Beach Weather - Sex, Drugs, Etc.

Wearing Rubbers in the Rain

Reporting in a hurricane is dangerous business, and it’s important for journalists to protect themselves and their gear.  A savvy reporter caught viewers’ attention on Wednesday for doing just that as she reported on Hurricane Ian near Naples, Florida, with a condom over her microphone.

WBBH-TV’s Kyla Galer cleared the air on her Instagram story after baffled social media users wondered what they were seeing.  “It is what you think it is,” Galer said. “It’s a condom. It helps protect the gear. We can’t get these mics wet. There’s a lot of wind, a lot of rain. So, we gotta do what we gotta do, and that is: put a condom on the microphone.”

Another local journalist, Jeff Butera of WZVN-TV in Naples, chimed in to help his colleague field questions about the technique.  “We practice safe hurricane reporting,” he quipped. “Yes, it’s a condom. Nothing better to waterproof a microphone.”

 

Keeping It Real

Chess Champion Accused of Using Sex Toy to Cheat

After weeks of anal bead jokes, conspiracy theories and cheating rumors that have rocked the chess world, the gloves are now truly off.  World Champion Magnus Carlsen has finally released a statement following his surprising defeat at the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis to 19-year-old Hans Niemann, who has been accused of cheating online and using anal beads to stimulate his chances of winning.

The controversy quickly became one of the biggest chess scandals in years, especially because it concerns Niemann, who is notorious in the chess community for his difficult behavior.  Then, somewhat predictably when it comes to rumor mongering and drama stirring, Tesla CEO Elon Musk waded in.   Musk shared a video on Twitter of an influencer discussing the rumor that Niemann used a vibrating sex toy during the competition in order to cheat-- the theory suggesting that Niemann received moves in Morse code via the vibrations.

Last week, Carlsen quit an online game in the Julius Baer Generation Cup after playing only one move, leaving announcers shocked and escalating the controversy.  Carlsen publicly accused Niemann of being a cheater, and is now refusing to ever compete against him ever again.

“I believe that Niemann has cheated more - and more recently - than he has publicly admitted,” Carlsen said. “His over-the-board progress has been unusual, and throughout our game in the Sinquefield Cup I had the impression that he wasn’t tense or even fully concentrating on the game in critical positions, while outplaying me as black in a way I think only a handful of players can do.”

Carlsen has yet to provide any actual evidence for his claims.  Earlier this month, Niemann issued a strenuous denial, accusing Carlsen and others of trying to ruin his career.  "If they want me to strip fully naked, I will do it," said Niemann. "I don't care, because I know I am clean. You want me to play in a closed box with zero electronic transmission, I don't care. I'm here to win and that is my goal regardless."

Grandmaster Nigel Short, the only British player to compete in the final of the world championships, told the BBC last week he was skeptical about the claims of foul play, saying there was no evidence Niemann cheated in his victory over Carlsen.  "I think in the absence of any evidence, statement or anything, then this is a very unfortunate way to go about things. It's death by innuendo," Short said.

 

DeSantis' Phony "Crackdown" on Voter Fraud

The controversy stemming from Ron-da Santis' migrant bus stunt has obscured the fallout from his faux-crackdown on voter laws.   In one of his first appeals to the MAGA anti-Democracy faction, DeSantis announced he would be cracking down on the electoral change that he personally signed and made into law.  But of course, it's not actually what it seems.

In August, DeSantis announced that his crack team of investigators had arrested and charged “20” Floridians with illegally voting. DeSantis refused to answer any questions and avoided the inquiries of reporters who tried to verify the Florida governor’s claims.  It turns out that there were indeed 19 Floridians arrested and charged with “election crimes,” but it also turned out that most of those people had been told by Florida officials that they could vote.

The Washington Post decided to speak with some of the people that Ron DeSantis is trying to use as an example of elector fraud. This included people like 53-year-old Leo Grant, who was surprised when three agents arrested him while he was on his way to fish. “I’ve been a good father, and I follow the law,” he thought. “I do good for the community. And here they come to my house and pick me up for voting?”

Most of the people DeSantis’ squad arrested and charged were Black, and most of them (if not all) had gone through standard channels to register to vote. These are not people who stole someone else’s identity in order to vote. These are not people pretending to be deceased citizens (like what Republican voter fraudsters do, it seems.)  In many cases, the people DeSantis is preying on were given what they believed was a green light by the state.  

“If the state is unable to determine that these people were not eligible to vote, how on earth are these individuals themselves supposed to know?” asked Daniel A. Smith, a University of Florida political science professor and expert on state and national election laws. “It’s really unconscionable. … They’re punching down and targeting the low-hanging fruit.”

 

12 Mega-Landlords Have Hollowed Out the Soul of the San Francisco Area Real Estate Market

Over the past couple of decades, the San Francisco Bay Area, known as a hub of diverse, progressive, and freethinking spirits, was hit with an influx of transplants recruited to build the future of technology. The rise of Silicon Valley and its innovation came at the cost of eradicating the soul of America’s anti-capitalist capital along with affordable rent in the metro area. 

As former and current residents direct their frustrations toward gentrification and the outsiders, new reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle mapped out 12 power players who own the majority of the area’s real estate.  After a year of culling through 2.3 million unique records with the help of machine learning—and good old-fashioned journalism—reporters at the Chronicle created a map highlighting property ownership in nine Bay Area counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. 

The networks of property owners include Veritas Investments, Invitation Homes, Michael Marr, Greystar, Woodmont/Tad Taube, Equity Residential, John Vidovich, Neill Sullivan/REO Homes, Essex, UDR Inc., Tricon Residential, AvalonBay, and Ardenbrook/Ardenwood. They’ve become the antithesis of the Bay Area community and have found themselves on the receiving end of lawsuits by residents who claim maltreatment and foul play.  

Iran is Making Life Hard For People Who Don't Want Babies

After years of preaching the virtues of birth control, the Islamic Republic is so eager for its people to procreate that it’s offering a range of financial and other incentives that have stirred up both amusement and outrage. Officials are desperate to reverse a declining birth rate that has fallen below the level necessary merely to hold the current population steady at 84 million.

But the drive to engineer a baby boom also has its dark side, with the state intruding further into people’s private lives and interfering in their most intimate decisions. Many Iranians find themselves faced with a hard-line theocratic regime intent on abolishing or severely restricting access to abortion and contraception.  Underground and unregulated clinics are proliferating for women seeking to terminate their pregnancies. Doctors risk revocation of their licenses if they provide such services. Abortifacient and birth-control pills, once cheap and widely available, are being peddled on the black market.

