NATIONAL GRAHAM CRACKER DAY UPDATES
Just Some Marshmallows and Chocolate Away From S'Mores, Y'all!
-Legal analysts already upset at the Supreme Court decision that opens the door to legally discriminating against the LGBTQI+ community (and perhaps other communities as well) are becoming even more incensed at stories that seem to indicate the entire case on which the decision was based was fictional. Multiple news sites including CNN and NPR report that "Stuart," the named plaintiff in 303 Creative v. Elenis told reporters that he never made the complaint, since (a) he already was a web designer (the business in question), (b) he would have created a web site himself if needed, (c) he is happily married, and (d) is happily married to a woman, and would never ask about the gender/sexual preference of anyone. Whether there is a legal means for SCOTUS to review and overturn the case (and there are reports there may be) or whether SCOTUS would want to (given the clear agenda of the six-member ultra-conservative activist supermajority) are different questions, entirely.
-#ExpandTheCourt.
-#ReformTheCourt.
-And in case you thought a national holiday about liberty and freedom insulated the country from other odd decisions, well, welcome to 2023. While we were grilling hot dogs and protecting dogs as best we could from fireworks being blasted in our streets, a federal judge in MO ordered the White House and other federal agencies not to reach out or discuss concerns about misinformation being distributed via social media services to those services. The reason? The judge called any efforts to protect the public from things like vaccine misinformation or foreign governmental interference in elections a violation of those poor social media services' right to "protected speech," and therefore it was the government who were the enemies, not QAnon and posters named "Catturd."
-Of COURSE the judge, Terry A. Doughty, was an appointee of Twice-Indicted Ex-President (TIEP) Trump - why do you ask? - and, given what commentators are calling an overly-broad injunction that, by specifically trying to tell officials not to communicate to companies, may actually be the First Amendment violator (at least until The Six potentially get their gavels on it).
-Speaking of garbage social media, in the wake of Twitter's continued throttling down of most non-$8-per-month accounts, the table may be set for another potential Twitter-killing app to take its place. Enter, perhaps, Threads - a new site based on Instagram that is being developed by that other social media borg, Meta/Facebook, which debuts tomorrow. Threads would use contacts from FB and the Gram and allow users to use Instagram user names in the text-based app, which in the sea of potential Twitter replacement wannabees (BlueSky, Mastodon, Post, Spoutible) could prove decisive to the play thing that billionaire weirdo Elon Musk is apparently smashing into unusable bits.
-In Ukraine/Russia news, as reports of continued slow but steady progress by Ukrainian forces continue to trickle out of the country, attention is turned to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, where Ukrainian President Zelenskyy continues to warn the world that Russia may have booby-trapped the plant as it allegedly did the Novo Kakhovka dam near Crimea. Russia continues to try to stop and slow the Ukrainian counter-offensive while also attempting to make things look totally normal despite the Wagner Group's attempt to more or less oust Vladimir Putin last month. Russia does continue to absorb heavy battlefield losses, with reports men up to the age of 60-65 are now being conscripted to fight, as well as reports that college graduates are being confronted at commencement services with orders to report to the front under penalty of not being able to receive their diploma. So things are going GREAT in Russia ...
-SLAVA UKRAINI!
-A package with a powdery substance was found in the West Wing last week, prompting a quick evacuation in order for the package to be confiscated and analyzed, and it turns out the package contained cocaine. Needless to say, on the aforementioned garbage social media sites, UltraMAGAts jumped on the revelation to insist, with no apparent evidence (pshaw!), that the package of COURSE just HAD to be either meant for or left by The Most Evil Being That Must Be Stopped By All Patriotic Americans Yesterday - HUNTER BIDEN (DUM-dum-DUMMMMM!!!). Hunter Biden was not, according to reports, in the White House - and if he did do it, he oughta be prosecuted and stay the Hell away from the family. (But we're betting not.) But, it is a weird story ...
-On this date in 1865, the Secret Service was created. On this date in 1946, the bikini was created. On this date in 1954, Elvis Presley recorded his first hit, "That's All Right." On this date in 1971, the last Amendment to be added to the Constitution to date - the 26th, lowering the voting age to 18 - was certified. On this date in 1989, SEINFELD premiered on NBC. And on this date in 1996, Dolly the sheep was cloned in Scotland.
-Happy Birthday to Jean Cocteau, Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., Andrei Gromyko, Georges Pompidou, John McKay, Warren Oates, Katherine Helmond, Robbie Robertson, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Huey Lewis, Goose Gossage, James Lofton, Bill Watterson, Marc Cohn, Edie Falco, Kathryn Erbe, Susan Wojcicki, RZA, Amelie Mauresmo, Megan Rapinoe, Kellen Moore, and Shohei Ohtani.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Walter Gropius, Mitch Snyder, Sid Luckman, Ted Williams, James Stockdale, Bob Probert, Irina Ratushinskaya, and Richard Donner.
-Circus co-creator P.T. Barnum was born on this date. You decide if he gets a Happy Birthday or if he Feeds the Worms.
-The Number One Song in America on this date ... in 2023, "This Night" by Morgan Wallen ... in 2013, "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell (and the basis for the far better "Word Crimes" by Weird Al Yankovic) ... in 2003, "This Is the Night" by Clay Aiken ... in 1993, "That's the Way Love Goes" by Janet Jackson ... in 1983, "Flashdance (What a Feeling)" by Irene Cara ... and in 1973, "Will It Go Round in Circles" by Billy Preston.