I have seen the rain // What's Good: May 19, 2023
Lies, Shrek, and Swiftie dads.
Hello, good evening, happy Friday. We have truly entered storm season in Chicago, as lightning has been painting the sky outside my window more frequently lately. I for one am thrilled, although I would like it if the storms could happen during the week so the weekends can warm up and I can have friends over again.
Tears of the Kingdom is still really tremendous, by the way. Can’t recommend it enough.
One woman against the world
I am glad that someone has finally written a profile of Megan Hunt:
“I don’t like you.” Nebraska state Sen. Megan Hunt said that to Republicans in March, as she filibustered legislation that would ban gender-affirming treatment for minors like her son, Ash Homan. “You aren’t a safe person for my child to be around — or any child, frankly.”
That standoff dragged on for months, burning time that the GOP majority and a new governor expected to spend passing their agenda. It ended this week, when Republicans added a 12-week abortion ban to the bill and broke the filibuster. Hunt talked with Semafor shortly before the new GOP strategy unfolded.
Fact-checked
Surprise, the cops lied again:
Last December, Officer Courtney Bannick was on the job for the Tavares, Fla., police department when she came into contact with a powder she believed was street fentanyl.
The footage from another officer's body camera shows Bannick appearing to lose consciousness before being lowered to the ground by other cops.
"I was light-headed a little bit," Bannick later told WKMG, a local television station. "I was choking, I couldn't breathe."
(Again, the above is a lie.)
Unreliable narrator
A NUMBER OF seniors at Texas A&M University–Commerce who already walked the stage at graduation this year have been temporarily denied their diplomas after a professor ineptly used AI software to assess their final assignments, the partner of a student in his class — known as DearKick on Reddit — claims to Rolling Stone.
Dr. Jared Mumm, a campus rodeo instructor who also teaches agricultural classes, sent an email on Monday to a group of students informing them that he had submitted grades for their last three essay assignments of the semester. Everyone would be receiving an “X” in the course, Mumm explained, because he had used “Chat GTP” (the OpenAI chatbot is actually called “ChatGPT”) to test whether they’d used the software to write the papers — and the bot claimed to have authored every single one.
The wrong incentives
The story had all the hallmarks of fueling the maximum amount of right-wing outrage. With migrants being bused into New York City amid an immigration surge at the southern border, upstate New York hotels had supposedly kicked out homeless veterans in order to make room for the influx of asylum seekers.
After right-wing tabloid The New York Post published the sensational report last Friday, Fox News and Newsmax ran wild with it, devoting dozens of segments (and countless online articles) to the indignation of “people who served our country and need a little boost” getting displaced by “illegals,” all while “these hotels are selling their soul for a check.”
Turns out, however, the whole story was made up.
Shrekposting unleashed
How is Twitter doing? Oh, just fine:
On Thursday, May 18, Elon Musk announced that subscribers to Twitter Blue—Twitter’s $8 a month premium service—are now able to upload two-hour videos, up to eight gigabytes in size.
Twitter’s free users, meanwhile, are only permitted to upload videos of up to 140 seconds.
One problem for Twitter, however, is that feature-length films are often around two hours, making the new feature deliciously tempting for people distributing pirated movies.
User @coinbilly_ didn’t wait to troll Musk. He replied directly to Musk’s tweet, writing, “fuck it. shrek the third.” He then posted the entire 93-minute feature film Shrek the Third.
Misbehaving Marshals
Seems bad, to me:
Racist comments, sexual relationships with confidential sources, information passed to a target of an investigation, drunken fights with weapons ... even a Nazi salute.
A cache of previously unreported internal documents from the U.S. Marshals Service reveals widespread misconduct within its ranks in recent years — and the punishments meted out by the law enforcement agency.
The documents, a database of internal investigations, shed light on "pervasive misconduct" in the agency that was detailed in a 2019 memo by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, after a years-long investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Rise of the dads
I love everything about this:
The doors to Lincoln Financial Field technically opened at 4:30 p.m. last Friday, three and a half hours before Taylor Swift would launch her first of three consecutive, sold-out Eras Tour shows here in Philadelphia, but for many fans (and their parents) in attendance, those doors opened days, months, even years earlier than that. Because being (or raising) a Taylor Swift fan is an all-encompassing, time-transcending experience.
The sweeping premise of the Eras Tour—which spans the many albums and “eras” of 33-year-old Swift’s career, which began in Nashville when she was 16—became an opportunity for young attendees to dress up as their favorite musical or aesthetic moment from the Swift canon, referencing the myriad music videos, inside jokes, and niche Swiftie lore that fuels the fandom. Die-hard fans started documenting their Eras Tour outfits on TikTok—and some have been dressing up their Swiftie dads, too. Where there were once bored dads at a One Direction concert, these were ecstatic dads at a Taylor Swift concert.
You deserve some good animal content
https://twitter.com/raccoonhourly/status/1659672796874657792
https://twitter.com/twperritos/status/1659666364888412166
https://twitter.com/shouldhaveapet/status/1659615589651079169
https://twitter.com/GoldretrieverUS/status/1659633992637751313
https://twitter.com/OregonZoo/status/1659590891806523393
https://twitter.com/RedPandaEveryHr/status/1659512535593148417
https://twitter.com/twperritos/status/1659364005994024960
Have a good weekend.
Addendums
Montana banned TikTok. Creators in the state are bracing for what’s next. Orcas have sunk 3 boats in Europe and appear to be teaching others to do the same. Satanists Sue Chicago For Not Allowing Them To Say ‘Hail Satan’ At City Council Meetings.1 Inside Too Good To Go’s Lively Community and the Hunt for Aftermarket Restaurant Meal Deals.
Complaint available here.