Despite its shrunken coffers, Tehran has allocated $660 million to encourage Iranians to bear children — and discourage those who are trying not to. It has set up a new office in the health ministry dubbed “Youthful Population,” a hopeful-sounding moniker that belies how gravely the country’s leaders view the graying of society and the problems that come with it, such as rising medical and social security costs.

Critics say the government is failing to address the underlying reason for many couples’ decision not to have any, or more, children: Iran’s cratering, sanctions-hit economy, which has reduced millions of people to barely scraping by.   “Most productive families are struggling with the high unemployment rate, housing problems, transportation, access to medical services and insurance, and yet they find themselves preached to by the officials who are responsible for the dire economic condition,” economist Habib Ramezankhani wrote on social media.

Ultraconservative lawmakers have combined with the administration of hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, who was elected last year, to criminalize the termination of pregnancies except in cases of rape, incest and risks to the mother’s life. Many officials speak of producing offspring as a moral duty, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemning those who don’t as indulging in a decadent bourgeois affectation.

Some of the government's inducements for childbearing have invited ridicule and criticism, such as making family expansion a factor for university professors to climb up the academic ladder.  The government also wants employers, both public and private, to give new parents nine months of fully or partially paid maternity leave, which many companies complain is impossible given the collapsed economy. Even the offer of zero-interest loans to young people willing to have kids has had an unintended harmful consequence: a rise in underage girls being forced to marry men eager to take advantage of the offer.

Besides the government’s carrots are its sticks, whose increasing variety and use — especially against women — have grown more ominous.  The Health Ministry is piloting a website to register women in the early stages of pregnancy, to make abortion without government knowledge almost impossible.  Pregnancy screening to detect fetal abnormalities is now inaccessible to most Iranians because of its high cost — about $400 — and the decision whether to abort an unhealthy fetus is expected to be taken away from doctors and put in the hands of judicial committees.  The number of babies born with blood disorders has also risen sharply.  There have even been reports of officials being dispatched to hospitals to check on women scheduled for surgery to remove their ovaries, to ensure that the procedures are medically necessary and not for reasons of reproductive choice.

Even Iranian men have begun telling stories of difficulty and danger in maintaining autonomy over their bodies.  A 42-year-old civil servant and father of two told the Los Angeles Times that he underwent a vasectomy because the cost of living for a family of four had become crippling. The process was shrouded in subterfuge.  “I had to pay extra money and bribe clinic officials to make fake documents showing I was doing a reverse vasectomy,” said Ehsan, who, like Venous, asked that his last name not be used.

“In college, we were bombarded by various population control courses, and it was widely advertised that, after one or two children, the best option is to go through vasectomy, which was absolutely free of charge,” he recalled.  Besides vasectomies, condoms are no longer available for free or at a nominal cost from health centers. The cheapest price on the market for a packet of six is now $2. That’s out of reach for many Iranians.  But so is the cost of actually having and raising a child, making the government’s new pro-progeny message a tough sell.

 

Kelly Clarkson & Dolly Parton - 9 to 5

Woke Down Under

In Australia, it seems the days of checking someone out at a bar are over.  A Sydney nightclub said it will remove people who are caught staring at someone without that person’s consent.

Club 77 in downtown Sydney included unwanted attention from strangers in its updated “zero-tolerance policy” on harassment.  The venue posted the update on its Instagram account, saying the club is “not a place to come to if your sole purpose is to 'pick up.'  As a nightclub, we encourage you to interact with strangers, however any engagement MUST begin with verbal consent,” the statement read. “This also applies if you are, for example, staring at someone from afar.”

The club has hired designated “safety officers” — who will be wearing a pink hi-visibility vest — to handle complaints and concerns.   “If we receive reports of any behavior that has made someone feel uncomfortable, the reported individual will be removed from the venue and the police will be called,” the statement said.

Club 77 said in the statement it will “encourage feedback” — which patrons were quick to provide, with comments including “RIP to social interaction” and “not allowed to look at people now.”

“Never before has the term ‘go woke, go broke’ been more appropriate,” one wrote.

“I had to make sure this wasn’t the onion,” another person quipped.

“The stupidity of these rules will guarantee that the only patrons to attend this club will be the snowflake generation,” someone said.

"WTF retarded woke shit is this? Stay ur ass home and scroll tinder if u r afraid someone might look at u from across the room," said another.

“Don’t you have to stare at someone first to see them staring?” someone asked, pointing out the potential flaws in the new policy.

Club 77 says it’s striving to provide a safe space for club goers, and is “committed to developing and nurturing a strong culture of consent.”

 

The Latest in Pregnancy Tests

China Arresting Mourners of Queen Elizabeth

A Hong Kong man who went to the British consulate on Monday night to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, among scores of mourners, has been detained.  Local reports say the 43-year-old man played several songs on his harmonica, including one linked to 2019 protests, as well as the British national anthem.

He was detained under the colonial-era sedition law, police said. This law had until recently been rarely used by prosecutors.  But the past few months have seen an increasing number of people charged under this law, including five speech therapists who were found guilty earlier this month of publishing "seditious" children's books.

Footage shared widely on social media shows the man standing outside the consulate playing "Glory to Hong Kong", the unofficial anthem of protesters during 2019 pro-democracy protests, on his harmonica.  A large crowd, which had gathered to watch an online live broadcast of the later Queen's state funeral in the UK, is seen singing along to the tune.  The song's lyrics make reference to the "tears on our land", and also mention "democracy and liberty".  Police said the man had been detained on suspicion of carrying out an "act with seditious intent".

Over the past week, Hong Kong residents have been lining up for hours to pay their respects to the Queen, in what has been perhaps the biggest display of affection for the late monarch seen outside the UK. The city, formerly a British colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Under the terms of the handover, China agreed to govern Hong Kong under the principle of "one country, two systems", where the city would enjoy "a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defense affairs" for the next 50 years.  But a crackdown on protests, Beijing's imposition of its national security law and only allowing "patriots" to govern are seen by many as reneging on that promise.

 

Final Little Bits from the Farewell to Lillibet

In the U.K. this morning, a massive two gigawatt power drop — the equivalent of 200 million light bulbs being turned off — was reported as millions switched from what they were doing to watch the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.  That is just one interesting bit of news that resulted from the funeral of the long-reining monarch.

Early on, social media lit up when word got out that the Duke of Sussex wasn't allowed to wear his military uniform or even salute his own grandmother as she was being laid to rest.  Many Britons took to Twitter to express their fury over the decision, with one user writing: "What is this… Prince Harry actually served 2 tours in Afghanistan but can’t salute his grandmother or wear a military uniform."  Another said: "Prince Harry not being allowed to wear his military uniform or salute the Queen tells you everything you need to know about Charles."  A third wrote: "Prince Harry actually served his country at war but has been told he's not allowed to wear his uniform or salute? Absolute madness."  "The way they are treating Prince Harry is a pisstake. Not even allowed to salute his own granny," a fourth fumed.

