issue one is anti-democratic horseshit, ctd

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The vast majority of funding for it is being provided by an Illinois billionaire who also has spent millions supporting politicians who spread the lie that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Donald Trump. And this week the controversial measure’s most vocal supporter in Ohio compared Trump’s indictment for trying to overturn the election to what’s done “in third-world dictatorships.” 

To top it off, an Arizona politician who has lied both about Trump’s 2020 loss and her own loss last year plans to come to Ohio to promote Issue 1 — to “protect” the Ohio Constitution.

ROBERT B. PARKER'S BAD INFLUENCE (Alison Gaylin, 2023)

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If anyone could make a story about Instagram influencers not only readable but compulsively so, I should have known that it'd be Alison: I've been a fan since we first connected back in the MySpace days, TRASHED being my first foray into her narrative mind and, with BAD INFLUENCE, the first of her (hopefully many) continuations of Robert B. Parker's Sunny Randall stories, she not only renders an accurate depiction of Boston (I lived there for 10 years and her evocation of it made me feel back “home” (read: the home that’s more home than the home of my first 18 years) – though I was perplexed by how easy it was for her characters to find parking; the true fictional license of the story, I suppose) but manages – thanks to her unmatched ability to craft an emotional honesty for each character, no matter how small their role – something that only the best writers can pull off: she makes Parker’s creations wholly her own. Highly recommended.

ponypull (!)

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Attended what was supposed to be a draft horse pulling contest today but my grandfather – the 96-year-old horseman with whom I attended because, as I said to him, When was the last time we did anything together that didn’t involve a hospital – misread the advert and didn’t see that the big horses didn't show up until 1800, but we did, instead, sit in the baking sun on a metal bleacher watching tough-as-hell ponies pull a fuckton of concrete blocks (2700 pounds, by the time we left). I dislike ponies, intensely. One bit me once, a long time ago. I still have the scar on my stomach. But I can, nonetheless, respect the little assholes’ physical prowess, if only begrudgingly. K and my grandfather will be attending the 1800 draft horse contest though now I kinda want to see a draft horse / pony tug of war.

DCU / Elseworlds

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As I seem unable to get this out of my head, I'm recording it here: while I dig everything I've heard coming out of the James Gunn DCU– and maybe it's my decades-long love of the wild stories (RED RAIN, GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT, RED SON, METROPOLIS, NOSFERATU) that came out under that banner – the "Elseworlds" branding for out-of-continuity projects like THE BATMAN and JOKER sequels, etc, feels… off. To me, at least, the current "Black Label" nomenclature used for things like BATMAN: DAMNED, WONDER WOMAN:HISTORIA, or SUPERMAN: THE LAST DAYS OF LEX LUTHOR (very good) seems more apposite. But IDK, maybe there's a rights issue with Johnny Walker or something.

Couldn't have said it better myself

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Whole article is not only a great primer on why I voted a hearty NO on Ohio's bullshit Issue One, but a succinct guide to understanding the clusterfuck that is the present state of Ohio politics:

With Issue 1 on August 8, Ohio lobbyists and politicians demand total unchecked power.

They seek to create signature requirements so burdensome that they would destroy the ability of Ohio citizen groups to bring amendments to our Ohio Constitution ever again.

And they seek to ensure a minority of voters can veto critical decisions over the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of all Ohioans.

Ohio Republicans presently enjoy absolute control over our state’s legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Last year, they manipulated that power to override a majority of voters on gerrymandering.

Now those same gerrymandered politicians seek to rip away citizens’ power so that a majority of voters can be overruled on the Ohio Constitution itself.