Howdy, Meteor readers,

This email almost didn’t make it to you today. This morning, I woke up and saw that Calvin Klein launched a new campaign featuring Idris Elba, and knowing that my day could not get any better, I went back to bed.

But it did, in fact, get better. I went down an Idris Elba rabbit hole (recommend), and found that the actor/model/DJ/rapper is also the face of a campaign aimed at pushing the British government to ban the sale of “zombie-style” knives, the weapon of choice for young people committing knife crimes (which are currently on the rise there).

In today’s newsletter, we take a look into non-consensual, AI-generated pornography. Plus Florida’s latest attack on trans residents, dueling rappers, and the death of an icon.

Buying a CK coat,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Karma is the girls in the seats: Last week, Xwitter was flooded with pornographic images of Taylor Swift, all of which were AI-generated deepfakes. The response from her fanbase was immediate, with thousands of Swifties reporting and burying the images online with a level of coordination that military tactical units will someday study. And while I’ll take every opportunity to write about Swifties saving the day, this incident has also brought to the forefront the pervasiveness and dangers of AI porn.

Swift certainly isn’t the first person to be targeted by the dark forces that produce AI porn. Just a few days before false images of Swift spread online, actress Xochitl Gomez, who’s still a minor, discovered that her face had been edited into sexually explicit images and circulated on Xwitter. Gomez has been trying to get the images removed without success. (Swifties, activate!) Meanwhile, Xwitter put a temporary block on using the search words “Taylor” and “Swift” less than a day after those images went viral.

TAYLOR SWIFT IN NEW YORK EARLIER THIS MONTH. (PHOTO BY GOTHAM VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Swift herself is considering legal action (and Missouri recently introduced the Taylor Swift Act), potentially bringing the kind of high-profile attention that could be a major tool in the fight against AI-generated porn. But court cases take time, and this crime is proliferating fast. AP reported in December that 143,000 new deepfake videos—many featuring underaged girls—were posted online in 2023 alone, more than in all previous years combined. (The tech to make these kinds of videos has been available to general users since 2017; there was even a now-defunct app called DeepNude that made it as easy as pushing a button.) In an interview with Slate, Sophie Maddocks, a cyber sexual violence researcher, explained that in a seven-month span in 2023, “there was a ten-fold increase of AI-generated nude images online,” which victimized preteen boys as well as young girls.

While there is a federal bill on the table that would criminalize the production of deepfakes, Maddox calls the current legal protections in place—including a handful of state bills—a “patchwork in terms of civil and criminal recourse.” Victims have little to no options unless they can rpay the exorbitant lawyer fees and spend the time it takes to scrub these images from the internet—which platforms like Facebook and Xwitter aren’t in a rush to do.

Maddox also points to an issue that feminist technologists have long called out: What would it look like “if we had created these AI tools in a social environment that did center consent and that did prioritize consent”? Technological developments that consider the implications for those most likely to be harmed? Imagine that!

AND:

• In a moment when Gazans need humanitarian aid the most, several nations, including the US and Britain, have announced a suspension of funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The announcement comes on the heels of a charge by Israeli leadership that 12 UNRWA workers were allegedly involved in the October 7th Hamas-led attack on Israeli civilians. The commissioner-general of the UNRWA is currently investigating these allegations, and the UN has reportedly fired a majority of the workers named in the accusation.

• A team of researchers believes they may have discovered the remains of Amelia Earhart’s plane in a section of the Pacific Ocean.

• On Saturday, thousands of people flooded the streets of several cities across Kenya, to protest a recent wave of gender-based violence in which more than a dozen women were killed. It was reportedly the largest “anti-femicide” demonstration the country has ever seen.

PROTESTORS IN KISUMU, KENYA. (PHOTO BY BRIAN ONGORO VIA GETTY IMAGES)

• The Florida DMV will no longer allow drivers to update the gender on their licenses, stating that any changes will require proof that the gender marker requested is in line with the applicant's biological sex at birth. Leave it to Florida to find every way possible to exact more cruelty.

• Elon Musk’s company Nueralink has implanted a microchip in an unnamed living person’s brain, with the eventual goal of allowing humans to use thoughts to control things like a phone or computer. Which sign of the end times is this again?

• ICYMI, Nikki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion are having the first significant rap beef since Drake dropped “Back to Back,” and I don’t think it’s a question where Thee Meteor stands on this one. Don’t you ever grab a mic and think that me and you competing—put it on my tombstone!!

• Reproductive rights legend, former Planned Parenthood president and Supermajority founder Cecile Richards announced over the weekend that she is living with brain cancer. But she’s also still working—her newest, deeply needed project is Charley, an abortion-access chatbot.

• Chita Rivera has died at the age of 91. Rivera was a powerhouse, a singular force, and a Broadway icon. Her performance of Anita in the original production of West Side Story served as a north star for so many Latinx performers—and remains the best iteration of that role.

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Hey Meteor readers,

I am a big Jeopardy girlie, so you just KNOW that last night’s episode, in which the entire first round of categories were Taylor Swift song titles, had me screaming with glee. Those clue writers do not miss (and, for most of those categories, neither did I)!

SCREENSHOT VIA JEOPARDY

In today’s newsletter, we dig into the new, horrifying research about rape survivors and abortion. Plus, Florida is doing weird stuff again, Ohio overrides a gubernatorial veto, and we offer you some weekend reading.

Makin’ the whole place shimmer,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

No real exceptions: Yesterday, a new research paper published in JAMA Internal Medicine revealed some shocking findings: Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, there have been approximately 64,565 “rape-related pregnancies” in the 14 states with total abortion bans. (Ninety-one percent of those pregnancies took place in states with bans that provided no exceptions for rape.)