Many eagled-eyed viewers were also wondering how "Grey's Anatomy" and "Killing Eve" star Sandra Oh managed to snag a seat at Westminster Cathedral for the funeral.  Turns out the 51-year-old Canadian-American actress was appointed to the Order of Canada as an Officer in June this year, and was accompanying Prime Minister Trudeau as part of the Canadian delegation.  Other members of the Canadian delegation included Olympic swimming champion Mark Tewksbury and musician Gregory Charles. "Peep Show" actress Sophie Winkleman, who is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, son of the Queen's cousin Prince Michael of Kent, and adventurer and television star Bear Grylls, representing the British Scout Association as chief scout, were also in attendance.

Eagle-eyed viewers were also left gobsmacked after spotting another guest (this time, uninvited) attending the Queen's funeral.  Many on social media noted the appearance of a spider on the Queen's coffin as the ceremony took place.  The tiny arachnid was seen crawling across the notecard placed on the coffin by King Charles alongside the crown and the floral arrangement.  The colorful wreath included a sprig of myrtle taken from a plant that was grown from a cutting taken from her wedding bouquet over 75 years ago.  

The four special horses that helped lead the Queen's coffin from Westminster have a special history with the British royal family.  Named George, Elizabeth, Darby and Sir John, they are four of eight horses that the Royal Canadian Mounted police has gifted to the Queen over the years.   As Monarch of Canada, Elizabeth was gifted her first horse from the Canadian Mounties in 1969-- a coal black mare named Burmese.  Elizabeth rode Burmese for 18 years at the Trooping the Color, including the 1981 incident during which a spectator shot six blanks toward the Queen.

Later at Windsor, two of the Queen's beloved corgis Muick and Sandy (unable to attend the funeral, apparently) awaited the procession carrying her coffin to St George's Chapel inside Windsor Castle.  One on a red lead and one on a blue, they were escorted by two pages in red tailcoats as the coffin of their beloved former owner came past.  Emma, the Queen's fell pony, also greeted the procession, standing in a gap in the floral tributes along the Long Walk to the Windsor Castle. 

The service at Westminster Abbey closed to the haunting sound of bagpipes, played by the Queen's personal piper.  For 70 years, largely without exception, the Piper to the Sovereign would play each morning for 15 minutes beneath the Queen's window, wherever she was resident.  The inclusion of Pipe Major Paul Burns-- who had served since 2021-- was a personal request of the Queen. He played the traditional lament "sleep, dearie, sleep" - the sound of which appeared to fade as he turned and walked down the internal steps of Westminster Abbey.

 

The Politics of a Monarch's Death

The first sign of troubled political waters arose yesterday as foreign leaders began arriving to pay respects to the former head of state.   There came reports that a Chinese government delegation was banned from attending the lying-in-state of Queen Elizabeth II.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is understood to have refused a request for access over Chinese sanctions against five MPs and two peers.  A spokeswoman for China, Mao Ning, said he  had not seen reports about the Westminster Hall ban, which first emerged on the Politico website.

Last year, China imposed travel bans and asset freezes on nine Britons - including seven parliamentarians - for accusing Beijing of mistreating Uyghur Muslims.  That led to China's ambassador to the UK being banned from Parliament - a move which then extended to a delegation that wanted to pay their respects at Queen Elizabeth's lying-in-state. 

After several hours of negotiations and discussion, the UK Parliament announced that the Chinese delegation would be welcome to attend the Queen's lying-in-state.  This was despite some MPs saying they were earlier assured by the Commons Speaker that a Chinese delegation would not be welcome in Westminster Hall.  China's ambassador to the UK continued to be barred from Westminster Hall over Chinese sanctions on five MPs and two peers-- but it would not be extended to the other officials.

However, politics continued to reign over arrangements on who would be attending the actual funeral itself.   According to convention, all countries with which the UK has diplomatic relations would normally be invited to state funerals.  Accordingly, Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Russia and Belarus were not been invited - whilst Iran, North Korea and Nicaragua were asked to only send a senior diplomat.

China's President Xi Jinping is on the guest list for the funeral ceremony but is not thought likely to attend.  A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said that no decision had been made on whether they will be sending a delegation to the funeral, although press reports have suggested China's vice president will attend.

It is widely believe that President Joe Biden chose not to bring a U.S. delegation to the funeral specifically to avoid the possibility that Donald Trump would join the delegation (along with other former U.S. presidents).  It is a poorly kept secret that the Royal family detest Trump due to his disastrous time in office and the numerous mishaps, gaffes and insults during his visits in 2018 and 2019.

Then came the reports late Saturday that Britain's invitation to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed Bin Salman, to attend the Queen's funeral had sparked a storm of protest from human rights campaigners.

A declassified CIA report concluded that the crown prince had authorized the murder and dismemberment of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018.   But this morning, news came out that MBS was no longer expected to attend the Queen's funeral, according to a UK Foreign Office source.  The source, quoted by Reuters, said the change was made by the Saudis.  Prince Turki al-Faisal, another senior Saudi royal, is expected to attend the funeral instead.

 

For the Queen, Some Low Points Among the Many Highs

Among the many highs of the Queen's 70-year reign, were a number of low points-- which only serve to underscore the humanity of the long-serving monarch.

On October 21, 1966, nearly 140,000 cubic yards of black slurry cascaded down the hill above Aberfan, Wales.  It destroyed everything it touched, eventually killing 144 people, most of them children sitting in their school classrooms. Despite the magnitude of the calamity, the Queen at first refused to visit the village, sparking criticism in the press and questions about why she wouldn’t go. Finally, after sending her husband, Prince Philip, in her place for a formal visit, she came to Aberfan eight days after the disaster to survey the damage and speak with survivors. Nearly four decades later, in 2002, the queen said that not visiting Aberfan immediately after the disaster was “her biggest regret.”

In the early 1980's prime minister Margaret Thatcher had a blanket opposition to economic sanctions of any kind against South Africa's apartheid regime.  The Queen was disturbed by Thatcher's refusal to back sanctions, concerned that Britain would be on the wrong side of history regarding apartheid.  On July 20, 1986, the Sunday Times released a bombshell article which amounted to a public rebuke from the queen. Although QE2 herself is not directly quoted, the article claims that the queen is "dismayed" by Thatcher's lack of compassion for the people of South Africa, and quotes an anonymous palace aide as the source. Thatcher was said to be hurt by the accusation that she was uncaring, which led to the Queen reportedly apologizing to Thatcher over the article. 

