Today’s Lineup
Here are some of the topics that have caught my attention as I’ve been browsing the internet: we should not be surprised by the attempts to ban contraception, Substack launches Notes, California law enforcement agencies edit shooting videos in ways that obscure the truth, a law professor explains what’s at stake as Idaho criminalizes interstate travel for abortion care, the pharmaceutical and biotech industries realize a radical conservative court ruling could harm their industry, the FBI warns against using public chargers, why tipping delivery drivers is still vital, and a preview of the 32 teams preparing for this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Leading Off
It would be wise to heed Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian’s warning in a recent column:
“Mark my words: Contraception is the next front in the war on women. And we can’t say we haven’t been warned.”
Abcarian highlights what forced-birth activists have been saying about contraception in recent years. They are not hiding their goals. Given what happened to abortion rights, we would be wise to take seriously their statements about their desire to ban contraception.
“Here’s how Gabrielle Jastrebski of FEMM Health explained it in 2019 as she discussed the evils of hormonal birth control at an annual conference of Students for Life, one of the largest antiabortion youth organizations in the country:
“Contraception and abortion are inextricably linked to one another, OK?” she said. “Contraception can really be seen as sort of the beginning of the road to abortion. … We are told that in order to be pro-women, we need to be pro-contraception. This is absolutely false.”
(FEMM Health, funded by Catholic antiabortion financier Sean Fieler, sows doubt about the safety of hormonal birth control while concealing its antiabortion ties, according to a Guardian investigation. Its app helps women monitor their menstrual cycles and hormones to control fertility, and the organization says it has been downloaded more than 400,000 times.)
The idea that abortion and contraception are two sides of the same coin is not a fringe view in right-wing Christian circles. And it’s why women of childbearing age in the United States should be very, very afraid.”
As Abortion, Every Day’s Jessica Valenti reminds us, reporters often quote representatives from Students for Life in stories without noting the organization’s extreme views equating contraception with abortion. That context would help more people understand the stakes involved in these debates.
We must be alarmed. We need to understand that there is an organized effort to ban contraception in this country. I hope we take it seriously before another red state legislature or Supreme Court decision leads to another horrible result.
Also in the latest edition of Abortion, Every Day: coverage of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signing into law a six-week abortion ban that will impact a sizable part of the country, states supporting abortion rights react to U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s abortion medication ruling, 2024 candidates trying to figure out their positions, and the incredible work of the Online Abortion Resource Squad (OARS).
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Substack Notes
I have been using Substack Notes for the past few days, and would love for you to join me there! Here’s one of my recent note posts:
Notes is a new space on Substack for us to share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more. I plan to use it to highlight Substack newsletters I find particularly interesting, other notes from the community, and quick thoughts I am having throughout the day. While I am still using Twitter for my curated lists of subjects and for live sports reactions, Elon Musk’s decisions since taking over the site have significantly degraded its usability. So I am glad there are alternatives like Substack Notes and Post.
How to join
Head to substack.com/notes or find the “Notes” tab in the Substack app. As a subscriber to Things I Find Interesting, you’ll automatically see my notes. Feel free to like, reply, or share them around!
You can also share notes of your own. I hope this becomes a space where every reader of Things I Find Interesting can share thoughts, ideas, and interesting quotes from the things we’re reading on Substack and beyond.