Put more plainly: Almost 65,000 pregnant rape survivors were left without a legal option to terminate their pregnancies in their home states. That’s enough people to fill Madison Square Garden three times.

These figures are estimates, but they’re based on data analysis of sexual violence and pregnancy statistics from the CDC and Bureau of Justice Statistics. They also reveal something vitally important: Rape exceptions are not doing what politicians tell us they’re meant to do. The researchers found that “10 or fewer legal abortions” per month total took place in states with bans (including those with so-called rape exceptions), proving that “rape exceptions fail to provide reasonable access to abortion for survivors.”

PHOTO BY MONIQUE MONROE VIA GETTY IMAGES

Why aren’t those rape exceptions working? In practice, many come with strict requirements, most commonly that a survivor must be under a certain number of weeks pregnant and report their rape to the police. But in the U.S., rape and sexual assault are the most under-reported crimes in the country; in 2023, only an estimated 39% of total rapes were reported to the police.

And that’s the problem with many abortion-ban exceptions. They’re not inherently designed to help victims; they’re compromises meant to lend better optics to politicians trying to mask their anti-abortion stances. Some legislators, of course, are perfectly comfortable coming out against rape victims (see: these monsters), but others use exceptions as a political tool, working to rebrand themselves as less extreme, almost reasonable, in a bid to win over moderates.

But these numbers show that exceptions and half-measures are not in the best interest of sexual assault victims. Politicians should either vote in favor of abortion access, or be honest that they’re not bothered by people suffering

AND:

• A Spanish pre-trial inquiry has determined that Luis Rubiales, the former president of Spain’s soccer federation, will face a criminal trial for forcibly kissing Jenni Hermoso during the medal ceremony at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. If found guilty, he could face a minimum of one year in prison.

PLAYERS FROM BARCELONA AND THE U.S. COMING TOGETHER IN SUPPORT OF JENNI HERMOSO, 2023. (PHOTO BY MAURICIO SALAS VIA GETTY IMAGES)

• This week, the Ohio Senate voted to ban gender-affirming care for minors, overriding a previous veto from Governor DeWine, a Republican. The law will also ban trans girls and women from competing on women’s sports teams at the K-12 and collegiate levels.

• Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) is releasing a new safety measure on its platforms that would prevent teens from receiving messages from anyone they aren’t already following. The new feature is intended to make it harder for adults to solicit teens online.

• Florida (which you may know as the state where higher learning goes to die) has decided that students attending public universities can no longer take sociology classes to fulfill their core course requirements. (In other words, sociology is relegated to a fun little elective unless it's your major.) The decision by the state’s university system is in response to “left-wing activists” supposedly hijacking the field of study and stripping it of “its intended purpose as a general knowledge course.” I guess I now have to come clean and admit that I became a radical mujerista after taking sociology/anthropology in high school. The jig is up, Mr. Henry!

• AI may be polarizing, but there are people out there using it for good—like the AI experts behind the Lakota AI Code Camp. The camp focuses on teaching Lakota students how to code in an effort to “build an Indigenous talent pool, to find and train future experts who can digitally protect and steward Indigenous culture—and keep endangered native languages alive.”

• A new lawsuit filed against former WWE CEO Vince McMahon alleges that he sexually assaulted, trafficked, and tried to silence a former employee by paying out hush money. Also named in the suit is former head of talent relations John Laurinaitis, who most wrestling fans will recognize as Nikki and Brie Garcia’s stepfather.

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WEEKEND READING 📚

Online: The influencer economy has changed everything about the way we buy. But what does that mean for eco-influencers whose platforms are against the idea of consumption? (Atmos)

On and off the field: Ali Krieger had a jam-packed 2023: retirement, a championship, and an extremely public divorce from fellow soccer star and long-time partner Ashlyn Harris. She’s finally ready to talk about all of it. (Self)

On a crumbling industry: Digital media is once again in freefall, and one of the latest victims of the ever-changing landscape is Pitchfork. (Vulture)

On showing up: Rabbi Sharon Brous reflects on how an ancient religious pilgrimage still applies to how we move in the world today. (The New York Times)

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Greetings, Meteor readers,

I don’t know about you all, but I’ve been in a reading funk. My usual stack of Plantagenet and Tudor historical tomes just hasn’t been doing it for me. So I ignored my incredibly robust TBR pile and bought a new book, Naomi Osaka: Her Journey to Finding Her Power and Her Voice. Anyone else reading it? Let’s be book buddies.

In today’s newsletter: the horrifying and intimate ways women are suffering in Gaza, Nikki Haley’s race to the finish, and what you can do to support Trans Girl Scouts.

Sitting on a book stack,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

A YOUNG DISPLACED PALESTINIAN GIRL LIVING IN RAFAH, SOUTHERN GAZA. (PHOTO BY AHMAD HASBALLAH VIA GETTY IMAGES)

New atrocities:  As the bombardment of the Gaza Strip goes into its fourth month, new reporting and research has shed light on what that means for Gazan women. According to UN Women, an estimated one million women and girls are living in a makeshift tent city in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, where they lack access to basic necessities like food, water, medical supplies, and…menstrual pads.

For those menstruating, many have resorted to using scraps of their clothes and cutting up tents—in other words, trading their only shelter—to create makeshift pads. Without water or reliable sanitation, they’re at higher risk of dying from toxic shock syndrome or contracting life-threatening infections (which they do not have access to medicine to treat).