In 1986, Elizabeth became the first British monarch to visit the Chinese mainland, touring the terracotta warriors in Xi’an, the Great Wall in Beijing and other sites. For the press, the diplomatic importance of the queen’s visit was outweighed by her husband’s characteristic (and often racist) gaffes: Philip called Beijing “ghastly” and told a group of British students they would get “slitty eyes” if they stayed in China too long.  

Prince Charles' affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles led to deterioration of his marriage to Diana, and in 1992 they announced their decision to separate. Prince Andrew, the queen’s second son, and his wife, Sarah Ferguson, also separated, while Anne divorced her husband, Mark Phillips. Late that year, a fire broke out in Windsor Castle, destroying more than 100 rooms. In a speech delivered to mark the 40th anniversary of her succession, Queen Elizabeth remarked that 1992 “has turned out to be an 'Annus Horribilis'”: Latin for “a horrible year.” 

Public criticism of the royal family grew more intense after Charles and Diana’s divorce in 1996 and especially after Diana’s death in a car crash in Paris the following summer. The queen stubbornly  remained at her estate in Balmoral, Scotland, refused to allow the flag to fly at half-mast over Buckingham Palace, or even address the grieving nation.  After repeated urging of her advisers, she revised her stance on the flag, returned to London to greet crowds of mourners and delivered a rare televised address to a nation devastated by the loss of the “People’s Princess.” 

The queen’s celebration of her 50th year on the throne was marred by a double loss, when her younger sister, Princess Margaret, and their mother died within weeks of each other. As the first British monarch since Queen Victoria to celebrate a Golden Jubilee, Elizabeth traveled more than 40,000 miles that year, including visits to the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.  

In late 2019, the Queen sacked Prince Andrew-- ordering him to step down from public duties and stripping him of his $320,000 salary-- amid fall-out from his friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.  "Randy Andy" kept his home in Windsor and his income from the Queen's Duchy of Lancaster estate.  The Queen took action against her second son in a desperate bid to contain the fall-out from the duke's disastrous BBC interview about his years of friendship with Epstein.  

No other event during Elizabeth’s reign symbolized the modernizing monarchy more than the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle, a divorced, biracial American actress. Though the queen reportedly gave her quick approval to the match, the relationship between the couple and the British media (as well as the rest of the royal family) grew increasingly tense after their marriage.  After it became apparent that "the Firm" would not publicly support the couple, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced in early 2020 they were stepping back from their role as senior royals.  

In early 2021, an undercover investigation by the UK's Sunday Times disclosed that the Queen's cousin-- Prince Michael of Kent-- leveraged his status as a member of the royal family and his privileged access to Vladimir Putin’s Russian regime by selling access to business clients seeking favors from the Kremlin.

On April 9, 2021, Prince Philip, Elizabeth's husband of 73 years, died at the age of 99. The British monarchy’s longest-running love story began just before World War II, when 18-year-old Prince Philip of Greece met his third cousin, Princess Elizabeth, during her family’s visit to the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, where Philip was studying. On November 14, 1947, the couple were married in Westminster Abbey, and King George VI named Philip as Duke of Edinburgh shortly after that. For more than a half-century, Prince Philip supported his wife in her royal duties and took on an ambitious slate of obligations of his own. Philip's funeral was held on April 17, 2021. Because of coronavirus restrictions, only 30 guests were invited to attend. Photos of the queen sitting alone in St. George's Chapel struck many as a symbol of her loneliness and grief. 

Gorillaz, Tame Impala & Bootie Brown - New Gold

Even in a State of Mourning, Hypocrisy is on Full Display

Photos of members of the royal family at a service to mark the beginning of Queen Elizabeth II’s lying-in-state have sparked a debate about double standards on social media, as Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, have been attacked for holding hands — whereas another hand-holding royal couple have not.

Following a procession of the Queen’s coffin from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster on Wednesday, the royal family came together to pay their respects to the monarch and matriarch. When it was their turn, Harry and Meghan bowed and curtsied to the Queen’s coffin and then turned to leave Westminster Hall.  As they did so, they took each other’s hands — and all hell broke loose on Twitter.

Apparently holding hands is undignified.

 

It's woke.

 

 It's disgraceful.

It lacks decorum.

It's inappropriate.

 There's just one issue — Harry and Meghan weren't the only royal couple to hold hands. Zara Tindall (the daughter of Anne, Princess Royal) and her husband, Mike Tindall, also held hands as they exited Westminster Hall.  Actually, they went one step beyond Harry and Meghan and held hands while honoring the Queen's coffin!

 Just what it is about Harry and Meghan?

 

Metaphorically Dancing on the Queen's Grave?

Antigua and Barbuda will vote on whether to become a republic following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the country's prime minister has announced.  Gaston Browne said a referendum could take place within three years - but emphasized that the move was "not an act of hostility".

He made the comments after confirming Charles III as King and head of state of the Caribbean nation.  Browne said he intended to introduce the referendum if re-elected next year.  The prime minister has made no secret of his aspiration to replace the monarchy and become a republic.  The islands became independent in 1981, and he considers a republic to be the natural progression.  "It does not represent any form of disrespect to the monarch. This is not an act of hostility, or any difference between Antigua and Barbuda and the monarchy.  It is a final step to complete the circle of independence to become a truly sovereign nation.”

The Queen's death has reignited Australia's monarchy debate, but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is a republican, struck a conciliatory note.  "This is a period in which we are sharing the grief that so many Australians are feeling at the moment, showing our deep respect and admiration for the contribution of the Queen to Australia," Albanese said.

In addition to the UK, King Charles serves as head of state in 14 countries - Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.  But many of those countries are reconsidering the role of monarchy. 

Last year, Barbados swore in its first president after the Queen was removed as head of state by the country's parliament.  Dame Sandra Mason, the island's governor-general since 2018, was named as president-elect of the nation following a vote in parliament.  In Jamaica, the ruling Labor Party says its goal is to hold a referendum on becoming a republic.

 

A Growing Reckoning of England's Colonialist Past

In the months leading up to Queen Elizabeth's death, there was a growing clamor for independence and accountability over Britain's past crimes such as slavery. In November 2021, Barbados removed the Queen as its head of state, 55 years after it declared independence from Britain, and other Caribbean countries, such as Jamaica, have indicated they intend to do the same.

