‘Twas the night before elections, and all through the House, every creature was stirring, even that guy that looks like a mouse.

I could keep going, but I dropped out of my poetry elective in college for a reason. So let’s talk turkey, folks. Tomorrow is the big day. (Here at The Meteor, our offices will be closed.)

So tonight, we’ve got some last-minute treats: an interview with Supermajority’s Amanda Brown Lierman on why women could literally change the outcome of tomorrow’s election—and voter guides to help you do it.

Running out of rhymes,

Shannon Melero

WHAT TO KNOW

Who’s who: Still unsure who to choose in your state’s local election? This handy tool from Vote411 allows you to select your state and search for candidates, ballot measures, eligibility requirements, polling place locators, campaign finance information, and more. If this is your first time voting, PLEASE check eligibility requirements before going to your polling place. Some states are extremely specific about acceptable forms of ID (yes, it’s a strategy) and you don’t want to get turned away. (If you do, though, STAY in line and call the Election Protection Hotline.)

Voting the issues: So you know who you’re voting for—but are you certain about what you’re voting for? Voting for the first Democrat you see on the ballot by default may have worked in the past, but with so many of our rights on the line, it’s time to read the fine print. Here are some guides curated by groups we know and trust: 

• Planned Parenthood’s guide to voting pro-abortion in California (They even included suggestions for school-board elections!)

• The ACLU’s guide to abortion measures on the ballot in Kentucky, Michigan, and Vermont. You can also find more information on racial justice measures, voting rights, and action items that could directly affect LGBTQ+ voters in the future.

• Climate: the biggest issue facing every person on the planet. These guides from the NAACP, California Environmental Voters, League of Women Voters, and Sierra Club Independent Action can point you in the direction of candidates who (a) actually believe in climate change and (b) have promised to do something about it.

FROM THE EXPERT

“Our Oppressors Win When We Divide Ourselves”

Amanda Brown Lierman talks to us about creating the most powerful voting bloc possible.

BY SAMHITA MUKHOPADHYAY

LOOK HOW HAPPY WE COULD ALL BE IF WE VOTED! (IMAGE BY JEMAL COUNTESS VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

You already know you have to vote (and we trust that you will.) But how much difference will your vote make? And what is likely to happen tomorrow? For a view from the front lines, I turned to the executive director of Supermajority (an organization working to build national political power for women), Amanda Brown Lierman.

Amanda has been working in the voting rights space for years: she used to work at Rock the Vote and was the organizing director at the Democratic National Committee. We’re also good friends and former colleagues. I wanted to hear from her what exactly is at stake tomorrow…and what’s giving her hope.

Samhita Mukhopadhyay: How are you feeling about the midterms right now? 

Amanda Brown Lierman: I feel like the only thing I can do is hold hope. It is just amazing to see the commitment of women [at Supermajority] who are freaking tired and have every reason to be too tired to do this work. But they're showing up and they're showing out when it really does matter. Of course, I feel anxious because there's also so much at stake and so much on the line.

Usually at this point in an election cycle, you spend a lot of time talking about why it's so important to vote for somebody. And there are incredible pro-women champions and pro-women leaders who are running for office. But there are also names on that ballot of people who don't deserve to be sitting in those seats of power. And in many cases, they are power-hungry white men who are not serving women, not serving the people who put them in office, and they need to be kicked out of those seats.

Can you spell out a little bit what’s at stake?

The president has made a couple promises about what he can and will do if we get him two more Democratic senators [giving Democrats a majority irrelevant of how Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia vote]. And there are some really incredible women who are running for Senate. If we could deliver those two new Democratic senators, then we can actually make progress in some of those national policy conversations around childcare access, around paid leave, and other care economy issues that were cut out of Build Back Better. We could codify Roe at the national level.

The gubernatorial races are going to be very important too. Gretchen Whitmer has been the number-one defender of women's rights in Michigan since she was elected in 2018.

There’s also that ballot initiative in Michigan which intends to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right in the state.

In Michigan—this is actually incredible, Samhita—in order to get an initiative on the ballot, you have to have something like 400,000 signatures. And they had 750,000 signatures for this ballot initiative in Michigan—double what was necessary, double what people thought was impossible to get done.

PROTESTORS IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN SHOWING UP AND SHOWING OUT FOR ABORTION RIGHTS. (IMAGE BY MATTHEW HATCHER VIA GETTY IMAGES)

We saw something similar in Kansas in August, where voters voted to protect abortion rights. What are you seeing in the post-Roe political landscape?

For so long, people have run away from having conversations about abortion, and abortion [historically] has been more of a polarizing issue than it has been a mobilizing issue. And what I think we're seeing in this landscape is abortion right now is not polarizing. It's actually created the opportunity for us to build coalitions in a way that we have never done before. And Kansas is such a great example of that. You have folks in Kansas, women in particular, who voted no on that amendment to make sure that we did not advance abortion bans in that state.