Pregnant women also face insurmountable odds, with almost no functioning hospitals left in the region. Last week, Jezebel cited a reported 300% increase in miscarriages. Those who don’t miscarry must give birth in tents or undergo C-sections without anesthesia, where doctors aren’t even able to wash their hands to perform the procedure. The UN report found that at least two mothers are killed every hour in Gaza.

So how can you help? The report lists three asks from women’s organizations: to support the “urgent need for an immediate ceasefire,” prioritize the funding of women’s organizations, and to ensure that those groups are instrumental in planning and implementing a humanitarian response. You can call your representative to urge a ceasefire and consider donating to ANERA, which is currently working on delivering hygiene and menstrual products to women in Gaza. Or you can donate to International Planned Parenthood Federation, which provides care in conflict zones worldwide.

CANDIDATE AND RACISM DENIER, NIKKI HALEY. (IMAGE BY JOE RAEDLE VIA GETTY IMAGES)

The big race: With Ron DeSantis out of the running for the GOP nomination, only one person stands between Donald Trump and his potential return to the White House: Nikki Haley, who as we send this newsletter is in her last hours of her fight against Trump.

Haley spent a lot of the last week defending her claim that “America isn’t a racist country”—although apparently, no one told Trump that, since he lobbed a few racist zingers at her on social media over the weekend. And if Haley did need further proof that racism exists, she might simply read her own memoir, in which she wrote that her Indian parents were barred from renting a home because her father “worked at the Black school,” and that when they did finally find a place to live, they were told “they couldn’t entertain Black people” in the house they owned. There’s a word for that kind of behavior, Nikki. It starts with an R and ends with a how can you really look America in her eyeballs and say racism doesn’t exist when you know it does???

AND:

• Last year, Texas inhumanely installed razor wire in a section of its shared border with Mexico. On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that border patrol agents are allowed to cut and remove the wire, which had been causing severe injuries to migrants.

• Oscar nominations are out, and all the cool kids are nominated. Much like Issa Rae, I’m rooting for everybody Black. But also, what happened in the mojo dojo casa house of Academy voters?

• Netflix has signed a $5 billion deal with the WWE for sole broadcasting rights to its flagship weekly program, RAW. As a person who watches this program, I am deeply, deeply concerned because RAW is a weekly live show, and Netflix shat the bed the last time it tried to do a live show. I’m praying for all the engineers who have a year to figure out how to make this work.

• Friends, we are well into Girl Scout cookie season. And if you have not gotten your hands on a box, writer and activist Erin Reed has a great idea: buy your cookies from Trans Girl Scouts. Bury me in Trefoils.

• On the latest episode of In Retrospect, Susie Banikarim and Jessica Bennett are talking about what the 90s taught us all about sex. They’re joined by sex educator and author of Come Together, Emily Nagoski.

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Dear Meteor readers,

Today is the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade—the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. As you know, Roe was the law of the land until 2022, when SCOTUS ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health that abortion is not a right “deeply rooted in this Nation's history or tradition.”

Since then, we’ve seen exactly what life without Roe looks like for the birthing population of the United States. We’ve met women forced to become walking coffins for their untenable pregnancies; seen the rise of fetal personhood laws, which restrict pregnant people’s rights; and listened to the stories of providers terrified to be prosecuted simply for wanting to give vital medical treatment.

At The Meteor, we’ve been proud to tell those stories, and are committed to continuing to do so.  Here are five from the last year—all of which paint a picture of what we’ve lost, and how patients and providers are fighting back.

Sincerely,

Samhita Mukhopadhyay

When Pregnancy is Criminalized by Neda Toloui-Semnani

Lauren Smith thought she knew what to expect as she was rushed into the operating room. At 26, it was her third cesarean section.

“I don’t remember much before or after because everything moved so fast,” she says. “I remember crying. I remember being cold and being wheeled in there, and then, laying back, and then, I remember looking at the clock. It was at an angle.” The surgeon cut her open and pulled out a squirming infant, a baby girl Smith would name Audrey. Delivered a month early, she was a strong, healthy, kicking-screaming, six-pound, five-ounce newborn.

Smith thought she knew what would come next. But like a character in a Kafka tale, her world had shifted while she slept.

Abortion Ban Survivors Run for Office by Nona Willis Aronowitz

If you’d asked Allie Phillips last year whether she’d consider running for office, she would have given you a quick “no.” But that was before a series of events gave her a front-row seat to just how little Republican politicians understand about women’s lives. Back in March, the 28-year-old Tennessee mom and home daycare worker had gone viral on TikTok for sharing her gut-wrenching abortion experience: At her routine 19-week anatomy scan, she’d found out that her daughter, whom she’d already named Miley Rose, had severe fetal anomalies and would not survive outside the womb. Her doctors told Phillips that continuing the pregnancy would put her at risk, but because of Tennessee’s strict abortion ban, they couldn’t help her. She’d have to find another way.

A “Tidal Wave” of Southern Abortion Seekers by Stassa Edwards

When the Dobbs v. Jackson decision dropped, it had an immediate impact on the lives of millions of people—particularly those in the South, where trigger laws swiftly went into effect in Kentucky and Louisiana, then Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi; abortion is now banned with few exceptions.

And with that, patients found themselves turning to an unlikely place: Florida.

Harm and Hope in Post-Roe America by The Meteor

When Nancy Davis, 36, found out she was pregnant last summer, she was so happy that she danced around her home with her fiancé and two children to celebrate. “It was like a party,” she told The Meteor’s Tara Abrahams. But at her 10-week checkup, an anatomy scan showed that the fetus Davis was carrying was developing without a skull. “The top of the head was completely gone,” she says. The prognosis was grim: If Davis tried to carry her pregnancy to term and deliver, doctors warned that the child would die within minutes. She needed an abortion.