If you encounter any issues, you can always refer to the Notes FAQ for assistance. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Quick Pitches
California
A California law requires law enforcement agencies to release video recordings after police shooting incidents. But the videos are often edited to present the police actions in the best possible light. “Critics allege that the problem with the condensed, heavily-edited version of the body camera footage released by law enforcement agencies is that they shape public opinion about a person’s death or injury at the hands of the police long before the department in question releases all the facts in the case or the full, raw video.” (Nigel Duara, CalMatters)
One out of five California schools are located in areas of high or moderate flood risk, creating the potential for huge problems as the state deals with the potential flooding from melting this year’s record snowpack. (Thomas Peele, Emma Gallegos, and Daniel J. Willis, EdSource)
The state’s utilities (and, to be clear, electricity customers) will have to spend billions on upgrading the transmission lines required to carry renewable energy if California is going to meet its climate emergency mitigation goals. (Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times)
Peet’s is now part of the world’s largest coffee company. (Julie Zigoris, San Francisco Standard)
Politics
Thor Benson talks to UC Davis Law Professor Mary Ziegler about the new Idaho law that criminalizes taking minors to another state to get abortion care. More states will pass similar legislation, and while they may start with minors, I have no doubt we are going to see attempts to restrict such interstate travel regardless of age. (Thor Benson, Public Notice)
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s radical attempt to ban mifepristone has awakened a potentially significant new opponent: the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. If Kacsmaryk’s opinion stands, opponents of any pharmaceutical product—including vaccines—could use its reasoning. After decades of trying to stay neutral, the threat to its profits appears to have gotten the attention of industry leaders. (Mark Joseph Stern, Slate)
Two recent interviews demonstrate the stark differences in how some members of our media elite perceive the goal of their jobs. If our democracy is to survive, we need more Medhi Hassans and fewer Lesley Stahls. (Parker Malloy, The Present Age)
Right-wing terrorists are targeting the power grid amid a rise in accelerationist movements. “This apocalyptic brand of extremist rhetoric — and the focus, specifically, on targeting substations — is part of a growing phenomenon that has captured the attention of both the far right and law enforcement. The trend has resulted in a dramatic rise in attacks that have left tens of thousands of people without power. Experts have attributed the wave to the digital spread of right-wing accelerationist ideology, which aims to hasten societal collapse, and materials like this magazine that encourage and provide instructions for targeting the grid.” (Hunter Walker, Talking Points Memo)
Former U.S. Court of Appeals Judge J. Michael Luttig explains why he believes the Supreme Court will reject the Independent State Legislature theory. I would be more confident if the conservatives on the court were as consistent in their philosophy as the author of this article. (J. Michael Luttig, The Atlantic)
This is good life advice for people who have genuinely earned the Dingus of the Week: “What you don’t need to be doing is defending billionaires who collect Nazi memorabilia. No one is making you defend a billionaire who collects Nazi memorabilia. No one is asking you to defend a billionaire who collects Nazi memorabilia. In fact, no one needs you to defend a billionaire who collects Nazi memorabilia. He has billions of dollars. His money is his protection. His money fluffs up his comfy little pillow and lets him sleep at night. He doesn’t need you. He doesn’t love you. He loves himself, Hitler, and Clarence Thomas. And not necessarily in that order.” (Lyz Lenz, Men Yell at Me)
The Tennessee House Speaker who thought it was a good idea to expel Democratic members for a protest doesn’t appear to live in the district from which he was elected. Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) may regret how his unprecedented partisan expulsions created a national focus on his activities. (Judd Legum, Popular Information)
The self-proclaimed Taliban 20, the coalition of MAGA Republican Members of Congress who forced concessions from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy before he was able to take the gavel, are unimpressed with current budget proposals as we get closer to the national debt limit deadline. “There’s no reason for the 20 to negotiate against what was already agreed to,” Gaetz told me, regarding the grab bag of promises they extracted in exchange for supporting Kevin McCarthy’s speakership in January. “We shouldn’t have to pay twice for the same hostage.” (Tina Nguyen, Puck)
