Dystopic Novels, But Make Them 2020 And Absolutely One Hundred Percent Really Really Real.
Good morning, darlings. It’s been a helluva few days. The president of the United States used tear gas against peacefully assembled Americans in order to secure a photo opp of him holding a bible like a totally real and normal human would, while mass protests were held in EVERY STATE IN THE UNION against the harassment, abuse and killings of Black Americans by law enforcement. And to add doublespeak insult to injury, Trump’s reelection campaign demanded the most Orwellian of corrections from news organizations who reported on the clearing of Lafayette Park in DC, to which the CDC’s own guidelines were like, nah, that be tear gas. And LOL FYI, Ivanka carried that bible in her $1,540 Max Mara purse, cuz we’ve gotta be well-accessorized when creating sinister propaganda!
To somberly reiterate: an American president is deploying the military as his personal bodyguards, using chemical weapons against peaceful protestors so that he can feel like a big boy. And now that “the Drug Enforcement Administration has been granted sweeping new authority to ‘conduct covert surveillance’” whilst being given approval to go beyond their mandate of, you know, enforcing drug control to “perform other law enforcement duties.” So I guess me stating in this here Missive how messed up it is that the Justice Department is turning federal authorities into mercenary surveillance units against their own people has put me on a watch list or something. And btw, if you are protesting, I suggest you read and heed the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Surveillance Self Defense guide to attending a protest. Stay safe out there.
And yes, that photo opp I linked to above is a photoshopped parody, not the original photo of Trump standing in front of a church like a one hundred percent normal church-going human being from planet earth, because it feels like right now only Darth stands between me and fits of cry/laughing.
This is a scattered Missive today. And wait, the internet has more!
To start us off, yesterday I went through instagram trying to find African American voices to re-post, and it quickly became apparent to me that I do not follow nearly enough Black women. So in my pursuit of new people to follow, I was sent Jenn M. Jackson, PhD’s a list of Black women scholars “doing positively amazing work on movements, race, and social justice.”
A police officer whistleblower in Westchester County secretly recorded his colleagues since 2017 stating they “witnessed or took part in alarming acts of police misconduct, from framing and beating residents to collaborating with drug dealers, all as part of a culture of impunity within the department’s narcotics unit”
“Sweden’s top epidemiologist has admitted his strategy to fight Covid-19 resulted in too many deaths, after persuading his country to avoid a strict lockdown.”
And finally, New Scientist is claiming that some grey hairs may regain their color once we feel less stressed and you know, I don’t see that happening any time soon, so let’s not get our hopes up.
Woof. Be kind to each other, and be kind to yourselves.
Xoxo Amy