A Crucial Year Ahead for Abortion Access by Susan Rinkunas

One after another, we’ve read awful stories of patients being rushed to the ICU with sepsis, nearly bleeding out in bathrooms, or having to go out of state for abortions when their fetuses don’t have skulls.

Amid all this news, it can be hard to pinpoint a bright spot, but there is one: Support for abortion has repeatedly won elections. In what would have otherwise been a sleepy off-year of races, voters were so furious about their rights being taken away that they re-elected a Democrat as Governor in Kentucky, codified abortion in Ohio, and flipped a chamber in Virginia, blocking a ban there. What can we expect this election year as we officially enter our second year without Roe?

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Greetings, Meteor readers,

If you’ve been with us long enough, you likely know I—like almost half of Americans—have an unnatural obsession with reality television because I am, as a coworker put it, “a garbage person.” I see no lies. So it behooves me to share with my fellow garbage goblins that Love is Blind: Sweden is where it’s at right now. If you plan to be indoors this weekend hiding from the weather, please give it a watch and let me know exactly how much you hate Sergio.

In today’s newsletter, we’re meeting up at the intersection of global politics and women’s sports—my favorite place to be. Plus a frightening bill looking to ban gender-affirming care, and a monumental lawsuit.

Love is Swedish,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

A Prince and the King: For years, the nation of Saudi Arabia has been using sports to improve its image on the global stage—or, as Human Rights Watch called it, “sportswashing.” In lieu of addressing the limited freedoms women have in the country, Prince Mohammed bin Salman al Saud (or MBS as he’s referred to) has been focusing his attention on acquiring licenses to bring (mostly) American sporting leagues and top-name athletes to Saudi. (His most notable contracts are a 10-year multi-billion-dollar agreement with the WWE, the LIV golf merger, and an ambassador deal with Rafael Nadal.)

Now,  the Kingdom is in talks to host the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup (BJK), aka the most prestigious tournament in women’s tennis. Why should this matter to anyone but diehard tennis fans who may have to figure out how to get to Saudi Arabia come Cup season?

THE CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM FROM THE 2023 BILLIE JEAN KING CUP. (IMAGE BY MATT MCNULTY VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Two key reasons: The first is, of course, money. Like most sports, there’s still an alarming gender pay gap in tennis. According to Sportico, “Across 2020, 2021, and 2022, the top 10 male players earned 53% more than their female counterparts.” And despite women’s earnings increasing (Iga Swiatek was the third highest-paid tennis player in the world in 2023), the Women’s Tennis Association Tour won’t reach pay equity with its male counterpart, the ATP, until 2033. That’s a long time to wait.

While a new host country won’t close that gap overnight, the Saudis have made it abundantly clear that they’re willing to put their money where their mouth is, which could easily translate into a larger prize pot for players. It also creates an opening for players—particularly African and Middle Eastern ones—to reach a wider audience and, therefore, more earning opportunities.

The second reason is human rights. It’s impossible to ignore the country’s litany of violations—gender discrimination, the use of torture, and the brutal, state-sanctioned murder of journalists. When the WTA announced it was considering Riyadh as a location for its finals, tennis immortals Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert penned a letter against the move citing the Kingdom’s anti-LGBTQ stance.

World number-six-ranked player Ons Jabeur has expressed support in bringing women’s tennis to Saudi Arabia, but her colleagues have yet to share what they think. And we cannot forget the Billie Jean King of it all. Last year when asked about whether or not the Cup could end up in Saudi, King told Reuters, “The thing I’m concerned about is the women, I want change if we go. But I’m big on engagement and inclusion so it’s a tough one.”

AND:

• The South Carolina House passed a sweeping ban on gender-affirming care on Wednesday—and this one is even crueler than usual. If approved by the Senate, the law would eliminate care for minors and prevent adults up to the age of 26 from using Medicaid coverage to pay for any form of gender-affirming care. The bill also adds language that would compel school employees to reveal if a student was transgender to their legal guardian—with or without the student’s consent. It’s all in the name of “protecting” teens from making life-changing decisions, of course—but what actually constitutes a life-changing decision? Over 3,000 teenage girls got breast implants in 2020, a decision one could argue affirmed their gender expression, and yet the Republicans aren’t scheming how to ban boob jobs.

• A new bill called the Safer Kentucky Act is picking up steam with GOP lawmakers and police in the state. TLDR: it’s fucked up and would essentially criminalize the unhoused.

• 170 years ago, the British monarchy signed a revenue-sharing agreement with First Nations tribes in what is now Northern Ontario, Canada. The Crown never paid up, and now, the descendants of the original signees are suing for the billions they’re owed.

• I’ve got good news and bad news. The good: Che Diaz, the most disliked character in the SATC franchise since Jack Burger will not be returning to the next season of And Just Like That. The bad news: there will be another season of And Just Like That.

• After 12 years at the company, Sheryl Sandberg will be stepping down from Meta’s board of directors.

WEEKEND READS

On conflict: The seemingly disjointed battles taking place across the Middle East may be sending global superpowers into one big war. (The New Yorker)

On money: What is unpaid caregiving really costing women? Their retirement. (The Washington Post)

On polyamory: Monogamists are bored. (The Cut)

On growth: Hala Alyan on the power of changing your mind. (Time)

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Happy Monduesday™, Meteor readers,

Big week ahead! I am, of course, talking about the opening rounds of the Australian Open, which has already seen the exit of Naomi Osaka, returning to the sport after giving birth to her first child. It’s also a huge week for us here at The Meteor, as tomorrow we’ll be premiering the first two episodes of our brand new podcast, The A Files: A Secret History of Abortion. More on that tomorrow!