“Homes constructed in flood plains, storm surge zones, regions with declining water availability, and the wildfire-prone West are overvalued by hundreds of billions of dollars, recent studies suggest, creating a housing bubble that puts the U.S. financial system at risk. The problem will get worse as sea level rises and storms dump heavier rains and if unwise building practices continue.” (Jeff Masters, Yale Climate Connections)
Science
Here is a breakdown of the flawed science (and lies) that U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk used in his ruling to overturn the FDA’s approval of mifepristone. (Lauren Weber, Laurie McGinley, David Ovalle, and Frances Stead Sellers, Washington Post)
The human population could peak just short of nine billion in 2050. This story explains why and what the impact could be for the planet. (Rebecca Dyer, Science Alert)
Apps people use to identify plants have accuracy rates as low as four percent. This situation could put people seeking edible plants at risk and see endangered plants misidentified as weeds. (Matthew Sparkes, New Scientist)
The records kept by medieval monks of their observations about the night sky are now helping volcanologists accurately date some of the biggest volcanic eruptions that happened during one of the most volcanically active periods in the planet’s history. (University of Geneva, Phys.org)
Scientists from Australia and Japan set a record for the deepest ocean fish ever photographed after taking a photo of an unknown snailfish species at a depth of 27,349 feet. (Laura Baisas, Popular Science)
Technology
Elon Musk decided to make a change to Twitter that has shut down potentially life-saving accounts that automatically announced weather and other public safety alerts. No individual should have such power without an election. That’s one reason I believe every billionaire is a policy failure. (Matt Binder, Mashable)
The FBI recommends that people avoid using public chargers in airports, hotels, and malls because of the risk of “juice jacking.” The problem is that hackers can install malicious code into public charging stations. The FBI recommends you use your own charger, cord, and a wall outlet or a portable battery. (Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac)
Fortune cookie writers may be losing their jobs to artificial intelligence programs like ChatGPT. (Sabrina Medora, Food & Wine)
Culture
People are not tipping delivery drivers as generously as they did during the pandemic. Perhaps the financial success of drivers should not be so reliant on tips, but that’s the model these businesses are using. I have strong opinions about this partly because of some of my current work. But I hope everyone reading this understands how vital tips are to the people delivering your food, groceries, cannabis, and other supplies. (Kellen Browning, New York Times)
While promoting his movie Knives Out, director Rian Johnson revealed that Apple has a policy that forbids villains from using its products during movies or television shows. So fans of the television show Succession noted which characters were using an android phone during last week’s landmark episode “Connor’s Wedding.” (Brian Galindo, BuzzFeed)
This profile of Rupert Murdoch and his family reads like a script from Succession. Also, that may be why he insisted in his divorce agreement with Jerry Hall that she not provide story ideas to the program’s writers. (Gabriel Sherman, Vanity Fair)
We should have a conversation about the scientific studies that indicate consuming ice cream has health benefits. (David Merritt Johns, The Atlantic)
The company that makes Tupperware warned it faces bankruptcy. (Rob Wile, NBC News)
Sports
Here’s the story describing how Head Coach Gregg Berhalter’s stomach illness after the United States Men’s National Soccer Team’s final game at the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup led to a series of events that created the still unresolved crisis within the team and U.S. Soccer Federation. (Henry Bushnell, Yahoo Sports)
The Guardian rates the 32 nations preparing to compete in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. This article is a quick way to start getting acquainted with the teams that will begin competing this July in Australia and New Zealand. (Suzanne Wrack and Sophie Downey, The Guardian)
A St. Louis sports columnist writes a letter to his daughter after interviewing U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Captain Becky Sauerbrunn. “She’s Captain America. She’s constantly battling opponents, fighting the good fight. She stands up for what’s right — that being the rights of women and African Americans and the LGBTQ community. She believes in a world that is fair and equal and loving and kind. She knows that soccer can be a gateway to this. Alas, she also knows that sometimes soccer is a microcosm of society, marred by inequities.” (Benjamin Hochman, St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
The National Football League and its players’ union have approved a new helmet designed to help prevent quarterbacks from suffering concussions. (Associated Press)
The climate emergency is having a measurable impact on the number of home runs hit in the Major Leagues. (Laura Baisas, Popular Science)
The Closer
Did you know about the typo on the Lincoln Memorial? (Dan Lewis, Now I Know)
Post-Game Comments
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