Happy almost Cinco de Mayo! And pssst… it’s kinda more of an American holiday than a Mexican one.
1. This was a week of creeper news… less a big reveal & more a few coughs from the dudes lurking in the shadows: first, Guantanamo Bay is back in the press (barely) ‘cuz it turns out that the detention center that George Bush Numero Dos set up in Cuban no-man’s-land after 9/11 — to throw terrorist suspects indefinitely without trial ‘cuz WHAT COUNTRY ARE WE?! — is still operational & still sucking ass, bigtime.
Over 100 of the 166 detainees are on a hunger strike because it’s been years & years and they haven’t been charged with a crime and mainstream media isn’t covering it and what country are we?! So they’re being force-fed and ethics groups are angry, and Obama is… maybe angry.
Second, Congress knows how to work super crazy fast to change a law… when it affects them personally (thank you, Jon Stewart, for the term congratsurbating).
In one of their more baldly self-serving moves, our largely balding lawmakers voted bi-partisanly to un-sequester the airline lines & bring back air traffic controllers… mere MOMENTS before they each planned to fly home to their respective states for Spring break! What an amazing coincidence! Yeah, apparently the sequester is actually a joke to them. Haha. Hilarious.
2. A guy who plays one of the big-four macho man sports in the US of A has come out of the closet — as a good writer! Har har. No, but also: as a gay. And shouts from the sidelines suggest there are, of course, haters but those voices are mostly drowned out by the loud cheering squad…
…intermingled with a handful of cultural critics who are a little like “really, is it brave? Really?” Like a Bloomberg writer who raises an eyebrow at the when of Jason Collins’ decision to take this step. ‘Cuz sure, sure, it mighta been a risk earlier —
But civil rights causes, including gay rights, don’t advance without personal sacrifices on the part of pioneers. Gay athletes will expose themselves to career risk by coming out. They ought to do it anyway because of the broader positive effects they can create.
Though who knows if this writer holds himself to so high a standard. But talking about turning the media’s mirror on itself… was Jason Collins really the first? Or was it just the first time the media knew what to do with such news?
3. More fun facts! Too many fun facts!
* The world wide web turned 20 this past week! And also there’s officially no going back. And also, #followateen embodies all that is creepy & irreverent about twitter. (<– must read)
* That school everyone’s been talking about! Brian Williams’ piece about a Massachusetts elementary school principal who funneled all the money away from security & toward the arts went viral this week because his social experiment worked! Turns out if you treat kids like Gitmo prisoners they, too, don’t respond well.
* The future is now! Oh my god, a portable socket to plug in your everything — that gets its power from the SUN. What.
* Finally, a TED talk about telling secrets that’s ten minutes of utter delicious. I dare you.
Big weekend love, all! Tequila!
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Quote of the week:
The Smarty at the Party 