In today’s newsletter, we run through the madness in Iowa, catch up on what’s happening in Iran, and learn about a groundbreaking food program in Colorado.

Shoveling snow,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

All about Don: In a landslide victory, Donald Trump—a man currently facing 91 criminal charges and a candidate who has refused to participate in a single debate—took first place in the Iowa caucus. Ron DeSantis came in second, Nikki Haley in third, and Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out entirely and gave his (meaningless) endorsement to Trump.

Speaking of Trump, instead of celebrating his win in Iowa, he’s back in New York standing trial in a second defamation case to decide a suit brought by E. Jean Carroll. He lost the first one. This time around, he will reportedly be taking the stand in his own defense against Carroll, who says he defamed her by denying having attacked her in a dressing room in the 90s. Like the previous case, this is a civil matter—Carroll is suing for $10 million in damages.

Maybe I’m the only person left in the country who feels this way, but it’s genuinely shocking that the lead GOP presidential candidate is spending so much time defending himself in court.

AND:

• Some bad news—and some good—from Iran: Yesterday, the Iranian regime sentenced Narges Mohammadi to 15 more months in prison. (Mohammadi, a human rights activist and the 2023 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, has been in and out of prison for the last 20 years.) The updated sentencing came just after a rare joyous moment for Iranian women, when journalists Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi were released on bail. The two, who had been sentenced to 13 and 12 years in prison, respectively, for their coverage of the killing of Mahsa Amini are appealing their sentence with the courts. Meantime, the regime has submitted new charges against them for not wearing head coverings while celebrating their release from prison this week.

• A Republican representative is going rogue—and this time, it’s for a good reason. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida is acting against her party and her own previous votes to introduce a bill that would allow post-partum moms to vote by proxy in Congress. Luna, who had a baby four months ago, has been bringing her son to work every day to avoid missing any votes. However, Luna’s bill is flawed and gendered: The bill is specifically worded to allow proxy voting only for women who have given birth—not for non-childbearing partners, for adoptive parents, or for those who’ve had children through surrogacy. So you could say she’s...taking baby steps.

• Gen Z voters are apparently so fed up with democracy as a whole that they’re considering skipping this year’s presidential election.

• The crumbling healthcare system in Puerto Rico has had unexpected outcomes for people giving birth on the island. More than half of all babies born in 2022 were delivered via cesarean section, and in a majority of cases, the surgeries weren’t performed out of medical necessity but out of convenience for dwindling medical staff.

• Studies have found that suicide rates among Black adolescents are climbing. One psychologist and minister in Maryland believes there is an untapped source of help for those suffering the most: Black churches.

• The Supreme Court has decided not to overturn a lower court ruling on transgender students’ bathroom access. The Robed Ones’ move means that trans students in an Indiana school district can use the bathroom associated with the gender they identify with. Is it a sign of where SCOTUS is leaning on trans issues in general? The jury’s still out. (I am on fire today with these puns.)

• After a four-month delay, last night was the 75th Emmys. If you follow that sort of thing, you probably know all the big wins (Beef, The Bear, Succession), but it was also a historic night for Black women in the arts. Quinta Brunson won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on Abbott Elementary. (The last time a Black woman won in this category was 1981.) Ayo Edibiri won for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for The Bear (which I still do not personally classify as a comedy, but okay). And Niecy Nash-Betts won for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie for her work in Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Her acceptance speech stole the show. Take a look:

• Food assistance programs like SNAP or EBT are often closed to undocumented people and, in some states, don't even cover the costs of fresh fruit and vegetables. But a supplemental program in Boulder, Colorado is working to change that by using money from the state's soda tax to provide fruit and vegetable coupons to families in need. The initiative has given the local community tools they need to combat preventable illnesses like prediabetes. Sounds like something we could use at a federal level, no?

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Hey, Meteor readers,

Y’all, I encourage you to check in on your football friends. We’ve had a tough week. And by we, I mean me, since the hottest old man I’ve ever seen chew gum, Pete Carroll, is no longer the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.

In today’s newsletter, we remind everyone who Coretta Scott King really was. Plus, banning sexy books in Florida, abnormal weather, and weekend reading.

Pete, my DMs are open,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

More than someone’s wife: If you’re not caught up on why everyone’s discussing Coretta Scott King, here’s the TL;DR: In December, actor Jonathan Majors was found guilty of assault and harassment. During his trial, a recording was played for the jury in which Majors berated his then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari, telling her that she needed to comport herself like Mrs. King. (His implication was he wanted someone who would stand beside—and in a sense behind—a powerful man.) Then this week, in an interview with Good Morning America, Majors doubled down on the sentiment, saying that his new girlfriend, Meagan Good, “held [him] down like a Coretta.” Ignoring for a moment that Majors is trying to compare himself to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the assertion he’s making here is that Coretta Scott King was a woman of value because of her willingness to stand by her man no matter what. As Brittany Packnett Cunningham explained on Instagram, Coretta Scott King has been made out to be “the patron saint of cleanup women.”

This is far from the first time Mrs. King’s life has been reduced to her marriage. I still remember Fabolous’ 2007 hit “You Make Me Better,” where he delivers the line, “Imma need Coretta Scott if I’m gonna be King.”

But as Dr. Bernice King—her daughter—wrote in 2017, “Before she was a King, my mother was a civil rights activist, a member of the NAACP and the Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committees at Antioch College. Coretta Scott was determined that her life would serve to lift others. She was already a woman of great character.” Let’s also remember that without the work and persistence of Mrs. King, we probably wouldn’t have a Martin Luther King Day at all.

So this year, rather than continue to misquote and decontextualize her husband, we give Coretta Scott King the recognition she deserves as an individual, a legend in her own right, and not just a supporting player.