At the inauguration of Barbados' president in November 2021, Prince Charles acknowledged the "appalling atrocity of slavery" as the nation removed Queen Elizabeth II as head of state.  Critics in Bridgetown questioned why the Queen's son had come at all, pointing out that the island's historical relationship with the crown was rooted in slavery.  "No member of the royal family should participate in our major freedom day," activist David Denny said. "The royal family benefited from slavery financially and many of our African brothers and sisters died in battle for change," added Denny, general secretary of the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration.

On a trip to Belize earlier this year, Prince William and his wife Catherine sparked controversy and accusations of colonialism, which forced them to cancel an outing to a local farm.  The farm's Mayan owners are locked into a battle with Williams' Flora and Fauna International charity over land ownership rights.  The village where the farm was located also claimed that they were not consulted on details of the visit, and saw the Prince's move as highhanded.

The next month, Prince William and Kate visited Jamaica  amid protests and calls for reparations . There were also calls for a formal apology for the royal family's links to slavery.  "During her 70 years on the throne, your grandmother has done nothing to redress and atone for the suffering of our ancestors that took place during her reign and/or during the entire period of British trafficking of Africans, enslavement, indentureship and colonization," wrote members of a protest group, the Advocates Network Jamaica.

 

Whether the new King will be able to make a full apology and strengthen the Commonwealth remains to be seen.

India Has Moved Past the Monarchy-- But they Want the Koh-i-Noor Back

India had been independent for nearly five years by the time Elizabeth II became Britain's monarch in February 1952.  Britain at that time, though less powerful than in the heyday of the Empire, was still a major world power.  India was just starting out.  But things have changed. 

Officially, India has been quick to pay its respects to the Queen -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has offered his condolences to Britain and his government declared Sunday a day of mourning.  But for many among the Indian public, her death is little more than a distant foreign news story.  Close to half of India's nearly 1.3 billion people are under the age of 25; many hadn't even been born when the Queen made her third, and final, visit to India in 1997.

While the United Kingdom remains one of the largest investors in India with British companies employing close to 800,000 people in the country, Indian leaders devote more energy to building ties with new partners.  In the wake of Brexit, many British politicians invoke the idea of the Commonwealth as an alternative to the EU.  In India, the grouping is hardly ever talked about.

Nodi attended the 2018 Commonwealth heads of government meeting in London, where Prince Charles was named as the Queen's successor as the body's ceremonial head-- but the headlines in India weren't about the goings-on at the summit.  The focus was on Modi's outing at a public event with the Indian diaspora in central London and bilateral meetings with his opposite number at Number 10.  In an increasingly young and forward-looking India, these "links of the past" are seen, when they are remembered at all, very differently. 

 

In the wake of the Queen's passing, multiple young people who spoke to reporters in India's capital New Delhi said they associated the monarchy with a colonial past that was marked by violence.  "If you don't see people mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth in India, (it is) because she doesn't have that connection with the new generation of Indians," Ravi Mishra said.  "She was in a position of power for 70 years when she could have done a lot. You know, all the bad that the British did to this country and to the other countries around the world. She did nothing."  Sandeep Gandotra said the British "took everything from India.  As Queen of Britain, she might have left some legacy for (Britons), not for India," he said.

 

A point of contention for many Indians is the monarchy's continued possession of one of the world's most famous gems, the 105.6 carat Koh-i-Noor diamond.  The diamond was unearthed in central southern India and passed through the possession of Indian princes and kings before ending up in British hands in 1849.   "The diamond should have come back to India a long time ago," Mishra said. "But we all know ... the Queen didn't do anything, so I'm not surprised that it is not coming back to the country."   Pooja Mehra called the situation "very unfortunate.  A huge treasure has been taken away. I think our current leader is actually making an effort to get it back to India. I will be the first one to clap and rise and celebrate," she said. 

 

Queen Elizabeth's Tarnished Legacy in Africa

The death of Queen Elizabeth II has prompted an outpouring of reflection and reaction online. But not all was grief -- some young Africans instead are sharing images and stories of their own elders, who endured a brutal period of British colonial history during the Queen's long reign.

"I cannot mourn," one wrote on Twitter, posting an image of what she said was her grandmother's "movement pass" -- a colonial document which prevented free travel for Kenyans under British rule in the east African country.  Another wrote that her grandmother "used to narrate to us how they were beaten & how their husbands were taken away from them & left to look after their kids," during colonial times.  "May we never forget them. They are our heroes," she added. Their refusal to mourn highlights the complexity of the legacy of the Queen, who despite widespread popularity was also seen as a symbol of oppression in parts of the world where the British Empire once extended.

 

Among the worst atrocities under British rule occurred during the Mau Mau uprising, which started in 1952 -- the year Queen Elizabeth took the throne. The colonial administration at the time carried out extreme acts of torture, including castration and sexual assault, in detainment camps where as many as 150,000 Kenyans were held.  Elderly Kenyans who sued for compensation in 2011 were ultimately awarded £19.9 million by a British court, to be split between more than 5,000 claimants.  The UK Foreign Secretary at the time, William Hague, said: "The British Government recognises that Kenyans were subject to torture and other forms of ill treatment at the hands of the colonial administration. The British government sincerely regrets that these abuses took place, and that they marred Kenya's progress towards independence."

 

Africa's memory of the Queen cannot be separated from that colonial past, professor of communication Farooq Kperogi at Kennesaw State University told reporters.  "The Queen's legacy started in colonialism and is still wrapped in it. It used to be said that the sun did not set over the British empire. No amount of compassion or sympathy that her death has generated can wipe that away," he said.

 

While many African leaders have mourned her passing -- including Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, who described her reign as "unique and wonderful" -- other prominent voices in regional politics have not.  In South Africa, one opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), was unequivocal. "We do not mourn the death of Elizabeth, because to us her death is a reminder of a very tragic period in this country and Africa's history," the EFF said in a statement. 

 

Others recalled Britain's role in the Nigerian civil war, where arms were secretly supplied to the government for use against Biafrans who wanted to form a breakaway republic. Between 1 million and 3 million people died in that war. British musician John Lennon returned his MBE, an honorary title, to the Queen in protest over Britain's role in the war.  

 

The Death of QEII: Follow the Money

As everyone must surely know by now, Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday at the age of 96 at Balmoral Castle, her home in Scotland.  And anytime a rich old lady kicks the bucket there is the inevitable gossip about who is going to get all of her money. 

According to Forbes, the former monarch leaves behind over $500 million in personal assets from her 70 years on the throne, which Prince Charles will inherit when he is crowned king.x Though that may seem straightforward, the Queen’s fortune—and what happens to it now—is complex; much of what is seen to be owned by her actually belongs to the so-called Royal "Firm", the $28 billion empire that members of the British royal family like King George VI and Prince Philip once referred to as “the family business.” 