Organizing is all about having conversations. It's all about connecting with somebody over a shared set of values. Women might not [all] have the same experience; they might not be motivated by the same issue. But I feel like we have been able to build connections, build coalitions around this value that our bodies should be respected and that women should be able to make a decision about their bodies—instead of power-hungry men who are sitting in a political seat. That's what gives me hope: the ability to think about abortion as a coalition-building issue, which is a new phenomenon for us.

Oh, I love that.

We want to make sure that women recognize their power as individuals, as voters, but also claim the power that we have as a collective. And our coalition, hopefully, is a voting bloc that is respected, is revered, and is... also, if I'm being honest, a little bit feared. I want politicians to be afraid of a whole lot of women voting because they have to be accountable to the very people that put them in office. Our oppressors win when the walls go up, and we divide ourselves.

There are some signs that there could be record turnout. I voted in upstate New York, and it was a 45-minute wait to vote a week before Election Day.

 Wow.

But the fact that the Zeldin/Hochul race feels so close in New York is not a great sign to me. I know you've worked in the voter space for a long time. What can we actually expect tomorrow? 

I think that there are people (notably Democrats) who have been dismissing this election for the last year with a sort of despair and just [resigning] to loss. So I do refuse to sort of give into that, and think it is our job to make sure that we do the work because change happens with one conversation, one voter. And that commitment to organizing, I think, is the only thing that has always worked, and has always saved us.

But to your point: These elections are fucking close. And I think many of them will come down to field margins. And there's a reason why we have to give it our all, because some of these elections will be won or lost by two votes, by a hundred votes. And so this idea of giving in just makes me sick to my stomach and so angry. Because literally, if we each spent the time talking to—I mean, honestly, two to three people in the next couple of days and got them to the polls, it wouldn't be close.

I think voting is an expression, and Election Day will be an expression of the collective as women flexing our political muscle and making sure that our voices are heard and demanding that of our elected leaders. I've been saying this a lot: They can ignore our primal screams, but they cannot ignore our votes.

THANK A POLL WORKER

Today is Election Hero Day, a day to recognize and thank all the folks who make it possible for us to show up and cast our votes. That includes your state directors, local clerks, staff, and (everyone’s favorite) the volunteers that hand out the “I Voted!” stickers. And they need support: They’re short-staffed, and too often under attack. Spread the love by sharing the image below from @electionheroday or kick it old school and thank an election worker face-to-face. (But keep a respectable distance; we are still in a pandemic.)

(SCREEN SHOT VIA INSTAGRAM)

Remember, Election Day is a marathon, so drink water, be patient, be kind—and above all, be there! We’ll see you on the other side.

Speaking of marathons, did you run the New York City Marathon this weekend? Let us hype you up! Send your marathon pics to [email protected] and we'll include them in a future newsletter. 

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Greetings, Meteor readers,

Happy Thursday before Halloween! We don’t want to spook you out too much, but the midterm elections are in 13 days. That is scarier than Freddie Krueger!

This week, Meteor co-founder Cindi Leive spoke with journalist Kyle Spencer about what’s really behind the rise of far-right extremist groups on college campuses. Your horror movie marathon’s got nothing on the realities of young, college-educated men being trained to “weaponize” their cell phones against their peers.

But before that, my colleague Shannon has rounded up a few more races to watch this year—and, of course, the news.

Have a boo-tiful weekend! (I’ll see myself out.) 🥁

Samhita Mukhopadhyay

QUICK ELECTION MOMENT

Here are three races we’ve got our eyes on this week, plus an action item from our friends at Supermajority.

The Texas AG race - Some good news out of the Lone Star State! Democrat Rochelle Garza is running to unseat Ken Paxton as Attorney General, and she actually has a shot at winning, despite Texas’ reputation of always going red. Refreshing your memory,  Paxton is not only anti-abortion but has pushed for anti-trans legislation, supports book banning in libraries, and even tried to criminalize family-friendly drag shows. It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway: There is so, so, so much at stake in this one race.

The Michigan Secretary of State race - This one might be flying under your radar. But as Teen Vogue lays out plainly, this race is all about voting rights. So who’s running against sitting Democrat Jocelyn Benson? The Republicans selected Kristina Karamo, an election denier who believes the January 6 insurrection was orchestrated by “Antifa” members dressed up as MAGA supporters. Ironically, Karamo’s main platform is election integrity and security. According to Teen Vogue, Karamo was initially “[a candidate] of the America First Coalition, an organization that seeks to restrict Americans’ voting rights by creating barriers between them and the polls.” Still need another red flag? Karamo has Donald Trump’s endorsement.

The Oregon Governor’s race - This showdown in Ducks country also needs more attention. While Oregon has been reliably blue, Rebecca Leber of Vox put together a fascinating overview of how special-interest groups and Nike co-founder Phil Knight have been chipping away at Oregon’s blue veneer. And the chisel is Republican candidate Christie Drazan, who is running against Democrat Tina Kotek and the unaffiliated candidate Betsy Johnson (no relation to the fashion designer). Climate action sits at the heart of this race. “If Drazan wins, Oregon would become the first state in the West to reverse course on its climate goals,” Leber reports. And that’s not hyperbole; it’s simply what happens when one accepts millions of dollars in campaign funding from a logging group with ties to alt-right militias.