AND:

• The Escambia County School District in Florida (which oversees more than 50 schools and learning centers) is pulling a few more books from library shelves because of their lurid and filthy descriptions of sexual acts. Those books include…The American Heritage Children's Dictionary, Webster's Dictionary for Students, and Merriam-Webster's Elementary Dictionary. These soft porn rags will be on ice until the board can thoroughly review them and determine whether or not they violate Florida’s HB 1069 bill, which, among other things, prevents the discussion of sex or sexuality in classrooms. (PEN America is already filing suit.)

• On January 1, a statewide ban on gender-affirming care in Louisiana went into effect. Now, a group of trans kids and their families are suing the state on the grounds that the ban violates their rights under the state constitution.

• More lawsuits: Tabatha Means, a woman in Florida, is suing the ride-share service Lyft for its liability in a 2019 incident in which she was allegedly raped multiple times by a Lyft driver. A paternity test determined that the driver in question was the biological father of Means’ child, who was born prematurely at 33 weeks.

• Several new studies have found that people who had depression during or soon after pregnancy faced increased rates of suicidal ideation and attempts for up to 18 years afterward. If you or someone you know is suffering from depression, you can reach out for help by dialing 988.

• Teenagers in Newark, New Jersey will now be allowed to vote in some school board elections beginning this spring, which seems like a really important step forward considering that infiltrating school boards has become one of the most common and effective ways for small conservative groups to screw kids over.

• Shia LaBeouf wants to become a Catholic deacon. I have so many questions.

WEEKEND READING 📚

On “bouncing” back: The incomparable Naomi Osaka is making her return to tennis after becoming a mom, and she’s got a lot to say about it. (The Athletic)

On sequels: The Ku Klux Klan had a significant revival in the early 1900s. With the extremist right gaining more power in the U.S., it’s worth revisiting how hate groups have managed to rebrand themselves successfully in the past. (Teen Vogue)

On the podium: Did you watch the Republican primary debate between the remaining sad bunch last night? If so, you probably have the same question we have: “What is Nikki Haley even talking about?” (The Atlantic)

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Hey there, Meteor readers,

My new Panda Planner arrived in the mail over the weekend, and I can truly begin 2024 in earnest now that I have this oversized book to store my five different kinds of to-do lists.

 In the words of Issa Rae, “I am about to be so much better. That text? Responded to. That email? Answered. That project? Finished. That other project? Started.”

In today’s newsletter, we look at the charges being levied against the Israeli government, the Golden Globes, and a little bit of good news.

This opener? Signed off,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Determining genocide: On Thursday, the International Court of Justice in the Hague will begin hearings on the question of whether the Israeli government is guilty of carrying out genocide against Palestinians since the Hamas attack on October 7. The case, brought to the ICJ by South Africa, could be the first step in establishing a long-lasting ceasefire since a portion of the suit requests that certain immediate provisions—including a suspension of Israel’s campaign in Gaza—be made by the court. (Both Israel and the United States have called the suit “meritless.”)

While it may seem odd that South Africa, a country with no obvious skin in the game between Hamas and Israel, would bring such a suit, the African National Congress has been a supporter of Palestine for decades (due to its own well-known history of enduring and eventually ending apartheid, the same policy that the United Nations has said Israel is carrying out in the Palestinian territories). Any territory that is a member of the United Nations and agrees to its treatises and jurisdiction can bring forth a suit against another member nation. And both South Africa and Israel are signatories of the 1948 Genocide Convention, which prohibits any signing nation from committing genocide. (The U.S. is also a signatory.) But while this case could prompt a ruling on whether or not Israel broke the treaty and committed genocide, it is not a criminal case and thus cannot dole out punishment for war crimes, something that would have to be decided by the International Criminal Court.

Also worth knowing: South Africa’s suit focuses on military actions carried out against non-combatant groups—chief among them children—over the course of years. The lawsuit cites findings from the UNHRC’s 2019 Independent Commission of Inquiry, which found “reasonable ground to believe” that Israeli snipers “‘intentionally shot’ children knowing them to be children” as well as health workers and journalists. It also cites the disproportionately high deaths of journalists over the last two months illustrating that, “Palestinian journalists are being killed at a rate significantly higher than has occurred in any conflict in the past 100 years.”

Looking for a quick decision on all this? Don’t. Hearings begin this Thursday and will continue into Friday, but those “prima facie” proceedings will only decide whether the case goes forward at all, and whether provisional measures can be implemented. That’s important—those measures could lessen the severity of the situation within a matter of weeks while the ICJ continues to deliberate—but an ultimate determination about the genocide classification will take years.

ALSO IN THE NEWS

AND:

• 2023 was expected to be the hottest year on record—and it was. But even climate scientists were surprised by how hot it was, and this year may be even hotter.

• On Sunday night, Lily Gladstone became the first Indigenous woman to win a Golden Globe, for her performance in Killers of the Flower Moon. And one brief moment was especially beautiful: her acceptance speech which began in the Blackfeet language. Those few words were an indescribable win for many, as the last decade has seen the extinction of many Indigenous languages. Some of those languages (like Taino!) are seeing a sort of revival—bringing a deeper appreciation of their nuances. For example, many Indigenous languages are not gendered. As Gladstone, who uses she/they pronouns, explained to The Hollywood Reporter last month, “There are no gendered pronouns. There is no he/she, there’s only they…our gender is implied in our name. Even that’s not binary.”

