Day: September 20, 2023

Fair Monduesday*, Meteor readers,

Well, it’s that time of year. Students and teachers have returned to school—or, in some parts of the country, they haven’t. I find this new school year particularly tense: My oldest niece Ezra is starting her senior year of high school 😭 and with the fall of affirmative action, she and her peers will have to decide whether it will help or harm them to mention race in their college application essays. I don’t envy the young.

In today’s newsletter we’re pointing and laughing at Ken Paxton, learning our soccer history, and spreading a little good news.

Staring at Ezra’s baby photos,

Shannon Melero

*For those of you who are new here, a Monduesday is any Tuesday after a three-day weekend that is behaving as a Monday. Patent pending.

WHAT'S GOING ON

Impeachy keen: Today was the first day of Texas attorney general Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial. Why I’m gleefully watching the livestream: Paxton is a hard-core Trump ally, vocally anti-choice, anti-LGBTQ+, and last year supported a “Women’s Bill of Rights” meant to delegitimize trans women. (We wrote all about it here.)

Not that these offenses have anything to do with Paxton’s trial. Paxton was suspended from his position in May after the 16 articles of impeachment brought against him by the Texas House accused him of “bribery, disregarding his official duty, making false statements, and abusing the public trust.” Astonishingly, this impeachment trial (the first Texas has had in almost 50 years) was brought against him by his fellow Republicans. Never did I think I’d live to see the day the GOP held one of their own accountable.

Also making this trial soap-opera-adjacent is the fact that Paxton’s wife, Angela, is a state senator and must be present for the proceedings but cannot vote on the outcome. That little factoid is key because back in May, Angela said she would not recuse herself and was going to carry out her duties through the end of the trial. But her peers barred her from voting or participating in deliberations. Which is good news for Paxton, considering that a chunk of the evidence against him revolves around an extramarital affair. It’s like we’re living in a House of Cards episode.

AND:​​​​​​​

• The internet was alight with, as the young people call it, JOMO (joy of missing out) after an onslaught of rain and mud spoiled Burning Man this weekend. The gathering has been inundated by tech bros and other interlopers for years now, but as artist and longtime attendee Favianna Rodriguez reminds us, Burning Man has a history of being a “culture changer”—which means it must do some reimagining in the face of the climate crisis and extreme weather.

• So remember when we were all celebrating Nebraska breaking a world record for women’s sports attendance with its crowd of 92,003 at a volleyball tournament last week? Turns out, we were kinda wrong. A fascinating historical deep dive from journalist Lindsey Gibbs finds that an “unsanctioned” Women’s World Cup final in Mexico City in 1971 holds the world record for attendance—with more than 110,000 people. Why has this been left out of the record book for so many years? The tournament wasn’t sponsored by FIFA, so they “actively suppress and do not recognize” that it took place.

• Elon Musk is threatening to sue the Anti-Defamation League for what he alleges was an attempt to kill the website formerly known as Twitter. According to Musk, ADL did this by pointing out the vast amount of anti-Semitic hate speech on the platform and making that information readily available to advertisers, who are pulling out of X (Twitter). Musk has responded by liking Xweets calling for a ban on the ADL, while the organization says it’s “unsurprised yet undeterred that antisemites, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists, and other trolls have launched a coordinated attack.”

• You might have ordered your first pumpkin spice latte already, but that doesn’t mean fall weather is on the horizon. Most of the U.S. is about to experience a record-breaking September heatwave.

• Despite the promise of a fafillion-dollar contract from Royal Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales, Jorge Vilda has been fired from his position as head coach of Spain’s World Cup-winning national team. Players had accused Vilda of creating a hostile work environment and perpetuating the rampant sexist culture common in the league. He is being replaced by Montse Tomé, the first woman to coach the Spanish team in its history.

• Also paying attention to the goings-on in Spain is Woody Allen, who characterized the now-infamous kiss that Rubiales planted on Jenni Hermoso as “just a kiss…[w]hat's wrong with that?” Allen also claimed to support the #MeToo movement but says he doesn’t understand cancel culture. “I don’t know what it means to be canceled,” he said. And how could he know, since it hasn’t yet happened to him?

• I’m not going to spoil anything, but please read this wild story that opens with, “There’s a strange saga unfolding in Texas.” I promise that you absolutely cannot guess what it’s about. Here’s a hint:

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• Thanks to heavy crowdfunding in Florida, an abortion clinic in Orlando will be able to pay nearly $200,000 in fines and remain open.

• For the first time in 15 years, two Black American men will compete against each other at the U.S. Open.

• This is the key we’re singing “Happy Birthday” in from now on. Everyone please start practicing. I do not want to hear any of you sounding flat if Diana Ross is around.

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Buenas noches, lectores del Meteor,

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Hispanic/Latine Heritage Month, which also marks the month the gente explain that just because many of us fall under this invented ethnic category doesn’t mean we are of the same culture. (But we do all love platanos and that is what binds us. Don’t @ me.)