So now the question is, what can you do? (Other than vote. Have we mentioned you really need to vote?) This Saturday, Supermajority is hosting two events you can be a part of. The first is a virtual text bank with Megan Rapinoe and the #WomenAreVoting Coalition to encourage women voters in Georgia and North Carolina to get out and vote for the things we believe in.

(IMAGE COURTESY OF SUPERMAJORITY) 

For anyone in Michigan, Supermajority is also hosting a Day of Action Canvass in Dearborn Heights where volunteers will go door-to-door sharing information on voter registration.

PLUS:

• Due to election laws in states like Mississippi, Wisconsin, and Indiana, transgender voters are facing a huge risk of not being able to vote at all in the upcoming election.

• Puerto Ricans are still waiting for full power restoration after Hurricane Ian, but a solution could lay in one small mountain town that turned to a “microgrid” not long after Hurricane Maria.

• 2022 has reportedly been one of the deadliest years for Palestinians in recent history, resulting in the rise of a new youth-driven resistance group, The Lion’s Den. On Tuesday, Israeli armed forces launched an attack on the group’s leader in the city of Nablus, killing five Palestinians (four of whom were civilians) and wounding 20.

EXTREMISM WATCH

The Proud Boys Are Scary. These Organizations Are Scarier

That's the message behind a new book about the rise of the right on campus

BY CINDI LEIVE

A YOUNG MAN ATTENDING AN "AMERICA FIRST" EVENT HOSTED BY TURNING POINT USA IN DECEMBER OF 2021. (IMAGE BY SPENCER PLATT VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Extremism is everywhere: Election deniers are running for office. Antisemitism is on the rise. Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are regularly disrupting events, holding rallies, and threatening to interfere with elections. Not to mention the fact that friendly TV personality Dr. Oz now wants your local councilperson to have a say in your medical decisions.

None of this is a surprise to journalist Kyle Spencer, who’s been embedded with the rising stars of this country’s increasingly visible and vocal right wing for the last four years—spending up-close time with right-wing activists like Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens, plus the young people who are joining their movement. All of this is documented in her new book Raising Them Right: The Untold Story of America's Ultraconservative Youth Movement and Its Plot for Power. I had questions.

***

Cindi Leive: What are we getting wrong about what the right-wing really is in this country?

Kyle Spencer: It kind of depends on whether or not you’ve been close to a college campus recently. I think there’s a lot of fear and concern about the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys and these really aggressive groups that are openly radical. And they’re going after the kid in his bedroom playing video games all day…[But] I argue that, no, we should be more alarmed with these [groups] that are on college campuses recruiting people as if their ideas are really normal and mainstream.

White boys are a very big target for them. And they often like to start with an issue that you care about. You know, if a kid [says], “Sometimes I feel like I can’t really say what I want,” they start there and then radicalize. But they sell it with a smile.

And they try to stay really far away from political issues and stay more with culture. They’re very strategically and surgically trying to normalize ideas like gun ownership, nativism, [and] pro-American, anti-immigration sentiments, which veer very quickly into racism and, in some cases, anti-Semitism.

And people don’t realize a lot of this actually is [campus] partnerships with the Christian right. To me, that’s the most alarming, [that they are pulling students into] this Christian nationalism. These really draconian ideas that, you know, God chose America. God runs America. The Constitution is a divine document. And the Bible is always above the Constitution.

So much of what we hear about the cultural climate on college campuses focuses on the perceived “cancellation” of people on the right. I feel like I’ve heard more concern about that than I have about this phenomenon that you’re documenting. Is there a misperception of campus life? 

Yeah. It’s really a myth that there are all these free-speech issues on college campuses. Now, a lot of professors are pretty progressive. This is just a truth. But students are much more divided. I try to remind people that four in 10 young people voted for Trump in 2020. So this idea that young people are so radically progressive is just not true. What you see on these college campuses is, there are instances of intolerance among progressives. What these right-wing groups do is catch them and to edit them and throw them up on the Web to get them to go viral with the help of right-wing media outlets. One of the tools they use, obviously, is their cell phones, and they’re told in their training to “weaponize their phone.” So [the left-wing intolerance] is not nearly as prevalent as we’re told it is. And the reason is that they have created a national campaign [that] starts on the fringes—Breitbart and some of these right-wing college sites—and then bleeds into The Wall Street Journal. And eventually, The New York Times believes that this is a huge problem.

A PROTEST AGAINST RIGHT-WING SPEAKERS ON CAMPUS IN 2017. (PHOTO BY DAVID MCNEW VIA GETTY IMAGES)

You said that they’re told in their training to “weaponize their phones.” Where are those trainings taking place, and led by whom? 

The Leadership Institute is the conservative training academy. It received $25 million last year. It was started in the seventies. Everybody that you know that’s a right-wing activist went through the academy: Tucker Carlson, Karl Rove, Pence. And so what happens is that everybody speaks the same language because they were all trained in the same place.