• In more Golden Globes news, both Taylor Swift and I were unamused by Jo Koy’s jokes. ICYMI (consider yourself lucky if you did), Koy reduced one of the most successful films of the year to a boob joke and then took a lazy shot at Swift’s influence over the NFL. Not that either of these things is above being made fun of, but if you’re going to take a shot at the woman who upheld the American economy throughout 2023, then learn how to punch up properly. (You can ask Kat Williams for a tutorial.)

• For the New Yorker, reporter Stephania Taladrid tells the story of a woman who died from cardiovascular disease during a high-risk pregnancy. Taladrid’s findings reveal the way Texas’ abortion ban altered the kind of care the woman could access—and most likely led to her death.

• The divorce of the two most attractive people in Hollywood is now official.

TELL ME SOMETHIN' GOOD 🎶

• Congratulations to Halle Bailey on the birth of her first child!

• Writer and fellow comic-book enthusiast Ta-Nehisi Coates has co-created The Courage Fund, which will award funds to whistleblowers speaking out on gender-based violence.

• More Latine people are abandoning hustle culture and returning to their roots by embracing “ancestral slow living practices.” Where do I sign up?

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Hey there, Meteor readers,

My Christmas tree is still up and I feel no shame about that. So if you, too, are a delayed tree remover, I see you and I love you.

In today’s newsletter, we look at the devastating food crisis in Gaza. Plus, Claudine Gay speaks for herself, a big week for lawsuits, and your weekend reads.

Lazily yours,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Starving to death: In late December, the United Nations released a report detailing “acute food insecurity” throughout Gaza. At the time, reporters found that more than 90 percent of the over 600,000 people living in the Gaza Strip were starving. At least 335,000 children were at risk of “severe malnutrition and preventable death,” according to the report.

As we enter the fourth month of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, the “entirely manmade…preventable catastrophic” food conditions are worsening. In an interview with The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner, Arif Husain, the chief economist at the United Nations World Food Program, described the situation as unprecedented. “I’ve never seen anything like this in terms of severity, in terms of scale, and then in terms of speed,” he says. Husain notes that the main contributing factor to the food crisis is inadequate and inaccessible aid. “On a good day, aid groups are bringing in maybe twenty-five to thirty percent of what [Gazans] need,” he told Chotiner. And the constant bombings and ground invasions by the Israeli military mean that even that small percentage doesn’t get properly distributed.

All in all, Husain says 577,000 people in Gaza are classified as “I.P.C. Phase 5, meaning a catastrophic type of hunger.” That number accounts for 80 percent of the total global I.P.C. population.

This degree of intentional starvation is also considered a war crime. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court classifies “the deprivation of access to food and medicine, calculated to bring about the destruction of part of a population” as a “crime against humanity.”

As Husain makes clear, “[Aid] needs to go to where the people are. And I don’t know how you can do that without a humanitarian ceasefire.”

ALSO IN THE NEWS

• After resigning from her position as president of Harvard University on Tuesday, Claudine Gay is reclaiming the narrative that led to her ouster. In an op-ed for The New York Times, Gay defended her scholarship—and pointed out that the attacks on her character and her work at Harvard were thinly veiled “attacks on education and expertise, because these are the tools that best equip communities to see through propaganda.” Gay also gives voice to what many were already thinking: The calls for her ouster were racially motivated. “Those who had relentlessly campaigned to oust me since the fall often trafficked in lies and ad hominem insults, not reasoned argument. They recycled tired racial stereotypes about Black talent and temperament.”

• You may have seen on Monday that singer Paula Abdul filed suit against British TV producer Nigel Lythgoe, alleging that he and other producers involved with American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance sexually harassed and committed acts of gender-based violence against her. Now, another lawsuit has been filed against Lythgoe—this time by two contestants of the show All American Girl, accusing him of sexual assault and battery.

• Speaking of lawsuits, one was filed on Tuesday accusing rapper T.I and his wife, Tameka “Tiny” Harris, of raping a woman in 2005. This is the second time that the same Jane Doe has tried to file charges against the Harrises—but due to the statute of limitations, the LAPD could not pursue criminal charges in 2021. Now, under California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act—which temporarily extends that statute—Doe can legally file a civil suit against the couple. They have both denied any wrongdoing.

• Despite escalations in attacks, Russia and Ukraine managed to carry out a prisoner exchange of hundreds of soldiers and civilians, some of whom had been in captivity since before the beginning of the war in February 2022.

• I am once again begging literally anyone to take away Donald Trump’s devices after the former president published a barrage of bullying messages on Truth Social today attacking E. Jean Carroll.

• The much-hyped and long-awaited list of powerful men tied to Jeffrey Epstein has been released, and there is not a single surprising name on it.

• A 13-year-old in Oklahoma is believed to be the first person ever to beat Tetris. This 31-year-old in New Jersey is stunned to discover that Tetris is beatable!

• Extremely important soccer news! USWNT stars Emily Sonnett and Rose Lavelle have officially signed with NJ/NY Gotham FC, which means as soon as soccer season starts, I will be trespassing at Red Bull Arena on a weekly basis trying to hug one or both of them.

WEEKEND READING 📚

On ice: The Professional Women’s Hockey League is in its inaugural season and is already breaking attendance records. Could this be the league that lasts? (The Athletic)

On the frontier: Pregnancy care in rural areas across the U.S. is dwindling, and those most at risk are Indigenous infants up against a congenital syphilis crisis. (Vox)

On screen: Yet another lawsuit has come out against the production companies behind Love is Blind. What the hell’s going on over there? (The Cut)

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Ho, ho, ho, Meteor readers,

Only a few more days ‘til Christmas, and I, for one, am very much looking forward to cooking my family’s ancestral holiday dinner, passed down to me by generations of Puerto Rican women: lasagna.

