we are here to care for each other
a childless dog lady's hot take
NAH BRAH BUSINESS
1. Next installment of Twenty Years Ago Today dropping on Friday!
In case you missed it, I started another newsletter called Chronic Female Thoughts (CFT), where I share more personal writing.
To kick it off, I started a series called Twenty Years Ago Today, which is a look back on the twentieth anniversary year of Hurricane Katrina. It is published on the 29th of every month (the 28th this month) in remembrance of where we were twenty years ago today. You can read the January installment here. Again, not to brag, but it made my dad cry. If it also makes you cry, you are legally obligated to subscribe.
The February installment will go out on Friday—subscribe so it goes straight to your inbox.
2. Go check out the political shitstorm prep series (including a brand-new workbook for you)!
I’ve developed a whole ass series to help get you prepared for the political shitstorm ahead and strengthen our community ties outside of the tech bro fuck boi social media circle jerk complex. It’s called the Political Shitstorm Prep Series! It includes a really cool workbook to help you audit your political life and a monthly community zoom so we can actually see each other’s faces! Go check it out.
Please note, this series will only be available to paid subscribers of this newsletter. You can become a paid subscriber for $5/mth or $50/yr. If you have a financial hardship, please feel free to email me and we will work it out.
on my mind
This. This is what has been on my mind. This is the idea that de-Republicanized me (yes, I was previously a Republican). I am not wealthy and do not have a nuclear family—I am an unmarried, childless female. Therefore, I have been cast aside by the Republican Party—a party run by a Vice President who says that I don’t have a stake in the future of this country because I am childless. I am not a wife, and I am not a mother, and I am apparently undeserving of support because I have dared to live my life outside of their box. I am alone in the world (according to Republican ideology), and I should get what I deserve.
JD Vance said people like me were “miserable at their own lives and the choices they’ve made, so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too,” but what’s more miserable than an administration selling the country off to a bunch of billionaires? What’s more miserable than people who were elected to protect the public then turning around and slashing vital services that serve as a public lifeline? What’s more miserable than Mitch McConnell? What’s more miserable than a person who has a price at which they can always be bought? Who will forever be indebted to the highest bidder?
Being “alone in the world” has taught me more than anything that we need each other. We are here for each other. Humans are wildly capable of love and care, and I am reminded of that every day in my childless, cat lady (aka dog lady) existence. I will never abandon that belief. It is what will keep me both joyful and rageful. It is what will keep me alive.
We are here to care for each other, ease suffering, and realize each life’s potential. Even when that life doesn’t perfectly match our own.
in the news
These are the news stories that caught my attention this week, which might explain what’s been on my mind this week:
ICE lets local officials stop immigrants on the streets as task force program is back (Louisiana Illuminator) Turns out ICE is bringing back a program authorizing local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law. What that means is any regular ass cops (NOT trained in the intricacies of federal immigration law and policy) can ask anyone they want about their immigration status. What that looks like is rampant racial profiling. What that results in is loooooooooots of violations of constitutional rights and loooooooots of money wasted on litigation in lawsuits against local law agencies, which is why the policy was abandoned in 2012 under the Obama administration. It’s an all-around bad idea that will engender mistrust between the community and cops AND was previously very unpopular among Republican sheriffs in Louisiana (like Newell Normand) who said they had better things to do. Anyway, state and county agencies in Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas have already signed up for the “task force” and I’m sure we won’t be too far behind.
House Passes G.O.P. Budget Teeing Up Enormous Tax and Spending Cuts (The New York Times) The GOP, led by Louisiana’s own Mike Johnson, passed a budget last night that calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts (benefiting primarily the richest Americans), a $2 trillion reduction in federal spending over a decade (apparently mainly coming from cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, affecting primarily the poorest Americans), and adding $100 billion in immigration enforcement costs, which would all add an additional $3 trillion to the deficit. All from the party of fiscal responsibility. lol. But like it’s basic math—if you cut revenue (taxes) more than you cut spending, then you’re still gonna be in the red.
Trump says he will offer ‘gold cards’ for $5 million path to citizenship, replacing investor visas (AP) Turns out nothing is sacred and everything is for sale in Trump’s America —including U.S. citizenship, the bedrock of good ole’ American hyper-patriotism. Honestly, this is just fucking gross and an obvious extension of gross privileges he’s granting to American-based billionaires (read: Musk et. al.) to international (read: Russian) billionaires.
She Interrupted a Town-Hall Meeting and Was Dragged Out by Private Security (New York Times) This made me cry. Especially when the unidentified bro with the zip ties says “This would be much easier if you cooperated” and she replied “That’s what rapists say.” Side note, if an old crusty white dude ever calls me “Little girl” in any context or capacity, I will straight up throat punch him. Zero regrets.
on the ballot
Louisiana! We have elections in a month! A quick rundown:
Election Day is March 29
Early Voting is March 15-22 (excluding Sunday, March 16)
Everyone will have to vote on four constitutional amendments, so start reading up on them! I’ll give yall a voter guide before the election (spoiler alert: vote no on all of them), but make your plan to vote NOW.
EVERYONE HAVE A BEAUTIFUL AND SAFE MARDI GRAS!
I hope I see some of your beautiful faces out on the route! I’ll be the chick downing a tall boi millie with FUCK ICE written on her ass.
bonus content! here’s a picture of me miserable, alone with my dog, very sadly on vacation in the Caribbean:
