Reading List: Time Has Stopped Until You All Listen To The New TSwift Album, I Don’t Make The Rules.
Dearests! I have calls starting at 7:30 AM, so I’ll keep this upfront short. You’re awesome, you’d better be wearing a mask when you are around fellow humans not in your household, and I hope you can pack in some outside and screen-free time this weekend.
TO THE LONGREADS!
Tim Miller, What 9 GOP Campaign Consultants Really Think About Republicans’ Chances in November (Rolling Stone) - This is from a couple of weeks ago, but as a Never Trump conservative, Tim Miller knows GOP consulting, and the reactions he got from them for this piece probably explain why POTUS has sent federal troops to snatch up Americans in unmarked vehicles. And this piece was written before that particular nightmare began!
Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes, Nothing Can Justify the Attack on Portland (The Atlantic) - Speaking of that particular dystopic nightmare, I haven’t read this one yet and I don’t know whether or not reading smart legal folks explain just why extra-legal deployment of shock troops in a pre-election show of federal muscle to distract from the devastatingly dysfunctional governmental response to a raging pandemic is not a great thing for democracy is decent for my mental health, but this is 2020 - who knows?!?
Alex Isenstadt, Kimberly Guilfoyle under fire for Trump fundraising disarray (POLITICO) - Have you been pondering how well the former First Lady of San Francisco is doing managing a fundraising team for her boyfriend’s Dad’s reelection campaign, especially after she got COVID-19 and left her staff quarantining alone in a far off state? Of course you have!
Colin Alexander, Lazarus Party (Shotgun Honey) - Friend of the Missive Colin knows how to masterfully weave a vivid and bleak tale , so please check out his short story if you’re looking for an unsettling distraction.
Ryan Mac and Craig Silverman, “Facebook Is Hurting People At Scale”: Mark Zuckerberg’s Employees Reckon With The Social Network They’ve Built (BuzzFeed News) - Wondering what Facebook employees have been thinking about the role their company is playing in the unraveling of the social fabric ahead of the most important election in, dare I say, the world’s history? Spoiler alert: they aren’t happy with it.
Taylor Swift, folklore - Oh, you thought I was being cheeky in the subject line? With all the heartwarming joy above, you’d best BELIEVE that as soon as I can shut down my computer today, I’m blasting the new TSwift on my AirPods and going for a walk in the fog. And if the first song on the album is any indication, I am in for a treat. I’ve said it before: while it’s not worth the 634K deaths (nearly 150 of which are in the States! USA! USA! USA! Sigh,) and absolute disruption of social and economic continuity and growth, I am looking forward to the art created during this time. And this, btw, makes Ms. Swift our generation’s Shakespeare in terms of production during a pandemic. FIGHT ME ON THAT.
Be kind to yourself, and please please please wear a damned mask.
Xoxo Amy