The Queen received income through a taxpayer fund known as the Sovereign Grant which is paid annually to the British royal family.x It originates from an agreement made by King George III to surrender his income from Parliament in order to receive a fixed annual payment for himself and future generations of the royal family. Originally known as the Civil List, it was replaced by the Sovereign Grant in 2012.  This grant amount was set to just over 86 million pounds in 2021 and 2022. These funds are allocated toward official travel, property maintenance, and operating or maintenance costs of the Queen’s household—Buckingham Palace.  But the Queen doesn’t just receive an annual salary. 

The "Firm", also known as the Monarchy PLC, is a group of senior members and public faces of the House of Windsor, the reigning royal family that the Queen was the head of.  Together, they operate what can be considered a global business empire that pumps hundreds of millions of pounds into the United Kingdom’s economy every year through televised events and tourism.  Her Majesty and seven other royals are members of the Firm: Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall; Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge; Princess Anne, the Queen’s daughter; and Prince Edward, the Queen’s youngest son, and his wife Sophie, the Countess of Wessex. xThough the family doesn’t personally profit from the business, the purpose is to boost the economy, which can in turn provide wealth to the Windsors through free media coverage and royal warrants— essentially “stamps of approval” on high-end products, which boost revenue for holders of the warrant. 

The monarchy holds nearly $28 billion in real estate assets as of 2021, which cannot be sold, according to Forbes.  That real estate portfolio includes the Crown Estate (value: $19.5 billion), Buckingham Palace, ($4.9 billion), the Duchy of Cornwall ($1.3 billion), the Duchy of Lancaster ($748 million), Kensington Palace ($630 million), and the Crown Estate of Scotland ($592 million).  The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings belonging to the British monarchy, which was held by Queen Elizabeth II.  But this isn’t private property she owned herself; it is run by a semi-independent public board. In June, the Crown Estate announced a $312.7 million net revenue profit for the 2021–2022 financial year, $43 million more than the year before.  The funding for the Sovereign Grant comes from a percentage of the profits of the revenue, which was initially set at 15%.  The grant was increased in 2017–2018 to 25% to support the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace, and is supposed to be reduced back to 15% by 2028.  The grant is used to pay for official expenses including payroll for staff, security, travel, housekeeping, and maintenance.  But the private expenses of the Queen and her extended family are paid for through a separate allowance called the Privy Purse. 

The Queen’s Privy Purse is essentially a portfolio of properties and assets that have been held in trust dating back to the 14th century, which provides private income to the Majesty from the Duchy of Lancaster.  At the end of March 2022, the Duchy of Lancaster had $652.8 million of net assets (primarily property and financial assets) under its control, delivering a net surplus of $24 million.   The net assets aren’t paid directly to the Queen, but the $24 million in excess funds are.  This funding is taxed and is used mainly to cover expenses not already covered by the Sovereign Grant.  The Queen has accumulated over $500 million in personal assets, largely due to her investments, art collection, jewelry, and real estate holdings, which includes the Sandringham House and the Balmoral Castle. 

Now that she’s died, most of the Queen's personal assets will be passed down to Prince Charles when he takes the throne.  Her Majesty also inherited nearly $70 million from the Queen Mother when she died in 2002, including investments in paintings, a stamp collection, fine china, jewels, horses, and even a valuable Faberge egg collection.  Paintings in the collection include works by Monet, Nash, and Carl Fabergé.  There is a special legal clause in place that exempts the Queen from paying inheritance tax on the estate left by her mother.  This clause will apply to Prince Charles too. Inheritance from sovereign to sovereign is from the 40% inheritance tax, as was agreed with the former Prime Minister John Major in 1993 to avoid erosion of the royal family’s wealth.  But Prince Charles still won’t directly inherit the $28 billion empire which includes the estate of Scotland, the Crown Estate, the Duchy of Lancaster, the Duchy of Cornwall, and the Buckingham and Kensington Palaces.  He will only receive the personal assets specifically designated to him. 

 

Two Door Cinema Club - Lucky

Man Survives Three Days in Swamp After Gator Attack

A Florida man says he was swimming in Lake Manatee when a gator bit his arm off.  Eric Merda, who's still adjusting to life with one arm, says he spent three grueling days in the swamp after the brutal attack.  There have been at least a half dozen gator attacks this season around the Tampa Bay area, the most recent involving a 77-year-old woman over Labor Day weekend.  Merda is one of those who lived to tell his story.

Merda said on July 17, he got lost in the woods at the Lake Manatee Fish Camp in Myakka City. When he finally found the lake, he decided to swim across rather than walk around.  "I look over and there's a gator on my right-hand side so I went to swim and she got my forearm so I grabbed her like this, she was trying to roll but she snapped her head so my arm went backwards like this completely," said Merda who continued to fight for his life.  The alligator dragged him underwater three times. "She's already got my arm, so when we came up the third time, she finally did her death roll and took off with my arm," he explained.

But that's just where Merda's story begins. He says he swam back to where he started and began to walk, wander, and scream for help. "Bones poking out, muscles, if I try to move my fingers, you could see it twitching," said Merda who couldn't quite put the pain into words. He says he spent three days trying to find his way out of the swamp. "I felt like I was walking in circles, I didn't know," he said. "So I followed the sun and power lines, stuff I could see."   Finally, on day number three, he stumbled on a fence and a man on the other side.   "I said a gator got my arm, he said, 'holy smokes man!'" Merda exclaimed.

The first thing Merda said he wanted was water. Then, he was on a stretcher headed to Sarasota Memorial Hospital where he says surgeons amputated the majority of his right arm. Merda says he's adapting to a new normal with a new perspective and wants to warn others to be more cautious around Florida waters.  "Do not feed the gators and you guys know who you are, throwing rocks at them, I've seen it on the job sites, leave them gators alone," Merda warns.

 

Jackson's Legacy of Systemic Racism

Marshall lives in west Jackson, Mississippi - a predominantly black and poor part of the city. He has no choice but to drink the tap water that Jackson residents have been told to avoid. When he turns the tap on, the water runs brown.  He told the BBC that it's been like this for about eight months and he has no choice but to drink it.

Marshall doesn't have a car, so he can't get to the sites where water is being handed out by the National Guard. He also doesn't have electricity or gas because of a recent fire in the house next door, which means he can't boil the water to help make it safer.   "Very seldom it's pure. Sometimes it's a little lighter, a little darker. In the bath tub when I first turn it on, it always comes out rust, then it gets lighter. But every time, the rust comes first."

Jackson councilman Aaron Banks has lived in the Mississippi state's capital for most of his life, and now represents a district that is more than 90% Black. He says he thinks a devastating combination of aging infrastructure and climate change ultimately led to the latest collapse of Jackson's water supply.

