January 23, 2017
According to a new study, the amount of gun violence in top-grossing PG-13 movies continues (!) to exceed the amount of gun violence in the biggest box-office R-rated films. / Annenberg Public Policy Center
“The most important thing happening is not a Trump tweet. What’s infinitely more important is that today some 18,000 children who in the past would have died of simple diseases will survive, about 300,000 people will gain electricity, and a cool 250,000 will graduate from extreme poverty.” Reasons why 2017 may be the best year yet. “If just about the worst thing that can happen is for a parent to lose a child, that’s only half as likely today as in 1990.” / New York Times
This ripping obituary of journalist Clare Hollingworth, who died recently at 105, is a cross between a kid’s adventure story and something out of John le Carré. / The Economist
From seedy, druggy, dangerous, and surfy to cheesy, homogenous, trendy and wealthy: Venice is the most expensive neighborhood in Los Angeles these days, where the average rent on a two-bedroom apartment is well ahead of Santa Monica, Brentwood, even Bel-Air. / LA Weekly
There’s a good reason Dr. King’s last book was called Where Do We Go From Here? / Amazon
An examination of marches in American history reveals a mixed record of success, often delayed. / The New York Times
21: Renditions of “Happy Birthday” sung by protesters to a policewoman serving on her special day. / The Washington Post
6: Age of Sofie Cruz, immigration activist who melted hearts and called for all to “fight with love, faith, and courage.” / Twitter
3: Times larger the crowd was on Saturday than Friday in Washington, according to crowd experts. / The New York Times
430,000: More Metro trips taken on Saturday than Friday in Washington. / The Washington Post
-20: Degrees Fahrenheit in Fairbanks, where 2,000 marched. / adn.com
5: Million people estimated to participate worldwide. / Reuters
32: Trump’s approval rating at the time of the march. / democracynow.org
In North Dakota, the proposed law would open big loopholes for drivers who strike protesting pedestrians. / legis.nd.gov
“The history of anti-fascist action is not one of polite protest, nor failed appeals to reasoned debate with racists, but direct, aggressive confrontation.” / The Nation
“Demonstrations are most effective when they have a tangible goal, and organizers must be flexible in adapting tactics to the requirements and constraints of a situation.” History lessons on disrupting Trump from “jawsmith” Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a forgotten IWW leader who called in allies of color and foregrounded women’s rights, education, and civil liberties. / Jacobin
A slideshow of good signs from Saturday’s marches. / Quartz
“If Trump turns off the satellites, California will launch its own damn satellite.” California’s strong, one-party, term-limited Democratic state leadership, paired with its size and economic importance, makes it the best-positioned state to fight Trump, for its residents and for all of us. / The California Sunday Magazine
Steven Levy, extensive chronicler of President Obama’s tech agency pet projects—like the U.S. Digital Service and GSA’s 18F—now reports on those agencies’ members “openly weeping” at their final retreat with Obama at Camp David while questioning their roles as President Cyber-Baron 400-Pound-Hacker takes office. / Backchannel, Wired
For years, to conduct evaluations of parents seeking custody, New York City’s Family Court has relied on a for-profit “medical consulting” company—one that’s been repeatedly accused of rushing through what they call hourlong “abbrevitaed IQ tests” that often misidentify “cognitive limitations” in parents that might just not speak English very well. / ProPublica
Gorillaz drop their first track and video in six years, an unsettling and extremely 2017 “Hallelujah Money.” / YouTube
President Obama oversaw some 563 drone strikes in the Middle East and North Africa during his presidency, some 10 times more then Bush. In the process, between 380 and 801 civilians were killed, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. / thebureauinvestigates.com
Massive storms in the Deep South have killed at least 19 people as of this morning, marking President Trump’s first natural disaster. / ajc.com, Reuters
“I didn’t know what e-mail was until I got to college. I had heard of e-mail, and knew that in some sense I would ‘have’ it. ‘You’ll be so fancy,’ said my mother’s sister, who had married a computer scientist, ‘sending your e-mails.’” For those who went to college in the ’90s, Elif Batuman’s excellent new fiction will ring several bells. / The New Yorker