In today’s newsletter we identify the scabs of the writer’s strike, put the “win” back in Wisconsin, and give you some good weekend reads.

Using my ancestral name this month,

Shannon Lebron Valles Melero-Ureña

FREE FUTURE

Today, The Meteor was at the Ford Foundation for the inaugural Free Future summit, focusing on the global rise of gender-based violence (GBV). There was a stellar line-up of speakers on everything from the importance of how we talk about sexual assault to the rise of deadly laws in Uganda. Here are some powerful moments from the summit:

“As a culture, we breed predation.”
– Charles Blow, on how masculinity encourages violence

“The problem in this country is that we do not see sexual violence as a social justice issue…and it is. Anything that happens every 68 seconds is a public health crisis!”
—Tarana Burke on why GBV is simply ignored in the U.S.

“Even me speaking on a stage like this is illegal.”
—Kesha Nabagesera, explaining the implications of the new anti-LGBTQ+ laws in Uganda, which essentially criminalize gay existence

“[The] Supreme Court [is] shifting away from a rights-protection mode to a rights-denial mode. And having done that, what is happening throughout the country are policies that are doing existential harm.”
—Anita Hill, on the profound shifts at SCOTUS

You can watch the entire day of programming here.

QUE 'TA PASANDO

Don’t be a scab: The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike for more than 100 days. In July, they were joined by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). As in any labor strike, both groups agreed to withhold their most precious asset: their work. Actors are also not promoting any of their projects in compliance with strike rules.

But on Sunday, SAG member Drew Barrymore announced that her talk show was returning, and all hell broke loose. Is this a strike violation? Is she a scab? Should writers try to get on her show? What does this say about Drew’s values? Let’s break all that down.

Full disclosure: I’m a card-carrying WGA member, so if it seems like I’m angry about all this, it’s because I am.

After initially supporting the strike—even refusing to host an MTV awards show in solidarity—Drew shared that her talk show will resume production because they are “in compliance” with the strike. That term, though, is misleading, especially for viewers who aren’t familiar with how the SAG and WGA function. As a SAG member, Drew herself is in fact compliant with the strike because her show is produced under what’s called the “Network Television Code,” because this specific agreement is not what SAG or the WGA are striking over.

In the world of the WGA, different kinds of writers are covered under different collective bargaining agreements. For example, as a digital media writer, I operate under “workplace-specific agreements,” which means my circumstances change based on where I work. But film and television writers work under the Minimum Basic Agreement regardless of what show they’re on. Right now, the strike is concerned with that MBA.

The WGA also distinguishes between film/TV writers and broadcast news writers, even though they both work for television shows. This means the writers of Succession work under the Minimum Basic Agreement, but the writers of Good Morning America work under workplace-specific agreements. GMA is a news broadcast, which requires a different skill set than writing ten episodes of prestige television. Which group can’t work right now? The latter—which includes the three television writers Drew employs.

Drew isn’t the only one making a return; other talk shows like Real Time with Bill Maher and The View will be going forward without any writers at all. Make no mistake: This is still scab behavior, but distinct from Drew’s strategy. A spokesperson for CBS Media Ventures claimed that the show would return but “will not be performing any writing work covered by the WGA strike,” which leaves the door open for hiring non-striking WGA writers and pretends that’s the same thing as compliance. If you’re finding writers to replace the ones on strike, you’re absolutely crossing the picket line—full stop.

Look, I get it: At this point in the strike, writers desperately need work and it’s hard to get mad at someone doing what they must to pay rent. Still, as Drew’s co-head writer Christina Konan put it in the L.A. Times: “If you feel like you’re sacrificing three writers for a crew of hundreds, I see that perspective. But then if you zoom out a little bit more, you’ll see that it isn’t about those three writers. It’s about an entire union of 11,000-plus writers.”

TAMBIÉN:

• Nothing says Happy Hispanic/Latine Heritage Month like a judge declaring that DACA is unlawful. (Let me remind you that a majority of Dreamers are women from Mexico, El Salvador, and Guatemala.)

• The Child Care Stabilization Act was introduced in Congress yesterday. If it passes, it would provide $16 billion in emergency funding for the thousands of childcare facilities that are on the brink of closing. You can support the bill here.

• Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who bravely testified against the nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and was subsequently rewarded with death threats, has written a memoir that’s set to be released in March.

• Planned Parenthood has been legally cleared to continue offering abortions in the state of Wisconsin. Blessed be the fruit.

• Apparently USA Today is looking to hire a Taylor Swift reporter and all I have to say about that is: It’s me, hi, I’m the reporter, it’s me.

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 📚POR FIN DE SEMANA

On government: What’s the latest threat to American national security? Congressional leaders developing dementia. (The Intercept)

On Betty: Moira Donegan revisits the legacy and the likability of Betty Friedan. (The New Yorker)

On besties with babies: Ever wonder why friendships get more complicated after someone has a kid? Us, too. (The Cut)

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