So when you say “weaponize your phone,” everybody knows what you’re talking about. When you say “I’m willing to bleed for the cause,” everybody knows what you’re talking about. If you refer to a “3 a.m. type,” you’re starting your college group, and you’ve got to find the people you can call at 3 a.m., hard workers. Everybody knows.

They have this whole vocabulary—which the left does not. They’re all talking the same language. And every [right-wing] donor—wealthy, mid-tier, low-tier—they’re going to give a little money to the next generation, and a lot of it goes through the Leadership Institute. Which, again, is not what [the left] does.

You’re making a distinction between this movement and the dark underbelly of Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and Q Anon. But do these groups intersect? 

What these folks do a lot is kind of wink at the [fringe] right. But the distinction is that the groups that I’m writing about [like Turning Point USA] are baked into the establishment. They’re funded by the establishment. That’s why they’re scarier. And they have a lot more money.

You’ve talked about religion and anti-immigrant sentiment as being big motivations for people to join these groups. How much of this has to do with white men feeling—incorrectly—like they’re the most attacked group on the planet right now?

It’s central. I’d almost like to find a more complicated answer. But I think that this fear and anxiety among white men that they’re ceding power to people of color and to women—this replacement theory—is extraordinary. And I think what we’re seeing is that anxiety playing itself out.

And for women [who join these groups], they can be receptive to [these] ideas…but most of the young women I talked to [already] came from conservative families. I didn’t see as many women being “turned”—I saw boys being turned. A lot of boys came from moderate or Democrat families.

You reeled off that scary figure that four in 10 young people voted for Trump in 2020. We’re just a couple weeks away from these midterms. What’s your sense of the appeal of the right to young voters right now?

What I saw a lot on college campuses is not that these right-wing groups were able to [persuade Democrats to vote Republican]. What they were able to persuade them to do was not go to the polls. It’s a kind of hidden voter suppression: They’ll just kind of pound, pound, pound: “Joe Biden’s an idiot. He’s falling off his bicycle.” “These lefties on campus won’t let you say what they want. And they support affirmative action, which means slots taken away from you.” And they just keep pounding it, but they turn people off from the Democrats so they don’t go to the polls. So if we see a relatively low voter turnout, it would be a sign to me that these guys are continuing to be successful with this.

But I don’t know. I mean, I’m not going to lie. I don’t know how it’s going to go. Neither do you. Nobody does.

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Greetings, Meteor readers,

This weekend I sojourned into the forests of upstate New York to be one with the leaves and listen to Midnights on an endless loop. And while that was great, it was also a bit alarming to drive past confederate flags, enormous signs that read “Fuck Biden,” and—for the local flavor—a few disparaging posters about Governor Kathy Hochul.

This feels like the perfect time to remind all our New York readers that Hochul and her opponent Lee Zeldin are on the ballot this November 8. And Zeldin is an anti-abortion Trump supporter who is now surging in the polls. This is not the time to assume blue states will stay blue no matter what.

As far as the national landscape goes: In today’s newsletter we’ve got a refresher on the midterm races we have our eye on, the candidates who say they will fight for bodily autonomy—and of course, the news.

Find your polling station,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

No justice for BG: WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was detained in Russia in February after officials found cannabis oil cartridges in her luggage, has lost her appeal and will officially be serving a nine-year sentence in a Russian penal colony. Griner’s 250-day detention in Russia was officially recognized as a wrongful detention by the U.S. government in May, and the Biden administration tried for a prisoner swap in July, offering up Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout in exchange for Griner and fellow American detainee Paul Whelan. But the attempt came to naught when the Russians chose to counteroffer instead of following through on the swap. Unless the U.S. finds another way to intervene, it is very likely that Griner will remain in Russia until the end of her sentence.

BRITTNEY GRINER APPEARS IN COURT DURING HER TRIAL IN JULY. (IMAGE FOR THE WASHINGTON POST VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Eyes on the prize: Election Day is two weeks from today, and state races have never been so crucial. What happens this November will lay the groundwork for months, even years to come—partly because the state legislators and attorneys general who are elected this fall will be the ones ruling on the outcome of the presidential race in 2024. And if the Republicans have their way, the “red tsunami” could reawaken the Ghost of Orange Presidents Past—and that is NOT the spooky season I signed up for.

For the next two weeks, we’re going to pull out a few key races we have our eye on:

Georgia - There are several heated races in the peach state. As you probably know, Reverend Raphael Warnock is locked in a tight race defending his U.S. Senate seat against Trump-backed Herschel Walker, who recently had to shift his tune on abortion rights when a woman claimed she was paid by Walker to terminate her pregnancy. But as you might not know, there are also four proposals for changes to the state’s constitution on the ballot; voters can read up on them here. One proposal could change how property owners are taxed after their properties are damaged or destroyed by a natural disaster, a hugely important change considering the extreme weather we’ve been seeing across the country. And last, but never least, Stacey Abrams is running for Governor against incumbent Brian Kemp. Abrams is a leader in voting rights and she has promised to fight for abortion rights. If elected, she will be the first Black woman governor in American history.