In 2020, when freezing temperatures caused Jackson's water treatment facility to shut down, Banks says his district went without water for nearly six weeks - far longer than the surrounding areas. The town's infrastructure has struggled to keep up ever since. "We have not gone a month without having a 'boil water' notice or low to no water pressure in the last two years," he says. "Unfortunately, that is something we have gotten used to as American citizens - nobody should be adapting to that type of quality of life."

Time and again, Banks says, those who are forced to adapt have predominately been people of color. For years, the councilman says he has watched state funding pour into the infrastructure of towns and areas around Jackson - but they've missed the facilities that need it most, including the city's water treatment plant. 

Biden's landmark infrastructure bill earmarked money for disadvantaged and under-served communities like Jackson, which in 2020 had a population of 163,000. But the funding is allocated by state legislators who frequently prioritize projects for more affluent communities instead of focusing on fixing systemic issues in Jackson.  "We have a water treatment facility that's obsolete that nobody has thought about for years," says Professor Edmund Merem, an urban planning and environmental studies professor at Jackson State University.  "I think the problem is that the reaction tends to be ad hoc."

But Prof Merem also believes another factor has pulled focus and funding away from the Jackson's crumbling infrastructure - race.  When Jackson's water treatment plant initially failed,  Republican Gov. Tate Reeves stepped in to grab the headlines and pushed local officials out.  He initially refused to draw any connection to the fact that the water system in Jackson has been inundated by the flooding. He’s completely cut local elected officials out of decisions on how to address the crisis, going so far as to not even invite Jackson's African-American Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba to the press conference where Reeves announced that the system would be out indefinitely.  But Lumumba was accustomed to dealing with a hostile legislature and a smug, belligerent governor in Reeves.

Experts and advocates say what is happening in Jackson - and in towns like Flint in Michigan, where the water supply was contaminated with lead - is a direct legacy of generations of discrimination and segregation.   "This is a deep seated, decades-long, in the making kind of situation," says Arielle King, a lawyer and environmental justice advocate.  "I think the history of racial segregation and redlining in this country have deeply contributed to the environmental injustices we see right now."

Redlining began in the 1940s as a government-sanctioned practice of denying mortgages and loans to people of color because they were deemed "too risky."  The practice lasted more than 40 years, and as a result, Ms King says, low-income, predominately black communities were concentrated in areas with polluting industries like landfills, oil refineries, and wastewater treatment plants.  And those areas, she notes, still exist today.

She points to parts of the country like so-called Cancer Alley as an example. Once the home to Louisiana's sprawling plantations, the area along the Mississippi River is now an industrial highway of more than 150 oil refineries and factories.

For decades, the predominately black residents have suffered from some of the highest rates of cancer in the nation because of pollution.  King says the legacy of this kind of environmental racism, coupled with decades of under-investment in low-income areas is playing out in Jackson.  "They can say that there are different factors that lead to flooding, but people wouldn't be subject to areas that are susceptible to flooding without redlining in the first place," King says.  "So again, it does kind of come back to race, and environmental racism, unfortunately, every time."

Sarina Larson is studying to be a lawyer and lives a few blocks from Marshall. She moved from Sacramento and wants to be a public defender. She too blames redlining for the issues the area has been having.  In her kitchen, there are bowls of varying sizes all over the floor. She catches rain water in them and then uses a water filter.  "The pipes have lead in them in Jackson and so I would never drink a glass of water," she says. "I don't brush my teeth with the tap water".  But she admits that most people can't afford the $300 dollar filter she bought.  "A water crisis like this doesn't become an issue until it affects people of a higher class. It has been ongoing and Jackson has been an example of that. People's health is secondary to the state." 

We met Imani Olugbala-Aziz at a local community center where she and others from the volunteer group Cooperation Jackson were handing out bottled water. It took less than an hour for them to run out. She told the BBC she barely has water at her own home.  "It's a crisis of views and values and there's a lot of environmental racism going on. We are sending our money to the government to get what needs to be done, done. And they're not doing it.  We're under-served. People of color are under-served. We stay in the worst parts of town, just so we can survive.   "We're not asking for mansions, we just want to live and have the normal stuff, running water, clean water," Olugbala-Aziz says.

She says the local area has a high homeless rate and local shops have closed which makes it hard for people to buy water.  "We've been on the boiled water alert for about a month. It's not drinkable, so what do we do? How do we feed our children, how do we cook and eat?"  Olugbala-Aziz says people are paying high water bills, whilst those in predominately white areas aren't.  "This is not something that has just happening. This is slow rolling and it has gotten to the point of untenable. We're struggling here."

 

Trump-Appointed Lawyer Shows How Unqualified She Is

Elie Mystal, an attorney and legal reporter for The Nation, accused a Trump-appointed judge of bias and corruption Monday after she appointed a special master to review documents seized from his home by the FBI.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, nominated by Trump in 2020, made the move over the objections of the Justice Department, which is investigating Trump for allegedly harboring unsecured classified material at Mar-a-Lago.

Judge Aileen Cannon stunned legal experts, along with those who have even a passing understanding of applicable law, by granting Donald Trump’s request to appoint a “special master” to review the documents taken during an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago that took place on Aug. 8. Not only did Cannon grant Trump everything he wished for, she went beyond his request to grant an injunction instructing the Department of Justice to suspend use of the records for investigative purposes.

“How on Earth could a judge who made it through law school think that Donald Trump can take the property of the government, the federal government, take it home and then have to have a special master decide whether they can investigate him?” Joy Reid asked Mystal on her MSNBC show.

To which Mystal replied: “Because she’s biased and corrupt. ... I’ve been saying this since he took office: When you allow Republicans to control the courts, you get nothing. Trump judges do not believe in the rule of law. They do not believe in precedent. They do not believe in facts. They do not believe in logic. They just believe in whatever’s going to help Donald Trump and they’ve proven it again and again and again. So when I say you cannot trust Trump judges I don’t know what more evidence you need for that fact.”   Mystal dismissed Trump’s claim of executive privilege. “Privilege goes to the current president,” he said. “We only have one president at a time. So it’s not Trump’s privilege to have.”

As former FBI agent and attorney Asha Rangappa notes, this injunction was created from whole cloth by Cannon in her decision. Trump’s attorneys did not ask for an injunction, but Cannon “did Trump’s lawyers’ work for them.” In her ruling, Cannon ignores the law, ignores precedent, ignores procedure, and ignores the government’s response. 

