Welcome to the weekly recap. In this post, I’ll be linking to my work from the week, sharing some stories from others I thought were interesting, and providing a few casual thoughts on [gestures at everything]. If you’d like to receive this weekly email ONLY, please go to your account page and under “Email notifications” uncheck every box except “TPA Weekly Recap.” If you don’t want to receive the weekly recap, leave all boxes except “TPA Weekly Recap” checked.
From me this week: Speech, Gervais, Yglesias, scapegoats
On Monday, I published a piece about free speech and why content moderation can be a powerful tool in favor of more speech.
On Tuesday, I wrote about Ricky Gervais’s boring trying-to-offend-for-the-sake-of-offense Netflix yawnfest.
On Wednesday, I wrote about the reactionary contrarianism of Matt Yglesias.
And on Thursday, I wrote about the right-wing attempt to blame trans people for the shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Stories from others I’d like to highlight
Earlier in the week, State Farm Insurance, the company my dad has worked for throughout my entire life, caved to phony right-wing outrage over a program designed to give support to trans kids. I remain extremely angry about this, and I’ve struggled to put those feelings into words. Charlotte Clymer wrote something that gets to the heart of a lot of my frustrations.
Over at The Column, Adam Johnson has a piece that every member of the press needs to read: after Uvalde, “police lie” should be the default position. The days of just writing down whatever the cops tell you and putting it in the paper need to be over. Trust in the press depends on it.
Lyz Lenz has a story about the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial that’s worth a read.
Curious about who funds the anti-abortion movement in America? Teddy Wilson has you covered at Radical Reports.
Rusty Foster over at Today in Tabs included a bunch of my AI art tweets in one of his recent posts. I was trying to create images for every song on Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea album.
Today’s tunes:
“Great Cop” by Fugazi
I thought your comments to Molly Jong-Fast on Bill Maher’s anti-LQBTQ rant were right on target. “Bill Maher is, as he has always been, an out-of-touch nincompoop.” Old white guys with big platforms discovering they’re actually right wingers has become a depressingly familiar trend.