Pennsylvania - TV doctor, Republican, and New Jersey native Mehmet Oz is up against Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat. Fetterman is still leading in the polls, but Oz has been rubber-stamped by Trump and Mitch McConnell—which means anything can happen. Let’s also not forget that after Fetterman suffered a stroke and was unable to attend an in-person debate, Oz used that as fodder for smear campaigns. What happened to first do no harm?

Nevada - The race between incumbent Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican challenger Adam Laxalt for U.S. Senate is according to CNBC, “one of the GOP’s best chances to flip a blue seat red.” Laxalt has been wooing voters with a “tough on crime” platform backed by local police groups, while simultaneously attacking the FBI on behalf of Donald Trump. Like too many other high-profile GOP candidates, Laxalt has also been regurgitating the far-right’s claims about voter fraud in 2020. Meanwhile, Cortez Masto has worked to draw attention to the crisis of missing Indigenous women.

AND: 

• Five Australian women are suing the government of Qatar after they were subjected to forced vaginal exams at gunpoint while traveling from Qatar to Sydney in 2020. The women claim they were pulled from their flight by Qatari officials and examined after an abandoned baby was found in an airport bathroom. The baby’s actual parents were eventually found.

• Serena Williams is messing with my blood pressure. She made a comment at a TechCrunch conference that the chances of her playing tennis again are “very high.” Okay, but like…how high? Are they “book a ticket to the next Australian Open” high or just “set your DVR for Rolland Garros” high?

• The doctors behind Obstetricians for Reproductive Justice, Drs. Jenn Conti, Heather Irobunda, and Jennifer Lincoln (who spoke to The Meteor last week) are hitting the road to call out the risks and dangers that abortion bans pose to patients and their families. On November 3, they’ll lead a gathering of medical professionals from all over the country in Washington, D.C. to urge politicians to pay attention and end the criminalization of healthcare providers. Check out their last protest outside of Governor Greg Abbott’s home.

• Ye, FKA Kanye West, has finally been dropped by Adidas as well as Creative Artists’ Agency after public outcry over his anti-semitic comments. (I guess his comments about George Floyd’s murder weren’t quite bad enough.) The impact of his words became clear last weekend when a right-wing group dropped a banner over the 405 that read “Kanye was right about the Jews.” In the wise words of Jemele Hill on The Dan Le Batard Show, continuing to platform Kanye West at this point is just “platforming stupid.” And stupid is dangerous: Studies have found that antisemitism is on the rise.

Please share this newsletter with anyone who needs to be reminded that elections are coming. 

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Wonderful Meteor readers,

On Tuesday, we shared with you the heart-wrenching story of Amanda Zurawski and her devastating pregnancy loss made worse by anti-abortion laws in Texas. The reactions to Amanda’s story from you, our readers, have been incredible—covered in People, discussed on MSNBC,  and shared by the Vice President herself. We’re so grateful her story is resonating.

AMANDA AND JOSH SHARE THEIR STORY WITH DRS. JENNIFER CONTI, HEATHER IROBUNDA, AND JENNIFER LINCOLN.

In today’s newsletter, we’ve got another great news rundown for you, including an infuriating abortion update from Georgia and an explainer on the battle between former British Prime Minister Liz Truss and Latuca Sativa. Lettuce get into it. 🥁

Starting a lettuce farm,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Defining a person: Georgia’s abortion ban, which makes terminating any pregnancy after six weeks illegal, includes another “uniquely dangerous” provision that grants an embryo or fetus full legal rights and recognition as a person. This makes Georgia the first state to enact a “fetal personhood” law post-Roe—and if far-right politicians have their way, it won’t be the last. (Men’s rights groups, like this one in Boston, are also on the fetal-personhood train.)

Why should we be concerned? For one thing, as Alanna Vagianos writes for Huffington Post, “Abortion and miscarriage are medically indistinguishable.” This means that under Georgia law, pregnant people could be investigated and even imprisoned both for seeking abortion care and for seeking care while suffering a miscarriage. It only takes one criminal trial to establish enough precedent for more states to attempt similar personhood laws criminalizing abortion and unintended pregnancy loss. While other states are preventing patients from seeking care, this law goes the farthest by turning abortion into a potential felony.

If you’re in Georgia you can vote for abortion-rights candidates who will fight this in the state legislatures. Also consider donating to Access Reproductive Care - South East, which works specifically to help those seeking abortions and other kinds of care in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee. To echo the words of Amanda Zurawski: It’s not enough to be angry. We must act.

Iranian 👏🏼 women 👏🏼 : Last weekend, Iranian rock climber Elnaz Rekabi competed in international competition without her hijab, which is mandatory for all female athletes representing Iran in international events. Shortly after the competition ended, Rekabi was “out of contact” according to some of her relatives after she told them she was meeting with an Iranian official. Rekabi later posted to Instagram that her hijab had fallen off inadvertently and she didn’t have time to put it back on before her scheduled climb. She made a similar statement on Iranian television. But many believe that these statements were made under duress and that Rekabi was forced to apologize in order to ensure her safe return to Iran. She returned to Tehran Thursday, and was greeted as a hero by crowds who have been protesting the Iranian government for weeks; the international community and several sports governing bodies remain fixated on Rekabi and her safety.