In today’s newsletter, Phill Picardi helps us make sense of Pope Francis’s latest announcement—plus, a new bill to save books and a touch of, yes, good news.

No-boil noodles for the win,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S IT REALLY MEAN?

Yesterday, Pope Francis issued a declaration stating that priests are now allowed to bless same-sex couples. There is, of course, a caveat: The blessings must be in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church. This means that while those couples can be blessed, they still cannot receive the sacrament of holy matrimony, and their marriages cannot be formally recognized by the Church. Still, this is a bold step forward for Francis, who has been fending off conservative attacks from within the Vatican walls and, in the U.S.,  the overall influence of the political right.

How happy should or shouldn’t we be about this? We knew exactly who to ask: Meteor collective member Phillip Picardi, who is both the CMO of the LA LGBT Center and a graduate of Harvard Divinity School.

What does this new document from the Vatican mean for the LGBTQ+ Catholic community?

Phillip Picardi: This is the rare headline about Christianity and LGBTQ+ people that doesn’t involve violent protests, book bans, or the rollback of basic civil rights.

Instead, this is the Pope—who’s believed by Catholics to be the divinely ordained Head of the Church—telling his global clergy that they can bless LGBTQ+ couples. This is a massive turnaround, considering the Church’s hard-nosed stances on gay adoption, same-sex marriage, trans rights, and even safe sex practices around HIV/AIDS.

Now, while a blessing isn’t going to solve the issues facing our community, it can’t hurt. Religious-based discrimination is a huge issue for the LGBTQ+ community—in fact, many of the youth who end up seeking housing with the LGBT Center [have been] kicked out of their homes for reasons related to religion. If this starts to change some of that harmful rhetoric, it can be significant.

The declaration makes a point to distinguish between allowing same-sex couples a blessing rather than allowing them to receive the sacrament of matrimony. What’s the difference between these two things?

Sacraments are the ways a Catholic moves through their journey within the church throughout their life. They’re liturgical sacraments, which means that they hold a certain rigor within the structure of the Church.

Catholicism is very big on making sure Catholics have been educated and prepared before receiving these sacraments because, in a sense, they’re also a reception of God. A blessing is a much more casual acknowledgment by a clergy member; it doesn't hold the same liturgical rigor.

Pope Francis, with this order, is trying to make it so that Catholic priests feel comfortable giving blessings to folks, even though they may not know about their moral litmus test. Before, getting a blessing from the Church was something that the Vatican said you needed to be somewhat morally pure or prepared for. So, he's removing this idea that there needs to be a moral exam for someone to receive a blessing or acknowledgment from the church.

Is this a big step forward? Or not big enough?

I think that depends on your own relationship to faith. If you are not Catholic, a move like this from the Pope can seem inconsequential or rudimentary—a small spiritual concession to make. And I think that can be a fair assessment considering how far other faith traditions have come on LGBTQ+ issues.

On the other hand, if you are Catholic and know about the history of the Church, this can feel massive. Pope Francis is breaking with centuries of tradition that have seen the Church further marginalize and harm LGBTQ+ people. He’s also issuing this sort of “spiritual executive order” at a time when the Catholic church is, unfortunately, tilting even farther towards the right.

The Pope has the power to change how Catholics look at their neighbors or how a parent looks at their child. Even for LGBTQ+ Catholics—because it’s estimated that at least half of our community is religious!—this is significant. It can feel like an opportunity for healing or reconciliation after a lifetime of religious-based trauma, after feeling abandoned by a church community or even by God.

And if this is the beginning of that change—then this is a positive step in the right direction.

ALSO IN THE NEWS

• Just about every major global humanitarian organization—including CARE USA, Oxfam, and Mercy Corps—is asking the U.S. to change its stance on the siege in Gaza and, more specifically, to support a complete ceasefire. Organization leaders wrote in The New York Times, “Among leaders in Washington, there is constant talk about preparing for the ‘day after.’ But if this relentless bombardment and siege continue, there will be no ‘day after’ for Gaza. It will be too late. Hundreds of thousands of lives hang in the balance today.”

• A group of Mexican women in Utah were among the over 40 patients who filed complaints of sexual assault against local gynecologist, Dr. David Broadbent. But their local police station didn’t have enough Spanish speakers, so their reports went ignored until a victims’ advocate involved the Mexican consulate. In one case, one of the victims was told her complaint “didn’t exist,” even though she had spoken to an officer just a week before.

• Rep. Ayanna Pressley has introduced a bill targeting the slew of book bans popping up all over the country. Her Books Save Lives bill would make the “disproportionate exclusion of books that include content on certain populations in a library that receives federal funding” a civil rights violation. The bill would also ensure that schools and public libraries maintain a diverse collection of books.

• Ruby Franke, a YouTube momfluencer who was arrested earlier this year, has pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse. (This link contains graphic descriptions of abuse, please be mindful.) Franke has been a fixture in the parenting and influencer space for years.

TELL ME SOMETHIN' GOOD 🎶

• My shrine to the ancient life forces finally worked: Bad Bunny and Kendall Jenner broke up.

• LGBTQ+ military veterans who were once dishonorably discharged under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy of the ‘90s are now starting to see the benefits of a Pentagon program that revisited and corrected hundreds of “other than honorable” discharges. Many queer veterans will now have access to military benefits, from VA health coverage to money for college, which the military had initially denied them.

• USWNT stars Rose Lavelle and Emily Sonnett are in talks to join NJ/NY Gotham FC, and if anyone who has the power to make that dream come true is reading this, I will give you my firstborn to make this trade go through¹.

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¹ Any promises of children being exchanged for goods and services are not legally binding.

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