There are purposeful lies/distortions/misreadings of law that Cannon builds into her ruling in order to grant Trump what he wanted and then some. Among them, Cannon:

• Claims that President Biden hasn’t weighed in on whether the documents are protected by executive privilege when the letter from the National Archives makes it clear that he has.
• Supports the idea that Trump can declare items privileged after leaving office, and backs this with a definitive misstatement of Supreme Court rulings concerning Nixon.
• Invents the idea that Trump requires a special master because of that possibility of “reputational harm,” including citing how knowledge that he had been searched might hurt Trump, even though Trump was the first to confirm that a search took place.
• Creates the whole idea that a special master can review documents for executive privilege without providing any clue about how that would proceed, and without Trump naming a single document as protected.
• Gives an example of some materials that might be subject to attorney-client privilege, then declares that the whole investigation has to be halted even though those documents represent a tiny fraction of the total and have already been filtered out by the privilege team at the FBI.
• Ignores the fact that Trump does not own any of the documents, either classified or unclassified, that fall under the Presidential Records Act and treats them all as if Trump is the sole owner, which she uses to justify the special master appointment.
• Claims that the Department of Justice has admitted they took material with “no evidentiary value,” which is a complete distortion not found in any Department of Justice filing. 

Most experts are predicting this to be appealed swiftly to the 11th circuit court.  The quicker the better. Unfortunately, Cannon will be sitting on the bench until she retires (or is removed, whichever comes first).

Crayons For a Modern Age

 

Big Brother Rears His Ugly Head in Colorado

Xcel Energy prevented thousands of customers in Colorado from changing the temperature in their homes for hours during a heat wave on Tuesday due to an “energy emergency,” according to ABC affiliate Denver7.    Colorado is currently experiencing a heat wave which will continue to spike energy demand and test its grid as people move to cool their homes.

Xcel’s "smart thermostats" prevented over 22,000 people, who signed up for Xcel’s Colorado AC Rewards program, from cooling their homes past a certain temperature during a heat wave in which temperatures hit over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Denver7. The smart thermostats locked home temperatures from going below a certain threshold, telling customers that this setting could not be overridden due to an “energy emergency” caused by high temperatures and soaring energy demand.

“Even if it’s a once-in-a-blue-moon situation, it just doesn’t sit right with us to not be able to control our own thermostat in our house,” one customer and Colorado resident told Denver7.  Xcel admitted that it prevented customers’ smart thermostats from lowering the temperature in their homes, according to Denver7.  “It is a bit uncomfortable for a short period of time, but it’s very, very helpful,” Emmett Romine, vice president of customer solutions and innovation at Xcel, told Denver7.

Customers who participate in the rewards program that grants them a smart thermostat receive a one-time $100 enrollment bill credit and earn $25 every year they participate in the program, according to the company website. The energy provider also states that a smart thermostat is a convenient way to manage home temperatures and save energy.

Xcel states that they may control smart thermostats at any time during the summer months but that customers can override control events that are not designated as “system emergencies,” according to its website.  “It’s a voluntary program,” Romine said. “Let’s remember that this is something that customers choose to be a part of based on the incentives.”  How much you wanna bet there will be a spike in cancellations of Xcel's "rewards" program?

A Lesson on Teaching About Racism

I ran across a letter in an online advice column that couldn't have a more timely message on teaching our kids about racism:

Dear XXXX, 

 I have a son with 7-year-old fraternal twin boys and a 5-year-old girl. I am Black, my husband was white, and our son married a white woman, “Greta,” so my grand kids look white as if they have no Black ancestry at all.  I live nearby, and they often call upon me to babysit. As you can imagine, when we go out people assume that I am their maid or au pair or some other nonsense. 

While annoying, I don’t really care about minor inconveniences like that after having dealt with a lifetime of more aggressive racism, but I want to find a way to talk to my grand kids about it. I talked to my son about racism when he was growing up because that was something I anticipated him experiencing. But his kids look white, and when he is with them he looks white too. I have no idea how to word things in a way that my white grand kids can understand. 

Unfortunately, Greta is really hesitant about me talking about race with my grand kids. She feels I would be making them feel emotions they aren’t ready to handle. I know that in school they learn about racism, but they tend to emphasize the historical part and don’t really mention or acknowledge the racism that happens today. But my grand kids still see inequalities in society. The 5-year-old confided in me that her friend was being teased because she wore hearing aids and how that was really unfair because her friend already has a difficult life because of her hearing and sight disabilities. I want my grand kids to understand why other people treat me unfairly for the color of my skin just like how they understand why their sister’s friend is being treated unfairly for her disabilities. How to tell them in a manner that still appeases Greta’s fragile sensibilities? —Time to Have the Racism Talk 

Dear Time, 

Good grief, if I had a dollar every time I heard a white person say that talking to their kids about racism would make them uncomfortable, my two kids would have their college tuition paid for and my garage would be filled with gold chains and jet skis.  

I was first called the N-word by a white person when I was 9 years old. I wonder if Greta cares about how uncomfortable that made me  I wonder if Greta cares about how uncomfortable my mom felt when she cried in front of me after I immediately told her about the confrontation. 

As you know all too well as a grown Black woman, Black kids learn to deal with the discomfort of racism before they learn about fractions and long division. It’s high time that white parents stop clutching their pearls about how their white children (or white-passing children) will feel about the topic, and get them into the fight to stop racism forever. 

Here’s the bad news—as much as I want to say that you should sit your grand kids down and spill everything you know about what it’s truly like to be Black in America, you have to respect the wishes of their parents. So with that in mind, your energy should be directed toward Greta and your son to try to get them onboard. In doing so, you can mention how people often view you as the babysitter or maid and how that can be confusing to kids who view you as their loving grandmother if they don’t understand the context behind it. You can also say that they are contributing to the problem of racism by ignoring it and kicking the can down the road until a time when they’re “ready to process racism” (spoiler alert: kids can process racism when they’re kindergartners). 

Here’s a friendly reminder—racism doesn’t continue to exist because we talk about it all of the time. Racism doesn’t exist because Black and Brown folks are crying for equality at every turn. Racism exists because too many good people sit around and do nothing to stop it. Ask Greta if she wants her kids to be a part of the solution or if she wants them to be a part of the problem. Also, you really need to appeal to your son here.  The dude is half-Black!  His mama is Black!  How can he possibly look you in the eye and say that teaching his kids about racism can wait until later?  He should know better, and it would be shameful if he doesn’t. 

After you go through all of that, my hope is your son and Greta will get onboard. If for some reason they don’t, then you’ll have to let it go—at least for now. The bottom line is that just like sex, drugs, and other things out there in the world, your kids will learn about them from other sources if they aren’t being taught about them at home. Wouldn’t it make sense for your grand kids to learn about racism from the people who love them the most?