ELNAZ REKABI (SCREENSHOT VIA INSTAGRAM)

Lettuce chat about Britain: Liz Truss has resigned from her post as British Prime Minister after a mere 44 days on the job. (Maybe quiet quitting just wasn’t enough.) With England facing an economic and energy crisis, Truss said, “I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative party.” But there is a mystery at the heart of this political issue; lettuce investigate. It seems that after The Economist joked that Truss’s tenure would be less than the lifespan of a head of lettuce, The Daily Star set up an actual competition, and today several outlets confirmed that the lettuce lasted longer. So here’s my question: Not a single head of lettuce I’ve ever purchased has lasted more than three days no matter what I do to preserve it. It just doesn't make sense! Is it a conspiracy? Is it a statement on the resilience of British agriculture? Is it a cake designed to look like lettuce? (Spoiler: it’s none of the above. It was only a six-day-old lettuce. That’s still pretty impressive.) 

AND:

• A Wisconsin legal group has filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration asking the righteous robes of SCOTUS to put a stop to the president’s student loan forgiveness plan. The group argues that the plan is unconstitutional and a misuse of taxpayer dollars. The real misuse of taxpayer dollars? The amount of money one taxpayer paid to help me live off campus during my college years. (Sorry, mom.) Relatedly, beta applications are still open for the loan forgiveness  program.

• Relatives of George Floyd plan to file a $250 million lawsuit against Kanye West after he spouted off a conspiracy that Floyd died from fentanyl use. The family has also filed a cease and desist order against West to prevent him from speaking on the matter further. As a reminder, George Floyd’s death was a homicide caused by Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck for more than eight minutes. Furthermore, Kanye West is not a medical examiner.

• In a fascinating report from Vice, sex workers and adult film actors explain how they’ve changed their business models after the overturn of Roe, which has made their work an even higher-risk endeavor. One woman summed it up perfectly when she told the outlet: “We’re all doubling our rates for creampie scenes, right?”

ONE MORE THING!

Have you gotten your tickets to our fall event yet?

PRESENTED BY

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Hey there, Meteor readers,

Happy Monduesday! That’s what I call a Tuesday after a 3-day weekend where I spend the entire day believing it’s Monday. Not to be confused with its more disappointing cousin Frursday (a Thursday that should be a Friday).

This week I am absolutely splenetic, irate, and other SAT words that mean angry over Logan Paul calling Bad Bunny a hypocrite. In case you missed it: YouTuber Paul, also low-key accused BB of tax fraud after BB’s latest music video, which mentions Paul as someone taking advantage of Act 22. The Act is a tax-incentive program that allows colonizers (like the Paul brothers) to move to Puerto Rico and not pay local taxes on certain kinds of income. The entire debacle is complex and might potentially be an orchestrated beef by the WWE. (Both LP and BB occasionally appear in matches.)

But at the end of the day, it’s opened up a real discussion on how many of these tax incentives harm the island.

Moving on from that: Today’s newsletter features an update on protests in Iran, a frightening forecast for one city in California, and a bear-y upsetting voting scandal.

Let’s get into it.

Watching El Apagón again,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Iran’s youth: Last week, we watched as young girls in Iran led the way in protests, and mourned the unexplained death of 16-year-old protestor Nika Shakarami. This week, the fallout continues and the situation is grim. Advocacy group Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) estimates that 185 people have been killed during protests following the death of Mahsa Amini, the young Kurdish woman detained by morality police in September. Of that number, at least 19 are children. In a statement detailing the findings, IHRNGO said, “In many cases, particularly those of young girls, security forces have subjected families to arrests, coercion, and duress to force them into announcing their children’s deaths as suicide on camera or to keep them quiet.”

In one particularly atrocious incident in the province of Zahedan, civilians gathered on Sept. 30 after Friday prayer to protest the rape of a 15-year-old girl by a local police chief. The protest was “bloodily suppressed by security forces” and has since been named Zahedan’s Bloody Friday. An activist group within Iran shared with IHRNGO that at least 90 have been killed in connection to that event so far. (These 90 have not yet been added to the official 185 total, as they are still being looked into by IHRNGO.)

The report concludes with a note that efforts to verify deaths have been delayed by security issues and the internet shutdowns across Iran. But the authors are certain that the precise number of civilians killed since Amini’s death is higher than the current report.

PROTESTORS IN ISTANBUL HOLD UP IMAGES OF YOUNG GIRLS WHO HAVE RECENTLY BEEN KILLED IN IRAN. (IMAGE BY ONUR DOGMAN VIA GETTY IMAGES)

AND: 

• In a reassuring move, the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) has terminated the contracts of Amanda Cromwell and Sam Greene, both of whom were on the coaching staff of the Orlando Pride, after complaints of “retaliatory conduct” against players who made misconduct allegations against coaching staff (as well as those who supported them). This is a big deal: Cromwell and Greene’s contracts have been terminated with the league entirely, which means they can’t just go to another team within the NWSL and find new jobs. This is a much-needed shift from previous misconduct incidents where coaches who were fired from one team simply started working for another (a phenomenon highlighted by the Yates Report).

