is scary bonkers. Because while I was enjoying Karl The Fog’s heroic efforts to keep SF cloaked in cloud all weekend, all I could think about reading that is this Simpsons gif (replacing “we’re” with “I’m”, naturally, because we’re all in this heat dome hell together).

TO THE INTERNET!

• Bravo, people of France! Lots of lessons for those of us in the States on how to avoid the ascendence of the ultra right… ‘French left beats Le Pen’s far right in election shock’ (POLITICO)
• And over in the UK, wanna get nerdy on why Labour did as well as they did, roundly trouncing the conservatives? ‘How in 2024 Labour won a big majority on a similar share of the vote that brought defeat in 2019’ (Nigel Stanley on Medium)
• Meanwhile, here in our late stage capitalist wonderland, I want someone to explain it to me like I’m seven years old why some forms of income (a normal person’s salary) and others (a billionaire’s compensation package) are not subject to the same social security withholding requirements and/or taxes? ‘Labor Economist Says If Elon Musk Paid For Social Security On His Salary For An Entire Year, It Would Save 1/20 Of Its Deficit’ (Benzinga via Yahoo! Finance)
• We need to call all of this scary rhetoric what it is: “Even after the events of January 6, there’s often a media skittishness around discussing Trump’s eagerness to use violence to silence his political opponents. Understandably so, because every time the press points out that Trump uses unsubtle language and gestures to threaten violence, a sea of disingenuous actors rise up to berate journalists into exhaustion with bad faith claims that Trump is merely “joking” or being “metaphorical.” ” ‘“Some folks need killing!”: It’s time to take MAGA threats of violence literally and seriously’ (Salon)
• Oooof de dooooof, shake that last article off. Because finally, as a non-sports human, I very much appreciate this comedian’s take on what the actual hell the Tour de France is:

You’re lovely. Drink some water, get outside, and be kind to yourselves, won’t you?

xoxo Amy