• Charges have been dropped against Serial subject Adnan Syed. After his release from prison last month, prosecutors were given 30 days to either retry Syed or dismiss the case entirely; they’ve chosen the latter. The prosecution has not yet commented on what exactly drove the decision, but DNA testing on old evidence has played a key role in the prosecution’s reconsideration. Syed’s years-long ordeal certainly casts a shadow over the American justice system, and who (if anyone) it serves. Much praise to Radia Chaudry, who brought Serial Syed’s story, to begin with.

• After months of drought across the state, the city of Coalinga, California is expected to run out of water before the end of this year. If the city (which is home to 17,000 people in the western desert region) cannot find a solution to its water shortage, the local government will have to purchase water on the open market “at exorbitant prices,” which will affect residents who are already struggling. This shortage is yet another example of (say it with us) extreme weather changing the makeup of our everyday lives.

PLUS:

• Even though SOMEONE said Covid is over, it very much is not. Experts are anticipating a winter pandemic wave that may include new subvariants of Omicron unaffected by current levels of immunity. In the last month alone, there have been over 40,000 new cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and over 300 deaths. So consider getting that booster if you haven’t already. (And while you’re at it, get a flu shot!)
  

• Discouraging events coming out of Fat Bear Week. A voting scandal has been uncovered at Katmai National Park, the park responsible for handling the vote count for the fattest bear. In an appalling discovery during the semifinals, Katmai National discovered that ballot boxes had been stuffed in favor of Holly, a brown bear who mysteriously received an extra 9,000 votes in a very short amount of time. The fraudulent votes were discarded, and Holly was instead bested by previous winner Bear 747, who will now go head-to-head against “bunyanesque behemoth” Bear 901. After voting closes today (and barring any further scandal), the world will once again have its fattest bear.

• Tulsi Gabbard is leaving the Democratic party, which she believes is “under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness” who have “[racialized] every issue” and “stoked anti-white racism.” Wow! So much word salad, Tulsi! What does it mean? Where do I even begin? Adding it to the discussion agenda for this winter’s cabal gathering for woke warmongers.

• Lizzo on the cover of Vanity Fair is giving Kinky-Boots-goes-to-Sesame-Street realness and we are LIIIVVIINNNGGGG.

Please share this newsletter with anyone who hasn't cast their vote for fattest bear yet. 

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Dear Meteor readers,

We’ve got a good one today, so let’s get right to it: The Yates Report, led by former Obama-appointed Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, was released this week. It’s a deep dive into 10 years of abuse in American women’s soccer—and the findings are horrifying. Don’t know much about soccer? Lucky for you, my colleague Shannon has the goods. She’ll be summarizing the findings and giving us some ways to support the players.

Also, of course, more on Iran.

Bending it like Beckham,

Samhita Mukhopadhyay

WHAT'S GOING ON

• Girls on the frontlines: This week, powerful images of young Iranian girls standing against the regime have gone viral. These students—at great personal risk—have been removing their headscarves, shouting down corrupt education officials, and chasing those officials out of schools. Their acts of bravery set a new tone for the protests as they enter their third week. Violence against the protestors also grows steadily, as at least 76 people have died at the hands of officials.

Also, in Iran: What happened to Nika Shakarami? In mid-September, 16-year-old protestor Nika Shakarami went missing after telling a friend Iranian police were chasing her. Days later, her family members appeared on Iranian broadcast news claiming Nika had died falling from a building. It turns out her family was forced to make these statements after what a source described as “intense interrogations [by police] and being threatened that other family members would be killed.” Her family ultimately took her body back to their hometown for burial, but before a funeral could be carried out, Nika’s body was taken by Iranian security forces and buried without ceremony in a different town 25 miles away. Her family believes that Nika was killed by Iranian police for her protest activity and have called for an investigation into her death.

AND:

• Details about an alleged abusive incident between Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, and their children came out this week as a result of a lawsuit over a winery they own together. The suit alleges that, while on a flight, Pitt choked one of the children and poured beer and wine on another. It also claims Pitt grabbed Jolie and shook her aggressively. His lawyers are denying all allegations.

• Extremely anti-abortion Senate candidate Herschel Walker allegedly paid for his girlfriend’s abortion back in 2009. But Walker claims he doesn’t even know the woman in question, which is super weird considering she claims to be the mother of one of his children. Herschel is now changing his tune on abortion saying, abortion is “nothing to be ashamed of.” Well isn’t that convenient!

• A new GAO Report on Latiné Representation in American Media shows that over the last decade, the amount of Latiné workers in televised media has only grown by one percent, to an abysmal total of 12 percent. Despite the paltry efforts of programs like HBO’s Pa’Lante or the “Latino Stories” rows on other streaming platforms, Latiné people make up 18 percent of the American population but only hold 10 percent of all media jobs, with only three percent of that group being women. Qué pena.

• More than 30 people were killed in a shooting and stabbing massacre at a daycare in Thailand. Approximately 22 children were stabbed to death by a former police officer who was at the daycare center to collect his child. This is one of the worst massacres against children carried out by a single suspect since the 2011 killings at a summer camp in Norway.

ON THE PITCH

What Exactly Is the Yates Report?

The biggest report into widespread abuse in American soccer is here, and it’s worse than we imagined.

BY SHANNON MELERO

MEMBERS OF THE NWSL'S NJ/NY GOTHAM FC HUDDLING BEFORE A RECENT GAME AGAINST THE CHICAGO RED STARS. (IMAGE BY IRA L. BLACK VIA GETTY IMAGES)

On Monday, the sports world was rocked to its core by the release of the Yates Report, an incredibly thorough investigation commissioned by the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) and conducted by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. The purpose of the investigation was to look into what the report called “allegations of past abusive behavior and sexual misconduct in women’s professional soccer,” namely within the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

The NWSL is America’s professional women’s soccer league, and it features some of the best players in the world, like Marta, Megan Rapinoe, Crystal Dunn, and other members of the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT)  along with scores of lesser-known young women who play for amazing teams like OL Reign, Racing Louisville, and the North Carolina Courage.

This investigation does include the full details a formal complaint filed by beloved USWNT member Christen Press, but the main subjects are some of those lesser-known NWSL players—both named and anonymous. The full report is over 300 pages long and details years of sexual misconduct and emotional/verbal abuse from several coaches across the top-performing teams in the league (including the Portland Thorns, Chicago Red Stars, and the Houston Dash).  “Abuse in the NWSL was systemic,” investigators write. At least half the League’s teams parted with coaches for alleged misconduct including “verbal and emotional abuse, sexually charged remarks, and coercive sexual contact.” Additionally, some of the allegations concern youth soccer leagues, programs designed for school-age children who are training to play at the college level.

The report also found that the USSF, individual teams, and the League as a whole failed to address known complaints submitted by players and staff. “They either minimized the reports—claiming players were trying to kill the League, or that a coach was ‘put in a bad position’—or they ignored them entirely,” the report reads. Both the league and the federation also “failed to establish investigation policies and protocols establishing how and by whom investigations of abuse would be conducted.”

Those who did come forward—most notably Mana Shim and Sinead Farrelly, who are both named in the report—were mistreated by their employers and the governing body that oversees their league. One player, listed only as Player B alleged that Coach Paul Riley “took control over [her]” in 2010 through sexual coercion and threats to trade her to a different team if she didn’t comply with his wishes and respond to his harassing text messages. That player eventually left the team for her own safety, and Riley continued in his position.

SINEAD FARRELLY ON THE PITCH IN 2015. (IMAGE BY RICH BARNES VIA GETTY IMAGES)

So the question now is: Where does soccer go from here? The Yates Report acknowledges that “the roots of abuse in women’s soccer run deep and will not be eliminated through reform in the NWSL alone.” The report goes on to suggest greater transparency and accountability within the League and the Federation. This is long overdue, of course, but it can only succeed with consistent outside pressure. Systemic abuse thrives in darkness and silence—silence from mainstream feminism, from casual viewers, from people who would rather look the other way because “no one cares about women’s sports” so why bother investing time or care into it?

You don’t need to be a soccer fan to care about what’s happening in the NWSL. But how we treat athletes says a lot about how we view them as people. If we can show up when they’re winning, we can show up when they need our support.

I’m a dedicated fan, and I plan to reassess how I can better support the players in this league going forward. And no matter your level of commitment, we can all be better advocates. Here are some easy ways to start:

• Find the team that represents your state or houses a player you already like and follow them on social media. (My team is Gotham FC, and they can be your team too!)

• To stay updated on what’s going on in the world of women’s soccer, follow Meg Linehan on Twitter; she’s probably the smartest, most dedicated soccer reporter in the game right now.

• Be bold! If you’re on your umpteenth rewatch of Bend It Like Beckham, try watching an actual soccer game. The USWNT faces off against their rivals, England, tomorrow on Fox and they will need all the support they can get as they try to perform under the immense scrutiny brought on by this report.

BEFORE YOU GO! 

This week on UNDISTRACTED, Brittany Packnett Cunningham spoke with Congresswoman Cori Bush about her new memoir, The Forerunner. Rep. Bush also shared what it was like to make her way to Congress as a grassroots organizer, mother, pastor, and survivor of sexual violence. It’s an intimate and compelling discussion between two absolute powerhouses. Give it a listen this weekend—after the England v. USA match obviously.

UNDISTRACTED IS SPONSORED BY:

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses provides business education, support services and pathways to capital for growth-oriented entrepreneurs. Participants gain practical skills to take their business to the next level, on topics such as financial statements, marketing, and employee management, and gain tools to develop a customized business plan for growth---for free. Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses has served over 12,800 businesses in all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. Apply today. 

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